RadioShack for the Tour de France: Lance Armstrong, Andreas Klöden,
Levi Leipheimer, Chris Horner, Janez Brajkovic, Sergio Paulinho,
Yaroslav Popovych, Gregory Rast and Dmitriy Muravyev
No Spanish.
Paulinho's close, no?
--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA
Geographically, yes. But I don't know about politically.
Does this mean LANCE simply hired Zubeldia and Rubiera to keep them off
Astana's team, or possibly fears of misplaced alliances?
Will the Vuelta organizer look at their roster and feel some amount of
vindication?
Apparently Brajkovic said the following to Bruyneel regarding Armstrong
riding the TdF :
"He will make an excellent drone."
>> No Spanish.
>
> Paulinho's close, no?
Dumbass,
Because? Not quite getting that last comment about the Vuelta. You think
they're snubbing the Spanish in the TdF and that would annoy the Vuelta
organizers? Looking at the roster, I'm thinking they picked a team that can
deliver Lance or whomever into the best-possible position ahead of the big
climbs, tough experienced guys who won't be scared of the cobblestones, but
still some climbers (Popo, Horner, Levi, Paulinho) in there. Not the team
that's going to shred anybody on a climb though; if Contador stays healthy,
I can't see how he can be denied. But that's a big if. Things happen.
And in the "things happen" category, are we certain there's no way the team
will end up in the Vuelta? Perhaps making a case that they "saved" Zubeldia
and Rubiera?
Leaving Rubiera off is the most-interesting thing here. He's pretty much
gained entry to Lance's GTs by default.
Rast is a tough Swiss guy, probably good on the flats and rollers, but
Dmitriy... that's tougher to figure. No great results, always a domestique.
Curiously, the only Kazakh that moved over from Astana. Looks like another
guy for the flats & rollers.
This looks to be all about controlling the race, keeping it from getting
blown apart.
You're right, I overlooked that. What's your brilliant reply regarding
Rubiera?
You weren't the only one without a brain on that one. I'd forgotten too.
Pretty sure they would have brought Zubeldia, not sure at whose expense (did
Horner luck out?). I don't think there's anyone on the 'Shack who can go
toe-to-toe with Contador at the 4k mark on a climb... except, maybe, Jani?
Rubiera isn't that person.
My guess is that he has a problem with not getting any
younger as time goes by. That seems to be a chronic
issue for Radio Shack. Don't know why it is being
applied selectively but probably one of the younger
guys is just riding better.
Fred Flintstein
On Jun 22, 9:53 am, "hargo...@yahoo.com" <hargo...@yahoo.com> wrote:
Randalf the Wizard,
What in the name of Mordor is your reasoning behind thinking
Leipheimer has any special skills on cobblestones? His two wins at
Copperopolis?
Horner on the other hand is good on anything. He's your best bet here.
I love an old quote of his from his Roubaix experience:
"...they plowed a dirt road, flew over it with a helicopter, and then
just dropped a bunch of rocks out of the helicopter! That's Paris-
Roubaix. It's that bad - it's ridiculous."
-DA74
Dumbass -
As much as I like Horner, I can't say that he'll be that helpful over
cobbles. His build is a little too sleight. That said, quite a large
portion of the TdF peloton also won't be suited to the cobbles, so
maybe he might be able to do something relative to his usefulness in
Paris-Roubaix.
As for Leipheimer, yeah, I agree, totally useless.
thanks,
Kurgan. presented by Gringioni.
> I was just thinking that Leipheimer was more rounded than the other
> domestiques.
If being rounded made you good on cobbles someone from rbr would have
won Paris-Roubaix by now.
: I was just thinking that Leipheimer was more rounded than the other
: domestiques.
Dumbass -
Totally wrong physical characteristics. He's small, so he bounces around
more on the cobbles and he's not an anaerobic power guy.
The prototypical Paris Roubix guys who are current are Cancellara or Taylor
Phinney (6'4", two for two in U-23 PR). Big guys (they ride smoother over
the cobbles in a big gear), lots of anaerobic power.