Where are you from?

I was born near Bearsden, a posh suburb of Glasgow, in Scotland on the 17th September 1980, which makes me 36 years old. (Jeez, I feel ancient already...)


What's your favourite colour?

(Pauses briefly, thinking) Has to be orange, any shade of it is fine by me. Although as a cycling team manager, I do also love yellow, simply because it means you've won something. (or you're a minion!)


Favourite Bicycle Brands?

For frames, it must be Bianchi, some of their designs are just brilliant and their history of involvement in the sport pulls me towards them as well. As for most components probably Shimano, however just for pedals, I'd probably choose Look. As for clothing, it has to be Endura, probably just because they are a Scottish company.


Favourite Cycling Climbs?

As a spectator, my favourites have to include the legendary Alpe d'Huez and the mythical steep climbs of the Giro and the Vuelta, such as Zoncolan and Angliru, although I do love watching de Ronde on the Muur. As an amateur cyclist, it has to be the highest road pass in Europe, the Col de la Bonette, in the Sothern Alps, or the Lac-de-Cap-de-Long, a fairly unknown climb in the Pyrenees near Campan.


Favourite Man-Game Rider?

Must be Damiano Cunego. Loved watching all six of his Giro victories, must say that his fourth win in 2010 has to be the best ever and most dominating performance that the Giro, and possibly all of cycling, has ever seen.


Favourite team in the ManGame?

If I can choose anyone, it has to be my own team, Wiggle p/b Boardman Bikes, simply because its my team, I like what I've done with signings and such, and if I said I preferred another team, I wouldn't go down well, would it? If I ain't allowed to choose them, probably RBC, love the majority of the team's riders, especially the Phinney/Summerhill duo and quite glad we probably won't have to race against either of them this season to be completely honest.


Favourite Man-Game Moment?

(Pauses, thinking again) This isn't really one moment but a selection of moments in fact over a 3 week period in Italy. And if you haven't already guessed what I'm referring, it's Cunego's 6th Giro win in 2014, where no-one had him as a big favourite at 33 years of age, winning back-to-back stages to put himself in pink, then never relinquishing his grip on it, holding it from stage 6 to the finish, even when Pluchkin started to close in and threaten his maglia rosa, eventually fending off his biggest competition by 54 seconds. A true three week moment.


Favourite Man-Game result?

No question about it, has to be Schuh/Wiggle's first ever victory, the Great Ocean Road Classic, the prestigious CT one-day classic which was won by William Connolly, who no-one (including me) believed would win... An extreme outsider victory is always awesome, especially when they're riding for your team.

Here's your chance to ask our team principal Martin Redford any and all questions about things as varied from himself, to the whole Man-Game, to just about Wiggle, our goals for the year and our roster/new signings. All you need to do is post your question in this thread below or if you don't want to make your question public before you get Martin's response, feel free to send me a PM with your question included.

Note: Questions posted on Twitter will not be accepted.

All questions will be answered on Tuesday (19/09) evening, so you have until 1800 on the 19/09 to submit your questions. Thanks, and happy questioning.

So, as it currently stands, we will start the 2017 season hoping to defend our victory from last year at the Great Ocean Road Classic in Australia and will probably finish it in Switzerland at the Zuri-Metzgete, although the season start and end dates could change, if we are allowed to participate in the races we are looking to get invited to. As you can see from the table, we didn't race in the majority of these races last season so it will be a new experience for most of the team, although some of our riders did win stages in some of these C2HC races in previous years for their former teams, such as Domenico Pozzovivo, who won a stage at the Giro del Trentino last season.

First up, Scorchio asks:



Alright, that's quite a nice, fairly easy question to start with. Out of those four, I've never actually ridden the Rest and Be Thankful, but I've heard it's an awesome climb and the Khyber Pass is unfortunately a climb I've more or less always had to walk up due to its steepness, as I've often struggled to have enough traction on it. Personally, from the remaining two, I prefer the Tak-me-Doon, as it is a good climb to do as part of a bigger ride and links up well with both the Khyber Pass and the Crow Road, which I also enjoy riding up.



However, my favourite two Scottish climbs must be Montrose Street in Glasgow (just 100m at 8%, max 12%, tough because it's steep all the way from the bottom to the top) as I got used to riding up it when commuting to Strathclyde University, where I studied about 10 years ago and the Bealach-Na-Ba, near Applecross, in the Highlands, (9.1km at 7%, max 20%) which is a very challenging but also a very rewarding climb to ride up, and it also featured in the Tour of Scotland, producing a few good battles over the years.


The next question is from knockout, he asks:



Ok, this one certainly required a bit of research, and I came to two conclusions, depending on what path I choose to go down.



My first choice is Luke Rowe, a classics-sprinter, who would be my team's main man for both the cobbles and the sprints if he joined the team right now. I would aim to build a good team of classics riders and a sprint lead out train around him, to help me score many points in the CT races. You can see Rowe's stats below:





My other option is Adam Yates, who would become my team's main leader for both stage races and the hills - where we currently have no real leader apart from Pozzovivo, but he isn't great in the hills - getting rid of two weaknesses with just one rider. He would be supported by a strong set of climbers and hill riders to maximize the amount of points he would score in those types of races. You can also view his stats below:




Ok, our next question is from trekbmc, he asks:



Interesting question... I don't think I am, although if we're in a close battle with other teams for a top 10 spot in the final CT standings, I would be worried about losing that top 10 spot, as I do not feel I have many riders who would be able to score points in this race...


Juan Antonio Flecha wins the 2004 Zuri - Metzgete ahead of Paolo Bettini


On to the last few questions now, this question is from The Manx Missile, he asks:



Sorry, can't really answer that, I'm not a big fan of the less talented Redford... kidding, I quite liked Spy Game, as I felt it was well-directed and also well-shot. I also liked it due to its plot, and like any true cycling fan, I enjoy a story with a good plot line. Although I do also enjoy a good comedy, especially films like Airplane! and series like Police Squad, both of which star Leslie Nielsen.



Finally, the last two questions of the evening come from Croatia14. First, he asks:



This is one I've already avoided making again this year, which is accidentally not signing up to attend a CT race (Herald Sun Tour) which I set up as an objective, which was actually meant to be a major objective last year. Definitely, a rookie mistake at best, an idiotic decision at worst.


And lastly, Croatia's second question is:



I'm afraid that I will most likely not go back to a lime-green jersey; however, I may go to a a black jersey with lime green writing on it, although you do never know what will happen until happens, so fingers crossed.

During the off-season, we also strengthened in the staff department. Last season, Martin and a few of his friends filled most of the staff roles, but as seen last year, most of his friends weren't very good at their jobs. So, to remove this problem from the team, the management decided to leave some budget for staff signings before transfers begun. In fact, before the first transfers had even confirmed, the two members of staff who are going to be announced today had already signed contracts with the team. So, please welcome the following two staffers to the team:

David Millar is the first of our two staff signings. He joins Wiggle as our performance director/analyst. He will be in charge of organizing our team's training schedules, training camps and helping our riders improve their riding styles and efficiency by analyzing their power data, altering their positions on the bike and making various other aero gains. Millar, who previously rode in the Man-Game, was a two-time British National TT Champion and won stages in races such as the Vuelta a Espana and the Criterium du Dauphine during his racing career.

Morgan Lloyd is one of the best British sports physiotherapists out there and when the opportunity arose to make him part of our staff team, we simply could not refuse. He'll be in charge of helping the team's riders recuperate after both races and training rides and will be able to help our rider's stretch their muscles post-riding and also give them massages. Lloyd has previously worked with teams such as RadioShack-Nissan-Trek (in real life) and many riders have rated his abilities as a physio highly.

The first few races this season will be good places for us to pick up points as we plan to send Pozzovivo and a few of his mountain domestiques to both Tachira and Trentino, along with at least one sprinter to allow us to pick up points in the sprint stage(s) in those races. Meanwhile, our other sprinters will attend the Great Ocean Road Classic and Barcelona Classic, with the aim of taking some points there as well.

Then, it's time for our first goal race of the season, the Geraardsbergen-Bosberg, where the team will probably have three leaders: Horton, Haussler and Konwa. After that, we head to the Gisborne GP, a hilly one-day race where we do not expect to pick up many points, but we will probably send several potential team leaders. Then, we head to Germany for the Bayern Rundfahrt where we will probably send Christian as our GC hope and Selig will have several sprint opportunities on home roads there as well. Just before we have a month-long break, we race Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne, we will send a couple of our sprinters who can get over the cobbles (Haussler and Horton) with the aim to win it.


After our month-long break, we head to Malaysia for the Tour de Langkawi, where we will send at least 1 sprinter to mop up points on the 5 sprint stages there, but Pozzovivo shall not attend, though his super-domestique Cuming will probably be there instead. Next up is a trip to Africa for the Windhoek ITT, our second season goal, where we will aim to take the win with Christian once more. Then we head to the inaugural edition of the Cacak Classic, where we hope to get a good placement with at least one of riders.


Another two-week break then shows up, after which we attend the Tour de Faso, still in Africa, where we will hope to take wins once more with our cobbled-sprinters. Another race in its first year, the Lillestrom GP in Norway, is another cobbled classic, so same as before probably. After that, we will be in Mexico for the sprinter orientated stage race, the Circulo de Juarez, and we will need to send at least two sprinters there, given our next race, the Tour d'Andorra is composed fully of mountain stages and Pozzovivo will be supported by all of his mountain domestiques. Following that, we'll be attending San Luis, where we will aim to take stages wins with at least one of our sprinters and the GC probably with Cuming once more.

While we are in Argentina, we will also attend our first of two home races for the season, the Isle of Man ITT, where we hope that one of our time-triallists who can climb will be able to place well. Next up will be yet another cobbled classic, the Tour of the Battenkill, where I think you already know what our plan will probably be. Our third season goal will then be our next race, the Benelux Challenge, where Konwa will lead the team following his excellent 2nd place last year, thanks to his all-day break on stage 4.


The Grand Prix Cyclistes in Canada are two more races which we don't expect to score many points in, as they are also fairly hilly, although Haussler may be able to survive for a sprint on the less difficult Montreal course. Now comes the scheduling nightmare, as we race Paris-Tours where we hope one of our sprinters will get a good placement, then our final season goal and second home race, the Tour of Britain, where we will send Cuming to hopefully get a good GC placing and several breakaway artists such as Finetto to try to take a stage win from daylong breaks. At the same time, Pozzovivo will attend the Tour of America to attempt to defend his title from last season, and we will hope to pick up a couple of sprint wins there as well, and why not, a stage win from a break like Handley did last season.

Finally, we enter the last section of our season and we will once again travel to South America, Colombia to be specific, for the mountain one day classic, Colombian Venteaux, where once again Pozzovivo will aim to take the win. We head to Australia next, for the Herald Sun Tour, where we will hope Christian can take the time-trial and GC victories, and one of our several talented sprinters will aim to take a couple of wins in the bunch sprints. At the same time, we will also be in Poland, with another couple of sprinters aiming to take at least one stage win from four opportunities for bunch sprints, as the Course de Solidarnosc is formed of only 4 sprint stages, no other types of terrain or time-trials. Lastly, we will end our season at the Zuri-Metzgete, where we hope to get lucky and get a good placement with one of several potential team leaders, although we do not expect to get either the win or the podium.


It will certainly be a long season, but with several breaks in there, our riders should hopefully not end the season exhausted and close to death. We will participate in races in six continents, and in a whole variety of different countries, so our riders will be able to experience many different cultures as well, but hopefully they will not decide to start sightseeing in the middle of a race, because we'll be very unhappy if that happens. We have also tried to avoid race clashes this season, and as there are only 5 race clashes this year, we believe we have successfully managed to achieve this. The potential of this season for us looks good, so hopefully our riders will be able to make it a successful season by taking several wins and excellent placings/podiums along the way.