Micheal Rogers TdF overall?
 

Just read that he wants to win The Tour of Cali and Tour de France. If your going to dream, dream big I guess. When was the last time, if ever that a team had a overall winner AND green jersey winner in the Tour de France. I know Cav ain't giving that up.

rogers has (had) lots of potential but never cashed it in. kind of a poor man's cadel evans. loved when he attacked on that early mountain stage (2007?), not so
happy when he crashed out of the race soon afterwards. even though he has been a world tt champion several times, his tour de france tt's have been good
but usually out of the top 5. rogers' climbing abilities are good, not great. toc maybe, tdf highly unlikely at this point of his career.

think the last time a team had both the overall gc winner & the green jersey winner was deutche telecom in 1996 & 1997! riis/zabel in '96 & ullrich/zabel in '97!
fmm (for my money), zabel is the best overall sprinter of the last 15 years. at least one rider fulfilled their potential from 1996 on. what ullrich coulda been...
perhaps tony martin & cavendish can do it this year. don't think it'll be farrar & wiggins/vandeveld...

So yesterday being the dead line that means Wiggins is staying with Garmin then. Telecom were tearing it up back in the day!

Telekom 1996 and 1997. Last rider to win both Bernard Hinault. Only other rider to win both Eddy Merckx, who did it 3 times.

Roche came close in 87. He was leading on points on the last stage, but had done a deal with Superconfex late in the Tour to help cover any moves in exchange for the green jersey. Kind of a 'you guys keep the race together, I won't contest the finish and score points' arrangement.

michael rogers is a bust. why didn't he want those wins this year? or last year? he's got to be one of the more overhyped riders in the peloton. another is gesink (who i like).

ed rader

This past year he raced more than 100 days if I recall - avg is around 85 for many pros. This was supposed to be a rebuild year - two years ago was the TdF crash and last year he had some viral/bug thing that laid him out the full year.

He's worn yellow before and if not for a crash had a good shot at holding it for a while. Can he up-end Contador or keep up with young Andy? Not sure. He doesn't have a team "built for purpose" and he will have to help Cav.

But he isn't a slouch and I think lumping him with a guy like Ge-sink is a bit unfair - he holds a few rainbow jerseys so he's proven he can "do the big one". And a good time trialist who can rebuild his approach to stage racing is by default a strong candidate so long as they aren't challenged by gravity...

So - I wouldn't bet a paycheck on Mick but I'm not going to bet against him in the TdF until after the TdC.

no way in hell, and i'd be willing to bet on it. rogers would be lucky to crack the top ten.

ed rader

Have to go with you on this. Some riders have got 'it', but this Rogers chap doesn't.

I like Mick Rogers but he isn't likely to ever make the podium at the TdF, much less win it. There are too many other guys that are better than him. He can climb okay, but he has never shown in the lead group in the finals of Tour mountain stages. Also, despite being a three time time trial World Champ, he has never done well in a TdF time trial. This might show that he doesn't have the capacity to maintain his power output after many consecutive days of racing. All in all, he doesn't have the means to contend for the gc in the Tour.

Furthermore, factor in that Bob Stapleton, when asked about 2010 and Columbia's gc prospects, talked at length about Konstantin Siutsou. Siutsou has finished in the top 20 in three weeks tours when working as a domestique for Columbia's gc hopes. Stapleton thought it was going to be illuminating to see how Siutsou performed when given leadership. He made no mention of Rogers.

stapleton has done a phenomenal job with columbia-high road the last couple of years. nice blend of veterans, those
with some experience but unrealized talent & those with little experience but oodles of talent. even discounting
glamour boy cavendish, they've had some nice wins from a bunch of different riders.