After what looked to be the end of transfer season a few days ago turned upside down when Marcos Altur loan deal was deemed invalid by the MGUCI.
As a result we had to do some last minute scrambling to fit a 20 man roster under the 2.5 million wage cap with Altur rejoining the squad for the upcoming season. The best option was to try and sell (give away) one of our veterans
but nobody else seemed interested in them. So we went ahead with plan B, fire 27 year old Russian Abilphez Ajewole. He just didn't seem like a good fit anymore after Maksimov left for the season, and honestly I don't think he was very comfortable riding for us next season either. With the move CSC-Orbea has now official completed the transfer season and will now wait to see our 2013 schedule (which will hopefully included a certain GT wildcard).

Today it was announced that Team CSC-Orbea has received
a wildcard to participate in the 2013 Tour de France, what a honor!
It's been 5 years since the CSC logo made its last appearance on the big stage.



John Gadret Winning Stage 15 of Tour de France 2007

Above was the last time CSC was able to raise their arms held high in front of thousands of screaming French fans. No one could not even imagine
it would take half a decade for the team to be given another chance at it.
Gadret also went on to even secure a top 10 for his efforts
a feat that we will also try to match in our return.

But more importantly we want to represent the PCT division well,
show off the CSC logo often, and steal a few stage wins in the process.

Jan.10

Clasico San Cristobal

Media:Results

A solid start to season, well compared to last season, as Sergio Barrio shows off why we sent a million euros to UBS-BMC. Having such low secondary stats Barrio is able to participate in the C2 races, where he matches up quite well with the competition. Showing off in the first race of the season with a 6th. And probably could have done better if Iberia hadn't blocked in one of his attacks.

Jan.13-18

Tour Down Under (S6)

Media:Results

Australia was quite nice, the weather and of course the racing.
Rui Costa starts off his campaign with 2 podiums and finishes 4th overall with the help of Sergio Barrio. And considering the fact we didn't know what to expect coming into this race, we found out that Costa and Barrio could
turn into a great duo moving forward. So it should be fun to see
them together again for Volta ao Algarve in early March.

Jan.25

GP Kathmandu

Media:Results

The second of three C2 races this month was less than great but after seemlessly overlooking the length of the race when planning the result actually isn't that bad. Barrio held his own all through the finish where we had an oxygen tank waiting upon his arrival. And so he continues our early season streak of finish in the top 10 of every race so far with a 8th place.

Jan.31

Trofeo Luis Puig

Media:Results

Nothing much to say at all about this race. Usually Barrio leads us in the
C2 races but with the climb coming at the start of the race we sent our
only sprinter Eloy Teruel where he managed to finish 11th,
breaking our streak of always finishing inside the top 10.

Feb.3-9

Tour of South Africa (S7)

Media:Results

South Africa wasn't fun at all from start to finish, and to make matters worse it was our first HC race of the season. 7 race days and just 5 points come from it truly show how bad this race was. Sergio Barrio couldn't hold his own against the better continental punchuers and struggled to just keep up as shown in the picture above. With the result, as expected, dropped us a few places in the early team standings. All that being said, there was one bright spot that was nice see; Koldo Gil took up the reigns after Barrio's meltdown
and almost brought home our first victory on stage 5
but was just pulled back with a kilometer to go.

Feb.22-25

Giro del Trentino (S4)

Media:Results

Back to back HC races should have gotten the team motivated, but even if that didn't the first few mountain stage should have as Trentino saw Abal and Anton hit the road for the first time this season. And after the 4 days of racing the outcome failed our expectations. Not only was this race our first goal race of the season, it was a Win goal. While A&A tried everything in their arsenal nothing worked, time gaps couldn't be created. But even worse staying in the lead group at times was even more difficult. In the end, Abal finished 9th overall while Anton took 26th. Better results are needed moving forward from both of them, otherwise is could be another disastrous season.

208 Points
23 Race Days
9.04 Points Per Race Day
1,583 Estimated Points At End Of Season
-357 Projected Points From January

Mar.1

Strade Bianche

Media:Results

The bad racing of February carries over into the first day of March. A year ago we were celebrating our first tour win by Rui Costa in CSC's comeback to racing. This season we have yet to even record a stage win. Looking to find some of that winning magic of last season, we head back to Strade Bianche
and the white roads to defend Costa's win from a season ago.
However, being rated "flat" this year gave us no chance,
and the roads even took down Criado to make matter worse.

Mar.1-5

Volta ao Algarve (S5)

Media:Results

How great it is to travel across the border into familiar territory of Portugal.
And the good vibes got us out of our early season slump as Costa took the reins and backed up his 4th in the Tour Down Under with a 2nd here. He held his own in the 2 hilly stages and then showed off his time trialing ability to jump from 7th to the podium on the final stage. But he didn't do it without a little help; Zabriske, Cornu, and Boom all had some problems, but hey that's racing.

Mar.8

Kenya Mountain Classic

Media:Results

After a rather disappointing result in Trentino, Abal and Anton retuned the gears and put together a much better performance. Working together they showed how dangerous the CSC climbing duo could be. Anton took a backseat to his leadership and again powered Abal up the climb. Abal then did the rest and followed Taaramae to the top to claim 2nd. This is what we predicted to happen when we signed Abal and hopefully every mountain stage will be this good.

Mar.14-18

Tour of Sochi (S5)

Media:Results

Consistence is the best way to describe the racing by Costa in Russia.
A 6th on the only hilly stage followed by a 7th in a long hilly ITT secures
7th overall and brings home some nice points to avoid the dreaded
talks about possible regulation. Also a pleasant surprise by Omar Fraile
who puts in his first great ride of season getting 13th overall
giving the team some well needed depth in terms of point scoring.

Mar.21

Scandinavia Open Road Race

Media:Results

(Photo Not Available)

No picture pretty much sums up our time in Sweden, not a single photography could be found with a CSC logo. But it isn't really the team's fault as the
circuit climb turned out to be harder then expected when planning
so Barrio finishing 40th is actually not that bad but it is still
2 wasted race days and a step backwards in the standings.

Mar.22-24

Kwita Izina (S3)

Media:Results

One of the few C2 stage races we will attend this season was suppose to be for a stage 3 victory for Barrio, however the stage just didn't pan out the way we were expecting. Instead, we found some more production in depth with future star cobbler Marcos Altur jumping in the mountain breakaway on stage 1 to achieve 13th overall (even beating out Barrio in GC), 4th in youth, and 5th in KoM. The rookie is starting to get a feel at what professional cycling is like.

Mar.28-30

Corsica International (S3)

Media:Results

For the first time this season Abal took to the mountains without the help of Spaniard Igor Anton. The team stayed out of trouble of the "flat" opening
sprint stage, leaving Abal to put himself in perfect position in the ITT for the
mountain stage to follow. 8th and just 13 seconds back going into the final stage caused an early attack up the final climb. The end result was getting
caught halfway up the climb and riding home in the chase group
who couldn't reel back in last seasons bitter rival Alarcon.

Mar.31

Gran Premio Miguel Indurain

Media:Results

Barrio is back racing with the C2 punchuers but this time had the support of the home crowd in Spain. This time we employed a different tactic however
and allowed Barrio to go on a long range attack and surprisingly the peloton let him go. It looked at times we could actually pull it off, but in the end the other favourites attacked across to him. This left Barrio without energy to
compete at the end of stage leaving him to struggle to the line for 6th.

It's only April but our potential jersey for next season has hit the public. Designer ANFreeman was so proud of his creation he put the jersey on display in his shop, and even tweeted out a pre-release photo a day in advance.

Never normally post unfinished work without requesters consent but... opinions? https://t.co/8RnNBG66tZ Super pleased so far.

— ANFreeman (@ANF_MG) April 19, 2013

We didn't attend to have the jersey in public this early,
but when it looks as stunning as it does we aren't going to complain.
The design is a nice mix between the 2012 and 2013 jerseys.

With the jersey being released so early many are already penciling in the same sponsors for next season. While that could be the case we have talked with them and have come up with an agreement. CSC-Orbea have promised to stay with the program 1 more year if we stay in the PCT. However if we promote this season or next year CSC will take head sponsor and Orbea will be dropped. But if we regulate in these two years then Orbea will take over
and CSC will look else where to throw their money around.

A few of the new jerseys are being shipped out to Vancouver for David Abal and our up and coming talents to sign and give away to the Canadian fans.

Apr.5-11

Tour of Vancouver (S7)

Media:Results

2 time trials + 2 mountain stage = a perfect race for Abal (in theory).
However tack on a HC tag and the best of the best show up in Canada.
Abal is at the tale end of the elite climber group so he is able to tally a top 10 in all of the crucial stages leaving him with a top 5 in GC after the 7 stages.

Apr.18

Giro dell'Appellenio

Media:Results

A very quiet day in Italy for Costa and Barrio. So coming out with a 15th place finish isn't that bad. The only thing worth noting is those bright red wheels,
not our normal wheels but we bring them out in random races and
I really like the flash they bring to the peloton.

Apr.24-29

Tour of Japan (S6)

Media:Results

A strong opening prologue goes wasted as Costa falters on the dreaded Mt. Fuji time trial. However, Koldo Gil picked up the pieces to take a surprising top 10 after consistent riding and a good showing on the MTT. Other highlights from the tour included Fraile's holding the youth jersey after the 1st stage. Along with Kaisen strong opening prologue and Altur jumping into another breakaway to gain valuable experience for the future.