Danish medias has been speculating on which Pro Tour team is the strongest this year, and here from B.T. we have tried to string out the teams giving a detailed describing, ending up in a prediction, as we did last year. The teams will be described in alphabetical order, from A til W, and finally by strenght.
Team Accumalux-Huez:
Last years winners in the Pro Tour, has signed a gifting deal with, no less that french mountain l'Alpe d'Huez, giving the team a healthy finance, but also a sponsorwish of more climbing material within the team. The squad was already before the transferseason among the very best, if not the best, this has also been a fact of life as the team has been rather non-responsive in terms of signing riders.
The team figures superstar Fränk Schleck as main rider. Schleck has previously won Le Tour de France, and will look to repeat his succes in a rather hilly edition of this years Tour. Among with Schleck is the italian wonder Franco Pellizotti, in which the team should be guaranteed a top 5 Giro place, and several other great overall results during the season.
A likely Vuelta set-up could contain both Beñat Intxausti and Santiago Perez. A deadly duo, which could perform extremely well under the right circumstances. However, they both lack the ability to overcome the hilly stages with the very best, but they climbing skills hopefully help them in their strive at getting within top 10 of the Vuelta a España.
A big questionmark is the kazakh rider Maxim Iglinski. On paper he should be a very strong rider, but hasn't got the records on his side. He is without doubt a very strong helper, but on his own he struggle to really do the difference.
The team has also got a few talented Timetriallists with Clesen, Kittel, Barth and Chtioui, but overall we can't seem to think but the team has gotten a bit weaker than last season.
The overruling plus to this team is the tactical genious behind the team; SportingNonsence.
An overall very strong team, eventhough we can't put them as the strongest overall.
American Suzuki was in the low end of the Pro Tour last year, but it seems the manager has taken the full consequense of this and making the team a lot stronger. The team is very adversatile, having not only climbers and TT'ers like Accumalux, but also figures some very good sprinters and a good cobbled rider. The absolute weakness of the team is the hills, which could become a very important part of the season.
If we are to put our fingers on one single rider making the difference here we have to say Vladimir Karpets. The russian rider is amazing within the climbing and Timetriallist facets of this game, and he is also a fairly strong hilly rider.
If we look at the flats we are having one of the best sprinters in the pack Allan Davis. Allan is a very fast rider, and also a fairly good hilly rider. He won't win the hilly stages, but he will be right there in the pack if the hilly riders shouldn't get the desired distance. And as always he will be among the top 3 sprinters on flat stages in almost every race he will star in. The team also stars a couple of sub-top sprinters such as Emanuele Rizza and Fabio Borghesi. Both could become interesting in especially italian races, like Tirreno-Adriatico and the Giro d'Italia.
For the northern classics only one rider comes to mind; Andreas Klier could provide some fairly decent results, but looking at his team he will be all alone in the races, which could be a huge problem.
All in all, another good team. But we can't see them getting above top 10 in the PT.
This very interesting promoter has been thrown into a lack of management due to the financial crisis. The team manager got into personal bankrupsy which gave the team very little to work with, and shortly before the transferseason he threw in the towel. The sponsors has withdrawn their finances, they accepted to pay the remaining riders wages, but no new riders were accepted into this team.
The team is extremely shortbreathed on stars, where the biggest could be Aleksandr Efimkin. There is no doubt that the russian rider won't be having trouble following the pack on most races, and the hilly races could be good for him, but he still lacks a bit when it comes to the very best.
Others than him only sprinters Jimmy Casper and Michael Vanderaerden are worthwile of mentioning, which leaves this team a very little slack of hoping to survive their first Pro Tour season.
The team finished in a very respectable 6th place last season, but it seems the team has gone into a slight chance of goalstriving. Overall the team is very strong, but the interesting thing when looking here is that no riders jump into a catagory of their own. This is a Team with capital "T" and it could mean that this team could end up just about everywhere...
The strongest rider, if to mention one, will be Filippo Pozzato, who can win both hilly races among with big sprints. A very interesting rider, who could go into the personal top 10 of the PT.
If the team is to get a succesful Tour de France it is down to french rider John Gadret, who could go out and surprise everyone. He needs to be in the shape of his life, but if he is there is no telling where he could end up.
David Abal is another strong GT rider, who could do a decent Vuelta a España. Abal looks quite similar to the Accumalux rider named Intxausti. He really lacks hilly quality, which could be a huge problem.
As mountain help the team has Moises Dueñas and Dario Cataldo. Both are unlikely to do the team any good alone, but as helpers they are top of the crop!
If we look into the cobbled season Filippo Pozzato could again be the man to watch.
Looking at the sprint, the team has an interesting frenchie in Blaise Sonnery who are fairly fast, but also a very strong climber. This could be a very interesting card, among with sub-top sprinters Borut Bozic and Samuel Dumoulin.
In a very last aspect of this team we can mention William Bonnet who could be a very important rider in small flat tours. He is a very strong Timetriallist and a fairly good sprinter, so who knows what he could be up to?
Overall we have another interesting team, but looking at some of the other teams, they will have a very hard time getting another top 6 place this year.
To us, this is the team to watch. They don't have the all-overshading star, but they just have every single type of rider. Strong climbers, good hilly riders, strong cobblers a decent sprinter and allround decent riders.
The one outstanding rider is young Andy Schleck. No one really knows how strong he is, but he must be mentioned as a candidate to win one of the Grand Tours. It's very likely that he could form a strong rider for either the Giro or the Tour.
Vincenzo Nibali looks like the obvious card for the Giro, which should give a top 7-8 in this race, and some good results in smaller races aswell.
For the Vuelta the team should aim to give David Arroyo the star role. A role he has been waiting to get for years, but now really seems to be able to get. Among with Haimar Zubeldia the team could provide a scary Vuelta formation.
Another climber we have to look at is Bernhard Kohl. He isn't the best rider in the team, but he should be able to do a couple of top 10s in smaller Tours. Another very important aspect of this team.
If we have to change the perspective away from the mountains and into the one day races we have huge talent Dimitri Claeys and almost as talented Jelle Vanendert. Together these two riders could do very very well. The big question is whether these riders are up to the task just yet, but then we have to remember the fact that Vincenzo Nibali can actually also ride a very strong one day race!
For the cobbles the team has one of the best rider Nick Nuyens. Nuyens will be helped by a strong classic team with Evert Verbist, Danilo Wyss and Alexandre Aulas. Again we are looking at the overall of this team, which seems very thought through.
The weakest point of this team is the sprinters, where Francesco Chicchi is the best card. Eventhough he can't compete with the likes of Cavendish, Bennati and Boonen, he is still rather capable especially in italian races.
Looking through this team goes this important red line. The question is really how many races this team will have to skip, as they only have 20 riders. But looking at this I wouldn't be surprised to see Domina Vacanze in top 3.
Last season Eurosport didn't do all too well, they did, however survive without any significant problems, and with the last part of this transferperiod they secured their best card of the entire team.
Besides him the team has a huge gap down to the next climbers, with fading stars like Francisco Mancebo, Oscar Pereiro Sio and Andreas Klöden as the big questions. Are they still able to follow the stars, then this team could be very very strong, but we tend to give them fairly little credit as their hilly abilities aren't the best in the pack.
An interesting set of riders, however are Thomas Lövkvist and Linus Gerdemann, who could provide a shock for the pack. They can follow on almost every surface, but seem to lack the final touch which gives them the favorite roles.
Looking at the hills this team lacks just about everything. Linus Gerdemann and Peter Velits are the strongest riders, which tells just about enough to be quite critical about their chances.
If we look at the sprinters, however the team has superstar Mark Cavendish in the formation. He could become very important for this team. We don't think we are in line for a relegation, but we aren't within the top 10 either.
Team Eurosport is a good team, but lacks the quality to make the team go into the very good ones.
Two watchproducers, you might think? The reality here is quite interesting, as Festina and Seiko are planning a series of watches together, why a shared cycling team is a huge step into that direction. It has also given the manager a bit more to play with.
Last season the team ended in 9th place after having started like thunder, shocking everyone. This season the team has changed quite drastically.
The first rider we have to look at is Alberto Contador! This rider is selfscribed into winning races. He haven't had the strongest seasons but he should be able to do top 3 Vuelta a España with the backup from a solid rider like Iban Mayo.
If we look into the teams chances to do well in the other GT's the team fades down a bit. Carlos Castaño and Mauricio Ardila are both strong riders, but very unlikely to win races. A top 10 at most will be the threat of these riders.
Into the hilly races we have one of the best Pro Tour riders in Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez, who have proved himself the last couple of years. He will try to do the same this year, and we have faith that he will do so.
Looking at the cobbles this team is also a fairly good one, with Frederik Nolf, and supersprinter Thor Hushovd. Those 2 will be helped by Anthony Geslin, Nick Ingels and Jurgen Van Loocke. That should be interesting!
Finally this team has one of the most complete Timetrial formations with Brian Vandborg, Jurgen van Goolen, Kristof Goddaert and Patrick Gretsch, and this is without mentioning the previously mentioned riders.
Overall another strong team who can do just about everything. The weakness mut be the climbing skills, as they can only do well in one GT. We believe this team is one to watch, and has a fair chance to get someplace close to 5th.
France Televisions is probably the most reduced team. They finished in 3rd place last year, and it's not all that unlikely that they will do fairly good again, but it has been severely weakened after the exit of Janez Brajkovic and Stijn Devolder.
The best rider of the team is Robert Gesink. And exactly him should we be looking out for. He is among the very best GT riders and we must believe he could do top 3 no matter which race he desides to go for, but after him there's a huge gap down to the next mountainer, who is french Sandy Casar. He is unlikely to do anything significant, but he is a fairly strong helper.
For the hilly classics Luis Leon Sanchez Gil will be quite the man. He is very strong, and could also be a good man for smaller tours. He will be helped by aging Karsten Kroon and young supertalent Jan Bakelants.
In the cobbled races Gert Steegmans will have to finally show his talent. On paper he is among the very best, but is yet to show it. He is also the best sprinter in the team, and can battle the very finest in that class. From him and down to the 2nd best of the team there's a huge gap. A pretty strong line of semigood cobblers could help Steegmans, but when it comes to the sprint, he is by himself.
Michael Schär is the teams sole Timetrialist, when looking outside Robert Gesink. That could prove a difficult task when the team sign up for TTT races.
Overall it's a decent team, but the sale of 2 stars will be felt, that's for sure. A top 10 should me managable, but difficult.
Last years 4th place have keept the team within the same basics, and with Magenta All Stars out of the picture and France Televisions heavily reduced, it could prove very gifting for the Gazetta team.
One rider is worth noting. Damiano Cunego. Damiano won the last 2 Giro's and there should be absolutely no reason why he couldn't take the 3rd aswell. This is, however only if he is allowed to race. Because in the team shines another potential winner of the race, Danilo Di Luca.
Looking into the chances of the Tour relies also on the choice for the Giro. Both Cunego and Di Luca should be able to fight for podium in the Tour de France, while David De la Fuente will be struggling to get anything more than a top 10 in La Vuelta a España.
Another frontier is Michael Rogers, who are perfect for small stageraces, without any hills. He is a fairly strong climber and among the best timetriallists in the world. All the rider mentioned above are also very strong finishers.
For the hilly races we are again having a look at Di Luca and Cunego. Both will be favorites to win all the classics.
When the show goes to the cobble we see that this team lack any quality what so ever on that field. Only Joost Posthuma can have any thoughts of doing top 30 in the cobbled season.
In the sprints Daniele Bennati will yet again be among the top men, Daniele is top 5 sprinter in the world and will be able to win just about any flat stage. Besides Bennati only Marinangeli is worth mentioning. He is a decent sprinter and a fairly survivable one.
On the Timetrials Rogers will team up with Michael Ford, Joost Posthuma, Rick Flens and Dennis Van Winden to show a strong looking TTT team.
Overall this is one of the best teams in the Pro Tour, and top 3 doesn't seem to be too low.
The former 5th place Erste, has changed team name into Lipton Ice Tea. Their team hasn't been significantly weakened, so this could also be a strong one.
Emanuele Sella almost shocked the world of cycling by merely getting 2nd in the Giro edition 2009. For quite some time he looked to win, but in the end he lacked the hilly abilities. This year he is back to show the world he is even better, and he could be deadly!
By his side are Andrei Kashechkin and Francisco Perez Sanchez. Both of which should be able to do top 7 in a GT. Kashechkin for the Tour and Perez Sanchez in the Vuelta. Add that together and you got one sincerely strong looking team. Vitor Rodrigues, Iker Camaño and Przemyslaw Niemiec are filling up the roster as a quality upgoing team.
For the hilly part of the season, the team is lacking real quality, the best bid for succes must be Cesare Di Maggio, but it's really just too soon for him to shine. This could be the huge problem for the team.
The sprints aren't the best part of this team, however Alberto Loddo could pose a threat for even the big guns this year.
The team is basically non-existing in eyes of Timetrials with only Niemiec capable of doing anything decent.
The team is very good based on the 3 GT riders and the cobbled riders. But besides that the team isn't all that strong. It could be anything really, top 10 for sure, but nothing more? Hmm...
Last year the team took a pretty severe knock to the head, as they were forced down to 12th place on the PT list, but eventhough that happened, the team hasn't changed all too much.
There's no doubt that Pozzovivo and Dekker should be able to score a fair amount of points for this team, but where are we in the hills? Well they are both decent, but can't ride everything, so for the hills the team has loaned Diego Ulissi from the Festina team. It's highly unlikely that he can do anything besides attack and hope for the best, but he is, however the sole chance of hilly succes of this team.
In the cobbles the team has one of the strong guys in Vladimir Gusev. And with danish Matti Breschel as a helper he could do very well indeed in the flat, hard races.
Maxime Vantomme should be getting closer to his max speed and thus creating a quite strong sprinter this season. Also Martin Pedersen looks pretty fast by now, so they could get some good stageplacings.
The team can also manuevre a quite strong TTT team with Gusev, Dekker, Pierre Rolland, Lars Ytting Bak and Niels Scheunemann, so all in all an interesting team.
We would be very surprised if Philips - Hummel is yet again out of the top 10, actually we would be surprised if they weren't fairly close to the top 5.
The team also has some decent sub-top climbers in form of; Wim van Huffel, Petar Panatoyov and Sergio Paulinho. All riders who could take some small wins throughout the season.
In the hills Patrick Sinkewitz will have to find something else, to play a significant part. He has been just outside the top 10 so many times by now, that he should be able to learn from it by now. He is a big questionmark though. Constantino Zaballa should be able to hang in for quite som time aswell.
In the cobbles the team have the very very strong Alessandro Ballan. Ballan is an engine of another world. He is so extremely strong, and he will create results in aswell cobbles as flat/hilly races for sure.
The name indicates money, but the manager indicates something completely different. Team mentality, talent and red line!
The teams biggest star is the norwegian supertalent Edvald Boasson Hagen. A rider which we all believe will do great things. He is a very strong and fast rider, and top 5 in hilly races should definately be within his reach.
On the GT's point of view only one rider is worth mentioning. Aleksandr Pluchkin. He hasn't had the best of results just yet, but this is the year according to team manager. We believe him, as Aleksandr is looking to become a top 5 GT rider. We want to see more from this kid!
On the row behind him there's some interesting young guys like Dominik Klemme, Andrei Grivko and Nico Keinath. They are all a long way from succes, but this might be the year where they take the final step. Especially Klemme and Grivko should provide plenty of help for Boasson Hagen in the hilly races.
The team also have a talented cobbled rider in Tom Veelers. Veelers should if best do top 5 in a cobbled race, but there's still some way to go for him. Veelers will be helped by Jempy Drucker.
As part of their sprinting team, danish Jonas Aaen Jørgensen will be the teams best card this year, but also Kobe Vanoverschelde should be quite a fast man.
Overall it's a very very interesting team. They should be able to survive in the finest of the finest, but their need for young talent, will also provide a big obsticle in shape of getting things done already this year. They will stay out of relegation. Just!
Last year they were called Nintendo-Honda and was quite close to relegation. This don't seem to be the issue of 2010.
The team has signed with some very strong climbers. Yaroslav Popovych was unlucky last year, but could do top 5 in the big races. Also Marco Marzano should be able to ride within the top 10 of the Giro d'Italia this year.
For the hills, Cobo is also the main rider. He lacks quality to really make it to the top, but he is just behind the best, and could actually be surprising this year.
In the sprints we have abovementioned Baden Cooke, but also young revelation Jurgen Roelandts. Together they should give the team quite some points, as they would be top 3 candidates for all flat stages.
Cancellara is also probably the best Timetriallist in the world right now, and should be able to give the team a lot of points in the small stageraces!
This team has moved from dangerously close to relegation, to a fair jump to top 10.
Last years 8th place, came into heavy storm as 2 young riders had signed a faulty contract giving them each the entire team budget. This huge debate ended up in only Taylor Phinney accepting to resign his contract with quite a lower sum, while the other talented rider was fired with wage!
In the cobbles, only Sebastian Langeveld has a shot at doing points, but with help from Kenny De Haes and Lars Boom, he actually could get points.
The team has one sprinter. He is not the strongest on paper, but so far he has been doing really good for this team. Aleksandr Serebriakov is his name. This young russian sprinter has a tendency to cling onto the right wheel everytime!
Lars Boom, Ian Stannard and Ivan Kovalev are all scary looking Timetriallist, and they should be able to do some fine results in smaller stageraces, especially Lars Boom looks to be very strong this year.
Taylor Phinney is the huge talent of this team, he is not yet ready to win any of the big races, but he can do just about anything, so there is a decent chance that he can win a stage or 2 already this season.
Overall not the best team in the pack. We don't think they are relegation material, but it will probably not be enough to do much more than top 12.
This team is known as the one-man-team. There is only room for one leader, and that is Tom Boonen.
The team ended up last year in 14th place, but this season the competition is just a lot stronger, so Tom Boonen will really have to up his game to secure the team another season in the Pro Tour.
Looking at the team outside Tom Boonen only a few are worth mentioning. Carlos Barredo and Johan Coenen are fairly good hilly riders, but nothing more. Stagewins will be what they will aim to do at most.
But only calling this team a one man ride, is and overstatement, because they also have a huge engine in Juan-Antonio Flecha. Flecha will probably be helper in the cobbled races, why his role seems to be rather irrelevant.
Tom Boonen is the best sprinter, and the best cobbler in the world. But he is only one man! He will not secure this team another season in the Pro Tour!
Another promoted team. It can be difficult to survive in a Pro Tour when you are new, but the team did the only right thing, they went for a top gun. Riccardo Ricco. He should be able to win just about every race he is participating in, but the team will have to decide very carefully which to attend, as his liutenants aren't nearly as strong.
Thomas Rohregger and Konstantin Siutsou are both decent riders, but when the real captains move they can do nothing else than sit back and hope for the storm to blow over. They will probably get the team points, but not many.
In the hilly races Riccardo Ricco is again the main man, but also Maxime Monfort, should be able to do some quality results for the team.
There are no cobblers in the team, but a huge Timetrial talent. Jacob Fiedler is his name. Already this year he should be able to get the team some much needed points, but next year he will be dominant!
The team will rely on Riccardo Ricco to get the points, but here the teammates can actually get a few aswell, so we don't think they will be relegated this season.
Wikipedia ended up in 7th place last year, very much so in the wake of David Zabriskie's amazing season. We have to believe he is not that strong this year, why we can't put them up that high.
The team has got 2 strong GT riders. We are a bit uncertain of their strenghts, however. Rigoberto Úran is the best on paper. He is not superior in any way, but should do top 10 in whatever tour he rides. Simon Spilak is the other. Spilak is not only a great GT rider, but also a very good hilly rider, why we have to assume he will be riding some of those. He can't ride everything, so again this team will have to find the exact best races for him to do.
Eventhough we had to say Zabriskie probably wouldn't be as good this year, he is still the best rider of the team. He is an amazing Timetriallist, and he has a way of getting within the right time after the best climbers. Zabriskie could very well go out and win 2-3 small stageraces again this year.
The team has got a nice cobbled team though with Marcus Burghardt and Nikolas Maes. This is not the best constelation in the bunch, but it is one of them! Burghardt should be about 5th in all of the cobbled races.
Antother interesting rider is Jerome Coppel, who should be among the very best Timetriallists, this should also provide the team with quite some points.
We don't think the 7th place can be redone, but somewhere around 10th wouldn't be impossible.
1 La Gazetta dello Sport 2 Accumalux - Huez
3 Domina Vacanze
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4 Philips - Hummel
5 Festina - Seiko
6 Lipton Ice Tea
7 Unicef RT
8 France Televisions
9 Wikipedia
10 SIC - Radical
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11 Virgin Media
12 Eurosport
13 American Suzuki
14 Credit Lyonnais
15 White Bear - Wild Horses
16 Team B&O
---------------------------------- 17 Warner Brothers
18 Team ChampionEdited by SotD on 14-03-2009 16:15
7 must be enough for now, it takes quite some time to do :-P - Let me know what you think. I will update whenever I feel for it, it will probably be updated today, and finished tomorrow
I like it, it's an entertaining read, plus it also gives you some insight to who the other teams have bought (I'm not very updated when it comes to that).
Fair judgement on our team, there are reasons why we have "one leader" and i'll go into them maybe tomorrow in the media topic. But you can probally guess that this year.
There's no point slapping a schleck - Sean Kelly on "Who needs a slap"
Setzel will be happy
