Alakagom wrote:
And then Spilak is an awesome addition, he's just such a complete rider. You did great to get him!
I agree, I honestly didn't think I'd sell him. I'll be cheering for him and your team whenever I can, meaning whenever Contador doesn't race the same race Edited by ember on 17-03-2014 17:03
Alakagom wrote:
And then Spilak is an awesome addition, he's just such a complete rider. You did great to get him!
I agree, I honestly didn't think I'd sell him. I'll be cheering for him and your team whenever I can, meaning whenever Contador doesn't race the same race
Yeah I feel the same about Contador to be honest - I will be rooting for him everywhere
Alakagom wrote:
Both Le Gac and especially David are excellent signings, top buys.
And then Spilak is an awesome addition, he's just such a complete rider. You did great to get him!
Thanks a lot. I was really thrilled to get both. My team is really young overall right now, but I hope we can manage to stay in the right part of the competition, we are definately going to get stronger the coming years. I hope '13 was the worst in the teams history, also looking into the future.
SportingNonsense wrote:
One former Tour de France winner arrives, as another leaves. It will be interesting to see how your team leader overhaul plays out.
Yeah. I hope it will be a bit better, as I have always loved having a strong GT setup. Most other teams seems to think the same though so I need to train my riders carefully to get the upperhand.
Diego Ulissi had his bring up at the Festina setup, reaching amazing results underway in the proces, like winning the Milano-San Remo and recently adding the italian championships to his palmares. Diego has been both backup, co-leader and sole leader at the team, but the time has come to try something new.
Instead of leaving a large gap behind him Ulissi made room for the Cobra King, Riccardo Ricco who joins the team immidiately. Riccardo Ricco won the Giro d'Italia 2012 infront of Emanuelle Sella, while also being the second best rider of the entire season. The 2013 Giro d'Italia was less than spectacular for the reigning champion, giving a 6th place in the GC. In fact the season was of very limited succes for the Cobra rider.
Team Festina-Canal+ sees no reason that Ricco shouldn't be able to become a star yet again, hence signing him as one of the teams absolute captains for the 2014 season. Combined with Simon Spilak and Vadim Ratiy Riccardo Ricco makes up a strong climbing session for the team.
After some long days Festina-Canal+ are finally up for the new season. The team has been trimmed to a 23 man big roster, that should be competitive in sprints, hills and mountains. The team has reduced it's heavy capacity of time triallists, and lost the cobbled power. But in terms of top riders the team have gotten a bit richer.
The team includes 8 french riders and 3 greeks, which resembles around 50% of our roster. We were aiming for 60%, so this is acceptable. Next season 65% should be from these regions though.
The average age of the team is 25 years, and this includes two riders at the age of 31 and 34.
We have nothing short of 15 riders still under development, which is a grand total of 65% - Indeed A LOT considering the teams Pro Tour status.
On the first post in this thread you can see which riders we have aquired this season. We aim to put all rider wages on the first page aswell at some point.
The next post will be regarding our trainings in which 1 or 2 riders will become of significantly better.
The season came to a start in january with no less than 2 World Tour Races:
Badaling International
and
Tour of Qatar
Having previously won both races (Badaling International 2011 with Samuel Sanchez, and Tour of Qatar 2010 with Thor Hushovd), the team were hopefull that results would be kind to the team with the french focus.
Riccardo Ricco was on the move several times during the race, but without the final touch he was never allowed any real gap. Instead it was the luxembourgian Vesuvio captain, Fränk Schleck who took it all. Riccardo Ricco managed to stay in the group chasing Schleck, but having wasted a massive amount of energy on trying to break lose, he didn't have the power to sprint for the win. Instead he took a rather anonymous 9th overall. The former Giro d'Italia winner was less than happy with himself after the race, in which he podiumed in 2011 (3rd).
At the Tour of Qatar, everything was on one board - Óscar Guerao. But just like last season he never stood a chance facing the toughest of sprinters in the world, and despite having a world class team around him featuring rider such as Tzortzakis, Keukeleire and Bernaudeau he was absolutely nowhere to be seen. Coming into the race with ambitions of winning the race, and taking several stagewins in the process, it was little intoxicating that our french talent Clement Koretzky actually won a stage in the final part of the race.
Overall the january pointshaul was less than acceptable, leaving the team well behind it's projected top 5 World Tour rankingposition.
After a dissapointing start to the season, the more calender-aggressive february was just around the corner. With no less than 4 World Tour races, in which 3 of them overlapping eachother february could be a significant one for Festina, and the rather broad perspective of GC riders.
The first race of the month was Chrono des Herbiers. A race which we had no real ambition of racing for anything but the fun of it. And with good cause. Mathieu Bernadeau was the strongest in the team colors, taking an unimpressive 18th place, putting even more pressure on the team.
Tirreno-Adriatico was, on paper, a good chance for the italian climber Riccardo Ricco to shine, as the furious landscape had to be forced. And with only 5km of timetrial the situation was clear. Ricco should be able to strike for a top result. The outcome was, however, yet again slightly dissapointing. An overall 6th place for the italian star was of little attraction, and even less so as a new italian star was born, under the name of Simone Ponzi. Ricco didn't manage to get a single stage top 3 either, which left the team in a real struggle pointwise.
During the Paris-Nice, superstar Simon Spilak was on the lips of everyone. He was the favorite, and even the sponsors had put an enormous amount of pressure on him, as the race was a targeted goal. But the race started out horribly. Spilak was caught out by a split, and didn't show any sign of him being the strongest in the race. But just as all hope seemed lost, dutch domestique, Tim Dees showed up from out of nowhere to take a stagewin on the 7th and penultimate stage of the race. That seemed to wake up team captain, Spilak, whom took the 8th stage in style, progressing to 4th in the GC and making up for a horrible show.
At the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya the team was pushing for some luck, at best. No real GC captain was here to defend the teams 2013 win of the race, but Óscar Guerao was here to salvage things from Tour of Qatar. He did anything but, and just like Qatar, the young frenchman, Clement Koretzky had to save Guerao and the team from total nullification, by winning the final stage 7. David Boily took a little extra points for the team by finishing 20th in the GC.
Having had a definitive poor winter period, hope turned green as the calender said Spring. March was the month of the first cobbles, a less than attractive racetype for our team, but also races such as Milano-San Remo, Rund um Köln and Vuelta al Pais Vasco, which would suit the team well was on the menu.
The 4 cobbled races of the season went according to plan - Nothing... But then, a glimmer of hope for the future emerged, as new zealand-talent Tom David pulled out a top 10 in the Gent-Wevelgem. Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, East Midlands Cicle Classic and Ronde van Vlaanderen was not worth the time spent on it.
The Milano-San Remo, however, have always been a key race for Festina, and having won the race previously, as well as taking several podiums, ending up with a double fire 1-2 last season from Diego Ulissi and Fillipo Pozzato, the team was all fired up for the race. Expectations was less than previous years, but with Riccardo Ricco on the startlist you never knew.
And as the race progressed, hope rised. Riccardo Ricco had tremendous legs for the challenge, and while the competitors got tired, Ricco seemed to gain powers. In the moment of a blink of an eye he jumped, and no reaction. Soloing his way to the finish line, the hearts of every Festina fan was clocked right up the neck - But he did it. He really did it! We won the race.
In the german circuit race, Rund um Köln all pressure was yet again put on the shoulders of Óscar Guerao. But having seen him struggle throughout the early season, the team was reluctant to answer any questions as to what to expect. In the end, Guerao did manage to find a new strength though, taking a well deserved 2nd place, making the Festina month one to remember.
The final race of the month, the Vuelta al Pais Vasco, was a race of touch and go. Riccardo Ricco already showed his strength, and was touted as one of the main favorites for the win. Everything went according to plan, and Ricco mingled with the best in the world on the first stage, taking a 5th place. But from then on, the disaster came one by one. A rainy cold day put Ricco more than 3 minutes back and despite trying to claw back time on stage 3, there was nothing really to be done. A horrendous GC position of 14th, was however salvaged by loanie David Boily, who took matters in his own hands taking a huge stagewin on stage 5, also clawing precious time on his rivals. 13th in the GC was a very respectable result for the young canadian.
March was a significantly better month for the team, and despite having lost a little bit of confidence, Ricco was ready for the month of april - The month of the hilly classics.
The month of April was always going to be interesting for us. No more cobbles, after the Paris-Roubaix ridden on the 1st of april. Instead there was to be plenty of bumpy roads, in the ardennes week, including the Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Amstel Gold Race and Fleche Wallonne. Riccardo Ricco was yet again the man to watch for us, while Simon Spilak was set for another GC try, at the Tour of Romandie towards the end of the month.
As anticipated, the Paris-Roubaix was not for us, and instead we could enjoy watching the young Kiwi, Sam Bewley take his first ever Hell of North trophy. Tom David rode a race of his own, to try and get the feeling of the race, and he finished in 62th place a little over 15 minutes behind on the race winner.
Amstel Gold Race, was first in line of the ardennes, and possibly the race that suited Ricco best, as it normally isn't quite as powerful a race as the two belgian races. Ricco did his best, at trying to get away, but as the 6 strongest riders, including ever strong Trofimov, decided to jump away, Riccardo didn't have the legs to follow. Instead he rode clever, and won the sprint for 7th infront of Claeys, Boasson Hagen, Valverde and Sagan. A very determined and strong effort from our Cobra.
The Fleche Wallonne was ridden in a hard tempo, meaning that most riders had a very hard time getting away, but just like the Amstel Gold Race, a few riders was just a tad to tough for Ricco to follow. This time, again, he however decided to play it smart and got a 5th place from the race.
As most seasons show, the most difficult race to win in the ardennes is the Liege-Bastogne-Liege. This was also the case this year. Several riders tried, without any luck, but finally when the powerhouses roled their dice we saw this seasons top top puncheurs stroll away, Bakelants, Trofimov, Boasson Hagen and Ponzi. Back in the second group our former puncheur, Diego Ulissi claimed 5th, showing that he is still where he needs to be. Ricco took 9th, a fairly acceptable position. Overall a very nice run for Ricco, which leaves hopes high for a nice Giro d'Italia.
At the Tour of Romandie, we were to unleash our beast, Simon Spilak, whom had been secretly training in the mountains prior to the race, in order to be maximized for the race. We were, however, slightly discouraged by the mountains-TTT on stage 4, which we had a hard time figuring out. Simon Spilak decided to grab the jersey from the start, as he won stage 1 in some style. Most people argued that he should have even gotten a time gap, as he outsprinted the pack by several seconds! The second stage was messy, and Spilak decided to stay in touch and out of trouble, meaning that ever-challenging Thomas Dekker got very close to the leaders jersey by taking 3rd for the 2nd stage in a row. On stage 3, he managed to grab the jersey, by taking another 3rd place - only centimetres ahead of Spilak, in 4th.
On the 4th stage, the TTT, our team hammered away, and especially the mountain-part, which we have been training on for some time, was spot on! We smashed the competition, and even gained 2-3 minutes on some of the dangerous riders for the GC. On the 5th stage, things got even better, as Simon Spilak and 3 others decided to go for a true powerhouse attack, putting in maximum effort early on, completely shattering the peloton behind them. Simon was yet again the fastest on the line claiming his 3rd stagewin (including the TTT). Due to the marvellous attack, only 2 riders were now a threat, and Spilak played it clever on the final stage, only responding to lifethreatening situations. In the end, Spilak got 3rd on the stage and defended his yellow jersey, along with claiming the points and mountains jersey. A perfect score, that will rocket us back into the top 5 just before the start of the Giro d'Italia!
Edited by SotD on 22-09-2014 16:08
At Festina - Canal+ we are happy to present our team and thoughts on this years edition of the Giro d'Italia. We target the race with a relatively high GC hope, but are also realistic in knowing that winning the race would take all sort of luck, which we cannot prepare for. We are here entirely for Riccardo Ricco meaning that we aim to support him the best way possible. The riders joining him are thus strong on the bumpy terrains in order to keep things together for Ricco to go for stagewins on the hilly stuff, aswell as having a few riders capable of staying with the pack for as long as possible in the mountains. Despite having a decent sprinter ligned up for the race, his main role is to leadout Riccardo Ricco if possible. If there is a more distinctive mass-sprint he should aim to get the best possible individual result.
Captain: Riccardo Ricco
- Ricco has previously won the race aswell as several stagewins in the proces. He also podiumed, hence having proved his ability to cope with Grand Tours. From Riccardo Ricco we hope to achieve a top 5 in the GC, a long with atleast one stagewin, but having not yet received the full startlist, we are also reluctant to adjust accordingly.
Lieutenaint: Gianpaolo Caruso
- Gianpaolo have grown acustomed to the Giro, having ridden it numerous times. Not only as a domestique, but also as captain. He, therefore, knows the drill better than anyone and is the perfect man to stay close to Ricco. Last season, Caruso rode as captain for the Cisco Cycling Team, ending up in 16th place.
Hilly lieutenaint: David Boily
- David is young, and not yet fully developped, nontheless he have showed great strength throughout the year, getting stagewins, doing top 15GC's as well as winning Young Rider jerseys. David has been riding as lieutenaint for Riccardo all season, including Milano - San Remo, Vuelta al Pais Vasco, Amstel Gold Race, Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege. And with great succes. David is currently riding the Tour of Romandie to get his shape up to 100%. David is one of the riders we trust in being a mountaindomestique as well.
Domestique: Blaz Furdi
- Blaz Furdi is another significant rider for the bumpy roads. Last year he tore the Continental Divisions apart, and this year he is part of Riccos loyal team during the hilly races. Furdi is fairly fast, can climb reasonably well, and is a potentially strong road captain. Furdi will, alongside Boily, be the main hilly domestiques.
Domestique: Laurent Pichon
- Laurent is the 3rd and final part of the hilly setup for Riccardo Ricco. He has a massive fighters heart, and is a very strong rider. We believe that we can send Laurent away on numerous occassions to put maximum pressure on the rivals, which could end up giving him a stagewin, or saving precious energy for our main helpers.
Domestique: Tim Dees
- Tim is still young, but have been an essential part of our Grand Tour setups for several years now. Tim is a very strong allrounder who knows how to place himself to stay out of trouble. Tim will be one of the main helpers in the mountains for Riccardo, aswell as on the flat roads.
Domestique: Yoann Bagot
- Yoann Bagot is a talented climber with little Grand Tour experience. We have situated him in the Giro because we feel his qualities can be matched well here. He is our lowest ranked team member, and he is well aware of that, hence he will be our first in line to pick up pace, get water and stuff like that. We sincerely trust that he will be a massive help in the pure mountainstages.
Domestique/sprinter: Jens Keukeleire
- Jens is beginning to grow into a sprinter you can expect to be there or thereabout. He is relatively fast, and solid meaning that he will survive slightly tougher stages than normal sprinters will. We expect him to stay with Ricco for as long as possible, even on the slightly harder hilly stages. If he has got any power left then he is to position Ricco well for a final kick. In terms of pure sprints he will be our main card.
Thoughts on the race profile:
We have been looking intensely at the race profile before selecting our final setup. The race includes no less than 5 hilly stages, 3 downhill finishing mountainstages, and 6 very difficult flat rated stages, not suited for the ordinary sprinter. Besides that there are no Team Time Trials, only 1, perhaps 2, definitively flat stages as well as 3 mountaintop finishes and 3 time trials.
The time trials are a bit of a problem for the overall chances of Riccardo Ricco, and we are well aware of that. The prologue, however is 8,7km in distance, meaning that we can believe that Ricco will still be in striking distance if he is riding well enough. Tim Dees is here also in order to challenge for top 10s during the TT's, but not knowing how the setup will be from the other teams we decided not to bring any more sub top timetriallists. We have been looking very thorougly on the stages 2, 7, 9, 13 and 17 which we believe will be perfectly suited for Riccardo Ricco. Also the stages 3, 5 and 15 will be of some significance for us. We are aiming to put maximum pressure on the pace on the stages 4, 8, 11 and 19 by putting a rider in the mix, and finally we will be looking to stay in touch, and see how the stages progress on the final, non-TT, stages.
We firmly believe that we are in a position where Ricco can improve on last seasons 6th overall GC position, especially looking at how we are trying to ride the race. We aim for atleast 1 stagewin, but anticipate that 2 or even 3 should be possible. Our secondary riders GC positions are of less interest, but we do hope that especially Caruso can somehow stay somewhere around the top 20. David Boily will attempt to fight his way into the top 40, but it is not important, as his main priorities will be to protect and serve Riccardo Ricco.
We will gladly answer any questions you may have to the above mentioned.
Edited by SotD on 20-09-2014 15:23
Nice to read a big preview of your Giro squad. It's going to be an interesting fight for the GC, given the big variety in types of stages where gaps could be caused.
I concur, great read that. The team loooks strong to set up some nice results! And with Ricco you are guaranteed to come away with top class result. Good mix of old and young there!
Thanks guys... I can't really tell if a top 5 is optimistic or realistic, but I guess I will see once the official preview is uploaded. I'm really looking forward to the Giro this season. I have been using it as a sort of preperation race for the Vuelta for the past seasons, but this time I have much more focus on the Giro than the Vuelta - Our big goal is the Tour though, but more on that later
Great preview for the Giro. Hard to like the name Ricco (sorry ), so I'll be keeping an eye out for Tim Dees on your team instead - a rider whose (MG) characteristics I like a lot.
Edited by Scorchio on 24-09-2014 13:52
Scorchio wrote:
Great preview for the Giro. Hard to like the name Ricco (sorry ), so I'll be keeping an eye out for Tim Dees on your team instead - a rider whose (MG) characteristics I like a lot.
Thanks. Yeah I really dislike Ricco aswell, but in terms of the Man-Game, he hasn't been caught doping
Feel free to put in an offer for Dees in the off season, he will probably leave the team, as Lecuisinier will improve into a very nice domestique.
- I will be rooting for him everywhere 
), so I'll be keeping an eye out for Tim Dees on your team instead - a rider whose (MG) characteristics I like a lot.
