Michael Van Stayen joins our team as 3rd leader. He is a unique rider who excels in sprints from reduced groups after as he can climb over hills better than any other top sprinter.

With Mark Dzamastagic and Janis Dakteris he has the material for a stunning leadout train in place that will surely try to wreck the sprinter field a couple of times throughout the season.

Milan - San Remo is seen as opener of the annual cycling season by many fans. Cycling fans throughout the world love to watch the battle of sprinters vs. puncheurs vs. rouleurs and the final kilometres are legendary.

With the signings of Michael Van Stayen, Greg van Avermaet and Toms Skujins the team has multiple options for selecting a captain for this race and no matter how we decide we must be considered one of the favourites in this race.

Evonik added loan riders No. 4 - 7 to next season's squad:

Olli Kulppi was an important domestique last season for our team leader Tom Boonen and having improved in the last months it is expected from him to be a vital help to Greg van Avermaet!

He brings his swedish friend and team mate Philipp Lindau with him who is a useful domestique on the hills.

Nur Amirul Marzuki joins our team as first Asian cyclist in team history. Marzuki is an allrounder who will be used as a domestique on cobbles and hills but he also can also climb longer mountains or win sprints out of a small group.

Isaac Bolivar is yet another talented cobbler who was brought in for a couple of race days. He can also race in a TTT when necessary. He's the first South American cyclist in our team's history.

SotD wrote:
Chances of winning MSR are not all too great, with Bewley present, but if anyone can do it it's Van Stayen. You have a fantastic setup for numerous races, with those sprinter-like types who excel at flat and other areas.

I think you may well be among the top teams going into the month of May.

It's still offseason but it's never too early to work on the foundations for the upcoming season. Evonik - ELKO already went into a training camp in Belgium to improve their riding on the hills. It is no surprise that hilly races are important for the team as half the team is specialised on this terrain but it is speculated within the team that the team will be even stronger on the hills once they return from the training camp.

It hasn't been leaked yet which rider(s) improved but it is speculated that a new leader benefitted the most from it.

Last season Tom Boonen was the only one who could follow Sam Bewley to the Velodrome of Roubaix. After not coming to an agreement during renewals we invested big time into a replacement for him. He's still unproven but we trust Greg Van Avermaet to be stronger than ever and hope that he will be the one to break Bewley's dominance on the cobbles. He's supported by Latvian's best cobbler Andsz Flaksis and Lithuania's best cobbler Gediminias Bagdonas. Olli Kulppi and Arnaud Grand are both familiar faces with the team already and return to the team for a second year on loan. Isaac Bolivar might also hit the road at some point if he isnt too busy with his studies.

The 2015 world championship races were a punch into the face of Latvian Cycling. Not getting into the RR World Championship race is not nice but not being invited for the B Worlds Race to make place for glourious cycling countries like Cuba, Iran or San Marino was a humiliation that must never happen again. The first step towards that goal is to support our world class puncheur Toms Skujins as much as possible to promote Latvian cycling both in our country and in the world. He'll receive support from fellow Latvians Andris Smirnovs and Indulis Bekmanis as well as from Evaldas Siskevicius and loaned in Philipp Lindau.

For the first time in history we are actually forced to race in the mountains. While the majority of the team prefers other terrains we have brought in Pawel Poljanski to form an aggressive trio with previously loaned out Michel Koch and Andris Vosekalns. Their task is to show our jersey in the morning breaks, go for KoMs and hunt stages in the Grand Tours.

There's one thing that Michael Van Stayen certainly is not: Average. Coming straight outta trainingscamp Van Stayen is a nightmare to the rest of the peleton. Other riders try to copy him but for now he stays the one and only mutant uniting the best of sprinters and puncheurs. Last season he suffered from bad leadouts from Greg Van Avermaet but since Greg will not lead him out - well, not often - this season we're sure that he will improve his production from last season. His main leadout sprinters will be Janis Dakteris and wonderkid Mark Dzamastagic who is himself a very unique rider capable of sprinting and beating the sprinters with a late attack. Dzamastagic will lead a couple of races himself on Pro Tour level but also on HC level where he wants to repeat his Down Under Classic victory from last season. Talented Maris Bogdanovics might jump in as backup leadout at times.

A team is not complete without some guys to do the dirty work if you dont want to end up in the dirt. These guys normally get the glory they deserve but they are important team member nevertheless. We have loaned in Gabriel Chavanne, who is one of the best prologue specialists in the world, but many fail to recognize his potential due to not being that well on longer time trials. He will also pull in turn after turn at the front of the peleton in flat races for Van Stayen. Nur Amirul Marzuki is one of the most versatile riders around. He can ride on every terrain which makes him an important domestique for Greg, Toms and Michael.

Gatis Smukulis, Gianni Meersman and returning Yannick Stoltz are riders that can lead the pack over hundreds of kilometres at a high pace. They are the ones to make other teams suffer and it only needs some wind from the right direction and they can destroy a race for many team leaders and superstars. All 3 of them are versatile as well. Meersman is proven when it comes to passing cobbles while Smukulis is a good rider on hilly terrain or when a small group sprints for the win. And Yannick Stoltz is one of the most determined fighters to have hit the road and he will deal with a race calendar which might be the heaviest race calendar of all professional cyclists.

When we scouted Krists Neilands we were fascinated. He seems to be the most talented Latvian cobbler in history. Signing someone like him was an opportunity we could not miss so we had to take the bull by the horns and secure his signature.

This season he is loaned to our friends from Valio - DeLaval as we think that this moove will help him for his future development the most.

And that's our team for the upcoming season. Previous to transfers we expected to battle against relegation but our sponsor set the Goal of finishing inside the Top Ten in the Team Ranking. Lacking a strong climber will likely hurt us a lot in the rankings but we have strong leaders for all monuments. What do you think is realistic for our team?

We're hours away from the start of the season which seems like the perfect time for an announcement for some of the biggest races of the season: The Grand Tours. We present our team's lineups for each of the 3 3-week stage races:

The Giro will mark our Grand Tour debut and to show the world of cycling that we are worthy of a spot in the sport's highest division we want to chase as many stage wins as possible. It's a dream to start our first season with the maglia rosa and the first two stages offer any opportunity for Michael Van Stayen to claim it. He's assisted from his usual leadout of Mark Dzamastagic and Janis Dakteris as well as Maris Bogdanovics in case of any crashes. Bagdonas and Stoltz should be valuable domestiques on the flat while Smirnovs and Lindau are his support on the hills.

Goals:
*** Stages, Stages, Stages
** Points Classification
* Wear Maglia Rosa on a stage

The second GT of the year and it's time for Skujins to shine. 6 hilly stages let us think that a stage win or two might be possible here for him. The squad is filled with riders who are well suited for breaks with our three climbers and our two promosing Baltic puncheurs Siskevicius and Smirnovs here as well. Stoltz is another rider who can deliver from breaks or late attacks but he is the guy to target flat days for his attacks. A wild Maris also made the team selection.

Goals:
*** 2 stage wins
** wear the KoM jersey
* Top 30 GC

For many teams Le Tour de France is THE highlight of the season. For us it is just one race of many. We are mainly here to give our youngsters a chance for valuable experiences. Our main goal is to get a lot of TV time and our chosen way is to agressively target as many breaks as possible.

Our three best climbers are here as well as talented youngsters Marzuki and Bekmanis with loaned in cobblers Olli Kulppi and Arnaud Grand present as well.
Gabriel Chavanne completes the team and he's a very interesting guy to watch having an ouside shot at the opening prologue.

Goals:
*** wear KoM jersey
** join 10x BotD
* win a stage
Special Sponsor Goal: Win GC