Roster Ruminations, Part IV – Omega Pharma Quickstep and Cannondale

Omega Pharma Quickstep:  This Belgian team might as well call itself “Mark Cavendish’s Sweet Revenge.”  Cavendish jumped from Team Sky where his sprinting prowess played second fiddle to the Yellow Jersey aspirations of Brad Wiggins and Chris Froome, and landed on a team that appreciates his brand of glory.  With time trial powerhouse Tony Martin heading up the lead-out train, OPQ has a good mix of riders to maximize Cavendish’s quest for more TDF bunch sprint wins, and hopefully this year’s Green Jersey.  They include Frenchmen Sylvain Chavenel and Jerome Pineau, along with the polyglot collection of Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland), Gert Steegmans (Belgium), Niki Terpstra (Netherlands), Matteo Trentin (Italy), and Peter Velits (Slovakia). 

In the flat stages, the team will fight to reel in the early escapees, and to set up Mark for the sprint finish.  They will keep an eye on Peter Sagan (Cannondale) to limit his acquisition of intermediate sprint points.  And they will help Cavendish through the mountains so that he doesn’t get eliminated from the race through failing to finish those stages within the time delay.  Of course, they will ride to protect him from accidents all along the way.  If they are not busy with those tasks, riders such as Pineau and Chavenel will likely look for opportunities to join attack groups for possible surprise stage victories.  Tony Martin will shine in the time trials. 

Cannondale: This may say more about my ignorance than about the nondescript nature of Cannondale’s 2013 Tour roster, but the only name I recognize is that of Peter Sagan.  The lack of marquee teammates has not prevented Sagan from having another amazing year in which he has already more than a dozen race or stage victories, along with the points jersey in both the Tour of California and the Tour de Suisse.  Mark Cavendish may have a slight edge over Sagan as a pure sprinter, but Peter has more versatility.  I expect Sagan to win at least a couple of stages in this year’s Tour de France, and to aggressively try for intermediate sprint points throughout the race.  The battle for the Green Jersey will likely come down to Sagan’s intermediate points vs. Cavendish’s points from sprint finish stage victories.