Sky classics squad admits they chose wrong island.

//Sky classics squad admits they chose wrong island.

Sky classics squad admits they chose wrong island.

 

Tenerife under question by Sky.

 

In the wake of Team Sky’s disastrous spring classics campaign, critics were quick to blame Sky’s decision to train on the island of Tenerife instead of racing.

With zero success in the recent Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, several riders from Sky have now admitted the novel approach might have been a huge error.

“We chose the wrong island and we paid the price,” said Ian Stannard. “The stage race guys had Tenerife — that was their island. We should have trained on Gran Canaria and had our own island.”

In imitating the race-specific training of Sky’s Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins, the classics squad was riding into new territory. They skipped the traditional races like Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatic in favor of focused work on the Spanish Island.

Geraint Thomas, who crashed out of contention in both Flanders and Roubaix, was disappointed with the choice of Tenerife. “Obviously, it wasn’t the right island for us. It just threw off our balance, geographically speaking, and we never quite got our bearings,” said Thomas. “It was very very frustrating.”

Tim Kerrison, the director of sports science at Sky, and the architect of the Tenerife plan, defended the island. “People can say what they like, I looked at the map and put my finger down on Tenerife. It worked for Brad and it would have worked for Geraint if he hadn’t crashed so much,” said Kerrison. “It was the right plan and the right island.”

Road captain Bernhard Eisel refused to be drawn into the arguments over which island was correct. “Look, Tenerife was cool and we did some fantastic training. My issue was the food at the hotel. Eddy and I both got sick so maybe it was the right island but wrong food.”

Veteran rider Matthew Hayman, who was out front in the early stages of Paris-Roubaix, was philosophical about the Tenerife debate. “Nobody died, okay? I wanted Santa Cruz De La Palma but I got voted down. Was it the wrong island? Yeah, maybe.”

In the end, perception might be strong than reality. “Everywhere we went on Tenerife, people were like, ‘Are you Bradley Wiggins, are you Froome? You guys won the Tour de France, right?’ It was a bit demoralizing because we couldn’t establish our own identity,” said Thomas. “We really needed our own island.”

However, team manager David Brailsford was quick to end any discussion of a second, classics-specific island. “The boys are frustrated, things didn’t go our way. But let’s not throw the island out with the bathwater,” said Brailsford. “We’re got plenty of resources at Sky but we have to be realistic. We’re not doing two islands.”

 

 

By |2019-02-03T16:06:25-08:00April 9th, 2013|Uncategorized|4 Comments

About the Author:

4 Comments

  1. The SuperStorm April 9, 2013 at 6:37 pm - Reply

    Make no mistake. The Sky Boys are certainly down, but not out. Had I’d been Heir Direktor of the Sky Baby’s, they would’ve been conducting spring training in Nepal with Schwinn Continentals loaded down with 70 lbs. of rocks in panniers attached to them, doing wind sprints up dirt roads…
    …Daily.

    “Your week Davey boy, Weak!”

    • walshworld April 10, 2013 at 1:37 pm - Reply

      My first real road bike was a red Schwinn Continental — not the Varsity, the Conti! Matt

  2. cappuccinoexpress April 11, 2013 at 12:52 pm - Reply

    The classics are less controllable than stage race.
    The number of conteders is larger and we can add that sky in stage race has top class riders but in cobbled classics not, so control the race like in stage race is not useful for them.

    But, if the topic is the island….well, i think that if you want improve on cobblestones, you need to train on cobbles, and I don’t think that tenerife is famous for its cobbles.
    Maybe they need a cobbled island 🙂

    • walshworld April 14, 2013 at 2:35 pm - Reply

      Cap, you have “nailed” the solution and I salute you. An Island with cobbles is exactly what’s required. I will do a post on that next year. Matt

Leave A Comment