Pokerstars.com proudly announces their new thread for season 2012. After surprisingly successful first season in Continental division, with same logo and jersey, but shortened name (without "Team" on the beginning), we are ready to compete for top places in upcoming season!
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome in new Pokerstars.com | 2012 thread
WIN ProRace Berlin (HC) - new race in calendar. Rumours say that many elite sprinters will participate. Will our top sprinter Erik Mohs make it?
TOP 5 Nokere - Koerse (C1) - there are probably only three or four teams in CT, who will mostly fight for top places in cobble races. Our team, lead by ex-Festina rider Frederik Nolf, is one of them.
TOP10 Dwars Door Vlaanderen (C1) - another task for our cobble squad, should be easiest goal to achieve
15 Stage wins in season - after success in our first season, we decided to choose this goal again. Rujano and Mohs, supported by Guillen or Degenkolb are riders we count with to complete this task.
Target Races:
E3 Prijs
Profronde van Drenthe
Le Tour de Langkawi
Tour du Faso
5 Jours de Dunkerque
As you can see, targetted races are mostly flat (except of Genting Highlands in Malaysia) or with cobble sections. Our team should bee well seen during all of them, trying to make our sponsors happy.
Edited by beagle on 04-08-2011 12:07
Ericsson Fredrik --> Free Agent Brus Marco --> Team Dyson Saramotins Aleksei --> Team Trilux - Falke Guarnieri Jacopo --> Pearl Adidas Van Loocke Jurgen --> Team Bpost Wallays Jelle --> on loan at Vesuvio-Accumalux Holloway Dan --> on loan at Festina - Conec
French climber Christophe Kern is another new name in our team. Last season member of PT team Auber 93 was released and joined our team as a Free Agent. He will lead our team in several races as captain, but we don´t expect any miracles from him. Some TOP10 GC places would be nice though.
Jurgen Van Goolen strenghtened our team after Dan Holloway´s loan out swap deal with Festina - Conec. He´s capable time trialist with decent ability to climb. He will lead, together with similar skilled Stef Clement, our team in hilly race with individual time trial. He can´t compete with Ignatiev, Boom or Reus, but we believe his presence in our team will pay off for more than 120%.
Another new big name in our team, Frederik Nolf, came together with Jurgen Van Goolen from Festina - Conec. Frederik is very strong on cobble sections and will lead our team in these kind of races. With strong support of Kluge, Geslin or Van Impe he could achieve several interesting results and bring vital points to our account.
9th @ GP Herning
9th @ World Championship - U23 RR
David Boucher - 230th (108pts)
Spoiler
6th @ Tour of Southland,
Stef Clement - 173rd (159pts)
Spoiler
3rd @ Herald Sun Tour, Stage 5
5th @ Tour du Limousin, Stage 3
6th @ Tour du Limousin,
John Degenkolb - 191st (143pts)
Spoiler
4th @ GP Herning
4th @ Rogaland GP
4th @ Brixia Tour, Stage 5
5th @ Tour of Qatar, Stage 2
5th @ KBC De Panne Tour, Stage 3
Samuel Dumoulin - 210th (128pts)
Spoiler
1st @ Volta ao Algarve, Stage 4
1st @ Tour du Limousin, Stage 4
1st @ Tour du Limousin,
3rd @ Volta ao Algarve, Stage 1
3rd @ Ras de Cymru, Stage 2
5th @ Vuelta Castilla y Leon, Stage 1
5th @ Tour de Luxembourg, Stage 5
10th @ Tour of Taihu
Jimmy Engoulvent - 457th (19pts)
Spoiler
3rd @ Tour of Southland, Stage 3
Anthony Geslin - 136th (199pts)
Spoiler
3rd @ Tour of Taihu
4th @ Tour du Limousin, Stage 1
5th @ 5 Jours de Dunkerque , Stage 3
5th @ 5 Jours de Dunkerque , Stage 4
6th @ 5 Jours de Dunkerque,
1st @ Tour of Southland, Stage 5
1st @ National Championship RR,
2nd @ Tour de Langkawi, Stage 1
2nd @ Tour of Southland,
2nd @ Tour de Slovenie, Stage 4
2nd @ Deutschland Tour, Stage 2
3rd @ Tour de Langkawi, Stage 6
4th @ Tour de Langkawi, Stage 8
4th @ Vuelta Castilla y Leon, Stage 2
4th @ Tour of Southland, Stage 4
4th @ Tour of Southland, Stage 8
5th @ Tour de San Luis, Stage 7
5th @ Tour of Southland, Stage 9
5th @ Herald Sun Tour, Stage 6
3rd @ Criterium Hainleite
3rd @ National Championship RR,
4th @ KBC De Panne Tour, Stage 2
4th @ World Championship - TTT
5th @ KBC De Panne Tour, Stage 1
8th @ Paris-Tours
9th @ KBC De Panne Tour,
10th @ Post Danmark Rundt,
Martijn Maaskant - 266th (83pts)
Spoiler
4th @ Vuelta a Burgos, Stage 1
9th @ Rogaland GP
10th @ GP Herning
Erik Mohs - 21st (624pts)
Spoiler
1st @ Tour of Qatar, Stage 2
1st @ Tour of Qatar, Stage 5
1st @ 5 Jours de Dunkerque, Stage 1
1st @ 5 Jours de Dunkerque, Stage 2
1st @ Post Danmark Rundt, Stage 4
1st @ Tour du Faso, Stage 8
1st @ Tour du Faso, Stage 10
2nd @ 5 Jours de Dunkerque,
2nd @ Tour du Faso, Stage 4
3rd @ Tour of Qatar,
3rd @ Tour of Qatar,
3rd @ Tour of the Czech Republic, Stage 4
3rd @ Tour of Britain, Stage 8
3rd @ Circuit Franco-Belge, Stage 1
3rd @ Circuit Franco-Belge, Stage 4
3rd @ Circuit Franco-Belge,
3rd @ Circuit Franco-Belge,
4th @ Tour of Qatar, Stage 6
4th @ Tour of the Czech Republic, Stage 1
4th @ 5 Jours de Dunkerque, Stage 3
4th @ Berlin ProRace
4th @ Post Danmark Rundt, Stage 1
4th @ Tour de Delhi
4th @ Tour of Britain, Stage 7
4th @ Circuit Franco-Belge, Stage 3
4th @ Tour du Faso, Stage 6
4th @ Tour du Faso, Stage 7
5th @ Tour of Qatar, Stage 4
5th @ 5 Jours de Dunkerque , Stage 5
5th @ Tour du Faso, Stage 3
5th @ Tour du Faso, Stage 5
5th @ Tour du Faso,
8th @ Down Under Classic
8th @ Rogaland GP
9th @ Philadelphia International
Frederik Nolf - 84th (306pts)
Spoiler
1st @ KBC De Panne Tour, Stage 2
1st @ KBC De Panne Tour,
2nd @ Lincoln GP
2nd @ Tour de Delhi
3rd @ KBC De Panne Tour,
7th @ Nokere-Koerse
1st @ Vuelta Castilla y Leon, Stage 3
1st @ Vuelta Castilla y Leon,
1st @ Int. Osterreich Rundfahrt, Stage 2
1st @ National championship TT,
2nd @ Vuelta Castilla y Leon,
2nd @ Tour de Slovenie,
2nd @ Int. Osterreich Rundfahrt,
2nd @ Brixia Tour, Stage 4
2nd @ Brixia Tour,
2nd @ Brixia Tour,
3rd @ Brixia Tour , Stage 2
3rd @ National Championship RR,
4th @ Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, Stage 5
4th @ Transfagarasan GP
4th @ Tour de Slovenie, Stage 3
4th @ Int. Osterreich Rundfahrt,
4th @ Vuelta a Burgos,
5th @ Giro del Trentino, Stage 4
5th @ Int. Osterreich Rundfahrt, Stage 3
5th @ Int. Osterreich Rundfahrt, Stage 4
5th @ Int. Osterreich Rundfahrt, Stage 5
5th @ Vuelta a Burgos, Stage 5
6th @ Giro del Trentino,
8th @ Volta Ciclista a Catalunya,
Niki Terpstra - 271st (78pts)
Spoiler
1st @ Tour of Britain, Stage 6
5th @ Deutschland Tour, Stage 4
Jurgen Van Goolen - 177th (157pts)
Spoiler
3rd @ World Championship - TTT
5th @ Tour de Luxembourg, Stage 1
5th @ Ras de Cymru, Stage 1
7th @ Tour du Lumousin,
7th @ National Championship TT,
10th @ Volta ao Algarve,
Kevin Van Impe - 59th (410pts)
Spoiler
2nd @ Dwars Door Vlaanderen
2nd @ Bayern Rundfahrt,
6th @ E3 Prijs
7th @ 5 Jours de Dunkerque,
7th @ Circuit Franco-Belge,
Julien Vermote - 346th (46pts)
Spoiler
3rd @ Tour of Britain,
4th @ Tour of Britain, Stage 5
Pokerstars.com - 4th (3802pts)
Spoiler
1st @ Tour du Limousin,
1st @ Circuit Franco-Belge,
2nd @ KBC De Panne Tour,
2nd @ Vuelta a Burgos, Stage 3
3rd @ 5 Jours de Dunkerque,
3rd @ Bayern Rundfahrt,
3rd @ Tour du Faso,
4th @ Brixia Tour, Stage 1
We could read in some CT previews that our team can suffer with lack of depths. Indeed, we can´t win every single race we´ll participate. But we can grab nice sum of points in most races, I guess. Despite of team manager´s foreign trip during transfer period, when he couldn´t spend too much time by strenghtening of our team, we could guarantee, that we are stronger than in our first season!!
We decided to start season at one day short and flat Down Under Classic. Our elite sprinter Erik Mohs sprinted as 7th last year, so there was a lot of space for improving. Competion was really strong though, almost all top CT sprinters were eager to succeed. Everything went well for most of this quite dangerous race, our jerseys were seen in the front, chasing down escapees (does it sound familiar?). It looked quite promising when sprint began. Unfortunately Erik Mohs with his lead-out man John Degenkolb started to push too early and Erik hit the wall several hundred meters before line, finishing only as 8th. Disaster for our team? Definitely not, 7 guys in green jersey finished in TOP30, scoring more points than most of teams here!!!
Alan Davis defended his win from last season, very impressive.
Next stop is Tour of Qatar, where we´ll compete with WT teams!!!
Edited by beagle on 04-08-2011 19:30
After not-so-great performance in opening Team time trial in Tour of Qatar, we showed our real strenght in flat terrain. Guys in green were able to built awesome sprint train and outclassed all opponents. One of the fastest man in the world, Erik Mohs, won 2nd stage with ease and achieved first season victory for our team!
Celebrating E.Mohs, as a result of great team effort
We couldn´t wait for another glorious stage win so long. Erik Mohs proved once more that he is very dangerous sprinter even at PT level. All opponents just could see Erik´s celebration in penultimate stage, which eventually led into 3rd place in overall standings!!! This is absolutely fantastic result for our team and huge boost of confidence before next races.
First of all, we want to apologize to all of our fans for lack of updates during whole season. Season, where we had big expectations and was crucial for our sponsor. Now we can proudly announce, we finished on amazing 4th place in our divison and promoted into Pro Tour for season 2013!!!. Thank to that success, Pokerstars.com decided to prolong their sponsorship for next season.
There are some changes on our team page, section "Rankings / Palmares 2012" was fully updated, while same section for season 2011 was removed.
Review of season will (hopefully soon) follow, together with some rumours.
Edited by beagle on 10-10-2012 19:09
Plenty of elite CT sprinters participated, so we could only pray for miracle, which....didn´t happen. 4th place for Eric Mohs isn´t such bad though.
TOP 5 Nokere - Koerse (C1) - 7th Nolf, failed
Well, this race went wrong for us. There is no way, how to excuse this failure.
TOP10 Dwars Door Vlaanderen (C1) - 2nd Van Impe, achieved
After a bit chaotic course (Pre-race favourites Rapha´s Blythe or our Nolf fell down resp. was caught in split), Kevin Van Impe found himself in front group and sprinted for great 2nd place, saving this race for us.
15 Stage wins in season - 14 wins, failed
Alfa and omega, most important goal for our team. To be honest, we had plenty of opportunities to add more stage wins, but we failed. Huge disappointment for our sponsor, needs to be improved in next season!!
Can't wait to see your sprint train in the PT, it's the only Man-Game sprinttrain that have ever really really worked. Don't change that concept please. Your team is absolutely one of my favorites, and your strategy about racing is definately a key in that.
I would absolutely love to see Maaskant start the run in, leave room for Kluge to up the pace for Degenkolb and Holloway.
Thank you for your kind words! I definitely don´t want to leave anything what was working more or less well in last seasons
Will Tom Boonen sign with Pokerstars.com?
As announced in several media, Belgian superstar Tom Boonen is on the way to Pokerstars.com. "Tom is exceptional rider, which could move our team on higher level, yes. But at the moment, we aren´t in negotiatiation about contract.", answered team manager. Considering well known fact that Pokerstars.com are mainly focusing on sprints and Spring classics, Bonnen is likely their main target during transfer season.
SotD wrote:
Can't wait to see your sprint train in the PT, it's the only Man-Game sprinttrain that have ever really really worked. Don't change that concept please. Your team is absolutely one of my favorites, and your strategy about racing is definately a key in that.
I would absolutely love to see Maaskant start the run in, leave room for Kluge to up the pace for Degenkolb and Holloway.
Puma have proved pretty successful aswell, but yes, it would be great to see a full Pokerstars sprint train in ProTour next season.
After all, it worked out very successfully for Erik Mohs in Pokerstars' wildcard race Qatar at the start of the season!
Main and only sponsor, Pokerstars.com, announced their wish to increase number of Belgian riders in team. On the other hand, French influence in team would fade away. It´s not confirmed yet, but Samuel Dumoulin, Anthony Geslin, David Boucher, Jimmy Engoulvent and probably even Christophe Kern will be available in transfer season.
AMEXpc is looking for an expereinced team leader for our young American team and Dan Holloway has expressed his concerns about having only one other english speaking rider on the team. He might see the opportunity to join a young American tem where he could help build the foundation.
AMEX is anxious to think outside the box to find innovative soultions for a successfull transfer.
Mhaley45 wrote:
AMEXpc is looking for an expereinced team leader for our young American team and Dan Holloway has expressed his concerns about having only one other english speaking rider on the team. He might see the opportunity to join a young American tem where he could help build the foundation.
AMEX is anxious to think outside the box to find innovative soultions for a successfull transfer.
At first, we truly apologize for very late reply.
According to Holloway´s own words, it´s very unlikely he would like to spend next season out of PT. He also mentioned that he feels great opportunity to be essential part of our team in upcoming season, as most team goals (will be announced little later) are built for sprinters.
As new season is getting closer and closer every day, it´s time to announce Pokerstars.com´s season goals.
My personal biggest goal is to sign Tom Boonen and together with Dan Holloway, Eric Mohs (?) and John Degenkolb build the strongest team focusing on sprints, which was ever seen in Man-Game. Naturally, official team goals for season 2013 are fully conformed to this challenge.
Win Paris - Roubaix
Only two riders in Man-Game history could celebrate victory in Hell of the North. While Marcus Burghardt won once in 2010, Tom Boonen made it 5 times (2007-2009, 2010-2011). Will he score his second hattrick, this time in our green jersey?
TOP3 Tour of Qatar
Where else we could succeed if not in flat Qatar? Bennati, Bewley, defending champion Swift and strong wind look like the biggest threats in fulfilling of this goal.
Stage win in all GT´s
As we cannot afford any GC superstar, our main focus in GTs will be stage hunting, hopefully both in sprints and succesfull breakaways.
15 stage wins in a season
As usually, my favourite team goal through season. With so many opportunities in PT, I believe we´ll succeed here.
Avoiding relegation
We don´t have any GT leader or high levelled puncheur. We can shine on mass sprints and hopefully cobble classics. Will it be enough to avoid relegation?
John Degenkolb, 
Dan Holloway, 
Frederik Nolf or 
José Rujano will probably stay too, on the other hand after some quarreling between rider and manager during Tour du Faso, 
Henry Raabe and 
Jimmy Engoulvent. Rest of team is still under consideration.
TOP3 Tour of Qatar
Stage win in all GT´s 
