Is Edvald Boasson Hagen the real deal ?

I agree with Eric Zabbel. Give Wiggo one helper (Froome or Porte) and give Cav the help he needs. When in form, Cav is a sure thing; a EBH kicker for stages that don't suit Cav and to help in the lead out would be a great idea.

Wiggo needs one wheel to follow in the mountains, BMC, RSNT, OPQS, and the other GC squads will do all the heavy lifting.

Oh..

And remember EBH won Gent–Wevelgem 2009..

Not a small feat for a *calcuates* 21/22 year old..

I think with the upcoming Olympics, Wiggo and Cav will not be in either the Giro or the Vuelta and may concentrate on some classics so they don't burn themselves out for the TdF and the Olympics. Which leaves spaces free for EBH.

I saw a bit of the Algarve race last night and Wiggo left Pate to go ahead and take the stage win and it was a bit of a surprise how EBH was on the front for a time. I was wondering if Wiggo was either keeping himself fit for the upcoming TT or maybe Sky tackticks are that they have different race captains depending how they all feel and to give various team members a go at GC.

Time will tell and no doubt everyone will have a difference in opinion on this.

EBH will definitely be in the TDF....Best bet for stage wins if Brad is not doing so well and if the wheels fall off Cav`s train.... Personally as much as I admire Wiggo,I dont think he can win a Grand Tour,so for me EBH is a must pick for Sky...A sort of Norwegian Insurance Policy....
However...I so hope that Im wrong and Wiggo is standing tall with the Arc in the background..We shall see...

Swift has no chance of getting a ride in the TDF this year. EBH will definately ride, yes he can help Wiggins as proven yesterday and in the Dauphine, also he can win stages if all goes pear shaped else where. But I think as the year develops with no Thomas at the Tour this year, he could become Cavs lead out man. Especially since Sutton already sounds like he is fed up with the job, going deep to lead out Cav on stage 3 (possibly costing himself stage 4) only for Cav to free wheel in.

Lofkvist for Giro, Bradders for Tour, Froome for Vuelta.

EBH for ENECO + Paris Nice (?)

Flecha for everything else.

'cept KBK, which is Dowsett

Rowe might get a shot being a neo pro, but i VERY much doubt you'll see swifty there, 2 sprinters is just overkill

BUT, i'm still not sure about EBH, i think he might get his own team for Giro or Vuelta and give him a shot at a GT podium??

So basically what I said, but with all the jks riders.

Anyway, Sky will probably do well this year, given their strength in depth as a team.

Shouldn't Froome be allowed another tilt at a GT, or is he still earning his stripes working for Bradders?

Think Thomas might miss the TDF to focus on the track, think sky will take

Wiggins,
Cav,
Eisel,
Swift,
EBH,
Froome,
Porte,
Uran
Flecha

I think Sky's TdF team should be:

Wiggins and Cavendish (Team Leaders obv.)

Pate and Eisel (For Cavendish)

Uran, Froome and Porte (Wiggins mountain brigadeers)

Thomas and Edvald (For jks and Individual stage wins if all else fails.

Alternatively, take Flecha, Swift and Rowe (for jks as well)

Leave Edvald out of the TdF?

He is one of the worlds bet riders.. I don't think Sky can leave him out..

Edvald isn't useless for Wiggo just becasue he isn't a climber, just like Thor Hushovd will probably be there to help Evans, and Cancellara for Schleck..

Yeah, well.

Whatever.

I think he'll have his chance in the classics this year and the smaller tours, i doubt he'll get in the TdF team, just because of Cav needing a couple of men

So if Cav and Wiggo do TdF

Wiggo will need a couple of mountain men Uran, Thomas and Froome maybe?

Cav will need Eisel to get him through, plus maybe Uran and Siutsou for a lead out

So if that was the team, there is 7/9 with Wiggo, Uran and Siutsou being great TT guys, where would EBH fit in?

I think he might get Giro and Vuelta this year

The other young Scandinavian at Team Sky, Thomas Lofkvist, I think should shine this year.

After his interview in Cycling Weekly a while ago, he seemed to be the next big thing, and they tipped him to win the Giro.

Hmmm...

Who is the Sky Captain for Roubaix? Flecha? Gerrans? EBH? Or all three?

Gerrans is with Greenedge now.

Reckon EBH has a chance of at least one podium this spring, if not better. We'll see how he does up a tougher finish today.

It should be mentioned that Arvesen in procycling.no said that Eddy is "one of the captains" in sky, so they would at least like to say that he has a team around him..

As a norwegian I obviously get alot of eddy talk during the tdf and the likes of Dag-Otto Lauritzen seems to think that he can become a Grand-Tour rider similar to Wiggo if he looses some weight - Not fantastic in the mountains, but deadly on time trials.

Another possibility mentioned by Arvesen is a one-week-tours rider such as Paris-Nice, Eneco Tour (which he has won a times now) and the likes..

Arvesen is appearantly making a "real cyclist" of him and doesen't let the poor fella train as much cross-country skiing as he did before..

Its hard to know with "Eddy the boss" but from the Beastly attack he did up the hill before Pinorollo in last years tdf shows that the guy has something to prove in the hills too...

Personally I think he will become a hybrid between Gilbert and Cancellara (not saying AS good as the two of them) who will be strong on cobblestone, and good in the ardennes..

Hard to know.. I think he is a splendid rider with a murder instinct wrapped in a somewhat shy personality.

Hopefully he avoids injuries this spring, and he'll show us just how good he is in the classics..

Who is the Sky Captain for Roubaix? Flecha? Gerrans? EBH? Or all three?

Even without Wiggins & Cavendish Sky have a pretty imposing squad for classics in Flecha, Thomas, EBH and Uran. If the other 3 do ride for EBH they look pretty strong - could Uran in particular do the same sort of job for him that Jelle Vanendert did for Gilbert last year?

I agree, unless he has people like Flecha, Thomas, Wiggins, Swift and Hunt riding for him, in much the same way that Cavendish won't win, Boassen-Hagen won't either.

I tip him for either an Ardennes win, or 'Classic-like' grand tour stages.

Until he moves to the Eddy team, it's unlikely that he'll be a prolific winner as he should be.

He's more of a classics rider than a grand tour winner, thats a given. But unless he can get a group around him to help with winning classics and the odd shorter race, like the Algarve, then he'll get nowt, he'll have to do it all on his own.

Looking at the team structure, Sky have their main guys this season, Cav and Wiggo and have set out their plans for them, building teams around them.

Wiggo does not live up to all the hype in my opinion, yes he's a good rider, but without a stronger team, he's not going to win a grand tour this year, because of the split thats going to happen with Cav needing a couple of lead out men and Eisel to get him through the mountains.

So back on to EBH, a good rider with great potential but might never get the chance in his current team.