We are proud to present you a new Continental Team for the 2011 season: Bacardi - Colt. The team is named after our two primary sponsors. Bacardi and Colt. Bacardi is one of the worlds most famous rum-producers. Originally from Cuba, they are now based in Bermuda, with alot of influence in the US market aswell. The other one is Colt, the famous weapon manufacturer.
Team Jersey:
The shirt was designed by the famous Danish designer, Will007. He has already designed jerseys for other Pro Cycling teams aswell, so we are very happy that he designed ours to.
First Volta oa Algarve, Stage 2 - Jean-Patrik Nazon
Tour Meditteraneen, Stage 5 - Matthew Goss
Vuelta a Castilla y Leon, Stage 2 - Kim Kirchen
Vuelta a Castilla y Leon, Stage 3 - Kim Kirchen
Vuelta a Castilla y Leon, Stage 4 - Kim Kirchen
Giro del Trentino, Stage 4 - Riccardo Ricco
Euskal Bizikleta, Stage 3 - Kim Kirchen
Tour of Luxembourg, Stage 1 - Kim Kirchen
Tour of Luxembourg, Stage 5 - Kim Kirchen
Tour of the Channel Islands, Stage 2 - Jure Kocjan
Vuelta a Burgos, Stage 1 - Jean-Patrik Nazon
Tour of Ireland, Stage 3 - Matthew Goss
Circuit Franco-Belge, Stage 3 - Matthew Goss
Circuit Franco-Belge, Stage 4 - Matthew Goss
Third Volta oa Algarve, Stage 5 - Mathieu Perget
Tour Meditteraneen, Stage 5 - Kim Kirchen
Corsica International, Stage 2 - Jure Kocjan
Tour of Luxembourg, Stage 2 - Kim Kirchen
Tour of Luxembourg, Stage 3 - Julien El Fares
Criterium du Dauphine Libere, Stage 7 - Riccardo Ricco - PT
Tour of the Channel Islands, Stage 4 - Jure Kocjan
Vuelta a Burgos, Stage 4 - Riccardo Ricco
Tour of Ireland, Stage 1 - Matthew Goss
Overall
First Vuelta a Castilla y Leon - Kim Kirchen
Giro del Trentino - Riccardo Ricco
Tour of the Channel Islands - Jure Kocjan
Circuit Franco-Belge - Matthew Goss
4th - 10th Vuelta a Burgos - Riccardo Ricco - 4th
Corsica International - Riccardo Ricco - 5th
La Tropicale Amissa Bongo - Gediminas Bagdonas - 5th
Tour Meditteraneen - Matthew Goss - 5th
Criterium du Dauphine Libere - Riccardo Ricco - 6th - PT
Circuit Franco-Belge - Artur Gajek - 7th
KBC De Panne Tour - Aidis Kruopis - 8th
Tour of Luxembourg - Julien El Fares - 8th
Tour of the Channel Islands - Gediminas Bagdonas - 8th
Tour Meditteraneen - Kim Kirchen - 9th
Tour of Luxembourg - Gatis Smukulis - 10th
Tour of the Channel Islands - Aidis Kruopis - 10th
Oneday Classics
First Clasica de Almeria - Matthew Goss
Subida al Naranca - Kim Kirchen
Tre Valli Varesine - Riccardo Ricco
Urkiola Igoera - Riccardo Ricco
Vattenfall Classics - Matthew Goss
Milano - Torino - Riccardo Ricco
Giro dell'Emilia - Riccardo Ricco
Second Transfagarasan GP - Riccardo Ricco
Third Philadelphia International Classic - Riccardo Ricco
4th - 10th Profronde van Drenthe - Kim Kirchen - 4th
San Sebastian Classic - Riccardo Ricco - 4th
Giro di Lago di Garda - Riccardo Ricco - 5th
Giro dell'Emilia - Kim Kirchen - 6th
La Poly Normande - Matthew Goss - 7th
Other Jerseys
First Corsica International - Riccardo Ricco - Points
Vuelta a Castilla y Leon - Kim Kirchen - Points
Vuelta a Castilla y Leon - Kim Kirchen - KoM
Giro del Trentino - Riccardo Ricco - Points
Giro del Trentino - Riccardo Ricco - KoM
Euskal Bizikleta - Kim Kirchen - Points
Tour of Luxembourg - Kim Kirchen - Points
Criterium du Dauphine Libere - Riccardo Ricco - KoM - PT
Tour of the Channel Islands - Jure Kocjan - PointsEdited by Kami on 07-03-2011 17:44
After the 2010 season ended with the National Championships, the rumors about new teams were there once again. There were quite a few candidates who asked [Man-Game] Director, SportingNonsense for a license, but only a few were approved and given a license for the 2011 season. We were one of the lucky teams to get awarded a Continental Tour license. It didn't take long before we found our sponsors for the upcoming season. The famous rum-producer Bacardi and weapon manufacturer Colt will be the main sponsors for the season. Furthermore we will be riding on Pinarello bikes with Selle Italia sadles, Campagnolo components and Bell helmets.
The team will focus on Italian and American riders, ofcourse this doesn't exclude the contracting of riders from other countries. Not alot is known at this point in time. So stay tuned for more updates in the following weeks.
Edited by Kami on 15-03-2010 16:35
It is with great pride that Bacardi - Colt announces their 2011 season goals. Being new to cycling sponsoring, Bacardi and Colt have some high expectations for the upcoming season. A few days ago Bacardi and Colt made the joined decision on our season goals, ofcourse with some influences from our equipment sponors aswell.
The first goal, which was unanimously decided upon, is Promoting to the Pro Tour at the end of the season, which means we have to finish in the top 4 of the Continental Rankings (or top 5 if 100% ME finishes above us). This is obviously our hardest goal for the season, as it involves us having a well balanced team that can perform on a high level trough-out the whole season.
Our second goal, although easier then the first one, is still pretty challenging. Pinarello wants to see us Win Tre Valli Varesine. We will need a good puncheur for this, seeing we have a very steep hill up to the finish.
Next one is getting a Top 5 in Tour of Missouri. Obviously requested by Colt. This shouldn't be to hard to achieve seeing mostly will depend on the stage 3 time-trial.
Fourth goal is once again a top 5. But this time requested by Nalini. They want a Top 5 in Urkiola Igoera. This is a one-day mountain race, won by Valverde last season.
Last goal is a Top 10 in Giro dell'Emilia. Last year this was still a Pro Tour race, so this is a wild gamble, seeing only a few Continental Teams have ridden this race so far. We hope we don't come up against to many surprises. Our sponsors followed our opinion on this one, so they will take pleasure with a top 10 spot.
As you can see our goals are based in America and Italy, this is obviously because of our sponsors. Although Bacardi is originally Cuban, over the last decades it has become more and more American. With these goals our sponsors; Bacardi, Colt, Pinarello, Nalini and Selle Italia, have given us a budget of € 3.750.000 for the upcoming season.
Edited by Kami on 13-03-2011 11:22
With the transfer season starting, we have been very busy lately. And it has payed off with our two first signings of the team. And it aren't the least. They both come over from Jack Wolfskin, who managed promotion last year. So it speaks for itself that we were interested in some of their riders.
The first one is no-one less then the Luxembourgian TT Champion, Kim Kirchen. Although he is getting abit older, we believe he will still manage to get good results in hilly classics, and maybe in some stage races. Our second signing is one of the best sprinters in cycling today, Matthew Goss. Although he only managed to win 2 races last season, he is still one of the best sprinters in the Continental Tour, so we hope he can get us alot of points on our quest to promotion.
New names joining Bacardi - Colt have been revealed. Although alot of people think this are only domestiques, each one of them is a great rider and will be needed for us to achieve our goals.
First one is a Russian powerhouse, Evgeni Sokolov. He will be a huge help in the hilly races and might be able to lead a sprint train. We are glad to welcome him on the team!
Second one is Julian David Muñoz Giraldo. This 28 year old Columbian can get over the hills, and put down a nice Time-Trial with it. Although he has some less power on the flat, he has a big fighting spirit!
Next one is Francesco Reda. The Italian will be a good addition to our hilly squad, Add to that a decent sprint and you got yourself a good rider.
This might be the biggest name of these riders, Gatis Smukulis. The young Latvian has a great feature in cycling, although he already has alot of experience. He is a very good all-rounder, and he can certainly get some good placings with his Time-Trial, Hilly and Sprinting ability!
At the age of 21, the Luxembourgian Tom Thill, is our youngest rider so far. And he can still improve alot, and we believe he can do that here. Especially with fellow countryman and veteran Kim Kirchen.
Our last signing so far is Salvatore Mancuso. The Italian still has a thing or two to learn about cycling but we have faith that he will become a decent hilly rider.
This brings our total to 9 riders, and we still have alot of space left for either veterans or young talents. Although lately rumors have been going on that non other, then Riccardo Ricco is on the edge of signing with the team, let's see if this is true or not!
Edited by Kami on 21-03-2010 19:56
Next up is the 27 year old Slovenian, Jure Kocjan. He will further strengthen our sprinter-side of the team.
Last one is Maxim Gourov. The Kazakastani will be powering our mountain squad. On the age of 32, we do believe he will still show us some good things.
With the end of the transfer period coming closer and closer, we wonder what other riders might join us and fill the remaining 8 spots?!?
Edited by Kami on 23-03-2010 14:32
It has been officially announced! The Cobra, Riccardo Ricco, has joined Bacardi - Colt for the 2011 season!
Ricco, who is amongst the top 5 riders in the world, was homeless after White Bear suddenly disbanned before the start of the transfer season, making the whole team unemployed.
After finishing third in last years Giro and 5th in the final PT ranking, there was alot of interest for Ricco. In the end, only the 2 newly formed teams, UniCredit and Bacardi were still hunting him down. In the end it was Bacardi - Colt who made the best offer. Ricco's new wage will be 890.000€.
It's a surprise that Ricco joined the Continental Tour, seeing he will ride no GT's this year. However, he might ride other PT races though, but that will be announced later in the season. In the CT, he is the best climber and with the top puncheurs, so he will be ideal to fulfill most of our goals. His personal goal this season is to win the Individual Standings in the CT this year. He does have some competition though, with Pozzato, Gusev and Pellizotti also here.
The question, what will he lose this season, is more in order
The transfer season has officially ended. And with the end of the transfers our team is finalized. These are our last additions for the upcoming season.
Then we got 2 Lithuanians, Aidis Kruopis and Gediminas Bagdonas. Bagdonas is the Lithuanian Time-Trial Champion, bringing our total of National Champions to 2.
Artur Gajek, the German sprinter, has also joined our team. We hope he can bring us some good placings, or lead-out Goss or Nazon. But we are sure he won't disappoint us.
Our last 2 riders for the 2011 season are Aleksandr Kuchinski and Tomislav Danculovic . Danculovic will help us in the hills while Kuchinski is a powerhouse on the flat roads. He is also our best cobbler.
With this our team is complete and we are looking forward to the 2011 season!
Edited by Kami on 29-03-2010 21:20
Bacardi - Colt will have 3 National Champions this year. All three are the Time-Trial Champions of their country. And since the end of the transfers quite some time passed. In that time we kindly asked our Clothing Company if it would be possible to make the design for our National Championship jerseys aswell. And the lead-designer, Will007, did a splendid job in making the jerseys. So here they are:
Kim Kirchen - Luxembourgian TT Champion
Gediminas Bagdonas - Lithuanian TT Champion
Gatis Smukulis - Latvian TT Champion
Watch out for those beautiful jerseys in the TT's and let's hope they will help them clock a good time!
Yeah it's a very nice team although I highly doubt that your team can get within top 4. There is an opportunity for promotion though as several PT managers have some pretty good CT teams aswell, so 6th or 7th sould be possible for your team. The other goals seems easily achieveable by Ricco.
The wildcards for the upcoming season have been announced this morning and we are happy to be allowed in two of the six races we applied to, although it was disappointing to see we didn't make it into Vuelta a Asturias. But we can't complain as we got allowed in to two PT races with a high standard.
Amstel Gold Race
While Ricco won't be defending last year's win at La Flèche Wallonne he will ride Amstel Gold Race this year and try to become the second rider to win all three Ardenne Classics in the Man-Game league. We will come here with one of our stronger teams. Like mentioned Ricco will be the absolute leader, being supported by Kirchen and Smukulis.
After the dissappointing Bloemfontein Classic, we stayed in Africa for the La Tropicale Amissa Bongo. We didn't really have high expectations, except for a few good placings with Nazon and Gajek. But it turned out a lot better then we expected.
In the first stage Bagdonas joined in the break and took all intermediate sprints to get him second in the GC after stage 1. That wasn't the only thing though, he also took second in the KoM after the stage. Aswell as Passeron finishing 12th and Pacheco 15th.
In the second stage, Nazon finished 10th and Passeron once again 12th. Bagdonas lost one place in the GC due to Haedo winning and taking bonus seconds.
The third stage was the only hilly stage of the race, and the decision might fall here. Thill joined the break and got some KoM points. We expected El Fares or Passeron to do something here, but he didn't. It was Bagdonas instead who went with the big guns and managed to keep with the best and finish ninth in the stage and keep his top 10 spot in the GC.
The 4th stage was a good and bad stage at the same time. Gajek got 10th in the stage and Pacheco took bonus seconds in the break. But at the same time Thill crashed and lost time, although he didn't get any really serious injuries, his moral went down.
In the last stage, it was Pacheco who shined, getting a nice 4th spot. Only missing the podium by an inch.
Overall, Bagdonas finished 5th in the GC and second in the KoM. Pacheco finished 17th in the GC. Thill finished 7th in the KoM, which is a good performance for the young Luxembourgian. On top of that we got 4th in the team classification. So, a good La Tropicale Amissa Bongo!
. Now let's hope i can still sign some more good riders.
