Sky's Tour team

BdeB

I know this has been done elsewhere on the forum and that they are not yet gaurenteed a place, but in light of the launch yesterday who would you pick? Wiggins and Lofkvist will be there. Pauwels in an interview seems to suggest he has been told he will go; Gerrans being left out last year by Cervelo seemed to prompt his move to Sky, has he been promised a place? So who is left? one of the French riders will surely make it and a nominal sprinter Henderson/Sutton/Swift. They will want at least another British rider in there Froome? What about Arvesen and Barry for some experience. There will be some interesting choices to make. I am assuming Bosen Hagan will be left out this year unless he goes as the sprinter.

iainf72

EBH is going to be there apparantly.

redddraggon

I doubt Sky would be so foolish as to leave out their best chance of a result at the Tour in EBH.

singlespeedexplosif

Froome, Gerrans and Augustyn have to be there surely to work for Wiggins. EBH an absolute must.

lucybears

http://www.teamskyfans.com/riderstats.html

Bhima

Watch Froome's video - he's already talking about becoming a GC contender in the future. Brailsford will want him there for sure, as he keeps going on about progressing the riders towards their "full potential".

Hagen-Dazs will be there because he says in yesterday's video interview (see video page, it just went up last night) that he wants a stage at the tour.

Wiggins, Arvesen and Lofkvist are definates.

The rest i'm not too sure about...

Kléber

They have to be selected first. That should happen given the arrival of Wiggins, the open anti-doping stance and Prudhomme's liking for all things English.

As for picking the team, it'll depend on how things go during the season, how the injuries and form work out, not to mention who gets on with who. For example the likes of Pauwels, Flecha and Gerrans are quite individual characters who don't like team work but prefer racing for themselves.

BdeB

Sky grant Pauwels Tour place according to this article
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/team-sky-grants-pauwels-grand-tour-choice

calvjones

You surely can't leave out someone who's won a couple of GT stages? I think I'd let JLA have a go at the Giro rather than knackering himself to drag Wiggo to 5th.

I'm not sure how many mountain domestiques you need if you're not a top contender really. Two should be enough. They're better off animating the breaks and helping EBH this year rather than putting all eggs in the Wiggo basket.

PinkBianchi

EBH has been promised a spot in the tour team!

gabriel959

I will be surprised if Flecha isn't there too. He has won a Tour stage and looks always like he could win another one,.

calvjones

gabriel959 wrote:

I will be surprised if Flecha isn't there too. He has won a Tour stage and looks always like he could win another one,.

Yeah, but he looks always like he could win a major classic for years, and see how that worked out.