Thanks for the kind words, Bushwackers and tsmoha!
Transfers are all confirmed and that's what it will look like the upcoming season:
Team Vontobel 2015
...on goals
Last but not least we are expected to deliver exceptional results in major central european stage races. Top 5 results in either Bayern Rundfahrt or Tour of the Czech Republic are demanded.
Will be interesting to see how di Maggio performs this year, I hope Kelderman can at least outperform him in some stage races (and definitely in Bayern!) with his secondary stats.
Guess you're right, Kelderman is the much safer bet in Bayern. Must be these up, down rollercoaster like classics or stage races (without TT) Di Maggio will score big. Learned a lot about the importance of secondary stats last year, expecting some thriller races.
As the start of the season gets closer bustling activity in the front office is ongoing. Since the squad is fixed final touches to calendar and goals were made, riders were sent to pre-season events and eagerly awaited PCT-previews were released.
...on racing
Patrick Lane requested a trip to down under for the annual Bay Cycling Classic Series and joined Pat's Veg Cycling Team there.
He tested himself on occasion, but didn't manage to get into a working break during the four days.
Cesare Di Maggio, Marcel Wyss, Reto Hollenstein and Patrick Lane were all invited to the first held Continental Championships. The best cyclists worldwide answered the call to make it a tough competition. Sadly Vontobels riders stayed without any remarkable results.
Cesare Di Maggio
Europe
RR
40th
Patrick Lane
Asia
RR
44th
Reto Hollenstein
Europe B
RR
36th
Marcel Wyss
Europe B
RR
84th
...on wildcards
We made it! Our application for a Tour de Swiss wildcard was successful. Furthermore Vontobel will attend 2015 Tour of Tasmania.
Tour de Swiss
08.06. - 16.06.
Tour of Tasmania
13.10 - 15.10.
...on C1 races
After long discussions we decided not to visit any C2 event and completed our calendar with C1 races only.
Date
Race
January
14.01.-19.01.
Tour Down Under
February
03.02.
Barcelona Classic
15.02.-20.02.
Volta a Catalunya
March
11.03.-15.03.
Tour of Ukraine
29.03.
Seskin Classic
May
04.05.-09.05.
Tour of Japan
12.05.
Skandinavia Open Road Race
June
24.06.-27.06.
Tour of Norway
September
02.09.-22.09.
Tour of America
19.09.-20.09.
Grand Prix Cyclistes
October
01.10.
Milano - Torino
01.10.
Colombian Venteaux
...on predictions
Quite a relief to hear the experts agreed that Vontobel is a legit PCT-Team. Nonetheless it is expected to be tough fight on the second half of the tableau.
Roturn`s Pro Continental Tour Preview wrote:...In general most points will be scored by Di Maggio. He will make sure, that the team has no relegation issues. Some riders behind him could score a couple of points but it`s not enough for a upper half spot...
(Pred.: 16th)
Froomedog's PCT Preview wrote:...Those three arrivals (Di Maggio, Cataldo, Gatto) as leaders made it an impressive transfer season for Vontobel, and although they are definitely not the best promoted team they should certainly have no problems adjusting to life in the PCT.
(Pred.: 16th)
Slightly Mathematical PCT Preview wrote:...Hills were a key focus for Vontobel in CT last season and by signing the PCT star that is Di Maggio, it can continue to be a key area for them...
(Pred.: 22th)
Time to wrap up the first quarter of our PCT adventure.
314 points were scored in 30 race days, a majority came from our first big win at Tour Down Under. 10,47 PpRD will keep us in relegation battle, but could be good enough to survive.
About Cesare
Vontobels hopeful had a red-hot start in the season. He was strongest of the favourites at prestigious Wilunga Hill and secured the overall victory of Tour Down Under.
Making Di Maggio attend Barcelona Classic was another attempt to break the chain of fruitless efforts in flat one day races. The turnaround didn't happen.
End of February he was beaten by the divisions best punchers at the highly anticipated Strade Bianche. We hope the ongoing five weeks break can be used to recover form and confidence for our next goal race at Seskin Classic.
About bloom and gloom
#
climax
anticlimax
1.
Dario Cataldo
Oscar Gatto
2.
Reto Hollenstein
Patrick Lane
3.
Jocelyn Maillet
Martin Kohler
Dario Cataldo is chosen outstanding performer of the early season. The veteran proved to be a constant scorer on PCT level by competing with the best climbers.
Unexpected results came in by Reto Hollenstein. He was close to win the final stage of Bayern Rundfahrt from a breakaway.
And he grabbed the leader role at Tour of Ukraine as he turned out our best puncher in eastern Europe (beating Marcel Wyss and Dario Cataldo).
Oscar Gatto failed us to prove his worth so far. The bookies had him as a top5 favourite in half of the Tour Down Under stages and in Barcelona we build a great team to make him deliver. His best result until now (34th at stage two of Tour Down Under) is a real let-down.
Almost halftime, time to wrap up the past races.
430 points were scored in 34 race days. Thanks to the surprising win of Dario Cataldo at Tour of Japan the spring month were a little improvement in comparison with the early season. 12,65 PpRD improves our average to 11,63 PpRD for the season. Hard to classify, but happy it goes into the right direction.
About Cesare
Only a few races for our designated leader, but far enough to leave us worried.
At Seskin Classic we were aiming for a reasonable top 5 goal (Cesare got 18th) and he was winner of Scandinavia Open Road Race in 2014 (and finished 29th in 2015).
Last chance for making a team goal he was assigned for was at Tour of the Czech Republic...
Cesare fought through a race of ups and downs to struggled his way to the gleaming 5th spot. Not a performance for his application file, but a clear sign has accepted the challenge called 2015 season.
About goals
With half the season done all our sponsor goal races are over. Results didn't work out in our favour, though Cesare Di Maggio in Czechia prevents us from a complete desaster.
Race
Goal
Result
Rider
Strade Bianche
Win (Race)
9th
Cesare Di Maggio
Tour de Romandie
Win (KOM)
5th
Patrick Lane
Seskin Classic
Top 5
11th
Marcel Wyss
Tour of the Czech Republic
Top 5
5th
Cesare Di Maggio
About bloom and gloom
#
climax
anticlimax
1.
Dario Cataldo
Andrea Manfredi
2.
Julien Taramarcaz
Oscar Gatto
3.
Simon Pellaud
Arnaud Grand
Dario Cataldo topped his already well-running season with a win at Tour of Japan.
He made the timetrial of his lifetime up to Mount Fuji and gained the crucial seconds over Michal Kwiatkowski for the overall victory.
Julien Taramarcaz was responsible for a well-needed extra points harvest.
He tested himself in a second wave of attacks at E3 Prijs and grabbed a remarkable 4th. Later on Julien added a 20th place at Eneco Tour to assure his position as the teams third best scorer.
Wondering what Andrea Manfredi is doing? Same here. High hopes were raised when he returned with a podium finish from the U23 World Championships... but since then: nothing but silence.
About Tour de Swiss
Expectations won over results, but the experience gained will turn out invaluable. No stage top 10, not much activity in the breaks and no GC top 20 for Dario Cataldo.
The last named was suddenly stopped in his effords by a crash in stage seven.
More than four minutes were lost due to this accident. Dario still ended as our best on 32th overall.
Another rather mixed month for you. Slight improvement mainly due to Cataldos brilliant victory ( congrats) but aside of it, only the achieved goal in Czech and E3 are major results that are really worth mentioning.
As always, summer is over far too quickly.
We used the best time of the year to earn 465 points in 28 race days. Almost half of it came from our successful Volta a Portugal campaign. 16,61 PpRD made it another improvement to 13,14 PpRD over whole year. Nonetheless the non-relegation-fight is getting more and more thrilling due to amazing results by the other competitors.
About Cesare
Another erratic stretch by Cesare started with a promising 6th at Nelsruit Classic.
His best one day race result was followed by a acceptable Tour of Norway saved by a brave ride on the last stage. The starts at Manx International and Clasica San Sebastian however aren't worth mentioning.
A brief glimpse of Cesares race calender for the rest of the season reveals plenty of chances left to get things going.
19.09.-20.09.
Grand Prix Cyclistes
C1
01.10.
Milano - Torino
C1
04.10..
Giro dell'Emelia
HC
13.10.-15.10.
Tour of Tasmania
PT
18.10.
Japan Cup
HC
About bloom and gloom
#
climax
anticlimax
1.
Patrick Lane
Marcel Wyss
2.
Reto Hollenstein
Raphael Addy
3.
Oscar Gatto
Martin Kohler
Patrick Lane turned out an unexpected protagonist of the Volta a Portugal. Not only was he the first Vontobel rider winning a stage from an early breakaway attempt, he also took the leaders jersey and carried it for five days.
He and the whole team showed a great fight we'll all keep in good memory.
Another rarity is a Vontobel rider is winning a KOM-competition. Reto Hollenstein is only the second rider in team history accomplishing.
With a 13th at Clasica San Sebastian he helped to compensate Di Maggios lousy performance in Spain (Di Maggio finished 36th).
One guy really struggling is Marcel Wyss. Last years CT outstanding performer couldn't adjust to the new conditions. He will lead the team at Tour of Britain, we'll see if it is responsibility making him a better rider.
As season draws to an end with only championships ahead it's time to wrap up what happened in September and October.
We scored 495 points in busy 48 race days. With a strong performance in the autumn classics Cesare Di Maggio secured another year in PCT. Our PpRD dropped way under 13, though we improved to 20th in the final ranking.
About Cesare
Solid racing by Cesare in the final days of the season, we were very impressed by his performance.
He almost won Giro dell'Emilia when he launched a surprising downhill attack...
Only Wilco Kelderman of promoting Team Puma was strong enough to catch him a few metres to the finish line.
Cesare Di Maggio in September and October
Race
Cat.
Result
Points
Grands Prix Cyclistes
C1
4th
71
Milano - Torino
C1
8th
24
Giro dell'Emilia
HC
2nd
98
Japan Cup
HC
5th
61
About bloom and gloom
#
climax
anticlimax
1.
Patrick Lane
Jocelin Maillet
2.
Michael Schär
Arnaud Grand
3.
Armindo Fonseca
Andrea Manfredi
Apart from Cesare Di Maggio it was again Patrick Lane doing a remarkable job. It's not just that he won out first Pro Tour jersey at Tasmania, he also showed a remarkable performance at Giro dell'Emilia.
Michael Schär ended his season with style. Winning the prologue at Tour of America...
...and got 23th in Tasmania to bring Vontobel the best Pro Tour GC result in team history.
Disappointing last period by Jocelin Maillet. We had high hopes he can make things happen as a co-leader in America, but completely disappeared the crucial second half of the race.
About Tour of Tasmania
Second Vontobel Pro Tour race with hopefully many to follow. Perfect opportunity for Patrick Lane to give his home crowd something to cheer about...
...winning the KOM-jersey by a brave stage two attack is far more than expected. Simon Pellaud joined the breakaway of the opening stage while Cesare Di Maggio barely made his presence felt. Michael Schär ended best of the team adding another strong TT to his season.
Michael Schär
23th
Pierre Paolo Penasa
48th
Patrick Lane
49th
Cesare Di Maggio
54th
Oscar Gatto
55th
Simon Pellaud
62th
Arnaud Grand
157th
Andrea Manfredi
194th
About Tour of America
First time we tackled a 21-day stage race.
Lead by our GC-guy Pierre Paolo Panesa we struggled to establish a top10, but had a series of good stage results.
Neadless to say Martin Kohler had a tough 2015 season, but...
...saved all his energy for the stage 18 break and a fantastic victory. Michael Schär winning the opening prologue and Armindo Fonseca reaching three podiums from bunch sprints should not go unmentioned.
At the end of 2015 top riders met in sunny Paarl (South Africa). Up the Toitskloof was the name of game making many well-known sprinters and punchers have an extended off-season stay at home.
It turned out a patchy trip for the members of Team Vontobel, but at least one of us was able to secure a title:
Dario Cataldo lead the Italian TTT squad across the finish line in a time unbeaten by the other contenders.
Nonetheless the other competitions proved our delegates not more than mediocre. Results with a Vontobel focus to follow.
Road Race
Jocelin Maillet was in the early attacks, but always landed in groups too strong to be allowed to go. Dario Cataldo had to soft-pedal a little in a amazingly strong Italian team.
1.
Andy Schleck
(Luxembourg)
2.
Emanuelle Sella
(Italy)
3.
Simon Spilak
(Slovenia)
71.
Dario Cataldo
(Italy)
86.
Jocelin Maillet
(France)
117.
Patrick Lane
(Australia)
B Road Race
Without a top climber no wonder the Swiss team had to start in the B-Worlds. Remo Schuler was the only Vontobel rider recognized strong enough in the given terrain. At least he almost won Tour of Americas KOM-title.
1.
Thomas Lövkvist
(Sweden)
2.
Jianhua Ji
(China)
3.
Michal Kwiatkowski
(Poland)
44.
Remo Schuler
(Switzerland)
U23 Road Race
Like at l'Avenir Schir and Pellaud planned to be in support for Stefan Kung. Sadly the top contenders accelerated early our guys were caught in the midst of the bunch.
Expecting strong starting fields our riders made their way home to Italy, France, Australia and (of course) Switzerland.
2014 was a year without a lot impact on the national title bouts. Michael Schär was the only one achieving a bronze medal making him our hopeful for the Swiss ITT competition, again...
Switzerland
Switzerland turned out the expected clash with the Pro Tour disbanding rivals of Swisscom-UBS. Preventing the mistakes made last year we stayed active the whole race.
Attacks by Addy and Schuler kept the contenders working for the majority of the race. Going dead even in the final climb was the best situation we can hope for Marcel Wyss. Like in 2014 his acceleration couldn't be answered.
Vintage victory by Marcel Wyss!
Michael Schär did it again! He had awesome ITT's the past season, winning the prologue in America or being 5th in the difficult TT at Bayern Rundfahrt, but what happened today was beyond expectations.
Michael beat Swiss legend Cancellara (Red Bull) and strong contender Dillier (Swisscom) in any sector and becomes reigning Swiss champion.
Gratz to the first national champions wearing Vontobel colours.
Italy
Needless to say the Hilly route in Italy made Cesare Di Maggio leader for the road race. Great racing carried him in seven men group of favourites when it gets to the climax.
In the end the Pro Tour guys lead by winner and rider of the year: Simone Ponzi (Good Energy) were too strong, but still a nice performance by Cesare.
1.
Simone Ponzi
(Good Energy)
2.
Francesco Ginanni
(Pokerstars)
3.
Riccardo Ricco
(Festina)
4.
Cesare Di Maggio
(Team Vontobel)
16.
Pierre Paolo Penasa
(Team Vontobel)
19.
Dario Cataldo
(Team Vontobel)
45.
Oscar Gatto
(Team Vontobel)
71.
Andrea Manfredi
(Team Vontobel)
Fading Good Energy made it a double win in Italy. Adrian Malori is 2015 ITT champion nad he made it by a big margin.
Dario Cataldo still was our best, but with more than a four minute deficit he didn't came close to the performance he showed recently in Paarl.
1.
Adrian Malori
(Good Energy)
2.
Vincenzo Nibali
(Swisscom)
3.
Manuele Boaro
(Generali)
26.
Dario Cataldo
(Team Vontobel)
34.
Pierre Paolo Penasa
(Team Vontobel)
50.
Andrea Manfredi
(Team Vontobel)
55.
Oscar Gatto
(Team Vontobel)
61.
Cesare Di Maggio
(Team Vontobel)
France
Best chance by far at the flat French nationals was going all in for good sprint by Armindo Fonseca. Race developed in our favour, but there were still a few faster.
Romain Vanderbiest retrieves the Pro Tour honour as podium and following places are for lower division teams. Armindo as 5th amongst them.
1.
Romain Vanderbiest
(Ayubowan!)
2.
Nacer Bouhanni
(Euskaltel-Air France)
3.
Geoffrey Soupe
(Lululemon/Bulgaria Blackfish)
5.
Armindo Fonseca
(Team Vontobel)
77.
Steven Tronet
(Team Vontobel)
83.
Romain Guillemois
(Team Vontobel)
91.
Jocelin Maillet
(Team Vontobel)
The TT was won by Jerome Coppel by a commanding lead. Timekeeping quitted the service as Fonseca was our best (barely in the top 30th) at the first stoppage. Only times for the top 20 th (hand-stopped) were released and as no surprise no Vontobel Frenchman was listed.
1.
Jerome Coppel
(Festina)
2.
William Bonnet
(Euskaltel)
3.
Yoann Paillot
(Festina)
Australia
Patrick Lane as our lone starter Down Under. Nothing to worry about, because he seems to be at his best when on it's own.
He stayed true to the brand of a top hazardeur and launched a late attack... fell short, but increased his fanbase, once again.
1.
Jack Bobridge
(Oz)
2.
Travis Meyer
(Risa)
3.
Matthew Lloyd
(Lululemon)
7.
Patrick Lane
(Team Vontobel)
Patrick and a time trialing bike will never by friends. Having lost a lot of steam in the road race he was happy not finishing last.
