[Ventruck]

Contador headlines Saxo-Tinkoff?s Tour de France squad

Saxo-Tinkoff for the 2013 Tour de France
Michael Rogers (AUS)
Roman Kreuziger (CZE)
Nicolas Roche (IRL)
Matteo Tosatto (ITA)
Daniele Bennati (ITA)
Sergio Paulinho (POR)
Alberto Contador (ESP)
Jesus Hernandez (ESP)
Benjamin Noval (ESP)

We Already Won

 

[spade2you]

Fairly strong squad.

 

[albert owen]

I'd say a very strong squad. Let's hope that they work well together..............

 

[The Tedinator]

The Skybots will steamroll them.

 

[Ventruck]

The Skybots will steamroll them.

At like every GT one of those machines becomes self-aware (I guess Uran being most recent). They'll blow themselves up in a power struggle. Judgement day is coming for them already.

 

[LostViking]

Time for Chris "E.T." Froome and the Skyborgs to face the music at last...looking forward to this!

 

[jlandry]

Contador FTW.

 

[AdamM]

That's certainly a strong team. I'm surprised to see both Roche and Kreuziger in the lineup.

 

[spade2you]

That's certainly a strong team. I'm surprised to see both Roche and Kreuziger in the lineup.

Both have been in the top 10 in a few GT GC. Kreuzinger has a few more wins. Roche hasn't quite "done it" and is probably better utilized as a superdomestique. Having these guys work for Contador gives him good odds.

 

[55x11]

strong but "all-time greatest"? Not even the strongest of all other teams this year. Sky and BMC have more decorated lineups, for example. One could argue that Garmin has too.

 

[roddjbrown]

I'm not 100% on Sky's lineup. Porte will play the part of Froome last year but I'm still very surprised they didn't bring Uran. BMC however, have a hell of a team if they decide early enough whether to fully support Tejay or Cadel

 

[55x11]

Duran-Duran was basically playing a role of a leader in Giro. He is cooked. Doing two GT back to back is not easy nowadays. Just ask Wiggo, Contador and Evans. For that matter, I suspect Evans is cooked too, which may be good for T-J if the team management realizes it early enough.

But Ritchie Porte is a much better super-domestique than Roche or Rogers for Contador. Porte could be top 10, or even top-5 if he was a leader. This is similar to when Heras was working for Armstrong, and still finishing top 10.

 

[Creakyknees]

Tejay will wipe the floor with 'bert. Mark my words.

 

[AdamM]

Both have been in the top 10 in a few GT GC. Kreuzinger has a few more wins. Roche hasn't quite "done it" and is probably better utilized as a superdomestique. Having these guys work for Contador gives him good odds.

I just wonder about the wisdom of replacing proven domestiques like Chris Anker Sorensen off and relying on general classification guys (Roche and Kreuziger) to do the same job? In theory it might work, but we've watched Sorensen hammer on the front of the bunch for years - Kreuziger not so much. Should make things interesting.

 

[den bakker]

But Ritchie Porte is a much better super-domestique than Roche or Rogers for Contador. Porte could be top 10, or even top-5 if he was a leader. This is similar to when Heras was working for Armstrong, and still finishing top 10.

kreuziger: 8,9 in the tour. 5 in the giro.
roche:12,14 in the tour, 6 in the vuelta.
rogers: 9 in the tour, 7 in the giro.