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tymon_tm
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by tymon_tm

maybe that's not really their aim. if you've got financial backing like SKY does, why bother with talent development if you can just buy riders who have already proven their value. sort of what USPS did with Heras or Savoldelli (although their angle was somewhat different). instead they can focus on building a strong team around their 'champs' - that's probably a lot more effective and cheaper too
kkibbler wrote: WW remembers.

KWalker
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by KWalker

Hasn't worked for BMC or Garmin.
Don't take me too seriously. The only person that doesn't hate Froome.
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wingguy
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by wingguy

So? With two yellow jerseys in the bank already it's obviously working for SKY.

KWalker
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by KWalker

The problem with Sky is that other than Froome they do not have a reliable second GC contender at the moment. If Wiggo pursues the track they basically have Froome, Porte when he is healthy/consistent, and Henao (if he is allowed to race again). Their classics squad has never pulled off a massive win and other than that its a lot of domestiques. It wouldn't matter if they were good at developing younger/newer riders so that's why I asked.
Don't take me too seriously. The only person that doesn't hate Froome.
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tymon_tm
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by tymon_tm

i don't quite understand what's going on with Wiggins (=whether he / his team figured out his future goals) but i assume Porte was their 'Giro man'. him not living up to the expectations is probably pretty frustrating for SKY at this point, but hell, even the best teams can't always win on all fronts - just look at football/soccer Champions League. we can surely expect some moovement on the transfer market come fall.
kkibbler wrote: WW remembers.

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euan
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by euan

From a few pages back and Tony Martin. Yes it is blood, not its not because of the sand paper. Its from a stage race where he was injured and riding hard caused him to reopen the wounds

wingguy
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by wingguy

KWalker wrote:The problem with Sky is that other than Froome they do not have a reliable second GC contender at the moment. If Wiggo pursues the track they basically have Froome, Porte when he is healthy/consistent, and Henao (if he is allowed to race again). Their classics squad has never pulled off a massive win and other than that its a lot of domestiques. It wouldn't matter if they were good at developing younger/newer riders so that's why I asked.


They developed/transformed Wiggins and they developed Froome OK so I'm going to assume they know what they're doing there - and if they really run into trouble I doubt they'll have too much difficulty buying in a superstar.

Also (given that SKY only really care about the TdF) does any other team out there have two genuine, reliable, likely contenders for GT victory? Riders like that are extremely rare.

worstshotever
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by worstshotever

Only time will tell. Joe D's first big test in a while coming soon in California.

ichobi
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by ichobi

Sky got two young hopefuls, Ian Boswell and Joe.D but that's going to take a long time to come off age. Garmin still hasn't had that worked out and they been on it for a few years now?

Not sure what kind of realization Wiggo has, but perhaps he decided to turn away from major grand tour now? Seems rather happy not being in the Giro.

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Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez
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by Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez

Dombrowsky is coming back from knee injury, not the best preparation for ATOC. His best ride at pro levels was done under Trek/Bontrager development team.

Team Sky has peculiar training methods. Tim Kerrison practice reversed periodization.

The classic approach to training is to work endurance first and then do more specific/interval/intensity training to peak for a determined period of time and generally the rider would get on top form for a month or 6 weeks.

Reverse periodization means you always do specific/interval training all the season, but you start with short periods of intensity in winter and progressively lengthen the intensity work.
This kind of training is much more stressful/demanding for the body and mind. If, at one point you get physically or mentally tired, it can become a nightmare because the body doesn't answer as it should under effort.

When it's working you can have a very long period of good form, such as Wiggins in 2012 or Porte & Froome in 2013 when they basically won every stage race they would start.

In 2013 Wiggo couldn't mentally endure this kind of training, too much demanding. It is not surprising to see him performing in 2014 with a fresh mind/approach to the races. The Roubaix thing was the best thing for him. If you've had a look at Giro del Trentino, you might have seen him performing very well in the mountains despite having raced the classics just 10 days before and some kilos of overweight. (compared to his Grand Tour weight)

This kind of training method also naturally select the strong "pedigrees"/engines such as Ian Stannard, Geraint Thomas or Wiggins. Porte is having trouble this year but this training method did well during two seasons, but kill the weaker bodies or weaker minds (Tiernan-Locke for example who just couldn't adapt to the method)

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vdrey
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by vdrey

^that's pretty awesome/strange

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Guerdi
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by Guerdi

Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez : great infos in your post, thank you.

ultyguy
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by ultyguy

SSG- I've heard that Sky has pulled back a bit from that kind of training, interested to hear if anyone else had heard similar. i think what you said...

This kind of training method also naturally select the strong "pedigrees"/engines such as Ian Stannard, Geraint Thomas or Wiggins. Porte is having trouble this year but this training method did well during two seasons, but kill the weaker bodies or weaker minds (Tiernan-Locke for example who just couldn't adapt to the method)

....is really dead on though. I am a big believer that the biggest effects and impacts are made on year on year basis and not intra-year. In the same token, while their methods took hold in their main riders are a year or 2 on their program (froome, wiggins, and porte), I think they are also paying the price for the training load that they endured over those years both physically and mentally.

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Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez
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by Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez

I don't know about that change Ultyguy :thumbup:

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