Latvijas Balzams - Olainfarm announces race calendar
Manager Laurens147 has released the race calendar of Latvijas Balzams - Olainfarm in front of the assembled press in Jelgava, Latvia. Ofcourse they are already looking forward to the Baltic Chain Tour in August, the only race in Latvia. The management has focused on the most challenging stage races on the Continental Tour. That way they hope to accomodate the team leaders, Yannick Eijssen and Jonathan Monsalve.
The goal is to celebrate at least one victory.
Calendar
Race
DIV
start
end
Tour d'Indonesia
CT.2
114
119
Christchurch-Akaroa
CT.2
129
129
Tour of Oman
CT.2
202
205
Tour de San Luis
CT.2
214
220
National Capital Tour
CT.2
223
226
Clasica Iberica
CT.2
302
302
Paris - Nice
CT.1
311
318
Istrian Spring Trophy
CT.1
320
323
Critérium International
CT.2
328
330
Wallonië Prijs
CT.1
402
402
Tour of South Africa
CT.2
402
412
VDK-Driedaagse De Panne
CT.2
414
417
Giro del Trentino
CT.1
416
420
Rheden GP
CT.2
419
419
4 Jours de Dunkerque
CT.2
423
427
Colombia Team GP
CT.1
430
430
Tour de Romandie
CT.2
502
507
Aleko Vitoša
CT.2
503
503
Amgen Tour of California
CT.2
516
523
La Jurassaine
CT.1
601
601
Tour d'Andorra
CT.2
619
623
Le Géant de Provence
CT.2
630
630
Int. Österreich-Rundfahrt
CT.1
702
707
Kigali GP
CT.2
710
710
Volta a Portugal
CT.2
712
722
Tour of Vancouver
CT.1
724
730
Tour do Rio
CT.2
814
814
Baltic Chain Tour
CT.1
816
820
USA Pro Cycling Challenge
CT.1
816
822
Criterium Hainleite
CT.2
823
823
Cigar City Classic
CT.2
901
901
Tour of Britain
CT.1
907
914
Richmond Criterium
CT.1
925
925
Qinghai Lake Cycle Cup
CT.2
925
925
Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec
CT.2
928
928
Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal
CT.2
930
930
Tre Valli Varesine
CT.1
1001
1001
Milano - Torino
CT.1
1004
1004
Giro dell'Emilia
CT.1
1006
1006
Vuelta a Colombia
CT.2
1008
1018
Japan Cup
CT.1
1022
1022
LBO Development Team announces race calendar
The development team also has released its race calendar for the upcoming season. The team will participate in all U23 races, to compete with their contemporaries. LBO has been invited to several CT.2 races, mostly on the European continent. A highlight in the race schedule is the Vuelta a Mallorca, a CT.1 race in Spain. The goal is to gain as much experience as possible. Manager Laurens147 hopes for one victory on the U23 circuit.
Calendar
Race
DIV
start
end
Copa America de Ciclismo
U23
111
111
Volta ao Algarve
CT.2
203
206
Tour of Bishkek
U23
208
210
Vuelta a Mallorca
CT.1
213
216
København Byrundtur
CT.2
325
325
Paris - Roubaix U23
U23
327
327
Ronde van Vlaanderen Espoirs
U23
401
401
ZLM Tour
U23
418
418
GP Palio del Recioto
U23
421
421
Liége - Bastogne - Liège Espoirs
U23
428
428
Rund um den Finanzplatz U23
U23
501
501
Giro Valle d'Aosta
U23
509
514
Rutland - Melton
U23
526
526
Copenhagen - Malmö ITT
CT.2
530
530
Tour de Berlin
U23
605
609
Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt
CT.2
613
617
Circuit des Ardennes
CT.2
622
625
Coupe des Nations Ville Saguenay
U23
627
629
Chrono San Michel
U23
723
723
Circulo de Juarez
CT.2
726
730
RideLondon–Surrey Classic
CT.2
804
804
Mauritius Sun Tour
U23
817
819
Post Danmark Rundt
CT.2
826
831
Cascade Cycling Classic
U23
902
905
Praha - Karlovy Vary - Praha
CT.2
906
906
Tour de l'Avenir
U23
916
923
Piccolo Lombardia
U23
1003
1003
Paris-Tours Espoirs
U23
1005
1005
MG - Lotto - Caloi
[MG] New Manager of the Year - PCM.daily Awards 2022
Our dev team hasn't seen much improvement since last season, though the majority of riders is now British. Max Fritsch is the clear captain, a decent stage racer, it's his last season in the U23 and he will have to impress us to get a contract with the main team next year. Our two 19-year olds with low AVG but high potential will race everywhere, they need the experience.
We booked one CT.1 race, our home tour, plus a few longer CT.2 stage races, since we can only hope for breakaway appearances rather than any GC results. That's mostly true for the U23 races, too, we expect to finish near the bottom of the table.
Max Fritsch is the clear captain, a decent stage racer, it's his last season in the U23 and he will have to impress us to get a contract with the main team next year.
The Colombian star rider from Liberty Seguros - previous winner of La Doyenne and Il Lombardia - and last year's 5th at the Giro d'Italia has gotten the taste again for stage racing, in specific Grand Tours.
In a recent interview he has outlined the team's plan to send him to the Vuelta. Whilst some of his younger colleagues will be aiming for the white jersey, Betancur hopes to collect some stage wins. "Rodriguez has won 7 stages in the Vuelta one year - that is a crazy stat for a climber", Carlos says, mischiefly snatching some pulled pork from the table and stowing it under his jersey. "My goal would be to double that number!", he proclaims.
Betancur winning stage 7 of the Deutschland Tour
Next to the Vuelta, Bananito sees himself less competitive in the classics than he used to, instead he will put a new focus on shorter stage races, where his acceleration can help him to snatch stage wins both in easier hilly stages and tougher mountain climbs.
Last year, Bananito only won stages at Deutschland Tour; the much acclaimed rider will certainly look to add more this year.
"A lot of things didn't go right last year, I often made stupid mistakes in the racing, this year I want to change that." Support comes from within the team, where rising hill specialist Mathieu Van der Poel will look to follow more classic puncheur schedule and keep the head free for Bananito to rack up stages.
Out: Daniel Martin - Dan will finish his career at Guinness Cycling p/b BlackBerry, an Irish Continental team. We received a small compensation fee of 150.
In: Moreno Moser - The direct replacement of Martin. Moreno is a puncheur with decent time trial capabilities. He rode in CT for Wilier Triestina last season, where he finished 22nd in the indiviual rankings.
Arthur Vichot - Arthur likes hills and sprints. That makes him a good helper to Nacer and Moreno, but also gives him chances in hilly stages with flat finishes.
Jasha Sütterlin - Jasha becomes our new leader for the time trials. We don't expect him to dominate but he'll get the odd result and makes us better in team time trials.
Romain Hardy - Another helper for the hills armada. Romain will not get many chances for his own but depth is also important.
Laurens De Vreese - Versatile in hills and cobblestones, Laurens provides the solution to a lack of helpers in both departments.
Marcel Menten - Marcel is signed at minimum wage to carry bottles in cobblestone and hill races.
Ben Gastauer - Ben is an experienced rider who serves as road captain in various races.
Rider
MO
HL
TT
CB
SP
FT
Wage
Age
Omar Bertazzo
64
69
75
70
66
67
190
31
Nacer Bouhanni
66
72
67
68
81
74
1250
30
Maxime Daniel
65
70
65
70
76
69
260
29
Laurens De Vreese
60
74
61
75
68
72
310
32
Nicolas Edet
72
71
64
58
67
79
110
33
Ben Gastauer
68
71
72
63
61
67
100
33
Damien Gaudin
58
67
65
74
62
69
200
34
Alexandre Geniez
77
77
70
61
68
78
400
32
Alexis Gougeard
66
70
74
69
69
68
250
27
Romain Hardy
72
76
66
65
67
73
340
32
Clément Koretzky
69
76
67
67
72
76
370
30
Grégoire Lambert
77
74
68
58
63
74
250
25
Yves Lampaert
62
65
72
73
67
70
130
29
Marcel Meisen
64
71
64
72
65
70
100
31
Moreno Moser
74
79
76
65
69
75
1040
30
Jean-Lou Paiani
62
68
64
75
70
68
190
32
Yoann Paillot
69
70
76
68
68
67
310
29
Pierre-Luc Périchon
75
73
66
58
65
71
200
33
Adrien Petit
64
70
70
73
78
67
350
30
Pierre Rolland
76
74
70
60
64
77
570
34
Rüdiger Selig
61
73
68
71
75
69
240
31
Jasha Sütterlin
67
70
77
68
71
67
350
28
Sep Vanmarcke
64
73
66
80
73
75
970
32
Thomas Vaubourzeix
65
69
66
71
71
79
140
29
Arthur Vichot
68
76
66
65
76
75
360
32
ÉQUIPE DEVELOPMENT CITROËN
Out: Gratien Casse - Gratien realised he wouldn't get many chances here with Nacer in the main team, Eric ahead of him in the development team and Augustin and Raphael waiting in line, so he jumped ship to Aru4Ever.
In: Raphael Laugier - Raphael is scouted by Thomas Voeckler and recommended to us. His first season will mostly consist of learning while being part in the train for Eric.
Magnum - Madshus sent in their race selection recently, and the public is allowed to know where their favourite team will be in the coming months, and who the leader(s) will be. Races in bold are focus races.
One lazy, sunny afternoon, on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, over a nice, cold beer an idea surfaced and was chewed, twisted and swirled: “What if I start a cycling team?” A couple of beers later, when more courage was gathering and lucidity started to fade, the idea was put into action. And since the beer in question was Cadejo it came only natural to ask the brewing company if it would back such a project. Cadejo Brewing Company and Bike Xpress already organized a few amateur cycling races in El Salvador, therefore they were delighted by the idea of sponsoring DarkWolf’s cycling project. This is how Cadejo – Bike Xpress Cycling Team was born.
With clear thinking (this time around) the team manager and the sponsors established that the team will highlight Salvadorian, in particular, and Central American, in general, cycling. Cadejo – Bike Xpress will offer a venue for the riders in the area to compete at professional level and for the young cyclists to develop and showcase their talent to the world. All with the sportsmanship values, on and off the racing circuits, in mind.
Jersey presentation
El Cadejo is a supernatural mythical creature of the Central American folklore. There are two spirits, the good white cadejo and the evil black cadejo. In some places is the other way around. They both appear to travelers at night, the white to protect them, the black to kill them. It is also said that the white cadejo protects, beside travelers, drunks and vagabonds. According to stories, when a cadejo is near a strong goat-like smell can be felt and people should never turn their back or speak to the cadejo because doing so will induce insanity. (That sounds like a great tactic to apply in the races, but we will not put any hope or base any strategy on it.)
The jersey was designed by DarkWolf, the team manager himself. It features the red-eyed cadejo, in both its forms, surrounded by a circle of Mayan symbols. The artwork appeared on the poster for the Duelo de Cadejos cycling race, organized by Bike Xpress and Caedejo Brewing Company, but the team manager fell in love with it. He considers that it adds a touch of originality and personality to the team jersey while at the same time brings a loving tribute to the Salvadorian folklore, culture and history. The colors are black and white, again representing the two forms of the cadejo spirit, and also features on the front the logos of the two sponsors, Cadejo Brewing Company and Bike Xpress. On the sleeves appears the logo of the El Salvador Cycling Federation, which lent its support to the Cadejo – Bike Xpress Cycling Team.
Thank you! I created the jersey for a career game I play in the PCM. And since then I've become quite attached to it. Of course, I am really subjective in this matter.
I am working on the jersey presentation at the moment so that will come here soon as well.
Nice team! A few riders who were in the old 'Cool Runnings' team and great to see one of my old riders in Peiró getting another chance in ICL. They will be fun to watch and very distinctive in that jersey
OZrocker wrote:
Nice team! A few riders who were in the old 'Cool Runnings' team and great to see one of my old riders in Peiró getting another chance in ICL. They will be fun to watch and very distinctive in that jersey
Our team has gone quiet for a period of time, and there have been rumblings that we've been in somewhat of a tense period with one of our title sponsors, Avanti. We would like to take the time to address our fans and the cycling community, after the resolution of this period.
Avanti had approached us to come on board with the team late last year, in the latter stages of our preparation for the coming season. Our sponsorship arrangement, however, was still in negotiations after our team's announcement. Avanti had goals and requests that we did not feel that we could adequately promise to fulfil, and the same goes the other way around. We have tried to remain cordial throughout the entire experience, and we harbour no ill-will towards John and Kim Struthers, or the rest of the team at Avanti. We all just simply felt mutually that our arrangement was not going to work out.
So what does this mean for the team? Of course we are not folding, we have been entrenched for the long haul, and we do have the adequate funding to continue to operate as a Continental team for the coming year. However, the departure of Avanti left us in a bit of a financial shortfall with regards to travel and equipment costs for our upcoming races. It was tight, but fortunately we had some friends in high places who weren't willing to see the team start off on the wrong foot.
Firstly, we needed a new title sponsor, and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group stepped up to the plate. From this point on, the team will now be known as Strava-ANZ, and we will be sporting a redesigned jersey featuring some light blue accents for our new title sponsor. the Strava orange will still be present, but in quite a different style than our initial jersey design.
To finish off, we have two new secondary sponsors. Pearl Izumi and Oakley will still be providing our clothes and glasses respectively, but they have decided to ease down to a more minor role as our two newest sponsors came on board. The first is Australian energy company Origin Energy, and the second is banking and insurance company Suncorp. Suncorp is interesting in that, aside from being a main financial sponsor, they will also directly be supplying our insurance, something that the layperson may not often think about in a cycling team.
Lastly, the elephant in the room: if Avanti is no longer a title sponsor, then who will supply the bikes for 2020? The answer comes from German cycling giant Canyon, who has engaged in a long-term contract with us. Don't be surprised to see us signing some German riders next year, though of course we will still retain our core Australia/New Zealand focus.
[Out of character context: apparently Avanti isn't an available as a bike supplier so while I was hesitant to update my jersey, I went ahead and did it after realising that]
Having obtained a late ICL license for racing in the Continental Tour the team manager faced the challenging task of assembling the roster of Cadejo – Bike Xpress. With most of the transfers and contracts already made and signed made the task more daunting than the usual one. Still, with no reputation to back the team and with Cadejo – Bike Xpress being the latest addition to the ICL Circuit there were no guarantees that the club would have attracted a lot of the big names. However, with one of the team’s goals being the recruitment and development of young talent from the Central America the process was not entirely impeded.
The first signings were made by 2 Salvadorian riders, Giovani Diaz Perez and Jimmy Lopez, El Salvador’s road race champion. They were followed 1 riders from Panama, 2 from Guatemala and 3 from Costa Rica. Among them, Andrey Amador, who brings great experience to the team and could become an example and a teaching figure for the youngsters on the roster. The team manager scrutinized on the north and south of the region and further signed cyclists from Colombia, Venezuela, Canada, USA and Mexico. The team was exceptionally thrilled to welcome on board the 20 years old Mexican Jonathan Soler, who could become a star of the sport with the right attitude and guidance. Cadejo – Bike Xpress extended a hand to the Caribbean as well and signed several young riders from the islands. Last, but not least, meeting the Danish Sebastian Lander the two parties reached an agreement, with both slightly hoping that the magical run made by the Denmark national football team from vacation to European champions in 1992 would rub here too.