After a busy transfer period ahead of the inaugural season, the same period was much, much calmer this time. In fact, only 3 riders joined the team, while we had one single departure during transfers (Vilhelmsen).
The reason for not being more active was mainly that the existing riders developed well, with many of them taking a significant step up. So let's take a look at our 2021 roster!
Climbers / Stage Racers
Rider
AVG
FL
MO
HI
TT
PL
CB
SP
AC
DH
FT
ST
RS
RC
Age
Pot
Juan Chamorro
77.6
71
79
76
71
69
61
66
72
71
76
73
68
74
30
6
Javier Gomez
76.7
73
77
75
75
74
60
63
69
68
69
72
69
75
30
5
Tácio Mendes
75.8
73
76
74
74
73
59
60
69
70
63
71
70
75
28
5
Yonder Godoy
75.6
72
76
74
72
71
60
65
73
72
75
73
70
74
28
5
Alexander Brus
75.4
73
75
73
74
73
60
63
70
69
69
72
69
76
27
5
Daniel Díaz
74.7
70
75
74
66
68
61
65
71
72
77
73
70
73
32
5
This is by far our largest department - not much of a question where our main focus is!
Just like last year, Chamorro will lead the team in races with no or few TT kilometers. He has improved in pretty much every domain during the offseason, so we definitely expect big things from him this year!
Also like last year, Godoy and Díaz will be his main companions. Both haven't really improved their climbing skills; the former has however worked hard on the TT bike, and the latter on shorter inclines. They should be well suited to their role anyway!
And given that the riders are mostly the same as last year, Gomez also has the same role - namely leading the team in TT-heavy stage races. He was one of the most improving riders, getting stronger on long ascents and making an even bigger jump on the hills. His TT has improved as well - let's see if he's ready for greater things now! Mendes has also improved on all kinds of uphill roads and should still be a worthy domestique - this year alongside new signing Brus. The Austrian is a similar uphill rider and brings some decent TT skills as well.
So to summarize, we basically have two main stage race squads - obviously completed by helpers and/or riders from other departments:
- No/short TTs: Chamorro - Godoy - Díaz
- TT-heavy: Gomez - Mendes - Brus
Puncheurs
Rider
AVG
FL
MO
HI
TT
PL
CB
SP
AC
DH
FT
ST
RS
RC
Age
Pot
Armando Huamán
76.5
72
69
76
62
64
68
67
75
72
71
76
70
72
25
6
Gustavo Martin
74.5
71
70
74
62
62
71
68
73
72
68
74
69
69
25
5
Compared to the climbers department, the puncheurs one looks measly. But we actually decided to list riders only in one place - else a couple of the climbers plus some who will be presented later on could be found in this list as well.
Huamán didn't have the easiest of seasons last year, being only 24y.o. and definitely not among the top contenders yet. While he still isn't, he's at least getting closer, having improved his uphill skills. A good acceleration and stamina should be rather helpful, too.
He's still only 25y.o. and hence will hopefully get a couple of bonus points from stage races - but we do expect him to step up and fight at least for some Top10 spots.
He only has Bolivian NC Martin listed as his domestique here, but as we said before, there will be some other riders doing hilly races as well. Martin is 25y.o. as well, and should be developed as a punchy cobbler in the future. But for this season, he definitely belongs to the puncheur department.
Sprinters
Rider
AVG
FL
MO
HI
TT
PL
CB
SP
AC
DH
FT
ST
RS
RC
Age
Pot
Rick Zabel
77.5
75
67
76
66
67
72
77
77
74
69
76
71
73
28
6
Eduardo Gonzalez
75.7
75
64
73
65
70
67
76
76
74
66
75
71
75
25
6
And here's already the next rider who could easily join the puncheurs list - in fact, Zabel is our shared strongest puncheur, together with Huamán and Chamorro presented earlier.
And to our disappointment, he's not even considered to be a pure sprinter anymore by the ICL, hence losing some bonus race days. Which means that he'll just need to shine even more in the remaining ones! He'll get to race a mix of flat and hilly classics as well as some stage races. He didn't really improve as a pure sprinter; instead we expect more from him in bumpy stages now.
Panamanian NC Gonzalez had a great season last year already and he hasn't stopped improving! While his development as a sprinter is rather steady, he took a +3 leap in his hilly skills - we really need to take care of not developing him too much along the puncheur direction, too!
He'll get a race mix similar to Zabel's, although with less hills and therefore more purely flat stages. Let's see where this leads him - we surely don't have the division's top sprinters, but they're both pretty versatile!
Time Trialists
Rider
AVG
FL
MO
HI
TT
PL
CB
SP
AC
DH
FT
ST
RS
RC
Age
Pot
Fernando Gaviria
75.5
75
70
71
77
75
70
69
68
71
67
72
72
73
27
5
Eduardo Sepulveda
75.8
76
73
72
76
76
67
69
69
70
69
72
71
74
30
5
Only two riders left on this list - but actually all of our TT-heavy stage race lineup could join our TT duo, too. Meaning that we should still be rather well set for TTTs - even slightly stronger than last year.
In fact, Gaviria has even slightly improved his speed against the clock. He already took a win in his first season for us, and so chances are good he'll at least compete for a couple more podiums this year.
Sepulveda on the other hand wasn't able to improve his TT skills, but took some significant development steps on inclined roads (+2 for Mo and Hi each) - meaning that he'll pretty frequently join our stage race team as a pretty valuable helper now.
Cobblers
Rider
AVG
FL
MO
HI
TT
PL
CB
SP
AC
DH
FT
ST
RS
RC
Age
Pot
Roberto Romero Martínez
76.4
75
65
74
68
69
76
68
72
74
71
77
71
72
27
6
You're obviously right, we could remove the plural "s" from the header here. Romero Martínez still is our lone cobbler, just like last year.
We tried to sell him, but eventually had to accept that there wasn't any interest in him. So he'll stay our cobbles leader for another year, mostly supported by Martin (listed among the puncheurs). Given that Roberto improved his hilly skills, he'll again get to ride quite a few of those races - where he already got some nice results last season. His great stamina definitely helps him in those long, tiring classics - be they with or without cobbles.
Domestiques
Rider
AVG
FL
MO
HI
TT
PL
CB
SP
AC
DH
FT
ST
RS
RC
Age
Pot
Sándor Biró
74.4
72
74
73
73
72
60
59
71
73
69
72
70
75
25
5
Eloy Nogueira
73.2
65
74
73
67
68
56
62
68
75
73
70
66
69
24
5
Pablo Gonçalves
73
71
71
70
73
73
66
66
66
71
64
72
72
72
25
5
Héctor Molina
72.3
68
72
70
71
70
55
56
65
65
57
69
67
72
25
5
Jonathan Saavedra
71.8
70
60
63
73
73
63
61
59
68
59
67
67
67
27
3
Biró is our "Exotic rider of the Year" - with his well-rounded skillset and some good potential, he was just too tempting for us to leave him on the FA market. He'll often join the TT-heavy stage race team - while Nogueira will support the other one. The Venezuelan has also made some significant improvements and could definitely join the Climbers list next year - but he still has some serious work to do on his energy levels.
Gonçalves was actually listed in the TTers department last year, but he unfortunately had a bad year and even lost some of his speed against the clock. However, he can keep up his speed a little longer now, so in the end he should be at about the same level as before.
Molina is probably Chile's best stage racer talent - which says a lot about the country's current talent reservoir. If he can one day make it to the top, he'll certainly be a late bloomer. At least he did make some good progress in the offseason, so we expect him to be a decent helper in those stage races now.
Saavedra is Chile's current TT NC - which also says a lot... We still got quite some work to do with our Chileans, that's for sure! Still, Jonathan has been a reliable TTT member last year, and has actually improved his skills in pretty much every domain - so maybe there's still some hope!
Conclusion
We already said last year that we were pretty happy with the team. Given by how much many riders improved during the offseason, we are obviously even happier now. While there certainly are stronger teams - especially with stronger leaders for hills, sprints, TTs or cobbles - we think that with clever planning and a bit of luck, we can be pretty successful this year. Let's see how far Chamorro and Zabel can lead the team in the rankings!
Los Gauchitos Team Presentation
As it was announced when the team was founded, the nationality of the development team will switch between Argentina and Chile on a yearly basis. So this year we're riding under the Chilean flag - and we actually do have quite some expectations of the following 9 riders:
Rider
AVG
FL
MO
HI
TT
PL
CB
SP
AC
DH
FT
ST
RS
RC
Age
Pot
Germán Ollero
72.6
69
72
70
73
73
56
60
65
67
59
71
67
70
21
6
Ernesto Urízar
72
62
73
70
58
61
55
62
69
74
70
69
66
69
22
5
Andrés Cruz
71.9
70
60
63
61
66
62
73
73
67
66
71
68
68
22
6
Miquel Espinosa
71.4
70
59
64
62
68
59
72
73
68
72
69
67
69
22
6
Rubén Gorriarán
71
72
64
64
61
62
72
67
68
73
68
68
69
67
23
5
Alexander Costa
67
58
68
66
60
58
56
62
62
62
67
60
58
62
20
5
Fabian Martinuccio
66.1
63
66
68
62
69
62
56
62
60
64
61
67
64
21
6
Mauricio Méndez
65.9
59
67
65
63
67
54
54
59
58
57
61
60
64
21
5
Ian Munder
63
59
63
64
62
62
57
56
60
64
59
58
63
61
19
5
After having developed really well (+2 each in Mo, Hi, TT, PL), Ollero should now be ready to fight for top spots in races with time trials. Against the clock, he's among the strongest U23 riders, and his climbing skills are definitely nothing to scoff at, either.
Urízar is our best pure climber and will get his chances to shine when there's no TT alongside the mountain stages. We believe that together with Ollero, we should have a very strong duo for uphill races.
And we have yet another duo - one for the sprints: Cruz and Espinosa haven't been overly successful last year, but we definitely expect them to deliver some big results this year. Both are only 22y.o., so at least one of them could get another chance in the U23 next year, with the other one hopefully getting promoted to the main team.
Gorriarán was actually already planned to be part of the main team, before Biró was signed towards the end of transfers. This allows our cobbler to stay another year in the U23 division, where he should be one of the more capable pure cobblers. Those five riders will hopefully deliver plenty of points!
Much less is expected - in terms of points - of our four newly signed talents. While Costa will support the climbers - and take an according development path - Martinuccio, our biggest Argentinean talent, will rather go the puncheur way.
The two Chileans Méndez and Munder will probably take even more time to develop, with both going for a development in one of the uphill sections, too.
All in all, we believe our five leaders should take us clearly higher than 18th where we were last year - the goal must be to finish in the lower Top10 of the division. But if they can't do it this year yet, well, only Gorriarán is 23y.o. and will definitely not get another chance here.
In a surprise move Romain Bardet has spoken out criticising manager DaveTwoBob for being spineless and lacking ambition.
Renault Classic have issued a team presentation where the surprising news of Bardet’s schedule has been revealed. https://pcmdaily....st_1406055
“After working really hard in the wind tunnel during the off season I am bitterly disappointed not to be going the Le Tour” Bardet said in an unsanctioned interview with L'ÉQUIPE.
“What can you expect from a rostbif, he just doesn’t understand. OK so the Giro route suits me better but that’s really not the point. It’s better to try and fail than not to try at all. Just because there is a long time trial at the end of Le Tour. I am sure I could have brought out my best game and won but now we will never know will we.”
Bardet went on to question whether the manager was the right man for the job. “We have a great new French sponsor and will be riding in a jersey steeped in history, we should be honouring it by sending our best team to the greatest race! It seems to me our manager is spineless and lacks the ambition we need to win at the highest level.”
L'ÉQUIPE contacted DaveTwoBob for comment “I know Romain is very disappointed but I want a Grand Tour win and the Giro is our best chance of achieving that, so Romain goes to Italy as well has the hilly classics. I let my head rule my heart this season and promised Romain a crack at Le Tour next season.”
Renault were unavailable for comment but rumours are that DaveTwoBob’s job depends on winning the Giro.
Having been impressed by the current crop of La Fundación's roster, the team management has sought additional exposure with potential sponsors, who may seek to associate themselves with the success of the next generation's Pulido, Van der Poel or Navarro, all graduates of La Fundación race academy.
Recently it was announced that the team would be now riding under the flag of AURUM Bikes, the recently created high performance bicycle designer and manufacturer founded by Grand Tour winners Ivan Basso and Alberto Contador. Whilst Contador is still active as a pro, most recently having signed to Deutsche Bahn, the Spaniard has maintained good relationships with his former employer, the management of Liberty Seguros. They both seek to gain, wider market presence by sponsoring a development team, whilst keeping the budget sizable. Further co-sponsors include Liberty Seguros and Seat.
In a recent press statement, Basso and Contador have been enthusiatic about sponsoring the formerly named La Fundación team, expressing their hopes that their bikes can help deliver Alex Ortega, Anders Estdahl & Co. to many victories this season, with Contador being particularly enthusiatic about the upcoming climber generations within the development squad ranks and dreaming: "It would be great to see a young rider win Avenir or Aosta on our bikes, in our jersey."
Meanwhile, the team mangement sees it as proof of the excellent work that the academy has done over the past few seasons, and lauds that "especially this year our roster is incredibly strong, and it is a great pleasure that now even companies see the potential in our young riders, willing to sponsor them this early on. I am sure both our riders and our sponsors will benefit from this new partnership."
Whilst Specialized will remain the main sponsor of Liberty Seguros' team, odds are the two entrepreneurs might also seek to establish themselves in the pro ranks sooner rather than later.
After achieving promotion in their inaugural 2016 season, Équipe Cycliste Peugeot spent four years at the highest level. However, they finished in the bottom three last season and therefore relegated back to the CT. Budget cuts and other redevelopment saw a total of eleven riders leave, two new riders join and two riders promoted from the Citroën development squad.
The name with the biggest history to depart is Pierre Rolland. He was with the team from the very first season and was instrumental to promotion by finishing fifth in that year's Tour de France as a wildcard team. While he never managed to replicate that performance in the World Tour years, he remained a valuable part of the team. The 35-year old understood our wish to restart with a younger squad, and we wish him the best of luck at BNZ Cycling Team.
Nacer Bouhanni was simply not affordable to keep at CT, and moved over to Trans Looney Tunes. The sprinter is perhaps the most valuable rider in history with many victories in big races.
Another big name leaving is Sep Vanmarcke. The Belgian joined two years ago to lead the cobblestone squad, which now has largely been dismantled as a result of our relegation. He can be found in the colors of Deutsche Bahn.
Omar Bertazzo has also found a new employer in Italo, where he will resume his duties against the clock. Thomas Vaubourzeix joins new kids on the block Euskaltel - Elior.
Nicolas Edet had been with the team from the very start. The Frenchman, known for his attacking spirit and valuable domestique work, has unfortunately not found a new team for the season.
Ben Gastauer, Marcel Meisen, Jean-Lou Paiani and Rüdiger Selig have also left the team without new employment, and Pierre-Luc Périchon has retired. The team would like to thank them for their service over the past year(s).
---
New to the team are the Pierres. 25-year old French puncheur Pierre Favre and 28-year old French climber Pierre Gouault are two of four new riders for the main squad. Both of them are expected to contribute in difficult terrain.
Eric Dufour and Bernard Schauls make the jump from the dev team to the main squad. The 24-year old French sprinter and 23-year old Luxembourgian stage racer join in supporting roles.
Country
Name
AVG
MO
HIL
TT
COB
SP
Age
Wage
Maxime Daniel
75.1
65
70
65
70
76
30
260
Laurens De Vreese
75.7
60
74
61
75
68
33
310
Eric Dufour
72.6
59
68
60
69
73
24
160
Pierre Favre
74.8
67
74
61
65
67
25
270
Damien Gaudin
71.8
57
66
63
72
61
35
100
Alexandre Geniez
76.1
76
77
70
61
68
33
340
Pierre Gouault
74.6
75
73
67
61
66
28
230
Alexis Gougeard
75.2
66
70
74
69
69
28
270
Romain Hardy
76.2
72
76
67
65
67
33
350
Clément Koretzky
76.4
70
76
67
67
72
31
370
Grégoire Lambert
75.9
77
74
69
58
65
26
320
Yves Lampaert
73.6
63
65
72
74
68
30
170
Moreno Moser
78.9
74
79
76
65
69
31
900
Yoann Paillot
76.6
69
71
77
68
69
30
390
Adrien Petit
76.7
64
71
70
74
78
31
400
Bernard Schauls
72.7
72
70
73
57
56
23
130
Jasha Sütterlin
75.8
67
70
76
68
71
29
320
Arthur Vichot
76.6
68
76
66
65
77
33
390
Équipe Development Citroën was down two riders with the transfer of Dufour and Schauls, which left two spaces for new talent to join the ranks. The other six riders have shown enough promise to be kept on for another season. Joining the team are Frenchmen Jérôme Laversanne and Francis Soupe, both 21 years old. The former is a time trialist and the latter a puncheur.
Samuel Crochet has developed into one of the best U25 racers in the peloton, and this season will be attending Le Tour and La Vuelta with the ambitious target of winning U25 and top 10 GC in both.
However Samuel was a very average 20 year old bike rider with a big potential when Eurosport-Pepsi recruited him as the first potential 7 rider to join their development team. His early speciality was Time Trial but manager DaveTwoBob thought with the right training he could become a capable stage racer.
He made huge improvements in his first year and by the age of 23 was too good to remain in the development squad and joined the senior team.
In 2020 his best result was 21st in GC and 3rd in U25 at the Giro. With his performance boosted by 450 ICL dollars stage race training in 2021, Samuel is focusing on stage races where there are decent TT km.
Here is Crochet’s stat progression. Improving Mountain from 61 to 78 in 5 years is some feat.
Bikex has done a great job with the scouting and development side of ICL. The fact that such a path is possible means you have wonderful flexibility to craft the rider you would like.
@Shonak - really looking forward to Crochet v Pulido for a few seasons to come as well.
@Fabianski - Bikex made a smart move to get high pot riders to demand higher wages, I think this will mean they get spread around the teams more. I cannot see me being able to hang on to all my U23 squad after a couple of years which generates some positive transfer pressure. Hope you can pick up a good youngster via scouting or transfers.
First the main team. Big guns Nerz and Quaade were sold. Went for a decent sprinter and some okay time trialists. Stayed inside Scandinavia for the biggest part. Two non-Scandinavians of 19 year old as domestiques. Luxembourgian Welter developed into the main team from our U23 squad last season and hopefully will have the freedom to attack this year. Other non-Scandinavian came to us from a trade deal with Deutsche Bahn. Had some training money and spent it on regional playboy Jari Niemi, growing to 77 spr/acc after getting him as a talent with 72 spr/acc last year. Him winning a stage in some obscure stage race would make our season. Got accepted in the Tour de France, our first GT.
Magnum - Madshus
Nat
Name
AVG
Role
Wage
Age
Pot
Daniel Hoelgaard
77,5
Sprinter
680
28
6
Mads Rahbek
76,4
Time Trialist
440
26
5
Steffen Hovland
76,2
Time Trialist
455
26
6
Jari Niemi
76,1
Sprinter
150
24
6
Anders Egsvang
75,3
Cobbler
310
26
5
Emil Wang
75
Time Trialist
250
26
5
Mathias Rask Jeppessen
75
Baroudeur
250
26
5
Pantheras Dimas
73,8
Sprint Lead-out
275
23
6
Adam Welter
73,5
Puncheur Talent
160
23
5
Erkan Karlsson
72,9
Cobbler Talent
130
24
5
Ari Hämäläinen
72,4
Stage Race Domestique
120
27
4
Kristjn Johannesson
72,4
TT Domestique
120
25
5
Casper Von Folsach
71,4
Rouleur
100
28
4
Sigurjón Jonsson
70,4
Comedian
100
25
5
Matti Breschel
68,9
Road Captain
100
37
6
Lauri Vartiainen
68,3
Domestique
100
23
5
Roman Okrucky
68
Talent
100
21
5
Cornel Peteleu
64,8
Talent
100
19
5
Once again, main goal for development team was also to mostly exist out of Scandinavians. Sadly no Icelandic rider was eligible for this team. Our scouts know what to do next year. Lecomte as a huge talent, but guys like Butenko and Bay should be able to score some point as well. Hoping for Danish prodigies Brundby and Sørensen to grow into nice riders for our main team. Two Swedish sunds are fun to have, both should be future TT domestiques for the main team as well.
Last year we achieved the promotion at WT level, so for the current season the team needs an increase of 7 riders, this reduced considerably outbound transfers, with just two riders leaving the team.
Age
Wage
Reason
Replace
Moreno
Hofland
30
455
High demands
Fenn
Romain
Zingle
34
100
Younger alternatve
Roembiak
Moreno Hofland was the big disappointment of the season, scoring no victories at all. Despite no wins, and a winter training that didn't bring any remarcable improvement in valors, he asked for a salary increase. Considering that now we will face top level sprinters in the most prestigious races of the year, the decision was to reinvest the money for a faster sprinter. Romain Zingle is getting older and with many riders ready from the development team, he has been replaced by younger riders with great growing perspective.
Now that we are at WT level Brugse Zot - Trek opened the borders to riders from all over the world, because we can't compete for the permanence at this level with just Benelux/USA as origin countries.
Age
Wage
Purpose
Improve the team
De Keijzer
Sontje
22
100
Rejuvenate
+
Fenn
Andrew
31
1160
Lack of a Sprinter
+++
Fernández
Rubén
30
330
Strenghten Mountain squad
++
Fuglsang
Jakob
36
110
Fulfil WT rider limit
+
Ghistelinck
Tom
22
135
U23 team
o
Hereijgers
Patrick
19
100
U23 team
o
Izagirre
Gorka
34
100
Fulfil WT rider limit
+
Korsaeth
Truls
28
250
Strenghten TTT squad
++
Laengen
Vegard Stake
32
340
Strenghten Mountain squad
++
Nijhuis
Tom
23
100
Rejuvenate
+
Roembiak
Nico
23
150
Rejuvenate
+
Vanspeybroeck
Jonas
19
235
U23 team
o
Vincent
Mark
20
280
U23 team
o
Andrew Fenn is for sure the biggest name that came from the transfert window, and we are glad to finally have a sprinter who will fight among the top level ones. Vegard Stak Laengen is a super domestique for our GC leader, he is comparable to the level of our leaders in the past years, and he will be the last man supporting Engeldinger on mountain stages. He will have also some free chances for his GC ambitions, included the Tour de France!
Similar situation for Ruben Fernandez, who will take turns in other races where we need a stronger TTT team, and again with some free role, like Pais Vasco where he will lead the GC ambition for the team. Truls Koraseth was a late signing, as we noticed a lack of racedays by strong flat riders, he will be fundamental for the TTT where we have high GC ambitions and sometime he will help sprinters for the work in last kms of the stages. Sontje De Keijzer, what a talent! He is only 22 but he isn't elegible for the development team due to his high valors. We were really lucky to find him unsigned, and hopefully he will grow as a classics leader. Jakob Fuglsang and Gorka Izagirre will bring tons of experience, we bought them to fulfil the roster with versatile riders for stage races. Nico Roembiak and Tom Nijhuis are ready, after a season spent in the development team, for the big step to the main team, they will race with lower pressure and they are usefull for many CT races we will take part. Time will say us how far they can go. Tom Ghistelinck, Patrick Hereijgers, Jonas Vanspeybroeck and Mark Vincent are the new faces of the Development team.
Two riders left the team after just a season spent at U23 level.
Age
Wage
Reason
Geoffery
Janssens
23
100
Not selected for main team
Tom
Nijhuis
23
100
Promoted
Nico
Roembiak
23
220
Promoted
Raphaël
Tavernier
23
100
Not selected for main team
Raphael Tavernier and Geoffery Janssens got 23 this year and simply didn't reach the standards to compete at WT level, and as we found talented and younger riders for the U23 team, we let them go for other adventures.
Given that some teams were already sharing at least part of their schedules when others hadn't even written their training plans yet - and that the season is really about to start - we're probably joining the party a bit late, but we still would like to share our 2021 schedule with you - including a slightly closer look at our sponsors' focus races.
The schedule is very similar to last year's, given that we mostly applied for races on the American continent. We also tried to replace some races where we didn't do that well by races more suited to our riders - theoretically at least.
And last but not least, we'll get to ride our first Grand Tour - given our team's main language, it shouldn't be surprising that we selected the Vuelta a España for our GT debut.
But before presenting the entire schedule, let's take a look at this year's focus races - which might look familiar to you, as 4/5 are identical to last year's.
Focus Races
Tour de San Luis (CT.2)
Unfortunately, we didn't do too well in our home race last year - and we still don't have a top-level puncheur. However, with many of our riders having improved significantly since the last edition, we still hope to delight our home crowd! Rick Zabel will be our man for the flat and the easier hilly stages - supported by Armando Huamán - while Tácio Mendes, supported by Daniel Díaz, should take care of the tougher climbs. Eduardo Sepulveda and Fernando Gaviria will take care of the time trial, and new signing Gustavo Martin rounds off the team as a hilly domestique.
Vuelta a Tachira (WT)
Our only new focus race should at the same time also be the toughest one - instead of a CT.2 classic where we finished 2nd last year, we now have a WT stage race to perform well in. The sponsors even hesitated to put the "real" Vuelta on our list, but finally agreed on the shorter yet still difficult enough Vuelta a Tachira. Juan Chamorro actually already did really well here last year, sitting in the Top 10 - when he crashed out of the race on the very last stage. We believe he should be able to repeat a Top 10 GC finish, and he's good some decent mountain support by local riders Yonder Godoy and Eloy Nogueira as well as our Argentinean veteran Daniel Díaz. Rick Zabel will again target the sprints like in San Luis, while Roberto Romero Martínez and Gustavo Martin should provide some help to Chamorro in the hilly stages.
Colombia Team GP (CT.1)
Another focus race we finished 2nd in - but this one was kept on our to-do list. While some teams have stronger TTT lineups, we have quite some climbers who can TT well - and we believe that will again be key in this very special race. Juan Chamorro again leads the team here, and he should make an impact on the steepest slopes, being our weakest pure TTer in the setup - together with Yonder Godoy. Javier Gomez, Tácio Mendes, Alexander Brus and Sándor Biró all combine climbing and TTing pretty well, while Eduardo Sepulveda is clearly on the TT side. Our strongest pure TTer stays at home this time around, though - let's hope this doesn't turn out to be a major mistake!
Gran Premio San José (CT.1)
Admittedly, we didn't do well here last time - maybe the sponsors should have removed this one from our focus race list instead of Tour do Rio, where we had a strong 2nd place. But it is what it is...
And the fact is, we're stronger on the hills than last season. And as is often the case in hilly races this year, we'll have a two-pronged strategy, with both Rick Zabel and Armando Huamán present in Costa Rica. And the support cast is pretty strong, with no helper being below 73Hi; they are Roberto Romero Martínez, Gustavo Martin, Eduardo Gonzalez, Sándor Biró and Eloy Nogueira.
Vuelta a Colombia (CT.2)
Last but not least, our second CT.2 goal of the year - and the late highlight for many riders! Especially for two out of our four Colombians, with Juan Chamorro being the undisputed team leader. Fellow countryman Fernando Gaviria is mainly there for the first and the last day - providing support for the TTT and targeting a stage win in the closing ITT.
The domestiques include mostly riders who can climb and TT decently; first of all Tácio Mendes, but also Alexander Brus and Sándor Biró. Eduardo Sepulveda and Pablo Gonçalves are more on the TT side, although the former can climb pretty well, too.
We definitely must get a much better GC result than last year, where Chamorro and Gomez changed leader roles on a daily base and finally both finished outside the Top 10. A podium to finish off the stage race season in style would be fantastic!
For once we start with the dev team because Astley Carter won the very first race of the 2021 season, the Copa America! Aviva Futura's second win ever and our first U23 classic. Pancake flat, just like our sprinters like it, plus the bigggest rival on paper, Marc Herder, crashed, and then the team pulled off a perfect sprint, with Peter Broomhead adding a 5th place, 20 places better than last season, (which was by far his best result all year).
The WT started with the Palm Classic, so it was also the start for Peter Sagan to defend his World Cup crown. Good old Stefan van Winden joined the early breakaway for some TV exposure, while Sagan was very observant near the front of the pack and followed two late attacks initiated by Bouhanni. They didn't pan out, but Sagan had enough left in the tank to finish 7th, right ahead of of his new team mate Leigh Howard. The Australian seemed a little passive, probably because Sagan had been ahead and was only caught with 2.2 km to go, but unleashed a good sprint in the end.
The TTT in the Tour of Toowoomba might have a little underwhelming, we only finished 10th, but just a day later we celebrated our first victory of the season. It was a stunning late attack by Tao Geoghegan Hart, the kind which never works, but he had amazing legs and won by 17 seconds ahead of the whole field of favourites.
He showcased his good form again a day later. He was badly positioned, at the back of a group of 14 riders, when the decisive attacks came on the final climb. But then he caught up with Kwiatkowski's E2 group and even outsprinted the superstar to finish 5th on the day. He also finished 5th in the final GC, in a race where we couldn't even expect a top 10 result.
The first month of racing is already in the history books! We clearly weren't among the most busy teams, having only the Tour d'Indonesia on our main team's calendar. The 6-day stage race consisted of flat and hilly stages as well as two time trials, thereof the final one leading only uphill.
The two initial hilly stages didn't go exactly to our liking, but at least some of our riders finished inside the first group. On day 3 - the flat TT - our time trial leader Fernando Gaviria got us a first notable result, taking 4th while finishing s.t. with the final podium rider.
The second half of the race then started almost perfectly - Rick Zabel took 2nd place on stage 4, beaten just by Cervián. He got another chance the next day - and this time, Rick Zabel was the fastest and won stage 5!
The closing stage - the mountain TT - saw the GC showdown, and our GC leader Tácio Mendes showed a decent performance. It was enough for 5th place overall - however only 8 seconds behind 2nd place, so it clearly was a bitter-sweet Top 5 result for us. But still a decent start to the year, rounded off by Rick Zabel winning the points competition.
And yet another positive note: U23 rider Germán Ollero finished 18th in the GC and 4th in the U25 competition, scoring some valuable points for our development team!
The Juniors had already raced in Copa America de Ciclismo before - but unfortunately our two sprinters couldn't live up to their favorite status. A measly 10th place by Andrés Cruz was all we got from a race we had pretty high expectations in. Still, the first points of the year are secure, a good base to build up upon!
That's all from a not too busy January - February will already see us competing in our first focus race - our home Tour de San Luis!
Nice. Magnum - Madshus immediately struck in their first race. Time trialist Hovland proved his worth in an Indonesian time trial, where last year we saw a GC win from former rider Nerz. Manager Nemolito couldn't make the trip to Indonesia though, and no cameras were there to prove you we are not lying.
The biggest surprise however was our development team, Islandsbanki, performing just as good in Portugal. Although everyone lost time in the first stage of the Volta ao Algarve, Russian superstar Butenko joined the break on the second stage and managed to stay ahead of the peloton and win it! His beautiful victory also led to a second place in the final points classification, as well as a fourth place in the KoM. Great start for both of our teams, as they are now tied 1 - 1 when it comes to victories.
Another month is done - including our first focus race of the year! With only two races on the menu for us, we had to do well in both to stay in touch with the division's leaders - let's see how well we fared:
Vuelta a Mallorca
We brought two leaders to the race - a sprinter and a GC rider. The sprinter came first, with the first half of the 4-day stage race being flat.
However, on stage 1 Eduardo Gonzalez didn't have his best day, or just wasn't positioned well enough. 9th place - not great, but not too shabby, either. He was able to improve on that on day 2, narrowly missing out on the stage podium by taking 4th place. At least some points for our junior sprinter, although we were hoping for a bit more.
Stage 3 then was the first test for Yonder Godoy - and he delivered! Taking 5th place, bringing home the first bigger chase group, was a fine result, letting us hope for a Top 10 GC finish, given that the final stage was considered to be rather easy.
However, something really bad must have happened to him on that final day. Yonder wasn't in the first group of 29 riders. He wasn't in the second group of 30 riders, either. He again brought home his group - let's call it the peloton - but losing a whopping 7'14" on the final day! All hopes of a good GC result went down the drain, and we still can't explain how and why. Shit happens, and that definitely was shit.
Tour de San Luis
Home race! And obviously one of our sponsors' focus races. While we didn't have the highest hopes in terms of GC result, we brought quite some stage hunters and a rather depth-heavy team.
And we started the race in the best possible way! Rick Zabel won stage 1, obviously becoming the race's first leader and points leader as well.
On the second day, Rick unfortunately wasn't able to beat the Manx-Man, but still finished 3rd - and retained the race lead by a mere second.
And Rick completed his podium trilogy on day three, this time taking second behind Mollema on an uphill finish. His hills training is definitely paying off so far! The only downside that day was our GC leader Tácio Mendes finishing in a 2nd group 35" down.
And that Tácio Mendes obviously was in focus on day 4, featuring an almost 20km long ITT. He did rather well, losing 58" and finishing 25th. The good news for the team was that he was only our 3rd highest finisher, meaning two teammates did even better. Local hero Eduardo Sepulveda took 12th - and Fernando Gaviria was faster than everyone else, taking our 2nd stage win - and our 4th stage podium in a row! Mendes was 12th in the GC by the end of the day, only one spot ahead of former leader Rick Zabel.
Stage 5 then was our first one without a lot to celebrate, with Daniel Díaz being our highest finisher in 10th place. Mendes and Sepulveda ended the race in the same group, so no damage done GC-wise - except for Zabel who led home the next group.
On day 6, we then had to recognize that we don't have a top-level puncheur yet, but a great team result still saw 5 of our riders finish inside the Top 25. Mendes unfortunately couldn't keep up with the first bigger group, while Zabel and Sepulveda only conceded 16" to their team leader. Before the final stage, our trio was in 10th, 13th and 16th place GC-wise, in the order Mendes - Sepulveda - Zabel. The latter was just one points short of winning the green jersey at that time, so still plenty at stake for the final day!
And we did indeed get another podium finish on day 7 - but it wasn't Zabel. Instead, Armando Huamán was one out of just two survivors of the morning breakaway - and still the first loser of the day. We'll definitely take that 2nd place, though.
Further back, for a reason we don't know, Rick didn't join the sprint for the minor points, hence giving away the points jersey for free.
This was one of rather few "downlights", though, as we leave our home race with two stage wins, two 2nd places and a 3rd place, a couple more Top 10 stage results and a nice team result GC-wise, with our trio defending their spots on the last day. For next year, let's bring along a top puncheur, and we'll dominate that race!
And by the way, besides Zabel finishing 2nd in the points standings, Huamán took the same spot in the U25 category (with Gustavo Martin taking 8th), and we won the team classification! Well done, team, let's move on along the same lines!
Los Gauchitos
Let's briefly talk about our development team as well. Unfortunately, they weren't quite able to repeat the main team's success. In Algarve, the highest stage finish was a 48th place by Germán Ollero, who also finished highest up in the GC, in 62nd place.
The home race wasn't a whole lot better, but at least sprinter Andrés Cruz took a 15th place on the final day as their strongest finish. In the GC, Germán Ollero narrowly missed out on the Top 50, taking 51st - which however was still good enough to take 3rd in the U25 standings. Well done!
In their last race of the month, National Capital Tour, unfortunately Germán Ollero had an absolutely horrible day in the opening ITT, finishing only 2" faster than sprinter Andrés Cruz. The latter then got our best stage result on day 2, taking 13th. In the GC, Ollero still was our best finisher; however, 74th is a plain disappointment - and he was only 11" ahead of Miquel Espinosa, who can neither climb nor TT... Ollero clearly is yet to get some consistency in his results, and isn't fully living up to expectations so far. Fortunately, there are still a lot of races to come though!
Standings
Let's be honest - we're not where we were hoping to be. We're only #17 in CT according to the prestige ranking - which obviously has a lot to do with us not racing much so far, but also a really disappointing Vuelta a Mallorca. Let's hope we'll improve when the "big GC guns" Chamorro & Gomez kick off their season as well!
Our development team is on P17 among the U23 outfits as well, so plenty of room for improvement - but given that they've mainly been racing in CT.2 races so far and that most U23 races are yet to come, we're still hoping to climb up those standings!
Highlight of the Month
Rick Zabel winning stage 1 of the Tour de San Luis
The only race in February, the Basque Country Tour, was a slight disappointment. It was one of the few races where we weren't aiming for the GC, though we still expected our new signing Scott Davies to finish in the top 30, which he narrowly missed. Our best chance of a stage win from a breakaway was foiled when Cano Gonzalez made the botd but then crashed and had trouble finishing inside the time limit for the rst of the race.
March was a far more important month with many races for Sagan. Sadly, he remained without a win, but - as always - he performed consistently well. 696 WT points in a single month is a new record for him in BP's jersey and he's scored more points so far than he did last season.
Tao Hart started well in Toowoomba after training hard in the offseason, 5th overall was his best GC result to date. But he did one better in Tachira and finished 4th. After the first hard MTF he was up in 3rd, he then had a bad day on stage 8 and dropped back to 5th before recovering a day later. Another good race from him, though we saw very little of our other riders.
Milano – Sanremo was our first focus race of the season. We hoped the hillier course this year would suit Sagan and it did, he became part of the select group chasing after Villella and finished 4th. What made the focus race even more successful was Leigh Howard, who managed to win the sprint for 8th from the main group.
Already three months in the books - an incredible pace, so we're struggling to keep you up-to-date! But now we're ready, so let's take a look at what happened those last couple of weeks - including five races for the main team as well as 3 for our juniors.
Clasica Iberica
A hilly classic in a Spanish-speaking country - perfect ground for our prime puncheur Armando Huamán! And he clearly showed that he made a step forward during the offseason, getting closer to the division's best - and taking a good 6th place. More surprisingly, he was directly followed in the rankings by sprinter Eduardo Gonzalez, making this a really nice result for us!
Vuelta a Tachira
Focus race #2 already - and as in San Luis our hopes were on both a sprinter and a GC rider. In terms of sprints, however, Rick Zabel was unfortunately not quite able to fulfill our hopes in the more hilly stages 1 and 3, finishing well outside the Top 20. On the other hand, he finished 3rd on stage 2, showing that he's clearly competitive in such stage races even on WT level! And even better, he added a 2nd place to that on stage 4, missing out on the GC lead by 1" and on the points jersey by 2 points ahead of the many, many uphill stages.
Uphill, that's the keyword for Juan Chamorro - and just like the year before he immediately showed his good form. 6th place on stage 5 - the first mountain-top finish - a good result to hopefully set the tone for the remaining ones. But first came the hilly stage 6 - and a surprisingly strong Rick Zabel taking 6th as well, coming short of the points lead by just one measly point now.
Chamorro finished safe in the pack on that day, exactly like on stage 7 - and confirmed his strong intermediate GC result by an 8th place on day 8. He unfortunately had a horrible day on stage 9, though, losing over 5 minutes - but thanks to consistent performances the days before only dropped by 2 spots in the GC, from 6th to 8th.
Then came day number 10 - the final stage, where Chamorro crashed out last year. The good news is, he made it to the finish line this time. The even better news: he almost won the stage! 2nd place on the day gave him enough bonus seconds to at least get back one of those two lost GC spots, meaning he finished 7th. A very good result in a pretty stacked WT field, and one we can definitely be happy with!
Moreover, Zabel sprinted to 8th on the final stage, making him tied for 4th in the points standings. 7th in the team standings also means the support was pretty good, although none of the other riders scored a really notable result. But with 3 stage podiums along with a 7th GC place, we leave the race on a high note, and the sponsors are pretty satisfied with focus race #2 as well!
Paris - Nice
Running in parallel to Tachira was the classic spring stage race in France. No primary leader there for us, but still a pretty strong team - and with Tácio Mendes a GC leader who already scored some nice results previously. And our Brazilian kicked off the race really well, taking a strong 6th place in the prologue!
For the flat and slightly hilly stages, we brought Eduardo Gonzalez, who took a solid 5th place on stage 2, and even a podium spot - 3rd - on day 3.
However, for a reason we still don't quite understand, he wasn't competitive in the slightly hilly stages, while clearly weaker puncheurs dominated the stage rankings. Hence, no notable results on stages 4 and 5. At least, Mendes made it to the right side of all those splits, and sat in 5th place before the mountain stage.
And this one unfortunately ended in a huge disappointment for us. We don't know how this was possible, but Mendes actually ended up even behind sprinter Appollonio on day 6 - he must have climbed with one leg only, or just on his back wheel, else such a result is inexplicable. And it obviously crushed all our GC hopes.
Fortunately, one guy wouldn't be OK with such a horrible result. Eduardo Sepulveda just rode away from everyone in the finale of stage 7, and won that stage solo! A great day for Argentinean cycling for sure! This win made him move up to 16th in the GC - while Mendes somehow was still sitting in 12th, despite his previous day's no-show.
And Sepulveda kept up his good run on the final day in the mountain TT, taking a strong 7th place - while our strongest climber Mendes only managed to finish 16th. This effort saw Eduardo gain another spot in the GC, while Mendes finished 12th. Two in the Top 15 doesn't sound that bad, but given how easy it would have been to get a Top 10 finish for Mendes, it is still a disappointing outcome.
Dwars door Vlaanderen
First cobbled race of the year, meaning first real chance to shine for our chief cobbler Roberto Romero Martínez. And while he didn't quite keep up with the top cobblers - as expected - he finished 2nd of the first bigger chase group, taking a strong 8th place in Belgium! He clearly showed there that it was a good idea to keep him around - and that it might be an even better idea to invest in his development in the future!
Critérium International
Another stage race in France - hopefully with a better ending than Paris - Nice. But it started in a pretty strange way - as already the first - almost completely flat - stage saw quite some selection, with only 19 riders finishing up front. Fortunately including our team leader Juan Chamorro - and helper Sándor Biró.
A pretty disappointing result in the stage 2 time trial then, with Fernando Gaviria only finishing 16th. One second ahead of Eloy Nogueira, who is definitely no time trialist at all. Chamorro, who is clearly stronger against the clock, lost twice as much time... Randomness or strange conditions?
Actually, Chamorro might just have been sick during the race, as he lost more than 3'30" on the closing mountain stage - on guys who usually aren't stronger climbers than him... Well, one more French race to forget.
But wait - let's not completely forget it. Actually, Nogueira joined the day's breakaway, and finished the stage in 8th place. Which was also worth a 9th place GC finish - and the KoM jersey win! So despite Chamorro being a big disappointment here, we got some positive points out of the race. This includes Nogueira and Biró finishing 2nd and 4th in the U25 standings, and a 3rd place in the team classification. Still, if we want to fight for promotion, our leaders need to perform way more consistently!
Los Gauchitos
Our development team was racing in two cobbled classics this month, Paris - Roubaix U23 being one of the season highlights for Rubén Gorriarán. He was able to keep up with the Top 10 group, joining the final sprint for the top spots in the Vélodrome - and ended up 7th. Definitely a good result for Rubén!
He also finished inside the first big group in København Byrundtur; however, he was far away from the top spots, taking 34th place. Sprinter Andrés Cruz was also part of this group, but didn't have the legs to compete for the top spots, either.
The third race for our juniors was Critérium International, where they joined our main team. However, they had even far less success, with the best stage result being Germán Ollero's good 25th place in the ITT. He also was our highest finisher in the GC, taking 58th place. Still a long way to go for our youngsters!
Standings
Unlike the first two months, we did race quite a lot in March - and that also shows in the standings. While we only were the 17th CT team in the February Prestige Ranking - the classification that's relevant for promotion - we climbed up 10 spots to now be the 7th strongest CT team and 18th overall.
What sticks out most is that we're the CT teams having scored the most WT points so far, thanks to our good showing in Tachira. We're only 13th in the Continental Tour standings, though, clearly impacted by rather poor scoring in Mallorca, Paris - Nice or Critérium International.
In the individual (prestige) ranking, Zabel is clearly our strongest rider in 38th place, totalling about twice as many points as Chamorro or Mendes, who both are inside the Top 100 as well - which a surprising Nogueira is narrowly missing out on.
If we want to be serious promotion contenders, we'll have to be much more consistent especially in those CT races - let's see what the next month will bring in that respect!
Our U23 team isn't having an exceptional season so far, either. They're 13th in the Prestige Ranking, and 12th in pure U23 races - clearly not what we were hoping for. However, we only had 2 U23 races so far, with the schedule being very tail-heavy in that respect - let's see what our juniors will be able to do in races suiting them more!
Palm Classic -- Qatar Airways - Trentino - Qumak
Start of the season, Hooray. Selected squad is pretty decent. However the leaders decided to underperform. Gratien Casse comes home first in 17th place. Very dissappointed in the result of Tom Van Asbroeck. Absolutely disgusted as well by Simon Eden's performance, finishing at seven minutes, probably was a bit lazy in training
Team Result 4/10
Tour d'Indonesia -- Aru4Ever - Panaria
First race for the development team in 2021. Nothing much to mention the first five stages. Final stage Diego Manzin managed to get the first top ten for the team.
Tour of Toowoomba -- Qatar Airways - Trentino - Qumak
To Australia with a very strong squad. Michal leads the team here but it's very suprising the first stage he is working for Enrico Battaglin. Enrico sprints out all contestants and wins the first stage.
Second one is the TTT nothing to mention. As expected Enrico loses the GC kit but will wear the points shirt the next day. Henri Nounkeu leads in the KOM.
3Th stage is a hilly one again. Kwiato wins the sprint unfortunately for us Tao Geogean Hart was still away. In the next stage Michal had a worse day. Finishing 6th but losing precious time on Villella and later winner Mohoric. Final stage Michal wins the peloton sprint and grabs the third spot.
In the final result Michal was 8th, not too good but considering there was a TTT it's not the worst. Michal also took the green jersey home which is totally fine.
Team result : 8/10
February
Christchurch - Akaroa -- Aru4Ever - Panaria
Development team had to race in New Zealand. Quite race for the guys. Easy training against the bigger Continental teams.
Tour of Oman -- Aru4Ever - Panaria
Another Warm-up race against the Conti teams. Both Karl Holler and Diego Manzin managed to sneak in a stage top twenty. Diego also finished 18th in the final GC, which is pretty good. In the end he was the 3th best u23 rider in the race.
Tour of Bishkek -- Aru4Ever - Panaria
First real u23 race for the development team. First stage our greek talent Dimitris Kipouros sprints to the 7th spot. 2nd stage a short TimeTrial Karl Holler manages to get 6th. In the final stage he did even better by taking the podium spot. In the final GC Karl also was second
Vuelta a Pais Vasco -- Qatar Airways - Trentino - Qumak
One of the best races of the season. Literally build for Michal. Getting support from his shadow Enrico Battaglin, Monardez, Nounkeu, Kovlenko, Torres and Höller.
First stage rather unfortunate Michal becomes fourth after a photofinnish with Villela. Second stage Michal got his worst result in this race by finishing 11th! Stage win was for Nizzolo.
In the third stage, which was probably one of the most in the teams history, we saw so many team spirit. First of all big congrats to Kovlenko managing to stay with Enrico and Michal until the final 20km. Then big kudos for Enrico as well working till the final ascent, maybe kinda weird he closed the gap when Michal attacked at 8 to go. In the end it was the best choice so Michal could recover and totally Kill Mohoric and Villela the final kilometers
In the fourth stage the team chose for the defending tactic. Michal just had to follow the attacks in order to save some energy for the TimeTrial. In the end getting 3th is not too bad, right in Villella's wheel.
Stage 5 was a sprinters stage still Michal managed to get the fourth spot. It would be all decided in the final TT. Michal started with an advangtage of 9 seconds to Villella and 30 to Mohoric. In the end he was faster then both the others so he grabs the second win of the season by winning The Vuelta a Pais Vasco!
Team result : 9.5/10
March
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad -- Qatar Airways - Trentino - Qumak
First race for the cobbles squad in the pretty cold Flanders region. The team failed to stay with Tom Van Asbroeck. In the end it did result to a 12th spot. Not really happy about the result but what to expect against faster sprinters
Team result : 6/10
Strade Bianche -- Qatar Airways - Trentino - Qumak
Off to Siena for the Strade Bianche, the classic of the sterrati. But also the first goal of our season. Five of the guys which where part of the victory in Pais Vasco also took the start in Siena, including our Polish star. Bruno Iodice and Vincenzo Albanese are the additions. The team only let a three rider breakaway go and controlled it pretty good. However one of those three seamed to have super legs. The German Stefan from the Allianz - BMW team. With twenty km to go the three leaders had only one minute. Our guys where done controlling. Suddenly Stefan attacked and had two minutes with only fifteen to go. That was the signal for Michal to attack. Davide Villella wanted to help but the others where lazy. Until 10 km Simon Yates attacked, Michal was the only one to bridge the gap. Together they tried to grab Stefan back. Luckily the final km is so steep in Siena. Stefan parked a little. Kwiato managed to overtake and win our first classic of the year!
Team result : 10/10
Roma Maxima -- Qatar Airways - Trentino - Qumak
The Next day the team travelled to the Italian capital Roma. With Michal not around the lead role was divided by Enrico and Tom. In the end Enrico sprinted to ninth at the colloseum
Team result : 7/10
Vuelta a Tachira -- Qatar Airways - Trentino - Qumak
Honnestly the worst race the team has ever done. Leader of the squad was supposed to be Pierre Roger Latour. Guess he wasn't really bothered. Only Davide Formolo managed to grab a stage top ten by getting 8th in one of the harder stages. 12th in GC is okay for him, but squadwhise a very disappointing result.
Team result : 2/10
Milano San Remo -- Qatar Airways - Trentino - Qumak
Milano San Remo started pretty well. Vincenzo Albanese spent the day in the break. So far the good news. Leader Tom Van Asbroeck dissapointed and finished only 33th. Might have been better to select Michal next year.
Team result : 4/10
Dwars Door Vlaanderen -- Qatar Airways - Trentino - Qumak
After some pretty dissapointing results the team had to head to Flanders again. Tom had to lead in the semi-classic Dwars door Vlaanderen. All in all an exciting race with some unexpected winner in the end. Tom finished ninth, which is ok.
Team result : 6/10
E3 Harelbeke -- Qatar Airways - Trentino - Qumak
After Dwars door Vlaanderen it is time for the general preparation for the Tour of Flanders. With 40 kilometers to go the race break open on oude Kwaremont but Tom misses the split. So nine riders are in front. At the cote de Trieu Tom does a big pull and in the decent of Nieuwe Kwaremont lead group stop cooperating. Tom manages to come back. In the final sprint he is boxed in, but an 8th spot is not too bad.
Team result : 7/10
E3 Harelbeke -- Qatar Airways - Trentino - Qumak
Off to Gent - Wevelgem for the next race in Flanders. Tom will lead the squad again. Fast forward to the hill's zone this year. After Kemmel - Monteberg only 30 riders survived. But there are loads of crosswinds so it's time for Echelons. Tom is pretty good at this but once he is too much at the side and the guy in front of him loses contact. Tom manages to bridge the gap. Then suddenly Alaphillipe loses contact. Tom still recovering had to bridge another Gap. In the end this could have been much more then the tenth spot.
Team result : 8/10
Rankings
WT
Team: 7th
Michal Kwiatkowski - 2nd Tom Van Asbroeck - 33th Enrico Battaglin - 42th
u23
Team: 8th
Karl Holler - 4th Diego Manzin - 57th Gabriele Solini - 57th
Tierra del Fuego 
Van der Poel or 
Ivan Basso and 
Anders Estdahl & Co. to many victories this season, with Contador being particularly enthusiatic about the upcoming climber generations within the development squad ranks and dreaming: "It would be great to see a young rider win Avenir or Aosta on our bikes, in our jersey."
Gran Premio San José (CT.1)
Tour d'Indonesia
Tour de Romandie
Vuelta a Guatemala
Tour d'Andorra
Tour of Vancouver
Circulo de Juarez
Volta ao Algarve
National Capital Tour
Latvijas Balzams - Olainfarm
Joël Kweuke
Palm Classic -- Qatar Airways - Trentino - Qumak 
Christchurch - Akaroa -- Aru4Ever - Panaria 
Tour of Oman -- Aru4Ever - Panaria 
Tour of Bishkek -- Aru4Ever - Panaria 
Michal Kwiatkowski - 2nd
