@redordead - Glad Bennett could surprise you - as you say he rode the only way that could lead to a win over proper stage racers and he managed to pull off a great win. I'm not sure Areruya to Maroc was a gamble, it was a really bad performance on the mountain stage but 2/3 of the GC days had him as a top top favourite really and I think a slightly better Stage 4 and an actually GC-consequential Stage 5 could have seen him in the top 5 and with two stages potentially if the race is done again - but perhaps if I was designing the calendar around him at 81HI from the start it doesn't make his 31RDs - we'll see next year! And thanks for the congratulations on Euskal but I don't think you're giving 75HI Houle the full credit saying it would have been a surprise if he didn't win a hilly stage race!
@Nemolito - It definitely did! Decisively the third-best of trained Bennett's three PCT years (because of the ever-decreasing MO/HI calendar and sharing with Areruya), but still a very positive one with a GC and classic win plus the Dauphine stage. And yeah enjoyed recapping that Euskal win, a very special one for a rider I love who has come so close so many times. Absolutely can't wait for LPH and Xero in the same division at last!
@Croatia - Definitely an unforgettable finish to our year!
14th of October | Top 25 + Breakaway Race Goal | PTHC
After the failure of Stannard at Japan Cup a chance for some redemption here.
Corbin Strong entered into the morning breakaway and held on pretty well, eventually coming in 29th place and earning a few points in a nice end to his neo-pro season. Stannard improved on his Japan Cup result but not by enough to gain any points, another miserably disappointing result in 58th.
Congrats on the great ToA though and really happy we could get the top 2 spots. That rarely ever happens, even when we have had top favourites in the same race before (which in itself is uncommon)!
Was a great duel which went down to the wire! Awful to be rooting against you but also so awesome to be doing it and as you say to pull out the top 2 spots in the end
For everyone else - we did the research and our sole previous 1-2 in a GC or classic was the 2018 Kenya Mountain Classic where Henao Montoya (Philips) won just ahead of Velits (Xero). So a long time in the making this new one
The final race of the season. Areruya enters as a major favourite while we are in 12th in the rankings, but a win can take us as high as 8th. High hopes for this one.
On the penultimate climb Areruya missed what looked like a decisive split - he managed to ride across the gap himself but it clearly took a lot out of him.
He survived to the final 8-man sprint but was dead last of that group to end a very solid season in terribly disappointing fashion, and we didn't score enough points to overtake anyone in the rankings - Kipkemboi finished his final year of development with a solid 27th, while Stannard capped his with yet another 0-pointer, finishing behind our neo-pro van Wilder in 93rd.
jandal7 wrote:
And thanks for the congratulations on Euskal but I don't think you're giving 75HI Houle the full credit saying it would have been a surprise if he didn't win a hilly stage race!
I thought that thinking so highly of a rider is also giving him credit.
The Grand Prix Cyclistes update looks like a great advert for Cedevita
Five races to finish off our year and try and shoot ourselves into the Top 10 and beyond. Four degrees of disappointment from Maroc, Montreal, Japan and Emilia (yes that is least to most dissapointing), but one of the best races in team history in the Basque country as Vermeersch and Houle combined (like how Brent and Wayne Gretzky combined for the most points by brothers in NHL history) for our first ever race with podiums on every stage, with the latter taking a stage win and green jersey to go with his first career GC win to finish his last peak season in style
Rider of the Month
So there's no point pretending it's not...
Saving his jersey - Euskal Bizikleta, Stage 4
Hugo Houle Total RoTM Wins | 6 RoTM Wins This Season | 3
The first season of our second stint in the PCT has come to an end, and it is going to be a prolonged stay as we managed to not exit the division out of either end, coming as far away from that as possible in slap bang 12th - in fact in a tie!
1
Amaysim Cervelo
3955
2
Zara - Irizar
3390
3
Minions - Subwoolfer
3278
4
Cedevita
3261
5
Carlsberg - Danske Bank
3257
6
Binance
3054
7
Kraftwerk Man Machine
2975
8
Philips - Force India
2766
9
HelloFresh - Lampre
2761
10
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
2716
11
Bralirwa - Stevens
2650
12
Assa Abloy
2648
=
Xero Racing
2648
14
Team Popo4Ever
2479
15
Red Bull Zalgiris
2371
16
Sauber Petronas Racing
2362
17
Trans Looney Tunes
2340
18
Indosat Ooredoo
2338
19
Voyagin - Bird
2187
20
Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team
2091
21
Strava
2031
22
Volcanica - Fox
1973
23
Crabbe-CC Chevigny
1812
24
Project: Africa
1641
Ultimately this area of 8-13th is the scrum of teams we expected to finish in, but to be on the lower end of that is disappointing in three ways: where we should have got to, where we hoped we would get to in regards to disband-promotion, and where we should have got to going into the final race in Emilia. But that's cycling and so it will be a tough renewals for us as our young riders continue to improve and their market value with it, demanding higher salaries. On the bright side if we can weather that storm we have no doubt we'll be improving on this finish next year thanks to those improvements, as well as the long-awaited debut of Thomas Pidcock in our pro set-up.
1
Jonas Ahlstrand
SWD
Volcanica - Fox
1066
2
Joseph Areruya
RWA
Xero Racing
892
3
Eddie Dunbar
IRL
Indosat Ooredoo
884
4
Mattia Cattaneo
ITA
Minions - Subwoolfer
846
5
Sam Oomen
NED
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
814
19
Hugo Houle
CAN
Xero Racing
590
20
George Bennett
NZL
Xero Racing
584
89
Daniel Habtemichael
ERI
Xero Racing
244
178
Robert Stannard
AUS
Xero Racing
85
189
Henok Tesfaye Heyi
ETH
Xero Racing
81
305
Morne Van Niekerk
RSA
Xero Racing
30
326
Jamalidin Novardianto
INA
Xero Racing
25
349
Salim Kipkemboi
KEN
Xero Racing
21
357
Bachirou Nikiema
BUR
Xero Racing
18
362
Florian Vermeersch
BEL
Xero Racing
17
370
James Fouche
NZL
Xero Racing
16
381
Darren Young
SAM
Xero Racing
13
382
Nils Schomber
GER
Xero Racing
13
405
Corbin Strong
NZL
Xero Racing
9
428
Johann Van Zyl
RSA
Xero Racing
7
475
Ilan Van Wilder
BEL
Xero Racing
2
487
Henri Vandenabeele
BEL
Xero Racing
1
We don't want to step on the toes of our individual rider reviews of the season, but this makes for pretty stark viewing. By placement, the seasons of Areruya, Houle and Bennett are our three best individual seasons in the PCT (Bennett finally breaking the Top 20 after being 23rd and 21st) - Areruya's by a long way, our first season in the division with a genuine A-lister. All three could be argued to have not quite hit their potential but it's hard to fault them when they had some high highs and ultimately three great individual years. We have promoted (and indeed come 12th already before) with having only one rider even close to the Top 20 - so it's clearly the story behind that is the issue. To not even be in the promotion conversation with 2nd, 19th and 20th in the division is pretty crazy!
Habtemichael had a decent if a bit under par up-and-down year - but behind him of the riders we needed to be scoring only Tesfaye Heyi really sniffed near par for his skillset. Part of the reason we didn't have the depth scoring to promote is the squad-building - but a lot of it is due to the performance of the guys who could have been providing it. Schomber and in particular van Zyl both were huge let-downs after pretty great PT seasons, clearly in part this was the difference in how the scoring works in PT races but much more was about decreased performance. Nikiema, Kipkemboi and Fouche didn't provide any spark or much depth scoring, while Stannard was the biggest disappointment, with way over half of his points coming in one race.
Predictions
AbhishekLFC - 3rd - There's having faith in your boys and then there's saying they'll finish in third out of nowhere - appreciate the support though buddy Croatia14 - 4th - Idiot, what does he know about the MG? redordead - 4th - Forgiveable as he clearly just put us where he thought Cedevita would be and Cedevita where he thought we would be (14th) - so pretty close! knockout - 8th - Pretty close if Areruya didn't fumble the bag in Emilia jandal - 10th - Only person in the Conglomerate where Expert isn't in inverted commas TinxiaS - 17th - Haters gonna hate, shake it off. Taylor Swift, always right.
Xero have never been ones to fulfill more than 2 or 3 of their goals. In 2016 the choices were poor. In 2017 their leaders crashed to a ridiculous degree all season, particularly honing in on goal races. In 2018 they picked all cobbles goals then signed nobody above 75COB. In 2019 and 2020 they did a little better but their leaders still seemed to underperform a little bit when the spotlight was on them. In the PT in 2021 they aimed low and achieved lower, gaining only 1 success. This year, they aimed high with varying degrees of success.
Win Tour Down Under - 2nd, Hugo Houle
Last time out here Hugo Houle was a heartbreaking 2nd place on GC by just four seconds as he lost the ochre jersey on the final sprint stage due to bonuses. We knew as well as he did that he could win here if all went to plan and it largely did with some very strong days in the hills keeping him in striking distance of Jay McCarthy. Unfortunately he only gained 8 bonuses from the six stages and ended up 23 seconds off the win, beaten into 2nd once again here and for the third time in his Xero stage racing career. As we know, he'd finally taste GC victory at the opposite end of the season in the Basque Country - but not in a goal race! Read our full recap here.
Win Tour de Pologne - 1st, Joseph Areruya
Not exactly as dominant a win as you might expect if we told you he won two stages and the points jersey, only fending off the Amaysim duo of Lucas Hamilton and Michael Storer by 2 and 24 seconds respectively, taking a photo finish victory by our new (and forever) favourite Spaniard Andreas Paez on the final day to save our race. However whether the gap was two seconds or two minutes, it's all the same when it comes to the first GC win of Joseph Areruya's career, and our first ever achieved Win Goal! Read our full recap here.
Top 5 Critérium du Dauphiné Libere - 9th, George Bennett
Probably the longest odds of our race goals despite not being a Win Goal, George Bennett did a solid job here grabbing a trademark hilltop stage win (make it number seven on a HTF for his career) and finishing in the right spots on all the road stages - but was always going to be a tough battle here with the ITT kilometres. Read our full recap here.
Win Balkans International - 4th, Joseph Areruya
Up against the likes of Lopez and Sagan this one was also a tough ask and it looked for a while like Areruya might be underperforming even a more conservative estimation - but he reminded the PT teams of his strength if they'd forgotten so quickly with a fantastic victory on Stage 6, turning the GC race on its head and vaulting himself into a respectable 4th overall. Read our full recap here.
Win Team Standings - 12th, Xero Racing
Well we didn't expect this one to come true at all, but did we secretly hope against hope that we might get within a certain range of it? Maybe. But that's not what happened, so we'll try again next year. At least all these ambitious goals helped pay off our renewals fine! Read our full recap here.
@knockout - Don't think I'd class the Balkans goal as foolish, we needed a PTHC win goal and that ended up being the only PTHC race we got a Top 5 in even. Your prediction was also pretty good to be honest, in terms of points just 115 away from being there so I think anywhere in that group of 8-13 could be considered a good prediction. The three who predicted above you definitely are fools
I don't really expect a renewals fine of 1.5m this time around, so hopefully I don't have to be as aggressive with the goals if covering it is all I want to do again.
@Nemolito - Definitely planning on being higher than 12th next year - not sure if more win goals are necessarily the best option though as I'm obviously pretty happy with the current quality of leadership and more thinking about depth scoring, and our current leaders aren't easy to predict race winners. Indeed am quite nervous about Areruya (among others) in renewals and obviously once again not everyone on our books fits into the cap so there will be decisions to be made come transfers
The team are pleased to present the sponsor line-up for 2023 after finalising negotiations. Not exactly any major news to share in terms of our major partners as many were on multi-year deals extending to 2023, but it was great to see many of the secondary sponsors affirming their faith in our long-term vision after a somewhat underwhelming start to our second PCT stint. We are also pleased to confirm the team will continue to race under the name Xero Racing and a New Zealand-South African license.
The Primary Sponsors
About: The overnight success that is Xero is now a international company still based in little ol' NZ. They develop online accounting software for small businesses but are moving into larger clients as well. Sponsor Since: 2016 Contract Until: 2023 Focus Nations: New Zealand, Australia, Great Britain (minor), United States (minor)
Xero stepped in at the last minute in 2016, and since then have been a great asset to the team and are now nearly synonymous with us after seven years as title sponsor. They had publicly noted their disappointment in our lack of impact on the young blood of New Zealand cycling and with only two full-time New Zealand riders left in the team, there were always serious questions as to whether Xero would want to continue, with rumours their renewal for 2021 had more to do with PT exposure than local interest. However recent corporate reshuffling and aggressive international expansion led higher ups to see the team in a new light, and 12 months ago they renewed their title sponsorship for a two year stay, which we enter into the second year of in 2023. And hey, we even have three full-time Kiwis now!
About: Qhubeka is a non-for-profit, the South African programme of World Bicycle Relief, distributing bikes to help connect people to schools, clinics and jobs. Sponsor Since: 2018 Contract Until: 2024 *new contract Focus Nations: South Africa
A charity which helps use bicycles to support communities in poverty, as well as as a tool to help people of any age move forward in life. Not a sponsor by any means, quite the opposite. We ride for Qhubeka to increase awareness and taking part in fundraising, both of them increasing their funds and reach. We recently were delighted to affirm our partnership with Qhubeka will continue until 2024.
About: Visit Rwanda is a premier tourism company operating in, you guessed it, Rwanda. Sponsor Since: 2019 Contact Until: 2023 Focus Nation: Rwanda, The World (minor)
The Rwandan tourism company stepped up their involvement in the team after local hero Joseph Areruya established himself as a star in 2021 with his 27th-placed finish in the Pro Tour, including gaining huge exposure and popularity with an aggressive Giro d'Italia, where he won the white jersey. Their contract was a two-year one but early signs must be pretty good after his 2nd place finish in the PCT this season, notching a fair few victories including the Tour of Pologne, his first GC title.
The Secondary Sponsors
About: Octagon is the sports and entertainment marketing division of the Interpublic Group (IPG). The IPG is one of the "big four" advertising companies and so being sponsored by the South African arm of the sports arm of the IPG is a smaller deal but with big background. Sponsor Since: 2016 Contract Until: 2023 Focus Nations: South Africa, The World
Octagon help us get our name on the backs of buses, billboards, wherever, in our target countries. Good for publicity, finances and fans. They have stepped down from their title sponsor role (2016-18) but maintain a solid presence within the team as our marketers and talent representatives. We are very pleased with the work they do and proud to have them onboard for an eighth year - with Xero our only remaining sponsors from our inaugural season.
About: Castle Lager is South Africa's favourite beer and is now available in over 40 countries worldwide. Sponsor Since: 2019 Contact Until: 2023 *new contract Focus Nations: South Africa, The World (minor)
Castle Lager continues their long association with South African sport as they extend for another season with us.
About: Expedia is an American online travel shopping company - from flights to hotels and cars. Sponsor Since: 2022 Contract Until: 2023 Focus Nations: The World
Expedia joined us as a new sponsor this season and we are very pleased with our work with them as a secondary sponsor and also our travel partner! They continue for the second of the two-year contract.
The Minor Sponsors and Partners
About: Cell C are a South African mobile operator and telecommunications company. Sponsor Since: 2022 Contract Until: 2023 Focus Nations: South Africa
Cell C, much like Castle Lager, have a long-time involvement with South African sport, and after MTN and Telkom used to sponsor Project: Africa, Cell C are the third such company to be involved with South African cycling teams. They extend with us for another season.
About: Stoney Creek are New Zealand's most trusted brand in outdoor clothing. Sponsor Since: 2022 Contract Until: 2023 Focus Nations: New Zealand, Australia (minor), Great Britain (minor), United States (minor), Canada (minor)
Stoney Creek make amazing products which keep our team warm and protected off the bike, and the riders have been very happy with their first foray into cycling-specific gear and are very pleased they have a three-year deal as clothing supplier (only one more as a sponsor though).
About: Telkom Indonesia is a majority state owned telecommunications company, the largest in Indonesia. Sponsor Since: 2017 Contract Until: 2023 *new contract Focus Nations: Indonesia
Jamalidin Novardianto is an absolute fan favourite and nowhere is this more clear than in his home country of Indonesia. Not investing too much money, the state-owned telecommunications firm wanted in and are essentially sponsoring the team, just so they know we're tight and all, as long as he rides for us. So until he retires, then. They are the third of our sponsors to have been on this journey since the CT days, having signed on in our second season!
Great to see sponsors renewing even after a rather rough season overall! I guess the highlights were numeours enough to keep them happy
Looking forward to discover your development choices, especially Stannard should be rocking PCT next year
@Abhishek - Yeah a lot of deals through to 2023 to begin with and then the rolling one with Telkom, but great to have Castle Lager renew and continue our association with Qhubeka! So guess it goes back to last off-season with sponsors having faith in a two-year project for the second PCT stint.
@Fabianski - As said it wasn't many sponsors who had decisions to make so we'll see how happy they are next year - surely some improvements needed! But indeed even if this year didn't have the rankings there were some high-profile results and three big leaders which got the sponsors some coverage! And yeah as always very excited about the young talent in the team in particular Stannard and the other guys who are maxing.
@knockout - Yeah we do prefer it when we have a kordial relationship with our sponsors. And yes the jersey will for sure return, still love it too much to change and nice to hear others agree!
As we make our way through writing our individual rider reviews we thought we'd share some of the stats we're using. As evidenced by our employing two overlapping tough flatbeast sprinters for three years and the way we are training Thomas Pidcock, we aren't the most analytics-based team, so these aren't the most in-depth numbers and don't have much analysis as we're going to break down all the riders in the coming weeks - we just thought putting them all in one table and showing how they rank in a couple of key efficiency stats would be interesting. We hope you enjoy it anyway:
Just one rider was on the books of Xero Racing without racing for the team this year and that was Thomas Pidcock, with the British all-rounder getting some Pro Tour experience with cycleYorkshire after riding with Project: Africa in the PCT last year (where he finished 131st in the standings after a great neo-pro season). cycleYorkshire were very excited to have him and gave him a prestigious schedule including two Grand Tours.
His year kicked off in Tasmania in what was an anonymous race for both him and the team, as his leader Ivo Oliveira grabbed a credible 20th on GC, while Pidcock's best result was 59th in the hills of Stage 2. His spring season consisted of three cobbled classics (Strada Appia Antica, Macskako Kerekparverseny, and E3 Prijs) working for Danny Summerhill as well as the Ronde van Nederland, before his Grand Tour debut in Italy.
Not known as a classics specialist, the team must have been delighted with his showings, with a decent 75th in Rome improving to 33rd in Hungary and 27th in Flanders (above), while Summerhill was active but not always with the best results in 5th, 14th and 7th. He couldn't take the individual form into the Netherlands though.
cycleYorkshire sent a team of opportunists as well as sprinter Gabriel Cullaigh to the Giro d'Italia and after the first week, including an ITT, Pidcock was actually the best positioned rider on the GC... in 96th! The first two Alpine stages hit hard as he was int he first major grupetto in both, as Tim Kennaugh took the hospital pass of being the team's GC hopeful as Thomas continued to hover around 100 as already this was by far the longest race he'd ridden!
On Stage 13 Cullaigh didn't make it to the final sprint and Thomas found himself with a chance to chase his own result, ending up 12th on the day! He wouldn't find any such individual success in the final week but finished every stage in the Top 75 and a few in the Top 50 (including the Queen Stage of the race, somehow!) to make an impressive move from 113th to 94th on GC! Not a bad effort at all for his first Grand Tour!
Shortly after he travelled North for the two non-Monument Ardennes classics, coming a very nice 51st in Amstel (the best finisher for cycleYorkshire) but struggling in Fleche in 155th. A two month break was well-earned before La Grande Boucle. This time with a clear purpose: serving the GC interests of his leader Lachlan Morton. Thomas had a very solid first week, finishing in the final 5 of the esteemed Yorkshire TTT team, and ending Stage 7 sitting in the top half of the GC with Morton in 4th.
However working for your leaders so well doesn't mean you don't get your own chances - in fact if you do it well enough you earn the chance to go fro yourself on the right day. The transitional Stage 10 was that day and as the peloton bore down on a late attack Pidcock launched his sprint from the reduced group and looked very strong!
He couldn't catch his countryman Adam Yates but second place in a Tour de France stage is an amazing result for our second-year pro! A super strong sprint beating out some of the world's best. Also: being denied by a Yates? He's a perfect Xero rider already!
Pidcock was doing some great work in the first set of mountains during the second week and even got to show off his stunning descending skills as he briefly gapped the peloton on the descent of the Col Saint-Martin. He sat a great 55th on GC after Stage 14 with Morton in a great 3rd place, just two seconds away from 2nd as well!
He'd drop slightly to 61st in the final week but most importantly he helped Morton hold onto his podium position for a very good GC finish for the team! Our man even got another go at sprinting on the Champs-Élysées, just missing out on the Top 10.
Finally this season was a chance at full-on race leadership (shared with Summerhill) at the Tour of Northern Europe, a race we know he'd dearly love to take on for us one day. He probably lacks the time trial or cobbles skills to be a winner here but certainly a race he can do well in overall and he proved it here with a quiet but excellent race, no stage results (11th and 16th the best) but a very good 13th on GC - finishing just 1'37" down after conceding two minutes in the opening time trial. Concluding his season in fine style and securing a very handy rankings finish of 155th, with 212 points. The 8th best for his team.
Thanks again to cycleYorkshire for giving Pidcock such an awesome year in their great team environment, and setting him a perfect schedule, lending him a huge amount of experience as well as suiting races. We have really enjoyed watching Thomas' development and some great results already on his two years out but we are definitely ready to finally see him in Xero colours beyond just the U23 races! If he's been so handy rankings-wise in his first two years we are excited for his third season, even if his race days look to be severely limited for such a rider.
Always like to see some stats. Was surprised that Schomber scored so little points. I guess having Houle as best points per wage rider is very nice, just a shame he won't be as strong next season. Also great to see you followed Pidcock's journey in PT so intensively, can't say the same about my loaned out riders Let's hope he can experience those PT races soon enough in a Xero jersey as well.
Grand Prix Cyclistes
Giro dell'Emilia
Win Tour Down Under - 
Win Tour de Pologne - 
Top 5 Critérium du Dauphiné Libere - 
Win Balkans International - 
New Zealand, 
Great Britain (minor), 
United States (minor)
South Africa
Rwanda, 
The World (minor)
Indonesia
Shimano
