In a thrilling finale in Geelong, the cycling World fought out their annual World Championship. When it came down to the wire after the last couple of hills, the numerous Isostar riders in the Slovenian squad had guided Marko Kump and his leadout Mark Dzamastagic into the final 25-men selection. What's left is history this Slovenian Cycling Project has put their efforts in for years...
It looks set to be a three-way battle between Van Stayen, Kump and Bewley, as all three of them are currently on De Bie's wheel, who acts as Van Stayen's leadout. Hagen the next rider in line followed by Bernas, Ulissi, Stoltz and Hansen. Boeckmans in the back of the group, leaving the sprint for Van Stayen, but why not sacrifice himself as leadout?
Such a strong leadout from De Bie that Hagen and co have to leave a gap at 1800 meters. Van Stayen, Kump, Bewley, one of these will be the new champion of the world.
De Bie moves aside at 1400, perhaps a bit too early for Van Stayen. He's now in the wind with Kump and Bewley eager to benefit off his slipstream.
Under the flag for the final kilometer and the three are virtually side-by-side. Van Stayen obviously having less speed, so Bewley versus Kump for the rainbow jersey most likely.
500 meters, Kump ever so slightly in the lead but Bewley appears to have more speed. Van Stayen has been passed and has to settle for bronze, as the rest of the group is far behind. Hagen still leading the sprint there, battling with Ulissi and T. Meyer for fourth as De Bie has been passed as well.
Bewley indeed passes Kump at 300 meters and leads by half-a-bike.
100 meters, Kump is coming back! Whoever has the best bike throw will win! And it's...
TOO CLOSE TO CALL! Bewley and Kump look at each other, Bewley had been leading but Kump had the better push, and it's unclear who crosses the line first. If there is a difference it will be measured in centimeters if not millimeters. We have to wait for the replays and the finish photo.
Inconclusive. I'm inclined to say Bewley but we can't get a shot of the exact moment they crossed the line. We have to wait for the actual finish photo. I've received confirmation that we will see it on screen right now!
Marko Kump wins the World Championship by a matter of millimeters over Sam Bewley. What a turnaround from the Slovenian. He only led the final meters of the race, but those meters matter the most. Bewley with a silver medal, adding to his collection of gold in 2016 and bronze in 2014. Surely he must be disappointed to be this close.
We welcome to the podium the 2018 World Champion and the new owner of the rainbow jersey: Marko Kump!
Result
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Marko Kump
Slovenia
6h47'03
2
Sam Bewley
New Zealand
s.t.
3
Michael Van Stayen
Belgium
s.t.
4
Diego Ulissi
Italy
s.t.
5
Mikhail Ignatiev
Russia
s.t.
6
Travis Meyer
Australia
s.t.
7
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Norway
s.t.
8
Tejay Van Garderen
USA
s.t.
9
Lukasz Wisniowski
Poland
s.t.
10
Christopher Juul-Jensen
Denmark
s.t.
11
Mark Dzamastagic
Slovenia
s.t.
In what was one of the closest finishes in recent cycling history, Marko Kump took the gold medal. A proud moment for all Slovenian cycling fans, but also for the whole team. After what was more often than not a tough season for Kump, he turned it all around completely in the final race winning the biggest title of all possible: WORLD CHAMPION!
We are sure that he will wear the the shirt with proud next year. The shirt? Yes, it is confirmed that the names are set for next season. How will Kumps world champions shirt look like? That's a very well kept secret so far. But be more than sure that behind the scenes the process is running for the most eyecatching, the most flashy world champions jersey you've ever seen. Just another way of how Kump will tell the world about our lime mentality. What a day for the project!
Congrats man, you and Marko deserve this so much after working so hard to move up the divisions with the Slovenian focus and doing so well in PT with only Slovenian leaders. Testament to your award-winning management and passion for the project. Just a stunning victory in amazing fashion - beating the best in the world in a straight sprint for the world title. Awesome. Enjoy it - you've earned it.
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
And you're acting like Van Stayen didnt willingly lead Kump out in the sprint finish? You fully know that this is the preferred result of everyone who is involved in the Evonik team. Screw the bewbastard, long live King Kump <3
What a win for Kump! Very well deserved for an amazing project and rider The hard season for Kump is well and truly forgotten now. Eagerly waiting to see him in his WC colours on the new jersey
Isostar Slovenija are officially linked to a global company that will take up a big part of the funds for 2019. Not that the formerly linked Spezialized company will not be the mysterious sponsor. Instead, rumour has it that it's a company even closer to the #meninlime identity of the project.
Sources told local newspapers from the Drava region that it may come with the demand of a certain star on the market. What does that mean for superstar Simon Spilak, World Champion Marko Kump and the best u25puncheur on the planet, Mate Mohoric? Surely those 3 couldnt co-exist with an international star stealing the show!? GMs Kranjec and Mugerli were only willing to confirm that the path of developing young Slovenian and Balcan talents will continue, along the lines of fan favourites Per, Polanc, Novak and more.
Stay tuned for more information in the next 24 hours...
Huge congrats on that WC win as well as your successful entry into the PT. Although it would be cool to see Bewley winning the Worlds again, I am really happy to see Kump winning it all for you. Looking forward to hear the news about your next season as well.
@all: Big thanks for all the nice words about Kump winning the World Championship for Slovenia. It has been stellar for us, and in the same way it's great how positive others, especially the directly beaten, feel about it. That's the sportsmanship we also want to stand for.
@cio93: OH HELL NO
New name - new heights?
Isostar Slovenija: Season Opening Press Conference Ptuj, January 2019
Fellow friends, honorable audience,
thank you very much for joining us today. After our reshuffle last year, we have shown that reshuffling doesn't prevent us from continuing what is running well. And therefore I am very happy to stand here again, together with Robert to present you our team branding for 2019.
But here in the middle we have Šime from Lime Europe. His start-up is going over the moon right now, facing rapid growth. As did the project for us, going up from rock bottom into the Top10 of PT in 3 years. The slogan of the team - #meninlime - is an obvious fit for both sides.
On top, both projects have shown their commitment to facing problems by searching for and finding sustainable solutions. Not only by working with the EGBC, the Isostar Project has strongly bond himself to work on an ecologically acceptable standard. Sharing technology and infrastructure, of course not on course but more in terms of logistics and transportation, will help the project grow.
With this strategical combination, the team will continue to shine in the colours of the traditional Isostar shirts, but with the prominent lime logo added to it. Soon, the project will release the updated outfit for the 2019 team. For this season, the team will be called Isostar - LimeBike. Like this parent company Lime will promote their roots, the bike program, while raising the funds significantly for the project.
As it stands, contradictory to former media claims there are no demands for any certain riders. However, as both sides stand for constant re-evaluation and ways to improve, the team will always try to get younger and better. Lime is especially looking towards the american market. Hence you can expect to have Isostar - LimeBike active on those continents, especially looking at potential changes in the stage racing department.
But that's all tales of tomorrow. The story of today is that the #meninlime will always continue to evaluate and improve, on and off the bike. That is why we stand here right now, and that is why we will stand here in the future.
For the Slovenian cycling family Isostar - LimeBike,
GM Matej Mugerli
Well I guess I WAS correct regarding the country at least
Good luck with that, although I really don't like the implications of you getting him requiring to sell someone, resulting in a big transfer fee, resulting in.....
@Abhishek: Thanks a lot. This transfer season could be very calm, it could also be very intense. We have an A Plan though and we are determined to fullfill this plan.
@cio93: These implications may or may not be the intentions behind the full story. But don't be too sure on which implications regarding which riders you'd guess. There could be a whole lot of shuffling up in offseason, and I'm sure we might surprise one or two people with our decisions...
Going into the season it is most likely that the core of the squad stays the same. We are very happy with our team, but we'll continue to look for improvements. If certain plans work out in offseason, we are likely to be open to trade one of our big guns. But that is a big if.
Instead, we will have loads of great wage/reward riders. As the analytics of low wage high reward riders have always been key to our success, we would create plenty of room for a new intake. Last year riders like Bazhkou or Brändle have turned out to be absolute bloomers for their new teams, and continued to impress at their new teams scoring in the highest percentiles of points/wage ratio. Riders like Faiers, Pernsteiner, Jaramillo or Kratochvila are top of their class in these relations, and depending on the offers may be open for a team change in 2019.
Name
Stats
Age
P
Avg
Lvl
Wage
Avl?
Simon Spilak
84 Mo, 81 Hi, 80 Res
33
7
81,05
Max
€ 915.000
● ●
Marko Kump
81 Spr, 77 Hi, 73 Cob
31
6
79,07
Max
€ 510.000
●
Matej Mohoric
81 Hi, 78 Sta, 77 Acc
25
7
78,68
Max
€ 497.000
●
Jan Polanc
78 Cob, 78 Sta, 73 Hi
27
6
76,76
Max
€ 175.000
Thomas Faiers
78 Mo, 75 TT
32
6
76,39
Max
€ 140.000
● ● ● ●
David Per
77 Cob, 77 Fl
24
5
75,71
4
€ 140.000
Hermann Pernsteiner
77 Hi, 75 Mo, 77 Dh
29
3
75,51
Max
€ 110.000
● ● ●
Martin Laas
76 Hi, 74 Mo, 76 Acc
26
5
74,44
Max
€ 72.000
●
Daniel Jaramillo
77 Mo, 75 Hi, 76 Acc
28
5
74,39
Max
€ 71.000
● ●
Jakub Kratochvila
77 Hi, 76 Mo
31
6
74,21
Max
€ 60.000
● ●
Xhuliano Kamberaj
77 Spr, 76 Acc, 74 Fl
25
3
74,19
4
€ 60.000
● ●
Dusan Kalaba
77 Spr, 77 Acc
23
4
73,97
4
€ 50.000
● ●
Marko Pavlic
75 Mo, 72 Hi, 72 TT
26
4
73,95
Max
€ 50.000
● ● ●
Aleksandar Roman
75 Mo, 73 Hi, 74 Acc
23
5
73,87
4
€ 50.000
●
Ziga Groselj
75 Hi, 72 TT, 72 Spr
26
3
73,58
Max
€ 50.000
● ● ●
Rok Korosec
73 Hi, 74 Spr, 76 Acc
26
5
73,17
4
€ 50.000
● ● ●
Domen Novak
74 Mo, 72 Hi, 72 Acc
24
6
73,16
3
€ 75.000
Josip Rumac
73 Hi, 73 Spr, 71 Mo
25
5
72,92
4
€ 50.000
● ● ●
Riccardo Ricco
75 Mo, 73 Hi
36
7
71,80
Max
€ 55.000
● ● ● ●
● strong intention to keep | ●●● open for offers | ●●●●● clear intention to sell
Isostar - LimeBike is ready for the transfer madness. Are you ready too?
Some rather useful young-ish riders potentially for sale there. Not necessarily my focus region, but it's not entirely impossible that I might drop an inquiry at some point to test the water.
cio93 wrote:
Some rather useful young-ish riders potentially for sale there. Not necessarily my focus region, but it's not entirely impossible that I might drop an inquiry at some point to test the water.
As always, Isostar is the home for Value riders, so come stop by and make an offer
Ladies and gentleman, today we want to present our shirt for 2019! As in the previous years, it has been kept in the lime green and black that has traditionally been the colors of our outfit. For 2019, with the addition of Lime as a major sponsor, we have had another fantastic shirt designed for us. And again it was star designer the_hoyle and his Fenix Designs, that will dress us up for the third time in a row.
We are confident that this shirt once again stands out int the pro peloton! The design on the shirt has once again been spectacular. Hopefully you'll love it as much as we do, when the Isostars ride in the lime shirt!
Marko Kump wins the World Championship by a matter of millimeters over 
Sam Bewley. What a turnaround from the Slovenian. He only led the final meters of the race, but those meters matter the most. Bewley with a silver medal, adding to his collection of gold in 2016 and bronze in 2014. Surely he must be disappointed to be this close.
The hard season for Kump is well and truly forgotten now. Eagerly waiting to see him in his WC colours on the new jersey 
