As most of you don't know me, let me introduce myself first: I am Casper, and the guy here, next to me, is Mitch. Today, the first of December, was the day you've all been waiting for. So, why not reveal everything at the same time?
Spoiler
Yes, that's right: Project Benelux. To explain you what this 'Project Benelux' is, we must go back a few days:
A few weeks ago, I got called by a hidden number. I heard a somewhat familiar voice, but I just couldn't figure out who it was. He said, in Dutch: "A cab is waiting outside, I'll meet you in the Binnenhof in 20 minutes. This is no joke, we need you." *BEEP BEEP BEEP*
I was assuming this was a prankcall, until the moment I heard a car coming in my street. I looked out my window, and surprisingly saw a big black Mercedes, with a blue license plate. I walked down the stairs, opened my front door, and knocked on the Mercedes' darkened window. The driver made the window go down, showed me a pass saying he served the government, and told me to get in immediately. Somewhat frightened, I got in the car.
As we drove down the highway, I asked what was going on. The driver replied "The government needs to speak with you. Don't worry, nothing will happen to you." So, I relaxed a bit, and waited patiently until the car stopped driving. To my surprise, we were actually in the Binnenhof, where normally no cars were allowed, only for the people involved in the government. I saw a man standing there; a familiar man, our president; Mark Rutte. He greeted me, and excused himself for the fact that "things had to be this way". Then he said "we brought a friend of you, too." That was the moment another big black cab came driving in the Binnenhof. The car stopped, and I saw a guy stepping out of it; Mitch.
We are very happy with our team for coming season, and I'm proud to present these brave warriors. Lets hear it for:
Team leaders
We signed them to take wins. That will be their role throughout the season; it's as simple as that.
Laurens Ten Dam
Laurens is our (arguably) strongest climber. He will lead in every stage race with a mountain stage he enters, and he will lead the squad at the Vuelta, if we get invited. His best aspect? Laurens never, ever gives up!
Wout Poels
'Woutje' is almost as strong in the mountains as Laurens, but that is not his main focus. No, Wout rather rides in the hills. Therefore, he will lead our team in the Ardennes classics.
Sep Vanmarcke
This young Belgian is one of the biggest talents in the peloton; we are glad he rides for us. He will lead our team in the cobbled classics, and perhaps in the Eneco Tour, if we get a wildcard.
Tom Veelers
Dutchman Tom is the fastest man in our team. That is why he will lead in the sprints, trying to grab stage wins. His biggest chances are the tougher flat stages, because he likes cobbles and hills.
Free elements
These guys will be leaders when the absolute leader is not present, our has crashed. They will ride for their own chance unless the absolute leader needs them.
Bart de Clercq
Bart used to be an ideal domestique in the mountains and hills, but this season, we decided to give him a chance to hunt for victories. But, when we need him to support our leader, he will do so.
Dries Devenyns
Dries is one of the best puncheurs in our team, but he is also very good on the cobbles and in the hills: the perfect allrounder. He will lead the squad when Wout or Laurens aren't able to do so.
Kenny van Hummel
'Hummeltje' was a little disappointed after our try-outs during the pre-season training camp, when he just got beated by Tom, but we assured him that he will lead the sprints whenever Tom doesn't.
Pieter Weening
Do you remember that Rabobank-rider riding in the Maglia Rosa last year? Yes? That was our Pieter! He is a very good climber/puncheur, and he will get a free role when he doesn't have to support our team leader.
Maarten Wynants
When Sep is not there in a cobbled race for some reason, Maarten will take over his role; he is an experienced man, and will most likely be our road captain in a big share of the races he enters.
Team-mates
They will give everything to make sure our leaders can take victory.
Perhaps they can snatch some wins too, from breakaways.
Dominique Cornu
Dominique is a decent time trialler, and also good on the hills: perfect for leading the peloton.
Laurent Didier
One of the two Luxembourgers in the team, Laurent, is very good in protecting a leader on heavier terrain.
Leif Hoste
Once one of the best cobbled classics specialist in the peloton, nowadays still decent. Leif is the oldest rider in our team, and therefore he will be road captain on a regular basis.
Iljo Keisse
Iljo is the best of the team in downhill sections, but that won't bring him much. He will be a domestique, but he will get opportunities to join breakaways.
Nikolas Maes
Also Belgian, Nikolas, is a great domestique on slightly hilly terrain. He is also good at leading the pack.
Joost Posthuma
Joost is the best time trialler of the team, which makes him the best of our team for leading the pack, on any terrain.
Wim Stroetinga
Wim will always play an important role in our sprinting train, he is one of the fastest men in the squad.
Bram Tankink
Bram is very good all-round, and therefore an ideal domestique. He feels best on hilly terrain.
Boy Van Poppel
Yes, 'son-of'. Just like his dad, Boy is a sprinter. But Boy hates all the comparisons with his dad, he wants to show the world that he deserves better than that! Well Boy, for now, you're just part of our train.
Michael Van Staeyen
Michael is a great sprinter, but that's about it. That's why, just like Wim and Boy, he'll be part of our sprinting train.
Ronan Van Zandbeek
Ronan will be a typical bottle carrier. He has no real speciality, and that's exactly why we selected him.
Maxime Vantomme
Maxime is a decent sprinter, but not as good as Boy and Michael, that's why he'll be one of the earlier riders in our sprinting train.
Youth academy
We decided to give the riders of our youth academy a place in the PCT team. They will be attacking a lot throughout the season, trying to go for their own chance.
Tom Dumoulin
The other Tom in our team is completely different from this guy. This Tom is a great all-rounder, with a preference for time trials and hills.
Marc Goos
If this fellow keeps developing at this rate, we can see Marc win a GT in a few years. Massive talent!
Bob Jungels
The second Luxembourger in our team, Bob, is just like Tom [Dumoulin] a very talented all-rounder. If he trains hard enough, he could win every type of race in a few years.
Joeri Stallaert
Joeri is one of the most promising sprinters in the peloton, we are interested what he can do this season.
Jasper Stuyven
Perhaps Jasper is, if you compare him to the others, not such a great cobbled classics specialist yet, but he has a lot of fans because of his aggresive riding style, and he has a lot of room for improvement.
Tosh Van der Sande
Tosh is pretty good both in the hills and in the sprints, so we are curious how he will develop.
Danny Van Poppel
Danny, brother of Boy, is the youngest guy in our team. We still don't really know how good he's going to be in the future, but for now he is at his best in the hills.
Full squad roster
Here you can see the results of our training camp; the trainer made stats from 50-85 for each skill of every rider, according to him.
Jersey and equipment
Our graphic design department worked very hard, together with Craft, to make this jersey, and even team managers Mitch (idea) and me [Casper] (realisation) played a major role in the creation of our jersey. Therefore, we hereby proudly present:
Our jersey for 2012
But that is not all!
I went to Koga, who are delivering our bikes this season, and helped them make bikes for our team next season:
Road Bike
Time Trial Bike
These are my first ever frames, I hope you guys like them.
Calendar
These are the races where you will see our shirt coming season:
The races in blue are World Tour races, we must wait and see if we get a wildcard so we can participate in them.
As you can see, our most important goal is promoting to the UCI World Tour? Why? Well, promoting to the World Tour means that we will ride every World Tour race, and most people only watch the World Tour races.
Winning the Eneco Tour is of course an important goal for us too, because it is the only WT race that goes through both Belgium and the Netherlands.
Scoring a top 5 in a WT Ardennes or cobbled classic is a goal for us because it make our team more famous.
Winning a national championship is important for us because it gets us more publicity, and because a NC jersey stands out even more than our normal jersey.
Top 10 in the Vuelta is clear, I think: it delivers a lot of points, and it's always a great achievement to get a top 10 finish in the general classification of a Grand Tour.
That sums up the team presentation, we'll get to racing soon! Edited by fcancellara on 01-12-2012 23:29
So, the Mercedes drove onto the Binnenhof, and as soon as it stopped, the driver opened the door and said: "There are some surprises waiting for you". When I stepped out the car, I was immediately shocked. "Isn"t that Casper standing over there, with... the president?", I asked to myself. It was Casper. I walked towards him, and asked: "What are you doing here?" He answered: "I got a mysterious call, and then this black Mercedes drove me to here." I said that the same happened to me, and asked him if he had any idea what this was all about. "I don"t know either, but I think we"re about to find out." was the only thing Casper had to say.
Immediately after that, our attention went to our president. "Come in, we have something to talk to you about" was what the Dutch Prime Minister [url=www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Rutte]Mark
Rutte[/url] had to say. While we walked with the two men to a big hall, I said to Casper: "I know one guy is Rutte, but the other one. I"m sure I"ve seen him before, but I don"t know who it is." Casper immediately answered: "That"s [url=www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elio_Di_Rupo]Elio
Di Rupo[/url], the Belgian Prime Minister. You know, that guy who can"t speak a decent word Dutch. So it"s gonna be a fun meeting then." We both started laughing a bit, but not too loud, so nobody noticed it. Finally, we were at the big hall. "Sit down, make yourself comfortable", was what Rutte said.
When we sat down on the big couch, Rutte continued: "So, basically, our idea is to start a new cycling team, since it looks like Rabobank will stop sponsoring their team soon.The Government will be your main sponsor. But... the problem is that we can"t afford the sponsorship ourselves." "And that"s why I visit here today, the Belgian Government is also sponsoring the nouveau team", was what Di Rupo replied, with the worst Dutch accent I have ever heard. I looked to Casper, Casper looked to me. Then Casper asked a question, like he stole it out of my mind: "But why do you want US to lead the team?" "Well, we heard you two are very good in this computer game, Pro Cycling Manager or so, so we decided to give you the chance to manage our project." Rutte answered. "But it won"t be easy, because we want you to promote to the World Tour in just one season. Quand you fail, we"ll have to cut off half of the money we invest in you." was what Di Rupo had to add. "OK, we"ll look what we can do" I said, on which Rutte replied: "Good. Oh, before I forget: the Government of Luxembourg is also investing a decent amount of money. Only sign riders from the Benelux. Now, you can build the team, manage it and make it famous. Here is the enveloppe with the code of the team's bank account. The future of the sport you love so much lies in your hands now" while he shook the hands he mentioned. That was the moment we realised this was the beginning. The beginning of a wonderful project. The beginning of Project Benelux.
Edited by MitchNL on 01-12-2012 23:28
I was to take part in this story. But unfortunately I can't do it at the moment. Some things have come up and are draining my time too much to take part in this. Though I wish you good luck and I know it'll be a great story. My apologies for this, but I would slow down everything way too much. Life comes first
![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
