Welcome to the Señor Frogs team page, here we will keep you up to date with the team and the season of Cycling. We are hoping to have everything finalized within the week, and should only be waiting on our jerseys to arrive for the riders. I want to keep things in a simple format for the team, so we will have a weekly plan to keep us on course and a standard format for reporting from races throughout the season.
So without further ado here will be the first weekly plan:
Thursday: Introduce team concept and sponsors and goals.
Friday: Introduce Non-GT riders.
Saturday: Introduce GT riders.
Sunday: Release rider schedules.
Monday: Start of new week, new weekly plan then.
If jerseys arrive early, will speed up the timetable.
Edited by Kentaurus on 31-12-2011 06:12
Here on the Señor Frogs - Air Canada team we are going to promote American cycling, not just US Cycling but all of America. So on this team you will see riders from as far north as Canada and all the way down south to Argentina. You will see riders riding for countries well represented in the tours such as the US and Columbia, also we have a pair of young riders from major countries, one French from the island of Guadeloupe and one Dutch from Curaçao. Aside from that though, you will see some less represented countries get a chance to promote their riders, in the likes of Venezuela, Uruguay and Costa Rica. And we hope in the future to get riders from even more countries on this side of the world.
Our main sponsor is Señor Frogs, a restaurant chain originating in Mexico now with several more restaurants throughout the Latin America and Southern US. Our team will work hard, and then after the long season no doubt they will be able to party hard in the Caribbean.
Also contributing to the team will be Air Canada which will provide both financial support for the team and also airfare to and from events. Their sponsorship should greatly help the team and hopefully increase the interest in the sport in the north-most American country.
Lastly providing the equipment for the team will be US bicycle manufacturer Felt. Giving us access to top quality equipment made this side of the ocean.
Here are some of the goals our sponsors have given us for this season. I really think our sponsors have a good sense of what our team is capable of and is as excited about the season as we are. Edited by Kentaurus on 21-08-2011 22:44
Team Roster
Okay before we get to announcing every team member, I am going to break down how the roster works. There are 7 mini-teams of riders, and one rider not in a team. The riders in any mini-team will have the same schedule as each other, allowing for better bonding and cohesion between them. There are three grand tour mini-teams, each will go to two of the grand tours. There are also 4 non grand tour teams, that will support the GT teams in other races and will also be doing some smaller events on their own.
Well from what I have seen the goals have three levels, success gives you a check mark, and you did at least what the goal wanted. Normal doesn't change the mark, as you were close to the goal, and then failure gives you an X and is bad on the sponsor.
So those are the goals, some may be out of reach, but shouldn't be too far.
yeah i wasnt referring to that. according to dabob - https://www.pcmdai...d_id=19751 - it doesnt matter if you reach the goals or not. doesnt affect the career. so with that in mind, i was more just saying if you wanted to reach them purely for your own benefit, you will need some team. crack sprinter and 1-2 crack stage racers for the giro, tdf and vuelta goals
This isn't going to start out as a ultra weak team, in reality the talent level on it would put it up in the pro-tour class. I have no problem stealing riders from the other teams. Think I set the budget to 40% or 50% on the create a team, I don't ever remember.
Introducing the Non-GT Riders!
Today we start announcing the team, and we will kick it off with our non-GT riders. Many of these riders are young, and this will be their first year with a professional team, so give them a big welcome to the big stage!
In our first Mini-Team is led by 23 year-old Colombian John Darwin Atapuma. A solid up and coming climber with some fight in him. Should grow up well and potentially become a GC contender in smaller races. Next we have one of several young riders another kid climber in Morgan Frost. An 18 year-old American that lacks a lot of polish, but climbs well for his age, and should grow as a pure climber. Last on this mini-team is another youngster, hailing from Uruguay, Luis Herrera. This kid is a very young all-rounder who has shown moments of potential in almost everything. For the team though we look to develop him as a future GC contender.
The third team to introduce is a bit more flat minded and is lead by the 21 year-old American, Justin Williams. A sprinter with a solid future that will be aiming for several chances at wins this season as the top sprinter for any of the non-GT teams. Helping him to these wins will be a pair of young 18 year-old riders just breaking into the professional world, his lead-out likely to be Dutch, from the island of Curaçao, Lars Vos. Much like our other island rider Descamps he probably suffered from a lack of quality training, so we expect solid progress out of him and he will need to pick up some speed to be ready to compete as a sprinter, but already he is able to lead the pack to chase down riders and should be able to push up the tempo at the end of a race. The other young rider, another American, Ray Landry, perhaps a future bright spot on the cobbles for the team which is not generally equipped for that riding, he should also be able to help on the more traditional paved surfaces both flat and with some rolling hills.
Lastly we have a pair of riders, pegged as a team, but they will have to separate from time to time to fill in for either injuries or in spots where only 1 rider is needed. Both 18 year-old Americans, the first Lawson Craddock, a rider who has show tremendous potential at time-trialing and should be a solid addition to a start list when he is needed. The other Nickolas Giles has a promsing all-rounder future and we will be focusing on getting his climbing skills improved as he will likely be the replacement for an injured climber from one of the teams.
Edited by Kentaurus on 20-08-2011 03:29
Meet the GT riders!
Yesterday we announced the supporting cast these guys will have for the smaller events to warm up for the grand tours, now its time to meet the grand tour riders!
Team two is almost a twin to team one, built with the same principles of delivering a good set of riders for a GT, and a sprinter. These two mini-teams will ride in one GT together along with our solo rider to complete the full 9. Mini-team 2 is led by our most senior rider and teammate of mini-team one's leader Ryder Hesjedal for the last several years, Tom Danielson. This 32 year-old American possesses plenty of experience and like his team one counterpart he is always capable of top finishes in any tour. Also like Hesjedal he will have to be a mentor to some of the young talent around him like 22 year-old American Tejay Van Garderen. Many consider Tejay to the be brightest star in the future of American GC riders, which will be a lot to live up to, but with a solid base in both climbing and time-trialing he should have what it takes in a few years. Pushing him will be another very talented rider with similar potential, a 20 year-old from Colombia, Nairo Quintana. This young rider shows talent in the climbs and should become a very solid rider in the next few years, leaving plenty of time to become a great rider in the future. Sprinting for mini-team two will be a 30 year-old Colombian, Leonardo Duque. A rider with more than just skills to sprint, he is also a capable hills rider and a very good at descending. With a little less kick than the other GT teams sprinters he should find his spot leading them out to victories.
And last but certainly not least, there is one rider who is not on a team, and it will certainly fall to him to get the Green Jersey in events throughout the year. We welcome the 26 year-old American, Tyler Farrar. A world class sprinter who will be expected to compete with the greats and bring us some wins in the world's biggest tour.
Farrar is the only expensive rider at around 62K, Rujano and Danielson were both ~35K, Hesjedal was decent also, but after that the prices drop considerably.
On easy, sure I probably could win nearly every race, on hard (which is what I will be playing on)... Cav will beat Farrar on most stages. Contador is going to be better than Rujano. If you can win every tour with this team on hard, I give mad props to ya.
Edited by Kentaurus on 20-08-2011 23:15
A quick catch up
Since the season has now officially started I would like to catch everyone up to where we are getting ready to start the Tour de San Luis.
The team met in Santa Barbra, California for some preseason training as well as a way to meet everyone. The plan was a 10 day trip, put in 3 phases. The first 3 days were mostly an everyone go meet everyone social event, with a slow ride each day with all 25 riders able to mingle. The next 4 days were tougher, as the groups were split into their mini-teams, and separated to different hotels with the coaches. These four days the riders would only be with their mini-teammates (Farrar joined Craddock and Giles) and would be pushed hard to get them in shape. The last three days we brought everyone back together again, but didn't let off the tempo of the rides. I think the training overall was a success as the riders seem to be in good shape and the barriers that were there when we first started, began to come down with the team-building exercises.
In other news halfway around the world, Australia held its national championships with Simon Gerrans taking the road ahead of Matt Goss and Matt Hayman; while Michael Rodgers won the ITT in front of Richie Porte and Cadel Evans.
The team will be heading down to Austrailia here in just a few days for the Santos Tour Down Under, but we will start in Argentina in the Tour de San Luis, a race on our side of the world, and local Argentine J.J. Haedo will be looking to do well and pick up some wins.
Ok, maybe I'm missing something, I agree the team is good, but best? I have some depth, but I have one guy who might be able to compete for a GC in Rujano, and he certainly is well behind the best riders of the world. A 70 in TT is going to be killer. My other riders just can't climb well enough to stay with the top guns.
I have 12 riders that are 70+ in Mountain, that's same as Liquigas and Leopard, and 2 behind Euskaltel. Leopard has 19 riders with a 70+ average, 2 at 80 and one at 79. I have 16, with my top rider being a 78 in Farrar.
Am I the best continental team? Sure, that's probably not really even in question. But would I be the best Pro-tour, I don't think so, just not enough top end firepower. Now in a few season when my younger riders mature, if I can retain them, yes I probably could have a shot at being overpowering.
And realize that both Tejay and Fabio will be helpers to Rujano and Danielson in the Vuelta, so expecting getting into the top20 is probably a big stretch.
Edited by Kentaurus on 21-08-2011 19:58
by looking forward to seeing van g and duarte i mean there two of my fav riders
and the team is so good because firstly lots of depth in the sprints you can have Haedo, Duque and Farrar so the 2nd best in the world and 2 of the top 20 that means lots of wins in smaller Tours and Classics.
Secondly Climbers with Rujano he is a top 5 GT rider giving you a good performance in 2 GT if you want you then follow that with Danielson top 10 Uran also top 10 TVG top 15 GC and Duarte , Brenes, Heano and Peterson that a really strong unit perfect for winning tours.
Next youth your team will devlop amazingly you have many strong young riders who when they devlop will give you even more wins.
Well yea, some of the lower level races I should be bringing very powerful teams to, but on that note also, my riders are working on having best form for the GTs so they may not have great form for some of the smaller stuff, almost all of the small races I am riding with my top 3 mini-teams are just warmups for a GT. This first tour is really only because its on my side of the world, and even then the only reason team 1 is involved is because they have an Argentine.
The youth should develop, but its on .3 scale, so it will be slower. Also I actually created a spreadsheet where I ranked every rider, and Rujano is my 19th ranked GC rider. (Since someone will ask, I have it 1: Contador, Evans, Sanchez, Schleck {A}, 5: Nibali, Scarponi, Anton, Gesink, Schleck {F}, 10: Menchov, Valverde, Basso, Van den Broeck, Rodriguez, 15: Vinokourov, Cunego, Kreuziger, Wiggins, Rujano and Kloden, top 20). Based on that, my best riders are ranked as Rujano-19, Danielson-22, Hesjedal-23, Uran-36, Van Garderen-74, Duarte-109.
Sprinting I have Farrar-2, Haedo-23, Duque-48, and Lacombe-82
Tour de San Luis, Stage 1, Jan 17 Hesjedal, Urán, Talansky, Haedo, Landry, Vos, Williams, Giles
Results:
Story:
The first tour of the year starts in the South American country of Argentina, our side of the world. And no one in the world is probably more enthusiastic about this race than J.J. Haedo, our Argentine sprinter. The team manager already had him and the rest of his Mini-Team One set to go there before everyone had been introduced in Santa Barbra just about two weeks ago. From the moment we publicly announced that Haedo would be racing, the media seemed to be a frenzy and the Argentine press kept our phones ringing every day. It had become apparent that Señor Frogs first race would not be just another race. It was a race for pride and responsibility. For J.J. Haedo, it would be his responsibility to win, and give that pride to his home nation, it would be a great step in promoting cycling in his country. For the Señor Frogs team it would be their responsibility to show they belonged, that a collection of riders from the New World could compete, and defend their lands from the teams across the ocean.
Recap:
The first stage is actually a mostly downhill stage, with a flat finish. The ride starts uphill to our first and only mountain points of the day, then heads downhill through two sprint points before finishing.
The team would start quickly sending US rider Andrew Talanksy into the first breakaway. The peloton does react and speeds up to bring the 12 man breakaway back, but a few of the riders including Talansky fight to ensure a chance at the only mountain points up for grabs. With only a kilometer to go, the pack grabs onto the back of the break and seemingly ends the chance at points, but Talansky would not be denied a second attack off the front, perfectly timed separates him from the field and he crests the top first. Giving him the points and the KoM jersey for tomorrow's start.
After grabbing the mountain points, Talansky would quickly fall back into the peloton, and with a good downhill it was difficult for any new breakaway to form. Finally, though a small break of four was able to get off the front, Ray Landry would be one of those four. The small break of four would build up to a 6 minute lead with around 70k left to the finish before riders from the Skil team and Farnese Vini would step up the pace at the pointy end of the peloton.
The group of four riders would stay well out in front of the field through both of the sprint points, which sadly Landry was left out in fourth without any points or time bonus under both banners. While Landry was unable to pick up any points though his presence in the breakaway was giving the rest of Señor Frogs a joyride through the country and giving Haedo a better chance in the sprint. The peloton wouldn't catch up to the break until just under 10k left in the race, and now it would be time to see if J.J. had it in him to win.
With no serious lead out train of his own, J.J. would have to rely on his own ability to catch the wheels of other sprinters and use his burst to get by them. J.J. would get a chance as he caught the wheel of Martin Gilbert () of team Spidertech from this position team Spidertech did great work bringing their sprinter to the front and launching him off as J.J. Haedo waited on his wheel, but at the same time race favorite Andrea Guardini (Farnese Vini) had taken to the wheel of Haedo. The favorites were all lined up for a final showdown. And with just around 1k left J.J. Haedo would make his move...
