cio93 wrote:
Great to see that we avoid Karpets and McEvoy in all but 3 races each, and it's interesting to see where you want to utilize Kupfernagel to avoid the big opposition (and he will meet Ciolek only 5 times as well).

FroomeDog99 wrote:
Good to see that Karpets and Samwel will only ride in two places against each other, in Savoie and Trentino. McEvoy and Ben Nasser will meet a lot on the hills though, in ten races.

Good luck wherever we meet, though I hope we win.

fintas wrote:

I hope I have avoided the confrontation of my leaders, with the best riders. It is impossible to avoid all but is a good start to see that Kupfernagel will find Ciolek in only 5 races.
If I had to guess I would say that they will find in Down Under Classic, Baltic Chain Tour, Olympia's Tour, Dutch Food Valley Classic and Post Danmark Rundt

Squad:
Danilo Kupfernagel
Allan Davis
Marcel Barth
Sascha Damrow
Fabio Silvestre
Pedro Miguel Paulinho
Amaro Antunes
Rodrigo Nascimento

Objective: First race of the year and that is expected to be full of good sprinters. With so many good sprinters to participate will be difficult to reach a place of great prominence. I still have confidence in the ability of the double Kupfernagel/Davis and I think at least one of them will be able to reach the top 10, which would not be bad for our PCT debut.

Squad:
Jonatham McEvoy
Allan Davis
Federico Rocchetti
Johannes Frohlinger
Jorge Azanza
Marcio Portela
Pedro Miguel Paulinho


Objective: Firts Goal of the season. The top 10 is the minimum required and I think McEvoy will have capacity to do so. Without knowing what kind of competition we will face is a little tricky to make predictions but I am still confident that the ability to sprint from McEvoy make a difference in the stages of hills that do not seem so selective as that. Davis will have the opportunity to lead the team in the sprints and try to get at least one podium

Avin Wargunnson wrote:
I think McEvoy can win Tour of South Africa, of course he will have to beat last years winner.

Not very happy to see Karpets going to Portugal, it seems you have similar plan like i have with Popovych there, it could be nice fight between them and other leaders there.

jt1109 wrote:
McEvoy could be hindered by Davis in Down under not massively but feel he could of maybe won the first stage.

The first race of the year took place in Australia .. A flat stage and included the presence the best sprinters in the peloton. Although the team is not one of the favorites to win, had a brilliant performance that ended with a great victory of Danilo Kupfernagel.
The race went normal, many cyclists trying their luck but sooner or later end up seeing their pretensions frustrated. It came down to the final sprint where the team was the only one to form a convoy composed by Silvestre / Davis / Kupfernagel. Kupfernagel felt some difficulty having been blocked by Fabio Silvestre but a superb final tip allowed him to recover and beat Lo Cicero on the finish line thus achieving a brilliant victory for him and the team. Allan Davis and Fabio Silvestre still managed to hold places of respect, 11 and 16 respectively.
In summary everything went better than expected, the top 10 was the goal and this victory transcends our best expectations. In the end the sum of points allow the team lead the PCT standings for now, as this should change after the next race.

Results:
Danilo Kupfernagel	1st	1h31'51
Allan Davis	11th	s.t.
Fabio Silvestre	16th	s.t.
Marcel Barth	64th	s.t.
Sascha Damrow	74th	s.t.
Pedro M. Paulinho	79th	s.t.
Rodrigo Nascimento	117th	s.t.
Amaro Antunes	135th	s.t.

After a brilliant performance in the opening race, the team continued in Australia where he raced the Tour Down Under.
This race was one of the most important of the season, as we had intended a place in top10. For this we had McEvoy, but unfortunately his performance was far from expected. The rider never managed to be present in the decisions of the stages and was not able to be among the best in the decisive stages. The performance of the team overall was very weak and only Jorge Azanza was able to stand out a little from the others, having been on the run in the fourth stage.



Results:

Michael Van Stayen	1st	17h13'56
...
Jonathan McEvoy	15th	+ 1'55
Jorge Azanza	27th	+ 3'09
Allan Davis	32th	+ 3'19
Johannes Frohlinger	59th	+ 6'47
Federico Rocchetti	71th	+ 8'17
Marcio Portela	113th	+ 13'10
Pedro Paulinho	116th	+ 13'30

Squad:
Danilo Kupfernagel
Sascha Damrow
Fabio Silvestre
Marcio Portela
Amaro Antunes
Jóni Brandão
Rodrigo Nascimento

Objective: As in the opening race, we expect the presence of the best sprinters in this race. Given this situation our objective is to get a place in the top10. Kupfernagel surprised everyone in the Down Under Classic but will be very difficult to re-do it, and this time does not have Davis to launch the sprint.

Squad:
Jonatham McEvoy
Allan Davis
Federico Rocchetti
Johannes Frohlinger
Jorge Azanza
André Cardoso
Marcio Portela
Pedro Miguel Paulinho


Objective: Had good expectations for this race, but after what happened at the Tour Down Under do not expect much by McEvoy. The top10 is the minimum desired and for that McEvoy has to be better than it was in Australia. For flat stages Davis may have some chance of success although a stage win will not be easy.

Squad:
Vladimir Karpets
Danilo Kupfernagel
João Cabreira
Rui Pedro Vinhas
Daniel Eduardo Silva
Sérgio Sousa
Jóni Brandão
Rodrigo Nascimento

Objective: First appearance of mountains in our calendar and that means that our leader will be there to win. Being a HC race strong competition is expected, so the real goal is to reach the top 5. Karpets can not complain of lack of support because with Cabreira, Sergio Sousa and Rui Vinhas we have a strong team for the decisive stage. Kupfernagel could and should have the opportunity to fight for victory in the first and third stage.

Squad:
Jonatham McEvoy
Allan Davis
Federico Rocchetti
Jorge Azanza
André Cardoso
Marcio Portela
Pedro Miguel Paulinho
Jóni Brandão

Objective: This should not be the best type of race to McEvoy yet I am confident that he will be able to fight for a good result. The top15 is the real objective but would like once again to achieve a top 10 in this race.

After a surprise victory in the opening race of the season, the team left for the Tour of South China Sea with some expectations. the profile of the race was not ideal for our leader and this was noticed in the final classification. The constant climbs throughout the race caused Kupfernagel could not fight back for victory. The 15th turns out to not be too bad because there were several favorites to stay further back, the victory would eventually smile at Rob Partridge that a surprisingly jumped from the peloton in the final kilometers thus achieving a great victory for his team.




Results:

Rob Partridge	1st	3h19'43
...
Danilo Kupfernagel	15th	s.t.
Jóni Brandão	60th	+ 2'47
Sascha Damrow	85th	+ 16'31
Fabio Silvestre	99th	s.t.
Amaro Antunes	134th	s.t.
Marcio Portela	152th	s.t.
Rodrigo Nascimento	159th	s.t.

The race in South Africa was the second chance for McEvoy prove that is able to be among the best in the hills. Unfortunately, and such as happened in Down Under he could not resist eventually losing his place in top10 already in the last stage. But actually not only negative things this race was made, as in the third stage the same McEvoy succeeded brilliantly the stage victory. The balance of the race turns out to be positive since the initial expectations were almost met, and still managed to win a good sum of points besides some results worthy of record. The final victory would eventually be reached by Hassen Ben Nasser of the team Kenya Airways.




Results:

Hassen Ben Nasser	1st	22h38'19
...
Jonathan McEvoy	13th	+ 4'06
Johannes Frohlinger	45th	+ 9'43
Allan Davis	46th	+ 9'52
Federico Rocchetti	68th	+ 12'54
André Cardoso	74th	s.t.
Jorge Azanza	90th	+ 14'29
Pedro Miguel Paulinho	121th	+ 16'18
Marcio Portela	122th	s.t.

Meanwhile in Oman the team was present with the hope of a good result , the top 5 was the intended in this race that marked the debut of Karpets by our team. The truth is that not only the top 5 was achieved as yet been overcome in a fantastic race for the team . From the first day that the team proved quite active , working to Kupfernagel and completely destroying the peloton on the second stage, leaving only a handful of riders able to fight for the final victory . In the decisive stage the team meet the minimum required to achieve Karpets podium . Until the end of the race the team was limited to minimize losses , reaching 3rd position overall with Karpets and putting 2 more riders in top15 . Furthermore Karpets won the mountain classification in conjunction with Marquez and team standings . In the end about 300 points were won by the team in this race . The winner would eventually be Florentino Marquez from Quickstep.


Results:

Florentino Marquez	1st	21h11'56
...
Vladimir Karpets	3rd	+ 1'11
Sérgio Sousa	7th	+ 3'06
Daniel Eduardo Silva	14th	+ 7'49
Jóni Brandão	52th	+ 14'31
João Cabreira	63th	+ 16'34
Rui Pedro Vinhas	65th	s.t.
Danilo Kupfernagel	70th	+ 16'59
Rodrigo Nascimento	84th	+ 19'21

Squad:
Jonatham McEvoy
Federico Rocchetti
Jorge Azanza
André Cardoso
Marcio Portela
Pedro Miguel Paulinho
Jóni Brandão

Objective: The expectations for this race are very low. Whatever is above the top20 already be good

Squad:
Danilo Kupfernagel
Marcel Barth
Sascha Damrow
Fabio Silvestre
Joni Brandão
Marcio Portela
Rodrigo Nascimento



Objective: For this race I hope the best of Kupfernagel and also Barth. Stage victories and the top10 is what is intended for this race

Squad:
Linus Gerdemann
Johannes Frohlinger
Daniel Eduardo Silva
Sérgio Sousa
André Cardoso
Pedro Miguel Paulinho
Jorge Azanza


Objective: Linus is our leader in this race, the minimum required is the top10. The rest of the team can also get satisfactory results.

Squad:
Vladimir Karpets
João Cabreira
Rui Pedro Vinhas
Daniel Eduardo Silva
Sérgio Sousa
Jorge Azanza
Johannes Frohlinger

Objective: The competition will certainly be very strong but we will be with one of our best possible teams. Repeat what happened in Oman would be ideal but it certainly will not be easy. Still the top 5 should be possible to Karpets

Squad:
Vladimir Karpets
Danilo Kupfernagel
João Cabreira
Rui Pedro Vinhas
Fabio Silvestre
Sérgio Sousa
André Cardoso
Amaro Antunes

Objective: We bet on surprise with Kupfernagel should be few top sprinters present at this race for that the first stage may very well be for him. Karpets should again be in the fight for first places and its capabilities in TT can make a difference