Road Bike Racing - TdF wildcards

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Csson
05-02-02, 07:32 AM
These are the five last teams selected for this year's Tour de France (from letour.fr (http://www.letour.fr/2002/us/infos/equipes.html)):

Saeco Macchine per caffe - Longoni Sport (ITA)
Bonjour (FRA)
Crédit Agricole (FRA)
Française des jeux (FRA)
AG2R Prévoyance (FRA)

/Csson

gmason
05-02-02, 11:07 AM
The new rules benefitted at least one non-French team this year.

Cheers...Gary
RegularGuy
05-02-02, 11:17 AM
It is nice to see the return of Saeco. By my count there will be 6 Italian teams and 5 French.

Pity, though. If I read the rosters correctly, Mario Cippolini will not be at the TdF. He's always a lot of fun in the early stages.

LeTour 2002 is shaping up to be Lance's 4th consecutive victory. I don't see Ullrich as a real threat this year...not with his season to date. Does anyone disagree?

Or does anyone see another contender that I am overlooking?

wabbit
05-02-02, 11:56 AM
It'll be great to see Simoni in the tour, but I'm disappointed by the absence of team Coast, or Team Phonak.
velocipedio
05-02-02, 01:41 PM
Cipo had said that he wouldn't accept an invitation even if the STdF extended one.

As for Armstrong being unbeatable... didn't people say the same thing about Indurain before the 1996 Tour? No one is unbeatable... and I remember when Armstrong himself was an unexpected surprise in 1999... It ain't over 'till Paris.
Csson
05-03-02, 02:52 PM
Team Coast is certainly a noticeable exclusion, particularly with Vuelta winner Casero on the team.

Simoni recently finished third in Giro del Trentino (Casagrande won and Garzelli got fifth) so he is going into the Giro in good shape. He will probably give everything to win the Giro again, and then I am afraid it will be to hard for him to challenge Armstrong on the GC. He can certainly be a threat on a couple of mountain stages, but Armstrong should be faster on the time trials.

All it takes is one bad day (like Zülle in Giro '98, or Beloki in last year's Vuelta) and the race is lost.

/Csson
RainmanP
05-08-02, 09:23 AM
I was disappointed that Team Coast and Acqua e Sappone were omitted. It is a shame that Cipo may not get to ride another TDF. I was afraid of this when I heard his comments in the press about Paris-Roubaix and LeBlanc's response. No he may not be a contender for GC, but he could certainly win a few stages and bring color to what could be a lackluster tour. I just hope that Ullrich's absence provides some additional motivation for some of the newer riders.