I'm John Nichols, Media Director at Nokia - Nike cycling team. Last year, we didn't do many media reports because, well, I'm kinda rubbish at stuff. But this will stop! (promise).
Later today I shall be announcing the new name and kit of the team. What I can disclose now that the team will still be internationally based. This year we will be looking towards the mountains with our signings.
Of course this year we will have to part with someone who could have been a great help in our mountainous quest, the Letzerburgish Ben Gastauer, as he will go to Accumalux, because that's where we loaned him off last year.
The team will be looking for much more success this year, after a bad season last year. This might mean a lot of overhauling of riders to get the best we can possibly get.
So thanks for reading, and we hope we do well in 2011.
Edited by Wiggo on 05-04-2010 07:59
So here it is, the official announcement for the 2011 sponsors for this team, the team that will be Nokia - Nike until the end of the National Championships.
First of all we would like to thank Nokia and Nike for their sponsorship and we can also understand their wish to leave the team after last years season.
When the new sponsors contacted us, they made sure that we will specialise more this season, so as to be able to probably get more success in 2011. We decided on the mountains to try to excite people, and people are what our new sponsors are about.
I can announce that our new team is going to be YouTube - Twitter.
This is the jersey: Thanks to Will007 for making this jersey.
A run down of our new sponsors:
YouTube:
Started in 2005, YouTube quickly grew and became huge. With millions of videos, it is one of the most visited websites in the world. In November 2006, YouTube, LLC was bought by Google Inc. for $1.65 billion, so it isn't short of money to give us.
Twitter:
Twitter is a free social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. It was founded in 2006, and has recently grown in notability in the mainstream media. It is not as rich as YouTube, but it doesn't have a shortage in money, so it should be good.
Puma: Puma are our clothing sponsor.
Giant: Giant are our bike sponsor.
Thanks for reading, I've been John Nicholls.
Edited by Wiggo on 16-02-2010 12:42
The National Championships are over, and we have no Champions unfortunately. However, this may change in the Transfer Window.
As the Window approaches, we'll obviously be planning who stays and who goes. As mentioned in the last update, the sponsors wanted us to focus on the mountains. This means that some riders will have to be ousted in order to make space for more mountain riders.
Obviously, we'll need to keep some sprinters (eg Freire, Haussler unless we get a good offer for them), and maybe dig for a classics rider or two, but the majority of our riders will be mountain riders.
To that end, we will apply for more mountainous races, and, hopefully, our riders will get us a place in a big ProTour race, or maybe in a GT.
Edited by Wiggo on 21-02-2010 21:35
The Team Before Transfers: Jonothan McEvoy €60,000 Dan Fleeman €60,000 Steven Burke €60,000 Kevin Barclay €50,000 Lennie Kirk €50,000 Fons de Romijn €55,000 Tom Last €60,000 Chris Hoy €100,000 Jaime Alberto Castañeda €85,000 Oscar Freire €360,000 Jason Kenny €160,000 Kieran Page €50,000 Ronald Harvey €50,000 Ben Gastauer €125,000 Oliver Zaugg €60,000 Shaun Higgerson €50,000 Rubens Bertogliati €50,000 Jan Ghyselinck €50,000 Evan Oliphant €50,000 Mattia Pozzo €60,000 Tony Gallopin €55,000 Richard Ochoa Quintero €110,000 Gorik Gardeyn €60,000 Damion Drapac €55,000 James McCallum €70,000
Amadou Bakari €55,000
Edited by Wiggo on 26-02-2010 17:01
The team at the end of the renewals looks like this:
Out:
Amadou Bakari
Damion Drapac
Gian Marco Fanfani
Chris Hoy
Jason Kenny
Staying in:
Barclay, Kevin €50,000
Bertogliati, Rubens €68,100
Burke Steven, €50,000
Castañeda, Jaime Alberto €109,000
de Romijn, Fons €50,000
Fleeman, Daniel €50,000
Freire , Oscar €360,000
Gallopin, Tony €50,000
Gardeyn, Gorik €50,000
Haussler, Heinrich €208,000
Kirk, Lennie €50,000
Last, Tom €50,000
McCallum, James €50,000
McEvoy, Jonathan €50,000
Ochoa Quintero, Richard €84,400
Oliphant, Evan €50,000
Page, Kieran €50,000
Pozzo, Mattia €50,000
Serrano, Ricardo €72,100
Edited by Wiggo on 04-03-2010 18:30
The Transfers have been interesting for our team so far. The riders we've sold or swapped have outweighed the riders out.
Our first delve in the window was selling Heinrich Haussler for €18,000 and Igor Anton. Anton is a class climber, who is a perectly good tester, and he should be a great rider for the team.
We'd like to thank Heinrich for his contribution to the team last season and we wish him good luck at his new team Auber 93 - Look. Next we sold Daniel Fleeman for €50,000 to Dominica Vacanze. Hopefully he too will have a good time at his new team.
Our next piece of news is the selling of Gorik Gardeyn and Tony Gallopin for €50,000 and Jay Thomson, the South African climber.
Edited by Wiggo on 17-03-2010 21:52
Fresh from his win in real life, the Spanish great Oscar Freire is for sale to any team who has the funds to pay for him. His wage is €360,000 and he is still great.
On the in side of things, Oliver Zaugg comes to YTT, for a fee of €200,000. Although the fee was a bit big, it shall probably be worth it. His wage is €50,000 and he'll be a good domestique.
With the Transfer window slowing down, and coming to an end, as are our negotiations with riders. First, we'd like to welcome Peter Velits, a good domestique He comes in from Cafe de Colombia, and should be a good signing for us.
We also have another rider with the offer still to be confirmed. After that, we can confirm that our Transfer season is over, unless something really good comes our way.
Jaime Alberto Castaneda has been made available for loan, at at small price + a bit of the wage payed by you.
The transfers for us are practically over now after one more rider was let go, and another brought in.
To Cafe de Colombia goes Jaime Alberto Castaneda. The young sprinter was a bid of a burden to our wage budget, but he did well last season.We wish him well in the coming season.
In from the free agency comes ex World Champion Franco Pellizotti. Franco wore the rainbow jersey last year while at Accumalux - Huez (now Vesuvio - Accumalux). But obviously his wage was too high for them and they let him go to the free agency. A tough fight was fought with us very nearly sealing him at a much lower price. However, we are confident that this will be worth every penny..
So that pretty much concludes the transfers for us.
Overall it looked like this :
In:
Igor Anton
Amets Txurruka
Jay Thomson
Oliver Zaugg
Peter Velits
Out:
Heinrich Haussler
Daniel Fleeman
Gorik Gardeyn
Tony Gallopin
Jaime Alberto Castañeda
Number 1: Oscar Freire has left the team. He has gone to Starbucks. We hope he has a good time with them. He leaves for €425,000.
Number 2: With the Stagiare signing open, we've looked to invest in 1 stagiare. Hopefully if that's sealed, he'll be able to ride with us a lot. At the moment the name shan't be told, but we can say that he is a great hope for the future.
Hopefully we'll be able to make our team presentation tomorrow.
The transfers are over and our news brings in 2 more riders. Lawson Craddock comes in as a Stagiare. He's young but good already. His wage as a Stagiare is €10,000.
Also in comes Przemyslaw Niemiec, the Polish TT chamion. His wage is €110,000 and we payed €525,000 for him. He is a good climber and a good Tester.
Over the Transfer season we said hello to a few riders, but also some goodbyes had to be made.
The first part if the Presentation is about the ones brought in.
Igor Anton came in from Auber 93 - Look with a price Heinrich Haussler, we also got €18,000 for the loss of Haussler. Anton is a great climber from the Basque country, with good hill and TT stats. Hopefully, he'll be able to bring our team victory in some races. He is 28, and his wage is €190,000. Anton hoping for great things at YTT?
A free agent we brought in was Amets Txurruka. After a bit of a fight, we managed to seal a second Basque rider. He is alright on the flat, good on the mountains and hills, and he is an excellent fighter. He is 29, and has a wage of €150,000. A second great Basque Acquisition?
In from Carmeuse Cyclisme comes Jay Thomson, a young mountain helper. Although he'll never do great things, he should hopefully ride well for the leaders when it comes to mountains. For him, we swapped Gorik Gardeyn and Tony Gallopin and recieved €50,000. He is 25, and has a wage of €50,000. Helping out with success?
A straight signing brought in Velits from Cafe de Colombia for €400,000 in an eleventh hour bid. He is the Slovak TT champion, and is very good on the hills. He can also ride well on mountains or the flat. He is 26 and has a wage of €93,450. The Jersey Velits will wear during Time Trials (Thanks to Will007 Jerseys for making this jersey and the Polish TT jersey. Our hilly star?
Another minimum wage mountain helper comes in the form of Oliver Zaugg, the Swiss man. He came in for €200,000 from Festina - Seiko. He is a great fighter too. He is 30 and his wage is €50,000. More help when the going gets steep?
As our stagiare, we have Lawson Craddock, the American tester. He is not yet a good rider, but he can grow into one. He is 19 and his wage is €10,000 Experience the goal?
Our final signing happened when even we thought our transfer season was over. Przemyslaw Niemiec is the polish TT champ, and a good climber to go with it. We got him for the slightly inflated price of €525,000 for him. He is 31 and has a wage of €110,000. The Polish TT jersey Niemiec shall wear. Possible success for Niemiec?
That concludes the signings part of the presentation.
Stay tuned for more,
John Nicholls,
YTT Media Team.
Edited by Wiggo on 01-04-2010 22:15
Staying on from the side last year will be: Kevin Barclay Rubens Bertogliati Steven Burke Fons de Romijn Lennie Kirk Tom Last James McCallum Jonathan McEvoy Richard Ochoa Quintero Evan Oliphant Kieran Page Mattia Pozzo Ricardo Serrano
Making the full team consist of 22 riders.
Edited by Wiggo on 01-04-2010 22:32
From the betting company Smowz comes an optimistic prediction for us. They were right that we would have little to offer in the sprints, but I don't think that three riders hold the burden, as he completely skipped over our Hill star Peter Velits.
Stay tuned,
John Nicholls,
YTT Media.
Edited by Wiggo on 05-04-2010 07:32
