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The Front Seat - Finishing the Job (NZ CC st. 5)
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 25-05-2014 18:29
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The team is certainly snapping up some Great young talant  |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 08:35
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| fernando97 |
Posted on 25-05-2014 18:30
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Great signings, nice to see more youth coming to the team! |
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| Dippofix |
Posted on 25-05-2014 18:46
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Surprised to not see my comment there, must have gotten lost. 
Anyway, I started a career with the same basic idea, simply because it sounds really great, and two guys I can really recommend are Ole Haavardsholm and Tiesj Benoot. 
And lastly, good luck. As I said, really nice idea!
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 25-05-2014 20:57
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sgdanny: It will be a very international team as I think that is fitting for the "sponsor" who is very much global. They will come in pairs/small groups though.
sutty: We certainly are
fernando: You'll be happy to hear that there's plenty more youth to come then
Dippofix: Glad you like it! I'm most likely done with Norwegians, plus he was on my starting team in Nordic cycling as well. Benoot is a real possibility as part of a Benelux segment.
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 26-05-2014 13:31
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After the revelation of our partners yesterday the design department (aka myself) went straight to work on designing our team kit and Astral was very quick to have the first batch produced in time for our big presentation in Paris.
The seven riders already announced rode a trip through Paris at night-time along with two new additions that also requred specially designed jerseys since they are the National champions of Namibia and Eritrea respectively.
More details about those two at the press conference where the rest of the team will also be announced, untill then a few pictures from the ride.
The guys decided to have a small sprint on the Champs Elysses. To no great surprise Ewan took the win as he will hope to do many times in the future.
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| Shonak |
Posted on 26-05-2014 13:36
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what a difference in size on the two left riders. 
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 26-05-2014 15:49
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Welcome to this press conference where we are finally ready to announce the full roster and jersey.
Verdugo, Urtasun and Pérez, who were signed early on will be working as road captains with hopefully one of them in each race while they will also be using this year as a transition towards a future as cycling coaches so they will be assigned other riders to train depending on their own skills.
The Australian and Norwegian duos you know as well, so I guess it’s time to start talking about the rest of the team.
An African Duo
In our small show ride right before the press conference you saw two new additions as well. Both are young national champions from Africa, where MSF is doing a lot of good work and hopes to increase positivity by showing everyone that it is possible to move on from poverty.
English is an official language in both countries so that shouldn’t pose much of a problem.
Till Drobisch (20) is both TT and RR champion of Namibia. Though his TT is his biggest forte, he does survive hills rather well so he might be able to do something in some of the smaller stage races.
Meron Teshome (21) is the champion of Eritrea thanks to his strong climbing skills on both long and short climbs.
The German speaking duo
Another duo with the same native language, though not from the same country.
Stefan Küng (20) is a strong allrounder with a very strong TT and capable of both surviving some hills and sprinting in a reduced group. He will be the next big thing in Swiss cycling for sure!
Marc Obkircher (22) is yet another allrounder with decent hill and sprint stats though not strong enough to be the favourite for any race, but he will be a good helper for the team.
Dutch-speaking youngsters
Mathieu van der Poel (18) might be young, but as his win in the junior world championships shows he is already developing into a very strong rider capable of almost anything!
Tiesj Benoot (19) is a strong puncher hailing from Flanders and as van der Poel he pretty much has no weaknesses.
The Internationals
Thomas Boudat (19) will be our only Frenchman but with MSF originating from France we felt like we needed at least one.
Samuel Pökälä (23) is reigning Finnish TT-champion and capable of getting over a lot of hills as well, so he should be a good addition to the team.
John Ebsen (25) is a strong Danish climber, who have spent most of his career on Asian teams due to the lack of mountains in his home country. After he couldn’t find agreement on renewing with Synergy Baku he will be our main climber apart from Verdugo.
Now we will take a small break and when we get back we will have a quick look at the race programs and targets for the different riders on the team as well as answering any possible questions from you.
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 26-05-2014 16:05
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The Team kit looks good in-game , and more talented riders are recruited to the team too |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 26-05-2014 16:20
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Mathieu Van der Poel  World class stuff! |
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| Shonak |
Posted on 26-05-2014 16:22
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Van der Poel and Benoot are massive signings. Nice to see Obkircher in the team too.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| jph27 |
Posted on 26-05-2014 16:26
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Boudat!
With him and Enger you'll have a Cavendish/Greipel scenario I wager  |
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| Dippofix |
Posted on 26-05-2014 16:30
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Ah, Ebsen and Benoot, two guys that are on my team too.
Some really nice other signings too, but you have a real talent overdose there. With those sort of riders, you might even be able to get a sponsor for season two, too.
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 26-05-2014 20:02
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sutty: Thanks. We are certainly packed full of talent!
Ian: Hard to argue with that
Shonak: Thought you'd might like an Austrian on the team
jph27: Brought here especially for you . He'll probably clash more with Ewan though I think...
Dippofix: Who knows. Perhaps they will all just be snatched up by other teams and I'll be left with a team without riders?
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 26-05-2014 20:02
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Welcome back after the break.
Now we will have a look at the first part of the season. The fact that we only have one DS gives some logistic challenges as we can’t race more than one race at a time at any time.
Still we will have a very interesting first few months with a lot of target races for our riders.
The Australians will be very motivated to do well in both the national championships as well as their home races of New Zealand Cycling Classics and Herald Sun Tour while our African duo is going for glory in the only African race on the calendar La Tropicale Amissa Bongo.
Also Ebsen is in for an early start testing his mountain legs in Oman before his favourite race Le Tour de Langkawi.
After that we will go back to Europe for a number of French, Dutch and Belgian classics where Benoot, Boudat and Van der Poel will be hoping to do well.
Küng and Obkircher will be targeting Swiss, Austrian and German races while the two Norwegians will be aiming for the three Norwegian stage races mainly.
The former Euskaltel-trio will race one race together all of them namely the Klasika Primavera where they once again will be meeting their home fans.
Edited by Atlantius on 26-05-2014 20:11
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| fernando97 |
Posted on 26-05-2014 20:37
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Loving the structure of the lineups that you send to races, well thought-out. Hope the team will perform well in the early months. |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 26-05-2014 22:44
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Good Luck in the early season races |
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| kadtagenero |
Posted on 27-05-2014 00:38
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I was hoping to see a good colombian climber there... maybe next season, I'll be excpecting that... or maybe not climber, Tomás Restrepo, now in Lizarte is a non-colombian rider, TT-and cobbles is what he likes... or maybe Eduardo Estrada, now with Ag2r U23, track and TT specialist... anyway.. interesting story, I'll keep in touch...
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 27-05-2014 05:34
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fernando: Thanks, I hope they will too
sutty: Thanks!
kadtagenero: Good to have you around. I think the Colombians are pretty well covered in this DB, so I didn't spot an obvious (cintract-free) pick for the team. Nothing is ruled out for next season though...
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 27-05-2014 15:30
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All in all I'm quite happy with our debut showing the world that we are here for business. Next up is La Tropicale Amissa Bongo.
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 27-05-2014 17:26
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Disappointing time trial from the guys but a better performance in the road race |
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Rohan Dennis
