Hey this is Smowz team manager at Simply Red Bull. Welcome to our Media center - I will first run through the principal sponsors and present the jersey we will wear this season.
Red Bull are very excited to be sponsoring a Protour team for the second season 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 have generously continued to sponsor our squad, they were a little disappointed with our performance in French races last season where we set ourselves relatively modest goals. Nethertheless they were pleased with the global exposure of the brand.
We present our jersey for 2013
I would like to thank OlegTinkov for the design, the prominence of the bull and Simply Markets logo is particularly pleasing. I hope our jersey will stand out this season, it proved very similar to other jerseys last year.Edited by Smowz on 09-05-2015 08:36
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
2014
This year will be remembered for two really big wins. Cancellara was starting to fade, but whilst his time trial results were erratic Fab continued to challenge on the cobbles. The big challenge this year was to beat the new Boonan Sam Bewley and like Tommake the Kiwi was most vunerable on the hilly parcours at the Tour of Flanders. Canc formed a temporary alliance with other challenger Burghardt and managed to beat the German in a two up sprint for an emotional win.
Meanwhile in after disappointing results from the previous year through Manu Sella, the Italian climber was replaced with exciting PCT climb starlet Jose Alarcon. The Venezualan raced a strong 4th place in the Giro behind the strong trio of Cunego, Pluichkin and Madrazo. The Vuelta was more suited to Alarcon, however what followed was simply a fantastic display in a throwback to the old days with Alarcon attacking in the mountains over and over again to win the Grand Tour.
One monument and one Grand Tour - could hardly be better for the team. Unfortunately however the teams third leader Coppel didn't really deliver the consistant results the team was looking for. He did take the Chrono des Herbiers and a couple of other chrono's but lacked too many heavy scoring results. This lead much like the previous year to a finishing position just outside the top 5.
Simply Red Bull results 2014
Team Rankings 6th 7027 points
11
Alarcon
Jose
VEN
1963
13
Cancellara
Fabian
SWI
1619
44
Coppel
Jerome
FRA
698
101
Samoilev
Branislav
BLR
323
107
Morizot
Florian
FRA
295
120
Juul-Jensen
Christopher
DEN
257
184
Morabito
Steve
SWI
175
190
De Bie
Sean
BEL
172
251
Mestre
Ricardo
POR
135
271
Prevar
Oleksandr
UKR
121
15 Wins
Jose Alarcon: GC Vuelta a Espana (Two stage wins), GC Vuelta a Colombia (two stage wins)
Fabian Cancellara: Ronde Van Vlaandaraan, GC Tour of Northern Europe (one stage win), 1 stage win Tirreno Adriatico
Jerome Coppel: Chrono des Herbiers, Stage win Tour of Tasmania, Stage win Dauphine
Florin Morizot: Stage win Tour de France
Branislav Samiolev: Stage win Tour of the Basque country
Sean De Bie: Stage win Sean De Bie
Full rundown of season
Spoiler
Badaling (Hilly Classic) - It was a tough race for our young hilly squad who were joined by Jose Alarcon for this January hit out. It was a nice little eye opener for the season to come - what is important in the future is to get their noses out in the wind a bit earlier if they want to get noticed. I felt today it was best to ride in the pack and learn their place.
Qatar (flat stage race) - This years edition proved windy, very windy which suited Fabian Cancellara nicely and Fab managed a couple of high stage finishes before the short TT. Fab missed out in the chrono by the odd second which was a disappointment. Benoit Vaugranard managed a good stage finish on stage 5 also. A decent race for our flat rouler tean
Chrono de Herbiers (Individual Time Trial) - A very tight race this which saw Jerry Copp take an emotional win in front of home fans with defending champion Cancellara a very disappointing 11th place. A first season win though for SRB should be celebrated.
Tirrano-Adriatico (hilly stage race) - An easy win for Fab in the opening TT showed the Herbiers disaster was a blip. However the parcours proved very selective and so stint in leaders jersey was short. Fab then got in a breakaway on a later stage and finished 3rd from a small group sprint. The young punchaers on the team battled hard but ultimately were outclassed.
Paris-Nice (mountain stage race) - The weakest of the three stage race clash squads with hopes pinned on breakaways and possibly sprints for young loanee Soupe. Team attempted to set up Soupe on two occasions with Soupe showing good poise on both stages. Floran Morizot tooks 2nd on the KoM but arguably should have won this competition if he had taken his chances.
Volta a Catalunya (hilly stage race) - Two time trials here, so we sent along Jerry Copp and he battled to 11th place on a tricky one raced over some hilly parcours. Jerry didn't get a long flat chrono to have a run at - but performed well enough 2nd and 5th on the two behind the imperious Phinney and Trofimov of course won the race.
Milan San Remo (Flat Classic) - Jerry Copp took his battling Volta form to Italy and managed a top 20 in a classic which simply doesn't suit us. Once again a cheeky Festina move nabbed the win over the Poggio climbs, we simply lack the bullets for these races.
Omloop He Nieuwsblad (Cobbled Classic) - Fab wasn't quite at his best as Bewley and Boonan slipped away in the finale to contes the win. Fab got 4th behind the surprising Breen, was seen arguing with Burghardt at the end and perhaps justifiable the German was angry at Fab - simply he wasn't feeling super here to defend his title.
Rund um Koln (Flat Classic) - Poor race from the C squad, no one made the front group in yet another hard mans sprint. Once again the Boonan bastard wins!
Gent Wegelum (Cobbled Classic) - The least selective of the cobbled classics and after it was clear the Boonan Bastard was on another super day we shut off and allowed the break to win. A big FU to Boonan bastard.
East Midlands Cycle Classic (Cobbled Classic) - Yet another far from selective cobbled race, I guess we pay for not really having the team to pull it apart. Bewley gets his act together to beat BB (Boonan bastard). Canc comes 5th in yet another sprint.
Tour of the Basque country (hilly stage race) - Bran Samiolev managed to cleverly get a stage win on the one day the GC riders sat back too far. It proved a really tough stage race for the hilly classics youngsters - unfortunately once again this year are hilly classic squad is off the mark.
Tour of Flanders (Cobbled Classic) - Massive win from Fabian Cancellara - Fab had cut a very frustrated figure for much of the pre-season despite a good showing in Tirreno. He had bemoaned sharing TT leadership withe Jerry Copp. Once again Burghardt used as domestique (despite riding for another team) Canc judged finale perfectly to deliver a lifes ambition style win.
Paris Roubaix (Cobbled Classic) - Sam Bewley sealed his moment as the new young king of cobbles. Certainly proved he is the man for the flatter cobbled races beating Cancellara by a minute in an epic Roubaix. No problems for Cancellara he has his monument for the year.
Hilly Classics (Amstel, Fleche, LBL) (trio of hilly classics) - Will keep this brief Juul Jenson led the team throughout another tour hilly classics campaign. 40th, 38th, 53rd were his sequence of results. You would have found it hard to see the SRB jerseys in these ones!
Tour of Romandie (Mountain stage race) - It was always going to be a case of getting in breakaways in this one. It was a hell of a mountain stage race to really kick off the stage racing section of the season - the big names were not going to let it go with big TdF favourite Spilak taking the overall. Mestre battled hard to take a top 30. The rest of his season largely in service of Alarcon.
Giro D'Italia (Grand Tour) - A hilly route this year saw a return of the the little Prince who took yet another Giro crown. Pluchkin battled him all the way, behind was Madrazo and our new GT sensation Jose Alarcon who produced a fine display in the mountains to climb to 4th place. Unfortunately Jose's GC fight left the stage win cabinet bare.
Tour of California (Mountain stage race) - A weak squad was sent here but battling performances from De Bie and Margaliot enabled some nice stage results. Unfortunately the big mountain stage lowered any lingering GC hopes.
Vuelta a Espana (Grand Tour) - A massive moment for Jose Alarcon and the Red Bull franchise as the diminutive Venezualan WON the Vuelta with a brilliant display of attacking in the mountains. In particular on the sole Pyrenees epic solo ride destroying home hopes Contador and Tenorio's ambitions. Jose Alarcon held firm throughout a difficult last week to clinch victory atop mount Tiede. A brilliant performance from him and a modest support team.
Strade Appia Antica (cobbled race) - Brave effort from Fab top defend his title in Italy but he could not drop young Bewley who underlined his new status as cobbled king sprinting away to win.
Tour de Suisse (mountain stage race) - Young De Bie managed a stage win from a break which was nice as the team came alive in the middle of this stage race with a decent 3rd place at the TTT as well. Rather slipped into apathy at the end which was a shame.
Dauphine (mountain stage race) - Jerry Copp returned to racing and dusted off the cobwebs with a fine win in the opening prologue. He ran a bit out of legs though for the longer test at the end of the race finishing a fairly disappointing 5th place. Bruno Santos managed a 3rd place in the sprint on stage 2 which was a nice bonus.
Grand Duche bag (hilly classic) - Once again nothing from the red bull boys but a high finish in the main group from Juul Jenson - perhaps hints at a bright future for the Dane.
Tour de France (The Grand Tour) - A second stage win in as many years, in what proved to be an epic Tour overall seeing Andy Schleck take his first Tour over the eternal second Pluchkin. Florin Morizot provided the joy from a breakaway, Jerry Copp had to be satisfied with two podiums from the individual and team chrono's in a slightly disappointing mid season run.
Tour of Norway (hilly stage race) - Proved once again to be once of SRB's better hilly races this one - in a race that seems to suit the chances for breakaway riders and crappy sprinters. Bruno Santos took some sprint top tens, whilst Juul Jenson and Samoilev impressed on the lumpy stuff, breaking into top 30.
GP Moscow (flat classic) - A nothing race from us here.
Vuelta a Colombia (Mountain stage race) - Alarcon took his second stage race of the season set up with a brilliant performance on the last mountain stage after gradually wearing down his rivals through a mountainous course. Jose will be asking for the venue to change to Venezuala next season!
GP Liechtenstein (Mountain classic) - The big match up between Jose and Schleck - but Schleck took top honours with Jose struggling towards the end. Still a massive season from Alarcon.
Duetchland Tour (Mixed hill/TT/Mountain stage race) - Copp and Canc led the team to a second place finish on the team chrono and both put in a decent individual chrono too. A good race here with some good GC performances as well.
Lisbon Classic (Flat classic) - Unfortunately we have two of these races before the end of the year and as was usual the selection proved far too tough for our loanees.
Tour of Northern Europe (Mixed Hill/cobble/TT stage race) Fab wins his second TONE with two strong chrono perfomances and measured rides on the hill/cobbled stages. It was a strong team perfomance in the early going, though Fab was left a little isolated on the pemultimate hard stage. Still Fab came through and won the final stage short TT.
Copenhagen-Malmo TTT (TTT classic) Not to be our day as Oz Cycling came up ffrom the Procontinental ranks and blitzed it. Closed the gap to ING with a determined ride but were also eclipsed by B and O.
Praha-Karlovy Vary - Praha (flat classic) Another blank drawn though Jerome Coppel managed a top 20 in a hard mans race. Plenty of sprinters were eliminated including once again the powderpuff Bruno Santos.
Tour of Tasmania (short hill/TT stage race) Jerry wins the Chrono in a solid race from him, more selective hilly stage led to a slightly disappointing GC for Jerry but good to give Phinney a beating in the time trial.
Giro di Lombardia (season ending hill classic) Juul Jenson battled hard to one of his better classic positions but once again outclassed in this monument dominated by Damiano Cunego.
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.
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!
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.
2014
Coppel regains Herbiers crown under Simply Red Bull colours
One of two major pre-season transfers, Red Bull strengthened their chrono ability by signing a second really top tester in Jerome Coppel. Known as Jerry Copp to the squad the Frenchman sealed an emotional Chrono des Herbiers win to regain the title lost to Cancellara the year before. Jerry Copp found the conditions a littl more variable this year and didn't always look like he was going to quite win this, there was a lot of pressure on us to take the win and Fab had had a disasterous run so was delighted when Jerry got the season wins coloumn moving.
Cancellara is the king of Flanders
Whilst Fab did win two cobbled classics in the year previous, he was disappointed with his performances in the really big races where bad luck and a bad day had ruined his chances. However a tactic employed the year before at Paris Roubaix proved the basis for his brilliant Tour of Flanders victory in 2014. Moving away with marcus Burghardt, a stunned Boonan and Bewley watched on as they would never see Fab again Cancellara managed to outkick Burghardt in the finale to seal a career defining moment. With Cancellara looking to wind down his career in 2015 this was a magic moment indeed and Red Bulls first monument win
Alarcon takes Red Bulls first Grand Tour
After using fading legends John Gadret and Emmanuelle Sella as their stage racing lynchpins in previous years, Red Bull changed tack a little and went for unproven climber Jose Alarcon in 2014 with spectacular results. Jose fitted that favoured mold of team manager Smowz in that he is a pure climber and in a year of pure climbers dominating at grand Tours Jose Alarcon put rivals Justo Tenorio and Tiago Machado to the sword over and again to deservedly win the 2014 Vuelta a Espana. It was a stunning moment for Jose and a cumulation of a storied rise from obscurity.
Jose doubles up in Colombia
The Vuelta win was seen by many as a surprise and possibly many in the field had underestimated Jose's dynamite climbing legs. The Vuelta a Colombia however showed that Alarcon was here to stay as the Venezualan once again gave a virtuoso climbing performance to continue to kick away from rivals in the mountains. It proved a wonderful time for Alarcon who was afforded a heroes welcome upon stage finishes with thousands of fans from his home country pouring over the border to cheer their favourite son on.Edited by Smowz on 16-02-2015 06:51
WIN Ronde De Vlaanderen - WON by Fabian Cancellara
WIN Copenhagen Malmo TTT - FOURTH by team captained by Cancellara and Coopel
Top 5 Team Standings - SIXTH narrowly missing ambitious target.
Stage WINS in all three GT's. - Took wins in TWO out of the THREE grand tours.
Fabian Cancallara is out key man for the cobbled races, and I think the time has come for Tommake to step aside. Bewley is obviously the man to beat, but the Kiwi is not unstoppable this year for Fab and everyone else.
Signing Jerome Coppel and matching him for Fab should help with the TTT, Jerome is also looking for glory at the TdF in terms of nabbing at least one stage win. I am certain he will be up against Fiedler and Phinney there in the long TT.
We need a lot of luck to achieve these goals but hey lets aim high.
Results 2014
Badaling (Hilly Classic) - It was a tough race for our young hilly squad who were joined by Jose Alarcon for this January hit out. It was a nice little eye opener for the season to come - what is important in the future is to get their noses out in the wind a bit earlier if they want to get noticed. I felt today it was best to ride in the pack and learn their place.
Qatar (flat stage race) - This years edition proved windy, very windy which suited Fabian Cancellara nicely and Fab managed a couple of high stage finishes before the short TT. Fab missed out in the chrono by the odd second which was a disappointment. Benoit Vaugranard managed a good stage finish on stage 5 also. A decent race for our flat rouler tean
Chrono de Herbiers (Individual Time Trial) - A very tight race this which saw Jerry Copp take an emotional win in front of home fans with defending champion Cancellara a very disappointing 11th place. A first season win though for SRB should be celebrated.
Tirrano-Adriatico (hilly stage race) - An easy win for Fab in the opening TT showed the Herbiers disaster was a blip. However the parcours proved very selective and so stint in leaders jersey was short. Fab then got in a breakaway on a later stage and finished 3rd from a small group sprint. The young punchaers on the team battled hard but ultimately were outclassed.
Paris-Nice (mountain stage race) - The weakest of the three stage race clash squads with hopes pinned on breakaways and possibly sprints for young loanee Soupe. Team attempted to set up Soupe on two occasions with Soupe showing good poise on both stages. Floran Morizot tooks 2nd on the KoM but arguably should have won this competition if he had taken his chances.
Volta a Catalunya (hilly stage race) - Two time trials here, so we sent along Jerry Copp and he battled to 11th place on a tricky one raced over some hilly parcours. Jerry didn't get a long flat chrono to have a run at - but performed well enough 2nd and 5th on the two behind the imperious Phinney and Trofimov of course won the race.
Milan San Remo (Flat Classic) - Jerry Copp took his battling Volta form to Italy and managed a top 20 in a classic which simply doesn't suit us. Once again a cheeky Festina move nabbed the win over the Poggio climbs, we simply lack the bullets for these races.
Omloop He Nieuwsblad (Cobbled Classic) - Fab wasn't quite at his best as Bewley and Boonan slipped away in the finale to contes the win. Fab got 4th behind the surprising Breen, was seen arguing with Burghardt at the end and perhaps justifiable the German was angry at Fab - simply he wasn't feeling super here to defend his title.
Rund um Koln (Flat Classic) - Poor race from the C squad, no one made the front group in yet another hard mans sprint. Once again the Boonan bastard wins!
Gent Wegelum (Cobbled Classic) - The least selective of the cobbled classics and after it was clear the Boonan Bastard was on another super day we shut off and allowed the break to win. A big FU to Boonan bastard.
East Midlands Cycle Classic (Cobbled Classic) - Yet another far from selective cobbled race, I guess we pay for not really having the team to pull it apart. Bewley gets his act together to beat BB (Boonan bastard). Canc comes 5th in yet another sprint.
Tour of the Basque country (hilly stage race) - Bran Samiolev managed to cleverly get a stage win on the one day the GC riders sat back too far. It proved a really tough stage race for the hilly classics youngsters - unfortunately once again this year are hilly classic squad is off the mark.
Tour of Flanders (Cobbled Classic) - Massive win from Fabian Cancellara - Fab had cut a very frustrated figure for much of the pre-season despite a good showing in Tirreno. He had bemoaned sharing TT leadership withe Jerry Copp. Once again Burghardt used as domestique (despite riding for another team) Canc judged finale perfectly to deliver a lifes ambition style win.
Paris Roubaix (Cobbled Classic) - Sam Bewley sealed his moment as the new young king of cobbles. Certainly proved he is the man for the flatter cobbled races beating Cancellara by a minute in an epic Roubaix. No problems for Cancellara he has his monument for the year.
Hilly Classics (Amstel, Fleche, LBL) (trio of hilly classics) - Will keep this brief Juul Jenson led the team throughout another tour hilly classics campaign. 40th, 38th, 53rd were his sequence of results. You would have found it hard to see the SRB jerseys in these ones!
Tour of Romandie (Mountain stage race) - It was always going to be a case of getting in breakaways in this one. It was a hell of a mountain stage race to really kick off the stage racing section of the season - the big names were not going to let it go with big TdF favourite Spilak taking the overall. Mestre battled hard to take a top 30. The rest of his season largely in service of Alarcon.
Giro D'Italia (Grand Tour) - A hilly route this year saw a return of the the little Prince who took yet another Giro crown. Pluchkin battled him all the way, behind was Madrazo and our new GT sensation Jose Alarcon who produced a fine display in the mountains to climb to 4th place. Unfortunately Jose's GC fight left the stage win cabinet bare.
Tour of California (Mountain stage race) - A weak squad was sent here but battling performances from De Bie and Margaliot enabled some nice stage results. Unfortunately the big mountain stage lowered any lingering GC hopes.
Vuelta a Espana (Grand Tour) - A massive moment for Jose Alarcon and the Red Bull franchise as the diminutive Venezualan WON the Vuelta with a brilliant display of attacking in the mountains. In particular on the sole Pyrenees epic solo ride destroying home hopes Contador and Tenorio's ambitions. Jose Alarcon held firm throughout a difficult last week to clinch victory atop mount Tiede. A brilliant performance from him and a modest support team.
Strade Appia Antica (cobbled race) - Brave effort from Fab top defend his title in Italy but he could not drop young Bewley who underlined his new status as cobbled king sprinting away to win.
Tour de Suisse (mountain stage race) - Young De Bie managed a stage win from a break which was nice as the team came alive in the middle of this stage race with a decent 3rd place at the TTT as well. Rather slipped into apathy at the end which was a shame.
Dauphine (mountain stage race) - Jerry Copp returned to racing and dusted off the cobwebs with a fine win in the opening prologue. He ran a bit out of legs though for the longer test at the end of the race finishing a fairly disappointing 5th place. Bruno Santos managed a 3rd place in the sprint on stage 2 which was a nice bonus.
Grand Duche bag (hilly classic) - Once again nothing from the red bull boys but a high finish in the main group from Juul Jenson - perhaps hints at a bright future for the Dane.
Tour de France (The Grand Tour) - A second stage win in as many years, in what proved to be an epic Tour overall seeing Andy Schleck take his first Tour over the eternal second Pluchkin. Florin Morizot provided the joy from a breakaway, Jerry Copp had to be satisfied with two podiums from the individual and team chrono's in a slightly disappointing mid season run.
Tour of Norway (hilly stage race) - Proved once again to be once of SRB's better hilly races this one - in a race that seems to suit the chances for breakaway riders and crappy sprinters. Bruno Santos took some sprint top tens, whilst Juul Jenson and Samoilev impressed on the lumpy stuff, breaking into top 30.
GP Moscow (flat classic) - A nothing race from us here.
Vuelta a Colombia (Mountain stage race) - Alarcon took his second stage race of the season set up with a brilliant performance on the last mountain stage after gradually wearing down his rivals through a mountainous course. Jose will be asking for the venue to change to Venezuala next season!
GP Liechtenstein (Mountain classic) - The big match up between Jose and Schleck - but Schleck took top honours with Jose struggling towards the end. Still a massive season from Alarcon.
Duetchland Tour (Mixed hill/TT/Mountain stage race) - Copp and Canc led the team to a second place finish on the team chrono and both put in a decent individual chrono too. A good race here with some good GC performances as well.
Lisbon Classic (Flat classic) - Unfortunately we have two of these races before the end of the year and as was usual the selection proved far too tough for our loanees.
Tour of Northern Europe (Mixed Hill/cobble/TT stage race) Fab wins his second TONE with two strong chrono perfomances and measured rides on the hill/cobbled stages. It was a strong team perfomance in the early going, though Fab was left a little isolated on the pemultimate hard stage. Still Fab came through and won the final stage short TT.
Copenhagen-Malmo TTT (TTT classic) Not to be our day as Oz Cycling came up ffrom the Procontinental ranks and blitzed it. Closed the gap to ING with a determined ride but were also eclipsed by B and O.
Praha-Karlovy Vary - Praha (flat classic) Another blank drawn though Jerome Coppel managed a top 20 in a hard mans race. Plenty of sprinters were eliminated including once again the powderpuff Bruno Santos.
Tour of Tasmania (short hill/TT stage race) Jerry wins the Chrono in a solid race from him, more selective hilly stage led to a slightly disappointing GC for Jerry but good to give Phinney a beating in the time trial.
Giro di Lombardia (season ending hill classic)
Edited by Smowz on 04-03-2015 17:01
Only one of our three leaders will be familiar to those following us last year, Fabian Cancellara enjoyed possibly one of his best years in professional cycling after joining our team from what is now Bouygues Telecom. His chief targets this season will be the cobbled classics, though he will also have a key role to play in Team Time Trials.
It will be time trials and cobbled races the key for Fab this year. He took 5 chrono's last year and two cobbled classics. His season kicks off in Qatar, where once again a last stage time trial will be key. He'll attempt to defend the Chrono des Herbiers title before going to Italy for Tirreno-Adriatico. We think ING will take Fiedler to Paris Nice so we have split our two TT aces in Italy and Spain. Besides the mountains in Paris Nice do not suit.
Fab will skip The old lady this year and will then do the cobbles Omloop, East Midlands and Gent Weg. These lead up to the big double header De Ronde and Paris Roubaix. It will then be a long summer off with a brief eye opener for the defence of Strade Appia Antica. Before the late season time trial focus - these time more concentrated on team efforts at Deutschland and the TTT event. Fab will also look to take the Northern Europe Tour
Riding in tandem with Cancellara at the back end of the season will be Jerome Coppel. The new purchase is a superb time trialler and is looking forward to a season centred individually around the Tour de France.
Jereme will have a short early season program racing Chrono de Herbiers with Fab, before slightly unconventionally riding the Volta as opposed to the Paris Nice. Jerome is better on hilly terrain so avoiding a mountainous Paris Nice was a must. Jerry will tackle Milan San Remo before his first lengthy break of the year. With two individual chrono's the Dauphine is Jerry's return race. I believe Phinney will be there, should be a fun battle.
The Tour has the opening TTT, not sure we can get that without Fab but we will give it a go with Jerry having better hopes in the ITT later on in the tour. As said before Jerry will hook up with Fab at the end of the season at the Deutschland Tour and the TTT but not to defend the TONE title. Jerry will go to the Tour of Tazzy instead.
The final team captain is Jose Alarcon, the mythical Venezuelan climber finally moving up into the Protour. Alarcon replaces the outgoing Italian superclimber Sella and hopes are high that he can improve on a decent showing from the aging Sella,
We took a punt on Badaling but that was more to get Jose settled in. He will be thrown in at the deep end at the Giro, in a course said to suit the likes of Ricco and Cunego, both though I wouldn't say are unbeatable and whilst the hilly stages are a concern I still feel the race will be decided in the mountains.
Jose will then go to the Vuelta which really does suit him I think with mountains stages all over the shop and reasonably short TT's. Also suiting Jose will be the Vuelta a Colombia, which has plenty of mountains for him to sink his teeth into. Also there is the Liechtenstein mountain fest which we didn't really go for last year.
Halfway through transfer season it appeared as if Simply Red Bull would have no presence at all in bunch gallops. However the late signing of Portuguese fast man Bruno Santos along with loanees Geoffrey Soupe and Sonny Colbrelli gives a low grade but valid option for sprints.
Bruno is fairly decent and possibly a future high class lead out if we ever look to bring in a high class sprinter. We felt it was time to cash in on the Van's with plenty of interest. Bruno is delighted to have the opportunity to ride in the ProTour and has a very nice packed programme this year.
He will ride the Vuelta and Volta, where I think Guerao will be the major name, He will also take in the Tour of the Basque country, I think perhaps in Spain will give Santos the best chances. He'll take in plenty of other stage races such as Romandie, California, Dauphine, Tasmania, Norway and Colombia.
Bruno will also lead us in the 'flat' races such as Qatar, Koln, Lisbon and in Prague. We are going to give Moscow a miss with him
With Santos given sprint lead, there is still opportunities to Red Bull's loanees due in part to race clashes.
Geoff Soupe has the chance to sprint at Paris Nice and at the Tour de Suisse and Northern Europe. Sonny has also chances at Tirreno and at the Giro. Expectations are a little low for these races but it is still nice to have a fast man at these races.
We looked to strengthen our core this transfer season, we were pleased to extract Morabito from Festina and three experienced campaigners from the free agency. All four of the above riders are top quality support riders and in the right conditions should be able to race for decent positions in their own right.
Well all four of these guys are going to ride the tour with Jerry Coppel, these guys can all ride through the second and third week unlike many other TT drones. In general these riders will be riding support as hopeful breakaway raiders. Races such as Suisse, Deutschland and Paris Nice all have team chronos which call for these sorts of riders I think.
Will the TTT as a goal and with plenty of team time tests in general Red Bull strategists decided to try and recruit a number of chrono men to support Fab and Jerry in this regard. Viviani was already in place, Bodnar was added as part of the Van Stayen deal with Venchi. Vaugranard is an experienced team chrono man from the Project 1t4i outfit with American Sebright a decent 26 year old Yank.
I think Elia Viv can become one of Italy's top chrono men, he could also be a decent first drop in a lead out. What I like about and in certain respects Vaugranard is that they are the sort of men who can strike in breakaways as well. They are goo rouleurs. Bodnar is more of your road captain type who will stick in the pack - he is highly capable against the clock though. Young Aggrey Sebright is one for the future - he will be good next year, this year he is water carrier.
In terms of schedules all bar Sebright will ride at the three targetted TTT races at the Tour, Tour of Germany and the TTT. Viviani will ride Tirreno, MSR and the Giro and he will hook up with Bodnar to captain the Suisse TTT team. Vaugranard meanwhile will ride the French stage races Paris Nice, Dauphine as well as the Tour.
Once again Red Bull look outsiders for the hilly classics using youngsters for the Ardennes trilogy and the numerous hilly stage races. Sean De Bie, Meron Amanuel and Oleksandr Prevar have been loaned in to see what they can do against Protour opposition. Meanwhile Margaliot continues as a full timer, along with new signing Juul Jenson who came in as part of the Sibilla deal with Aker.
It isn't always easy to bring in a big hilly leader and again we fancied going for Jerry and Jose more. I don't think any of our hilly guys are as good as Bobridge last year but we have a bit of a swarm.
Prevar as well as riding all the hilly classics including Lombardy and LBL will also ride the hilly stage races at Tirreno, Basque and Norway. In addition he will rider in the Vuelta and Giro. He is a good solid climber who should serve Privatbank well in the future.
De Bie will actually give Ardennes a miss and will work on his all round skills a bit travelling to lots of stage races including Volta, California, Suisse,Colombia and TONE. Sean may well also do the Tour de L'Avenir at the end of the year, he is capable of a good performance there and all year.
Eritrean Amanuel is even rougher around the edges and is more likely to be water carrier than anything. Even so he also is a decent punchy man and will go to lots of hilly races. He has also made the list for our Vuelta and Dauphine squads.
Juul Jenson is likely to be a key man for hilly classics in the future, we have also used him in most of the cobbled classics too. He didn't really enjoy the tough Badaling route but we hope he can improve slightly in hilly stuff as the season goes on. He rather takes over from Margoliot who will be used sparingly for hilly races including Ardennes week.
With riders like Bennett, Boonra, Stubbe and Jelloul moving on in transfer season, we badly needed to restock our climbing resources. I was looking long term for fairly low wage guys, though took a bit of a punt in Mestre he should be able to support Alarcon quite well. Meanwhile the likes of Le Bon was bought in from Swisscom, the young Frenchman will be another to support Alarcon this season and beyond. Destribios and Vuillermoz were drafted in from the free agency and both are really decent buys, especially Laos climber Destribios who has quite a lot of development potential.
All four of these riders will go to the Colombia Tour to support Jose. Mestre and Le Bon will also support Alarcon at the Giro and the Vuelta. Destribios is a little raw for Grand Tours this year and will concerntrate on other stage races and a few hilly classics instead. Vuillermoz will ride the cobbles as well as the Giro.
With Aulas, Sibilla, Jelloul and Turgot all leaving in transfers only Vangheel and Cominelli remain of the great Red Bull cobbled team of 2013. The problem I had with cobblers is that they were mainly useless on tough mountains and hills. I kept Vangheel partly on the back of his sensational TdF stage win in 2013, I also think he should be able to support Cancellara until the provebial hits the fan in the cobbles. Cominelli still has a little development left and will be an excellent cheap cobbles domestique.
For the first time ever we have signed some stagieres. Both Caminiti and Nguyen are young French speakers who we thought would benefit from a small amount of PT exposure and the possibility of riding Avenir with De Bie if a suitable fusion squad can be found.
Edited by Smowz on 17-04-2014 07:12
Great history section, your 2012 promotion campaign is still one of the most impressive things I've come across in this game.
Promoting with only one GC/classics win and no rider in the individual Top 30 is unmatchable and has become a widespread model of how to be successful in this game.
Thanks Cio, there was a fair bit of luck involved and bit of reading as to how pcm12 allowed for dual leaders in my promotion season.
I will be posting the squad in the reserved posts later on along with race schedules. I think I have pretty much revealed Alarcon's already (Giro, Vuelta, Colombia, Liechtenstein (following silly Badaling attempt)).
Will reveal Cancellara and Coppel's races later also (along with the others in my squad).
2014 - update #1: Coppel and Fab nab a chrono apiece.
Both the teams star riders have been hits in the early time trial's. Coppel managed to regain his home Chrono des Herbiers title from team mate Cancellara in a tense battle.
It was probably a bigger goal for Jerry this year with Cancellara more looking towards the cobbled stuff this time out. A very important win for our early season momentum.
Fabian Cancellara still showed some of the old magic though with a 3rd place finish in the chrono at Qatar gaining him 5th on GC and a sparkling victory in the opening time trial in the Italian stage race Tirrano Adriatico.
Fab looked in great shape in Italy, it was a really hard race to get the legs going he even involved himself in a breakaway. Copp found it a bit tougher in Spain with a real high class field but he was not disgraced with a decent enough position on GC by the end of the race due to strong TT's.
2014 - update #2: Cance takes Flanders crown - just misses major double
Fabian Cancellara added to his fantastic palmaries by taking his biggest win taking one of the Monuments of cycling at the Tour of Flanders. The following week he couldn't quite double up with Sam Bewley proving just uncatchable in a superb Paris Roubaix race.
Coming in to De Ronde, Fab felt very hungry following the three big cobbled warm-ups. These races were quite tactical but in Flanders the true strongest riders came to the fore.
After teasing a unholy alliance in the previous years Paris Roubaix, Cancellara teamed up with Burghardt to put the hurt into fast finishers Bewley and Boonan. The two B's have dominated the flat and cobbled classics in recent times so the German-Swiss alliance made sense. Cance was thankful for the unity.
Fab was quick to pay tribute to Marcus at the finish. They spoke briefly in the early stages when the Pokerstars and Becherovka boys were not around. They dominated but we found a moment to attack and just went for it. At Roubaix Bewley went really strong and I think he was starting to pay for it at one point. However he found a second wind and really had for me a Boonan esque ride to take the win and hats off to him. Still Fab can feel really happy with the cobbled season - some so so results in the warm ups but to land a really big one and take one of out goals is great.
The Giro is coming up and yes we are excited about it - Jose has been in Venezuala preparing for it and we think this may be the easiest of the three for him to get a high result so this really is a big GC target.
2014 - update #3: Alarcon shows he is ready for Grand Tours -finishes 4th at the Giro
Jose Alarcon showed he has moved on from dominating the climbs of the PCT tour, by moving into the premier league of climbing with the best in a grand tour. It is some time since a fairly humbling GT debut at the 2012 Tour de France, now Jose climbed with the very best such as Madrazo, Pluchkin and Cunego to register a 4th place overall finish.
The Giro is such a gnarly race and this was no exception with a number of lumpy stages and technical time trials which all really tested Jose. He lost a fair bit of time to the likes of Trofimov and Bakelandts there but took huge chunks back in the mountains, at times pacing things himself.
It was a show of maturity from Alarcon whose usual attacking style was notably toned back.
It was a big part of the plans for Jose to try and ride within himself slightly rather than waste energy on high wattage attacks. Quite often he was there with the leaders at the end of the mountain stages - though sadly there was never the opportunity to go for a stage win himself.
Jose feels really warmed up and excited about the Vuelta, it may be that Santander have this race in their pockets (having won the last two years), but I feel Jose can possibly go even better in Spain on a course that will suit him better. I am pleased with the results elsewhere with some good infiltration into breakaways, with riders such as Prevar and Margaliot going close to an elusive stage win.
I wasn`t sure about Alarcon in the PT field. But you once again showed great tactic to take the risk and got a good mountain leader, who also can be competive in GT`s.
Indeed. 4th is an amazing result from him. Especially when looking at the route, with quite a lot of hills and TT kms. It's quite impressive what you can do with basically nothing but a high mountainstat. His physical stats aren't exactly build for a GT. Well to be honest, his stats isn't build for a GT, period.
But it is really nice to see some pure climbers fighting with the very best in the game. I like that.
aniele Bennatti (Puma-SAP)
