Worst line up for the Giro

[pmcg76]

I guess OPL justified their place at the Giro today, weak team or not.

Still early days but RadioShack are going very badly, Machado is well down, McEwen nowhere in the sprints. Deignan who was talking about aiming for a decent GC place is finishing with the backmarkers each day. Popoyvch has been active but its hard to see where they might take a win or do something.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Yup, OPL also have the mountain jersey now.
Quick step have Cataldo doing well in the GC.

I think Farnese Vini have been underwhelming so far. Gatto with one good finish and that's it?

 

[will10]

Farnese Vini wouldn't have been invited if it wasn't for Visconti, and now he is struggling we are seeing how poor a team they are. Can't see them winning a stage unless Visconti perks up

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Vasc. have tried, but aren't really hitting the mark so far. I can't see them doing much in the final 8-9 days.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

Farnese Vini wouldn't have been invited if it wasn't for Visconti, and now he is struggling we are seeing how poor a team they are. Can't see them winning a stage unless Visconti perks up

It doesn't help when their DS has half a dozen of their team on the front yesterday chasing down the break without help for about 30 km. They were rewarded with 37th place

 

[toolittle]

Farnese Vini wouldn't have been invited if it wasn't for Visconti, and now he is struggling we are seeing how poor a team they are. Can't see them winning a stage unless Visconti perks up

Farnese Vini sent their strongest lineup already. As a 2nd tier pro-contiential team, they has done a good job already.

Visconti must has a plan for stage win. May be just saving energy and wait for target.

 

[Sylvester]

Visconti has a knee injury. Moreover, yesterday they were working for Oscar Gatto, who did just fine on stage 5 and might as well win a stage later on in the race.

 

[El Pistolero]

Although I'm a big Euskaltel fan, I must admit Sesma (probably one of the weakest riders on any World Tour team, go check his results), Cazaux and Aramendia are simply not the best of GT domestiques (they're young, though, there is plenty of room for improvement, but Sesma does not even stand a chance of finishing inside the time limit). Azanza has finished the Tour once, I reckon he'll be able to finish this Giro too. I bet the commentators won't name him even once. Oroz and Isasi are very good riders, but they won't get results. Minguez is a talent to watch, he might surprise in the mountains although it's more likely he will not deliver just yet.

But Nieve and Anton are in great shape and will do very well.

As for Lotto: De Clercq, even in good form, won't finish (why on earth is he being selected for this hard Giro, he only started cycling three years ago); Blythe, Veikkanen, Lodewyck, Dockx and Lang will probably not be noticed at all (maybe Blythe can podium a sprint stage, but I doubt it). Kaisen will be in a lot of breakaways; De Greef is a little underrated, but I can't see him do any better than top 30. Bakelants can win a stage for them, he's a great rider. A weak team to say the least, but overall slightly better than BMC's, I think.

I'm usually not one to gloat, but this is pure gold

 

[Mambo95]

I see a lot of people gloating about predictions and assessments here. But that's daft.

If we could predict results perfectly, we'd be billionaires. But none of us are.

But my real point is that just because events go against an pre-assessment, it does not necessarily invalidate that assessment.

For example, Weening. Assessing him as a steady, largely uninteresting rider would have been correct as he had won one race in the the past five years. Just because he won a stage doesn't make him Phil Gilbert. The assessment is still largely valid (but needing a little revision).

Similarly, if in March you had said that Cancellara is a better cobbles rider than Nuyens, this correct assessment is not invalidated by Nuyens winning RVV.

A weak team is a weak team. But weak teams still win once in a while. It just means their slightly less weak than we thought.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Let's bear in mind that after Visconti, the other guy Farnese Vini were hoping for good results from was Sinkewitz, after his performances in the second half of last season both in hilly one day races (eg Giro della Romagna) and difficult stage race GCs (eg Volta a Portugal).

With no Sinkewitz for obvious reasons, no Guardini (who has been their star this season) for sensible reasons and a Visconti struggling for health, it's no wonder they haven't been front left and centre of the race.

 

[K-0tic]

I'm usually not one to gloat, but this is pure gold

It's funny how these things can bounce back so easily.

 

[Sylvester]

yesterday they were working for Oscar Gatto, who did just fine on stage 5 and might as well win a stage later on in the race.

Quod erat demonstrandum. Now we only need Sesma and Azanza to win a stage, and this thread will have proven to be useless.

 

[The Hitch]

Farnese Vini wouldn't have been invited if it wasn't for Visconti, and now he is struggling we are seeing how poor a team they are. Can't see them winning a stage unless Visconti perks up

This is one weird Giro. As always. Im not singleing you out because most of us saw things this way, but you were the one to say it so, well there it is

Last year 17 of the 22 teams got a jersey for a day or a stage win.

This year how many have we already got crossed off the list?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I started the "Farnese Vini doesn't look great" thing.

Oh well. So... uhm. Doesn't Euskaltel look horrid *cue Anton winning tomorrow*

 

[greenedge]

OPL and Farnesse Vini have performed better than expected though the latter had Visconti. Acqua Sapone, Vaconsoleil and Euskatel come on along with perenial bad line up BMC. OPL have got Bart who shall end up winning, and had Lang in solo break. Bakelandts could win one maybe. Think Garzelli will be shock performer tomorrow.

 

[Midnightfright]

OPL and Farnesse Vini have performed better than expected though the latter had Visconti. Acqua Sapone, Vaconsoleil and Euskatel come on along with perenial bad line up BMC. OPL have got Bart who shall end up winning, and had Lang in solo break. Bakelandts could win one maybe. Think Garzelli will be shock performer tomorrow.

Im not so sure about Garzelli he seemed to use a hell of alot of energy getting back on to the peloton at the end of yesterdays stage. I was surprised at how flustered he seemed to get for such and experienced rider.