25th Feb 2017 - Countdown

xdcx

xdcx

xdcx

Soldato
Joined
24 Apr 2013
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Everyone else is counting down to the 25th December like idiots. The real 25th that MENLY MEN are counting down to is the 25th of February.

85 days from now is the proper beginning of the 2017 racing season.
OMLOOP :cool:

I read this nonsense - Here - yesterday. So to pass some time and make it the tail end of February that much quicker, I thought we could all pick our best/hardest classics team and then argue about who's is the best (aka, I will tell all of you why mines is better).

Your team has to contain 8 riders and they have to be racing next season. So that rules out Spartacus (which sucks!) for example.

Go!
 
Peter Sagan:
One man team. Up there at basically every classic in 2016. First man on everyone's team for 2017 obviously. Could basically ride 250km on the front, himself, and not be caught. Would make him shave his legs prior to racing though, I don't give a **** what colours are around his jersey his legs should be beautiful.

Tom Boonen:
Belgian bad ass. He IS Classics season. With Spartacus away, he is the main man with the experience and palmares to back it up. Eats cobbles for brunch. Which is a lie, because hard men don't eat "brunch" FFS.

Greg Van Avermaet:
Super strong, always in the mix. Finally released pressure by winning a classic last year. Will kill it in breaks with Sagan, inevitably finishing second as usual. Is Belgian.

Jasper Stuyven:
My young breakthrough rider. His family owns a chocolate shop, so he would keep everyone happy with free chocolate. Oh, also hard as nails. Solo breakaway 100km from finish? Doomed? Most would be but not this kid. He's made of special stuff. Is also Belgian.

Ian Stannard:
One of only two men in this world who can overpower the ponce levels of Rapha gear. He will be in Castelli next year so will be even harder. In 2014 he single handily presented 3 Etixx riders their arses on plates in a 4 man break to the line at Omloop.

Michal Kwiatkowski:
He is the most feminine rider on my team looks wise bu this guy is tough. Ex world champ of course, but he's a master on the cobbles and he is not affraid of laying down serious watts and giving it a go solo. Great tactician and for his mental Poggio attack and ludicrous descent last year, deserves a spot.

Tony Martin:
King of the watts. He can hang on the front and lead a group for 2 hours with a smile on his face. He enjoys suffering. On the team because he is arguably the best TT'er of recent times but is super expendable into a headwind and could act as a super strong lead out for my lone sprinter dude.

Alexander Kristoff:
I had to pick a sprinter of sorts for the team in case it does get to that sort of situation which we don't really want to see in the classics. But, if I had to pick one, it would be the grittiest of sprinters who I would argue is the strongest all rounder as well as having a killer sprint. Had a poor 2016 but he will come stronger for 2017 I bet you on this. He is Norwegian, cold/snow/rain is basically summer for him and he isn't affraid to get stuck in about even without a handed-on-a-plate perfect leadout.
 
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Cobbles, not Ardennes for you then!

Tiesj Benoot - On the verge of greatness, one win and his career will explode.
Jasper Stuyven - Young gun again.
Luke Rowe - Excellent rider, like him to get his own shot.
Sonny Colbrelli - Close to a big win, little hot and cold, but he in theory should have a better team this year.
Dan Martin - I believe he can beat Valverde this season!
Lars Boom - His name is BOOM, that's good enough alone to pick him.
Peter Sagan - Silly not to pick him.
John Degenkolb - After a bad season last year I think he is due some good luck, his results haven't been bad and he is a good multi talented rider. Lots of top 10s I expect but maybe not the big winner that some guys are.
 
I'll be the first not to pick Sagan. He's an amazing rider but I don't feel he's enough of a team rider to really excel. More of a solo rider. He'll go back to finishing second all the time in 2017. Ok, lets agree I've not picked him just to be different! :p

Luke Rowe - Versatile rider, happy in a breakaway, a sprint, the rain, the sun, anything. Would happy swap out for Roche or Kennaugh, they're all quite interchangeable, maybe even Swift.
Tony Martin - Why wouldn't anyone not pick him?
Ian Stannard - Basically a British TM. Has the power to put the hurt on anyone.
Greg Van Avermaet - Supreme classics rider, all day breakaways his speciality.
Andre Greipel - My sprinter, but a very versatile regardless of the terrain. If he concentrated more on GC and less on sprinting would be incredible in the classics.
Marcel Kittel - Again another sprinter, but together (leading out Greipel) they'd destroy Cav/Sagan even on a bad day. Another rider I think would do better in the classics if he concentrated a little less on sprinting.
Iljo Keisse - Can be a bit of a dark horse sometimes but a quality classics man, still deserves a decent classics win imo. Token Belgian. Him or Wout Poels.
Zdenek Stybar - Quality classics rider. Hard as nails with possibly the weirdest combination of letters you'll ever see in a name. Tough call between him and Terpstra.
 
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And this is why I love cycling so much.

Everyone has picked different riders, different teams, bikes, equipment and yet they are so closely matched not like in soccer or motorsport where the difference between the top teams is so vast.

But you have no idea who is going to win, id say 25% of the riders in each classic have the potential to win, but then you can get crazy wildcard winners!
 
Matty Hayman beating none other than BOONEN in the velodrome at PR last year? A perfect example of why cycling is awesome. Dude had no right in the world to do such a thing, but it was downright awesome.

I would actually sub out Kwiat for Tiesj Benoot. Stuyven and Benoot young gun wonder duo. Wow.

I would take Dan Martin for the Ardennes over Valverde any day. Dan Martin is one of the most gutsy riders in the peloton. Valverde is a douche.
Alaphillipe is a hell of a shout too, him and Martin to have an intensified inner team battle in 2017 would be superb.
 
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Never liked Dan Martin, not sure why, not just because most of the time he's got a face on him like a village idiot (and wonky teeth). Also not just because he looks like a horse.
 
Roady said:
Never liked Dan Martin, not sure why, not just because most of the time he's got a face on him like a village idiot (and wonky teeth). Also not just because he looks like a horse.
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You just don't like him because he betrayed your country :p
 
xdcx said:
You just don't like him because he betrayed your country :p
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Mine? He wasn't Welsh... :D

To be honest Luke Rowe outshone Geraint Thomas in 2016, not really sure what happened to G for most of the season, he never seemed to find the form he did in 2015 TdF. I'm blaming the velodrome/Rio. :mad:
 
Roady said:
To be honest Luke Rowe outshone Geraint Thomas in 2016, not really sure what happened to G for most of the season, he never seemed to find the form he did in 2015 TdF. I'm blaming the velodrome/Rio. :mad:
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Did you see G in the tour de Suisse? He looked so skinny, I suspect he cut so much to get ready for the climbs as he really wanted to get fully into stage racing (with the view to become leader sometime) that he never really got going
 
Bear said:
Straight from the horses mouth http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/thomas-i-pushed-my-weight-loss-too-far-ahead-of-the-tour-de-france/
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Sky need to find a solid place for him. I don't think he is a 2nd/3rd option GC rider. He is a man for the classics and week long SR where he could properly dominate. Sky have the resources/money/talent to focus on other things other than the tour which they have got more than properly sussed at this point.

If he wants to go down the route of GT GC rider I think he needs to move team....
 
xdcx said:
Sky need to find a solid place for him. I don't think he is a 2nd/3rd option GC rider. He is a man for the classics and week long SR where he could properly dominate. Sky have the resources/money/talent to focus on other things other than the tour which they have got more than properly sussed at this point.

If he wants to go down the route of GT GC rider I think he needs to move team....
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He needs to move if he wants to be a GC rider for the tour or Vuelta for sure but Sky should be able to accommodate him being leader in the Giro, assuming Froome keeps going for the tour and Vuelta again. Admittedly the best riders will always ride for Froome but Sky has enough depth to put out a very strong team for the Giro.

Landa hasn't done anything for Sky yet to guarantee the leaders spot at least until he shows some form to be able to win something.
 
Bear said:
He needs to move if he wants to be a GC rider for the tour or Vuelta for sure but Sky should be able to accommodate him being leader in the Giro, assuming Froome keeps going for the tour and Vuelta again. Admittedly the best riders will always ride for Froome but Sky has enough depth to put out a very strong team for the Giro.

Landa hasn't done anything for Sky yet to guarantee the leaders spot at least until he shows some form to be able to win something.
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I still think in terms of the Giro that Landa would be their pick for GC.
 
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