Who are we?
We are the worlds only Caribbean cycling project!
What is out aim?
To represent, develop and support cycling across the Caribbean!
Long term Goals?
To run a 100% Caribbean team in the World Tour!
What countries make that focus?
Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and The Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago
Anguilla, Aruba, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Curacao, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Martin, Sint Maarten, Turks and Caicos Islands, US Virgin Islands
Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Mexico, Suriname, Venezuela
Riders - TBCEdited by TheManxMissile on 20-09-2018 20:09
Manager Ripley had to admit he made a rookie mistake with Lowsley, offering only his previous wage and thus less than his new minimum wage. Deals with him and the rest of the team are progressing nicely.
Edited by Ripley on 20-09-2018 21:39
Rumours have leaked that Liberty Seguros is driving a hard bargain with their colombian superstar. The sentiment is that after having won Liege - Bastogne -Liege and Deutschland Tour, Betancur has shown little results in the second half of the year, largely relying on his superb first half of the season. With bad luck in the fall classics, the Colombian was far more seen in his home country Colombia than with his teammates on the road, training.
There has early been notions that Bananito could leave the team after only one season, perhaps in a desperate bid to win back Contador for some final years, the manager's favourite rider. However, at a recent press conference in Tenerife, the manage rhas stated that the team was very successful previous season and aims to keep all of its core team together.
"We are very optimistic for the upcoming season".
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
There are a lot of mixed emotions around Santos HQ as they begin renewals. Due to the crappy young talents who are already guaranteed minimum wage, the big guy Lafar/Rafal Majka is surely leaving the team. The manager has already drunkenly emasculated all of them, which is going to be great for morale.
Meanwhile, after a hostile response to the massive steal attempt on a certain rider by Santos last year, the team which formerly owned that certain rider has bit back, and gone for the prized talent Albini this year. Although the manager of that team may have thought he could take advantage of Santos' relegation and tap up the young rider, management confirm the young Italian is staying. The hard part will be telling the riders, who must be released due to this financial attack, and their families, that they can't return to what is now their home. Saying goodbye is so hard.
In an effort to combat the now not just relegation-related financial problems the team are facing, many riders, including their two most loyal, beautiful and amazing riders, Evaldas Siskevicius and Esteban Chaves, have volunteered to take some at times major pay cuts down or almost down to their ICL-mandated minimum wage to keep the team together. Santos management can't thank them enough for their selfless gesture.
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
Wow, Aviva so far is a team of many riders who are much better in the MG-universe Bertilsson, Christian, Dowsett, Bibby, Tosh, Van Winden, and Monsalve
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
Lufthansa completed their renewals process yesterday, and have since revealed the details of who have re-signed with the team and who have been let go. 22 of the 25 riders on the roster from last season have been retained, with John Degenkolb and Greg Van Avermaet once again lined up to lead the team.
Among those leaving are German youngsters Martin Springer and Klaus Gießner, deemed surplus to requirements. However, the big news is that Richie Porte has left the team after failing to come to an agreement over his wages. Soon after the announcement, Lufthansa team manager said, "We were unconvinced about meeting Richie's wage demands, especially after his sub-par performances last season. To add to that, he has shown a distinct lowering in his performance standards over the winter training exercises. While we still would've had good use for him, we were not ready to be held hostage by his wage demands. We thank Richie for his contribution to Lufthansa over the past two seasons and wish him well for the future."
Porte's highlights with Lufthansa have surprisingly come in two Grand Tours, firstly the Vuelta a Colombia in 2017, which he won ahead of top favourite Aru, and the other in the Vuelta a Espana last season, where he finished 5th, to round out Lufthansa's best result in a GT in their debut WT season. He also achieved 9th place in the Tour de France last season, along with a couple of podium finishes in Paris-Nice and the Tour de Suisse in the 2017 season. Porte's career has reached it's twilight, with people attributing his sketchy form last season to his growing years. He should still be an able leader for a CT team, which is likely where his future lies.
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
Today, Wilier Triestina has anounced that up to 6 riders are confirmed to not continue being part of the squad for the 2019 season. In general, those were aging riders that maybe weren't worthy of a contract in the current status of the team, but whether some of them could be recalled during the transfer season hasn't been clarified
Last N
First N
Country
Age
OVL
Agnoli
Valerio
ITA
34
71,8
De Backer
Bert
BEL
35
71,9
Maté
Luis Ángel
ESP
35
66,7
Bennati
Daniele
ITA
39
67,2
Gatto
Oscar
ITA
34
71,1
Suarez
Juan Pablo
COL
34
70,8
No info about which riders have officialy extended their contracts has been released, except that Jarlinson Pantano received an offer from other team that Wilier Triestina has matched. Rumours says that both Enrique Sanz and Fernando Gaviria have both agreed to their minimum wage offers and will continue riding for Wilier Triestina in the upcoming season, but as we said, nothing official yet
CCC has officially announced riders that has renewed their contracts for upcoming season. List is including 4 young prospects who decided to join us too.
AVG
FL
MO
HI
TT
PR
CB
SP
AC
DH
FT
ST
RS
RC
Diego Ulissi
77,2
67
76
78
72
74
59
67
79
71
71
73
70
74
Juan Chamorro
76,8
70
78
75
70
67
61
65
72
71
76
72
67
72
Winner Anacona
76,3
69
77
75
68
66
58
62
74
69
72
71
69
72
Patryk Komisarek
76,2
75
69
73
71
71
72
77
76
74
71
76
71
72
Mateusz Nowaczek
76,2
71
67
76
69
67
69
70
72
71
74
76
70
71
Diego Ochoa
75,6
70
76
75
66
64
59
64
72
71
77
72
67
72
Ever Rivera
75,4
67
76
74
66
64
60
64
72
72
77
71
67
71
Paweł Poljański
75,1
72
68
75
68
69
68
69
73
74
74
74
68
71
Daniele Dall'Oste
74,8
69
75
73
66
66
59
66
74
72
74
72
68
73
Eugenio Alafaci
72,9
71
64
70
63
67
65
74
74
71
67
71
67
69
Adrian Tekliński
72,3
72
66
69
64
68
64
73
73
71
67
72
69
71
Tomasz Brzeziński
68,8
68
57
60
58
64
59
70
69
69
57
66
65
67
Ernesto Urizar
68,3
59
69
67
54
59
54
57
67
73
62
61
58
62
Wincenty Kubicki
67,8
69
57
68
65
63
62
57
57
61
74
69
64
64
Juan Manuel Palmero
65,0
64
66
64
61
62
63
62
60
68
64
66
70
65
Lechosław Molek
63,3
60
57
61
64
64
60
59
61
69
59
62
61
59
World Tour debut - get into deep water
ICL also has announced teams that will be riding in the WT in the next season. This time CCC Sprandi Polkowice is in that list! Which means we finally get promotion to the best races, including five Monuments and three Grand Tours. What that means for us? It means that we have to be very active in the transfers season if we want to not get relegated after only one year. We know it will be really hard, so we might be open to talks with other managers. We need few pure leaders that will help us in the WT, yet we can confirm that Ulissi and Komisarek are staying with CCC with an unquestionable leader roles.
CCC in the WT makes everything right in the world, much deserved after consistent showings in the CT. Unfortunately for us but great for you, it's Ochoa and Rivera, the amazing duo, who gave you the lift. Glad to see them growing together and staying with you guys Good luck in transfers
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
jandal7 wrote:
CCC in the WT makes everything right in the world, much deserved after consistent showings in the CT. Unfortunately for us but great for you, it's Ochoa and Rivera, the amazing duo, who gave you the lift. Glad to see them growing together and staying with you guys Good luck in transfers
I can't deny it was really fun watching that duo being very active in the breakaways. CCC in real life is making a debut in the WT next year, CCC here will too
Cancellara waves goodbye as renewals are finalised
The renewals of Credit Suisse have been completed this afternoon with the team management releasing a list containing all the riders that have renewed their contracts:
Name
Country
Wage
Age
OVL
Laurent Beuret
140
33
72,6
Simone Ponzi
380
32
75,2
Paul Voss
210
33
73,8
Damiano Caruso
900
32
77,6
Michaël Baer
130
31
72,3
Peter Erdin
190
29
73,6
Michel Koch
230
28
74,3
Andrea Pasqualon
280
31
75
Silvan Dillier
330
29
75,7
Mattia Cattaneo
300
29
75
Salvatore Puccio
530
30
76,2
Marcel Aregger
330
29
75,4
Simon Pellaud
200
27
73,7
Enea Cambianca
190
30
73,5
Paul Lang
290
28
75,1
Sylvain Audebert
180
26
73,4
David Zollinger
200
25
73,7
Massimo Carillo
120
23
68,5
This just leaves 2 riders who were not re-signed for the upcoming season:
Name
Country
Age
OVL
Fabian Cancellara
38
74,5
Martin Kohler
34
69,9
As could have been anticipated, Fabian Cancellara won’t ride for Credit Suisse in the upcoming season. The 38-year-old former superstar of cycling joined the team in its first year in 2017 and was definitely one of the prime factors of the success in the last 2 years. While his results might not have always been the way we wanted them to be, he had a key role in mentoring our young guys and played the “Capitaine de Route” whenever he participated in a race.
In the off-season we sat down to talk about the future of this team and him in particular. As it turned out to be our imaginations of his wage for the upcoming season were differing quite a lot, so we agreed not to sign another contract. Unfortunately, that means we won’t have the current Swiss Road champion among our ranks, but we still want to thank Spartacus for 2 great years with the team and wish him all the best in his last adventures as a professional cyclist.
Edited by Vali on 22-09-2018 16:25
Équipe Cycliste Peugeot has revealed the result of the contract negotiations over the summer. We can report on riders who were dropped from the squad and riders who renewed their contract with new terms. Additionally, five talents join the development squad as part of the Citroën scouting program.
Departees
The following riders have left the team with immediate effect:
Blel Kadri was offered a new contract but it did not meet his demands and he's decided to look elsewhere for a ride next season.
Julien El Fares and Mathieu Ladagnous were not renewed as we're looking to bring more younger riders into the team.
Jon Aberasturi, Antoine Duchesne, Lars van der Haar, Marco Marcato and Danilo Wyss all leave after one season with the team.
Pierrick Fédrigo retired after the Tour de France last year.
Martijn Budding reached the age limit for the development team and was not picked up for the main team.
Arnaud Chapelle, Thomas Hangaard and Johan Marque were dropped from the development team.
Other transfer news
Thomas Voeckler has announced his intention to retire after this year's Tour de France.
Sébastien Hochart and Pierre Rolland have received offers from other teams but we were able to complete contract negotiations with both of them.
Grégoire Lambert will rejoin the main team after spending a season leading the development squad.
Guillaume Amar, Augustin Buron, Gratien Casse. Pascal Jacquin and Guillaume Mayeux will join Équipe Developpement Citroën.
Cool Runnings stepped it up this off-season, and can confirm they have successfully poached two riders away from other teams!
Ciriaco Guirado 23, Pt.5, 300
AVG
FL
MO
HIL
TT
PRL
COB
SP
ACC
DH
FTR
STA
RES
REC
70.4
65
70
67
70
68
53
55
64
72
60
65
64
69
Walter Salmon 23, Pt.5, 250
AVG
FL
MO
HIL
TT
PRL
COB
SP
ACC
DH
FTR
STA
RES
REC
69.4
66
70
68
62
64
56
62
66
68
70
64
67
68
Guirado is a solid Costa Rican stage racing talent, who should be leading the Warm Cycling dev team this season. Not from one of the Island nations, but an excellent chance to promote the project as it develops.
Salmon is a nice punchy climber who will also likely be on the Warm Cycling dev team. The Antiguan will be a key team member in future years and lead the projects development goals!
Sorry to Allianz who held both riders, but we've got a limited project to run and we will fight for anyone who fits the bill.
We have, so far, failed in one steal attempt, but hopes remain strong we could reach a transfer agreement at a later date.
After splashing out on talents and with increases in the stars demands Suntory has just squeezed in enough riders for a full squad within budget. Sadly we have said goodbye to 5 riders including promising young sprinter Ottavio Romano.
We are extremely happy to announce the signing of the top stage racer, Rafal Majka, to lead the team in our first WT season. He joins us from the recently relegated Santos-Euskadi team. Majka caught our eye as soon as our promotion was secured and we were in contact with the Santos management the whole time. They were not pleased to hear we would attempt a steal, after some good spirited talks our team decided to not interfere with their renewals and only make a low steal bid in case they'd have to let him go regardless.
Majka at last year's Vuelta
Majka has a disappointing season behind him, he was unable to help Santos-Euskadi avoid relegation and never looked as comfortable as he did riding for Vegeta. He ended with only 926 prestige points, having scored 1594, 1305, 1726 and 1790 in previous years. His best GT result so far is 3rd at the Giro 2015, among his 12 victories are the Basque Tour in 2016 and the Tachira Tour in 2017. He is now 30 years old, was able to improve his climbing and time trialling in the off-season and has become stronger than ever. We are hopeful he can put the last season behind him and achieve some good results with his new team.
Squad 2019 after renewals and steals
We have extended the contracts of 15 riders after dropping Poels, Minguez and Denifl in the first round. Fuglsang's renewal was hotly debated, he isn't getting any younger and there are a lot of free agents we are interested in. But he captained the team to promotion, agreed to a wage cut and after several years in the CT deserves a final WT season in top condition.
Schorn, Stannard and Valgren's contracts were also renewed. We weren't too happy that Valgren demanded a wage rise despite little improvement in the off season, while Schorn certainly deserved his small raise.
Name
Nat
Role
Average
Wage
Age
Pot
Christian Bertilsson
Sprint Train
73.5
190
28
5
Ian Bibby
Allrounder
72.3
130
33
5
Edward Birch
Domestique
70.7
100
25
5
Mark Christian
Cobbles
72.5
140
29
5
Alex Dowsett
TT Specialist
74.8
270
31
5
Jakob Fuglsang
Stage Racer
77.2
630
34
6
James Lowsley-Williams
Domestique
73.2
170
27
4
Rafal Majka
Captain
80.6
1360
30
7
Philip McCluskey
Domestique
70.8
100
24
5
Jonathan Monsalve
Climber
74.9
270
30
4
Daniel Schorn
Uphill Sprinter
76.0
430
31
6
Jordi Simón
Domestique
73.3
180
29
5
Ian Stannard
Cobbles
75.5
370
32
5
Michael Valgren
Puncheur
75.6
370
27
6
Tosh van der Sande
Lead-Out Man
74.5
250
29
6
Dennis van Winden
Domestique
71.3
100
32
4
Failed steal attempts
We decided on a “conservatively aggressive” steal strategy, placing bids on three big riders, Majka, Kwiatkowski and last season's top WT points scorer, Contador. Since it seemed plausible that the teams would let go of these riders independent of steals – Carbonsports focussing on sprinters again, the other two team on a much smaller budget after relegation – we only offered as little as we felt those riders would accept. To our surprise we were only outbid on Kwiato, but we also failed to grab Contador because our offer just wasn't good enough. In hindsight we really should have bid more, he'd have been worth it for sure. Our campaign celebrating his arrival was premature.
Oh yes, hyped for Aviva in the WT 2018 and Majka is a great way to start - hopefully he shows up for you this year alongside some hopeful new arrivals at the team in transfers. Really excited by your base!
And love the announcement post, surely that's +800 value to your steal attempt right there?
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
This update comes a bit late, management notes, but it's time to talk about our first official signing, our genesis rider, Susumu Yamazaki. The young Japanese rider was spotted at practice crits in the south California area recently, dominating rides against some well-respected domestic professionals. We were not the first team to get in touch with him, a few domestic teams wanting to get him on board for a ride, but he had turned them all down, citing his ongoing university studies in Osaka.
Specialized - Playstation has two home bases established, one in San Dimas, California, and the other in Nagano, Japan. We have been on the hunt for a few good talents from both countries, and when we offered a place to Yamazaki, thankfully for us he accepted, happy with the opportunity to be based at home and continue with his studies, while taking his first steps into the ICL Continental peloton.
"There's something nice about having your first signing on the books as a new team," Tru Blu CEO Blockhuis commented. "It kinda makes the whole thing official, like, we're gonna be riding soon. And a big part of our ethos is to develop young riders from the US and Japan, kind of a pan-Pacific focus, so to have our first signing be one of these talents, it's quite fitting and puts a smile on my face.
We got a few words with Yamazaki, who has flown back to Japan already, and spoke over the phone for now. "I just went to California with a simple holiday in mind during my gap semester, but of course I brought my bike over, and I couldn't help but do some race rides. Even then, though, I just felt so fresh and energized while I was there, it was just the perfect storm. I never expected anyone to be offering a contract, and I got four offers I think! But of course, a Continental team steps in, and they want to sign you as their first rider? How do you refuse an offer like that?
"I'm so grateful to the management at Tru Blu and the staff of Specialized - Playstation, for granting me this opportunity, and for helping me to feel so welcome already. I've been on a couple of amateur teams here at home, but they never felt so friendly and family-like. I never even knew most of the staff members' names on my last team, but I've been out on the town and getting to know my new soigneurs a few times already now, even though the season hasn't even started! I think it's really great."
The Steals Situation
The transfer season has started, and as usual it kicks off with steals. When asked about the topic, Blockhuis was less talkative than normal, but still gave his take. "Well, of course we attempted some steals," he elaborated with a wry smile. "It's a good opportunity to get our footing and get a good leader or super-domestique on the roster, especially since Susumu isn't vulnerable to steals - being a neo-pro - so we don't really have anything to worry about on the other end.
"It'd be nice if one or two of our attempts end up successful, but it wouldn't be the end of the world. The transfer market is still fairly open between teams, and with the unfortunate dissolution of Bunzl, there are some good options in the free agents list as well, though they will likely be hotly contested."
Logo Lamentations
Three days ago, Tru Blu marketing director, Sierra Cuevas, looked over the design for the new team kits, and noticed that there was a small, but at the same time egregious, error. Blockhuis presented this information himself, and detailed it further with a slightly embarrassed smile. "The guy that designed the kit - good guy and all, and I tell you, I saw the upcoming kit for 2019 yesterday and it looks incredible, and it doesn't have this error - but Ms. Cuevas brought to my attention the other day that the ICL logo on our kit apparently isn't the official ICL design, which is kind of embarrassing.
"Of course, the kits were ordered a long time ago, and they're set to arrive within the week, so there's not much else we can do about that. We might get a reorder with the correction made sometime during the season, but in all honesty we might just keep it as well. I don't know, it kind of gives off a charmingly naive vibe, which maybe we are charmingly naive as a new team." He gave a good laugh as he concluded on that, not stating much more on the matter.
Edited by Scatmaster111 on 25-09-2018 14:12
![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
Bertilsson, Christian, Dowsett, Bibby, Tosh, Van Winden, and Monsalve 
John Degenkolb
Heiner Parra
Matthias Frank
Oskar Svendsen
Gianluca Brambilla
Johannes Windischbauer
Joe Richter
Good luck in transfers 
Ciriaco Guirado 23, Pt.5, 300
Specialized - Sony 
