2014 Roster

The forthcoming weeks promise to be a busy time for the team as we not only reflect on the season gone by, and the highs and lows that were endured, but also look forward to the 2014 season and the excitements that it may bring. However the time has come to say goodbye to some of our valued riders, as they seek retirement or look elsewhere. Thus we sadly announce the immediate departure of the following riders from our team:

Karsten Kroon
Takashi Miyazawa
Timothy Duggan
Anders Lund
Benjamin Noval

We are also looking towards the new season with an eye to improving the overall quality of the squad and focusing somewhat on depth. The following riders either have expressed an interest in leaving, or have had the that interest expressed to them by the management, and are effectively 'for sale' (at a reasonable price of course):

Jonathan Cantwell (Sp 74, Acc 74)
Bruno Pires (Mo 72, Hil 72)
Evgeni Petrov (Mo 73, Hil 72, TT 70, Prl 70)
Rory Sutherland (Mo 71, Hil 72, TT 70, Prl 71)

So as you can see we are looking towards some fairly drastic change at the team, being rather disappointed with our 12th place finish, with less than half the points of our owner's arch-nemeses at Team Sky. Anyway, bring on 2014!

Goals

Time to announce our goals for part 1 of the season!

Easy: Top 5 Tour Down Under
Medium: Top 5 Tirreno-Adriatico
Hard: Win Volta a Catalunya

We feel these are challenging, but achievable goals that the team will be motivated by and hopefully signal the start of a successful season. Not only that, but we are looking to three different riders to achieve these goals, emphasising our strength in depth and sending out a powerful message to our rivals. Bring on 2014!

Stromeon wrote:

Ollfardh wrote:


Countered goals:
Easy goal: Stage Win Oman
Medium goal: Top 5 San Remo
Hard goal: Podium E3

The first WT race of the season always provides some excitement and this year was not an exception at Tinkoff. We had set ourselves a goal of achieving a top 5 finish, and were successful at this, with new signing Dani Moreno getting his season off to a good start, finishing 5th in the overall classification, despite a rather passive race from him - symptomatic of the race as a whole really, after the normally intriguing Willunga Hill finish ended in a rather tame bunch sprint. Elsewhere, Nicki Sorensen, a true stalwart of the team, managed a pleasing 4th place stage finish from a breakaway, but Sam Bennett, sent to mix it up in the slightly tougher sprints was nowhere to be seen throughout the race. However, a victory in the team classification wrapped up events Down Under quite nicely. A goal achieved is a good start to the season.

Moreno looks to break free of the pack on the decisive third stage