WC Richmond 2015 TTT, 20 September

[Kwibus]

Lotto-nl have a very decent squad, but im not sure about the form of all riders. Normally you bring Flens instead of Llezer or Tjallingi.

 

[Kwibus]

Win should be between 1 of the 3 favourites. Can't see any other team suddenly beating BMC, Orica or Etixx.

Course should've been longer. 38km is just too short for a Worls course, but if its just a one time thing I can live with it.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re: Re:

Having seen TCS' team i wouldn't underestimate them either.

Yeah, Sagan, Bodnar, Juul-Jensen, Rogers, Boaro and Valgren is a very decent squad - the only thing Tinkoff could do better is to replace Valgren with Bennati or Contador, but otherwise this is a top TTT squad (especially since it is a little bit shorter).

Indeed. However, as you say, the TTT is relatively short, so that might favour punchy riders like Valgren. IMO this is one of the best teams TCS could set. If one of the big 3 doesn't deliver, I think TCS are main favourites for a medal

 

[pablohidalgo7]

Re:

Lotto-nl have a very decent squad, but im not sure about the form of all riders. Normally you bring Flens instead of Llezer or Tjallingi.

I agree, Flens and also Keizer were a better option.


That is my top 3 for the TTT: 1BMC, 2Etixx, 3Movistar.

 

[Jagartrott]

Etixx to take it I think.
Coherent team, good bikes, highly motivated.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

BMC is for me the big favorite, while Etixx and GreenEdge are quite close to each other. It would be a very big surprise to see any other team win. Then we have Tinkoff and especially Movistar for the next places, while Astana, Sky, Giant, LottoNL and Trek most likely will round off the top 10.

My prediction:

1. BMC
2. Etixx
3. GreenEdge
4. Movistar
5. Tinkoff
6. LottoNL
7. Astana
8. Giant
9. Sky
10. Trek

 

[Libertine Seguros]

No PFP for Rabo, which is surprising, she's definitely a stronger TT engine than Niewiadoma or Tenniglo, as we saw in Sweden. Eight women entered so a couple of those will drop out, but with Van der Breggen, Knetemann and Brand there's still enough firepower to contend there even if they have to include a couple of non-specialists. That the Rabo team doesn't look like full strength puts the ball back in Velocio's court, the multiple-time defending champions, led by Brennauer of course. They've entered 9 so a few will drop out, but a unit with the likes of Canuel, Cromwell and Worrack would seem set, with two of Amialiusik, Delzenne, Guarischi, Kröger and Wiles to fill out the team. Wiggle are perhaps the other main threat, as with short bursts their flat engines like d'Hoore and track crossovers like Annette Edmondson will stand them in good stead alongside more conventional time trial specialists like Fahlin and Cordon and all-rounder Longo Borghini. Boels have for some reason never got to grips with the TTT, but their current lineup looks like they ought to be very strong at it, with Ellen van Dijk to lead, Evie Stevie, Blaak and Guarnier are all strong against the clock, while Majerus is a powerful rouleur who does a lot of peloton-pulling duty and in the short bursts needed for a TTT Lizzie Armitstead will certainly be useful to have on board. Other teams like Orica, UHC, Optum and Hitec may be outside bets for the podium, because they have some strong names but I'm not convinced they have the depth to beat the bigger names.

 

[Pantani_lives]

Strongest teams on paper:
BMC: Dennis, Phinney, Küng
Etixx: Martin, Boonen, Uran
Orica: Durbridge, Tuft, Matthews
Movistar: Dowsett, Malori
Sky: Kiryenka, Stannard
Tinkoff: Rogers, Sagan
Astana: Boom, LL Sanchez
Giant: Dumoulin
Katusha: Zakarin

Is there really a team called Vino 4ever??

 

[Jagartrott]

I'm not entirely convinced by BMC.
Küng a question mark after a long absence, Phinney perhaps also not at his best yet either, and Dillier & Quinziato are good riders, but is that enough?

 

[Sasquatch]

Maybe Orica will finally get the win? They lost by less than a second a few years ago and then got the bad luck with the weather conditions where BMC got the favourable wind.

But I don't think so. They seem to not turn it on when it matters. Good points are made about BMC. After thinking about it, I think the Ettix lineup is best.

 

[winkybiker]

Somebody has nicked "Even" Steven's TT bike. I'm sure they'll come up with another one for her, but still.....

 

[MatParker117]

Sky hit the deck at 60kph Rowe, Pate and Viviani went down.

 

[Jspear]

Re:

Strongest teams on paper:
BMC: Dennis, Phinney, Küng
Etixx: Martin, Boonen, Uran
Orica: Durbridge, Tuft, Matthews
Movistar: Dowsett, Malori
Sky: Kiryenka, Stannard
Tinkoff: Rogers, Sagan
Astana: Boom, LL Sanchez
Giant: Dumoulin
Katusha: Zakarin

Is there really a team called Vino 4ever??

Yes! A UCI continental team.

Everyone's top 3 is going to be the same...my order is:

1. Etixx, 2. Bmc, 3. Orica, 4. Moviestar, 5. TCS, 6. Sky, 7. IAM, 8. Lotto Jumbo, 9. Giant, 10. Astana

 

[Jspear]

Re:

Sky hit the deck at 60kph Rowe, Pate and Viviani went down.

That ain't good! Hopefully they recover...obviously this hurts their chances of a good ride even further.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Re:

Strongest teams on paper:
BMC: Dennis, Phinney, Küng
Etixx: Martin, Boonen, Uran
Orica: Durbridge, Tuft, Matthews
Movistar: Dowsett, Malori
Sky: Kiryenka, Stannard
Tinkoff: Rogers, Sagan
Astana: Boom, LL Sanchez
Giant: Dumoulin
Katusha: Zakarin

Is there really a team called Vino 4ever??

You forgot Terpstra, the second best TT'er on that team.

 

[doperhopper]

Re: Re:

let's hope that 38.8 is a mistake and they do the lap twice.

It's not a mistake, it's listed on the UCI website that the men will do 38.8 km for the TTT.

That's real lame. Should be around 80-90 kms.

Remember good old 100km TTT with 4-man teams? No aerobars, just "goat horns" and small front wheel. Bring it back with current bikes.

 

[Jonhard]

Re:

No PFP for Rabo, which is surprising, she's definitely a stronger TT engine than Niewiadoma or Tenniglo, as we saw in Sweden. Eight women entered so a couple of those will drop out, but with Van der Breggen, Knetemann and Brand there's still enough firepower to contend there even if they have to include a couple of non-specialists. That the Rabo team doesn't look like full strength puts the ball back in Velocio's court, the multiple-time defending champions, led by Brennauer of course. They've entered 9 so a few will drop out, but a unit with the likes of Canuel, Cromwell and Worrack would seem set, with two of Amialiusik, Delzenne, Guarischi, Kröger and Wiles to fill out the team. Wiggle are perhaps the other main threat, as with short bursts their flat engines like d'Hoore and track crossovers like Annette Edmondson will stand them in good stead alongside more conventional time trial specialists like Fahlin and Cordon and all-rounder Longo Borghini. Boels have for some reason never got to grips with the TTT, but their current lineup looks like they ought to be very strong at it, with Ellen van Dijk to lead, Evie Stevie, Blaak and Guarnier are all strong against the clock, while Majerus is a powerful rouleur who does a lot of peloton-pulling duty and in the short bursts needed for a TTT Lizzie Armitstead will certainly be useful to have on board. Other teams like Orica, UHC, Optum and Hitec may be outside bets for the podium, because they have some strong names but I'm not convinced they have the depth to beat the bigger names.

UHC might surprise at home and with Bigla (4th in Vargarda) absent, but I think only Wiggle and Boels have a chance of challenging Rabo and Velocio. The shorter track will help the challengers in that.

 

[dicanio_michael]

Re: Re:

Strongest teams on paper:
BMC: Dennis, Phinney, Küng
Etixx: Martin, Boonen, Uran
Orica: Durbridge, Tuft, Matthews
Movistar: Dowsett, Malori
Sky: Kiryenka, Stannard
Tinkoff: Rogers, Sagan
Astana: Boom, LL Sanchez
Giant: Dumoulin
Katusha: Zakarin

Is there really a team called Vino 4ever??

You forgot Terpstra, the second best TT'er on that team.

Nope, Kwaitkowski the 2nd best TTer in the team

 

[avanti]

Re: Re:

That's real lame. Should be around 80-90 kms.
Remember good old 100km TTT with 4-man teams? No aerobars, just "goat horns" and small front wheel. Bring it back with current bikes.

I agree. If you look back at previous WC and the Olympics all the TTTs were around 100 km

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Full women's startlist with the starting sixes picked.

Velocio: Amialiusik, Brennauer, Canuel, Guarischi, Kröger, Worrack
- super strong front six here, Guarischi as a strong sprinter has good burst, Cromwell resting is surprising. Kröger is good though and Amialiusik is a national champion though more of a climber than a time triallist. However, they're the best-drilled TTT unit and for some this is likely to be their only medal chance, plus the team is going under at least in its current guise so they'll want to sign off in style.

Orica: Elvin, Garfoot, Roy, Spratt, Stewart, Williams
There have been rumblings that the funding for the women's team is almost all from AIS and very little from Orica, so not surprising to see the Wiggle-bound Emma J and the other international star on the team, Scandolara, left out, though both are useful engines for this. Dark horses for the podium.

Rabo-Liv: Brand, de Jong, Gillow, Knetemann, Niewiadoma, van der Breggen
Katie Unknown is preferred to Koster and Tenniglo for the final lineup, like Amialiusik she's a non-specialist but strong enough to do a job in a well-drilled team. This is similar to the unit that won in Vårgårda, though Knetemann steps in after recovering from her broken collarbone. No PFP will weaken them and the psychological hit of the bad late crash last year may play on their minds (especially for Brand and Anna VDB), but they are contenders.

Wiggle: Cordon, d'Hoore, Edmondson, Fahlin, King, Longo Borghini
Another strong lineup, with some powerful flat engines and riders with good short burst. They're lacking a star TTer to tie the team together like Velocio, Rabo and Boels have, but there's not a weak link in the unit. But on the other hand that may help as there's less likely to be riders with their individual glory in the ITT Worlds in the back of their mind...

Boels-Dolmans: Armitstead, Blaak, Majerus, Pawlowska, Stevens, van Dijk
Another possible winner, this team. Like Rabo with Anna VDB and Velocio with Brennauer, a world class TTer holds the squad up with van Dijk, while there are other strong all-rounders in Stevens and strong rouleurs who pace the péloton in tough conditions a lot in Majerus and Pawlowska. Armitstead is of course one of the best at short-distance acceleration in the world, having won the women's World Cup necessitating sprint ability and both making and following attacks from small groups, while Blaak and Majerus both have a useful long distance sprint which will be helpful in a TTT situation. The team has never really mastered the discipline to date, but they have all the individual ingredients there that any given day could be the day it comes together.

Hitec: Becker, Bjørnsrud, Guderzo, Johnsen, Kitchen, Moberg
Like Orica, there's the potential there, but they're podium dark horses more than anything else. Guderzo is an excellent time trialist and with Becker, Bjørnsrud and Kitchen they've got useful riders for this, but they also have some riders whose seasons have been blighted by terrible luck and the depth isn't as strong as some of the bigger teams.

UHC: Brown, Buchanan, Higgins, Tamayo, Villumsen, Winder
The team is tied together by Villumsen, but they don't have too many big names set for this race and I don't see them being able to threaten the podium despite Linda's best efforts. They have some useful riders though and given the nature of US domestic racing, they may be quite well-drilled and prepared for this on home soil.

Optum: Charity, Glaesser, Kinsella, Kirchmann, Tetrick, Walle
Another team which has some name value but also lacking a bit of the requisite depth. I'm a fan of Leah Kirchmann though and think she might be a dark horse for a medal in the road race.

Tibco-SVB: Brien, Collins, Hammes, Kiesanowski, Ryan, Stephens
Lauren Stephens is having a hell of a year, filling the US domestic calendar with top 10s and then looking to replicate that with a great deal of success in Europe since June, but beyond that I'm not really able to see them getting to the podium here.

BTC City-Ljubljana: Bagatelj, Bujak, Lechner, Pavlukhina, Pintar, Ritter
For a team based on development in Slovenia, there are four outsiders in their six here (though I'm also a fan of both Bagatelj and Bujak so have a bit of a soft spot for this team). Some powerful engines but not enough to challenge the big guns, I feel.

Twenty16: Dragoo, Dvorak, Tucker-Hall, Jackson, Rauck Komanski, Thomas
Like with Tibco, there's a bit of lacking strength to compete with the top European teams here; they are also hampered by the mid-season loss of star rider Carmen Small-McNellis to Bigla.

BMW p/b Happy Tooth: Bayer, Bertine, Farina, Nalder, Routley, Uebelhart
Pepper Palace: Fader-Caravello, de Crescenzo, Emmerman, Mayolo, Phillips, Rais Pierce
Two national calendar US teams who we don't see much outside of the US races and therefore I've only seen a couple of times so am not really in the position to give too much detail on, I'm afraid.

Big ? about the non-entries... Bigla in particular I thought could contend with Annemiek van Vleuten, the best prologue woman in the world right now, Moolman-Pasio, Small-McNellis, Lepistö, Koedooder, Numainville and Slappendel in the squad. Alé are also a top-10 rated team not entering, though given their main riders are Olds, a mid-season acquisition sprinter, and climbers like Oliveira and Cauz, I can see why they might not expect much success in the format. Liv are the other surprise omission as though they're better known for climbing Lichtenberg and Stultiens are not mugs against the clock, and with Garner, Mackaij and Pieters they have the makings of a decent team.

 

[jsem94]

The TT should be at least twice as long. Atrocious.

 

[winkybiker]

Re:

Somebody has nicked "Even" Steven's TT bike. I'm sure they'll come up with another one for her, but still.....

"Even" has her bike back.

 

[Asero831]

Do we have the starting time for each team?

 

[infeXio]

Re:

Do we have the starting time for each team?

http://www.uci.ch/road/ucievents/2015-road-uci-road-world-championships/111129015/widgets/entries-start-lists-results-172311/?utm_content=buffer55d46&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Mind you, the starting times are local times ^^

 

[Jagartrott]

CET is Richmond time + 6 hours