@Thanks Ringo, yea the bug happens a lot in Australia for me, hopefully it will not go to Europe with me
25 January
We offered new contracts too Kennaugh and Downing.
26 January
We offered new contracts too Uran and Thomas.
30 January
Four riders accepted the contracts and we are happy to have them for at least another year, now all my riders are contracted, but five which I think at the end of season will go.
Summary for January
Pro Tour
The Pro Tour ranking are looking extremely well, for us, Boasson Hagen dominates them with 5 victories and a overall win in the first Pro Tour race. That means he will wear Pro Toru leader jersey at his next Pro Tour race in Paris-Nice as his preparation for Milan-Sanremo, it will be hard to defend the white UCI jersey but with good results there, we might with bit of luck defend it until April. Our other three riders with some points as well, our whole team did great, and this is the reflection, winning the team classification, while second Katusha is lagging 137 points behind us.
CQ Ranking
Same story in the CQ ranking as well, Hagen way ahead of second Alan Davis, Gerrans with his win at the Aussie Road Race and taking the KOM jersey, ended up 4th, great classification for us again, and so early it looks well for Boasson Hagen, if the season goes us planned, we will hope he could achieve Top10 in this ranking. And once again the team ranking reveals how dominant we were in the first moth of cycling, great team performance.
Continental Tour
Not too much to say here, Ben Day had a good time-trial finishing 8th, and Karl Menzies finished 11th in the road race, in the February this ranking will develop but no team is very serious about it, as the CQ ranking is most important for most of the continental teams.
Victories
Another ranking dominated by our rider, UCI gave additional victory for Hagen for winning the overall, if this continues, Hagen could be the most successful rider in terms of victories, we will see how it develops in later races, and how strong the other sprinters will be.
Rider of the month
That one was an obvious choice, there was no one else that could get that award after that performance, Hagen is extremely happy to get this award, surprisingly UCI didn't bother with the U22 award. The award should go to either Jack Bobridge, finishing 4th on Aussie time-trial and 11th on the road race, or to our young talent Kennaugh finishing on incredible 7th place in the overall classification in Santos Tour Down Under.
We can see that Hagen is extremely happy with his award, though organizers forgot to change the year on the board. Hopefully it’s the begin of extremely good season for him.
Sky rider/s of the month
This was a hard one, and at the end we decided to award both riders. Simon Gerrans was more visible, winning Aussie title and KOM jersey, but without Downing, Hagen wouldn't have the success he had, he lead-out him on every stage, and he has done his job perfectly, so at the end the award will be split, as it was a tyre, it is quite useless now, but still a good memorable award for both riders. Now Gerrans will focus solely on the Ardennes classics, and Downing will help our sprinters and get opportunity in smaller races.
February Calendar
Grand Prix de Marseille Vuelta a Mallorca Tour of Oman GP Dell'Insubria-Lugano Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne Gran Premio di Lugano
We start off the February in the France, Marseille. Downing will be our leader, and will try to achieve good result, Nordhaug with good starting fitness will be our co-leader, and may try to break at some point in the race.
5 days later, with a have Vuelta a Mallorca, two of our newest signings will be present, Uran as our leader will try to get good GC and Young Rider jersey, while Kneed will get chances for himself. Sutton will be our main sprinter. Next tour is in Middle-East, we decided not to race Qatar but Oman instead, Swift and Henderson will be our main sprinter, Thomas will be our leder due to the last day time trial. They don’t have a very high fitness, so we don’t expect much form this race.
Flecha will kick off his seasonin Oman, to prepare for the first big cobble classics Omloop Het Nieuwsbald. Last year this race brought Flecha’s first victory for Sky and his greatest in that season, we expect to do as well this time. Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne is another cobble race in our calendar, but much better suited for sprinters, so Boasson Hagen wil try to win it. Two hilly classics will be used as a platform for Uran, Knees, Rogers, Lofkvist and Gerrrans to increase their fitness.
Edited by Alakagom on 04-02-2011 19:46
Grand Prix Cycliste La Marseillaise is a one-day event held around the French City of Marseille. It is usually the first European event of the season, and it will kick off Sky’s European season.
Previous Winners of the event include Baden Cooke, Jeremy Hunt, Nicki Sorensen and most recently Rémi Pauriol in 2009. Last year edition winner Jonathan Hivert, unfortunately won’t participate.
Sky Team
Russell Downing Lars Petter Nordhaug Geraint Thomas Chris Froome Stephen Cummings Davide Apollonio
Russell Downing is going to be our leader, he has already decent fitness, we won’t attack with him, and hope for the mass-sprint. Though Nordhaug has even better fitness, and we will try to attack and try our luck. Geraint Thomas is out of shape, and will race it to prepare for the Tour of Oman.
Quite a strong starlist for the first Europe cycling race, B.De Waele and S.Joly are strongest hill riders and will definitely try to attack before the 10km to prevent mass sprint. R.Taaramäe and P.Sinkewitz are other strong hillers and will try to get good result here. If it comes to mass-sprint A.Geslin should be top favourite, R.Downing should be get good result as he already has good fitness.
Favourites
**** De Waele, S.Joly
*** R.Taaramäe, P.Sinkewitz, C.Kern, A.Geslin
** R.Downing, L Mazzanti,
Edited by Alakagom on 04-02-2011 20:39
@ Thank you Roturn, Pellizotti2, baia and purepasd
I personally like those small preps for the races, myself, while reading Roturn, lluuiiggii, baia and tsmoha amazing stories. We will see about that, but I will keep them for now.
Grand Prix la Marseillaise
Depart, the weather conditions were very nice and many cyclists look forward to the race.
The first few kilometres and no attacks so far, Landbouwkrediet controlling the peloton at this early stage.
And at last at the 100km mark, the breakaway establishes, it includes Thiré, Popov, Janiaczyk, Piehon, and Reza.
Immediately after Nillson attacked, and is almost joined with the breakaway.
Le Corre is the last rider to attack and is trying to join break, which at the end he does successfully.
The peloton climbing the hardest difficulty of the day, Col de l'Espigoulier, with gradient now at 20%. The break never really got any big advantage, so 60km to go, and they have advantage of 1’32” .
Our riders looked to be in best shape, and started to pace the race, and both NOrdhaug and Downing got away. Nordhaug almost reached the breakaway, is it too soon too attack ?
The decedent had started and Downing caught up with the breakwawy, Norhaug with a daily form of +5 is flying, and already 50 seconds advantage that is rising.
35km to go, and we start to climb second lat hill, the peloton almost caught Downing who didn’t set up very fast pace, though Nordhaug can think about victory almost 2 minutes ahead, and not even beginning to get tired.
32km to go and Downing almost caught by the favourites, Vaugrenard controls the high pace of the peloton now.
But still the peloton has difficulties reaching Downing, whose pace is not even hard, compared to Nordhaug. Advatage is 2’30” and 28km to go, looks good for Nordhaug.
Crazy Belgians supporters obstructing the view of the camera men, certainly those fans expected Bert De Waele leading at this point, but he is still back in peloton, none of the favourites is willing to attack.
Yes, that’s is the better view, Nordhaug looking extremely strong, his advantage is still 2 minutes, with 24km to go.
Nordhaug at the 10km mark and almost certain of victory, we can see the peloton far far away, the team directors couldn’t think that breakaway would win and their tactics misfired at them.
Downing pace was so low, he had t be caught, he still has his full energy bars, so we wil count for him in the sprint for second place.
5km to go, and Nordhaug can celebrate his victory, he never looked back and this is a very proud moment for him.
Yess, he has done it, and what a ride by Norwegian, great start for him to the new season, nobody could predict this result at start, and we have another victory in Sky, what a start of the season for us.
2km to go and sprint for second place started, Dwoning takes wheel of Julien El Fares, and looks in good position.
One kilometre to go, and Downing starts to sprint and times it perfectly, while other sprinets got tired from starting sprinting too early, he is still fresh.
And he takes it, completing our perfect start to the European season.
Undisputed winner of the race, great ride by him , hope he can achieve some success later as well, Downing showed his a quality lead-out rider, but today he showed great sprinting skills. Next is Vuelta a Mallorca which I doubt we will win so many stages, at last more competitiveness will come.
Result
1
Lars Petter Nordhaug
Sky ProCycling
4h14'33
2
Russell Downing
Sky ProCycling
+ 2'33
3
René Mandri
Endura Racing
s.t.
4
Vladimir Miholjevic
Acqua & Sapone
s.t.
5
Christophe Kern
Team Europcar
s.t.
6
Julien El Fares
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
s.t.
7
Benoît Vaugrenard
FDJ
s.t.
8
Luca Mazzanti
Farnese Vini - Neri Sottoli
s.t.
9
Emanuele Vona
Farnese Vini - Neri Sottoli
s.t.
10
Charles Wegelius
UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
s.t.
This I can assure you will the the last Sky dominated tour/classic, we hope for more challenge in Mallorca, and I think we will get what we wanted.Edited by Alakagom on 04-02-2011 22:19
These five were the best U23 riders this season while not present at the moment in MG. If there's any talents deserving potential of 7, these five are.
Tiesj is a very rounded rider. He's a puncheur. And will be in the future. However he does have an outstanding sprint on him. He can climb preety well and do TT's to limit damage as explained later, very rounded rider with specialty on short climbs with a mean kick.
In his first year at 19 year olds he showed his talent, mostly as domestique at Lotto U23, but had few chances to lead already. Circuit Ardennes he climbed very well along likes of Zoild who won that race that year. He sprinted to a 3rd place too.
In LBL he was helping his leader Theuns but he himself got 8th, great ride there. In Madrid he won on a long climb from 10 riders, showing his climbing skills rather well.
And most impressive result of all in GP Wallonie at 19 years of age in a 200km race he finished 30 seconds behind the leader in a group of Gilbert, Avermeat, Chavanel. This result has sparked my attention to him as a massive talent, at that age in such long race to have the stamina to keep with best in the world is simply stunning.
2014 was the year he was going to be the leader of his Lotto U23 team as well as Belgian team. He sustained illness in December so he started season pretty late. In his first race of the season he finished 2nd overall in Triptyque des Monts. On first stage he got 2nd in sprint finish and day later second in more selective bunch on a hilly stage. He then did a good TT to stay within a shot of GC and on last day went in attack to claim bonus seconds and 2nd in GC. Basically this race portrays what rider he is, puncheur with great kick, stamina and allround ability.
Ronde wasn't selective enough, 19 rider sprinter where he finished 3rd beating Doull and few other quite decent sprinters. While U23 Ronde can’t be classifed as a true cobbled race, it shows his potential in those one day classics.
Next was his big target, the U23 LBL which will be his biggest regret. He came 5th winning the reduced sprint, however the winners came out of a late break. Why regrettable? He chased himself at the end and caught the break on the line, however they just made it. So close that they have given them the same time.
Next race included one of his most impressive performance of 2014 at Ronde de l'Isard, a very moutainous race. Through 5 stages his worst finish was 8th. Benoot was deluxe dom for Verveake who won this race on stage 2, where Benoot dropped the rest of the peleton and soloed with Verveake, a break guy won however Verveake finished 2nd and Benoot 4th giving them what at the end of race ended up being 1st and 3rd in GC. Verveake put it best:
And his next race portrays his allround ability, 6 days later he finished 15th at Paris - Roubaix Espoirs in the main pack. Just after doing extraordinary work in the moutains with no special preparation for the cobbles. Afterwards he took a break finishing 5th at hilly Flèche Ardennaise and sprinting to 6th at European Championships U23 (3rd from the bunch, since race won by late break of 3).
After another month's rest he started in his first race for Lotto Belisol, a 2.HC Post Danmark Rundt. His worst finish across 5 days was 17th..amazing for such a young rider. He took the spotlight finishing 3rd on the queen stage, a hilly one finishing alongside Breschel. He got decent 17th in TT which however put him from 3rd to 10th in GC, but a very impressive race considering it was his first in Lotto colours as well first at pro ranks, and he was already given freedom on queen stage ahead of Bak, the home hero. After Denmark he finished 4th in another hilly Belgian classic, 1.1 GP Stad Zottegem which was ideal prep for Avenir. Bad luck struck at Avenir when he was taken out in a crash on stage 2, meaning he had to abandon the race.
One could say he could have finished his season there, but no, he took Worlds U23 as the next target, in lead up to Worlds he finished once again 17th at GP de Wallonie and during Worlds sprinted to 4th place. The course was too easy at the end, but again showing his strength as a sprinter, beating likes of Enger and Der Poel and just barely by Ewan and Skjerping for a medal. And while most riders would definitely end their season there, he didn't as he took part in few late classics for Lotto which he proved to be their big asset. He took 8th at Binche - Chimay - Binche, the best late classic of 2014. He attacked with De Gendt and Terpstra with 8km to go and proved the strongest of the trio, and while they were caught with 5km left he hold on and was used to leadout Debuschhere to 2nd.
He then did a similar ride in Paris Tours leadingout Debuschhere to 3rd while he himself took 16th in 240km, showing amazing flat and stamina.
So after this short overview, what else can I say. The most consistent rider of U23 this season, a flat beast, very good sprinter with a mean kick, promising climber but foremast super talented puncheur.
Power's 1st year at U23 is utterly spectacular. You really have to consider many rider take a year to adapt coming up from Junior ranks. Well not him. He started in Australia, decent Herald Sun Tour before coming 2nd in Oceanian RR beaten in a sprint by Luke Durbridge. The two arrived solo, and Power kept up with Luke's till the end. He then went to Europe and you could see he was acclimatizing to the races at the start, still taking 2 podium in Italian hilly classics as well as 7th in Tour de Azerbaidjan, won by decent climber Zakarin.
He really came alive in August though where he smashed opposition in GP Capodarco and GP di Poggiana, really smashed, no one was close, arriving solo on both wins. Before going to Avenir where he was the only one to hold to Lopez's wheel and finishing on same time on stage 6th ending in 2nd in GC overall. He stayed at U23 level this season, expect more domination.
He's an interesting one as he really climbs equally well on long and the short steep stuff with good acceleration he is a bit like Valverde or Purito of the U23. I am not sure if it's possible to do that sort of progression in man-game, maybe starting him at level 2 giving him possibility to be equally good in both climbing and hills. But as I said I guess it's no really possible, as when someone get's him they will go purely into Stage Racers or Hilly training.
While Van Der Poel will concentrate on the cross for next year or two, where he is already winning pro races at age of 20 his set of results for 2014 is too impressive to miss him out as a suggestion at least.
His first big race was the 2.HC Belgium Tour, he came 4th in a sprint behind Greipel and Gilbert. There were no real selection or hills in this year's route, meaning race was decided in TT which is not something Mathieu excels meaning he finished in 23rd position overall.
He finished 15th in Boucles de la Mayenne getting 3rd in opening prologue, he was consistent here but unspectacular. His next race, a 1.1 Ronde van Limburg 200km classic where people took massive notice of him. It wasn't extremely tough Belgian classic, but still not easy, he won the sprint to claim a massive win ahead of Merters, Henderson, Van Stayen and Debuscchere, at age of 20 in 200km classic..
He took a break, before returning in Alasce winning a select sprint on stage 3, stage 4 was a mountain stage which he found too tough, no surprise, but he limited his looses well finishing 14th and ending on 4th GC, quite impressive effort. He went onto dominate Baltic Chain Tour winning every classification there as well a stage win solo before claiming decent 10th at U23 Worlds.
His results are a mix, it's hard to judge what kind of rider he'll become. He's not a bunch sprinter, but got a veryyyy good sprint and acceleration, he's got great technical skills from the cross and is very good on flat terrain no surprises there. He's not going be winning Lombardia or Fleche in future, but he's very decent on the hills and it looks he's got the engine to compete in the long classics as well. It's hard to say what future hold, but he should become quite a beast.
His exploits in Colombia created a bit of hype around the cycling geeks. Is another Quintana coming to Europe? Well it all started when he won Vuelta de la Juventud, the U23 version of the Vuelta a Colombia, he took 12 wins in Colombia this year, quite dominant.
He came to Europe without ever racing here so was a big unknown. He surprised many with his prologue finishing 13th (although rain helped that result a lot) and got through hectic sprint stages unscathed. On the first mountain stage he dropped everyone finishing 3rd behind the break and teaking the yellow jersey which he easily held till the finish including another MTF win in a duel against Power. At the Worlds he finished 36th in the ITT, middle of pack, not great, not bad, I doubt he cared much for it. The worlds RR was way easier for him to make impact, he stayed in the bunch and safely finished in main pack on 26th.
His results from Colombia and impressive Avenir show massive potential. He could be the next superstart climber and a stage racer.
Mühlberger first season was unspectacular, but 2014 has been a completely different story. In his first race of the season, Istrian Spring Trophy, he already won the first stage, a 2km prologue, and got 4th in GC won by Cort Nielsen. He then went onto to win one of more prestigious U23 classics, Trofeo Piva, beating Foliforov, Power and Senni in the 4 man sprint. Quite an impressive result considering the names he beat here.
His next big race was the Carpathia Couriers Tour, a U23 Polish race, bit of hills, bit of sprints but the queen stage was the 30km ITT which he won, landing him the GC as well. He then took a break and preapred to the Austrian races. He came 6th in hilly GP Judendorf-Strassengel, and 2nd in Oberösterreichrundfahrt won by Konrad, he took a stage there, again showing his nice hill skills before doing an impressive double at Austrian Nationals finishing 2nd in ITT, only one minute behind Brandle and 2nd in RR, 30 seconds behind Zoidl ( and 1 minute ahead of likes of Eisel, Brandle, Konrad). At such young age, amazing feat and showing his main attributes - great TT and great set of hill abilities. He finished Oberösterreichrundfahrt 59th at Tour of Austria and 41th at USA Pro Challenge, not bad at all considering his age, but he's unlikely to become a climber in the future.
End of season, he got 20th in Ride London Classic, and 11th at Tre Valli Varesine, a 218km classic and finishing beside rides like Battaglin, Ponzi or Santaromita. Pure class. The long season took toll on him at Worlds, below par ITT result but safely within the main bunch in the RR.
What else to say, he seems a real deal. Great results at such age, both at U23 and even pro ranks. He seems a very good puncheur with ability to win from small groups with a great TT on him (both long and short prologues). Definitely one to look out for in the future.
Conti had one hell of impressive neo pro debut with Lampre. His first big race was the Tour of Turkey, he finished 12th on one MTF and 27th overall. Decent performance when working for Durasek. He then raced in Japan, before his first big race at Dauhpine where he finished very good 67th overall and finishing with main break on stage 6 alongside names like Stybar, Peraud or Voigt! He's shown some decent ITT skills finishing 6th in Italian TT, 20 seconds off a bronze medal over 40km distance.
He got a very late call up to Vuelta when Horner was withdrawn, less than ideal prep, he got into break once, finished 8th in a sprint and 29th in the prologue on the last stage finishing 112th. Considering late call up, and foremost, not many neo pros finish GT in their first attempt, a great attempt, and finishing Vuelta certainly upped his level, he finished 13th in Coppa Sabatini before taking a massive win in GP Bruno Beghelli ahead of Koren and Zakarin, attacking in last 2km to hold off the pack. He then finished his season with good 6th in Japan Cup among impressive riders.
Hell of impressive results for a neo pro, finishing GT, winning a tough Italian classic, some great break results at Dauphine and Vuelta, looks a top talent, looks a puncheur with good climbing skills and a good TT skills to pack.
Another Belgian that got himself a pro contract this year with BMC after set of consistent results at both U23 and Pro level. He took 4th in LBL from break of 4 (he was working in that break for his teammate Teuns). 2nd at Flèche Ardennaise and Internationale Wielertrofee and 8th Omloop Het Nieuwsblad elite/u23 before very strong 7th in the London Ride Classic, 1.HC rated.
He continued racing with pros and placed twice in Top 10 at Tour of Norway finishing 8th overall in this 2.HC race, he was a leader in a team including Moinard and Hushovd. Both races show very strong hill capabilities.
At Avenir there were no hilly stages, and he's not a climber, he did however get 5th in opening prologue and 9th on stage 1 before working for Verveake and Teuns.
He finished his season riding for BMC pro team, where he finished 24th at Wallonie and 27th at Paris Tours, again, showing good engine and flat skills needed for this tough late classics.
Simone, another upcoming Italian puncheur, signed by Bardiani irl for 2015. In his first big race, he won the Italian U23 classic, Giro del Belvedere, 10 seconds ahead of Herklotz and Pibernik. In 2nd classic, he finished 3rd, coming 2nd to Ewan in a select bunch sprint before 4th in yet another U23 Italian classic. He won the queen stage Giro della Regione Friuli ending 6th overall, he suffered late season with few DNFs.
Italian, and a puncheur. I sense a pattern. Gianni has been another very consistent throughout this season, in first part of the season he recorded 4 Top 10's in the 4 biggest Italian classics on the calendar. During 2nd part of the season he upped his game, firstly 5th at GP di Poggiana then 2nd in GP Capodarco, 8 seconds behind Power before taking the biggest win of his carrer and winning Piccolo Giro di Lombardia ahead of Teuns and Latour, two big U23 names showing rather big talent. Also worth a mention, he was one of bigger animators during the U23 Worlds being on attack few times, however he crashed on descent costing him a chance of great result.
I put Turgis in the puncheur category but that is bit deceiving. One could categorize him as a top puncheur talent after his surprise LBL U23 win, but it really wasn't. I can see people in future talking about him as one of these talents that won big in U23 but didn't deliver at pro ranks. Don't get me wrong, he's a big talent, but his big results all came from breaks so far.
If you read Benoot's bio you'll know a late 4 rider break took LBL..barely and Turgis was the one that won the sprint in the velodrome. His next big result was 3rd at European RR where he was once again involved in late break of three. He also finished in main group of Ronde U23, showing good flat skills reinforced by 30th at Forumies and 37th Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen, demanding flat classics at pro level.
Foremost, he seems a very attackive rider, strong on flat, good puncheur as well, but don't let the LBL win overhype his skills there with a decent engine to perform well in tough classics.
Tao was a very good rider already from juniors and developed so at his first U23 season. He finished 15th at Ronde and 20th at Picardie, one of the biggest U23 classics showing good stamina and adaptation to U23. He rode and finished AtoC and rode to a good 39th in GC at Utah before consistent 10th place at Avenir. He continued with his good form to finish 15th at Tour of Britain and for a 19 year old that is impressive.
He looks a mix of climber and puncheur, he is however very young and will progress more this year to really show where his best strenghts lie, so he's one of riders that could possibly wait till next year to be added.
Latour is a very promising climber, while he's never dominated any U23 climbing races he's been very consistent. In 2013 he claimed 5th at Ronde de l'Isard, 8th at Tour des Pays de Savoie 4th at Piccolo Giro di Lombardia and probably most impressive 13th at Giro dell'Emilia, a very popular 1.HC classic.
In 2014 he didn't get going at the start, first big-ish result coming in June Tour des Pays de Savoie, improvement of three places from year before, ending 5th, 9th at 2.1 Tour de l'Ain before the big season goal of Avenir where he was preety much Mr.Consistent and finishing 6th finishing season off with a podium Piccolo Giro di Lombardia.
Very consistent climber, maybe not a world beater but certainly very promising and looks to be equally capable on the shorther hillier races.
Eiking similarly to Latour, began getting results at later date. He finished Top 5 in two small Norwegian classics before finishing 13th at Tour of Norway, a 2.HC and first sign of big talent. 2 months later came the race that shown his big potential to the world, Giro della Valle d'Aosta Mont Blanc where he finished three times in Top 5 achieving 2nd in GC.
He looked decent for a Top 10 spot in Avenir after a stage podium on stage 5 however he bonked hard on the final stage, ending 24 minutes behind leading pack costing him a great result, still 25th on first attempt is not an easy task at all. He finished in the main pack in the U23 Worlds where the quicker finishing Norwegian set the scene alight.
Similar to Latour, he looks equally promising climber and puncheur, there's not much to go about his TT skills unfortunately.
Carthy is very hard to judge. Simply because he rode 0 U23 races since he was riding for Rapha Condor. 6th in Mzansi Tour where on the queen stage he finished 4th, only 7 seconds behind Kudus. He took away two podiums and 6th overall in Tour of Japan dominated by Iranians. Hard to judge the depth of field there, but he beat many experienced veteran climbers there plus few Lampre guys like of Conti, Palini & Bonifazio. His biggest reuslt came in Korea, where he won the tough queen stage claiming overall win ahead of Haig, Baliani or Grmay. He also made a debut at higher level field in USA Pro Challenge where he finished very respectable 44th.
It's tough to judge Carthy at this point, however his result show he's a very good climber, he signed with Caja Rural for next year, so he'll show more of that climbing potential on Spanish calendar.
He's not the youngest here, however he deserves update in the database after set of strong results. 8th at Mzansi Tour & Tour de Azerbaidjan, finishing one place behind Power in the latter. 28th at 2.HC Bayern-Rundfahrt, biggest German race. On the queen stage he finished 26th same time as Meintjes and few seconds behind likes of Barta and Denifl. 14th at Alasce and 7th at GP Capodarco lead up to Avenir where he finished consistently, grabbing his best result on last day with 7th on stage ending 7th overall. Definitely potential for a good stage racer.
His second part of the season earns him a nomination here. In May he grabbed 15th overall at Tour of Norway, a pro level race and sign of talent. He followed it up by 33th at Tour des Fjords before his break. He finished twice 4th on climbing stages at Giro della Valle d'Aosta Mont Blanc ending 5th overall. He then grabbed 19th at 2.HC Arctic Race of Norway. At Avenir he was a domestique for Eiking, however he finished strongly on all stages giving him nice place before last stage, Eiking bonked hard and Lunke had his chance. He grabbed 10th on the stage ending 11th overall. Impressive effort considering the circumstances. He finished in main pack at the Worlds.
Solid puncheur and climber. With him and Eiking Norway got a nice duo for future.
Ruben is the next Portugese stage racing hope. His first 'big' result was 14th at G.P. Palio del Recioto, finishing in main group behind winners. But he really shown his talent at Volta a Portugal do Futuro. Not the toughest stage race, only 4 stages however he won the queen mountain stage (ahead of Joaquim Silva and Rybalkin) which also meant he took the overall glory. One month later he came to Avenir leading Portugese hopes alongside Silva, he consistently finished in Top 15, although never breaking Top 10 on any stages, this meant he finished 14th overall. Good first attempt and expect to improve upon this this year where he'll be fighting for PT contract.
Niccolo is the biggest upcoming Italian sprinter, in the mold of Modolo or Nizzolo. He grabbed 3 Top 10's at Tour of Turkey including a podium, in a field overloaded with quality sprinters. He beat likes of Viviani, Bos or Guardini here. He scored his first win in bit of random appearance for Lampre at Tour of Japan before claiming 12th and 17th respectively at Brussels Cycling Classic and GP de Fourmies, tough sprinter classics.
His first big win and big breakthrough came few days later during Coppa Agostoni where he grabbed his first classic beating Bole and Ponzi in the sprint. He followed this up with 8th at Coppa Sabatini and 6th in the GP Bruno Beghelli, both quite tough classics finishing in select bunch sprints. He used this great form and stormed Tour of Hainan taking 3 wins 4 other podiums including 3rd on the queen stage which meant he also finished 2nd overall.
Niccolo, similarly to De Buyst is quite rapid, shows great endurance in the classics and can tackle the hills quite well.
Jasper has been mainly a track rider, however he produced a string of performances that earned him a WT contract with Lotto. It began at Tour of Denmark where he finished in Top 18 on all 5 stages ending 12th overall including 2nd and 4th in sprints. He finished 5th in a tough Belgian classic, GP Stad Zottegem, beside Benoot which lead up to his biggest result, 2nd at Druivenkoers - Overijse, a big 1.1 200km race where he finished 2nd in a select group of 10 ahead of Asbroeck, Leukemans, Baugnies and Vanendert. Showing decent sprint and hilly skills there. He continued racing the Belgian classics finishing 19th at Brussels Cycling Classic and 8th in the GP Impanis - Van Petegem.
Jasper is very strong flat rider, coming off track background, strong sprint good endurance as seen by the impressive result already in the classics and decent on the Belgian hills.
Manzin's late form got him a contract with FDJ. And no surprise. He started season with 12th at ZLM Tour and few Top 10's at Tour de Bretagne including 2nd on stage 2. He then got injured and came back for few prep races before the Tour du Poitou-Charentes where he sprinted to 3rd place on stage 2 and 6th on stage 3. The competition was quite tough here so all the more impressive, Cav won stage 2 and Ruffoni stage 3. Manzin beat many renowned sprinters here, likes of Howard, Napolitano, Chicchi, Ruffoni etc. He raced few classics with a highlight of 12th at Paris-Bourges won by Degenkolb.
It's hard to say if he'll make it, but signs are there and FDJ got a knack of late to develop top quality sprinters.
Another FDJ signing and what looks to be another French kid. They certainly got a few of them now. 3rd at ZLM Tour. Two podiums at Tour de Gironde and 14th in GC. 6th at Ronde de l'Oise with three Top 5 places. His biggest result came at Tour de l'Ain, 2.1 race where he sprinted to awesome 2th place ahead of likes of Meersman or Feillu before 5th on the next stage. In the French U23 break took the win, but Sarraeu won the bunch sprint for 8th.
Both Manzim and Sarraeu look preety fast, and should both develop into strong sprinters.
Surprised we didn't see Matteo in the MG sooner. Not much to write about him, he's well known sprinter for IAM. He's been pretty poor in many races, but his highlight means his season was decent. He won stage 2 of Tirreno - Adriatico surprising the big hitters there. Got 2nd at GP de Denain, won Vuelta Burgos stage and one Top 10 at Vuelta. He's a preety fast sprinter but bit inconsistent, but capable of big win.
Jesse is an upcoming sprinter, just signed for BMC Development team. His big results past 2 season have come from one race, Tour of Taihu Lake. In 2013 he got 7 Top 5's including one win and 4th in GC. in 2014 the field was tougher, he still did well and finished 3 times in Top 5 including win on stage 1 in a decent-ish sprinter field. The parcours involved hills so he didn't contend GC this year. He also claimed a classic in China in a similar field to Taihu.
Maarten is quite consistent on few terrains but mostly a solid flat rider with good sprint. He finished 13th at Paris Robuaix Espoirs, 17th Ronde van Zeeland Seaports, 5th Kernen Omloop Echt-Susteren and 5th at Nationale Sluitingprijs Putte-Kapellen, last two decent sprint results. He had a similar season in 2013, never being best, but grabbing few Top 10's in flat classics, such as 6th Ster van Zwolle, 8th ZLM Tour or 15th at Münsterland Giro.
Jauregui has got strange results this year, but ones that earned him a WT contract with AG2R. He finished 18th at Mt Faron earning him 35 th at Tour Méditerranéen. Then 16th at a 210km French classic, Paris - Camembert and 7th at Tour du Finistère. Big classics on French calendar. He won a stage from break at the Rhône-Alpes Isère Tour.
In 2nd part of the season he got 3rd at Polynormande, 16th at Arctic Race of Norway and one 5th place in a sprint stage of Avenir. He was 12th at Tour du Jura and Tour du Doubs before ending with a sub par performance at Worlds.
He got results on most terrains this year, and it's really hard to evaluate him. I'd say a strong flat rider, with decent sprint, decent hill and okay climbing for a youngster. A good all rounder.
Edited by Alakagom on 21-12-2014 15:49
The Challenge Vuelta Ciclista a Mallorca is a series of five professional one day road bicycle races held on the Spanish island of Mallorca in early February. The event is used as an early season preparatory event by many of the top teams in readiness for the bigger races later in the season.
All 5 stages are pretty hilly and usually good sprinter and hiller wins the race. Last year winner Rui Costa won’t appear due to high drug allegations at the Portuguese national championships, other notable riders that won this race are Top class riders such as Laurent Jalabert, Alex Zulle and Alejandro Valverde. The record for most victories hols the Spanish rider.Francesco Cabello
Sky Team
Rigoberto Urán Christopher Sutton Christian Knees Stephen Cummings Kurt-Alse Arvesen Dario Cioni Micheal Barry Davide Appollonio
Rigoberto Uran will make his first appearance for team Sky, he will lead our team over five days, the race fits his abilities and we hope we can achieve Top10 and Young Rider Jersey at the end of the race. Christian Knees will be our co-leader and as well as Uran he will make his first appearance.
Christopher Sutton will be our sprinter, for the first two stages, and will try to achieve Top10 in both of them, Kurt-Alse Arvesen will be his lead-out men. Micheal Barry is our only rider that raced in Tour Down Under and his fitness, is quite good, he will try to get the King of the Mountains jersey.
What a startlist for the first stage race in Europe, you would expect such starlist for Pro Tour races and even Grand Tours. Team Luxembourg with a magnanimous squad, Bennati will be their main man for the first two stages, Andy Schleck along Linus Gerdemann and Fabian Wegmann should be certainly at the top. But to Leopard have good results they have beat a master on hills, Philippe Gilbert who will be certainly the biggest pre-favourite.
Katusha also brings top team with three excellent riders on hills, J.Rodríguez should prove most dangerous from them. Next to the top guns are many great riders like A.Vinokourov, R.Gesink, S.Ivanov, A.Kolobnev and our rider G.Urán, which we will hope make a good start to his Sky career.
There are also loads of quality sprinters starting their season here, like of D.Bennati, M.Lorenzetto, T.Farrar, T.Hushovd, M.Breschel and O.Freire, so the fight for the win on the first two stages is gonna be quite intense.
Edited by Alakagom on 05-02-2011 21:14
