Big fan of that training and the whole team, great signings even if sad to see Burghardt go. Best of luck this season, Vanspreybrouck should be a good replacement for the big man and will be hoping you do well. Love the HQ as always too
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." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
[img-r]https://i.imgur.com/fwt47SZ.png[/img-r][img-r]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-r]Ben O'Connor(on loan to Garmin - BikeNZ / CT) on the team since 2017
22 years old | XP: 1.00 (Pot 5) | OVL: 66,37
Wage: 50,000€
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
67
68
65
64
63
67
68
53
58
67
67
69
63
Maxed - Mix Climb v1/Stage Race
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
70
77
71
70
69
71
75
53
58
69
70
70
69
The recently signed talent immediately joined Garmin - BikeNZ Cycling to gain his first pro-experience on CT level. O'Connor is one of our future climbers, who seems to have the potential to be either an useful domestique for our premium stage racer Lachlan Morton or to have an even bigger role in a CT or PCT team. The young Aussie is yet another talent we were looking at for a while now, so you better expect him to fullfil his long-term contract with Jayco - Cobra9.
Looking at his strengths, it's clear we want to get him to a notable climber. Competing on short climbs or timetrials is always a Jayco focus as well, so of course we will try to also bring O'Connor to a decent level on those terrains. For his first steps, we are happy to see him riding for one of our favorite CT squads at Garmin. It's good to see him racing alongside guys like Timothy Roe, who spent last year as a loanee with our team. The experienced stage racer will surely be a good mentor for O'Connor.
[img-r]https://i.imgur.com/CP7J7LZ.png[/img-r][img-r]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-r]Robert Power(on loan to Repsol - Honda / CT) on the team since 2017
22 years old | XP: 1.00 (Pot 3) | OVL: 67,69
Wage: 85,000€
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
66
70
67
61
72
71
72
59
56
61
61
65
60
Maxed - Stage Race
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
67
77
70
66
77
76
79
59
56
62
61
65
65
Just like O'Connor, also Robert Power will spend his first year as a professional racing on CT level: his loan to Repsol - Honda is a promising move to let him gain the well needed experience after his tough step from a promising junior cyclist struggling with injuries (we reported on his story earlier) to finally sign a professional contract aged 22 years. We had some interesting chats with Repsol's management and really appreciate the effort this team put into Power's schedule.
Opposing to O'Connor, Power approaches his decent climbing skills with a different style. He comes with a great looking engine, being able to tackle long and tough climbs with a steady tempo. We probably won't see Power becoming a complete stage racer, but we like his skill setup as a decent climber with some great stamina. Serving as a mountain domestique over week-long stage races or Grand Tours may be Power's future at Jayco - Cobra9.
Edited by tsmoha on 22-09-2017 17:57
[img-r]https://i.imgur.com/JLR67rZ.png[/img-r][img-r]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-r]Dion Smith on the team since 2016
24 years old | XP: 3.39 (Pot 5) | OVL: 70,78
Wage: 75,000€
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
68
73
70
67
70
72
71
59
66
70
70
70
64
Maxed - Mix Climb v1/Stage Race
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
70
78
74
70
73
74
75
59
66
72
73
71
67
Dion Smith is probably our most thrilling talent on the roster. The young Kiwi signed a contract with us last season and spent his first pro-year with In-n-Out p/b Carrefour in the PCT. A tough year for him (as for getting results, only one point scored towards the individual ranking), but an important year as well. The 24 years old climber learned things the hard way and he doesn't look back in frustration or anything like that. Smith built his base to earn a spot on our PT roster for 2017.
Of course the forthcoming campaign will be another season with less results and more lessons. For the management, Smith will be a key rider in the future, as he combines skills on long and short climbs pretty well. We do believe in his abilities and think, that he may become a pretty allrounded stage racer for both PT domestique services or a bigger role in a lower division. After our first "Kiwi project" with George Bennett (joining us with high expactations in 2012) didn't really come to a happy end, it's now Dion Smith, who we believe may become New Zealand's most complete stage racer one day. Still too early to say it will happen, but he surely promises the talent to become the key (domestique) rider, that we see in Smith.
[img-r]https://i.imgur.com/AxzEfDj.png[/img-r][img-r]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-r]Lars Van der Haar on the team since 2017
26 years old | XP: 4.00 (Pot 5) | OVL: 72,21
Wage: 95,000€
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
75
66
71
66
69
71
68
73
72
70
74
78
71
Maxed - Classics
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
77
66
72
66
70
72
69
75
72
70
76
78
71
Not really a young gun anymore, but still a talent for road cycling: Lars Van der Haar switches from Cyclocross to full-time road cycling and we're happy to welcome the Dutchman on our 2017 team. Just like Dion Smith, we do think that Van der Haar can be a premium domestique in the future. It's probably too late to turn him into a world-beater, but VdH comes with a nice allround package and will see a notable amount of racedays in his first season with Jayco - Cobra9.
I'm kinda intrigued with the way you develop riders. I would have done most of them another way
Dion Smith will be a rider similar to Jack Haig in terms of uphill capabilities, but doesn't have anything like his physical attributes. I would have made him 78/75 MO/HI and get that added ACC and FIG stat to make him a bit more aggressive. But it looks as though you really want to have a super strong team behind Lachlan Morton in the future.
Also Lars van der Haar I would have trained as a classic rider, to get that added HI stat, rather than a sprint stat, with no acceleration
Van der Haar indeed. Actually a mistake from my side!
The idea behind Smith is rather to make him an allrounded domestique than to gain stuff like ACC I have a few different approaches still stored, but for Smith, that stats above will probably happen in the end. O'Connor, for example, is not 100% decided. It's just my preferred training right now. Once you find out about the small tricks to optimize training, you can spend hours of playing around but ofc you know that.
Easily one of my favorite teams! Obviously, love the national focus! Southern Hemisphere teams are just so cool
I'm honestly in awe of your dedication to the ManGame. Your team HQ is great, also graphically. And, of course, the reporting, which holds a few precious moments for us!
With a strong leader in every department, I hope to see you finally cracking the top 10 of the PT
Obviously if Smith was at home he'd not be mistreated and turned into a faceless workhorse
But seriously some very nice talents you have there for the Morton dynasty and VDH is just a very cool rider to have even now and will look even cooler when maxed. Good luck this season, as said I really like your squad and HQ and you're looking very strong this year and should only improve
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." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
@Ian: Thanks for the kind words on both my HQ and the favorite team thing. Obviously, you are right about the southern hemisphare stuff Would be cool to make the Top-10. Morton needs to avoid another crash festival like his Vuelta last year though..
@jandal: Thanks for the nice words, too. Smith may become such a well allrounded stage racer, that he will seek to have a bigger role someday. Racing for a home team would be great chance then, but obviously an expensive move for that particular team
@viking: Again, thanks! VdH was always going to be my "steal" here's hoping he will get used to riding for Jayco and not search for a new home in 2018..
Morton trained so hard that we promised him a better mountain support in a few years. It's about time for Jayco to finally line up a climber core that is not below CT depth
TARGETS#1 | POST-TRANSFERS THOUGHTS ON MCCARTHY & MEYER
Jay McCarthy riding for Ayubowan! since 2017
25 years old | XP: 4.100 | OVL: 77,72
Wage: 620,000€
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
70
67
81
58
80
75
70
69
64
74
71
71
58
Jay McCarthy had been a big target for Jayco - Cobra9 in the recent transfers season, but the management had to step out of the bidding war at 520k wage. After being in talks with a cobbled specialist, who would replace Marcus Burghardt, the team decided to go for Vanspeybrouck instead of McCarthy, who wouldn't have been our leader in hilly races anyway.
Though feeling confident about this decision being the right one, it's still sad to see the Australian again racing for another team than ours. McCarthy, who had his biggest season in 2015 (winning the Scandinavian Open Road Race, Milano - Torino and Japan Cup), has always attracted our interest. For obvious reasons: being one of Australia's best cyclists, McCarthy does not only come with great skills on short climbs and a great stamina to survive even the toughest classics. He's also still a pretty young rider, who may have a bright future for hilly classics in particular. Though lacking the Jayco-ish timetrial skills, we would have loved to see him and Jack Bobridge on the same team. Of course it's too early to talk about future seasons, but it's pretty clear that McCarthy will always be of interest for Jayco - Cobra9.
Travis Meyer riding for Compal - Merida since 2017
28 years old | XP: 4.100 | OVL: 76,00
Wage: 300,000€
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
74
69
78
69
74
71
67
53
72
77
77
62
69
Opposing to McCarthy, Travis Meyer wouldn't have been a first-choice target in the recently finished transfers season. But just like McCarthy, the talented puncheur has always been on our list of possible targets. Since stepping up to the ProTour, we did not think that Meyer's skillset is a perfect fit for the highest level, but of course he would have been a premium support for Jack Bobridge this year. At 265k wage, the management decided that he would have been too expensive for a role like that though.
Joining Compal - Merida for 300k is maybe the better deal for Meyer anyway. Being on a team with a few other Australians, the 28 years old puncheur will certainly have more chances to repeat his so far "only" two stage-wins in his career: a stage at the Giro d'Italia 2014 as his biggest moment. We will follow his progress in the PCT this year. Maybe he will still be of interest for Jayco, when the 2018 off-season heads up.
sutty68 wrote:
Two really good climbers you have signed there
Not sure if you are referring to Smith & O'Connor.. But in case you are talking about my latest post, I did not sign McCarthy & Meyer I'm just writing about missed targets here.
sutty68 wrote:
Two really good climbers you have signed there
Not sure if you are referring to Smith & O'Connor.. But in case you are talking about my latest post, I did not sign McCarthy & Meyer I'm just writing about missed targets here.
TARGETS#2 | POST-TRANSFERS THOUGHTS ON DENNIS & SCHULTZ
Rohan Dennis riding for cycleYorkshire since 2015
27 years old | XP: 4.100 | OVL: 75,61
Wage: 140,000€
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
72
74
75
78
73
75
67
53
65
68
69
56
81
Opposing to Jay McCarthy or Travis Meyer, we now will talk about two riders, who already had a team prior to the off-season. Rohan Dennis as the first here. The gifted TT specialist already spent a year with our team as a loanee, riding a solid season with the KoM honours at Paris - Nice as his clear highlight. Now reaching his full potential, Dennis was always going to be a possible target for Jayco - Cobra9. Combining similar skills like Jack Bobridge, though less strong on hills while stronger against the clock (especially in prologues), Dennis' skillset looks handmade for our roster.
While we (of course) left a message about our interest in his team manager's mail box, we were mainly focussing on signing free agents this year. With quite a huge amount of money spent for training facilities to ensure Bobridge and Lachlan Morton to improve their skills, acquiring Dennis for cash was never our top target for the 2017 transfers campaign. It must be said though, that we loved to have him as a loanee last season and will always consider our chances to get him back on our roster. The management will follow his results in the CT closely. Racing a full season as a team's captain probably will make Rohan Dennis even better prepared for higher levels.
Nicholas Schultz riding for Garmin - BikeNZ Cycling since 2016
23 years old | XP: 2.52 (Pot 6) | OVL: 67,95
Wage: 85,000€
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
67
69
69
63
71
76
69
53
58
65
62
62
63
While we actually considered to leave an offer for Rohan Dennis, this certainly wasn't the case with this young and talented Australian: Nicholas Schultz. The up and coming climber/puncheur signed for Garmin last year, when he went for Dion Smith as our talent-to-be-signed. It's no secret however, that Schultz is someone to watch out for and as the premium Australian cycling team, Jayco - Cobra9 obviously will follow his developement closely.
Spending another year on CT level, Schultz will probably still have a few years before he reaches his prime. His future looks promising though: already winning a stage at the Tour of Southland last season, Schultz promises a nice skillset with climbing both long and short climbs. For his age, he already does pretty well on tough stages and we are really keen to see where his potential will end in those kind of races. With Garmin - BikeNZ, he's certainly on a team, that offers a good environment for his developement this year. If he continues to impress our scouts with his talent, Schultz will obviously remain a target for Jayco in years to come.
[img-r]https://i.imgur.com/coJ6yFi.png[/img-r][img-r]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-r]Jack Bobridge on the team since 2012
28 years old | XP: 4.100 | OVL: 79,97
Wage: 560,000€
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
73
69
83
77
74
74
69
53
69
80
66
66
77
*received training on hills
Well, there's still no question who's the face of this team: Jack Bobridge, signed as a free agent back in 2012 and being our all-time leader in points (in total) and points per season. Spending one year as a loanee for the now disbanded Red Bull team, Bobridge has been an outstanding rider for Jayco in all of his four seasons with the team, leading the individual scores three times (just beaten once, in his PT debut for Jayco, by Marcus Burghardt). We could say a lot more about our star rider, but you better may check his featured rider's profile in the 2016 HQ.
2012 Oz Cycling Project
1st
Nedbank Classic
4th GC
Herald Sun Tour
6th GC
Tour of Czech Republic
6th
Isle of Man ITT
16th GC
Tour de Beauce
18th GC
Tour of Japan
21st GC
Tour Down Under
U25
Herald Sun Tour
Tour of Czech Republic
Tour de Beauce
Tour of Japan
CDiv - 69th - 347pts
2013 - loaned out to Red Bull
13th GC
Tour of Tasmania
13th GC
Tour of Norway
14th
Classique du Grand-Duche
17th GC
Tirreno-Adriatico
24th GC
Vuelta al PaÃs Vasco
ProTour - 89th - 359pts
2014 Oz Cycling Project
1st GC
Tour of Czech Republic
1st
Manx International
2nd GC
Tour of Britain
2nd
Japan Cup
3rd GC
Tour of Beijing
3rd
Scandinavia Open
4th GC
Tour of South Africa
5th
Giro dell'Emilia
7th
Nelspruit Classic
10th
Isle of Man ITT
11th
Gisborne GP
12th GC
Tour of Norway (PT)
15th GC
Tour of California (PT)
Stage(s)
Tour of California
U25
Tour of Britain
Tour of Czech Republic
Points
Tour of Czech Republic
Tour of Bejing
PCT - 4th - 1232pts
2015 Oz Cycling Project
3rd GC
Tour of Tasmania
6th GC
Paris - Nice
7th
Liege - Bastogne - Liege
13th
Fleche Wallone
13th GC
Vuelta al Pais Vasco
14th
Amstel Gold Race
19th GC
Tour of California
21st
Milan San Remo
ProTour - 37th - 691pts
2016 Jayco'z Cycling Project
2nd GC
Tour of Tasmania
4th GC
Vuelta a Pais Vasco
7th
Fleche Wallone
8th GC
Tirreno-Adriatico
8th GC
Tour of California
8th
Amstel Gold Race
17th
Badaling International
17th
Giro di Lombardia
18th GC
Praha - Karlovy
Stage(s)
Tirreno-Adriatico
Tour of Tasmania
ProTour - 21st - 1074pts
The list of notable results is quite long, but it's yet lacking a GC or classics win in the ProTour. His strongest outings came from our home race in Tasmania, which he podium'd twice now, adding a superb stage-win last year. Definitely his most favorite race on the calendar. With another stage-win in Italy and our first rider to score 1000+ points on PT level, Bobridge has been quite productive in 2016 and it ain't surprising, that he will aim for even more points in the forthcoming 2017 campaign.
SEASON PLAN FOR 2017
Bobridge almost made the Top-20 in the Individual Ranking last year and now he comes back stronger to attack the best riders in the rankings. With his nice skillset as a fast accelerating puncheur, who can timetrial as well, there's been a few non-brainers amongst the races to pick for his schedule in 2017:
Race
Aiming for..
Badaling International
PT
Top-15
Colombo Classic
PTHC
Top-5
Paris-Nice
PT
GC's Top-3
Vuelta al Pais Vasco
PTHC
Win
Goal: Win
Amstel Gold Race
PT
Top-10
Fleche Wallone
PT
Top-10
Liege- Bastogne - Liege
PTM
Top-3
Goal: Top-3
Praha - Karlovy Vary - Praha
PT
GC's Top-20
Tour of Ukraine
PTHC
GC's Top-3
Copenhagen-Malmo TTT
PT
Top-5
Tour of Tasmania
PT
Win
Goal: Win
Giro di Lombardia
PTM
Top-15
Two of our win-goals will be Bobridge's key races: the already mentioned Tour of Tasmania (where he finished 2nd last year and 3rd in 2015) and the Vuelta a Pais Vasco (4th in 2016). Both feature hilly key stages and a fair amount of (T)TT kilometres. After his strong results in Tasmania so far, it simply must our goal to finally step onto the very top of the podium in front of our home crowd. And with a 30km TTT plus an ITT, the Pais Vasco is definitely a perfect fit for Bobridge as well.
The same counts for this year's Paris - Nice: hilly key stages and another ITT, in which Bobridge can take advantage of his skills against the clock. Those three races are easily his key events on the schedule. In addition to those, he will also get to ride as our leader in another PTHC stage race: the Tour of Ukraine. No timetrial, but a hilly route and some good memories for Jayco in the past (like last year's stage-win from Wouter Wippert and a strong GC showing from Jack Haig).
Of course Bobridge will also lead us in the six hilly classics. At least in four of those six we expect him to score a notable result, while his appearance at the TT-heavy Praha - Karlovy Vara - Praha is more like a gamble. Of course he can timetrial, but in addition to a solid GC result we hope for maybe a gutsy move on a tricky flat parcours. His support in the Copenhagen - Malmo TTT may be crucial as well. Another good result in this unique team event would be great, obviously.
[img-r]https://i.imgur.com/I63ugSQ.png[/img-r][img-r]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-r]Lachlan Morton on the team since 2015
25 years old | XP: 4.100 | OVL: 79,48
Wage: 475,000€
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
70
83
76
73
79
78
78
54
57
66
68
68
73
*received training on mountain
Lachlan Morton obviously had been a transfer-target for our team since he entered the pro-level and despite some lack of luck in his first two seasons with Jayco, we're still proud to have Australia's best stage racer on our roster. Already featured in a detailed rider's profile a few months ago, it's now time to look at both his achievements in the past two seasons (see the first table below) and his schedule for the upcoming 2017 campaign.
2015 Oz Cycling Project
1st GC
Tour de l'Avenir
15th GC
Tour de France
2nd
U23 WC RR
16th GC
Tour de Suisse
17th GC
Tirreno-Adriatico
17th GC
Vuelta a Colombia
27th GC
Tour of California
27th
GP Liechtenstein
ProTour - 76th - 400pts
2016 Jayco'z Cycling Project
4th
GP Liechtenstein
5th GC
Tour de Suisse
11th GC
Vuelta a Colombia
13th GC
Tour of California
17th GC
Paris - Nice
21st GC
Vuelta a Espana
ProTour - 53rd - 586pts
It's been some ups and downs for Morton since 2015: winning the Tour de l'Avenir has certainly been a highlight in his career, as well as his strong late-season outings last year. His 4th place at the brutal GP Liechtenstein and a 5th place in the final GC of the Tour de Suisse is just what we want to happen on regular base from now on. And what Morton really is missing so far: a notable GT result. Entering last year's Vuelta a Espana with high ambitions, it turned into a desastrous tour with Morton crashing several times to give up on all our GC-hopes.
SEASON PLAN FOR 2017
After spending the off-season with heavy training in the mountains, the goal to at least Top-10 a GT is still here. It's always a hard choice to decide which (and how much) GT(s) the team's premium stage racer gets to ride, but with the Giro d'Italia featuring a rather long TTT, we felt like it would be about time for Morton to enter his third different GT in our colours. That's our biggest race in 2017, as we heavily depend on Morton's scoring output. With Jack Haig probably not amongst the world's best stage racers (yet), we need a fair GT result this year.
Race
Aiming for..
Badaling International
PT
Support Bobridge + Top-25
Tirreno-Adriatico
PT
GC's Top-5
Giro d'Italia
PTM
GC's Top-5
Goal: Top-10
Liege- Bastogne - Liege
PTM
Support Bobridge
Goal: Top-3
Tour de Suisse
PT
GC's Top-3
Giro di Lombardia
PTM
Support Bobridge + Top-20
In addition to his key race in Italy, Morton will also be featured in two more stage races: Tirreno-Adriatico (where he finished 17th in 2015) and Tour de Suisse (5th last year, 16th in 2015). Both races come with a TTT and crucial mountain stages, while the Tour de Suisse with a 32km long TTT may suit our team even better than T-A. His strongest GC outing(s) for Jayco came from his two TdS entries, so it's without any doubts one of his personal favorites amongst the PT stage races. And because he's an ambitious rider, Morton aims for a Top-3 in Switzerland.
While the management considered to subscripe Morton for maybe another small stage race (like Tasmania), we eventually went to line-up our premium climber in three additional one-day classics: his stamina and climbing skills will help Jack Bobridge in tough races like Badaling and the Giro di Lombardia. Two races, in which Bobridge didn't exactly shine so far. Morton will also be featured in our L-B-L lineup, yet again most likely in a supporting role. We do hope though, that his ability to ride long and tough races will come into play for maybe a couple of notable results by himself.
[img-r]https://i.imgur.com/gaopupG.png[/img-r][img-r]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-r]Pieter Vanspeybrouck on the team since 2017
30 years old | XP: 4.100 | OVL: 77,93
Wage: 590,000€
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
76
66
71
62
78
71
72
82
67
69
74
79
62
After spending the past five years with Team BPost, Pieter Vanspeybrouck has found a new home, following on Marcus Burghardt as Jayco's leader on the cobbles. The Belgian has an impressive palmares for races outside the ProTour, taking several wins since 2011. His only ProTour win happened in 2015, winning the Omloop Het Volk. That's more wins than Burghardt had in this time, by the way.
Career Wins (no stage-wins included)
2011
Kuurne - Brussels - Kuurne
Nokere - Koerse
E3 Prijs
Scheldeprijs
2012
5 Jours de Dunkerque
Lincoln GP
2013
Bahir Dar
5 Jours de Dunkerque
2015
Omloop Het Volk (ProTour)
Vanspeybrouck had his breakthrough year in 2011, when he rode for Team IKEA - Bianchi and went to take four cobbles classics for the soon to be disbanded team. He then joined BPost and managed to win five more races in the next years, with the Omloop as his biggest win so far. That's certainly enough to believe that we did not lost too much quality with Burghardt's departure and Vanspeybrouck's arrival.
SEASON PLAN FOR 2017
Vanspeybrouck will be a common face in Jayco's season, as he will get to ride a pretty decent amount of one day classics, either as our undisputed leader (in cobbled classics) or in a supporting/free role in hilly classics. The experienced classics specialist will be one of our most important riders in 2017 and of course he will also take a captain's role whenever he is appearing:
There's the obvious choices and goals first: looking at Burghardt's results in the past two years, we can't expect Vanspeybrouck to finish inside the Top-5 in every cobbled race. So we "just" aim for a consistent performance with as many Top-10 results as possible. For the (maybe less attracted) PTHC events, we should aim a bit higher though. With also Lahcen Saber racing our cobbled classics, we believe to have a strong double-headed "cobra" in the less hilly events.
Attending to stage races with Jayco - Cobra9.. well, yes, if you can timetrial! Obviously, that ain't Vanspeybrouck's strength. The Belgian will still get to ride a few stage races: the ToNE as the obvious choice. Always a tricky race to predict, we expect him to be in the mix for a Top-10 in the GC and maybe some gutsy racing in the cobbled stages. That's surely a key race on the schedule, as you can easily score a fair amount of points here.
His appearance in Praha - Karlovy - Praha will be interesting, as he does not like the "chance" to ride a 60km ITT at all. Here's hoping, that he will try to be on the attack in the road stages then. The same goes for a few flat classics like GP Moscow. With no real top sprinter on our roster, the roleurs are probably our biggest chance to score a huge result in a challenging flat race like the Lisbon Classic or even Milan San Remo.
Ben O'Connor 
Dion Smith
Lars Van der Haar 
I have a few different approaches still stored, but for Smith, that stats above will probably happen in the end. O'Connor, for example, is not 100% decided. It's just my preferred training right now. Once you find out about the small tricks to optimize training, you can spend hours of playing around 
