He’s never been charged with anything, and neither will you.

I am also surprised that The Acountent has so many teams on his ledger. It see ms like folks were seeing his potential and minimizing his weak points: that he might not do the Vuelta; that he isn’t an automatic win wherever he races. Surely he benefited from Valverde’s looming OP problems and from Basso’s just coming back from suspension and from Tin Tin’s age. But Cancellara and Evans were IMO safer picks, more likely to meet a benchmark.

I didn’t pick any of the expensive sprinters but I almost picked Thor for the exact reason you state.

Of course some riders like Cavendish or Andy Schleck are just popular: all else being equal, people pick them.

Haussler I’ll bet benefited hugely by his top early season form. Colom too.

I’ve only got Pozzato.

Is going for riders who will bring in lots of points relative to their costs. Be it sprinters, climbers, classic studs or GC-hunters.

The five sprinters you name could all fit this description well. So no worries. Yet…

I even find it more satisfying losing on a dark horse.

BTW , I think nickel17 is trying to plant subliminal drug messages here. Last post mentioned crack, this one horse. Is skunk, pot or opium next?

and true, what Dekker says, but i took Cadel anyway :)

is used as a training vehicle for many…and therefore should never be used as a barometer of the coming season. Many riders are open about using this race for training.

Uh oh…

something he said right before the ToC – "Some people think I have a reputation for being cocky or arrogant, but I think I’m just a realist. I’m the first to say when I’m bad at something, but I’m also the first to say when I think I’m good at something. My goals are my goals, not dreams; they are targets and I’ll do whatever necessary to make those targets. So when somebody asks me if I’m the fastest, I think I am. But I need to be put in a position where I can finish it. I think I’m unrivaled."

How can you not love this love to win!

this bit from cyclingnews yesterday sounds promising:

“Bordonali received a letter from the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) asking if the team would like to participate in its upcoming April classics: Paris-Roubaix, Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège (Di Luca is a past winner of the latter two). He affirmed the team’s desire to race and the organiser will reveal the teams for its race by March 22.”

I really hope The Killer is there. I love watching him race.

I’m sorry.

Interesting fact, that he was only on one team last year. I guess he racked up some points. But he didn’t have Valverde too, di he?

that Andy Schleck’s left leg is 11 mm longer than his right. But I’m too busy pondering what it means that nearly a quarter of my riders were born in September to follow up on the rest of the team’s leg lengths.