While the other small contries didn' tdo much a sexpected, we were in for another suprise in Croatia. In an odd mixed national championship, Domagoj Breznik joined the breakaway with 2 Israelis. A very smart move, he didn't need to beat those guys, he just needed to follow them and stay away.
Doing most of the work, he managed to stay away from the other Croatians. Because of all his hard work, he of course had little left in the final and lost the sprint. However, the Croatian jersey is his!
After the 2014 Goal fiasco, we decided to play things a bit safer, though we are aiming for a promotion spot on the calendar this year.
- Win [C2HC] Geraardsbergen-Bosberg
- Top 5 CT Team Standing
- Top 10 [C2HC] Great Ocean Road Classic
- Top 10 [C2HC] Zimnyanya GP
- Top 10 [C2HC] GP Herning
We are glad to annouce we reached agreements with all our riders to stay the next season. While not the best team out there, we feel that the group worked together well last year. We had some riders demanding more, others that would do it for less, but all in all we managed to save a decent amount of budget. What remains of our wage budget will be enough to attract one really good name in the Continental Tour.
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo Cycling team is currently looking to cut 1-2 riders in order to increase budget. Most likely to go at the moment are leadout man Nicola Ruffoni and allround domestique Arthur Vanoverberghe, they can go really really cheap. Plenty of others are available as well as shown in the list below. To give you a general idea, don't bother asking me about the ones that are not availalbe, and the ones marked unlikely will need a very good offer.
Unless there's a last minute transfer, we are done with our first full transfer season. While disappointing at first, we did make a few nice additions. Here is our 2015 roster:
Name
Age
Role
Domagoj Breznik
24
Leadout
Josef Cerny
22
Puncheur
Konrad Dabkowski
26
Sprinter
Daniele Dall'Oste
24
Climber
Francis De Greef
30
Stage Racer
Greg De Winde
29
Cobbler
Jens Debusschere
26
Sprinter
Stijn Joseph
28
Cobbler
Kevin Peeters
28
Sprinter
Matteo Pelucchi
26
Sprinter
Diego Rosa
26
Climber
Manuel Senni
23
Stage Racer
Jasper Stuyven
23
Puncheur
Edward Theuns
24
Domestique
Nikita Umerbekov
24
Puncheur
Arthur Vanoverberghe
25
Domestique
Maksym Vasilyev
25
Leadout
Louis Verhelst
25
Cobbler
Michele Viola
23
Leadout
Nicola Ruffoni left the team to Eddie Stobart Pro Cycling Team, best of luck to him there. We welcome free agent Matteo Pelucchi, he's a 26 year old Italian sprinter who takes the hills a bit better then Kevin Peeters. To go with our top sprinters, we also bought the 26 year old Polish leadout Konrad Dabkowski.
We were targeting guys like Trentin and Zardini at the start of the transfer period, but it soon became clear they're PCT material. Settling for less was of course a big letdown, but it gives us a chance to change the focus of the team a bit to a more sprinter orientated team.
While still a young team, we found there was little talent on the market (aside from Borisavljevic, who became to expensive), so we decided to just keep the team together. Our average age went up to 25, and with only 1 Tour de l'Avenir we can't be happy about that either.
Still, in quality the team went up a lot. Pelucchi should add a lot of points for us, and maybe Peeters can get his first win for us next year, with Dabkowski in support. We hope Joseph can perform even better on the cobbled classics. De Greef and Rosa will have to carry the team in the mountains again, but they should have better support from Senni and Dall'Oste this year. Umerbekov also progressed to become our best puncheur, along with Cerny and Stuyven that section should improve as well.
In short, we are a lot better due to the great training of our young talents. We declined promotion last year, because we want to earn it. We want to earn it now, we want to earn it this year. Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo Cycling team will go for promotion to the Pro Continental Tour in 2015!
Hmm, Pelucchi is a great signing sure to do well at this level but that's probably as positive as I can be about your ambitions of PCT promotion though there are some nice talents here there's no real standout scorers as proved last year and I think that will hurt you again though the added depth could see you rise a place or two that's all it will do in my opinion
I love that you have three of my ex riders still on your team.
Pelucchi was a strong signing and on the right terrain he could be fantastic. I think your main hope comes from a decent depth on the hills. This should help you score consistent points, if not huge amounts, and you might get lucky with a mid-stage attack and jag a classic. Stranger things have happened. Certainly the same thing has happened with Stijn Joseph in the PT if I remember correctly.
Actually my main hope is the sprints, last year Peeters was a huge disappointment, not getting a single win. This year with Pelucchi and Dabkowski we should do better. Joseph didn't do that well on the cobbles last year, aside from the big stage win you mention. He didn't do much in the C2 races, which should also improve. Stage races and hills we're still not that good, but we improved. Guys like Cerny, Senni, Umerbekov, Dall'Oste could not finish it from the break last year, but I think they can this year.
Anyway, I have too many lvl 3-4 riders for another year in the CT, if I don't promote this year, it's pretty much over for me
While the UCI does not allow us to announce our full calendar yet, we can already give you a few details. With our goal to go to the Pro Continental Tour next year in mind, we have begon some more globalisation. We will include some African and Asian races in our program, which will be a first for Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo Cyling Team. Equaly important is the wildcard we got for the Dutch Food Valley Classic. It will be our first ever .HC race, and our first meeting with a few PT teams. Of course this will be hard for us, but we aim to show ourselves and learn a lot.
Edited by Ollfardh on 26-05-2015 13:14
The Benelux challenge saw the first cobbles, and it being our home race, we needed a result here. Louis Verhelst joined the breakaway on stage 4.
Unfortunatel Stijn Joseph crashed and had to give up his GC ambitions. A big disappointment for him and the team, but Verhelst was still in the front and even speeding up.
So, this small Continental Team got a wildcard to one of the biggest Flemish classics, Dwars Door Vlaanderen. It has a live broadcast in Belgium, so it would be great if we get some tv time for our sponsors. Unfortunately, we did not make it to the early break. But just as we went live, Stijn Joseph attacked.
He realised that he needs to attack early if he wants to get a good result against the PCT team, as they're just much stronger than us. With the help from Østergaard, who had the same idea, he makes it to the front group and they get a gap. The CT is putting pressure on the PCT!
And then race favourite Summerhill sees the danger and attacks. he reaches the leaders in no time and Joseph is the only one who can follow him. The two work together well, as you can see in this picture.
(not pictured: Joseph taking his turn)
They each take turns on the last cobbled sections. Joseph with a big effort to maintain the gap with the rest, but in the final kilometres he plays it tacticaly and finaly forces Summerhill to lead.
(not pictured: Joseph's massive pull)
And there he goes, Joseph totaly surprised Summerhill and he's going to win Dwars Door Vlaanderen, the biggest career win for himself and for his team. The two riders were equal, but Joseph had the most determination to win this home race.
This amazing win by Stijn Joseph shows why the team invested so much money in him. A great day for our sponsors as well, podium ceremony, interviews by Sporza, it's all there. Now, we look forward to the rankings!
After an all to quiet middle season, in which our chances to promote disappeared, it was time for another win. Manuel Senni joined the early break and made sure a big gap was created, picking up some KoM points while doing so.
Dropping everyone on the final climb, all between him and a great win was a tricky descend. The big names were coming, but he had something left in the tank as well!
And what a win for him! He takes the yellow and of course the white jersey as well. He also holds the green for now, and is second in the mountain rankings. For us, the race can finish now, but unfortunately there's a few more days left and the UCI insist on riding them. But who knows what we have left in the end?
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Domagoj Breznik
Josef Cerny
Daniele Dall'Oste
Francis De Greef
Nikita Umerbekov
Maksym Vasilyev
Konrad Dabkowski
