Testing, Testing, 1..2..3...Is this thing on? A Cervelo Test Team Preview

This is Thor Hushovd. He can go fast. He also has been known to ride a chicken from time to time. Some ladies here at PdC might be drawn to his backside or his Norwegian looks. In any case, he is one of the anchors of the Cervelo Test Team, who came off one of the best debut seasons in recent memory. Along with Heinrich Haussler and Carlos Sastre, the three drove the team to spectacular heights. But now it is a new season and a new team. 3 important riders are now gone in the forms of Simon Gerrans, Hayden Roulston and Serge Pauwels but younger riders have matured and they have spent their off-season wisely.

Since I don't have anything to do right now, I will go through their accquasitions from the off-season, riders who will come into their own, where they will rise and faulter and maybe a VDS tip or three.

Photo from PdC pool more specifically --->(PdC_Clydesdale)

First let us look at the new acquisitions to the team. In terms of actual results, the following names are rich with them and while they might not be able to fill the void left with big wins, they should be able to hold their own.

New riders. Davide Appollonio is a neo-pro after coming as a staigaire last year with very good results in the Tours of Britain and Ireland. He is a rider that is young (20) and rich with talent after impressive results on the Italian U23 circuit riding along with the likes of Peter Sagan, should develop into a solid classics and short stage race rider. Theo Bos is known to many for his track sprinting and bike tossing efforts but seems to be ready to make to the transition to full time roadie. He can add some serious horsepower to the Cervelo train just as long as his endurance is there to make it to the line though it seems he is keeping up well. If he does successfully make the switch he will be the first keirin world champion since the great Urs Freuler(15x Giro stage winner, 8x world point race champ and 2x keirin world champ) to successfully ride with the European pro peloton. Joao Correia has an inspiring story of being a former big man to a professional racer. After thinking about it, Cervelo wouldn't waste money on him if he couldn't actually race. Yes he will be good PR but he should be a solid domestique. Stefan Denifl might listen to a lot of techno music but he is yet another young rider (22) and can climb very quickly and has a solid TT ('08 Austrian champ). Should be riding a GT this year along with some other stage races and hillier one days. Xavi Tondo, even though he has a checkered past with his choice of teams (think LA-MSS) though he is a part of the bike pure movement, he is a welcomed addition to the team for his climbing and hilly one-day racing abilities. He will be alongside Sastre at the Giro and will be able to shine in the shorter Tours and hilly one-day races.

THE STARS

Carlos, Thor and Heinrich. Blah blah blah...we know what they will be doing. Carlos will do nothing til the Giro and then will decide on the Tour or Vuelta. Haussler and Hushovd will go to the classics and try to follow up on their amazing results last year and Thor will try to follow up with the Green Jersey in the Tour. Did this really need it's own section?

A RIDER(S) THAT WILL COME INTO HIS OWN

Dom Rollin is a guy that could bring in a big result this year because when you think of where he came from at Toyota United from riding mostly crits and circuit races and a couple 2nd/3rd tier stage races to getting 3rd at the Scheldeprijs in one year is quite a feat. Now he has a whole year under his belt and he could be poised to score a few wins this year. Another rider I could put in this category is.......The King of Style himself, Edward Carrington King aka Ted King. He had a tough early season last year with his crash at Tour of California and being out til mid-April. He came from mostly NRC racing to Pro Tour racing in one year with doing some solid team work throughout the year. It would be nice to see him get a result or two this year.

WHERE THEY WILL SHINE

-The Classics* and the shorter tours. They have 4H (Not the farm kids but Haussler, Hammond, Hunt and Hushovd) and Klier plus a bunch of other strong, burly riders to bolster the squad for the spring. They can muscle their way up into the top 5 in almost any flat/rolling short tour so they will have plenty of opportunities for results, that is for sure. I would be suprised if they don't get at least 1 podium in one of the 3 early monuments this year.

-Sprints. They have 6 riders on the team that at some point in the season will probably score VDS points in a bunch sprint. Let us count them: Hushovd, Haussler, Reimer, Bos (if he gets it down), Dom Rollin (if he gets a little help, looked decent at Besseges) and Hammond (had the near Vuelta win and was solid at Franco-Belgie). Throw in Lancaster to take the train up to speed and then you have a solid sprint team.

-Giro. Carlos should be stellar on a course that is suited very well to him and should be fighting with Jen Grey and Cuddles for the win. Tondo is going to be his right hand man in the mountains and should be able to provide an abundance of support.

-Short Tours. Mostly flat but if Xavi Tondo starts a few of the hillier Spanish ones then he will be vying for the podium in all of them.

*This does not mean the Ardennes and Lombardia. Unless Messirs Tondo and Sastre pull something out of nowhere before the Giro, they will probably get a couple of top 15's and maybe a top 10. Then it will prob. just be Tondo and Deignan for Lombardia

Where They won't be Good...

-Ardennes. See above

-Le Tour. If Carlos is really going to win the Giro then it might be a good bet that he goes for a rest and then the Vuelta. This leaves it all on Thor's shoulders essentially and maybe a little on Haussler for a stage win. Thor is a very capable rider but if a healthy Boonen is there along with all of the over favorites then it is going to be harder than last year. Best case scenario is that he storms the prologue for a top 5 and then he would have to limit his losses and try another mountain break. As much as it pains me to say it, I think it might be Cav's year though I am hoping otherwise. (I am so not good at being non-partisan sometimes)

Who will score on VDS...dun dun duuuunnnnnnnnnnnn

As many as 20 riders have a chance at gaining some VDS points. So yeah that is all I will say about that...

Okay maybe just one more line. They had 25 wins last year and they only "lost" 3 of them in the form of Gerrans. Overall they had 16 different riders last year hit the podium for a total of 76 podium apperances and the only lost 8 of those. They have the guys that will score you some points but they just have to perform.

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So yeah, most of that all ready was known but yeah. This year's Cervelo team has big shoes to fit and it is hard to say if they are going to be able to fill them. They had such an amazing early season last year that it is hard to make a comparison but they will have to step up in certain areas so that they can challenge (i.e. the Ardennes). The will be missing Gerrans sorely when they hit late April though Tondo might be able to do something. In any case, the classics is where half of the team's heart is at so they are going to have that much more pressure on themselves to get another big win to match the Het Volk win (yeah I know it is het Nieuwsblahblahblah but it is still Het Volk to me...should just call it the Omloop.) They have all of the goods to stay up as one of the elite teams of cycling but it is whether or not they are heading for that sophmore slump.

Even if the do not live up to the greatness that they laid down in their first year, they will still be a force to be reckoned with from Spring till Fall, from The Omloop til Paris-Tours (they don't like the Italian classics so much).

Predictionz: Carlos will be 2nd in the Giro. Thor will be riding the Chicken this spring sometimes and Barbie will be...well Barbie-ing it up I guess. Thor will finish 3rd in the green jersey standings but will claim a stage. Barbie will get a nice win...I don't know where but it will be nice. # of wins-23. I was going to go lower but then I found a picture of Barbie in the PdC pool and I just couldn't go any lower...

Pictures either came from PdC pool on Flickr (Clydesdale) or Wiki Commons.