My Man 2019

joelsim

Here's my squad of 9 for next year.

Superman Lopez - I love the way he rides, always attacking. Contadoresque.

Fernando Gaviria - a sprinter who tries to break the rules, happy to go from long. It'll be interesting to see if he misses the QS lead-out supremacy.

Dylan Teuns - he had a month or so in 2017 when he was unbeatable, hope he can get to this level again. Will have more opportunity after his move to Bahrain.

Sergio Henao - let off the domestique leash, I wonder how he'll do as a leader.

Tejay Van Garderen - hugely boring rider, but I feel sorry for him, so there you go.

David Gaudu - looking for a breakthrough season for the talented youngster.

Benoit Cosnefroy - he rode well towards the end of last year, looking to him to continue his trajectory.

Remco Evenepoel - a crazy palmares as a junior, just a kid.

Tom Pidcock - as Remco, and British.

jimmythecuckoo

Keen!

RichN95.

Thomas
Rowe
Froome
Viviani
Wallays
De Gendt
Haas (no. 95 in the rankings)

Two more signings to come

jimmythecuckoo

Can two of us have the same riders?

airborneal

Should start a cycling fantasy league for the whole season, take some doing !

Pross

Geraint Thomas
Luke Rowe
Owain Doull
Scott Davies
Sonny Colbrelli
Egan Bernal
Enric Mas
Mads Pedersen
Dan Martin

A bit of a theme in the first 4!

ShutupJens

Sagan
MVDP
Pidcock
Tanfield
Greipel
The human coathanger

More signings tba

philbar72

G
Yates, S
Superman Lopez
Michael Valgren
Viviani
Groenewegen
Allaphilipe
Bob Jungels

m.r.m.

Sagan
Kwiatkowski
Froome
Cav
Jungels
Gaviria
Bernal
MvdP

rick_chasey

Oomen, Tolhoek, Kruiswijk, Gesink, Dumolin and obviously my man Groenewegen.

jimmythecuckoo

Tom Dumoulin
Krists Nielandts
Bob Jungels
Remco Evenepoel
Jurgen Roelandts
Egan Bernal
Thomas De Gendt
Tony Gallopin
Mathieu Van der Poel

cruff

Retained:

Thomas - glad I stuck with him last year
Stannard - nowt of note in 2018, but still think he's got a PR in him one day
Bardet - brilliant to watch
CAV - last chance - one final flourish before he disappears back to the track for the inevitable final tilt at the Olympics?
De Gendt - loooooong raaaaaange
Sagan - obviously
McLay - Already got a win this year. Probably his only one but - tache panache

Released:
Cummings - sorry pal
Chaves - Going all in with Thomas for GCs. Need to make room for:

New signings:
Benoot - Pure Belgian Goodness
GAV - the new CAV

Stagiares:
Tom Pidcock - second season with Wiggins will be good for him, though think he could step up now into most pro teams
Remco Evanepoel - potential to be even better than Pidcock. Frightening

Last year's 'not my men' list remains the same

Aru - ungainly, basking shark faced toss pot doper
Valverde - world title notwithstanding, he's an unrepentant cheat - and a prick to his teammates
Bouhanni - all the tantrums of Cav, none of the talent
Impey - drugs cheat ('contaminated pill machine' my ar5e)

No_Ta_Doctor

Don't have a full roster yet, but...

Tao, obviously (Hackney represent!)
Michael Valgren
Mads Pedersen
Søren Kragh
Magnus Kort


OK.... just give me any Danish WT riders...

Bonus My Woman:
Amalie Dideriksen
Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig

DeadCalm

Romain Bardet
Thibaut Pinot
Sam Oomen
Pavel Sivakov
Remco Evenepoel
Gino Mäder
Eddie Dunbar

Two more to follow but in the meantime a couple of stagiares:

Mark Donovan
Thymen Arensman

specialgueststar

I'm getting
Geniez
Calmejane
in today as they are both racing and i want an early win

Pinot - cycling with more ease and belief - could be a golden 4 years
Buchman - at least a top 10 CT GC year
G Martin (Wanty some support) - is he still eligible for the white jersey?

a three pronged Cofidis grouping
Jesus Herrada
Touze
Bouhanni

Cosnefroy
Navarro - won't get used to him at Katusha

That's too many

No_Ta_Doctor

SpecialGuestStar wrote:

I'm getting
Geniez
Calmejane
in today as they are both racing and i want an early win

Pinot - cycling with more ease and belief - could be a golden 4 years
Buchman - at least a top 10 CT GC year
G Martin (Wanty some support) - is he still eligible for the white jersey?

a three pronged Cofidis grouping
Jesus Herrada
Touze
Bouhanni

Cosnefroy
Navarro - won't get used to him at Katusha

That's too many

THREE Cofidis?

Wow, sucker for punishment. Do you like to relax with a ball gag, some fetching leatherwear and a good flogging?

specialgueststar

No tA Doctor wrote:

SpecialGuestStar wrote:

I'm getting
Geniez
Calmejane
in today as they are both racing and i want an early win

Pinot - cycling with more ease and belief - could be a golden 4 years
Buchman - at least a top 10 CT GC year
G Martin (Wanty some support) - is he still eligible for the white jersey?

a three pronged Cofidis grouping
Jesus Herrada
Touze
Bouhanni

Cosnefroy
Navarro - won't get used to him at Katusha

That's too many

THREE Cofidis?

Wow, sucker for punishment. Do you like to relax with a ball gag, some fetching leatherwear and a good flogging?

I want that video BACK. NOW

specialgueststar

I think Cofidis might do good this year

cruff

No tA Doctor wrote:

SpecialGuestStar wrote:

I'm getting
Geniez
Calmejane
in today as they are both racing and i want an early win

Pinot - cycling with more ease and belief - could be a golden 4 years
Buchman - at least a top 10 CT GC year
G Martin (Wanty some support) - is he still eligible for the white jersey?

a three pronged Cofidis grouping
Jesus Herrada
Touze
Bouhanni

Cosnefroy
Navarro - won't get used to him at Katusha

That's too many

THREE Cofidis?

Wow, sucker for punishment. Do you like to relax with a ball gag, some fetching leatherwear and a good flogging?

On the other hand, with the budget savings he'll make on that squad he can afford to retire to the Bahamas after

cruff

DeadCalm wrote:

Romain Bardet
Thibaut Pinot
Sam Oomen
Pavel Sivakov
Remco Evenepoel
Gino Mäder
Eddie Dunbar

Two more to follow but in the meantime a couple of stagiares:

Mark Donovan
Thymen Arensman

You might want to update your signature...

DeadCalm

Cruff wrote:

DeadCalm wrote:

Romain Bardet
Thibaut Pinot
Sam Oomen
Pavel Sivakov
Remco Evenepoel
Gino Mäder
Eddie Dunbar

Two more to follow but in the meantime a couple of stagiares:

Mark Donovan
Thymen Arensman

You might want to update your signature...

Good spot. Thanks. :}

m.r.m.

M.R.M. wrote:

Sagan
Kwiatkowski
Froome
Cav
Jungels
Gaviria
Bernal
MvdP

I'm dumping Cav for Remco. Don't think Cav is finished, but not good value anymore.

Sagan
Kwiatkowski
Froome
Remco
Jungels
Gaviria
Bernal
MvdP

cruff

M.R.M. wrote:

M.R.M. wrote:

Sagan
Kwiatkowski
Froome
Cav
Jungels
Gaviria
Bernal
MvdP

I'm dumping Cav for Remco. Don't think Cav is finished, but not good value anymore.

Sagan
Kwiatkowski
Froome
Remco
Jungels
Gaviria
Bernal
MvdP

Christ, you must have some budget...

m.r.m.

Brought the football budget to cycling!

RichN95.

Evenepoel is on my anti-My Man list. I want him to flop due to all the hype. (Not flop horribly, just to turn out fairly average - like a cycling version of Joe Cole).

cruff

RichN95 wrote:

Evenepoel is on my anti-My Man list. I want him to flop due to all the hype. (Not flop horribly, just to turn out fairly average - like a cycling version of Joe Cole).

I genuinely don't get that. There's loads of hype around Pidcock as well, I don't want either of them to fail. I'd rather they both end up being brilliant, along with Bernal - so we can see three amazing talents go head to head for ten years

RichN95.

Cruff wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

Evenepoel is on my anti-My Man list. I want him to flop due to all the hype. (Not flop horribly, just to turn out fairly average - like a cycling version of Joe Cole).

I genuinely don't get that. There's loads of hype around Pidcock as well, I don't want either of them to fail. I'd rather they both end up being brilliant, along with Bernal - so we can see three amazing talents go head to head for ten years

I don't want them to fail as such (I have similar feelings towards Pidcock), just not live up half the hype - hence why I used Joe Cole as a comparison. He was hyped up as a British Maradonna before he'd played a first team game. He had a fine career - but wasn't the even best 'midfielder that West Ham sold to Chelsea' of his generation

Someone will turn out brilliant regardless.

ocdupalais

RichN95 wrote:

Cruff wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

Evenepoel is on my anti-My Man list. I want him to flop due to all the hype. (Not flop horribly, just to turn out fairly average - like a cycling version of Joe Cole).

I genuinely don't get that. There's loads of hype around Pidcock as well, I don't want either of them to fail. I'd rather they both end up being brilliant, along with Bernal - so we can see three amazing talents go head to head for ten years

I don't want them to fail as such (I have similar feelings towards Pidcock), just not live up half the hype - hence why I used Joe Cole as a comparison. He was hyped up as a British Maradonna before he'd played a first team game. He had a fine career - but wasn't the even best 'midfielder that West Ham sold to Chelsea' of his generation

Someone will turn out brilliant regardless.

Mmm... I’m similarly wary of the hype. While Pidcock has caused a stir amongst the senior pros in the British crit scene, which was impressive- Evenepoel was seen dragging a whole bunch of World Tour riders up to the pointy end of 2600m climb in Argentina this week at 500w for quite some time (he claims) - as well as coming 3rd in the TT. He also claims he’s not in shape yet, so he might be a bit of a bullshitter...

cruff

I get the undercurrent here. I'm sorry that you can't dream big. I'm sorry that you can't believe in miracles.



Seriously though - yeah, that's always a risk. Hopefully they're clean as a whistle, and will deliver on the promise. I take slight issue with the 'not even the best midfielder West Ham sold to Chelsea'. I think Joe Cole, had he been born in France or Spain, would have been on the level of Iniesta and Xavi. It's a crime that he was born in a country that teaches youngsters to kick the ever-living sh*t out of players with more skill than you, and ended up playing for Mourinho - who completely ruined his career.

TheBigBean

No change from last year

Degenkolb
Cavendish
Tony Martin
Stybar
Dan Martin
Sep Vanmarcke
Miguel Ángel López
Louis Meintjes

dish_dash

A couple of changes driven by necessity. Svein Tuft goes to Rally where to be honest I've hardly gonna see him. And Andriy Grivko reluctantly retires...

Which means my 2019 men are:
Sep Vanmarcke
Alexander Kristoff
Esteban Chaves
Toms Skujinš
Michal Kwiatkowski
Vincenzo Nibali
Primoz Roglic (new to the list)
Mark Padun (new to the list to replace Grivko)

And I've got Nikki Terpstra, Fernando Gaviria, and Rigoberto Uran on the reserves list as backups for Sep, Alex, and Esteban.