The management of VolksWagen-Siemens are proud to present the main sponsors for next year. VolksWagen will contiue, while Mapei joins instead of Siemens. The team will still be German, but the focus will change more towards classics than it has been earlier. This might mean that riders like Kai Reus and Lucas Schädlich could leave the team. The team will still focus on German riders, but also plan to get a larger amount of Italians, as that is a wish from the new sponsor.
Hopefully we will see VolksWagen-Mapei in the ProTour next year, if not they will most likely be one of the teams in the CT with the largest budget.
The jersey will be:
PS: I just laughed out loud, watchin Dauphine Libere and the Norwegian commentators spoke about Mapei
Edited by Heine on 10-06-2012 13:06
With the season ending coming close it's time to think about the future. VolksWagen are still in the fighting for promotion, but no matter what happens there will be some changes. First of all we got several old guys that will (most likely) not get a new contract, among them Benjamin Noval, Christian Pfannberger and Paris-Nice stage winner Jussi Veikkanen. Also our 3 sprinters (Sabatini, Loddo and Förster) may find themself without a contract. This opens up some places in the team, and no matter what happens we will look to strenghten the team, the dream is to get at least 1 more hilly captain that together with Flügel could create a strong hilly leader pair. Also, the last season Flügel has been alone in the hills, so we wish to find some more support in that part of the team.
With our sprinters dissapointing for the third season we will look to find some real leaders there, riders like Boonen and Napolitanio are free agents and should be interesting riders. There has also been rumours of Ciolek leaving Bianchi, which of course would be interesting. The climbing squad is a interesting question, we have good leaders for the continental tour, but if we promote they will not quite cut it. The question then is to either find some new leaders, train Ratiy or go a route without a clear GC-leader. All interesting options, but Mapei has never been known for their climbing. Anyway, a rider like Denifl will always be interesting for our sqaud, and also Nibali or Sella could help strenghten the italian part
The squad has never had a strong cobble presence, but next season Østergaard and Zepuntke will have developed alot, this means we will have a stronger focus on this part of the season. No matter what. We should then try ot find a new leader, there are some interesting ones among the free agents (Boonen already mentioned), but also a leutenant from a strong cobble team may be interested in having a chanse to lead a team, Maes springs to mind, a good rider that have to play second fiddle to Vanspeybrouck in one of the worlds best cobble teams.
All in all, the rest of the season, and the start of next will be an interesting time for VolksWagen
This season VolksWagen has been fighting in the upper part of the division, but it might seem like promotion will be escaping the team. While this is dissapointing considering the start of the season the team seems to follow the long range plan, which included a top 10 this season, and promotion next season.
With new sponsor Mapei supposedly ready to give a large amount of money to increase the budget there has been alot of romours about riders the team is interested in, but media seems to have forgotten that riders also got to leave.
The two most interesting names rumoured away are the time trial duo, Kai Reus and Lucas Schädlich. Reus says that he wants a team built more for him, where he will get more support in the hilly parts of the race, while Schädlich feels he's ready for the Pro Tour again, no matter what happens with VolksWagen in the promotion fight.
There is also said that Heine is not happy with his sprinter trio, Sabatini, Loddo and Förster and that all three might be looking for new teams next year. Other riders that might have trouble signing new contracts with VolksWagen-Mapei is Paris-Nice stage winner Veikkanen, veteran Klier, and the climber duo Pfannberger and Noval.
Heine has also stated in a quick comment that the team wants to continue the work they have done with young riders. It seems that the team wants atleast 1 big talent, specially in the GC area, to join the climbing-pool with Preidler, Brenes and Anacona.
Hopefully we will soon be back with more news and rumours about the team!
Ruben Zepuntke, one of the highly talented riders in the VolksWagen system (loaned out this season) took silver in the U23 - World Championship. A great feat by the young talent. The silver medal in the U23 followed a 4th place in the TTT for germany and was followed by a great silver medal for Zepuntkes big idol Markus Burghardt. All in all a great WC for Germany.
Zepuntke signed for VolksWagen before the current season and is seen as one of the great talents of cycling, specialicing in the northern classics. He's a part of what many call the next great German generation, that also includes riders like Nikias Arndt, Rick Zabel and Mario Vogt (and many more). Riders that many believe would take over from current stars like Silver-medalist Burgardt, former TDF-winner Fothen, top sprinters Ciolek/Greipel/Mohs and puncheurs like Kessler, Schumacher and Sinkewitz.
There is no doubt that Germany got many riders that will bring them a lot of glory in the future.
We would also like to give our congratulations to Lars Boom (Gold medalist), Eeckhout (Gold medalist, U23), Rogers (Gold medalist ITT), Eastman (Gold medalist U23 ITT) and Netherlands (Gold medalists TTT)
Flügel finishes the rollercoaster season with victory
VolksWagen ends the season with a great victory in Japan Cup. Ending a rollcoaster of a season. Where VolksWagen have gone from great victories to great failures. From winning HC races, to crashing out of everything. In the end though the season has been a step up and the team is filled with young developing riders that will over time make VolksWagen one of the powerhouses of cycling.
In the upcoming offseason several of the old guys of the team will be leaving. Riders like Klier, Förster, Loddo, Veikkanen, Pfannberger and Noval will need to find a new team on the free agent marked. While riders like Schädlich, Reus, Sabatini, Haavardsholm and Østergaard could be shopped. It will be a really interesting off season for VolksWagen fans
While offically tightlipped the rumours around the VolksWagen team are ever increasing. We have already heard that riders like Veikkanen (stage-winner in Paris-Nice), Förster, Klier, Noval and Pfannberger will not get new contract offers from the team. There is also rumoured that Lucas Schädlich has stated he wants to ride in the Pro Tour. Rumours says he feels to good to race in the CT and wants to ride GT's and in the real TTTs. A friend of him, who wishes to stay anonymous quotes Schädlich of saying "VolksWagen-Mapei might be a good project, but they don't offer me the challanges I want. I want to ride against the best, and with the best. I simply can't do that in the CT". Other rumours state that the reason Schädlich might be on his way away from the team is that they will sell their TT-part of the team, to concentrate on other areas.
Cutting of the TT-part also means that Kai Reus will be on his way out. Kai has been one of the best riders in the CT this year, scoring lots of points in TT-heavy stage races.
On the other hand rumours also state that VW wants to build up their cobble squad. The silver U23 medalist is already in the team, and we believe that the team wants to get someone who can lead the team for 2 seasons, then become leutenant for Zepuntke. This could mean riders like Nuyens, Albert, Maes, Langeveld, Verbist or Giaux.
We also believe that the team might be looking to strenghten their stage racing part, and the name most often mentioned is Denifl. According to one of our sources VW should be willing to really open their wallet for him, and he states that most teams would waste their time by fighting for him.
Last seasons Flügel was the top scorer of VW, and rumours say that he already has become better, but have demanded more support this year. Will be interesting to see what VW will try to do about that.
We will hopefully be back with more rumours soon, our spies are already trying to find a way into the teams headquarter
Might be possible to work out a deal there, but I guess there will be others interested in both riders, we gotta see when the transfer season starts what will happen
It´s still not official, but after some quarreling between team manager and Eric Mohs at Tour du Faso, there may be possibility Eric will stay in PCT division for next season. Well known German oriented team looks like a good option for him
Erik Mohs sounds like an interesting name, we've heard that he really wanted to ride with us for the last 2 years... A friend ones heard him say that "I don't really know Heine, but he sounds like a much better manager than the one I currently got", however we have never been able to get him to confirm the rumours
