The best of the French teams, and that isn't damning with faint praise in the way that it once might have been, with AG2R having a great season 2014. Fiercely competitive, and they have a good mixture of precocious youth and steadfast elders.
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A hard team to like, especially with current management. Really a team that relies on their results in the Grand Tours, thankfully they are very well suited to that. One of the best moments of last season was seeing Nibali passing cobbles specialists like they were towing a car.
Out with the old and in with the new! BMC have instituted a serious overhaul, with experienced stars leaving, replaced by a host of youngsters. These young guns will hope to get their chance, whilst leadership roles will be given to the likes of Dennis, Caruso and Atapuma.
They're the dominant team on the cobbles, but there's so much more to Etixx-Quikstep these days. They are competitive across all forms of racing, and arguably the best team in cycling, taking 68 wins last season, whilst racing with great tactics and verve.
Lost a trick when they let Bouhanni get annoyed with everything FDJ, and it just reduces the number of wins that they'll have at the end of the season.
I enjoyed watching IAM in their first season, attacking cycling on display throughout, which you have to do as a lesser team. They're back, bigger and slightly better with some more young talent to do the job for them.
I'd like to have more to say about Lampre but they're a fairly anonymous team, even in pink. Unless Costa or Ulissi are involved, they're essentially a Pro-Continental squad.
I like Lotto, or Lotto-Soudal as we'll have to call them now, but I'm trying to remember their most significant result last year and I'm scratching my head. I think I'll go with Tim Wellens at the Eneco Tour... they'll be hoping for better this season.
Jumbo by name... but not by nature, Of course, I'm referring to their squad, after they've downsized and replaced their missing stars with neo-pros and neo-pros. Most are highly regarded with good results at various times, but you sense that it's a squad of limited ambition.
2014 will be remembered for Quintana dominating/stealing the Stelvio stage, and Valverde looking the guy to beat in every race he suited up for. It seems that Movistar are hoping for more of the same with only limited changes, and I hope that's the case.
Same, but better. If you thought that they were good at reduced bunch sprints on hilly terrain before, then imagine pretty much the same but in more races! Also who's excited for Yates & Yates plus Chaves?
This is what happens when one squad eats another, they try to have the best of both worlds and end up pissing everyone off. In the end they decided to take mostly just young riders from Cannondale, who wouldn't be expecting to be leaders anyway.
Exciting times with the Germans coming back into sponsoring cycling. Luckily they're buying into a top tier squad, and I doubt they'll regret their investment.
Punchy climbers and tough classics riders. Two things I love in a team, and Katusha fails to disappoint. Hardly the best team in the peleton, but they do what they do very well.
Contador is a great rider, and Tinkoff-Saxo just lets him do his thing, generally with good support. Sagan has suffered from not having that support in the tougher races, and to be honest they might be battling a bit over the better domestiques.
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