We drafted one spaniard to further increase the happiness of our sponsors, but with our other two riders we did not concentrate on the nationalities, we focused on their climbing abilities.
Please welcome our new riders: Kristjan Koren, Robinson Chalapud and Antonio Piedra!
And yes, Piedra is pointing at Chalapud, because they are really close friends in real life.
We signed one of the best remaining mountain helpers, who is still pretty young : Egor Silin.
Now, we can finally reveal, that we have been in talks with Janez Brajkovič for the past couple of weeks. Our lawyers managed to find a legal gap in his contract with Team Fastweb, so they had to release him, and he joined our team for 3 years.
Now it's finally public which continental races we are going to attend in the following season. We are obviously focusing on the PT races, but we are also trying to send competent squads to our continental races, especially the ones from our sponsor countries.
Tour of Qatar
Tour of Oman
Clasica Almeria
GP Indurain
Tour de Belgie
Tour of Britain
Ruta a Burgos
Paris-Bruxelles
Volta ao Algarve
Glava Tour of Norway
Also, just to follow the trend (set by Lierse-Pizza Ullo), we are giving away our official mascot toy when we reach 3000 views on our page.
The first race of the year is coming up, so it's time to announce our squad!
Leader
M. Nieve
Sprinter
D. Bennati
Free role
K. Hammarling
R. Sutherland
Teammates
C. Sutton
R. England
C. Ewan
Goals
Stage Top 5
GC Top 10
We are bringing mostly a national squad to give a chance to our Aussies to race in their home country. However, we are bringing some of our leaders too to hopefully give our season a nice start.
British main sponsor with Australian co-sponsor, registered in Spain and why not. It gives the team strong areas to focus on and build a strong team around. The question would be whether age would play a part.
It must be said that Juszta managed that part beautifully. Wiggins takes center stage and will surely bag some fantastic GC results. I’m not sure if he will get a GT win though but I hope he does. His big strength, apart from time-trials, is his support team. Of which Pinot stands out. He is young and extremely talented. With the right work he will become a force to be reckoned with in his own right. Caterham really does have a strong climbing squad which stands out from the rest, and it does have a balance between oldies and youth.
But don’t be fooled, Caterham pack a punch in a sprint. Degenkolb is a fantastic sprinter who is certain to get some wins. Combined with some experience lead-outs Caterham will be up the front end often. However this doesn’t translate to the cobbles. Hammarling is the leader here, but he doesn’t have the ability to win, nor the support.
It’s hard to pick holes in this squad, but the largest one has got to be age. For all its talented youth, there is a bit of a reliance on veteran domestiques which could cause issues in later seasons. Really they should be expecting to be challenging for the top of the rankings.
Key Rider: Degenkolb
Some would say Wiggins, but as he is certain to perform it has to be John. It will be his accumulation of points that will separate Caterham from the other GC focused teams. If he fires they will be hard to match. If he struggles Caterham will have a fight on their hands.
Strength: Climbing
A large selection of top quality climbers will surely push onwards and make life hard for others. 5 riders have the quality to bag uphill wins and jerseys with lots more ready to surprise.
Weakness: Age
This is a tough one. While there is plenty of youth it may be surprising how many riders decline soon, with many key domestiques being over 30. Well it was this or cobbles…
Rating: 9/10
Very strong GC and climbing team, with decent sprint and cobbles capability. They can, and will, win everywhere and without any real weakness will be one of the very top teams.
M. Nieve
D. Bennati
K. Hammarling
R. Sutherland
C. Sutton
R. England
C. Ewan
Stage 1
Results and summary
Sutton is part of the breakaway in his homeland, and he takes 10 points in the Intermediate sprints, so he will wear the Points Jersey tomorrow!
The stage ends up in a mass sprint with Greipel taking the victory in front of Veenhof and Goss. Our two best placed riders are Bennati and Hammarling on 15th and 16th place. None of our riders lose time.
Stage results
Spoiler
1
André Greipel
SGL - Magix
3h19'18
2
Johan Veenhof
ING - InBev Cycling Team
s.t.
3
Matthew Goss
Pure Black - Genesys Racing Team
s.t.
4
Nacer Bouhanni
Team Lunar Industries - Umbrella Corporation
s.t.
5
Juan José Haedo
Globant - Telefe Cycling Project
s.t.
6
José Joaquín Rojas
Nintendo - Ambuja Cycling
s.t.
7
Filippo Pozzato
Motorex - Credit Suisse Pro Cycling
s.t.
8
Romain Feillu
CC Cafe Cycling
s.t.
9
Davide Appollonio
Barrys Maple Leaf Racing
s.t.
10
Elia Viviani
Motorex - Credit Suisse Pro Cycling
s.t.
Thanks to the bonification seconds, Sutton is 4th in the GC, 5 seconds behind Greipel.
Stage 2
Results and summary
Once again we have a rider in the breakaway, and once again an Aussie, Rory Sutherland, who tried yesterday too, but did not succeed. Today however he took the majority of the Mountain Points, so he holds second place with the same amount of points as leader Roger Hammond of ITV.
The race ended up with a sprint amongst the strongest puncheurs, so obviously Gilber took the win, but Karl sprinted for a really nice 6th place. Nieve finished in the next group, but he is still not in bad shape for a nice GC place.
Stage Results
Spoiler
1
Philippe Gilbert
Lierse - Pizza Ullo
3h23'18
2
Cadel Evans
Pure Black - Genesys Racing Team
+ 8
3
Simon Gerrans
Team CSC
+ 11
4
Jelle Vanendert
ITV ProCycling
+ 12
5
Greg Van Avermaet
Allianz - BMW Cycling Team
+ 13
6
Karl Hammarling
Caterham - Austar
+ 15
7
Matti Breschel
Tulip - Guinness
s.t.
8
Przemyslaw Niemiec
Tulip - Guinness
s.t.
9
Dries Devenyns
Lierse - Pizza Ullo
s.t.
10
Rudy Verboven
Nintendo - Ambuja Cycling
+ 16
GC
Spoiler
1
Philippe Gilbert
Lierse - Pizza Ullo
6h42'26
2
Cadel Evans
Pure Black - Genesys Racing Team
+ 12
3
Simon Gerrans
Team CSC
+ 17
4
André Greipel
SGL - Magix
+ 19
5
Jelle Vanendert
ITV ProCycling
+ 22
6
Greg Van Avermaet
Allianz - BMW Cycling Team
+ 23
7
Karl Hammarling
Caterham - Austar
+ 25
8
Dries Devenyns
Lierse - Pizza Ullo
s.t.
9
Matti Breschel
Tulip - Guinness
s.t.
10
Przemyslaw Niemiec
Tulip - Guinness
s.t.
Stage 3
Results and summary
A fairly uneventful flat stage with Greipel taking the sprint win. Bennati sprints for a nice 8th place.
Thanks to his better position, Rory Sutherland now holds the KotM jersey.
No huge changes in the GC, Karl holds 7th place.
Stage 4
Results and summary
A great stage for us, as Sutherland once again went into the breakaway and kept his Mountain Jersey.
The stage ended up in a mass sprint won by J.J.Rojas, followed by Greipel and Veenhof. Amazingly, Karl Hammarling managed to snatch a 4th place, which is really nice by him, beating the strong puncheurs (Gilbert, Rodriguez) and some strong sprinters (Goss, Bouhanni).
Stage 5, the Queen Stage
Results and summary
Our two main climbers, Nieve and Hammarling did what the could, but they could not follow the strongest puncheurs on Old Willunga Hill. Voeckler took the stage win in front of Gerrans and Evans.
We also have some bad news, as Sutherland lost his Mountain Jersey to Houle. Karl however still holds 8th place in the General Classification, let's hope he can keep it on Stage 6.
Stage 6
Results, summary and final GC
A sprint stage, this time we did not send anyone into the break, as we knew it was hopeless. The sprint is looking decent for us, Chris Sutton and Karl Hammarling are both in good position...
Greipel takes the win in front of Veenhof... But who can we see coming 3rd? It's our very own Chris Sutton, getting us our first podium place! Karl also sprints really well, taking 5th place! What a nice stage for us!
Gilbert wins the General Classification in front of Evans and Gerrans. Our best placed rider is Karl Hammarling on a nice 8th place.
Thoughts about the race
It was a decent race for us with the last stage being the pinnacle. Let's see how we did with our goals!
GC Top 10
8th - Karl Hammarling
Stage Top 5
3rd - Chris Sutton, Stage 5
The post will be updated as the stages get played.
It's our first CT race and we have a long season ahead of us, so we are not sending our superstars to Portugal this year. Instead, we are giving more important roles to riders who are usually stuck in the teammate roles. We are mainly looking at Xavier Florencio to do well on Stage 3, which ends up on a hill. However, we don't have high expectations for him, however - depending on the competition - a Top 10 finish on either Stage 1 or Stage 3 would be really nice.
Stage 5 is a Time-Trial, so we are bringing our young french specialist, Anthony Roux, who will try to get a nice result there. We would be more than satisfied with a Top 15 performance by him, but he can always surprise us.
Richard England leads our young sprinter squad of Opie, Ewan and Holohan. We don't put any pressure on them, since it's their first race with the team, and it's a CT one, but at least a Top 10 place on one of the sprint stages would be a nice achievement from them.
We also have two free elements, Egor Silin and Jeremy Hunt. We gave Hunt a free role, since in the classics he will be stuck in a (very valuable) teammate role. Silin on the other hand will most probably take the opportunity to get in the breakaways, try and get himself seen in the TV, since he is one of the bigger prospects in cycling, but his breakthrough is yet to come. Who knows, maybe this race will be an improtant step in his career?
The race
Stage 1
Just as we predicted, Egor Silin really wants to show himself, so he joined todays breakaway.
The peloton was just too lazy, and with 40 kilometres to go, it was almost certain, that one of the breakaway members will win the stage. Silin was not one of the favourites, since he is not a great sprinter.
Nevertheless, the took a nice 6th place (already achieving the team's goal of at least getting a Top 10 finish), and more importantly, he has gained almost 4 minutes on most of the big GC favourites. Can he hold onto his great GC position in the hills and the TT? We'll soon find out!
Stage 2
Once again a very strong breakaway has formed, and once again we are represented in it, this time via Anthony Roux.
With 40 kilometres to go, the gap was still over 3 minutes. Can SGL and Pervyj pull the breakaway back?
Sousa attack with 17 kilometres to go, the peloton will surely not catch the breakaway now!
.
And Sousa takes the win ahead of his breakaway companions! Roux finishes on a nice 8th pace, Silin still holds a nice 12th place in the GC, only 20 seconds behind Bagdonas.
Stage 3
Not a very eventful day for us, with Hunt we were once again seen in the breakaway, but he did not really accomplish much. This day could be described as the glory ride of Ted Mosby. He delivered an excellent solo victory for Cymru Wales, he simply crushed his breakaway companions, and he took the overall lead in the GC.
Silin finished with the peloton and advanced to 10th overall in the General Classification. Hopefully he can keep this place!
Stage 4 and 5
Not much has happened for the team, on Stage 4 Florencio was in the breakaway which has won the stage, Xavier managed to get a nice Top 10 place. Sadly Silin could not hold onto his Top 10 position on the Time-Trial, he dropped top 11th.
We are not sure about the competition yet, but we would like to see at least one stage win (or at the very least a podium place) from John Degenkolb, and with the help of his decent Time-Trialing teammates (Hepburn and Van Emden) a good GC spot is not out of reach either. As again, we can't be sure about the strength of the field yet, but we would like to see at least a Top 10 place in the GC from the team.
The race
Stage 1
Not an eventful stage (Hey, it's Qatar, what do you expect?), we managed to pull back the breakaway, so the stage ended up in a mass sprint.
Our train was pedalling quite well, but SGL seemed to be stronger...
Kittel managed to win the stage in front of Ertzen, Degenkolb came in 4th. A decent result by him, let's hope for an even better one tomorrow!
Stage 2
Nothing much to report, we take a decent 6th place in the Team Time-Trial.
Stage 3 and Stage 4
Typical stages in Qatar, they don't even deserve a longer report...
On Stage 3 Degenkolb takes a 4th place, on Stage 4 he gets blocked and only comes in 10th.
We have a similar squad and similar goals to what we have for the Tour of Qatar: We are looking at John Degenkolb to shine in the mass sprints, we expect wins or podiums from him.
As we all know, Tour of Oman features a nasty mountain stage, which will surely decide the GC. We don't really have a strong rider for that, so we expect Silin or Chalapud to probably be our best placed riders in the final GC. Without knowing the competition, it is hard to set a goal for them, but it would really be awesome if they could get a Top 10 place.
The rest of our riders will do their best to keep Degenkolb at the front of the pack, and give him the best possible sprinting position.
The race
Stage 1
A flat sprint stage, we bring back the escapees with the help of SGL with about 15 kilometres to go. Hunt, Cooke and Blythe did an amazing job getting Degenkolb to the front, now it's Karl's job to set him up for the sprint! He seems to be doing a nice job, as Degenkolb can open his sprint from the first place...
Can he finish it?
No, the Gorilla is just too strong for him! Still, Degenkolb takes a really nice 2nd place, and he leads the Young Rider classification, also we are holding first place in the Team competition.
Stage 2
We kept the peloton together until the first sprint point, and John took it with ease!
After that, a breakaway got formed, but they knew they had no chance with Caterham and SGL working at the front.
The finish was on a small hill, but is it too steep for Degenkolb?
The sprint is on! Degenkolb is looking very strong today, can he win this stage?
No, L.L.Sanchez comes out of nowhere and wins the stage! Degenkolb comes in 3rd and takes the Overall Lead, the Points Jersey and obviously keeps the Young Riders Jersey. We also take the lead in the Teams Classification. I think we can call it a good day.
Stage 3
Again, the stage ends up in a mass sprint, and once again, Greipel takes the victory.
Degenkolb only comes in 6th after a decent leadout by Karl. Sadly this way he loses the Points Jersey and falls back to 2nd place in the GC, but he still keeps the Young Riders Jersey.
Stage 4
Kind of a sad day for us, as a late attack of 8 strong riders manage to avoid to sprint, and L.L.Sánchez takes home the bacon once again.
On the bright side, Degenkolb outsprints Greipel and Goss for the 9th place, but he loses the Young Riders Jersey to Taaramäe regardless. Also, he is dropped back to 10th overall in the General Classification.
Stage 5
The Queen stage, and we skip right to the end:
With 1 km to go, a small group of strong climbers are ahead of the peloton, and race leader L.L.Sánchez is making a move once again!
And he takes yet another stage win, and the GC for sure. What a glorious race for him and TCS!
Stage 6
The usual stuff, the break is obviously caught with 20 kilometres to go.
Our team stepped up with 5 km to go, we really wanted to get a stage win here!
Degenkolb launches a long sprint, and he is way ahead of the others! Can he hold onto it?
No! The Gorilla takes it once again, Goss comes 2nd and Johnny takes a decent 3rd place. Karl Hammarling sprints for 8th.
So in the end, Degenkolb comes 10th in the GC, which is alright for us. Let's see if we met the expectations:
Tour of Qatar
Tour of Oman
Clasica Almeria
Tour de Belgie
Tour of Britain
Volta ao Algarve
Glava Tour of Norway
D. Bennati
R. Sutherland
E.Silin
J. Degenkolb
J. Van Emden
R. Chalapud
G. Rast
K. Koren
