With the Tour of the Czech Republic coming to an end soon, we are entering the longest summer break the team has ever had! A full month without any racing will give the riders a lot of time to relax, and prepare for the second half of the season, starting on the Isle of Man.
Whilst the riders will surely enjoy their breaks, the team's staff will have no time to enjoy the sun outside as contract will have to be negotiated to ensure the team's existance in 2017. At this point we are very happy to announce our long-time partners, SCOTT, who have supplied bikes and helmets for the team since 2013 will step up a bit and take over the role Nalini had in previous years, also supplying the jerseys and shoes for the 2017 season. SCOTT will become far more prominent on the team's jerseys, however it won't become a title sponsor for the team.
The Nemiroff name will stay, however after the immense amount of hate comments we received for having a p/b in the team's name we decided to stop that approach for the 2017 season, and possibly for the future. Nemiroff won't be the sole title sponsor though, but at this point in time we cannot announce the second sponsor just yet. We can tell you though that this second sponsor is a Russian company, active around the globe and specialized in software for both computers and mobiles.
Not a single secondary sponsor has been signed as of yet, however it seems likely both Aerosvit and KazAtomProm will keep supporting the team, and a third minor sponsor is rumoured to be sought.
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game
Giving into the pressure and dropping the p/b part of the name... That's a shame to see! You have the full support to keep it from all the management team at La Poste p/b Mavic! #KeepTheP/B
We will visit the iconic Isle of Man to continue our masterplan of avoiding stage races the best we can with our main man, looking to keep out strong position in the ranking tables.
Damiano Cunego
Leader
Mykhaylo Kononenko
Support
Oleksandr Prevar
Support
Sergey Nikolaev
Support
Paolo Scarponi
Support
Egor Silin
Support
Ignas Konovalovas
Support
Adrian Nitu
Support
And yes, our main man is obviously Damiano Cunego. He’s been strong so far, and after a well deserved holiday he’ll be looking to continue his performances. The support he’ll be getting this race is rather insane too, at least to our standards. Prevar is a very strong rider capable of winning races himself, Scarponi and Konovalovas are not much weaker, and also Nikolaev, Silin, Kononenko and Nitu sure know how to climb a hill.
Tour of Beijing
Asia has been very kind to us so far, proving our very first stage race victory in Japan. We sure hope China is just as nice!
Damiano Cunego
Leader
Egor Silin
Support
Romain Vanderbiest
Sprinter
Volodymyr Gomenyuk
Support
Oleksandr Prevar
Support
Jakub Skala
Support
Oleksandr Polivoda
Support
Zouzou Andriafenomananiaina
Support
And just like in Japan, Cunego will lead the team. So many similarities must mean we simply cannot lose, right? Well, just in case we do, we have Vanderbiest who will contest the 2 flat stages, and Polivoda, Gomenyuk and Skala have been transferred to Beijing as they’re very capable in aiding the French national champion.
Visit Ukraine – Chernobyl and Pripyat
Presented to you by VisitUkraine, ideas for travel and business
As all of you will probably know, last season the team was making an effort in aiding those who’d been hit by the Chernobyl disaster by spotlighting the Children of Chernobyl Foundation. The place there still is highly contaminated, however trips to area are very much available, and actually help the locals. One day tours in the exclusion zone, with an English speaking tour guide is probably your best bet to see the effects on the area for yourself. You will need to apply for this tour well ahead in order to gain an access-pass to the exclusion zone, however we can assure it’ll be worth it!
Sponsor News
Now, with a look back at last season, and a preview into some racing for the current season, we will also announce more about our future, or next season to be more precise. As we already announced, we were looking for a third minor sponsor, and Cypriot-based IT distributor ASBIS has signed a contract to financially help the team for the coming year. ASBIS was founded in Belarus, and it didn’t take them long to enter both the Russian and Ukrainian markets. Nowadays their headquarter is located in Limassol, Cyprus, and their base of operations cover a large portion of Europe, as well as the UAE, Morocco and Kazakhstan.
As well as another secondary sponsor, we can announce our second title sponsor! Sticking with the IT and technology, the Russian company ABBYY will be our main sponsor alongside Nemiroff, meaning the team will be called Nemiroff – ABBYY during the 2017 season. ABBYY is a Russian software company which operates internationally and is specialized in optical character recognition, document capture and language software for both PC and mobile devices. Their base of operations is covered by 4 headquarters, dividing 4 regions of operating, namely Moscow (Russian market), Milpitas (Northern American market), Munich (Western European market) and Kyiv (Eastern European market). We are obviously delighted to contract them, and we’re hoping our cooperation will last for a long while, bringing many successes.
Now that we know our future is guaranteed we can start looking for a jersey designer to ensure the team will look amazing for yet another season, and we hope we can show you as our fans the new colors later this season! Stay tuned!
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game
What a turning point this race was last year! Let’s hope it isn’t this season, as that would mean we would relegate…
Damiano Cunego
Leader
Mykhaylo Kononenko
Support
Oleksandr Prevar
Support
Sergey Nikolaev
Support
Paolo Scarponi
Support
Egor Silin
Support
Ignas Konovalovas
Support
Adrian Nitu
Support
Like in many of the recent races, Cunego and Prevar will lead the team. This has worked out really well in Manx International, and a similar result is what we’re aiming for. Top 5 is our first sponsor objective of the season, let’s make sure we don’t fail all of them again!
Nakhon Ratchasima Trophy
This race has a name too difficult, even for my likings.
Romain Vanderbiest
Leader
Volodymyr Gomenyuk
Support
Oleksandr Polivoda
Support
Roger Randrianambinina
Support
Yauheni Hutarovich
Support
Jakub Skala
Support
Sergey Nikolaev
Support
Roman Lutsyshyn
Support
Flat race, Vanderbiest is here, so history basically tells us Polivoda will win.
Volta a Portugal
Last year went so well, we got a bit excited and picked this race as our win-goal, which suddenly seems a bit ambitious.
Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy
Leader
Mykhaylo Kononenko
Support
Oleksandr Prevar
Support
Yauheni Hutarovich
Support
Artem Topchanyuk
Support
Zouzou Andriafenomananiaina
Support
Maciej Ulanowski
Support
Roman Lutsyshyn
Support
Ambitious or not, Yevgeni was second here last year after a strong performance, and he’s looking to repeat that in order to give his season a bit of a boost. Prevar will be stagehunting, and could well find some places to show his talent. Finally, Maciej will kill me for convincing him to go to Portugal again after last season was a bit of a waste for him here…
GP Moscow
Last time we raced here, we still had a Russian top sprinter, and he got beaten by his leadout…
Romain Vanderbiest
Leader
Vitaliy Buts
Support
Oleksandr Polivoda
Support
Dmitriy Gruzdev
Support
Sergey Nikolaev
Support
Adrian Nitu
Support
Egor Silin
Support
Jakub Skala
Support
And knowing history always repeats itself, Polivoda will outsprint Vanderbiest, and possibly win us our very first ProTour event. Probably not though.
Grands Prix Cyclistes
A stage race with just 2 stages. Either this’ll be really good, or just a waste of time.
Damiano Cunego
Leader
Sergey Nikolaev
Support
Paolo Scarponi
Support
Egor Silin
Support
Ignas Konovalovas
Support
Marios Athanasiades
Support
Oleksandr Polivoda
Support
Jakub Skala
Support
Cunego to more of the hilly stuff, less of the really mountainous races. Has been good so far, and continuing it may really help us in the fight to stay close to possible promotion.
Visit Ukraine - Pidhorodetsky Castle
Presented to you by VisitUkraine, ideas for travel and business
Pidhorodetsky Castle is a Renaissance palace with the surrounding fortifications. It is located in the village Pidgirci and together with Olesky and Zolochevsky Castle it forms a "Golden Horseshoe of Ukraine" - one of the most popular tourist destinations of the castles of Lvov region. The castle has a square shape and on the east, south and west the castle is surrounded by a line of fortifications, a deep moat and ramparts. At the site of today's castle ancient fortifications existed. The first mention of them was in 1530.
The interior of Podgoretsky castle struck contemporaries with its beauty and splendor. The halls and rooms match the names given to them: Chinese, Golden, Knight, Green, Mirror, Mosaic. Also things that belonged to King Jan III Sobieski survived. The rooms were decorated with portraits of the owners of the castle, copies of Raphael, Rubens, Titian and Caravaggio. Around the castle there was a beautiful park that belonged to the monuments of landscape art of national importance. It was built at the level of samples of so-called “Italian” parks.
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game
America, the land of opportunities. Will it be a great race for us?
Artem Topchanyuk
Leader
Adrian Nitu
Support
Maciej Ulanowski
Sprinter
Roger Randrianambinina
Support
Mykhaylo Kononenko
Support
Zouzou Andriafenomananiaina
Support
Volodymyr Gomenyuk
Support
Roman Lutsyshyn
Support
The sponsors want us to win a few stages, and with Ulanowski we are sure we can meet this goal. Unlike last year, where Suparman had to act as lead-out, we bring 2 capable lead-outs this year with Gomenyuk and Randrianambinina. Topchanyuk and Kononenko will fight for a GC top 10, or if that turns out to be unreachable we hope they will attack to join breaks.
Tour of Ukraine
Our home race, our own pride to defend, and an excellent chance at getting a possible GC win.
Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy
Leader
Oleksandr Polivoda
Support
Oleksandr Prevar
Support
Egor Silin
Support
Paolo Scarponi
Support
Dmitriy Gruzdev
Support
Ignas Konovalovas
Support
Jakub Skala
Support
The man who could possible take the GC in Ukraine is our Kazakh stageracer, Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy. He may not be the best over the smaller hills featured in the race, but he can surely hold his own. Add to that a long, long ITT, and you’ll see why we consider him as being one of the top favourites. With also strong riders like Prevar, Scarponi and Konovalovas supporting him here, we are confident we can easily meet our top 5 goal here, and surely fight for the overall victory.
Milano - Torino
End of season Italian hill classics. We will feature in a few of these, and we’re sure we can do good stuff in these.
Damiano Cunego
Leader
Sergey Nikolaev
Support
Oleksandr Prevar
Support
Egor Silin
Support
Paolo Scarponi
Support
Jakub Skala
Support
Ignas Konovalovas
Support
Zouzou Andriafenomananiaina
Support
And whilst we can do well here, the fact the end of the season is nearing also is making us quite sad in a way. Damiano is aging rather quickly, and these few classics may well be his final few races on a professional level. Let’s hope he can end his career with a bang, should he not find a team next season.
Visit Ukraine – The museum of chocolate
Presented to you by VisitUkraine, ideas for travel and business
Museum “Country Shokolandiya” in Lviv is not just a place with interesting sweet exhibits, but the world of unforgettable impressions where everyone can try something new and discover something extraordinary. Lviv is famous for its chocolate. You can try it in a four-storied chocolate museum, which combines a cafe and a shop. The chocolate museum is located in the Italian courtyard at Rynok Square for residents and visitors of the town.
You will be impressed not only by chocolate exhibits, but also by the participation in tasting sweets for free. The half-hour tours are available. They reveal more secrets about the production of chocolate. A visit to the chocolate museum “AVK” has become a must-see destination for tourists. The museum welcomes guests from 10 a.m. to 19 p.m. during all days of the week except Wednesday. This is also a mobile museum, which travels and shows its works in different cities of Ukraine.
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game
With the Tour of Ukraine visiting the town of Lviv for the first stage, we welcome you all to our beautiful headquarters for the presentation of our 2017 teamkit. Before we will reveal the kit we would like to the_hoyle for the efforts he made in designing this masterpiece.
Also before we show you the finished product, we would like to share our ambitions for our home race, at least for those who are unable to guess from the startlist. Jakub Skala and Oleksandr Polivoda will work together on the flat stages to perhaps get a surprise result, however our real chances are with Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy who has the best support he could ever wish for with his fellow countryman, and Kazakh champion on the ITT Dmitriy Gruzdev, Ukrainian superstar Oleksandr Prevar, Russian strong man Egor Silin, Sammarinese finest rider, Paolo Scarponi and the beast from Lithuania, Ignas Konovalovas.
We require him, or perhaps Konovalovas, to at least reach a top 5 in the GC, however a podium should be achievable in our minds.
But then finally, the moment you've all been anticipating now, the 2017 kit for Nemiroff-ABBYY!
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game
Another hilly classic late in the season held in Italy. Quite predictable who will ride in our colours here.
Damiano Cunego
Leader
Sergey Nikolaev
Support
Oleksandr Prevar
Support
Egor Silin
Support
Paulo Scarponi
Support
Adrian Nitu
Support
Ignas Konovalovas
Support
Roman Lutsyshyn
Support
Damiano’s goodbye tourney continues, and is 1 step away from its climax. We need a good result here as we’re still in the fight for non-automatic promotion. Prevar and Scarponi have shown they can be very useful domestiques, and Konovalovas is surely not worse.
Lisbon Classic
Flat-ish classic in Portugal. Pure sprinter, or massive upset?
Romain Vanderbiest
Leader
Dmitriy Gruzdev
Support
Maciej Ulanowski
Support
Roger Randrianambinina
Support
Oleksandr Polivoda
Support
Jakub Skala
Support
Yauheni Hutarovich
Support
Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy
Free
Vanderbiest, he may lack pure quality to compete at the very top level of cycling, however we won’t ever win if we don’t try. Romain gets the best support he could wish from our team, and with Yevgeni we may have a good outsider should the race not end up in a big sprintfest.
Course de Solidarnosc
Four relatively flat, quite long stages in Poland. Should be a race for the fast men, however we’re not sure the race will actually follow that route
Romain Vanderbiest
Leader
Adrian Nitu
Support
Maciej Ulanowski
Support
Jakub Skala
Support
Oleksandr Polivoda
Support
Zouzou Andriafenomananiaina
Support
Yauheni Hutarovich
Support
Oleksandr Prevar
Free
Romain obviously our fast guy here, and with local rider Ulanowski he will the perfect lead-out. However, we think this race may not be decided by the sprinters as the stages look to be quite lumpy, and long, very long. Therefore we think a rider like Prevar, who is pretty quick, strong over hills and very good on longer stages in general may have a good shot at causing a massive upset here, scoring us more points than we could dream of in case of a pure sprinter’s race.
Giro di Lombardia
And to end the season, we will visit one of Damiano’s favourite races, a race he has won in the past. Let’s go out with a bang.
Damiano Cunego
Leader
Artem Topchanyuk
Support
Oleksandr Prevar
Support
Ignas Konovalovas
Support
Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy
Support
Adrian Nitu
Support
Paulo Scarponi
Support
Jakub Skala
Support
This is where it all will end, the end of an era really. Damiano Cunego is getting old, and whilst he’d probably still be an excellent rider next season we simply cannot assure him of a place on our squad for the new season. The 7 times Giro d’Italia, and 1 time Tour de France winner has propelled our team up the ranking, and we cannot thank this man enough, in fact having him race Lombardia is the best we can do at this point, and let’s hope he can pull out one more legendary ride as he would deserve it.
Ciao Damiano.
Visit Ukraine – Party in Lviv!
Presented to you by VisitUkraine, ideas for travel and business
No fancy travel tips for this final month, just an invitation to all of you to come and join our post season party in Millennium Club, Lviv. We would appreciate you all coming by!
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game
After the National Championships of the past few weeks we're very happy to announce we've won 7 titles spread over 6 riders and 5 nationalities. These are the jerseys they will get to wear next season.
Zouzou Andriafenomananiaina won the Malagasy NC ITT, and Roger Randrianambinina took home the RR title. Our 2 Malagasy riders will produly wear this kit next season.
After a few years of only collecting the ITT title, Marios Athanasiades realized the double in Cyprus this season and will therefore wear this jersey all season long next year.
Romania's RR was won by Adrian Nitu, the forgotten talent who will be close to reaching his max quite late into his career next season. He showed his true capabilities and secured this amazing jersey.
Disappointingly, Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy once again failed to win the ITT title. Mikhail Kochetkov made up for this though by winning the RR against all odds in quite an amazing race, beating his breakaway companions in an uphill sprint.
And most important of all, Ukraine's RR was for Oleksandr Golovash after a long solo. Our time trial talent who we've raised to this level since he joined us on a stagiare contract back in 2013 has gained a lot of valuable experience in the PT this past season, and will be a huge asset for our team. The time trial was kinda disappointing though, with Zmorka being absent, Golovash could've gotten a double, but was too tired sadly.
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game
