Looking forward too the season. Although I fear that Luigi will be a rival for the next draft round, since I still need a lot of dutch riders...
Oh and btw, if someone is interested, Magazine #2 will be released this weekend.
Jesleyh wrote:
Looking forward too the season. Although I fear that Luigi will be a rival for the next draft round, since I still need a lot of dutch riders...
Oh and btw, if someone is interested, Magazine #2 will be released this weekend.
I think that I'm more of a rival for Atlantius than you
Jesleyh wrote:
Looking forward too the season. Although I fear that Luigi will be a rival for the next draft round, since I still need a lot of dutch riders...
Oh and btw, if someone is interested, Magazine #2 will be released this weekend.
I think that I'm more of a rival for Atlantius than you
One of the most talented young climbers of the world, Nairo Quintana, signed with ING - InBev. He's a great climber, and good on the hills too. He's also a good fighter. He might win a stage in a GT this year, or maybe further in the future. He will most likely get the role of protected rider.
Hey, here we are again. As promised, here is the second edition of the magazine.
We have plenty of news for you. We signed some great riders today, and we even got an interview with one of them. Fränk Schleck was the one, who didn't mind an interview. We've even been training with our team already. And of course, much more will be in this magazine.
Part 1: Latest news
Part 2: Our signings
Part 3: Teams to look out for
Part 4: Team philosophy
Part 5: Respect
Part 6: Interview with Fränk Schleck
Part 7: Our Mascot
Part 8: Training
Latest news
We signed F. Schleck, Voeckler and Boonen.
We think that our signings are really great. One of our goals is accomplished; we can now win on almost every terrain. We are considered one of the better teams now. The only disability we have is that we can't win le Tour with this team. Although we can get a lot of stage wins with Voeckler, Veenhof and Ruiter. The team has already been training in France, but you can read that later in the Magazine. Equipment Sponsor
This is hot news! We just signed a new equipment sponsor. Its Giant, one of the biggest bike manufacturers in the world. The news is so hot, that we didn’t even use their bikes in our training. We used hired Cannondale bikes for that, honestly. Next signings
Of course, we can't say anything about our first signings. But we can say that we have bid on an incredible talent. But the guy isnt from Europe. We can't say more than that, unfortunately.
So please, I know that we signed a lot of old riders, but don't complain about that. We won't extend a contract with someone older than 35, that's a rule the sponsor gave to us. They might make an exception if the guy is really good, so if Contador would be 36, or Cancellara.
We can also confirm that we're going to sign a lot of Dutch and Belgian cyclists in the near future. Don't be surprised if our first three signings are from other countries, you never know what could happen. Even hotter news
We were able to add this just before the magazine went out. Quintana, a big, talented Colombian climber, joined us. He's very young, and will be a great assistance for Schleck & Ruiter. He signed just for 1 year though.
Our signings
Tom Boonen(31)
This guy is a true legend. He’s one of the best cobblers of the world, and he got a great sprint too. He has also got a great amount of stamina. That means that he has got a good chance to win extremely-long races like Milan-San Remo. He signed a one year contract.
What did he win?
Well, what didn't he win? He won for example 4 times Paris-Roubaix, 5 times E3, and 3 times RvV. He did also win the world championship once, and brought a Le Tour points jersey home once. Thomas Voeckler(32)
This is another signing that we're proud of. Thomas Voeckler is definitely a public’s favourites, although there are people out there who hate him. At least he gets a lot of media attention, and we want as much attention possible. This rider is one of the best hilly riders of the world, and he's a favourite in all of the Ardennes classics. He's also a great fighter, which means that he will attack a lot, mainly in races like the Tour de France. Since he's also a good climber, we see him as a KoM contender in GT’s. He can also be a domestique on the cobbles, since he's decent there What did he win?
Actually, he didn't win that much, but he was close very, very often. Recently, he won the KoM jersey in le Tour. He did also win several Tour stages in his career, and he has hold the yellow jersey in multiple years. He got 4th in the Tour de France in 2011. He got several top 10s and Top 5s in hilly classics, but also in the Ronde van Vlaanderen. So you can say that heâs really allround. Fränk Schleck(31)
This is our first stage-racer. We admit that we would prefer the other Schleck, but this one is great too. A proven stage-racer. There are many people who call him a climber, since his TT-ability isn’t good. Apart from mountain stages, he's also very good on hills. We think that he's also one of the favourites for the hilly classics. So he can do it if Voeckler isn't feeling well. What did he win?
He won some Tour de France stages, but he got multiple top 5’s in Le Tour and one in the Vuelta. He even got a Top 3 in France once. He has also won an important race for us, the Amstel Gold race. Hes the reigning Luxembourgian champion, but it isnt that hard in Luxembourg.
Teams to look out for
There are plenty of teams who signed great riders, just like we did.
Team Fastweb signed some great riders, with Nibali, Ballan and the TT legend Martin
Motorex signed Cancellara and Gesink, with the last one being a big target of us, so we were disappointed about that.
ITV didn't only sign our former rider Wesley Hoogenboom, they did also sign Andy Schleck and Valverde, which grants them a great climbers team.
Lunar got Cavendish, and Globant-Telefe got Alberto Contador.
But the most important are of course our rivals: Lierse - Pizza Ullo. But they didn't turn out that good as we expected. Yes, they got Gilbert, Demare and De Gendt. They are all good, but except Gilbert, not (yet) world-class.
But we can say that we did great at the first transfers, since there arent many teams listed above, that are better than us.
Team philosophy
This part of the magazine is short, but very important for the sport.
You all know that the UCI collapsed, and started over after all the doping affairs. They decided to use zero-tolerance from now, and decided to forget all the doping scandals. That means that we hope that this sport gets as clean as possible. So everyone in our team who use doping now will be banned out of our team directly. Thats a warning for our riders, especially for the earlier accused Fränk Schleck.
Respect
This might be not that interesting for you, but we have to say this.
There are plenty of good ideas for a good team in the peloton, but one of them is far ahead of the others. They will not race in the WT, but in the CT.
Im talking about team CYMRU Wales. They are a great support for everyone involving in Diabetes. Also, they have signed a half-disabled rider, Steve Moore. We just felt that we had to mention it in this magazine. So to everyone from CYMRU: Massive respect!
Interview with Fränk Schleck.
Our interviewer Thijs Zonneveld travelled to Luxembourg for this interview. The interview is about the potential of the team, his brother, his plans for this season, and since he’s an ex-doper, doping. Thijs Zonneveld: Welcome to the team, Fränk
Fränk Schleck: Thanks Thijs. TZ: Are you happy that you chose for this team?
FS: Yes, I’m very happy. I’m finally able to get an absolute leader role again in le Tour, Andy stole that role away from me each year. TZ: About Andy, are you sad that you will be leaving him, now Andy signed a contract with ITV
FS: I'm very sad to leave him, but as said, this gives me the opportunity to lead in GT’s again. TZ: Yeah, that's true. Do you think that the team can be one of the biggest in Cycling?
FS: Yes, I think that’s possible. I hope to help the team as much as I can with that. With Boonen and Voeckler, we got some great riders. TZ: Are you aiming for the Tour again this year?
FS: Well, of course, it’s my favourite race. Although I think I will also be aiming at one of the other GT’s, since this years Tour got a bit too much TT km’s. TZ: And do you have further plans for this season?
FS: Yes, of course. I've got high hopes for the hilly classics, since I’m sure that I'm capable of a Top 5 there. Also I'll aim at the one-week stage-races. TZ: Ah, I see. Have you actually thought about improving your TT-ability? Because that would make you a much more complete cyclist.
FS: Yes, of course I did. But I just can't. You have to have talent for it, and I simply don't have that. But I don't think I'm a bad stage-racer, you should just look at my results TZ: That's true; you're a good stage-racer. But a honest answer on this question please; were you not affected by doping in these results?
FS: No, absolutely not. I only used doping in my last year, while I was out form for the TdF, and I was desperate for a good finish. I will never use doping again TZ: Okay, I have to believe you. Last question: Do you think that you can beat your brother this year?
FS: It will be hard, Andy is great. But I think that I can, yes. TZ: Thanks for your time
FS: No problem.
Mascot:
In the last week, we found a cute cat walking around our HQ. We asked the police if someone lost it, but after some wait, they said that we could keep the cat.
We don't know if it's a good idea to keep it, but we just couldn't look in his eyes and say no.
We decided that it will be the mascot of our team. It did especially like Thomas (Voeckler) for some reason. That's why we called him Tommy. It's a Siamese cat by the way.
Training
It might be a bit early, but we went on a training camp to France already. It was mainly about teamwork, and training to prepare our sprint train. It did involve some climbing and descending though. We used rented Cannondale bikes, because we didn't sign a sponsor contract with Giant yet when the camp started. Quintana didn't sign yet when the camp started, so we were with 5 people.
Here’s a picture of us:
It’s not hard to recognize our new signings. Schleck is at the front, in his NC jersey. Behind him there’s Voeckler, with his France NC ‘bracelet’. The 4th guy is easy, that's of course Tom Boonen. He's huge, and he got his World Championships bracelet. The 3th and 5th guys aren't that well known though. You will get used to them though. The third guy is the great climber Mathijs Ruiter. The fifth guy will most likely be our main sprinter, Johan Veenhof.
Next up in ING Magazine
- More news about our team
- Our signings, and signings of other teams
- If we decided them already, the team goals and expectations
- (Maybe) news about our Mascot
- An interview again, most likely with one of our cyclists. If you want, you may request an interview with one of our cyclists
- And of course, much more
Goodbye,
Jesleyh, manager of ING - InBev.
Edited by Jesleyh on 23-12-2012 10:08
Lars Boom, 26 years old, signs for our team. He's a cobbler, but he's really allround. He's maybe the best Dutch time-trialist, and he's very useful in leadout trains. The contract is just two years, but we will happily extend this.
Our team is getting better and better, and we didn't expect him available so long after the transfer period opened. We're very glad that he chose for us.
sutty68 wrote:
WOW, your team is just looking Great
Yeah, only thing we miss is a top-class stage-racer.
Boom will be great support for Boonen, and if Boonen crashes, then Boom can still top 3 a cobbled race.
Of course, this is again great news. What have Boom, Boonen and Van Avermaet in common? All great cobblers(Boonen the best), at least decent(Van Avermaet really good) on the hills, and overall pretty allround. Van Avermaet was at the top of our shortlist for this week, and we managed to sign him. He will most likely be a domestique in the hilly and cobbled races. Our cobbled and hilly squad is very strong at the moment. We realised that we won't win a GT with this squad, so it wouldn't make sense to focus on mountain domestiques in this team. With Quintana and Voeckler we have two nice domestiques for Schleck, and there might be some more. Our focus will most-likely be on winning one-week and one-day races, so this signing fits our plans. He signed a long contract, three years. He's still young(26) so that's a great deal.
signed
signs for ING
