Valverde should go for stage wins and yellow. If he helps Quintana well, I'm sure the favour will be returned in the Vuelta, where there are more Valverde finishes.
Sad to see Kittel not go, but can't blame the management after what he's (not) been doing all year.
Astana in panic? out of riders? why is out Nibali main wingman Agnoli?
why they decided to add Kangert into tour list. He just finished Giro at 13th. place was 3rd. number..he is kickass helper but two Gt's in row is to much..specially after he's injury /operation recovering spring
Edited by Guido Mukk on 26-06-2015 22:59
Movistar has announced their team. Turns out i only hit 7 out of the 9 names: Quintana, Valverde, Malori, J Izaguirre, J Herrada, Dowsett, Anacona, Erviti and Castroviejo. Most notable names being left out here was Gadret and Rojas, but after Gadrets poor performance in Route du Sud (not that Anacona did much better in Helvetie) and on the other hand, Dowsett's graat performance in that race, Rojas was left out which was the biggest surprise too me.
Its a super balanced team and with national champs Castroviejo (who by the way also has become a very decent climber), Malori and Dwosett, its definetely one of the favorites for the TTT, but dont get surprised either if Malori or Dowsett pulls a great ITT of in Utrecht. They lack a great climber tho, Ixaguirre, Herrada, Castroviejo and Anacona are decent, but not more - I hope Anacona will surprise me tho, cause he has the potential to be that guy.
Pretty clear that they have focused to get through the first week and the TTT with Erviti, Dowsett, Malori and Castro. If Quintana is in pole position from there, its his race to lose.
Edited by Riis123 on 29-06-2015 10:52
Astana squad : Vincenzo Nibali, Michele Scarponi, Jakob Fuglsang, Lars Boom, Lieuwe Westra, Tanel Kangert, Rein Taaramäe, Andrei Grivko and Dmitriy Gruzdev.
I thought they will include Lutsenko instead of Gruzdev, but..no big surprises at all.
It's funny how they take 8 climbers and 1 rouleur for the Giro, and then only 3 climbers and 6 rouleurs for TdF. I know TdF has cobbles and more nervous flat stages, so more rouleurs is understandable, but I think they should go for more balanced rosters in both cases IMO. I think Ben King would make sense, if they prefer Dombrowski to go for Vuelta. There's not much choice, though. Cardoso is not in great form and would let the team down in TTT. Danielson had injury during the Giro. Howes is poor this year, so is Acevedo. And Slagter doesn't strike me as a guy who could ride good TdF after Giro. Formolo and Brown are too young to make Giro-Tour double.
Movistar has announced their team. Turns out i only hit 7 out of the 9 names: Quintana, Valverde, Malori, J Izaguirre, J Herrada, Dowsett, Anacona, Erviti and Castroviejo. Most notable names being left out here was Gadret and Rojas, but after Gadrets poor performance in Route du Sud (not that Anacona did much better in Helvetie) and on the other hand, Dowsett's graat performance in that race, Rojas was left out which was the biggest surprise too me.
Its a super balanced team and with national champs Castroviejo (who by the way also has become a very decent climber), Malori and Dwosett, its definetely one of the favorites for the TTT, but dont get surprised either if Malori or Dowsett pulls a great ITT of in Utrecht. They lack a great climber tho, Ixaguirre, Herrada, Castroviejo and Anacona are decent, but not more - I hope Anacona will surprise me tho, cause he has the potential to be that guy.
Pretty clear that they have focused to get through the first week and the TTT with Erviti, Dowsett, Malori and Castro. If Quintana is in pole position from there, its his race to lose.
I like this squad, reasonably deep climbing depth and a good TTT team - all of them apart from Anacona are pretty decent time-triallists. My only worry is about the cobbles, but it is Movistar after all, so there's not a lot they can do about it.
Valverde is a good shout to be in yellow after the TTT, so I hope that doesn't cloud the team thinking and he, and the team, are still 100% behind Nairito because Valverde won't survive the three weeks against Froome, Contador, Nibali (assuming none of them have crashed out by this point, an extremely remote possibility) but Quintana can. Looking forward to it, albeit with trepidation.
#SueñoAmarillo
Miguel98 wrote:
Biggest threat for Sagan? Not Kristoff, or Degenkolb. It's clearly, in my opinion, Matthews.
Sagan is a threat?
I personally think has Kristoff has the best chances winning the jersey. Do anyone know if Bouhanni is injured from the crash yesterday? I saw he had been confirmed for their tour team but anyway, if he's in shape he is with Kristoff my favorite for the green, Matthews a good third competing with Sagan.
Degenkolb is tricky, he might take a stage or two but no more.
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Miguel98 wrote:
Biggest threat for Sagan? Not Kristoff, or Degenkolb. It's clearly, in my opinion, Matthews.
Sagan is a threat?
I personally think has Kristoff has the best chances winning the jersey. Do anyone know if Bouhanni is injured from the crash yesterday? I saw he had been confirmed for their tour team but anyway, if he's in shape he is with Kristoff my favorite for the green, Matthews a good third competing with Sagan.
Degenkolb is tricky, he might take a stage or two but no more.
I thought Bouhanni was confirmed out of the Tour?
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Miguel98 wrote:
Biggest threat for Sagan? Not Kristoff, or Degenkolb. It's clearly, in my opinion, Matthews.
Sagan is a threat?
I personally think has Kristoff has the best chances winning the jersey. Do anyone know if Bouhanni is injured from the crash yesterday? I saw he had been confirmed for their tour team but anyway, if he's in shape he is with Kristoff my favorite for the green, Matthews a good third competing with Sagan.
Degenkolb is tricky, he might take a stage or two but no more.
Movistar has announced their team. Turns out i only hit 7 out of the 9 names: Quintana, Valverde, Malori, J Izaguirre, J Herrada, Dowsett, Anacona, Erviti and Castroviejo. Most notable names being left out here was Gadret and Rojas, but after Gadrets poor performance in Route du Sud (not that Anacona did much better in Helvetie) and on the other hand, Dowsett's graat performance in that race, Rojas was left out which was the biggest surprise too me.
Its a super balanced team and with national champs Castroviejo (who by the way also has become a very decent climber), Malori and Dwosett, its definetely one of the favorites for the TTT, but dont get surprised either if Malori or Dowsett pulls a great ITT of in Utrecht. They lack a great climber tho, Ixaguirre, Herrada, Castroviejo and Anacona are decent, but not more - I hope Anacona will surprise me tho, cause he has the potential to be that guy.
Pretty clear that they have focused to get through the first week and the TTT with Erviti, Dowsett, Malori and Castro. If Quintana is in pole position from there, its his race to lose.
I like this squad, reasonably deep climbing depth and a good TTT team - all of them apart from Anacona are pretty decent time-triallists. My only worry is about the cobbles, but it is Movistar after all, so there's not a lot they can do about it.
Valverde is a good shout to be in yellow after the TTT, so I hope that doesn't cloud the team thinking and he, and the team, are still 100% behind Nairito because Valverde won't survive the three weeks against Froome, Contador, Nibali (assuming none of them have crashed out by this point, an extremely remote possibility) but Quintana can. Looking forward to it, albeit with trepidation.
#SueñoAmarillo
I like it as well, but out of the 4 big teams, its clearly the weakest team outside captain and lieutenant in the mountains, but on the other hand, it seems the strongest for the TTT and big motors on the flat sprinter stages as well.
Wow Movistar will rock TTT. Castroviejo, Malori and Downsett gonna be amazing and Ion Izagirre, Erviti and Jesus(?) Herrada are very solid against clock as well.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Its Gorka and Jose tho, not that it will make a big difference
Edit: At least the first 4 days gonna vary between 30-35 degrees. The Tour should be hot, so I like that. Its also critical that it wont rain during the first couple of stages, especially the cobbled one
Edited by Riis123 on 29-06-2015 19:13
Oh, both are weaker against clock than their brothers but it's still tough as nails with the three specialists. Glad that I get to see Gorka Izagirre in le Tour then!
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
True, but not that much anyways. BMC should still be the favorites on paper before without taking crashes etc. into consideration I guess. Sky is not too far from either.
