Alberto Contador, front man of the former Illeas Balears squad, has been widely known as the most underpaid top rider of the current World Tour. Since he won the World Tour and Prestige ranking, his price has gone way upward and interest has been keen on the spaniard. This is despite his growing age and impending decline. Contador has indeed said that he wills competitive for at least two years. Luckily for his managers, who has feared that Contador would follow suit on his plans to retire, following his long-time compañero Joaquím Rodriguez.


Additionaly Liberty Seguros, the new sponsor of Contador's current team, has announced a marketing campaign with the man himself. Dressed up as an insurance salesman, Contador will be switching the Liberty Seguros kit for a salesman suit and threaten to close deals with his infamous pistol shots. Afterwards, Contador and the happy customer will be then seen eating some steak, in an ironic way of course.

Alongside the continuiation of Contador's development squad, La Fundación, Contador has agreed to a new deal and is being now rumoured to be one of the highest paid riders of the peloton. Which some would say, is about god damn time.

The big news coming out of the Bunzl - Centrica camp this week is the departure of six riders from the team which last year surprised everyone to take the World Tour crown.

The biggest name to be confirmed as leaving is 32-year-old Geraint Thomas, who decided he wanted another challenge as he approaches the twilight of his career. The rouleur, a key part of the squad which won the World TTT Championships at the end of the season had led the team in many races over the last few years but will now set his sights on different goals, though his new team is as yet unknown.

The manager of Bunzl - Centrica said, "Geraint has been a terrific servant to the team ever since 2013 and though we would have liked to keep him, his head was turned by the offer of another team and we're simply not in a position to offer a 32 year old that sort of money. We wish him all the best for the future."

Other riders to be leaving include another strong rouleur in Ian Stannard, another 32 year old stalwart Ian Bibby and 2013 Peace Tour winner Philip Lavery. Young sprinter Dan McLay has failed to earn a new contract while youngster Edward Birch has not done enough to earn a senior contract with the team and will have to look elsewhere for a professional deal.

"A rebuild was always going to be necessary soon with a few riders hitting their 30s but I guess we have to start now. We managed to keep hold of our main points scorers from last year and we hope to be in a position to defend our title come January", said the manager.

The manager has also not ruled out further departures with many riders potentially available come the transfer season. The next few weeks will be tough for the British team but with a strong core of riders still signed up, there should be nothing to worry about entering 2018.

For their debut season Polestar Cyan have signed a deal with the Norwegian rider Lars Petter Nordhaug. He comes from the World Tour team SAP - Bianchi and wants to prove himself in the new Swedish outfit. "This project seemed interesting and could have huge potential. I couldn't say no to their offer" - said Nordhaug

The team's setup would be mainly from Scandinavian riders with experience.
The rumour is that many of the Swedish riders could join the team for the new season. Other transfers will be announced as soon as they're finalized.

Liberty Seguros responses to Santos-Euskadi's bid

Liberty Seguros, formerly known as Illes Balears, has been widely seen as the only spanish World Tour team for 4 seasons now. This has changed in the wake of Santos-Euskadi's promotion from PCT to WT.

However, while initially Liberty Seguros manager has hoped that this would be the start of a great cooperation with the goal of strengthing both teams, Marca has leaked that Santos-Euskadi was the team that had raised the asking price of Contador so substantially. This bid on Liberty Seguros' superstar and top-ranked rider is expected news, since Santos-Euskadi has been most aggressive in its transfer campaign so far. "They have bid on several riders, hoping to get that top rider to make it in the World Tour", commented an insider at the spanish cycling federation, who prefers to remain anonymous. Considering the circumstances, a bid on Contador was their best chance to get a strong iconic figure in the national colours and a superstar, able to keep them in the World Tour. Still, at the Liberty Seguros HQ, such a bid on their prestigious Pisterlo is not well liked, especially considering the amount of money that was invested in keeping him competitive. "We have hired the best doctors, health professionals and nutritionist, Contador is living like an ascetic, in order to be competitive for as long as possible", said Contador's brother, Fran.

Meanwhile, Liberty Seguros is wary of the situation and the transfer market. "We are obviously a bit disheartened by this development since we have looked forward to possible transfers, especially when it comes to our basque riders",
said the manager. "I think it is better for Spain to have two teams in World Tour but I didn't expect them to go after our crown jewel." Asked towards possible cooperation, LS manager has said that "direct cooperation is forbidden on the market, but he had hoped for acceptable prices and fair negotiations" and that they were willing to let go of some star climbers because of the necessity to increase the chances on new terrain. "This likely changes things now that our budget is slimmer than expected".

With the possible inclusion of Sevilla Cycling Team to World Tour, too, the market for spanish riders certainly is at an all-time high. Hopes are that the development squads will bring up new talent in time to forego a bidding war for talents. At least on this front, Liberty Seguros kept things in tact. Three new riders will join the dev squad, whilst Juan Pulido, winner of the Cascade Cycling Classic, is promoted to the World Tour. Unclear is of yet the future of the Tour de l'Avenir winner, Alvaro Cuadros, who is currently training with the pros, but is still listed for the dev team.

Ahead of the 2018 season, Pedal Africa's team manager, Phil Hoyle, took some time out of his busy schedule to sit down with Ride Magazine at the team's base in Cape Town, SA.

'This year will be one of development rather than big results and pushing for promotion. What is more important to me is how the riders grow and strengthen over the season, and any successes along the way will be great.' said Hoyle when asked about his 2018 plans.

Team renewals has been finalised, with Phil confirming that some riders will be leaving in order to make room for riders with something to offer in the years to come.

'Of course, we will need to bring in young blood to generate that growth within African cycling. I do not want to confirm who is leaving just yet, but those affected are aware and have made plans for their future.' continued Hoyle. 'We have a number of riders in the twilight of their careers so to say. Some still have a purpose, mainly as road captains, but sadly others would be better finding a ride elsewhere. It is what they need at this point in their career.'

After the hard time in the renewals, Liberty Seguros has publicly declared that they don't plan on any large bid moves on the market. "Frankly, the budget just isn't there right now, so there is no reason for us to keep the public in the dark."

Actions of Spain's well recognized team have been desperate at times ever since the team's decline had begun. Starting off the promise of a super team of Contador, Rodriguez and Valverde, the latter Spaniard was sold before the first racing had begun and the team won the World Tour. During the years, Liberty Seguros-Würth and then Illes Balears slowly lost traction. Purito had won in his last year Vuelta a Espana 2016, but was not extended due to the team's ambitions to sign Quintana, whereas Stybar was not extended due to a disappointing season.

Whilst the Colombian's decision was the right on, evidenced by the transition of Leopoard to the Grupo Argos-Quala outfit, Stybar too had a good run at Sugoi. Coming back from this failes transition, which turned Liberty Seguros into a one-rider show, was the clear goal before 2018. However, with the reduced budget and the increased demands, the team wants to re-focus on its aspirations on the transfer market.

The team hopes that the reduced market will spur interest in the transfer market and points to some of its valuable lieutants that may be up for offer. Especially when it comes to potential rider swaps, Libety Seguros hasn't been always particularly forthcoming, but thinks about new strategies. "Fast finishers and strong rouleurs for the pavé may give us some scoring options in the future. In return, our GC riders have proven they are extremely competitive in the PCT and stand their ground in WT races too, when they are not helping their captains", states the manager proudly. The squad may even offer up some of its illustrious climbing and hill depth on the open market to lighten its wage load. The team's lieutants includes some of the best climbing Spain has to offer.

The Lufthansa team management can confirm that the team has successfully completed the renewals process for the season. We went into the renewals with an open mind and let the riders convince us of their value to our project. As a result, discussions went deep into the third round of contract offers for a couple of our leaders before we could wrap up proceedings. We are extremely happy with how the renewals have gone, and we ended up well within our budget set out for the same.

However, with a heavy heart, we have to announce the departures of two of our leaders from last season. Leaving us will be JJ Lobato, the sprint captain for the team last year. Despite showing some promise early on, the Spaniard never really hit the heights we expected from him. His best result was a victory on Stage 4 of the Tour of California but he only managed a couple more podiums besides that. He wish him all the best for his future endeavours.

Our rider of the season in 2017, and Belgian legend Maxime Monfort, leaves us as well. This was the hardest discussion we had in renewals. In the end, his advancing years and visible decline over the off-season did not justify his wage demands. Signed from Italo-Ventilair, Monfort started off 2017 season with an overall win in our first ever race, the Tour of Indonesia, including a win on Stage 3. He achieved a podium in both the Tour of South Africa and the Volta a Portugal, out-riding team leaders Atapuma and Porte in those races. He played a huge role in our high-finish in the Continental Tour in 2017 and one of the reasons we will ride in the World Tour this year. We want to thank him for his contribution to Lufthansa and wish him all the best for the coming season.

With the transfer window about to open, we have started getting in touch with some of the more established World Tour teams to see if they would be interested in thrashing out some deals. Although there have some positivity, our transfer bids have been unsuccessful so far.

Following renewals, we now have a solid base from where to start our World Tour push. Here is where we stand at the start of transfers.

Next to Alberto Contador, no other rider has been the face of Liberty Seguros-Würth and Illes Balears between the seasons 2014-2016, so much as Purito. The sympathic Spaniard Joaquím Rodríguez has been known throughout the peloton for his hard kick and unforgiving accelerations and his excellent combo of hilly virtue and mountaineous quality.


Having retired at the age of 39, Joaquím Rodríguez, nicknamed Purito, can look back on an incredible career in his teams, which certainly puts him into the very own ICL hall of fame.

Thanks to his talents, Purito excelled in the Ardennes races and in the Vuelta a Espana. Although he was closely denied victory in 2016 Liege-Bastogne Liege to Bauke Mollema, Purito striked back fiercely at Il Lombardia, finally taking a Monument win. A few months before, he had finally won the Vuelta after coming close twice second, to Chris Froome and, again, Bauke Mollema.


His big strength was obviously the combination of climbing substance both in the high mountains (80MT) and the short hills (81HL). Additionally, Purito had some great accelerations and stamina, that allowed him to contest both Grand Tours and Classics. Thanks to his consistency, Purito can rightfully claim to be one of the best riders of the years 2014 to 2016.

Some of the highlights of his career at our team was the 2014 Vuelta, with a win rate of 1/3 of all stages (7!), and the 2016 Vuelta, which he won against tough competition, including later Giro winner TVG. His other unmatched performance is the dominance of La Fleche Wallone, winning the race three times in a row in our time.

In his time at Liberty Seguros, Purito was ranked three consecutive times amongst the Top 3 in the Prestige Ranking (1, 3, 3). In 2014 and 2015, he was ranked 1st and 2nd respectively in the World Tour Rankings. During 2014-2016 at our team, Purito had 32 wins, which puts his win counter at the second place overall, behind CarbonSports' Marcel Kittel. Based upon the Prestige Ranking of the same time frame, Purito is the top ranked rider ahead of Froome and Nibali - and could make a strong case now for being the most successful of those years.



Alongside Contador, Purito was the main reason that Liberty Seguros-Würth topped the World Tour ranking in 2014. Due to his consisent performances, the team could rely on him when Contador struggled in the years 2015 and 2016 to achieve top end results. His contribution to the team's overall points is clearly shown in the graph below. In 2014, Purito's share of WT points was staggeringly over 40%. You may think that the team had used Purito in more CT races than in 2014, however his race schedule has been largely the same throughout the years. His strong performances - and the dependence on them - reflects the overall importance to the team, and the problem with it.



Due to the considerable wages and the need to invest in Potion of Youths for Purito, the team had little room to develop co-lieutants or expand to new fields. The team's base of succes - Contador and Purito - proved in the last years also a problem, since both ageing superstars were exactly that, ageing and expensive. With their similiar strenghts, the top riders also limited each other. Purito was bound to the Vuelta for three years, whilst Contador had limited freedom in hilly classics and didn't visit the Vuelta himself.

In the end, the need to cause some disruption and begin a new was the reason why Illes Balears did not resign Purito ahead of 2017. He was picked up by Feryn Bikes and had could celebrate some nice results, inclduing a stage win in the Vuelta 2017, which Contador had won.

The infamous stage and classics hunter Purito retires now at the age 39 and can look back on a great career, inclduing his three years at Liberty Seguros-Würth and Illes Balears. With his wins at Vuelta and Il Lombardia in 2016, the goals of Purito and the team were finally achieved: A Grand Tour and a Monumet win. In many ways, it would have been wonderful to continue the partnership going into 2017, but in some ways, it was appropiate to end it on such a high note for both, the team and the rider. The team says thank you for all as we look again at his major results.

Year	Race	Result	Stage Win
2014	Vuelta a Tachira	1st	3
2014	Milano-San Remo	2nd
2014	Amstel Gold Race	1st
2014	La Flèche Wallone	1st
2014	Vuelta a España	2nd	7
2014	Bucaramanga Classic	1st
2014	Il Lombardia	3rd
2014	Spanish NC	1st
Year	Race	Result	Stage Win
2015	Strade Bianche	1st
2015	Vuelta a Tachira	3rd	1
2015	Amstel Gold Race	3rd
2015	La Flèche Wallone	1st
2015	Tour of Mount Fuji	3rd	1
2015	Vuelta a España	2nd	4
2015	Bucaramanga Classic	3rd
2015	Il Lombarida	2nd
2015	Spanish NC	1st
Year	Race	Result	Stage Win
2016	Strade Bianche	2nd
2016	La Flèche Wallone	1st
2016	Liège - Bastogne - Liège	2nd
2016	La Jurassaine	1st
2016	Vuelta a Guatemala	2nd	1
2016	Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian	1st
2016	Olympic Games Road Race	8th
2016	Vuelta a España	1st	1
2016	Bucaramanga Classic	2nd
2016	Il Lombardia	1st
2016	Spanish NC	2nd

CarbonSports announces that 14 riders have left the team at the end of last season.

The most notable name on the list is belgian classic specialist Tiesj Benoot. The 24 year old Belgian was widely seen as one of the biggest talents when he signed his first professional contract with CarbonSports ahead of the 2014 season but his recent development hasnt matched the high expectations. Perhaps a change of teams can give him new impulses.

Another team member since the founding of the team was Rüdiger Selig. Selig has been a very important part of the legendary German sprint train for Kittel since the duo arrived. With the development of younger talents like Caleb Ewan, Willy Willwohl and Peter Geissler the present and the future of the leadout train looks very bright while Selig's importance to the success of the team diminishes. The team and Rüdiger agreed on a mutual termination of the contract so that the Zwenkauer can test his value on the market in the hope of a higher role elsewhere.

Here is the full list of departures:

Tiesj Benoot
Rüdiger Selig
Artem Ovechkin
Andris Vosekalns
Toms Skujins
Maxim Belkov
Ondrej Nemec
Adrien Marie
Gennady Voronin
Mark Dzamastagic
Thomas Dekker
Vsevolod Butenko
Furio Grossi
Jörg Hurle

14 riders have left the team already but that will not be everything.

It is obvious that CarbonSports is preparing for a star leaving the team and it seems very likely that it will be Greg Van Avermaet. Since the contract expiring of Thomas Dekker, he is the oldest team member in a team well known for the tendency to rely on young cyclists and with Eisaks and Senechal improving further and further and Sagan remaining stronger than ever it looks as if he isnt needed as much as in past seasons.

However, rumors about Carlos Betancur are brought up daily as well so there remains a big question mark behind the team's plans.