The team management for Lufthansa welcomes everyone to the Team Presentation and Jersey Reveal for the 2019 ICL season. Without further ado, let us look at the list of 25 riders who will be riding for Lufthansa in this season of the ICL.
Team Leaders
Name
Speciality
John Degenkolb
Northern Classics/Sprinter
Simon Yates
Puncher
Joseph Dombrowski
Climber/Stage Races
Michael Matthews
Punchy Sprinter
Andrea Palini
Sprinter
Leading the line for us over the cobbles and in certain flat races is John Degenkolb, who continues with the team for the second season. His role will change slightly from last season to focus and little more on the Northern Classics and other cobbled races.
Simon Yates is the first of our big-money signings this season, and will immediately take up the vacant leadership role on the hills. With many years ahead of him, this is one signing that should pay dividends for a few years to come.
In a similar vein, Joseph Dombrowski joins as the leader on the mountains, taking over from released Richie Porte. This is another rider we believe can further improve in the future.
Michael Matthews will bring in some extra firepower on the punchy sprints to share the load and sometimes assist Degenkolb. He will even pair up with Yates on the profiles with easier gradients with the hope of mounting a two-pronged attack for us.
Andrea Palini joins us an out-and-out sprinter, taking over some more load on the flats from Degenkolb.
Climbers
Heiner Parra
Gianluca Brambilla
Jeroen Meijers
Emanuel Buchmann
Julian Runge
Denis Kathmann
Punchers
Zico Waeytens
Marco Platania
Sprinters
Raymond Kreder
Phil Bauhaus
Johannes Windischbauer
Northern Classics
Philip Lavery
Nino Honigh
Time-Trialists
Oskar Svendsen
Julien Vermote
Domestiques
Ronan Van Zandbeek
Mario Vogt
Casper Van Folsach
Denis Kathmann
Emil Ritter
David Andrich
Lufthansa 2019 Jersey
Spoiler
Once again, we would like to thank krisa for his work on this excellent new jersey.
Deutsche Bahn Team and Jersey Presentation
The Deustche Bahn team management present the first batch of young cyclists who will represent the team in the 2019 season. We would also like to reveal our first ever jersey that the cyclists will wear this season.
Name
Speciality
Martin Jansen
Climber
Hans-Georg Nentwich
Stage Races
Pantheras Dimas
Sprinter
Jürgen Reuter
Climber
Carl Ilsanker
Stage Races
Tobias Krautberger
Puncher
Lutz Berg
Classics
Joe Richter
Climber
The squad is a bit climbing heavy, but we will be traveling to all U23 races with the hope of challenging in some of them. We are excited to see how the next generation get on against the best in their age group from across the world.
Deutsche Bahn 2019 Jersey
Spoiler
We would like to thank krisa again for his work on this great first jersey for our development team.
Oh boy, welcome to the World Tour. Our main team will only tackle the two WT races in January, the Palm Classic and the Tour of Toowoomba. We cannot expect anything from the former, maybe Schorn will pick a good rear wheel. We have slightly more hope for Toowoomba, we're bringing a semi-decent TT team (76, 76, 73, 72, 72, 71, 71). Thomas and Fuglsang co-captain, we'll see who'll do better on the hilly stages.
Our dev team will make its maiden appearance in the Copa America de Ciclismo. There's absolutely no pressure, not in any race, the young lads should enjoy themselves and a few of them should think about an alternative career to take up after the season is over.
February sees the main team compete in the Vueltas a Mallorca and Pais Vasco. Mallorca is the only race of the year Monsalve (MON 76) gets to captain, with limited support. Generally we don't take CT races very seriously, we need our best riders in the WT. Pais Vasco will be the first race for Majka, a race without mountains, which seems wrong. But he is our best bet on hilly terrain and the time trial suits him, so we hope for an early good result from him. Fuglsang will hopefully add more points to the scoreboard.
Despite the massive amount of experience of our rather old squad has there was a lot of nervousness ahead of Aviva's first season as a World Tour team. The quality at the top level is daunting, would our men stand a chance?
The Palm Classic confirmed our fears that we cannot compete in mass sprints. Just 8 WT points from this race. Schorn underwhelmed as 34th, he was even beaten by his lead-out man Bertilsson. 33rd with his SPR 74, that's at least a very good result for him.
So there was some pressure to do better in the Tour of Toowoomba, though another low-scoring race also seemed possible. Fuglsang and Thomas together are 67 years old but still in their prime. The slightly uphill finish of stage 1 wasn't very selective, but saw Fuglsang finish an excellent 4th.
Next up was the team time trial. We have not invested much into this discipline, our only specialist is Dowsett, whom we hung onto for sentimental reasons, plus he's the reigning UK TT champ, his last race of the season was his best. But we made sure we hired some domestiques with TTR 70+, and we are proud of how we performed, finishing 5th.
Fuglsang and Thomas were 14th and 15th in the GC after the stage, within 18 seconds of the lead, but there were few riders they could realistically overtake on the tough stage 4 and lots of good puncheurs close behind. But first came stage 3, on paper a flat stage for the sprinters. But several captains were involved in a big crash, including Fuglsang and Dowsett. The latter would abandon together with Kwiatkowski and Pinot, a small loss, thankfully, he'd already done his job in the TTT.
And then Thomas had the audacity to attempt a late attack and it paid off, he won just ahead of Mohoric! Our first WT win so early on, simply fantastic.
Stage 4 was also far better than expected. Fulgsang was able to follow the attacks by the favourites and finished 6th. Thomas only lost 30 more seconds and so both our captains finished inside the top 10 in the final GC. Well done, men!
At most we had hoped one of them could end in the top 10, depending on who had the legs and how aggressive our opponents were. But 5th and 8th was beyond our wildest dreams. Plus the prestigious maiden win! If we have to nitpick, it was a slight shame that Valgren was unable to score, finishing 34th. Sadly, he was dropped in the TTT. But Dennis van Winden alone more than made up for that, he represented us in two breakaways. And to top it all off, we were 3rd in the teams classification!
The Tour of the Basque Country saw the first appearance of our new captain Majka, returning to the race he won in 2016. We felt the profile suited him, with two long-ish uphill finishes where his climbing could come into play, the same seemed true for Fuglsang.
Those two stages turned out to be decisive for the GC. Sadly, Fuglsang was MIA both days, losing over 7 minutes each time. Majka was great on stage 3, causing the final selection with two attacks, and was only beaten by Mollema, gaining a good chunk of time on most opponents. But the next day he wasn't as strong, he couldn't keep up with the best riders, finishing 7th and losing more time than he gained the previous day, dropping from 2nd to 5th in the GC.
He also rode a fairly disappointing ITT on the final day, but his GC position was already set in stone, he couldn't have overtaken Pinot nor did he have to fear Villella. 5th overall is slightly less than we'd hoped for, but a solid result nonetheless.
Like his captain, our new puncheur Hardy did very well on stage 3, which led to him finishing 23rd overall, two positions ahead of Fuglsang. Jordi Simon had a productive breakaway performance on stage 5, collecting enough KOM points to finish 6th in the climbers ranking.
Our team also took part in the Tour of Mallorca, but as previously discussed, with very rare exceptions we only send our domestiques to the CT and aren't interested in the prestige rankings, remaining in the WT is too important a goal. Nonetheless, Monsalve should probably have made the top 20 on paper and was only 68th overall. At least Van der Sande managed two good results in mass sprints, besting some stronger opponents. In the future I will only mention CT races in case of an exceptional result, but that seems rather unlikely.
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Total
Majka
216
216
Thomas
176
176
Fuglsang
173
31
204
Hardy
0
21
21
Fernández
Hart
Schorn
4
4
Duarte
Dibben
0
0
Valgren
0
1
1
Stannard
14
14
Monsalve
Dowsett
2
2
V. d. Sande
0
0
Bertilsson
4
4
Simón
15
15
Lowsley-W
Christian
Bibby
Meyer
2
2
Cuming
0
0
0
S. v. Winden
D. v. Winden
4
0
4
McCluskey
Birch
Total
379
284
663
RDs
7
6
20
17
28
19
23
19
33
8
13
Pts/RD
54.1
47.3
51.0
March Preview
Two of our three focus races are in March. The Vuelta a Tachira, 10 days with a lot of climbing but no time trials. Majka leads the team and is supported in the mountains by Geoghegan Hart, Duarte, Monsalve and Lowsley-Williams. And then there's Dwaars door Vlaanderen with Thomas, Dibben and Stannard. A "cheap" one-day race in case we fail, our riders are never among the favourites in the classics.
That is our only visit to the CT division in March, the rest of our races are the WT classics. We can't expect a lot of points from these races, the predictions always put us outside the top 10. We hope for consistency and depth and maybe a day with Thomas in top form.
There is never a boring day covering Santos - Euskadi. There's also never one where I don't fear for my life or question my sanity, but I think that all rolls together in its own package. The latest twist: they're good?
2
Davide Appollonio
Santos - Euskadi
+ 34
2
Davide Appollonio
Santos - Euskadi
s.t.
1
Davide Appollonio
Santos - Euskadi
2h43'31
1
Davide Appollonio
Santos - Euskadi
149
2
Esteban Chaves
Santos - Euskadi
+ 32
2
Argiro Ospina
Santos - Euskadi
+ 33
2
Argiro Ospina
Santos - Euskadi
s.t.
2
Argiro Ospina
Santos - Euskadi
+ 41
1
Argiro Ospina
Santos - Euskadi
3h55'16
1
Argiro Ospina
Santos - Euskadi
3h40'16
1
Argiro Ospina
Santos - Euskadi
22h17'05
1
Argiro Ospina
Santos - Euskadi
29
1
Esteban Chaves
Santos - Euskadi
2h34'56
1
Esteban Chaves
Santos - Euskadi
6h59'51
2
Luca Wackermann
Santos - Euskadi
s.t.
4
Luca Wackermann
Santos - Euskadi
s.t.
3
Argiro Ospina
Santos - Euskadi
451
7
Davide Appollonio
Santos - Euskadi
296
8
Esteban Chaves
Santos - Euskadi
287
2
Santos - Euskadi
CT
1132
4
Santos - Euskadi
CT
1132
Yes, in a stunning turn of events the laughing stock of the WT 2018 have turned their shame into being really bloody good at bicycling, winning two GCs, four stages, two classifications, with further podiums and a whole host of fourths (not all listed) to accompany them.
After two years in the second seat of the Santos stage racing department (though his brace of Tour de France stage wins outshone Rafal Majka's efforts last year) Argiro Ospina has taken to being the main man like a duck to eating bread it's apparently not supposed to, duelling Dominik Nerz in Oman and Argentina and splitting the spoils to put himself 3rd in the CT Individual Rankings. His former role of second leader has been ably filled by Esteban Chaves (a diligent but unmemorable domestique as a new addition to the ill-fated WT 2018 squad) who came 2nd in Akaroa before winning across the ditch in Canberra.
Long-term lead sprinter Davide Appollonio has been slightly under par, which due to his many race days still resulted in many Top 5s and a stage win resulting in a great points haul, whilst new star Luca Wackermann rebounded from a disappointing start in Gabon with two strong one-day rides, with 2nd in the Clasica Iberica and 4th in Roma Maxima in a stiff WT-level field, both times backed up by a teammate in the Top 10 and two more in the Top 20.
It's been a crazy first two months and it has brought the mentally broken management team well out of their post-relegation issues and back onto the crazy ride of Santos - Euskadi with smiles on their faces - we are once again drinking copious amounts of Basque ciders and wines, but this time for a good reason. With predicted rankings winners Fabio Aru and Ceramica 1000 points in the rear-view mirrors, it's a breeze from here in the eyes of Santos - Euskadi's management team. Let's hope that attitude doesn't spread to the riders, who look hungry and determined for a second shot at the World Tour in 2020.
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
Up until the beginning of February, the season hasn't looked too well for the traditional climbing-heavy squad from Spain. With crashes of its rising star Mathieu Van der Poel in Toowoomba and the Basque Country, the team lost vital points early on and at least some consolidation points through the U25 jersey. Hardly any appearances in the breakaways did its remaining part to place Liberty Seguros, former World Tour ranking winners, in the last position of the WT ranking of February.
Since March the situation has brigthened a bit. Carlos Betancur has started his racing and came in full swing with a third place at Strade Bianche and securing a stage win and 4th at Vuelt a Tachira. This show of form preps him well for his later main target the Giro d'Italia and the fall classics. Of course, Liberty would also like to see a repeat of the LBL monument win of last year but with the recent display of Kwiatkowski in full form and the rise of many classic riders, it will be difficult to gain an edge in the rolling hills around Liege.
The cobbles campaign has been meanwhile off to a rocky start with little to show for the continuous training in recent years. After some good results in early spring, Tony Gallopin seems to have disappeared again and Roberto Romero Martinez continues to fail at hanging on with the top cobblers, losing minutes and generally placing in the outer Top 10s. "We have hoped for more", stated Liberty's manager, "but so far the cobbles campaign has been very underwhelming. Our goal is to secure another Top 10, preferably in one of the monuments but realize that our current squad still lacks the last few points to make a difference here". When asked about the long-term goals, it seems that the cobbles campaign may be dished aside in the next few years if there is not some significant progress soon.
The Vuelta a Tachira was our first focus race, so we were even more nervous than usual. The opening stages were excellent, even though Schorn missed out on a stage win by a hair. But what a team performance on this (admittedly flat) stage by the team: 2nd, 8th, 11th, 19th, 23rd, 25th, 31st. That makes us feel like we really belong in the World Tour.
Tao Hart quickly moved into white and we were even leading the team rankings after stage 3. After several tough stages the GC still seemed wide open ahead of the brutal 9th stage. Contador proved unstoppable, Bardet had to settle for 2nd, our captain Majka had a great day, thankfully, and emphatically pushed Betancur off the podium.
Sadly, Hart lost the white jersey he'd been wearing since stage 2 on the last day. He finished 18th in the GC, directly followed by Duarte, solid performances by both of them. In fact, the whole team did very well. We are extremely pleased with the Vuelta a Tachira and the whole WT season so far.
However, we will lose a little budget from our second focus race, the CT.1 Dwaars door Vlaaanderen, only scoring 40 of the 48 points necessary to break even. We cannot fault the team for being passive: We rode very aggressively, two men made it into the early breakaway and after they were caught Stannard and Dibben set off together with two other riders. None of this worked out, more support for Thomas in the finale might have been a better idea. Our captain finished 10th, Dibben was 21st. A realistic result considering the competition, we always knew that the focus races would be tough.
But Thomas eventually outscored Majka this month, both used 10 (WT) RDs, despite Majka having such a successful Tachira performance. Just a fantastic string of results for the currently best British rider in the world: 3rd in a strangely passive Omloop, 4th in a hotly contested E3, 5th in Gent-Wevelgem as well as 16th in Milan-Sanremo. What a great signing he's proven to be.
We are also happy about some depth scoring: Schorn was 10th in Gent-Wevelgem, this might well be his best one-day result all season, Valgren was 11th in the E3 thanks to joining the early breakaway, Stannard was 15th in the Omloop while Dibben was 25th and 20th in the E3 and Gent-Wevelgem. Meanwhile, Bibby was our best rider in the tough Strade Bianche, best of the breakaway riders, even briefly helping the later winner Kwiatek, and finished 17th, a fine individual result for him.
Tallied up, Aviva has moved into 2nd in the WT teams ranking, only behind Grupos Argos. The ds only said: “I'm flabbergasted.”
WT Points 2019
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Total
Majka
216
365
581
Thomas
176
404
580
Fuglsang
173
31
2
206
Hardy
0
21
3
24
Fernández
Tao Hart
94
94
Schorn
4
90
94
Duarte
42
42
Dibben
0
32
32
Valgren
0
1
46
47
Stannard
14
32
46
Monsalve
0
0
Dowsett
2
2
V. d. Sande
0
0
0
Bertilsson
4
0
4
Simón
15
15
Lowsley-W.
0
0
Christian
4
4
Bibby
26
26
Meyer
2
2
Cuming
0
0
0
0
S. v. Winden
0
0
D. v. Winden
4
0
4
McCluskey
0
0
Birch
0
0
Total
379
284
1140
1803
RDs
7
6
20
17
28
19
23
19
33
8
33
Pts/RD
54.1
47.3
57.0
54.6
April Preview:
We expect nothing from the Ster ZLM Tour, the only WT stage race this month, our sprint quality is about the lowest in the whole WT, so we can only hope for a breakaway or two and some KOM points.
Thomas has been on fire so far and could deliver more good results in the Ronde and Paris-Roubaix, but that's far from certain. Even less certain are any results in the Ardennes Week, though Majka will captain LBL with decent support and could net a good result. So we could make the top 10 with our captains in the monuments, but not in the other races, which also includes the Trofeo Campania.
The Ster ZLM Tour wasn't the low point of the month we thought it would be. This is mostly due to Michael Cuming, who joined the right breakaway to collect KOM points and finished 3rd in that ranking. With that breakaway he scored as many points as Dibben did in all the northern classics combined. Schorn was mostly out of his league, though he did finish 10th once and, more crucially, picked up a single bonus second which was enough to place 15th overall.
Thomas had made the top 5 in all the northern classics in March, he wasn't quite as strong in the two monuments: 7th in Paris-Roubaix was another fine result, but 15th in the Ronde was slighty disappointing, we thought this race would suit him the most. He was also our best rider in the Trofeo Campania, beating his team mate Dowsett, though both failed to make the top 25.
The Amstel Gold Race wasn't much to shout about, while the Fleche Wallonne was the first real disappointment of the season. In Holland none of our riders made the first or second group and all finished outside the top 25, though four of them scored some points. But in the Fleche Wallonne Hardy was our best rider and even he was only 44th, the worst result in Aviva's existance.
Majka captained the team in Liege-Bastogne-Liege and finished 10th, which was the expected result. Once again his team mates failed to impress, only Hardy scored a couple of points. We need to scour the market for a better puncher.
Team manager Ripley found time for a quick interview:
Q: "Ripley, how do you rate Aviva's season so far?"
A: "A+, clearly. We only have one goal this season, to avoid relegation. And we've already taken a big step towards that goal."
Q: "Won't you aim a little higher after the good start?"
A: "No. Look, the competition is extreme and we've been really lucky so far, including profiting from crashes from other teams' captains. It can go the other way very quickly."
Q: "But there is more to the very good start than just luck?"
A: "The riders' performances, of course. But also the calendar. Majka used 16 of his precious race days in February and March and Thomas' favoruite terrain came early in the season so it was important to score well in the first three months to avoid a rocky season. We'll be more anonymous the rest of the year."
Q: "What was your personal highlight so far?"
A: "Thankfully, there are several to choose from. I'll go with Thomas' win on stage 3 in Toowoomba, our first WT victory. As I said, the competition is immense, good results are hard to come by, winning seems just about impossible. But Thomas has done it!"
Aviva WT 19 Scoring
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Total
Majka
216
365
70
651
Thomas
176
404
172
752
Fuglsang
173
31
2
9
215
Hardy
0
21
3
4
28
Fernández
Tao Hart
94
94
Schorn
4
90
30
124
Duarte
42
0
42
Dibben
0
32
26
58
Valgren
0
1
46
26
73
Stannard
14
32
7
53
Monsalve
0
0
Dowsett
2
4
6
V. d. Sande
0
0
0
0
Bertilsson
4
0
0
4
Simón
15
15
Lowsley-W.
0
0
Christian
4
0
4
Bibby
26
0
26
Meyer
2
0
2
Cuming
0
0
0
58
58
S. v. Winden
0
0
0
D. v. Winden
4
0
0
4
McCluskey
0
0
0
Birch
0
0
0
Total
379
284
1140
406
2209
RDs
7
6
20
17
28
19
23
19
33
8
50
Pts/RD
54.1
47.3
57.0
23.9
44.2
May Preview:
The month starts with our home race, the Lincoln GP, Thomas is the captain, Schorn is there for a sprint, we expect little. The team for our first ever Grand Tour isn't terribly threatening. Our CT star Fuglsang gets to captain, Duarte, Monsalve and Lowsley will support him, or hunt for stages and the KOM jersey. Schorn, with the help of van der Sande, is there for sprints, but obviously those aren't a priority for us.
A long internal debate saw Majka racing the Basque Tour rather than Sochi, so we only have Ruben Fernandez and Tao Hart for the GC in Russia. Neither of them are particularly good against the clock, but they get support in the TTT from Dowsett.
We were able to catch up with Willie McRettin, manager of KBC-Godiva, from the Lotus Garden Mediation Center in Carmichael, California following stage 6 of the Tour of California.
Willie, how are you feeling after today's time trial, Mullen took 3rd and Yannick Eijssen 21st, both good rides, must be nice to be back on course after both lost all that time yesterday?
The lads did great, just great. Ha you head of veganism? No meat nae dairy, just veg.
That is my understanding of veganism. Losing both your top 5 GC slots to the crash in stage 5 must have hurt, particularly after Henao crashed out of Paris Nice in the same situation?
Henao is great lad, And the big bartender lad Marcel is going well in 158th, he was 156th but he gave himself up for the other lads after the crash. And big Nikolay finished 16th today he is a great lad too. He still drinks that terrible drink but great lad. I've given up alcohol myself.
Mullen would be leading the young rider standings by a big margin if not for losing four and half minutes on Stage 5, how is he taking that?
It was 4'34 not not bleeding four and half minutes. Get your facts right man. But we're over it.
Nerz and Balkan Cycling Project have a stranglehold on the GC, you have a little freedom with your time losses, will your boys be attacking on tomorrow's mountain stage
Nerz is a great lad, great team that Balkan Team, we were doomed from the beginning. Like the Haggis when the hunters get to the top of the mountain and start to beat them down hill. Are Haggis vegan?
What comes next for KBC on the calendar?
Tomorrow, stupid feckin' question. Now, I didnae mean are Haggis vegan, I meant can vegans eat them. Although I suppose they are both good questions.
Definitely. So you say you have given up Scotch, do you have a new favorite drink?
Who said anything about giving up Scotch. I said I gave up alcohol, that's completely different, isn't it? Give up Scotch, ridiculous. Feck me.
Well thanks for your time and good luck with the remainder of the race and the season
Luck, who needs luck, we've got Marcel Dieu on our side.
There's just one British WT race all season and we were keen on getting a good result. It's a tough course requiring the right mixture of COB, HIL and SPR, it's no wonder Sagan defended his title. While none of our men featured in the finale, it was a fine team effort: Hardy was 10th, Thomas 14th, Stannard 21st, Christian 27th, Dibben 33rd, Schorn 40th and Bertilsson 43rd; all seven riders scored WT points.
Our first Grand Tour was going better than expected, until crashes on stages 13 and 14 set us back a bit. Fuglsang was relishing his last Grand Tour as a captain and rode really well in the mountains, 6th on stage 11 was especially noteworthy, he moved into 10th in the GC with that stage. But three days later he crashed hard on a flat stage, lost 6 minutes and dropped from 10th to 19th in the GC. He was bandaged and in a bit of pain for the rest of the Giro and could only climb back to 17th overall.
We weren't sure Schorn could even break into the top 10 in mass sprints, but he surprised with a 3rd place on stage 2 and was twice 6th and once 7th in the next mass sprints, a consistency he hadn't shown last season. His reward was a 3rd place in the points ranking – until he failed to finish stage 13, probably caused by another crash.
What we had hoped for was to be present in breakaways, but were disappointed for the longest time, with only one or two inconsequential appearances. Until Monsalve stepped up on stages 19 and 20, finishing 5th and 3rd. Duarte was anonymous, 35th overall, Monsalve 40th, we finished 7th in the teams ranking. With a little more luck it could have been a good race, instead it was a slight setback.
To make up for it, Sochi had a few nice surprises in store for us. We botched the TTT a little, but a day later Simon slipped into the KOM jersey, a first for us at the top level. He lost it a day later, but rode well to the end to finish 17th overall. Only Tao Geoghehan Hart had a terrible day and lost nearly 8 minutes. But he was 2nd on the final stage after a good day in the breakaway which also placed him 2nd in the points ranking. Ruben Fernandez finally started his season and did well on the queen stage and even better in the ITT, the reward was 6th overall. A really good points haul altogether.
Aviva WT Scoring 2019
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Total
Majka
216
365
70
651
Thomas
176
404
172
35
787
Fuglsang
173
31
2
9
107
322
Hardy
0
21
3
4
50
78
Fernández
121
121
Tao Hart
94
126
220
Schorn
4
90
30
94
218
Duarte
42
0
13
55
Dibben
0
32
26
4
62
Valgren
0
1
46
26
73
Stannard
14
32
7
18
71
Monsalve
0
57
57
Dowsett
2
4
0
6
V. d. Sande
0
0
0
1
1
Bertilsson
4
0
0
1
5
Simón
15
47
62
Lowsley-W.
0
0
0
Christian
4
0
9
13
Bibby
26
0
0
26
Meyer
2
0
0
2
Cuming
0
0
0
58
58
S. v. Winden
0
0
0
0
D. v. Winden
4
0
0
0
4
McCluskey
0
0
0
Birch
0
0
0
Total
379
284
1140
406
683
2892
RDs
7
6
20
17
28
19
23
19
33
8
78
Pts/RD
54.1
47.3
57.0
23.9
24.4
37.1
Fuglsang has already spent 40 of his 59 RDs, so in Pts/RD his 8.1 trails well behind Majka (36.2), Thomas (31.5), Fernandez (24.2) and Tao Hart (14.7).
June Preview:
We've reached the famous WT triple clash and need to split up our forces. Majka is joined by Fernandez and Monsalve in Guatemala, while Fuglsang, Geoghegan Hart and Duarte fly to Japan, at the same time Thomas and Hardy tackle the Deutschland Tour together with Schorn.
Sponsor News:
While Aviva is very happy with our team and results and would like to continue their sponsorship, we have been contacted by another company with a very interesting offer. Negotiations are ongoing.
Spoiler
It's really all about better visibility in the peloton, blue and white are quite common, so I'm looking for a new main colour to see my riders better in videos and screenshots.
June started off with the mountainous CT.1 race La Jurassaine and Ruben Fernandez finishing 3rd, our best result in CT races so far this season. But as we keep on saying, this season is all about the WT for Aviva.
For us, the most important race of the month was the Tour of Guatemala with its brutal 5th stage. Majka was attentive on stage 2, he stayed with Quintana and Nibali and finished 4th, while Ruben Fernandez and the rest of the team lost a lot of time. Our captain rode a good ITT and moved into 2nd in the GC, while Dowsett did even better and was an excellent 5th on the day.
Majka avoided the big crash on the queen stage and had the best possible chance to challenge the big names, but he just didn't have the legs. He had suffered more than he let on and after the duo of Quintana and Nibali rode away the gap grew quickly. But he overtook the last escapees, finished 3rd on the day and overall, another great result. Ruben didn't enjoy playing second fiddle and only did enough to finish 27th, behind Monsalve, who was 24th. This placed us 3rd in the teams ranking, something we are also proud of.
We had next to no expectations for the Tour of Germany, the team was led by Hardy and Thomas. We also brought Schorn for the sprints, but for unknown reasons he didn't actually sprint in the first three mass sprints, never finishing better than 70th, he may have tried on the final stage, but 23rd is nothing to cleberate, either.
Hardy threw away his top 30 finish on the last stage, so only Thomas represented us in the GC and only as 25th overall. But for once we were very active in the breakaways, which was lovely to see: Valgren once, Cuming twice and Bibby three times, his reward was finishing 2nd in the KOM ranking.
Tao Hart started the Tour of Mount Fuji with the time trial of his life, incredibly, he was 5th. He was also excellent on the first mountain stage but had a bad day on the queen stage, he lost 9 minutes and dropped out of the top 10. In a replay of Sochi he joined the breakaway on the final, flat stage, finished 6th and was on the good side of the split, which moved him back into 10th overall. He also finally won a white jersey, well done!
Fuglsang, however, seems to have started his decline early. His ITT was ok, but he finished well behind Tao on both mountain stages and lost more time on the last stage, 24th overall is a bit sobering for him. On the plus side Van der Sande sprinted into 4th on stage 3, his best result since he so sensationally won the GP Montreal last season.
Aviva WT Scoring 2019
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Total
Majka
216
365
70
249
900
Thomas
176
404
172
35
6
793
Fuglsang
173
31
2
9
107
15
337
Hardy
0
21
3
4
50
0
78
Fernández
121
11
132
Tao Hart
94
126
160
380
Schorn
4
90
30
94
0
218
Duarte
42
0
13
0
55
Dibben
0
32
26
4
4
66
Valgren
0
1
46
26
0
73
Stannard
14
32
7
18
71
Monsalve
0
57
16
73
Dowsett
2
4
0
12
18
V. d. Sande
0
0
0
1
19
20
Bertilsson
4
0
0
1
8
13
Simón
15
47
0
62
Lowsley-W.
0
0
5
5
Christian
4
0
9
13
Bibby
26
0
0
85
111
Meyer
2
0
0
2
Cuming
0
0
0
58
4
62
S. v. Winden
0
0
0
0
0
D. v. Winden
4
0
0
0
4
McCluskey
0
0
0
0
Birch
0
0
0
0
Total
379
284
1140
406
683
594
3486
RDs
7
6
20
17
28
19
23
19
33
8
97
Pts/RD
54.1
47.3
57.0
23.9
24.4
31.3
35.9
Good scoring by Majka, Tao Hart and Bibby, though next to nothing from Thomas, Fuglsang, Hardy, Schorn and the rest.
July Preview:
The world will be watching Le Tour, but nominally it's Aviva's worst Grand Tour squad, captained by Ruben Fernandez and Tao Geoghegan Hart with only Monsalve and Simon able to support them in the mountains. Dowsett, Meyer and Dennis van Winden are here to minimise the time losses in the long TTT while our main sprinter is Christian Bertilsson and his intimidating SPR 74.
The field behind the podium seems wide open and either Fernandez or Hart could make the top 10, which would be a great success. Tao will also be fighting for white, but the competition is tough. We mostly hope to see our riders in breakaways for some important TV exposure.
The only other WT race this month is the Asmara Cup. Fuglsang and Hardy are our best bets, Schorn could be useful. But the hilly classics are simply not our forte, just like flat classics, we just haven't improved our team over last season's CT squad in these terrains.
Ripley wrote:
]It's really all about better visibility in the peloton, blue and white are quite common, so I'm looking for a new main colour to see my riders better in videos and screenshots.
Why not make use of Aviva's other colors - Yellow and green? Instead of a jersey, dominated by two common colors (blue and white), replace the white with yellow.
Ripley wrote:
]It's really all about better visibility in the peloton, blue and white are quite common, so I'm looking for a new main colour to see my riders better in videos and screenshots.
Why not make use of Aviva's other colors - Yellow and green? Instead of a jersey, dominated by two common colors (blue and white), replace the white with yellow.
Never jad problems to find my guys in their orange blue red and white jersey
Blue and yellow is a good combination, Liberty Seguros is easily identifiable thanks to their yellow helmets. So you should definitely go for something else haha. But yea, blue and white is very common in the peloton, also the design of the jersey. Allianz is almost the same exact pattern, Suntory isn't too far off either I think sometimes. On the other hand, I think Italo and Sevilla also look very similar, and VisitUkraine and CarbonSports are literally just both black. Grupo Argos stands out positively, just a great colour combo.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
As expected, our team didn't get a lot out of the Asmara Cup, but I'm happy to be able to mention the two riders who are lowest in our pecking order: Philip McCluskey represented our jersey in the breakaway of the day while Edward Birch finished a credible 25th and scored his first WT points. Only Hardy (19th) and Fuglsang (22nd) were marginally better.
On paper, our TdF team was the weakest GT setup all season. But we could still hope for Ruben to break into the top 10 and for Geoghegan Hart to fight for the white jersey. Mostly we were hoping for breakaway appearances and some valuable TV exposure.
Our first chunk of TV time came on stage 2, when both of our captains were involved in a crash. Tao Hart made it back into the peloton, but Ruben Fernnandez didn't and struggled together with other big names on the following stages, putting him out of GC contention and making Tao Hart our protected leader.
Dennis van Winden was very close to winning the KOM jersey on stage 3, thanks to bonus seconds he was 6th in the GC for two days, it was great to see our team represented in the top 10 table. Tao Hart couldn't keep up with the best riders on the mountainous stage 5, nor on the cobblestone stage 7 and he was dropped in the final kilometres in the TTT on stage 9. Nonetheless, he slipped into white after that stage, our first ever GT jersey. His team mates finished 5th in the TTT, another fine result.
Peiffer was allowed into the breakaway on the tough stage 11, he regained white and took polkadots as well and moved up to 5th in the GC. Tao Hart fought back, he attacked early on stage 14 and finished ahead of many top 10 riders, though Colombo caught up with him. Peiffer remained in white, but Colombo and Hart were within 30 seconds. The young riders all moved up in the GC, Tao Hart was 8th after the stage.
On stage 17 Ruben was 3rd after a late attack, our best stage result in this Tour. A day later Monsalve was 5th after a day in the breakaway, while Ruben did not support Tao and attacked again, Tao dropped to 11th in the GC. But a day later he moved up to 7th, finally past Peiffer, though Colombo gained more time on him. We were also in contention for the teams classification, but we would have needed a rider in the breakaway on stages 18 and 19.
Ruben finally joined the breakaway on the last mountain stage, but he was no match for Herrada and was swallowed by most GC riders. Tao could not follow Lugvigsson's attack and dropped back to 8th, which nonetheless is a really good result for him. Sadly, Colombo was even better throughout the three weeks, he finished 5th overall and won the U25 classification ahead of Tao.
Altogether, it was a really good team result, despite Fernandez's injury in the first week. Tao Hart was 8th, Monsalve 17th. Fernandez finished sub-par as 21st, at least he had the best stage result of our riders. Simon also did a great job as 24th. All our riders finished the Tour and we placed 3rd in the teams classification, we are proud of that.
Aviva WT Scoring 2019
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Total
Majka
216
365
70
249
900
Thomas
176
404
172
35
6
793
Fuglsang
173
31
2
9
107
15
16
353
Hardy
0
21
3
4
50
0
22
100
Fernández
121
11
115
247
Tao Hart
94
126
160
340
720
Schorn
4
90
30
94
0
0
218
Duarte
42
0
13
0
55
Dibben
0
32
26
4
4
0
66
Valgren
0
1
46
26
0
73
Stannard
14
32
7
18
71
Monsalve
0
57
16
110
183
Dowsett
2
4
0
12
5
23
V. d. Sande
0
0
0
1
19
20
Bertilsson
4
0
0
1
8
0
13
Simón
15
47
0
53
115
Lowsley-W.
0
0
5
5
Christian
4
0
9
13
Bibby
26
0
0
85
0
111
Meyer
2
0
0
5
7
Cuming
0
0
0
58
4
62
S. v. Winden
0
0
0
0
0
D. v. Winden
4
0
0
0
14
18
McCluskey
0
0
0
0
Birch
0
0
0
11
11
Total
379
284
1140
406
683
594
691
4177
RDs
7
6
20
17
28
19
23
19
33
8
120
Pts/RD
54.1
47.3
57.0
23.9
24.4
31.3
30.0
34.8
A great points haul from Tao Hart, it clearly looks like he'll be one of our top 3 scorers this season. Monsalve, Simon and Bibby have already far exceeded their points total from last season in the CT, excellent.
August Preview:
Thomas has already exceeded expectations, but August offers two stage races very much to his liking and it's hard not to hope for further good results. He has just the right combo of skills for both the Tour of Northern Europe and the Eneco Tour and he should have decent support, too, from Stannard, Dibben and Valgren.
We are able to bring Majka to the Course du Lac and hope for a selective race with an attentive captain. With Fernandez, Duarte, Monsalve and Simon we also expect some depth scoring. The Cyclassics couldn't be more different, with Schorn as our only hope to get anything out of the race.
Aviva August Review/September Preview + Sponsor News
We couldn't miss a race on home soil and registered for the CT.2 RideLondon. Regulations only allow weaker WT riders to attend, with Van der Sande we had an optimal option available, but he failed to make the top 30. Only Bertilsson and Birch at least made the top 25.
The Course du Lac d'Annecy was as selective as we'd hoped, Majka made the jump into the group of 5 riders who'd decide the race, with his weak sprint he was happy to finish 4th. Monsalve (25th) was best of the rest, Fernandez (30th) also collected a few points. Monsalve is our first rider to finish his season, a really good year for him, he scored 194 points in the WT plus 14 in the CT. Well done, Jonathan!
We had overestimated Geraint's chances for a top 10 result in the Tour of Northern Europe. The hilltop finish on stage 3 proved to be too hard, resulting in large time gaps. We had brought Hardy for this eventuality and he beat Thomas on stage 3 but had a terrible race otherwise, losing time on just about every stage, he was only 68th overall. Valgren rode a much better race, with consistently decent results, enough to finish 18th. The ITT of Thomas on stage 5 was underwhelming, he couldn't leave many opponents behind on the cobblestone stage, either. We also failed to get riders into the big breakaways on stages 6 and 7. But the consolation was Thomas winning the short ITT on the final stage, which also moved him up to 13th overall.
Schorn was 20th in the Cyclassics, which was his best result of the season in the WT flat classics. Stannard, Dibben and Birch added a few more points to the board.
Thomas was 6th in the prologue of the Eneco Tour and ended the race 6th overall, too, a solid performance. The highlight was our first ever WT stage win from an early breakaway, Stannard lost a lot of time on the early stages and made the breakaway on stage 5 and won quite comfortably. He also earned the KOM jersey with that effort plus our team won the teams classification, two more firsts for our team, we couldn't be prouder.
Aviva WT Scoring 2019
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Total
Majka
216
365
70
249
125
1025
Thomas
176
404
172
35
6
208
1001
Fuglsang
173
31
2
9
107
15
16
353
Hardy
0
21
3
4
50
0
22
0
100
Fernández
121
11
115
6
253
Tao Hart
94
126
160
340
720
Schorn
4
90
30
94
0
0
20
238
Duarte
42
0
13
0
0
55
Dibben
0
32
26
4
4
0
26
92
Valgren
0
1
46
26
0
34
107
Stannard
14
32
7
18
179
250
Monsalve
0
57
16
110
11
194
Dowsett
2
4
0
12
5
23
V. d. Sande
0
0
0
1
19
0
20
Bertilsson
4
0
0
1
8
0
0
13
Simón
15
47
0
53
115
Lowsley-W.
0
0
5
0
5
Christian
4
0
9
7
20
Bibby
26
0
0
85
0
0
111
Meyer
2
0
0
5
7
Cuming
0
0
0
58
4
12
74
S. v. Winden
0
0
0
0
0
0
D. v. Winden
4
0
0
0
14
18
McCluskey
0
0
0
0
Birch
0
0
0
11
1
12
Total
379
284
1140
406
683
594
691
629
4806
RDs
7
6
20
17
28
19
23
19
33
8
139
Pts/RD
54.1
47.3
57.0
23.9
24.4
31.3
30.0
33.1
34.6
September Preview:
Ahead of the season we feared our fight against relegation might depend on Majka's result in the Vuelta and so we selected the best possible team to aid his podium ambitions. He is supported by Fernandez, Geoghegan Hart, Duarte, Simon and Lowsley-Williams as well as Dowsett and Meyer. Strong support in the mountains, though after Herrada's Tour experience despite the best possible support we know it could end in tragedy.
With our Vuelta overkill Fuglsang is pretty much a one-man show in the Course de la Paix, apart from Schorn's fight for stage results. He'll also attempt the Quebec Sprint Challenge together with Van der Sande. Thomas and Dowsett lead the team in the Virginia Chrono Tour, any result would be welcome.
Sponsor News:
We can now announce that the team's sponsor will change next season. Aviva is very happy with our achievements so far and was prepared to extend the contract when an even bigger fish contacted us, the British petrochemical giant BP. The company has committed to a net zero carbon goal by 2050 and believes that sponsoring a cycling team is a great way to promote their new campaign. The new sponsor will probably also come with higher ambitions, which already express themselves in the new name, we will simply be called Team BP - which may remind you of another beloved British cycling team.
It is still undecided whether BP will also take over the sponsorship of the dev team, Aviva is keen to at least keep this sponsorship.
Spoiler
Making my first jersey took way longer than expected, despite its simplicity. It took a little encouragement from the_hoyle and stitchings from legruppetto's Froomeyy. The jersey was inspired by Team Peugeot, they are easily recognisable in their all-blue kit, I hope the same is true for the all-green approach. Not sure if I have the energy to also create another jersey for the dev team, I also hope my riders won't win any NCs.
News: The Telenor Rider Search initiative, which was started this season, will be discontinued after only one season citing unsatisfactory results. The U23 would continue next season under the Telenor Youth Team p/b Polestar umbrella. The main team, currently competing in the CT division, would remain under the Polestar Pro Cycling p/b Telenor, label effectively confirming the participation of both teams in the ICL.
The Vuelta was the most important race of the year for Aviva. It was the only Grand Tour Majka was riding and we also picked it as our third focus race. In the end Majka just failed to make the podium, finishing 4th. Thew slight disappointment was overshadowed by the performance of Tao Geoghegan Hart, who rode another fantastic GT and finished in the top 10 again. He also claimed the young rider's classsification, wearing white since stage 3. Thankfully, Kudus had a slow start, it became closer and closer in the final week, but Hart prevailed by a minute. The rest of the team also rode well and we ended only behind Italo in the teams ranking.
In the meantime, Fuglsang and Schorn were tackling the Course de la Paix. The race was another disappointment for Fuglsang, a season to forget for him. He was only 18th on the queen stage and involved in a big crash with Quintana a day later, losing a lot of time and more on the following day, clearly injured. 42nd overall, we were 15th in the teams ranking, by far our worst result yet. But Ian Stannard saved the day, after two breakaways he was wearing the climber's jersey on the final day and wass only overtaken by Quintana in the KOM ranking.
Our home tour also overlapped with the Vuelta, Hardy and Valgren were contending for the top 10. Valgren was the more consistent rider and finished 8th overall, but Hardy claimed stage 6. He followed a late attack by Villella and had the reserves to leave him behind and win by half a minute.
Thomas finished 25th in the Virginia Chrono Tour. He was 6th on the final stage, but he lost too much time in the prologue – his main strength – and on stage 2. Dowsett performed miserably once more on the stage which suited his abilities the most, he was 56th, beaten even by Stannard and Meyer. Stannard was 32nd overall, Dowsett 37th... considering the competition a fair result.
The Quebec Sprint Challenge could well have been a zero pointer. Schorn and Van der Sande had race round 1 and we could easily see both of them fail to qualify for the main event. But both were lucky to only race against two other riders and both were runner-up and made it into the next round. Van der Sande was a predictable 4th in his race, but Schorn was 2nd once again. A top 16 and a top 32, not bad for our mediocre sprinters.
Aviva WT Scoring 2019
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Total
Majka
216
365
70
249
125
492
1517
Thomas
176
404
172
35
6
208
36
1037
Fuglsang
173
31
2
9
107
15
16
0
353
Hardy
0
21
3
4
50
0
22
0
100
Fernández
121
11
115
6
35
288
Tao Hart
94
126
160
340
487
1207
Schorn
4
90
30
94
0
0
20
52
290
Duarte
42
0
13
0
0
15
70
Dibben
0
32
26
4
4
0
26
0
92
Valgren
0
1
46
26
0
34
107
Stannard
14
32
7
18
179
98
348
Monsalve
0
57
16
110
11
194
Dowsett
2
4
0
12
5
11
34
V. d. Sande
0
0
0
1
19
0
12
32
Bertilsson
4
0
0
1
8
0
0
0
13
Simón
15
47
0
53
42
157
Lowsley-W.
0
0
5
0
22
27
Christian
4
0
9
7
20
Bibby
26
0
0
85
0
0
111
Meyer
2
0
0
5
18
25
Cuming
0
0
0
58
4
12
74
S. v. Winden
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
D. v. Winden
4
0
0
0
14
0
18
McCluskey
0
0
0
0
Birch
0
0
0
11
1
12
Total
379
284
1140
406
683
594
691
629
1320
6126
RDs
7
6
20
17
28
19
23
19
33
8
172
Pts/RD
54.1
47.3
57.0
23.9
24.4
31.3
30.0
33.1
40.0
35.6
WT Rank
4
4
2
8
8
8
9
8
7
Another magnificent month for the Aviva Cycling Team. Freshly crowned Vuelta U25 champ Tao Hart ends his season with 1207 WT points, we never thought we'd have a third top scorer next to Majka and Thomas. Good old Stannard has nearly reached Fuglsang and overtaken everybody else, our Brits have really performed admirably.
October Preview: Just 4 one-day races to go in the 2019 ICL World Tour. We hope for a top 10 result from Majka in the last monument and expect little from the other races. Fuglsang and Hardy captain the team for the Bucamaranga Classic, Schorn races Paris-Tour. Thomas and Dowsett head a team of TTR 71+ riders in the TTT WC, but we're still among the worst teams.
John Degenkolb 
Simon Yates 
Joseph Dombrowski 
Michael Matthews 
Andrea Palini 
Heiner Parra 
Jeroen Meijers
Zico Waeytens 
Johannes Windischbauer
Philip Lavery 
Oskar Svendsen 
Pantheras Dimas 
Joe Richter 
