Netserk said:
They have a bigger budget than Movistar...
According to some chart (of perhaps dubious provenance) that was posted here a couple of years ago, Garmin and Saxo were right down the bottom of the WT budget league along with the French teams. And Vaughters is forever pointing out that teams like Sky can pay domestiques money that Garmin's leaders would love to get.
That all fits with their signing history - ie pretty much nobody who was already established as an upcoming star or as a regular winner still at their peak has ever signed with them - so I tend to believe it. They The only partial exception I can think of was Hushovd when they got the chance to pick over the bones of the Cervelo Test Team. Their leaders are almost always guys they brought through.
Perhaps Movistar are another lowish budget team but one that overperforms in a huge way. They are, after all, in a very strong position in other, non-budget related ways, as the last big team standing in a drastically weakened Spanish domestic scene and as by far the biggest Spanish speaking team. They have a huge natural "catchment area" for young riders. And of course they signed Quintana and Costa young, which is down to being smart rather than having money. I have to admit though, that I always thought of them as a mid budget team rather than a low budget one.