What are BMC Team Success factors

[LukeSchmid]

when was the last time a GC winner's team was not in the top 10 overall team classification? Most in recent years also won the team classification. BMC was 14th. Amaël Moinard was brought in to help in the mountains - I don't recall seeing him once in the front group on a mt. stage. An in form Contador would have taken advantage of the numerous times Evans was left isolated.

Moinard was there for a while on stage 14 final climb, but I never expected much from him. He has been top 20 twice in GTs but both from long breakaways and never finishing with the best in the mountains.

 

[LukeSchmid]

VDB2 crashed out as well and he and his team were at the front the entire time as well. Plus Basso never crashed and he was never up the front like Cuddles. It was just luck that he didn't crash. If anything the contanst desire to keep Cuddles up front probably caused a lot of nervousness and crashes in the peloton...

Liquigas did bring Basso to the front at times during the first week although he certainly was not there as much as BMC had Evans there. There is obviously some luck in being caught up in others crashes but the further to the front you are the less riders there are in front of you to bring you down when they crash. It is interesting that Evans avoided the big crash that took out Vino and VDB2 because he decided that Garmin were leading the peloton down the descent too fast and dropped back leaving a gap in front of him. It was not luck but a good decision that allowed him to avoid that crash. His teammates, Bookwalter and one other were involved in the crash.

 

[kurtinsc]

But they would have changed the dynamic of the mountains climbs better or worse for Evans who knows

would have could have but did not.

I'm not sure it would have.

I like both Gesink and VDB2 as riders, but I think they'd have the same fear of Contador and Andy that everyone else had until they were far enough back that they would be forced to attack to have a shot.

Quite frankly, once they were that far back, they'd cease to be a real worry for Cadel either. Neither is a blistering timetrialist for the most part, though neither is terrible.

The one rider that I see as having the potential to throw things off would have been Wiggins.

Granted... I doubt he would have been able to hold on in the climbs. But I rank him ahead of Cadel on the whole as a time trialist... if he had been able to hold on then it would have forced Cadel into a more offensive posture in the final mountain stages. Maybe someone like Brajkovic could do that too.

With everyone else... if Evans had been in the same place then I don't think much would change in terms of where/when/how he chased breaks with the exception of possibly having more help for the chase. Possibly if more then one name had gotten up the road (say Schleck and Gesink on 18, or Contadro, Schleck and VDB2 on 19), the breaks would have done a little better, but then they'd also get more chase help from other teams who still had their contenders in the race (Radioshack and Sky for instance).

 

[mr. tibbs]

He was the best...he won.

This. I think it's telling that even ACF said, "He was the best...he won."

Evans rode an impeccable race. The secret to BMC's success was that their captain did excatly what he needed to do to win the Tour.

 

[Damiano Machiavelli]

Half the contenders crashed out and the ones remaining were not in top form. Contador was tired and injured. Menchov was not invited. Basso crashed before the Tour. The Schlecks were subpar to their usual level. Those two took a lot of flack for not burying Contador in the Pyreness, but this was because they did not have the form to do so. Even when Andy went on his own, he did not climb any faster than Evans. You cannot knock Evans for being the strongest of the remaining contenders, but let us not pretend his win was the result of brilliant riding by him or his team. He rode the same plodding race that he always rides.

Evans winning the Tour is like Hincapie winning Paris-Roubaix. Both are contenders but not top contenders. A win would require a lot of luck and the others who are always better to be missing from contention. Evans got two chances before when all the contenders from the first half of the decade were eliminated for various reasons. He still could not seal the deal, even against the new crop of inexperienced but more talented riders. He got really lucky this year. Hincapie never had that same kind of luck.

 

[goggalor]

Yeah. Evans was lucky that all the other contenders were crap. He'll have no chance next year. Unless they're crap again.

 

[needasmoke]

I'm new here .. What do you all mean by 'clinic'?

 

[auscyclefan94]

Wow, some are just soooooo stupid.

Putting it down to luck is ridiculous. I don't think one rider from last year except maybe Contador would of beaten Evans this year at the tour.

The baseless hate of some is amazing.

 

[powderpuff]

We are not all turning into a bunch of whiners saying that luck and crashes affected the outcome of a GT are we?

Were the race dynamics not changed in 2008 by Ricco and Cadel's crashes;

2006 and Flloyd what would have happened without him being juiced?

2007 didn't the Chicken have a big effect on how AC raced that race, what happened if he was out earlier;

2009 everyone was lucky for the Lotto - Cadel dynamics meltdown.

2010 Cadel's broken elbow.

A lot of IFs there hey... who the hell cares, everyone wins races against the people who start and the people who finish, thats the way it goes.

Cadel won fullstop.

 

[Damiano Machiavelli]

Putting it down to luck is ridiculous. I don't think one rider from last year except maybe Contador would of beaten Evans this year at the tour.

Dude, pull your head out. The Contador of last year would have shredded Evans. The Schleck of last year would have done the same. Evans would have had a real battle keeping up with Menchov. Evans would have needed a telescope to catch a glimpse Contador in his Giro form.

Evans won, but do not let jingoism or idol worship tell you that it was anything but a workman-like victory that relied on the absence and subpar performance of others.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

I look at this a little differently, for 2011:
Cadel + Cadel + Cadel + Burghi + Cadel + GVA + GVA + Cadel + BMC + GVA + GVA

Translated:
2011
March 14..........Tirreno, Stage 6.......... Cadel
March 15..........Tirreno, Overall.......... Cadel
May 1..........Tour of Romandie, Overall.......... Cadel
May 29..........Tour of Belgium, Sprints class..........Burghardt
July 5..........Tour of France, Stage 4..........Cadel
July 8..........Tour of Austria, Stage 6..........GVA
July 10..........Tour of Austria, Points class..........GVA
July 24..........Tour of France, Overall..........Cadel
July 27..........Tour of Wallonie, Stage 5..........GVA
July 27..........Tour of Wallonie, Overall..........GVA

 

[BM1979]

Dude, pull your head out. The Contador of last year would have shredded Evans. The Schleck of last year would have done the same. Evans would have had a real battle keeping up with Menchov. Evans would have needed a telescope to catch a glimpse Contador in his Giro form.

Evans won, but do not let jingoism or idol worship tell you that it was anything but a workman-like victory that relied on the absence and subpar performance of others.

All you want to do is make excuses for why Evans won the tour , he was in the best form he ever has been at the Tour , he rode brilliantly and Won , it's as simple as that.

I can talk **** as well Contador only won the Tour last year cause Evans crashed and it was proven this year when he got owned. Menchov , I hope thats a joke.

 

[Damiano Machiavelli]

All you want to do is make excuses for why Evans won the tour , he was in the best form he ever has been at the Tour , he rode brilliantly and Won , it's as simple as that.

Nope. I am glad that Evans won instead of one of the whinging Schlecks. Since I am not Australian, I do not suffer bouts of Evans delusion that cause me to describe his performance somewhere between Merckx and the second coming of Jesus. You do not know if Evans was in his best form ever. All the riders to compare that with were not invited, crashed out, or were not in their usual form. What we do know is that Evans' "best form ever" was barely good enough to drop Voeckler, a man who expected everyone to ride away from him on the first mountain stage. If Voeckler would not have burned himself up on a solo chase before the Alpe then he probably would have podiumed. That says a lot about the level at which this Tour was ridden.

It is not Evans fault that no one brought their "A" game. He can only ride against those who show up. He won. Good on him. But the fans do not have to delude themselves into thinking that it was a brilliant performance.

 

[BM1979]

Nope. I am glad that Evans won instead of one of the whinging Schlecks. Since I am not Australian, I do not suffer bouts of Evans delusion that cause me to describe his performance somewhere between Merckx and the second coming of Jesus. You do not know if Evans was in his best form ever. All the riders to compare that with were not invited, crashed out, or were not in their usual form. What we do know is that Evans' "best form ever" was barely good enough to drop Voeckler, a man who expected everyone to ride away from him on the first mountain stage. If Voeckler would not have burned himself up on a solo chase before the Alpe then he probably would have podiumed. That says a lot about the level at which this Tour was ridden.

It is not Evans fault that no one brought their "A" game. He can only ride against those who show up. He won. Good on him. But the fans do not have to delude themselves into thinking that it was a brilliant performance.

So your saying that I can not judge that Cadel was in career best form but you are allowed to judge everyone else not being in form, Yep that say's a lot. There is no point in discussing it then.

 

[Trev_S]

What were BMC's TDF goals?
a. Winning the TDF
b. all of the above.



The team had a cracking TTT, better than most forum jockeys expected despite them having a solid team that should perform well. They clearly trained for the TTT knowing it would be of great importance.
Every stage the BMC team was instrumental in protecting Evans and allowing him to ride in the best position to minimise the hazards of the road.
Every stage the BMC team was instrumental in delivery Evans in good order to the mountains for him to do his stuff despite not having major support on the final climb or at least not when the pace was on (who did, not many when it really counts).

Once the team did it's job then there was no reason for them to push on for results in the team competition. It was hardly their objective. The team could sit back and conserve the best they could in order to ride again the following day.

It's not pure luck that Evans avoided the crashes as there was very few within the whole team, they comanded good road positioning the majority of the tour.

Job well done by Evans and the whole team. They showed they had the best overall package to win the tour.
Plain and simple.

 

[ProfTournesol]

Dude, pull your head out. The Contador of last year would have shredded Evans. The Schleck of last year would have done the same. Evans would have had a real battle keeping up with Menchov. Evans would have needed a telescope to catch a glimpse Contador in his Giro form.

Evans won, but do not let jingoism or idol worship tell you that it was anything but a workman-like victory that relied on the absence and subpar performance of others.

I'm amazed: 2 MTB World Cups, top in the Pro Tour rankings over a season, Spring Classics, a World Championship a Tour de France. How can such an ordinary rider have so much luck? I suppose that everybody else was down on form that stage/race/year?
This is the curse of not being a 'spectacular rider', no matter what you do, some people will dismiss all your results just because you haven't won 'the right way'!

 

[leftover pie]

This is the curse of not being a 'spectacular rider', no matter what you do, some people will dismiss all your results just because you haven't won 'the right way'!

not enough "dancing on the pedals", no "handbag of courage"

 

[auscyclefan94]

Dude, pull your head out. The Contador of last year would have shredded Evans. The Schleck of last year would have done the same. Evans would have had a real battle keeping up with Menchov. Evans would have needed a telescope to catch a glimpse Contador in his Giro form.

Evans won, but do not let jingoism or idol worship tell you that it was anything but a workman-like victory that relied on the absence and subpar performance of others.

The contador of last year was not great. On such a course Evans would of beat AC and Schleck even more than what they did espcially with that TT course. Schleck even said he was better than last year. AC wasn't at his best in 2011 or 2010 tdf. Maybe you need to pull your head in and stop with the hate that you have shown towards Evans over the past month.

 

[jacko_69]

Yeah yeah heard the excuses before… such and such is not in form, if x rider was there they would have owned them… blah blah. I could easily say Evans would have won the tour last year if he hadn’t broken his arm. Imagine if he’d crashed this year, besides the fanboys who would have thought he could have won?

Schleck gave no excuse, he said Evans was stronger. Period. Was Schleck in top form? Some say no? What is the evidence for one way or the other for him or any other rider? Some might quote climb speeds compared with last year or that AS & AC dropped everyone last year. AC argues he was below form, what then does that say about AS. The tactics of each given day, the parcours and the stages prior play into how hard or not the race is ridden, so it’s very hard to say either way if a rider was at their best, hell that can vary daily.

What we do know is this is a race they were all trying to peak for (Contador excluded, he was hoping his form would hold). When comparing previous years races, we will never be able to say with certainty which riders were at their absolute peak. The only rider that falls outside of the norm is Contador, he’s shown all too often that he’s on a whole different planet to everyone else.

Putting aside the ifs and buts, Evans should be praised for being the strongest and therefore the deserved winner of the 2011 Tour. You can only go by the results, suggesting anything else is pure speculation.

 

[ExRower]

I see what most here are driving at.

But you know what? None of these pretenders would have won if 2003 USPS w/ Lance was in the Tour.

Get over it already, Cadel won fair and square, and his teamates kept him out of trouble. Congrats to him!

 

[ProfTournesol]

I see what most here are driving at.

But you know what? None of these pretenders would have won if 2003 USPS w/ Lance was in the Tour.

Get over it already, Cadel won fair and square, and his teamates kept him out of trouble. Congrats to him!

well it's unlikely any contemporary rider would have even seen Lance or Pantani's dust, or even have kept up with their domestiques.

 

[richo36]

it was luck that pulled cadel up the galibier and it was luck that he had those mechanical problems on stage 19. seriously how can ppl say he won it on luck alone. Name 1 time where cadel made a mistake in the tour?

Bmc where amazing this tour. There always had cadel at the front. 2nd in the TTT. sure they could of been better in the mountains but Overall they were fantastic.

 

[theyoungest]

I don't think Cadel has ever been out of the first 20 riders in the peloton. BMC were very well grouped around their leader, the best of any team.

In the mountains they weren't very impressive, but that was to be expected. Still, the team is as strong as its leader, and they had the strongest rider in the race.

But the BMC team's main success factor is still Cadel Evans, no matter how you look at it. They didn't win the race on the collective strength of their team.

 

[Tragic]

Black Socks.

 

[veganrob]

Ah yeah. We should all be wearing the rose colored glasses when talking about Cadel and BMC.
To their credit they rode the perfect race, as it turned out, under the circumstances given. Credit where deserved. But that is all. Please. The events of the Tour really just heavily favored them. They were very lucky for many reasons as given by others.