According to
http://www.cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/team_palm.asp?year=2013&teamcode=rlt&podium=1
RSLT in 2013 has got so far 10 victories, 9 2nd places, 11 3rd places.
Just
to have an idea: Sky has got 24 victories, 21 2nd places and 11 3rd
places while Europcar 21 victories, 14 2nd places and 6 3rd places
(often in less important races, ok).
This is the UCI WT teams ranking:
 Another fact is that in RSLT 3 riders win the most: Cancellara (3 times + 1 3rd), Jungels (2 times + 1 2nd), Nizzolo (2 times + 3 2nd ). By Sky they are 4: Froome, Porte, Boasson Hagen and Henao (more than 1 win pro capite).
About what they win: 5 are HC2, 2 are 1WT1, 1 is 1WT2, 1 is 1.1 and 1 is a NC (Nat Champ).
Basicly the only important victories are by Fabian Cancellara (Roubaix,
Ronde, E3) while the others are stages in/or small races. No stage victories in the Giro I mean and no overall victories in important races (welll... in no races).
4 of these 10 victories arrived in the last few days, the most in Tour of Luxembourg.
My opinion
Looking to those results and especially to 2nd and 3rd places, the impression is that RSLT has got some very very good riders but that they don't perform as well as they could.
Guys like Tony Gallopin, Robert Kiserlovski, Tiago Machado, Jan
Bakelants and also Giacomo Nizzolo, who won but few... Some youths like
Sergent, Bennet, Busche... It's evident that they are talented and
good.
The point is: why don't they perform well?
the answer is complex and in a certain way different for each rider. I
don't know all them so well, I know the staff is very profesional,
watching races I see this team often lack of strategy. I'm not saying
the fault is all and only of DS. No. Sometimes they make a plann and you
see riders try to execute it. The problem in my opinion - maybe I'm
wrong - is that the team has got no strategy in general, no way to work, no general prospective. At least that is what I get, what arrives to me.
Cycling
teams nowadays are big factories, there is nothing casual and even the
funny-amusing part is attentively conceived to make it work better.
There are some old style we-are-family teams and that also works but at a
lower level, indead they are continental or profesional teams. WT
teams seem to need a more structurated way to work and a more deep
involvement of riders in a project that isn't just about cycling.
Can RSLT evolve in a more efficient team? my answer is: yes. If you ask me how, I say you I don't know because I don't have the needed skill to tell but I think changement should start from the management. I am not talking about the Team Manager, who plays a more technical role. I'm talking about the bussiness management.
By the other side, the UCI ranking is rassuring! RSLT is 7th, not so bad at this point of the season. Once again it seems that reality and perception are quite different. Maybe
this team is 'solid' but 'not-amusing'? Lets do a play: go to a cycling
fan who watches races and ask him/her to write down the UCI ranking
like he supposes it is. Than show the true one and check the
differences. I guess Sky will be 1st anyway but Cannondale higher and
Garmin lower, plus many others that will be funny to find.
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