Selwink wrote:

Part 1 Goals Overview

We're pleased to announce the schedules for the riders of the talent program. They will ride a varied schedule with races that should suit them. The schedules for the first part are already definitive, but the rest of the season is still unconcluded.

Abasi Abundi, as sprinter, will ride 17 race days in this first part. He'll start as lead sprinter in Gabon, co-leader in Almería and the Tirreno and will also line up at the start of Milano - San Remo. Finally he'll start in Limburg. His GT is however not determined yet.

Josef Hintermüller, our best stage racer, will ride stage races. He'll start as our leader in San Luis, Oman, the Tirreno and the Critérium International. This adds up to a total of 23 race days.

Husani Mashaba will race 18 days as well. He'll start in Gabon, in a free role/sprint train. In Langkawi, the next race, he'll get a fully free role, and finally in Limburg his role will be free as well.

And finally Marouane Shaqif. The time trialist has been given the opportunity to ride all his desired races apart from the Strade Bianchi, where we preferred to send better climbers than him.

After our successful application for the Vuelta we still awaited more news about our pending application for the Giro. After a long wait we finally got a green light and the news reached us that we had now also been granted a wildcard for the Giro. This means that we will be able to spread our leaders over two Grand Tours, hopefully getting good results in both.

As already announced before we will race two races in January, first the Tour de Gabon and then the Ruta de San Luis in Argentina. We will preview both for our squads.

The Tour de Gabon consists of 7 stages this year. 3 of those are hilly, four are flat. We've brought the maximum of 8 eligible riders this year, to achieve our goal of a stage win, and we have brought African riders only. For our sprints, we have brought the fastest African sprinter, Abasi Abundi. His lead-out will come from Robert Hunter. For the hillier stages we brought Louis Meintjes as our leader. His support will mainly come from Natnael Berhane and John-Lee Augustyn. The other three riders we brought are 18-year-old Husani Mashaba, who will make his debute at the pros, Jay Robert Thomson and Jaco Venter, who got us our first podium of the season here last year.

For San Luis, where we need a GC top-10, we have brought eight riders as well, but these are all different. Our lead sprinter will be the team's major scorer last year, Gerald Ciolek. However, our main purpose of this race is to perform well in the mountains. For that, we have brought Josef Hintermüller as our leader, and he'll get support in the mountains from Merhawi Kudus, Linus Gerdemann, Tsgabu Grmay and Dennis van Niekerk. Marouane Shaqif will aim on a win in the time trial and Yonas Tekeste will make his debute here for the team, mainly as a bottle carrier.

Just before anyone wonders. No, I won't do this after every stage. Only on a special occasion, such as the first stage of the season or a victory.

The first stage of the Tour de Gabon, and with that the entire 2014 season, has been raced. Our leader for this stage would be Louis, but we wouldn't mind an attacking spirit. Unsurprisingly our team delivered just that, with Natnael being one of the first attackers today.

However, this escape was caught. Natnael, exhausted by his attempt, needed some rest. Therefore John-Lee decided to step up. He attacked, got some people with him, and managed to obtain a gap to the pack. His first attempt, in which he became part of a break of 10, failed due to the size. His second attempt was successful though. He beat his three companions and obtained the mountains jersey already.

With 20kms to go it became clear the break would make it onto the line. Therefore he decided to jump towards Heimdal Hägg, who had escaped earlier. Together they would make it to the line. The only remaining question was: who would win? Unfortunately for us, it became the Swede from NetApp. Nevertheless a second place is a good way to start out the season, and we are confident we can achieve our stage win here. A second spot in the GC and the lead in the teams classification is also encouraging.

Stage 2 of Gabon presented one of the most exciting types of stages for the most fans: flat and windy. The sprinter teams perfectly made use of this, by setting up echelons. Eventually a group of only 21 riders would make it in the first group at the line. Far behind Abasi won the sprint for 38th, which shows potential for a possible stage win in the final stages.

Stage 3 would prove to be quite selective again. A breakaway won, which wasn't the worst news. What was bad news was the time loss by John-Lee, who now dropped a spot in the GC.

Stage 4 would bring the final hilly rated stage. Henao took more than a minute on the peloton here, which meant John-Lee dropped to 4th in the GC. Luckily for him the final 3 stages are flat, so his great spot in the GC can be kept.

Here's what the GC currently looks like for us.

At least this one isn't censored. In the first stage a mass sprint was set up, and with Gerald we had a contender for it. Unfortunately we managed to fail bringing a good lead-out. Nevertheless a 4th place was a good start.

Stage 2 was a little worse. Gerald was too far back and came 11th this time, 10th of the pack.

The selective stages are about to start now in San Luis, so the first opportunities for Josef will come as well.

February will be a busy month for us, with 4 races and 3 goals. First up is Qatar, where we need a stage win. Gerald is our man for that. He'll get support from Konovalovas, Shaqif, Stauff, Wesemann, Thomson, Reimer and Reguigui.

Oman is our next goal, another top-10. Josef will be our leader here. Support will come from Berhane, Gerdemann, Niyonshuti, Pardilla, Russom and Tewelde. Gerald will also race here, once again without lead-out.

Langkawi is our only February race without goals. We therefore couldn't be bothered to bring any of our leaders. Augustyn, Debesay, Janse van Rensburg x2, Jim, Mashaba, Potgieter and Wesemann will ride here, maybe picking up a stage win in the process.

And finally our win goal of this month is in Almeria. Abasi and Gerald will share leadership here, although the hills might be helpful for the German. Niyonshuti, Pardilla, Reguigui, Stauff, Russom and Thomson will be support.

@mvh: At least the review was good I'd rather have a bad review and a godd result.

We came here with a stage win goal, and long story short, we failed. Massively. Not even a single podium. It was absolutely rubbish bullsh. 6th was our best stage result.

Before going to the races themselves we'll first need to preview our month.

First up is, surprise surprise, Strade Bianchi. We couldn't be bothered to send a very strong squad here. Louis would be leader, but anyone could do what they wanted. Berhane, Niyonshuti, Reguigui, Russom, Debesay, Tekeste and Van Niekerk complete our squad here.

Then it's time for Roma Maxima. Almost the same squad, same roles. Only difference with the Strade is Van Niekerk being replaced by Tewelde.

For the second year in a row we'll have our first WT race in the Tirreno. Gerald will be looking to pick up a new stage win, with Abundi, Hunter, R. Janse van Rensburg and Stauff by his side, while Josef will hunt for a good GC. Pardilla and Kudus will provide him with the necessary support.

Our biggest race of the first season part will be Milano - San Remo. With a podium goal Gerald is our leader here once again, although Abasi might do well as well. Hunter, R. Janse van Rensburg, Reimer, Konovalovas, Stauff and Thomson will be the support for this race.

The Critérium International is a good opportunity for climbers. Josef therefore is our leader, Gerdemann, Venter and Van Niekerk will provide support in the mountains, Shaqif will go for the ITT, Tewelde, Niyonshuti and Reimer will provide help in the first part of the stages.

Our final part 1 race is the Volta Limburg Classic. Abasi will be our leader in this flat classic, and his support will be Hunter, Jim, Mashaba, Reguigui, Russom, Tekeste and Tewelde.

No goal, no pressure. That's what we thought at the start of the race. Dennis attacked and joined the break of 12.

They were still ahead with 5km to go, and this could be another good result for us.

Coming out of the last corner, Dennis was heading to the front, in 4th.

It delivered him an outstanding second place today, after winner Von Triesenberg.

Our goal here was a GC top-10, and in order to achieve that Josef would be our leader here. Gerald was supposed to sprint here.

Stage 1, being very flat, surprisingly resulted in the escapees taking the flowers. Gerald came 6th though. No time lost.

A bit less flat was stage 2, but a mass sprint once again took place. Once again no time lost, and Gerald got a podium!

Stage 3 was flat again, and this time we decided to join the break. Meron would represent our team colors.

The break didn't make it and once again a sprint. This time Gerald decided to not be arsed to sprint.

Stage 4 would be the queen stage, with the Jebel Akhdar as summit. Josef would need to perform well here. To relieve him of some pressure we decided to send Linus in the break.

Josef himself did not have the best day of his life, but despite that he came 10th.

Stage 5, the final non-flat stage, we decided to send Natnael into the break.

This break surprisingly held on until the line, and Natnael would battle it out in a sprint.

He won! And finally we have our first season victory! More good news was that Josef also managed to hang on to his GC spot.

In the final stage we took it quite easy, enjoying our first achieved goal as well as well as our first season victory. Contador took the stage, Gerald came 8th.

With our weak squad here, we don't expect too much, but let's see what happens.

Stage 1 was a quiet stage for us. Reinardt was our best rider at 15th in the sprint.

Stage 2: Same story. Reinardt had a significant improval though, as he managed to sprint to 9th this time, his first top-10 of the season.

Stage 3 would be the first mountain stage, to the Cameron Highlands. Surprisingly Reinardt hung on in the pack, but a break persisted and won. Still a 6th place is a good improval.

Stage 4 would be a sprint again. Markus won again, Reinardt came 12th.

Stage 5 is the queen stage to the Genting Highlands and in fact the final mountain stage of this race. While Diego Johnson won, Reinardt dropped a bit in the GC, as expected, and Jacques became our best rider in the GC.

GC:

1	Diego Johnson	Orica - GreenEdge	16h40'27
2	Thomas Damuseau	CCC Polsat - Polkowice	+ 42
3	Jose Alarcon	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	+ 55
24	Jacques Janse Van Rensburg	MTN - Qhubeka	+ 6'42

Hello Abasi,

We had planned for you to race the Giro, as well as the Scheldeprijs. I hope you like it.

Easy own goal: Top-10 Scheldeprijs
Medium own goal: Stage win Tour of Turkey
Hard own goal: 2 Stage Wins Giro d'Italia
Easy countered goal: tba
Medium countered goal: tba
Hard countered goal: tba

Selwink wrote:

Part 2 Goals Overview