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| *Vultures Knob>>>Cycling |
Liquigas No Show at Tour de France? |
Given the Giro. Why do you think Liquigas team was such a "no show" at the TDF. All expectations had them doing really well against Astana (oops) and Discovery. I know Pozatto bailed out early with the itchies or something, but.... Just curious what others are thinking. Fillipo Pozzato was a sprinter, so they devoted the whole team to him, but after he crashed, there was almost no hope left for Liquigas. They need a few GC contender next year, maybe then they will bring up a surprise This has been a weird tour, most of the favourites not showing, when they did failing drugs tests, whole teams being withdrawn. I'm not sure what was the specific problem with Liquigas but they should just wipe this years tour from the record books and start again next year. I'm not taking anything away from the winner BUT would he have won it if Rasmussen hadn't been there, I doubt it as many stages would have had different results Their best grand tour rider Di Luca rode the Giro, they really do not have a suitable replacement for him. While some teams have two solid GC riders, Luiqigas does not. Without a real chance at the GC, they had to concentrate on sprints and stage wins. After Pozzato's crash, there wasn't much left. Many teams fell into the same problem... you didn't hear much from Gerolsteiner, Sanieur Duval, Lampre, Franchese de Juex, Boygeoise Telecom, etc. These teams just do not have a solid GC rider. They are in an akward position. Being an Italian team their sponsor wants them to excel in the Giro. Which they did. They won it. Now for the tour Danillo Di Luca was to tired to ride, and he is not good enough to contend for the tour. Also they had a sucessful tour, they won a stage. Thats what they came to the tour to do. Teams dont need a GC rider to have a good tour if their team is goal is to win stages. (I think Liquigas' best rider was Manual Beltran) A whole tour can be salvage by a stage win. Look at the teams that went home empty handed, Bouyges (possibly the worst team in all of cycling), FDJ (won a stage, salvaged tour) Euskatel-Combativity award, two in the top 10. Suanar Dival-They did great in the Giro. A good preformance in the Vuelta will mean a good season for them. Lampre got two stage wins, one on the The one road that I cant spell to save my life. Credit Agricole got a stage win. Milram possibly had a bad tour, no stage wins 3rd in the Green Jersey though. No Pattachi hurt them. Although he dominated the Giro, so succesful season so far. Gerolstiner-Bad tour. No GC guy, No Stage win. So teams dont nessicarly need a GC guy. If a lower teams (aka FDJ) wins a stage their tour is made. The accomplished their goals. Now if it was a bigger teams say Discovery or CSC and they didnt have a stage win or a GC contender its a bad tour. The preformance in the TOur depends a lot on the size/strenght (FDJ had a good tour by winning a stage) and weather the team is built to win the tour or another Grand Tour (Liquigas this year) |
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