Back to early season antics at Xero with some up, some down, and some middle. That mix put us top in February - and I'd take a few more Julys to see out the season! Our first ever GC win was a memorable moment that will not be forgotten by anybody at Xero HQ - and was a fantastic way to bounce back from the four-month torment we'd just experienced which left us in tenth.
Screenshot of the Month
San Luis had some stunning scenes, both in terms of the racing and scenery, so it's a tie...
The snow comes down as Roux goes for the stage/The team sets up the GC assault - Credit to tsmoha
Rider of the Month
Who do you think?
A solo show of strength, and grabbing the GC crown - Tour de San Luis
Anthony Roux Total RoTM Wins | 3 RoTM Wins This Season | 3
We entered the U23 Sprinter's Classic dissapointed after invisible performances in our last two U23 outings. We had Kennett as an outside shot here who we hoped to deliver to the wheel of Ewan or Gaviria.
Kennett was involved in an early crash - not a great start but at least he was back on his feet fast and felt fine.
Jams positioned him well in the chaotic finale and Kennett decided to take advantage of the situation by launching first with over a kilometre left!
He put in the effort of his life to get a big gap with 500m left - but our Aussie rival Ewan was coming in even faster!
At the line Kennett thought he'd edged it... but we'd have to wait for a photo finish!
The photo finish showed that Kennett had completed a superb win! An intelligent move backed up by a strong sprint, showing off his track skills. Novardianto was a well-earned 13th after his leadout job... even having time to celebrate!
1
Dylan Kennett
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
5h27'55
2
Caleb Ewan
Podium Ambition
s.t.
3
Phil Bauhaus
Team Puma - SAP
s.t.
13
Jamalidin Novardianto
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
s.t.
125
Daniel Afoa
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
+ 4'22
126
Rei Onodera
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
s.t.
149
Hamish Schreurs
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
s.t.
157
Scott Ambrose
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
+ 6'47
A pretty awesome race for us - hopefully this is a building block for many more wins to come for Kennett!
@Aquarius - a) piss off, and b) if I was to create a result in that race it wouldn't have been a Xero win... if it was, it's be Jams anyway
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
The next race on the agenda was the Benelux Challenge. We went in with a multiple-leader approach, with Jams as our best prospect. We wanted a stage win from Roux - after his horrible recon mission in Geraardsbergen earlier this year we weren't too hopeful.
The tale of the race: Xero and Philips breaking the pack, side-by-side. We got some nice depth GC results but no stage wins or major points. More than expected, but less than what we wanted given our situation.
1
Robbie Squire
Azteca-NBCSN
22h59'52
2
Alexander Rybakov
Goldcorp - Nordstrom Rack
+ 16
3
Michel Kreder
Philips - Continental
+ 17
7
Tom Diggle
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
+ 36
10
Anthony Roux
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
+ 43
13
Tom Davison
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
+ 1'28
33
Jamalidin Novardianto
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
+ 5'59
37
Carl Ngamoki-Cameron
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
+ 6'21
57
Stijn Vandenbergh
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
+ 12'36
105
Simon Clarke
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
+ 25'44
129
Hamish Schreurs
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
+ 32'21
Next up was the Grand Prix Cyclistes and the aim, as per usual, was to deliver Roux to the GC win. His best shot at that was getting yellow on Stage 1.
He and the team duly delivered with a textbook set-up and sprint up the finishing hill. A great victory, and a strong sprint, leading out from 1.5km away and holding of van der Hugenhaben to the line.
However the second stage was less sweet, with Vichot spoiling the party with a stage win and, given his third the day before, the GC victory.
With promotion basically secured the final sponsor details for 2018 can be basically confirmed by Lionheart Racing. We are pleased to announce we will once again be known as Xero Racing p/b Octagon going into next season, after our South African co-sponsor put pen to paper on yet another one-year deal. Even if we don't promote that means Project: Africa are back and they will be "too happy to care". We have, though, lost a South African sponsor in NZSABC
The Primary Sponsors
These are our (wo)men with the money. Our sugar daddies, if you will. But they're no random rich sheikhs. These companies all have a passion for the sport, and, just as important if not more, the project itself.
About: Octagon is the sports and entertainment marketing division of the Interpublic Group (IPG). The IPG is one of the "big four" advertising companies and so being sponsored by the South African arm of the sports arm of the IPG is a smaller deal but with big background. Contract Until: 2018 *new contract Focus Nations: South Africa, Africa*
Octagon help us get our name on the backs of buses, billboards, wherever, in our target countries. Good for publicity, finances and fans. They have given us one last chance to put our, in the words of the Eritrel manager, "pretending to have an interest in African riders" into practice. Otherwise, it's bye-bye time.
About: The overnight success that is Xero is now a international company still based in little ol' NZ. They develop online accounting software for small businesses (like our own?) Contract Until: 2019 *new contract Focus Nations: New Zealand, Australia, Great Britain (minor), United States (very minor)
Xero stepped in at the last minute in 2016, but have been a great asset to the team. They are happy to renew for two more years of primary sponsorship, and continue to be our main title sponsor.
About: A government-backed, state-owned sponsor, Kiwibank is a subsidiary of New Zealand Post. Of course as many of you know they were involved as a title sponsor for Becherovka, one of the best teams in the world. They left as the team pursued a more Slavic focus, and want to start helping building a team from scratch where no pesky Eastern Europeans will give them the boot. Contract Until: 2018 Focus Nations: New Zealand
Kiwibank are still our third biggest sponsor and continue to be into 2018. They have taken the option in their two-year deal to become a primary sponsor upon promotion.
The Secondary Sponsors
About: My Food Bag is another hotshot emerging modern Kiwi company, an online food delivery service philosophising in “Eating food from the ground, sea or the sky. A sure-fire way to enjoy food the way nature intended, with less preservative, salts and a host of other artificial things. With recipes being focused on bringing natural ingredients forwards as the heroes”. We will help spread the word as they hope to develop this message with local (not always possible for us) and free-range produce. Contract Until: 2019 *new contract Focus Nations: New Zealand, Australia
They've now got a look at expanding abroad thanks to Octagon and we've loved the nutrition provided by the Kiwi upstart, and we're happy to keep going with this partnership for the 2018 and 2019 seasons!
About: Econet are an innovative company based out of Southern Africa but operate in the rest of Africa South America, Europe, East Asia and Australasia. Their core area is telecommunications and specifically broadband and fiber networks. They are also involved in other ventures in other sectors entirely Contract Until: 2018 Focus Nations: Zimbabwe, South Africa, Africa (minor)*, Australasia (minor) East Asia (very minor)*, South America (very minor)*, Europe (very minor)* *The choice of flags here means nothing
Econet are a truly innovative company which we are glad to be sponsored by. As a more worldwide company they don't demand any focus nationalities but will hopefully expand our influence even more in Southern Africa.
About: Telkom Indonesia is a majority state owned telecommunications company, the largest in Indonesia. Contract Until: 2018 Focus Nations: Indonesia
Jamalidin Novardianto is a cult hero now and nowhere is this more clear, other than the manager's room, than in his home country of Indonesia. Not investing too much money, the government wanted in and will sponsor the team, just so they know we're tight and all, as long as Jams rides for us. So until he retires, then.
About: Qhubeka is a non-for-profit, the South African programme of World Bicycle Relief, distributing bikes to help connect people to schools, clinics and jobs. Contract Until: 2019 *new Focus Nations: South Africa
A charity which helps use bicycles to support communities in poverty, as well as as a tool to help people of any age move forward in life. Not a sponsor by any means, quite the opposite. We ride for Qhubeka to increase awareness and taking part in fundraising, both of them increasing their funds and reach.
Next stop the Tour of Britain. With a TT we'd need all-out assault from Roux, San Luis-style, and after stage one success in GPC we were confident of gaining a small advantage on the opening finish up Jenkins Road.
With a fantastic leadout from Nzeke (sexy Cameroonian jersey on full display) Roux showed his absolute dominance in these kind of finishes with a superb sprint that even got him a time gap. Some called it not a gap, I called it still not enough after Langkawi and Tachira.
He lost yellow, as predicted, in the time trial and slipped to third on GC after an active day where he misjudged his attacks. However, he was looking good to pounce for the GC win when he crashed... hard. This was the race where the individual title win for Rafael Valls was most vulnerable since February. That may be a coincidence. Although, as this diagram shows, it may also be not coincidence...
Roux recovered amazingly well to limit his losses to just time, no GC spot, but he was injured and shaken by this heinous attempt on his life/GC chances. His strength here despite the injury, leading many to call him the hero of the day, truly showed how much this sabotage impacted his race. However, despite more fighting spirit shown on later stages, he would eventually lose another GC spot, finishing in fourth overall. A nice points total, but a sad tale of what might have been.
1
Robin van der Hugenhaben
In-n-Out p/b Carrefour
30h06'55
2
Johan Esteban Chaves
Azteca-NBCSN
+ 2'36
3
Maxime Monfort
Team Reddit
+ 3'01
4
Anthony Roux
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
+ 3'11
22
Geremie Nzeke
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
+ 9'37
24
Tom Diggle
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
+ 9'59
29
Tom Davison
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
+ 12'07
50
Marvain Tognama Kossouhorou
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
+ 16'45
90
Matthew Lloyd
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
+ 26'21
128
Scott Ambrose
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
+ 36'46
148
Daniel Afoa
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
+ 50'45
During this week there was another race, the historic race of Paris - Tours. Before the race it was a toss-up between Clarkey finishing from 8th-12th, or finishing third. The pendulum of Clarkiness swung towards...
third! A great performance in a major sprint classic to give us a welcome rankings boost going into what can only be described as a poo-poo finish to the season. Check your parachutes, fall as slow as possible, we're going in!
@knockout - This was no laughing matter. This was an unsportsmanlike and illegal assault on a human being and I don't see what's so funny.
@Blofeld97 - Is there a way to ban you and your libel from my HQ? You came in here, made fun of a victim and clearly didn't read my diagram showing that it was, in fact, your team who made Roux crash.
@Abhishek - Always happy to show the success of a friendly team Thanks a lot, and to you too! Can't wait for our debut PCT season
Yeah
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
Congrats on the (likely) promotion to PCT! Interesting that you've decided to go with Kiwibank and telkom Indo, will be an intersting season between our teams I think
Congrats on the promotion jandal! Looking forward to matching wits this renewals/transfers season and seeing how the transition to Octagon affects your 'power' levels.
I think it could be a smart move to sell Roux on to a decent French team and focus more on the Kiwis this offseason - just a thought.
@Eden - Cheers! Next stop for Telkom is Arifin, they need the dynamic duo of Jams and Arifin together If you put ANZ back in the title sponsorship it might incentivise Kiwibank
@Yellow Jersey - I hope our base is a good start next year, cheers! Will be cheering for you guys next season to join us
@Blofeld97 - That's just the tip of the iceberg
@Booker - Thanks a lot! Happy to be promoting with you, we didn't come into much transfer contact this season, but I'm sure we will promoting, so also looking forward to it I have gone from the bottom to the top African team (providing there's no nation changes) and hopefully I can make use of that to shift the power to even out my focus regions
Roux has certainly booked himself a renewal this year - what happens next is a little up in the air but I'd love to keep him around If I like the look of a French CT team then maybe
We are pleased to announce the development of our talent programme in 2017. It has been a rather successful year for our young guns as we look to continue developing home-grown riders and giving them major places in the team, which we our now only one or two years away from doing with our older talents.
Jamalidin Novardianto 23 | 3.73 XP | 55,000
FLA
MON
HIL
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SPR
ACC
FTR
DH
PRL
72
61
68
68
69
74
71
69
67
75
74
68
71
73
61
68
68
69
75
72
69
69
76
74
68
72
Unknown max stats *spooky music*
Jams received more training on the track this year to work on his flat breakaways. With the lack of MGUCI-allowed breakaway training he was forced to specialise, which could be a blessing in disguise as he prepares for the step up to PCT, where he could have a seaon similar to 2016 where he was underestimated and allowed to get into breakaways.
Jordan Schleck 21 | 3.54 XP | 50,000 | Rode for Statoil Pro Cycling
FLA
MON
HIL
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SPR
ACC
FTR
DH
PRL
61
69
67
52
67
66
73
53
52
68
54
56
60
62
71
69
52
68
67
75
53
52
70
56
57
60
Max:
64
77
74
53
70
70
79
53
52
74
63
59
61
Jordan continued to train in the high mountains during his time with Statoil and over the off-season with Xero. He will now hopefully be able to provide good support for our leaders in the PCT and maybe get in some breakaways. In a few years he will take up his mantle as the best Schleck and be chasing stages and KoMs everywhere.
Nils Schomber 23 | 2.95 XP | 50,000 | Rode for Statoil Pro Cycling
FLA
MON
HIL
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SPR
ACC
FTR
DH
PRL
68
54
57
67
61
69
63
50
69
69
62
64
74
69
54
57
69
62
70
64
50
69
69
63
64
75
Max:
73
53
58
74
66
76
68
50
69
69
65
64
81
The young prologue sensation had a quiet season of development at Statoil Pro Cycling. The PCT will pose a major challenge as he continues in his development - perhaps another year in the Continental tour honing his prologue skills and picking up some points may be good if a nice home is offered.
Hamish Schreurs 23 | 3.06 XP | 85,000
FLA
MON
HIL
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SPR
ACC
FTR
DH
PRL
68
54
66
52
69
72
67
72
68
69
64
62
61
69
54
66
52
71
73
68
73
69
69
64
62
61
Max:
73
54
67
52
74
74
71
76
75
73
64
63
61
Not a bad debut year for the young cobbler Hamish Schreurs, who made some good early attacks and garnered nice results throughout the course of the year. His classics skills have developed and we look forward to another season with the talented youngster as he takes an even more important role in our cobbles squad.
Dylan Kennett 23 | 2.87 XP | 50,000
FLA
MON
HIL
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SPR
ACC
FTR
DH
PRL
70
58
64
69
72
71
68
62
72
71
67
68
73
71
58
64
69
72
71
68
62
73
72
67
68
74
Max:
75
58
65
69
73
76
71
62
79
78
67
68
78
Last but not least of the developing talents, Dylan Kennett had a very nice debut season in the CT, earning a 12th in Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne from the favourites group after his mid-stage attack was caught, and edging out trans-Tasman rival Caleb Ewan in the Paris - Tours Espoirs.
His training went well, not as well as we'd have liked for him to be a leadout man next year but he's still a talented sprinter who can hopefully learn a lot. If he shows the tactical nous and agression he did in Kuurne in the PCT he could even surprise, who knows?
Scott Ambrose 22 | 1.xx XP | 10,000 | Stagiare
FLA
MON
HIL
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SPR
ACC
FTR
DH
PRL
66
67
66
63
66
67
63
55
64
67
71
70
65
Max:
67
74
73
63
67
71
68
55
64
74
78
71
66
Not much to see from Scott Ambrose this year but he did some good pace-setting work and bottle carying and continued his development, even if technically he didn't improve so much. He is under consideration for a full contract, but it may be worth another season riding in the CT or the NRS before stepping up.
Daniel Afoa 22 | 1.xx XP | 10,000 | Stagiare
FLA
MON
HIL
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SPR
ACC
FTR
DH
PRL
64
63
67
62
65
68
65
57
64
67
68
70
60
Max:
67
67
76
63
73
72
69
57
67
75
75
73
61
Daniel made an instant impression during his two months with the team, even picking up some points! The Samoan made his way into five breakaways and will be joining the team full-time in 2018 as he continues his journey. However given his lack of major experience, and proficiency for breakaways in the CT we would love to see him loaned out.
Overall Manager's Thoughts
A good season for our talents, with Jordan, Jams and Hamish getting closer to their full potentials and the new boys taking their first steps of major improvement. We've certainly succeeded in starting to develop our own youngsters and long may that continue.
The next step, made easier by our promotion, is obviously to have some future leaders of the team sign, particularly from Africa and New Zealand. We've been tracking a few and hopefully some of them will be Xero (or whichever CT team is blessed with their presence) riders next year.
We also say goodbye to another talent, Rei Onodera, who will return to his home team of Meiji next year. Rei was a pleasure to have at our team, working hard, making breakaways and earning stage success, and developing himself. We hope to see him next year as we promote to PCT.
A pair of climby classics provided our last chance to gain some points before five uncertain October races. First up was the GP Yekaterinburg. A race suited to Roux, we came in hoping for, and needing, a victory. Chaves open up the attack, to which Roux responded by going long for the sprint - a tactic that usually succeeds for him!
Our thoughts on the racers
However, in the end, he was outsprinted by eternal wheelsucker Boily, and Chaves, who to be fair made the original attack. Not a bad race to end up third, but it wasn't the smartest one to go from so far out when his rivals were just as fresh.
1
Johan Esteban Chaves
Azteca-NBCSN
5h01'44
2
David Boily
World Cycling Centre
s.t.
3
Anthony Roux
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
s.t.
12
Tom Diggle
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
+ 1'01
38
Tom Davison
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
s.t.
53
Igor Antón
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
+ 3'45
59
Geremie Nzeke
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
s.t.
66
Marvain Tognama Kossouhorou
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
s.t.
78
Rei Onodera
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
+ 6'54
82
Dylan Kennett
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
+ 8'37
Another podium in the Colombian Venteaux would've been nice, but even considering it was overstepping as the entire team had an off day. Boooo. Not gonna do a wrap on it because I'm still depressed because it meant we had no good October races.
Oh yeah, it's not much joy to come in these reviews.
Anyway, after a brave Tour of Britain and a decent job in Russia, it's Anthony Roux who takes his fourth RotM win in September, putting him first by a clear margin in the all-time Xero standings.
U23 Sprinters' Classic
South Africa, 
Africa*
New Zealand, 
Australia, 
Great Britain (minor), 
United States (very minor)
Zimbabwe, 
East Asia (very minor)*, 
South America (very minor)*, 
Europe (very minor)*
Indonesia
Jordan Schleck
Nils Schomber
Daniel Afoa
