The Strength Of *Lotto
by ursula on Jul 14, 2008 8:00 PM EDT
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PrintConventional wisdom around these parts seem to be coalescing around the idea that *Lotto sucks as a support team and that Evans should either try to lose that shiny yellow shirt or it will soon get ripped off him.
I beg to differ.
First look again at the *Lotto team:
Evans
Aerts
Brandt
Cioni
Hoste
McEwen
Popovych
Van Summeren
Vansevenant
Think about those riders. What do they do well. Below the fold let's see how they are really a better team than it seems and how they can help Evans ride the yellow most if not all of the way into Paris.
This is now an eleven stage Tour. 10 stages really if you leave out the last stage. So think of this as Lotto has shortened the game.
We've got Wednesday's hilly stage, with a long downhill finish. Then three flatish stages. Then three mountain stages, the third of which is stupidly humongo. Then two (small) hilly stages, then the ITT. 10 stages.
We know that Evans should be dominant on the ITT. He should be able to make up a 2-3 minute deficit on anybody except maybe Menchov- more than that on most rivals.
On the mountains no one can really help him much due to his style. As we know, he's a grinder and he's probably the best in the world at it. (Maybe Levi can match him and he's not here.) Its not his nature, physically or mentally to attack like Ricco. So really he has little use/need for a teammate going up the mountains as he'll keep grinding away almost regardless of what's happening around him. Sure it would be great to have a tow from a teammate but Tour history says that the Champion always ends alone and Evans' mental makeup is copasetic with that. If he loses in the mountains it will be because he's just not good enough and no teammate would be able to change that.
But it would be of great help if his team could get him to the base of the Alps relatively fresh. That his team can do. He's got a damn good team for defending on the flats. Hoste, Van Summeren, etc.: these guys are quite strong on the flats. Even Robbie will help. They are a close match to say, Cancellara or Voigt. The Classics evidence says this. They won;t get overwhelmed. They can do what Phonak in 06 couldn't do and that is prevent breakaways from either sapping Evans' strength or making them lose the jersey on an otherwise simple stage. So Evans' team will bury themselves on the flats to keep any break down. That is why they were picked. If Evans does lose the yellow it will be by only a few seconds, tops, and there's a good chance he doesn't lose it.
That leaves the mountains & ITT where like always the yellow jersey is won or lost. But Evans will enter those stages as refreshed as he can be. It will be touch and go. We will see some spectacular racing. But if Evans loses its will be because he himself can't hold the wheels of his rivals and all Tour Champions have to pass that test. His team, meanwhile, will have done their job.
We've noticed how CSC held back until stage 10. Well Lotto is still holding back. They've let Evans natural assume a dominant position between the TT and Pyrenees. I figure they can defend in the flats (that task is right in their wheelhouse) and even, like Cancellara today, we will see one or two of them providing some good help on the mountains before the final climbs.
So now tell me how the other teams will attack Evans and what are the chances for those attacks in succeeding.
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I think the conventional wisdom
is that Menchov and Evans are one mishap from disaster, since they have no support above the tree line.
Lotto melted today. Popo was gone long before the finish.
You have to work really hard to put a positive spin on that.
That said, I still think Evans is the one to beat. But it would be very unfortunate if he lost the Tour because he was lacking teammates at some crucial moment on a climb in the middle of a stage.
Au contraire!
Lotto did not melt. The team does not expect them to ride with Evans in the high mountains. They have other jobs.
the biggest problem is Popo which they haven’t integrated all year.
Dunno
I think it’s a fair assumption that any team can safely shepherd any rider across the flats. But the mountains (above the treeline, as Kevin puts it) are where the minutes are made. And Evans just doesn’t have any help, there. At all.
Kind of agree - not a real burden
Lotto couldn’t support Evans in the mountains without the Jersey so what is the difference?
The fact that they will have a job on the flats might actually help them. Deliver Cadel to the base of the climbs with the contenders. They could actually put some big boys like Van Summeran on the front and pound away. it will come down to Evans isolated on a climb. He will have to come through then to win, and then the time trial is him alone also. but really all the contenders are like that.
good way to put it
When it comes right down to it, the GC men have to win alone.
But, at the same time, I’m sure it’s nice to have a teammate around for as long as possible in case you need some help.
Yeah but yellow doesn't change things
I agree that is better to have teammates on the climbs, but having or not having yellow really won’t make any difference. Lotto is much stronger on the flats or small hills than say, Phonak was. van Summeran, Hoste, Popovich and so on could lay on some hurt to breakaways to keep them at a reasonable distance.
Horner
might be the missing link here. If they still had Horner, he would be able to hang with Cadel and climb him up to the final mountain. I think chucking Horner was a bad move for Lotto.
Verrry good point there.
After a hard day of watching a Tour stage, I like to unwind with Verbotene Liebe
Even without Horner
Lotto can support Evans as well as he needs to be supported to win GC. I’m with Ursula and Markk on that one. Sastre can’t TT himself into yellow because he cannot beat Evans in a TT. Sastre cannot climb himself into yellow because there are not enough mountain stages left . Menchov has no real hope to make up the time he has already lost. Nobody else can grind it out like Evans. And Evans just sounds different this year. Last year he sounded like he was about to cry whenever they interviewed him. This year he sounds like a winner.
Why do you say there aren't enough mountain stages left?
Stages 15 through 17 all feature a fair bit of climbing and 2 mountaintop finishes. If CSC can weaken Evans on stages 15 and 16 while keeping Sastre’s powder relatively dry, so to speak, I would think stage 17 would be a golden opportunity to reel in a lot of minutes over Evans. Whether that opportunity will exist on stage 17 (no guarantee Evans will be significantly weakened on stages 15 and 16), or whether Sastre (or Schlek) will be able to deliver the goods remains to be seen, but I don’t think there’s any lack of mountain stage opportunities left for CSC.
Si... Many mountains
And the mountain stages in the Alpes are longer and harder. For all the drama, the Tourmalet-Hautacam stage was a short one by Tour standards. A lot depends on what sort of legs CSC brings to the Alpes. They will make or break the race there.
On the Horner issue… Am I remembering last year’s Tour wrong? I don’t recall ever seeing Horner anywhere near the front at the business end of the high mountain stages. I doubt very much he’d have lasted beyond the bottom slopes of the Hautacam, short stage or no. Indeed, I’m not sure I can remember a moment in the Tour where he’s played a decisive role, except maybe the decision not to work with Chavanel for the stage win.
Well, to be fair
stage 16 is similarly “short”, so to speak, at 157 km. Though the more I look at and consider stage 17, though, the more I wonder what the Tour organizers were thinking. I’m scared and I don’t have to ride it.
Si...
I was thinking of stage 17, actually when I said the Alpes were harder. I suspect that’s where Sastre’s best chance to win the Tour lies. If he arrives there with good legs, and still a strong team to support him, I won’t rule out a big move.
Horner was around
That was my recollection. I don’t recall ever seeing him summit with Evans, but he certainly delivered him to the climbs and hung with him some. But his job was just to get Evans to the climbs.
He was up there...
... except most of the time, ~:>, the Accountant and Soler were up the road playing the part of Peeps, Cobo and Kohl. Evans ground away in a smaller pack with Leipheimer, Valverde, et al.
Remember the stage where close to the summit, Soler pedaled up to Rasmussen with a big freakin’ grin on his face and offered his water bottle to him as a friendly gesture? I must have replayed that a bajillion times.
After a hard day of watching a Tour stage, I like to unwind with Verbotene Liebe
mmkay
But I mostly remember Evans commenting that his team wasn’t really around and a ton of outraged Horner fans flipping out. And I mostly remember Evans on his own in the Levi-Contador group, getting double-teamed.
+1
I just don’t see what the others are seeing about Sastre. He is just missing that little something to finish off the work of his team. I think Menchov would have a better chance than Sastre. But either way, I just don’t see Frank Schleck getting it done either. He WILL crack on some mountain at some point. He’s just not cut out for the high mountains. Yesterday was one thing,but day after day? Nah. I think that Evans might have timed his peak about perfectly. If that’s the case, he will be VERY hard to get rid of. Think about it: he rode very well yesterday after a severe crash the day before. As his wounds heal up, he’ll be even better.
If I just had one more gear, I...
a small quibble
Ever ridden after a crash? The first day is usually not so bad. After that, it tends to get much worse before it gets better. Evans injuries, whatever they are, remain one of the wildcards of this Tour.
Maybe it was just me
but it appeared that Evans was ridding lopsided on the final climb. It looked like he was holding his left side fairly rigid while really grinding away with his right. If this is the case, we may see Evans relying on in-the-saddle riding on the climbs.
good point
certo, he rode the whole climb in the saddle. that may not have been by choice. i missed that he was lopsided, but if so, that will over time make for some rough days.
he looked the same as always
He climbed in and out of the saddle with his tried and true Igor hunchback style.
I think since he made it up two HC climbs with the best in the world, we can safely conclude that the crash didn’t cause him too much damage.
Walk... this way...
After a hard day of watching a Tour stage, I like to unwind with Verbotene Liebe
I wouldn't be a good example as I'm not used to it
I was speaking about his Psychological state. His head seemed to be on straight after crashing his brains out. That is something that you have or don’t have. Apparently he has it.
If I just had one more gear, I...
Perhaps, but
what if you flipped yesterday’s stage and it was Evans who got dropped (let’s say with a mechanical) going up the first climb and was not able to reintegrate on the descent. Does he catch the CSC train before the start of Hautacam without any teammates? And if he does, it’s a fair bet to assume he burned a ton of matches doing it.
There are times when teammates matter and smart Directors will take note of his lack of them at certain strategic times.
"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum."
Point taken- Insurance
Hmm. I’m trying to think of what kind of team you would need to solve your hypothetical. A team that can put climbers up ahead who can wait if needed, other who can climb with your GC threat on that first mountain, and then have them link together to form a train on the intervening flat.
In reality you are talking about CSC itself and Astana. I’m not sure of any other team that has that kind of power. CdE should be in their league though yesterday perhaps showed that they should have not put themselves on the front in the first week nearly as much as they did. Maybe Rabobank if they had all their riders in one race (Gesink, a happy Dekker). For the other teams maybe its beyond their budgets to plan for that kind of Grand Tour insurance.
In the past
it was Postal, but that model is no longer available. In practice it’s as you say, CSC and Astana have been the only ones to consistently do it. No other team currently in the race has the personnel to do it besides CSC, though SDV has been able to do it when the roads lead up. They also have the advantage of being out of the podium hunt and able to concentrate on jerseys and stage wins.
Just thinking about yesterday’s stage gives me a warm feeling. For such a short stage (less than 160K) and with ‘only’ 2 climbs, it sure was exciting wasn’t it? Kudos to the route makers so far.
"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum."
SDV isn't out of the podium race
Il Cobra is the only rider left who can really assassinate the leaders on the climbs. Two mountaintop finishes could put Ricco in the lead or at least ahead of Menchov. His odds for the podium would depend on the amount of that lead, of course, but Ricco on the podium is a possibility.
Ricco
I think this is possible, actually, if he keep riding the way he is, though in the press, Cobo today Cobo claims to be the team leader. Say whowha?
Hm....
then why isn’t he wearing #171? That comment seems kind of odd. I wonder if he got misquoted?
LOL, got me ;-)
I’ll have a quickly look in a bit at the full interview. Just saw the headline thingy.
Back with this, in a bit.
Well
you can’t switch numbers mid race. And Astarloza nor SamSan are wearing the top numbers for their team, and no one is insisting that Zubeldia is still the team leader there.
But Cobo is currently in 8th, 2’10” back. so if he can stay consistent on the climbs, he cold stay up there. Question…can the guy TT?
past performance, future returns
Cobo: he was 20th in the gc at last year’s Tour. He was an U23 Spanish national champion in the crono. Won the Tour of the Basque Country last year. Probably not a guy for the podium. A top five would be a brilliant result, a top ten is more likely, I think. But riding for the so-far dominant team in the mountains may help his chances, depending on how things go within the team. So far, they seem to be playing nice.
Full career results
from l'equipe: I am the leader
Cobo continues to believe the management talk that he is the leader. ‘I am the leader on GC and Piepoli & Ricco are stage hunters.’ which is why he gifted that stage win to Piepoli.
that's where i saw it...
just didn’t read it all. cuz life is short and all. and i was hoping maybe you’d do it for me. what are friends for? ;-)
hery another reason I love the Tour
it’s in French! easier for me than Spanish or Italian.
And I never, ever, attempt reading Flemish …
c'mon
flemish is fun. all those j’s and k’s. i would so never want to play scrabble in flemish.
by Jen See on Jul 15, 2008 12:40 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
maybe after a few tequilas
nah. latin languages for me, easy. the others not so much (can’t do german either)
How can you not love a language...
... that just glues adjectives together to form whole new nouns ie:
Steinbearbeitungsmachinen
or
Donaudampfschiffsfahrtgesellschaftskapitain
After a hard day of watching a Tour stage, I like to unwind with Verbotene Liebe
If he really puts
some time into Sastre then he could scoot into 3rd with a really good TT, but unless he puts serious time into Evans and Menchov and then they both don’t ride the final TT too well, I don’t see how he can get higher than 3rd.
He’s a wonderful climber but an attrocious long TTer. I’d love to see him prove me wrong though.
"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum."
Il Cobra/the ratsnake?
No, Ricco is not going to do it. Nobody is going to give him a leash anymore. CSC will be just as keen as Rabo and Lotto to bring him back. Not to mention that he must be on the downside of his “peak”. If he keeps going ballistic, then I will surely begin to think something is VERY off there. Besides that, there’s that pesky long ITT where he will lose MINUTES of time. If he pulls a Rasmussen type TT, then we will definitely know he’s juiced.
If I just had one more gear, I...
Right... tour the priority, budgets
It means having a sponsor willing to make the Tour a priority. That was one of the keys to the Postal thingy – the sponsor didn’t care what the team did until July. So, they didn’t waste legs or euros winning races other than the Tour. Not every team has that luxury, indeed, very very few do. In the case of CSC, Riis has picked his battles to assemble this Tour team – the Giro was a tad under-staffed by CSC standards, for example, and Riis has stopped trying to win every short stage race on the calender and focused instead on a few big objectives. Caisse has a plenty strong team, but not the leader to finish the deal. Failing to anticipate the CSC move through the valley was a big mistake, though perhaps there was little more that Valverde could do on the Tourmalet.
For Lotto, they have a relatively small budget for a team of their level. I forget the number right now, but it isn’t huge – smaller than CSC for ex. Their sponsor wants exposure in the Belgian classics, and they can’t ignore that priority. Consequently, their budget, already small, is pulled between two objectives – the Tour and the classics. Climbing talent of the grand tour type costs big money. Postal paid Heras somewhere in the neighborhood of 1 mil euros to come to the team. Lotto simply doesn’t have that sort of cash.
Hm, that's got me thinking
any recollection on what happened to Periero in 2006 that he lost a half hour in the Pyrenees that year? Yeah, his win that year was a fluke, but he was actually pretty good in the Alps. I’m kinda wondering if it may not be time to make him the GC leader on CdE instead of Valverde, who’s great in the classics but has been something of a flop in the TdF. I mean, it doesn’t really seem to me that Valverde has been off form either of the last two years, and the more I’m looking, the more suspect I am becoming as regards to his chances of ever winning the TdF…
I can't remember either
About Pereiro’s time loss I mean. But I do remember at the time he was in that long break, thinking wtf, he’s been top ten before in this race, why are they letting him go up the road? He wasn’t at that point a total unknown. Yes, I do think they should ride for him, as Valverde is not really a grand tour rider, and probably never really was, except at Kelme. But they’re paying Valverde a ridiculous amount of money and he is the big name on their team.
Interesting, actually, to see what they do to try and save this Tour.
not saying it would be easy ;)
but valverde is going to try and win a mountain stage. I agree that they need (needed) to let Pereiro ride (hey that’s got a ring to it)
Not totally true
at least the bit about not winning races. I always thought that part of the deal for riders like Heras and Salvoldelli was that they would also be given reasonable support for their home tours in exchange for water carrying in July. Lance didn’t care, the sponsor didn’t care, but they didn’t sell out their palmares completely.
Even so, I agree that one key to USPS was filling the team with guys who could have at least had a crack at the podium if they were elsewhere. Whereas at Lotto pretty much everyone beyond Robbie and Cadel is on minimum wage. That’s even banned on VDS now.
Truthfully...
I don’t think they ever really cared whether Heras won the Vuelta or not. It was all about the Tour – making sure Heras didn’t win for another team and buying the best support that they could afford. Which was pretty darn good.
And yes, Lotto pays low. They don’t have much choice.
Speaking of Lotto
I have been trying – for some time now – to find/figure out which mid/late 90s Lotto jersey it was that made much of the Red, Black and Yellow. The color scheme was solid, and there weren’t many sponsors on it. Pretty sure it wasn’t the Mobistar years.
Anyone recall?
thank you!
I was just coming back here to post that I’d found it, having come across a story about this team in Road Bike Action (hey, it’s free via Cycling USA) magazine.
IMO
CSC worked very hard today and got what I would consider a small advantage from all that work. Sure Schleck went up the road and took some time from the favorites, but Sastre is the one that needs that time. Schleck the Elder will most assuredly crack at some point and drop off the back. He is good but cannot finish this thing off. It can be said that Cunego and Valverde were cracked by CSC, but they weren’t really ever true favorites. As far as his team goes, having climbers around him in the mountains would only help him in chasing others down. He’s not the kind of rider that could get huge benefit from a mountain train ala Armstrong since attacking to break the other riders isn’t how he gets it done. I don’t know how the other teams will beat him. But I will say that Sastre can’t just wait around for the right time, because there is no right time for him. He has to attack every opportunity he can or that’s it for his chances. I don’t think he is the kind of rider that can pick and choose. He has to take what he can get every time he can get it, that’s the only way he’s gonna win this.
If I just had one more gear, I...
two more chances for Carlos
Stage 15, and the biggie stage 17. If he doesn’t have several minutes in hand by then, it’s pretty much over.
Yep, Sastre.
I really want him to do it. But I’ve wanted that for so long without results (for no apparently good reason) that I’m just not expecting it to happen, this time.
I think it's a really unfair judgement
CSC blew the strongest mountainteam and both their CG hopefuls completely out of the competition. Along with that they shelled out two outsiders in Cunego and Kirchen. Add to that that they exposed both the main contenders to the point when they were sitting alone against the Sastre+Schleck x2. And all this on the first(!) mountainstage.
And to say that Valverde and Cunego were never true favourites is only true in the very theoretical “Who will win the TdF according to the numbers”-textbook. If we were only to go by that there really is no need to ride the race at all, of course Evans will win followed by Menchov and eithe Sastre or VV. Reality is something completely different.
i agree
They completely controlled the stage and put Frank within 1 second of yellow.
Valverde and Cunego’s tour was ended by sending Cancellara up the road. It’s very rare that a team can actually carry a such an ambitious plan out.
They performed with ultimate panache.
panache :-)
Well said, Jens. I don’t think anyone in the cars was discounting Cunego or Valverde as possible winner. They simply can’t afford to do that. CSC significantly narrowed the race yesterday, that’s a huge accomplishment in a stage race. Any time you can eliminate even one posssible GC rider, you’ve succeeded. If you eliminate two in one move? Heh, you’re getting somewhere now.
We watch bike racing because the unexpected can happen, and often does. Kim Kirchen could well have suddenly before our vvery eyes become a rider for the three week races. A smart DS will not take such possibilities for granted. He has to ride the race that is, not the one that the pundits say should be.
I'm not diagreeing with anyone per se
But come on! We all knew that Valverde, Cunego, and Kirchen were not going to do it. You don’t just win the Tour like that. To think otherwise isn’t thinking realistically. I know everyone wants a completely unexpected race, but unexpected doesn’t win the Tour. The Giro, obviously. The Tour, no. That’s just not how it is. And no, Valverde and Cunego were never really favorites, that was just the hype machine going into overdrive. The very theoretical "Who will win the TdF according to the numbers"-textbook isn’t really that theoretical. Past performance in the Tour is the best indicator of future success. Cunego never did anything and Valverde never did anything that would ever make him a favorite. Yes there are unexpected moments in the Tour, but by and large, they are relatively rare.
If I just had one more gear, I...
chasing more than one target
I thought CSC’s advantage (and Caisse’s before today) was having more than one guy within striking distance. Send Frank or Sastre up the road again and Evans will be the one who has to chase him. The other guy sits on and comes around in the last 2-5 km to take some time (which Sastre didn’t or couldn’t do but I think absolutely should have done). That takes someone who is both good in the mountains and hangs around in the top ten for some time. If Popo and Evans were both there, it would be a different match.
Might not be needed, but couldn’t someone like Piepoli help pace him back / keep him from losing too much if he does have a bad day in the mountains? Like Kirchen today – would help from Hincappie or Lovkvist kept him a little closer?
depends
If Sastre was feeling confident and dominant, then yeah, take some time. But we’ve got years of experience to the contrary – Sastre isn’t ever giving anyone The Look.
So just mark Evans. Quietly sit on, bide your time. And then let it rip.
They could use
Jurgen Van Den Broeck or Matt Lloyd to pull up the final climbs and discourage attacks. I think Van Den Broeck would have been on the team instead of Brandt if he didn’t get hurt. Lloyd was exhausted after the Ardennes and Giro.
yeah, before the Tour
in one of this two i think at least Lloyd will be in the Tour.
But Cioni seems in a good form. Nothing brilliant but very consistent.
by semprenaroda on Jul 14, 2008 9:29 PM EDT up reply actions
on the other hand
I was thinking about their VDB or Lloyd for the Tour earlier, but since then I’ve read a number of articles where significant mention was made of the chemistry between a number of the riders, and I think loyalty and familiarity play a big role. For example, Vansummeren and Brandt were apparently 2 riders who unquestioningly wanted to ride for Evans for GC when he first came to *Lotto and Evans really appreciated that … also didn’t realize that Mario Aerts was with Evans at T-Mobile and moved to *Lotto at the same time … and that Van Sevenant is considered the “guardian angel”. So, just because *Lotto might have some up and coming climber types, this probably wasn’t the year that they were going to make the Tour team because there were others who’d already proven their worth.
(now, on the other hand, if one could predict ahead of time say that Lloyd would have done better than Popo, it might be a different story…)
I think their biggest liability is their DS
He has consistently orchestrated against their strengths.
To have Popo not perform a solid TT, immediately isolated Evans from that moment on because they then only have one player for GC.
Then to send Popo ur the road early in this stage was just a huge waste of his energy and his value later in the stage. It also put a lot more pressure on Cioni to assist Evans through the mountains.
I think you have something there Ryan...
... one of the advantages that CSC has from all the effort they put in today is having Evans and Sastre now both serious contenders (along with putting a bullet in Valverde’s head). That makes two men that Lotto will have to mark now and Evans can’t cover both. I think Evans will have some of the same stress that Contador had this year at the Giro; Kloden and Leipheimer just couldn’t pull it for him into the mountains, and they only had Colóm for one stage… it was all up to Contador to just… do… it.
After a hard day of watching a Tour stage, I like to unwind with Verbotene Liebe
Yeah and no
I totally agree that the Popo signing just isn’t working. He’s no danger for the overall now so no one will pay him much attention except for the stage hunters.
But eventually it comes down to the Head of State. All alone. Do or die. Always. All the help means squat by the final mountain.
In this Tour sans Contador, Evans just has to be himself and he's rock solid at doing that. He just can't be softened up beforehand, in the flats.which DS do you mean?
anyone know who’s the main guy calling the shots in the car behind Evans? is it Henrik Redant or Roberto Damiani? or is Marc Sargeant making decisions from somewhere? I know that Damiani was hired by *Lotto at the request of Evans because he “trusted him the most” .
answering my own question ...
Evans referred to “Henrik” giving him the time gaps to Schleck in his earpiece, so I guess he’s the one who was most directly there today. (in the “Stage 10 Cadel Evans Interview” video on SBS, which is the first bit they showed on the Versus live feed this morning but a whole lot more as well).
Vansevenant
He’s a shoe in for the Lanterne Rouge. It takes real skill to win that so many times.
Blame my wife!
popo?
first, let me say i’m a huge fan of pdc i’ve been lurking since 2005 i think and have never posted. love the witty banter and quality conversation and insight. this site has become a major time sucker for me as i am usually and happily following along each race compared to simply tuning in to the tdf in the summertime alone.
i don’t have a specific team i’m routing for, but have a lot of favorite riders (hello jens!) but this morning i was jazzed to see popo in the break today, good idea or not, but then for him not to hang in there or make the split and then nowhere useful on the hautacam was disappointing. overrated? what’s wrong with him? is he saving up for the alps, didn’t he used to to TT ok? are to we expect him to continue to improve ala levi? he’s usually a fun rider to watch and why didn’t he ride the giro? did he get hurt, does he not like *lotto? and personality aside, how does he compare to what horner would have done for cadel? and maybe this is another topic of conversation, but as a former winner of the white jersey, what happened?
Welcome!
We can only speculate about Popovych. My hunch—not enough race days, so his form simply isn’t great. But who knows? We only ever find out these things afterwards.
"If writing too much about the Classics is wrong, I don't want to be right."
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 15, 2008 8:40 PM EDT up reply actions
Hi :-)
Popovych? I think his body changed with age. That is, as a young rider, he had the strength/weight of a good climber. Now, with age, he’s gotten stronger and a bit bigger, and simply can’t climb the way he could before. Me, I think he’s matured into a one day rider, rather than a rider for the stage races. Which really, isn’t too surprising, as he won the U23 Paris-Roubaix, so he’s always had knack for riding hard in the flats and finishing fast.
positive spin from *Lotto
http://tdf.sbs.com.au/tdf2008/news/article/a/1735/h/-Cadel-primed-for-ultimate-glory
comments from Marc Sargeant (team manager), Cioni – general consensus seems to be it’s a good thing for Evans to have yellow. Cioni says that they’ve saved energy until now.
Also comments from CVV, who points out that in his opinion, CSC will be riding defensively anyway even without yellow at this point (ie. helping control the race).
CSC, maybe...
But I think they’ll hold off, unless they absolutely need to. They’ll prevent a Pereiro, but they won’t do anything to help Lotto. Riis, he’s a very stingy about putting his team on the front, and it serves him best to let Lotto fry themselves as much as possible. Andy Schleck currently sits eight minutes down. One wonders which day he gets sent up the road.
At least Cadel
seems to be enjoying the yellow jersey
But hopefully the team doesn’t get “rolled over”
The smack talk has already started from Valverde
on VN he mentioned that Evans’ team is weak and that Sastre and Menchov must be the favorites now. I’d say that he sounds a wee bit bitter. He has his own problems and should worry about those and not about those of the yellow jersey. That just sounds like sour grapes to me.
If I just had one more gear, I...
what have you done for me lately?
I’m not sure what Lotto is good at these days. The classics seem like such a crap-shoot to pin your whole season… and then when the sprinter is not firing in the rest of the season… not much going on then.
Having said that the past few days Evans has earned much respect.
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