In 2012, Dutch bicycle manufacturer Royal Dutch Gazelle decided to start producing a series of high-end racing bikes. To promote this effort they initiated the creation of a new cycling team for the 2013 season.
Gazelle's mission is to achieve success with an exciting and offensive style of cycling. During our climb from CT to PT, our leaders were Puncheurs and Flandriens who scored a lot in tough one day races and small, hilly stage races. During those three years we never had any pure sprinters or climbers.
Now that we're a ProTour team we need to be competitive in the mountains as well. But our offensive spirit remains.
Maxime Monfort Nick Nuyens Gert Steegmans Daniel Oss Davide Formolo Patrick Konrad Jan Tratnik Roman Senyenov Andrea Zordan Nejc Kozic Charalampas Kastrantas
:: Departures
Kristof Goddaert Roy Sentjens Matej Mugerli
:: Key Riders
Maxime Monfort (31) •  Strong & Reliable; top 15 PCT point scorer
72 MO, 79 HI, 76 ST, 75 AC, 77 FT
823 points - 250k wage Gert Steegmans (34) •  Impressively explosive for his age
78 FL, 77 ST, 75 CB, 76 SP, 74 AC
426 points - 180k wage Lieuwe Westra (32) • Even in PCT, Lieuwe shines when there's TT and Hills
74 HI, 76 TT, 74 STA, 74 RES, 75 ACC, 76 PRL
306 points - 135k wage Erdenebayar Daspuntsag (26) • Epic 192 km solo win brought him victory in a HC stage-race.
70 FL, 69 MO, 73 HI, 79 FT
276 points - 50k wage Nick Nuyens (34) •  Put up a good fight on our beloved cobblestones
77 FL, 72 HI, 76 ST, 79 CB, 74 FT
256 points - 250k wage
Maxime Monfort (32) •  Had a huge start of the season and a crucial fall in the last race. Otherwise might have lead us to PCT victory.
72 MO, 79 HI, 76 ST, 75 AC, 77 FT
779 points - 230k wage Tanel Kangert (28) •  This guy is a machine in hilly tours with a TT.
75 FL, 75 MO, 77 HI, 77 TT
551 points - 250k wage Kristjan Koren (29) • When Kangert failed he stepped up and won a tour. Great rider, low wage.
74 HI, 78 TT
372 points - 100k wage Filippo Pozzato (34) • Occasionally showed us what a mighty rider he is, but not often enough. Decent score though.
78 FL, 77 HI, 76 SP, 77 ACC
509 points - 400k wage Blaž Furdi (27) •  One of the key-riders of our first season is back and this time his skills were maxed out. He did a good job scoring points as lieutenant of Monfort.
77 HI
294 points - 100k wage
Angel Madrazo Francesco Ginanni Jairo Agudelo Thomas De Gendt Francis De Greef
:: Departures
Lieuwe Westra Pieter Weening Thiago Duarte Nardin Nick Nuyens Filippo Pozzato Steve Chainel
:: Key Riders
Francesco Ginanni (31) • Had plenty of good results and with a bit more luck in the Vuelta this would've been a great season for Francesco. Scored nicely for his wage.
83 HI, 78 STA, 74 ACC
901 points - 575k wage Angel Madrazo (28) •  After a lackluster start to the season and a decent Giro, Madrazo bounced back in Colombia with an important win. Still he was outscored by all of his biggest rivals and will need to do better next year.
85 MO, 77 TT, 81 REC
1429 points - 1300k wage Moreno Hofland (25) •  Hofland was our second signing when we started the team in 2013, so after years of development it's cool to see him do well in the ProTour. He often sneaked himself into decent scoring positions and finished the season in style with 7th in Giro di Lombardia. This all adds up to 336 points, which is very good for a rider on a 50k wage.
76 HI, 76 STA, 72 ACC
336 points - 50k wage Tanel Kangert (29) •  Besides scoring a nice amount of points himself, Kangert was a very important engine in our successful TTT squad. One highlight was winning the Giro TTT, which secured our season goal and helped Madrazo's GC.
75 FL, 75 MO, 77 HI, 77 TT
396 points - 230k wage Kristjan Koren (30) • Basically the same story as Kangert, just with 100 points less and 100k wage less. Gazelle can always count on Koren to deliver some impressive TT performances in a season.
74 HI, 78 TT
295 points - 120k wage
Steven Kruijswijk Ian Bibby Anatoliy Sosnitskiy Victor Campenaerts Everson Camilo
:: Departures
Maxime Monfort Jonas Vangenechten Niki Terpstra
:: Key Riders
Francesco Ginanni (32) • Some strong results, including a Fleche Wallone win, brought Ginanni 971 points. This isn’t spectacular for a top puncheur, but overall he did a decent job this season.
83 HI, 78 STA, 74 ACC
971 points - 575k wage Tanel Kangert (30) • Another great season for Tanel. His strong consistency on nearly all terrains has made him a key rider in every season since he joined the team. This is quickly turning him into a Gazelle fan favourite.
75 FL, 75 MO, 77 HI, 77 TT
457 points - 130k wage Davide Formolo (25) • Gazelle trained youngster Formolo has become an important point scorer for the team. Strong climbing skills are backed up with a decent time trial and a relatively explosive finish. Very efficient rider.
78 MO, 76 HI, 76 RES, 69 TT, 71 ACC, 69 SP
366 points - 110k wage Jan Tratnik (27) • Domestique Tratnik has continually been improving. This season it resulted in some nice performances that saw the 70k wage rider score an impressive 276 points.
73 MO, 77 HI, 75 RES, 70 ACC
276 points - 70k wage Roman Senyenov (24) • Another rider that has been training with the team for a couple of seasons is Roman Senyenov. The Kazachi puncheur has proven himself a capable breakaway rider and is also very good at sneaking into decent scoring positions at hilly events.
77 HI, 68 SP, 73 ACC
293 points - 75k wage
Mike Teunissen Denys Karnulin Marc Potts Louis Vervaeke Manuele Boaro Jacques Janse van Rensburg Gabor Fejes
:: Departures
Marco Minnard Kristjan Koren Tom Veelers Victor Campenaerts Francis de Greef Everson Camilo
:: Key Riders
Steven Kruijswijk (31) • Steven had a great year and showed how versatile he is by impressing in both Tour de France and Tour of Northern Europe. He managed to score a hefty 575 points, which is absolutely amazing for a rider on a 125k wage.
78 FL, 76 MO, 73 TT, 74 COB, 75 ACC, 79 FGT
575 points - 125k wage Tanel Kangert (31) • Unsurprisingly Kangert was a key part of the team again. This season we did very well in Team Classifications, especially if there was a TTT and we could get our Kangert/Bibby engine involved.
75 FL, 75 MO, 77 HI, 77 TT
513 points - 140k wage Ian Bibby (32) • Like Kangert, Bibby played an important role in our 'strong collective' approach to many tours. He scored a nice amount of points himself while helping others do the same.
77 MO, 76 HI, 77 TT
432 points - 200k wage Jan Tratnik (27) • Officially he's a domestique for Ginanni, but this is the second season in a row where Jan Tratnik managed to score very well in hilly races.
207 points might not be huge, but for a helper who earns just 80k it's great.
73 MO, 77 HI, 75 RES, 70 ACC
207 points - 80k wage Mike Teunissen (26) • After many years of watching Veelers get destroyed on the cobbles it was time to finally sign someone who could follow the big guns. Dutch talent Mike Teunissen joined the team and immediately lived up to our expectations.
76 FL, 77 STA, 81 COB
459 points - 220k wage
Angel Madrazo (31) • Came back from a multi-season slump in dramatic fashion with his historic second Tour de France win.
85 MO, 77 TT
1866 points - 850k wage Mike Teunissen (27) • Impressively consistent in cobble races all year. Mike is a fighter and very hard to drop if there are cobbles involved.
76 FL, 77 STA, 81 COB
760 points - 240k wage Steven Kruijswijk (32) • In his final year before decline Steven perfected the art of the breakaway.
78 FL, 76 MO, 73 TT, 74 COB, 75 ACC, 79 FGT
642 points - 135k wage Ian Bibby (33) • Proves that decline is not the end of the world. Amazing pointscoring for a 33 year old on 140k.
76 MO, 75 HI, 76 TT
558 points - 140k wage Davide Formolo (27) • Davide confirmed that it was a good idea to train him. Strong climber with a proper final kick.
79 MO, 77 HI, 76 RES, 69 TT, 71 ACC, 69 SP
554 points - 135k wage
Kamil Malecki Matej Vysna Jonel Carcueva Ildar Arslanov
:: Departures
Francesco Ginanni Thomas De Gendt Jacques Janse van Rensburg
:: Key Riders
Kamil Malecki (24) • Captivated the entire cycling world with a magical Giro performance. The breakaways that earned him the pink jersey were impressive, but it was his doomed struggle to keep it that turned the young Pole into one of the stars of the 2020 season.
73 FL, 71 MO, 74 HI, 74 ACC
1061 points - 200k wage Angel Madrazo (32) • Got close to sealing a legendary third Tour de France win, but was denied by the exceptionally strong Silvio Herklotz. Overall a decent season for our leader.
85 MO, 77 TT
1434 points - 1050k wage Davide Formolo (28) • Couldn't fully meet the expectations that came with his latest training, but still managed to score a respectable amount of points for the team.
79 MO, 79 HI
612 points - 260k wage Tanel Kangert (33) • Like Bibby last year, Kangert proved that decline is not the end of the world. Great point scoring for a 33 year old on 110k.
74 FL, 74 MO, 76 HI, 76 TT
423 points - 110k wage Tao Geoghegan Hart (25) • Tao didn't have any standout performances, but his consistently solid form allowed him to take home way more points than we expected from this unmaxed rider. Looking forward to see what he can do in 2021.
76 MO, 74 TT
328 points - 170k wage
Steven Kruijswijk •  Breakaways
With his iconic mix of 78 FL, 76 MO and 79 FTR, Steven managed to turn an absurd amount of breakaways into success. He perfected this craft in 2019 and his contribution of 642 points on a 135k wage was one of the cornerstones of our PT win.
Tanel Kangert •  All-round stage racer
After signing him in 2015, Kangert appeared in our yearly list of key riders no less than five times. Flat, mountains, hills and time-trials; Tanel was a machine in all of them.
Davide Formolo •  All-round climber
Formolo was signed in 2014 as a lvl 1 talent and developed all the way into a successful climber/puncheur hybrid. Left in 2022 with a huge number of points to his name.
Maxime Monfort •  Puncheur
Captain of the team in seasons 2 and 3. Only a fall in the final race could stop him from leading us to PCT victory.
Lieuwe Westra •  Hills and Time-trials
Super important rider in our first two seasons. Westra started Gazelle's love for Time-Trialists who can punch up a hill.
Pieter Weening •  Puncheur
The captain that lead our CT-winning effort in season 1.
Thiago Duarte Nardin •  Hilly sprinter
Teared up CT in our first season. 482 points on a 50k wage is unrivaled efficiency.
Marco Minnard •  Puncheur
Did some amazing stuff in season 1 and then diligently supported our leaders for 4 more seasons. The image of the celebrating Gazelle rider in yellow is actually Minnard.
****
Francesco Ginanni • Puncheur
Star puncheur in our first few PT seasons. Delivered some great victories.
Blaž Furdi • Puncheur
With the team from 2013 all the way until 2022. Blaž made the transition from CT leader to PT domestique perfectly.
Angel Madrazo •  Stage racer
We will always have a love-hate relationship with this guy. He's a true legend of the game, but for us he underperformed so bloody often. When he finally showed up though...he won us the Tour de France and indirectly the ProTour.
Ian Bibby • Stage racer
His great allround stage racing skills contributed to many solid results, both individually and in TTT's.
Gert Steegmans • Flandrien
Key rider in our second season.
Erdenebayar Daspuntsag • Hilly fighter
Our crazy Mongolian attacker who won a HC stage-race thanks to an epic 192 km solo.
***
Roy Sentjens • Flandrien
The very first rider we signed.
Edited by DubbelDekker on 23-08-2022 16:27
In the sport section of a local Belgian tabloid the following brief report appeared:
Stubbe On The Move?
We have received a rumour from sources close to Team Bpost that Tom Stubbe is looking to make a move to a new team. Apparently he was unsatisfied with his treatment behind the scenes last year and will be looking to move somewhere else where he is "less abused." He is understood to be interested in a move to the new Continental Team Gazelle, which is looking to focus on one day riders and possibly climbers with a good acceleration. He said to our source that "I think the move would be good for me, as I can accelerate quite well and would be a decent leader in short stage races, as well as a strong domestique in the hills and mountains."
Does Team Gazelle have any response to this rumour?
During a telephone interview, the Gazelle manager said the following about Stubbe.
It is certainly good news that an experienced Belgian rider like Tom Stubbe wishes to join our team. Stubbe would indeed be a good luxury team mate in many of the races that are important to Gazelle. This team mate status does mean that, considering our limited resources, his current wage would be too high for us. Also, due to his age we will not be able to pay a considerable transfer fee.
We hope that once the transfer season starts, these financial obstacles can be overcome; it would be a pleasure to welcome Tom to the team.
The future for Arjen de Baat and Arne Hassink at their current team is still uncertain. With team UPC - Boehringer-Ingelheim getting a PCT license there are bound to be changes in personnel. De Baat had a steady season, showing up in several breaks, while Hassinks highlight was a 4th place in the cobbled Strade Appia Antica. If Team UPC doesn't pick them up for the 2013 season, Gazelle looks to be a perfect fit for these 2.
If de Baat and Hassink become free agents, Team Gazelle will certainly attempt to sign them. They are exactly the types of rider Gazelle needs as domestiques.
Gazelle and De Persgroep, Team Gazelle's two major sponsors, have decided the goals they want the team to achieve in the 2013 season.
Although both companies have very ambitious long-term plans for the team, they agree that it wouldn't be a good idea to expect too much from a currently riderless team that is going into its first season. To still keep us sharp however, they've chosen to set two hard goals and three easy ones.
First the hard goals:
Top 5 in CT Team Standings [4 points]
This goal of instant promotion shows the sponsors ambition to quickly rise in the world of cycling. It will definitely be hard, but we look forward to the challenge.
Win Cauberg Classic [4 points]
Cauberg Classic will be the most important race of the season. Sponsor Gazelle would totally love us to win this great race centered around our homelands' most famous cycling hill. This goal fits perfectly with the sponsor demand to sign a good puncheur as our number one leader.
Then the sponsors looked for races that they would like exposure in and in which they know our leader should easily be able to secure a top 10 result. These three goals should make sure that the team will be able to deliver a decent overall goal performance, which will help them a lot in their second year.
Top 10 in Grand Prix de Wallonie [2 points]
Belgium was an obvious choice; the homeland of De Persgroep.
Top 10 in Tour de Pologne [2 points]
The Tour de Pologne is a cool stagerace that will be decided in the hills. Also, many Polish people are living in the Low Countries.
Top 10 in Challenges Phosphatiers [2 points]
The same goes for Moroccan people; more than 600.000 in total. The sponsors hope to become more popular with this group by doing well in this absolutely awesome hell of a race.
Team Gazelle's staff is content with the goals and is very much looking forward to the season to come. Our recent analysis of the races on the C2 calendar has resulted in the following list of races we want to perform well in:
IWT Oetingen Ronde van Belgie Nokere-Koerse Zuri Metzgete Lincoln GP Tre Valli Varesine Glava Tour GP Yekaterinburg GP Postojna Oberosterreichrundfahrt Gran Premio Miguel Indurain GP Onda-Boavista Clasico San Cristobal Tour de Kumano
(Nepal) GP Kathmandu Tour de Bretagne FBD Eire Tour Tour de Beauce Tour do Rio Tour de Korea
Probably some of the more sensible CT goals in that you dont have any C1 goals - will be interested to see how it plays out for you versus the teams whove taken on a bigger risk
Thanks, that will be interesting indeed.
My prognosis is that you've added enough good riders to the database to avoid big inflation of rider wages in the free agent auctions, thus diminishing the need to buy riders on a low wage from other teams. Training is too expensive and I don't have much use for wildcards yet; so I figured I wouldn't need a big budget on top of my salary cap this year. Better to save it for next year when I'm hopefully in PCT.
After missing the first 24 hours of the transfer period and the resulting slow start, Team Gazelle is proud to finally reveal their first rider ever: 33 year old Festina veteran Roy Sentjens.
Roy's live revolves around just two things: cobblestones and breakaways. Exactly the kind of guy we are looking for at Gazelle! His most important stats are 75 FL, 72 STA, 71 RES, 74 COB and 79 FTR. He earns €60.000 a year.
Management expects Roy to get some top 10's in cobble classics and to get in as many breakaways as possible in normal flat stages.
Moreno Hofland is a talented 22 year old who is decent in the hills. He is already at experience level 3, but his potential of 7 will allow him to still improve quite a lot. We will try to find a ProTour team that agrees to let him gain experience on a higher level. Hofland's most important stats are 67 FL, 69 HI, 71 STA, 70 RES, 67 ACC, 71 FTR.
Today has been a great day for Team Gazelle! Within the space of a few hours we were lucky enough to sign no less than ten riders, all of which are of great quality for a team in the Man-Game Continental Tour. Also, our sponsor will be happy that some of them are not from the Low Countries.
We are especially delighted that experienced Dutch puncheur Pieter Weening has agreed to join our team. Pieter will be our leader for the coming season and we are confident he will be able to help us reach at least some of the goals the sponsor has set for us. His most important attributes are 74 MO, 77 HI, 75 STA, 75 RES, 71 ACC, 76 FTR
Young Slovenian Blaž Furdi will either be our second leader, or Weening's main helper; that is still to be decided. Whatever the choice will be, Blaž will be up to the challenge, thanks to his 70 MO, 75 HI, 74 STA, 72 RES and 70 ACC. Next year he will probably get the opportunity to max out his last experience level and become even beter.
In Jonas Vangenechten, our cobble leader Sentjens has found a very good lieutenant. He has 72 FL, 73 STA, 69 RES, 74 COB and 70 FTR. Because of his 68 HI, Vangenechten will lead the team if the race features both cobbles and hills.
Then we continue to a big regiment of domestiques, who are are all very similar in skill. In hilly races that we want to win with Weening, they will be ordered to work together as a group and control the race until the final. In races where we are not among the favorites they get a free role and are expected to attack! I give you:
This guy can do well in a prologue and then hang on for the rest of the tour as long as there are no mountains. Vadim is terrified of mountains. But he'll probably screw up his chances by attacking too much.
Thiago Duarte Nardin
Blaž Furdi
Charalampas Kastrantas
Erdenebayar Daspuntsag (26) • Epic 192 km solo win brought him victory in a HC stage-race. 
Tanel Kangert
Patrick Gretsch
Vadim Shaekhov
Jairo Agudelo
Ian Bibby
Gabor Fejes
Matej Vysna
Ildar Arslanov
Frederico Figueiredo
Benedikt Mundle
Ondrej Cink
Top 10 in Challenges Phosphatiers [2 points]
Clasico San Cristobal
Tour de Korea
![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
