Worst line up for the Giro

[Mrs John Murphy]

Leopard are probably stronger with Brice in the team than they were without - lets see if he can live up to the hype. And AG2R have Gadret who is capable of a top 10 finish.

BMC are by far the weakest team out.

 

[theyoungest]

With all due respect to the riders racing in the Giro, this looks to be, on paper, one of the weakest Giro fields with respect to the overall in a long time. Combine the weak field with this being one of the hardest courses, on paper, in a long time and it could provide some interesting racing.

One of the weakest fields? When did the Giro last attract two riders from the Tour podium of the preceding year, including the winner?

 

[taiwan]

Leopard are probably stronger with Brice in the team than they were without - lets see if he can live up to the hype. And AG2R have Gadret who is capable of a top 10 finish.

BMC are by far the weakest team out.

When was the last time Brice actually raced? He's an improvement on an empty slot, but not on Bennati.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

With all due respect to the riders racing in the Giro, this looks to be, on paper, one of the weakest Giro fields with respect to the overall in a long time. Combine the weak field with this being one of the hardest courses, on paper, in a long time and it could provide some interesting racing.

wow, under what stone did you roll out?? isé arguably the greatest giro field in the past 15 years for sure. I think there's a combined of 10 gt wins in this race at the least

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

With all due respect to the riders racing in the Giro, this looks to be, on paper, one of the weakest Giro fields with respect to the overall in a long time. Combine the weak field with this being one of the hardest courses, on paper, in a long time and it could provide some interesting racing.

Are you kidding me?

This field even rivals the Tour fields of the past years. I would say even stronger...
Contador, Nibali, Menchov, Sastre, do you know how many GT wins they represent?

 

[theyoungest]

Of course the field isn't as strong as when the Texan rode it

 

[Mellow Velo]

With all due respect to the riders racing in the Giro, this looks to be, on paper, one of the weakest Giro fields with respect to the overall in a long time. Combine the weak field with this being one of the hardest courses, on paper, in a long time and it could provide some interesting racing.

Joining in the general condemnation, here.
With respect to the overall, this Giro has quite possibly a stronger line up than the Tour; certainly in terms proven GT winners.
The Tour will have a far stronger line up of bottle carriers.

 

[JRanton]

BMC´s new roster -

Chris Barton (USA), Chad Beyer (USA), Chris Butler (USA), Mathias Frank (SUI), Martin Kohler (SUI), Alexander Kristoff (NOR), Johann Tschopp (SUI), Danilo Wyss (SUI), Simon Zahner (SUI).


Still think that Tschopp and Frank will go for the mountains classification.

If the Italian authorities have a heart then they'll immediately start organising various search parties across Italy. A few of those BMC guys will have only just made it back home after getting lost at last year's Giro.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

BMC will finish with 3 guys, Lotto will finish with 4.

Euskaltel finished the 2008 Giro with 4. I think this will happen again.

Even if Antón doesn't crash out (he must be absolutely bricking himself about descending Crostis!) he will probably be reduced to stagehunting as his support squad is weak. He'll probably race the same way Rodríguez did in '08. Maybe he could go for KOM but he'll need to drop a lot of time early to be given that rope after last year's Vuelta. Only Nieve is really a top quality support guy for him.

Remember Antón raced the Ardennes, though he wasn't exactly peaking there, so he may take it easy at times in the Giro. I don't see him factoring into the GC after 21 stages.

The Vuelta, on the other hand, he'll want his fingerprints all over.

 

[hrotha]

Unless Antón gets himself a maglia rosa, Nieve should be all the help he'll need in the mountains.

 

[Christian]

Leopard are probably stronger with Brice in the team than they were without - lets see if he can live up to the hype.

I think they are weaker - with Benna they had a real shot at stage wins and even the points jersey. They certainly have decent and rather well-known riders but when it comes to stage wins they are all long shots

 

[Mrs John Murphy]

Hard to tell. IMO tard are slightly stronger with BF, but not a huge amount. Bennati hasn't exactly been lighting up the world and is so very brittle. And I don't think the points jersey will be won by a sprinter. BF IMO is capable of a decent finish and potentially a couple of good stage results.

 

[ultimobici]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/gaz...es-evidence-from-mantova-doping-investigation

exactly what i said.professional riders with millions of dollars in their bank accounts and still acting like fuccin amateurs,talking on the phone about their medecines and shiit.it's career over for ballan and at least another 5 good riders.why?because they're not too smart.

Because they don't cover their tracks or because they doped?

I hope you mean the latter.

 

[Cimber]

With all due respect to the riders racing in the Giro, this looks to be, on paper, one of the weakest Giro fields with respect to the overall in a long time. Combine the weak field with this being one of the hardest courses, on paper, in a long time and it could provide some interesting racing.

I strongly disagree. Alot of huge GC contenders. No. 1 and 3 from last year´s tour fx, and they are both not Italiens. How often are the main favorites not Italian? And justy look and the sprinter line-up. Its a really great Giro field this year.

That said I am kinda disappointed with esp. Leotard Trek. To them it seems to be only the classics and the Tour. To bad really.

 

[taiwan]

Hard to tell. IMO tard are slightly stronger with BF, but not a huge amount. Bennati hasn't exactly been lighting up the world and is so very brittle. And I don't think the points jersey will be won by a sprinter. BF IMO is capable of a decent finish and potentially a couple of good stage results.

Bennati's been going well recently, winning 3 stages of the Circuit de a Sarthe. Feillu has had a year off an wasn`t showing anything in the Tour of Romandie which he just rode. Bennati could fight or the red jersey or win a later/more difficult stage. Feillu is straight breakaway fodder at this point. It`s not that hard to tell.

guys,bennati won't be here.he's injured.

We know. Question is whether Leopard would be stronger with Brice Feillu or Bennati in their line up.

 

[jens_attacks]

guys,bennati won't be here.he's injured.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Unless Antón gets himself a maglia rosa, Nieve should be all the help he'll need in the mountains.

I see that team lose more than 2 minutes in ttt and way more on sterrato

 

[auscyclefan94]

Does anyone think that the starde bianche could be descisive this year?

 

[just some guy]

Depends a lot on rain/dust/mechanicals I think.

Still get Goosebumps from last years

 

[taiwan]

I think Nibali will be good there this time.

 

[dlwssonic]

contador will be a newbie on the strade bianche.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Leopard Trek. They have the riders and come with BFeillu as captain. At least they could have sent Gerdemann for the CG

 

[will10]

I sure hope it rains on the Strade Bianche, that should shuffle the pack as last year

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

I think Nibali will be good there this time.

if it wasn't for the crash and the fact he towed basso the whole way I think he would have been alright last year, so yes I agree.

 

[Cimber]

Leopard Trek. They have the riders and come with BFeillu as captain. At least they could have sent Gerdemann for the CG

Feillu or Gerdemann, it wont matter. None of them can make top 15