Fotoreporter Sirotti
With Thor Hushovd’s win Tuesday at the Tour de Suisse and Tyler Farrar’s relatively anonymous showing at the Criterium du Dauphiné, is it safe to expect Thor to be Garmin-Cervelo’s protected sprint captain in France? Heinrich Haussler’s just been announced as not riding–is Garmin-Cervelo’s murky Tour roster getting a bit more clear?
Share your comments below.
About Whit
My experiences might easily fit many cycling fans' definitions of “living the dream.†Since getting hooked on the sport watching Lance Armstrong win the 1993 U.S. Pro Championship, I've raced as an amateur on Belgian cobbles, traveled Europe to help build a European pro team, and piloted that team from Malaysia to Mont Ventoux. As a former assistant director sportif with Mercury-Viatel, I've also seen the less dreamy side of the sport – the side rife with broken contracts, infighting, and positive dope tests. These days, I live with my lovely wife in Pennsylvania and share my experiences and views on the sport at Bicycling Magazine, the Embrocation Cycling Journal, and at my own site, Pavé.
Discuss?
Will TommyD be brought to the TdF and will he finally be the GC contender his handlers had promised us since he switched to the road?
Is the prospect of an American youngster winning a stage of the TdF more valuable than the more certain prospect of a Norwegian World Champ winning a stage? Note that Hushovd has been in this uncomfortable setup before, in the old Credit Agricole squad ca. 2002-2003 when they fielded both him and Stuart O'Grady. From a purely sporting perspective and optimizing for the current TdF, it makes sense to bring Hushovd and actually give him support in the sprints, but from a team development perspective, bringing Farrar may make more sense.
Personally I like Farrar a lot, but this year everything's gone wrong for him, including Weylandt's passing. It may be better for his own personal development so sit out this year's TdF, build up both physically and mentally, and make a good impression at the VaE. When the condition is not good, there is nothing worse than performing poorly under scrutiny and lots of publicity.
And don't forget this article from Cyclingnews:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:XigWGSOvUTAJ:www.cyclingnews.com/news/farrar-questions-form-for-tour-de-france+tyler+farrar+questions+form+for+france&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com
I linked to the cached page because I couldn't find a live version on the site anymore, but, importantly, Farrar says he may not be ready in part because of Wouter's death.
Not a comment: a question. What's up with Haussler not riding the tour this year? He won a stage in 2009 and I hadn't heard of him being injured. And he missed it last year because of that crash at the Tour de Suisse. I'm really surprised at this.
Good question, Beth. Looking at his results, he had a good start at the Tour of Qatar but has been mostly quiet since E3. Maybe his form's just not great for the Tour. I hope he'll make a comeback for the fall classics, he has a good chance in some of them.
HH isn't injured, but he's not going well and on that team it's all down to numbers. It looks like Farrar is going to ride, Thor is coming, they'll both be reliant on Julian Dean and at least one other diesel engine (VanSummeren? Lancaster?). That's four. Then you have to bring Ryder and VandeVelde for the GC, helping in the GC bid means riding and possibly winning the TTT, so there's Zabriske and Millar (possibly leaving at home the very good TT men Bobridge and Meyer), we're already up to eight, and neither of the GC men have a serious climbing domestique yet! Who gets that last spot: Danielson? Martin? Le Mevel?
Its not all bad for HH though, he wants to do the Vuelta and Worlds, but he's running out of time to prove that he's the man for Austrailia. The rider of 2009 would be the proteted man, but now he's arguably fourth in line behind Goss, Davis and Renshaw with Leigh Howard biting at his ankles.
According to Farrar, he will be at the start.
http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/06/news/tyler-farrar-scores-stage-win-at-ster-zlm-tour_178800
Fresh off his win in Ster VLZ in Holland today.
We'll see how things go for Farrar.
Garmin's approach makes me wonder – can you really be successful in a grand tour as both a sprinter's team while trying to push someone up into the overall? Seems like a good strategy to succeed at neither, especially with the two sprinters approach. Perhaps Hesjedal would do better to hunt for a stage or two like Sylvain Chavanel does. I'd leave Van de Velde (and Danielson too) at home and bring someone faster – lord knows they've got enough to choose from.
Hushovd should leave the team. Clearly not the right team for Hushovd – Garmin not letting the best rider go 4 green. Weird!!