All time Tour Team - fantasy cycling

northernneil

Building a dream team for the tour, only rules are that they have to have been cycling from when you were born :-

mine are :-

Eddie Merckx - Team Leader

Greg Lemond
Miguel Indurain
Alberto Contador

Marco Pantani
Richard Verenque or Fabio Cancellara (depending on how hilly the tour is)

Eric Zabel
Mark Cavendish
Mario Cipollini

I reckon this team would mop up everything. No Hinault or Lance because their personality's would preclude them from being able to be anything other than leader of the team, therefore they would not fit into this outfit. My super domestiques have all been very successful `support acts prior to their wins.

I would probably err on the side of Cancellara after all the climbing and time trialling is not exactly too shaby ! However I think his power in the train would be awesome for my 3 top sprinters who would be the egos to control in this team !

Verenque would need to be there instead if it was a particularly mountainious tour - all need a token frenchy to keep them happy !

Anyway thats my team, feel free to argue / port your own with your reasons why and I will give you my two peneth worth.

Anonymous

Leader - Alberto Contador
Jens Voigt
Stijn Devolder
Michael Rogers
Tony Martin
George Hincapie
Mark Cavendish
Bradley Wiggins
David Millar

I wouldn't pressure the team to lead out cavendish, he could sneak on to other people's trains instead and get better at one day races as a result...

all show no go

Stephen Roche - Team Leader
Greg Lemond - Team Leader
Bradley Wiggins - TT'er and mountain domestique
Robert Millar - Mountain Domestique
Guido Bontempi - Sprinter
Jens Voigt - Well, it's Jens isn't it!
Edvald Boasson Hagen - All Rounder
Silvain Chavanel - Super Domestique
Fabian Cancellara - TT Monster and will (along with Jens) get you to the foot of the final summit

The team would ride Pinarello Dogma's (All black colour scheme, Campag Super Record)
Clothing by Gore for a change.

northernneil

NapoleonD wrote:

Leader - Alberto Contador
Jens Voigt
Stijn Devolder
Michael Rogers
Tony Martin
George Hincapie
Mark Cavendish
Bradley Wiggins
David Millar

I wouldn't pressure the team to lead out cavendish, he could sneak on to other people's trains instead and get better at one day races as a result...

Nap - are you only 15 years old !!! :-)

RichN95.

Eddy Merckx - Who else?
Miguel Indurain - he'll win all the time trials
Lucien van Impe - to win us the polka dots and assist Merckx
Mark Cavendish - to get us stages and the green
Marco Velo - to lead out Cav
Sean Kelly - because he can do everything
Jens Voigt - tireless workhorse
Sean Yates - tireless workhorse
Wim Vansevenant - because I want to win everything, even the lantern rouge

northernneil

Marco Velo - to lead out Cav

no offence but my lead out for him goes - lemond, indurain, cancellara, zabel, cipploni, cav

thats got to be unbeatable surely

Kléber

Some random picks for style and panache:

Bernard Hinault (GC leader)
Charly Gaul
Marco Pantani
Pablo Wilches
Franceso Moser
Soren Lilholt
Roger De Vlaeminck
Mario Cipollini
Franck Vandenbroucke
DS Cyrille Guimard

RichN95.

northernneil wrote:

Marco Velo - to lead out Cav

no offence but my lead out for him goes - lemond, indurain, cancellara, zabel, cipploni, cav

thats got to be unbeatable surely

It's a specialist job - he's the best there's been.

A man of Cipo's ego playing second fiddle? Good luck with that.
And you're going to wear out your GC guys.
And who in your team is going to ride on the front of the bunch to reel in the breakaway? Pantani?

It's all about a balanced team - not just the big names

takethehighroad

Got to have Jens in there to reel in the breaks.

Zabel, won just as much as Cipo but without needing a team at his disposal.

Pantani, because I love him and would let him do what he liked

Cancellara and Kevin Hulsmans to do the tough stuff when it needed doing.

Contador as team leader, the most complete bike rider I think I have ever seen.

Jacky Durand to go for stage wins, and just, well, just because.

Der Kaiser, just in case there was a TTT.

Probably Cav, becuase I've got one space left and want a British rider in there, and he's the best British rider I've ever seen

takethehighroad

northern neil, I would just love to be a fly on the wall when you tell Cipo he has to lead out Cav!

And NapD, we've all seent he photos, we know you're not 12!!!

lfcquin

I have chosen a squad of 15 for the season, might not be the best Tour team, but they are a bunch of my favourite riders and would win a couple of big races during a season I reckon!

Team Leader: Miguel Indurain
Gianni Bugno
Sean Kelly
Sean Yates
George Hincapie
Robert Miller
Luis Herrera
Eric Breukink
Djamolidine Abdoujaparov
Viatcheslav Ekimov
Rudy Dhaenens
Moreno Argentin
Jesper Skibby
Fabian Cancellara
Dag-Otto Lauritzen

northernneil

TakeTheHighRoad wrote:

northern neil, I would just love to be a fly on the wall when you tell Cipo he has to lead out Cav!

And NapD, we've all seent he photos, we know you're not 12!!!

hmmm maybe I could leave cippo out and go for venrenque instead leaving me with zabel as cavs main man

finchy

Leader - Indurain
Climbing domestiques - Robert Millar (on the proviso that Indurain makes sure the team helps Millar in La Vuelta), Carlos Sastre, Axel Merckx
Flatland domestiques/TT stage winners - Sean Yates, Chris Boardman, Jens Voigt
Sprinters - Cav and Hushovd

northernneil

RichN95 wrote:

northernneil wrote:

Marco Velo - to lead out Cav

no offence but my lead out for him goes - lemond, indurain, cancellara, zabel, cipploni, cav

thats got to be unbeatable surely

It's a specialist job - he's the best there's been.

A man of Cipo's ego playing second fiddle? Good luck with that.
And you're going to wear out your GC guys.
And who in your team is going to ride on the front of the bunch to reel in the breakaway? Pantani?

It's all about a balanced team - not just the big names

know what you are saying but thats why I choose men who have played the back up role before - lemond for hinault, mig for delgardo, contador for lance - they are used to doing this, and its for 1 tour so i only have 1 GC guy

Moomaloid

lfcquin wrote:

I have chosen a squad of 15 for the season, might not be the best Tour team, but they are a bunch of my favourite riders and would win a couple of big races during a season I reckon!

Team Leader: Miguel Indurain
Gianni Bugno
Sean Kelly
Sean Yates
George Hincapie
Robert Miller
Luis Herrera
Eric Breukink
Djamolidine Abdoujaparov
Viatcheslav Ekimov
Rudy Dhaenens
Moreno Argentin
Jesper Skibby
Fabian Cancellara
Dag-Otto Lauritzen

Absolutely brilliant team!! On people i may want in would be, Eddy Planckaert, Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle, Michael Boogard, Michele Bartali, Soren Lilholt, Dimitri Konyshev and don't forget the best named cyclist Mr Bo Hamburger!

lfcquin

Moomaloid wrote:

Absolutely brilliant team!! On people i may want in would be, Eddy Planckaert, Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle, Michael Boogard, Michele Bartali, Soren Lilholt, Dimitri Konyshev and don't forget the best named cyclist Mr Bo Hamburger!

Hamburger nearly made the team! His name is legendary, his skills were just a bit short for this set of supermen! Planckaert, Lassalle, Boogard and Konyshev might have been close had I remembered them! I think I have just increased my team size to about 20!

Is that allowed?

Croxted Avenger

Bernard Hinault
Greg Lemond (controversial pairing these two again as joint GC but lets face it 85 and 86 were amazing tours filled with intrigue as a result).
Luis Herrera
Andy Hampsten
Edvald Boassen Hagen
Sean Kelly
Roger De Vlaeminck
Mark Cavendish
Graeme Obree as my TT / prologue pony

PROS:
#Two amazing GC contenders with a third 'dark horse' available should Hinault and Lemond take each other out on an alpine descent.
#Herrera shoe- in for KOM.
#Kelly nailed on for green, takes pressure off Cav
#Press interest in Obrees bike / riding position / unorthodoxy

CONS:
#De Vlaeminck doesn't like the French or riding in France - would have to keep him away from the Giro and so give him a nice long break from the end of the spring classics
#Cav and De Vlaeminck - potentially explosive combo there
#Obree having his socks outlawed by the UCI 1 minute before he rolls of the prologue ramp.

Le Commentateur

I reckon these teams would be disasters in races, as none of these chiefs would want to do the donkey work for others.

takethehighroad

Le Commentateur wrote:

I reckon these teams would be disasters in races, as none of these chiefs would want to do the donkey work for others.

I'd like to beg to differ, as I've chosen three riders specifically to do the donkey work for pulling back breaks and setting up the leaders etc.

And there's a few that have picked domestiques like Velo for instance. Not an instantly thought of 'great' rider but someone who can do a job very well.

What would your team be, of interest?

northernneil

Le Commentateur wrote:

I reckon these teams would be disasters in races, as none of these chiefs would want to do the donkey work for others.

yeah it didnt work in this years tour did it ;-)

Pross

OK lets have a go:-

Leader
Merckx

Climbers
Chiappucci - and back up in case of injury to Merckx
Van Impe

Sprinter
Cav

TT Specialist
Cancellara

Domestiques / Work Horses / All Rounders
Jalabert
Voigt
Kelly
Museeuw

Directeur Sportif
Bruyneel

oscarbudgie

If selected for an all time Fantasy Cycling Team is Pantani allowed free use of blood doping products and recreational cocaine?

Kléber

It's meant to be a fantasy, not a crushing reminder of the problems that ruin our sport

FJS

Eddy Merckx* - team leader
Raymond Poulidor* - super domestique
Luis Herrera *- mountain domestique
Charly Gaul* - mountain domestique
Johan van der Velde* - mountain domestique
Freddy Maertens* - sprinter (no need for lead out train)
Marc Wauters* - domestique
Andrea Tafi* - domestique
Jens Voigt* - domestique
Andrea Cerrea - domestique
Rini Wagtmans - domestique (and to chase anyone in the descents)
Fausto Coppi - team leader for Giro
Jan Raas - for the classics
Edwig van Hooijdonck - for the cobble classics
Sean Kelly - for the classics
Roger de Vlaeminck - for the classics
Paolo Bettini - for the hilly classics
Gilbert Duclos-Lasalle - classics domestique
Rolf Sorensen - all-rounder/domestique
Hennie Kuiper - all-rounder/domestique

*Tour de France selection

DS: Lomme Driessens
first assistant DS: Peter Post
second assistant DS: Cyrille Guimard

edit: with Tour selection

Croxted Avenger

This is supposed to be a 9 man team for a GT - not a squad. Picking a squad would be easy, whittling it down to 9 and trying to retain a balance is the tough part.

NicFrance

Leader: Charly Gaul, for the beauty of his climbing
Johny Schleck
and Luc Leblanc, both to help him in the mountains
Thierry Marie
Andrea Tafi
and Jens Voigt as workhorses and for long breakaways
Johan Museeuw
Freddy Maertens
and Laurent Jalabert for stage wins

all show no go

Good to see that most of the teams posted here include Jens Voigt. Certainly one of my favourite riders of all time and a real team player. Here's hoping he's back to full 'Voigt-ness' next season after his nasty crash earlier this year.

northernneil

NicFrance wrote:

Leader: Charly Gaul, for the beauty of his climbing
Johny Schleck
and Luc Leblanc, both to help him in the mountains
Thierry Marie
Andrea Tafi
and Jens Voigt as workhorses and for long breakaways
Johan Museeuw
Freddy Maertens
and Laurent Jalabert for stage wins

Thierry Marie ... my favorite ever stage race win

timoid.

By the time I was born, Merckx was almost retired so:

Team Leader: Hinault
Climbers: Van Impe, Gert Jan Theunisse (cos he's cool), Hampsten
Roulers: Roche, De Vlaeminck, Mottet
Chrono Man: Ullrich
Green Jersey grabber and all round ace: Sean Kelly

DS: Cyril Guimard

Completely unbalanced, but hey its my dream team

northernneil

Timoid. wrote:

By the time I was born, Merckx was almost retired so:

Team Leader: Hinault
Climbers: Van Impe, Gert Jan Theunisse (cos he's cool), Hampsten
Roulers: Roche, De Vlaeminck, Mottet
Chrono Man: Ullrich
Green Jersey grabber and all round ace: Sean Kelly

DS: Cyril Guimard

Completely unbalanced, but hey its my dream team

Gert Jan Theunisse - my favorite climber of all time, tongue hanging out bouncing on the pedals up alp d'huez