My Man 2018

joelsim

Early I know, but here’s mine.

Miguel Angel Lòpez
Fernando Gaviria
Nathan Van Hooydonck
Fabio Felline
Bryan Coquard
Magnus Cort Neilsen
Leopold König
Benoit Cosnefroy
Emmanuel Buchmann

Bit of a mix, bit of youth, bit of coming back from an injury...

jam1e

Not finalised yet but here's my first thoughts...

(Are we going with 9?)

2017:
Porte. Gutted he crashed out of the tour, hope he goes for the Giro. Keeping
Rowe. Could be another big year with the tour cobbles etc. Staying.
Chaves. Good rider, nice guy but he's not making the cut.
Kiry. Keeping, goes without saying.
Dombrowski. Like him as a rider but Cannondale's lack of ambition is starting to annoy me. Going.
Swift. Still think he's a much better rider than his results suggest. Could still get boxed in on a time trial though. Keeping.
Yates. Out
Bardet. If he's not willing to put some effort into his time trialling I'm not willing to put any effort into keeping him for another year.
Carthy. Break out year, you heard it here first.

ContrelaMontre

Vincenzo 'Enzo' Nibali
Michal 'Quickhusky' Kwiatkowski
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Steve 'Stevo' Cummings
Laurens 'LTD' Ten Dam
Michael 'Rusty' Woods
Oliver Naesen
Edvald 'Eddy' Boassen Hagen
Philip 'Pip' Gilbert

A few guys coming to the end of their career so giving them one more year of support (Pip and LTD). Honourable mentions to Niki Terpstra, Zdenek Stybar and Dan Martin who just miss out at the moment.

joelsim

I’m going to include Felline in mine. Will decide who to take out.

ridgerider

Joelsim wrote:

I’m going to include Felline in mine. Will decide who to take out.

Should you declare this is 'paid for' content

smithy21

Obviously the two ever presents will be retained

Steve Cummings
Rigoberto Uran

Will think of the rest later. Think I need a bit of an overhaul.

iainf72

Surely the correct response to this one is

Asznee

[For those of you with teenagers / in touch with popular culture]

richa

jam1e wrote:

Not finalised yet but here's my first thoughts...

(Are we going with 9?)

I think it has been reduced to 8 for 2018...

joelsim

Ridgerider wrote:

Joelsim wrote:

I’m going to include Felline in mine. Will decide who to take out.

Should you declare this is 'paid for' content

Almost certainly.

Maybe he can ride for IAMS.

mfin

Contador

chadders81

jam1e wrote:

Not finalised yet but here's my first thoughts...

(Are we going with 9?)

2017:
Porte. Gutted he crashed out of the tour, hope he goes for the Giro. Keeping
Rowe. Could be another big year with the tour cobbles etc. Staying.
Chaves. Good rider, nice guy but he's not making the cut.
Kiry. Keeping, goes without saying.
Dombrowski. Like him as a rider but Cannondale's lack of ambition is starting to annoy me. Going.
Swift. Still think he's a much better rider than his results suggest. Could still get boxed in on a time trial though. Keeping.
Yates. Out
Bardet. If he's not willing to put some effort into his time trialling I'm not willing to put any effort into keeping him for another year.
Carthy. Break out year, you heard it here first.

Is Rowe likely to be fit? Only just started to do his first few laps on the track. Seems like a long way back for him.

jam1e

It seems he'll miss the cobbled classics but hopefully he'll back up and running for mid season.

philbar72

old duffers team of 8 (some of whom are old, some not).
Phil Gilbert
Tony Martin
Mark Cavendish
Steve Cummings
Fernando Gaviria
Bob Jungels
Diego Ulissi
Vincenzo Nibali

not many surprises there...

sherer

Peter Sagan
Juraj Sagan - I have a thing for Slovaks
Zdenek Stybar - I also like Czechs
Michal Kwiatkowski
Chris Froome
Cavendish
Luke Rowe
Ian Stannard

Bit of a Central Europe \ British mix

kleinstroker

My Men 2018:

Julian Alaphilippe - definitely staying, hopefully back to form this year
Romain Bardet - out: I think he's peaked with AG2R, so time to make way for another
Tony Gallopin - tempted to keep him in
Mikel Landa - staying
Ritchie Porte - out: as much as I like Ritchie, his spate of accidents cannot be ignored
Jarlinson Pantano - staying, hope Trek let him off the leash this year
Pierre Latour - staying, another big French hope, had a few good days last year
Jerome Cousin - gone
Bertie - back to the Budgie shop with you

so 3 spots up for grabs

joelsim

kleinstroker wrote:

My Men 2018:

Julian Alaphilippe - definitely staying, hopefully back to form this year
Romain Bardet - out: I think he's peaked with AG2R, so time to make way for another
Tony Gallopin - tempted to keep him in
Mikel Landa - staying
Ritchie Porte - out: as much as I like Ritchie, his spate of accidents cannot be ignored
Jarlinson Pantano - staying, hope Trek let him off the leash this year
Pierre Latour - staying, another big French hope, had a few good days last year
Jerome Cousin - gone
Bertie - back to the Budgie shop with you

so 3 spots up for grabs

3 nippers I hope.

Richmond Racer 2

philbar72 wrote:

old duffers team of 8 (some of whom are old, some not).
Phil Gilbert
Tony Martin
Mark Cavendish
Steve Cummings
Fernando Gaviria
Bob Jungels
Diego Ulissi
Vincenzo Nibali

not many surprises there...

some golden oldies there

Richmond Racer 2

sherer wrote:

Peter Sagan
Juraj Sagan - I have a thing for Slovaks
Zdenek Stybar - I also like Czechs
Michal Kwiatkowski
Chris Froome
Cavendish
Luke Rowe
Ian Stannard

Bit of a Central Europe \ British mix

Cheeky Girl meets Lembit Opik

No_Ta_Doctor

Richmond Racer 2 wrote:

sherer wrote:

Peter Sagan
Juraj Sagan - I have a thing for Slovaks
Zdenek Stybar - I also like Czechs
Michal Kwiatkowski
Chris Froome
Cavendish
Luke Rowe
Ian Stannard

Bit of a Central Europe \ British mix

Cheeky Girl meets Lembit Opik

That is NOT going to end well.

joelsim

No tA Doctor wrote:

Richmond Racer 2 wrote:

sherer wrote:

Peter Sagan
Juraj Sagan - I have a thing for Slovaks
Zdenek Stybar - I also like Czechs
Michal Kwiatkowski
Chris Froome
Cavendish
Luke Rowe
Ian Stannard

Bit of a Central Europe \ British mix

Cheeky Girl meets Lembit Opik

That is NOT going to end well.

Fun while it lasted for one of them.

rick_chasey

No tA Doctor wrote:

Richmond Racer 2 wrote:

sherer wrote:

Peter Sagan
Juraj Sagan - I have a thing for Slovaks
Zdenek Stybar - I also like Czechs
Michal Kwiatkowski
Chris Froome
Cavendish
Luke Rowe
Ian Stannard

Bit of a Central Europe \ British mix

Cheeky Girl meets Lembit Opik

That is NOT going to end well.

He delayed my already delayed flight back from Naples a couple months ago.

Suffice to say, having spent enough time in Naples, I was bold enough to let him know what I thought about that.

No_Ta_Doctor

I always think of him as Lem Bit O'Pik.

Of course, I live in Denmark where Pik has a very specific meaning. You'd get the same in English if you added an r and a c to it in the correct places.

kleinstroker

My Men 2018: provisional

Julian Alaphilippe - definitely staying, hopefully back to form this year
Mikel Landa - staying
Jarlinson Pantano - staying, hope Trek let him off the leash this year
Pierre Latour - staying, another big French hope, had a few good days last year
Gianni Moscon - new -exciting rider, excellent at Sky last year
David Gaudu - new - excellent prospect for France
Florian Senechal - new - another great young French rider
Lilian Calmejane - new - excellent TdF win last year earned him a place

Mad_Malx

Cavendish
Stannard
Thomas
Uran Uran
Kwiatkowski
Chaves
Tom Dumoulin
Pinot
based on wins last year that had me cheering on the sofa.

m.r.m.

Cav
Gav
Kwiatkowski
Froome
Sagan
Jan Polanc
Jasper Stuyven
Valverde

specialgueststar

Joelsim wrote:

Early I know, but here’s mine.

Miguel Angel Lòpez
Fernando Gaviria
Nathan Van Hooydonck
Fabio Felline
Bryan Coquard
Magnus Cort Neilsen
Leopold König
Benoit Cosnefroy
Emmanuel Buchmann

Bit of a mix, bit of youth, bit of coming back from an injury...

Quite like this selection but unsure how much they will bring you this year ?

specialgueststar

Tony Gallopin Ag2R 'keep the fires burning' (hopefully - or a new role?)
Clement Venturini Ag2R Cross hardened , road aware (tough stage win Tour of Austria)
Alex Geniez Ag2R Hands free this year please - that win at Tre Valli gets a a retain
David Gaudu FdJ Vunderkidz
Thibaut Pinot FdJ Vundervall
Carlos Betancur Movistar Endured a bit of banter about the batter but coming back a better battler
Bjorg Lambrecht Lotto Who he? I think we will find out
Niklas Eg TREK No EG'O' here just 'O 'watch him go (excuses)
Bob Jungels Quickstep Tour de France this year - he's ready ,we're ready

joelsim

SpecialGuestStar wrote:

Joelsim wrote:

Early I know, but here’s mine.

Miguel Angel Lòpez
Fernando Gaviria
Nathan Van Hooydonck
Fabio Felline
Bryan Coquard
Magnus Cort Neilsen
Leopold König
Benoit Cosnefroy
Emmanuel Buchmann

Bit of a mix, bit of youth, bit of coming back from an injury...

Quite like this selection but unsure how much they will bring you this year ?

It’s not just about winning although clearly Gaviria should get his fair share. López also could have a proper breakthrough year with a full preseason behind him, certainly going to be interesting to see what he can do after some stunning displays in the Vuelta 2017 and Suisse 2016.

Felline, without Contador, is going to ride a lot of the classics including Roubaix I gather, as well as going for some one week Tours.

Coquard needs a good year and his new team is built around him, time will tell how many invitations they get to the bigger races. It’ll also be nice to see König back to something like his capabilities. The others are youngsters so it’s more about seeing them develop than necessarily winning anything.

joelsim

SpecialGuestStar wrote:

Tony Gallopin Ag2R 'keep the fires burning' (hopefully - or a new role?)
Clement Venturini Ag2R Cross hardened , road aware (tough stage win Tour of Austria)
Alex Geniez Ag2R Hands free this year please - that win at Tre Valli gets a a retain
David Gaudu FdJ Vunderkidz
Thibaut Pinot FdJ Vundervall
Carlos Betancur Movistar Endured a bit of banter about the batter but coming back a better battler
Bjorg Lambrecht Lotto Who he? I think we will find out
Niklas Eg TREK No EG'O' here just 'O 'watch him go (excuses)
Bob Jungels Quickstep Tour de France this year - he's ready ,we're ready

Eg could be cracking.

The_Boy

David gaudu
Pierre Latour
Romain bardet
Thibaut pinot
Alexandre Geniez
Florian Senechal
Warren Barguil
Benoit Cosnefroy

No space for token foreigners or wind up choices this year due to reduction in team sizes.

Edit: Decided that was too obvious a selection. Have swapped out alaphillipe and demare cos they were never really my men though I will happily cheer them on. Bringing in Geniez - won me a wedge with his top 10 in the giro, so will be good to see if he can put in some good rides again. Also Cosnefroy - u23 Champ, but many won't have heard of him so it'll look more left field a choice than it actually is, plus I was hyping him to a friend last year (last guy I hyped to same friend was baby Kenny E, so fingers crossed I haven't also put a hex on him Benoit).

specialgueststar

I've not slept these last few nights - I'm like a DS who has promised the team a co-sponsor and knows its not coming.....

Riders who were given the nod at the end of last season have been cruelly discarded on a whim. Places have been given to others with no real affinity....so the final is (and of course it is now eight)

Tony Gallopin Ag2R 'keep the fires burning' (hopefully - or a new role?)
Clement Venturini Ag2R Cross hardened , road aware (tough stage win Tour of Austria)
Alex Geniez Ag2R Hands free this year please - that win at Tre Valli gets a a retain
David Gaudu FdJ Vunderkidz
Thibaut Pinot FdJ Vundervall
Lilian Calmejane Direct Energie How did i forget that ride on the 8th July ?
Johan Le Bon Vital Concept - Is going to want to show (more than usual)
Bjorg Lambrecht Lotto Who he? I think we will find out

so out goes
Carlos Betancur Movistar Endured a bit of banter about the batter but coming back a better battler - but not betting on it

Niklas Eg TREK No EG'O' here just 'O 'watch him go (excuses)
Bob Jungels Quickstep Tour de France this year - he's ready ,we're ready