What to say? That was some difficult weeks for us, as we really hoped to build on the team we put together for the 2018 season. I think we also proved to Beltran that he was a rider we wanted to build a team around, having invested several millions on his training to make his preparations for the 2018 season the best possible. It's with great sadness we acknowledge he won't be a part of our team in the upcoming season, says team manager ember.

We can only adapt. As you might have seen, Kjell Inge Røkke has kind of said he wasn't happy with how our internalization of the team turned out, as we weren't anywhere close to that overall podium in the Pro Tour with it, which was his goal. I think it's only natural to look to what has worked well for us in the past, and maybe we need to focus and prioritize the Scandinavian market again, like we did after our promotion back in 2013 and all the way up to the previous season, says ember.

jandal7 wrote:
Glad to see young Galta taking one for the team where others didn't, super nice wage for him. He's a keeper Hope you can bounce back from a tough renewals in style. Certainly interesting to see Trentin on the block. Not sure I'll be in for it with post #102, but who knows?

Aquarius97 wrote:


I thought he meant that he's going all in for Scully

jandal7 wrote:

I hope so because despite his Kiwiness I'm not going near that mess of a rider

It's a pleasant surprise to announce Rein Taaramäe will ride in our colours the upcoming season. Arguably being the best stage racer in the world, we can't wait to see what he's capable of this season. He was part of a surprising deal seeing Guldhammer and Trentin leave the team, after T-Mobile expressed interest in both. We'll have a good look at his schedule to see what races he'll do. With the current look of the team, Taaramäe will be an absolute key to avoid relegation, which we hope we can do with the Estonian leading the line.

Finally we have a world class sprinter in the team. Ben Swift joins the team rom Aegon - Lavazza in a deal that made time trialist Yoann Paillot and sprinter Daniel Vesely go the other way. Admittedly Swift is the only sprinter we've now got, compared to last season where we tried our luck with Ciolek, Vesely and Holst Enger. But as shown last season, we have the team to put our sprinter in a good position, and hopefully Swift can capitalize on that. He'll have our full support and hopefully a proper leadout train whereever he goes this season.

We're very happy to bring home a familiar face. Aasvold joined our team back in 2013, which was our first season in the Pro Tour and our second year of existence. He served as a loyal domestique for five years, giving his best in the mountains for riders like Contador, Spilak, Dan Martin and Guldhammer. The 2018 season saw him search new challenges, but we're thrilled to have him back this season.

Bringing in Estonian Pruus was a suggestion from Taaramäe, and we happily agreed when our scout in the Baltic states gave us his report on Pruus. His abilities speaks for themselves, he'll be a key rider to do the early work for Taaramäe. We obviously don't expect him to be there deep in the final, but he's a very solid rider who should be able to perform decent and do work in the peloton for a long time on difficult stages.

This is a first! We've never had a Sri Lankan rider in our team, until now. Siriwardena joins us after finding himself without a contract, having ridden the 2018 season with the Farfetch team. He's a very similar rider to Pruus, as his green sea of stats suggests. His role will naturally be similar to to Pruus', as he's likely to follow Taaramäe whereever he goes to be one of the workhorses in the first part of the race when the race demands you to do well going uphill.

Tvetcov joined the team in a deal that also saw our sprinter Sondre Holst Enger leave the team to try his luck with cycleYorkshire in the PCT. Tvetcov was signed to be Taaramäe's wingman in the mountains, making sure our leader won't be isolated too early. Together with Sindre Skjostad Lunke, this will be the most important task for Tvetcov. He'll also get a lot of chances to shine on his own, as only half his race days at most will be locked to races Taaramäe does. He's a versatile rider who also bags a decent sprint, meaning he could make the most out of breakaway opportunities. We hope to see him try his luck a couple of times during the season.