2011 Team-By-Team Season Preview: Leopard Trek

Fotoreporter Sirotti

Each year, Pavé previews the upcoming road season with a countdown of the top-20 teams in the sport. Earlier today, we covered Team #2: HTC-High Road. Here’s the #1 team for 2011.

#1 – Leopard Trek

For the second year in a row, Team Saxo Bank is the #1 team in our Season Preview.

Well, not exactly, but given the brief history of Leopard Trek, one is forgiven for feeling as if this new team isn’t quite so new. With a Danish GM and Head DS in Bryan Nygaard and Kim Andersen (both of whom spent time working for Bjarne Riis at Saxo Bank) as well as the core of the team that finished the 2010 season ranked #1 in the UCI’s World Tour.

Andy and Frank Schleck are the centerpieces of the squad—they were quickly rumored to be working with Nygaard and Andersen long before their transfers were officially announced last summer. Arguably two of the most charismatic riders in the peloton, Andy captivated fans everywhere with his David versus Goliath fight to defeat Alberto Contador in last year’s Tour de France. Many wonder if he would have succeeded had Frank not crashed and broken a collarbone in the race’s first week.

In 2011, both riders will ride programs largely identitcal to last season’s. Early-season stage races, the Ardennes classics, several Tour stage recon trips, and the Tour de Suisse will form the bulk of both riders’ Tour build-up. Andy looks to be the Tour’s undisputed top-favorite without Alberto Contador—Frank will be a safety net should Andy crack. Post-Tour, Andy will likely try and return his older brother’s favor at the Tour of Spain, where Frank finished 5^th in 2010.

In addition to the latter two Grand Tours, expect the Schleck brothers to be at the front during the Ardennes classics. Frank won the Amstel Gold Race in 2006 and Andy won Liege-Bastogne-Liege in 2009. Frank’s also likely to contend for another stage race or two along the way—such as Paris-Nice, the Tour of Luxembourg, or the Tour de Suisse—as he knows he’ll likely be riding solely on behalf of his brother in July.

And even with Contador’s absence, young Andy will need all the help he can get. The Tour de France is indeed a race like no other—the lack of one favorite does not make the race any easier. If anything, a Tour sans Contador might be more difficult for someone like Schleck than it would have been with him. For one, Leopard Trek will fool no one—they will be expected to control the race from the first week through Paris. Second, every other contender will race a little bit harder this year—Schleck’s not the only who fancies his chances in a Pistolero-free race. And finally, with or without Contador, Schleck’s time trialing is still a major weakness—a rider like Ivan Basso can limit his losses in the moutains while gaining back potentially large amounts of the time against the clock. So while it’s fine to make Andy the top favorite for the win, don’t be fooled into thinking he doesn’t have to race the race first.

But lest we forget, there’s more to Leopard Trek than just the Schlecks. Fabian Cancellara topped many of last year’s “Rider of the Year” lists after back-to-back wins in Flanders and Roubaix, the Prologue and yellow jersey at the Tour, and another World ITT Championship. With an incredibly strong squad supporting him and a top-notch lietenant in Stuart O’Grady, there’s little reason to bet against Spartacus in any of his usual targets. The big question is at what point will the Swiss star decide to make a serious attempt at winning the final two Monuments left missing on resumé: Liege and Lombardy.

As for the rest of the team, Linus Gerdemann and Jakob Fuglsang will likely win more than a few races for the squad—Fuglsang’s an exceptionally talented rider who appears to be on the verge of a truly breakout season. Daniele Bennati will try to win the team a field sprint or two, while Brice Feillu will get another crack at mountain stage wins at the Tour (should Schleck give him the green light).

And don’t forget Jens Voigt—he knows how to win a race or two.

In the end, there’s little not like about the roster Nygaard and Andersen have assembled—it’s unquestionably the finest collection of the talent in the world. As for the team’s backers and infrastructire, that remains to be seen.

Man of the Hour: The Tour looks as if it’s Andy Schleck’s to lose—at least for now. But that’s a lot of pressure, maybe more than he had expected when starting this project. It’s one thing to go into the Tour as a bit of an underdog; it’s another thing entirely to be everyone’s top favorite.

On the Hot Seat: Bryan Nygaard has a lot of people—including myself—wondering just how stable this team really is. Mysterious press releases, unnecessary press conferences, and the lack of a title sponsor are not the best ways to convince everyone your project’s built for the long haul. That said, Garmin and HTC started in similar fashions and have enjoyed several successful seasons. But so did Coast, Bianchi, and that American team in 2001—what were they called?

Up-and-Comer: With a 13th-place finish in his first Paris-Roubaix last season, there’s little wonder why the Schleck’s—and ultimately Fabian Cancellara—wanted Dominic Klemme with them at Leopard Trek. The young German’s already rewarded their trust with the team’s first ever win—in Wednesday’s GP Le Samyn.

Best Pick-Up: Jens Voigt’s one of the classiest riders in the sport—and maybe the funniest too. For me, his move to Leopard Trek gives the entire project a bit more credibility. He wouldn’t be involved if it weren’t a realistic endeavor.

Biggest Loss: Whichever potential title sponsor backed-out at the last minute has to go down as the team’s biggest loss. I have a hard time believing that an essentially blank jersey was the plan when this project began last summer. Someone came down with a bad case of cold feet—the team will need to get hot fast if Nygaard hopes to land someone soon.

And there it is—the #1 team in our 2011 Team-By-Team Season Preview.

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