It's been a very long time since we last posted any news. We would like to apologize for our inactivity.
In fact, after Juan Chamorro showed an amazing Vuelta a Tachira - a WT race nota bene - only to crash out on the final day, morale was really, really low on the entire team. This was well reflected by us being dead last among the CT teams after three months.
Fortunately, The boys fought their way back little by little. April saw us rise to 19th, and after the month of May we were 16th. The upward journey continued in the following three months - 13th, 10th and even 9th after the latest August rankings! What an amazing rise from the ashes we have seen there - our riders definitely have been on fire lately!
Of course, we have been lucky in some races - the luck that was missing in Venezuela, probably. According to the season previews, this current 9th place is pretty realistic - although we probably spent more race days than our closest competitors and therefore might drop a few spots again.
In any case, we can be satisfied with our debut season - although another highlight is still coming up, the Vuelta a Colombia!
And of course, with only two months of racing ahead, we have already started planning the next season. This obviously includes scouting for new talents; the first meaningful returns from our scouts should arrive soon. Let's see if we find a new Argentinean or Chilean superstar!
Suntory have announced they will no longer be sponsoring the cycling team next season. A Suntory spokesman said the board were unhappy that there were only 2 Japanese riders in the senior team and none in the development team. With two ICL teams having 4 Japanese riders, Suntory don’t feel manager DaveTwoBob is committed to promoting Japanese cycling.
In response DaveTwoBob recognised this criticism and thanked Suntory for their 4 years of sponsorship. He added that discussions are progressing with a major French company with a history in the sport and hoped to be able to make an announcement soon.
DaveTwoBob commented that Romain Bardet breaking his winless 2019 with a win in Strade Bianchi and being the reigning Olympic Champion as well as 2 stage wins in the Vuelta had helped get the attention of a French sponsor.
According to sources close to the sponsor, while they are thrilled with the exposure from the team's performance at the Tour, Giro, and other races, continuing sponsorship might be contingent on McRettin stepping aside as team manager. Apparently the sponsors are concerned that McRettin does not always represent the brand well and also about a lack of transparency in team spending. Sources anticipate Nikolay Mihaylov will be asked to step into management on a full-time basis to replace McRettin.
According to sources close to the sponsor, while they are thrilled with the exposure from the team's performance at the Tour, Giro, and other races, continuing sponsorship might be contingent on McRettin stepping aside as team manager. Apparently the sponsors are concerned that McRettin does not always represent the brand well and also about a lack of transparency in team spending. Sources anticipate Nikolay Mihaylov will be asked to step into management on a full-time basis to replace McRettin.
What the feck! The sport needs characters not accountants!
Stage win for improved punching Bardet, bonus seconds very useful
S3-
Lapse in concentration loses Bardet 17 seconds undoes S2 bonus seconds
S4-
More poor positioning but no time loss for Bardet this time
S5-
Bardet wins a bunch sprint! (Ok so we dropped the sprinters )
2 stage wins but 45 seconds down.
S6-
Bardet safe inside top 20, dominant win for Ewan, congrats dominox
S7-
Bardet safe inside top 20, surprise win for Geissler, congrats jandal
S8-
Aggressive riding from Bardet getting some time back on rivals, congrats Shonak
S9-
Started to worry as didn't spot Bardet in his Mountains jersey but he was home safe, congrats Croatia
Some exciting racing and its still tight with only 23 seconds covering the top 4 in GC.
S10-
Bardet on great form putting big time into his rivals with a 3rd stage win. Solid support from the team. I was very nervous watching the descent in the rain, glad we didn't see any crashes.
S11-
Easily Bardet's best ever TT performance, expected him to limit his losses but he extended his lead! 1st GC & Mountains, 2nd Points!!
S12-
Bardet home safe and managed to get 3 points somehow. Congrats to Ripley, the break stopping a Ewan win and limiting his points gain.
S13-
Bardet home safe again and another 3 points. Congrats to Ozrocker
Bardet in top form gaining a 2 min lead and still getting good support from his team. He also has a good lead in the Mountains.
S14-
Great teamwork from Olesen and Castillo protecting Bardet up to the final climb. Chapeau to Aru who attacked early but Bardet is just too strong. Stage win Number 4.
S15-
Viennet and Bravo join Olesen and Castillo pulling Bardet along the valley to limit the break to 3 mins which Bardet overhauls with an awesome climb to get mountain points on the penultimate Cat 1. He then breaks Konrad's heart by pipping him to Stage win number 5.
S16-
Viennet on the front again chasing down the break. Chapeau again to Aru and Polanc taking it to Bardet but The Beast is just too strong. Stage win number 6.
S17-
The breakaway robs Ewan of max points again, Bardet looking good for both Points and Mountains competitions. Congrats to Marco.
Bardet The Beast in unstoppable form, leads Aru by 6 mins 59 secs.
S18-
More great teamwork from Olesen, Castillo and Hepburn guiding Bardet up to the final climb. Crochet taking over on the final climb and giving up on his Young Rider ambitions. Aru too strong for Bardet this time, agony for Hirt caught within the final kilometre. Congrats to krisa.
S19-
Bardet isolated until Castillo comes up to support him. Hepburn joins on the descent then Alitalia start to drive. Bardet follows Aru's attack on the last climb but starts swinging with 1km to go! Not a good sign as Aru wins again to cut Bardet's lead to 5mins 1 second. Closest teammates were 32nd and 57th on the stage, all that work taking its toll.
S20-
Bravo and Hepburn work on the flat, Olesen leads the peloton over the penultimate climb. Aru attacks at the base of the Angrilu, where's Bardet? Crochet again buries himself for his leader but Aru has over a minute with 6.5km to go. Bardet closes to 30 seconds but as the gradients rise Aru pulls away, back to a minute with 3km to go. Nervous times in the Suntory camp as the gap continues to rise, Bardet manages to limit it to 2min 9 seconds. Barring accidents he has won his first Grand Tour.
S21-
The breakaway wins again, congrats to javibozada for this and the Team win.
Bardet The Lamb in the last 3 mountain stages, he needed a good deal of sliding room to hold off the charge of a rampant Aru, loosing 4 mins 11 secs. Need to seriously consider some recovery training.
Crochet managed 4th in Young Riders. Still qualifies for U25 next year, looking forward to see how he goes.
Sevilla win the Team by 45 minutes! Suntory second by just 45 seconds!
Bardet secured GC, Points (by 2!) and Mountains competitions, with 6 stage wins. Not bad for a focus race
@Ripley Thanks, I hope Ulrich has another comedy star in the making, wanted to give him some feedback having enjoyed the McRettin stylings
Only time will tell if McRettin can outmaneuver the accountants or if a new leader will emerge to entertain Ripley.
Edited by Ulrich Ulriksen on 29-06-2021 00:25
After Suntory withdrew its sponsorship DaveTwoBob is delighted to announce a new sponsorship deal with French auto manufacturer Renault. The sponsorship is highlighting the role of Renault Classic, a department that preserves, renovates and exhibits historical Renault vehicles. 2021 is the 60th anniversary of the Renault 4L, the company’s best-selling car.
Renault Classic shows its collection across Europe during exhibitions, motor shows, historical courses, and sport events such as World Series by Renault, Le Mans Classic, Goodwood Festival of Speed and Salons Automobile.
RENAULT CLASSIC JERSEY
To tie in with the historic nature of Renault Classic the team will ride in the Renault–Elf–Gitane retro cycling jersey from the days when Renault won the Tour de France 4 years in a row with French legends Laurent Fignon and Bernard Hinault.
DaveTwoBob hopes this will inspire current team leader Romain Bardet to a Tour de France Maillot Jaune.
Thanks to Hillis91 for permission to use his classic creation.
@DaveTwoBob I love a return to the classics as much as new and exciting things. Both have their own flavors and appeal. Good luck under the new sponsor!
I like the jersey quite a lot too!
Vuelta: With Michael Cuming's win on stage 14 of the Vuelta we managed to win a stage each in all three Grand Tours this year. He seemed out of contention 3 km out but then surged past his opponents with an impressive long sprint.
The breakaway also survived on the final stage and Birch was 3rd. Wagner sprinted very well and would have had half a dozen top 10, even a couple of top 5 results had the breakaways not succeeded so often. However, Ruben Fernandez only had two good stages: He was 4th on stage 4, his single best result this season, and he was 6th in the long and difficult ITT, another pleasant surprise. But otherwise he was struggling again and finished 16th overall.
Britain: We were delighted to see a rider each from our main and our dev team in the breakaway on stage 2. Diederich was rewarded with the polkadot jersey and wore it for two days, he finished 3nd in the classification. Later Stefan van Winden joined two breakaways and finished 5th in the KOM classification – but more significantly, he won stage 6, yet another maiden victory, at the age of 31. He was in the form of his life to be able to beat Chris Barton. Pöstlberger fought very well for a GC result and managed to finish 8th overall.
Paix: The run of good luck would have to end at some point and it did end on the queen stage of the Course de la Paix. Majka was the pre-race favourite, his team mates worked hard to control the peloton all the way into the final climb... but then the captain just didn't have the legs, instead of fighting for the win he was only 13th and eventually finished 10th overall.
Richmond: Sagan lost in a photo-finish to GVK, another great result nonetheless. Stefan van Winden once again was a great support and finished 13th, Stannard was 23rd.
Virginia: Nothing to report from Virginia, Travis Meyer was our best performer, 32nd overall.
Quebec Sprint: Not our finest performance. Arndt won't be getting a new contract, he's had no results to speak of all season and didn't make it past the first round. Cavendish was eliminated only a round later. We did a lot better with Schorn and Van der Sande last season.
WT Scoring 2020
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Total
Majka
169
438
478
666
125
67
1943
Cavendish
2
420
167
27
236
340
19
1211
Sagan
150
544
629
220
213
80
510
2346
Hart
132
341
41
243
2
759
Fernández
30
4
105
1
111
251
Stannard
23
6
3
22
54
Arndt
37
37
Dibben
46
80
20
1
147
Pöstlberger
4
18
5
27
Cano
27
88
11
1
127
Wagner
70
3
1
40
114
Simón
3
196
199
Guerin
27
1
28
Garcia
7
7
Christian
2
3
2
35
42
Lei
8
8
Meyer
2
6
8
Hansen
18
20
38
Lowsley-W
2
2
Cuming
55
55
McCluskey
9
50
4
63
Diederich
17
17
D. v. Winden
5
3
8
S. v. Winden
16
16
Birch
27
27
Total
184
169
1200
1007
1520
829
1252
1040
333
7534
RDs
7
6
20
17
28
19
23
19
33
8
180
Pts/RD
26.3
28.2
60.0
59.2
54.3
43.6
54.4
54.7
10.1
43.8
WT Rank
13
12
3
2
2
3
2
2
3
3
This busiest WT month of the year was clearly our weakest. 111 points by Ruben in the Vuelta don't look so bad in comparison to just 67 points for Majka (Paix) and 19 for Cavendish (Quebec). But there's also good news: All of our 25 riders have made it onto the scoreboard. And, more importantly, Sagan has cemented his lead in the WC competition and finishes 2nd in the cobblestone category, the team even won this classification.
October Preview
Tre Valli: Last season four of our riders made the top group of 18, though they all finished outside the top 10. Dibben is probably our best bet, he was 12th last season.
Bucaramaranga: The profile looks a little daunting for Sagan, but he placed 3rd three times now, including last season. While our team's best rider was Bibby, who was 33rd, so we should definitely do better this time around.
Paris-Tours: Our final goal race, with last year's winner Sagan as well as Cavendish. We saw them as either/or candidates depending on how hard the race will be, but the Cyclassics have given us hope that both of them can do well (they were 3rd and 6th). If we could repeat that result we'd be a very happy team indeed. No pressure, though, our other four goal races were all very successful.
Il Lombardia: Our best result in 2019 came in this final monument, Majka was only beaten by Aru. Of course, we can't expect him to repeat that feat, a top 10 would be fine. He gets limited support from Ruben Fernandez.
Japan Cup: A race without any pressure, our riders are allowed to take it easy. Stannard and Pöstlberger are co-captains.
World TTT Championships: If there is a (second) certain 0-pointer for us, then it's this race. We didn't get into scoring range last season and our TTT setup has only gotten worse.
Once again we scouted Britain diligently and were able to hire the two biggest talents this year. The only pot 6 talent around was the puncheur Eric Townsend-West, he's only 18 years old. Like our other big talent Wayne Richards he will take time to develop. Aaron Georgievski had the highest AVG of all British pot 5 riders, though that isn't saying much, he's most useful in time trials.
This year we also scouted countries with a British ensign in their flag (Union Jack in the top-left corner), the biggest of which are Australia and New Zealand. And we discovered a great Australian climber, Bailey Jansen, with pot 6 and AVG 72.2. Though once we checked his actual stats we weren't quite as euphoric anymore, everything but MON, HIL and ACC is terrible, his total stat points sub-par. But thanks to a ICL rule change he will be allowed to ride the U23 tour next season and he'll become our new team captain, replacing Fritsch. And he signed for minimum wage to boot, just like the other two riders.
Scouting our main area of interest - Argentina and Chile - proved to be pretty hard. In fact, the entire continent of South America doesn't seem to bring up a lot of big talents this year.
Therefore, we don't think we found the new latin superstar. But at least, we managed to sign three youngsters - all from our main focus nations, and all at minimum wage - who aren't too strong yet, but at least they seem to have quite some potential. Here they are:
Fabian would be have been our second strongest U23 puncheur this year - and that's the discipline we hope he'll be able to improve in most. His average strength isn't amazing yet, but after a few years in the development team we'll see if he's got a great career ahead of him. He's one of two potential 6 riders our scout found - unfortunately, we lost out on the other one.
Mauricio is even slightly stronger than Fabian on the mountains, which will likely become his main discipline. He's got the same age as his future teammate, but his potential is slightly lower - let's see if some great training discipline can outdo that difference!
Ian is a potential 5 talent as well, but two years younger than the previous riders. Which explains his really low average value - but let's see where he is in two years, maybe he can overtake those two?
Our scout has been looking further, discovering countries that aren't really our prime focus - but he found some interesting riders there as well. He's still busy getting as much detail as possible out of the remaining time, and we'll soon find out if we get some more youngsters on board!
Bosch Cycling Team signs future star Gregor Wilfurth
The scouts at Bosch Cycling Team had proven their excellence two years ago already when Tim Ahrens was discovered and quickly approached for a professional contract, a young German talent the team wants to develop into a stage race leader over the coming half a dozen years with the help of experienced captain Silvio Herklotz.
So the entire team was looking forward to the new scouting period for the 2021 season, with both the team manager and a promising management intern from within the staff structure overseeing the recon efforts of scout Valentino Streithammer in its home country of Germany throughout the year.
And luckily, the commitment to talent development paid off yet again this year, as Streithammer returned from his February trip to Bavaria with a recommendation to take a closer look at 20-year-old Georg Wilfurth, a lean climber well-known in the local amateur scene for some time who lately decided to pursue his passion for cycling more intensely after finishing school.
This increased focus on his training saw his abilities skyrocket in 2020, albeit not quite as publicly as Wilfurth couldn't attend many hilly and mountaineous races in a difficult spring for the racing scene.
Nevertheless, an early outing in a short mountain time trial led to said scout recommendation, but it took until May for us to be certain that we've found a very special young man.
Sadly, his performances that month attracted the media as well and put Georg on the map of some other scouts, which meant that once management agreed he would be pursued at all costs, Wilfurth rightfully declined our first minimum wage offer as he himself became aware of the asset he might become for any professional cycling team.
This couldn't stop us though, and we decided to basically issue a blank check to ensure the best German talent the cycling world has seen in many years moves no further than across the border from Bavaria to our HQ in Baden-Württemberg to commence his professional career!
So without further ado, we welcomed Georg at our training facility right after signing his neo-pro contract to conduct extensive tests to fully unveil his skills and the scope of his potential.
1493 Georg Wilfurth (20)
GER (Bayern)
Speciality: Climber
Potential: 7
Wage: 505
AVG
FL
MO
HI
TT
PL
CB
SP
AC
DH
FT
ST
RS
RC
69.0
67
71
70
63
70
58
59
59
57
70
67
70
66
Despite being aware of his results and determination from the scouting reports, we were stunned to see the values he produced simulating long climbs and short efforts alike in person, with a promising aerodynamic position on a TT bike to boot already.
Most impressive in comparison to his age group and even to many established pros was his ability to store a massive amount of energy in his body to distribute over the course of longer training runs without requiring recovery pauses.
It's no surprise Georg mentioned Jens Voigt as his childhood hero!
Areas that he certainly requires assistance with in the immediate future are his acceleration and the confidence in descents, but we're positive those skills can be raised to a competitive level by the time Wilfurth participates in the big races where a lack of them could prove critial.
A minor focus at the beginning will also lie in bringing consistency to his TT position and teaching him effort control to give him a better shot at sustaining his pace over longer time trials.
We're certain that with the right care, Georg Wilfurth can rise to the level of Silvio Herklotz in the latter half of the 2020s and become his successor as THE world class climber from Germany!
Tierra del Fuego 
Juan Chamorro showed an amazing Vuelta a Tachira - a WT race nota bene - only to crash out on the final day, morale was really, really low on the entire team. This was well reflected by us being dead last among the CT teams after three months.
Suntory 
Latvijas Balzams - Olainfarm: October Preview
GER (Bayern)
