The Perfect Team

RichN95.

I stumbled across a feature that Soigneur magazine has started of asking journalists their perfect team (I presume for a Grand Tour - they don't say)

So far the picks have been:

Thijs Zooneveld: Dumoulin, Wellens, Oomen, Bernal, Van Der Poel, Dan Martin, Gaudu, Van Vleuten

Daniel Friebe: Dumoulin, Oomen, Alaphilippe, Sagan, Naesen, Impey, Hanninen, Dennis

The format is: Leader, Lieutentant, Climber, Sprinter/Puncheur, Domestique #1 and # 2, Up-and-Comer, Time-trialist.


So what would your team be. Frankly I think picking Dumoulin ahead of Froome is like picking Harry Kane ahead of Lionel Messi.

My picks:

Leader: Froome - clearly the top man
Lieutentant: Kwaitkowski - jack of all trades, master of most of them
Climber: Haig - consistently impressive
Sprinter/Puncheur: Viviani - he's a better sprinter than Sagan and I have Kwaitkowski for the puncheur stuff
Domestique #1: Naesen - always impressive, wasted at AG2R
Domestique #2: Impey - a Poundshop Kwiatkowski and that's not a bad thing
Up-and-Comer: Roglic - better than Dumoilin - just you watch
Time trialist: Castroveijo - not the best TTer, but a top class grunt.

tailwindhome

Depends what you mean by 'perfect' team I suppose.

I always think an you should pick a team then decide who is replaced by someone better
So if you start with the Sky TDF team 2018 - who's getting dropped and who's replacing them

Egan Bernal
Jonathan Castroviejo
Chris Froome
Michal Kwiatkowski
Gianni Moscon
Wout Poels
Luke Rowe
Geraint Thomas

mrb123

TailWindHome wrote:

Depends what you mean by 'perfect' team I suppose.

I always think an you should pick a team then decide who is replaced by someone better
So if you start with the Sky TDF team 2018 - who's getting dropped and who's replacing them

Egan Bernal
Jonathan Castroviejo
Chris Froome
Michal Kwiatkowski
Gianni Moscon
Wout Poels
Luke Rowe
Geraint Thomas

I'm struggling. It's virtually flawless.

gsk82

It depends what your goals are.

rick_chasey

Can’t call Roglic and up & comer surely.

He was top 5 GC in the Tour.

DeVlaeminck

I think I might take Dumoulin as the leader, not convinced Froome is any better in 2019 given equal back up.
Sagan as sprinter as he's not getting any lead out.
Thomas as second in the hierarchy if he's willing to take that job.
After that just an array of big engines and climbing domestiques - Kwiatkowski would be in there.
Up and comer - does Bernal still count? Probably not but I don't know enough about the really new talent so maybe Pidcock.

m.r.m.

TailWindHome wrote:

Depends what you mean by 'perfect' team I suppose.

I always think an you should pick a team then decide who is replaced by someone better
So if you start with the Sky TDF team 2018 - who's getting dropped and who's replacing them

Egan Bernal
Jonathan Castroviejo
Chris Froome
Michal Kwiatkowski
Gianni Moscon
Wout Poels
Luke Rowe
Geraint Thomas

I'd drop Luke Rowe for Daniel Oss (and for Remco in 1-2 years) and Gianni Moscon (character issues) possibly for Mike Woods if it's just GC focus and not full season, because that Sky team could run well in one day races as well with Kwiato and Thomas as captains.
But your point is taken. That is a perfect team.

joe_totale-2

Me and Tiffany Cromwell. Don't need anyone else!

RichN95.

Rick Chasey wrote:

Can’t call Roglic and up & comer surely.

He was top 5 GC in the Tour.

Yeah, a bit of a fudge that one. But he's far from peaked IMO.