Tour de France Teams 2010 - early rumours

[sublimit]

If they had either one of them, Wiggins would end up as the domestique on the 2010 Tour parcours.

yeah right. err, didnt Christian Vandevelde end up working for Wiggins last year? Kloden isnt worthy of comment but i respect Frank, but he works for Andy S or hangs on depending how he's going etc.

 

[Cerberus]

Saxo Bank director Bjarne Riis has put names on the short list tour squad. It only contains 10 names, so one will be sorted out. But off course injuries and bad form can change everything.

A Schleck
F Schleck
F Cancellara
S O'grady
J Voigt
G Larsson
J Fuglsang
CA Sørensen
M Breschel
N Sørensen

Quite a good team in my opinion. According to a very recent interview with Bjarne Riis The schlecks, Cancellara and O'grady are the most sure for the tour team. My guess is that Larsson, Breschel or Voigt will be sorted out in June. Probably Larsson because there is no TTT this year.

I believe Fuglsang is also certain and Voigt almost certain. I concur that Larson is the most likely to draw the short straw,

4 Danes on the short list is quite fantastic. Then it is posible with 6 Danes in the tour this year with Martin Pedersen from Fotoon and Brian Vandborg from Liquigas. I think it is almost as many as in the mid nineties with Rolf Sørensen, Bjarne Riis, Bo Hamburger, Jesper Skibby, Brian Holm and more.

Actually 7 is possible, you left out Lars Bak who might make the Tour for Columbia.

 

[Angliru]

yeah right. err, didnt Christian Vandevelde end up working for Wiggins last year? Kloden isnt worthy of comment but i respect Frank, but he works for Andy S or hangs on depending how he's going etc.

You mean the Christian Vandevelde who broke 2 ribs and his hip in the Giro and still finished 8th overall in the Tour? Wiggins would've been working for Christian if he had been 100% at the start of the Tour.

Frank Schleck put time into Wiggins on virtually every mountainous stage.

Wiggins while ambitious and loud, has yet to show the perennial Tour chops that Kloeden has displayed and continues to. Admittedly Kloeden would play the good soldier if that was the plan laid out by his DS/manager but he still leaves Wiggins choking on his ascot in the mountains in terms of what we know they're capable of. Wiggins IMO is still unproven until he shows he can reproduce or surpass last year's performance.

 

[DAOTEC]

Exit-Poll

Friday, March 05, 2010 | by VeloNation Press at 2:24 PM EST

Tour de France organizers narrow invite list to 25 teams

"We have a total of 25 nominations," Pescheux told AFP after a meeting that was held today between the various teams and managers of the Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO).

"There are 16 teams who are certain to be at the start in Rotterdam, unless there is a serious breach of ethics as was the case with Saunier Duval in 2008, which became Fuji Servetto in 2009,” Tour director Christian Prudhomme told the French magazine Masculin last month.

The sixteen teams that are, barring scandals, certain to be there are the following: AG2R-La Mondiale, La Française des Jeux, BBox Bouygues Telecom, Cofidis, Omega Pharma-Lotto, Quick Step, Rabobank, Liquigas-Doimo, Lampre-NGC, Astana, Saxo Bank, HTC-Columbia, Caisse d'Epargne, Euskaltel Euskadi, Milram and Footon-Servetto.

No list of the teams that are being considered was given, but some of the key teams who must rely on wildcard selection are: RadioShack, Team Sky (Wiggins and Boasson Hagen), Katusha (Kirchen and McEwen), Cervélo Test Team (Sastre, Hushovd, Haussler), Garmin Transitions (Vande Velde and Farrar), BMC (Evans, Ballan and Hincapie) and Vacansoleil (Bozic and Hoogerland).

Organizers have said they will also make the full details of the July 6th stage that will feature cobblestone sections from some of the Spring Classics available in mid-April.

"The idea is to allow those the opportunity who wish to recce the course ahead of the Tour," explained Pescheux, which will help logistically since the teams will already be in the area.

While the race won't be won on the the sometimes treacherous sectors of pavé included in this year's Tour, it could very well be lost.

From 2011 onwards, selection for the Tour de France is expected to be determined by the world ranking of the teams in question. A small number of Wildcard places are also likely to be awarded.

So thats R.I.P. of the Pro-Tour status as of 2011 ... smart people them French

 

[Condorman]

Friday, March 05, 2010 | by VeloNation Press at 2:24 PM EST

Tour de France organizers narrow invite list to 25 teams

"We have a total of 25 nominations," Pescheux told AFP after a meeting that was held today between the various teams and managers of the Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO).

"There are 16 teams who are certain to be at the start in Rotterdam, unless there is a serious breach of ethics as was the case with Saunier Duval in 2008, which became Fuji Servetto in 2009,” Tour director Christian Prudhomme told the French magazine Masculin last month.

The sixteen teams that are, barring scandals, certain to be there are the following: AG2R-La Mondiale, La Française des Jeux, BBox Bouygues Telecom, Cofidis, Omega Pharma-Lotto, Quick Step, Rabobank, Liquigas-Doimo, Lampre-NGC, Astana, Saxo Bank, HTC-Columbia, Caisse d'Epargne, Euskaltel Euskadi, Milram and Footon-Servetto.

No list of the teams that are being considered was given, but some of the key teams who must rely on wildcard selection are: RadioShack, Team Sky (Wiggins and Boasson Hagen), Katusha (Kirchen and McEwen), Cervélo Test Team (Sastre, Hushovd, Haussler), Garmin Transitions (Vande Velde and Farrar), BMC (Evans, Ballan and Hincapie) and Vacansoleil (Bozic and Hoogerland).

Organizers have said they will also make the full details of the July 6th stage that will feature cobblestone sections from some of the Spring Classics available in mid-April.

"The idea is to allow those the opportunity who wish to recce the course ahead of the Tour," explained Pescheux, which will help logistically since the teams will already be in the area.

While the race won't be won on the the sometimes treacherous sectors of pavé included in this year's Tour, it could very well be lost.

From 2011 onwards, selection for the Tour de France is expected to be determined by the world ranking of the teams in question. A small number of Wildcard places are also likely to be awarded.

So thats R.I.P. of the Pro-Tour status as of 2011 ... smart people them French

L'Equipe has reported it rather differently.
There are 25 applications, the decision will be announced at the end of March.
The pavé sections will be marked in mid-April so teams will be able to recce.
A commenter has noted that it will be necessary to replace missing pieces
every morning.

 

[karlboss]

You mean the Christian Vandevelde who broke 2 ribs and his hip in the Giro and still finished 8th overall in the Tour? Wiggins would've been working for Christian if he had been 100% at the start of the Tour.

Frank Schleck put time into Wiggins on virtually every mountainous stage.

Wiggins while ambitious and loud, has yet to show the perennial Tour chops that Kloeden has displayed and continues to. Admittedly Kloeden would play the good soldier if that was the plan laid out by his DS/manager but he still leaves Wiggins choking on his ascot in the mountains in terms of what we know they're capable of. Wiggins IMO is still unproven until he shows he can reproduce or surpass last year's performance.

Also without the TTT frank out and out beats Wiggins Last year. Kloden was the 3rd placed rider on shack...I'm not sure but he may have been doing domestique duties on a stage or 2.

So far we regard wiggins as a time trialist more than a climber, but I'm not so sure its warranted. Does anyone have a good result for him in a 50km TT? He naturally does well in the shorter TTs but it seems 50km is something different, though maybe he just had the opportunity since his transformation.

On this year's course, honestly I can't see it as a climbers course, there are loads of mountains but like this year, many are nothing mounatains as they are too far from the finish. 3 mountain tops and two of those are under 6% and tourmalet then a 50km flat TT.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Can someone please tell me when the wild cards are going to be announced? I've been told all sorts of dates.

 

[Boeing]

Can someone please tell me when the wild cards are going to be announced? I've been told all sorts of dates.

Funny, Cadel was was quoted with that exact question again today...

 

[stefrees]

Sky:
Wiggins
Boasson Hagen
Thomas
Lofkvist
Cummings
Flecha
Gerrans
Arvesen

And either Calzati Henderson or Barry

 

[Jamsque]

That's a solid lineup, although I do hope they leave Hendy at home.

 

[stefrees]

That's a solid lineup, although I do hope they leave Hendy at home.

Yeah I'd take calzati.

 

[Anonymous]

Sky:
Wiggins
Boasson Hagen
Thomas
Lofkvist
Cummings
Flecha
Gerrans
Arvesen

And either Calzati Henderson or Barry

No real surprises, pretty much the team we knew all along with the exception of Cummings. This is of course still not the confirmed squad, just the Guardian putting 2 and 2 together, and doing their "the guardian understands"... etc.. Sky tend to talk to the Times etc first.. Richard Moore knows 8 of the 9 like most people and has hedged his bets on the 9th so he can do the "i was right"..

I would expect the 9th rider to be Calzati as he has been pretty strongly linked with the tour squad because of his experience since the team started.

 

[Jan the Man]

Surprised no Geraint Thomas.

 

[Andre.J]

S O'grady would be left out for sure.

 

[Anonymous]

Surprised no Geraint Thomas.

Yes there is.. look again..

And as said, this is the list according to the guardian, which with the exception of cummings pretty much echoes everyones list, and the list the fansite put out in the first week in february. Sky's tour team is the worst kept secret in cycling

 

[Jamsque]

Surprised no Geraint Thomas.

Wiggins
Boasson Hagen
Thomas
Lofkvist
Cummings
Flecha
Gerrans
Arvesen

 

[auscyclefan94]

No real surprises, pretty much the team we knew all along with the exception of Cummings. This is of course still not the confirmed squad, just the Guardian putting 2 and 2 together, and doing their "the guardian understands"... etc.. Sky tend to talk to the Times etc first.. Richard Moore knows 8 of the 9 like most people and has hedged his bets on the 9th so he can do the "i was right"..

I would expect the 9th rider to be Calzati as he has been pretty strongly linked with the tour squad because of his experience since the team started.

I thought Hendereson contract with sky had a cluase in it that he would definetly ride the tour?

Anyway, just my predictions based on knowledge of bmc's tour team.

Evans
Hincapie
Morabito
Moos
Frank
Kroon (will depend on recovery but is gradually getting better)
Burghardt
Santambrogio
and one other?

 

[sublimit]

A roulueur like Barry would be usefull for the Sky team, if not i'd like Calzati or Cioni in there and not Hendo.

 

[Jamsque]

Hendy has had a busy season of racing so far, and he just isn't fast enough at the finish. I don't think he really adds anything to the team, beyond possibly a decent final lead-out for EBH.

 

[sublimit]

Yes, i dont see him leading out Hagen but concentrating on the Vuelta would be better, he got a stage last year and he can win one or two again.

Barry is obviously in a difficult situation but i'd love to see him go.

 

[Mambo95]

No real surprises, pretty much the team we knew all along with the exception of Cummings. This is of course still not the confirmed squad, just the Guardian putting 2 and 2 together, and doing their "the guardian understands"... etc.. Sky tend to talk to the Times etc first.. Richard Moore knows 8 of the 9 like most people and has hedged his bets on the 9th so he can do the "i was right"..

I would expect the 9th rider to be Calzati as he has been pretty strongly linked with the tour squad because of his experience since the team started.

Apart from the Guardian, Richard Moore also writes a cycling blog for.... Sky Sports, so I think you can take what he says as pretty certain

I agree with you on Calzati as the ninth man.

 

[Jan the Man]

Apologies, I'm blind.

 

[Anonymous]

Apart from the Guardian, Richard Moore also writes a cycling blog for.... Sky Sports, so I think you can take what he says as pretty certain

I agree with you on Calzati as the ninth man.

oh I think he's bang on.. surprised about cummings, but the other 8, like I say, worst kept secret in cycling.

 

[Pharazon]

Cummings was pretty good in the Giro though, so i think he raised himself...

i hope they leave Henderson out, because he;s got no chance in a bunch sprint considering the oponent's he'll get in the tour..

i don't get Chris Froome though.. he's shown that on ocasion he can climb like a demon, but a lot of the time he just end's up in the grupetto... i don't really get him

 

[Jamsque]

They've been planning to take Froome all along, he is a rider they are really trying to develop into a threat in the mountains. I agree that his form has been patchy at best this year, but the DS obviously has faith in him.