Marchante will be the leader in the mountains for ING
Now behold the revelation of the final two riders that will join the ranks:
That's right, but not one but two Kings will race for ING Cycling Project this season! Edward King was signed for a modest fee from Wikipedia, and he'll be a very important helper for Roche in the hilly classics. Ben King is loaned from Wikipedia, and he'll be working very hard to give Kip and Assan the best possibilities in the sprints this year. These signings are also a prove that shows how strong a relationship Wikipedia and now ING has obtained during the last couple of years.
The transfer season is over for our team and the preparations for the new season will continue with a pre-season training camp in Italy. The HQ will soon be further updated with all sort of information.
ING looking to race in the Pro Tour for the first time
The team has finally decided to try get a wildcard for at least one race this term, since manager Rycadinho believes it could give the team some valuable experience.
"It hasn't been easy to pick out races that first of all makes sense to participate in and still not undermining our top priority, which is to do as well in the Continental Tour as possible. I've made it clear to the MGUCI that all the races we are interested to be a part of in the pro tour this year, will be with the best riders ING has to offer. While we of course would love to participate in races in the Netherlands, then it's for me more important that we can say to us self: "We want to win this thing, not just be here for the glamour". It's really important for me and the team to see just how far we are from the very elite in the sport, and that's why I hope we'll get at least one opportunity to finally show ourselves in the Pro Tour."
The manager also once again confirmed that ING - Cycling Project are done on the transfer market, and that the riders in the next week will travel to Italy, where they will have the chance to meet each other after the winterbreak, while preparing for what Rycadinho has declared as "a defining year" for his time in the sport.
Marchante, Roche, Zabriskie and all the others can't complain about the beatiful landscape that awaits them in ING's pre-season camp in Toscany
Many expert believes that ING has a real chance of promotion this year, but the lack of investment in youth might come and bite them later on.
I think you have a real chance to promote even though another Dutch team in the PT is not something that I want
Thanks mate, but I'll most defiantly still keep a hold of my international point of view when it comes with the team-setup, so do not fear me lure Gesink over if I indeed promote
In my opinion you've had a great transfer season, Roche is the ace here though. I'm looking forward to seeing how you will use him, hilly stage races, one day classics, or maybe stage races with 1 mountain and many hills? He should fit perfectly for everything. If I promote and you don't, expect a large bid for him :-p
Heine wrote:
In my opinion you've had a great transfer season, Roche is the ace here though. I'm looking forward to seeing how you will use him, hilly stage races, one day classics, or maybe stage races with 1 mountain and many hills? He should fit perfectly for everything. If I promote and you don't, expect a large bid for him :-p
Thanks, and you too I believe that your team will be one of the frontrunners this year, though I'm in the dark about many teams ... will be great to see the DB with all the transfers updated plus reviews!
I can't yet say which races Roche will participate in, but you are right he does have a great advantage in being so solid in both Hilly/Mountain terrain despite not being among the very best in both categories
I think you have a real chance to promote even though another Dutch team in the PT is not something that I want
Thanks mate, but I'll most defiantly still keep a hold of my international point of view when it comes with the team-setup, so do not fear me lure Gesink over if I indeed promote
I'm not worrying about Gesink as you'd have to sell your entire team to have a chance at signing him
Dutch domestiques are my main concern. Or at least were, back in the old Jack Wolfskin days. Now I've went more for "international" riders.
Hahaha, well it was worth a try but then I'll just have to find the next Gesink then.... Whoever that will be!
Yeah, but I believe the market is strong enough for potentially two dutch PT teams, especially considering all the great talent that the dutch always seem to produce!
Will be exiting to see how things will go, but once again good luck to you Alex, you must provide the goods in the PT while I'm battling in the continental division.
You're right. There are plenty of Dutch talents out there, but also plenty of teams that want them (both Dutch teams and teams that are only looking for the best deal on the market).
It's with great satisfaction I can announce that ING will participate in 3 PT races for the upcoming year.
We had made it clear to the MGUCI that the team would like to race in Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, Amstel Gold Race, Fletche Wallone and Liege Bastogne Liege due to these races great importance and not at least being placed on the race calender, where the team didn't have any important CT races to do.
That's why it's absolutely fantastic that ING will participate in Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, where Gomez Marchante will be able to rely on a fantastic team and Roche will lead us in the two great Ardenne classics: Fletche Wallone and Liege Bastogne Liege. Even though we didn't succeed in getting a wild card for the by far greatest dutch classic race, then it's nothing to cry about when we look at the cold facts. ING managed to get a WC for almost every single race we wanted to be a part of, which clearly proves that this team has quality both in terms of riders but also in marketing.
ING are most pleased that some of our best riders will race in the PT, and hopefully show our colors in the best possible way. Our goal is to surprise the established PT teams and perhaps fight for a podium in the classics, or in Catalunya where a stage win would be more than great. The most important thing though is the experience we would like to obtain during these races, and first of all see about how just far away we are to be PT material.
Zabriskie and Roche off to a strong start after a slow start by ING
January
Even though we didn't put up the best performances in the season opener Down Under Classic where our sprint train, leaded by Kip was nowhere to see and Castaño who got his GC chances in Tachira ruined after a bad crash, then it has been quite another story so far in February.
The bad crash for Castaño gave our young talent Aru the chance to prove himself, and he did amazing - just coming short of a 10 GC spot and the white jersey. Our revamped sprint train also did a great job, though I'm sure that Kip/Thire will eliminate some of the small mistakes they did, but despite that did Kip pull off a beautiful win in stage 4.
Ismaël Kip won a stage in Tachira thanks to some splendid work by Jonathan Thire.
February I
We have decided to make two updates for february, since it has been quite a big month so far with more challenges to come, but let's start from the beginning.
David Zabriskie had a dream debut in the Argentinian stage race Tour de San Luis, where he managed to not only win the timetrial but even hold on to the overall win! It was a tough battle, since every rider who had a decent kick when it went uphill attacked the team, but Dave stayed firm and could celebrate a great win together with his new teammates. Van Winden deserves a special mention too, for his amazing work during the queen stage and he also managed to finish third in the previously mentioned timetrial. Finally did Assan Bazajev take the green jersey of the race, thanks to a lot of consistent sprint finishes, which just solidified the fact that this race was a huge succes for ING. Captain America on his way to glory in Argentina
Nicolas Roche had a rather disappointing 2012, with his victory in Emilia the clear highlight. Tour of South Africa had the potential to be quite a gamble to participate in, since everyone is pretty much in the same shape and the climbs aren't that tough to really make the difference in. Thankfully did Roche perform incredible well when it mattered, and he took a fantastic stage win while ending as third in a race that had quiet a few surprises. Therefore are we more than satisfied with the outcome, since a lot of strong contenders had to leave the race with a disappointing result since guys like Hoffman managed to beat them. Roche managed to hold off a storming Flügel to take the queen stage in the race
The last update involves our debut in the protour, where we have decided to go all out and let Gomez Marchante get his debut for ING, while being supported by the likes of Zabriskie, Roche, Winden and many more. Even with a team like this did we not expect to win the very first stage, a TTT where we just managed to beat the biggest Dutch team in cycling, Project 1t4i!! Zabriskie and Van Winden did a splendid job to secure the team a fantastic debut in the protour
Our goal for the race has slighly changed, as we hope that the team can keep the leaders jersey for at least two more stages, and then it's up to Marchante and maybe Roche to give us a strong GC spot when the race is done.
February will end for ING with the two classics GP di Lugano and Gisborne GP, where we have putted up a rather mixed team for Lugano including Marchante and Zabriskie. We hope that one of those guys can come up with a surprise, while Roche will go for the victory in Gisborne.
We managed to get Marchante inside the 10 best riders in Catalunya, while Roche just missed out even though he did come close on a stage win thanks to a daring move on one of the stages. We leaved the race with just about what we had expected though the win in the team time trial was awesome and having the leaders jersey for two days gave ING some extra screen time.
Our participation in the two classics Gisborne and Lugano didn't end up giving us any extraordinary results, though Roche did a good job to secure some nice points in Gisborne - despite not being up to his best in a intense final.
This period was pretty bad if we looked at our target to promote. We didn't manage a single stage win, but things changed for the better when our A-squad participated for the two Ardenne Classics: Fletche Wallone and Liege Bastogne Liege. Before that, was our best performance a third place finish by our timetrial specialist and biggest dutch name in the team, Dennis Van Winden, in Olympia Tour. We didn't expect him to survive the hills, but he did and by that made up for some rather lackluster Roche performances in a couple of classics. Especially Roche has in the last 1½ year shown a lack of winning against his greatest rivals in the division, but we still believed that he would not only do well in the Ardenne Classics, but that he'd also come back even stronger and more experienced after them. Roche on the attack in Fletche, securing a strong 9th
Roche did exactly that, and his performance in Fletche Wallone was admirable, showing courage to not only attack some of the biggest stars in the sport but still being able to beat some of them at the "Mur". 11th in Liege was also more than acceptable, and Roche seems to have carried his promising form over to the continental tour - just as hoped! He manage to finish second in Giro dell'Appennino and is currently fighting for the overall victory in Ostdeutschland Tour. The same thing can be said about Carlos Castaño, who is right now leading the overall classification after taking a stunning win on stage 3 in Tour of Japan! The next report will give a recap over these two races plus more, but in the meantime are we all hoping that the team will continue to live up to its potential.
Finally did we unfortunately not manage to complete a goal, which was to win the TT-double team combo, Duo Differdange. Zabriskie leading Winden couldn't beat the strong Australian duo of Rogers and Ford.
The Oz team with World TT Champion Michael Rogers and another strong Aussie against the Clock, Ford where a couple of seconds better than our two guys. We are still happy about the strong second place, which clearly shows that the team is really returning to a form after slipping out of the promotion candidate picture.
After Roche and Castaño has completed their current races, will the team take a minor break, with the Azerbaijan Tour and Tour of Czech Republic being the first big goals when the team has reloaded its batteries. Marchante is training hard to be a real contender for Azerbaijan, after only spending 2 racedays so far. Zabriskie has been one of our more active riders, but like Marchante will he have to be at his best, if we are going to complete our first goal of the season which is a top 5 finish in the Czech' HC race.
Mr. one million takes ING back into the promotion hunt
June-August
ING is on fire! The team has recorded several huge victories in the span over the last few weeks, including a brilliant "hattrick" of wins by David Zabriskie.
Our American star managed to conquer Tour of the Czech Republic, Isle of Man and Post Danmark Rundt in such fashion that even though the rivals were of great quality, then they simply couldn't resist the relentless American. Dave Z storming towards the overall victory in Denmark
Even though Zabriskie has been the main Catalyst for ING's rise in the standings, and keeping the dream for promotition alive, then some special mentions has to be given to other riders. Nicolas Roche has been incredible solid, with several podium finishes, and unlike last year, is he not having any weak races - A victory for him is only a matter of time. Marchante suffered in Slovenia, but will defiantly show stronger performances, which will be crucial, since Zabriskie is in need of a break due to a very intense season so far.
The next weeks will tell if the team has what it takes to finally break out of the CT - We have the momentum, now it's time for the rest of the guys to step out of Zabriskies shadow and lead the team towards glory.
The season is slowly coming nearing it's great finale and especially the fight for the very valued promotion spots couldn't get any more intense.
After what was a rather mediocre start have the team lately really picked up and are in a good position to capitalize on other teams failure to match our strong form. But before taking everything for granted, then it's important to look at just what's left to do for the dutch team being able to achieve the target Rycadinho set for almost 3 years ago when he and Massimo Moratti, president of Inter. That was to achieve promotion after 3 seasons, much has happened since but the target has never been changed and here is what ING must do to clinch this:
Races left:
Milano - Torino
Giro dell'Emilia
Herald Sun Tour
Tour de Faso
Japan Cup
Roche, Zabriskie and Van Winden will be the ones to secure the needed points in these final races for ING if we are going to promote. Something that has been characteristic for the team in it's history has been the ability to finish strongly. Last season did Roche take the win in these Italian classics, and even though the competition is fierce then he has do at least finish inside the top 3 in both races. Can he do that, then it's up to Captain America to secure yet another strong result, this time in Herald Sun Tour. This race is absolutely tailor made for not just him but also Van Winden and nothing else than two top 5 finishes by them in the GC will do. Faso is a gamble, but we have done well there before, and we hope to do so again. Finally will Roche lead the team in Japan, a race that is absolutely tailormade for his characteristics. He did fairly well in Canada, though he is still looking to peak for the final time in the season in these crucial races that are just about to be raced.
Each of these races will get a individual report, due to the season being so close to reach it's climax and of course since the team has never been in a stronger position yet.
There isn't much else to say except good luck to everyone, let the best men win and of course...
The end is near - Everything is still up for grasp!
With Tour de Faso almost over then it's time to look ahead for the season finale in Japan, where ING - Cycling Project will be looking to clinch a promotion spot if not more.
The two prestigious Italian hilly-classics Milano-Torino and Giro dell'Emila gave the team two much different results. To send Gomez Marchante to Milano-Torino was a bit of a gamble and unfortunately it didn't pay off as he clearly struggled to find any sort of performance. Nicolas Roche would defiantly had been the better bet to lead the team here, but we thought that resting him so that he had the chance to defend his victory from last year in Giro dell'Emila would be the best thing to do, and oh boy we where right, almost!
Roche surprising the other favourites by a long-range attack
Nicolas animated the whole race by a fantastic offensive effort, though it didn't pay off in the end and he had to settle for third. The important thing was though that our main rivals for the promotion spots didn't beat us, and therefore was it not too bad to see Italian hero Ginanni take the win.
In Australia was our A-Team in timetrialing lining up, to take on local hero Michael Rogers and his OZ team in a race which could both end up with either a sprinter or a timetrialer taking the overall glory. The question about who would win was decided on the 10km long timetrial, where Van Winden, Dave Z and Rogers battled out for the overall win, so who would take it then?
1 second! This margin went Rogers way,as Zabriskie just lacked that one second to win the race. Despite this, then the race turned out to be a huge success for the team as Van Winden managed his best individual performance yet by taking fourth in the GC and therefore securing the team a huge amount of points.
Everything is therefore up for grasp. Kip is right now doing admirably well in Tour of Faso, and unless something drastic happens then he should too give some valuable points to the team. Roche will therefore be the man who will show the world, if ING really is to promote or not.
Many pundits wondered if the fast, but fragile, sprinter Ismael Kip would be able to pay back the faith that ING - Cycling Project manager Rycadinho has in him. Bazajev was clearly not too happy about having to accept a new guy being given the same freedom as him in the sprints, but the competition between the two has been healthy and Kip showed in Tour of Faso that he can challenge the very best of the division.
Jurgen Roulandts was in a class of his own, but Kip still able to gather some points to the team, which crucially puts ING in a position where only something drastic can take away a top 3 spot in the CT and therefore a promotion spot to the PT. The team, and especially Jonathan Thire did a great job in delivering Kip the best possible leadouts against strong competitors, with stage 2 in Faso being a perfect example. Sprints has never been the teams mainfocus ever since Rycadinho entered in the sport, but this year success has partly come down to Bazajev and Kip doing surprisingly well, giving the team some crucially points when the "big 3" haven't raced.
Kip storming ahead to take fifth overall in Tour of Faso
With the team being just over 100 points after OlegTinkoffs team for the top spot in the division, is it highly unlikely that we will take the honour as being the very best team in the continental division, 2013. More importantly though is there a clear gap to the next contenders, and top 3 should be secured in Japan once and for all with Nicolas Roche looking extremely sharp, despite the time of the season.
For almost 3 years ago did Rycadinho together with Massimo Moratti put an ambitious target: Promotion to the PT being achieved after 3 seasons. A lot has happened since, but the goal has been the same and despite some uncertainty in the teams future, then it'll be a fantastic achievement if the team can take the final step towards the elite in the sport.
After being by several sources been seen as a outfit strong enough to challenge for promotion, did it finally happen after 3 long years. We managed to not only win several races, but also challenge for the overall victory in the division, though a huge congratulations must be send to Oleg, who just about managed to beat us to that. Taking second in such a strong field, with such dept is still a fantastic effort and everyone in the team are thrilled to have achieved a goal, that had been set under much different circumstances 3 seasons ago. Pirelli-Inter, Pirelli-Alfa Romeo, ING - Cycling Project and for 2014 ING - Pro Cycling Team... well, it has been a long, but ultimately great road to reach the elite in cycling.
Jose Serpa, Alberto Loddo, Ryder Hesjedal, Jurgen van Den Broeck, Carlos Castaño, Bazajev, Nicolas Roche, Gomez Marchante and Dave Zabriskie. We have had lots of strong riders on the team, and even though we are extremely satisfied with the results we have managed to get throughout this season, then we will' of course evaluate the current team and see how we can strengthen the team without splitting up the core.
Dave Zabriskie, Dennis Van Winden and Nicolas Roche are such valuable assists and their experience will be needed to survive in the Pro Tour and that's why that they are, unless something drastic happens, will see their contracts renewed. Everything else will not be discussed, before the transfer window will begin.
Finally has ING decided to renew their partnership for 2 more seasons, now with a modification in the name. ING - Pro Cycling Team is seen more fitting with the team now in the Pro tour. I would like to say congratulations to the other teams who managed to promote with us, and also the MAN-UCI for delivering yet another fantastic season (behind the scenes).
Rebranding for 2014 - looking for new equipment/kit designer
We were very happy with ANFreemans work last year, but we are open for new artist to give our newly promoted team a great and hopefully unique look when we take on the protour next season.
ING and Nike, our two main sponsors will of course have to be respected but that's really it.
If interested, then just PM manager Rycadinho for more information.
Edited by rycadinho on 20-02-2014 10:29
