Sky's TDF - whats the verdict?

eh

So TDF is over, so what's peoples opinion on Sky's performance overall?

Personally I think losing Wiggo was a plus, as it allowed them to go for stage wins with the likes of EBH, Geraint and Flecha, bringing some good rewards with 2 wins and a lot more air time besides. But do you feel that their tour was blighted by the early loss of Wiggo and that a top 10 GC would have been a greater goal?

inkyfingers

We'll never how they would have got on with Wiggins so that's a moot point. In my opinion they reacted as well as they could have done to Wiggins injury, went on the attack, got lots of publicity and a second, fantastic win from EBH. The only downside was Uran's complete collapse in the Alps, he went from being in a great position to win the white jersey to finishing in the grupetto on Alpe D'Huez so not sure what happened there.

ascurrell

Shame about Wiggins and as previously said we will never know. I think they are moving nicely in the right direction. The biggest plus was the performances of EBH, Geraint Thomas, Rigobert Uran and even Ben Swift [came through his first tour at a young age very well.
Actually young age is the thing, not sure but I think all of above qualified for that.
They are all great prospects, actually not prospects they've proved they can mix it with the big boys.

morstar

Two stage wins, a hanful of white jerseys and two combativity prizes. Very visible at the front mixing with both the classics type riders and the all out sprinters. There were very few stages where they were completely ananymous. If you exclude teams just being at the front to protect GC riders, they were probably one of the most visible teams.
On the whole, very positive.

Snorebens

inkyfingers wrote:

. The only downside was Uran's complete collapse in the Alps, he went from being in a great position to win the white jersey to finishing in the grupetto on Alpe D'Huez so not sure what happened there.

"Thursday 21st July: Rigoberto was struggling from the off with a chest infection today"
http://www.teamsky.com/article/0,27290, ... 57,00.html

Tom Butcher

Overall pretty good, considering they lost Wiggins they did very well indeed, but going into the race they were looking at a possible GC podium and a couple of stage wins don't really make up for that.

inkyfingers

Snorebens wrote:

inkyfingers wrote:

. The only downside was Uran's complete collapse in the Alps, he went from being in a great position to win the white jersey to finishing in the grupetto on Alpe D'Huez so not sure what happened there.

"Thursday 21st July: Rigoberto was struggling from the off with a chest infection today"
http://www.teamsky.com/article/0,27290, ... 57,00.html

Ah, that explains it.

rick_chasey

Very good Tour.

Gerraint was very prominent (he got a lot of praise not just from the brits) and the chubby Norwegian got two excellent stages.

If you think they were a average-to-good team all for GC going in, they coped well without Wiggins (you could say they did much better without him, but that's a different thread!)

Kléber

They got most things right, Wiggins's crash could not be prevented. It's much better than last year when the team looked like they didn't want to be in the race.

We'll see what EBH does, if Cavendish is arriving then Norwegian might want to head for the exit. The same for several other riders who will fear becoming lead out riders.

phreak

It was a big improvement from last year, and they can be pleased with how they shifted things after the Wiggins crash. It bodes well should he decide to have a good go at the Vuelta.

mz__jo

morstar wrote:

Two stage wins, a hanful of white jerseys and two combativity prizes. Very visible at the front mixing with both the classics type riders and the all out sprinters. There were very few stages where they were completely ananymous. If you exclude teams just being at the front to protect GC riders, they were probably one of the most visible teams.
On the whole, very positive.

+1 They were very visible. Geraint Thomas, EBH, Uran and Flecha made a lot of journalists learn their names. Ben Swift was more on a learning curve, his one bunch sprint wasn't bad (6th place if I remember right) for a beginning and he really got into livening up the Champs (I didn't see, did he get Combativité there -probably not but he deserved to).
I was gutted for Geraint missing out on the prime for the Tourmalet, I think he amazed a few people there - next year they will be looking for him (if he doesn't skip the Tour for the Olympics). He is going to be a hot tip for the Vuelta before too many years have passed.
I think they did probably better than anyone was expecting without Brad - and possibly the best team who lost their number1
EBH did noit just have two wins, he had two second places as well. He is always going to be a contender in the tougher sprints. Prospect for the classics. Future Jalabert perhaps.

wicked

Kléber wrote:

They got most things right, Wiggins's crash could not be prevented. It's much better than last year when the team looked like they didn't want to be in the race.

We'll see what EBH does, if Cavendish is arriving then Norwegian might want to head for the exit. The same for several other riders who will fear becoming lead out riders.

Do you seriously think they would use a rider as talented as EBH as lead out? How do you know that riders left Columbia because they did not want to be in Cav's train? The only one to say that was the case was Wiggo, perhaps they left for money?

ascurrell

Kléber wrote:

They got most things right, Wiggins's crash could not be prevented. It's much better than last year when the team looked like they didn't want to be in the race.

We'll see what EBH does, if Cavendish is arriving then Norwegian might want to head for the exit. The same for several other riders who will fear becoming lead out riders.

Should Cavendish arrive or even if he don't I think EBH could be good for the Classics style races. Also Ben Swift will only get better.
Cavendish wouldn't ride all the Tours.
Also if he comes would they still go for the GC in the TDF, a sprinter and GC contender would be really hard to look after.

mz__jo

wicked wrote:

Kléber wrote:

They got most things right, Wiggins's crash could not be prevented. It's much better than last year when the team looked like they didn't want to be in the race.

We'll see what EBH does, if Cavendish is arriving then Norwegian might want to head for the exit. The same for several other riders who will fear becoming lead out riders.

Do you seriously think they would use a rider as talented as EBH as lead out? How do you know that riders left Columbia because they did not want to be in Cav's train? The only one to say that was the case was Wiggo, perhaps they left for money?

It all depends on riders' ambitions and team ambitions. Imagine if they all wanted to turn it to their advantage with 3 sprinters; the opposition might have difficulty covering all the possibilities. The only problem is the lack of lead-out pilots at present - GT looks to me to be the only capable candidat. Seriously EBH and Cav should be capable of selecting the best man for each option - EBH hasn't got the jump that Cav has.

mroli

EBH is a tour rider because he can win "lumpy" stages, he can lead out (and contest if needed) bunch sprints and he can provide early doors mountain support. Him and Thomas have some similar strengths (EBH has a better sprint). At one stage Uran, EBH and Thomas were well up in the white (and the overall). Shame Uran got sick as he was going well. I thought Zandio rode well and under the radar, I've given Knees a hard time previously, but thought he was very solid, Gerrans was invisible (as perhaps he should be), Flecha is just quality, Swifty got good experience and Brad was looking strong.

I think that Sky would probably give it a 7/10 overall, but a 9/10 from the reaction to Wiggins crashing out.

Having praised them here, I would like to point out that they had a shocking Giro in comparison (probably excepting Appolliono), but they do seem to have learnt from that. Will be watching the Vuelta with great interest.

Happiness1982

I think Wiggins' GC chances were so overblown I started bleeding from the eyes and scalp. Get rid of him and build the team around either a genuine GC talent or a Classics chap.

gattocattivo

Can't agree at all. I think Wiggins's form going into the race was fantastic and Contador and Andy Schleck have never looked less invincible. He beat Frank Schleck in 2009, he beat Evans in the Dauphine this year, there weren't many occasions when he would have lost time in this race. He would have lost time to AS up the Galibier, he wouldn't have been flying up the Alpe d'Huez with Contador, and he probably wouldn't have descended into Gap quite as fast Evans did, but in all of those stages he could have come in at the same time as Frank S and then slaughtered him in the final time trial. I honestly think he would have been on the podium.

Happiness1982

Wiggins would have been in the Cavendish group in the Alps haha

Moomaloid

I personally think they had a great race. Brad was looking strong, but with him gone it definitely opened the door to the others. G was outstanding and i really think he has the potential to go far, and whilst he is far from it, maybe he could even contend for overall in the future. On the Alpe this year both G and Eddie (and Gerrans actually) were climbing really strongly only a few minutes behind the leaders. Both looked good when they came past us...

I thought the whole team worked well, with only Gerrans really not living up to potential for me.

I was most impressed with G though. Being at the sharp end throughout the early stages and then still being in the mix in the later stages. Great ride. Just a shame that he had to wait with Wiggo on the crash stage...

RichN95.

I'll give them a Grade B.

That's quite good (only four, maybe five teams get an A)

Road Ace

2 stage wins and lots of time in the white jersey.......

Excellent tour for Sky

Year 1 = 1 / 10

Year 2 = 7.5 / 10

Youngsters performing well so lets see how they get on in year 3!

Pross

I think they adapted very well after losing their leader. Certainly compare well against other teams that suffered a similar fate.

The only disappointments for me were Knees and Gerrans. I think Knees struggled from the start on the TTT and potentially cost the team the win. I would have liked to see more of Swift in the first week but then the sprints were generally not traditional bunch efforts. He then impressed me with his attacking ride on the Champs having come through what I think was his first GT?

LeicesterLad

Pross wrote:

I think they adapted very well after losing their leader. Certainly compare well against other teams that suffered a similar fate.

The only disappointments for me were Knees and Gerrans. I think Knees struggled from the start on the TTT and potentially cost the team the win. I would have liked to see more of Swift in the first week but then the sprints were generally not traditional bunch efforts. He then impressed me with his attacking ride on the Champs having come through what I think was his first GT?

+1 for swify, Innitially i though he was having a dissapointing tour, but take into acount his age, his first tour, the level of sprinting competition, i think he did a bloody good ride, more so after his attack on the Champs, that kid isn't short of heart or effort.

Cumulonimbus

Pross wrote:

I think they adapted very well after losing their leader. Certainly compare well against other teams that suffered a similar fate.

The only disappointments for me were Knees and Gerrans. I think Knees struggled from the start on the TTT and potentially cost the team the win. I would have liked to see more of Swift in the first week but then the sprints were generally not traditional bunch efforts. He then impressed me with his attacking ride on the Champs having come through what I think was his first GT?

He started the Vuelta last year but retired on stage 3 having got a 7th on stage 2. He fell foul of the virus that went through the team before they had all retired when the soigneur died.

RichN95.

Cumulonimbus wrote:

Pross wrote:

I think they adapted very well after losing their leader. Certainly compare well against other teams that suffered a similar fate.

The only disappointments for me were Knees and Gerrans. I think Knees struggled from the start on the TTT and potentially cost the team the win. I would have liked to see more of Swift in the first week but then the sprints were generally not traditional bunch efforts. He then impressed me with his attacking ride on the Champs having come through what I think was his first GT?

He started the Vuelta last year but retired on stage 3 having got a 7th on stage 2. He fell foul of the virus that went through the team before they had all retired when the soigneur died.

He did the Giro at Katusha too (and finished it)

mididoctors

had a good tour...I think

especially given bradders ditched....

EBH put the skeptics to rest and did the biz

Anonymous

A very decent GT

Gerrans disappointing, but probably got re-directed to the Vuelta once Wiggo's injury not too serious...

Turfle

Gerrans job was to make sure he, or another Sky rider got into breaks. Sky were in just about every break they wanted to be in, so he did his job well. He was in a number of breaks himself, he just happened to be in the ones that the peloton wouldn't let go.