"PRO" Cycling Discussion

[ghisallo2003]

As long as he does not make a big show of waiting. Froome lost a lot of potential support last year. He didn't get praise for waiting and potentially wasted the opportunity to be the first 'British' winner.

[petepeterson]

Regarding Garmin's team:
Keep in mind JV likes to control the media message and expectations on his team whether it's someone's past O2 vector doping or race goals. He's always branded them the clean underdog from day 1 and rarely do they come out and clearly state a sole leader/strategy. I imagine there is more to it than what he publicly states.

[Razor]

I'm not seeing what you guys are seeing I guess. Although it does look a little weird how smoothly he hops onto the hood, I can't see any ramp.

If you look closely at the middle edge of the hood, you will see a silver object (a smallish round shape with flatter sides to it). At first I thought it was a hood ornament but when he walks around the car, you can see there is no hood ornament. Plus, look at the position of his feet. Impossible to hop the back wheel (requiring you to stop pedaling) with his feet in that position , he is clearly consistently pedaling.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23398613@N08/9153122764/

[deek]

I think that's the port for the windshield wiper fluid. You can see two of them on the hood after the 40s mark in the video.

[ichobi]

@Kwalker When I said the Garmin 9 packs some good punch, I really meant they are okayish to decent, though would not be podium threatening considering the competitors. Perhaps a stage win or two and a top 10 GC, but really... 'packing good punch' doesn't sound all that grand. I would rate them 3/5. They could be interesting, like when how Hes+Dan went 1-2 in Liege. Like it or not, JV did choose riders that perform quite well this year, young or otherwise. Good call not bringing Farrar. THAT would make a bad selection imo.

[djconnel]

Startlist with numbers (VeloNews)

Always interesting to see which teams are in alphabetical order rather than nonalphabetic assignment of a 1-number. Of course, if your last name is "ABBOT" you're going to be alphabetized even if you were explicitly stuck in the first slot, so it isn't perfect. Euskatel is led with "Anton" and Quickstep by "Cavendish", both in alphabetical order, but probably team leaders anyway, I'd guess.

That leaves only Belkin with Lars Boom over Robert Gesink. That's surprising to me. A lack of confidence in their GC guy?

P.S. Surely the consumer release of the Addict deserves a separate thread in the Road forum.

[jmilliron]

Or maybe they're just down playing Gesink to reduce personal pressure and keep him off everyone else's radar. Hard to read into these things.

[micky]

I wouldnt put too much trust on Gesink cause he's often crashing or either just not up there with the best.
I do agree that he has big potential but it seems there's often something wrong with him for one reason or another, while with guys like Mollema I would feel more confident.

[maquisard]

Gesink is not the designated GC leader for Belkin at the Tour, Bauke Mollema is instead.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/blanco- ... -de-france

[djconnel]

Ah, but then it's interesting neither is #1.

[justkeepedaling]

It'll be interesting to see how Andy does. I'm watching Talansky, he has a lot of potential

[KWalker]

You slated them.

Based off a claim that no one was making.

Vaughters made it himself in an interview and twitter. A poster, who I quoted in my response also made it. Perhaps you were too busy trying to snipe at my opinion to notice that. Some of the riders are strong, but just the team itself I do not think is as impressive as Vaughters feels it is.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/garmin- ... rance-team" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Garmin 9 packs good punch.

And there's nothing on JV's twitter to back up what you're saying either. Which is what I went by.


Given they have a Grand Tour winner and the domestiques who helped him win that race in their 9, I stand by you being harsh.


And poor at accepting an alternate point of view.

From this article: http://velonews.competitor.com/2013/06/ ... 012_292114" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"The other teams out there, ourselves included, because we have a sort of very deep team"

"Listen, I still think Sky is the strongest team in the Tour, absolutely. But I think the difference that people will see in our team and Sky, and even a team like Movistar, or Saxo Bank, and Sky, I think those differences will be considerably smaller than they have been at the other races.”

“They could still end up being the best team. I think we’ll give them a run for their money,” Vaughters said.

So yes, I do not think Garmin has the depth of the teams he listed although his point is valid. This is what I was referring to. No f*cking way in hell is Garmin going to give Sky a run for their money in any sense.

Hesjedal is a Grand Tour winner, but I don't see him repeating ever again especially against a field this deep.

[Tinea Pedis]

RIDE Mag have a pile of shots and a write up of the new Trek Madone Seven series. First in the world!

[genesis692]

speaking of porte, he looks REAL fast here. love how low this little dude gets. anyone know what sized bike he rode while on specialized?

Not sure about road frame, but from what I can recall he rode a custom Shiv from 2010 world champs onwards.

[hansonator69]

Re: Porte's frame size, he rode the custom Shiv TT size made for Alberto Contador in 2010 onwards. This later was put into production as size XS.

His road frame appears to be size 51.5 or 53 in Pinarello's sizing for the Dogma Think2.