HB Cadel Evans

[jimmy]

He was the Voice from the Vault this morning on 702 Breakfast.

And then I saw the news report that Astana haven't been invited to TdF this year, so that means no Contador, no Leipheimer and no Klöden.

Now how does that sound like a Birthday Present?

James

[weiyun]

There'll be others who'll challenge. I think there's nothing guaranteed in Le Tour.

[jimmy]

I know the will be others, I don't think that he will have it in the bag by any means.

But it has probably got a bit easier for him without those riders.

James

[weiyun]

Complacency is dangerous.

[geoff m]

If you read the press what it means is potentially much greater pressure on Silence Lotto. They may be expected to lead the pace of the race, something they have never done before.

I hear Popovych has now joined Silence Lotto, so Cadel now has at least one mountain domestique.

[Simon Llewellyn]

Apparently they centering the whole team around Evans this year rather than around Mcewen. Should be interesteing.....

[mikesbytes]

So what about Robbie?

[weiyun]

Supposedly he is ok with it. He said that he will just catch other team's wheels and do what he needs to do.

It would appear that Robbie and Cadel have come to an agreement to support each other when the time is right.

[jimmy]

If you watch Robbie Sprint most of the time, he can get away with a single lead out man, he is very cagey. I know at the Giro a few years ago, when McEwan and Pettachi were going head to head, that Pettachi needed the whole team to get him to the line, McEwan seemed to be able to pick the right wheel 9 times out of 10, and he could get to the line from there.

James

[mikesbytes]

It's probably more of a case of Robbie for stage wins and Cadel for the tour

[jimmy]

It's probably more of a case of Robbie for stage wins and Cadel for the tour

That is typically that teams plan, the problem is though, that if there is another team that is focusing on the overall, they may not have a sprinter. Currently if McEwan rides, and he has Fast Freddie there as well (I don't know if he is still on the team), then that is 2 riders who can't help Cadel in the mountains.

So Cadel will only have 6 helpers, where as another team may have a full compliment of 8 helpers. That could make a difference.

James

[weiyun]

Fast Freddie has left also.

[Toff]

Personally, I don't think Cadel needs 8 helpers. His style on the climbs seems to be to latch on to the back wheel of the fastest bunch and stick there like a leech. Team members are useless when they've all been blown away by the pace. Team members are also useless in ITTs where Cadel excels.

Now, if he had a mechanical incident, or a really bad day Vinicouroff style, a team would be really handy, and it also makes it easier to defend the Yellow, but how likely are these things? Cadel is not likely to attack early in the race to take yellow. Anyway, he did pretty nicely last year with half his team committed to helping Robbie...

[geoff m]

Personally, I don't think Cadel needs 8 helpers. His style on the climbs seems to be to latch on to the back wheel of the fastest bunch and stick there like a leech. Team members are useless when they've all been blown away by the pace. Team members are also useless in ITTs where Cadel excels.

Its still very important to have team mates go on ahead of you to then drop back when he is struggling to suck on the wheels of competitors.

[mcrkennedy]

I think that it will now be harder for Evans to win the TDF because his team will need to controll the race. I don't know if they have the depth to control it in the mountains. They have a history of control on the sprinters stages but they usually do that in conjunction with teams like Quickstep and Milram.

In the end it will be how many climbers Silence-Lotto have. Remember they are a Belgium team mainly interested in Belgium race, (ie no McEwan at the Valuta)

If Team High Road get invited I think Michael Rogers will be a strong canidate to win the race and not Cadel Evans. For Evans to win he will I think need two rider which is why it would have been so good if Silence-Lotto had been able to keep Horner to work with Popovich.

One thing is for sure it will be a very open race this year.