German cyclists and their perfomance

[Bear]

I wanted to open this thread so that we can discuss the results of the german cyclists. The season just begun and now some german guys want to show their form so that they can ride the Tour de France for example.

Martin Greipel, a young sprinter, was really good at the Down Under Tour which he won the second time. Besides him there are Markus Fothen, Andreas Klöden, Jens Voigt, Linus Gerdemann, Tony Martin and others who are good for top positions.

Unfortunately Linus Gerdemann crashed on the first stage of the Ruta del Sol. Before the crash he was in the first group and showed his good shape. Maybe it will be him and tony martin who will be the best german at the Tdf besides Andreas Klöden. We will see...

Pardilla überrascht mit Solosieg, Gerdemann im Sturzpech

For sure, there are more good german cyclists. If you like to discuss their performance or their chances to become a pro please post this here. Hopefully I am not the only "Radsportfreak" who is interested in this

If somebody thinks that this thread would be better in the german discussion part it must be switsched there. I can't open a new thread in the german part. That's why I opened this thread here

[Robyklebt]

André Greipel. Fothen sucks.

[Luna]

Watch out for Andreas Stauff! Tom Boonen was full of praise for him after he was the last man by his side on several occasions at the Tour of Qatar.

And of course there is Heinrich Haussler, who had surely won Qatar, if officials didn't hand out that one minute penalty for trying to avoid a crash in the windy team time trial. Last year ther's been two second places in the spring classics that leave room for improvement...

[iBanesto]

I'm not counting on any Germans on the Milram team, Wegmann, Fothen and Gerdemann may win a small race here or there, but they will fail once again in the big races. Ciolek might be the only exception, if he comes back from the injury in decent shape. It looks different for the Germans racing abroad, Haussler and Greipel look the strongest, but they face tough competition inside their own teams. Tony Martin will spend his second Tour de France leading out bunch sprints. Stauffs biggest accomplishment was getting a contract with Quick-Step, that still baffles me. There are plenty of young, fast Belgian sprinters out there, why sign a German kid? Voigt will be as usual. Klöden... whatever, I don't really care about him. Hondo is back, now leading out Petacchi instead of Zabel, nice change. Burghardt with BMC this year, nice change, will be up there for the classics unless his knee troubles him again. The rest is probably not worth mentioning.

[Bear]

I don't really care about Klöden as well. I am more supporting the young guns. Andre Greipel is one of them. I like that he is not bad when it gets hilly. His team is also very strong but it might be a problem that he has a rider like cavendish in his equipe. The same problem with Tony Martin. But maybe he will get his chances at the mountain stages.

[Luna]

Hondos return is in fact nice. I waited very long for this and I'm happy about. I like him. I could imagine that he'll be free to go for own results, as he's not a pure sprinter. Hopefully Lampre will not fade in a few weeks when their deadline runs out.

Greipel, well, I don't really him. Some will know why. There was that incident in the Tour of Saxony last year... But he will collect many wins. That's for sure. Next year Cav will leave to Sky most probably. Then the two will finally ride against each other. That will be interesting.

Stauff: I think Lefevere will know why he signed him. Maybe he just fits in his team by his character. And he'd shown some good results in the U23 (I know, that doesn't necessarily mean anything. But it could).

Klöden only rides for himself if there is no other opportunity^^

Ciolek. In my opinion he is very well capable of winning bunch sprints, even against the big guns, if he only gets some adequate leadout or if he just finally learns to position himself properly in the finales. His time will come.

Linus as well is a rider for winning races. He proved that already. He will not win a grand tour. But he knows how to ride one day races or small stage races. Remember Tirreno, where he nearly won the time trial with a broken femur...

Tony Martin is in the wrong team...

[Luna]

Ehm... Robert Wagner?

[Bear]

Ehm... Robert Wagner?

Yap, great performance of him today. But maybe he will realize sometime that he didn't win

[Rockstar Inc]

Patrick Gretsch?

[Luna]

It's always foxy Oscar Freire who grabs the wins from sprinters, that rise their arms too early^^ (thinking of Milan - San Remo, where Zabel thought he'd won for the fourth time befor Oscar slipped past him).


Gretsch, don't know what to think of him. He'll have to show something first. Maybe he won't get much opportunities at Columbia in his first year there.

You can throw german road champion Martin Reimer into the pool as well. Third place overall in the Tour of Britain last year. And a few other promising results.

[Mayo]

Roger Kluge:
Very strong and intelligent rider. Don't know how good he is on pavé but in positioning and windy situations he should be one of the best. He is definetly good on pavé but I don't know if he is as strong as the best of the world. In the sprint he is very strong but he can also attack 1-0,5 km before the finish and win like Cancellara. Interesting rider not only for track races anyway.

Heinrich Haussler:
Already mentioned from others and very strong, too but I hope he won't ride like last year ( especially Roubaix). Hopefully he is in better condition for the Tour of Flanders this year.

Patrick Gretsch: Time trialist.. he'll ride some tours with time trials and then we'll see how good he is in compare to the best but there were better young germans, e.g. Jörg Lehmann.

[Bear]

Very nice to see Hondo on top of podium. With Petacchi crashing he won the sprint at the 4th stage of giro di sardegna. Great job Danilo

Hondo wins chaotic sprint in Iglesias

[Luna]

Yeah, yeah! Hondo wins, Petacchi more or less healthy. Perfect

But from what I saw on the photos, for Hondo it was no win connected with raising arms and cry of joy, as he had to be more concerned of what happend to his team mate behind him.


Roger Kluge. I'm curious about what he can do on the road. He had a good Tour Down Under for the beginning, as far as I remember.

[Bear]

Hondo did his perfectly, helping petacchi, looking at him after he was crashing and winning. the team manager must be satisfied with him

Roger Kluge, hm, maybe we will see something tomorrow at het volk... I am not thinking of a podium but maybe he can shows that he is in good shape

[Luna]

Kluge in the early break at Omloop. It depends a little bit on luck whether he's allowed to show us something of his form later in the race.

[Bear]

I just read that Andre Greipel has chances to start at Milano - San Remo. Cavendish is not in good shape and maybe has some weight problems. This would be amazing for Greipel. But I don't know if he is already strong enough to win such a big race.

[Lizard]

I just read that Andre Greipel has chances to start at Milano - San Remo. Cavendish is not in good shape and maybe has some weight problems. This would be amazing for Greipel. But I don't know if he is already strong enough to win such a big race.

So what? Else Haussler gets his first Primavera.

[Luna]

Robert Wagner!

What a great win at the 2nd stage of the Driedaagse, beating young Keukeleire (3rd), who seemed to be on fire these days. Not to speak of Kuurne winner Traksel (2nd)

[iBanesto]

Wegmann broke his collarbone in Tirreno, I suppose he is out for all the classics.
Fröhlinger had to quit Tirreno because of stomach problems.
I guess both were planned for Sanremo, Fröhlinger will probably get better until then, but lacks kilometres now. Ciolek remains out after the Qatarcrash, so I think Milrams lineup for MSR will be aweful.

[Luna]

Evil series of blows for them. I think they'll have to ride for Frösi now
That would be fun to see him sprinting in Sanremo.

Okay, Luke seems to be a versatile rider, too, who could make an appearance either in the sprint or on the attack.

[Bear]

What the hell is Udo Bölts doing right now? rising mtb-marathon star??? He is riding the cape epic race at the moment.

[Luna]

And not so bad. Lying in 15th place together with his partner.

While I still don't understand the modus of the race. Does a pair have to stay together throughout the whole race? In the video I have seen some riding together, but some others riding alone.. Hm, I am confused.

[Bear]

I think the time stops when the second rider did it to the finish. But it is not good to ride alone in this case I think.

[Luna]

Hm. Maybe I watched not precise.
Now I took a look on some photos. Sometimes when they riding in bigger groups, there are only one rider per team in fron setting the pace. Could have been such a moment when it appeared to me that some were riding without their partner right behind them.

[Luna]

Paul Voss wins the prologue at the Vuelta a Catalunya