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[EPIC] Belkin Pro Cycling Team
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 02-01-2015 15:12
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World Champion
Posts: 14563
Joined: 08-08-2011
PCM$: 9100.00
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We'll take a look at it Khan 
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| sgdanny |
Posted on 02-01-2015 15:18
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3591
Joined: 18-03-2014
PCM$: 200.00
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Ollfardh wrote:
We'll take a look at it Khan
Thanks Boss 
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 03-01-2015 01:45
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World Champion
Posts: 14563
Joined: 08-08-2011
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Updated transfer list and moved to last page
Definitely staying:
Lars Boom
Jorge Cristobal Riquelme
Robert Gesink
Wilco Kelderman
Bauke Mollema
Sep Vanmarcke
Newcomers:
Warren Barguil (Giant-Shimano)
Sebastian Henao (neo-pro)
Silvio Herklotz (neo-pro)
Mangere Kaha (neo-pro)
Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano)
Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Omega Phama-Quick Step)
Wouter Wippert (Drapac)
Most likely staying, pending an incredible offer:
Marc Goos
Moreno Hofland
Paul Martens
Tom-Jelte Slagter
Maarten Wynants
Can go for the right offer:
Jack Bobridge
Jetse Bol
Theo Bos
Stef Clement
Steven Kruijswijk
Tom Leezer
Lars Petter Nordhaug
Mark Renshaw
Luis León Sánchez
Maarten Tjallingii
Jos Van Emden
Robert Wagner
Most likely leaving:
Definitely leaving:
Willem Brouwer (career in flower arranging)
Graeme Brown (Drapac)
Juan Manuel Garate (unknown)
Bram Tankink (Vacansoleil-DCM)
David Tanner (Drapac)
Laurens Ten Dam (Giant-Shimano)
Dennis Van Winden (Omega Pharma-Quick Step)
Edited by Ollfardh on 10-01-2015 00:24
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| sgdanny |
Posted on 06-01-2015 07:28
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3591
Joined: 18-03-2014
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Brotherhood 
Hello all!
With most of the team assembled, we are now ready to go to the frontier and begin a long adventure and wars are to be fought in the most unsecure places. Therefore I've scheduled a time, where all our new guys will be introduced to the Horde and I don't see a better time, than being able to be introduced on a real Maori manner.
Therefore I've called everyone for Haka, which is a war dance and back in the days it was used before going into battle and I do think that description fits perfectly for next season. We will shake all our fear away and those who are now like frightened kids will surely grow into confident Men!
Meanwhile even though I was warned about it, I didn't think we would end up with 2 Australians and 1 from New Zealand. So I'm hoping that Mark Renshaw and Jack Bobridge will do me the honor and support me in some races, but that they also can help the others at the team meanwhile. Mark Renshaw is the best leadout sprinter in the world and I'm sure that with his assistance I will be able to get close to Brother Brouwer's accomplishments.
Jack will control the Time Trials and is also a pretty good leadout, but his time are reserved to the bigger races mostly. This is two of the strongest guys on the team still and that should keep me reassured. I'm still in doubt whether I want to particpate in the Giro or Tour de France, but for now I'm getting ready for Tour down Under and I expect to have both Jack and Mark along my side.
Peace
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 06-01-2015 15:56
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World Champion
Posts: 14563
Joined: 08-08-2011
PCM$: 9100.00
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Khan, of course you 3 will ride Down Under, the only thing I have to decide is who our GC guy will be
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 08-01-2015 09:20
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World Champion
Posts: 14563
Joined: 08-08-2011
PCM$: 9100.00
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Deal of the day: Bram Tankink (72 HILL 70 MO 70 FL) for 10000 or best offer!
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 10-01-2015 00:26
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World Champion
Posts: 14563
Joined: 08-08-2011
PCM$: 9100.00
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Transfer list above updated once more. As you can see, we can be satisfied with our transfer season. A dozen riders are still available of the right offer comes along, but there are no more obligations. Full transfer overview and introduction of our new stars to follow.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Shonak |
Posted on 10-01-2015 02:18
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15615
Joined: 16-07-2013
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Kinda megaton-signing with Kittel. Both SKY and Belkin stepped up their game a notch in terms of sprinting (Brouwer -> Kittel, Hanzen -> Cavendish). 
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 10-01-2015 10:35
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World Champion
Posts: 14563
Joined: 08-08-2011
PCM$: 9100.00
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True, but missed a few key signings as well. I really wanted Van der Poel, Van Poppel, Konig and Degenkolb.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 11-01-2015 16:24
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World Champion
Posts: 14563
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Ollfardh wrote:
Kittel tells you: I want to ride le Tour and I want a decent sprint train
Please reassure your rider
Of course you'll be riding le Tour, Marcel! And there's no point sending you without a decent train, you'll have Bos, Renshaw or Khan as leadout, we're still discussing that. Vanmarcke will probably be there as well as 3rd man and we'll send some flat domestiques as well.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 12-01-2015 13:50
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World Champion
Posts: 14563
Joined: 08-08-2011
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If any teams find themselves low on riders, Belkin is proposing a 2 for 1 trade with 2 of the following riders:
Jack Bobridge
Jetse Bol
Theo Bos
Stef Clement
Steven Kruijswijk
Tom Leezer
Lars Petter Nordhaug
Mark Renshaw
Luis León Sánchez
Maarten Tjallingii
Jos Van Emden
Robert Wagner
Of course the better our riders, the better your guy will have to be!
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 05:23
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 13-01-2015 22:17
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World Champion
Posts: 14563
Joined: 08-08-2011
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Young rider schedules
With the roster almost finalised, we take a look at our young riders. Jorge Cristobal Riquelme will start his second year at Belkin. We kinda liked his first year, although we really wish he would be more active. The results are definitely there, but there was very little progress.
Jorge, we want to give you a schedule similar to last year, though maybe the Grand Tour isn't your thing. There might be better option for you in the classics, where we already lose an important pawn with Willem Brouwer. What are your view's on this?
Then we have Mangere Kaha, or Khan as he likes to be called. He's our new young superstar. Of course we have high expectations of him, but we want to take it easy with him, so he doesn't immedialy get the pressure of succeeding Brouwer.
Khan, for you, we see a season of growing. You'll be asked to ride a Grand Tour as well, but without pressure. If you want the Giro or Vuelta, you will probably be a leader. If you go for le Tour, you'll be the leadout man for Marcel Kittel. Other than that, we think you can get you a few wins if we pick the right races for you. Let us know what you think of this?
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 14-01-2015 10:29
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World Champion
Posts: 14563
Joined: 08-08-2011
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The Team
And with that final transfer, our 2014 roster is complete. We will not be doing anymore transfers, so let me present the team. A full transfer overview will follow.
 Warren Barguil (FRA)
 Jetse Bol (NED)
Lars Boom (NED)
Theo Bos (NED)
Stef Clement (NED)
 Jorge Cristobal Riquelme (CHL)
Robert Gesink (NED)
Marc Goos (NED)
 Sebastián Henao (COL)
 Silvio Herklotz (GER)
Moreno Hofland (NED)
Mangere Kaha (NZL)
Wilco Kelderman (NED)
Marcel Kittel (GER)
Steven Kruijswijk (NED)
Tom Leezer (NED)
 Adriano Malori (ITA)
Paul Martens (GER)
Bauke Mollema (NED)
 Lars Petter Nordhaug (NOR)
 Mark Renshaw (AUS)
 Luis León Sánchez (ESP)
Tom-Jelte Slagter (NED)
 Jasper Stuyven (BEL)
Maarten Tjallingii (NED)
Jos van Emden (NED)
Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (BEL)
Sep Vanmarcke (BEL)
Wouter Wippert (NED)
Maarten Wynants (BEL)
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 14-01-2015 13:14
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World Champion
Posts: 14563
Joined: 08-08-2011
PCM$: 9100.00
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Transfer overview
Out:
Jack Bobridge
Although he was a great talent, we had a bit too many Australians in our team for our sponsors. He was traded out to Lampre, where we wish him all the best in the Continental Tour. We Will remeber Jack for his great work in the team time trials.
Willem Brouwer
Our biggest loss of the year. After only 1 year in cycling, he decided to pursue his dream of a career in flower arranging. This is also the only guy we couldn't replace, as hilly sprinters are not easy to find. We'll remember Wimpie, the best young rider in 2013, dearly, with a special mention to his stage win and Maglia Rosa in the Giro d'Italia.
Graeme Brown
Another Australian we decided to trade off. His great sprinting days are over and he can no longer compete on a World Tour level. He'll be going to Drapac next season, where his experience can prove to be usefull for the starting Australian team.
Juan Manuel Gárate
At age 37, Juan Manuel also realised he could no longer live up to the expectations of the World Tour. We decided not to extend his contract and let him go into Free Agency. We remember his great podium in the GP Indurain. We're happy to have learned his career is not over yet, as he was picked up by spanish Team Movistar.
Bram Tankink
With our roster starting to fill up, we had to say goodbye to Bram. We do feel a bit sorry about that, as the press heavily underestimated Bram's hill and cobble ability this year. He can continue his career in the Continental Tour with Vacansoleil DCM.
David Tanner
He's our third Australian to leave, we agreed he'd better be a team leader at Drapac then a domestique here. We wish him all the best in the Continental Tour with his new team.
Laurens ten Dam
After a disappointing season, we decided to trade Laurens off to Argos. He did show a few good results in Catalunya, but his Tour and Vuelta ended in miserable failure. All the best at Argos, Laurens!
Dennis van Winden
Dennis was a very usefull domestique all season, but we had the opportunity to trade him for a good cobbler, so we had to say goodbye. Dennis will be remember for his attacking style of riding, making it into the break or crashing out trying. We wish him good luck at Omega Pharma.
Robert Wagner
A very usefull German rider, handling cobbles and sprints very well. He was a very useful domestique this year, even scoring a good amount of points. He'll get a better position at Lampre in the Continental Tour, so we wish him all the best!
In:
Warren Barguil
This young French climber joins us from Argos. With him, we expect to get more attention and race invitations in France. He'll be used as a free element most of the time, attacking early to make it easier fo rour team leader, but we will also give him opportunitites to lead the team himself.
Sebastián Henao
This young Columbian is one of the biggest climber talents. At the age of 20, he will make his appearance in the peloton with great expectations. This, year, it will be learning and growing stronger for him, but we won't be surprised if he scores us a few points already.
Silvio Herklotz
Another young talent (and owner of a rivel cycling team) from Germany. While he's a good allrounder, we feel his future will be as a puncheur. His season will also consist of learning and growing, though he might already surprise in the last season part
Mangere Kaha
Our new sprinter from New Zealand, aged 21. While we have big expectations of him, we don't want to compare him to Brouwer. He'll be given plenty of chances to lead the team this year, but I'll leave the rest of the introduction up to him.
Marcel Kittel
This is without any doubt our biggest transfer, even though he never made it to any transfer shortlist. Suddenly the opportunity was there and you can't say no when that happens. He'll be riding le Tour, going for the green jersey. He will also keep our rivelries with Sky (Cavendish) and Adrien Hanzen (BMC) alive.
Adriano Malori
Our latest incoming transfer is a big name in Italy, so we used up everything we had to sign him from Lampre. He's one of the best Time Trialist in the peloton, so we have to make sure he gets a good schedule.
Jasper Stuyven
Another young Neo-pro, from Belgium this time. Jasper can handle cobbles and sprints, and we expect him to become even stronger over the next season. Another potential young pointscorer.
Guillaume Van Keirsbulck
Another young Belgian in our 2014 team. He comes from Tom Boonen's cobble squad, so we have to call this a good steal from Omega Pharma. He'll do his best to help Vanmarcke on the cobbles, with progress still possible
Wouter Wippert
Our only incoming Dutch transfer (which is a bit of a shame), coming over from Drapac. Wouter is still young, but we think his sprint is already good enough to be part of the leadout train.
In genaral:
We can be quite happy about our transfer period. We did not get a few key riders we wanted, and especially the low amount of Dutch riders available was annoying. Still we managed to stay at 50% dutch, while expanding in our neighbour countries Belgium and Germany. We also added a rider from France, Italy, Colombia and New Zealand.
Our sprint department lost Brouwer, but gained Kittel and Kaha. Definitely an improvement, though we might struggle when the terrain gets hilly.
We managed to keep the big 4 of our cobbles squad together (Vanmarcke, Boom, Wynants, Tjallingii) and by adding Van Keirsbulck and Stuyven, there's a clear improvement here as well.
No major changes in the hills except for the loss of Brouwer, so we have to admit a small loss here. Still, with Mollema, Cristobal Riquelme, Gesink, Nordhaug, Slagter and Sanchez, we should be ok here.
Our mountain squad saw Ten Dam leave, but we did get Barguil and Henao. So maybe not an improvement at first sight, we did sign 2 big talents for the future. Furthermore, Kelderman, Mollema, Kruijswijk and Gesink all improved.
We never cared much about the time trials, but by adding Malori, we can actually field a good squad. We finished 2nd in a TTT twice last year, maybe this year we can go for that win.
But most of all, our biggest chance was the focus on youth. With a few riders near, at or way over the decline age, we chose to make the team a lot younger. No rider will be older then 31 next year. With Kaha, Herklotz, Henao and Stuyven we signed 4 good neo-pro's and Kelderman, Hofland, Cristobal Riquelme and Slagter are still very young as well.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| jaxika |
Posted on 14-01-2015 13:42
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3148
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Wow, great transfer season |
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| Silvio Herklotz |
Posted on 14-01-2015 21:20
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Protected Rider
Posts: 1246
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Very impressive. Belkin will be in the top places again I bet.
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| Selwink |
Posted on 14-01-2015 21:22
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8856
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Very talented squad indeed. Top-5 at least I guess
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 14-01-2015 21:34
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World Champion
Posts: 14563
Joined: 08-08-2011
PCM$: 9100.00
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Well, it was a bit weird. Most of my deals were falling apart and suddenly Kittel was available. Cause let's be honest, if Nacho extended him, I would have had a crap transfer period.
I don't think I'll be able to repeat last year's success though. I don't have the stage racers Sky and Movistar have, and BMC is better as well (Brewers just fucked up in season part 1 last year  ). Astana + Degenkolb will be a pain as well and Garmin's transfers were nice as well. Top 5 is what we aim for, but I wouldn't be surprised if we don't make it.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| nacho63 |
Posted on 14-01-2015 21:47
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Sprinter
Posts: 1944
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Kittel certainly is a good signing for any team in terms of ability to take massive stage wins but I don't think he'll be a massive point scorer and his Tour performance will be hard to match from last season with Andre and Cavendish. In the end I would to have liked to kept him but if I had I wouldn't of had the transfer I did. I wish good luck to our fellow Dutch WT team! |
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| brewers90 |
Posted on 14-01-2015 21:53
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3711
Joined: 01-09-2010
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Ollfardh wrote:
BMC is better as well (Brewers just fucked up in season part 1 last year ).
In my defence, my team was not very good in the first season part. I got the TDU badly wrong but after that it was just more bad luck and a lack of a sprinter that killed us.
(I see the smiley and know you're semi-joking but as it's partly true just thought I'd tell the whole story. )
I've learned from my mistakes now and plan to be well up in the rankings by the end of March. 
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