Team Sky v Tinkoff-Saxo v Movistar v Astana
Thursday 2 July 2015 15:38, UK
The Tour de France is widely tipped to see a four-way battle between Chris Froome, Alberto Contador, Nairo Quintana and Vincenzo Nibali for the yellow jersey.
Their individual ability will be tested to its limits, but their respective teams will also be severely challenged - in three areas in particular: the mountains, the cobbled fourth stage and the team time trial on stage nine.
Here’s how the four rival teams match up…
The team: Chris Froome, Richie Porte, Geraint Thomas, Luke Rowe, Ian Stannard, Peter Kennaugh, Nicolas Roche, Leopold Konig, Wout Poels.
Mountains
With Porte, Poels, Konig, Roche and Thomas all on hand to support Froome on the climbs, Team Sky are a formidable mountain force. Kennaugh can also contribute.
Rating: 9/10
Cobbles
Another strong area for Team Sky, the British squad boast two riders who won cobbled classics this spring in Thomas and Stannard, and also have Luke Rowe, who finished eighth at Paris-Roubaix in April.
Rating: 9/10
Team time trial
On paper Team Sky look strong, but they performed poorly in the team time trial in June’s Criterium du Dauphine. Nevertheless, with Porte, Konig, Stannard, Thomas and Froome himself all adept time-triallists, expect an improved performance.
Rating: 7/10
The team: Alberto Contador, Ivan Basso, Roman Kreuziger, Michael Rogers, Rafal Majka, Peter Sagan, Daniele Bennati, Michael Valgren, Matteo Tosatto.
Mountains
Contador received very little support in the mountains when winning the Giro d’Italia in May and given that he has almost all the same climbing domestiques for the Tour, he will be desperately hoping they perform far better. Rafal Majka has been added to the fold and has shown glimpses of form this year, so he will at least help.
Rating: 6/10
Cobbles
Tinkoff-Saxo have a cobbles specialist in Sagan, but whether the Slovak will be willing to hang around to help Contador rather than pursue his own chances of victory on the day remains to be seen. No one else in the team has any cobbles pedigree.
Rating: 4/10
Team time trial
Tinkoff-Saxo have some decent time-triallists but none are top class. Rogers is a former three-time world time-trial champion, but the last of those wins was a decade ago and he is no longer the same rider against the clock.
Rating: 6/10
The team: Nairo Quintana, Alejandro Valverde, Alex Dowsett, Adriano Malori, Jonathan Castroviejo, Jesus Herrada, Winner Anacona, Imanol Erviti, Gorka Izagirre.
Mountains
In his own right Valverde is one of the best climbers in the sport, and Izagirre and Anacona are also both very strong going uphill. Erviti and Herrada can both do good jobs, but Dowsett, Malori and Castroviejo will offer little.
Rating: 7/10
Cobbles
The Spanish squad are alarmingly light here. None of the team is noted for their cobbles skills and even powerful riders such as Dowsett and Malori are unlikely to be of major benefit.
Rating: 4/10
Team time trial
What Movistar lack on the cobbles, the amply make up for in time-trialling. Dowsett, Malori, Castroviejo are all excellent time-triallists, while Valverde isn’t too shabby either. Quintana could look to sneak a few seconds on his rivals on the team time trial.
Rating: 9/10
The team: Vincenzo Nibali, Jakob Fuglsang, Lars Boom, Andriy Grivko, Tanel Kangert, Michele Scarponi, Dmitriy Gruzdev, Rein Taaramae, Lieuwe Westra.
Mountains
Fuglsang was outstanding last year and can be expected to be just as useful this year, while Kangert, Scarponi and Taaramae are all strong climbers too. Not the best mountain team but not the worst either.
Rating: 7/10
Cobbles
Again, Fuglsang was sensational on the cobbled stage of last year’s race and it’s a good bet Nibali will be glued to his back wheel once again. Add in to the mix Lars Boom, who won last year’s cobbled stage, and things look very promising for the defending champion.
Rating: 8/10
Team time trial
Westra and Grivko are both pedigree time-triallists who will no doubt be called on to drive Astana along, while the other riders in the team are no mugs either. Nibali is unlikely to lose much time here.
Rating: 7/10
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