gahhh. My damn propensity to royally screw myself over in renewals. The two great dutch signings were once Wikipedia boys. They should do very well for you
I think so to. Van Staeyen should do good as he is now. Keizer should do decent now, although the plan is to train his mountain stat up over the coming seasons.
Our team is already strengthened with 2 leaders. But those leaders wouldn't get far without one of the most important aspects of a team; the domestiques. They try to support the leaders the best they can. With the following riders we strengthened our team in the mountains, the time-trials and the sprints.
We already have 2 Lithuanians in our team, and they performed nicely last season. So we decided to offer a contract to another Lithuanian: Simas Kondrotas. When he saw Bagdonas and Kruopis were riding for us, it didn't take long for him to decide. Like our other Lithuanians his strength lies on the flat roads, although he can get over a hill. Also, a huge plus, he is the Lithuanian Road Race champion!
The other one is another Spanish climber: Sergio Pardilla. He rode for Lafarge last year, and scored a nice amount of points for them. Pardilla's might be a little bit worse as Terciado in the mountains, but can ride a better time-trial then him. Perhaps he can lead the team in the absence of Ricco or Keizer?
The last rider of this lot is a sprinter: Igor Abakoumov. The Belgian sprinter can give a good lead-out, but can also go his own chance in the absence of one of our other sprinters.
That was it for this lot. Next time we are presenting our reinforcements in the time-trial department.
Last year, our team seriously lacked time-trialers. In the Continental Division, we were able to avoid the time-trials pretty well. This year, however, we can not avoid the time-trials, especially not the ones that involve the team, if we want to get a good GC result. In Keizer, we already found one of the best time-trialists in the world, but he alone is not enough.
The first time-trialist we signed will please Bacardi a lot. It's Bermudan rider Tyler Butterfield. For those who don't know, Bacardi's HQ is located in Bermuda, so they are very happy that we signed the best Bermudan rider out there. He is also both RR and TT champion of Bermuda.
The following rider we signed is Dmitri Grabovski, and we are very happy with this signing. He was already a target last year, but went to high then. Now, with extra cap space, we went for him again. This time we managed to sign him. He'll be a great aspect to our time-trial team and to our team in general, as he is a nice all-rounder.
Next we have 2 young prospects. First is another Belgian: Jan Ghyselinck. He's already a good time-trialist but hasn't reached his maximum yet. We're sure that he can handle the level of the PT though, and keep him with us to develop.
Next young rider is a Russian, and he's a neo-pro. His future lies in the time-trials, where he is likely to become one of the best. We're very happy with this signing. Unfortunately, he's still a bit to inexperienced for the PT, so he'll be riding in the Continental Division next year for Tinkoff.
Half way there. 2 more leaders will be presented next time, after that the final riders that will complete the team and then a review of the transfer season and the team.
Gesink is probably the only rider I'll never plan on selling. You can have Bas Giling though. Oh, and you brought a huge improvement to your photos. Mine still look better and you know it
Our team only needs five more riders to be completed. We still had more then €950.000 cap space available, so we could go for some top riders. We decided to reinforce the cobbled side of our team.
Gert Steegmans rode in the CT last year for Vespa, where he disappointed. They released him during the renewals. The interest for the Belgian powerhouse was relatively small, so we decided to join in on the interested teams. This seemed to be a good choice, as our first bid was immediately accepted by Gert. He's back in the PT, so he's happy and we're happy that he accepted €300.000 wage. Steegmans is a former TdF-stage winner, and also finished top 10 in several monuments. He'll be great asset to both or sprinting and classic team!
This rider is probably our biggest signing of the season. He comes over from Wikipedia and is a former Paris-Roubaix winner: Marcus Burghardt! One of the few guys who's able to beat Boonen in the cobbled classics. He's a guarantee to give us a good amount of points in the early season as he finishes top 10 in almost all cobbled classics. He also has a good chance to get a good GC in the Tour of Northern Europe. He'll obviously be our leader in the cobbled classics, together with Steegmans.
A quality rider like Burghardt costs money though. The deal didn't only involve Burghardt and money, it also involved Matthew Goss. Next year, Goss will be riding in the Wikipedia jersey. A great loss for our team, but we are sure that Matthew will be happy with Wikipedia. he served us well, and won't be forgotten!
That brings our total to 19 contracts, but 2 riders are loaned out to Continental Teams, so we still have 3 signings left. They will be presented next time and one of them is not a stranger to Bacardi!
Edited by Kami on 03-07-2011 16:34
We needed 3 more riders to complete our 2012 roster and we've got €160.000 wage cap left, so perfectly fit out. We've got some more all-round riders as our last reinforcements
The first one is a Dutchie; Mathieu Heijboer. He can ride a time trial, but his real strength is on the cobbles. He'll be a valuable helper in the cobbled classics, but can also lead a chase in the peleton. We already wanted to sign him last year, but lost track of him in the transfers. This year, we did check him regularly, and with no other team interested, we offered him a contract.
Next rider we signed is Matej Mugerli. The Slovenian will support our team in the hills, something we are seriously lacking this year. With a relatively good recuperation and a fighting spirit, we might also see him in breaks later on in stage races.
Our last signing, is a familiar one. It's non-other then last years Tour of the Channel Islands winner: Jure Kocjan. Kocjan wasn't really happy with our renewal offer at first, and didn't renew his contract. However, he regretted that later on, and it didn't take long for him to sign a new contract when we offered it. He's a rider close to our heart and fits good within the team. As a plus, he's also the Slovenian Road Race champion. We hope he surprises us positively again!
That completes our team and ends the transfer season for us. We are happy with the outcome of the team. Although, we started of slow, we ended with some big signings. Next up is a review of the team!
Edited by Kami on 03-07-2011 17:15
We had to win this race, but unfortunately it didn't turn out that way. After a very though and exhausting race, Ricco couldn't hang on to the best of the best. He finished 4th, a good result, but not what it had to be.
Top 3Giro d'Italia
1
Riccardo Ricco
Bacardi - Ignis
92h18'59
2
Emanuele Sella
Webeffect
+ 18
3
Domenico Pozzovivo
Vespa - Aprilia - De Rosa
+ 3'28
4
Frank Schleck
Vesuvio-Accumalux
+ 6'53
5
Andrei Amador
UBS - La Pierre
+ 9'51
Our most important goal of the season, by far. With Cunego skipping this years Giro, Ricco came into this race as the top favorite. He didn't disappoint. After a very hard fought battle with Sella, Ricco won one of the most thrilling GT in recent years by 18 seconds!
Sella was unarguably the best climber in the race, winning 5 mountain stages. However, Ricco was never far behind in these mountain stages. In the end, it was Ricco's skill as a puncheur that gave him the win. Ricco even took important bonification seconds on flat stages by mixing himself in the sprinter battle. A risky move for a GC rider, but it paid off!
The final race of the season is always brings strange results. We either have one rider winning solo, or someone taking the win in a small group sprint. This year, it was the latter. Unfortunately, Ricco wasn't in the 7-man group after trying his luck solo earlier in the race. He got caught again, and didn't really have the energy anymore when the other favorites went on the attack. Nonetheless, he did achieve our goal, by winning the sprint for 8th place.
Ricco won La Doyenne in the past, so he had no problem achieving a top 10. However, Ricco couldn't really follow the very best. A little disappointing, but achieving top 10 was the goal, and in the end, he still managed to secure it.
Before the season, we hoped for a top 10 in the rankings. In the end, we achieved 8th place. We started the season slow, and without many results, until the spring classics came. Both Burghardt and Steegmans scored a good amount of points in those. When Ricco started his season, we got a big points boost. Reaching our peak at 3th place. After that, our season stagnated, and we eventually ended up in 8th place. We might have been able to do better, if our leaders had performed more consistent, but the goal is achieved, so i'll take it.
Giro winner, Riccardo Ricco played a crucial part this season. Achieving 3 of our goals, and being the main source in the 4th. He ended the PT in second place.
Already last year, it was rumored that Saab-Scania manager was very interested in having Michael Van Stayen in his own team.
And the interest has not cooled over the past season.
Although the manager feels that signing Van Stayen is something impossible he needed to get in touch with Van Stayens current team to see if there is any possibility that one of the managers favorite cyclist can leave or is he for sure "stayen" at Bacardi?
Michael Van Stayen has not really mentioned the wish to leave. He did however mention that if he wouldn't be the n°1 sprinter on the team next year, he might consider offers from other teams. The Bacardi management finds this reasonable. So both Bacardi and Van Stayen are waiting to make a decision, until later in the transfer season.
