Riding in the Pro Tour this season is no huge surprise for Daan Olivier as the management planned to loan him to a PT team just as they did with other youngsters like Koep, Krieger or Ariesen.
But after Team Rothaus - Aegon promoted itself, he is more than happy to ride together with his team mates in the highest division. "It`s a huge step for me of course. From neo-pro to Pro Tour in just one season. But I had a good first season with some highlights and am ready to continue my development in the biggest races."
Pre transfers, his personal schedule is obviously not known yet even though it`s more or less secured, that he will ride his first ever GT this season. If this is already the Tour de France is still to be decided. "Being a stage racer it`s always the dream to ride the Tour de France of course. But I am still young and have many years to come as a pro cycling. So it`s not really important if I ride the Tour in this season or in a later season. First I need to learn a lot to ride on that level."
Asked about his goals for 2014: "Some years ago I was looking up to Robert Gesink and wanted to reach his status by myself. He might be the most complete Dutch rider at the moment and this year I finally get the chance to ride in the same field as him.
In 2014 my only goal is to improve my skills. I might have some freedom for sure as the team was never really focussing the mountain races. This definitely will change this year. So I hope to show myself in some races in a group. Also Avenir is another dream to enter the top10 this year. Last year I wasn`t ready for the race and missed my goal of a top20. But I should be much stronger this year after getting all those experiences over the season.
Olivier will be an awesome rider someday (but Meintjes is better )
It's a great feeling to know that you don't have to loan anyone out to develop them - they can just grow on your team. That's one of the funnest part of the game for me
@DubbelDekker: This would be a good thing indeed. I give Cyanide time until he is maxed. @aidan: That`s true. But Olivier has good chances to become one of the best Dutch stage racers in future. More important focus for me. Thanks.
Rothaus - Aegon reveils team goals for 2014
It was a hard decision to decide for the team goals. On one hand the manager wanted to focus the German and Dutch races like Amstel Gold, Deutschland Tour or Rund um Köln. But on the other hand we had to focus those races, that might already suit our actual team the most before knowing who to get in the transfer season. This was some kind of dilemma as also there are several different transfer plans and the actual plan might not be decided until transfers are starting.
So in the end the team decided to go for some ambitious goals but without focussing the two mentioned countries. As the sponsors obviously were surprised/annoyed/shocked by that, we immediately came together with those to explain. In the end they understood our decision to 100% as we guaranteed them that it`s "just" goals but not the only key races this season. Of course we will bring the best possible team to the home races and we will of course give our best there to deliver top results.
But now coming to the actual goals.
We have a rider core of Jonathan Bellis, Maxime Vantomme and Lars Boom. So we went for goals, those 3 might be already capable of to deliver, even though we probably need 1-2 updates to really acchieve those.
The most ambitious probably but then again not the most unrealistic might be winning Milan San Remo. We surely are not the only team to try this but seeing that it`s a race for puncheur and/or sprinters this might be a perfect race for Jonathan Bellis.
Our next goal brings us again to Italy. A top 3 in the Giro di Lombardia. Surely it can be decided between a small group and so Bellis is again a rider to watch there.
Going a bit more to our focussed countries the team is heading to Belgium for a top 10 in Liege - Bastogne - Liege. We had to decide between the Amstel Gold Race and LBL. In the end the more prestigious race won in our decision and as you might have realized. The team is fully going for the monuments in it`s first PT season so far.
Deciding between the 3 GT`s was hard as our team was never going for the mountain races so far. Something that needs to change in 2014 of course. After first deciding to take it "easy" with winning a stage in the Giro as our hilly sprinters should be able to get a chance on that route, we quickly switched after seeing the Vuelta route. A race, where a pure climber could do as well as a real stage racer. So no matter what stage racer the team is able to bring in during transfers, a top 10 in the Vuelta a Espana is hopefully possible.
Last goal is often an obvious for newly promoted teams. It`s about Avoiding Relegation. Reaching this would be a huge step for our team.
In total not the most easy goals, but also not too ambitious. And now let the season begin.
Good luck with your goals Roturn having played MSR a few times on PCM13 Bellis should really have a chance there . Can't wait to see who you sign during the transfers.
Thanks jt1109. No experience there but hope so.
@ Gustavovskiy: Not decided yet. Not even sure if there is money left for training in the end. Actually it`s not planned to be honest but training wasn`t planned last year neither.
Preseason: Thomas Koep
Coming back from one of the strongest Pro Tour Team, Vesuvio, young German Koep has improved a lot. Collecting experience in the biggest races was an important step for him and good for him as well that he can keep riding those races in 2014.
In 2013 it was just for his personal development and helping the Schleck brothers as good as possible. There obviously wasn`t room for a lot freedom on it`s own. Something that might change a little bit actually in this season. Asking him about his highlights in 2013 he said: "Learning from some of the best was the best step for me and even though I wasn`t able to make it into the GT teams, I was very happy with my race schedule. Riding in California, Colombia and of course the Deutschland Tour has to be named as absolute highlights. I was not 100% ready for the higher pace there but got used to it more and more the longer the season went. I want to personally thank Team Vesuvio and manager SportingNonsense again for this opportunity.
In the end of the year I also got some personal success in Avenir. Unfortunately I wasn`t able to help Kirsch to the overall win, but at least we secured him the podium with a fantastic team effort. Plus I was able to hang on many times, which ended on a good 15th. Unfortunately I won`t be able to ride this race again as I am a bit too old. But I surely will follow the race closely in 2014.
In 2014 he has big plans even though he knows, that he has still a bit to learn. But being in his 2nd Pro Tour season and 3rd year as a pro, he wants to make the last step. Riding my first Grand Tour is at the top of his list for the season, but also his first professional stage win and eventually some top20-30 GC`s to deliver some points against relegation. "I know that there will be 3-4 riders being stronger climbers than I am. So I expect to have some helper work to do. But I was guaranteed to have some kind of free role in a few races, that are still to be worked out. Plus the team guaranteed to nominate for my first GT, which is a great appreciation.
We are happy to announce that we were able to renew with 19 riders including all our stars.
Also it`s great to see that our best riders accepted a lower wage than in 2013, so that we are able to sign the needed guys for the Pro Tour.
(Slowly Vantomme looks less overpaid I guess)
Olivier, Krieger, Villella, Sbaragli and Koep stay for our future and will still improve in future. Also our 2013 stagiares Grand and Edmondson are seen as possible riders in the future. Both obviously need more experience and are looking for a loan deal.
Being on the free agent market are several stage wins and we want to thank all of them.
- Valentin Iglinski was always a very loyal helper and when needed he jumped into the leader role as shown with his awesome solo victory in the 2012 Barcelona Classic.
- Claudio Cucinotta wasn`t able to take a stage win in his 2 years. But he had some top 5`s like in the 2013 Frankfurt Eschborn (plus one stage win in the Crit Series).
- Hannes Blank was always an important part of our TTT squad and won this one in the 2013 Thüringen Rundfahrt. Also he took a stage win in the 2012 Tour of Southland.
- Jesus Tendero is the only rider without contract, who just was part of the team one year. But also being part of the winning TTT in Thüringen as also an 8th in the Tour of San Luis made him a good part.
- Aurelien Passeron. No need to say a lot I guess. Some called him the perfect breakaway rider and his palmares speaks for itself: Stage wins in Turkey and Sochi. KoM Jerseys, Leader Jerseys and some high GC`s like his 2nd in the Tour of Turkey or 8th in the Bayern Rundfahrt in 2012. Still we decided to don`t renew with him to make room for younger riders.
- Christoff Van Heerden was always a good part of our sprint train and did not have many chances on his own. A top 3 in Slovenie 2013 was his best result. But he was one reason, why Vantomme was able to go strong this year securing our promotion. But now it`s time for him to go back to Africa it seems.
- Carlo Westphal has a special place in our team`s history. Despite not riding a lot of races in his 2012 season he delivered our first ever stage win in our first ever race with a late attack in the Tour of Wellington, stage 5. In 2013 he got more chances but wasn`t able to get a contract, so he will probably still be able to have a decent role in the CT.
Edited by roturn on 12-03-2014 09:33
I know. He was the toughest decision there as he can always help I think. In especially in GT`s without the greatest leader.
But my team looks pretty mixed with
5 Germans
4 Dutch
2 Belgiums
2 Italians
1 Swiss
...
Those countries and in especially the first 3 are okay. The others are already not the real focus but good additions. And as I want to improve the riders from that countries, others had to be kicked.
Edited by roturn on 12-03-2014 08:20
Team Festina could be interested in landing Daan Olivier and Lars Boom this transferperiod if an agreement can be reached. Daan Olivier is seen as a long term signing which could strengthen the teams interest in performing largely at the Tour de France, while Lars Boom would be a great fit into the strong TT line of riders in the french setup.
As first rider to present in the 2014 transfer season, 26 year old Björn Thurau from Germany is joining our team. He is a rider that adds some depth in our puncheur squad. Due to his attacking style he might be seen a lot this season.
We think that he has some room left to improve on his skills. So we expect him to be much stronger next season, when he fully reaches his potential.
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SPR
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
71
64
73
57
73
70
67
53
66
72
76
67
65
In other news several riders including some of our best will leave the team. More information to come within the next days.
Rothaus
Aegon
Win Milan San Remo
Top 10 Vuelta a Espana
Top 10 Liege - Bastogne - Liege
Badaling International
Tour of Qatar
Chrono des Herbiers
East Midlands Cicle Classic
Tour of Romandie
Tour of California
Classique du Grand-Duché
Tour of Norway
GP Moscow
Vuelta a Colombia
GP Liechtenstein
Lisbon Classic
Tour of Northern Europe
Copenhagen - Malmo TTT
Praha - Karlovy Vary - Praha
Tour of Tasmania
Andrei Kunitski
Martin Velits
Valentin Iglinski
Christoff Van Heerden
Youcef Reguigui [Loan]
Shame his best ability, resistance, doesn't work this year. Let's hope it's reactivated in the next PCM.
)
Thanks.
. Can't wait to see who you sign during the transfers
