Early in the year several managers took some predictions on the CT contingent, and we tried to see what level we'd likely be in.. The results were surprising
Abhishek
CT 2017 Rankings – Co-efficient Based
Team
Coefficient
Rank
Andorra Cycling Project
72.27
22
Tamijo
Rank
Team
Total
19
Andorra Cycling Project
575,2
Knockout
Maxime 2. Andorra Cycling Project will finish in the bottom 5 because of the lack of back up and hill stats in their climbers, however in a few years they'll have an exciting group of young prospects.
Aquarius
Place
Team Name
17
Andorra Cycling Project
Matt17br
20. Andorra Cycling Project
Marcovdw
Rank
Team
OVL
18
Andorra Cycling Project
73,86
Croatia
18.
Andorra Cycling Project
Vien
Place
Team Name
17
Andorra Cycling Project
So it's quite obvious that after looking at it, the best that was predicted we could do was 17th, wich is exactly the place we have finished, I'll look more closely into next season's predictions Aquarius and Vien
As for the worst, we were predicted to also finish around 20th place a lot, so we can be glad we escaped some even lower placings.
Honestly we didn't know what to initially expect. Apon these previews we knew it would be around the just the edge of a Top20, however January started very strong, and March-July also gave us many points and until late in the season we were still hoping to stay in the Top15, however the last couple of months were very hard on us and other teams had there a strong period of racing and we got back to our original predicted best place.
Stage win at Vuelta al Tachira
As the season's first race for us and having a goal like that it was always going to be an important race. Rujano's home race and after a day on the breakaway threatening the lead, the next day he attacked near the end for an amazing first stage win for the team.
Top 10 at Giro del Trentino
Clearly failed goal, although a surprising display by Baltasar earning him a 20th place, he was never close to a Top 10.
Win at Tour of Andorra
The first stage promised as Solis looked very strong. But soon after it was easy to tell it wasn't going to happen. Rujano was also very constant but none made it to the Top 10 on the team's home race.
KOM jersey at Tour de San Luis
Perhaps the most surprising race of the season for us. The KOM jersey was never within reach but a stint at the yellow jersey, adding to a final 9th place and U25 classification made it a very successful race.
Top 10 at Colombian Venteux
Maybe the other big surprise of the season, Rujano went on a very strong season finale, breaking into the podium in Colombia and compensating the not-so-strong bulk of the season he had.
Finishing 17th, but still we completed some of our initial goals, so we can be satisfied with it, mostly cause in those races there were some quite surprising results.
A couple of goals accomplished, which should be helpful for your attempt next season of promoting. Can't wait to see what you have in mind for next season
Also, you can't have 5 race goals in a season. One of those isn't a real goal
Aquarius97 wrote:
A couple of goals accomplished, which should be helpful for your attempt next season of promoting. Can't wait to see what you have in mind for next season
Also, you can't have 5 race goals in a season. One of those isn't a real goal
Yeah I commited many mistakes this season I very little idea of the details when I first joined, next season I'm confident that the team will be much stronger.
And yeah now that I saw it I think you're right, although the goals have been accepted and that was never brought up
This season we took quite a proud stand on how agressive the team was, and it was worthy of putting on a little inside competition, just how many times were these riders in front for the whole day? And this ranking doesn't take into account failed breakaway attempts as it would raise the number significantly
We have several stand-outs here, Ivan Vila was nominated king of the breakaways by the team. Not only did he capture one of the two stage victories of the team after a successful break, he was the one who was in front the most and even the one who tried but failed to be in front more often.
Loanee Michal Schlegel wasn't much behind though, he got himself 27 ranking points solely on consequences of his breakaways and he too was a consistent attacker even when it didn't work.
And in third place we have chosen Andzs Flaksis, the rider with the biggest percentage of race days in front, in the Course de Solidarnosc he was very strong and was on the verge of having an epic solo win.
Total Race Days
Total Race Days (without TT's)
Breakaways
Percentage
120
101
36
35.64%
With Baltasar and Diaz Groiller's day with both in front in the final stage of the Tour of Bulgaria, it gets the total days in the breakaways down to 36, but that still leads us to an impressive 35% of race days (not total stages) with a rider represented in front.
Tomorrow: Season analysis Group 1 (Rujano, Kireva, Groiller, Carboni, Afonso)
Aquarius97 wrote:
A couple of goals accomplished, which should be helpful for your attempt next season of promoting. Can't wait to see what you have in mind for next season
Also, you can't have 5 race goals in a season. One of those isn't a real goal
Yeah I commited many mistakes this season I very little idea of the details when I first joined, next season I'm confident that the team will be much stronger.
And yeah now that I saw it I think you're right, although the goals have been accepted and that was never brought up
It was brought up and you decided to remove your KOM jersey at Tour de San Luis and replaced it with a Top 15 Team Standings Goal. Turns out it was the right goal to replace
I guess you forgot about that change because we discussed it on skype
Aquarius97 wrote:
A couple of goals accomplished, which should be helpful for your attempt next season of promoting. Can't wait to see what you have in mind for next season
Also, you can't have 5 race goals in a season. One of those isn't a real goal
Yeah I commited many mistakes this season I very little idea of the details when I first joined, next season I'm confident that the team will be much stronger.
And yeah now that I saw it I think you're right, although the goals have been accepted and that was never brought up
It was brought up and you decided to remove your KOM jersey at Tour de San Luis and replaced it with a Top 15 Team Standings Goal. Turns out it was the right goal to replace
I guess you forgot about that change because we discussed it on skype
Must be it I lost all skype messages a few months ago... was looking in my PM's and it looked like it was settled, but my mistake I guess
Lovely breakaway analysis for your team! Your team was really active throughout the season and joined a lot of breaks. I like how many differentriders joined breakaways - in the past it often was one rider who joined the breaks all the time. e.g. in my first MG season Vosekalns joined three times as many breaks as the next most aggressive.
Before the season began, Rujano was rated as our team leader, with several co-leaders. He was very constant during the whole season, having had his biggest successes in the backends, winning in Tachira and 3rd in Colombian Venteaux. 15th in Tachira, 20th in Romandie, 11 in Andorra, 14th in Bulgaria added to a solid amount of points.
Rujano gets the first ever victory for the team(Tachira)
Rujano manages to cap off a podium in Colombia
Rider: Albert Kireva Final points (position): 41 (137) Highlight of the season: 10th in Bayern Rundfahrt Rating: 5/10
A solid rider in all terrains, Kireva had a co-leadership role in the cobbles and rode well in Faso, and had a strong Bayern Rundahrt that gave in most of his points.
Kireva on the break on the team's first ever stage(Tachira)
Kireva watched the winning celebration from distance but he did his job well (Faso)
Rider: Guy Diaz Groiller Final points (position): 0 (384) Highlight of the season:34st in Romandie Rating: 4/10
Didn't live up to the expectations of his co-Andorran but Groiller was a more of a team rider during the season. Has had some breakaways to his name and had the chance to put on quite a performance in Romandie where despite his lack of quality he almost broke the point barrier.
Groiller and Baltazar lead the break (Bulgaria)
Rider: Giovanni Carbonni Final points (position): 0 (383) Highlight of the season: Nothing to note Rating: 2/10
Carboni didn't have any show this season but he didn't have that pressure. The team's stagiaire, he rode the Tour of Britain and also Tour de l'Avenir where he gained some experience for the upcoming season.
Rider: Miguel Afonso Final points (position): 5 (300) Highlight of the season: 5th on stage 5 of Herald Sun Tour Rating: 4/10
A time-trialist by nature, Afonso's role in the team was too of pure support. He did some TT one-day races and competed in some stage races and cobbled classics where he was a frequent presence in the early moves.
Miguel Afonso in the day's break (Geraardsbergen-Bosberg)
Afonso in the break (Herald Sun Tour)
Tomorrow: Group 2 (Solis, Flaksis, Rinner, Jiriakov, Passalacqua)
A nice style of wrapping it up, I like it. Some unlucky guys in the first episode though, however also a great flashback to when Rujano won that awesome Tachira stage!
Rider: Óscar Solis Final points (position): 38 (134) Highlight of the season: 2nd in opening stage at the Tour of Bulgaria Rating: 4/10
A very risky bet ever since the start, it was never defined what Solis could do.. The expectations weren't very high, but 2nd in the opening stage of the Tour of Bulgaria and 5th in Andorra had set for major importance (team's two biggest goals of the season). However (Andorra had some bad luck involved) he never seemed to have the power in the following days and cracked out of the Top10. He was set for 13th in Tachira until the final hilly stage cracked him up, 15th in Langkawi, 14th in Andorra, 16th in Bulgaria.
Solis finishing 5th (Andorra)
Solis sprinting for second (Bulgaria)
Rider: Andzs Flaksis Final points (position): 14 (221) Highlight of the season: 10th at Lillestrom GP Rating: 4/10
Flaksis came from the WorldTour where he had been guiding some of the best current cobbled specialists, he came down to CT and was given a leadership role here, but failed to deliver to the expectations. 10th in Lillestrom and and almost solo win in Solidarnosc were the highlights of his season, but he failed on some of his biggest goals completely like the Tour du Faso and Geraardsbergen-Bosberg. He was nonetheless an agressive rider throughout the season.
Flaksis was exhausted but he did a good race to have his first Top10 of the season
(Lillestrom)
He goes solo and almost finishes it off (Solidarnosc)
Rider: Daniel Rinner Final points (position): 12 (235) Highlight of the season: 15th at the Great Ocean Road Race Rating: 4/10
Very early on the team announced an interest in Liechenstein and Rinner was one of the riders hired. He started the season firing at all cilinders with a surprising 15 place in a windy Great Ocean Road Race. He passed most of the season as a reular domestique and in the Benelux Challenge he got to be team leader and was in good shape but couldn't take a result home.
Rinner in the day's break (Benelux)
Rider: Dimitri Jirakov Final points (position): 2 (339) Highlight of the season: 20th at the European B road race Rating: 3/10
The other Liechtensteiner was Dimitri Jiriakov. After a strong display at a mountainous European B road race, he was set out to be a right hand man in the mountains but he never seemed to ride well during the season, surely one of the biggest disapointments.
Jiriakov in the back of the group (European B Road Race)
Rider: Alberigo Passalacqua Final points (position): 2 (327) Highlight of the season: 6th at 8th stage of the Tour of San Luis Rating: 2/10
Not a strong rider, but the goal for Passalacqua was to be the leader of the team in the hillier races, but like Flaksis he failed massively in that. He was too an agressive rider that got in some breaks but a good result never came.
Later finished 6th (San Luis)
Tomorrow: Group 3 (Laizer, Baltasar, Jaser, Claerebout, Goldstein)
Rider: Richard Lainingo Laizer Final points (position): 137 (43) Highlight of the season: Win overall at the Bayern Runfhart Rating: 9/10
Laizer set out as the second option for time-trials this season. But he proved to be the most important as the win in Bayern Rundfahrt after his amazing performance in the ITT was the team's most important moment. It put him as the outright best-scorer of the team and provisionaly in the CT Top 5. He was also 9th in the Windhoek ITT and a 25th at Gent-Wevelgem proved he is capable of riding in the cobbles too.
Laizer powering his way to a mega TT (Bayern)
LAIZER WINS THE BAYERN RUNDFAHRT
Rider: Carlos Baltasar Final points (position): 10 (248) Highlight of the season: 20th at the Giro del Trentino Rating:5/10
He was very agressive, joining many breaks. And he took an opportunity he had to lead at Trentino. Baltasar didn't have the sweetest of seasons but he still showed himself at a reasonable level.
Baltasar closing the breakaway (Tachira)
Baltazar already has a habit of attacking the high mountains (Costa Rican Mountain Classic)
Rider: Nasir Jaser Final points (position): 2 (339) Highlight of the season: 12th at stage 6 of the Benelux Challenge Rating: 2/10
The manager's lack of experience tricked him into hiring a low-level sprinter in hopes to pick up some minor places. Little did he know even that would be way too much.. Jaser is and will remain the Syrian national champion but he never showed his jersey in front in the faster finishes.
lthough badly placed, first time we're seeing Jaser in a sprint finish (Langkawi)
Rider: David Claerebout Final points (position): 3 (317) Highlight of the season: 9th at the Tour of Britain ITT Rating: 1/10
Claerebout was the disapointment of the season. He was bought from PCT squat Indosat and we thouroughly believed he would be an important rider, capable of taking up the team leadership cause of his good time-trialing skills. But he didn't confirm that, and he didn't show any proof of being worthy of a protected role in the team.
Luxembourg champion Clarebout with a solid TT (Slovenie)
Rider: Omer Goldstein Final points (position): 0 (402) Highlight of the season: Breakaway and best placed rider at the Paris-Tours Rating: 4/10
To be fair, no expectations were deposited on Goldstein, he is a 21-year old neo-pro with a bright future so he's here to train for future seasons to come. His agressive display however didn't go by unnoticed, with breaks in the Paris-Tours and the Tour de l'Avenir.
Goldstein showing the Andorran jersey in France (Pairs-Tours)
Tomorrow: Group 4 (Mottin, Vila, Uwizeyimana, Schlegel, Urcelay)
Rider: Hugues Mottin Final points (position): 65 (97) Highlight of the season: 7th at the Isle of Manx ITT Rating: 5/10
He was brought out as one of the strongest CT time-trialists, not a very complete rider but worthy to give some attention. His 7th place at the Isle of Manx ITT was a brilliant result, fastest of the CT riders, and the 11th place at Windhoek backed that up.
Mottin on his way to 6th in his first time-trial of the season (Bayern)
Very strong run for Mottin as he finishes 7th (Isle of Manx ITT)
Rider: Ivan Vila Final points (position): 15 (215) Highlight of the season: Win at 8th stage of the Tour of Langkawi Rating: 8/10
The rankings don't show how valiable was Vila's season. He had 6 full days in the break this year, 2 successful breaks and a win out of them, plus several unsuccessful attempts to be there. Vila's super agressive stature along with his intelligence has earned him a big role in the team as a main rider.
And he does it! Ivan Vila wins the stage! (Langkawi)
A good performance sees the Andorran finishing 4th (Britain)
Rider: Bonaventure Uwizeyimana Final points (position): 68 (94) Highlight of the season: Yelow jersey wearer at the Tour of San Luis and 9th overall Rating:7/10
Bonaventure was given as the team's possible outsider. He was indeed.. a somewhat faded season but his Tour of San Luis saw him ride in second, obtain the jersey in an ITT and keeping his U25 jersey all the way, with a 9th too. A solid 19th in Langkawi also proved his high mountain abilities.
And he did it! Uwizeyimana is leading the Tour of San Luis in the fifth day! (San Luis)
Our guys crossing the line (Langkawi)
Rider: Michal Schlegel Final points (position): 27 (172) Highlight of the season: 2nd at the 4th stage of the Tour of Bulgaria Rating: 8/10
Schlegel came in loaned from WT runner-up team Moser, he came with a support role but soon found himself fighting for a very worthy spot on the team. His broad calendar allowed him to attack a lot and was present in 5 breakaways during the season, most notably arriving 2nd at the 4th stage of the Tour of Bulgaria and getting 2nd at the KOM standings at the Tour of Japan.
Schlegel finishing off in second (Bulgaria)
Schlegel putting on some serious power (Japan)
Rider: Adria Urcelay Final points (position): 0 (365) Highlight of the season: 31st at the Tour de l'Avenir Rating: 3/10
Another rider who is here to evolute, one of Andorra's biggest prospects for the future, Urcelay didn't compete much this season, hopefully next season he'll have a packed calendar. His presence at the Tour de l'Avenir was good with a final 31st place.
The initial and long-term relations with Andorra has had a major confidence boost after the season has ended. The team secured the results within the expectations and having an Andorran winning in the team's debut year was a dream come true.
With that being confirmed in a meeting just a few days ago, the indications for next season were also given. Andorra will remain as the team's main sponsor but they have allowed us to find a secondary sponsor, aswell as more equipment sponsors in order to bolster the team's finantial stability. And there were already many big name companies interested in having their name represented, but we have chosen to make a deal with a recent and fresh company that we're certain to have a big future in the cycling world.
Yes that's right! InGamba will be our sponsor for next season.
InGamba is a very unique company in our business. The starting point for the it was a simple question: What would a cyclist’s perfect week look like? Away from strict diets and schedules and training programs. Just the bike, a beautiful location and a bounty of the best local food and wine.
That fantasy is now a reality. InGamba offers the equipment and support usually reserved for the sport’s elite athletes with the comfort and service of a luxury getaway. Then it takes that unique combination to some of the world’s most incredible locations before adding the most important ingredient of all: Fun.
With this we annouce that next season we will continue our focus in broadcasting and working with the finest Andorran cyclists, but we will have a secondary focus in France. With Mottin as a proof that France has been well represented in our team, we will look to bring in some more French riders into the team.
We do point out that there are, just like this year, no limitations of where our riders can come from. We've had a special relation with our African cyclists and with the disband of some African teams we see a big window of opportunity to keep up that good work, and as always we will keep our eye open at any time to any good deal that may present itself.
So get ready to see in 2018, the Andorra Project - InGamba
Edited by Yellow Jersey on 11-05-2018 22:26
- After a long period of absence of communication, we're glad to be back to inform everybody of the riders that will continue in the team for the upcoming season.
Last name
First name
2017 Wage
2018 Wage
Diff.
Diaz Groiller
Guy
€ 50 000
€ 50 000
€ 0
Vila
Ivan
€ 50 000
€ 55 000
€ -5000
Afonso
Miguel
€ 50 000
€ 50 000
€ 0
Urcelay
Adria
€ 50 000
€ 50 000
€ 0
Our Andorran nucleous will remain the same. With all the same Andorran riders available we are already set to announce these will be the riders that will represent our home nation in 2018. Guy Diaz Groiller and Miguel Afonso will be wearing the national champion colours, a big factor to take in from the management ,who had few reasons to smile at their performance. Adria Urcelay will continue his development in the squad, while Ivan Vila will remain a road captain with big value in the team.
Last name
First name
2017 Wage
2018 Wage
Diff.
Uwizeyimana
Bonaventure
€ 100 000
€ 105 000
€ -5000
Kireva
Albert
€ 100 000
€ 70 000
€ 30000
Laizer
Richard Laningo
€ 60 000
€ 65 000
€ -5000
As last season, we are also proud to announce our interest in the African market. We have decided to keep negotiatons with Albert Kireva, Bonaventure Uwizeyimana and Richard Laningo Laizer, all of them important riders in the team's goals.
As last season we are also continuing our focus and development on the time-trial discipline. With Laizer, Kireva and Laizer, Hugues Mottin is the big gun when it comes to that, and young prospect Omer Goldstein will look to boost his capacities for the future.
Last name
First name
2017 Wage
2018 Wage
Diff.
Flaksis
Andzs
€ 55 000
€ 55 000
€ 0
And finally, Andzs Flaksis. He wasn't meant to stay with the team after last season. But his agressiveness, alongside a brutal win in his national championships, and the interest of the team to renew the squad, his skills will still be much needed for this season.
- The off-season has been very busy with talks with our sponsors which has delayed our announcements, but they are being worked on, and the 2018 season HQ is set to come out in the following days
Ivan Vila was nominated king of the breakaways by the team. Not only did he capture one of the two stage victories of the team after a successful break, he was the one who was in front the most and even the one who tried but failed to be in front more often.
Michal Schlegel wasn't much behind though, he got himself 27 ranking points solely on consequences of his breakaways and he too was a consistent attacker even when it didn't work. 
Andzs Flaksis, the rider with the biggest percentage of race days in front, in the Course de Solidarnosc he was very strong and was on the verge of having an epic solo win. 
