pharding

Here are the team standings after 7 stages of the Tour of California. Cervelo Test Team is a lowly eighth. Pundits here like to deride Trek. However the Astana team on Trek Madones leads in the team standings by a substantial margin. Rock Racing on Kestrels leads the Cervelo Test Team. If Cervelos were such great bikes wouldn't the Cervelo Test Team do better? I believe that this is a legitimate question.

1 Astana 83.00.53
2 Garmin-Slipstream 1.49
3 Team Saxo Bank 2.20
4 Team Columbia-High Road 2.46
5 Rabobank 4.45
6 Quick Step 7.18
7 Rock Racing 7.54
8 Cervelo Test Team 18.53
9 AG2R La Mondiale 20.20
10 Bissell Pro Cycling 21.57
11 BMC Racing Team 24.20
12 Ouch Presented By Maxxis 25.19
13 Liquigas 29.26
14 Colavita/Sutter Home p/b Cooking Light 1.09.04
15 Jelly Belly Cycling Team 1.09.56
16 Team Type 1 1.11.57

mr_tom

A data point does not indicate a trend.

patentcad

It must be because between 2008 when Cervelos won the Tour de France and early 2009, Cervelo bicycles have been superceded by every other major brand of racing bike.

You are such an epic Fred.

patentcad

By your logic, don't by a Cannondale, they suck even worse.

celerystalksme

The bike is about 2% responsible for where you finish...the other 98% is on the team/rider...

patentcad

Fixed.

Walter

It's just that now that a Cervelo with poor cable routing is appearing regularly here at BFs every other Cervelo has lost 1-2% of their performance potential out of sympathy.

patentcad

Remind us again phardy, how DID you ever get so fabulously wealthy?

pharding

As usual when someone posts a legitimate question about Cervelo, Pcad resorts to name calling and personal insults. That is certainly one way to defend a mediocre performance by Cervelo. Lowly Rock Racing riding lowly Kestrels is doing better than the Cervelo Test Team riding Cervelos. That speaks volumes about Cervelo. As guardian of the Cervelo myth on this web site Pcad takes his job way too seriously.

TCR

Yea, those bikes suck!

gsteinb

I'm honestly confused as to how that's a legitimate question. Please clarify.

Derby

how is this a legitimate question though...You've taken one sample of data and called it fact that it is because the bike is to blame. That seems a bit off. I do not recall seeing Astana pull out one stage win except for Levi's TT victory while Cervelo took Stage 3 with Thor Hushovd. Thor was able to out sprint the competition due to a well executed lead out and sprint. Just because Cervelo is not at the top of the GC, does not mean that the bikes are to blame. It just means that they really don't have a GC rider that was up to snuff this early in the game (Carlos Sastre reportedly sick for race).

bdcheung

Pharding you're deplorable. This question isn't legitimate because it rests on the (false) presumption that the bike has anything to do with a team's performance.

As I said to timmyquest, please think before you post.

/ignore

DVN

That's it - I demand a recall on Cervelo Test Team!

carlfreddy

+1

This is Cervelo Test Team's first race as a team. Given the epic leadout clinic they put on, which ultimately led to a stage win for Thor and the team, I'd say they're doing extremely well.

patentcad

Embrace your Fredosity phardy. It is not a pergorative, it is a way of life. Your way of life.

Calling you a moron would be insulting, but I for one would never stoop to such depths. It is hardly necessary, since your posts do speak so eloquently for themselves. I will let BF be the judge.

You can't make this stuff up, but it is hard to imagine that bike weenies really believe this some of the hooey they post here.

patentcad

Epic I say.

bdcheung

I can't help but recall Rock Racing's joke of a show during the Solvang time trial. No support for Rodriguez when he flatted, and a mechanic who seemed completely indifferent to Tyler's mechanical. Tyler fixed his own bike (which, btw, had an improperly adjusted set screw) before the mechanic even got the spare down from the roof rack.

Rock Racing is a joke.

nitropowered

If Astana were on Cervelos, they would still be on top of the team rankings. If Team Type 1 were on Trek Madones, they would still be last (not to rip on TT1, they are an awesome team)

pharding

If one can't come up with an intelligent response, the ever popular personal insult works for some people.

Cervelo has always stated that the bike's design and engineering impacts performance. That is the whole point of Cervelo's aero design and technology.

patentcad

That would require an intelligent question.

It's a problem.

pharding

And for all their ineptness Rock Racing still leads Cervelo Test Team by 11 minutes, which is a lot.

bdcheung

The aerodynamic performance of a frame is not the only variable in a team's overall performance. It's February. The only teams approaching the Tour of California with an intent to win are domestic-based teams. Quickstep, Cervelo, AG2r, they're all here to train. An aerodynamic frame is not going to make un-motivated riders into winners.

bdcheung

Because they're a domestic US team and this is the biggest US race all year. They're actually putting effort into this race - hence Mancebo's epic break on the first day and Hamilton's presence in the breaks later on.

Pharding, your absolute inexperience with racing has been shown time and time again. Instead of making preposterous statements based on erroneous assumptions, why don't you ask questions? What's that cliche, "tis better to be silent and thought a fool, than to speak and be proven one"?

patentcad

You just want one of those Rock Racing skull and crossbones kits to wear at your next Fred Parade.