Team Festina - CONEC presented the goals of the 2012 season on munday the 13th of june, at 14.00 in Zürich.
Team manager Andreas Jøhnke made the welcome speech with very little interesting notes, others than a couple of transferrumours turned down, only to finish "We are not interested in talking openly about transfers at this moment. Everything that has been announced is purely speculative, from the international sportspress."
Festina directeur Miguel Rodriguez hit the stage, and the charismatic leader made his voice heard.
"We are expecting everything from the team, and this manager. Back in the 90's the Festina team had it's darkest period, and we are having a huge battle to make our name clean yet again. We have experienced a great amount of effort from both riders, staff and of course Jøhnke, leading the team into top positions year after year. This season is no different. We want to be up there in the big races, and we want to end up in a similar position as to this year, and even so we are hoping to do slightly better.
Our first goal is:
- Top 5 in the Pro Tour Team Rankings.
We feel that we have a real potential to do so, and we have but in millions of euros in order to keep this goal, which is our main target.
Looking at races, our goals are not much different from last year. We want to:
- Be top 10 of all the three Grand Tours.
Last year we missed out on the major race of the season, The Vuelta as Contador crashed, but we are very certain that we will have no problem gaining top 10 this year. Looking at our team we can find riders such as Mauricio Ardila and Carlos Castaño who have both cleared the task, and done several good Grand Tours. Having said that, we have demanded another "safe card" from the team, so we need another GT rider, who can secure us these goals!
On the final note we have gone slightly different in our last goal, the win a race goal. Last year we went for the early race: Milano-San Remo, and came 2nd. This year we have gone for the later, but tougher race:
Win the Giro di Lombardia.
This is an extremely tough race to win, and we are very eager to see whether or not that can be a reality. Diego Ulissi is our main guy at the moment, but we are speaking with Andreas about the possiblity of making this race even better suited for us.
Finally we would like to thanks for the time, there's a sandwich on your right hand side, when leaving the room. We are back in 10 minutes, where our new sponsor CONEC will present their projected "goals" or interested races, so to speak. Thank you"
After a season without too many successes the road parts for Team Festina and the french sprinter Blaise Sonnery, whom by many was thought to be the captain of several races.
"We must accept that Blaise never really got his foot stuck down, and as such he was a bit too expensive for us to keep. Besides that, he has expressed his interest in moving to a team, where his versatile style of riding would come to better aknowledgement. We believe that is in the Contintental Tour, and Blaise seemed to agree. We are happy that we can let him go without any fuss, and wish him the best of luck at Jayco - Red Bull".
In the deal is also the promising sprinter Michael Matthews, who has been set at the Festina Team. A rider with much potential, but also a rider yet to see the front of the sprint train.
"We are very happy to have signed Michael at such an early stage, not only of the transferseason, but also at his own level. We believe he could become an important part of our setup in a not too distant future. We do have made an agreement with him, that should a good CT team ask for his services this season, we would be looking into the possiblility of loaning him away. We would have to be reassured, that he would be given the settlement of working for a better sprinter, in order to learn to position himself in the front line, and not only as an attacking rider with a great finish touch."
The entire seasons glory, boiled down to just two minutes:
At the time 16.18 to 16.20 Team manager Andreas Jøhnke was all over the place in order to make the announcation of two riders fall into place.
Meanwhile Miguel Rodriguez went to the microphone:
"Dear friends. We have a couple of big things to announce. Team Festina are not sitting back at this years transfer season, well we hardly ever are, so who could be surprised at that. While Andreas is making ready for an announcement that most of you will find interesting, I am going to make a sad announcement.
Carlos Castaño, whom had a great season for us last year including 5th at the Giro d'Italia, stagewin and 5th overall Tour of Germany and several other great result, is leaving the team. Carlos had spoken his interest in trying himself as the leader of the team, and in his own honesty he didn't believe that was going to happen at the Pro Tour. We are happy to announce that he, as we speak, is the new captain of the Pirelli team.
We wish Carlos the very best of luck, and would welcome him back some day should the desire occur. Thanks for everything Carlos, you are one of the key riders, people will look back when they mention the team Festina."
"We will take a short break, and then Andreas will hit the stage to present two new riders..."
The next revealing is a big one. Our main target of this years transferseason is almost a given, seeing we have turned German.
Markus Fothen - The former Tour de France winner will join the team. We are in awe to have secured his services, and together with Serpa and Contador, our search for GT leaders have now stopped.
The German company Conec is lead by the charismatic Paul Gretsch, and the owner has decided to pull the plug.
Rumours are strouming around crazily what will happen, and whether or not this will have any effect on the cyclist Patrick Gretsch.
Team manager Andreas Jøhnke declines to comment on the issue "This is a coorporation decision, and I have nothing to do with that. They are our sponsors, and our contracts do not change. We are happy with our sponsors. And we have no comments regarding Patrick".
At an earlier point of the day the teams icon Carlos Castaño left the team for a stronger captain.
This time it is the epicenter of the team: Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez. Samuel told the manager that he wasn't feeling the same strength in his legs anymore, and he felt insufficient in order to go for the teams goals, which was the reason for the part with the Super Star and former World Champion.
In the time of grief, we have to turn to the bright lights. Filippo Pozzato has signed a one year contract with the team at a slightly lower wage than at his previous team. The contract also concludes that while Samuel Sánchez moves away on a permanent deal Pozzato will only be helping Team Festina for one year.
As last year the team are now fitted with two quality hilly riders: Pozzato and Ulissi. Together they will try their best to achieve a great result. We are wishing Samuel Sánchez the best of luck - And welcoming Pozzato at our team. We are very proud!
Team Festina keeps getting riders of a high quality. This time it is the american sprinter Dan Holloway who joins the team on a one year loan deal.
Out of the team is the beligan duo: Jurgen van Goolen and Frederik Nolf. We wish them both good luck in the future.
In another news, danish talent Lasse Bøchmann joins the team on a loan deal, while Wen Hao Li is moving to the CT for one year. We hope both riders will gain from the loan.
Seeing Frederik Nolf didn't have the interest in staying at the team, Festina looked like a team not bothered to consider the cobbles this season.
That could be a finalized chapter as another belgian has entered the team. It's Geert Steurs who accepted a contract at the team.
"We are very very pleased with this. He is the strongest cobbler we have had since... Well... Every. He is stronger than Bewley and Hushovd, and should be a bit faster and stronger going up hill and sprinting than Nolf. We are very proud that we can keep on having such a broad focus. This has been the key of the team all along, and we would like that to continue in the future as well".
On a negative side Patrick Gretsch has followed his father away from the team.
"Patrick wasn't happy at our team, and the fact that all his closest friends confirmed they had no intention of going to Festina caused disrupt in his faith of the team. We are happy for Patrick to go to a team he feel is more suited for him, and wish him the best of luck".
In a short interview with Festina directeur Miguel Rodriguez spoke of his interest in the upcoming season, and which races could make or break the season.
"It's really interesting to see all these teams battleing the same riders - It really indicates that there is something going on tactically in every corner at the moment. I find it really interesting that the good hilly riders are not being transferred at all. It must certainly mean that the ones holding onto these believe that they could make or break the season. Seen in that persective we are really pleased to have not only kept Ulissi in our team but also managed to get Pozzato to join. We even have Contador and Fothen who could both be of significant quality in those races if needed. Today we signed the contract with swedish Jonas Ljungblad who should be aiming to help our leaders perform at a high level."
"The team is being formed with the speed of lightening at the moment, and we are looking very comfortable in all terrains now." - Andreas Jøhnke said.
Edited by SotD on 25-06-2011 10:50
We have had a very strange transfer season. Some of it has been marvously, some has been hardly enjoyable. In the end we are looking at a really nice team for the upcoming season. With the latest signing of Jens Keukeleire, this is what our team looks like at the moment:
... to do well in general. And as such we are very pleased to welcome two strong Timetriallists, both at a very pleassant wage of no more than 50K each:
Daan Rijntjes
Olivier Kaisen
Both are 75 Timetriallists, and are boosting our chances to do well in the TTT's
Team Festina - Conec 2012 is looking every bit as strong as the 2011 setup. Team manager Andreas Jøhnke had these comments.
"We are looking forward to this season. We believe we have every chance to pull for the Pro Tour victory. We are not the favorites, but we do have the power to pull through if we get the required amount of luck, and even more so - Avoid the bad luck. We have a quality rider for all terrains, and might even have a better team for all setups than all other teams in the Pro Tour. We do, however, not have that one or two superstars that could make or break a season - We are very happy with that, as the word team is very important for us. This season is the first where we have a sole leader in the cobbles, and we are looking forward to see how that turns out."
The team will be presented in categories. The first is Grand Tour riders.
Looking at this setup in contrast to last year, then we believe that Fothen is a stronger rider than Castaño, atleast for the races we want him to perform at. Also Serpa should be at the same level of Ardila, or perhaps stronger. So in all we are very very pleased with this. We are yet to decide who will ride where, but Fothen has confirmed that he will be aiming to win the Tour of Germany yet again, whilst he and Contador will be battleing to receive the Tour de France leaders role.
To support our captains in the mountains we have the lieuteinants:
Tim Dees Steve Morabito Lasse Bøchman Paul Voss
Like last year Tim Dees and Steve Morabito will be key in making our captains perform. Both have been doing strong results themselves. Morabito with stagewins in both the Giro and the Tour of Switzerland and Tim Dees in smaller tours, ending just outside the top 10. Both Lasse Bøchman and Paul Voss joins us to help, and we believe they will be able to do the job. We have lost Jurgen van Goolen, who is also a very good timetriallist, but we think we are coming out at a similar level.
The next category is the classics. The hilly classics that is:
Diego Ulissi Filippo Pozzato Jonas Ljungblad
Having lost Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez we were really struggling to see how we could strenghten our side here. Diego Ulissi is coming along even stronger than last season, and we believe this will be his season. But getting Pozzato as a tutor and a second option for the hills was absolutely amazing. On paper he is among the very best in the world both in the hills, but also as a finisher and a cobbler. We have to look into how we will get the most from his obvious talents, but we can already now promise that either Pozzato or Ulissi will be riding this years edition of the Giro d'Italia. Also this year we have a super domestique in Jonas Ljungblad. Something which we have never had before. So we are very very optimistic about the team in the classics this season.
Up next is the cobbled section:
Geert Steurs Roy Sentjens Niki Østergaard
Having lost both Sam Bewley and Frederik Nolf we were thinking that skipping the cobbled season all together would be the best thing to do. In the end we did however come to the conclusion that we had to try, and by the end of the season we even managed to upgrade our leaders strenght compared to last season by signing Steurs. Geert is a classic cobbler, who is a good attacker, very strong, good at hills, and does have a very decent jump for the finish line. He will be supported by Roy Sentjens and loanie Niki Østergaard, but he might also get support from the likes of Filippo Pozzato! All in all, we believe we will get more points from the cobbled season this year than last. Steurs will also be a fair bit stronger as a helper in the hilly classics, and will be a very good domestique in the other races.
In the sprints things have also changed:
Dan Holloway Anthony Lavoine Vicente Reynes Rafael RodrÃguez Segarra Damion Drapac
The loss of superstar Sam Bewley and Blaise Sonnery will be tough to replace, but we believe we have done just that... Loaned in rider Dan Holloway might not be every bit as fast, but he is rock solid, and with the immense sprint train including Reynez, Segarra and Drapac we have a great belief that the future in the sprints will be every bit as good as last season, and hopefully a bit improved. We still have french sprinter Anthony Lavoine, and with his experience from last season the pressure is on him to perform. He is likely to be put into the Tour de France as the lead-sprinter, and in a race like that we want succes. One rider have been mentioned in almost all categories, and this one is no exception. Filippo Pozzato is a super strong sprinter, and he might be given his own Grand Tour if we can make a fitting race calender for him. The Giro is his biggest wish to ride, and we are looking into the possibilities to make that dream come true.
The timetrials are a very important aspect of the Pro Tour:
We have lost both Jurgen van Goolen and Patrick Gretsch this season, and replaced them by Olivier Kaisen and Daan Rijntjes. We believe that Gretsch was probably the better of those three but we do have to remember that Mathieu Bernaudeau is ready to take a step up. He has been practicing all winter with Navardauskas, and those two should be very very strong this season. We also have Tim Dees here, and with those riders we are very capable of making a super strong TTT lineup. We might not be able to win, but we will be able to place our leaders in the grid, where they should be able to control things themselves.
Also a small introduction of the riders signed on a Festina - Conec contract, but who will be riding at the Continental Tour for experience:
Jonathan Castroviejo Mikel Landa Panagiotis Vlatos Georgos Tzortzakis Rohan Dennis Michael Matthews Jens Keukeleire Wen Hao Li
We are happy to have such a talented mass on board for the future. Georgos Tzortzakis, Jens Keukeleire and Michael Matthews are all among the sprinting stars of tomorrow. We are having utmost faith in their talent and believe they will become riders of green jersey potential in a not too distant fututre. Panagiotis Vlatos, Rohan Dennis and Wen Hao Li are all very competent Timetriallists already, and their potential is all going through the roof. Some of them even have the potential to go past Bernaudeau's current level, which is of very high quality. Finally Jonathan Castroviejo and Mikel Landa will be looking to improve into classic leaders, but for the first couple of years they will be looking to improve in order to help Diego Ulissi on his way to domination.
We are looking very much forward to this season, and our major goal is to be in the Top 5 of the Pro Tour once more. We are aiming for Top 3, and if all goes well we might be battleing for the win! Only time can tell.
Feel free to comment, and/or ask questions.Edited by SotD on 03-07-2011 19:53
The following stages was horrible to watch, as Dan Holloway in sole sprinting managed to pick the wrong wheel day after day, only picking up a 4th and an 8th place in the running. A result that meant he was nowhere in the sprinting competition (10th) and a fairly poor 16th in the General Classification. While performing below-par, our direct competitor of Vesuvio hit a full house not only winning the race, only securing a full lineup of 8 man in the top 17, having 5 of those in the top 10.
The Tour of Oman started out quite as expected, flat and boring. Anthony Lavoine sprinting to his normal acomplishements and finished in 7th place of the first stage of the race. However, on the second stage he did what no one believed of him - And secured our team the best result to date, a stagewin!
On stage 5, the stage to win we took resurection once again with Serpa going all out, being caught in the mere last 1km, he still managed to suck up the wheel of the stagewinner, and taking a brilliant 3rd place. A result much to the teams liking.
On the final stage, Lavoing placed himself beautifully, and for a period of time he looked set to tak another stage, or atleast battle for it, but in the final meters he lost the speed and ended up 7th, a position that costed him a couple of places in the overall sprint competition. Serpa managed to grab 12th overall, and with that we are slowly, but steadily climbing. 12th GC, 5th Sprinting competition, 3rd of the mountain competition, and a stagewin. All in all a decent Tour for us.
We are looking forward to the trio-GC's of Tirreno-Paris-Catalunya, where we hope we can put in a better performance.
Despite being unlucky yet again, Diego Ulissi showed a great amount of strength taking 8th overall in the race. Having crashed early on, he fought with the disadvantage all the way to the finishline, but in the end 8th is acceptable. We had, however, hoped for a top 5 here, but this is our first top 10 result, and we are looking to improve slowly, but steadily.
The other races going on atm Paris-Nice set a change in course during the race, which means that Pozzato is now without any real chances to win the race. We are hoping for a couple of strong stageresults now, and are looking forward to the Catalunya, where Contador will be able to show the team colors.
Despite being tuted as one of the pre-race favorites Filippo Pozzato decided to do absolutely nothing, and finishing the race in 34th place. Our other riders didn't do anything either, so we cannot be anything but extremely unsatisfied going out of, what should be the best race of the season so far.
We never saw Pozzato off his bike, but we are confident that he has been down at some point, otherwise we have a hard time believing that he could drop on every hilly stage.
We hope he is ready in a few days for his main race of the year - Milano - San Remo.
Alberto Contador showed that he was where he needed to be in his domestique race. On two occasions he ended up 3rd on a stage, putting pressure on the race - Unfortunately he wasn't able to put enough pressure on Intxausti and racewinner Pluchkin, who was in a league of his own, physically, mentally and tactically.
We can only applaud his way of racing, and crossing the fingers that we will not be racing head to head with him many times this season.
Alberto took a podium finish in the overall, which was the goal - so we are very pleased with this result.
From the start of the Milano - San Remo the other teams knew our tactics, atleast to a basic point, but it was Jonas Ljungqvist who started it all by following the break of the day. And being among the 3 strongest in the break, our team could sit back and enjoy a fairly easy first part of the race.
As we reached the decisive point of the race Gilbert made a classic way-out-move, having Pozzato clinging onto his wheel. The narrow roads made the chase really tough, and a lot of riders was misplaced in the fight. In the end everworking Efimkin, and Joaquin Rodriguez closed the gap, but with the neutralizing the break of the day saw their opportunity to claw back some time, and in this break was Ljungqvist! Clinging on the Pozzovivo and Ghisalberti by the nails, Pozzato got a second breath, and Diego Ulissi could get a nice view on the situation.
With a little more than 10km to go Ballan made a move bridging across to Ghisalberti and Pozzovivo where Ljungqvist had now given up. At this point he gave the last bit of energy to make the pack go full throttle, and with less than 10km to go we saw Ulissi on the front for the first time of the race, testing his legs. Ballan put a lot of pressure on the pack, and Ulissi sensed that this was the wheel to take, he managed to get a grip onto Pozzovivo, then Ballan and then! Bam! Away he goes. Diego Ulissi smashed over the top of the Poggio with almost 30 seconds on the pack, where Pozzato could place himself safely behind Boonen and Steegmans.
In the final 2-3km the sprinters in the pack are looking at one-another. Pozzato amongst the favorites obviously not interested in doing any work, and so Ulissi can smell the touchline, while Pozzato can ease up and get the wheel he desires.
And with the sprinters having really struggled up the last climb, Pozzato can dig just that little deeper, securing a fantastic 1-2 on the first Monument of the season, also making up for a rather dissapointing start to the season.
Next up is the Omloop Het Volk, where we will see if Geert Steurs is in shape for the cobbled season. He will be supported by the likes of Roy Sentjens and Dan Holloway.
