Where are Sagan's teammates?

[Bstone]

Where have Sagan's teammates been at the end of all of the early season races? It looks pretty much like it was with Cannondale; he's alone and isolated at the end of races trying to hold on to wheels, etc. Only, he looks way more wasted now than he did then.

[oldpotatoe]

Where have Sagan's teammates been at the end of all of the early season races? It looks pretty much like it was with Cannondale; he's alone and isolated at the end of races trying to hold on to wheels, etc. Only, he looks way more wasted now than he did then.

Kinda like the Rockies, with 1/3 of their payroll going to 2 guys..the rest aren't 'there' at the end(and the 2 Rockies weren't there at the end either).

BUT lotsa $ to one rider..not surprised the others pale in comparison.

[nooneline]

Matti Breschel, Mateo Tossato, and Maciej Bodner have provided some very capable domestique work for Sagan, but they're not lieutenants - the difference being that a domestique is a worker, and a lieutenant is a threatening plan B if he's up the road. Breschel comes the closest to being a lieutenant - at least in his palmares. Looks like he broke a collarbone at Roubaix today.

Sagan would probably benefit quite a bit from having somebody a bit stronger on his side. See GVA+Oss, Stijn Vandenbergh and EQS in general, and the Paolini-Kristoff combo.

Vanmarcke would benefit, too.

Hmmmm.

[Red Tornado]

Matti Breschel, Mateo Tossato, and Maciej Bodner have provided some very capable domestique work for Sagan, but they're not lieutenants - the difference being that a domestique is a worker, and a lieutenant is a threatening plan B if he's up the road. Breschel comes the closest to being a lieutenant - at least in his palmares. Looks like he broke a collarbone at Roubaix today.

Sagan would probably benefit quite a bit from having somebody a bit stronger on his side. See GVA+Oss, Stijn Vandenbergh and EQS in general, and the Paolini-Kristoff combo.

Vanmarcke would benefit, too.

Hmmmm.

+1 Well said.

[Bstone]

See GVA+Oss, Stijn Vandenbergh and EQS in general, and the Paolini-Kristoff combo.

Good point. Maybe they just aren't spending the mullah to get guys that are stronger to support him.

I don't think that Tinkoff is a cycling mastermind.

[1centaur]

But as the OP said, he did not have great support at Cannondale and he was ripping off great wins left and right. It's clear there is something wrong with him this year and better support would not help much since he's consistently in the mix without such support. Whether it's training methods or his head or something physiological remains to be seen. Contador's rather indifferent form given what he did last year suggests something systemic, but it's rash to see a pattern from two data points.

[ultraman6970]

Today sagan got problems with the bike... but besides that he looks too big this year... overweight maybe?? maybe he has been doing too much weight work or something, then you have to add that sure the russian is calling him by phone each 5 minutes to remind him how much he is getting paid and that really eats your head... If he had stayed with cannondale probably we could have seen a different sagan? who knows.

[FlashUNC]

Support riders aside, he's not exactly on the most stable or sensible team.

And maybe expectation is a bit much?

He's been fine in the semi-Classics, but he suffers in the Monuments. And that dates back to Cannondale days.

[binxnyrwarrsoul]

Today sagan got problems with the bike... but besides that he looks too big this year... overweight maybe?? maybe he has been doing too much weight work or something, then you have to add that sure the russian is calling him by phone each 5 minutes to remind him how much he is getting paid and that really eats your head... If he had stayed with cannondale probably we could have seen a different sagan? who knows.

This. Going from a rock star to having someone constantly on your back has to be a shock. Team drama (who's the DS now?) is more fuel on the fire. Dunno if he would done better if he still was on Cannondale, as he got jack diddly squat support there, too. But a meddling boss never helps.

[Vientomas]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/broken-shifter-spoils-sagans-chances-at-paris-roubaix

Immediately following the race, Sagan sat with team owner Oleg Tinkov on the Tinkoff-Saxo bus dissecting his year so far. It was clear that the team wanted more than the two victories he’s given them so far this year. After talking to his star rider, Tinkov tried to remain pragmatic about the situation.

“Maybe, he was good and he attacked but in the end he had a mechanical problem and ···· happens,” Tinkov said to Cyclingnews. “Of course we want him to win one or two classics, which he didn’t, so I am not super happy. We’ll see at the end of the season, it’s too early to say after three months but the classics campaign didn’t go well for him.”

Ahead of Paris-Roubaix, it seemed as if the pressure was weighing heavy on Sagan’s young shoulders. Perhaps it was too much expectation to place on one rider, but his team boss thinks otherwise. “There is never enough pressure, because they are professional cyclists,” said the Russian

“I don’t accept this bull···· when people talk about pressure it is absolutely ridiculous. They’re in the business to be under pressure, they are professional bike riders and they have to be under pressure by default, that’s the sport. If they cannot handle the pressure then they must be in a different job.”...

“It’s hard to say, that’s what we were discussing now. He doesn’t know and I don’t know. We have coaches and that’s up to them to decide what’s wrong. Bobby Julich, I think it’s his responsibility or his fault, and it’s up to him to sort the problem,” Tinkov said when asked what they needed to do.

“We will see. It’s a sport, you never know. I hope that he will learn from this. I don’t know, he should probably be training or something like this.”

[binxnyrwarrsoul]

Yeah it's Sagan's fault, or Julich's fault, or Riis, or Santa Claus, LA, or maybe even Elvis. But it sure isn't Tinkov's fault. Julich, ya better sharpen up that resume.

[ultraman6970]

Can you imagine if the actual DS leaves the team???

Probably the best I can do is to get that colnago tinkof from ebay... nice souvenir from the biggest PITA owner in cycling history ever hehehe :)

[ultraman6970]

Well you were able to tell sagan wasn't that strong yet back a year ago...

Changing the subject what about farrar?? anybody saw him today? he had the parachute fully open... not laughing at him just saying...

Support riders aside, he's not exactly on the most stable or sensible team.

And maybe expectation is a bit much?

He's been fine in the semi-Classics, but he suffers in the Monuments. And that dates back to Cannondale days.

[PQJ]

Tinkov seems determined to destroy his team. Too bad, really. I was looking forward to Contador having a monster year.

[weisan]

Time to face the music...

http://www.atwistedspoke.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/3570140282_e428022f53.jpg

[bcroslin]

Any idea what was wrong with Sagan's bike? It didn't look like he was stuck in the small ring that I could tell.

[tigoat]

Money can do some damage to a young pro!

[ptourkin]

The same as Cav, I bet. That FSA frankengroup that Tinkoff and EQS have isn't reliable.

[cloudguy]

If I were a pro, I'd prolly play it the same way - push the boundaries as an up-and-comer with the medical program to get the huge signing bonus. Then lay off the program to prolong my career as a "clean" rider. Seems to be the way Gilbert played things as well.

[oldpotatoe]

The same as Cav, I bet. That FSA frankengroup that Tinkoff and EQS have isn't reliable.

I'm SURE when the electronic FSA group finds it's way onto Tinkoff's bikes, their problems will be solved..:eek:

Riis was always one to try new crap on his teams bikes..much to his team's dismay.

[ptourkin]

I'm SURE when the electronic FSA group finds it's way onto Tinkoff's bikes, their problems will be solved..:eek:

Riis was always one to try new crap on his teams bikes..much to his team's dismay.

Agreed. You'd think Oleg could just buy some nice components and not worry about a sponsor.

[Bstone]

Russian economy might be giving Tinkoff some problems. Might be feeling the squeeze.

In a year or two that team will implode.

[cmg]

Russian economy might be giving Tinkoff some problems. Might be feeling the squeeze.

In a year or two that team will implode.

in a year or two...........i doubt it will last that long. i guessing at the end of the season or it'll end after the tour.

[oldpotatoe]

Russian economy might be giving Tinkoff some problems. Might be feeling the squeeze.

In a year or two that team will implode.

Seems like it already has. We'll see how they do in the grand tours..methinks they will be nowhere to be seen. Oleg thinks that cuz he has dough, he can run a team by yelling..

[CPP]

Cash in Fade out