It has been quite an eventful transferperiod for us, despite our aim to keep the core intact. A few rider have been used as a temporary solution, but in the end all riders got a good deal either here or elsewhere, so we are happy to present the changes to the roster of 2019:
Not renewed:
#119 Georgos Tzortzakis | 243 pts
#134 Robin van der Hugenhaben | 218 pts
#234 Armanto Archimandritis | 120 pts
Returned from loan:
#212 Romain Le Roux | 137 pts
A total of 1.515 points averaging at 137,7 points pr. rider left the team during the off season.
Quite notably our team reduced GC riders, puncheurs and sprinters. Among the lost riders were also some that improved over the off-season such as Vliegen, Fabbro and Stocker while others (the non-renewals) all decreased. So some changes were bound to happen, but 11 riders out was quite drastic.
<--- ARRIVALS
Adrien Petit Alexis Vuillermoz Michail Mavrikakis Michail Kortsidakis Francesco Bongiorno Dario Cataldo Matteo Rabottini Salvatore Mancuso Andreas Stauff
Stagiares: Matic Veber Gorazd Per
Away on loan: Stylianos Farantakis Miltiadis Giannoutsos Ioannis Kiriakidis Aimiliano Vila
The team have strengthened the recognizability by adding no less than 6 greek riders, 2 french riders, 4 italians, 1 german and 2 slovenian stagiares. Petit and Stauff supplement the sprintersection to add more quality than last season, while we fully excpect Bongiorno to be on a higher level than both Chamorro and Vasyliv. We however have lost a bit of quality in the area, but have tried to close the gap with better depth riders such as Cataldo, Vuillermoz and Rabottini.
PRESENTATION
Here is a glimpse of our full 2019 setup. Trainings have not been included, as they are still undecided in their full details.
Stauff and Petit look a very strong leadout duo for Coquard if you decide to use all 3 together but knowing you I expect they will take it in turns to leadout Coquard/ Go to the clashing race.
Lecuisnier doesn't have much support for a TTT but the depth in Mo and hills looks nice, will be interesting to see if Bongiorno supports Leuisnier or if he is allowed to Lead or Stage/KOM hunt the non Lecuisnier races.
Nice to see you upping your focus on your sponsor nations whilst still getting quality additions.
I want to make a comment on your Loan Outs but it's all Greek to me
Yeah we made the potential last man in the leadout very strong now. When Tzortzakis was there for Coquard he often performed really well...
Obviously having 3 strong sprinters mean that we have to take advantage of that. We also have riders like Sascha Weber, Rudy Barbier, Pascal Ackermann and Maxime Daniel who could help in a leadoutscenario, so we don't necessarily need to man-mark Coquard... We don't know if he'll get 3 star favorite that often. I could see him not being a 3 star favorite more often than not unfortunately.
The TTTs are not for us no. Lecuisinier, Vlatos and Ioannidis are the only 70+TT'er in our team. In the future, if Lecuisinier proves a potential GT podium rider it might make sense to add something there.
Croatia14 wrote:
Really a shame you picked up Per and Veber that late, hoped that I could pick them up to develop them faster with the amateur team.
Yeah I kinda get that. I felt the same way when I saw Soulious picked up. The slovenian riders were the best suited for those races I wanted some assistance in unfortunately. And it was more fun signing two slovenians than 1 from Slovenia and one from Africa.
Atleast they will get to ride a bit in PTHC and Tour de l'Avenir so they atleast get to develop a bit.
The goals of the season have been announced... Whether they are realistic or not we will let others decide.
Team Standings - Win | TBA | TBA
Tour of Qatar - Win | TBA | TBA
GP Moscow - Win | TBA | TBA
Rund um Köln - Win | TBA | TBA
Tour de France - Top 5 | TBA | TBA
In 2013 Festina announced a new co-sponsor, Canal+, and with that a new and rather massive focus around french talents emerged. During that season a very young trio, signed their first professional contract, but was immidiately loaned out to ride at a more appropiate level. The trio is Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier, Clement Koretzky and Bryan Coquard, and all of them have steadily improved over the course of the years. This season seems to be no different.
After a year away on loan, Lecuisinier re-apperead in the Festina-setup in 2014, being just 21 years old. Despite being very young there was great expectations for the young climber. In his first ever Pro Tour season he finished 183rd in the individual ranking, and while he struggled to really perform at elite level, a 2nd place in Tour de l'Avenir and several U25 top 10 rankings in races such as Dauphine Libere, Paris-Nice and Tour de France he really showed himself as a remarkable talent.
In 2015 he took a big leap when finishing 54th in the individual ranking, and thus climbing 129 spots. Yet again he proved to be among the very strongest of the U23 division taking 2nd in Tour de l'Avenir (again) aswell as claiming 2nd and 3rd in the U23 World RR and TT. He also landed his first ever GC top 10 at elite level when he was 8th in the Tour of California. Adding to that he finished 2nd in the U25 competitions of both the Tour de France and Vuelta a España finishing just outside the top 10 in both races. By now the entire cycling world knew, that Lecuisinier was a name to watch!
In 2016, being just 23 years old, the time for U23 races was no longer a thing, and he had to step up to the elite level, while still being compatible for U25. Landing 23rd in the individual ranking he clearly indicated, that he was now among the top riders in the world. Proves of that came when he helped Spilak to 2nd in the Tour de France while getting 7th himself, and 2nd in the U25 competition again. But the real revelation was at the Vuelta a España where he demonstrated top level getting 4th and easily won the U25 competition.
In 2017 he was one of the most important riders of the team, and it would also be the season where he finally managed to take a stagewin, when he came first over the line in the Tour of California stage 6. Unlike the previous seasons he didn't manage to further climb the ladder of the individual rankings, getting 24th, but he did however get top 10GC of all races he attended, Deutschland Tour being the best where he finished 2nd. He got 7th at the Vuelta a España being slightly dissapointed with his own level, despite easily winning the U25 competition. Something he did in 3 out of 4 GC races of the season.
Last season, 2018, he took another big leap, getting 17th in the individual rankings. He also took not only 1 but 2 Grand Tour stagewins, first claiming one at the Giro d'Italia, but then also taking one at the Tour de France. During his last season of U25 eligeble rider, he managed to win both GT U25 competition, effectively securing him the jersey in every single Grand Tour (twice at the Vuelta). We are unknowing as to whether any other rider have ever managed this feat?! Getting 4th in the Giro d'Italia and 5th at the Tour de France, Lecuisinier also showed that progress was again to be found.
Now he is ready for the 2019 season!
Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier
26yo
Stage Racer
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CO
SP
AC
FI
DH
PR
71
82
75
77
78
80
79
65
67
74
67
66
77
↓↓↓
71
83
75
77
78
80
79
65
67
74
67
66
77
Clement Koretzky too was back from loan-out by 2014 and he immidiately showed a good level, landing 144th in the individual rankings, while claiming two stagewins in the Volta a Catalunya and Tour of Qatar respectively. He also showed very aggressive riding in his quests for KOM points.
The progress remained steady, when he landed 81st in 2015. During the Badaling International it was proven that he was one to watch in the ardennes in the future, and 7th marked him with the better subtop riders. The final race of the season Koretzky played a big role in our kamikaze-attempt for the PT title, which succeded with Koretzky getting 4th, Pichon 7th and Ricco 10th! Most of the season, however was in the name of helping Simon Spilak.
It was again in 2016, but there was no holding Koretzky back anymore. He showed himself as a remarkable GC rider, which had been a relatively unknown feature for him this far. Landing top 10 in Tirreno-Adriatico, Deutschland Tour and Tour of California while also taking a stagewin in California proved this. And while those were new to us, he also managed to get his first ever top 10 in the King of Ardennes, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, when he was 9th. In the individual ranking he sprinted towards the top settling at 33rd.
2017 was a bit of a letdown in terms of overall succes for Koretzky, as he fell back to 54th. Despite not performing as well as we would have liked to, he still managed to take two stagewins in Deutschland and Norway Tour respectively. 5th at the Lombardia proved that he had found himself a favorite race. 10th in the Milano-San Remo found him now very close to making a top 10 in all hilly one day races of the calender.
Koretzky though, is more than ready to achieve his goals!
Clement Koretzky
29yo
Puncheur
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CO
SP
AC
FI
DH
PR
73
71
80
62
77
70
71
63
71
79
73
70
61
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
73
71
81
63
77
70
71
63
71
79
73
70
61
Bryan Coquard was away for another year to get to sprint his own chances a bit, before finally landing at Festina in 2015. Unlike the others he found the promotion difficult, and an unimpressive 394th is the first clock-in at the individual rankings list. We also have to dig very deep to find any notable results, the best being his 9th place in the U25 competition of the Tour of Qatar. A race he would become very fond of! To his defence must be noted, however, that he rode as a leadout for Tzortzakis for most of the season!
By 2016 he started to find his way around the professional peleton, and he managed to finish 113th individually. No wins were secured, but on 3 different occassions he managed to get a stage podium, and getting the taste of what a win would feel like, eventually! When he got 6th in the GP Moscow we saw that he really did have the potential to tease the big names within a reasonable period of time.
And in 2017 this really happened! A huge leap to 31st in the individual rankings show a remarkable progress. And while he only managed to win 1 stage, Tour of Norway stage 2, he was very consistent in the one-day races and GC races aswell! But the big celebration came, when he out of nowhere won the Lac Megantic Classic! Earlier in the season he took 3rd in Tour of Qatar without ever getting a stage podium.
Last season saw an explosion for Coquard. We always knew he was a star in the making, but the progress from 2016 to 2018 was just crazy. Three stagewins, 9 stagepodiums and a win in Lisbon Classic powered Coquard towards the stars. While doing so he also got 2nd in Tour d'Afrique, 3rd in Tour of Qatar and 5th in GP Moscow. This propelled Coquard into 15th of the individual rankings. The best of our french trio!
Coquard have also developped, and we are very interested in seeing if this can be done again!
Having not been active throughout the season was a decision made due to lack of motivation and constant annoyment from the transition to PCM 2018. That hasn't vanished, but motivation is higher that in the past couple of months, so I believe we also need to start keeping our HQ up-to-date again.
Before every season we take a look at our riders and evaluate last season too. These considerations are used to estimate a points-pr-rider "budget" that I keep track on throughout the season.
The estimated points are then re-calculated and history will tell what kind of overall position we can expect.
Name
Expectedpoints
2018 points
Bryan Coquard
1300
1280
Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier
1200
1230
Clement Koretzky
800
802
Maxime Daniel
450
493
Panagiotis Vlatos
350
485
Francesco Bongiorno (X)
350
231
Andreas Stauff (X)
250
0
Adrien Petit (X)
250
0
Sascha Weber
150
176
Charalampas Kastrantas
150
171
Pascal Ackermann
150
95
Aidan van Niekerk (X)
125
129
Dario Cataldo (X)
100
0
Alexis Vuillermoz (X)
100
0
Matteo Rabottini (X)
100
0
Georgios Karatzios
100
70
Michail Kortsidakis (X)
100
0
Stylianos Farantakis
100
0
Nikolaos Ioannidis (X)
75
0
Rudy Barbier
75
32
Michail Mavrikakis (X)
75
0
Salvatore Mancuso (X)
50
0
Gorazd Per (X)
15
0
Matic Veber (X)
15
0
Which gives a total of 6.280 points. Last season we landed 6.316 which gave 3rd place in the PT ranking. We have estimated that this season it will bring us close to 5th, as we don't see a team as dominant as Team Puma-SAP was last season.
We have expected quite a lot of points from Bryan Coquard as we have heavily invested in a leadout train for him, aswell as some major rivals isn't in the division, and some have declined aswell - add to that, we have picked the PTHC races to benefit the most from him. So a small expected increase. A small expected decrease to Lecuisinier however, despite training him in the offseason - but the U25 points he used to collect are no longer possible, hence we had to deduct a bit.
Francesco Bongiorno has been signed on a significant subleaders role, so have been adjusted up according to last season where he was often tied up as a lieutenaint and/or in a double-header leadership.
We have decided to let Vlatos some leeway, as he overperformed last season, while also Maxime Daniel has been given a slight cut.
Riders such as Stauff and Petit was difficult to assign as they had no record from last season at PT level, but figures are given because they have free roles each, aswell as they should pick up some decent GC results and Team GC results from pairing with Coquard.
Both Sascha Weber and Kastrantas must be expected to deliver less than last season, but hopefully not much. Same goes for Aidan van Niekerk, while we on the contrary believes that Ackermann should now be strong enough to get some results here and there.
After the Vuelta a España we will take a look at how things progress.
After 23 races of the calender (38 races in total), we have decided to take a look at what has happened. In the previous post we looked at which points could be expected from each rider with a specific focus on the better riders within the team.
After 23 races we can see that Bryan Coquard is struggling to deliver what was to be expected of him with the added aid in the sprints and the perfect calender. After 23 races he is currently racking up 662 points, which result in a projected total of 993. Having an expected tally of 1250 points we are heavily dependant on him doing well in his remaining races - fortunately for us, most of those remaining races are one-day races, which in general rack up more points pr. race day. The remaining calender for Coquard:
* Nakhon Ratchasima Trophy (One-day race) [PTHC]
* Paris-Tours (One-day race) [PTHC]
* Deutschland Tour (5 stages) [PTHC]
* GP Moscow (One-day race) [WT]
* Tour of Tasmania (3 stages) [WT]
3/5 races being PTHC see an extraordinary need to perform well.
-----
Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier is 571 points, which gives a projected points tally on 1428, with the expected being 1200 we gain aproximately what Coquard is lacking, hence no disaster so far. The issue here is, that Lecuisinier so far did extremely well in his races even winning Tour of Pologne. Just two races left for him:
* Tour de France (GT) [WT]
* Tour of Tasmania (3 stages) [WT]
The biggest race on Lecuisiniers calender is surely Tour de France, but given the expected rivals attending we cannot expect anything better than 5th in the GC which gives around 300 points - With a good overall performance I suspect Lecuisinier can rack up around 500 points and land on a total of ~1100 points, where we then need him to perform very well in Tasmania to secure his expected points. Still possible, but it will require him to keep performing like he did so far - and with quite a bad setup around him at the Tour de France it could be unlikely.
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In the hilly department, Clement Koretzky is looking quite good so far racking up 559 points from his 800 expected. Projected he is set to finish on around 900 points, but we know most of his key races are now behind him. Yet scoring 240 points should be possible from these races:
* Colombo Classic (One-day race) [PTHC]
* Volta a Portugal (11 stages) [PTHC]
* Tour of Tasmania (3 stage) [WT]
* Giro di Lombardia (One-day race) [WT]
Obviously the remaining races aren't the best possible selection for him, with races like Portugal and Tasmania being utter wildcards for him. GC results are unlikely to be present well, but he could perform well in the KOM and stages if he is on the break. We believe him scoring 240 points here is about right. Maybe a little bit less...
-----
From the top riders we move on to the next in line, where we expected the most points - Maxime Daniel. The french cobbler have performed horrible the entire season, and is so far putting in 121 points from his expected 450, and having slim to no chance to score points in the remaining season we now see it as more realistic for him to score 150-200 points. A huge letdown!
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Panagiotis Vlatos is also set to have a season worse than anticipated. He currently holds 115 points from the 350 expected, and having a projected scoring of 299. Not far behind, but to see him actually perform 235 points in the remaining races is very unlikely. Vlatos will ride:
* Tour de Suisse (9 stages) [WT]
* Tour de France (GT) [WT]
* Chrono des Herbiers (One-day race) [WT]
* Deutschland Tour (5 stages) [PTHC]
* Tour of Tasmania (3 stages) [WT]
On paper it doesn't seem bad, but in Qatar and Praha he wasn't strong enough in the GC to actually deliver the points we need. He really needs to perform well in Deutschland Tour to get the needed points aswell of him getting a top 5 i Chrono des Herbiers which is unlikely.
-----
From the bad stories we move on to the bright ones! We start with Francesco Bongiorno. We expected him to secure 350 points which was a bit of a stretch looking at him scoring 231 last season in the PT winning team. Yet he already scored 333 points and thus only needing to score 17 points. It feels unlikely that he won't score atleast that from his remaining races:
* Criterium du Dauphine Libere (8 stages) [WT]
* Volta a Portugal (11 stages) [PTHC]
* Giro di Lombardia (One-day race) [WT]
To expect 500 points from him might be a stretch, but we do hope he will get up as close as possible. If he can get 15th from Dauphine as well as maybe a stage result or KOM points aswell as a top 10 from Portugal he will end up with ~150 points, which get's him pretty close. 450 points should be possible, and will help with the underwhelming performance of Maxime Daniel.
-----
Aidan van Niekerk has done wonders this season. First he was riding several days in the KOM jersey during the Giro d'Italia racking up a 3rd and 6th places in stages aswell, and then he turned up the charme during the Vuelta, where he manages a stagewin, a 3rd place aswell as a couple of days in the KOM jersey. Absolutely stunning performances that see him scoring 294 points already from 125 expected. A staggering + 169, and he still have an active 17 racedays, which looks like this:
* Colombo Classic (One-day race) [PTHC]
* Volta a Portugal (11 stage) [PTHC]
* GP Moscow (One-day race) [WT]
* Giro di Lombardia (One-day race) [WT]
We definately doesn't see much room for added points, but a bit of luck could see him in top 50 in Colombo, and him fighting for a few points in Portugal aswell as the notoric 5 points from Moscow and Loimbardia and he will end up above 300 points - maybe 350 if he does something crazy down the road.
-----
Charalampas Kastrantas is usually performing quite well and getting some breakaway luck throughout his seasons, but this season have been nothing short of spectacular! A decent season throughout was crowned with 1-2-3 on stages during the Vuelta a España aswell as numerous days in the KOM jersey. Kastrantas is - similarly to van Niekerk - already close to 300 points with 288. Where the difference is, is in the remaining racedays where Kastrantas have a lot! He is projected to score 446 points if he can keep his pretty consistent scoring up - Which he obviosly won't. These races will conclude his season:
* Criterium du Dauphine Libere (8 stage) [WT]
* Colombo Classic (One-day race) [PTHC]
* Volta a Portugal (11 stages) [PTHC]
* Deutschland Tour (5 stages) [PTHC]
* Giro di Lombardia (One-day race) [PTHC]
We have to hope, he stays active and scores a bit of KOM and stagesucces in the remaining 28 racedays. We believe 350 points should be possible.
-----
The remaining riders is generally speaking looking to score around what was expected of them. Our sprinters, Stauff, Weber, Petit and Ackermann are underperforming, and is looking to lose 300 points in total, but a decent result or two can cut that into half the difference.
The other riders are looking to create a positive of 200 points, so we think the domestiques of the team will end up landing within a reasonable outing of the "budget".
-----
If we look solely towards the projected points remaining, we are set to end up with a total of 6.520 points - we expected 6.280. If things go according to plan we SHOULD end up in top 5, but as long as the rankings are so unpredictable, we could well end outside aswell.
We definately know what to do in terms of next season though. Our expensive leadout sprinters need to be cut in numbers and replaced with better GC possibilities and/or riders that can chase lucky breaks. But we are heavily concerned with riders like Bryan Coquard who we invested very heavily into.
Finally the Tour de France is upon us, and being a team with a fair few french riders in stock it is obviously a priority race for us.
We are here mainly to fight for a good GC result from the indisputed Team leader, Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier, knowing that he isn't likely to win the race. For numerous reasons. 1 He isn't the strongest, 2 His team isn't all too great for controlling the situation and 3 TTT isn't our thing - as in not at all...
That said, we have tried to feature our most well-rounded team for Lecuisinier, and hope that it will be enough.
With him is Timetrial star Panagiotis Vlatos and fellow greek timetriallist Nikolaos Ioannidis. Next in line are domestiques Dario Cataldo, Alexis Vuillermoz and Michail Mavrikakis. All of which are decent climbers, but lacking timetrial abilities.
Andreas Stauff is here to lead the potential flat stages, and in order to position himself the best possible he has been able to pick Rudy Barbier alongside him.
The first week will probably determine how we can expect the race to end up. We start out with a flat stage where Stauff have his chance to setup a good opener for us, while stage 2 and 4 are more suited for Lecuisinier. Hopefully he will attempt to be in the mix on stage 4 atleast. In between is another sprinters stage - but it might be too difficult for Stauff with a good lump late in the stage.
Stage 5 will be very deciding for us, as we need to limit the time lost to the other GC riders, before we move in to the mountains of stage 6. We need Lecuisinier to claw back time immidiately to pose a threat for the overall GC podium.
After two difficult stages we are in for a LONG flat stage to hopefully recover a bit, and focus on something else - Andreas Stauff...
The second week is very lumpy and looks like something for the breakaway specialists. In theory two stages are for Stauff, but we believe stage 10 will be too difficult. Maybe stage 11 could see him give it a go.
Stage 8 and 9 is definately something for the breakaway, but we need to be alert for Lecuisinier to not drop in the GC fight, while the stages 12-14 looks to suit him very well with two difficult mountainstages and a fairly long ITT.
The final week looks very difficult, and thus suits Lecuisinier well... Hopefully the 3rd tier riders won't be too succesful in their breakaway attempts as this could be where Lecuisinier scores the majority of his points.
Yuriy Vasyliv | 267 pts
Juan Ernesto Chamorro | 137pts
Jocelyn Bar | 112 pts
Loic Vliegen | 84 pts
Matteo Fabbro | 81 pts
Emerson Santos | 73 pts
Manuel Stocker | 43 pts
Georgos Tzortzakis | 243 pts
Robin van der Hugenhaben | 218 pts
Armanto Archimandritis | 120 pts
Matic Veber
