[magnolialover]

Zabriskie won today's prologue at the Dauphine. This bodes well for him being the team leader for CSC. Oh wait, not it doesn't.

Great ride for Dave though, glad to see him back at the top of his game in the prologue and time trials. Maybe we'll see him take another prologue at le Tour this year? Spend a few more days in yellow? Well, that is if Bjarne takes him to the Tour this year.

 

[JGUTZ]

Zabrisky is a young Jens Voight, It would be ashamed if he was not picked for the tour. Dave could shield Basso all day long on the flatter stages, and I bet he could even hold his own on some of this years climbs. In a post prologue interview he states he has never climbed Vontoux but is looking forward to it, mountains don't scare him.
Go Dave..

 

[magnolialover]

Mountains...

Zabrisky is a young Jens Voight, It would be ashamed if he was not picked for the tour. Dave could shield Basso all day long on the flatter stages, and I bet he could even hold his own on some of this years climbs. In a post prologue interview he states he has never climbed Vontoux but is looking forward to it, mountains don't scare him.
Go Dave..

Mountains don't scare him because he is not expected to do anything on them. He can find the grupetto going his pace, and ride with them. He will not be expected to do work on the mountain stages. He could do work on the flat stages, but with no team trial this year, his true strength will not be utilized.

 

[bas]

He could do work on the flat stages, but with no team trial this year, his true strength will not be utilized.

Crashing without taking his teammates out! :thumbsup:

 

[cyclodawg]

Great ride for Dave though, glad to see him back at the top of his game in the prologue and time trials. Maybe we'll see him take another prologue at le Tour this year? Spend a few more days in yellow? Well, that is if Bjarne takes him to the Tour this year.

If he were still with Postal/Disco and Lance were still leader (or if they had another legit GC contender this year), Z wouldn't be on the TdF squad this year. He's almost no help to Basso unless he's taking long pulls in a TTT, and there's no TTT. There was a good reason that Postal cut him loose two years ago. If he doesn't commit himself to being able to protect the GC guy in the mountains (or at least in the hills), then he has no value in a grand tour (aside from the TTT). Look at Hincapie, by comparison, a road rider who worked himself into a decent climber who can help Armstrong in the mountains (and possibly be a decent GC man himself).

Now, if Riis wants to put CSC on the podium in the prologue and the TTs, then it possibly makes sense to role the dice and take Z to the TdF. But they obviously have legitimate GC goals this year, and Z isn't a guy who's going to help too much in that regard. Again, if it were Disco with Lance, Lance probably doesn't bring him along.

 

[euro-trash]

About Dave Z and the CSC's Tour squad: Even if his ultimate goal is to win the overall with Basso, Riis will have a hard time keeping Dave on the sidelines when he's got a good shot a winning at least one TT stage.

I don't see him as someone unable to contribute to the team. He's made out to be someone who can't climb his way out of a paper bag, which isn't true. No, he won't be the last guy on the mountain, but that doesn't mean he can't help during the first 2 mountain passes of the day.

 

[jukebox]

About Dave Z and the CSC's Tour squad: Even if his ultimate goal is to win the overall with Basso, Riis will have a hard time keeping Dave on the sidelines when he's got a good shot a winning at least one TT stage.

I don't see him as someone unable to contribute to the team. He's made out to be someone who can't climb his way out of a paper bag, which isn't true. No, he won't be the last guy on the mountain, but that doesn't mean he can't help during the first 2 mountain passes of the day.

Very true, but wasnt there some early season buzz about Dave Z beating Basso up some major climb?