Welcome to the HQ of Siam Cement - Lenovo, the team of the white elephant. The team's aim is to promote cycling in the southeastern countries of Asia. Main focus are Thailand and China. The goal is to have be part of a movement to develop (Southeast) Asian cycling to a major force in the international world of cycling.

Major Sponsors:

	Siam Cement	Conglomerate
	Lenovo	Technology

Minor Sponsors:

	Nine Dragons Paper	Paper
	Hua Xia Bank	Banking
	Thai Beverage	Beverages
	Millennium BCP	Banking

Equipment:

	Merida	Bikes
	Pearl Izumi	Clothing
	Shimano	Wheels
	Kabuto	Helmets

After a great 2014 season for Siam Cement - Lenovo, having the CT rankings winner Vitor Rodrigues in their rows, the second season for the Thai squad was rather horrific. And thereby it first looked this season would be another good one. In the winter break, the team managed to sign strong climbers Robert Kiserlovski and Emanuele Sella and made themselves on paper one of the strongest climbing squads in the PCT division. The first race this year for the team was the WT home race Badaling International, where Kiserlovski showed himself and finished strongly in 9th. But WT races have no value for the rankings, so the first real race for the team was Vuelta a Tachira. It would already be the best race of the season for the team. Emanuele Sella won one stage and all classifications for the team, making them 1st in the rankings after January. From then on it only went downhill. The next races still were decent, though nothing extraordinary. The team did as well as it could be expected. Highlights were a 3rd place by Nepomnyachsniy at the Barcelona Classic and a stage win for Thurakit Boonratanathanakorn at the Vuelta a Catalunya. Kip did also still sprint to some nice stage results, e.g. at the Eire Tour.
The Tour of Vancouver was a last race making hope for the team, especially the 6th stage when the team managed a 1-2 with Sella, Rodrigues. It was a last highlight, from then on one disappointment followed the next one: Our sprinters Kip and Nepomnyachsniy lost their early season sprinting legs and were fully useless and our climbers didn't bring in the results that could've been expecte from them.
In the end the team was on the verge of relegation. Going into the last month everything could happen, but on the right moment we got our surprise success, when Meiyin Wang got himself a great 5th at Milano - Torino and Gyung Gu Jang was third with the opening break at the Tour of Beijing, we knew we where saved, at least from relegation.
The bad season will have an influence, though. According to rumours the team name could change for next season and maybe even the entire focus.

Results 2015:

3rd	Classic		Barcelona Classic	C1		A. Nepomnyachsniy
3rd	Classic		Volcan de Agua Classic	HC		Emanuele Sella
5th	Classic		Kenya Mountain Classic	HC		Emanuele Sella
5th	Classic		Milano - Torino	C1		Meiyin Wang
5th	Classic		Colombian Ventoux	C1		Emanuele Sella
9th	Classic		Badaling International	WT		Robert Kiserlovski
9th	Classic		Dutch Food Valley C.	HC		A. Nepomnyachsniy
11th	Classic		Kenya Mountain Classic	HC		Vitor Rodrigues
15th	Classic		Volcan de Agua Classic	HC		Vitor Rodrigues
16th	Classic		Monterrey TTT	C1		Siam Cement
19th	Classic		E3 Prijs	HC		A. Nepomnyachsniy
1st	GC		Vuelta a Tachira	C1		Emanuele Sella
2nd	GC		Tour of Vancouver	HC		Emanuele Sella
4th	GC		Tour of Bulgaria	C1		Emanuele Sella
6th	GC		Int. Osterreich Rfrt.	HC		Robert Kiserlovski
8th	GC		Tour of Eritrea	HC		Robert Kiserlovski
8th	GC		Corsica International	HC		Emanuele Sella
11th	GC		Vuelta a Tachira	C1		Vitor Rodrigues
11th	GC		Tour of Vancouver	HC		Robert Kiserlovski
12th	GC		Tour of Bulgaria	C1		Robert Kiserlovski
13th	GC		Tour of California	WT		Robert Kiserlovski
13th	GC		Tour of Japan	C1		Robert Kiserlovski
13th	GC		Tour d'Andorra	HC		Emanuele Sella
13th	GC		Tour of Bulgaria	C1		Vitor Rodrigues
14th	GC		Tour of California	WT		Emanuele Sella
14th	GC		Tour de Taiwan	C2		Kritsada Changpad
15th	GC		Tour of Vancouver	HC		Vitor Rodrigues
18th	GC		Tour d'Andorra	HC		Vitor Rodrigues
1st	Points		Vuelta a Tachira	C1		Emanuele Sella
1st	KoM		Vuelta a Tachira	C1		Emanuele Sella
1st	Team		Vuelta a Tachira	C1		Siam Cement
1st	Team		Tour of Vancouver	HC		Siam Cement
2nd	KoM		Tour of Eritrea	HC		Gyung Gu Jang
2nd	KoM		Tour of Beijing	HC		Gyung Gu Jang
3rd	Team		Tour of Bulgaria	C1		Siam Cement
3rd	U25		Tour of East Java	C2		Peilun Wu
3rd	U25		Int. Osterreich Rfrt.	HC		Gyung Gu Jang
1st	St. 9		Vuelta a Tachira	C1		Emanuele Sella
1st	St. 3		Vuelta a Catalunya	C1		Thurakit Boon.
1st	St. 6		Tour of Vancouver	HC		Emanuele Sella
2nd	St. 4		Vuelta a Tachira	C1		Vitor Rodrigues
2nd	St. 8		Vuelta a Tachira	C1		Emanuele Sella
2nd	St. 3		FBD Eire Tour	C1		Ismaël Kip
2nd	St. 4		FBD Eire Tour	C1		Ismaël Kip
2nd	St. 6		Tour of Vancouver	HC		Vitor Rodrigues
2nd	St. 4		Tour of Japan	C1		Robert Kiserlovski
3rd	St. 7		Vuelta a Tachira	C1		Emanuele Sella
3rd	St. 1		Tour of Japan	C1		Masatoshi Oba
3rd	St. 2		Tour de Taiwan	C2		Kritsada Changpad
3rd	St. 2		Tour of Bulgaria	C1		Siam Cement
3rd	St. 5		Int. Osterreich Rfrt.	HC		M. Poorseyedi
3rd	St. 1		Tour of Beijing	HC		Gyung Gu Jang
4th	St. 6		Vuelta a Tachira	C1		Emanuele Sella
4th	St. 5		FBD Eire Tour	C1		Ismaël Kip
4th	St. 1		Tour of Vancouver	HC		Robert Kiserlovski
4th	St. 5		Tour of Japan	C1		Meiyin Wang
4th	St. 2		Tour d'Andorra	HC		Emanuele Sella
5th	St. 3		Vuelta a Tachira	C1		Ismaël Kip
5th	St. 9		Vuelta a Tachira	C1		Vitor Rodrigues
5th	St. 3		Tour of Eritrea	HC		Robert Kiserlovski
5th	St. 4		Tour of Eritrea	HC		Gyung Gu Jang
5th	St. 1		Tour of Bulgaria	C1		Emanuele Sella
5th	St. 2		Volta a Portugal	HC		Thurakit Boon.
5th	St. 11		Volta a Portugal	HC		Meiyin Wang
5th	St. 6		Tour of Britain	HC		Gyung Gu Jang
6th	St. 1		Vuelta a Tachira	C1		Ismaël Kip
6th	St. 4		Tour of Vancouver	HC		Emanuele Sella
6th	St. 2		Int. Osterreich Rfrt.	HC		Robert Kiserlovski
7th	St. 6		Vuelta a Tachira	C1		M. Poorseyedi
7th	St. 3		Corsica International	HC		Emanuele Sella
7th	St. 6		Tour of California	WT		Emanuele Sella
7th	St. 1		Tour d'Andorra	HC		Emanuele Sella
8th	St. 2		FBD Eire Tour	C1		Ismaël Kip
8th	St. 4		Tour of Bulgaria	C1		Emanuele Sella
8th	St. 8		Int. Osterreich Rfrt.	HC		Ismaël Kip
9th	St. 6		Tour of Vancouver	HC		Robert Kiserlovski
9th	St. 5		Tour of California	WT		Ismaël Kip
9th	St. 6		Tour of Japan	C1		Meiyin Wang
9th	St. 3		Volta a Portugal	HC		A. Nepomnyachsniy
10th	St. 1		Tour of California	WT		Ismaël Kip
10th	St. 5		Tour of Japan	C1		Robert Kiserlovski
10th	St. 1		Int. Osterreich Rfrt.	HC		Robert Kiserlovski

Siam Cement in the Rankings:

Team

1		Aegon - Lavazza	3698
2		Gazelle	3619
3		Team Puma - SAP	3588
		...
21		ONCE-Eroski	1614
22		Azteca - NBCSN	1604
23		Mobil - Aeropostal Ciclismo	1568
24		Siam Cement - Lenovo	1508
25		Children of Chernobyl Foundation p/b Nemiroff	1434
26		Euskaltel-Air France	1410
27		Lululemon/Bulgaria Blackfish	1403
28		cycleYorkshire s/b ASDA-Savers	913

In the end of this disastrous season we finish in 24th, just 2 spots and a little less than 100 points of the relegation ranks. A lot of potential for improvement in the next season.

Individual

1	Luis Leon Sanchez Gil	ESP		Evonik - ELKO	1207
2	Alberto Contador	ESP		Bonsucro	1006
3	Janez Brajkovic	SLO		ONCE-Eroski	999
	...
15	Emanuele Sella	ITA		Siam Cement - Lenovo	713
70	Robert Kiserlovski	CRO		Siam Cement - Lenovo	254
116	Vitor Rodrigues	POR		Siam Cement - Lenovo	149
168	Alexandr Nepomnyachsniy	KAZ		Siam Cement - Lenovo	92
191	Gyung Gu Jang	KOR		Siam Cement - Lenovo	82
247	Meiyin Wang	CHN		Siam Cement - Lenovo	53
263	T. Boonratanathanakorn	THA		Siam Cement - Lenovo	46
280	Ismaël Kip	NED		Siam Cement - Lenovo	38
349	Masatoshi Oba	JPN		Siam Cement - Lenovo	21
354	Mirsamad Poorseyedi	IRN		Siam Cement - Lenovo	20
364	Kritsada Changpad	THA		Siam Cement - Lenovo	17
443	Amir Kolahdouz	IRN		Siam Cement - Lenovo	7
448	Peilun Wu	CHN		Siam Cement - Lenovo	7
510	Sarawut Sirironnachai	THA		Siam Cement - Lenovo	3
528	Mark Galedo	PHI		Siam Cement - Lenovo	2
529	Masakazu Ito	JPN		Siam Cement - Lenovo	2
544	Mustafa Sayar	TUR		Siam Cement - Lenovo	1
548	Phucong Sai-Udomsin	THA		Siam Cement - Lenovo	1
	Rasmus Quaade	DEN		Siam Cement - Lenovo	0
	Ahmad Haidar Anuawar	MAS		Siam Cement - Lenovo	0
	Bambang Suryadi	INA		Siam Cement - Lenovo	0
	Ajay Pandit Chhetri	NEP		Siam Cement - Lenovo	0
	Rustom Lim	PHI		Siam Cement - Lenovo	0

Basically there is no rider, of which can be said, that he didn't disappoint this season, but three. Those are Rodrigues, Nepomnyachsniy and Jang. Rodrigues who was our most valuable rider in the 2014 season, contributed also this season largely to our total. Mostly, he did as a valuable helper, but still managed to score 149 points by himself. Nepomnyachsniy is no world class sprinter but showed himself sometimes very strongly. Jang should've been loaned out in the off season, which didn't happen due to a failure by the manager. In the end it might have been no wrong decision, though, as without his points the team would be a lot closer to relegating.
Sella had an allright season, but it could've been expected a bit more from him, especially after his show in Tachira. Kiserlovski was arguably the biggest disappointment. Being one of the division's best stage racers, he failed to deliver in basically every race. The same can be said about sprinter Kip. In the beginning he still had very decent results, but after March didn't have one decent stage anymore. It is unlikely that he'll spend another year with the team.
Boonratanathanakorn, the only one who won something, besides Sella, this season is a reliable rider for breaks and did okay also this season. The other man, we hoped to see in many breaks Sirironnachai failed to repeat his great 2014 season. Changpad took his place and was an active rider in many races, shamefully not crowned with success.
Late addition to the team, to support us in time trials, Rasmus Quaade is also on the list of biggest letdowns. The Dane did not manage to score a single point all season long, better did Masatoshi Oba who has 4 TT points less.

@Eden: I haven't really decided what to do with my team the next season, but even if it's likely that the focus changes a bit, the team will in any case still have a major Asian influence/focus. So we'll cross each other's paths probably a lot the next season.

Following the rather unpleasant results of the passed season, title sponsors Siam Cement and Lenovo have decided to step down. They still both will fulfill their 3 year contract signed at the foundation of the team in 2014 and will remain smaller budget sponsors. A new sponsor to fill the big gap that occured in the budget was quickly found though. Our frame supplier the last two years already Merida agreed to take over the main sponsorship. The taiwanese bike manufacturer will ensure that the team will ride on the newest frames including the results of the latest researches.
After the work of the last two years it would be the wrong signal to move the headquarters of the team already, so they'll stay in Thailand and also the license the team will be riding under is Thai.
Merida made clear that the team's goal remains to promote Asian cycling, but also has a look on the European market, where the brand will try to increase its influence. So like last season the team will try to have signed some strong well-known Europeans.

jph27 wrote:
Think Compal-Merida may have an issue with that

Bikex wrote:


Oh right forgot that Merida was their second sponsor. Will have to find a new strategy now.