The 2019 ICL season is right around the corner and for the Polestar cycling teams the pre-season has already started. In 2019 the team will again participate in the Continental Division with again fielding developmental team in the U23 ranks with the Telenor Rider Search innitiative.
Currently 38 riders are contracted to the team following the signing of young riders. With bidget and team size limitations put in place, the team will take severe cuts and some riders will have to look for new teams.
Currently only some riders are rumoured to be riders to hang on to - Frederik Ludvigsson, Jonas Ahlstrand, Tanel Kangert, Martin Laas, Ramunas Navardauskas and Gatis Smukulis are considered firmly staying within the opperation. This means that the remaining riders my remain or be axed depending on the team's decision.
Almost if not all of the U23 riders are set to be released by the team with some of the older riders from the main team and underperforming riders may follow suit - Emmanuel Buchmann and Kruijswijk may look for other options should the team choose to let them go. Lars Petter Nordhaug admitted on the other hand that he could agree to wage cut if this means to improve the team.
The renewals will decide who the team will elect to count on in 2019, but the team is also aware of potential steals and will do whatever it takes to keep their riders away from the clutches of other teams
Still an unfinished version of the squad. 18 riders already guarranteed to be racing in the main squad this season. Ikhlaas Martin not yet confirmed as he may diver to the development squad, depending on how the rest of the transfers end up.
Name
AVG
FL
MO
HIL
TT
PRL
COB
SP
ACC
DH
FTR
STA
RES
REC
Wage
Age
Neil Brick
71,8
72
61
65
62
68
63
72
73
72
60
71
68
72
110
23
Michael Boothroyd
70,8
72
62
67
67
66
71
69
69
72
72
71
67
68
100
23
Mussie Tesfemariam
69,1
67
61
71
58
61
63
63
64
70
71
65
67
68
100
23
James Smith
67,7
62
68
67
64
65
57
55
65
68
68
66
65
68
100
21
Kjell Renlund
65,9
67
66
65
61
64
61
56
65
65
63
64
67
63
100
22
José Agustín Gonzales
64,7
57
65
63
58
60
57
58
63
62
65
59
56
58
100
19
Almost finished, we are glad to have hired the main bulk of riders who will be with us this season. A good one already for a development team, but it can get even better.
Edited by Yellow Jersey on 19-10-2018 21:15
After two years in limbo, the spanish squad hit back hard this season, finishing high up on the WT and Prestige Rankings alike. With Betancur and Herrada as the spearhead of their climbing-focused racing schedule, the team took two major wins: La Vuelta and Liege-Bastogne-Liege, totaling a record win of three in both races.
Whilst the management is traditionally coy about the plans for the season before any routes have been made public, the team would like to continue on the recent path of steady growth by consolidating their riders and improving in some aspects that have been lacking in the past.
With the folding of Bunzl-Centrica, all eyes are on the british-american prize. Liberty Seguros' manager has stated that "Yates, Phinney, and Van Garderen" are interesting options to continue.
Given the recent turmoil around CarbonSports and Liberty Seguros' former rider Alberto Contador, the manager is reluctant to welcome his former star back. "Truth is, Jesus Herrada performed above expectations. If Alberto feels like he wants to come home, he is always welcome, but we will have to make it with our budget somehow. Frankly, it is a shame that Alberto does not feel welcome at CarbonSports to such a degree that he feels like. By winning the Tour de France he has made history for this team and it should be appreciate not only in Spain, but in Germany as well."
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
With the demise of Bunzl and the promotion to the World Tour, Aviva has suddenly become Britain's premier cycling team. With Wiggle also disbanding, many excellent British cyclists are now free agents, the Yates brothers, Thomas, Edmondson, as well as a host of younger riders with a lot of potential like Dibben, Hart and Doull. Will Aviva try to snatch them up, give the ex-Bunzl riders a new home? Team manager Ripley told The Guardian: "Of course we have our sights set on all these riders. But we fear competition will be great, since many of them are young and have a lot of potential, we'll make them all good offers, but expect it won't be enough in every case."
Welcome to the Fox Sports - BikeNZ Cycling Team HQ. We are this year apart of the ICL with our sister team, BNZ Cycling Team, over in the bottom tier of the ManGame but having a stellar season so far!!
We are looking forward to getting start with signing riders and beginning racing!! We hope you are all excited to follow us through the season!!!
Team Roster
Youth
Name
Nation
FL
MO
HIL
TT
PRL
COB
SP
ACC
DH
FTR
STA
RES
REC
Robbie O'Mao
64.0
61
63
64
62
65
58
58
61
59
69
63
63
61
Brenton Burke
63.2
62
57
60
62
63
63
63
61
69
65
62
65
65
Results
...Coming Soon...
Updates
...Coming Soon...
Edited by Jakstar22 on 13-09-2018 13:00
With the team managing to promote to the World Tour in its second attempt last year, there have been quite a few questions surrounding the focus of the team on the alpine region and especially Switzerland. For the first 2 seasons the aim was clear:
Trying to promote, while still maintaining the identity of the squad. That included keeping the team at least 50% Swiss and having at least one rider from Austria, Germany, France and Italy and no one else among our ranks.
Even though Italy became more of a focus for the second year, with 5 riders originating from there, we still managed to fulfill our aims in both years. As the pool of riders in Switzerland is fairly limited, the promotion to the World Tour raises a few questions though.
Is the 50% requirement of Swiss riders still a reasonable expectation? Will we need to bring in riders from other parts of the world in order to be competitive on the biggest stage of cycling? What will happen to national icon Fabian Cancellara, as he is getting closer and closer to retirement?
Loads of questions that will be needed to address by the team management in the upcoming weeks.
Welcome to the Team HQ of Lufthansa. We continue our journey in the ICL. This will be the third season of our existence and we look to push on from what we achieved last year.
Team Sponsors - Lufthansa
The Lufthansa Group continue as our principal sponsors, allowing us to carry on our mission of promoting, supporting and progressing German cycling. Our focus remains the same as last season, competing for stage and race wins.
Other Sponsors
Associate Sponsors: Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings (all part of the Lufthansa Group) Equipment Sponsor: Canyon Frames, Shimano Wheels Jersey Sponsor: Adidas
Germany remain our base with Autria continuing to interest us. We go back to our secondary focus region of Switzerland. We have actively started scouting Liechenstein and will be looking to promote cycling there going ahead. We are in no way limited to recruiting from our focus regions only and will look world-wide in picking up the best talent available to help our cause.
In his first year of decline it was obvious Martin was gonna take a heavy hit. Little could he do to keep his TT abilities but he worked and managed to keep a strong mountain abilitie, and can still have a strong run in several stage-races.
Mitchell Docker
FL
MO
HIL
TT
PRL
COB
SP
ACC
DH
FTR
STA
RES
REC
71
64
67
63
66
73
72
73
71
68
68
63
66
71
64
67
63
66
73
72
73
71
68
68
63
66
...
Arnold Jeanesson
FL
MO
HIL
TT
PRL
COB
SP
ACC
DH
FTR
STA
RES
REC
70
76
74
71
69
58
65
73
72
68
70
66
72
70
76
74
71
69
58
65
73
72
68
70
66
72
...
Romain Sicard
FL
MO
HIL
TT
PRL
COB
SP
ACC
DH
FTR
STA
RES
REC
72
70
71
65
65
71
70
68
74
74
69
66
70
74
70
71
65
66
73
72
70
74
74
72
68
72
One of the riders who had the most significant training, Sicard had his Cobblestone and sprinting abilities improved, making him a very good all-rounder and good for a niche mountain-cobbled type of rider.
Nelson Oliveira
FL
MO
HIL
TT
PRL
COB
SP
ACC
DH
FTR
STA
RES
REC
74
70
71
77
75
65
64
67
68
67
71
71
73
74
73
72
77
75
65
65
68
69
67
72
71
74
Oliveira also had a major improvement. With so many TT talent in the team we decided to have him in a different road, working on his stage-racing ability which should get significantly better with this off-season in the legs.
Rob Ruijgh
FL
MO
HIL
TT
PRL
COB
SP
ACC
DH
FTR
STA
RES
REC
68
70
72
66
67
63
66
69
65
73
72
69
72
68
70
72
66
67
63
66
69
65
73
72
69
72
...
Matthias Krizek
FL
MO
HIL
TT
PRL
COB
SP
ACC
DH
FTR
STA
RES
REC
72
71
73
71
71
58
66
67
69
70
72
67
71
72
72
73
72
72
58
66
67
70
70
73
69
72
There wasn't much of a change, but some steady improvement for a solid stage-racer. In the WT he won't have the skills to score but he is an even more reliable rider now.
Frederique Robert
FL
MO
HIL
TT
PRL
COB
SP
ACC
DH
FTR
STA
RES
REC
74
64
71
62
66
70
76
76
74
67
73
69
71
75
64
72
62
67
70
76
76
75
67
73
70
72
Even after a brilliant season there wasn't much where Robert could evolute, yet he will certainly face the hills a little better with his recent training.
Julian Kern
FL
MO
HIL
TT
PRL
COB
SP
ACC
DH
FTR
STA
RES
REC
73
68
75
65
67
68
74
74
70
70
73
68
69
73
68
76
65
67
68
74
75
71
71
74
69
70
Some minor adjustments here aswell, but Kern will have a slightly stronger set of skills to face the hills.
Miguel Bryon
FL
MO
HIL
TT
PRL
COB
SP
ACC
DH
FTR
STA
RES
REC
73
62
69
66
66
74
70
70
68
70
73
68
67
74
62
69
67
67
76
70
71
69
71
74
69
69
One of the team's jewels, he's had a surprisingly great run last year and, depending on the transfers, can have a solid fight in the WT already. He is very young tho, with plenty of space to improve like he has this season already, a full focus on the Cobbles for the American.
Abdraimzhan Ishanov
FL
MO
HIL
TT
PRL
COB
SP
ACC
DH
FTR
STA
RES
REC
71
73
72
70
69
58
60
68
64
66
68
67
71
71
74
72
71
70
59
61
68
65
66
69
68
72
Following some others, Ishanov followed the trail of stage-racing focus within the team.
Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev
FL
MO
HIL
TT
PRL
COB
SP
ACC
DH
FTR
STA
RES
REC
75
76
75
72
71
61
66
74
70
69
73
67
75
75
76
75
74
72
61
66
74
70
69
74
68
76
A very important one here, slightly improving his backup stats but most importantly Kozhatayev has had a big improvement in the time-trialing. Seeing he is far from the best in climbing, we considered the best option to give him a stronger TT setup, which will surely benefit him more.
Campbell Flakemore
FL
MO
HIL
TT
PRL
COB
SP
ACC
DH
FTR
STA
RES
REC
77
66
70
78
76
70
70
68
72
67
70
72
71
77
67
71
79
77
70
70
68
72
67
71
73
72
Another big jewel. His time-trialing was the clear focus, yet he still has a solid hill, cobbled and sprint qualities to be a fine all-rounder. But given his natural time-trialing skills that may always be the focus.
Petr Vakoc
FL
MO
HIL
TT
PRL
COB
SP
ACC
DH
FTR
STA
RES
REC
72
67
75
67
69
66
71
76
71
73
74
68
72
72
68
76
67
69
66
71
77
71
73
75
69
73
Like Kern, Vakoc had a slight improvement in the classics area.
Antoine Pirlot
FL
MO
HIL
TT
PRL
COB
SP
ACC
DH
FTR
STA
RES
REC
72
60
68
64
64
74
67
68
66
71
70
65
64
73
60
68
65
65
75
68
69
66
71
71
67
65
Another solid training in the cobbles area, Pirlot should be fit to have stronger performances in the stones.
Gabi Pousa
FL
MO
HIL
TT
PRL
COB
SP
ACC
DH
FTR
STA
RES
REC
66
57
61
59
59
68
60
62
67
62
68
62
61
68
57
62
60
60
70
61
63
67
62
69
64
63
Also part of the cobbled setup, a good evolution sees his backups becoming more reliable, and a steep progression in his cobblestones abilities.
Ilios Stelios
FL
MO
HIL
TT
PRL
COB
SP
ACC
DH
FTR
STA
RES
REC
72
73
72
73
71
58
57
70
72
61
69
68
74
72
74
73
74
72
58
58
70
72
61
70
69
75
Although he won't fight for any white jersey this season, Stelios has evoluted to a more thrustworthy stage-racer in his own right, with good chance of becoming a very important rider in the future.
Ikhlaas Martin
FL
MO
HIL
TT
PRL
COB
SP
ACC
DH
FTR
STA
RES
REC
63
69
68
60
61
55
59
68
70
71
68
65
68
64
71
69
61
62
56
60
68
70
71
69
66
70
A good climber, his sole focus but one where he is prone to succeed in the future. It'll be a long run though.
Zuberi Mondijo
FL
MO
HIL
TT
PRL
COB
SP
ACC
DH
FTR
STA
RES
REC
65
70
68
69
67
54
54
66
70
58
66
66
71
66
72
70
70
69
54
56
67
70
58
68
67
72
Like Martin Mondijo has followed a steady approach, although Mondijo is a natural stage-racer in the making. His good backups prove that he will certainly be a rider the team can count on from young age.
15/09First two riders sign for Brugse Zot - Trek Arrie Jorritsma (19) and Danny Lorse (18), two young dutch riders, in their debut like professionals, are first two riders signing for the just born Brugse Zot - Trek.
"This was a train passing once a life", said Danny, that also took occasion to present better himself like a puncher: "I prefer races with irregular profile, with sudden changes in slope". Different skills for Arrie, that seems more at ease on flat terrain. He spent some words about the new team: "Our directours are ambicious, surelly is a good motivation for me. I can't stand wait to know my future teammates, I'm ready to help my leaders sure that this will improve me like cyclist".
Jorritsma and Lorse are joinning the team, waiting who will be the leaders, covering a domestique role to not add unnecessary pressure at first year in the pro peloton.
Edited by df_Trek on 31-10-2018 17:44
Hype Energy to sponsor Polestar ProCycling p/b Telenor
Today on press conference Polestar Cycling Teams AB announced the signing of energy drink company Hype Energy as one of the new sponsors of the team. The company's logo will be featured on the shorts. "We're pleased to annuonce our partnership with Hype Energy Drinks, who become part of our sponsorship portfolio for 2019."
This is the fifth known sponsor to join the team alongside Polestar AB (obviously), Telenor, Cervelo bikes and Umbro. It is unknown what groupset and wheels they're going to use, but it is believed that it'll be at least for the groupset a choice between Shimano or Rotor. For the wheels the team is believed to negotiate with several potential suppliers.
Regarding Hype Energy the deal is believed to encompass only the main team - previous deals have always encompassed both the main and the U23 teams. But since legislative restrictions on energy drinks are in place in Norway which bans advertisement on such beverages and the U23 team is registered in Norway this season means that the space that Hype Energy logos would be placed, will be replaced with something else.
With KBC-Godiva officially joining the ICL Peloton we were able to get a little time with team boss Willie McRettin, Willie how did the team come about?
"So I had a wee bit of money from Godiva and I was putting together a 3-year plan to introduce the first all-Scottish cycling team. I was having a drink in the bar at the Brussels Grand, doing some research, and I run into Hans from KBC. We hit it off and he said, 'you know the bank is in Belgium but also in Eastern Europe, a cycling team would be a great way to accelerate our name recognition and achieve cross-border leverage with our b2c marketing budget'. Not being all that sharp on marketing lingo I say, 'great, fantastic, great, what does that mean?' And he says, 'how about we sponsor the team now'."
McRettin continued:
"So we lost the 3-year plan and painted the jersey KBC blue. The boys at Hillis91 put it together, many thanks to them, I think it is great, fantastic even"
We also asked McRettin about his strategy for the team:
"That side of things is going great in that we don't have any riders yet so our budget is completely free of any commitments whatsoever. Well that isn't completely true, my a bartender at Le Cercueil a few nights back was a big Belgian lad called Marcel, or maybe it was Marius, and he had ridden a wee bit with the amateurs. He seemed to have some good promise so I said, 'thank god, fantastic, Marcel/Marius why don't you join us' and he accepted minimum. I always like lads who are willing to ride for the price of a haggis and some neeps.
Now we've got some money I've moved to the King Suite at the Grand Palace and I'm going to spend the weekend running the numbers looking for big lads who will ride for wee money. My bias is towards boys who like a drink the night after they've dished out some pain on the pave, but the bank is is big on what they call "relevant market spending". Which is great. If anyone sees a big Hungarian, Bulgarian, Czech or Slovak lad with some talent on a bike, let me know."
Thanks for your time Mr McRettin,
"Great, Fantastic, anytime you want to pick up the tab I'm happy to talk"
We are happy to present a new team with focus on Scandinavia and with its home in western Sweden.
They have a long term goal to develop Scandinavian talents at the same time as the team want to be at the biggest scene WT.
There is already a few teams form Scandinavia so it will be a tough task to sign the biggest rider from there. But we can already name our first riders and that is two talents one from Finland and one from Norway.
From Norway we have TT specialist Thor Tønnesen and the one from Finland is puncher Pentti Nieminen.
The normally media shy Team Manager for Lufthansa sat down for a interview with us to discuss his team's preparation for the upcoming season. Here is the full interview:
You've been part of the ICL for over two years now. Why have you stayed away from interviews such as these?
I've never been comfortable with the limelight to be honest. It is getting easier but I'm never going to fully get used to it.
That seems strange given the high pressure situation associated with this sport. How do you cope with that?
I just do my job, which involves planning team activities for races and the season, and let others get on with these kinds of activities.
Talking about planning, how is the team coming along for the new season?
Last season was a great learning experience for the team, with it being our first year in the World Tour. The team enjoyed a good run in the Continental division in the first year of our existence but the World Tour was a sobering experience. We did manage to stay away from relegation danger all season, and survived comfortably in the end, which was our prime target for last year.
So what has changed over the winter? What are the team's expectations for the 2019 season?
We've been working hard in the off-season to get ready for the new season. Our scouts have also been busy looking at the best talent from our focus regions. We have brought in three new riders, who will be unveiled when our development team will have their pre-season press conference later this month. As far as the senior team is concerned, we are about to go into contract negotiations with all our riders and hope to come out on the other side unscathed.
The team management came under some flak for tying up with Deutsche Bahn as the principal sponsor of the Dev team, with there being calls of the tie-up being illegal at worst and unethical at best. People were concerned as to how he partnership of two German transportation giants could be allowed by the ICL as it could lead to a monpoly of the market. Your response to this?
I heard those rumours and can assure everyone that their fears are unfounded. Although the top management for both teams are the same, the two teams will be run as completely separate units, with separate inflows, and there will be no 'resource' sharing, so to say, to quote the critics!
How will that work out exactly? Are you saying that Deutsche Bahn will not be providing cyclists to the senior team when they become ready?
No, that is not what I was implying. The team sponsored by Deutsche Bahn is still our development team, but they will run their own exercise, with different leadership and staff for the duration of the season. Lufthansa will be following the progress made by the cyclists in Deutsche Bahn closely, and will treat them as the first options to join the senior team before looking elsewhere for talent.
Seems fair enough. How has your role changed from the past season to this one?
I hasn't really. I'm still going to be a part of recruitment, race selections, rider season planning and raceday planning. No change at all actually.
What are the team's hopes for the coming season?
We hope to improve from last season, that's for sure. It will probably be a pivotal season for us. Last year, there were really no expectations from a newly promoted team to do well in the World Tour. But having survived, one is expected to push on. Otherwise the competition will.
Has the team looked at the options available to them to push into perhaps a Top 10 place?
We're always looking at how we can improve, be it recruitment or otherwise. And yes, off course we've looked at how best to improve the team via transfers.
So, can you give us some indications as to who the team will be targeting?
Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to talk about that right now but we all know that with Bunzl's withdrawal, a host of top names have suddenly become available. We also know that they'll be in demand, so we have to be smart in the way we set up for this transfer season.
There's no way to have you tell us a couple of names, is there?
Nope.
Didn't think so. I tried at least! Anyway, that's all the time and questions I have for you at the moment. Hope to catch up with you in the future. And I hope I've helped you get over your fear of interviews.
Project Cumbria Powered By Thomas Graham Steel & Industrial Supplies
Introduction
Cumbria is known around the world for the beautiful landscapes of the Lake District and is a popular holiday destination for millions. However many do not know of the companies that are based within the county, this is set to change with the formation of a cycling team promoting some of the best companies within the county.
Thomas Grahams is a steel and industrial supplies company, which is one of the country's best independent provider of steel with numerous warehouses and stores across the north west of England. With the help of Project Cumbria it aims to become an internationally renowned steel provider and to develop its brand across Europe.
M-Sport is already a well known team within the motor racing community having won the constructors championship in the world rally championship numerous times and the drivers championship with rally legend Seb Ogier. Despite M-Sport already being renowned around the world founder Malcolm Wilson saw the opportunity to help promote Cumbria and to try to help develop the county into a business hub as well as a tourism hub. M-Sport coming onboard opened the door for Ford to join the project and they will provide team cars and trucks to help shuttle the team and their equipment around Europe.
The Calvert Trust is a charity that helps disabled people to experience outdoor activities, this is were any profit the team makes will be put and for all the sales of team kit £5 will be given to the charity. George Fisher is an outdoor wear retailer based in Keswick, which wants to expand onto a national level with the help of our project, they will provide us with casual wear as well as selling the team kit.
Our other sponsors include local bespoke bike shop Push Cartel and Johnsons Tractors. Team bikes will be provided by Stelbel and helmets by Kask.
My Stories
My Teams
ICL - Project Cumbria Powered by Thomas Graham Steel & Industrial Supplies
CarbonSports Cycling - Lightweight announces the immediate departure of Alberto Contador. We have achieved all our original goals from 5 years ago when this project was created. Winning a Grand Tour and winning the WT rankings were the final unachieved goals and Contador helped us checking off both goals.
After a careful analysis of our situation we came to the decision that the team will focus again purely on sprints, classics and self developed top talents and want our group of climbing talents that includes guys like Peiffer, Engeldinger and Chaix to ride for their own chances instead of having to work for an elite stage racer.
Out of respect towards Alberto Contador we wont attempt to renew him with the intention to sell like we have done with other riders in the past and will give interested teams an opportunity to convince him with their offers.
Good bye and good luck Alberto, may you win another grand tour for your next team!
Stunning news from the Aviva HQ in Norwich. The team's top scorer in their maiden season, who was instrumental in the promotion to the World Tour, wasn't offered a new contract. Manager Ripley explained: “We knew going into the discussion that it would be a tough one. Wout scored 1237 prestige points last season and we expected he'd be asking for a raise of his already formidable wage. But his demand was simply too high to accept. We're very sorry to let him go, he's bound to make another team very happy – but at a wage far below what he asked us for.”
We won't be seeing this picture again
Two further riders didn't receive new contracts: The Austrian puncher Stefan Denifl and the Spanish climber Miguel Minguez. Denifl had a subpar season, scoring just 123 points, yet he also asked for a raise, which wasn't well received. Minguez, meanwhile, was deemed surplus, despite the need to increase the squad size by at least seven riders.
Negotiations with the other 15 riders are ongoing. All the Brits will be offered new contracts, even Alex Dowsett. "Winning the British ITT title at the end of the season, beating Froomey, sealed the deal for us." With a smile Ripley added: "Also, he's become quite the internet phenomenon, known far and wide even outside the ICL."
Asked about steal offers, the manager told reporters: "We took a bold route and made three steal offers to three top riders, totalling nearly 4500. We already know we've been outbid in one case and in the other two our offers are below what the rider is asking his own team for. Even if their teams don't offer new contracts, we have no idea if the riders accept ours or prefer to become FAs."
He went on: "We are in an interesting situation. With Bunzl's departure from the scene there are excellent British riders on the market, a unique opportunity to build a team around local riders. But it would be nice to start with a true captain from steals, too, and relieve the pressure to hire a top scorer."
Szczecin - Zentiva 
Austria, 
Switzerland, 
Liechtenstein
Simon Yates
Joseph Dombrowski
Michael Matthews
Andrea Palini
Heiner Parra
Raymond Kreder
Oskar Svendsen
Zico Waeytens
Philip Lavery
Casper Von Folsach
Pantheras Dimas
