We Want 2013! We Want 2013!

Just to clarify, did you win the rankings?

+1

Sounds great! I'm very excited for the new year!

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October 19, 2012





Just as last year, there will be a series of awards for outstanding performances in 2012, culminating in the Vélo d'Or for the best rider of the year.

January	Damiano Cunego	Liquigas - Cannondale
February	José Joaquin Rojas	Movistar Team
March	Damiano Cunego	Liquigas - Cannondale
April	Samuel Sanchez	Euskaltel - Euskadi
May	Fabio Duarte	Geox - TMC
June	Tony Martin	Team T-Mobile
July	Alberto Contador	Movistar Team
August	Igor Antón	Leopard - Trek

Last year, Mark Cavendish and Vincenzo Nibali were able to win two monthly awards, this time it's only Damiano Cunego who achieves that. The only rider to win an award both this and last year is Alberto Contador, two-times champion of the Tour de France.

There are also some special awards for outstanding individual achievements:








Again, a Spaniard has raced the most this season. Carlos Barredo doesn't reach Vicente Reynes' 107 days from last year, but in his very impressive 99 days were far more successful: Over the whole season, he collected strong results, from a fifth overall in the Romandie over a fifth place in San Sebastian to a great sixth in the Giro di Lombardia, where he had already 98 days in his legs. An amazing performance.








Again, the award goes to a Liquigas rider. He has 17 wins to his name, most importantly the overall in Tirreno-Adriatico and the GP de Québec. But especially in the Italian continental races earlier this season, he was almost unbeatable, scoring four overalls in small stage races and two classic wins.






For the second year in a row, this award can't go to anyone but Peter Sagan. He had an incredible development in the last two years. In 2012, he firstly showed his great skills with a second place in the Amstel Gold Race and a fifth at the Flèche Wallonne. But his time to shine was the autumn: Sagan became the first double world champion ever and took the Tour of Beijing as well as the Giro di Lombardia.






With 37 years, Ezequiel Mosquera lunged out for another big season. In a strong Movistar Team, he managed to get the leadership for both the Giro and the Vuelta. And in both, he did very well. Especially the Giro saw a magnificent performance of the old Spaniard, who finished fourth overall. Before that, he also won the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon. The Vuelta a Espana wasn't that successful for him, yet an eleventh place in his second GT of the year is very respectable.






Dominique Rollin at Gent - Wevelgem

Dominique Rollin's win at Gent - Wevelgem has to be considered as one of the most surprising wins of 2012. Breaking free about halfway through the race and was in front of the peloton for more then 100 kms. He got caught with only 8 kms to go just to win the sprint from the favorite's group, outsmarting strong riders like Pozzato and Hushovd. That was simply amazing!

Third Place:

Last year's winner can't totally repeat his performances. He has set his peak very clearly to June and July, where he did great. Winning the Spanish TT Championships and the Tour de Suisse, he was the top favorite for the Tour de France. And he delivered. With more than six minutes over Bradley Wiggins and more than twelve minutes over Samuel Sanchez, he once again proved to be the best stage racer on the planet - although he didn't to much the rest of the year, which is why he is "only" third.

Second Place:

Usually, winning the Ardennes Triple and Paris - Nice, plus coming in second in the Tour of Beijing, third in the World Championships and the Giro di Lombardia, would be more than enough to win the Vélo d'Or. But Philippe Gilbert is out of luck here, since despite his absolutely terrific season, one rider was even better:

First Place:

Vincenzo Nibali lines up with only nine other riders in cycling history who managed to win two Grand Tours in one single year. With his triumphs in the Giro and the Vuelta, the Italian became one of the really big men of this sport. Especially impressive was the way he did so: In Italy, he wore the Maglia Rosa for 19 (!!) days and took the points classification and a stage win along. But that was nothing compared to the Vuelta. As the third rider ever, he could take the overall, the mountain and the points classification. Not to forget his 5 (!!) stage wins and 16 days in the leader's jersey. All that left the jury no choice but to give the Vélo d'Or 2012 to Vincenzo Nibali!

Fantastic review

These reviews are just absolutely Brilliant Cunego, totally love em

And Congratulations to Vincenzo Nibali on winning the Velo d'Or

Cunego and Nibali we're brilliant. Also, i can't see some of the pictures.

Don't think so, unless you're willing to delete old photos.

Otherwise I'd recommend Pro.

Have you also done it at dyn_sponsor?

Nice one cunego59... ..well deserved Vélo d´Or.

I think you must do it, in dyn_sponsor and dyn_team.

Unless you already have files in your directory that are another colour, then I think you might have to remove them (of course not permanently in case what I tell you is wrong).

I think the custom coloured Liquigas helmet may be the problem.

What I did is changed the equipment (in this case the helmet) selection in DYN team to something else, and I think that worked.

I'll edit this, once I get the editor open and can confirm though.

Edit:

Okay, after having a look, I dont think that is it. But I do remember changing something in the save with the editor, to get a new helmet to show up.

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October 20, 2012








Only one year after taking over the former RadioShack team, Unicef already withdraws from professional cycling.


In July, it looked like Geox would once again fail to achieve promotion. Geox didn't want to support such an expensive team for another year in continental tour, so they ceased their sponsorship. Bad luck that with a strong autumn, the team could have promoted.



The Spanish team bit of more than they could chew with the signing of top star Fabio Duarte. When the financial crisis hit their main sponsor, the budget suddenly went down and the team had to dissolve.



The financially stong Ferrari corporation made a nice offer for their license and Androni accepted it happily.






The Italian luxury car manufacturer firstly appears in professional cycling. They overtook Androni's license but with lots of investments, they made the jump to World Tour immediately. Apart from Italy, they announced to focus on South American and Portuguese riders.



Vodafone - Santander is the second new World Tour team. Built around a strong Spanish duo lead (to be announced) and some talented young British, the squad will be a force to be reckoned with next year.



There are also two new continental teams. One of them is the US American Motorola ProCycling team. After the withdrawing of HTC last year and Unicef this year, Motorola wants to establish themselves as the second best American team next to Garmin. According to the management, a prominent rider will lead the squad that'll consist also of some Central and South American riders.



Finally, there's RusVelo, another Russian team. It's a purely national team that'll focus on developing young talents.






The head sponsor of the Dutch team changes from Skil to the oil corporation Argos.



Former co-sponsor Lotto takes the lead from Omega Pharma, now with co-sponsor Belisol.



Australian chemical company Orica, whose main project are dynamites, takes over the main sponsorship for the GreenEdge team. Let' see if the riders can cause one or two bangs next year (what a pun).


And then there's of course the most successful team of last year, Liquigas, that gets a new main sponsor in the Italian financial group UniCredit. But you won't get to see the new jersey yet...

Looking good!