Discovery in disarray.... ?
- Thread starter whiteboytrash
- Start date
Nice work by Bruyneel sending out your mountain climbing recruit on the flatest stage of the Tour.... oh dear... will they ever get it right..... ?Dead Star said:
Discovery is obviously weaker this year (in some respects). I have a hard time calling it "disarray" however. They have three riders in the top 7 currently, that's almost 50%. Whether they'll hold that for long is another question, but we're not going to know the answer to that until stage 7 at the earliest.
I know the rest will have to be concerned if any of them are in a break.. which may be the point. They have a lot of options to choose from right now, why show your hand before you have to? Seems pretty smart to me to keep the other teams guessing if it costs you little to do so. We'll see what happens.
WBT, you're the one that made the observation that this year's strategy would be a little different, saying that teams would be out in the flat stages trying to rack up the time bonuses. That's what Discovery did today, are you now saying that doesn't make sense?
If any teams are in disarray right now, I'd say it's the ones that are not currently intact (regardless of the reason). Gerolsteiner, Davitamon, Discovery, Agricole, Phonak, etc. are looking pretty good right now.
I know the rest will have to be concerned if any of them are in a break.. which may be the point. They have a lot of options to choose from right now, why show your hand before you have to? Seems pretty smart to me to keep the other teams guessing if it costs you little to do so. We'll see what happens.
WBT, you're the one that made the observation that this year's strategy would be a little different, saying that teams would be out in the flat stages trying to rack up the time bonuses. That's what Discovery did today, are you now saying that doesn't make sense?
If any teams are in disarray right now, I'd say it's the ones that are not currently intact (regardless of the reason). Gerolsteiner, Davitamon, Discovery, Agricole, Phonak, etc. are looking pretty good right now.
Well, let's say you were a DC supporter.
If, before Operacion Puerto, you dreamed of the elimination from the TdF, through no action of DC or any other remaining team, of some of their key GC opponents, wouldn't the ones you wanted to eliminate be, in order, something like this:
Basso
JU
Vino
Mancebo
Valverde?
And, by reason of the above riders' implication in the doping scandal, guess who has been eliminated? Aren't things very favorable to DC?
If, before Operacion Puerto, you dreamed of the elimination from the TdF, through no action of DC or any other remaining team, of some of their key GC opponents, wouldn't the ones you wanted to eliminate be, in order, something like this:
Basso
JU
Vino
Mancebo
Valverde?
And, by reason of the above riders' implication in the doping scandal, guess who has been eliminated? Aren't things very favorable to DC?
Possibly something like that, very possibly.musette said:
Sure it's favorable for DC, as well as other teams. It's favorable for all of the teams (especially the GC hopefuls) to have arguably the biggest two threats out of the action.
Valverde is out due to his crash however, and Vino hasn't been personally implicated. Actually I feel bad for Vino, he just got caught up in the circumstances.
lol, perhaps so! Actually, I just enjoy watching the sport. Sure I have favorites, but they're spread across more than one team.. so it's easy for me to not get caught up in the extreme battles that happen on here. It's interesting to see the decisions different teams make (apparently make) to reach their goals.lwedge said:You're too rational Mansmind.
I think WBT is on a "man period" today, he is tired and his body is trying to rid itself of all th Dutch Gold he had last night.
lw
I like the attacking though, which we're not REALLY seeing a lot of right now. Give me the mountain stages
Still, it seems like some teams are trying to set themselves up right now.WBT? He's nearly always antagonistic, it's just who he is. That's okay though, still some good information/opinions.
patch70 said:
Oh, I'm glad you know why he went back. It was solely for drinks? I'm glad you have the direct feed to the DS.
I heard Phil and Paul say other DC riders went back too.When it comes to DC, nothing is what it seems.
As for Martinez wheel sucking? If he was awarded the most aggressive rider for the day, he def. was not wheel sucking. Honestly, I don't think any of us are qualified to judge what DC is planning. After Stage 7's ITT, we'll be able to begin formulating valid arguments/viewpoints.
Anyways, how bout Eki's heart rate?! It was like 100bpm for most the race. What a beast!
Disco/Postal is 7 for 7 in the only race that matters to that team. The question is, will they ever get it wrong.whiteboytrash said:Nice work by Bruyneel sending out your mountain climbing recruit on the flatest stage of the Tour.... oh dear... will they ever get it right..... ?
In the meantime, I just watched the replay of the stage, and your suggestion that Martinez was wheelsucking is flat out ********. All the riders, first the five, then the three who remained, shared the load.
And Lim -- you can shut the hell up about anything to do with the TdF this year -- you've already admitted you've "lost interest" and "haven't tuned in", so there's no need to keep sniffing WBT's hindquarters. What does he do, by the way, to be able to call others terms like "dickbrain" without one of your royal reprimands? Never mind, I don't want to know.
patch70 said:
I am not so sure. When Lance was racing there was no question who the team leader was, Lance. Right now there are a few possibilites, not just Hincapie. DC has several team members in the top 10 and I think they are just playing a game of chess and not revealing their hand.
Savoldelli has won TWO grand tours. He has 8 team mates that have not won any. He is DSC's best chance of a good GC result in this Tour. Even if you consider that GH, Ace & Popo are all contenders too, there are 5 other guys in the team. How many other legitimate contenders do you see with a jersey full of bidons?Treky said:
None of the contenders do. Another possibility could be that Savodelli came back to talk with JOhan and volunteered to bring some bidons up front. Everything I have read is that Salvodelli is a very quiet leader, who even during the Giro he won last year for Discovery he brought water bottles back to teammates eventhough he was clearly the go to man for the Giro (Even if he hadn't done much the previous couple of years).patch70 said:
The only true way to know for sure is cyclingheros personal ask John or Paolo while he is out there!!!
Sorry mate, Savo was so far back that no one noticed ! Don't want to be rude but the big names are up the front watching each other not looking at who might be collecting water bottles at the back of the peleton ! What an indignity to see a double Giro winner sweeping the floors for Hincapie and co. He must be dreaming of Lampre already !musette said:
Savo said on EuroSport that he is really tired from the Giro and he will do his best at the Tour to hang on.... Savo always speaks the truth....
Totally off topic, but is Cunego staying with Lampre? If so, what would Savo's role be?whiteboytrash said:
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