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Team Statkraft - Bianchi: The new anglo-scandinacion Pro-cont. team
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| Gonchar |
Posted on 14-05-2009 15:39
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PRESS RELEASE FROM STATKRAFT: Statkraft to sponsor professional cycling
Major green energy company Statkraft will sponsor a professional cycling team in 2009. The team will be based in Norway. “- It really is a pleasure to partner such a milestone for Norwegian cycling”, Statkraft CEO Mikkel Bårdsen says. “- The interest for cycling has increased tremendously in Norway the last years following the success of leading Norwegian riders on the international scene. With this commitment Statkraft will make sure there also is a Norwegian-based pro cycling team in the higher levels of internatial cycling”.
Statkraft is a leading player in Europe within renewable energy. “- We value competence, innovation and sustainability. The new generation of cycling works well with our values. There has been a need for a new cleaner and more responsible approach to cycling the last years , the world needs the same approach to producing energy in a more sustainable way”, Mikkelsen says.
“- We also see this sponsorship as a way to promote our expansion internationally”, Mikkelsen adds. Statkraft is already operating in the Nordic countries, Germany and on the British Islands among others, having 2500 employees in 13 european countries.
The new cycling team will be based in Norway, but will recruit and focus on the Scandinavian countries, northern Europa and the British Islands. . “- We have recently moved to expand our business in UK and Ireland, and it is naturally that the new team also will look to create publicity here.”
Press release: Team Statkraft – Bianchi: A new era for Norwegian cycling.
The leading Norwegian cycling team formerly known as Team Joker Bianchi have got a new main Sponsor in green energy company Statkraft. Team Statkraft – Bianchi marks a new era for the team which was established in 2005. “- We will go into the seasons as a pro continental team. We raise our level once again”, general director Odin van Ginohove says. “- Scandinavia have been in great need for a Pro-continental team, and finally here we are”, he adds
The team will continue it’s successful partnership with bike manufacturer Bianchi, who have been a committed co-sponsor since the teams beginning.
The last seasons have been very successful for the team, and the team has seen it’s best rider head for larger team elsewhere in Europe. “- With Statkraft-Bianchi we can now offer our riders better and more challenging racing opportunities. “
The team roster is not finalized and will be presented later. “- We will continue to commit ourselves to young and talented riders, but there will also be some higher profiled riders. We will recruit mainly from the Scandinavian countries and the British Isles, where we seek to have a presence and an impact this season”, Ginohove explains. “- This will also be reflected in our racing program. We aim to participate in these reagions biggest racing events, the national tours of Britain and Denmark. We will also work hard to be invited to race som Pro Tour-races this season, in addition to participating in the tough pro-continental circuit. “. |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-12-2024 16:37
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| rjc_43 |
Posted on 14-05-2009 15:45
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Looks good. 
[url=cleavercycling.co.uk]  [/url] |
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| wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 14-05-2009 16:01
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good luck
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| ursul |
Posted on 14-05-2009 16:44
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Good luck |
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| chrica04 |
Posted on 14-05-2009 17:23
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Nice! |
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| Gonchar |
Posted on 14-05-2009 17:42
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Just a little teaser there, until I can figure out about posting images! |
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| olabj |
Posted on 14-05-2009 17:53
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good luck, looking forward to the pictures  |
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| Polkadott |
Posted on 14-05-2009 18:11
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Nice, good luck |
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| Gonchar |
Posted on 14-05-2009 18:42
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Post 3: Press release: Team Staktraft – Bianchi presented:
New pro-continental team Statkraft – Bianchi is proud to present the 2009-roster. The 16-rider strong outfit will be lead by Norwegian champion Kurt Asle Arvesen. Arvesen can look back on stage wins in the biggest stage races in the world, taking stages in both Tour de France and Giro d’Italia. He is also a classy one-day rider as shown by his victory in last years semi-classic E3 Prijs Vlaanderen, and a number of good results in the most prestigious classics. He is also two-time winner of Post Danmark Rundt.
The team consist of a lot of young talented riders. But there is also a number of riders with experience from the highest level of pro-cyling. Irish duo Philip Deignan and Daniel Martin comes from Pro Tour-teams AG2R and Garmin respectively. Martin (22) is the reigning irish champion. He won last year’s edition of the french stage race Route du Sud, beating well known runner-up Christophe Moreau. He also finished 4th in last years Tour of Britain. Deignan (25) have years of Pro-Tour experience. Last season he participated in the national tours of Italy, Switzerland, Germany an Poland. In addition there is David McCann, 4stath in last year’s Tour of Qinghai Lake.
Statkraft-Bianchi will also make use of the very experienced Swede Magnus Backstedt (34), a former Paris – Roubaix-winner. The team can also welcome back Gabriel Rasch returning to the team after a year at Credit Agricole. He produced lots of good results at his last spell here.
The roster will be completed by young and talented riders from Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the UK.
The full roster
ARVESEN, kurt asle (Saxo Bank)
BACKSTEDT, magnus (Garmin)
DEIGNAN, philip (AG2R)
GULDHAMMER, rasmus (Capinordic)
HEGREBERG, roy (Team GLS)
KESSIAKOFF, fredrik (-)
KRISTOFF, alexander (Joker Bianchi)
MARTIN, daniel (Garmin)
McCANN, david (Giant Asia)
NORDHAUG, lars petter (Joker Bianchi)
NYBØ, håvard (Sparebanken Vest)
PERSSON, lucas (Cycle Collstrop)
RASCH, gabriel (Credit Agricole)
REMME, stian (Sparebanken Vest)
STANNARD, ian (Landbouwkrediet)
WILMANN, fredrik (Joker Bianchi)
The team will relatively proudly wear this shirt, despite it beeing designed by the team's general directors little son. Not too far from the truth, anyway...
We are lucky enough to have to national jersey wearers among us. They will have the following uniforms. These are stolen from the database with smaller modifications. As quite evident on the irish jersey...
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| EBH |
Posted on 14-05-2009 18:46
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Interesting roster you've got there. I think I'll be following this one.
Good luck! |
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| G_Larsson |
Posted on 14-05-2009 18:49
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Kessiakoff and Bäckstedt Interesting squad.
Team Manager of Team IKEA-Bianchi
[url=(color=#0000ff] Team Info[/url]
Media Room
You'll Never Walk Alone |
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| MrContador |
Posted on 14-05-2009 19:09
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Where's Hagen?  |
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| Gonchar |
Posted on 14-05-2009 19:11
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Editorial comment to the roster:
This is of course a fictional team, so there has been some freedom to design the team. However I have tried to be fairly realistic about what riders that would be possible to get to a team that i supposed to be the 2nd best team in scandinanvia, and with some folks from the british isles. I might have stretched things (and I have of course taken no notice of contract situations IRL, but hey...) Arvesen is maybe the most argueable, but not totally off I think.
So the big stars are not here. There is no Hushovd or Hagen (Norway), no Løvkvist og Larsson (Sweden), not the main danish saxo-bank riders, no Cavendish, Wiggins, Hammond or Millar (UK) and no Roche from Ireland. It would have been tempting of course
Kessiakoff is not nearly as good in the DB as what he has shown recently in real life...
And, by the way: Some free-transfer news is coming up... |
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| viking90 |
Posted on 14-05-2009 19:15
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Stats of your team ? |
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| EBH |
Posted on 14-05-2009 19:21
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I think Hushovd has shown some interest in joining a Norwegian team if it were created, so it wouldn't be that unrealistic. Still I think it's more interesting without him, because if you had him you'd probably have to race for him in nearly every race... so it's more open this way
EDIT: Oh and you could always try to sign him in the future of course
Edited by EBH on 14-05-2009 19:24
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| Andreas93 |
Posted on 14-05-2009 19:23
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Who made the jerseys and can we se the textures, not just the mini-shirt?
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| Gonchar |
Posted on 14-05-2009 19:31
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Team stats coming up.
I made the team shirt. Which I have no clue about how to do. But I have editing som photos, so at least I cut and paste some logos and stuff. Here is the full texture:
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| Gonchar |
Posted on 14-05-2009 19:37
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SPRESS RELEASE: tatkraft – Bianchi adding experienced riders to it’s roster
Statkraft- Bianchi has today signed contracts with David Kopp and Jacob Moe Rasmussen. Both riders were available on free transfer.
David Kopp (29) is a strong classical rider. He finished 2nd to Kurt Asle Arvesen in last year's E3 Prijs Vlaanderen. His best result however, would be 2nd place in the 2006-edition of Gent-Wevelgem.He also has stage wins in the Eneco tour and Tour of Pologne and a victory in Rund um Köln.
Jacob Moe Rasmussen (33) is a danish veteran. For Norwegians he will best be rememberes for his three stage victories in Ringerike GP, although his most prominent result is his 2005 victory of CSC Classic.
Editorial note: These were just riders I found in the DB as free transfers, and added them to my team. My only reserach as a quick browse at Wikipedia. At the time there was no notice of doping cases. Now I know better as I read about Kopps positive test for cocaine on todays Cyclingnews edition... Bad move. |
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| Gonchar |
Posted on 14-05-2009 19:44
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And now an inside look on the Statkraft-Bianchi team!
Kurt Asle Arvesen is really our chance for glory. The squad consist of a few decent riders, but no one who excels at anything in particular that can ensure high profile victories. Arvesen will be needed to deal with our goals, in particular Tour of Denmark and also the one-day races in the spring, leading up to GP Herning. The challenge with Arvesen is perhaps that he is the jack of all trades, but perhaps master of none. But at this level that might still be enough to get some good results.
David Kopp is the teams best sprinter, and does also have a useful cobblestone skill. Hopefully he will bring some points to the team. He is not from the geographical targeted area, but was brought in as a free rider to boost our classics appeal. At least we should be accepted into the E3...
Magnus Bäckstedt is ‘only’ a protected rider, but might turn out to be important. His TT-skills is perhaps enough to secure some good stage results here and there. Hopefully he can also take som decent results in some cobblestone races. His good flat-skill will be useful for setting up sprints.
For some reason Philip Deignan has a contract as an absolute leader in the team. He is my best climber, so he might be sent to more mountainous stage races. His lousy TT limits the possibility though - and he has an astonishing low flat ability... I can’t really see him making the results needed to be a happy leader!
The rest of the crew is nothing spectacular. There are some decent support riders, and half-decent sprinters. Daniel Martin is promising and is at present decent in the hills. Kessiakoff’s 78 Downhill-skill might be an attack option. But I think Arvesen/Kopp is where the results need to come.
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| wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 14-05-2009 19:51
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really good squad choice
i like arvesen and deignan and Martin can become a great stage racer
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