jandal7 wrote:
I agree with Luca, but let's hope the Euskadi boys can prove him wrong and earn that spot
We have one year to prove that, otherwise PCT appears on the horizon or we have to pay the UCI a paycheck we can only afford with chinese/arabian money. ANd that will never ever happen with these protagonists
Euskaltel Team will have their debut soon. The first race for the team will be at the Tour de San Luis, the first World Tour event will be the Tour Down Under. For both of the races we now have our squad revealed!
Tour Down Under
19.-24.1.
Tour de San Luis
18.-24.1.
Juan Jose Lobato
Leader
Igor Anton
Leader
Pello Bilbao
Co-Leader
Victor de la Parte
Domestique
Jon Aberasturi
Domestique
Arkaitz Duran
Domestique
Egoitz Garcia
Domestique
Markel Irizar
Domestique
Ricardo Garcia
Domestique
Fran Perez
Domestique
Jon Irisarri
Domestique
Jaume Sureda
Domestique
Jonathan Lastra
Domestique
19.1. - 24.1.
Santos Tour Down Under
WT stage race
Our squad for the Tour Down Under is very much pointed at the bumpy stages that go up and down. The team should work together for bringing JJ in a good position to hopefully get a first World Tour stage win in our comeback. If Willunga Hill is too hard for Lobato then Bilbao might have a shot there. Young guns Irisarri and Lastra are here to also cover some breakaways.
Leader: Juan Jose Lobato Goal: Top 20, a stage podium
18.1. - 24.1.
Tour de San Luis
Continental 1.1
The squad is fully dedicated to Igor Anton, as we have the trust in him to reach the strength he once had in this jersey. He will surely be motivated, especially in front of spanish speaking fans. Beneath a couple of mountain domestiques and his main lieutenant de la Parte we also have the veteran Irizar here to guide the team in the opening TTT.
Guys, today we managed to see our beauties in the first line this season. Great to see the orange train rolling again!
Anton, de la Parte, Duran, Irizar, Perez, Sureda - Mr. Ricardo Astorga, live in San Luis for ciclismonatural.com, was the amazing guy to send us this picture directly after our request, cheers for that!
The boys managed to get a respctable mid-range placement, losing slightly over one minute to Movistar, who won the TTT as the first race of the season and with it brought Nairo in the prime position for the GC. Igor Anton is our hope for the upcoming days. The team of young talents and veterans will try to protect him.
We are hyped to see the boys there! The same seems for the specators in Argentina, spottet some old orange jerseys there. Also Australia gave the boys a warm welcome, that will be lead by JJ Lobato.
Really like your story, especially as someone who has lived in the basque country for some time! Great idea.
I'd just give Romain Sicard the basque flag as well, he's from Hazparne/Hasparren, so just as basque as an Etxabe or Txurruka
Leonoel wrote:
Really like your story, especially as someone who has lived in the basque country for some time! Great idea.
I'd just give Romain Sicard the basque flag as well, he's from Hazparne/Hasparren, so just as basque as an Etxabe or Txurruka
Hope you keep going. Gora ta Gora Euskadi!
thanks for your support I guess you're right with Sicard! I always try to make things as realistic as possible...
Opening Tours - San Luis and Down Under January 21th, 2016
19.1. - 24.1.
Santos Tour Down Under
WT stage race
Stage 1 of our World Tour debut saw the first chance for Juan Jose Lobato on relatively easy terrain. Maybe it was a little bit oo easy for him, cause he just wasn't strong enough. A tactical mistake, going on the wheel of a completely empty Alex Kristoff who fell back then, might have been the issue for not competing in the sprint really. Caleb Ewan made it a perfect home race start for the aussies and their fans in front of Gaviria and Nizzolo. Our best rider was Bilbao in 14th.
Up next a bumpy stage waited for us. That meant things look a lot better for Lobato, and also Bilbao really enjoys those sprints. We even did some work in the pack that really reduced. Only our two main men survived until the finish, where it was Bilbao for Lobato.
Bilbao leading out Lobato - Aldgate, Brad Griffin
On the finishing line it just wasn't enough for JJ. His combination of punch and sprint on his form wasn't enough to beat the winner and our fellow countryman Alejandro Valverde. Also Demare could beat us; still our very first WT podium stands there, and with it the very first points back in the World Tour Circuit. This result lead to a 5th place in the GC on current stages.
Lobato sprinting on the finish in Stirling - Brad Griffin
The third stage was the first categorized hilly one. Both of our captains went with the same chances inside the hill with the pack, and we positioned ourselves aggressive at the front. Aberasturi was the man to give away the elbows for the perfect positions, while Bilbao rode the Montacute from the front. Half of the climb this tactic worked well, then many guys started to overtake him, so that JJ jumped off his wheel to try and hold contact to the front. That went pretty okay, but not as great as we hoped for. However, Lobato could help the second group to limit their losses. An impressive group of 7 fought for the victory, before van Avermaet led the group of Lobato in 45 seconds later. It was Warren Barguil winning the day though in front of Alaphilippe and Valverde, further contestants were Kelderman, Kwiatkowski, Costa & Ulissi up in the first group. Bilbao lost 2.24 in the third group, being down to P31. Lobato still hangs on to a Top10 in the GC, but the strong opposition will surely hurt us on Willunga Hill.
18.1. - 24.1.
Tour de San Luis
Continental 1.1
After the medium-strong start we couldn't really score any results yet. Irizar tried something but failed. Stage 4, the queen's stage, showed that Anton is still a classy rider. He finished up on P15 4 minutes down, which on P16 in the GC still makes a good GC result possible.
Opening Tours - San Luis and Down Under January 24th, 2016
19.1. - 24.1.
Santos Tour Down Under
WT stage race
The Tour Down Under has just finished two hours ago, now we can update you on our runs in the second half of the race in Australia. Remember that we had JJ Lobato in the Top10 of the GC after 3 stages.
Stage 4: We had our first breakaway appearance, and the young gun Jonathan Lastra tried it for us. At least he came 3rd over the mountain sprint out of the group of 6, right before he has been caught. At the end of the stage though JJ has been too tired to sprint properly and finished outside the Top 20. Demare won his second stage in front of the italian sprinters Modolo and Nizzolo.
Lastra struggeling on the KOM sprint in Macclesfield, Brad Griffin
Stage 5: This time we had Egoitz Garcia in the break. He felt pretty good, but the likes of Gianni Moscon and other guys were too strong for him, so that he couldn't hold the wheels climbing. Same went for our whole team in the peloton. Captain Lobato felt horrible and lost contact early on the first climb, while joker Bilbao, already 2 minutes in behind, was empty going over the top and losing it before the downhill. Heavy crosswind didn't make it easier, and at the end Egoitz Garcia was our best rider of the day finishing aroud P50. Bilbao in the same group lost fourandahalf minutes, Lobato far behind over seven. A disaster. At the front Pinot couldn't be beaten and made it 3 for FDJ. Shortly in behind Valverde & Mollema.
Egoitz Garcia climbing Willunga Hill the first time, Brad Griffin
Stage 6:Alejandro Valverde in orange having no troubles defending things. The breakaway did great though to steal the stage from the sprinters. Irisarri did a late jump into the group together with Kusnetzov, sadly those two at the end were too exhausted to contend and fell back into the pack. Sean de Bie won the final stage, while Lobato had a good day in the final. He finished third of the bunch, sadly that only meant P12 in the aftermaths.
1
Alejandro Valverde
Movistar Team
17h25'53
2
Julian Alaphilippe
Etixx - Quick Step
+ 33
3
Wilco Kelderman
Team LottoNL - Jumbo
+ 39
4
Warren Barguil
Team Giant - Alpecin
+ 40
5
Thibaut Pinot
FDJ
+ 49
6
Bauke Mollema
Trek - Segafredo
+ 1'03
7
Rui Costa
Lampre - Merida
+ 1'12
8
Michal Kwiatkowski
Team Sky
+ 2'11
9
Fabio Felline
Trek - Segafredo
+ 2'24
10
Greg Van Avermaet
BMC Racing Team
+ 2'42
38
Pello Bilbao
Euskaltel Team
+ 7'00
Final thoughts: We managed to get the good stage result we wanted to get which is great. Sadly we couldn't achieve a win, stage 2 looked promising but Lobato left it too late there. Three break participations are a nice showing too, contrarily we can't be happy with the overall classification and the lack of competitiveness in the mountains Classification.
Opening Tours - San Luis and Down Under January 25th, 2016
18.1. - 24.1.
Tour de San Luis
Continental 1.1
After a slow start the Tour de San Luis ended with the opposit of that in the next days! A very good attempt by Irizar failed on stage 5 as he got caught really close to the finishing line, but then Igor Anton pulled out a brave attack on Stage 6 to win the stage and the GC! He could hold onto it, so we finished with a fantastic result on here!
Igor climbing on the highest step of the podium after his victory at the Mirador del Sol.
1
Igor Antón
Euskaltel Team
20h04'47
2
Steven Kruijswijk
Team LottoNL - Jumbo
+ 50
3
Nairo Quintana
Movistar Team
+ 56
4
Mikel Landa
Team Sky
+ 1'11
5
Esteban Chaves
Orica - BikeExchange
+ 1'15
6
Romain Bardet
AG2R La Mondiale
+ 1'17
7
Richie Porte
BMC Racing Team
+ 2'18
8
Michael Albasini
Orica - BikeExchange
+ 2'43
9
Leopold König
Team Sky
+ 3'02
10
Simon Yates
Orica - BikeExchange
+ 3'10
19
VÃctor De La Parte
Euskaltel Team
+ 5'37
This interview is taken from Clarin, the local newspaper in the region San Luis
Reporter: First of all congratulations to you Igor. It must have been a fantastic race for you. How does this victory feel?
Igor: It has been a pleasure, thank you. After hard work I wanted to show everybody how strong I am again. Now you know, that I still have it inside of my legs. And man, heading into San Luis celebrating that yellow jersey, that was some happy feels for me.
Antón guided into San Luis by de la Parte and Irizar on stage 7.
Reporter: It was an impressive style, in which you took the victory. Will we see this stuff from you all season?
Igor: Aggressive racing? Man I'm at Euskaltel! Yes of course. If you feel the power than don't wast e your time. That is how it has always been here.
Antón moving up and taking in the breakaway riders one by one.
Reporter: Your race didn't even start that good. The team had problems to keep you protect and after that first mountain stage it looked like an anonymous race of yours.
Igor: We didn't start too well. With Jaume and Fran we had some really young guys here with their first professional racing. You have to give them time to adapt the level. Then it's early in the season and also Arkaitz isn't made for these flat ones. Irizar though was consistantly on my side and de la Parte was the lieutenant I needed in the mountains.
And yes, the first climbing stage didn't went too good. But then Markel turned the momentum for us with that effort, when he was the strongest of the break and just got caught on the line by Jans from the break. That was a heartbreak situation, from which we wanted to return stronger. Now we had to win something here.
Reporter: And you did. Please tell us more about your ride up the Mirador del Sol.
Igor: It was on the climb, a little over 7 kilometers to go on the queens stage. On the constantly steep gradiant the pace wasn't too high, and it looked as if the breakaway would win it with 3 minutes of an advantage. I had a quick chat with Victor about what to do, and then we decided that I should go for it. Feeling good I quickly got away, and being 2'30 down nobody wanted to react. My advantage grew to over 4 minutes, cause nobody wwanted to pick it up and maybe they thought that I'd crack anyway.
I still was 2 minutes down on that Sky guy when reaching the final 3 kilometers in the snow, but I've saved myself something for that. First I took the AG2R guy, then de Plus and shortly before the finishing line I could reach the Sky guy.
Anton reaching Knees right before the summit.
At that point I was in horrible pain, but I new that I had more left in the tank. So I pushed even further and just took it. Radios were off at that point, so I wouldn't even have thought of being in the GC lead after that. But when they didn't came after 2 minutes and even then I couldn't see them. At the end it was the most stunning moment in my recent cycling years when Victor came up and fell into my arms, saying: You did it, Igor! Gora Euskadi!
Reporter: Thank you for your time, we hope to see you next season here again. Congratulations!
Spoiler
1. Thanks again to the_hoyle for creating this awesome banner at the top of this post. It should simulate the upper part of the official website of the Euskaltel Team. What a fantastic work once again from him!
2. Talked with Shonak about the Gora Euskadi, cause I feel like it kind of belongs to his story. However he told me that he hasn't got a problem with me using it as it's part of the Basque identification. So it's also a tribute to his fantastic Gora Euskadi stories, when I'll use the sign of the collective basque identity here in this story.
@the_hoyle: don't know why, but good spot...I changed the equipment sponsors initially
what's even more strange is that the TTT bikes in San Luis were Orbea ones as you see in the screenshot up the site, don't know why that has changes tbh - will have to take another look
lately we have spotted our men in orange down on the isle of Mallorca for training issues. Of course that included riding the four one-day races in Mallorca. On the startlist we had
Juan Jose Lobato
Leader
Igor Anton
Leader
Pello Bilbao
Domestique
Victor de la Parte
Domestique
Jon Aberasturi
Domestique
Egoitz Garcia
Domestique
Jonathan Lastra
Domestique
Markel Irizar
Domestique
Trofeo Felantix
JJ Lobato came here with the expectation of a Top 5, superior favourite though was Marcel Kittel. He was unstoppable, and behind him many riders could compete for the other places. Not so our main sprinter, who didn't had his best of days and came in 11th.
On the bright side Jonny Lastra could win the climbers competition of today's stage, which brings us some price money and a special jersey for day 2.
Trofeo Pollenca
Lastra managed to shine again as he presented the special jersey on stage 2 with another breakaway. Even more successful this time you can see, as he made it 2/2 and won the most points prize again. Few bucks for the team can't be a bad issue.
Our captain Anton tried his luck in the final, but shamefully he couldn't really deliver. De La Parte rode him into the decicive climb in first place, but then he was nowhere near strong enough to hold off the likes of Contador, van Garderen or the winner Uran.
Trofeo Deia
A day for the lightweights again, but also a day for Lastra to try something again. Trying to make it 3 consecutive mountain wins he went again. He was on his own for most oif the time, but at the end it just didn't pay off and he came second. Perfectly shown our jersey though, a man's performance by our Neo-Pro.
Captain Antón though with a hangover as he was never up to the competition today and finished 19th.
Trofeo Palma
Last day, one for Lobato again. None for him to shine though. Lastra tried his best, but couldn't hold on to his breakaway companions in the final kilometers. 4/4 breakaways is a perfect presentation of our racing style.
Lobato this time managed to get a lower Top 10, but far off the great Marcel Kittel.
To conclude it we can be proud of our orange man. The attitude Lastra has shown is examplary for our mentality, so gread job done. Results will come if the racing goes on like this.
Great aggressive racing from young Lastra, really nice write-up
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [PT] Xero Racing
