Bonjour and welcome to the media center for ProTour team Simply Red Bull.
The is the third year in we have held a cycling team licence and Red Bull have continued to sponsor us through our incredible journey from the Continental Tour through the biggest stage.
Red Bull are very excited to be sponsoring a Protour team as we come ever closer to emulating the great Formula one squad also sponsored by Red Bull. Red Bull is the most popular energy drink in the world and has been in the mainstream market for some 15 years. They have been involved heavily in sports sponsorship in recent times. They have no restrictions in place regarding nationality of riders, in our first year they looked for us to sign mainly non European riders. However success has become their motivation behind the sponsorship from 2012 onwards.
French retail group Groupe Auchan contacted us last year in our first Tour de France and rode aboard the team car in a couple of the stages. They were really pleased to see the French riders riding well and were all too happy come in as sponsors with a promotion to the Protour sealed. They decided to use the Simply Market brand as our official sponsor combining with Red Bull to come up with Simply Red Bull. The market are hopeful that we can continue to promote French riders, though as a multinational they recognise the need for an all round team.
I am absolutely delighted have grabbed two riders from the very top of the sport of professional cycling. Both riders we believe have the capabilities of having an ‘Indian summer’ as they reach the end of their career peaks before the dreaded age of 33. As the transfer season wore on it became clear that sprinters could be back in fashion, after forcing some PCT managers to dig deep into their pockets we reached into our book of contacts and have acquired two very strong sprinters.
Just the four Frenchman, but what Frenchman they are in housewifes favourite Moinard and the outstanding cobbled prospect in France in Sibella.
WIN Paris Roubaix - Cancellara finishes 4th WIN Omloop Het Nieuwsblad - Cancellara won it! Top 3 Ronde de Vlaandaraan - Cancellara finishes 4th Points Jersey at the Tour de France - Nowhere. Top 10 in the Team standings - finished 7th
It doesn't take a crazy czech cute looking dog to work out whom we were aiming for in the transfer season. Unfortunately a bidder known mysteriously as 'beagle' had bigger cojones than us and was prepared to pay a cool million for the aging Boonan.
The gloves are off mind you and with Cancellara and the cobbled wrecking crew are taking on Boonan big style. We just hope when attempting to burst the Pokerstars.com bubble we don’t find some nasty German bratwurst coming up from behind.
Young loanee’s Rowsell and Opie have been receiving some tweets from overrated British rough roader Adam Blythe saying he is prepping like mad on Belgium cobbles. We have also received an unwelcome telegram from the ‘powers that be’ that they have invited one dimensional Belgian eternal PCT team the cobbled obsessed Team Bpost to pretty much every Protour race with the hint of cobblestones in. C’est le Vie, Cancellara just needs to flick a switch (something sadly missing in the Carmeuse equipment) and he will motor away from the rest.
Points jersey at Tour is not going to happen, unless the climbers wait and wait and the big sprinters chicken out. One of the Van men will go to the tour, so if VH or VdS can build up a head of steam who knows?
Top 10 in the team standings is obligatory, I have too much pride to go for the pansies goal of ‘avoid relegation’.
Calendar 2013
Here is the Protour calendar and big thumbs up to the master creator behind this. It’s going to be a hell of a ride through 2013.
January
10th: Badaling International (Protour Classic) Young Rowsell is in the BotD, as Bobridge, Margoloit, Moinard and Bennett finish with the front group of 100. Hilly classics will be tough to catch a break in this year.
22nd: Tour of Qatar (Protour 6 day stage race) A much stronger team and a better performance. Cancellara narrowly fails to take Red Bull's first protour win on the short TTand Van Stayen cannot get a top 5 in the sprints which the competition was red hot as it should be
February
5th: Chrono des Herbiers (Protour Classic) Red Bull's first Protour win as Cancellara upsets home favourite Jerome Coppel with a stunning display of chrono power. Viviani and Bobridge produce decent rides too.
13th: Tirreno-Arriatico (Protour 7 day stage race) The stage race triple was always going to be tough, Bobridge and Facci flew the flag with some attacking riding. Bobridge went okay on GC aided by a horrific final stage crash taking out some of the favourites.
15th: Paris Nice (Protour 8 day stage race) The Trofimov dominated Paris Nice offered scant oppurtunity for others. Margaliot produced a battling ride for a decent GC, as Sulzberger managed a surprise high sprint finish on one of the stages with Sibilla featuring in breaks
18th: Volta ciclista a Catalunya (Protour 7 day stage race) Sella made his debut an produced a decent ride to finish high on GC despite a very tough field. Van Stayen rounded off a decent stage race with a sprint win on the final stage.
27th: Milan San Remo (Monument) Struggled to get involved but both Cancellara and Van Stayen managed to finish in the top 20 - both showing they are the stars of the early season for the team
March 1st: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (Protour Classic) A Huge goal sealing win from Cancellara who allowed Boonen to provide the suicidal attack before using the in form Pozzato's wheel to launch a stunning sprint win
5th: East Midlands Cicle Classic (Protour Classic) Cancellara provided a late attack as once again the cobbled squad showed good legs. Turgot did well to nab a 5th after Cancellara was caught late on.
11th: Rund um Koln (Protour Classic) What looked a low key race turned into a decent one as Van Stayen managed to find a good position to gain an excellent podium behind Boonen and Bennati
18th: Gent – Wevelgem (Protour Classic) Third place for Cancellara here as he got on Boonen's wheel for the sprint following a far more selective race than we thought would initially occur. We were one of the key reasons why, putting out cobbled squad through their paces.
19th: Vuelta al Pais Vasco (Protour 6 day stage race) A bit of a nothing hill fest for us, Bobridge had a crack at the youth jersey and a few half hearted break attempts. We are not up to it in these hilly battles frankly, but Bobo did a decent run to third on the youth.
25th: Ronde van Vlaanderen (Monument) We just miss our second season goal as Cancellara is unable to follow the big attacks at the big moments. It's a shame as the team worked very hard to turn this into a highly selective De Ronde. Gusev joined Bewley and Boonen on the podium, Canc just off his best if we are honest
April 1st: Paris-Roubaix (Monument) Cancellara was really up for this one, but alas a nasty crash at a key section left us behind the 8-ball. Still a great effort from Sibilla pulled Cancellara back into contention, which saw him finish in 4th. Bewley emerges as the new cobbled superstar
8th: Amstel Gold Race (ProTour Classic) The first race of the Ardennes and already we realise that competition here is too hot for our young bunch of punchaers. Lessons learned for Jack Bobridge who was caught on one of the hills with 30 or so km left and no way back.
11th: Fleche Wallone (ProTour Classic) A poor race. Hopelessly out of position in the finale, though nice to see Boonratanathanakorn have a go in the middle of the race.
15th: Liege – Bastogne – Liege (Monument) Once again the team miss the first major split, Bobo just wasn't either in form or in place to have an impact. He may have hoped to grab a top 20 or two from the Ardennes but he was badly lacking.
22nd: Tour of Romandie (6 day stage race) The big pointer for how well Sella could do in the Giro and some encouraging signs with a 4th on the Mountain Time Trial. However there were some warning signs too with Sella losing time to the favourites in the hilly stage 5. He manages an alright 9th place, will be hoping for far more in his home grand tour.
May
1st: Giro d’Italia (Grand Tour) Emanuale Sella gave us our first ever Grand Tour stage win with a brilliant solo ride over the Gavia. Elia Viviani won the next day from a breakaway to complete the rescue of what had been a trying Giro from a strong Simply Red Bull squad. Sella finished 7th overall and Jaan Van Heerden was just off in his sprint attemps.
6th: Tour of California (8 day stage race) By far our strongest protour stage race ever, Cancellara finishes third overall surprising the climbers with a gutsy performance on Mount Baldy aided by a supreme team effort. Fab convincingly won the TT which followed on from Van Stayens pair of stage wins. We were pretty much all over every stage and it took a determined ride from Machado to know Cancellara off.
25th: Vuelta a Espana (Grand Tour) Following the late show in the Giro, the team's morale was sky high with an early stage victory from sprinter Michael Van Stayen. However this proved a false dawn with little else to cheer from a comparatively weak squad. Van Stayen managed some more decent sprint results, but in the land of breakaways we only occasionally made it in one.
June
1st: Stada Appia Antica (Protour Classic) Fabian was highly motivated for this and following his excellent Tour of California he managed to break the entire field of cobblers and zoomed away in this new Italian classic. Only really Sam Bewley looked close to the Swiss machine but even he could not keep Fab in his sights. An excellent win.
17th: Tour de Suisse (Protour 9 day stage race) After a fairly miserly tour in the main Tom Stubbe went for broke on the final day in the days breakaway. After a tense struggle in the finale the Belgian won the small group sprint to take a massive win to boost the team after an otherwise indifferent stage race with Van Heerden once again making a mess of the sprints.
17th: Criterium du Dauphine Libere (Protour 8 day stage race) In the one flat stage Michael Van Stayen sprinted to a fine win, his season continues to go from strength to strength. Rain Margaloit is showing a liking to French stage races also, breaking clear to finish second on the penultimate stage.
28th: Classique du Grand Duche Hilly classics usually mean very low points yields for SRB, but today Jack Bobridge decided to produce by far his most convincing classic performance to date animating the finale. He ended up finishing just inside the top 15, with the promise of greater success to come in future seasons
July 1st: Tour de France (Grand Tour) For Simply Markets an abject failure. In truth a weak team in GC terms was sent. Timmy Vangheel took the 15th stage with a brilliant win from the breakaway. Juan Van Heerden lacked the defining sprint result.
26th: Tour of Norway (Protour 8 day stage race) A decent race with good consistent placing from Van Stayen, who narrowly failed to add to his win count. Moinard made the final stage breakaway which proved to massively change the GC. Jack Bobridge produced a determined display to finish 13th on GC.
August
2nd: Flat Classic (Protour Classic) Another very average performance from South African sprinter Juan Van Heerden. It is possible the protour is not for him
5th: Vuelta a Colombia (Protour 12 day stage race) Two stage wins perhaps mask that we may have expected a slightly better GC than 6th from Manu Sella. Even so the climber managed a stage win along with the ever reliable Belgian sprinter Van Stayen
31st: GP Liechtenstien (Protour Classic) Will Manu out of race days, Adill Jelloul ended up our best finisher in 61st from the breakaway. A day for the mountain men, one to forget for us!
September
2nd: Deutschland Tour (Protour 8 day stage race) A quiet race until the final road stage and sprint success for JvH at last as he took a long awaited first win in SRB colours - possibly earning a contract for next year
14th: Lisbon Classic (Protour classic) It was a day for the late attackers in this flat classic - JvH back to ordinary with a weak 23rd place
17th: Tour of Northern Europe (Protour 8 day stage race) A big race for Fab this one, he opens up with a win on stage one and backed it up by beating Coppel on the long ITT. But crucially lost time to Coppel on the first of the hilly stages and the cobbles proved unselective meaning the Frenchman took the overall. JvH managed a couple of top fives
26th: World championships Two second places in the chronos - in which both Luke Durbridge (U23) and Fabian Cancellara (Elite) anything but the gold will be seen as a failure. Still a decent performance from both to be on the podium
October
2nd: Copenhagen-Malmo TTT (Protour Classic) One of the teams that finished in a big clump between 6th and 15th - saved ourselves for the finale slightly but finished just outside the top 10 which was marginally disappointing
6th: Praha-Karlovy Vary-Praha (Protour Classic) In a very wet and windy race, Juan Van Heerden produced a fine performance sprinting alongside Tom Boonan to a second place. He can talk of stepping up next year.
17th: Tour of Tasmania (Protour 3 day stage race) MvS took 6th in a messy sprint which also involved punchaers on the opener. Cancellara hung on to the climbers group on the selective stage and delivered another brilliant TT winning the final stage and finishing second on GC
23rd: Giro di Lombardia (Monument) No riders in the top 50 in what was always going to be a tough race for our young hilly squadEdited by Smowz on 17-02-2014 10:58
Our first year got off to an explosive start as we stormed to victory through Yukiya Arashiro in the Tour Down Under. As the year wore on the early season boost began to fade as we settled into a middle of the road sort of team. John-Lee Augustyn, Arashiro, CJ Sutton, Adam Hanson and Roman Kilun kept things going with some useful results. But our star rider was Konstantin Siutsou who after podiuming at the Spanish and American Tours finished the season off in style with victory at the Japan Cup.
The team were not disgraced in finishing 15th in our first season, however our lack of star quality left us only able to gain one of the pre-season goals.
On the youth development side of things Australians Adam Semple and Michael Matthews developed well and Chinese climber Jianhua Ji managed a victory in the short lived Criterium Series. The team sponsored an U23 team starring sprinter Damian Drapac and a fairly low key Tour de L'Avenir team.
Red Bull Results 2011
Team Ranking: 15th 2873 points
Individual Rankings:
21st Konstantin Siutsou 663 points
48th Yuki Arashiro 485 points
59th JL Augustyn 389 points
113th Roman Kilun 240 points
162nd Adam Hansen 158 points
170th Julian Rodas 148 points
198th Jose Chacon 115 points
202nd CJ Sutton 111 points
205th Edwin Parra Bustamante 109 points
223rd Ahmed Haider Anuawar 94 points
12 wins (1 classic win and 11 stage wins)
Konstantin Siutsou: Japan Cup, Stage 7 Volta a Portugal
CJ Sutton: Stage 5 Vuelta Castille y Leon, Stage 3 Jayco Sun Tour
Yuki Arashiro: Stage 2 and 5 Tour Down Under
JL Augustyn: Stage 1 Giro del Capo
A Hansen: Stage 5 Vuelta a Burgos
A Haider: Stage 2 Vuelta a Tachira
J Chacon: Stage 4 Vuelta a Columbia
V Orozco: Stage 11 Vuelta a Columbia
Team Trial: Stage 2 Tour of Japan
Full results:
Spoiler
Bloemfontain Classic[HC]: 10th John Lee Augustyn, 26th Adam Hansen Winner: Filipo Pozzato (Mercedes Benz)
Vuelta a Tachira [c1]
4th Julian Rodas, 5th Jose Chacon, 13th Franklin Chacon, 14th Luis Felipe Laverde Jimenez Winner: Richard Ochoa Quintero (Youtube-Twitter)
Stage 1: 6th Ahmad Haider Anauwar Winner: Damien Martinez (Quiksilver)
Stage 2: 1st Ahmad Haider Anauwar, 2nd Franklin Chacon, 3rd Arthur Garcia Rincon
Stage 3: 4th Ahmad Haider Anauwar Winner: Alexander Gottfried (Bbox)
Stage 4: 4th Julian Rodas Winner: Yeison Delgado (Quiksilver)
Stage 5: 6th Luis Felipe Laverde Winner: Laurent Didier(Bbox)
Stage 6: 3rd Julian Rodas Winner: Oliver Zaugg (Youtube)
Stage 7: 3rd Jose Chacon Winner: Richard Ochoa (Youtube)
Stage 8: 6th Jose Chacon Winner: Francisco Colorado(Sport Lisboa)
Stage 9: 4th Arthur Garcia Rincon Winner Damien Martinez (Quiksilver)
Stage 10: 3rd Julian Rodas Winner: Egoitz Murgoitio (Sport Lisboa)
Stage 11: 4th Julian Rodas Winner: Mikel Asterloza (Bbox)
Stage 12: 9th Ahmad Haider Anauwar Winner: Kevin Barclay (Youtube)
Tour Down Under [HC] 1st Yukiya Arashiro 21st Adam Hansen, 22nd John-Lee Augustyn, 31st Jamie Ball
Stage 1: 10th Yukiya Arashiro Winner: Mark Cavendish (100% Me)
Stage 2: 1st Yukiya Arashiro
Stage 3: 42nd Yukiya Arashiro takes leaders jerseyWinner: Alex Flugal (Ikea)
Stage 4: 3rd Yukiya Arashiro Winner: Luke Rowe (Wiggle)
Stage 5: 1st Yukiya Arashiro
Stage 6: 36th Jamie Ball Winner: Jimmy Casper (Milka)
Tour de San Luis [HC]
7th John Lee Augustyn, 34th Edwin Parra, 35th Roman Kilun, 39th Julian Rodas Winner: Rein Taaramae (IKEA)
Stage 1: 4th Yukiya Arashiro Winner: Max Richeze (UBS)
Stage 2: 7th JL Augustyn Winner: Florentino Marquez (Sport Lisboa)
Stage 3: 19th JL Augustyn Winner: Dimitri Grabovski (Intesa)
Stage 4: 6th Julian Rodas Winner: Jose Serpa (Pirelli)
Stage 5: 3rd JL Augustyn Winner: Rein Taaramae (IKEA)
Stage 6: 19th Yukiya Arashiro Winner: Max Richeze (UBS)
Stage 7: 8th Adil Jelloul Winner: Rui Costa (Sport Lisboa)
Volta a Catalunya [ProTour]
7th Konstantin Siutsou, 27th Edwin Parra, 34th Victor Orozco, 37th Jianhau Ji Winner: Alejandro Valverde (Cafe du Columbia)
Stage 1: 30th Konstantin Siutsou Winner: Martijn Keizer (Nespresso)
Stage 2: 28th Victor Hugo Orozco Winner: Sam Bewley (Festina)
Stage 3: 5th Konstantin Siutsou Winner: Alejandro Valverde (Columbia)
Stage 4: 9th Konstantin Siutsou Winner: Alejandro Valverde (Columbia)
Stage 5: 67th Carlos Manarelli Winner: Jesus Tendero (Energie Diesal)
Stage 6: 13th Carlos Manarelli Winner: Hector Duenes (Domina Vacanze)
Stage 7: 4th Fumiyaki Beppu Winner: Rafael Rodriguez(La Gazzetta)
Mt Hood Cycling Classic [c1]
3rd JL Augustyn. 17th Roman Kilun Winner: Jose Alarcon (IKEA)
Stage 1: 15th Roman Kilun Winner: David Abal (Santander)
Stage 2: 4th Yukiya Arashiro Winner: Robert Forster (UBS)
Stage 3: 5th JL Augustyn Winner Jose Alarcon (IKEA)
Stage 4: 4th Red Bull Winners: IKEA
Stage 5: 3rd JL Augustyn Winner: Jose Alarcon (IKEA)
Stage 6: 3rd Yukiya Arashiro Winner: Tomas Viatkus (Telenor)
Giro de Capo [c1]
4th JL Augustyn, 15th Adil Jelloul, 16th Yukiya Arashiro, 20th Luis Felipe Laverde Jimenez Winner: Hassan Ben Nasser (Cillit Bang)
Stage 1:1st JL Augustyn
Stage 2: 3rd JL Augustyn Winner: Hassan Ben Nasser(Cillit Bang)
Stage 3: 2nd JL Augustyn Winner: David Abal (Santander)
Stage 4: 2nd Adil Jelloul Winner: Taylor Tolleson (Mercedes)
Stage 5: 9th JL Augustyn Winner: Ignas Konovalinos (El Al)
Tour de Langkawi [HC]
19th Konstantin Siutsou Winner: Bernard Kohl (UBS)
Stage 1: 15th Ahmad Haider Anuawar Winner: Juan Jose Haedo (Mercedes)
Stage 2: 16th Christopher Sutton Winner: Danilo Napilitano (Unicredit)
Stage 3: 3rd Ahmad Haider Anuawar Winner: Greg Van Avermart(Bimbo Nutella)
Stage 4: 7th Ahmad Haider Anuawar Winner: Danilo Napilitano (Unicredit)
Stage 5: 25th KOnstantin Siutsou Winner: Bernard Kohl (UBS)
Stage 6: 8th Ahmad Haider Anauwar Winner: Oscar Guereo (Santander)
Stage 7: 11th Ahmad Haider Anauwar Winner: Oscar Guereo (Santander)
Cape Argus Cycle Tour (c1): 2nd Yukiya Arashiro, 5th Adil Jelloul, 7th CJ Sutton Winner: Lasse Bochmann (Telenor)
Vuelta Castille y Leon (c1)
3rd Konstantin Siutsou, 9th Roman Kilun, 25th Adil Jelloul Winner: Kim Kirchen (Bacardi)
Stage 1: 12th Konstantin Siutsou Winner: Rui Costa (Sport Lisboa)
Stage 2: 8th Roman Kilun Winner: Kim Kirchen (Bacardi)
Stage 3: 2nd Konstantin Siutsou Winner: Kim Kirchen (Bacardi)
Stage 4: 2nd Konstantin Siutsou Winner: Kim Kirchen (Bacardi) Stage 5: 1st Christopher Sutton
Worlds View Challenge(HC)
11th Yukiya Arashiro 21st Adam Hansen, 23rd Jamie Ball Winner: Simon Gerrans (Petronas)
Stage 1: 4th Yukiya Arashiro Winner: Thomas Ziegler (Yamaha)
Stage 2: 4th CJ Sutton Winner: Galdos (Santander)
Stage 3: 6th Yukiya Arashiro Winner: Max Richeze(UBS)
Stage 4: 20th Adam Hansen Winner: Simon Gerrans (Petronas)
Stage 5: 11th Yukiya Arashiro Winner: Stefan Schumacher (UBS)
Jelejah Malaysia (c1)
8th Julian Rodas 15th Kin-San Wu Winner: David Lopez Garcia (Santander)
Stage 1: 3rd CJ Sutton Winner: Greg Van Avermart (Bimbo Nutella)
Stage 2: 7th CJ Sutton Winner: Lars Crocket (Petronas)
Stage 3: 2nd Haider Anuawar Winner:Max Richeze(UBS)
Stage 4: 11th Haider Anauwar Winner: Greg Van Avermart (Bimbo Nutella)
Stage 5: 4th Haider Anauwar Winner: Eric Mohs (Pokerstars)
Stage 6: 7th Julian Rodas Winner: Jose Alarcon (Ikea)
Stage 7: 4th Haider Anauwar Winner: Borghesi (Unicredit)
Tour of Japan (c1)
5th Adam Hansen, 7th Arashiro, 16th Kilun, 24th Beppu, 25th Parra B Winner: Sylvian Chavenal (El Al)
Stage 1: 4th Fumi Beppu Winner: Priamo (Yamaha) Stage 2: 1st Red Bull Cycling
Stage 3: 4th Hansen Winner: Van de Velde (Petronas)
Stage 4: 7th Hansen Winner: Hesjedal (Pirelli)
Stage 5: 8th Kilun Winner: Nazaret (Benfica)
Stage 6: 2nd Hansen Winner: Chavenal (El Al)
Stage 7: 2nd Kilun Winner: Chavenal (El Al)
Vuelta a Columbia (c1)
5th Parra Bustamante 12th Jose Chacon 16th Victor Orozco 18th Luis Laverde Winner: Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Sport Lisboa)
Stage 1: 3rd Parra Bustamante Winner: Krasnoperov (Benfica)
Stage 2: 14th Parra Bustamante Winner: Mayo (Pirelli)
Stage 3: 15th Parra Bustamante Winner: Rui Costa (Benfica) Stage 4: 1st Jose Chacon
Stage 5: 11th Orozco Winner: Carduso (Yamaha)
Stage 6: 4th Manarelli Winner: Bajadali (Yamaha)
Stage 7: 6th Parra Bustamante Winner: Gil (Lego)
Stage 8: 8th Parra Bustamante Winner: Betencourt (Quiksilver)
Stage 9: 5th Parra Bustamante Winner: Van den Broeck (Benfica)
Stage 10: 6th Parra Bustamante Winner: Rodrigues (Bimbo Nut) Stage 11: 1st Victor Orozco
Stage 12: 5th Jose Chacon Winner: Gil (Lego)
Stage 13: 2nd Parra Bustamante Winner: Beraud (Bimbo Nut)
Stage 14: 7th Manarelli Winner: Grau (Unicredit)
Stage 15: 5th Manarelli Winner: Van den Broeck
Urkola Igoera (HC)
11th Konstantin Siutsou 28th Julian Rodas 36th Edwin Parra Bustamante 41st Luis Felipe Laverde 48th Victor Hugo Orozco Winner: Riccardo Ricco (Bacardi-Colt)
Vuelta a Burgos (HC)
13th John-Lee Augustyn 20th Victor Hugo Orozco Winner: Rein Taaramae (IKEA)
Stage 1: 13th Fumi Beppu Winner: Jean-Patrick Nazon (Bacardi)
Stage 2: 13th JL Augustyn Winner:Ruben Elvira Lobato (Bimbo)
Stage 3: 13th Adam Hansen Winner: Gustav Larsson (IKEA)
Stage 4: 9th JL Augustyn Winner: Rein Taaramae (IKEA) Stage 5: 1st Adam Hansen, 4th Jamie Ball
Volta a Portugal (HC)
4th Konstantin Siutsou 27th Edwin Parra B 33rd Luis Felipe Laverde 34th Kin San Wu 50th Adil Jelloul Winner: Franco Pellizotti (Youtube)
Stage 1: 9th Adil Jelloul Winner: Miles Olman (Bimbo Nutella)
Stage 2: 4th CJ Sutton Winner:Jordi Grau(Unicredit)
Stage 3: 7th Adil Jelloul Winner:Franco Pellizotti (Youtube)
Stage 4: 16th Adil Jelloul Winner:Franco Pellizotti (Youtube)
Stage 5:3rd Konstantin SiutsouWinner: Jose Serpa (Pirelli)
Stage 6: 10th Adil Jelloul Winner: Theo Eltink (Falcon) Stage 7: 1st Konstantin Siutsou
Stage 8: 13th Adil Jelloul Winner: Cieran Cassidy (Vespa)
Stage 9: 19th Adil Jelloul Winner: Paulo Bettini (Vespa)
Stage 10: 3rd Konstantin Siutsou Winner: Bernhard Kohl (UBS)
Stage 11: 10th KOnstantin Siutsou Winner: Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Benfica)
Tour of Missouri (HC)
13th Roman Kilun 28th Adil Jelloul 30th John-Lee Augustyn 32nd Scot Zwizanski Winner: Mikhial Ignatiev (Wiggle)
Stage 1: 3rd Yukiya Arishiro Winner: Peter Kennaugh (100% Me)
Stage 2: 20th Adil Jelloul Winner:Vasili Kirylenka (Tinkoff)
Stage 3: 15th Roman Kilun Winner: Ian Stannard (100% Me)
Stage 4: 11th Roman Kilun Winner: Thor Hushovd (Milka)
Stage 5: 13th Roman Kilun Winner:Enrico Gasparotto (Intesa)
Vattenfalls Classic (HC)
45th Yukiya Arashiro Winner: Matthew Goss (Bacardi)
Vuelta Chihuahua International (c1)
2nd Roman Kilun, 10th Julian Rodas, 12th Scott Zwizanski, 24th Adam Semple Winner: Mwangi Samwel (Bimbo Nutella)
Stage 1: 9th Roman Kilun Winner: Lopez Garcia (Santander)
Stage 2: 2nd Roman Kilun Winner: Mwangi Samwel (Bimbo Nutella)
Stage 3: 3rd Roman Kilun Winner: Lopez Garcia (Santander)
Stage 4: 5th Roman Kilun Winner: Vitor Rodrigues (Bimbo Nutella)
Stage 5: 2nd Manarelli Winner: D Martinez (Quiksilver)
Stage 6: 12th Zwizanski Winner: Iker Camano(Bimbo Nutellal)
Stage 7: 2nd CJ Sutton Winner: D Martinez (Quiksilver)
Jayco Herald Sun Tour (c1)
18th JL Augustyn, 22nd Kin San Wu Winner: Jose Alarcon (Ikea)
Stage 1: 2nd CJ Sutton Winner: Impey (Yamaha)
Stage 2: 14th Fumi Beppu Winner: Pineau (Bbox) Stage 3: 1st CJ Sutton
Stage 4: 18th JL Augustyn Winner: Ricardo Van der Velde
Stage 5: 11th JL Augustyn Winner: J Alarcon (Ikea)
Stage 6: 12th Hansen Winner: Chavenal (El-Al)
Stage 7: 10th Kin San Wu Winner: Griepel (Bbox)
Japan Cup[HC]: 1st Konstantin Siutsou
20th Adam Semple
2012 Promotion!
We went into the season with some optimism of a top 10 finish, however as the season went on we became a shoo in for promotion with a high level of team consistency the key. We knew we would be strong in Asian races and so it proved following yet another sparkling Tour Down Under. We managed to keep the momentum going this year deep into April building a really important buffer. Excellent performances at races like the Tour of South Africa and Tour of Langkawi helped keep us in position but also solid performances in the classics.
Mid Season when promotion looked apparent focus shifted towards our first Tour de France assault. Ultimately we narrowly failed to take a stage but battling perfomances from Moinard, Gadret and Calzati will long be remembered.
It cam down to securing promotion really, which stage wins in Swaziland and Great Britain and continued presence in classics enabled our diverse squad to finish 3rd on the team classification.
Despite a fairly cold logistical approach to gathering points the team were able to experiment with cobbles, with Giaux snatching a victory from admittedly a weakened Herning field. The whole team looked a bit tired going into the seasons end after a busy and highly succesful year
Jayco - Red Bull Results 2012
Team Ranking: 3rd 4461 points
Individual Rankings:
34th Daryl Impey 532 points
50th Daniel Moreno 446 points
60th Manuele Mori 408 points
66th Simon Gerrans 366 points
70th Kim Kirchen 345 points
96th Gustavo Veloso 271 points
102nd John Gadret 257 points
104th Amael Moinard 255 points
107th Eduard Vorganov 250 points
138th Sylvian Calzati 195 points
155th Jerome Giaux 182 points
166th Mikael Cherel 166 points
182nd Adil Jelloul 149 points
213rd Blaise Sonnery 126 points
226th Greame Brown 110 points
11 wins (1 classic and 10 stage wins)
Jerome Giaux: GP Herning
Simon Gerrans: Stage 3 Tour Down Under and Stage 6 Tour of South Africa
Amael Moinard: Stage 3 Tour of Britain and Stage 4 Tour of Swaziland
Daniel Moreno: Stage 10 Tour of Langkawi
Romain Kilun: Stage 9 Tour of Langkawi
John Gadret: Mount Fuji Time Trial at the Tour of Japan
Gustavo Veloso: Stage 3 Tour of Japan
Eduard Vorganov: Stage 6 Tour of Southland
Blaise Sonnery: Stage 3 Tour of Swaziland
Full Results
Spoiler
MTN Cycling Classic (HC)
16th Simon Gerrans, 19th Manuele Mori, 20th Mikael Cherel, 29th Kim Kirchen 30th Daryl Impey Winner: Francesco Ginanni (Vespa)
Down Under Classic (HC)
3rd Graeme Brown Winner: Allan Davis (Hollister)
Tour Down Under (c1)
2nd Daryl Impey, 5th Simon Gerrans, 15th Blaise Sonnery, 18th Manuele Mori, 22nd Adam Hansen. Simon Gerrans wins stage 3 Winner: Allan Davis (Hollister)
Tour of Wellington (c1)
4th KIm Kirchen, 5th Manuele Mori, 22nd Adil Jelloul Winner: Alexander Flugal(VolksWagen)
Mumbai Cyclothon I (c1)
8th Georgos Tzortzakis, 13th CJ Sutton, 18th Adil Jelloul Winner: Daniele Bennati (Puma-SAP)
Mumbai Cyclothon II (c1)
3rd CJ Sutton, 8th Joseph Cooper Winner: Daniele Bennati (Puma-SAP)
Vuelta a Mallorca (c1)
17th Sylvian Calzati, 24th Eduard Vorganov Winner: Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez(CalBerry)
Tour of South Africa (c1)
3rd Manuele Mori, 4th Simon Gerrans, 6th Eduard Vorganov, 8th Kim Kirchen, 12th Daryl Impey 23rd Sylvian Calzati Simon Gerrans wins stage 6 Winner: Jonathan Bellis (Rapha Condor - Qhubeka)
GP di Lugano (c1)
10th Sylvian Calzati, 20th Amaël Moinard, 21st Manuele Mori, 22nd John Gadret Winner: Alexander Flugal (VolksWagen)
Tour de Langkawi (HC)
2nd Daniel Moreno, 12th John Gadret, 18th Kin-San Wu, 19th Amael Moinard Daniel Moreno wins Stage 10 and Roman Kilun wins stage 9 Winner: Marco Marzano (VolksWagen)
Tour of Boland (c1)
9th Manuele Mori, 11th Sylvian Calzati, 12th Mikael Cherel, 13th Simon Gerrans Winner: Jonathan Bellis
Nokere Koerse (c1)
17th Carlos Alexandre Manarelli Winner: Gaudin (Focused)
Cape Argus Cycle Tour (c1)
9th Manuele Mori 15th Adil Jelloul 17th Eduard Vorganov Winner: Sambris (Hollister)
Dwars Door Vlaanderen (c1)
15th Jerome Giaux Winner: Veelers (Koppert)
Tour of Taiwan(c1)
2nd Gustavo Veloso, 7th John Gadret, 8th Sylvian Calzati 10th Daniel Moreno Winner: Krasnoperov (Emu export)
Paris-Roubaix(Monument)
46th: Sven Vanthourenhout Winner: Tom Boonen(Nestle)
Tour of the Battenkill(c1)
18th Roman Kilun Winner:Staf Scheirlinckx (Hollister)
Profende de Drenthe(c1)
37th Georgos Tzortzakis Winner: Veelers (Koppert)
Tour of Japan(c1)
4th Daniel Moreno, 8th John Gadret, 11th Ameal Moinard 16th + KoM: Eduard Vorganov John Gadret wins Mt Fuji time trial and Gustavo Veloso wins stage 3 Winner: David De la Fuente (Bianchi)
Rund um-eischborn Frankfort(c1)
3rd Manuelle Mori, 17th Adil Jelloul, 20th Mikael Cherel Winner: Fabian Wegmann(Trilux)
GP Herning(c1) Winner: Jerome Giaux 6th Sven Vanthourenhout
Gp of Moscow(c1)
10th Matteo Priamo Winner: Danielle Bennati (Puma)
Lincoln GP(c1)
32nd Jerome Giaux Winner: Pieter VanSpreybrouk(Bpost)[/b]
Rogaland GP(c1)
17th Carlos Manarelli
[i]Winner: Danielle Bennati (Puma)
Tour of Southland(c1)
4th Daryl Impey, 11th Gustavo Veloso, 13th + KoM Eduard Vorganov, 19th Kim Kirchen Vorganov wins stage 6 Winner: Chris Froome (Rapha Condor)
Barcelona Classic(c1)
2nd Adil Jelloul, 7th Daryl Impey, 21st Daniel Moreno Winner: Valentin Iglinski (Rothaus)
ProRace Berlin(HC)
43rd Carlos Manarelli Winner: Daniele Bennati (Puma)
Tour of Luxembourg(c1)
18th Adil Jelloul, 20th: Mekael Cherel Winner: Francesco Ginanni (Vespa)
Gp of Wales(c1)
10th Sylvian Calzati, 13th Mikael Cherel, 14th Manuelle Mori, 16th Simon Gerrans Winner: Cesere Di Maggio (Venchi)
Air Force Cycling Classic(c1)
12th Blaise Sonnery Winner: Daniele Bennati (Puma)
Tour de France (Grand Tour)
15th John Gadret 27th Daniel Moreno
Podiums on stage 9, 14, 17 and 19 Winner: Damieno Cunego (Cafe de Colombia)
Vuelta a Colombia (ProTour)
13th John Gadret 18th Daniel Moreno
Podiums on stage 8 and 9 Winner: Damieno Cunego (Cafe de Colombia)
Clasica San Sebastian(c1)
5th Daniel Moreno 8th Kim Kirchen Winner: Alejandro Valverde (Proximus-Trek)
GP Ploauy(c1)
8th Sylivian Calzati, 10th Simon Gerrans, 16th Mikael Cherel, 17th Eduard Vorganov, 18th Amael Moinard, 19th Blaise Sonnery Winner: Mikael Delage (Puma)
Tour de Delhi(c1)
10th Graeme Brown Winner: William Ford (Oz Cycling)
Tour of Swaziland(c1)
3rd Amael Moinard Ameal Moinard wins stage 4
Balise Sonnery wins stage 3 Winner: Jose Alarcon (Aker Solutions)
Tour of Britain (HC)
4th Daryl Impey 11th Jerome Giaux Ameal Moinard wins stage 3 Winner: Jonathan Bellis (Rapha Condor - Qhubeka)
Gp Quebec(c1)
15th Manuele Mori, 16th Eduard Vorganov, 17th Kim Kirchen Winner: Ryder Hesjedal (Rothaus)
GP Montreal(c1)
4th Kim Kirchen, 7th Manuele Mori, 16th Mikael Cherel Winner: Hassan Ben Nasser (Proximus Trek)
Circuit Franco-Belge(HC)
24th Carlos Manarelli Winneraniele Bennatti (Puma-SAP)
Milano Torino(c1)
3rd Mikael Cherel 10th Jon Gadret, 12th Kim Kirchen Winner: Massimo Iannetti (Pirelli-Alfa Romaro)
Paris Tours(c1)
No Top 25 finisher Winner: Daniele Bennati
Herald Sun Tour (c1)
5th Kim Kirchen Winner:Kristjen Koren (CalGiant)
Tour of Taihu(c1)
5th Adil Jelloul Winner: Rene Mandri (Cyclevox)
Japan Cup(HC)
14th Sylvian Calzati Winner: Alexander Flugal (VolksWagen)
2013
Glory days! Our first year in the big time was validated by two huge names joining the Red Bull franchise. Fabian Cancellara's 2013 season was simply his best, with a number of high profile cobbled classic and time trial wins. The team also put forward it's first notable Grand Tour challenge with Emanuelle Sella at the Giro. His GC position wasn't that great but his brilliant solo win over the Gavia will long be part of the highlights reel.
Sprint duo Michael Van Stayen and Juan Van Heerden would mop up plenty of points and we finished a very respectable 7th in our first Protour season. Both are young and certainly this is an area we can re-strengthen in future seasons.
We had a highly active transfer season coming into the year and managed to considerably lower the average age of the team - with an eye to get loyal domestiques for the long term.
Simply Red Bull results 2013:
Team ranking: 7th 7055 points
Individual Rankings
Fabian
Cancellara
2105
Michael
Van Stayen
1072
Emanuelle
Sella
668
Juan
Van Heerden
453
Jack
Bobridge
359
Ran
Margaliot
236
Michel
Sibilla
229
Tom
Stubbe
226
Sebastian
Turgot
203
Ameal
Moinard
178
19 wins
Fabian Cancellara: Chrono des Herbiers, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Stage win (Tour of California), Stade Appia Antica, 2 stage wins (Tour of Northern Europe), Stage win (Tour of Tasmania)
Michael Van Stayen: Stage win (Volta a Catalunya), Two stage wins (Tour of California), Stage win (Vuelta a Espana), Stage win (Dauphine), Stage win (Vuelta a Colombia)
Emanuelle Sella: Stage win (Giro D'Italia), Stage win (Vuelta a Colombia)
Elia Viviani: Stage win (Giro D'Italia)
Tom Stubbe: Stage win (Tour de Suisse)
Timothey Vangheel: Stage win (Tour de France)
Juan Van Heerden: Stage win (Duetschland Tour)
Full rundown of season
Spoiler
January
10th: Badaling International (Protour Classic)
Young Rowsell is in the BotD, as Bobridge, Margoloit, Moinard and Bennett finish with the front group of 100. Hilly classics will be tough to catch a break in this year.
22nd: Tour of Qatar (Protour 6 day stage race)
A much stronger team and a better performance. Cancellara narrowly fails to take Red Bull's first protour win on the short TTand Van Stayen cannot get a top 5 in the sprints which the competition was red hot as it should be
February
5th: Chrono des Herbiers (Protour Classic)
Red Bull's first Protour win as Cancellara upsets home favourite Jerome Coppel with a stunning display of chrono power. Viviani and Bobridge produce decent rides too.
13th: Tirreno-Arriatico (Protour 7 day stage race)
The stage race triple was always going to be tough, Bobridge and Facci flew the flag with some attacking riding. Bobridge went okay on GC aided by a horrific final stage crash taking out some of the favourites.
15th: Paris Nice (Protour 8 day stage race)
The Trofimov dominated Paris Nice offered scant oppurtunity for others. Margaliot produced a battling ride for a decent GC, as Sulzberger managed a surprise high sprint finish on one of the stages with Sibilla featuring in breaks
18th: Volta ciclista a Catalunya (Protour 7 day stage race)
Sella made his debut an produced a decent ride to finish high on GC despite a very tough field. Van Stayen rounded off a decent stage race with a sprint win on the final stage.
27th: Milan San Remo (Monument)
Struggled to get involved but both Cancellara and Van Stayen managed to finish in the top 20 - both showing they are the stars of the early season for the team
March
1st: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (Protour Classic)
A Huge goal sealing win from Cancellara who allowed Boonen to provide the suicidal attack before using the in form Pozzato's wheel to launch a stunning sprint win
5th: East Midlands Cicle Classic (Protour Classic)
Cancellara provided a late attack as once again the cobbled squad showed good legs. Turgot did well to nab a 5th after Cancellara was caught late on.
11th: Rund um Koln (Protour Classic)
What looked a low key race turned into a decent one as Van Stayen managed to find a good position to gain an excellent podium behind Boonen and Bennati
18th: Gent – Wevelgem (Protour Classic)
Third place for Cancellara here as he got on Boonen's wheel for the sprint following a far more selective race than we thought would initially occur. We were one of the key reasons why, putting out cobbled squad through their paces.
19th: Vuelta al Pais Vasco (Protour 6 day stage race)
A bit of a nothing hill fest for us, Bobridge had a crack at the youth jersey and a few half hearted break attempts. We are not up to it in these hilly battles frankly, but Bobo did a decent run to third on the youth.
25th: Ronde van Vlaanderen (Monument)
We just miss our second season goal as Cancellara is unable to follow the big attacks at the big moments. It's a shame as the team worked very hard to turn this into a highly selective De Ronde. Gusev joined Bewley and Boonen on the podium, Canc just off his best if we are honest
April
1st: Paris-Roubaix (Monument)
Cancellara was really up for this one, but alas a nasty crash at a key section left us behind the 8-ball. Still a great effort from Sibilla pulled Cancellara back into contention, which saw him finish in 4th. Bewley emerges as the new cobbled superstar
8th: Amstel Gold Race (ProTour Classic)
The first race of the Ardennes and already we realise that competition here is too hot for our young bunch of punchaers. Lessons learned for Jack Bobridge who was caught on one of the hills with 30 or so km left and no way back.
11th: Fleche Wallone (ProTour Classic)
A poor race. Hopelessly out of position in the finale, though nice to see Boonratanathanakorn have a go in the middle of the race.
15th: Liege – Bastogne – Liege (Monument)
Once again the team miss the first major split, Bobo just wasn't either in form or in place to have an impact. He may have hoped to grab a top 20 or two from the Ardennes but he was badly lacking.
22nd: Tour of Romandie (6 day stage race)
The big pointer for how well Sella could do in the Giro and some encouraging signs with a 4th on the Mountain Time Trial. However there were some warning signs too with Sella losing time to the favourites in the hilly stage 5. He manages an alright 9th place, will be hoping for far more in his home grand tour.
May
1st: Giro d’Italia (Grand Tour)
Emanuale Sella gave us our first ever Grand Tour stage win with a brilliant solo ride over the Gavia. Elia Viviani won the next day from a breakaway to complete the rescue of what had been a trying Giro from a strong Simply Red Bull squad. Sella finished 7th overall and Jaan Van Heerden was just off in his sprint attemps.
6th: Tour of California (8 day stage race)
By far our strongest protour stage race ever, Cancellara finishes third overall surprising the climbers with a gutsy performance on Mount Baldy aided by a supreme team effort. Fab convincingly won the TT which followed on from Van Stayens pair of stage wins. We were pretty much all over every stage and it took a determined ride from Machado to know Cancellara off.
25th: Vuelta a Espana (Grand Tour)
Following the late show in the Giro, the team's morale was sky high with an early stage victory from sprinter Michael Van Stayen. However this proved a false dawn with little else to cheer from a comparatively weak squad. Van Stayen managed some more decent sprint results, but in the land of breakaways we only occasionally made it in one.
June
1st: Stada Appia Antica (Protour Classic)
Fabian was highly motivated for this and following his excellent Tour of California he managed to break the entire field of cobblers and zoomed away in this new Italian classic. Only really Sam Bewley looked close to the Swiss machine but even he could not keep Fab in his sights. An excellent win.
17th: Tour de Suisse (Protour 9 day stage race)
After a fairly miserly tour in the main Tom Stubbe went for broke on the final day in the days breakaway. After a tense struggle in the finale the Belgian won the small group sprint to take a massive win to boost the team after an otherwise indifferent stage race with Van Heerden once again making a mess of the sprints.
17th: Criterium du Dauphine Libere (Protour 8 day stage race)
In the one flat stage Michael Van Stayen sprinted to a fine win, his season continues to go from strength to strength. Rain Margaloit is showing a liking to French stage races also, breaking clear to finish second on the penultimate stage.
28th: Classique du Grand Duche
Hilly classics usually mean very low points yields for SRB, but today Jack Bobridge decided to produce by far his most convincing classic performance to date animating the finale. He ended up finishing just inside the top 15, with the promise of greater success to come in future seasons
July
1st: Tour de France (Grand Tour)
For Simply Markets an abject failure. In truth a weak team in GC terms was sent. Timmy Vangheel took the 15th stage with a brilliant win from the breakaway. Juan Van Heerden lacked the defining sprint result.
26th: Tour of Norway (Protour 8 day stage race)
A decent race with good consistent placing from Van Stayen, who narrowly failed to add to his win count. Moinard made the final stage breakaway which proved to massively change the GC. Jack Bobridge produced a determined display to finish 13th on GC.
August
2nd: Flat Classic (Protour Classic)
Another very average performance from South African sprinter Juan Van Heerden. It is possible the protour is not for him
5th: Vuelta a Colombia (Protour 12 day stage race)
Two stage wins perhaps mask that we may have expected a slightly better GC than 6th from Manu Sella. Even so the climber managed a stage win along with the ever reliable Belgian sprinter Van Stayen
31st: GP Liechtenstien (Protour Classic)
Will Manu out of race days, Adill Jelloul ended up our best finisher in 61st from the breakaway. A day for the mountain men, one to forget for us!
September
2nd: Deutschland Tour (Protour 8 day stage race)
A quiet race until the final road stage and sprint success for JvH at last as he took a long awaited first win in SRB colours - possibly earning a contract for next year
14th: Lisbon Classic (Protour classic)
It was a day for the late attackers in this flat classic - JvH back to ordinary with a weak 23rd place
17th: Tour of Northern Europe (Protour 8 day stage race)
A big race for Fab this one, he opens up with a win on stage one and backed it up by beating Coppel on the long ITT. But crucially lost time to Coppel on the first of the hilly stages and the cobbles proved unselective meaning the Frenchman took the overall. JvH managed a couple of top fives
26th: World championships
Two second places in the chronos - in which both Luke Durbridge (U23) and Fabian Cancellara (Elite) anything but the gold will be seen as a failure. Still a decent performance from both to be on the podium
October
2nd: Copenhagen-Malmo TTT (Protour Classic)
One of the teams that finished in a big clump between 6th and 15th - saved ourselves for the finale slightly but finished just outside the top 10 which was marginally disappointing
6th: Praha-Karlovy Vary-Praha (Protour Classic)
In a very wet and windy race, Juan Van Heerden produced a fine performance sprinting alongside Tom Boonan to a second place. He can talk of stepping up next year.
17th: Tour of Tasmania (Protour 3 day stage race)
MvS took 6th in a messy sprint which also involved punchaers on the opener. Cancellara hung on to the climbers group on the selective stage and delivered another brilliant TT winning the final stage and finishing second on GC
23rd: Giro di Lombardia (Monument)
No riders in the top 50 in what was always going to be a tough race for our young hilly squad
I don't think I will ever forget stage six of the Tour Down Under, I could not possibly have expected to be in that position. We had entered a sort of composite team in the then HC rated six stage race, John-Lee Augustyn and CJ Sutton were supposed to be the co-leaders. But Yuki stole away on stage two and sneaked into yellow a day later. He rode like a man possessed on the queen Willunga hill stage and survived the last stage crash filled finale to win the 2011 Tour Down Under.
A team in unity?
We had an eclectic group of riders at Red Bull Cycling in our first year and there was a general lack of team spirit amongst the guys. This led to cliques and some major underperformances particularly from the Columbian riders. However on occasion we could pull something special out of the bag, the team time trial at the Tour of Japan was one such occasion with a stunning win setting up a memorable race for Red Bull
Siutsou comes to the fore
Belerussian Konstantin Siustou was not on any of my pre-season to sign shortlists, he was rather drafted in at the last minute. This rider has gained a reputation of a somewhat aloof mercenary and his response after a bitterly disappointing Tour of Langkawi was to simply say that Genting highlands is not really his thing. As the end of the season approached Konstantin found a new gear, probably thinking of getting a big money protour contract for the next year. This was our gain also however, here he is at the front of the Volta a Portugal where he would finish 4th overall.
New jersey given a decisive airing
The foundations for 2012 were put in the summer of 2011. A six man U23 squad was sent on an enterprising European based series. Our team was based on four Aussie youngsters and two Kiwi young lads, we raced well with Damian Drapac winning a race here in the new colours.
Japan cup season ending victory
We didn't really expect it to succeed, but Konstantin still had some form in his legs so we gave him license to try a bridging to the breakaway move. It was a sort of 1 in 20 type of chance but we reasoned with all the classics experts in the peleton, that this was the only chance of doing something really big. Konstantin was putting himself out there in the shop window again with a classy win from the group sprint to win the Japan Cup 2011.
Wall of fame 2012
Gezza strikes in Red Bull's lucky charm race
Tour Down Under 2012 didn't bring the victory of the year before, but it proved impossible to stop a determined Allan Davis. That said the team had another spectacular race in the light of media pressue Simon Gerrans attacked clear in the lumpy stage 3 finish with Italian Alessandro Proni. The plucky Australian landed a home victory roared on by friends and family proving again that Red Bull's heart lies in Australia
Mori is the man of the first half of the season
The squad showed a one for all and all for one mentality in the first half of the season. The balanced nature of the squad meant that results were shared around, though some riders i truth used this as an excuse to take a day off. Not experienced Italian Manuele Mori who seemed to always be battling for every position. The former Sony Ericsson rider produced a brilliant solo win in South Africa, another nation which piled huge media pressure on Red Bull. A highly successful race followed this stage 2 victory.
Moreno shows Panache in Langkawi
Never was this all rounds squads resolve tested more in the HC rate Tour of Langkawi. We went into the race with high hopes of a podium through John Gadret. However he was caught up in a nasty crash following the key mountain stages. But following a morale boosting win by Romain Kilun, Danny Moreno launched an audacious attack on the final stage to sieze second overall after he had battled well for a high GC place in the mountains. This pick ourselves up off the floor scrapping has helped accumalate some hefty points totals
Gadret shows glimpses of the past
John Gadret suffered the ignomy of being sat at home watching his favourite races in 2011. It was always going to be tough on his return to the saddle and the French former two time Dauphine winner couldn't shake off the race rust in the first half of the season. That said the Mount Fuji TT in the Tour of Japan inspired Gadret who walloped the opposition by a over half a minute. This gave the team an indication that come Tour de France Gadret could pull something fantastic off.
Moinard takes three podiums at the Tour de France
We targetted four or five stages that looked good for a breakaway win and Amael Moinard proved to be our go to man on most of those key days. He unfortunately came up against one rider who was stronger than he on each of the three days he came runner up. But the French love a gallent runner up and certainly it proved popular with sponsors. It was a huge highlight to be there, John Gadret just squeaked inside the top 15, whilst Impey tested himself in the sprints. We barely saw a day without a Jayco Red Bull rider in a break, just a wonderful 21 days
Moinard takes stage at Tour of Blighty as promotion is sealed
It was beginning to become obvious that just a couple of half decent performances late on in the season and we were going to make it to the ProTour. Moinard had been so active in the Tour and was able to hold some form for the big HC race in Great Britain. It's great to get some success in Europe and Moinard showed excellent race guile to take the third stage. We ended the Tour of Britain pretty much confirmed as promoted!
Wall of fame - 2013
Cancellara takes a cobbled classic
What a brilliant professional - the Swiss time trial machine showed his prowess and adaptability winning a small bunch sprint at the end of the highly respected Belgium classic the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. It was a highly anticipated clash between our new look cobbled squad against the might of the green team at Pokerstars. They made a hash of setting up the sprint and Fab capitalised.
Sella nails teams first ever Grand Tour stage win
Manu couldn't manage the high GC results he wanted, but he will always go down in folklore as the first Red Bull GT stage winner. What a magnificent stage win it was too, over the Cima Coppi first dropping Colombian Henao along the way to finish solo. A brilliant descent he relived some of his glory days in that moment. He would repeat the trip with a fine summit victory in Colombia a few months later. The teams search for a consistent stage racer though continues
Cancellara provides uber lead out for Van Stay in Cali
The Tour of California was a very heavy scorer for us, the perfect Red Bull tour really not mountainous enough to attract an all star stage racer field but not flat enough to attract the big sprinters. Michael Van Stayen was led out brilliantly by Bobridge and then Cancellara on his way to fine stage win. The select one of his six stage wins over the year, this one was perhaps the sweetest coming on the opening stage.
Van Heerden learns finally how to win
South African sprinter Juan Van Heerden was in the main panned throughout the season with one lucklustre sprint effort after another. Very much seen as an upgrade of Daryl Impey from the season before this proved a long hard season, that was until a superb stage win in Germany beating Ben Swift amongst others to the line. The Saffer followed it up with a n excellent second in the Czech flat classic, to underline promise for the following season.
Cancellara takes his fifth TT of the year down Under
In the first half of the season much of Fabian's focus was on cobbles but following a fine performance at the California stage race - the Swiss man switched his focus on the chrono. He just missed out on Worlds gold to Tyler Phinney but had the Americans number on the penultimate race day of the Protour calender. This underlined his claim to perhaps be the best pure TTer of the year given he also won the Chrono des Herbiers earlier in the year.Edited by Smowz on 17-02-2014 18:28
You made some smart moves by adding Spartacus, Sella and those sprinters. Especially as some great TT'lers and sprinters will ride in PCT this year And of course I'm delighted to see Bobo as your leader in Ardennes' classics. Just another reason to follow your team closely. Good luck in PT, I'm sure you will have some decent results.
Very nice read there. You did great by getting 4 high quality leaders. You just need a bit more strength in the hilly part and you would have a nice balanced team.
Will be interesting to follow you in your first PT season and nice that Krieger had found a spot in your team to come back stronger. In 1-2 years he might be one of the better German sprinters next to Ciolek, Greipel, Degenkolb.
Red Bull's loanees get a ride out in China's Badaling International
Simply Red Bull's opening season race in China will be a low key one with it serving mainly for an experience gathering exercise for their six loaned in talents and two of their own brood. Team boss Smowz will be there though and he is feeling broody...
Yes I feel with these young pups I feel like a bit of a proud father. This is going to be a bit of a painful one for young Alex Kreiger who has been looking the most leggy in training circuits. Still I would like him to try and complete the parcours else I will demanding some compensation from his team boss.
It does make quite the contrast from usual season starts, Smowz was quick to point out that he has expectations of January's other protour race.
Both MvS and Fabian are in Qatar so that is really the big target for this month to try and get the right side of that lottery. We know the Bennati bastard will be sprinting quick there, I should imagine the Boonan bastard will be in the middle East too. I hope we can give them a bit of a desert surprise
Smowz was looking for some sort of showing from his youngsters in Badaling though.
I've told the boys to go out there and express themselves. Bobo is talking of trying something, but I think his card will be marked whereas Boonratanathanakorn is determined to frustrate the English speaking commentators. I think he is pretty keen to get up the road early, then again I am sure any of the youngsters are. This is about having a bit of fun really before the season starts for us in Qatar
Following a low key opening race, SRB are pleased to announce that Fabian Cancellara will make his season debut in Qatar. The Swiss Time Trial and classics specialist was looking forward to the season start with some key early season objectives in his sights.
It's pretty close to the chrono in Herbiers, it'll be tough to beat Coppel and Rogers there but the team are keen for me to get a podium there. I am looking for a good performance in the final time trial and the five stages before should help get me in shape for that.
Team boss Smowz was keen to emphasise that he felt this was where Simply Red Bull's season began.
Badaling was the opening premiere for punchaers, this race is likely to showcase the sprinters. But the time trial at the end is probably our big chance of a win. Michael Van Stayen will keep us interested in the sprints, but with Boonen and Bennati here wins will be difficult. I'll be a bit disappointed if we cannot get a decent result out here, it will be nice to get some decent points on the board.
It will be interesting to see if Cancellara goes away with anything here. Imo it's a bit of a gamble looking at his amount of racedays to put him in a stagerace where 5 stages give bonus seconds for the very best sprinters, and the fact that he is unlikely to get more than 5-8 seconds on them in the final TT means that he could be around 10th GC if he performs well.
The race is going to be very unpredictable I think, although the top 3 sprinters here should be on the podium in the end. I have no idea what to expect from Guerao though.
Well when you look at the Protour calender this year there is not too many races for the pure time trial man. I think that may well be the reason for Zabriskie and Rogers dropping down to PCT, they simply have more winnable races.
This is Fab's full schedule:
Qatar
Herbiers
MSR
Omloop
EMCC
G-W
RvV
P-R
Tour of Cali
Strade Appia
TONE
TTT
Tour of Taz
Qatar was perhaps the last choice for Cancellara, rivalling Paris Nice (which would have meant dropping Milan San Remo or the TTT). I'd prefer to take a punt on MSR being a monument than gamble on beating likely opponent Coppel at Paris Nice. The other thing I mused was Canc going for a GT, but I don't know as to whether that would have worked either.
I don't think there will be huge echelon type gaps in Qatar, but if there his I am hoping Cancellara will be ready for them. I hope for your sake Guerao is! My concern is a short windy TT could really randomize the results so I hope Cancellara is on top form there.
Yeah I agree with SotD, that's an intersting choice. You'll basically have to hope that the sprinters all cancel each other out in terms of bonus time and that Cancellara can put heaps of time into them - which over that length may not be possible. That said you've pretty much guaranteed yourself a stage win.
After being narrowly beaten in the short time trial in Qatar, Fabian Cancellara is brutally aware that in terms of his time trial goals he already is a little behind regarding his season goals.
Ya, I need a couple of chrono wins this year and I thought Qatar was a very winnable one but Jacob had a really strong day. Maybe I had worked too hard to keep near the front with Michael Van Stayen everyday. It was a short one but I didn't think I did much wrong, so Jacob is definitely going to be right there in the time trials. For me personally though I was not very happy I want to get the a few points for the team against the clock and a win was what was required in Qatar really.
Looking ahead Sparticus felt that the Herbiers time trial was a big chance to make amends.
The cobbled classics are coming yeah, but before that I've a chance to battle with Rogers, Coppel and Jacob in France. I can win and think its a possibility, I did well in the worlds last year and here was pretty good last year. Obviously Coppel is in his home country but he had 12 seconds on me last time if conditions are good I can take him.
Team boss Smowz was hopeful also.
Qatar was okay, MvS did about as much as he could in the sprints and Fab well it was a lot to expect for him in the short one. But he did get in the top ten which was useful. Most would say anything but a Coppel win would be an upset, but Mick Rogers and Fab are going to be right there. Jacob Fiedler is on a high but I cannot believe he will be quite up to this, Phinney is more dangerous I think. So it will be a bit of a drag fight between 4 or 5 guys so it's going to be a bit tense there for three or four teams.
Smowz pointed out that after this Cancellara will be going to practice alone on the cobbles.
He will not be going to Paris Nice (or the other stage races) but Fab's going to give Milan San Remo a go he really fancies riding up the front with MvS and maybe putting some hurt into Bewley and Boonen on the Poggio. Could be a nice Psychological blow for them. But yes after Herbiers it is going to be all out for the five big cobbled races
Fantastic Fabian Cancellara stunned the home crowd by defeating Milka's French darling Jerome Coppel by 21 seconds in one of his best ever chrono performances. It heralded the franchises first ever Protour and gave the team a welcome early season boost. The Swiss powerhouse was proud of his performance.
It was great, I felt really super coming out of Qatar despite just missing out in the short chrono there. I think that block of racing has got me in the best shape that I have been at this time of the year. Perfect for me that we raced the time test this early. Looking at the gaps I am really pleased it was definately my best performance against the clock
Team boss Smowz was on a high.
Yep this is up there as a big highlight, we felt Cancellara would be up there in the chrono's this year after that strong worlds performance. I'll be honest I wasn't sure what shape Coppel would be in, I thought he produced a very good time trial actually. It is just somehow Fab went better, it really was a fantastic performance. Somewhat ironic for out French sponsors that we broke French hearts today!
Stage race - triple header a trip into the unknown
Bobo leads young squad in Tirreno - Adriatico, with Jaan Van Heerden making his season debut. Team Boss Smowz is realistic about the teams hopes.
Bobo gets to test his legs against the likely Ardennes competition here with a couple of really tough stages, particularly in Chieti on stage 5. I don't think it will be that easy for Bobo to get much but it would be nice to see him put his head into the wind a couple of times. JvH is making his seasons bow, lets be honest though with Boonen, Bennati and Bewley here his chances will be limited.
Moinard is looking forward to a free role at Paris - Nice admitting that a look at the startlist has raised his hopes of a good race.
I think Tirreno looked a better prospect for the hill men and the Volta suits the pure climbers, so this race fits between. We will look to animate the race I think and with the small teams here we have a chance of nicking something. I love racing in France and would like to taste the podium, I missed out a few times when with a chance at the Tour last year.
Emanuele Sella is looking forward to returning to Spain with his new squad with happy memories of last years Vuelta.
Last year after the Giro, I didn't want to talk about Ricco and finishing second I just wanted to race. It was a mountain climbers paradise and the Volta has the first true mountain stage in this years World Tour. I think we could see some top class riders here to take on this.
Team Boss Smowz admitted the Volta was the one out of the trio he was looking forward to.
I know Emanuele cannot wait to test himself on that stage six, I think that stage 3's mountain test will weed out a few pretenders but that one really is a hard stage for this stage of the year. Van Stayen is here for the sprints, I am interested to see how he goes as he did pretty well in Qatar.
Michael Van Stayen confirmed his sprint ability denying rival Oscar Guerao a clean sweep of the flat stages at the Volta a Catalunya. He was quick to credit the team who set up a strong sprint train for him to deliver a tight sprint win.
No doubt Guerao is quick and very hungry to take some stage wins in Spain. Adil Jelloul and Joseph Cooper did a top job managing to outpace the experienced Pokerstars train a couple of times here in Spain. The fact that Oscar chose my wheel is a complement really. For a guy like Emanuele Sella to help out too was really special
Joseph Cooper was very pleased also after settling into his position of last drop.
We didn't really have a lot of sprint train practice last year, Daryl (Impey) usually preferred to be dropped off near other trains. But we looked at the startlist at the beginning of this one and thought lets give it a go against Pokerstars and it took us a couple of goes to get it right. You need a good guy at the end though and Michael did really well to beat Holloway and Guerao
Elsewhere in the trifecta of stage races there was little for Red Bull to cheer. A final stage crash at Paris Nice picked up skilfully by the camaras, giving the whole race a bit of a keystone cops appearance.
George Bennett was full of remorse for the crash costing teammate Rain Margaloit a place on GC.
I was pushing myself to keep in contact and wasn't really watching for potholes. I should have really been thinking about Rain and I end up costing him. I'm sorry to him and the team for a bit of a wipe out performance
Fellow Oz Cycling loanee Jack Bobridge carried the SRB colours bravely at the loaded Tirreno Adriatico field.
Bobridge ended up being promoted to a decent top 20 GC position following a horrific final stage crash wiping out leader Franck Schleck in the process.
I tried a few attacks over the course of this race, I am learning that you really have to pick your moment to get away. I finished fairly decently overall, so it's been a pretty good race for me
Team Boss Smowz was in a mixed mind.
The sponsors are a bit irate with a bit of a non show at Paris - Nice, frankly anyone but Trofimov struggled to show themselves. The Russian just dominated proceedings here, I thought a few breakaways would get something but I was wrong really. Sulzberger and Margaliot had a decent day each, I think though Moinard is a bit disappointed the team couldn't do a bit more.
I was hopeful for Mauro Facci to take that King of the Mountains jersey all the way to the finish in the race of two seas. We got in a lot of breaks and I am happier overall with out performance out in Italy. In those two stage races it was very much our 'B squads' so anything out of those races is a bonus.
The Volta was a different story, I am really very pleased to have snatched that last stage victory. Van Stayen has sprinted pretty decently in Qatar and again all week at the Volta. He gave a great kick to win the final stage. I think he could take a stage or two at the Vuelta and perhaps in California too. Sella gave a good account of himself in the mountains.
An important side note for us is that we had all 24 riders finish these races, Alex Aulas at Paris Nice and Luke Durbridge at the Volta in particular really struggled through these and I am really proud of them for making it home.
With the team managing to maintain a top ten overall position thoughts now head towards the first monument of the season in the Milan San Remo Classic.
Both of Simply Red Bull's winners thus far this season are present at this race and both feel they are in with a shout.
Chrono des Herbiers winner Fabian Cancellara said:
I don't feel much expectation on me here, I finished tenth a few years back but it is hard against the Italian chancers and the staying sprinters to get close. I know I have shared leadership with Michael Van Stayen here, we worked together okay in Qatar so it should be a good team
Michael Van Stayen felt that this was every sprinters dream classic.
Bewley went close a couple of years back and with Bennati and Boonen I think a sprinter must be in with a chance this year. I have some confidence off of the win in Catalunya and feel I could sneak a decent place. I do have ambitions to win this, I think if I can get a good position into the Poggio why not?
aniele Bennatti (Puma-SAP)
And of course I'm delighted to see Bobo as your leader in Ardennes' classics. Just another reason to follow your team closely. Good luck in PT, I'm sure you will have some decent results.
