Getting your priorities wrong, Señor Galdeano?

I have to say I'm not overly optimistic going into this year's Tour. Looking at the team-sheet and Igor González de Galdeano's comments of late, I can't help but feel the team is doing the same mistakes as in Tours gone past. Goals of a high GC placing is all good with the right riders, but not so good without them.

With the exceptional talents of Ibán Mayo and Haimar Zubeldia, Euskaltel never managed to get higher than fifth in the Tour. A fifth place in the world's best and hardest race is not to be sniffed at, obviously, but I think it's high time the team, or the sport directors to be precise, take a good, long look in the mirror and see where they're at. Samu is an exceptional athlete, but there's no way he'll win, or even podium, at this year's Tour. Alberto is there, Lance is there, Andy, Fränck, Cadel, Kreuziger&Basso, Gesink&Menchov, Sastre... They're all there. Getting on the podium in the Vuelta is one thing. Getting on the podium in the Tour a completely different one. I'm not saying Samu can't possibly get on the podium. I'm just saying it's highly unlikely. He should go for stages, stages in the Alps and the Pyrenees. He should aim to give the team that elusive win, not aim for a 7th on GC. The team have placed 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th and 10th, several times, on GC, but it's not what the team needs. It's essential for the team's future to get a win and to show Euskaltel and potentional new sponsors that this is the team to go with. Galdeano has been going on in the press about how the team will first and foremost aim for stages, not a high overall placing, and I like that. But I'm not sure I believe him. His team selection does not back up his statements. If you want to win stages you take other riders with you, Galdeano, with all due respect. Believe me, I think Igor is brilliant at what he does. He's installed a new mentality and taken the team forward they way it should have been done years ago. But I think he's got this one wrong. Gorka Verdugo, Amets Txurruka, JJ Oroz, Alan Pérez, Iván Velasco and Iñaki Isasi are not really stage-winning material. None of them have ever won a single race in their careers. They're all good riders, but they're more solid and all-round riders rather than a breakaway specialist, a real sprinter or an ace climber. They're domestiques; brilliant in riding for a captain and doing it for the team. Egoi and Rubén are much in the same mould, but at least they've won a race or two in their career and truly are potential stage-winners. If you want a team to win stages you take Koldo, you take Pablo, you take Beñat, you take Igor. You take the winners. It's tempting to add Romain and Jonathan to that quartet, but I think it's wise, given their age and lack of experience, to leave them out for at least another year or two. This years team is way too similar to those of other years; a captain that is likely to end up between fifth and tenth overall, and a bunch of riders to support him and get into the breaks but then fade away when it's time to get serious. I hope I'm wrong, I really hope I'm wrong with this rather negative prognostic. But I fear all we'll end up with is a seventh on GC and a couple of second and third places on stages. As usual. It's time for a re-think. It's time to get real.