Should Endura be riding the ToB?

timturpinfleck

It is disappointing to only see one British rider in the provisional Endura line-up for the Tour of Britain. Rob Partridge who was the highest placed Brit last year is only listed as a reserve with only Ian Wilkinson down in the provisional start list. The British riders like Dave Clarke and Scott Thwaites must be gutted to be missing out and I feel Endura got their place in the ToB because of the British riders.

Pross

I suspect their sponsors want the riders who are most likely to get wins / good placings. That said a British rider doing well will probabloy get them more coverage.

thegibdog

I suspect Endura got their place in the ToB for being one of the top domestic teams rather than for how many Brits they have. I would have thought that they have selected their line up based on who is likely to perform best in the tour.

inkyfingers

Endura have had some decent results in some of the smaller continental races, but you have to remember that most British riders at that level are riding a mixture of Premier Calendar races and Tour Series crits, not necessarily the best training for a weeklong stage race with a TT. Endura have a responsibility to their sponsors to pick the riders who are the best able to do well at a particular race, they obvious feel that a foreigh rider doing well will give them better coverage than a British rider getting spat out the back.

dulldave

Well, strictly speaking they are a Scottish team. If they'd simply selected all of their Scottish riders last year they probably wouldn't have done so well in last year's race (no offence to those riders).

The same applies this year. Just pick the best riders for the goals of the race.

hammerite

Scott Thwaites is riding the Tour de lAvenir this week for GB. Could be that whilst Endura would like him in their team for ToB next week the best race to be in for the development of a young rider is one of the most prestigious races for young riders.

I've not seen the start list for them, but as Jack Bauer and Alex Wetterhall are their best riders it's no wonder they have fewer British riders.

mroli

Yes. They are a Scottish team, having them in the Tour of Britain supports a UK based cycling brand, from what I can see of the start list, there are 2 UK riders in Moss and Wilkinson in the provisional start list. http://www.cyclingfever.com/editie.html?detp=view&_ap=startlijst&editie_idd=MjE5OTU=

Although the longlist according to velouk doesn't include Moss: Ian Wilkinson, Jack Bauer, Paul Voss, Rene Mandri, Alex Wetterhall, Iker Camano, Alex Blain and Rob Partridge.

Partridge may well race and Blain is a good rider too. I like Endura - they are a good team.