cunego59 wrote:
I'm away from home a lot in the upcoming weeks, so I'll shift to one post per two or three days for the next month or two. We have Pologne, which happened during Le Tour, and San Sebastian next, and then transfer news are coming closer! I have three parts of those and I currently have them scheduled back to back to back before the Vuelta, but I could spread them througout the rest of the season if that's too long without any actual racing or if you find it more realistic. Let me know what you think about that

Croatia14 wrote:
Awesome tour for the team!



Spread them out imo

Another spectacularly successful race for us, given what we expected going in. The sprint competition was pretty weak, allowing Dimitri Claeys an entirely unexpected stage win and Herrada to earn enough bonus seconds to take the overall, thanks to a strong performance on the only uphill finish as well. Nothing to complain here!

What a triumph! Once more we show our superiority in sprints from smaller groups after a hilly race. José Herrada was the vital third part in a team effort that left the others with no chance. It should be noted though that most all the other riders in the Top 10 recently performed well in the Tour de France while our guys specifically peaked for this race, so keep that in mind.

A quiet month on the continental front, but Herrada got a nice win in Italy. We also raced in Austria but got nothing out of it, which was a bit disappointing.

The first and arguably most important annoncement is this: Cofidis has signed a new deal to sponsor us in the upcoming year as well! And after what has been a very successful season up to this point, they've given us a pretty hefty budget increase as well, the effects of which you'll see in coming updates.

	Rider Type	Age	Contract until
Simone Consonni	Sprinter	25	2023
Fernando Barceló	Puncheur	24	2023
Damien Touzé	Sprinter	24	2023
Eddy Finé	Puncheur	22	2022
Attilio Viviani	Sprinter	23	2021

After a fantastic year, Simone Consonni gets a deserved contract extension. To my own surprise, he was willing to sign without almost any pay raise, which we gladly accepted. That, combined with his relatively young age, made me confident to give him a three year deal.

Fernando Barceló gets a three year deal as well. He's not been as prominent as Consonni, mostly due to being in a supporting role for most of the year, but I'm happy with his development and I plan with him as part of our classics leadership group for the foreseeable future. A second place in San Sebastian underscored his potential.

Damien Touzé has been part of a number of succesful sprint trains this year and he's been developing nicely as well. Eddy Finé is a young puncheur who's made some strides and I'd like to see where his development goes. It will be reevaluated in two years.

Attilio Viviani is not someone I'd have signed under normal circumstances to be honest, but his brother Elia was very adamant about wanting him around, so Attilio got a one year deal to match his brother's. They seem to be a package deal, and we'll evaluate them as such come next year.

	Rider Type	Age	New Team
Guillaume Martin	Puncheur/Climber	27	Ag2r
Jesús Herrada	Puncheur	30	Sunweb
Dimitri Claeys	Northern Classics	33	Lotto Soudal
Fabio Sabatini	Sprinter	35	Bardiani
Kenneth Vanbilsen	Northern Classics	30	Alpecin
Stéphane Rossetto	Fighter	33	Total
Cyril Lemoine	Northern Classics	37	End of career
Piet Allegaert	Northern Classics	25	Tarteletto
Matthias Le Turnier	Climber	25	Ag2r

A lot of riders are leaving us, and some big names are among them.

Guillaume Martin is probably the most surprising and also easily the one that hurts the most. He's been nothing short of awesome this year and I wanted to keep him. Understandibly though, he wanted to be compensated for his results. After a few rounds of back and forth, I gave him an offer I was sure he would agree to: almost double his 2019 salary for two years. But I underestimated how important a three-year deal was to him, something I was looking to avoid at that price tag, and so he rejected the offer and ended negotiations. I was stunned and pretty devastated, after all he was responsible for some of our most spectacular moments this season. We can (hopefully) compensate his loss with our free agent signings, but this is still not the signal I wanted to give our team, letting one of our most accomplished riders go.

Jésus Herrada also had a really good season for us. But he, too, was eyeing for a long-term deal, and at his age and with riders like Barceló ready to take on a bigger role, that just wasn't something that I could offer him. We part ways on good terms, and he seeks greener pastures at Sunweb, where Robert Power left a void he's looking to fill.

The exits of Dimitri Claeys and Fabio Sabatini are a bit more straightforward. Both performed decently well but we're looking to fill their positions with younger riders. The same applies to Kenneth Vanbilsen, Stéphane Rossetto and Cyril Lemoine.

Piet Allegaert might be more surprising. Unfortunately, the growth I had hoped for with him was nonexistent and our staff didn't see much potential. He also got hit with Mono halfway through the season, which didn't discourage him from constantly complaining about his lack of race days, consequently being very unhappy in his contract meetings. So, we decided it was best to go our seperate ways.

Matthias Le Turnier was the final cut and one of the tougher decisions in this process. Being a somewhat young French climber, he fits our profile pretty well and he has made some steps forward this year. But at the end of our plannings, looking at which free agents and stagiaires we wanted to sign, there simply wasn't a spot for him left on the roster. We'll keep an eye on him, though.


All in all, a lot of turnover for our team. A lot of tough decisions leave us with nine riders out, but the budget increase allows for even more riders in, and there's some high quality ones among them. Stay tuned!

The third Grand Tour is upon us, we're heading to Spain! Here's what we can expect:

As per usual, La Vuelta is pretty heavy on mountaineous and hilly terrain. With only a short 13km TTT and one longer 41km ITT, the climbers will battle for the GC mostly on the five mountain top finishes. Nine hill stages provide plenty of opportunity for differentiation among the GC favorites as well as for stage hunters.

Note: This is not the real 2020 route.

Leaders	Sprint Train	Herrada's Support
Elia Viviani	Fabio Sabatini	Fernando Barceló
Jesús Herrada	Attilio Viviani	José Herrada
	Julien Vermote	Luis Angel Maté

Elia Viviani gets another shot at Grand Tour stage wins after somewhat disappointing with only one at the Giro. Sabatini is a strong helper, and he gets to ride with his brother for the first time in a World Tour race as well. There are only few sprint stages, but we'll see how it goes.

Jesús Herrada loves the course with a lot of hilly stages. The primary goal is stage wins for him as well, but depending on how the race develops, a decent GC position isn't out of the question either.

Egan Bernal	Team Ineos
Richard Carapaz	Team Ineos
Geraint Thomas	Team Ineos
Chris Fromme	Team Ineos
Romain Bardet	Ag2r La Mondiale
Thibaut Pinot	Groupama - FDJ
Vincenzo Nibali	Trek - Segafredo
Miguel Angel López	Astana Pro Team
Simon Yates	Mitchelton-Scott
Adam Yates	Mitchelton-Scott
Marc Soler	Movistar Team
Rigoberto Urán	EF Pro Cycling
Mikel Landa	Bahrain - McLaren
Rafal Majka	BORA - hansgrohe
Nairo Quintana	Team Arkéa - Samsic
Steven Kruijswijk	Team Jumbo-Visma
Wilco Kelderman	Team Sunweb

After a frustrating Tour de France, Ineos seems to want to take their anger out on everyone in Spain, bringing all four of their top stage racers (plus Sosa). A big cast of other top climbers will want to challenge them though. Quite a few of them have already been to the Tour, so we'll have to see how those have recovered.

Dylan Groenewegen	Team Jumbo-Visma
Elia Viviani	Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
Pascal Ackermann	BORA - hansgrohe
Fabio Jakobsen	Deceuninck-Quick Step
Alexander Kristoff	UAE Team Emirates
Matteo Trentin	CCC Team
John Degenkolb	Lotto Soudal
André Greipel	Israel Start-Up Nation

Probably due to only four flat stages, the sprinting field is pretty weak. Jakobsen, Ackermann and Groenewegen should be the main rivals for Viviani.

cunego59 wrote:
Well, two thirds are still going to be there But yes, a lot of turnover. I expect less in the next few years, when only riders that I've (re-)signed are on the team. And as for the team identity, nationality definetely plays a role in who I sign. I think you'll be pleased with the newcomers in that regard.

Bit of a frustrating opening week. Viviani falls short of his top sprinter status by failing to win one of the flat stages, but then we set it up perfectly on stage 7 after a steep hill towards the finish, only to lose the stage to the breakaway, which finishes 100m ahead of us.

Herrada showed some signs with a 4th and a 10th place and Vermote was in a successful breakaway, but not trusting his sprint he attacked from a few kilometers out and was passed by all of his companions. Onto better results in week 2, I hope!

Having announced nine riders leaving us, we obviously have to fill that void. Today, you'll get a look at the young talents joining us and at the veterans that are getting prominent roles, but won't be absolute team leaders.

	Rider Type	Age	Contract until
Massimillano Utro	Puncheur	20	2023
Hervé Desbordes	Northern Classics	21	2023
Léonard Duchemin	Northern Classics	21	2022
Stephane Guerry	Climber	20	2022

Massimillano Utro is probably as good a prospect as I have ever seen. He already has skills on hilly terrain that make him a competent domestique in World Tour races and a legitimate contender in continental races, he has a strong acceleration and is a complete rider with good resistance and especially stamina, ideal for the classics. If his initial impression is any indication for his development, he'll compete with the absolute best sooner rather than later.

Hervé Desbordes and Léonard Duchemin are two of the more capable cobblestone riders of this year's neo pro class. While not on Utro's level, they should be useful domestiques in the northern classics already and hopefully develop into top riders of their own. Duchemin is the more well-rounded rider, Desbordes is the better rider in terms of pure cobblestone technique, but I have hopes for the both of them.

Finally, Stephane Guerry is the rawest of the four prospects. He is a decent climber, solid on both hills and the TT bike but it remains to be seen if he can develop into a real contender. Still, he'll have two years to prove himself and I see some potential.

	Rider Type	Age	Contract until
Élie Gesbert	Climber	25	2023
Thomas Boudat	Sprinter	25	2023
Adrien Petit	Northern Classics	29	2022

Élie Gesbert immediately lifts our climbing department into new heights. He'll be the premier support option for our new leaders and he's capable of leading in some races on his own as well. Plus, he's still pretty young. A great signing for us.

At the Tour de France, we realized how difficult it was for Laporte to succeed without a proper sprint train. Thomas Boudat is a major step in the right direction, signed with that particular purpose in mind. Although he is certainly capable of winning a few stages, especially in CT or less competitive WT races, his main task for the upcoming year will be to make sure that Laporte reaches his full potential. But Boudat has room to grow himself as well and with three years on his deal, he might take on a more leading role at some point.

Finally, Adrien Petit is a veteran presence that ticks several boxes at once. He's a massive improvement for our cobblestone squad, he is also a very solid sprinter, again improving any sprint train he might be part of, plus he is from Nord-Pas-de-Calais, a region near and dear to our sponsors heart - win-win-win! And all that on a modest price tag for two years. Very happy with this addition.


With seven roster spots now filled, we still have four more open. Those are going to be our new group of leaders. With Guillaume Martin and Jesús Herrada out, they will be the ones to take over as our main sources of attention and ranking points – in addition to Laporte and Viviani, of course. Who are these mysterious riders? Well, keep an eye on this thread and you'll find out soon!

We got our stage win, at least! Good job by Viviani on a stage marked by a pretty significant climb in the first third, but he made it over and recovered to take the win ahead of Ackermann, who so often had gotten the better of him this year.

On the flat stage later in the week, he unfortunately had a puncture close to the finish, but Sabatini did a nice job in his place. Herrada is still doing somewhat well, collecting a couple more Top 10s but he lost a lot of time on the most recent mountain stage and now sits more than a minute outside the Top 10.

A late attack caught the sprinters off guard. In the ensuing chaos, Laporte just barely managed to sneak into the Top 10. Not a great outcome.

Our sprint train that looked very well got derailed by a random domestique of another team, robbing Consonni of what would have otherwise been a very good result in a weak-ish field.

Once their forces are combined though, Laporte and Consonni just wreak havoc. In an absolute domination, perfectly set up by Périchon and Touzé, they can jointly celebrate a long way before the line.

August was an incredible month on the continental scene for us. Preparing for La Vuelta, Viviani took all five flat stages in Portugal and between Herrada and Laporte, we won all four stages in Norway as Herrada also won the GC. Add another classics win for Martin and a few low-key highlights from Nathan Haas and Stéphane Rossetto, and we couldn’t be happier.