This is a pretty quick CT preview as my time since the transfer season has been somewhat limited, will try to get up a PCT and if lucky a PT aswell, but they wont come yet. I tried to make a new way of looking at the teams compared to what I did before and compared to what others have done. I will look at the different terrains (Mountains, Hills, TTs, Cobbles and Sprints) and give "stars" from 1-5, I will also do the same system with overall strenght of the team. This last stat is based on the former, but is more an indication of the area I fell the team will be in (so for example if a team got no cobblers it wont really affect that stat as they wont race cobble races).
Also, most of this was done quite some time ago, so there might be some small mistakes (I tried to look trough it), might also be some spelling-mistakes as I just wanted to post it now ;-) Anyway, here goes (I might add a ranking later):
A team based around Dietmar Mehr-Wenige, and while Mehr-Wenige is a strong rider he lacks support. Still Mehr-Wenige is among the strongest riders in the CT and should asure a strong haul of points. Other than him is the climber Cabreira, a strong climber, but with bad backup stats (hill, TT), could do well up mountains, but don't expect too much. Van Loocke is a sprinter that could score some points, but his backup stats are really poor. Irvine and Soto Pereira could also score some points on a good day.
[i]This could possibly be one of the strongest CT squads. They got a great
cobble leader in Maes who could win C1/HC races, and behind him is great support in Coyot (who could take some wins himself), Meul, Okrouhlicky, Suray, Lampaert, Havik, Taubel and Polanc. A really strong cobble team. The best thing however is that they got other riders aswell. Talabardon and
Carrara can ride over a mountain, while Hans Dekkers is a nice sprinter (if there is no speed bumps), same with Hans Dekkers, there could also be some juice left in the old legs of Kim Kirchen. Overall a strong and interesting squad!
A team based around english speaking riders, unfortunately they have not been able to sign the strongest ones. Ricki Nelson is a strong sprinter, and could get good help from Pate, Barclay, Bahati and Thwaites. That should get the team some points and possibly some victories. Other than that however the team got to hope that Barton and Danielson will score some points. While they are not the strongest climbers in the division they got one strenght that others might lack, namely good support if there are TTT's. Is there enough TTT's in the division? Unfortunatly not. An interesting team, but not strong enough.
A team that looked to be a mixture of sprinters and climbers then the shock transfer came and Geert Steegemans took the trip over to Costa Rica and became the face of the team. He should score quite a good amount of points for the team, but could suffer under the lack of support. Apart from him the geam got a good amount of climbers, lead by Esquivel and Rojas Villegas, strong climbers at this level. The sprinting squad is lead by the costa rican Marco Guillen. Guillen come from the famout sprint team of Pokerstars, but was never the star at that team, and his lack of support stats could be his loss. On the other hand, behind Guillen the team got Cano and Morales. Not elite sprinters, but riders that can get some results
A team based around the cobbles with Geraint Thomas as the clear leader, supported by strong riders like Grashev, Sparling and Hristov. Thomas should be able to secure the team quite some points, but is that enough to promote? Probobly not, and thats why the team has signed some strong climbers in Colorado and Parra Bustamente. With some support they should be able to secure the team some extra points, though they are not the clear favorites to win. The team also signed a sprinter, the veteran Italian Francesco Chicchi. He's a strong sprinter, not among the best in the world, but a sprinter that should be able to score quite some points in the CT. All in all a team that should do well this year, and could be up there fighting for promotion
A team build up around english-talking fast men, with 11 riders that look at their sprint as their strenght. Mark Renshaw is the leader, and hile he's a nice sprinter he showed last year that he is not among the best, and most likely better as a leadout than as a leader. That could be the weakness of this team, as while they will be there on every flat stage I doubt they will be able to win them... Apart from sprinters there are 2(3) guys to notice, the climber Stander and the cobbler Vennell. Both are interesting riders, but Stander will lack support and Vennell will loose time to best. In fact, maybe the most interesting rider on the team is Torckler. He got a strong sprint, but adds to that by being able to get over the hills without loosing much energy. He could in fact be the top point scorer of the team. All in all a team that most likely will fight in the bottom of the CT.
A strong CT team lead by the best climber in all of CT, David Arroyo. His big weakness is his race days and it will be really interesting to see how Vien will use him. C1 races that potentially gives more points? Or will he dominate the C2 races that for him will be sure points? Will really be interesting to see. Behind Arroyo there is a interesting troupe of riders, Østergaard is a strong dobble rider that should be able to be in the top 5 in most cobble races, Hochmann is a fast sprinter that should be able to take some stage wins and Flens is among the best TTers in the division. In addition to that the team got the strong allround Duque who can show up pretty much everywhere. To top it up the team could get some lucky results from Firsanov. This is a really strong CT team, I would not be suprised if the promote.
In my opinion one of the weaker teams. Yes they got a leader for all categories, but no top guys. Their climber is Rudaskov, a nice climber, but it stops there. Their hilly leader is Cioban, and he actually got some support, so he could actually be the teams best point scorer (or atleast the hilly team could). On the sprinter side they got Saramotins and Friedman. Okay sprinters, but nothing spectacular. They also got a cobble-team lead by Stevenson, that could score some points but not alot. I believe this team hurts under a goal of having riders for every dicipline, a tip from me for next season is to focus more.
A team that clearly specializes in 2 areas, mountains and hills. Menchov, Nieve, Grau and Calzati will be important riders for the team, and they will all score important points over the season. The main strenght of the team is however the depth in both hills and mountains. No less than 7 riders at 70 or over in climbing, and 9 with 70 or higher in hills, this is a smowzed up squad. In other reas the squad is weak however, and thats the reason for the 3 star overall strenght, but with the right racing program this team should be able to fight for promotion, though I have a feeling they might just miss out.
This is the team I believe will win the CT, 4 riders with 75 or higher climbing and 6 others with 70 or higher, combined with 11 riders with 70 or higher hills makes this a scary CT team. Rodriguez Oliver, Moreno and Sanchez Gonzales are great leads at this level, and should score lots of points, combining that with the sick depth makes this the Bianchi of the CT. In addition they got a great sprinter in Lay. Overall a squad that reminds me of the FCB squad, just stronger.
Going from one of the great spanish teams we look at one of the weaker ones in the division. Got a great sprinter squad who should over the season give the manager some joy, Peeters among others is an interesting sprinter, and Uugunbayar can sprint quicker than you can spell his name. In the mountains and hills the team lack leaders, but got some depth, could get some nice points trough that.
Another squad that could fight for promotion this year. Marzano is a great climber, only one that is better in the CT is Arroyo. I'm hoping for some great battles between them this year. In addition to Marzano the team got another great leader in Scarponi. Will be interesting to see if he will ride stage races or hilly classics? Behind the 2 stars the team offer a good depth, with Kiserlovski, Wellens, Maisto, Penasa, Mori and Failli. In general riders that should steal points here and there over the season. The sprinting department is not strong, but Lasca could get some podiums on lucky days. As I started with, a team that could fight for promotion if things go their way
While I only set them at 3 stars this is a team that might suprise. Marintez and Ndibri are great climbers, and they got strong support. So they could really score points this year. In addition to them Chaoufi is a strong Hilly rider and will fight with the best in the CT. For the time trials the team signed Daan Rijntjes, he's strong against the clock and could on lucky days win Time Trials and help the team in TTTs. The best sprinter is Schinker, he could do well, but I'm no fan of sprinters with flat under 70, Brammier might also score points on lucky days. In general an intersting team, and with luck it might battle in the top, but I believe that it will come right under this season
A team aroud the same level as Kenyan Airways. 2 strong climbers in Rohregger and Naibo with good support (Eibegger and Schrangl). Rohregger is the clear number 1 with his skills in time trials. In the hills the team got no clear leader, but great depth could score this team alot of points, could in some races place a team with all riders 70 or over. The team also got 2 strong sprinters in Speirs and Belletti, though they might lack the top speed of the best sprinters. I had orginally decided not to comment on talents this year, but it will be interesting to see what Demare can do on his loan, and I'm looking forward to seeing Paulus develop before he's sold to me ;-) A team that could with luck challenge for promotion, but I believe they will come up short
One of many wildcard teams, and another team with great depth on climbers. Di Gregorio, Crecer, Silva and Roman are all strong climbers in the CT division, and should be able to secure the team a nice haul of points. The team also got a strong depth in hills, while as many others squads they lack a true leader in that terrain. The team got 3 sprinters, with the most interesting one being Dall'Antonia. He had a bad season last year, can he fight back? His combination of hills and sprinting could be valuable in the harder flat races. Also an intersting note on this team is the climber Mora, if he manages to stay on he could steal some wins at the end of mountain stages with his sprinting skills. In general a team I believe will end up right under the promoting teams, but who knows? Anything could happen
While this team is ranked as a 3 star team it is not as strong as many other 3 star teams. It got 2 great climbers in Niyonshuti and Rodas, both able to stay with the best in the mountains, but while they have good support they lack the numbers that some other teams have to support their leaders. For the hills they are another team of depth, with Ngue as the best, but many around his level. The team got 3 strong sprinters, with Day being the best in my eyes becuse of his flat, but with luck Abdallah and Ben Youcef could get some nice results.
A team that has focused on trying to secure riders for the future, and it shows in team strenght. Feillu is the only climber on the team, and while he could get some results he might find himself alone way too often. On the hill side the teams best rider is once again Feillu, but here also Rake and Olsson could get some results. THhe biggest strenght of the team is sprinting, and specially Sutton could get some good results. Will also be interesting to see Jonas Aaen Jørgensen which I felt did well last year at Aker. Unfortunatly for the Norwegian outfit they are nowhere strong enough to fight for promotion and got to look for themself in the bottom of the division
I rank this team as a 3 star team, but they should really be lucky to right all the way up there, and will most likely be in the middle of the pack. Got a strong climber in Alizadeh, with some support from Jiriakov and Rusli. Also got a strong puncheur in Schurter that also got some support. The support however is nowhere close to what the best teams got. Got a nice sprinting set up, with Awand, Haidar Anuawar and Samai, however only Haidar Anuawar got an acceptable Flat stat, and they all have a far of speedbumps... In general a team that can end up anywhere from close to the bottom to the top 8, but I don't expect them to fight for promotion
Credexbank got a great leader in Niemiec, but he seems to be awefully lonely. He only got one guy that will be any help in the Mountains, and while the team got some puncheurs they lack the strenght of many other teams. The team also got some nice sprinters, but as with Sauber they lack flat, and I would rank Papok as the most likely to win a sprint, and he is not as fast as the best sprinters in the peloton. The results of this team mainly rest on Niemiecs shoulders, unfortunatly that is not enough to be anywhere close to promotion
When you look at this squad you see where they will race. In the hills! The team got both great strenght and greath depth for the hilly races. Weening and Furdi should with the support they got dominate the hilly classics, while the other riders sneak into the top 10 to score lots of points. However, this squad is not only for the hilly classics, Westra got maybe the best combination of TT and Hill in the division, making him able to win shorter stage races (I don't know how many of this kind there are) and the team got 2 good cobble riders in Sentjens and Vengenechten. However, the sucsess this season will be made in the hilly races, and if that goes according to plan Gazelle could and should promote
A team heavily realying on their sprinters, and Maksimov might be the best in the division as long as you find a pancake race. If he had been better over hills I would have given the team a 5 star sprinting rating, but his weakness there concerns me. In addition to him the team got several sprinters that can score points, and some good leadouts, specially Gomenyuk will be important for the other sprinters. Mestre is the strongest climber on the team, and he got some support from Kononenko, but they could run into some problems becuse there are no other good climbers on the team. In the hills the team got 2 nice riders in Fonte and Vorganov and some depth, so could get nice results here. In general a mid-tier team, but with luck in the sprints they could make a run for it.
Vattenfall relies heavily on Larsson and the team is built around him, with nice support in the mountains. Other than Larsson the team generally needs to look for lucky results in the hills for points, with riders like Gingsjo might get results. The team also got some sprinters, but none of real quality. In general a team that will look to Larsson for points, and when he can't get them the team wont get many. This means that I predict the team to fight at the bottom.
***** (Will promote)
Iberia - Comunidad Valenciana
**** (Will fight for promotion, and atleast be at the upper half)
Adira-Isq
Allianz-BMW
Banco-Nacional de Costa Rica
Boeing-Vivacom
Die Berg Komt Er
Kappa - ENI
Team Gazelle
*** (Will be around the middle of the standings, might promote with a lot of luck)
Futbol Club Barcelona
Kenya Airways - Barclays
Magna - Ryanair
Mobil - Castrol
MTN - World Bisicle Relief
Sauber Petronas
Team Privatbank
** (Will be at the bottom, if lucky could rise into the middle)
ANC Halfords
Cadbury-Schweppes
Ekspla-Cision
Japanese - Korean Cycling Project
Risa - Ergon
Team Credexbank
Vattenfall Cycling
Edited by Heine on 15-01-2013 18:54
Nice preview. I just think you're overrating speedbumps in pcm12 a bit. And underrated Vattenfall, but everyone seems to do that, so I guess I'm overrating them.
Interesting reading here - does seem to correlate with my thoughts (great minds think alike and that).
It is possible we both overlooked Vattenfall - Gustav Larsson does look a very good rider indeed - one of the best TTer, decent amount of race days and good enough in the climbs to live with most of the pure climbers. He could well be a star of the division.
