With what was left of our salary cap after the acquisition of Feillu, we initially decided to go after Krisztian Lovassy, a sprinter/cobbler, or Saïd Haddou, a better sprinter. In the end, we were unable to land any of them, and in the final moments of transfers we agreed to a 65,000 deal with Christian Omar Clavero. He will be one of the best sprinters on the team, and he can get over some hills.

There's the final team for our 2014 season. The manager has admitted that there were some mistakes along the way, strategically, that cost the team from acquiring a top superstar. With the team size of only 16, management expected better riders...however, poor utilization of transfer money and failing to target a sprint leader hurt the team in the end.

Looking back at the goals, cracking the Top 10 in Team Standings is going to be hard to do. A top 15 finish would make me happy, as we have focused a bit more on stockpiling talents. Our goal to win the Tour de Beauce relied on acquiring a strong puncheur, but we really never signed anyone special. It would be a miracle to win. Top 5's at Madrid and Utah might still be achievable, but that highly depends on the field that is sent there.

We still think we can achieve 10 Stage wins in a season, purely due to perhaps going up against weak startlists.

We have announced our full calendar for the upcoming 2014 season. It can be seen below. This post also contains this information and you can also read the manager reaction by reading here.

We kicked off the season with the Clasico San Cristobal in Cuba in a packed field. Heading into the race, a Top 15 was a goal for us, and might have been possible had Feillu been on form.



Early on, Hasnaoui got us into a breakaway, effectively showing our jersey for the first time ever in the MG. It looked quite nice.



Unfortunately, when the pace was stepped up, Feillu(background) missed the cut, seemingly not on form. He would eventually finish a dismal 60th. Our best finisher would actually end up being Hasnaoui, at 34th. We did not score any points either.



Gaimon took an excellent victory for In-n-Out.





It's difficult to give much credit when you don't get any points, but at least Hasnaoui was aggressive and finished in a decent position personally.



Next race we had on the calendar was the Vuelta a Tachira, which was a C1 10-day race with a strong field. Feillu was considered one of the weakest of contenders, but we were looking forward to see if he could bounce back from a weak performance in San Cristobal. As well as the big mountain stages, we also had a plethora of sprint stages, which we did not believe we could make too big of a splash.



We started the race quietly, but Tuulhangai made a good effort on Stage 2. He finished only 9th, just outside the point line, but it was a sign that at least our sprinting isn't as dismal as we thought it might be, given we are lucky with startlists.



Maillet of La Vie Claire took a tough stage 4, but the most important news to our team was that Feillu had lost over 8 minutes in that stage. Maybe it was a sign at that moment that Feillu was not a good signing after all. So we decided we had nothing to lose, and instructed him to place an early attack in the next mountain stage...



...and so Feillu did, placing a long attack in hopes of a victory.



Surprisingly, the peloton had no serious intent to reel in the break!! Feillu knew it would be a battle between him, Terciado, and Brandt, so he gave it a go with a couple of kilometers left.



And indeed it lasted all the way to the line! Brice Feillu grabbed an extraordinary first win for the team, and it was an amazing performance.



Seeing this as a viable strategy, Feillu would try a couple more times to break away, but he wasn't allowed any gaps on the peloton.

A stage win meant twenty points for us in the month of January, but unfortunately our GC placing and other stage placings were not notable enough to gain any additional points.

Final GC Placing:




Feillu grabbing a stage win almost made me instantly satisfied with the race as a whole, but other than that we didn't make much of a splash. Nonetheless, a great effort was put in, and that first win will always be special for the team.

1		In-n-Out Racing p/b Auchan	316	15	21.067
2		Eddie Stobart Pro Cycling	245	17	14.412
3		Team Vontobel	230	15	15.333
4		Fletcher-Garneau	210	15	14.000
5		Team TomTom	144	15	9.600
...
23		Dell - 361° Racing	20	12	1.667

Despite our win, those were the only 20 points we would get this month. That put us all the way down to 23rd in the standings, something we can definitely improve on as we move into C2 stage races and timetrials. It will be interesting to watch to see if the breakaway success for the top teams in the standings will continue.



Down in the bottom five to ten is where we were originally projected, so I wouldn't rate this month as a disaster points-wise, but 1.66 PpRD is not going to get it done for me this year. I expect that number to improve, since the sample for this month included numerous flat stages in which we did not contest.



The only goal of relevance was our 10 Stage Wins in a Season Goal, in which Feillu's victory ensured we are 10% complete with that goal.



Although this wasn't a "goal-heavy" month, the ability to pick up a stage in a C1 race like Tachira meant that we could expect more of the same, if not easier in the C2 races with a less competitive startlist. Thus, I am convinced with our team's performance.



A mixed bag for the team in January, can't wait for February to kick off with ToME! The management would also like to thank anyone who has read this far.

Going into ToME, we had high hopes pinned on Raisin getting a solid placement on GC, and hopefully delivering some much needed points…



However, due to logistical problems, ToME has been postponed to a later time.





The next one on the calendar was DDV, and going up against a strong field in a C1 race, we didn’t expect much at all. Our strongest cobbler was Eric Young, and any result would satisfy us.



Guozhang did a nice job of getting into the break and showing our jersey.



When the selection came, Young did a great job to stay in the main group of 27.



In the end, Eisel took a nice victory for AMEXpc, but we were impressed with Young’s ride, finishing a solid 16th. Although that may not translate into much when it comes to points, considering the field there, it’s a victory in itself.





In technicality, a 16th place is nothing to be excited about, but Young finished much higher than expectations in a filler race for us. Can’t complain.



Our next race on the calendar was the Tour de San Luis, which ran parallel to Langkawi. We sent Rosskopf, a great puncheur and timetrialist to lead our team at the 7-day C2 race, though we initially weren’t sure how the mountain stage would impact our GC hopes.

--

The sprint stages went by rather uneventfully for our team, so no need to talk about them.



Valencia took a crucial hilly stage 3, but the bad news for our team was that Rosskopf came across the line in a group 1’55 down. A big blow to our GC hopes.



However, that disappointment would not be for long…as the Stage 4 ITT was a stage we had high hopes for. Our team certainly didn’t disappoint. Cruz set the early best time, and would eventually take the win.



But perhaps what was more surprising was the fact that Rosskopf finished the day in second, only two seconds behind Cruz. What a nice 1-2 on that TT, our best stage of the year. With that performance, Rosskopf moved into the provisional top ten.





On the pivotal stage 5, Ospina went into the break, fancying his chances. In the end, the move paid off somewhat, as the breakaway held on clear of the field of contenders, with Ospina finishing 6th after losing some time on the mountain.



Unfortunately, Rosskopf was isolated on the long climb, and finished well behind the climbers, which dropped him out of the top 10.



Stage 6’s uphill finish was the last chance to make a move, but Rosskopf had no intention of doing so, as he mainly just rode at the back of the main group…



…which led him to finish more than a minute behind the main contenders once again. The last stage was one for the sprinters, therefore the final GC was as follows:





This was a tough race to evaluate. On one hand, Rosskopf didn’t show much on basically every critical stage, besides the TT. However, the 1-2 in the TT came as a nice surprise, so I’ll have to give a positive evaluation on this race. We also had a decent youth and team classification placing.



Clashing with the aforementioned San Luis, Langkawi was our first C2HC race among many in the calendar to come. Certainly not one of my favorites on the C2HC band, as there are a whopping eight flat stages mixed in with the two mountain stages, but nonetheless Feillu was sent to see what he could accomplish.





Once again, the sprint stages mainly were of little interest as the big guns battled for podium positions on those eight stages…while I mainly ranted about Clavero’s fluctuating finishes anywhere from 5th to 23rd.

So let’s recap the mountainous stages 3 and 5.



Stage 3…the peloton never intended on setting a high pace and thus Masuda sprinted for the win up ahead as the break held on with a decisive gap.



And back behind, the favorites came home rather neutralized – with Feillu finishing in this group as well. No harm done. So we move onto stage 5…perhaps a tougher mountain than this one.



As the peloton rode up towards Genting, Feillu initially was able to make the first decisive break, just barely hanging onto the back of the largest chase group.



However, when Iglinski, Arroyo, and Alizadeh made a strong attack up ahead, Feillu could do nothing but follow the group behind.



So while Rodrigues took the stage and GC win up ahead,…



…Feillu finishes in a large group 2’25 behind, which was eventually good enough for 13th on GC…which looked as follows:





Nothing special, nothing horribly bad. On the key stages, Feillu stayed with the main group but was never of the caliber of the top guns. Unfortunately, I’m going to have to veer on the negative side as a 13th on GC isn’t enough to convince me of “wasting� race days on 8 flat stages.

1	10		Grupo Nutresa	441	39	11.308
2	1		In-n-Out Racing p/b Auchan	431	36	11.972
3	3		Team Vontobel	387	40	9.675
4	6		Team ASDA-Savers	320	22	14.545
5	5		Team TomTom	314	36	8.722
...
24	23		Dell - 361° Racing	74	31	2.387

No impressive GC placing or classic result means another month of a low points haul. In fact, we even lost a position in the rankings, and it’s certainly disappointing. Good news? You can’t relegate out of the CT tour.



Although we never envisioned a top 5 or even top 10 caliber team, the near-bottom placing is unacceptable. In fact, we are even last in terms of PpRD, which has at least improved slightly since our last update. Nonetheless, that would project us to take only 358 points, which is nowhere near our goal. On the bright side, our biggest acquisition Saul Raisin has yet to race in one of the big races. We certainly hope to turn this around, fast.



Once again, the only goal of relevance was our 10 Stage Wins in a Season Goal, in which Cruz's ITT victory in San Luis ensured that we are now 20% complete with that goal.



Again, not a month where we had an actual race goal, but just like last month, I’m going to give the same evaluation because one stage win per month will get it done in terms of the above goal. Let’s hope we don’t stop winning!



The team showed nothing special or promising enough to make me think that this is a squad that can finish in the top half, so I can’t give anything special in general either…

Sorry for it being a bit quiet here in the HQ, never found the chunk of time to write this up.