Great finish with Freirre edging out Zabel. The top Discovery team finish was Vladimir Gusev in 22nd and then Michael Barry in 25th, then Roger Hammond in 64th 1:55 behind, Bileka in 66th, and three riders who didn’t finish. Look at the Tour standings, Savoldelli at 17th is the only Discovery rider in the top 20.
Does Discovery have anything to feel good about after the Vattenfalls Cyclassic?
Posted by Admin on April 4th, 2011
Posted in bobbys discovery tours 
Tags: discovery team, edging, roger hammond, savoldelli, vladimir gusev, zabel
Well, all those you’ve listed from Discovery (actually 99% of the team) aren’t psychologically strong by himself. And you see the results. Savoldelli is in top 20 is because he’s strong by himself when he needs to be (but he’s a stage racer, as we all know) and has enough experience to know so. Gusev’s results probably is misleading, but it’s good for a brand new pro.
To win European crits, circuits, Classics, semi-classics, (like this HEW classic) it’s just very rare that a rider who has the strength, mental dynamism, and tactic insight, in my opinion.
And right now, Discovery doesn’t have all of the criteria. A great support team only goes so far. Look at Hincapie and his Classics record. Not a discredit to Hincapie, but when he’s had the strongest supports, things just didn’t work out. This factor is not with Discovery this year, unfortunately.
The team philosophy is in limbo, it seems to me (and you saw the results in leTour). Or the team might be just too young. Either way, they won’t be winning any significant races anytime soon.
Are they riding the Vuelta, by the by?
Well, good riding!