Tour de France Wildcards

RichN95.
RichN95. Posts: 27,253
edited February 2014 in Pro race
Cofidis
IAM
Net App
Bretegne-Seche

I nailed that in the prediction thread.
Twitter: @RichN95
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Comments

  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,651
    MTN-Qhubeka just cant get a GT invite for love or money :-(
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  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,253
    No tA Doctor wrote:
    MTN-Qhubeka just cant get a GT invite for love or money :-(
    Maybe the Vuelta. I can see them going for Caja Rural, Cofidis, MTN & United Healthcare (although possibly IAM again)
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • FJS
    FJS Posts: 4,820
    Let's hope Koenig doesn't get an injury....

    And after Saur, Bretagne, it's a bit of a race to the bottom with that last French place, isn't it? They don't even have someone like Hivert
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,253
    FJS wrote:
    And after Saur, Bretagne, it's a bit of a race to the bottom with that last French place, isn't it? They don't even have someone like Hivert
    They've only got 16 riders. They may have to hire some more now.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • Richmond Racer
    Richmond Racer Posts: 8,561
    RichN95 wrote:
    FJS wrote:
    And after Saur, Bretagne, it's a bit of a race to the bottom with that last French place, isn't it? They don't even have someone like Hivert
    They've only got 16 riders. They may have to hire some more now.


    Or a Bretagne DS or two coming out of retirement.... :wink:
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,651
    FJS wrote:
    Let's hope Koenig doesn't get an injury....

    And after Saur, Bretagne, it's a bit of a race to the bottom with that last French place, isn't it? They don't even have someone like Hivert

    They'd be down to 4 French teams without them. As it is they're still down to 5 from 6 last season.

    What's the fewest French teams a tour edition has had?
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  • specialgueststar
    specialgueststar Posts: 3,418
    edited January 2014
    Hope Delaplace gets a place - after that its a bit sparse - the Feillu brothers - for some reason Ive gone off them cough Armstrong //

    Cofidis - I was defending them last year - but they have had a very sparse time - Navarro got top 10 ( that was the result of consistent hard work) but not much to report after that - I still think Jerome Coppel would do well in the right team

    The Cofidis DS twisted his ankle at the team presentation last week - hope that's not an omen
  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 19,436
    So....4 Irish riders in the Tour?
    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,695
    TailWindHome wrote:
    So....4 Irish riders in the Tour?

    You are Cillian Kelly and I claim.....
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 19,436
    ddraver wrote:
    TailWindHome wrote:
    So....4 Irish riders in the Tour?

    You are Cillian Kelly and I claim.....


    I'm not.

    Did he say the same?
    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,695
    I jest obviously, but you and he have a great skill for turning unrelated threads around to Irish riders...
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 19,436
    ddraver wrote:
    I jest obviously, but you and he have a great skill for turning unrelated threads around to Irish riders...

    Not entirely unrelated - Sam Bennett is a Net App Endura rider.
    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Interesting that NetApp wasnt penalised due to JTL - I'm glad they were included.

    Cofidis I find to be a very boring, uninspiring and unsuccessful team.

    Bretegne...they better start preparing now as they couldnt even compete in Tour de San Luis.

    IAM, shoe in really. Strong set of stage winners there and possibly a top ten rider. To be honest, I reckon Chavanel alone would get them a place.

    MTN...I agree that it's a shame...they arent even included in the Paris-Nice or Dauphine line-ups:
    Wildcard selections:

    Paris – Nice (March 9–16)

    Bretagne – Séché Environnement (Fra)
    Cofidis, Solutions Crédits (Fra)
    IAM Cycling (Sui)


    Critérium du Dauphiné (June 8–15).

    Cofidis, Solutions Crédits (Fra)
    IAM Cycling (Sui)
    Team NetApp – Endura (Ger)

    Can anyone explain why it is fair that it is the same wildcards for those three races?!
    Contador is the Greatest
  • specialgueststar
    specialgueststar Posts: 3,418
    seche - is one answer - who wants a lot of sewage backing up in Paris
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    I see nothing that MTN add to a race ever.

    I really like IAM so I am very happy they are in.

    Cofidis know they will get it every year without fail, especially with Europcar being Wt. I really dislike them, they have the worst kit of them all and the yellow helmets are stupid.

    Happy for Netapp, as FF said I wonder how much JTL was taken into account when making the choice>
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,253
    sjmclean wrote:
    I see nothing that MTN add to a race ever.
    Ciolek is someone who could present a challenge to Sagan for the green jersey, which no-one else seems equiped to do.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • overlord2
    overlord2 Posts: 339
    Wonder if Downing is a bit miffed after leaving NetApp last season might have had a shot at it, and last chance at a GT.
  • specialgueststar
    specialgueststar Posts: 3,418
    Overlord2 wrote:
    Wonder if Downing is a bit miffed after leaving NetApp last season might have had a shot at it, and last chance at a GT.

    did he have any say in the matter?
  • Paulie W
    Paulie W Posts: 1,492
    I know they had Hobson's choice with Cofidis and Bretegne-Seche but by god they are both awful - would anyone in France other than the riders' mothers really care if one or both of these teams were not there!
  • bigmat
    bigmat Posts: 5,134
    SpecialGuestStar wrote:
    Overlord2 wrote:
    Wonder if Downing is a bit miffed after leaving NetApp last season might have had a shot at it, and last chance at a GT.

    did he have any say in the matter?

    Might've been last shot at a Tour ride, but don't forget he finished the Giro in his last year at Sky (a really gritty ride that was as well).
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/41991871@N ... otostream/
  • Richmond Racer
    Richmond Racer Posts: 8,561
    edited January 2014
    SpecialGuestStar wrote:
    Overlord2 wrote:
    Wonder if Downing is a bit miffed after leaving NetApp last season might have had a shot at it, and last chance at a GT.

    did he have any say in the matter?


    Nope. Unlike the younger ex-Endura guys he was on a 1 year that wasnt about to get extended to a 2nd year.

    The British guys dont seem to be high up at all in the pecking order at NetApp Endura - but I'd love to see Scott Thwaites get a Tour ride
  • specialgueststar
    specialgueststar Posts: 3,418
    edited January 2014
    Although it is one of the biggest sporting events and has looked for globalisation it is still the Tour de France. If it was the same set up at Wimbledon you would expect GB players to get the nod. If there were any.
  • Richmond Racer
    Richmond Racer Posts: 8,561
    Thwaites had some decent results last year - 7 top 10s, and 7th at the Nats RR. And he knows the roads on the first couple of stages like the back of his hand.

    (Thats me making his case to NetApp Endura)
  • specialgueststar
    specialgueststar Posts: 3,418
    Richmond Racer wrote:
    Thwaites had some decent results last year - 7 top 10s, and 7th at the Nats RR. And he knows the roads on the first couple of stages like the back of his hand.

    (Thats me making his case to NetApp Endura)

    what an opportunity! 190 km seems to be his sweet spot too
  • lyn1
    lyn1 Posts: 261
    Richmond Racer wrote:
    SpecialGuestStar wrote:
    Overlord2 wrote:
    Wonder if Downing is a bit miffed after leaving NetApp last season might have had a shot at it, and last chance at a GT.

    did he have any say in the matter?


    Nope. Unlike the younger ex-Endura guys he was on a 1 year that wasnt about to get extended to a 2nd year.

    The British guys dont seem to be high up at all in the pecking order at NetApp Endura - but I'd love to see Scott Thwaites get a Tour ride

    According to one of his interviews Russ indicated he had a 2 year deal.

    “We’ve got a really good race programme and it’s going from strength to strength, the team,” he explained. “I’ve signed a two-year deal, so I can relax now and really concentrate on the results and not worry about what’s happening after eight months, or something. I’m very, very excited; I’m 34 years old, but I think age is only number if you worry about it, and I’m not worried.”

    He was clearly unhappy with some aspects of the merger and the very limited chances the British guys were given to show themselves. Given that, Thwaites did manage to put in some strong performances and would probably have had more top 10s had he not been ill for the last 2 days of the TOB.
    There seems to be plenty of elastic to stretch in that he has taken an unconventional approach and is one of the few (WT/PC) pros who went to University and has never had involvement with the Olympic progs. As a youth triathlete he consistently beat the younger Brownlee, beat Sagan several times in World Cup Cyclo Cross, and beat all the Academy riders at both MTB and Road to win the National U23 titles. His dominance of the British scene (2012) with top scorer in the Tour Series, National Crit Champion and Premier Calendar Series winner was his first year as a full time biker, although still un-coached and without reference to power etc. A more conventional approach would probably have seen him in a WT team by now.
    He is probably the sponsors’ dream in that he lives in Leeds and Stage one goes through the village of his birth and the town of his 2nd claim club. Media will clamour for “local boy makes good “ stuff. If he doesn’t make the team I cannot see NetApp-Endura getting any coverage as attention will focus on the big WT squads.
  • Richmond Racer
    Richmond Racer Posts: 8,561
    ^thanks for the correction, Lyn. Swore I'd read that Russ was on a 1 year

    Wasnt one of the other things he was unhappy about was that NetApp Endura had (has?) no concept of giving riders a proper race programme - so the guys dont know what races they'd be doing or what they were training for till very late in the day? Generally sounded a bit disorganised here.

    Scott seems to have taken advantage of what opportunities came his way. 7th in Le Samyn's pretty decent going. Whereas Erick Rowsell and Jonny McEvoy eems a bit lost in the team.

    And your point about media oportunity for Net-App in Jul is spot on.

    Must admit I'm not wild about the team - I'd love to see Thwaites in particular get an offer from another, decent team for next year where he could be properly coached and developed.
  • lyn1
    lyn1 Posts: 261
    Richmond Racer wrote:
    ^thanks for the correction, Lyn. Swore I'd read that Russ was on a 1 year

    I think one of the other things he was unhappy about was that NetApp Endura had (has?) no concept of giving riders a proper race programme - so the guys dont know what races they'd be doing or what they were training for till very late in the day. Generally sounds like disorganised management there. There was also a Rouleur article last summer that hinted at this.
    I'm not wild about the team - I'd love to see Thwaites in particular get an offer from another, decent team for next year where he could be properly coached and developed.

    Yes, Rowsell raised the planning issue here
    http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/lat ... ll-up.html

    I think Thwaites started using a power meter when he joined TNE last year and got some advice from ex Sky rider Jez Hunt.
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,651
    RichN95 wrote:
    sjmclean wrote:
    I see nothing that MTN add to a race ever.
    Ciolek is someone who could present a challenge to Sagan for the green jersey, which no-one else seems equiped to do.

    The team took a monument, two 2.HC stages, four 2.1 stages and five 2.2 stages. Not a bad haul for an African pro-conti team that didn't get invited to all that much.

    The bigger races they were in they were admittedly more break-fodder than contenders, but they were very active getting into the breaks.
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  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Tour de France race director Christian Prudhomme has pointed to the signing of former stage winner Brice Feillu and ASO’s desire to support French cycling as the principal reasons behind the decision to give Bretagne-Séché Environnement a wildcard invitation to this year’s race.

    http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/feillu- ... e-wildcard
    Contador is the Greatest
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,651
    frenchfighter wrote:
    Tour de France race director Christian Prudhomme has pointed to the signing of former stage winner Brice Feillu and ASO’s desire to support French cycling as the principal reasons behind the decision to give Bretagne-Séché Environnement a wildcard invitation to this year’s race.

    http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/feillu- ... e-wildcard


    The team collected just four victories in 2013, however, the biggest of which was Jean-Marc Bideau’s win at the 1.2 category Paris-Troyes, and the step up to competing at the Tour de France is a considerable one.

    They're going to be so out of their depth. Good luck to them.
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