The Perfect Team

RichN95.
RichN95. Posts: 27,137
edited February 2019 in Pro race
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.
Twitter: @RichN95

Comments

  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 18,878
    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
    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • mrb123
    mrb123 Posts: 4,583
    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
    gsk82 Posts: 3,439
    It depends what your goals are.
    "Unfortunately these days a lot of people don’t understand the real quality of a bike" Ernesto Colnago
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,243
    Can’t call Roglic and up & comer surely.

    He was top 5 GC in the Tour.
  • DeVlaeminck
    DeVlaeminck Posts: 8,719
    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.
    [Castle Donington Ladies FC - going up in '22]
  • m.r.m.
    m.r.m. Posts: 3,312
    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.
    PTP Champion 2019, 2022 & 2023
  • Me and Tiffany Cromwell. Don't need anyone else!
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,137
    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.
    Twitter: @RichN95