Tour Rosters: Saxo, Rabo, Milram, Cofidis, Astana
by Chris Fontecchio on Jun 22, 2009 4:05 PM EDT
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PrintCompiled from VN. Real team previews next week. Riis's boys set to defend (well, not with the defending champ, but you get the idea):
Andy Schleck, Fränk Schleck, Fabian Cancellara, Stuart O’Grady, Jens Voigt, Nicki Sørensen, Chris Anker Sørensen, Gustav Larsson, Kurt-Asle Arvesen.
Very veteran heavy squad. Among the missing is Matti Breschel... no room for sprinters, even if they can climb a little. Oh well. Larsson makes the cut (despite some suggestions here that he might not); O'Grady remains indispensible; Chris Anker Sørensen makes his debut.
Meanwhile, over at Rabo...
Denis Menchov, Grischa Niermann, Juan Antonio Flecha, Oscar Freire, Juan Manuel Garate, Joost Posthuma, Stef Clement, Laurens Ten Dam, Robert Gesink.
This has to be their climbingest squad in forever. Garate and Ten Dam are solid uphill domestiques, and Gesink is Plan B, if Menchov shows any tiredness from Italy. Freire... speaking of Plan B, if they can't grab yellow, they've given Freire some help in his pursuit of points. Not sure I'd favor any of these plans working out though. Maybe they can launch Ten Dam after the KOM, if the sight of "Rabobank" on the maillot pois doesn't conjure up too many bad memories.
Now the Boys of Moo:
Gerald Ciolek, Markus Fothen, Johannes Frohlinger, Linus Gerdemann, Christian Knees, Niki Terpstra, Peter Velits, Fabian Wegmann, Peter Wrolich.
What's the average age, about 24? Might as well get these kids some experience now. As for Cofidis:
Stephane Auge, Samuel Dumoulin, Leonardo Duque, Bingen Fernandez, Christophe Kern, Sebastien Minard, Amael Moinard, David Moncoutie, Remi Pauriol.
Lotta stage hunters, including sprinter Duque. Meanwhile Astana have named six guys with three more to come. Somehow I'm not gripped by the suspense.
Alberto Contador, Lance Armstrong, Andreas Klöden, Levi Leipheimer, Yaroslav Popovych and Haimar Zubeldia.
Do they even need three more?
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A little more love for Breschel!
That guy was 46th in the Vuelta! That’s better than clmb a little..
And yeah.. I’m in the fanclub of Breschel.. You better watch out.. What I wonder is where gained(?) Arversen his climbing legs.. He was a sprinter but last year he was flying on le croix du fer
Crashdan: "Veni Vidi Vici beats Wing Kong Exchange... … and I’ll change my signature to a backwards smile for a month."
Frining "It's what he thinks.. But he always do.. I eat my shoe if he ride top 15 in le Tour" about Devolder
Arvesen was never a sprinter
always an allrounder. So allround that he has gotten thrown at every conceivable type of race in the past. Had he been used more as a stageracer we would have seen rides like last years a long time ago.
Hmm. Maybe tou are right. He was a attacker with a very good sprint..
But his uprise(?) is remarkable.. I neve knew he could climb.. Results last Tour’s
2004 – 123e
2005 – 89e
2007 – 67e
2008 – 57e
Crashdan: "Veni Vidi Vici beats Wing Kong Exchange... … and I’ll change my signature to a backwards smile for a month."
Frining "It's what he thinks.. But he always do.. I eat my shoe if he ride top 15 in le Tour" about Devolder
Results are completely uninteresting
He has done all Tours on CSC/Saxo. All as a domestique. His 123 place in 2004 was a result of crashing 236 times in 3 weeks.
You only think it’s remarkable because you haven’t been following Arvesen that closely.
Haha no.. It's remarkable...
Crashdan: "Veni Vidi Vici beats Wing Kong Exchange... … and I’ll change my signature to a backwards smile for a month."
Frining "It's what he thinks.. But he always do.. I eat my shoe if he ride top 15 in le Tour" about Devolder
Sorry Frinkster but I think you are way off baes her
Saying someone is suspicious based on not having any knoewledge on the subject is just weird.
Let’s say hypotetically that if I hadn’t followed cycling closely at all, hadn’t read an article about him or followed him in races before, would it be ok for me to say Menchovs Giro win was remarkable. As far as I would know then he has never beeen able to climb or TT like that before.
In reality he has always been a good climber and a good TT’er, I just haven’t noticed. Not very fair , is it?
I haven't say he was suspicious!
I said it was a remarkable performance! Remarkable isn’t suspicious.. I noticed his performance gong upwards.. From a stageracer to Masterhelper on HC climbs
Crashdan: "Veni Vidi Vici beats Wing Kong Exchange... … and I’ll change my signature to a backwards smile for a month."
Frining "It's what he thinks.. But he always do.. I eat my shoe if he ride top 15 in le Tour" about Devolder
Ok , then I'm overly sensitive
It’s just that when people say stuff like:
What I wonder is where gained(?) Arversen his climbing legs.. He was a sprinter but last year he was flying on le croix du fer
it usually means “what has he been injecting?”
Didn't know gaines was the right word.. There for the questionmark..
The whole CSS was flying last year.. Anyway I didn’t expect CSC that well.. They owned the Mountains. Without using F. Schleck, A. Schleck and Sastre they could lead the peloton over 3 climbs.. Impressing and not expected with the what I thought ‘flat men’:
Arversen, O’Grady, Gustov and Cancellara.
Flat and Climb:
Voigt
Climb:
N. Sorensen
Crashdan: "Veni Vidi Vici beats Wing Kong Exchange... … and I’ll change my signature to a backwards smile for a month."
Frining "It's what he thinks.. But he always do.. I eat my shoe if he ride top 15 in le Tour" about Devolder
That was also only possible due to great tactics
which could have been ruined had Lotto used its riders as skilfully.
that's asking an awful lot
"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind
by umwolverine on Jun 24, 2009 10:12 AM EDT up reply actions
Nah, not really but it's easier said in hindsight :D
CSC dropped its domistiques at the foot of the last mountain on the first mountain stage(Ricco’s second win) while the other teams had their domistiques follow the favourites.
This meant that the day after where CSC attacked its domestiques were better rested, Lotto could have done the same.
CSC also used a sick O’Grady and an injured Sorensen to slow the pace of the peloton allowing the breakaways with Voigt and Arvesen to get enough time to climb the mountains, Lotto could have used its sprint train to up the pace of the peloton and prevented Kurt and Voigt from getting a head start on the mountains.
But as I said, it’s easier to say what Lotto should have done after the race is over. :)
Arvesen wasn't in the attack I believe..
Think it was Cance
Crashdan: "Veni Vidi Vici beats Wing Kong Exchange... … and I’ll change my signature to a backwards smile for a month."
Frining "It's what he thinks.. But he always do.. I eat my shoe if he ride top 15 in le Tour" about Devolder
On that particular stage, but he was in the breakaway on the other mountainstages
For the stage where the team rode their Fabu motorcycle between the mountains, I explained that Aversen the day before had ridden the last mountain in a slow tempo to be fresher than the competition the next day.
You must not forget the element of surprise either, the mountain the team attacked on was so long away from the final climb that no one had expected it, and had it been any other rider than Fabian to pull between the mountains the attack would have failed(the big hole was created by Fabian, the one Voigt and Kurt had created was nearly closed again by Valverde’s guys).
What, no El Fares for cofidis?
dude’s killing it for them this year, who the hell is Bingen Fernandez?
Oh I've heard of Bingen...no idea who or what he is though.
Oh actually, maybe I’m thinking of Hildegard von Bingen…related I assume ;-)
Adrenalina Italiana!
Bingen is a former Euskie
Staring at the swim team gets you killed by a gang of dancing ninja min who know how to twirl.
by TheFigurehead on Jun 22, 2009 6:00 PM EDT up reply actions
In fairness though, he hasn't ridden for Euskie since 2001, which is well before I became a cycling freak!
Adrenalina Italiana!
Oh no, this is thoroughly unacceptable
you better hope your pelota buddies don’t find out about this….and that Bingen isn’t one of them!
Oh woe is me. I feel thoroughly wretched.
Some of my pelota buddies are actually into cycling too…please don’t let them be lurkers! I shall atone for my sins by studying my map of Euskadi for the next hour, followed by an intensive session on Basque verbs.
Adrenalina Italiana!
Is that the equivalent of 1 Our Father and 6 Hail Mary?
Staring at the swim team gets you killed by a gang of dancing ninja min who know how to twirl.
by TheFigurehead on Jun 23, 2009 4:57 AM EDT up reply actions
Bingen is a very personable guy.
Check out some of the diaries he’s written for the Daily Peloton.
Hoping for Horner!
Hope he’s fit enough - when he’s been uninjured this year, the guy has been a BEAST.
regards,
jason
Horner as well
I think it will be a tough decision, but when he has been healthy, he has ridden some of the best climbers off of his wheel. If he doesn’t get the nod for the tour, I hope he gets the opportunity to race for himself in a few races this year.
"uninjured" is the operative word...
too much of a risk… every race he’s ridden this year he’s gotten injured
"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind
What, because he's had bad luck, he's cursed for the rest of the year so that makes him a risk?
He’s either healed up and ready to go or not up to strength. I think he’s ready to go.
Did he get hurt in Cali? I thought he finished the race
but you can’t say that the races he was in that he wasn’t a big help. Single handily ripped apart the field at P-V…twice and he was a huge asset to Levi at the Giro. I don’t think Levi would have won had he stayed in the race but he would have been better. Horner must got to the Tour(and then work for Bert)
Do they even need 3 more? I think so.
This is likely going to be two teams in one working for the top two spots.
And not gripped by the suspense, I love how you feign lack of interest in the drama Chris. If nothing else, it will be heartbreaking if Horner doesn’t get the nod.
Saxo looks really good
I think we might see some of the love loss between Sastre and Saxo. I can’t wait to see Andy at peak form. Hope he has improved his TT’ing some, if so, I think he will podium.
Wow
I can’t believe Lance got fewer votes than Rast.
Abruzziamo!
by Chris Fontecchio on Jun 22, 2009 5:48 PM EDT up reply actions
Contador thinks he's getting Noval and Paulinho...
According to PezCycling News.com Contador told L’Equipe:
“We are six very strong riders in the mountains. I am sure we can also count on my two mates, Benjamin Noval and Sergio Paulinho, who will be essential on the flats and in the mountains, enabling us to arrive as fresh as possible on the key stages in the high mountains. I hope that Astana will be both a powerful and winning team.”
by Merry Crankster on Jun 22, 2009 5:50 PM EDT reply actions
Again Alberto hits the nail on the head
“be both a powerful and winning team”
IMHO AC right again. Astana now needs 3 people who can drive it for the first 150km so, if they have a man in yellow, there are people to get them 50km to the end – then the big six can take over. Regretfully – means Horner is popular but vulnerable. The big 6 are winning, now need powerful.
Cavendish - "le Mozart du onze-dents" (the Mozart of the 11-tooth sprocket) – L’Equipe
Indeed
and if Bruyneel doesn’t pick them, we know who the kool kids are… and aren’t.
Abruzziamo!
by Chris Fontecchio on Jun 22, 2009 6:17 PM EDT up reply actions
What happened to Hernandez?
He was lighting it up in the training camp and supposed to be Berts RHM. Injured?
He will surely get a Vuelta ride...surely
he was up there a few times at DL, you can’t expect Jesus to do much on a team so strong in his first year.
Kazakh riders don't need bananas, you know.
Bert is forced to eat them because his country produces inferior potassium.
I can't understand why people cheat--Mark Cavendish
I think they are going to pick a big rouleur.
Muravyev, Vaitkus or Rast.
Vaitkus would be my guess but I wouldn’t be surprised by Muravyev as the token Kazakh either.
and
yes, I know, but it happens every time with biciciclismo
is it just me or were there only seven riders named?
This is very confusing…
The Danish press are reporting the Breschel is extremely frustrated about not being picked for the Tour...
Feltet.dk says that he doesn’t understand why he wasn’t chosen because he has done everything right. They gave him some reasons but he is still, understandably, annoyed. Though he says he will just use this to crush some skulls in the Vuelta and beyond…
Understandably
He did get a golden opportunity though in the spring, with full backup. He should be in a good position to take O’grady’s spot next year.
They are already bringing one young danish rookie in CAS and he should be first in line as he is a GT-specialist. Riding the Tour is always going to be an exciting sideproject for Breschel.
GT specialist=GT rider?
Crashdan: "Veni Vidi Vici beats Wing Kong Exchange... … and I’ll change my signature to a backwards smile for a month."
Frining "It's what he thinks.. But he always do.. I eat my shoe if he ride top 15 in le Tour" about Devolder
Trying to say.. Sayong CAS is a GT-specialist ids maybe to much honout for him..
Menchov, Contador, Evans, Valaverde are specialists.. Cas is a competetor.. Or in my mind
Crashdan: "Veni Vidi Vici beats Wing Kong Exchange... … and I’ll change my signature to a backwards smile for a month."
Frining "It's what he thinks.. But he always do.. I eat my shoe if he ride top 15 in le Tour" about Devolder
I think we have a language confusion here
Saying someone is a specialist isn’t the same as saying he is one of the best in the field. For example : Napolitano, Bos, Förster, are all sprintspecialists. They are not the best sprint-specialists, Cav, Benna, Farrar and Pettacchi are , but they still specialize in sprinting.
CAS, SamSan, Gesink, Leipheimer, Gerdeman are all GT specialists. They are not as good as the ones you name but their main focus is still the GT’s.
That's language..
If you are specialised in something you are very good in it.. In Dutch
Crashdan: "Veni Vidi Vici beats Wing Kong Exchange... … and I’ll change my signature to a backwards smile for a month."
Frining "It's what he thinks.. But he always do.. I eat my shoe if he ride top 15 in le Tour" about Devolder
Usually, but not necessarily.
There are also mediocre specialists and bad specialists, n’est-ce pas? (think of the medical profession, for example).
too much training with the astana boys?
"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind
5 Columbians for the tour
Mark Cavendish, George Hincapie, Kim Kirchen, Tony Martin and Michael Rogers
5 names for the last 4 spots: Markus Burghardt, Bernhard Eisel, Thomas Lövkvist, Maxime Monfort och Mark Renshaw
From wielerflits.nl
They’d be idiots not to include Renshaw and Eisel as support for Cav. Monfort has been looking solid and didn’t do the Giro. I think the choice is between Bughardt and Lövkvist with Burghardt taking it if they want to prioritise a motor for the flats or Lövkvist if they want to capitalize on a more highprofile name (previous White jersey, Maglia rosa this year etc.). With Boogie they know what they’re getting, Lövkvist might be just as strong but he has been racing harder and it’s harder to know what he will deliver.
What, no Gorilla?
he wins 10 times this year and that’s his reward?!! Oh he will dominate the Vuelta just to get revenge!(he better do the Vuelta)
Every year I hope Michael Barry gets to ride the Tour de France. It's one of the big wishes I start every year with,
along with hopes for rain on certain April days in Belgium and northern France, and a TTT stage in the Tour de France.
I’ve had a bad feeling about it this year, when so many of Barry’s younger teammates winning so many races. And he had such a great Giro!
Well, I’m a die-hard fan: Michael, keep writing, stay safe, and I’ll keep hoping for 2010!
Cervelo Tour Team
Carlos Sastre
Iñigo Cuesta
Volodymir Gustov
José Angel Gomez Marchante
Heinrich Haussler
Thor Hushovd
Andreas Klier
Brett Lancaster
Hayden Roulston
"Never swing a small stick. " Andy Hampsten
how Gerrans isn't in the selection!!
Roulston, who is this guy?!
by semprenaroda on Jun 24, 2009 12:36 PM EDT up reply actions
The Garmen
" Christian VDV, the two Daves, Tyler Farrar, Wiggo, The Pate, Ryder Hesjedal, and Dan Martin."
Staring at the swim team gets you killed by a gang of dancing ninja min who know how to twirl.
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