Sponsor News #2 - Dimension Data to become Co-Sponsor
Today we are happy to announce we have agreed a deal with Dimension Data to become our co-sponsor next season alongside Kenya Airways. The South African based company were very impressed with our success this season and have decided to commit to our project by supplying us enough funds to potentially take the step up to the Protour over the next couple of seasons, if not this year.
This move to shows our ambition to move towards an even more African focus, and become the best team from the continent in the sport by reaching the Protour and establishing ourself as a top team with African riders at it's core, from all parts of the continent.
This move will the team's new name will be Kenya Airways - Dimension Data.
We have also arranged deals with several other companies to provide the team with equipment and other means of support next year. New Balance join the team and will provide our clothing, while Merida will provide the team with our bikes. Ecobank and PVM Nutrition remain with the team to provide financial support and our rider's food respectively.
New Balance
Clothing
Merida
Bikes
Ecobank
Investment
PVM Nutrition
Nutrition
With our sponsors finalised, we contacted jersey designer bwiggins to design our jersey. What he is produced is a brilliant design, possibly the best the team has ever had. We think you'll agree!
Dippofix wrote:
Denmark was a truly amazing race for you, that could really kickstart a late promotion push for you. Really intrigued to see who the new sponsor will be - Dimension Data apparently are interested in African cycling...
Thanks, I hope it is. It was certainly an important race for us after a poor couple of months.
You clearly have lots of inside knowledge on African cycling as well.
Cio - Let's hope so! Still a sceptic though for now.
Dippofix wrote:
Denmark was a truly amazing race for you, that could really kickstart a late promotion push for you. Really intrigued to see who the new sponsor will be - Dimension Data apparently are interested in African cycling...
Thanks, I hope it is. It was certainly an important race for us after a poor couple of months.
You clearly have lots of inside knowledge on African cycling as well.
Cio - Let's hope so! Still a sceptic though for now.
I have my contacts.
Beautiful jersey by the way, not like the crap NB have been making for Liverpool.
With 0/3 goals completed up to this point so far this year, we needed a win in Spain to ensure we don't completely fail with all of our racing goals, something that we have never done as a team. Ben Nasser would lead the team as with the rest of our goal races this year.
Despite the huge importance of the race for us though, Ben Nasser couldn't even finish in the top 30. Admittedly he did try to attack midway though the stage with Italian puncheur Di Maggio, but at the end of the day in our goal races we need results, something he has been unable to deliver this season.
With 0/4 goals now complete, the management is said to be unhappy with Ben Nasser and it would not be a great surprise if the Tunisian was to leave us in the transfer window.
Result
1
Oleksandr Prevar
Children of Chernobyl
5h34'34
2
Daniel Oss
Gazelle
s.t.
3
Carlos Betancourt
Buff - Polska
s.t.
.....
22
Bassirou Konte
Team Kenya Airways
s.t.
Int. Osterreich Rundfahrt
/ 1st-8th Aug
Konte on the attack in Stage 5's break
We then had one of the longest races of our season at the Int. Osterreich Rundfahrt, a mountainous HC stage race in Austria. We set Samwel to lead us in the hope of a decent result, despite his poor form so far this season.
Stage 1 started the race well for the Kenyan, with a 6th place putting him into a good early GC position. Indeed after the final mountainous stage, stage 4 he was in 7th place and looking on for a good GC. However, unfortunately he lost minutes on his rivals in both the hilly stage 5 and more predictably in the TT, eventually dropping him down to 14th overall.
Despite the disappointing end result it was still a promising race for the Kenyan as he showed for the first time this year some consistency in the high mountains. Another positive was a 6th place from the break on stage 5 for Simon Kimeli, and a 7th place in the TT on stage 7 from Maciej Bodnar. Janez Brajkovic won the race for ONCE.
Results
Stage 1
Mwangi Samwel
6th
Stage 4
Mwangi Samwel
9th
Stage 5
Simon Kimeli
6th
Stage 7
Maciej Bodnar
7th
GC
1
Janez Brajkovic
ONCE-Eroski
25h34'26
2
Alberto Contador
Bonsucro
+ 1'37
3
David Abal
Buff - Polska
+ 3'11
.....
14
Mwangi Samwel
Team Kenya Airways
+ 9'40
Melaka's Governor Cup
/ 3rd Aug
Impey well positioned going into the sprint
A Trip to Malaysia was next for the team to race the Melaka's Governor Classic. With a flat profile, we sent lead sprinter Impey to try and carry on his impressive form in the flat classics this year. However, unfortunately he just couldn't break into the top 10 this time, finishing 11th in what was a tight sprint. It was relegation threatened Eddie Stobart who took the win through Mark Cavendish.
Kwiatkowski attacking in the green jersey on stage 8
The Volta a Portugal was the next destination for our riders, as we sent an 8-man squad for the longest race of our season. Kwiatkowski would make his return after a couple of months off, and we were hopeful of a podium from a route suited well to his abilities.
Stage 1 was a good start for him, as he managed a 4th place in the opening prologue. Apart from that though, it was a quiet opening few stages for the Pole as he surprisingly lost some time to rivals. It was on stage 6 when he found his form again, finishing 4th in the sprint before bettering that in stage 7's sprint where he finished 2nd.
It was on the hilly stage 8 he made his best move of the race, attacking away from the peloton which created a selection among the main favourites, and from this group he sprinted to 3rd. Top 10 finishes on both the mountain stage and in the TT ensured a 5th place overall for Kwiatkowski, a decent finish bringing in a good points haul from Portugal to keep our promotion campaign on track.
August is now over, which means with just two months remaining of the season it is now crunch time for teams at the top and bottoms of all three divisions. For us this period will be all about trying to clinch promotion to the PT and in the process become the first ever African team in the sport's top tier.
With the top 5 spots gaining a guaranteed promotion and another spot expected due to disbandments, all is to play for the teams in and around the promotion positions. Currently we sit 6th, just on the cusp of the promotion places but with the knowledge we have 12 more racedays than Karcher who sit in 5th. That said Evonik are still hot on our tail behind so things look like they will be going down to the wire.
The Run-In
We have a total of 8 races and 25 racedays remaining, in which we must try to keep the crucial points per race day above and around 20 to try and ensure promotion. Here's a look at who will lead us in these final races and what we hope they can achieve.
Tour of Britain
Leaders: Hassen Ben Nasser, Daryl Impey
Target: Top 10, Stage Win
The longest race we have remaining at 8 racedays, we will need Ben Nasser who has been off form for long parts of this year to come good and deliver at least a top 10 in the GC. We also have Impey here who we hope can grab a stage win to bring in some extra points.
Grands Prix Cyclistes
Leaders: Hassen Ben Nasser, Daryl Impey
Target: Top 10
The same duo then travel to Canada, where two unpredictable hilly profiles could see a small or larger group reach the finish of both days. Both travel to cover all bases in the hope we can get a strong overall finish from at least one of them.
GP Plouay
Leader: Daryl Impey
Target: Top 5
Impey rounds off a bust month of racing for him in France at the GP Plouay. The flat profile with lots of bumps along the way suits the South African down to the ground and if it comes down to a sprint we are confident of at least a top 5.
Milano - Torino
Leaders: Hassen Ben Nasser, Michal Kwiatkowski
Target: Top 5
We then enter October with Kwiatkowski and Ben Nasser both travelling to Italy for Milano - Torino. We think this classic, despite it's rating as hilly will also require a strong ability on the mountains, which is why Kwiatek is here as well as Ben Nasser. Whether that is the case or not we still expect a top 5 from one of them.
Colombian Venteaux
Leader: Mwangi Samwel
Target: Top 20
Probably the race with our lowest chances of a result it the Colombian Venteaux as Samwel travels to face up to the strongest climbers in the division. Judging by his record so far this year as a leader which has been well below expectations, a top 20 would be a success.
Paris - Tours
Leader: Daryl Impey
Target: Top 3
Impey's final race of the year will be at the prestigious Paris-Tours classic where we hope the race's the length will play into his hands. Given his record in flat classics so far this season we believe a podium finish is certainly possible.
Tour of Beijing
Leader: Michal Kwiatkowski
Target: Top 5
Things really reach boiling point as we make the trip to Asia for the final two races of our season. First up is the Tour of Beijing, where Kwiatkowski will look to emulate his brilliant form this season over the hilly 5 days in China.
Japan Cup
Leader: Hassen Ben Nasser
Target: Top 10
We round off our season at the season's traditional PCT finish, the Japan Cup. In potentially his last race for the team Ben Nasser will be tasked with trying to score some final points to bring us promotion, where we believe a top 10 will do.
If all these targets are met promotion will be all but secured, but we know it won't be that easy. Nevertheless we believe promotion is very much possible and with some luck we can make it to the PT.
Wow. The season final will be very interesting with many big matchups between our two teams. I'm at nearly every of those races and it might even cone down to the very last race of the season.
knockout wrote:
Wow. The season final will be very interesting with many big matchups between our two teams. I'm at nearly every of those races and it might even cone down to the very last race of the season.
Yep, I feared we'd see LLS and Boonen in several of these races.
Still, with 6 teams going up it looks like there could be space for both of our teams which is good because if I was to predict it now I'd put you in 5th or even 4th. Whatever happens it should be entertaining.
With the season nearing an end several of our young riders are showing signs of progression ahead of the new season thanks to valuable experience gained on the road this year. Here's a quick overview on how their abilities have progressed.
Nice development of Africans you have there. I had my eye on Kebede and Grmay for a while, but things never worked out that way. Maybe next transfers. Manfred would one day be a nice Kenyan legend to have on your team.
Also, well done on a great season so far. You have a really strong team, but in some aspects your riders bunched above their weight too. Would be great to see you promote - although I wanted to beat you at it. At least soon we'll have some great Kudus-Meintjes rivalries.
I hope that Grmay will be a good rider for you. Unfortunately he didn't really achieve much at our team, but he was a good domestique. Next season he should be good - Especially if riding in the PCT.
Merhawi Kudus is really nice next season already - Let me have him
aidanvn13 wrote:
Nice development of Africans you have there. I had my eye on Kebede and Grmay for a while, but things never worked out that way. Maybe next transfers. Manfred would one day be a nice Kenyan legend to have on your team.
Also, well done on a great season so far. You have a really strong team, but in some aspects your riders bunched above their weight too. Would be great to see you promote - although I wanted to beat you at it. At least soon we'll have some great Kudus-Meintjes rivalries.
It has been a great season for us, I never envisaged us going up at the start of the season but some riders have definitely overperformed to give us a great chance. If we do go up, hopefully Project can join us in the near future!
SotD wrote:
I hope that Grmay will be a good rider for you. Unfortunately he didn't really achieve much at our team, but he was a good domestique. Next season he should be good - Especially if riding in the PCT.
Merhawi Kudus is really nice next season already - Let me have him
Thanks for taking Grmay on board, glad that we could get him maxed although a bit of the shame he got no notable individual results. Hopefully he was a good enough help when he raced.
Kudus is indeed great, really happy to have him, although I hope his wages will finally get a little lower... not sure we'll be selling him any time soon though
Wow didn't know you had such good talents on your team and I think African cycling's future is well secure in the 3 big African teams currently in existence!
Ben Nasser with an terrific race in Britain and also being from Africa is a nice bonus to a team, which by my eyes have a big future ahead of them. I think you're a good bet to promote and will be interesting to see your path.
We'll definitely be talking in the Transfer Season, but I'm sure that's your prediction too
sgdanny wrote:
Wow didn't know you had such good talents on your team and I think African cycling's future is well secure in the 3 big African teams currently in existence!
Ben Nasser with an terrific race in Britain and also being from Africa is a nice bonus to a team, which by my eyes have a big future ahead of them. I think you're a good bet to promote and will be interesting to see your path.
We'll definitely be talking in the Transfer Season, but I'm sure that's your prediction too
Good to see that you like our talents, I'm especially happy about having the Ethiopians and Kudus who should be part of the team's core for many seasons. Britain was great for us as well, we needed a win to really give our points per raceday a final injection to push us into the top 5. Hopefully we can continue to develop Africans if we make it to the PT.
I think we will talk, but unfortunately probably only about Bodnar. Don't think there's much of a chance Kwiatek will leave after such a great season
Ben Nasser takes stage 5 to take control of the race
In a race that has historically been a failure for the team, with a failed goal in our first season and a poor finish last year, leader Ben Nasser travelled to Britain for the Tour of Britain along with sprinter Daryl Impey who would look for stage wins in the sprints.
The race started poorly for many of the favourites as the first stage was taken by a breakaway to give Aegon's Bazzanza a sizeable gap in the GC. We managed to recover the next day though with Impey winning the final sprint to win to take the stage after a great leadout from Marcato.
The stage 3 TT followed where our leaders tried to limit their losses before 4 consecutive hilly stages which would decide the GC. Stage 4, despite the hilly profile eventually came down to a sprint between many of the top puncheurs, with Ben Nasser finishing 4th. A sign of things to come?
It was stage 5 that would decide the direction of the GC. Midway through the stage, being nearly 4 minutes down on the GC Ben Nasser decided to try a speculative attack up to the break. Surprisingly, the peloton were happy to let him go and the gap grew to over 3 minutes. In the closing stages Ben Nasser went solo, and no-one could live with him as he took the stage, and the GC lead!
The final two hilly stages were then expertly negotiated by the Tunisian who has been our of sorts this year, maintaining a two-minute gap to his nearest rivals to win the GC! With the GC secured, on the final stage Impey had another chance and sprinted to 2nd. On top of that, Ben Nasser sprinted to 8th to sneak the win in the points competition!
So overall what a race Britain turned out to be! Ben Nasser finally found some form and took a well needed GC win to massively boost our chances of promotion. 2 stage wins and the points competition put the icing on the cake for what was nearly a perfect race for us.
Next up in our hunt for promotion was another race for Ben Nasser and Impey - the GP Cyclistes in Canada. The combination of the two Canadian classics proved a big success for the team as Ben Nasser continued on from his great Tour of Britain form to take 2nd on the final day and therefore 2nd in the GC thanks to joining a great attack. That meant we took over 100 points from this 2-day race.
GC
1
Wilco Kelderman
Team Puma - SAP
10h20'37
2
Hassen Ben Nasser
Team Kenya Airways
+ 8
3
Luis Leon Sanchez Gil
Evonik - ELKO
+ 12
GP Plouay
Another 'GP' saw us race the GP Plouay, a bumpy flat classic in France which suited Impey perfectly. After reeling in the break the team proceeded to set up a perfect train for the South African with Marcato giving Impey the perfect platform to claim a fantastic victory, edging out Reimer on the line! 7th from Marcato as well gave us another 100 points form this classic continuing our amazing form.
Result
1
Daryl Impey
Team Kenya Airways
5h35'51
2
Martin Reimer
Swedbank-PEAB
s.t.
3
Maxime Vantomme
Team TomTom
s.t.
Colombian Venteaux
The mountainous Colombian Venteaux was always going to be a challenge for team leader Samwel, with a stacked startlist and the Kenyan struggling for form. That proved to be the case with Samwel struggling to an anonymous 35th. The highlight of our day was Njoroge making an appearance in the day's break (above).
A second flat French classic in 3 races saw Daryl Impey look for another win in the famous Paris - Tours classic, which would be his final race of the season. Unfortunately we were unable to replicate the train so successful in Plouay, with Impey not being well positioned going into the sprint. A strong late surge took him to a decent 7th though, which adds another few points to the team's cause.
Result
1
Dylan Groenewegen
Aegon - Lavazza
5h09'57
2
Matti Breschel
AMEX-Navigon
s.t.
3
Juan Van Heerden
Eritel - Sonatrach
s.t.
.....
7
Daryl Impey
Team Kenya Airways
s.t.
That leaves just 3 races left for the team to try and secure a surprise automatic promotion with a top 5 finish, with our hilly leaders tasked with bringing in the required points.
Italian classic Milano - Torino was next in line for the team, with Kwiatkowski and Ben Nasser travelling to try and achieve the results to guide us into the top 5 of the standings. It was the Pole who stepped up like he has done throughout the season, attacking on the final climb to claim 3rd and bringing in some solid points.
Result
1
Jay McCarthy
Bank of Ireland - Irish Cycling
4h18'43
2
Robin van der Hugenhaben
Team TomTom
+ 36
3
Michał Kwiatkowski
Team Kenya Airways
+ 46
Tour of Beijing
It was again Kwiatkowski who was tasked with scoring us points in our next race, this time at the Tour of Beijing in what was his final race of the season. It actually turned out to be his worst, eventually finishing in a very respectable 7th which shows the extent of his successes this year.
Results
4th
Michał Kwiatkowski
Stage 4
1st
Michał Kwiatkowski
Young Riders
GC
1
Jonathan Bellis
RBC Pro Cycling
21h12'18
2
Carlos Betancourt
Buff - Polska
+ 1'19
3
Maxime Monfort
Gazelle
+ 1'27
.....
7
Michał Kwiatkowski
Team Kenya Airways
+ 1'53
Rankings
Team
Total
RD
1
1
Aegon - Lavazza
3698
138
2
3
Gazelle
3619
138
3
2
Team Puma - SAP
3542
138
4
4
Team Bpost
3212
138
5
5
Team Kenya Airways
3160
138
6
8
RBC Pro Cycling
2876
140
7
6
Evonik - ELKO
2839
138
8
9
Risa - Ergon
2716
138
9
7
Karcher-Adira
2595
140
10
10
Swedbank-PEAB
2444
140
This means that going into our final race in Japan we have all but secured 5th place and therefore promotion, and can relax that in all probability even in Ben Nasser goes missing like last season we will be in the PT next season!
New Balance
Merida
Ecobank
PVM Nutrition
Still a sceptic though for now.
Clasica San Sebastian - Win Goal
Oleksandr Prevar
Daniel Oss
Carlos Betancourt
Bassirou Konte
Int. Osterreich Rundfahrt
Maciej Bodnar
Janez Brajkovic
Melaka's Governor Cup
Mark Cavendish
Dmitri Kozontchuk
Danilo Kupfernagel
Volta a Portugal
Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy
Tanel Kangert
Hassen Ben Nasser, 
Grands Prix Cyclistes
GP Plouay
Tour of Beijing
Japan Cup
Bonaventure Uwizeyimana
Merhawi Kudus
Tsagbu Gebremaryam Grmay
Wilco Kelderman
Maxime Vantomme
José Rujano
Matti Breschel
Jay McCarthy
