My End of Tour Team Grades

RichN95.
RichN95. Posts: 27,157
edited July 2016 in Pro race
I've done this a couple of times before - so here's my end of Tour team reports (they pay little heed to relative budgets). Whoever wins in Paris goes up a grade.

A Grade
Sky - Yellow Jersey, Two Stage wins. 13 days in yellow. They did what they came to do relatively undisturbed by other teams. Froome showed himself the complete GT rider.
Dimension Data - Five Stage wins. One day in yellow. Success beyond their wildest dreams.
Tinkoff - Three stage wins, Green Jersey, King of the Mountains, Overall Combativity Award, 10th on GC, three days in yellow. Alberto who?

B Grade
Orica - Stage win, White Jersey, 4th on GC. They comfortably exceed the modest expectations most had for them.
Movistar - Stage win, Team Classification, 3rd & 6th on GC. So Quintana didn't really turn up, but they still end with decent results.
AG2R - Stage win, 2nd on GC. Bardet showed he's the real deal. Now they need to support him properly or he should leave.
Giant - Two stage wins. Dumoulin single handedly made their Tour. Barguil disappointed.

C Grade
BMC - Stage win, three days in yellow, 5th on GC. Van Avermaet made their Tour and at least they solved the Porte v TJVG question. There's a feeling they could have done better.
Katusha - Stage win. 7th on GC. A lacklustre return for one of the race's biggest spenders.
Etixx - Stage win, 9th on GC. Martin and Alaphilippe gave their all but the sight of Cavendish repeatedly owning Kittel must have hurt.
IAM - Stage win. It was the Pantano show for them. A new favourite for many.
Lotto Soudal - Stage win. De Gendt was really the only good point, although Greipel did miss a stage win by millimetres
Trek - the results don't tell the full story. Mollema continued the curse of the Dutch but they deserve credit for getting him into contention.

D Grade
Lampre - 8th on GC. Meintjes did a decent ride, but there's little for the team highlight reel.
Direct Energie - Coquard almost won a stage. Voeckler was on TV less than usual.
Fortuneo - McLay showed promise in the sprints, Delaplace got a comabtivity award.
FdJ - They started badly and got worse. They picked up a couple of combativity awards as usual, but Bardet is now the big dog of French cycling, not Pinot.

E Grade
Astana - The only thing they won, the combativity award for stage 7, was undeserved.
Bora - If it wasn't for the rumour that they had signed Sagan for next year we would have forgotten they were in the race
Lotto NL - A huge contrast to the Giro.
Cofidis - They probably should keep Bouhanni restrained like Hannibal Lecter next June.
Cannondale - Rolland tried I suppose.
Twitter: @RichN95

Comments

  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,196
    Mostly reasonable. If Orica had got a podium or if Matthews had got more than 1 stage they could have gone up a grade quite easily.

    Astana had a right shocker didn't they...
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 13,328
    Worth noting that Cofidis were so non-existent they couldn't even get anyone in the top ten of the lanterne rouge. Think you may have jinxed them, Rich.
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format
  • above_the_cows
    above_the_cows Posts: 11,406
    RichN95 wrote:
    Bora - If it wasn't for the rumour that they had signed Sagan for next year we would have forgotten they were in .

    And the Lanterne Rouge if you please.
    Correlation is not causation.
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    O think you need to adjust for team budget too.

    bora were almost always on screen. Every break seemed to have a rider away in it. They got the coverage.

    Mclay will be a future stage winner I'm sure. He must be knackered after the Alps so not tomorrow - but next year. He's done better than the whole cannondale team anyway so they should be bumped up a grade.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,157
    cougie wrote:
    bora were almost always on screen.
    Yeah, there were a lot of advert breaks.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • above_the_cows
    above_the_cows Posts: 11,406
    RichN95 wrote:
    cougie wrote:
    bora were almost always on screen.
    Yeah, there were a lot of advert breaks.

    :lol:
    Correlation is not causation.
  • specialgueststar
    specialgueststar Posts: 3,418
    B Grade
    AG2R - Stage win, 2nd on GC. Bardet showed he's the real deal. Now they need to support him properly or he should leave.

    eh a B??- stage win - second overall - 4th best team ( 1st in 2014 and 6th last year) Cherel Gautier and Vuillermoz have ridden their hearts out to place Bardet - still got 9 riders left and the runner up?



    and Laporte for Cofidis got some unlikely sprint places when Griepel couldn't - and was well supported. Navorro has had a reasonable tour
  • Lanterne_Rogue
    Lanterne_Rogue Posts: 4,091
    Above The Cows wrote:
    RichN95 wrote:
    Bora - If it wasn't for the rumour that they had signed Sagan for next year we would have forgotten they were in .

    And the Lanterne Rouge if you please.

    First time it's occurred to me to find out who the hell Flash Gordon rides for. And that's after tweeting him to apologise for taking the piss in the LR thread...
    Twitter: @canocola @thedreadships
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,157
    SpecialGuestStar wrote:
    B Grade
    AG2R - Stage win, 2nd on GC. Bardet showed he's the real deal. Now they need to support him properly or he should leave.

    eh a B??- stage win - second overall - 4th best team ( 1st in 2014 and 6th last year) Cherel Gautier and Vuillermoz have ridden their hearts out to place Bardet - still got 9 riders left and the runner up?
    An A grade requires multiple wins in my book (or the overall win). I'm sure they'll consider it an A themselves - but what do we give them if they win the thing?
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • RonB
    RonB Posts: 3,984
    Looks reasonable to me, though Etixx or Lotto S might jump up a grade depending on their German sprinters tomorrow.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,157
    RonB wrote:
    Looks reasonable to me, though Etixx or Lotto S might jump up a grade depending on their German sprinters tomorrow.
    Regardless of who wins, they'll go up a grade (unless they're already an A)
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • Lanterne_Rogue
    Lanterne_Rogue Posts: 4,091
    Should we open this out perhaps (with permission) to award end of Tour prizes?

    If we can, I'd like to award Astana with the "2003 Iraq war memorial prize for forward planning" to Astana for today's performance in which they hit the front, drilled it really hard, then realised Aru was sitting happily at the back of the Sky train 50m back down the road and with Luke Rowe distinctly uninclined to close the gap. Top work lads.
    Twitter: @canocola @thedreadships
  • RonB
    RonB Posts: 3,984
    Ahhh. First paragraph!
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    underlayunderlay wrote:
    Should we open this out perhaps (with permission) to award end of Tour prizes?

    If we can, I'd like to award Astana with the "2003 Iraq war memorial prize for forward planning" to Astana for today's performance in which they hit the front, drilled it really hard, then realised Aru was sitting happily at the back of the Sky train 50m back down the road and with Luke Rowe distinctly uninclined to close the gap. Top work lads.

    That was quite funny.
  • Lanterne_Rogue
    Lanterne_Rogue Posts: 4,091
    cougie wrote:
    underlayunderlay wrote:
    Should we open this out perhaps (with permission) to award end of Tour prizes?

    If we can, I'd like to award Astana with the "2003 Iraq war memorial prize for forward planning" to Astana for today's performance in which they hit the front, drilled it really hard, then realised Aru was sitting happily at the back of the Sky train 50m back down the road and with Luke Rowe distinctly uninclined to close the gap. Top work lads.

    That was quite funny.

    Opening the gap was moderately amusing. The baffled looks between themselves whilst they tried to work out what had just happened, on the other hand, were priceless...
    Twitter: @canocola @thedreadships
  • RonB
    RonB Posts: 3,984
    Same baffled look as perfected by LLS as Cav zoomed past on S18 of the 2012 tour?
  • gweeds
    gweeds Posts: 2,565
    I wasn't even aware Cofidis were in the race at all until this summing up thread.
    Napoleon, don't be jealous that I've been chatting online with babes all day. Besides, we both know that I'm training to be a cage fighter.
  • Garry H
    Garry H Posts: 6,639
    Gweeds wrote:
    I wasn't even aware Cofidis were in the race at all until this summing up thread.

    You weren't really watching then, Navarro was in a few breaks. Been watching the Tour for thirty years now and i never realised you could enter just one rider.
  • gweeds
    gweeds Posts: 2,565
    Garry H wrote:
    Gweeds wrote:
    I wasn't even aware Cofidis were in the race at all until this summing up thread.

    You weren't really watching then, Navarro was in a few breaks. Been watching the Tour for thirty years now and i never realised you could enter just one rider.

    :lol:
    Napoleon, don't be jealous that I've been chatting online with babes all day. Besides, we both know that I'm training to be a cage fighter.
  • Garry H
    Garry H Posts: 6,639
    Would give AG2R a B+
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,196
    Navarro had a reasonable tour to be fair.
  • specialgueststar
    specialgueststar Posts: 3,418
    bobmcstuff wrote:
    Navarro had a reasonable tour to be fair.

    yeah he lost 5 minutes on the 2nd stage and that was it - but got 3rd (Ventoux) 4th (Andorra) , 3rd, 9th on the really big stages . Edet was a late call up but did some good assistance

    Navarro has had a good year nearly top 10 in all stage races he's done this year

    Still no excuse for Bouhanni though :roll:
  • specialgueststar
    specialgueststar Posts: 3,418
    RichN95 wrote:
    SpecialGuestStar wrote:
    B Grade
    AG2R - Stage win, 2nd on GC. Bardet showed he's the real deal. Now they need to support him properly or he should leave.

    eh a B??- stage win - second overall - 4th best team ( 1st in 2014 and 6th last year) Cherel Gautier and Vuillermoz have ridden their hearts out to place Bardet - still got 9 riders left and the runner up?
    An A grade requires multiple wins in my book (or the overall win). I'm sure they'll consider it an A themselves - but what do we give them if they win the thing?

    s'pose- not sure what there budget is ( and i know it is not being taken into consideration) but a team that really supported it's leader......a good B then
  • davidof
    davidof Posts: 3,042
    RichN95 wrote:
    AG2R - Stage win, 2nd on GC. Bardet showed he's the real deal. Now they need to support him properly or he should leave.

    When we crowd sourced this last year we said Bardet

    viewtopic.php?t=13033574

    and to quote myself
    I voted for Bardet but maybe at another team. I suspect French teams are holding the French back.

    Why are the French teams holding their stars back? Too interested in developing French cycling and riders than winning or building a team around one rider. DS who are cycling fans who want to win stuff from March to October without a focus on the Tour. Long term vision, but the long term is always a few years away. None of that is necessarily wrong.
    BASI Nordic Ski Instructor
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  • specialgueststar
    specialgueststar Posts: 3,418
    and to quote myself :)
    Not sure how you can say that especially about Ag2R Lavenu has got the best out of them ( and with a no showing Betancur - the supposed GC rider!) Bardet Peraud Vuillermoz and Cherel all showing well. And they were the best team last year

    A good article in L Equipe about Lavenu turning teams around and finding their strengths Surely Peraud wont ride next year so that leaves space for a proper climbing domestic - or even get Betancur to do it - he owes them!

    ha ha no Betancur and no major change to the team - but as we saw at the Euros football - a team working together gets results - a super team in disarray doesn't /cough ASTANA / cough
    13732065_517477508462427_5373829699647370496_o.jpg
    13732040_517467425130102_5900738024481894112_o.jpg
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,729
    Yates ought to be angry about Quitana nicking his 4th place.

    Especially after Ventoux decision.


    Lacking True Champion (TM) mentality.
    _
  • secretsqirrel
    secretsqirrel Posts: 1,759
    Astana, well under achieved and deserve Rich's E grade.

    However to suggest they did not work as a team is a little unfair? It was a very strong, experienced team working like slaves for a leader who just didn't perform for whatever reason. That said, Aru is only a couple of weeks outside of the white jersey age limit, and it is his first TDF. Had Froome achieved as much at the same age?
  • adr82
    adr82 Posts: 4,002
    SecretSqirrel wrote:
    Astana, well under achieved and deserve Rich's E grade.

    However to suggest they did not work as a team is a little unfair? It was a very strong, experienced team working like slaves for a leader who just didn't perform for whatever reason. That said, Aru is only a couple of weeks outside of the white jersey age limit, and it is his first TDF. Had Froome achieved as much at the same age?
    No, but then Froome has had a more unusual career path and Aru is already a GT winner so there's (justifiably) more weight of expectation on him than say Yates or Meintjes. Especially since he was aiming for the Tour this year.
  • secretsqirrel
    secretsqirrel Posts: 1,759
    adr82 wrote:
    SecretSqirrel wrote:
    Astana, well under achieved and deserve Rich's E grade.

    However to suggest they did not work as a team is a little unfair? It was a very strong, experienced team working like slaves for a leader who just didn't perform for whatever reason. That said, Aru is only a couple of weeks outside of the white jersey age limit, and it is his first TDF. Had Froome achieved as much at the same age?
    No, but then Froome has had a more unusual career path and Aru is already a GT winner so there's (justifiably) more weight of expectation on him than say Yates or Meintjes. Especially since he was aiming for the Tour this year.

    Not disagreeing with you. High expectations can lead to big disappointment. Sh*t happens. Yates was fantastic. Aru failed but should learn from the experience. I don't think that makes Astana a bad team, they backed a young leader and stuck with him. Some of the comments suggest they were a dog's dinner of a team. I disagree with those comments.

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