Who is saxobanks new team leader for the grand tours?

whydoesitalwaysrainonme
whydoesitalwaysrainonme Posts: 532
edited April 2009 in Pro race
as mentioned above who is Saxobank new leader for GTs is it F.Schleck, A.Schleck??.
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  • teagar
    teagar Posts: 2,100
    Yeah. More likely Andy than Frank, but they'll start with two leaders.
    Note: the above post is an opinion and not fact. It might be a lie.
  • whydoesitalwaysrainonme
    whydoesitalwaysrainonme Posts: 532
    Andy schleck will win the tour it's just a question of when really, u reckon hes gonna win this year?
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  • teagar
    teagar Posts: 2,100
    Not if Contador is riding no.
    Note: the above post is an opinion and not fact. It might be a lie.
  • whydoesitalwaysrainonme
    whydoesitalwaysrainonme Posts: 532
    yeh i support Contador as well :) , but you never know if you give it a year or two he could rival Contador
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  • JC.152
    JC.152 Posts: 645
    you never know cancellara might be their leader :wink:
  • ACMadone
    ACMadone Posts: 300
    whydoesitalwaysrainonme wrote:
    Andy schleck will win the tour it's just a question of when really, u reckon hes gonna win this year?

    Andy Schleck will never win The Tour when Contador is riding it.
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,104
    ACMadone wrote:
    Andy Schleck will never win The Tour when Contador is riding it.
    That's a strong statement - what evidence can you provide to prove it?

    I'll give you a hint, it's none.

    I remember in 1997 people saying that Ullrich would win the next ten Tours as he was young and gifted. Remind me again how many more he won?
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    The only problem Andy Schleck has at the moment is his time trial. If he can work on that and get it to a reasonable level, I see no reason why he can't win the Tour.
  • joeyhalloran
    joeyhalloran Posts: 1,073
    bold statements like that have some placement, but you need to remmeber how much luck goes in to winning a GT, any little slip in the months beforehand and during can lead to minutes lost. Not to mention contadors bonk this year...he may have learnt but it could happen in the tour. I like andy schleck, showed he has the ability last year but also showed he has the loyalty and team spirit to give everything for his leader. And maybe time trialing will come with more dedicated GT leader training.
  • Mettan
    Mettan Posts: 2,103
    I'm hoping Andy wins the TDF one day - would be good to see him and Alberto battling in the mountains this year. Rather than constantly dropping everyone then coming back to his team (seemingly with ease and at will) would be nice to see Andy drop most/everyone and then carry on and fight for a mountain stage win (s).
  • whydoesitalwaysrainonme
    whydoesitalwaysrainonme Posts: 532
    afx237vi wrote:
    The only problem Andy Schleck has at the moment is his time trial. If he can work on that and get it to a reasonable level, I see no reason why he can't win the Tour.
    That's what i mean if he can improve his time trialling he could probably win the tour, i like contador and also Astana is my favourite team but i dont see any reason schleck cant rival contador in a few years time.
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  • ACMadone
    ACMadone Posts: 300
    andyp wrote:
    ACMadone wrote:
    Andy Schleck will never win The Tour when Contador is riding it.
    That's a strong statement - what evidence can you provide to prove it?

    I'll give you a hint, it's none.

    I remember in 1997 people saying that Ullrich would win the next ten Tours as he was young and gifted. Remind me again how many more he won?

    He can't time trial, simple as that. Also he always has at least 1 bad day in a Grand Tour where he loses a lot of time.
  • moray_gub
    moray_gub Posts: 3,328
    ACMadone wrote:
    andyp wrote:
    ACMadone wrote:
    Andy Schleck will never win The Tour when Contador is riding it.
    That's a strong statement - what evidence can you provide to prove it?

    I'll give you a hint, it's none.

    I remember in 1997 people saying that Ullrich would win the next ten Tours as he was young and gifted. Remind me again how many more he won?

    He can't time trial, simple as that. Also he always has at least 1 bad day in a Grand Tour where he loses a lot of time.

    AS has done two Grand Tours the first one the 2007 Giro he was excellent with no bad days and the other last years TFDF he had a bad day on the way to Hautacam. So i dont see how you can say he always has a bad day based on that. im not convinced with AS winning the tour myself really but Contador can have bad days as well as we have already seen this year.
    Gasping - but somehow still alive !
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    ACMadone wrote:
    andyp wrote:
    ACMadone wrote:
    Andy Schleck will never win The Tour when Contador is riding it.
    That's a strong statement - what evidence can you provide to prove it?

    I'll give you a hint, it's none.

    I remember in 1997 people saying that Ullrich would win the next ten Tours as he was young and gifted. Remind me again how many more he won?

    He can't time trial, simple as that. Also he always has at least 1 bad day in a Grand Tour where he loses a lot of time.

    You can win a grand tour without a good time trial. Pantani, Heras, Cunego, Simoni... okay, a couple of those may have had a little extra assistance somewhere along the line, but the point still stands.

    Anyway, Schleck is not that bad. Looking at the 43km Giro TT in 2007, he only finished 1'28" down on the winner. He finished less than a minute behind specialists like Zabriskie, Bodrogi and Bruseghin and comfortably beat the other GC contenders like Di Luca, Simoni and Cunego.
  • calvjones
    calvjones Posts: 3,850
    And he only lost the Giro to prepubescent, judging by urine results. Who also can't TT.
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  • joeyhalloran
    joeyhalloran Posts: 1,073
    I think he has a real chance in the next couple of years. He may lose a few minutes in the time trials but he is very strong in the mountains.
  • whydoesitalwaysrainonme
    whydoesitalwaysrainonme Posts: 532
    JoeyHalloran wrote:
    I think he has a real chance in the next couple of years. He may lose a few minutes in the time trials but he is very strong in the mountains.
    very strong in the mountains , hes a twig :)
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  • nick hanson
    nick hanson Posts: 1,655
    Regarding andy's TT ability,people seem to forget that a rider can improve his TTing
    Remember,when Contador won the TDF,People didn't give him a cat in hells chance of hanging onto the Yellow jersey going into the final TT,Cadel Evans was going to take it,Levi Leipheimer was going to overtake his teammate,etc
    History proved otherwise
    so many cols,so little time!
  • joeyhalloran
    joeyhalloran Posts: 1,073
    Contador certainly has improved his TTing! Beating specialists like wiggins in prologue is impressive for a climber.
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    Like others on here, I don't think Contador is untouchable. He can do these fierce attacks but for all the acceleration, he struggles to put time into his rivals at times. It is is an effective way to destabilise the likes of Evans and Menchov but it won't work so well with Schleck, Sastre or Basso.

    Schleck was probably the strongest rider in the Tour last summer, for the sake of a couple of bananas or gels he blew on the road to Hautacam yet he was very strong in the Alps and is still improving. Of course he needs to improve his TT riding but the TT stage in Monaco will suit him, it is not a big gear contest and the Annecy TT also has some hills and comes later in the race, where recovery comes into play.

    So we could get a real contest even if I'd still rate Contador as the rider to beat.
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 16,805
    the schlecks are like some doubled up second coming of Zulle...

    the under performing nearly men who lost despite really trying

    frank is making a habit of going off the road?

    mind you I liked Zulle... different era and all that..
    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • ACMadone
    ACMadone Posts: 300
    Kléber wrote:
    Like others on here, I don't think Contador is untouchable. He can do these fierce attacks but for all the acceleration, he struggles to put time into his rivals at times. It is is an effective way to destabilise the likes of Evans and Menchov but it won't work so well with Schleck, Sastre or Basso.

    Schleck was probably the strongest rider in the Tour last summer, for the sake of a couple of bananas or gels he blew on the road to Hautacam yet he was very strong in the Alps and is still improving. Of course he needs to improve his TT riding but the TT stage in Monaco will suit him, it is not a big gear contest and the Annecy TT also has some hills and comes later in the race, where recovery comes into play.

    So we could get a real contest even if I'd still rate Contador as the rider to beat.

    I agree in thinking that Contador isn't untouchable, how ever I would put Sastre and Schleck with Evans and Menchov not Basso.

    Schleck will lose time in Monaco to Contador, and I supsect again in the Annecy TT, and I don't really see him gaining that back in the mountains. Will be interesting to see how Basso fares up.

    Either way we should have a pretty exciting Tour come July.
  • whydoesitalwaysrainonme
    whydoesitalwaysrainonme Posts: 532
    cant wait it's going to be exciting schleck chasing contador up the ventoux.
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  • teagar
    teagar Posts: 2,100
    ACMadone wrote:

    Either way we should have a pretty exciting Tour come July.


    Not so sure about that!

    I can only see it going one way - Contador riding in the same way Armstrong did. Just a bit less fast on the TT and faster uphill.

    The way he bossed the Vuelta, and managed to win the Giro with limited form was just too good for anybody else to come close to him.

    I'm sure he won't make his Paris-Nice mistake again. Just as Andy won't make his Pyranean mistake again!
    Note: the above post is an opinion and not fact. It might be a lie.

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