We continue another season with the 2018 design of our jersey representing the Latvian colors as well as the yellow that has been part of our jerseys since 2014. We'd like to thank the creator duo aidanvn13 and the_hoyle for this wonderful jersey.

For the first time in our team's history we have been dragged deep into the bottom half of the table and find ourself in the mids of a tough relegation fight as we are currently sitting just one spot above the line.

However, we still have ten solid races and one weird solo training ride left on our schedule and we'd like to present our rosters for each of these races:

The TDF is already running and we have sent one of the strongest squads we've ever send to a Grand Tour. We have send a squad full of strong riders capable of contesting sprints, hilly sprints or on mountainous stages from a break and will contest for the white and polkadot jersey. Check out the fantastic race reports of the stages that already took place!

We participate here too.

This race should suit our lineup very well until the final two stages. Skujins should be one of the strongest puncheurs in the race and has a strong climber like Vosekalns as his co-leader. The duo is supported by a group of strong puncheurs/climbers with Moazemi, Smirnovs, Sergis and Sakalou who all add fantastic value in a race like this. The team is completed by two of the strongest rouleurs in the entire division with Dzamastagic and Stoltz. Both of them add further chances for stage results to the team as Stoltz is amongst the favourites for the opening stage while Dzamastagic is a strong sprinter who shouldnt be ruled out if one of the early flattish stages ends in a (reduced) mass sprint.

This race has been a fantastic race for us over the past few years. This year we have another leader here but this has also been a race that suited Blythe in the past, finishing 4th in his last two participations. The usual cobble support is with him so not a lot to say about them.

A flat PTHC race that could end in a mass sprint? How about trying to break the peleton and take those unknowing PCT teams by surprise? Late attacks? Crosswinds? We are prepared with one of the strongest flat teams you'll see with lots of rouleurs and classic specialists and a powerful sprint train.

Before the season started, we had a lot of hope for this race but Skujins struggled at times on similar profiles so we are unsure how much we can expect here. Still - a mostly hillish race without a time trial and we have a strong hilly support for Skujins sounds like a good opportunity for us to score more points.

There are multiple ways to set up your team for ToNE and we decided to maximize the support for Blythe on the cobbles. The entire "usual cobbles team" is here for us with the exception of De Bondt who is replaced by allrounder Becis.

Another race with cobbles, another tiny twist to our usual cobble team: Oelerich didnt make the race selection. Instead it is Dzamastagic who will complete our team. This race often produces a sprint from a larger group than you might expect looking at the profile and Dzamastagic is capable of surviving some cobbles so there is a chance that he can feature in a possible sprint finish.

2016: Greg Van Avermaet (Evonik - ELKO)
2017: Mark Dzamastagic (Evonik - ELKO)
2018: Michael Van Stayen (Evonik - ELKO)

We wrote history in the past in this race, winning the race three times in a row with three different riders in three different ways. Tough to imagine a fourth one but we have once again brought a terrific squad for flat races to support Van Stayen and we are ready to make the impossible happen. again.

		FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR
	Michael Van Stayen	76	64	79	60	76	71	80	69	84	78	73	63	60
	Andris Smirnovs	68	68	77	56	74	69	67	68	72	78	78	70	56
	Arvin Moazemi	67	73	78	69	72	72	75	62	65	73	65	63	67
	Mark Dzamastagic	78	66	70	65	76	72	76	66	76	78	78	66	65
	Yannick Stoltz	80	62	68	66	76	79	75	65	62	74	85	73	80
	Indulis Bekmanis	68	64	75	69	73	67	68	62	72	78	74	67	69
	Oscar Riesebeek	74	70	73	67	73	75	69	73	69	72	76	71	71
	Armands Becis	74	68	73	69	73	75	73	68	74	74	78	65	74

Van Stayen is our leader for us in this race and he has a team that is build to survive all the small bumps on stage one as well as possible as well as being able to help him on the tough second stage.

Final race of the season and we are going all out with all our good puncheurs and most of our good climbers. Skujins and Lopez should cover a lot of the possibilities that this race could go and we are curious to see how this race plays out.

We are cautiously optimistic that these lineups should be strong enough to avoid the drop but we also thought that we wouldnt be in this position in the first place. Do you think we have enough point scoring left or do you see us in immediate danger?

knockout wrote:
quadsas - sure. That bum Vosekalns in especially has never shown his jersey in all those years. And that Eislers dude - 47 years old and still not maxed. Why are they even on my team in the first place?

Today the team management of Evonik - ELKO announces that the team will continue to exist in 2020 under the same flag as in 2019. Both title sponsors remain on board for the coming season.

The future of the team was questioned over the last weeks when rumors spreaded that Evonik wanted to slow down their investment into sport sponsoring and the team took a long time to confirm their financial plan required for approval as a PT team which further fueled speculation. A proposal that the team starts as Evonik - ELKO in classics and 1&1 - ELKO in stage races was blocked by the MGUCI stating that teams repeatedly changing sponsors during the season would not be good for advertising of cycling races and cycling as a whole. As a consequence the contract with Evonik that lasts till the end of the 2020 season will be fulfilled.