Guinness p/b Blackberry had a great inaugural season last year, and they succeeded. The Irish and Canadian squad set out to create the best Irish and Canadian team possible. They saw the farewell tour of Dan Martin, who went out on top. Xavier Langlois and Sam Bennett overachieved as sprinters, taking numerous wins and great placings.
Heading into this offseason, the team decided to get even more Irish and Canadian, and they did it. Irish superstar Ryan Mullen transferred in, and looks poised to be a key leader for Guinness for many year to come. The teams also secured a true stage race leader in David Boily. Not to mention, they secured Scott McGuinness, an aptly named Irish talent who may develop into the next classics superstar.
Here is Guinness p/b Blackberry's 2021 roster!
AVG
FL
MO
HL
TT
PL
CO
SP
AC
DH
FT
ST
RS
RC
$
Age
Pot
Langlois
Xavier
78.3
78
67
74
68
71
74
79
79
78
74
77
73
75
790
28
7
Mullen
Ryan
77.8
77
71
74
79
78
71
68
70
71
70
73
74
75
555
27
6
Bennett
Sam
77.3
75
62
74
63
68
70
77
80
74
65
75
69
73
500
31
6
Boily
David
77.2
74
77
76
76
74
66
66
72
69
68
73
70
76
440
31
6
Lavery
Philip
76.4
76
64
74
67
70
76
75
76
73
71
76
71
72
375
31
5
Desjardins
Anthony
76.0
74
65
66
77
77
65
66
64
69
61
70
72
72
330
26
6
Doull
Owain
75.5
75
69
74
66
69
69
75
74
75
70
76
72
73
290
28
6
Christie
Marcus
74.1
74
67
68
75
74
66
64
64
68
68
69
71
70
190
30
4
Cossette
Frederic
73.9
74
67
71
67
66
74
71
72
70
72
75
70
71
180
27
5
Houle
Hugo
73.8
68
74
72
72
72
63
67
74
70
71
71
69
73
180
31
5
McCalmont
Tighearnach
73.3
67
73
71
72
71
55
58
64
68
57
70
70
73
150
26
5
Butler
Christopher
73.1
71
74
72
70
68
59
64
69
68
66
71
67
72
140
33
4
Ramirez
Robert
73.0
69
61
72
58
60
71
69
73
64
62
73
69
70
140
25
5
Saby
Jean-Pascal
73.0
73
56
67
62
65
74
65
68
68
79
71
72
72
140
24
6
McKenzie
Raffaele
72.3
73
59
67
61
67
73
68
69
74
66
71
67
68
110
24
5
Lumley
Robert
72.1
71
58
65
61
67
60
73
73
71
59
72
68
71
110
24
5
Roche
Nicolas
71.3
65
72
71
68
68
61
62
67
63
69
68
68
70
100
37
6
Downey
Sean
71.2
74
66
69
67
66
70
71
71
72
72
70
66
67
100
31
4
All riders listed 23 and under will ride for the BlackBerry limited U23 development team this year
AVG
FL
MO
HL
TT
PL
CO
SP
AC
DH
FT
STA
RS
RC
$
Age
Pot
Mathieu
Jules
70.4
68
65
64
71
69
57
60
61
81
76
68
71
68
100
22
6
Payne
Mike
69.7
62
71
68
58
60
57
62
65
62
67
67
66
69
100
23
4
Crowe
Elliott
69.2
65
68
67
69
68
56
56
62
68
68
66
65
70
100
23
5
McGuinness
Scott
67.6
65
55
57
68
66
69
63
61
74
69
66
67
63
100
21
6
Miller
Magnus
66.2
66
58
61
55
59
67
62
67
58
73
63
67
63
100
22
4
Plummer
Dale
66.1
65
64
66
61
63
57
62
61
68
69
66
65
62
100
20
5
Osbrough
Matthew
64.9
65
59
63
61
62
60
62
61
62
66
68
63
64
100
20
5
Mudd
Eber
63.6
57
64
61
56
56
54
58
62
56
66
60
60
62
100
20
4
Additionally, the team revealed the new and improved Irish champion's jersey that Ryan Mullen will have to wear:
And here is the Canadian NC jersey that David Boily will be required to wear during TT's:
All... um... "complements" go to team manager baseballlover312 for the... one of a kind jerseys.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Although the transfer period hasn't officially ended yet, it is very highly unlikely that we're going to make any further moves.
Having renewed the contracts of 21 riders and signed 4 new talents, we didn't expect to be too busy during the off-season - a feeling that was confirmed. Nonetheless, we saw three arrivals and one departure - let's take a closer look at the new Tierra del Fuego team members!
Bienvenido, Gustavo Martin
AVG
FL
MO
HI
TT
PL
CB
SP
AC
DH
FT
ST
RS
RC
Age
Pot
74.5
71
70
74
62
62
71
68
73
72
68
74
69
69
25
5
Gustavo is certainly no supertalent, but still a South American rider with a good potential! He has developed well in the offseason, and even claimed the Bolivian RR title - we suppose this made his wage demands skyrocket, so he finally got no extension at Santos - Euskadi.
By now, he's a solid CT domestique for hilly terrain, while not immediately dropping on longer climbs, either. Plus, with his good cobblestone basics, there's even a chance we'll try to push his development in that direction.
In short, a well-suited rider given both his nationality and skillset. We're glad to have him on board!
Servus, Alexander Brus
AVG
FL
MO
HI
TT
PL
CB
SP
AC
DH
FT
ST
RS
RC
Age
Pot
75.4
73
75
73
74
73
60
63
70
69
69
72
69
76
27
5
Alex clearly isn't a perfect match given his origin - but at least he speaks German, and so can communicate with Rick Zabel and the team manager. Which is more than what Frederik Vilhelmsen[/b] could - the Dane was the counterpart of our swap deal with team Deutsche Bahn. The WT outfit made some risky moves and eventually slipped into financial troubles - giving Alex away for a lower wage rider was actually part of their way out of the slump.
Both Alex and Frederik are very similar riders considering their skillset, with Alex being basically one year older and therefore one year further developed. As Frederik, he's a good allrounder and will be an important part of our stage race lineup - especially when there are team time trials.
Furthermore, his development wasn't really satisfying this offseason, so we hope that a change of environment will help him progress further - the CT should definitely provide him some chances to take the next step!
Üdvözöljük, Sándor Biró
AVG
FL
MO
HI
TT
PL
CB
SP
AC
DH
FT
ST
RS
RC
Age
Pot
74.4
72
74
73
73
72
60
59
71
73
69
72
70
75
25
5
Yes, you're right - Sándor doesn't fit our team at first sight. Not even at second or third. Yet, we still signed him - why?
We had already reached the minimum rider limit, and had to decide between a risky training attempt or signing a further rider. We went for the latter, trying to sign one more talent. We were outbid on multiple riders; either because of a bid going above our budget limit, or because we just weren't willing to pay more.
After the Alex <-> Frederik swap, we looked at the FAs left on the market, and went for the (in our eyes) best possible rider we still could fit into our budget.
Well, this time, we weren't outbid, and hence we can welcome Sándor on board! After a Dane last year, the spot of the "exotic" rider goes to a Hungarian this time. However, given that Hungarian is such an incredibly complex language, we suppose he'll easily learn Spanish or at least German.
We suppose that he didn't get a new contract at Vegeta because of some bad offseason development. We do however think that he could still prosper in the right circumstances - and we hope that we as a talent focused CT team can provide him with whatever he needs to do so!
And that's it - the full team presentation will be posted in a few days! We're looking forward to our second CT season - and we're especially excited to see our improved leaders and our new signings present our jersey!
Air Algérie - Navibulgar released their final 2021 squads along with some commentary from manager Willie McRettin. McRettin observed that "I cannae say I am sure what our strategy was this year but we have some great lads on the team and a solid core from our focus areas in Algeria, Bulgaria and Belgium. I am really looking forward to see how some of the big Algerian lads we signed get on. They are fantastic, just great."
The Sprint Squad
McRettin: "I hppe Marcel keeps drinking whatever his secret potion of youth is, pretty much all our goals for the season will rely on him, so no pressure on the lad. He is great, fantastic. We are hoping to pull some added support for Marcel from our classics team since they might not be very good on their own terrain."
Marcel Kittel
33
80.4
Elia Favilli
32
75.9
Nikolay Mihaylov
33
73.9
Lubos Malovec
27
72.9
Abdenour Yahmi
29
72.6
Mustapha Droueche
27
71.6
Tim Geens
25
71.5
Olivier Poppe
29
71.3
Salvador Celades
23
71.2
The Classics Squad
"Last year I was a wee bit embarrassed that a Belgian team had no classics squad. This year we are less Belgian, but I am proud to say, more classical. Senechal is a great lad, fantastic, expensive, but fantastic. Very excited to see young Ludovic in the hilly classics in another year or two. We brought in Ulissi to show him the ropes, Diego has been just great, fantastic, so far." noted McRettin.
Florian Senechal
28
80.0
Diego Ulissi
32
77.5
Luka Pibernik
28
76.1
Ludovic Provost
24
75.3
Zico Waeytens
30
75.0
Christopher Juul-Jensen
32
74.9
Vasif Borisov
24
70.5
Amadi Solomon
25
70.3
The Stage Racers
McRettin welcomed an almost completely new group of stage racers commenting that "Last year it was all in for Nairo as our star, we couldn't sign a star this year so we signed a bunch of lads instead. They are great, fantastic all of them, looking forward to lots of placings in the top half". He added, "Particularly happy with Said, he is great, fantastic, was fantastic to work with Allianz to bring him over, our home fans are going to love this lad."
Robert Gesink
35
76.9
Jonathan Castroviejo
34
75.9
Dominic Mapemba
25
75.4
Vito Pogacar
25
75.3
Said Ferhat
25
74.3
Hans-Georg Nentwich
25
73.9
Ondrej Nemec
25
73.8
Semyon Melnik
24
71.7
Air Algérie - Godiva (U23)
Finally, McRettin introduced the U23 squad. "Rakotonjanahary must be good since he was with BP last year. Otherwise don't know much about this group, except for Marcel, who was our very first signing ever, luckily his cycling is improving as we don't have a need for a bartender on staff any more. I am sure Nikolay [Mihaylov, U23 manager] will have them in the wind tunnel in no time."
Team BP 2021 Transfer Activity and Team Presentation
Nat
Name
AVG
Role
Wage
Age
Pot
Rafal Majka
80.8
Captain Mountains
1260
32
7
Peter Sagan
80.2
Captain Classics
1660
31
6
Tao Geoghegan Hart
79.1
Captain Mountains
560
26
6
Leigh Howard
78.4
Captain Sprints
585
32
6
Campbell Flakemore
78.3
Captain Time Trials
565
29
6
Scott Davies
76.2
Stage Racer
365
26
5
Jonathan Dibben
76.0
Classics
300
27
6
Martin Wagner
75.6
Sprinter
300
25
6
Jordi Simon
75.3
Climber
280
31
5
Jorge Cano Gonzalez
75.0
Stage Racer
250
25
6
Rasim Reis
74.7
Time Trials
230
29
4
Roman Kreuziger
74.4
Road Captain
210
35
6
Safari Akinyemi
74.3
Climber
225
24
6
Gao Lei
74.1
Stage Racer
190
24
6
Michael Cuming
74.0
Time Trials
190
31
5
Ian Stannard
73.9
Classics
180
34
5
Max Fritsch
73.8
Climber
180
24
5
Lasse Norman Hansen
73.6
Allrounder
170
29
5
Mark Christian
73.3
Domestique
150
31
5
Travis Meyer
72.7
Domestique
130
32
5
Edward Birch
72.6
Domestique
120
27
5
Philip McCluskey
72.5
Domestique
120
26
5
Andrew Shelton
71.9
Domestique
100
23
5
James Lowsley-Williams
71.8
Domestique
100
29
4
Stefan van Winden
71.8
Domestique
100
32
6
Spoiler
AVG
FL
MO
HI
TT
PR
CB
SP
AC
DH
FT
ST
RS
RC
Majka
80.8
74
81
79
77
76
61
66
74
70
74
77
74
79
Sagan
80.2
78
70
77
69
78
78
78
82
80
80
79
74
79
Geoghegan Hart
79.1
72
79
77
73
71
64
68
76
75
77
76
72
77
Howard
78.4
76
68
73
67
73
69
80
79
72
68
73
70
76
Flakemore
78.3
78
67
72
80
78
70
70
69
72
67
72
74
74
Davies
76.2
73
76
75
74
73
61
63
72
69
68
73
70
76
Dibben
76,0
77
63
73
69
71
75
74
75
73
74
77
72
73
Wagner
75.6
75
63
69
65
69
66
76
77
73
66
74
71
75
Simón
75.3
71
76
74
72
73
59
63
72
71
74
72
68
74
Cano Gonzalez
75,0
71
74
74
73
71
63
67
71
71
71
73
71
76
Reis
74.7
74
65
67
76
74
68
68
66
70
64
69
72
70
Kreuziger
74.4
69
75
75
71
69
55
59
65
67
70
71
72
73
Akinyemi
74.3
66
75
73
64
64
55
62
72
70
71
72
71
72
Lei
74.1
70
74
72
73
71
56
57
68
71
65
71
69
73
Cuming
74,0
75
68
71
75
74
69
70
70
72
74
73
70
71
Stannard
73.9
75
63
72
71
72
74
67
70
68
76
74
71
67
Fritsch
73.8
69
75
73
70
70
58
62
69
71
67
71
69
73
Hansen
73.6
76
69
71
75
73
71
73
71
73
73
74
69
71
Christian
73.3
73
63
72
68
69
73
71
74
72
72
73
70
71
Meyer
72.7
74
68
71
74
72
68
72
71
70
74
72
69
75
Birch
72.6
75
71
71
71
72
66
70
71
71
67
74
71
74
McCluskey
72.5
72
66
70
67
69
72
69
71
75
72
75
73
73
Shelton
71.9
70
62
71
60
65
67
61
68
76
70
73
69
69
Van Winden
71.8
73
66
70
70
68
72
70
70
72
74
72
68
71
Lowsley-Williams
71.8
72
72
70
69
68
62
63
70
70
75
71
69
71
OUT: Cavendish, Fernandez, Arndt, Pöstlberger, Guerin, Garcia, Diederich, Dennis van Winden IN: Howard, Flakemore, Davies, Reis, Kreuziger, Akinyemi, Fritsch, Shelton
We have 8 new riders in our squad. The two main priorities were finding a replacement for Cavendish and swapping out Fernandez for Scott Davies. Leigh Howard became Cav's replacement and the savings in wage allowed us to bring in TT specialist Flakemore as well.
With Reis we attempt to further improve our TTT, the experienced Kreuziger will serve as road captain, Akinyemi is an interesting climbing talent while Fritsch and Shelton move up from the development team.
Despite a big raise in the budget the wages have dropped from 8960 last season to 8520 this year. Instead we spent 1600 for training and research.
With our 5 captains there are only a handful of races on the WT calendar where we can't hope for a top 10 result. Davies will have to cover those and Wagner will be our main sprinter in a few races. Rafal and Tao have solid support in the mountains, while Sagan is bound to be on his own in the finale unless Dibben can keep up.
Transfers are over, and our full roster is now defined - we'll surely schedule a team presentation soon! But first, let's talk about some other things.
We did have a little money left after transfers - and our sponsors decided to pay an extra amount for training camps. We unfortunately didn't have the budget to make huge things happen, but the training luckily had a beneficial effect on our most important rider:
Rider
AVG
FL
MO
HIL
TT
PRL
COB
SP
ACC
DH
FTR
STA
RES
REC
Juan Chamorro
77.6
71
79
76
71
69
61
66
72
71
76
73
68
74
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
Juan Chamorro
77.6
72
79
76
72
70
62
66
72
71
76
73
68
74
Compared to similar climbers, Juan still has rather weak TT capabilities, but at least he's gotten a little bit closer. The next thing to work on would be his physical condition, especially his resistance - but that will probably happen only next winter. He likely won't ride many races with TTs anyway, but for those he'll compete in, we hope this training success really makes some difference.
And now, let's take a look at our jerseys. You already know the main and U23 team's - they're the same as last year - but the ICL directors still like it when they're found in some HQ post. So here are our standard and NC jerseys:
Having been put on the transfer list did not go unnoticed by Carlos Betancur. After three stellar years at the spanish outfit - and staying longer than at any of his previous teams - Betancur well thinks that the fourth year might be his last. "It is always disappointing when management openly invites offers for you; it might be even stranger when those offers are not coming in."
In a recent interview, he has specified further that the pressure internally has only grown with the growth of Mathieu Van der Poel and Juan Pulido. "They are young and hungry, and race similarly well to me. Given that they can hold themselves well against the clock, we might not be clashing too much in the races though. I think team management has plenty of targets to choose from."
Detailing his successes over the past few years - including a 5th spot at the Giro and a 4th at the Vuelta as well as a win of Liege-Bastogne-Liege - Betancur would be looking to seek other opportunities next year but insisted he was still competitive on the highest level. He has shrugged off any potential interest from Grupo Argos, making it clear he is fully committed to Liberty Seguros and his contract for the upcoming season. He also does wonder how Colombian the outfit still is, and if not other teams - perhaps even in the CT - might provide better adventures down the road. "There are some exciting projects out there, worth to keep track of."
He has re-confirmed his competitiveness too: "I definitely want to race this year to the best of my abilities and consider some big races like La Doyenne and Il Lombardia my goals of the season. I am also scheduling again to win some stages at Vuelta a Tachira. If I race a GT, it woud likely be the Giro, as I have some great memories of the race, and think that the management will grant me the captaincy there."
The former Enfant Terrible of racing has matured in his last three season at Liberty Seguros, becoming a guarantee for competitive racing and good results. Whilst the young guns are coming up, he has still confirmed his leadership role and aims to race to win in any race he enters at least for this season. With him going past 30, however, the clock is also ticking and Betancur might soon face not just more young guns coming up, but also his own relative decline in power.
Having won last year's Tour de France, Jesus Herrada sees it has his obligation to return to the greatest race of the year to defend his title.
"There was never really any question that I return to this race. Last year worked really well for me although towards the end I felt the Giro in my legs and had a difficult time defending it against Quintana in the final stages. But I believed in my abilities and I knew that this was what the team worked towards for 7 long years. I was happy I could deliver on it."
Being now in the form of his life, off the Tour win, the Olympic Gold Medal in the Time Trial, as well as a third place in the Giro, Herrada sees himself as the favourite for the race. Having not raced against Bardet outside the Olympic Games, the prospect of facing the French Vuelta winner might mean a clash of titans though. Certainly the french tabloids will have plenty of stuff to write about.
"It is true that Bardet made the final step to the top tier last year, finally winning some big races such as the Vuelta, the Olympic Games and even Strade, but they have all been hilly and steep ground, and I hope that the more allrounder profile of le Tour favours my skills and makes it a good duel. He is definitely at the moment one of, if not the best rider in the peloton but I have won the Tour against riders such as Quintana, Majka, and I have raced against Contador and Froome, and now I am here to defend it, using all my skills, knowledge, as well as my own strength and the team's."
Outside of the Tour competition, Herrada is wary of this season's schedule. Feeling that time might be running out to collect big Grand Tour wins and currently at 2, he has expressed hope that the team will see him challenge for another Vuelta victory. "It might be my last time before other riders in the team step up to become leaders for this race, and so far no rider has achieved a second win in the Vuelta in a long while - I would like to see myself being the first one to achieve that, and I know the Spanish fans will want it too."
Being no stranger to two Grand Tours in a year, Herrada would certainly race in a familiar pattern; fully focused on the Grand Tours whilst the team's coleaders focus on classics, stage races and the third Grand Tour. However, having won the Tour now, the sponsor has also been eager to showcase Herrada in more races than just a few per year - he has not really tried his hand on the classics, and could arguably dominate some stage races such as Pais Vasco, Guatemala, Sochi and even Mount Fuji. "We are thinking about it and trying to find a good schedule that would work around the Tour, and right now we have to decide between the Vuelta and a fully packed spring campaign."
As for the Spanish fans it is clear where they would like to see Herrada race. After having experienced the first Vuelta in a few years without a Spanish rider on the podium, they have recently started a petition to let Herrada race the Vuelta, with or without the Tour included.
The 24-year old Juan Pulido is entering his third season with the elite squad Liberty Seguros, previously having spent significant years on their development squad. As an outright offspring of La Fundacion and the eyes of the Spanish public on him since a young age, Pulido hopes that this will be the season it finally makes click.
"I had not a bad season last year", Pulido explained in a recent interview, perhaps even underselling his achievements as a then 23 year old, "however I was lacking top results. I was coming close to Giro del Trentino and the Austria Tour where I would have almost ended up on the podium. Those results show me that I can race with the best sometime, such as Herklotz and Bardet." He even showed his dominance to the fellow 23 year old last year, when he won - albeit surprisingly - the Time Trial U23 World Championships in Plouay. "Seeing how I was a favourite in Verona the year before, and could not deliver on my own expectations, I was very happy I could wrap up this unfinished business with the WCs before I left the U23 ranks for good."
Talking about his quest for Spanish glory, he was less enthusiastic: "I had major difficulties in the Vuelta and the Pais Vasco races; those races should have suited me better and I hope to improve especially in longer stage races on the highest level this year". Looking at his calendar, Pulido is sure to have plenty of opportunity to do so. He will race both in the Vuelta and Pais Vasco, where he will have co-leadership alongside Van der Poel. Especially winning the U25 jersey would be a dream for the Spaniard, having failed in both Vuelta attempts previously to snatch it even for a day. "The competition over the last years has been really tough", he admitted and thinks this year might be rife for him.
Fans will also see him present in some classics, such as La Doyenne and Il Lombardia to support the team's leaders. He will also return to some races of familiar terrain, such as the USA Pro Cycling Challenge and even Giro del Trentino. The latter has been proclaimed by Pulido proudly his favourite race, and after taking in the 4th stage last season, he would still like to see a score settled.
Speaking of the future, Pulido has confirmed that there was interest from other WT top teams this season, but that the management has convinced him of their long-term plans for him and he is determined to stay. "I feel very much at home at Liberty Seguros, they support me a lot and my development goes really well so far. That other teams are interested in me as a rider is the confirmation of the great work the team and I are doing." As such Pulido has become one of the most impressive talents to watch out for, even collecting the 2nd most prestige points last season as a 23 year old - upstaged only by the insane season of Salif Mane in the U23 races, arguably not the same level as the WT.
It remains to be seen whether Pulido can follow the positive trajectory this year and confirm his own - and the team's - ambitions in the near future; becoming a prime GT contender and follow the footsteps of Rodriguez, Contador and Herrada to win the Vuelta one day.
Throughout the past few years, Mathieu Van der Poel has been seen as one of the greatest talents in the cycling circus. However whilst his peers Herklotz, Mohoric and Engeldinger have been winning races and making a name for themselves, VDP was left rather stranded between competing for U25 competitions (& thereby collecting points) and achieving the odd classic result. Coming off his first classic win in Switzerland, a great podium in Colombia and the non-eligibility for U25, VDP vows he races from now on only to win.
"I definitely think that my win in La Jurassaine against Herklotz and Polanc has given me some wings in the later part of the season, has motivated me to train hard. I want to be on top of my game from the get-go this season and then compete throughout the year until Lombardia."
The puncheur has not been coy about his ambitions. Whilst being more powerful as a rider, VDP still lacked many times the finishing legs to achieve top results. It is also a question of stamina and experience - and helping his official leader Betancur in some races. The Dutchman is convinced that those days are over, and proclaims that he will fight for each result this year and aims to be a constant dark horse, if not in some races even favourite to win a race.
His ambitions hereby primarily orient themselves towards short stage races and the classics, leaving the Grand Tours ripe for his more senior colleagues. "I have been impressed by what Villela has been doing in the Giro last year, so I think this is something that I also could target at some point, but for now my focus lies on strengthening the team in the classics department and leading them to past glory."
Indeed - taking a look at Liberty Seguros' past classic results - counting 3 wins in La Doyenne and 1 win in Il Lombardia - the once formidable hills department has lost a lot in power and winning potential over the past 2-3 years. Having not been that competitive as they would like to be, the management has made it clear that they see VDP as the number one weapon to change their fortunes in the upcoming classic and spring season.
The Dutchman has come off a fantastic last season, which saw him score multiple points due to the U25 competition wins. However, besides La Jurassaine, Van der Poel has remained without wins for far too long. 2018 was his breakout year with a great win and 3rd in GC in Australia, but in 2019 injuries, crashes and lack of form plagued him a lot, causing a lack of result. The unusual lack of offers in the off-season for him was a good indicator and other talents such as Mohoric and Herklotz had flown by him by then.
With a formidable kick uphill, some strong finishing legs and a good ability against the clock, VDP has a wide calendar of races to select and compete in. Fortunately, even his mountain climbing legs have profited from the Spanish mountains, and the Dutchman has even admitted that winning a Grand Tour in the style of Bauke Mollema would be a worthy goal to pursue. For now his eyes are firmly set on getting as many wins as possible this year, and losing the stain of the Forever 2nd (or 3rd) - sadly much in the tradition of his grandfather.
The former U23 World Champion Arsénio Alves will be looking to further cement his presence in the team after joining two seasons ago from the much lauded Leopard Youth Development squad. Missing some major results last year for himself, he was a valuable domestique in races, in particular the Vuelta a Tachira.
This year Alves wants to race more for himself though, and has even eyed a Continental Races where he hopes to prove to management that he is one destined for greater things than be a lieutant for Pulido one day.
Career Overview
Year
Country
Team
Prestige Rank
Prestige Points
2017
Blue Water Youth Project
528
56 Pts.
2018
Leopard - Evonik Youth
243
224 Pts.
2019
Liberty Seguros
493
75 Pts.
2020
Liberty Seguros
289
164 Pts.
2021
Liberty Seguros
-
Noticeable Results
1st
2019
U23
World Championships U23 RR
Liberty Seguros
2nd
2016
U21
World Championships U21 RR
-
2nd
2018
MON
Liege - Bastogne - Liege Espoirs
Leopard - Evonik Youth
Minor Threat: Giuliano Garau
The odd one out at Liberty Seguros, Garau has been long hailed to become a proper hardman and sprinter star much in the shape of Peter Sagan. It just didn't happen.
Three years of neglect in his early adulthood have meant that he is fighting on a backburner down - among them, two seasons without any point scoring at all have left Garau demoralized and in worse shape than many wanted to admit.
Now he is on his long way back. He was first put by LYS into the Youth squad. Then promoted to the big guns last season. Fighting alongside Jaime Garcia, the two form a future classics squad of hardmen - soon.
So far though the Italian has only achieved minor results - standing without a win for the team in the U23 ranks, and only one noteworthy result in the Cigar Classic last year.
With some added training sessions, Garau hopes he can finally deliver some points to the team. Whilst aspirations of winning in streaks is too far for the Italian yet, it will be key that he can prove his value to the squad and receive more support in the upcoming years. As a sprinter and northern specialist, Garau could tick several boxes for the team and become a proper legend. Demand however especially from Italian WT teams would be even higher should Garau eventually confirm his great potential.
Career Overview
Year
Country
Team
Prestige Rank
Prestige Points
2016
Team Live Mas Mexico
677
10 Pts.
2017
The Spark Project p/b Bollé
2018
Trek - Segafredo
2019
Liberty Seguros
340
130 Pts.
2020
Liberty Seguros
334
138 Pts.
2021
Liberty Seguros
-
Noticeable Results
2nd
2020
CT.2
Cigar City Classic
Liberty Seguros
Minor Threat: Guillermo Navarette
Recognized by some as Spain's biggest talent against the clock, Navarette has been the shining star in a otherwise weak youth squad year for LYS - one full of promises in 2019, but little results. In his first pro season, Navarette was well recognized a solid helper, having raced both Grand Tours and helping his leaders particulary in team time trials, such as Toowoomba and Sochi.
However, the young Spaniard has ambitions of his own. Having achieved solid results in his youth days, Navarette expects to make a big step this year to also compete in the elite time trials. Eventually his hope is that he can become even a proper stage racer along the lines of Tony Martin and Vorobyev, though he recognizes that this would still a long way to go for him.
Nerz is definitely an amazing signing for any CT team - and given your MG record, I wouldn't be surprised to see you fighting for promotion in your first year already
I do however suspect that Chamorro and Nerz won't meet that often, given that Juan rather needs to avoid TTs while Nerz is attracted by them But I guess that Nerz will have some nice fights against Gomez, and Chamorro will surely meet Olivier pretty regularly
CCC Sprandi Polkowice 
Guinness Cycling p/b BlackBerry 
Latvijas Balzams-Olainfarm 
| 
Istrian Spring Trophy
Tour of South Africa
Tour de Suisse
Gustavo Martin 
Frederik Vilhelmsen[/b] could - the Dane was the counterpart of our swap deal with team Deutsche Bahn. The WT outfit made some risky moves and eventually slipped into financial troubles - giving Alex away for a lower wage rider was actually part of their way out of the slump.
Engeldinger have been winning races and making a name for themselves, VDP was left rather stranded between competing for U25 competitions (& thereby collecting points) and achieving the odd classic result. Coming off his first classic win in Switzerland, a great podium in Colombia and the non-eligibility for U25, VDP vows he races from now on only to win.
But I guess that Nerz will have some nice fights against Gomez, and Chamorro will surely meet Olivier pretty regularly 
