The two time Grand Tour winner Dennis Menchov will lead Katusha at the 2012 Tour de France. In the sprints the Russian team can call upon three-time world champion Óscar Freire who looks to be competing in his last Tour. Katusha has only one stage win in its three previous appearances so a GC attempt looks ambitious. However Menchov has twice finished on the podium at the Tour as well as winning the youth classification in 2003.
At 34, Menchov is certainly not inhibited by his age but rather the quality of his rivals will pose a hazard to his chances at overall. A top ten, maybe top five, would be more likely as Menchov has in recent Grand Tours followed moves rather than instigated them and in order to win a Tour a rider cannot simply hang back and follow attacks. Menchov won a stage at the Tour but that was way back in 2006 and repeat win looks highly unlikely. Even when Menchov finished 2nd in 2010 he made no effort to attack. He was simply the best of the rest who managed to minimise his losses and follow Schleck and Contador up the mountains better than the other GC men. Katusha’s chances at stages look like they will come through Freire. The absence of 2012 Giro d’Italia runner Joaquim Rodriguez will be detrimental to the chances of stage wins as the Spaniard is a proven winner. Rodriguez’s only Tour appearance so far ended in 8th position but a Giro-Tour double looks to have been too much for him.
On the flat stages Óscar Freire will be looking to add to his 4 stage wins and the points classification he won in 2008. Freire hasn’t competed in a Tour since 2010 and hasn’t won a stage since 2008. A stage win looks like it may be beyond the Spaniard but with his class another win cannot be discounted. Friere looks like he will be racing his last Tour this year and if he can go out with a stage win it will be fitting tribute to a champion rider.
Freire and Menchov will pose Katusha’s greatest chance of success in the Tour but there is the chance they will have a rider succeed in a breakaway. Luca Paolini is a Vuelta stage winner and a one day specialist who may be able to launch a successful breakaway. The Belarusian champion Aliaksandr Kuchynski will be a helpful domestique for Menchov but like the other Katusha riders, looks unable to launch or instigate stage winning moves or be able to match it with their breakaway companions. Vladimir Gusev may shake things up a little in the ITT’s but again it looks like the success of Katusha’s Tour will lay with Menchov and Freire.
At 34, Menchov is certainly not inhibited by his age but rather the quality of his rivals will pose a hazard to his chances at overall. A top ten, maybe top five, would be more likely as Menchov has in recent Grand Tours followed moves rather than instigated them and in order to win a Tour a rider cannot simply hang back and follow attacks. Menchov won a stage at the Tour but that was way back in 2006 and repeat win looks highly unlikely. Even when Menchov finished 2nd in 2010 he made no effort to attack. He was simply the best of the rest who managed to minimise his losses and follow Schleck and Contador up the mountains better than the other GC men. Katusha’s chances at stages look like they will come through Freire. The absence of 2012 Giro d’Italia runner Joaquim Rodriguez will be detrimental to the chances of stage wins as the Spaniard is a proven winner. Rodriguez’s only Tour appearance so far ended in 8th position but a Giro-Tour double looks to have been too much for him.
On the flat stages Óscar Freire will be looking to add to his 4 stage wins and the points classification he won in 2008. Freire hasn’t competed in a Tour since 2010 and hasn’t won a stage since 2008. A stage win looks like it may be beyond the Spaniard but with his class another win cannot be discounted. Friere looks like he will be racing his last Tour this year and if he can go out with a stage win it will be fitting tribute to a champion rider.
Freire and Menchov will pose Katusha’s greatest chance of success in the Tour but there is the chance they will have a rider succeed in a breakaway. Luca Paolini is a Vuelta stage winner and a one day specialist who may be able to launch a successful breakaway. The Belarusian champion Aliaksandr Kuchynski will be a helpful domestique for Menchov but like the other Katusha riders, looks unable to launch or instigate stage winning moves or be able to match it with their breakaway companions. Vladimir Gusev may shake things up a little in the ITT’s but again it looks like the success of Katusha’s Tour will lay with Menchov and Freire.
Katusha 2012 Tour de France Team
Giampaolo Caruso
Oscar Freire
Vladimir Gusev
Joan Horrach
Aliaksandr Kuchynski
Denis Menchov
Luca Paolini
Yuriy Trofimov
Eduard Vorganov
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