Martin:Some people think that me and Kai can't race together in the same race, but I don't think that's true at all. We can both help each other and we can let the road decide who is the leader.
Bostjan Mervar,
team representative and general manager of Swisslion Cycling Team
Super happy to see Reus on your squad, he's been a beast for us in the past and it was sad to let him go, but I'm sure he'll do great for you this year
Seibeb:Looking forward to helping the team in the high mountains and in some hill races. Whether I am fighting for GC, stage wins or the KOM jersey, I promise to give it my all!
Bostjan Mervar,
team representative and general manager of Swisslion Cycling Team Edited by redordead on 27-07-2018 08:10
Brajkovic:It was a long transfer process, but I'm happy it's finally over and I get to stay at home. The team needed another leader to compete for GC, which fits perfectly for me as I feel I can still make a big contribution at my age.
Jimmi Briceno
Spoiler
FLA
MON
HIL
TTR
STA
RES
REC
COB
SPR
ACC
FTR
DHI
PRL
68
76
70
64
71
74
68
56
61
70
63
68
64
Briceno:There were a couple times when I thought this might not happen, but I had be patient through this entire time and I'm delighted to join Swisslion for the coming season. I'm gonna do my best on the climbs.
Bostjan Mervar,
team representative and general manager of Swisslion Cycling Team Edited by redordead on 29-07-2018 11:25
Reus, Martin, Zhupa, Brajkovic (perfect!), Mezgec, Seibeb (<3), what a squad!
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [PT] Xero Racing
Instant promotion for this team I say - his team is solid and to be fair Brajkovic would be better suited as a leader in this team, rather than being another cog in mine which was my plan (personal oppinion).
Thymides:I'm a versatile rider that can ride in a lot of different races and that's why the team said I was important to them. Just don't expect to find me on a TT bike!
We also have another deal to announce it being we are sending Stefan Petrovski out on loan to spend the season riding for Porto - Prio at Pro Tour level where he will gain more experience.
Conversely Porto - Prio will be loaning us Rui Oliveira who is a young punchy time-trialist that we believe will fit well into our setup.
Rui Oliveira
Spoiler
FLA
MON
HIL
TTR
STA
RES
REC
COB
SPR
ACC
FTR
DHI
PRL
66
64
69
69
70
68
64
66
70
71
61
66
69
Oliveira:I am excited to start off my cycling career with this team. I know I will be racing a lot of races this season and I'm looking forward to learning from the experienced riders here.
Bostjan Mervar,
team representative and general manager of Swisslion Cycling Team
dev4ever:
Thank you for the vote of confidence, we hope to hit on as many goals as we can
ivaneurope:
I am not sure about promotion, but we will see what happens and let the chips fall as they do.
We are very happy to sign Brajkovic, because we targeted him from the very beginning and are also delighted at the price for which we were able to secure him
Guillén:It was a huge relief to get picked with the 1st pick of the CT draft. Now it's my job to show people that I deserve to be here and do as many good races as I can. I look forward to working with Luka Mezgec and the other sprinters here.
Muhamad Adiq Othman
Spoiler
FLA
MON
HIL
TTR
STA
RES
REC
COB
SPR
ACC
FTR
DHI
PRL
69
68
76
56
73
70
66
58
54
76
65
55
56
Othman:I was starting to think this wouldn't happen for me, but to get picked with the last pick of the draft, can't describe my feeling right now! I'm only 27 and I have plenty left to give to cycling.
With those two riders we acquired in the draft our transfer business is finally over. We are happy with the work we were able to do in bringing this group together and we will talk more about the team and our goals in our upcoming press conference.
Hope to see you all there!
Spoiler
You can send in questions about the team and riders via PM, if you wish.
Bostjan Mervar,
team representative and general manager of Swisslion Cycling Team Edited by redordead on 30-07-2018 23:50
Othman is Malaysian, not Portugese, or at least he was last year on my team
I guess this is one draft where we can't call the last guy Mr. Irrelevant, as he should be a solid rider for you. I'm glad to see he got picked up and look forward to duelling him in our limited hilly race days.
Who knows if he does well enough we might even have to make an offer try and have a reunion in the future but we had to let him go in renewals as the team took a different direction away from a hilly focus.
Press conference: Team presentation and race goals
Good afternoon everyone!
First of all I would like to thank everyone for gathering here today for our team and race goals presentation. I would also like to introduce to you our two director sportifs Martin Hvastija and Marko Polanc. Myself, Martin, Marko and all the riders here will take you questions later, but now we will start by unveiling our seasons race goals.
2018 race goals
Race
Country
Category
Goal
Importance
Windhoek ITT
C2HC
Win
*****
Giro del Trentino
C2
Top 10
**
Tour de Slovenie
C2HC
Top 10
***
Tour of Bulgaria
C2
Top 10
**
CT Team standings
Top 10
***
Our race goals are greatly affected by our strong regional focus with our participation in Tour de Slovenie and Tour of Bulgaria. Both races feature in the Balcans and that is where our sponsors are looking for us to make a big impact.
Windhoek ITT is a race where we are hoping DS Martin Hvastija and coach Gregor Gazvoda time-trialing speciality will come to the fore the most with our riders, while Giro del Trentino offers a great mix between a TTT and high mountains.
Now I would like to formally introduce Swisslion's 2018 rider squad.
2018 squad
Now I will open the floor for you questions.
Q:What was the thought process through this transfer period that made the team to become predominantly TT focused?
Mervar: It was never a starting goal of ours to focus on TT. We started all our plans on the basis that we will be doing Tour de Slovenie which is a big goal and the parcour quite plain and simple favour the TT specialists. Tour of Bulgaria also feature a TT which made it obvious that we will need a top TT rider to have success there.
Q:Kai, hearing that must have been music to your ears. How excited are you to defend your Tour de Slovenie title and doing it with the home team?
Reus: I'm very happy to be here. The team have put a lot of faith in me and a lot of trust in the art of time-trialing. I feel like myself and also Tony and Ivan, we can all contribute a lot this teams success.
Q:In addition to TT races where will we able to see you orchestrating this squad?
Hvastija: My main focus will be the time-trials, but I will also lead the team in the flatter and cobbled races.
Q:Speaking of cobbles this is the terrain you excel in. Do you feel the team has enough support for you in those difficult races?
Zhupa: We will see. I have been in this situation before, but I feel with the addition of Constantinos I have an experienced guy next to me, while we also have some young talented cobble riders like Mestric and Poljanec. I am very satisfied with the teams enthusiasm for this type of races.
Q:On the other hand, there didn't seem to be much of a focus put on sprinting. Then on draft night you added Marco Guillén to your team. What was your thinking?
Mervar: It's true sprinting wasn't one of our main concerns, but on a limited budget it is very difficult to construct a squad capable of competing on all terrain. Adding Marco will certainly strenghten us in that regard. We felt it was a no brainer really when it came to the draft. This is a low risk - high reward move and we are hoping Marco and Luka Mezgec can both have some good results.
Q:Jani, back on home soil for you again. What are your ambitions for the season?
Brajkovic: They are the same as every season really. I want to battle for the highest places in the GC. I think the team is well set up for a GC challenge with our TT guys and climbers like Jimmi and Costa. We could end up surprising some people.
Q:Piggybacking on what Jani said. How are you looking to approach the difficult stage races?
Polanc: Well I think we have a few options and that is always nice. Jani will be our leader in most of these races, but Jimmi Briceno is also an experienced climber and Costa Seibeb is a very talented punchy climber. Both will offer great support for Jani, but will also be given a chance to lead.
Q:We haven't spoken about hills yet. The CT calendar is lit with hilly races, especially classics. How do you feel you and the rest of the team can do in those races?
Pibernik: First of all, good afternoon to everyone here. I feel like we have a good group of guys here, especially after we added Othman to the team at the end. Costa is also strong here on the tougher terrain while I'm at my best in a one day race. Gabor, Constantinos and the younger guys Rui and Miha can all do well in a number of terrains so I think we can have some good success here.
Q:Speaking of the younger riders, I assume they will have lots of chances to develop their skills?
Mervar: Absolutely! Miha, Jovan, Izidor and Matija all represent the future of our team and our commitment to giving young riders in the Balcans a chance to join the pro peloton. They will all get ample opportunities and should learn from the many experienced riders in our team. The same goes for Rui who is here on loan from our friend at Porto - Prio.
Q:Rui is here, but Stefan Petrovski one of your first signings is in Portugal. How did the deal come about?
Mervar: Sending Stefan on loan to a higher division was something we were always looking at, as he has still considerable untapped potential. We are happy with our deal as we look to have a better version of Stefan for next season and for now we have Rui who is a talented allround rider that fits very well into our group.
Q:Talk to us about the CT draft. A lot of teams look to fill holes on their rosters or pick up overlooked talents. You ended up with a lead sprinter and a very good rider in Othman. All gone according to plan?
Mervar: In the start we were also looking mostly at young talented riders many from our focus region, but after we found that both Marco and Muhamad Adiq were available we just couldn't pass up on them. We are very happy with the end result, especially getting Othman with the last pick of the draft. We could hardly believe it!
Q:How do you feel about the goals you have set up? Perhaps lacking a bit of ambition?
Mervar: I wouldn't say that at all! It was always our board's plan to have a solid and stable 1st season to establish ourselves in the cycling world. It's true our team won't have any "stars" on the startlist, but we still expect to be competitive. We feel our goals are all realistically achievable and that was something that appealed to our sponsors.
That will be all for todays presentation. Our next press conference will probably be about unveiling our race calendar for the coming season. Thank you all for coming, hope to see more of you during the year.
Bostjan Mervar,
team representative and general manager of Swisslion Cycling Team
Very solid team, hopefully Guillen won't end up blocking your Mecgec too much. He will likely have a few great days, but the risk is that he often will struggle making it to the sprint, which potentially could hurt the rest of the team if unlucky
We start out our season in Venezuela at the Vuelta al Tachira. It's a race that should give us a decent indication of some riders early form. It will especially be great to have Jimmi Briceno with us, riding in his home race. On the other side of the world our other group will stretch their legs in the Great Ocean Road Classic.
February
01.02 - 07.02
Tour de Langkawi
C2HC
07.02
Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne
C2
22.02
Gisborne GP
C2HC
25.02 - 27.02
Hong Kong Challenge
C2
Following that start we will leave a group of riders in Europe for the traditional Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne cobbled classic, while the others will continue their Asian adventure by competing at the Tour de Langkawi, Gisborne GP and Hong Kong Challenge.
March
18.03
Geraardsbergen-Bosberg
C2HC
21.03 - 26.03
Tour of Turkey
C2HC
24.03 - 28.03
Tour of Southland
C1
The month of March will be much the same as the Europe based riders will continue to train there till the difficult Geraardsbergen-Bosberg circuit classic. The Asian contingent of the team will look to wrap up what will hope to be a successful start to the season. They will finish the Asian portion of our schedule by riding the Tour of Turkey and the Tour of Southland in New Zealand before joining the others back in Europe.
The opening three months of the season will cause some logistical difficulties with coach Gregor Gazvoda setting up camp in Ljubljana, Slovenia and Jure Golcer travelling with the team in Asia. Our DS's Martin and Marko might have some long flights between them as they lead our squad in their specialised races all around the globe.
You can expect to see more information about our race calendar in the coming weeks as the MG season approaches.
Bostjan Mervar,
team representative and general manager of Swisslion Cycling Team Edited by redordead on 10-08-2018 20:03
This where we start gearing up for the high point of our season. We are firmly back on European soil in the month of April, starting with the very testing Grand Prix du Midi Libre in France where only the strongest stage racers should prevail. At the same time our classics group will take part in the demanding Coppa Placci hilly race.
April will also see us feature in one of our two HC races. Riding the Tour of Ukraine will be a great way for us to show off our team on a higher scale. We finish the month racing in Great Britain at the hilly cobbled Lincoln GP.
May
04.05 - 05.05
Windhoek ITT
C2HC
07.05
1 Jour de Dunkerque
C2
12.05 - 14.05
Tour du Faso
C2HC
19.05 - 21.05
Giro del Trentino
C2
23.05 - 28.05
Olympia's Tour
C1
This where things get real for us! Going to Namibia for our 1st goal race of the season we are hoping our TT expertise brings us the coveted victory we seek. After that we feature in two cobbled races. The "one day" of Dunkerque followed by the Tour du Faso which features 3 short flat stages, but the last queen stage is over 50% of tough, tough cobblestones.
At the Giro del Trentino we are going to debut in our 1st team time-trial where we'll be looking for a strong perfomance to give our climbers a chance to finish Top 10 in the final general classification. Our TTT racing won't stop there as we go to Holland to participate in Olympia's Tour which features a TTT and another two TT's in the 6 day event.
This are going to be two months of racing where Martin Hvastija and Gregor Gazvoda will be tasked to prime our time-trialers to perform at peak level as our goals and overall success depends on how we do in the large amount of TT kilometres that feature in this period.
An added bonus here is that only one race clash appears during this important part of the season. Giving our whole staff and riders the chance to really focus and zero in on our goals and our DS's to pick the strongest groups of riders available.
Bostjan Mervar,
team representative and general manager of Swisslion Cycling Team
Lillestrom GP offers another chance for our cobbled specialists and rouleurs in a one day classic. After that features our 2nd and last HC race, the Post Danmark Rundt. It unfortunetly clashes with our biggest race this season, Tour de Slovenie. Racing in Denmark will be a great experience for some of our youngers riders, while the big guns will look to perform in our home race.
On the other hand our climbers will be get ready to ride Tour d'Andorra probably the toughest climbing test on the CT calendar. A race where the road will truly show who rules the high mountains! We finish the month in Mexico for the Monterrey TTT. We will face some bigger teams at the C1 event so it will be interesting to see how far our train can take us.
July
01.07 - 08.07
Tour de San Luis
C2
05.07 - 06.07
Celtic Chrono
C1
11.07 - 14.07
Bayern Rundfahrt
C1
16.07 - 20.07
Tour of Bulgaria
C2
17.07
Sakartvelo Trophy
C2
23.07
Vilnius GP
C2HC
The calendar really heats up midsummer in July, as we tackle 6 races. We quickly move south from Mexico to Argentina for Tour de San Luis. The race is a real mixed bag with a prologue, time-trial, 4 hilly stages and 2 sprint stages. After that we go back to Europe for another battle against the clock at the Celtic Chrono. Another chance to pit us against some PCT teams as well. Thing don't stop there as we move to Bavaria for a 4 day race that features almost 86 km of time-trialing!
Next, the trip to Bulgaria is an important one for us as the only other race in the Balcan region. It is our last goal race of the season where we will need our stage racers to perform well to achieve a top 10 result. After all the stage races we go to participate in the Sakartvelo Trophy and we finish the month with another TTT event, Vilnius GP. We hope Monterrey will be a nice precursor to what we can achieve in the 10 km shorter CT race.
I guess I can repeat what I said in our last post. We have to do well in the time-trial events, a total of 13 await us in these 2 months. Also if we were blessed to have little clashes so far the busy months of June and July changed that, so some compromises have had to be made. We still hope we perform on our strongest terrain. This period can make or break our season.
Bostjan Mervar,
team representative and general manager of Swisslion Cycling Team
August is a bit calmer than the previous 2 months with only 3 races. The Benelux Challenge is a 6 day event that is more like a collection of classics, it features flat, hill, cobbles and a prologue to start things off. We then head across the pond to Rio in Brazil, for a difficult and unpredictable hilly classic that probably has a chance to end with a larger/smaller group sprint or a big solo effort from the last climb. We then go to Canada for a 2 day race favouring the hilly sprinters.
September
01.09
Paris Tours
C2HC
01.09 - 05.09
Tour of Britain
C1
10.09 - 13.09
Euskal Bizikleta
C2HC
24.09
Colombian Venteaux
C2HC
29.09
GP Yekaterinburg
C2
Back in Europe we race the traditional Paris Tours sprint classic as we then move to our last C1 race, the Tour of Britain. The race has 3 difficult hilly stages, but that is punctuated by 54.6 km TT where we hope to show our mettle. We finish our little round trip across Western Europe in the Basque Country for the Euskal Bizkleta race. After that we make our final trip to South America for the mountain classic Colombian Venteaux the last test for our pure climbers. September finishes with a long trek through the circuit of Yekaterinburg, another punchers classic.
October
01.10
Heiste Pijl
C2
06.10 - 09.10
Course de Solidarnosc
C2HC
06.10 - 10.10
Herald Sun Tour
C2HC
18.10
Zuri Metzgete
C2HC
Heiste Pijl offers the last chance for our cobbles group to achieve a good result, after that comes the clash of Poland and Australia. Course de Solidarnosc and Herald Sun Tour both favour the sprinters which is where our resources are very thin. We do however hope to have a good result in the time-trial stage in Australia. Our last act of the season is in Switzerland at Zuri Metzgete. The 233 km classic is a monster of a race with numerous hills before the flat finish. Hopefully the riders will have something left in the legs for the end.
The last autumn part of the calendar features mostly sprinter and puncher friendly races. Two aspects where we are not very good so we will be relying on our previous races to have enough points in the bag to achieve our minimal goals. Nonetheless it is an important part of the season a good test to see the limitations of our squad.
Bostjan Mervar,
team representative and general manager of Swisslion Cycling Team
Tony Martin
Costa Seibeb
Janez Brajkovic
Jimmi Briceno
We are very happy we were able to secure a nice mixture of leaders while keeping a strong regional focus for our squad.
Constantinos Thymides
Rui Oliveira
Marco Guillén
Muhamad Adiq Othman
