Today the team management of the new CT team Siam Cement - Lenovo announced the first signings for the 2014 team. The team suceeded to pull three young Asian riders on board, all with a lot room for future improvement. The signings fulfill the regional focus of, especially our main sponsor. Two Thailandese came on the team.


Sirironnachai will one day, maxed out, be a decent puncheur who can fight for wins on Continental level, Sanikwathi will be a good leadout man. The management puts the biggest hope on the third signing, though. Bambang Suryadi will, once fully developed, be a very strong sprinter, always capable of a good result in the continental tour. His sprint stat can naturally reach 79.

Since the last transfer update, Thai team Siam Cement has contracted eigth new Asian riders. Most important for the management are for sure the two Thai national champions Sai-Udomsin and Boonratanathanakorn. Sai-Udomsin will next year wear proudly his NC jersey in the team. Boonratanathanakorn will look to be loaned out to the PT to fully develop. Also Masatoshi Oba is an important signing, he is the best timetrialer of the team so far. Mirsamad Poorseyedi agreed to a pretty low wage deal. He will be happy as soon as soon as the gradient rises, with MO 74 and HI 73.


The other signings are predominantly young climbers that are looking out to a successful future. Ajay Pandit will look out to fulfill water bottle carying duties this season. We hope to loan Jang to a PCT team to get to level 4. We are not sure about Myagmarsuren yet, maybe he will be loaned too, maybe he will spend a year with us and will focus afterwards solely on his development. The last name on the list is a young Chinese sprinter. Jiang is joining us on loan from the Oz Cycling Project.
On another note Siam Cement is still looking for a captain who would be a good climber, after we good outbid on several others.

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The team management was able to make two loaning deals with African PCT team Team Kenya Airways. From Rwanda stage racing prospect Bonaventure Uwizeyimana joins our team. Recently signed climber Gyung Gu Jang goes the other way and will spent his next year in Kenya focusing on his development. Overall we are very happy about our cooperation with Team Kenya Airways!

It is finally time for our team to announce the signing of our team leader. In a deal that used up almost all of our budget outside the salary cap we came to an agreement with Prio - Porto. €600,000 were spent on Vitor Rodrigues in who we set our hopes for the coming season. Vitor is one of the best climbers in our division and so we are confident that he will be able to fulfill our goals.
The second important signing to announce is the one of Trent Lowe who will be the co-leader next to Rodrigues. In a bidding war against Eddie Stobart we had in the end the upper hand. Trent is the oldest rider of our team, but at a age of 30 he cannot considered old yet. He will lead the team in some less important races that have, next to mountains, also time trials.
Khayabkhyrvaa Uugunbayar is the rider that will keep our colours up in sprint finales. We know that he doesn't belong to the best on this level, but he is certainly a force to be reckoned with and will likely score some valuable points for us.


On top of the already mentioned signings also two decent puncheurs were offered a contract. Masakuzo Ito is a great hilly rider and Mustafa Sayar, from Turkey that's majority lays in Asia, is also a decent climber.
The last signing on the list is Phillipinian Mark Galedo who will be a great support in team time trials and also a decent mountain domestique.

The transfer season is over for Siam Cement - Lenovo and we still just have to announce our final three signings. The first on the list is Lukas Postlberger, who joins us for one year from Magna - Ryanair as a part of a loan swap with Thurakit Boonratanathanakorn going the other way. The other two will join us in August and will spent the last months of the year with us, gaining experience before we, hopefully, will offer them a contract as a staying part of the team.


With the transfers done the team is ready to kick of the season! We will soon have a confirmed race calendar.

Siam Cement was able to sign both national champions of our main sponsor region Thailand. While the road race Boonratanathanakorn left the team for one season to gain experience at the PCT, Sai-Udomsin the Thai champion against the clock stayed with the team and will need a national jersey to wear the next season. Today our kit sponsor Pearl Izumi released the design of that jersey:

At a unannounced test at the Siam Cement training camp independent testers of WADA reported conspicious values of one of our riders. It was hard for us to keep the press away after the first test, but now the b-sample confirmed the suspicion. Our rider Trent Lowe was tested positive on cocaine and a ban of 12 months was put on him. The team management distances itself from the rider and shows itself disappointed.
This ban weakens our squad majorly, but we still hold on to the goals that we released in the beginning of the year. We want to emphasize that this happening is an individual case and we lay the hand in the fire for all of our other riders!

The management made the race calendar of Siam Cement public. The obvious focus lays on Asian races, with every C2 Asian race as part of the calendar. The next important thing is the lack of C1 races represented. Only 14 of our 150 race days will be at C1 level. The management wants to focus on the smaller races and is hoping to see each of our riders in action against a slightly weaker competition ot C2 races, where we spent 76 race days.

The cycling season starts off for Siam Cement - Lenovo with two one day races. Somewhere on the other side of the globe we take part at the C2 season opener "Clasico San Cristobal" in Cuba. The second race will be closer to our HQ, the "Great Ocean Road Classic" is our first C2HC race of the season at the end of the month.

The Route:

This is definitely a race for the puncheurs to gain the first points of the season. The strongest puncheurs from Continental level will take their trip to Cuba. A lap with two hills will be tackled 4 1/2 times.



Our Team:

	Mustafa	Sayar
	Phucong	Sai-Udomsin
	Masakazu	Ito
	Baasankhuu	Myagmarsuren
	Thanawut	Sanikwathi
	Lukas	Postlberger
	Bonaventure	Uwizeyimana

The team is lead by Masakazu Ito and Mustafa Sayar. Both of them are certainly not top favourites for a good place but will give their best and maybe it will be enough to get the first points of the season for us. Additionally we have in Sai-Udomsin someone who will likely join the break. The helpers will be four of our prospects that will gain experience.

The Route:

Not much to say, a lap that will be repeated 5 times before heading to Allansford. A race for the sprinters.



Our Team:

	Phucong	Sai-Udomsin
	Khayabkhyrvaa	Uugunbayar
	Sarawut	Sirironnachai
	Ajay Pandit	Chhetri
	Thanawut	Sanikwathi
	Bambang	Suryadi
	Zhihui	Jiang

This will be the first race for our sprinting leader Khayabkhyrvaa Uugunbayar. He is looking for a strong placing that could guarantee us some points. On his side is his loyal lieutnant Bambang Suryadi who will be his strongest support in an eventual sprint. We could here as well see Sai-Udomsin going for a long shot in the break.

In January it was all about mixed feelings at Siam Cement Headquarters. The team took only part at two one day races. In one of them it failed miserably in the other one the young team got its first win ever, a late attack out of the break surprised everyone!

The Clasico San Cristobal was a big disappointment for the team. We hoped that either Mustafa Sayar or Masakazu Ito could snatch up some points. Both failed and were already dropped way too soon before the finale.

The only rider that left an positive impression was our African loanee Bonaventure Uwizeyimana who was part of the day's break. Unfortunately the break was caught and it was a 0 points day for Siam Cement. Uwizeyimana, though, could hold on to be the best rider of Siam Cement of the day.

Full Result

The expectation for the Great Ocean Road Classic in Australia were even worse than they were for our first race. January loomed to be our first 0 points month. And like in Cuba our leader failed and couldn't hang on with the peloton due to echelons at the seaside. Again one of our young prospects was hunting the luck in a break, but this time something would be different than in San Cristobal


Sarawut Sirironnachai was our man in the break. Behind the peloton was closing in and it already seemed like we would have another disappointing day, but then the wind came and some leaders lost contact in the echelons leading to a chaos in the field behind. Sarawut took the chance and attacked with six kilometres to go while the other members of the break still looked at each other. He could hang on to the win and enters himself into the history books as the first winner of an C2HC race ever. After that win happiness came back to Siam Cement headquarters.

Full Result

After not updating the HQ for some time, I now have decided to do so finally. In this post I will give a short overview on Siam Cement's performances this season.

Races:

10		Clasico San Cristobal	C2
27		Great Ocean Road Classic	C2HC

In January the season finally kicked of for the new team with two classics. In Cuba at the Clasico San Cristobal the team failed and only managed a 41st by Bonaventure Uwizeyimana after a strong day in the break.
The second race was the Great Ocean Road Race first C2HC classic ever and our team wasn't considered a favourite at all with all the strong sprinters of CT present. But in the end it became one of the best days in the season with Thai talent Sarawut Sirironnachai taking the win out of the break.

Win(s): 1
Best result: 1st Great Ocean Road Classic
Rider of the Month: Sarawut Sirironnachai

Races:

2 - 7		Benelux Challenge	C2HC
17 - 28		Tour of the Middle East	C2
26		Gisborne GP	C1

This month the young team would face its first goal. The sponsors expected a win at the Tour of the Middle East. And the team did great in that race, Vitor Rodrigues not only won two stages and a third spot but he also won the GC with a very close margin of Maxim Iglinsky. By doing so we could fulfill one of our hardes goals. On top of that Mirsamad Poorseyedi secured a 2nd spot in stage 3 which ended in a mass sprint and Rodrigues also got himself the climbers jersey.

The team also participated in two more races that mont, Gsiborne GP and Benelux Challenge. In both we were anonymous. Only noteworthy Masatosh Oba's performance in the Benelux with two 8th in two stages.

Win(s): 4
Best result: 1st Tour of the Middle East
Rider of the Month: Vitor Rodrigues

Races:

1 - 7		Tour de San Luis	C2
2 - 11		Tour de Langkawi	C2HC
16		Seskin Classic	C2HC
20 - 25		Tour de Beauce	C2
27 - 30		Tour d'Rwanda	C2

A heavy month for Siam Cement. The team participated in 5 races over March including one goal race. In Malaysia Vitor Rodrigues was expected to fulfill our second goal of the season. With 2 mountain stages besides only flat stages a climber was expected to win the race. After the team failed though to close up to the break on the first mountain finish, we already considered the race lost, Rodirgues didn't. On the second day that finished on a mountain top he decided to attack early. Soon he dropped the others and finished alone with a big gap to the rest, which would be enough to secure his second GC overall of the season. Also a mention deserves Chinese Peilun Wu for winning the young riders classification.
At the same time Mustafa Sayar lead another lineup of Siam Cement on the other side of the globe in Argentina, where he did allright just missing out on the top 10 as 11th.
At the only one day race of the month we couldn't do anything, so the hopes for a good result in Canada at the Tour de Beauce grew bigger and after winning stage 1 with a late attack Mirsamad Poorseyedi could still hold on to a good 2nd spot in GC.

Finally the team still had to show up in Rwanda, for a hilly stage race. In the two flat stages our main sprinter Uugunbayar could finally score his first points. He got 6th and 7th there.

Win(s): 4
Best result: 1st Tour de Langkawi
Rider of the Month: Mirsamad Poorseyedi

I don't want to make this post too long so an update on the months April - June will be posted tomorrow, together with the latest rankings update. The results post on the first page is already updated.

After we presented you the teams performances of January-March on Friday, we now also give you a short overview on the results of April-June, including the newest ranking's update.

Races:

2		Windhoek ITT	C2
24 - 27		Istrian Spring Trophy	C2

April would turn out as the worst month of Siam Cement so far. The team only had two races where it could show itself and in both the results were not like we desired. At the Windhoek ITT the team's hopes were on a top 10 of timetrial specialist Masatoshi Oba, but in the end he would only get 14th. Also at the Istrian Spring Trophy the Japanese would be the only one to score points. In the prologue where he had to fight strong headwinds he got a decent 7th.

Even though Oba couldn't achieve the results expected of him, he still becomes the rider of this month as he was the only one to score racing points. Masakazu Ito our hopr for the GC in Croatia only got 29th, which was way below what we hoped.

Win(s): 0
Best result: 14th Windhoek ITT
Rider of the Month: Masatoshi Oba

Races:

2 - 7		Tour of Japan	C1
8		Criterium Hainleite	C2HC
23		Vuelta a la Comunidad de Madrid	C2HC
24 - 29		Tour of Taihu Lake	C1

In this month the team competited with the big CT teams in two C1 races. In China at the Tour of Taihu Lake good results were as expected not available. It was still a nice opportunity to give our young talents some experience. At the Tour of Japan we surprisingly had some success. Peilun Wu joined a successful break and got 4th on the stage and also provisionally in GC. At the following mountain TT he even managed to jump on the podium for a day. Unfortunately he spent all his energy and would drop way behind when the teams of the favourites made the race hard. A good 26th in GC was his final result then.

Other than that we took part in two one day races on C2HC level. At the Criterium Hainleite we didn't score points as expected. At the Vuelta a Madrid Vitor Rodrigues was one of the favourites for the win, but disappointed in 7th.

Win(s): 0
Best result: 7th Vuelta a la Comunidad de Madrid
Rider of the Month: Peilun Wu

Races:

3		Transfagarasan GP	C2
5 - 12		Vuelta a Guatemala	C2HC
14 - 19		Giro del Capo	C2
19		Barcelona Classic	C2
22 - 24		Oberosterreichrundfahrt	C2
28		Rutas de America	C2HC

At the beginning of the month the team finally got back to winning. At the mountainious Transfagarasan GP in Romania Wu broke away early and won over Ardila in an 1vs1 sprint. On top of that Rodigues secured the 6th spot and Poorseyedi sprinted to 12th gaining us some valuable ranking points.

The other results of June couldn't live up to our first race, especially in Uruguay and in Austria were the team did nothing noteworthy at the Rutas de America and the Oberösterreichrundfahrt. The closest to a successful race came the Vuelta a Guatemala were Mustafa Sayar secured himself a good 6th in GC after some decent stage results. Also Masakazu Ito and Phucong Sai-Udomsin got a good stage result there, out of a break. Ito even got 2nd. In South Africa the team could secure three top 10s through Poorseyedi, Ito and African talent Uwizeyimana and Poorseyedi got a 16th in GC. Left is the sprinters race Barcelona Classic where Sai-Udomsin and Sarawut could sprint to a decent 13th and 14th getting us some nice points. Especially a good result for those two after our main sprinter Uugunbayar wasn't seen at the front of the race coming to the finish yet another time.

Win(s): 1
Best result: 1st Transfagarasan GP
Rider of the Month: Peilun Wu

After a great season start and some points scored in June the team could climb back into the top 10 of the CT rankings.

The gap to the next team ahead is quite big and the teams just outside the top 10 are very close. That means that the goal in the coming races of August must be to keep that 10th place at any cost and even increase the gap to 11th. An improvement to a better spot in the rankings seems very unlikely.