by Andrew G » Wed Feb 20, 2008 1:22 pm
Simply that he is still young and inexperienced on the road at that level. He has a background on the track and has only been riding on the road with the top sprinters for a year, and not in all his races.
As an easy example look at the Tour last year, when the big names were there and really going for it, the teams trying to set the bunch up etc, he had problem after problem and never really got anywhere near having a sniff. He complained at one point of the team not getting him where he wanted for the final launch, if he hadn't been so far down the pack in the first place they wouldn't have had to try and drag him up through the field to get near the front. I think one of the times he went down was on a bend when someone was trying to get him up towards the front a bit last minute.
It doesn't make him bad, just that he still has a lot to learn which can only come with more races against the big riders. A lot of his successes last year came in smaller races which weren't quite so hectic in the closing stages, this year I think his programme is geared at putting him in more bigger races so develop the experience of thrashing it out in those sprints, where to be, whose wheel and so on.
He seems a pretty quick learner so I'm sure he'll pick up some good wins this year, and fingers crossed he can get a few stages in the Giro. That will be a good test with McEwan etc there and Petacchi's (if he's cleared) train trying to set him up.