Cunego would target TDF

poulidor said:

Apparently Cunego will not race Giro, probably he prefers to be at the top of his form on TDF.
With less doping some riders have rediscovered hope, some others have give up hope...😄

He has been saying for a while he would target this year's Tour. I guess he sees less chance riding well at the Giro against the likes of DiLuca and more chance in the Tour against the likes of Evans - and with the help of the French Federation's tougher anti-doping tests.

This will be interesting if he really does go to the Tour with serious intentions. I wonder what kind of team he will go with and whether he can stand up to the competition for the distance.

His time trialing has certainly improved, although his climbing has also suffered noticeably. This could be interesting...

Powerful Pete said:

This will be interesting if he really does go to the Tour with serious intentions. I wonder what kind of team he will go with and whether he can stand up to the competition for the distance.

His time trialing has certainly improved, although his climbing has also suffered noticeably. This could be interesting...

This year's TdF has less time trialing. So it is good for him there. With no time bonuses, a rider who has a good uphill sprint can gain the time that the bonuses would have given (assuming that he's in the front group.) This year's TdF course is very interesting. I think we will see some surprise high placings.

Cunego was my dark horse pick for this year's TdF when we had the last thread about who would win in 2008. I was worried that he would burn himself out in the Giro. That won't be a problem anymore.

He is still a long shot, but I could see him winning if a few cards fall into place and he is lucky.

Yes Bro Deal (and welcome back - remember, we shall overcome the spammers and doping thread morons!), I think he does have a bit of chance. A lot depends on what kind of team he takes, and who else is riding for the win at the Tour this year...

I think it's a good move for Cunego, but I do wonder about the team he could bring. I'll admit it my knowledge of the Lampre boys is lacking... who should be on the team?

Bro Deal said:

This year's TdF has less time trialing. So it is good for him there. With no time bonuses, a rider who has a good uphill sprint can gain the time that the bonuses would have given (assuming that he's in the front group.) This year's TdF course is very interesting. I think we will see some surprise high placings.

Cunego was my dark horse pick for this year's TdF when we had the last thread about who would win in 2008. I was worried that he would burn himself out in the Giro. That won't be a problem anymore.

He is still a long shot, but I could see him winning if a few cards fall into place and he is lucky.

no time bonuses this year bro

Hmmmmmmmmm.

Cunego's 2004 Giro win has been a bugbear : in that Cunego was expected to go on to replicate that grand tour win at either the Giro and/or the TDF/Vuelta at some point since 2004.

He's a gifted rider, no doubt.
But winning the Giro as early in his career as he did - has raised the level of expectation since.

If he really is serious about the TDF, he will need a full squad dedicated solely to him.
In recent years he hasn't received fulsome support from his team.
If he is to win - he needs that support.

limerickman said:

Hmmmmmmmmm.

Cunego's 2004 Giro win has been a bugbear : in that Cunego was expected to go on to replicate that grand tour win at either the Giro and/or the TDF/Vuelta at some point since 2004.

He's a gifted rider, no doubt.
But winning the Giro as early in his career as he did - has raised the level of expectation since.

If he really is serious about the TDF, he will need a full squad dedicated solely to him.
In recent years he hasn't received fulsome support from his team.
If he is to win - he needs that support.

everyone knows he was hot hot hot in '04 with juice. heck, even Landis' manager said so 😄

thunder said:

no time bonuses this year bro

That's what I said. No time bonuses. But if he can come in with the first group on climbs, he is capable of sprinting away at the end and getting the the type of time that the time bonuses would have given the winner.

Bro Deal said:

That's what I said. No time bonuses. But if he can come in with the first group on climbs, he is capable of sprinting away at the end and getting the the type of time that the time bonuses would have given the winner.

oh yeah. misread, sorry😄

thunder said:

everyone knows he was hot hot hot in '04 with juice. heck, even Landis' manager said so 😄

I think that's actually the story of Cunego. He was seriously juiced. The Giro the year he won it had a weak field. Peta won nine stages. The only real GC competition was his own teammate. He has shown flashes of what he is capable of since. He ripped a good second ITT at the 2006 TdF. His placing in the Giro are not bad, but he is certainly not going to beat a juiced Basso, DiLuca, Contadope, etc. Against Evans, maybe. I am down on Evans, though. I think he will find a way to come in second.

earth_dweller said:

I think it's a good move for Cunego, but I do wonder about the team he could bring. I'll admit it my knowledge of the Lampre boys is lacking... who should be on the team?

Well he's certainly going to need a few guys who can keep up with him in the mountains. In the flats they're going to have no problems but I only know of a few guys on the Lampre team that could do the job in the mountains:
Marzio Bruseghin, Gianpaolo Caruso, Marco Marzano and Tadej Valjavec are names that I think could fare well in the mountains. Does anyone have anything to say about these guys?

RdBiker said:

Well he's certainly going to need a few guys who can keep up with him in the mountains. In the flats they're going to have no problems but I only know of a few guys on the Lampre team that could do the job in the mountains:
Marzio Bruseghin, Gianpaolo Caruso, Marco Marzano and Tadej Valjavec are names that I think could fare well in the mountains. Does anyone have anything to say about these guys?

P. Vila is very solid in the mountains, and Tiralongo can be decent there as well. Szmyd can do some pace setting on early slopes. Pretty sure that Caruso won't be there, and isn't Valjavec on AG2R? Can't recall if Loosli can climb at all- I'll say yes because he is Swiss although I really have no idea.

I think that you guys have identified the main GT guys... here is their homepage with the full list of riders: http://www.teamlampre.com/atleti/index.asp

The Lampre camp were historically split between supporting Cunego and supporting Simoni.
Hopefully the aftermath of that particular split, has healed and Cunego will get
100% support.

limerickman said:

The Lampre camp were historically split between supporting Cunego and supporting Simoni.
Hopefully the aftermath of that particular split, has healed and Cunego will get
100% support.

True, but that is old history. I would say that the team is now split between support to people like Ballan for classics wins and the GT 'group'. I believe that they are a stronger classics team than GT group, but stand to be corrected...

Powerful Pete said:

True, but that is old history. I would say that the team is now split between support to people like Ballan for classics wins and the GT 'group'. I believe that they are a stronger classics team than GT group, but stand to be corrected...

PP : yeah that is an interesting observation.

Lampre always seem to be in contention in the GT's - without actually appearing to be dominant in them.

limerickman said:

PP : yeah that is an interesting observation.

Lampre always seem to be in contention in the GT's - without actually appearing to be dominant in them.

we theorised Simoni was [censored] at Cunego because Simoni stopped doping heavily about 02. And he would have won the Giro if not for his heavily doped jnr prince

thunder said:

we theorised Simoni was [censored] at Cunego because Simoni stopped doping heavily about 02. And he would have won the Giro if not for his heavily doped jnr prince

Why did he stop? Did he not know how to microdose when the EPO test came out?