Bardas wrote:
I still have to figure out how I can add columns to a table in the post. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Three ways:
1. Do a table in excel and just copy-paste it here with "[table]" thing;
2. If you use Notepad, clicking TAB on your keyboard will also work as adding another row/column (need to remember to click TAB for every row if you wants this to work);
3. Or just do the same here, copy the free space between your cells and paste it after those cells, again, need to be done for every row.
Bardas wrote:
I still have to figure out how I can add columns to a table in the post. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Three ways:
1. Do a table in excel and just copy-paste it here with "[table]" thing;
2. If you use Notepad, clicking TAB on your keyboard will also work as adding another row/column (need to remember to click TAB for every row if you wants this to work);
3. Or just do the same here, copy the free space between your cells and paste it after those cells, again, need to be done for every row.
With the season fast approaching the Cadejo – Bike Xpress cycling team started its pre-season training camp. For their inaugural season the team manager and his staff decided to set the camp site on home ground and chose the capital city, San Salvador, as location. The mindset of this choice is, besides using the roads and different terrain around San Salvador for the main purpose of getting the riders fitter, faster and stronger, to present the team to the local community, to gather support and to make the team’s roster, goals and philosophy more familiar around the country. The training program is mingled with interviews, photo sessions and social events.
The training sessions shifted gradually from accommodating to mild to difficult, all with the purpose of giving an all-round program to every single rider on the roster. And although not every type of session is suited to some cyclists these are also meant to test limits and make the riders step outside their comfort zone. Chief among the sessions are the days spent between Quezaltepeque and San Salvador Volcano, a route of almost 17 km with an average of 8,2% grade elevation. On the scenic slopes of the San Salvador Volcano the sounds are dominated by heavy breathing, gritted teeth, whispered curses, pained grunts and restrained tears. But the team staff believes that not for a single second the motivation and the objective are lost from sight. It’s not all about work though, all the members of the Cadejo – Bike Xpress team went on a leisure trip up the San Salvador Volcano to the beautiful El Boqueron National Park with its crater 5 km in diameter. After all, it’s easy to enjoy the scenery from the team manager’s car and not so much when one’s pushing hard on the pedals up the mountain. Evenings are spent over a meal of pupusa, ceviche de camarones, pescado empanizado or sopa de frijoles, with tamarindo juice or Caedejo beer on the side. Any additional weight is lost on the mountain training sessions the next day.
In a recent interview, DarkWolf, the team manager, said: “It is not easy. Professional sport is not meant to be. So, all the hard work and training we are doing here is for our riders to be better prepared when the season starts. To tackle the races with confidence and determination. And although we are not putting great emphasizes on results in this inaugural season and we have no grand demands for our riders we still want for them to ride within the peloton with fearlessness and to push for the best places they can achieve. However, we don’t have to forget that any sport is meant to be fun. When children start to kick a ball, to run or ride a bike they are not doing it for the fame and glory, but because they are enjoying it. And we wish for our cyclists to enjoy themselves, to take pleasure in riding around the world and not let misplaced ambition take that away. We want them to be a great family who enjoys spending time together, doing something they love. If we fail to achieve that one of the team’s most important goals comes to nothing.”Edited by DarkWolf on 08-03-2021 10:13
Only 9 of Team BP's 25 squad members are British, which is slightly disappointing. On top of that Cavendish and Stannard will decline at the end of the season so we'll probably have to let them go.
However, there are only 5 other Brits in the World Tour 2020 squads. We bid on Davies, though not past 400, we wanted to bid on Kennaugh and were surprised when other bids came in early. Edmondson is too similar to Geoghegan Hart, whom we managed to re-hire. Though we did make a late direct swap offer for Ruben Fernandez. The Yates twins were on the market last season, but as a newly promoted team we felt we didn't have the budget for them.
The Pugh twins were also available this year and ended up with CT teams. We were very close to making a bid on Lewis, but then we already have a decent cobblestone team. His brother Cameron has the greater potential, but his stats suck. Team Wales has the market for British sprinters cornered, but their riders aren't getting any younger.
Point of it all: Bikex, we need more and better British talents! Ok, I need more of them!
Hi guys,
Still me, the user formerly known as Bardas. I just wanted to announce my change in username. When I signed up the name I usually use in games was taken, but now, that I was able to take a more careful look through the members list I discovered that DarkWolf (without space, sic) was still available. So, with the help of @matt17br (thank you again) I am now, once again, DarkWolf.
Our development team will not only be riding in the Tour of Portugal just as our big boys, so it was only normal for them to have another jersey. Apart from that, we thought it would be a good idea to give them their own DNA. MMY manager Nemolito was seen in the team's hub for several days, trying to make an own jersey. Nevertheless, making jerseys is not a talent of me, but luckily unexpected aid came from Central America. Manager DarkWolf from the Cadejo team gave the team a Game of Thrones inspired jersey, where the Magnum - Madshus youngsters are supposed to represent the North and House Stark in the U23 competition. Brace yourselves, Brundby is coming.
You may have wondered what jersey BlackBerry Limited U23 were going to wear for their inaugural year. ICL admins were wondering the same thing. Luckily the Guinness team manager had some markers and scissors lying around, and managed to throw together this monstrosity. At least we can be rest assured that this jersey will only be seen in the odd breakaway this year, since the dev team has no actual talent.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
You are the second oldest in pro peloton, but you are planning to race 77 days in upcoming season, first in your team in this special ranking, what's the secret of youth?
I think just enjoy what you do. Last year I was close to quit, but in the end Stijn [Devolder] convinced me to carry on, asking some help with a new team which needed some experienced riders to set up a long term project. He promised it was just a one-year contract, and after everything would have been ran, I could have retired without further demands.
But now I can see the project taking his dimension, sponsors after first decent season decided to enlarge the budget, building a team who can really compete for promotion at WT level. I just asked if there were enough slots for an old man for another year, and they were excited by my proposal, we took an agreement for another year in less than three minutes.
Again in this second season, your team didn't ask for a wildcard in any GT. Is it something you will miss after your retirement?
Aren't we? I'm sure I planned with the DS to race both South Africa and Colombia tours, and he asked me to think about the option to take part in Portugal's team too... Aaah but you are referring to the other 3 tours eh eh... After my retirement? Never say never.
I understand the choice, and I was present when we discussed team's calendar. GTs are very demanding races, and if you can't line up a top-team they will devour you. We have some goals to achieve, so we can't waste 21 racedays with our best riders who can score massive points somewhere else. Not this year.
You talk like there's no end to your career, what's about your future?
My future is to race the 2020 ICL season at Brugse Zot - Trek, let's think about only this. I started to talk with Stijn about a future managerial role inside the team, but now I'm a rider and I have to spend the whole energy in this. I lost some W/kg ratio through the years, and I'm suffering more and more to keep the pace of this boys in mountains. If I can maintain an adequate level, and we'll reach our goals, why not? My dream is to race again a last GT...
CADEJO - BIKE XPRESS - NC CHAMPIONS JERSEYS PRESENTATION
Cadejo - Bike Xpress might be a very young team, being founded only recently, but it is proud to already count no less than 5 national champions among its ranks. To celebrate the great achievements of his riders the team manager decided to offer each of them a personalized jersey for the season to come highlighting the performance on their respective national championships.
DARREN MATTHEWS - national road champion of Barbados
GUILLAUME BOIVIN - national road champion of Canada
ANDREY AMADOR - national road champion of Costa Rica
JIMMY LOPEZ - national time trial champion of El Salvador
After the official deadline for race planning is over, we finally present you our race schedule - and our sponsors' focus races.
First of all, we applied for all races on the American continent - be it North or South. And we indeed got invited to all of them, including four WT races. Obviously, our sponsors selected the five focus races from the races in South America - at least they were resonable enough to not select any from the WT category.
Furthermore, we tried to select races all over the world - mainly in Europe, though - that fit our leaders. So let's take a look at what this schedule looks like!
Focus Races
Tour de San Luis (CT.2)
The first focus race is our home race, a 7-day stage race consisting mainly of flat and hilly stages, rounded off by a mid-length time trial. Rick Zabel will be our man for the sprints and maybe even for some of the hilly stages, supported by Gonzalez. Gomez and Huamán will be there for the tougher uphills, while Gaviria and Gonçalves should get a good result in the time trial.
Colombia Team GP (CT.1)
A 25km uphill team time trial probably is one of the rarest race types that can be found on the calendar - but given that most of our climbers are decent time trialists, and that our time trialist are decent climbers, we do have some hopes for this race. The line-up is led by our top climber Chamorro, but Gomez and Mendes are likely our strongest riders. Let's see how far up the rankings they can pull us in Colombia!
Gran Premio San José (CT.1)
The long hilly classic in Costa Rica is the third focus race. Obviously, Huamán will lead the team there, but given that the last hills are quite far away from the finish line, and given that Zabel is a decent puncheur in his own right, he might even have the better chances here. Díaz and Romero Martínez should provide enough support on the hills - and maybe get some good depth results on their own.
Tour do Rio (CT.2)
Hills is the theme for the classic in Brazil as well - with the parcours even containing some pretty easy cobbles early on. Hence, the line-up is pretty much identical with the Costa Rica team, as Huamán and Zabel will be our leaders again.
Vuelta a Colombia (CT.2)
The second-last race of the season will be THE highlight for all our Colombian riders except for Huamán, who just didn't have enough race days to spend on such a mountain-heavy race. Still, Chamorro, Gomez and Gaviria should all be able to do well in their home country, with pretty strong support for the opening team time trial coming from Sepulveda, Vilhelmsen, Gonçalves and - even augmented by climbing support - Mendes. This race could make or break our season - let's make sure we'll be on the "make" side in the end!
Last season, as Aviva, our team was well balanced in the sense that we were competitive, expect a top 25 result at least, in every WT race. That won't hold true this season, there are a handful of races from which we can't expect anything. However, with Cavendish and Sagan we can hope for far better results in the classics than last season.
It's surreal that DaveTwoBob ranked our team #1 in sprints in the ICL, what an honour. It's fleeting, since Cav will decline at the end of the season, but we'll try our best to live up the the expectation.
The Manx Missile will ride all the flat classics as well as the Tour de France, Ster ZLM, the Deutschland Tour and the Tour of Northern Europe. The competition at the Tour will probably be brutal, but it's his last chance to ride his favourite race in top condition, it'd be great if he won another stage, 12 years after his first victory (irl, the ICL hasn't been around that long ).
Sagan's main focus will be defending the World Cup Winner title. He'll miss the two long time trials as well as Il Lombardia, but he's using all his allowed 10 CT.1 race days to chase his goal. He'll also be starting in every other WT classic on the menu as well as two stage races, the Deutschland and the Eneco Tour.
“2 GT or not 2 GT, that is the question.”
We took a long time to decide on Majka's planning. With more TTs and hard mountains in this year's Grand Tours we were very close to sending him to two of them. But eventually we decided to let him ride the Tour de France and four shorter stage races, Pais Vasco, Sochi, Guatemala and Paix as well as the one-day classics Annecy and Il Lombardia.
Ruben Fernandez was promised a more important role this season and he will captain Mount Fuji as well as his home GT, the Vuelta. He'll also be riding the Giro and Tachira, sharing leadership with Tao Hart, while supporting Sagan in LBL and Majka in Il Lombardia. Next to Giro and Tachira our British climber Geoghegan Hart will support Majka in Le Tour, Guatemala and Annecy, though in every race he is free to ride for the U25 classification, too.
Stannard and Dibben will mostly support Sagan and are only given leadership roles outside the World Tour. Arndt is usually the lead-out man for Cav, though he will be our main sprinter in the Giro, while our other fast man Wagner is our sprinter in the Vuelta. Pöstlberger will lead the team in the Tour of Britain, otherwise he's important support for his captains.
Except for the CT World Cup races we will mostly be sending our domestiques to races below the top flight, often to provide valuable experience for our youngest professionals. We are urging them to join breakaways as often as possible, because otherwise we won't be seeing much of them.
Expectations and Focus Races
By budget Team BP is ranked 10th in the World Tour, so we are aiming for a mid-table finish. Our main goal this season is to increase our budget by doing well in our focus races as well as the World Cup competition. We'd also like to see more wins than last season (5).
However, the focus races remain a gamble. After much debate we settled on Milan-Sanremo, Paris-Tours, the Lincoln GP as well as the stage races Sochi and Guatemala. Cav won MSR last season, Sagan a year earlier, so we have two cards to play there and in Paris-Tours. Sagan has won the Lincoln GP 3 years running and always made the podium, it's just about the safest bet for us.
Majka was 3rd in Guatemala last season, considering the clash with Mount Fuji we hope he can repeat his performance, Tao could add more points. Majka has less support in Sochi, hopefully there won't be too much competition. We'll be very anxious about those races (and I hate being anxious), but quite relaxed about the rest of the season.
The team is proud to present the World Championship jersey which Yates will wear and the German National Championship jersey that Degenkolb will adorn this season.
World Chamiponship Jersey - Simon Yates
Spoiler
German National Chamiponship Jersey - John Degenkolb
The past couple of weeks DarkWolf, the team manager of Cadejo – BikeXpress, has been spotted around a few MTB races held in Central America. He attended a stage in the Trans Costa Rica - Marathon Cup Pedregal race, Canal Challenge, a 2-day race in Panama, and El Reto del Quetzal, a 4-day race in Guatemala. At a first glance it appears that with the latest prolific transitions of cyclocross and MTB riders to road races the team is on the lookout for talent that could make such a successful passage to the ICL circuit. Also, DarkWolf’s tremendous love for hilly, mountainous races should be taken into account (although, as he sincerely admits, he prefers a more flat and slightly downhill courses for his personal rides). It seems that the team is already working on establishing its scouting department, with a main focus on punchers, climbers and stage racers, but without losing sight of talented youngsters of other specializations. Asked about the work of this department DarkWolf told our news agency that the team is currently in the initial phase of negotiating with a couple of scouts, without revealing their names at this point.
In January Cadejo – BikeXpress will take part in only 2 races:
Tour d’Indonesia , where the team will be led by Sebastian Lander and Darren Matthews, helped by Guillaume Boivin, Dustin Browne, Andrew Clarke, Yelko Gomez and Jonathan Soler
Christchurch – Akeroa , where the team will be led by the same Sebsatian Lander and Darren Matthews, helped by Andrey Amador, Mark Arthur, Guillaume Boivin, Dustin Browne and Andrew Clarke.
Not all the team’s stars begin their racing this month and by the looks of it Cadejo - BikeXpress tackles the first month of the calendar without the pressure of immediate results and sees these races as more of a stretching of legs than anything else.
Edited by DarkWolf on 22-03-2021 09:07