Race Review | Philadelphia International Championship (C2HC)
Last flat CT classic of the year! And therefore the last chance to get a notable result out of such a race this year, as our highest one so far is a 6th place in Frankfurt Eschborn. Which is pretty disappointing, given our strong sprinter roster on one hand, and a 3rd and 4th place in HC classics on the other hand.
And so, we obviously did a lot of work throughout the entire race, making the race really hard once more. And then, it was time for our master sprint-race party crasher Benedikt Mundle to step into action - once more as well. Instead of riding for Theo Reinhardt, he made a late attack - and, once again as well, got nothing out of it. Nothing except for troubling the sprint preparation, of course.
Nonetheless, Theo Reinhardt was nicely positioned on AKA's wheel with 2km to go. But while the latter had moved inside the Top 5 a kilometer later, Theo was nowhere to be seen at that point - he simply didn't seem to care anymore! In the end, he still sprinted a little bit and finished 13th, but that was once again an underwhelming result in a flat C2HC classic! What a disappointment!
Things looking pretty good with 2km to go and Theo Reinhardt holding AKA's wheel...
Unfortunately, we have to conclude that Benedikt still hasn't learnt his lesson about team work by the end of the year. While he does work pretty well for his leaders in stage races, he always goes for individual glory in those flat classics - which is unadmittable. We'll have to discuss whether we can find a spot on our roster for him next year...
So the month started with a big letdown - but the main focus was on the hills anyway, and with Tour of Britain already done, expect some better news soon!
Given the long time trial in the middle of the race, the Tour of Britain could be considered a warm-up race for Gianni Moscon for the Euskal Bizikleta, one of his main goals of the year.
The first stage wasn't really optimal for him, ending after a downhill in just a short, not very steep uphill finish. Nonetheless, the team worked hard throughout the stage, and especially Fabian Lienhard did an amazing job, reducing the pack to just 40 riders with his high pace.
And Gianni Moscon rode a very smart finish, finding a good position going into the final uphill - where he closed in more and more on the race leader! On the finish line, he was among the top trio - and had the stage been slightly longer, he might have won it! But we were still delighted by a rather unexpected 3rd place - great start!
Gianni Moscon challenging Schreurs and Yates for the win on stage 1!
Day two saw the only sprinter stage of the race, which is why we didn't take any of our top sprinters to Great Britain. Nonetheless, with Manuel Stocker and Max Walscheid, we brought two decent sprinters - and while they didn't succeed in getting a Top 10, Manuel Stocker finished 13th. More importantly, though - and unfortunately - Fabian Lienhard, who had such a strong first day, lost contact on that stage, conceding two minutes and dropping out of GC contention. Captain Moscon stayed safe in the pack, though.
The dreaded TT on day 3 then brought us the expectedly sobering result, with Nico Brüngger finishing as our best rider just outside the Top 20 of the day. Gianni Moscon lost 3'37", which was about half a minute more than what we were hoping for, but considering the riders finishing around him must be seen as a solid result. He dropped to 18th in the GC, but there were still two hilly stages left to make up some ground!
And stage 4 was expected to be the most selective one of the race, containing a sharp climb to conquer four times in the finale. This time, we didn't spend too much energy early in the stage, as Campari took the main responsibilities. However, our riders were very attentive, with Gianni Moscon and Mirco Saggiorato being on the right side of a first split.
As expected, Campari rider Slagter then was the first one to seriously attack - and his first chasers were Schreurs and Gianni Moscon! However, green jersey wearer Schreurs just chilled in Moscon's wheel, and finally left our leader behind instead of collaborating. Not great sportsmanship, but well, it seems to be the only way to beat him, as we already saw earlier this year.
Long story short, Slagter took a well-deserved stage win, with Gianni Moscon taking another 3rd place after he already did the same on stage one - and most importantly, he moved up to an amazing 7th GC spot! The Top 10 target was well within reach now - and furthermore, Gianni moved up to 2nd in the points standings!
And moreover, Mirco Saggiorato finished 17th, inside the second bigger group, and moved up to 27th in the GC. Too bad he missed the first group on day one...
Gianni Moscon (riding alongside some lapped riders) finishing 3rd behind Slagter and green jersey Schreurs.
Stage 5, the closing one, was the one we had the best memories of, as Jan-André Freuler won the same stage last year! Which means that it was a breakaway stage last year - and so it was this time. Unfortunately, we didn't have anyone in the winning break, but Gianni Moscon once again took 3rd place in the bunch sprint - which was 7th place of the day. As usual, there were no time gaps on such a short final uphill, meaning that "just" defended his 7th GC spot.
But we definitely don't want to speak of "just" 7th place - it is a great result for us, especially given the 30km time trial! In addition to the top GC result, Gianni Moscon took 2nd in the points standings - proving that he's ready for the Euskal Bizikleta! Let's see how it goes!
Gianni Moscon finishes 7th on the last day, outsprinted by Dunbar and Izagirre.
The "little sister" of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco was one of our main targets in the closing stages of this season. No time trial, quite some hills - perfect terrain for Gianni Moscon!
However, the first two days were rather suited for the sprinters. And even though he's not Basque, Pedro Merino Criado wanted to show himself in his home country. He definitely tried, and his results - 7th and 8th - are acceptable, although we had hoped for a bit more.
Pedro Merino Criado finishes 8th on a pretty weird home straight on day 2.
Day three then had a few pretty long climbs on the closing kilometers - but with the stage ending after a downhill, the goal was to make the race as hard as possible to thin out the pack.
Things looked pretty good on the final KoM, as Gianni Moscon broke free together with Eiking! However, the downhill allowed 27 riders to re-join the leading duo, thereby making a stage win highly unlikely. In the end, Eiking got the perfect moment to attack again, while Gianni stayed with the "pack" and in the end only took 12th on that day. A really unimpressive result to be honest - this was the moment we regretted having left Fabian Lienhard and Cyrille Thièry at home... At least, Hermann Pernsteiner finished up front as well, but given that 8 teams had at least three riders up front, there really was not much to be happy about.
One day was left, though, and the closing stage had quite a long final climb waiting for the riders. Big time differences could be expected, so everything was still possible. Going into the final climb, we still had 4 riders in the 40-man peloton, so already much better than the day before!
At things were getting even better for us, as heading into the final 1,000m, both Gianni Moscon and Hermann Pernsteiner were inside the Top 7 - we were the only team having two guys left in the fight for the stage and GC win!
However, Gianni had a really, really bad day, as he had to let the others go. Of course, he's not the strongest climber - but he easily beats a guy like Eiking, who eventually took the GC win, in 9 out of 10 cases on such uphills. Still, our Italian superstar finished 8th on the stage - which is two positions behind Pernie, who probably didn't have his best of days, either.
Hermann Pernsteiner and Gianni Moscon - both hardly visible here - finish 6th and 8th on the final day.
Overall, the 6th GC place by Gianni Moscon is a big disappointment. On the other hand, Hermann Pernsteiner taking 7th still makes it a good race for us points-wise, showing one of his best season performances here. Moreover, Andrea Manfredi took 13th on stage 4, making us move up to 3rd in the team standings.
So while the top result was missing for once, the depth was good, and definitely helps in the promotion race! With Transfagarasan and Milano - Torino, two classics are yet to be raced this month - and we do have some high expectations especially for the latter!
We have very mixed records from one-day races this year. While the hilly ones usually were decent to very well, the flat ones were bad in CT and great in PCT races. Now, Romania offered us our single mountain classic of the year - obviously a mandatory one, else we wouldn't have participated.
Nonetheless, our climbers have already gotten some good results in several stage races, so we still had some hopes for a decent result.
But in the end, the "best" we did was to place Stefan Bissegger in the breakaway - a horrible choice by our DS intern, as we barely brought a worse climber to the start line...
Stefan Bissegger was leading the race here, but only finished 116th in the end.
The rest of the team basically did nothing from start to end, and so an unacceptable 19th place by Andrea Manfred was our only scoring result. Mirco Saggiorato did even much worse (37th) in his final mountain race as a maxed rider, finishing even behind puncheur Gianni Moscon. Both climbers will have to bring up some really good arguments to get a contract for next season...
Shortly after this race, we got the next CT rankings update. As we were racing far less than our direct competitors lately, it wasn't really surprising to see us lose a spot to Carlsberg. We managed to stay a few points clear of Philips, but they are predicted to overtake us by the end of the year - the battle for 3rd will likely be decided by the duels Moscon vs. Kelderman and Reinhardt vs. Boev, given how the season went so far. Plus, they should have a big advantage in the Herald Sun Tour, given our lack of time trialist - let's see if we can still hold onto that podium! We'll soon get an idea of where our journey goes, as Milano - Torino is about to be raced! Stay tuned!
How things can change in the course of a season... While Fiat announced pre-season they would end their engagement with us by the end of the year, given that a CT team doesn't give them enough publicity, they got more and more thrilled with our results this year, coming back on their decision now that promotion to PCT is almost a sealed deal.
One of the main reasons for this change of mind has of course been Gianni Moscon's great season so far. And today, our Italian team leader was among the favorites for a race that didn't take place just anywhere in Italy, but ended close by Fiat's HQ in Torino! So in addition to improving our position in the rankings, we were also racing to definitely convince our secondary sponsor to back us for another season!
The support was strong, and the boys took responsibility right away from the gun. Andrea Manfredi was our first rider to take turns in the chase, keeping the breakaway on a pretty short leash. On the non-uphill sections, flat beast Benedikt Mundle took on this responsibility.
Benedikt Mundle leading the pack, with Andrea Manfredi close to the front as well.
In the later stages of the race, Cyrille Thièry and Mirco Saggiorato literally ripped apart the pack, and reducing it to just 14 riders with 5km to go - a group which both Gianni Moscon and his prime domestique Hermann Pernsteiner were part off, fighting for the win!
Cyrille Thièry and Mirco Saggiorato setting a tremendous pace, with Gianni Moscon being well shielded by Hermann Pernsteiner.
On the final uphill, we then had a really surprising picture at the front - as besides Gianni, there were Kelderman, Meyer, Juul Jensen and Edmondson fighting for the win - five CT riders on the first five spots in a C1 race!
Kelderman took the lead early on, but Gianni Moscon was giving him a very hard fight until the line - just like in Coppa Placci earlier this year!
However, unlike in San Marino, the Dutch favorite pulled through this time, deservedly taking another C1 race win. Gianni Moscon was able to fend off CJJ for 2nd place - by far our best result in a C1 classic this year! What a huge race this was - not only our friends from Fiat were absolutely stoked by this performance!
Three probably promoting CT teams dominating the race, with Kelderman winning ahead of Gianni Moscon and Juul-Jensen!
But this fantastic result wasn't just due to a single rider's great show, but of the entire team's huge effort! Many riders helped chasing down the break, Cyrille Thièry (28th) and Mirco Saggiorato (20th) tore apart the race, and Hermann Pernsteiner (13th) once more proved his big worth as our most important hilly domestique by scoring some valuable points on his own!
So while we unfortunately lost some points against Philips, we gained some against all other CT competitors, while more than just satisfying our secondary sponsor - all in all, a fantastic day! Stay tuned for more racing in October - the preview will be up soon!
Great home race for you indeed! Was nice to see my fellow CT managers' teams perform like that from so close as well. I hope I can promote with you and follow Moscon from close by next season as well
Philly was rough, but we both got what we wanted in Britain
Unfortunetely the Arrate climb in Euskal was just a little too tough for Moscon. But given his performances all year long, I am very afraid of him coming into PCT next season
The final month of the 2020 season is upon us! And with two hilly classics in our home country, it's one of the most exciting months of the entire year - including our win goal in the very last race of the season!
With promotion 99.9% secured by now, we don't have a lot of pressure now - except from inside the team, as the guys obviously want to perform in our final home races. Included in this month are as well the final mandatory C2HC stage races - so let's take a closer look at the four remaining events:
Oct 03 | GP Lugano (C1)
Spoiler
The one and only REAL home race of the year marks the beginning of our final month of racing, as GP Lugano takes place really close to our team HQ! We're coming from a great C1 race, and we do of course hope for a similiar performance in Lugano - although we have to say that the downhill and flat finish definitely doesn't suit our leader's capabilities as well as the uphill finish in Torino did. Let's see if the following squad can still pull off a great result:
Rider
Hi
Mo
Acc
Res
Rider
Hi
Mo
Acc
Res
Gianni Moscon
79
73
73
77
Nico Brüngger
72
71
66
70
Hermann Pernsteiner
77
75
72
71
Stefan Bissegger
66
64
70
69
Cyrille Thièry
74
70
72
73
Andrea Manfredi
65
78
73
73
Mirco Saggiorato
73
77
72
74
Manuel Stocker
65
60
77
73
Except for the swap Mundle - Stocker, it is the exactly same line-up as in Milano - Torino. However, while we were able to make the race really, really hard in Italy, doing the same will be much more difficult here. If we get a tough race, Gianni Moscon should once again be able to deliver a great result. However, Cyrille Thièry has already reached the finish line inside the pack last year; if he can do the same again - and save some energy for sprinting this time - he might actually deliver our best result. Hermann Pernsteiner and Mirco Saggiorato are here to help this duo - either making it a really tough race, or just bringing them to the final stretch.
We might be lucky that two PTHC races take place at the same time, with Tour du Maroc and especially Japan Cup probably attracting some of PCT's strongest climbers and puncheurs. We don't really know what to realistically expect in this race - but our riders, their friends and families, and of course main sponsor Ticino Turismo are looking forward to another great team performance here at home!
Expectations: Top 10
Best result so far: 41st (2019, Simon Pellaud)
Oct 06 - 10 | Herald Sun Tour (C2HC)
Spoiler
Except for two hilly classics, there's only flat racing left this year. Four road stages, and unfortunately a 20km ITT await us in Australia - meaning we do once again have some high hopes for stage results and maybe the points jersey, but not really concerning GC results. Still, we've been surprised quite some times already, so let's see if those riders can pull off some more good results:
Rider
Spr
Acc
TT
Res
Rider
Spr
Acc
TT
Res
Tom Scully
79
80
63
70
Nico Brüngger
63
66
73
70
Pedro Merino Criado
77
79
56
68
Leonardo Basso
71
69
72
73
Max Walscheid
74
75
61
70
Robin Froidevaux
69
69
63
67
Stefan Bissegger
69
70
69
69
It's not New Zealand, but our Kiwi Tom Scully will hopefully feel almost like at home, and bring home some more great stage results. Given the clash with Solidarnosc - a pure sprinter race - we hope that the sprint competition won't be too fierce here, and hence are hoping for a good result as well in the green jersey standings. For his leadout, Pedro Merino Criado, who joined us in the draft, this will definitely be the last race wearing our jersey, so let's hope he can once more deliver some magic leadouts!
GC-wise, our tiny hopes are on Nico Brüngger's and Leo Basso's shoulders - our strongest time trialists. They will also be trying to make a good final impression, given the contract negotiations that will soon follow. Stefan Bissegger might get a minor placing in the U25 riders standings - or even get into some breakaways?
Expectations: Top 25 GC, 3x Stage Top 10, Top 3 Points jersey
Best result so far: 25th GC, 3x stage Top 10 (2019, Issiaka Cissé)
Oct 06 - 09 | Tour de Solidarnosc (C2HC)
Spoiler
For some experts, it was an open question why we had so many sprinters on board this year. Well, the end-of-season clash between Sun Tour and Solidarnosc is one of the main reasons (besides Denmark - Amissa Bongo). And it's no secret that we are targetting our second GC win of the year in this race - the following riders will hopefully achieve that high goal:
pull off some more good results:
Rider
Spr
Acc
Res
Rider
Spr
Acc
Res
Theo Reinhardt
79
84
66
Gergely Szarka
71
71
68
Issiaka Cissé
78
77
67
Gino Mäder
67
63
72
Manuel Stocker
76
77
73
Benedikt Mundle
59
69
73
Theo Reinhardt, who has had an outstanding season, will try to shine one last time this year - and even one last time in our colours? Sure, he'd be strong enough for PCT, but we'll have to see what wage he demands after this great year. But actually, we hope he'll ask for even more after this race - and his great leadout duo Stocker - Cissé will try to support him as well as they can. Benedikt Mundle also has one last chance to prove he can be a team player, having ruined several classics for both Theo and Tom.
Youngster Gergely Szarka gets to race again, too - and with his performances so far, he's gotten really close to a full contract next year. Something that Gino Mäder doesn't need to worry about - it's rather us asking some questions why we nominated him for this race instead of some better suited ones...
We have done great last year, scoring our first ever GC podium - can we even take another step this time?]'s shoulders - our strongest time trialists. They will also be trying to make a good final impression, given the contract negotiations that will soon follow. Stefan Bissegger might get a minor placing in the U25 riders standings - or even get into some breakaways?
Expectations: Top 3 GC, 4x Stage Top 10, Top 3 Points jersey
Best result so far: 3rd GC, 4x stage Top 10 (2019, Marco Guillén)
Oct 18 | Züri Metzgete (C2HC)
Spoiler
The final race of the year is one of the most important ones - as it's our win goal! Had C1 races been allowed, GP Lugano would have been selected as such - but given that the "Metzgete" takes place nearby GIANTS Software's HQ in Zürich, it's definitely a worthy choice, too.
Looking back at last year's race puts a big smile on everyone's face - especially on Cyrille Thièry's, as he scored an amazing second place last year! Can we even get one higher this time? Those guys are going to try:
Rider
Hi
Mo
Acc
Res
Rider
Hi
Mo
Acc
Res
Gianni Moscon
79
73
73
77
Mirco Saggiorato
73
77
72
74
Hermann Pernsteiner
77
75
72
71
Gino Mäder
68
73
63
72
Fabian Lienhard
75
66
76
72
Robin Froidevaux
67
62
69
67
Cyrille Thièry
74
70
72
73
Stefan Bissegger
66
64
70
69
On one hand, we're really glad to end the season at home. On the other hand, we are very, very unhappy about MGUCI's decision to make the race so much easier. We had a huge war of attrition last year, with everyone suffering and only the best holding on until the end - well, we'll get none of that last year.
They made the finale way easier than on the traditional, brutal course we had last year, meaning that even though we have one of the strongest CT puncheurs in our team, getting a good result here will mostly come down to luck. We'll of course try to make the race as hard as possible - once again - but we're afraid Gianni Moscon won't even be our best card to play here. Instead, Fabian Lienhard and last year's runner-up Cyrille Thièry will be our best options in the expected reduced bunch sprint.
We'll give everything we have left, for sure, but the organizers definitely didn't change things in our favor this time. Let's prove them and all our fans we can still succeed!
Expectations: Win
Best result so far: 2nd (2019, Cyrille Thièry)
So, we have a final month with quite some more highlights - and a lot of potential to score points, trying to finish as high up in the rankings as possible! We're currently projected to end up 4th - which would be a great result, but just missing out on the podium would still hurt. So, everyone will give full gas one last time, and then we'll see where this leads us! Stay tuned!
Nemo Thanks, it was indeed a superb race!
I really hope you can promote, although you probably won't have my Guillén-fan-bonus anymore
redordead Yeah, really don't understand why flat stage races worked so well, and flat classics didn't at all. We were much better off with Guillén last year in those races...
Britain was cool, that's right. And I still think Moscon had just a pretty bad day in Euskal, as he should easily beat Eiking there - even more so with a great domestique like Pernsteiner. But yeah, we'll likely address that weakness in the off-season
hillis Thanks Congrats for a good season, although I hope next year you won't just have a strong start and end of the year, but good performances throughout
After Gianni Moscon's amazing performance in our secondary sponsor's home race, we had great hopes of doing well in Ticino, too - the home race of our primary sponsors from Ticino Turismo.
However, despite some clashing PTHC races, the PCT competition was pretty strong this time. Moreover, the race ending after a downhill followed by a flat section made this competition more suited for punchy sprinters, not necessarily for the pure puncheurs.
So, we put quite some hopes in Cyrille Thièry, who had a great day in Milano - Torino and furthermore is a pretty decent sprinter. Well, he didn't make it to the front field of about 35 riders.
Instead, Andrea Manfredi - pretty much our worst puncheur present here - surprisingly made the cut, and hence was there to support Gianni Moscon in the finale.
But well, we all know our Italian hero needs difficult races to shine, and an uphill finish would have seen his chances way better than this one. Still he had Manfredi leading out the sprint for him - but he wasn't even able to go past his last domestique!
Andrea Manfredi and Gianni Moscon are only able to finish in the middle of the "peloton", in 13th and 16th place.
So finally we got a really, really disappointing result from this home race. Only 13th and 16th, that's definitely not what we expected, and it isn't where we should have been, either. It wasn't a day for the CT riders in any case, given that Edmondson was the highest finisher in 12th...
And the results were actually pretty difficult to understand. Obviously, Ackermann being one of those punchy sprinters is a well-deserved winner. Then we had some good puncheurs - but Houle, another strong punchy sprinter, only finished 30th. And our highest finisher is a good climber, but by no means a puncheur... So, we'll have to analyze why we did so badly, and try to come up with a better strategy and line-up next year - if we don't manage to convince MGUCI to change the profile a little bit...
For now, we're just really disappointed and we're hoping to get some better results later this month.
We definitely didn't expect we'd have to seriously think about the team's future after a - overall - fantastic season! So, why are we suddenly unsecure?
Clearly, because we had a final month to forget. You may say that this can always happen - sure, it can. But: we had two very important races in Switzerland this month. Hilly ones. One in Lugano - home of primary sponsor Ticino Turismo - the second one in Zurich - home of secondary sponsor GIANTS Software. Two races we were not allowed to fail.
GP Lugano was a failure, as described in our previous post. Before Zurich, we had two more races, making up for a total of 9 race days. Herald Sun Tour was absolutely miserable, with Nico Brüngger bringing home our sole point from his 25th GC place. Tom Scully got not a single scoring result from four bunch sprints. Miserable.
Course de Solidarnosc was better - at least in the beginning. Theo Reinhardt got 2nd in the first two stages, taking over yellow and green - only to imitate his Kiwi team mate by doing nothing on the remaining days. Still, an acceptable result - although he could have done better.
And then, the final race of the year. A race where we finished 2nd a year ago - but the profile had been altered to our disadvantage. Nonetheless, we expected the boys to at least show up and try something. But no. Not a single attempt to make the race hard, no attack, nothing. A 12th place by Gianni Moscon is far away from the win goal. It's not just the result that upset our sponsors, but also the way the team rode - or not.
So, we are in a situation where our main Swiss sponsors - Ticino Turismo and GIANTS Software - are seriously questioning their future engagement. While they were happy during most of the season, the two completely failed races in Switzerland have done a huge damage to our sponsor relationships.
On the other hand, we have our main Italian sponsor, Fiat, who are delighted by the many great results we got in Italy, not least in Milano - Torino. They have confirmed their engagement for next season - so the team will definitely continue!
Now, it's up to us, in collaboration with Swiss Cycling, to convince our Swiss sponsors to give us another chance. The future of Swiss cycling is at stake - not least because of Team UBS' relegation from PT, so we definitely are hoping to find a solution to continue as a Swiss-Italian team!
I really hope the poor final month doesn't sour you too much about what has otherwise been a very impressive season, at least with a bit of distance. I think you've done a fantastic job building this team to promote (and very smoothly so) in just the second year, something a lot of new managers (myself included) can turn to as an example. I'll be interested to see where you take the team next, I think either decision (staying Swiss, focussing on Italy or something new as a primary sponsor) would be justified "narratively", so to speak, eventhough imo Ticino Turismo should be pretty happy with the publicity they got this year Looking forward to seeing the development!
I think it would be a massive overreaction by the sponsors to withdraw sponsorship because of two races. I think the relegation of UBS could be a big chance to challenge the domestic rival
The cat is out of the bag - Ticino Turismo will no longer be our primary sponsor. During negotiations, they made it clear that this decision was by no means linked to bad results - as most of our season was really great.
However, with the promotion to PCT comes a much bigger required budget - e.g. we expect to spend about twice as much on rider wages as we did in the Continental Tour. For a regional tourism organization, this is simply not affordable. However, Ticino Turismo will remain on board as one of our minor sponsors - grazie mille, amici ticinesi!
So, what's next? GIANTS Software would have been willing to take primary sponsorship in CT, but for the relatively small software company, a PCT engagement as primary sponsor would have been too much as well. They will nonetheless continue their investment in cycling as well, for the second year.
Yeah, there's some kind of spoiler in the heading about our new main sponsor. Jura. But - which Jura? The canton of Jura? The Jura Mountains, or some kind of tourist organization promoting them?
Well, no. There's a third Jura, and that's the right bet - the full name of our new primary sponsor being "Jura Elektroapparate AG". Jura is - at least in Switzerland - a very well known producer of household appliances, such as flat irons, toasters, or - their main source of income - coffee machines, marketed worldwide. In Switzerland, every child knows the Jura ads featuring Roger Federer, the company's ambassador for several years now.
With a turnover of more than half a billion Swiss francs, they can provide the budget that's necessary for our PCT adventure. We actually contacted them already when starting the team, but given that Lavazza were co-sponsoring a WT team back then, they were afraid of not having enough publicity. Now, they have signed a one-year contract - meaning the team becomes Jura - Fiat for the 2021 season!
The Jura logo
Two sidenotes:
- Why did Fiat not become our primary sponsor? Simple, because of our cooperation with Swiss Cycling, we wanted to keep Switzerland as our primary nation, and hence finding a Swiss primary sponsor was our main goal. Fiat have announced that they will still be backing us, and they hope for some more great performances by the Italians on the team!
- You might remember that Nestlé were our nutrition sponsors this year. Given that Jura are a direct competitor of the Nespresso coffee machines, they understandably decided to pull out by the end of the year.
However, we have already found a new nutrition sponsor, with WANDER AG. They are most famous for Ovomaltine, which everyone knows in Switzerland - but they also invented the Isostar sports drink, and produce protein bars as well - the perfect partner for a cycling team, right?
The WANDER AG logo
That's it for the moment! We'll soon be back with the detailed analysis of our riders in the 2020 season, as well as some news about our youngsters' development. Stay tuned!
cunego Of course, our sponsors were really happy - even the Swiss ones, given Manfredi's great stage win in Romandie The last month was really mediocre, but hey, we promoted alongside three recently relegated teams, so that's still pretty good
And obviously, having the Swiss NC jersey next year is great, although Stocker probably won't win any race wearing it.
knockout Yeah, disappointment can often turn into overreaction - it fortunately didn't I needed a new (more financially robust) sponsor for PCT anyway, but it's good to continue with a Swiss one.
Challenging UBS should be really hard, especially if we want to continue focusing on Swiss riders - but who knows?
Never heard of the Jura company in my life, but then again, I can't afford Swiss stuff I did like your jersey, which was sober and very nice, so I'm also interested to see how your new one will look. I suppose the Centovalli blue-white will change to a red jersey?
One jersey that will be red anyway is Stocker's one Congratulations on the great NC win! He might not be winning races (never say never), but he'll be very visible and easy to spot for the cameras
redordead Thanks
Well, failing THE home race definitely doesn't put them in good mood. But yeah, after the first anger, they could be convinced to stay with us. Although none of them was able to be primary sponsor in PCT - let's see how well we do after the rebrand
aidan Yeah, it was very, very solid - I hoped to be in the promotion fight, but definitely didn't think to almost be able to keep up with the three relegated teams that are just slightly ahead in the end.
Nemo Afaik Belgium isn't in their market area yet - maybe it soon will be?
All I can tell you is that yes, the color scheme of the jersey will change - I guess it will be presented in the new HQ
Thanks for the NC congrats - Stocker definitely did deserve to shine at least once in his career
Sponsors can be fickle. A great year can turn to outrage if you don't perform in front of the market where most customers are actually expected to buy the sponsor's product.
Happy to see you guys continuing in the Swiss market despite the disappointment, and obviously looking forward to racing with you in PCT.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Philadelphia International Championship (C2HC)
Benedikt Mundle to step into action - once more as well. Instead of riding for 
Theo Reinhardt, he made a late attack - and, once again as well, got nothing out of it. Nothing except for troubling the sprint preparation, of course.
Tour of Britain (C1)
Gianni Moscon for the Euskal Bizikleta, one of his main goals of the year.
Fabian Lienhard did an amazing job, reducing the pack to just 40 riders with his high pace.
Euskal Bizikleta (C2HC)
Hermann Pernsteiner finished up front as well, but given that 8 teams had at least three riders up front, there really was not much to be happy about.
Transfagarasan GP (C2HC)
haha
Herald Sun Tour (C2HC)
Issiaka Cissé)
Tour de Solidarnosc (C2HC)
Marco Guillén)
Congratulations on the great NC win! He might not be winning races (never say never), but he'll be very visible and easy to spot for the cameras 
