The UBS team will be making its debut in the ProTour peloton this year with funding from French bicycle manufacturer and new primary sponsor La Pierre. Aside from UBS and La Pierre, the team will enjoy secondary sponsorships from Catlike and Assos. The jersey will be very similar to the one used last year aside from several design modifications.
The Team
Andrei Amador
Andrei Amador is entering his first year on UBS - La Pierre as the team's main leader for the general classification in stage races. He will lead the team in the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France, along with many other smaller stage races. In 2011, he demonstrated his capability to lead a team in big races by coming in 7th overall at the Vuelta on Team Starbuck's - Radioshack. We know that he has improved even more since then, and we hope for even better results this year.
Results: 2012
Tour of Romandie Stage 3 - 1st
Tour of Romandie Stage 6 - 7th
Tour of Romandie Stage 4 - 10th
Tour of Romandie Overall - 3rd
Giro d'Italia Stage 16 - 1st
Giro d'Italia Stage 21 - 2nd
Giro d'italia Stage 18 - 4th
Giro d'italia Stage 20 - 4th
Giro d'Italia Stage 7 - 4th
Giro d'Italia Stage 15 - 4th
Giro d'Italia Stage 9 - 5th
Giro d'Italia Stage 13 - 5th
Giro d'italia Stage 17 - 5th
Giro d'italia Stage 19 - 5th
Giro d'Italia Stage 14 - 6th
Giro d'Italia Stage 6 - 7th
Giro d'Italia Stage 5 - 9th
Giro d'Italia Stage 4 - 10th
Giro d'Italia Overall - 5th
Giro d'Italia Points - 4th
Giro d'Italia Mountains - 5th
Criterium du Dauphine Libere Stage 5 - 8th
Criterium du Dauphine Libere Stage 7 - 8th
Criterium du Dauphine Libere Overall - 6th
Tour de France Stage 16 - 1st
Tour de France Stage 20 - 3rd
Tour de France Stage 11 - 7th
Tour de France Stage 18 - 8th
Tour de France Stage 2 - 9th
Tour de France Stage 10 - 9th
Tour de France Stage 15 - 9th
Tour de France Overall - 6th
Tour de France Points - 10th
GP Liechtenstein - 6th
Stefan Schumacher
Stefan Schumacher is the cornerstone of the UBS - La Pierre team. He is perhaps the biggest name on the team, and has been the central leader since the team was known as Wii Racing in 2010, and he will hopefully remain as a leader on UBS for years to come. He will be the captain in all hilly one-day races, as well as several week long stage races.
Results: 2011
Tour Meditteraneen Stage 4 - 1st
Tour Meditteraneen Stage 6 - 3rd
Tour Meditteraneen Overall - 4th
World's View Challenge Stage 5 - 1st
Euskal Bizikleta Stage 4 - 1st
Euskal Bizikleta Overall - 4th
Philadelphia International Classic - 2nd
Tour de Suisse Stage 1 - 2nd
Tour of Britain Stage 3 - 1st
Tour of Britain Overall - 2nd
Giro dell'Emilia - 3rd
2012
Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco Stage 2 - 1st
Vuelta a la Region de Murcia Mountains Classification - 1st
Rund um Koln - 2nd
Liege - Bastogne - Liege - 3rd
Paris Nice Stage 4 - 3rd
Paris Nice Stage 7 - 3rd
Paris Nice Stage 8 - 3rd
Paris Nice Overall - 4th
Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco Stage 6 - 5th
Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco Stage 1 - 6th
Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco Stage 5 - 8th
Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco Overall - 8th
Amstel Gold Race - 7th
Fleche Wallone - 11th
Vuelta a la Region de Murcia Overall - 14th
Tour of California Stage 5 - 8th
Tour of California Stage 6 - 10th
Tour of California Overall - 19th
Classique du Grand-Duche - 5th
FBD Éire Tour Stage 6 - 2nd
GP Mendrisio - 4th
Giro di Lombardia - 10th
Maximiliano Richeze
Maximiliano Richeze is the team's main sprinter. Like Stefan, he has been with us since the Wii Racing days, since which we have worked with him and enabled him to progress into a sprinter who can duke it out with the best in the Pro Tour.
Results: 2011
La Tropicale Amissa Bongo Stage 1 - 1st
Tour de San Luis Stage 1 - 1st
Tour de San Luis Stage 6 - 1st
World's View Challenge Stage 2 - 2nd
World's View Challenge Stage 3 - 1st
World's View Challenge Overall - 4th
World's View Challenge Points - 1st
Jelejah Malaysia Stage 3 - 1st
Tour de Suisse Stage 8 - 3rd
Volta a Portugal Stage 6 - 3rd
2012
Tirreno Adriatico Stage 7 - 5th
Tour of Qatar Stage 3 - 8th
Tour of Qatar Stage 4 - 7th
Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco Stage 2 - 10th
Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco Stage 1 - 9th
Tour of California Stage 2 - 4th
Tour of California Stage 8 - 8th
Vuelta a Espana Stage 7 - 3rd
Vuelta a Espana Stage 10 - 3rd
Vuelta a Espana Stage 8 - 4th
Vuelta a Espana Stage 4 - 5th
Vuelta a Espana Stage 14 - 7th
Vuelta a Espana Stage 3 - 8th
Vuelta a Colombia Stage 1 - 7th
Vuelta a Colombia Stage 2 - 7th
FBD Éire Tour Stage 4 - 8th
FBD Éire Tour Stage 3 - 9th
Results: 2012
Tour of Oman Stage 5 - 4th
Tour of Oman Overall - 5th
Volta Ciclista a Catalunya Stage 4 - 7th
Volta Ciclista a Catalunya Stage 5 - 9th
Volta Ciclista a Catalunya Overall - 9th
Vuelta a Espana Stage 5 - 4th
Vuelta a Espana Stage 20 - 6th
Vuelta a Espana Stage 6 - 7th
Vuelta a Espana Stage 11 - 8th
Vuelta a Espana Stage 16 - 10th
Vuelta a Espana Stage 18 - 10th
Vuelta a Espana Overall - 7th
Tour de Suisse Stage 7 - 4th
Tour de Suisse Stage 2 - 7th
Tour de Suisse Overall - 10th
Vuelta a Colombia Stage 4 - 2nd
Vuelta a Colombia Stage 3 - 9th
GP Liechtenstein - 11th
Michael Albasini
Michael Albasini is the biggest Swiss name on the team and another long term fixture on our squad. He is a more than capable puncheur who will be a key helper for Stefan Schumacher in the hilly races, as well as a leader himself in some other situations.
Results: 2011
Euskal Bizikleta Stage 1 - 2nd
Subida al Naranca - 2nd
GP Plouay - 5th
2012
Fleche Wallone - 2nd
Amstel Gold Race - 21st
Rund um Koln - 22nd
Liege - Bastogne - Liege - 23rd
Tour de France Stage 2 - 8th
Florentino Marquez
Florentino Marquez is a young climber that came to UBS - La Pierre in the 2011 transfer season. This year, he will work as a lieutenant for Amador and Gomez Marchante in the mountains with a few opportunities to ride for himself. We hope to develop him over time into a capable stage race leader.
Results: 2012
Volta Ciclista a Catalunya Overall - 17th
Tour of California Stage 7 - 10th
Tour of California Overall - 14th
Tour of California Overall Young Rider - 3rd
Vuelta a Espana Overall - 20th
Vuelta a Espana Overall Young Rider - 6th
Tour de Suisse Stage 2 - 7th
Tour de Suisse Overall - 23rd
Tour de Suisse Overall Young Rider - 6th
Tour de France Stage 10 - 1st
Tour de France Stage 11 - 4th
Tour de France Stage 7 - 7th
Tour de France Overall - 19th
Tour de France Overall Young Rider - 7th
Others David Lelay - Criterium du Dauphine Libere Stage 3 - 1st David Lelay - Criterium du Dauphine Libere Mountains Classification - 7th Florian Stalder - Vuelta a Espana Stage 13 - 3rd Florian Stalder - Vuelta a Espana Stage 15 - 9th Johann Tschopp - Tour of California Stage 4 - 7th Johann Tschopp - Tour de Suisse Stage 3 - 2nd Johann Tschopp - Tour de Suisse Stage 5 - 6th Johann Tschopp - Tour de Suisse Stage 8 - 9th Johann Tschopp - Tour de Suisse Mountains Classification - 1st Johann Tschopp - Tour de France Stage 9 - 1st Johann Tschopp - Tour de France Mountains Classification - 7th Dennis Vorontsov - Criterium du Dauphine Libere Stage 6 - 2nd Dennis Vorontsov - Criterium du Dauphine Libere Mountains Classification - 6th Oliver Zaugg - Tour of Romandie Stage 3 - 10th Oliver Zaugg - Vuelta a Colombia Stage 4 - 7th Rubens Bertogliati - FBD Éire Tour Stage 5 - 4th Rubens Bertogliati - FBD Éire Tour Overall - 2nd Sergio Barrio - Tour of Northern Europe Stage 6 - 6th Sergio Barrio - Tour of Northern Europe KoM - 3rd
We hope you will continue to follow us through what we hope will be a successful 2012 season.
2012 Goals Top 5 in Team Standings - 12th Top 3 in Vuelta a Espana - 7th (Gomez Marchante) Win Rund um Koln - 2nd (Schumacher) Win GP Mendrisio - 4th (Schumacher) Win Liege Bastogne Liege - 3rd (Schumacher)
2011 Roster Maximiliano Richeze - € 100,000 Daniel Thorsen - € 50,000 Bernhard Kohl - € 400,000 Julián Becerra - € 70,000 Francisco Perez Sanchez - € 200,000 Haimar Zubeldia - € 95,000 Sergio Barrio - € 50,000 Anthony Roux - € 100,000 Christophe Riblon - € 60,000 Johan Le Bon - € 125,000 Jason Kenny - € 50,000 Stefan Schumacher - € 550,000 Robert Förster - € 70,000 Christian Müller - € 50,000 Gian Piero Signorini - € 50,000 Chu Thien Sinelobov - € 50,000 Alexander Kristoff - € 70,000 Denis Vorontsov - € 50,000 Michael Albasini - € 130,000 Simon Zahner - € 60,000 Igor Bogdan - € 50,000 Juan Mora - € 50,000
2011 Goals Win - Volta a Portugal-N Promote-Y Win - Euskal Bizikleta-N Top 5 - San Sebastian Classic-N Top 5 - Giro dell'Emilia -YEdited by Bushwackers on 16-06-2011 14:52
Heine wrote:
Thats a really great presentation The best one I've seen, if I get the time I will maybe make something that looks like it after the transfer season!
UBS -La Pierre is pleased to announce that contracts have been renewed for the following riders: Maximiliano Richeze Bernhard Kohl Julián Becerra Sergio Barrio Anthony Roux Christophe Riblon Johan Le Bon Stefan Schumacher Christian Müller Gian Piero Signorini Chu Thien Sinelobov Alexander Kristoff Denis Vorontsov Michael Albasini Simon Zahner Igor Bogdan Juan Mora
However, these riders will not be with the team in 2012:
Daniel Thorsen Francisco Perez Sanchez Haimar Zubeldia Jason Kenny Robert FörsterEdited by Bushwackers on 16-06-2011 14:52
At UBS - La Pierre, the transfer season is being brought to a close. We see the past several days as being very successful for the team. We were able to increase the number of Swiss riders to make up around 1/3 of the team, hire three very strong stage racers, and create opportunities for our young riders to develop their abilities at the Continental level. We would like to welcome the following riders into our team:
Oliver Zaugg - €50,000
Oliver was our first signing of the transfer season. Because he is Swiss, he was one of our main targets. He will make an excellent domestique in mountainous stage races.
Johann Tschopp - €50,000
Johann was another of our early signings. He is an excellent climber, much like Oliver, and strengthens the Swiss contingent on the team.
Silvan Dillier - €65,000
Silvan is a young time trialist who we believe can develop into one of the best riders of his generation under our guidance. He is very important to the team and he will be closely monitored as he progresses. Silvan will spend this year at Team Bpost on loan so that his development will be optimized.
Thomas Frei - €50,000
Thomas was specifically sought out because of his Swiss nationality and prowess in the mountains and time trials, and fortunately the team he was on made him available for trade. He will make an excellent addition to our team and will play a supportive role in stage races.
Florian Stalder - €50,000
Florian is another rider that we acquired through a trade with another team. He is a decent time trialist who can also play a support role in hilly races. He is also especially important to us because of his Swiss nationality.
Rubens Bertogliati - €50,000
Rubens was our last Swiss signing of the transfer season. He is an experienced veteran that will look to support Schumacher in his bid for the hilly classics.
Dmitri Champion - €80,000
Dmitri is one of several French riders brought into the team per request by our French sponsor, La Pierre. He is an excellent time trialist and, much like Rafaâ, will look to improve our squad in team time trials.
David Lelay - €50,000
Another French rider hired to strengthen our national identity, David is an experienced rider that will be a strong domestique. He is approaching the end of his career, but is still competent in the hills and time trials.
Rafaâ Chtioui - €50,000
Rafaâ came to UBS - La Pierre through a trade with team Volkswagen - Siemens. He is an exceptional time trialist and will be seen at races with team time trials, where he will look to bolster our squad.
Florentino Marquez - €550,000
Florentino is a young Spanish climber that we believe can be trained to be a better all around stage racer. He will lead our team at mountainous stage races that do not have a lot of time trialing. We hope to keep him on our team for many years to come and develop him into a challenger for the overall in stage races.
Andrei Amador - €700,000
Andrei is perhaps our biggest signing of the transfer season. He is an exceptional stage racer who we believe still has a lot of room to progress. We will work with him closely in training and he will most likely lead the team in the Tour de France, as well as many other stage races throughout the season.
UBS - La Pierre would also like to bid farewell to the riders that are leaving the team. We thank them for their service and wish them good luck on the teams that they now ride for.
Bernhard Kohl Christian Müller Igor Bogdan Juan Mora Anthony Roux Julián Becerra
Since UBS - La Pierre currently has three national champions on the team, we would like to unveil the jerseys that they will be wearing throughout the year.
Maximiliano Richeze, our Argentinian sprinter, will be wearing the following after his victory in the Argentinian Road Race Championship:
Alexander Kristoff will be leading out Maximiliano Richeze in his Norweigan Road Champion jersey:
Rafaâ Chtioui, recently brought in during the transfer season, is the current Tunisian Time Trial Champion and will be wearing this jersey in time trials throughout the season:
Thank you for reading.
Edited by Bushwackers on 17-02-2012 22:29
As the first two races of the season come to a close, UBS - La Pierre can say that we have been on par with our expectations. While we have been moderately successful in the tours of Qatar and Oman, we recognize that these races did not suit us as well as others will. That being said, we have several noteworthy results.
We have featured riders in breakaways an impressive 10 times. While none of these breakaways succeeded in staying away until the end, we were able to represent our sponsors and demonstrate our aggressive spirit.
Our sprinter, Maximiliano Richeze, achieved 2 top-10 finishes in the Tour of Qatar. Despite the field being stacked with some of the best sprinters in the world, he managed to pull through for us and get good results.
It has been a while since UBS -La Pierre has given an update, but the team's results have not been as silent as their manager.
The first race after our last update was Tirreno - Adriatico. Unfortunately, we were not able to send as strong of a team as we would have liked. We had the team working for Michael Albasini, but a bit of bad luck took him out of the race early, and he only managed to come in 32nd overall. We also sent Maximiliano Richeze, who worked harder than we could have asked, making the breakaway on two separate occasions. He also managed to obtain his greatest result of the season so far, coming in 5th on Stage 7, which was also our highlight of the race.
Perhaps our most successful race so far this season was Paris Nice. This was one of our Sponsor's target races, and we sent Stefan Schumacher to lead the team. Knowing that other strong riders had targeted the race, we expected Stefan to finish somewhere in the top five. He ended up 4th overall, taking 3 stage podiums and coming 3rd in the points competition along the way. The sponsors should be generally pleased.
Stefan attacking on Paris Nice, Stage 8.
After this set of three stages came a series of one day races. The first of these was Milan - San Remo. Stefan was sent to lead the team once more, but we did not really have any expectations. We thought that he might have been able to pull off something special, but we really did not know what to expect. He ended up finishing 28th, but we aren't too concerned.
Next up was Omloop Het Volk. If we had little expectations for Milan - San Remo, then we had no expectations here. We hoped that we would be able to make a breakaway, just to show off our colors, and luckily Rafaâ Chtioui was able to do just this. The breakaway did not succeed, and Rafaâ ended up being our highest finisher at 91st.
The East Midlands Cicle Classic was a similar story, where we had no top contender and no expectations. We sent Stefan Schumacher, thinking that he may be able to get a decent result out of pure strength rather than cobbled specialty. He ended up 25th, which was more than we had expected.
After this came Rund Um Koln, which our sponsors had set us a goal to win. We sent Stefan Schumacher, who we thought had a good chance to win, since the race was on his favored terrain in his home country. He was looking good towards the end and made the final selection of 21 riders. It came down to a sprint, and Stefan was leading around the last corner, but unfortunately he could not seal the deal and ended up getting nipped on the line by Jukka Vastaranta. We are still pleased with 2nd place, and we think that the sponsors will be content with this as well.
Stefan Schumacher goes head to head with Jukka Vastaranta in the Rund um Koln Sprint.
After Rund um Koln was Gent - Wevelgem, another of the cobbled races that UBS - La Pierre lacks specialty in. We hoped for a similar outcome to Omloop Het Volk, where we managed to make the breakaway for a moment of glory. The race started in almost exactly the same way, with Rafaâ Chtioui making the break once again. However, this time he was having a good day, and when the catch was made he managed to stay in the front group, until he finally dropped off towards the end. Rafaâ managed to hang on long enough, however, and he ended up coming in 21st, much to our excitement.
The Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco was another race that we had hoped to do well in. We sent Stefan Schumacher, hoping for another top-5 overall. Stefan started very strong, taking 6th on the first day, and then going on to win Stage 2 (for our first win of the season!). He was sitting in 2nd position overall going into Stage 4, but he fell apart towards the end of the day and lost over 4 minutes to the eventual winner, Robert Gesink. Stefan kept on fighting like a madman, taking 8th the next day and 6th in the final time trial, but the damage was already done. He finished 8th overall, which is little bit lower than we had expected, but a fantastic result nonetheless, especially with the stage win and top 10's along the way.
Stefan Schumacher leads the sprint on his way to victory on Stage 2.
The last race was the Vuelta a la Region de Murcia. Once again, Stefan was sent to lead the team. We had hoped that he could finish in the top 5 overall, but the race was not difficult enough for him to show his strength. On Stage 1, Maximiliano Richeze managed to take a top 10 in the sprint finish. Stefan was looking strong on Stage 2, being first over the final climb, but the race came back together and he faded away in the sprint. The next day, he was not feeling too good in the time trial, and he slipped down to 14th overall. While this is lower than we had expected, he did manage to win the King of the Mountains jersey, and the team is very happy with that.
UBS - La Pierre is going into the Ardennes with very high hopes and expectations. Our sponsors have targeted La Fleche Wallone for a good result, and one of our main objectives of the season is to win Liege - Bastogne - Liege. Stefan Schumacher will be leading us through these races, and Andei Amador will make his debut at the Tour of Romandie shortly thereafter, as preparation for his bid in the Giro d'Italia. Look for another update after these next few races to recap our hopeful success and to preview our team for the Giro. Thank you for your time.
Edited by Bushwackers on 17-02-2012 22:28
The month of April has been a very successful month for the UBS - La Pierre team. The riders have performed exceptionally well in each race since the last update after the Vuelta a la Region de Murcia. We have had a couple of races that have been our main objectives for the season, and we are pleased to announce that the team has surpassed our expectations.
The team went into the Ardennes Classics with high expectations because we know that our team leader, Stefan Schumacher, is capable of winning any of these races. For this reason, our sponsors asked for a win in Liege - Bastogne - Liege, and targeted Fleche Wallone for a good result.
The first of the Ardennes Classics was the Amstel Gold Race. This was a race that we wanted a strong result in, but it was not specifically targeted by our sponsors, so the team did not have as much pressure to perform. We treated it as preparation for the next classics, and practiced and tested our tactics. We sent several riders forward, including Lelay (who was pulled back) and Bertogliati (who ended up in the breakaway), and later Michael Albasini to put pressure on the other favorites. The race eventually came back together towards the end, and Stefan Schumacher took 7th in the finale on the Cauberg.
Fleche Wallone was the next race, and it was specifically targeted by our sponsors. We used the same tactics as rehearsed in Amstel Gold, sending Zaugg early, and Albasini later on. Zaugg was pulled back early, but Michael managed to stay away with a group that included the capable puncheurs Sylvain Chavanel and Maciej Paterski. The field behind chased, but perhaps began too late, and the breakaway was able to hold on. Chavanel managed to get ahead and go solo to the win, but Albasini was able to beat Paterski in a 1-on-1 sprint to the finish on the Mur, taking 2nd. Stefan Schumacher finished 11th, just outside of the top-10. We were overjoyed with this result, and the sponsors were especially pleased with a Swiss rider taking the podium.
Albasini wins the sprint for 2nd.
The Ardennes Classics culminated with Liege - Bastogne - Liege, in which the team set out to help Stefan Schumacher in his bid for the win. Once again, we sent a couple of riders ahead in Florian Stalder (who was pulled back in) and David Lelay (who managed to get in the breakaway that stuck). But going into the hills, Stefan went down in a crash. The team regrouped with him and managed to pull him back to the leaders, at the cost of what was surely important energy. Stefan looked strong, attacking on the penultimate climb and getting a significant gap. It appeared as though the victory was in the bag going into the final kilometer, but the crash and chase seemed to catch up to him as he was caught and passed in the final meters by Frank Schleck and Jan Bakelants. While he did not win as the sponsors had hoped, he still managed 3rd place, which is a highly respectable result given the circumstances.
The Tour of Romandie and Andrei Amador
After the Ardennes Classics was the Tour of Romandie. Being a Swiss race, we aimed to do well here, but it was not specifically targeted by our sponsors and acted as warm-up preparation for Andrei Amador in his bid for the Giro d'Italia. This was Andrei's first race of the season, so I will introduce him.
Andrei began his ProTour debut in 2010 on the White Bear - Wild Horse team. He had his breakthrough season, however, in 2011 while riding for Team Starbuck's - Radioshack. His first result came in the Tour of California, where he ended up 3rd in the general classification, after taking a podium in the opening time trial and several other top-10's on the later stages. After this, he made his Grand Tour debut in the Vuelta a Espana. He displayed his immense talent by taking 7th overall, especially coming into form later in the race, where he took 2 podium places in the last 4 days. He went on to finish 8th in the Tour de Suisse, and obtained several other respectable results in the remainder of the season.
Andrei Amador in the 2011 Chrono des Herbiers, sporting his Costa Rican National Time Trial Champion jersey.
In the 2011 transfer season, Andrei was signed by UBS - La Pierre to be the team's main leader for the GC in stage races. He progressed even more in the offseason, and we believe that with his improved climbing ability, he will be a force to reckon with throughout the year.
Andrei's first race was the Tour of Romandie. He started relatively strong in the prologue time trial, finishing just over 10 seconds behind the leader, but disaster struck in Stage 2. Just as the pace began to lift, Andrei experienced a mechanical problem and was quickly off the back of the field. He ended over 5 minutes behind the leaders, with his GC hopes seemingly dashed in the first real day of racing. However, this bad luck was quickly turned around in Stage 3. Oliver Zaugg was sent into the early breakaway which had a significant gap towards the end of the race. The main field was significantly reduced, and Andrei saw his chance to exact revenge. He attacked from the field and bridged the gap to the breakaway, joining his team mate Zaugg who then led him out in the sprint that ended up being Andrei's first win of the season. This win instantly put Andrei back in the running for the GC in 5th place.
Andrei winning Stage 3 in the Tour of Romandie, boosting him into the running for the GC.
Over the next few days, Andrei gradually improved his deficit while the riders in front of him in the GC began falling apart. He ended up finishing 3rd overall, a result with which we are very pleased and would have never predicted after Stage 2.
Andrei is now in the Giro d'Italia, where he hopes to improve upon his previous result of 7th in a Grand Tour. He leads a strong team of climbers who also performed excellently in the opening team time trial earlier today, coming in 10th place, less than a minute down on the leaders. We are aiming for a top-5 result, but with the strong field, we realize that this will be a difficult task. After the Giro, Andrei will race the Criterium du Dauphine Libere, and then the Tour de France, where he will once again hope to challenge the overall classification. He will end the season with the GP Liechtenstein.
Thank you for reading, and please watch for future updates, most likely before the Tour de France.
Edited by Bushwackers on 24-01-2012 22:11
As the Giro d'Italia comes to an end, UBS - La Pierre can proudly report that we have had an immensely successful race. We went into the race with Andrei Amador as our leader, and we aimed for an overall placing somewhere in the top 7. Due to hard work from the team and several phenomenal performances by Andrei, we managed to take home 5th place overall. We are proud and encouraged by this result, but the team also put out several other impressive performances.
Rafaâ Chtioui is one rider that surpassed our expectations in the Giro. Not only did he take part in 5 different breakaways throughout the race, but he also took the lead in the mountains competition early on and defended his jersey, wearing it proudly for 3 days. Also, two of the breakaways that he was in were successful in staying away, and he took two 6th place stage finishes. Unfortunately, he was unable to make the time cut on stage 14 and was subsequently forced to abandon the race.
Rafaâ Chtioui leads the team in the team time trial on Stage 1.
The team also represented our sponsors by getting into breakaways on several other occasions. Oliver Zaugg, Simon Zahner, Christophe Riblon (who finished an impressive 30th overall), and Dmitri Champion also took part in breakaways on 4 other stages, and although they were valiant attempts, they did not experience the same success that Chtioui did.
As we expected, Andrei Amador was the biggest performer on the team. Not only did he take 5th overall, but he also won a stage, took 2nd on another, finished 4th or 5th on an impressive 8 stages, finished slightly lower back in the top 10 on 2 more stages, and displayed his consistency by taking 4th in the points competition and 5th in the mountains competition. We could not be more pleased with Andrei's impressive riding throughout the three weeks, and look forward to seeing if he can replicate this at the Tour de France, where he will lead the team again.
Andrei Amador on the top step of the podium after his dominant win in the Stage 16 Mountain Time Trial.
Aside from our two Spanish climbers, we have sent Maximilliano Richeze to contest the few flat stages that there are. After he achieved his best placing of the year at 4th place in the Tour of California Stage 2, we think he is beginning to find his sprinting legs.
Christophe Riblon will also play an essential role as a helper in the mountains for Gomez Marchante, after his strong showing in the Giro. For the long team time trial, we have sent our two specialists Dimitri Champion and Rafaâ Chtioui who will be coming into the race after also taking part in the Giro. The rest of the team includes our key Swiss domestiques Thomas Frei, Florian Stalder, and Simon Zahner.
Thank you for following UBS - La Pierre, and watch for us in the Vuelta!
Edited by Bushwackers on 17-02-2012 22:33
Since the last update, there have been three races: the Vuelta a Espana, the Tour de Suisse, and the Criterium du Dauphine Libere. The Vuelta and Suisse were both races that our sponsors had targeted, so we hoped to do well in both, and with Andrei Amador in the Dauphine, we expected a good result there as well. The races were somewhat on track with what we hoped for, but not completely.
Going into the Vuelta, the team goal was to help Gomez Marchante get onto the podium, as he has on multiple occasions in the past. We started the race fairly strong and on track, with Gomez taking 4th on the first mountain stage. Unfortunately, he was unable to replicate this strength in later stages, and he began to drift to the back of the top 10 in the mountains. Jose finished 7th overall, taking 6 stage Top-10's along the way. Our goal of a Top-3 was not achieved, but the performance was respectable none the less.
Gomez Marchante finishing Stage 5 of the Vuelta in 4th, which was his strongest showing of the race.
Another encouraging performance in the Vuelta came from our sprinter, Maximiliano Richeze. Earlier in the year, he had been towards the back of the top 10 in sprint finishes, and we were slightly concerned that he couldn't compete in the Pro Tour. However, he regained our confidence in him through his performances in his first Grand Tour. Richeze impressed by taking two stage podiums in mass sprints, along with two other Top-5's, and two more Top-10's. We were thrilled with this performance, especially as it was not expected.
Maximiliano Richeze finishes Stage 7 in 3rd, his first stage podium of the season.
The team also experienced large amounts of success aside from our leaders. Florentino Marquez, our star of the future, displayed his talent by finishing 20th Overall and 6th in the Young Rider competition while working as the key helper for Gomez Marchante. Christophe Riblon also demonstrated his strength by finishing 37th Overall, and Rafaâ Chtioui, Thomas Frei, Florian Stalder, and Simon Zahner took part in a total of 10 breakaways. Four of these were successful, and we managed to achieve two more Top-10's (Frei, Stalder) and another stage podium (Stalder).
Rafaâ Chtioui in the breakaway on Stage 2.
After the Vuelta came the Criterium du Dauphine Libere. The team came here in support of Andrei Amador, who we expected to be vying for the win, after his strong showing at the Giro. However, the competition was very fierce, and after taking a couple of stage Top-10's, Andrei finished in 6th Overall. We are pleased with this, as it will be good in his preparation for the Tour de France, which will be his next race.
Andrei Amador in the opening prologue time trial, where he finished 18th.
Perhaps our proudest moment of the race came on Stage 3. David Lelay managed to slip into the breakaway that would ultimately be successful, and he outfoxed his companions in the sprint to take a stage win in his home country. We were extremely happy with this, being a partially French team.
David Lelay wins the sprint from the breakaway to take Stage 3.
The Tour de Suisse ran at the same time as the Dauphine, and here we had Jose Angel Gomez Marchante leading the team shortly after he finished the Vuelta. We hoped for a good result, as this race was targeted by our sponsors, and we thought it suited Jose almost perfectly. While he did take a 4th and a 7th in two of the mountain stages, he did not manage to get the separation that he needed, and he could only manage to finish in 10th Overall. It is beginning to seem as though the younger generation of riders has too much depth for Gomez Marchante to excel as he has in the past.
While we only managed an average GC result with Gomez Marchante, our race was salvaged by the amazing, aggressive riding by home town hero Johann Tschopp. After getting into three successful breakaways and nearly nabbing a stage win, Johann took 2nd, 6th, and 9th in 3 stages. On top of it all, Johan accumulated enough points over the course of the race to win the Mountains Jersey by 1 point! We were absolutely thrilled with this performance, especially as he was a Swiss rider, in a Swiss race, on the Swiss UBS -La Pierre team.
Johann Tschopp in his KoM leader jersey making the breakaway in Stage 5.
With the team's striking performance at the Tour de France, one would be surprised to learn that this was only our debut appearance in the Pro Tour's queen race. Aside from featuring riders in a breakaway over 10 times, the team gathered 3stage wins from 3 different riders, two of which were back to back. Andrei Amador, who lead the team, also shined in the race for the GC where he finished 6th overall after the 3 weeks, proving that his 5th place in the Giro was no fluke and that he will be a contender in the big races in the years to come. We were also surprised to find our riders in contention for the Team Competition, where we ended up finishing 2nd without having any prior aspirations.
The first stage win came on Stage 9 from our star Swiss climber, Johann Tschopp, who is having perhaps the best season of his career. After slipping into an early breakaway with team mate Dimitri Champion, Johann pushed the pace over the early climbs and narrowed it down to a group of 3, which he outsprinted in the end to take UBS' first Tour de France stage victory. He also ended up finishing 7th in the Mountains Competition.
Johann Tschopp wins the sprint from the breakaway to take Stage 9, and UBS' first Tour de France stage win.
The next stage brought even more success, with Florentino Marquez, our younger Spanish mountain man, taking the win, and giving us back to back stage wins. After attacking mid-way through a mountainous day with several other notable climbers and consolidating a lead on the peloton, Marquez rode away from his companions in the closing kilometers of the final climb to take the win. He ended the race in 19th Overall, and took 7th of the U-25's.
Florentino Marquez arrives first to the summit of the Col de Portet to take Stage 10, making it back to back stage wins for UBS in our debut Tour de France.
While his team mates were searching for luck in the breakaways, Andrei Amador was locked in the fierce battle for the GC places of 5th through 10th. After a disappointing performance in the Stage 3 time trial, we were concerned that his form may not be spot on. However, Andrei soon put our fears to rest when the race hit the mountains. Here, he rode strongly with the other climbers, often being one of the chief instigators of attacks, and found himself in the top 10 on several occasions. Then in the mountain time trial of Stage 16, Andrei stormed to the forefront by taking the stage win in a convincing fashion. This was not his first mountain time trial win, as you may recall he also won the mountain time trial in the Giro, which was Stage 16 of that race as well. Andrei also went on to redeem his performance in the Stage 3 flat time trial by taking 3rd in the final time trial of Stage 20. Andrei finished the race in 6th Overall, which was well within his and our goals.
Andrei Amador grinds his way to the win on the Stage 16 time trial, his second Grand Tour mountain time trial victory of the season.
The team made a strong and memorable impression on our Tour de France debut. Despite being a 1st year Pro Tour team, we were one of the more dominant teams in the race, as demonstrated by our 3 stage wins, 6th place in the GC, and being 2nd overall in the teams competition. We were absolutely thrilled with these performances, and take it as a sign of things to come. Thanks for reading, and please stay with us!
There is some big news here at UBS in regards to the future. It was mentioned earlier that La Pierre will not be with us next year, and I can officially confirm this. Also, it was said that we were in talks with a new big name sponsor, and today I am pleased to announce that BMC will be making their return to the professional peloton with the UBS team. UBS has also renewed their sponsorship, so the team name for next year will be UBS - BMC. We can also announce that the team will be wearing Assos clothing once again, and will be rolling on DT Swiss wheels.
So what does this mean? It means that the team will focus even more on our Swiss identity than we have in the past. We have taken great strides in this direction, as the first year that UBS began its sponsorship we had only two Swiss riders, while now we feature seven. We will look to increase this even more in the coming transfer season.
Also, I am pleased to unveil the kit that the team will be wearing in the coming season. I can't tell you how pleased I was with jersey designer laidbackmarc for this beautiful masterpiece.
I'm interested to hear what you have made from your season in the Protour? It looks like you will survive but the goals look like they will be 0 out of 5. Does this concern you?
I actually think we've had a very successful first season in the ProTour. We've always been up there with a top contender in almost every race (excluding classics, which I hope to change next year), and we've had some really good results. In regards to goals, I don't think we've done that bad. We've been only 2 placements off for two of them (which I think should count good enough), and we still have 1 goal race (Mendrisio) left, and Schumacher will go there as a favorite. As for the target races, we've done really well in all of them, so that should count for something.
But overall, I'm thrilled with the team and generally not concerned with our goal performances.
Actually Bushwackers, the amount of goals you succeed is quite important. You chose some pretty hard goals in order to get more money for the last transfer season - so you're bound to lose out if you then fail them all. Thats the risk you took
The best one I've seen, if I get the time I will maybe make something that looks like it after the transfer season!
