2010 Team-By-Team Season Review: #16

What We Said:

It’s not good when your top Grand Tour rider’s name is Kevin Seeldraeyers.  No offense to the guy, but one top-15 finish in a Grand Tour is hardly anything to write home about—especially when you’re from Belgium, a country not known (at least lately) for producing Grand Tour riders.  But don’t get me wrong. Quick Step’s not pretending to be a team with serious Grand Tour aspirations (aside from the odd stage win here and there).  And besides, if it were taking its Tour prospects seriously, then why make such a public attempt to sign Alberto Contador and...Continue Reading

2010 Team-by-Team Season Review: #18

Here’s the latest instllment of our 2010 Season Review.  We started yesterday with #20 and #19.

#18 – AG2R-La Mondiale (Preview Ranking: #19)

What We Said:

If it weren’t their brown shorts and several days in yellow during last year’s Tour, would you have even known this team existed?  They won five races!  Were it not for Rinaldo Nocentini’s July exploits, Vincent Lavenu’s boys might not have even lived to see another year. (Is there an echo in here?)

But this year’s off to a promising start.  Nocentini claims he wants to win Paris-Nice; he appears to be on his way to the form necessary...Continue Reading

2010 Team-By-Team Season Review: #20

You might recall our team-by-team preview of the 2010 road season back in February.  Now that the dust is about to settle on another year, it’s the perfect time for a team-by-team review of what we said and what we saw.  So over the next few weeks, we’ll count down the top-20 teams of 2010 (from #20 to #1), including a reprint of our original prognostications.  So let’s kick things-off with #20:

#20 – La Francaise des Jeux (Preview Ranking: #18)

What We Said:

What a start for Marc Madiot’s men in white and blue!  If they continue this streak, I’ll soon be looking pretty...Continue Reading

2010 Giro di Lombardia/Tour of Lombardy – Preview

Saturday’s Giro di Lombardia, the “race of falling leaves,” effectively closes the 2010 road season.   While a few events remain on the calendar, most teams and riders will have called it a year by tomorrow evening.  But despite its end-of-calendar time slot, Lombardy’s a prize any rider would love to take—it’s one of the sport’s five monuments after all.

This year’s event features a new parcours—one that’s longer and harder than in years past.  Race organizers RCS have inserted a new climb—the Colma di Sormano—shortly after the Ghisallo, adding 9 more kilometers of pure climbing to the traditional finale.  The Sormano’s...Continue Reading

Giro del Piemonte – What to Watch

Ordinarily, the 96th running of the Giro del Piemonte wouldn’t warrant a preview of its own, but this year’s edition of the Italian semi-classic offers several interesting plot lines.  Here’s a brief rundown of what to watch:

1. Philippe Gilbert won last year’s race, the third event of his Sabatini-Paris-Tours-Piemonte-Lombardia grand slam.  Winless so far this October, Gilbert would certainly appreciate at least one victory to show for his late-season efforts.  But without Cadel Evans at his side, will the Belgian have the firepower to escape in a race that often comes down to a sprint?  Omega Pharma-Lotto might be better...Continue Reading