sgdanny wrote:
Don't get me wrong, but I have never intended to say that your bad at managing your team and all I did was comparing Katusha to that of the rest of the teams and rate how the transfers ended up.

I don't compare to that of how every team was last year, but how much they've improved over the break and I just didn't see Katusha as succesful as others

In my career mode Spilak even won the Giro and if that happens again I see you contending with the big guys

Nat.	Team	Age	Nationalities	AVG	MO	CB	TT	SP	HL
	Europcar	28,7	6	75,76	75,8	76,6	73	76	77,4

Captains : Thomas Hinault, Sylvain Chavanel and Lue Khamse Khamphan
Team Manager : SSJ2Luigi
Expexted Finish : 12th

Welcome to our favorite French team in the WT and I think that the first comment will be that boy they've managed to improve their team! The only place they've managed not to improve in, is in the Time Trial and though it will make Hinault's TTT result a lot harder, you can't really expect them to be good everywhere.

Hinault is as I recall the only custom rider, which is going to participate in two GT's and I think that he's a strong card for an outsider to the Top 10 in both. Voeckler is mysterious as always and Coquard is the biggest sprinting talent in proffessional cycling.

Their isn't much negative to say as the team have grown bigger than expected and with their resources, they couldn't have done it much better in the transfer season. Europcar will also lead France in the cobbles and Paris - Roubaix might finally get dominated by a french force.

Good thing about this team is that they can even fight among the 10 best teams in the WT, if they send the right rider to the right races and I do think that both Voeckler and Chavanel are hard to predict in their number of stage wins on a calendar year.

My Opinion

I both love and hate this team, well Thomas Voeckler is on the team and that's pretty much all hatred put aside, so I think I will cover the bright sides, even though this comment might not make everyone happy!

6 Nationalites and keeping a theme, which consist with what the real team are having, then I can only applause this team and it's a very balanced team when looking at the stats.

They are hard to place on a proper place, but all depends on the magnitude of stage wins from Chavanel, Voeckler and Coquard and how Hinault will do in the GT's, as his support stat's aren't the brightest, but then again the season is young for possible upgrades.

Team Giant - Shimano

Nat.	Team	Age	Nationalities	AVG	MO	CB	TT	SP	HL
	Team Giant	28,3	9	75,08	77,4	72	76	74,4	75,6

Captains : Ryder Hesjedal, Tanel Kangert and Lieuwe Westra
Team Manager : nacho63
Expected Finish : 10th

Robbery!! There's been an identity theft and the man behind this is our own Interviewer! In 2013 Giant were a proud sprinter team, but the new manager decided that those who were setting the agenda, weren't good enough for the team and that mean't that Degenkolb left for a big deal and Kittel was released as Free Agent.

Over the Transfer Season we were reassured when we saw the final roster for the 2014 season and the team has been customized to the manager's needs and ideas. Instead of having a stable theme, they've been scattered with different rider types and the end result is quite pleasing.

You can't really find many negative sides, since you can't compare them to other teams and their theme has been written differently, but I do expect them to have a strong season. They still have their roots in their young talents and despite Belkin's reign, they've managed to have several dutch riders and I do keep that as big thing for them.

Now they can be active in all 3 weeks of an GT and they will have to prove themselves in bigger stage races, if they are to deserve this ranking in the final days of the season. Everything this team is needing is some backup to their leaders and depending on this season, will be the stepstone for them to either improve or do some other changes.

My Opinion

I did like their previous theme, but I do like this more and I can understand the changes that have been made. Only downside is that nothing is certain and if the race planning goes wrong, they will have a harder time than other teams around them.

There are some exceptions of riders, which could've been used for more trades, but I don't think that I would have wanted to see a 100 % change in the Roster Setup. In the end they deserve the acclaim of doing what they want, instead of what might be the best way and you can only respect that decision no matter what.

Tinkoff - Saxo

Nat.	Team	Age	Nationalities	AVG	MO	CB	TT	SP	HL
	Tinkoff	28,7	13	75,2	78,4	72,8	74,2	72,4	78,2

Captains : Joaquim Rodrigues, Alberto Contador and Rafal Majka
Team Manager : Stromeon
Expected Finish : 7th

I just had the weirdest dream and when I woke up I realized that my dream had become reality, at first I wouldn't accept it and I still have a hard time facing the fact, that Purito and El Pistolero is now on the same team. Like cmon who would've thought that and how many agree with this move!?

This means that Tinkoff - Saxo has the strongest climbing team and while they're going to be hard to beat, they still don't quite have the strongest team in the WT. The problem is that the team doesn't have a sprinter worthy of mention and their cobbles squad is still in no need of getting a mention.

The team have specialized in the Mountains this year and even though it's the biggest category in professional cycling, they won't be expected to finish amon the Top 3, as they don't have enough point potential to do that. Even if they win every GT, they are still gonna face the reality, that they probably haven't gotten more than 500 points outside Hills and Mountains.

Froome may just have gotten a big disadvantage, as the two spaniards support is to say the least OP and if they do it right, then Froome might be empty of energy when either of them attack on the final kilometres. They have the potential to win all GT's and that in itself is enough to be considered a huge threat.

My Opinion

We all love mountains and the team haven't really lost any identity at all, so liking them or not, is up to each person cheering on either Purito/Contador or Froome. I myself will cheer on the spaniards in the GT's and when Movistar joins them in the mountain, Sky might find themselves alone with some riders riding alone.

Many things can happen and the team doesn't depend much on Race Planning, as they don't have many assets in other terrains. If the manager were more active, we might see some strong upgrades for this team and being a dane, I love seeing so many natives in a team on this level!.

Nat.	Team	Age	Nationalities	AVG	MO	CB	TT	SP	HL
	Trek	29,8	13	75,2	77	74	76,2	73	75,8

Captains : Fabian Cancellara, Thibaut Pinot and Chris Horner
Team Manager : jihardy
Expected Finish : 13th

They can climb, they can cobble and they're strong in the Time Trials, but they need depth to say the least. They have traded a lot of useful resources for having Pinot on the team and even though they now have some competitive leaders, they still need some support.

Cancellara doesn't need support in either Time Trials and Cobbles, but the rest of the team does and that is all this tema is missing. It might not sound of a lot, but it's pretty crucial for such a promising big project.

The team is gonna be pretty strong for the Tour de France and the spring classics are almost secured, but Nizzolo isn't going to do that much, this means that they're placement all depends on the GT's and the other teams just seem stronger overall.

My Opinion

A short preview for this team, as there isn't much to mention, so let's have a look on their improvements. The team have Pinot now, but again he doesn't have mountain train, which ends up with only having the TTT as strong card.

Again they can end all over the place, but they've been given this spot because they're hard to predict and this is just enough.

Ollfardh wrote:
Ah, we're a sprinters team now

Very nice read, comparing the statistics. Based on this, Sky has no weaknesses. I wouldn't draw too much conclusions either, as some one-dimentional riders will give their team a boost in these stats while not scoring a lot of points.

Hello Lue, nice of you too take time away from your training to sit down with us for an interview.

It's a pleasure, thanks for having me.

You're man with great ability but from an unlikely country, can you remind us how you got into cycling and how you went about joining Europcar last year?

Well, I started cycling early in my teens, working as a bicycle courier at home in Laos. Transporting heavy goods over rough roads was ideal training to become a cobbles rider. Of course there's still a big gap between doing that and becoming a pro rider, but from a very young age, I was the best. We used to have races when there wasn't anything to do, and I won nearly all of them, against guys much older than me. So when the UCIs announcement about looking for young riders came, I thought "why not give it a try". That's why I started at such a comparatively late age too. Of coure a period of transition and acclimatisation was needed after making the move from Laos to Europcar, but I think that time is fully over now and I can show my full potential this year.

You've resigned with the French newly WT team, you seem to be happy with the team.

Of course there were times when I wasn't entirely happy at Europcar, in particular Paris-Roubaix, where I didn't get the leadership I was promised, but after a good talk with Mr. Car, the problem was solved. With the new additions we made this off season I felt like staying here was the only I way I could achieve my long term goal of being the first Asian to win a monument, allthough losing my good friend Po-ding wasn't what I had hoped for.

What did you get up to in the off season and how has your pre-season training gone for you?

I was back in Laos again at last this off season, and enjoyed some nice training on the roads I know best, in and around Luang Prabang. Since it's the cold and dry season at the moment, which is generally the best time to visit Laos, I had perfect conditions for that. I even went to visit some family members living in the hilly North in and around Nong Khiaw for a week, and used that as a bit of a training camp for the tougher races on the calendar. I'll give some more details on this in the Europcar HQ at some point in the future.

Your specialty is the cobbles, have you or your team set targets for the north classics approaching in February, March and April?

We've got no targets set in stone yet, but of course there are a few races I want to do particularly well in. Omloop het Nieuwblad was good to me last year, but sadly we didn't get an invite there, so I'll have to focus on Kuurne for the early-early season. After that both De Ronde and Paris-Roubaix suit me, but riding for a French team, of course the hell of the north is the big goal. Then I hope to ride Le Tour followed by Eneco. The former I want a stage win from, the latter I will also ride for the GC.

Europcar weren't particularly active in the transfer window, what do you make of the moves that did happen?

Sometimes you need quality over quantity, and I'm quite happy with what Mr. Car did there. Signing Chavanel will definitely give me good support, whilst I didn't get along too well with Turgot after Paris-Roubaix last year. Besides that, the team has simply become a lot more suited to the world tour, and I don't think avoiding relegation should be too difficult.

Before you go, who do you predict the top rider and team on the cobblestones this year?

For me personally I see my battles with Erik McDermott and Garmin, but I think Sep Vanmarcke will have developed a lot since last spring, so I expect him to do quite well. Behind that, there's always the oldies Boonen and Cancellara, but neither have a great team around them anymore.

Thanks for joining us!

No thank you, it was a pleasure!