Aker - MOT will continue with the same sponsors in 2016. 2015 was the best ever year for the team, and for that reason it didn't take long for the sponsors to agree to another year, meaning we are proud to announce that both Aker and MOT have signed for 2016.
Kjell Inge Røkke, the Norwegian billionaire, is still the most important man for our team, and we're thrilled he decided to continue to sponsor our team through Aker. When extending the current sponsor deal, he stated he's happy with how the team performed in 2015, eventhough there was also some obvious disappointments. For 2016, he hopes the team will perform better in the monuments compared to 2016.
MOT is an organization working for the youth in Norway. For example they co-operate with approximately 300 schools in Norway, working for a better environment for them, and amongst other things trying to minimalize bullying and drug use.
As the reporter Per Mandagsfjord strongly hinted during the 2015 season, Edvald Boasson Hagen will most likely leave the Norwegian Pro Tour team Aker - MOT. Team manager ember confirmed this speaking to the press earlier this month.
It's obviously with a heavy heart we've decided to do open the door for this. I'd like to say it's a decision that was taken last summer after the classics, as it then became clear Edvald might need a new environment to perform at his very best in the classics. After all he still misses that monument win, and if we can't give it to him, we're prepared to let him leave if that's what's needed to see a Norwegian monument win.
ember refused to give any further comment on the situation, neither would he explain what will be needed to see his captain stay.
Edvald Boasson Hagen could leave Aker - MOT this transfer season.
Having said all that, it is clear that it will take a serious team, a serious manager and a serious bid for the Norwegian star to leave the team he joined with high hopes of claiming that monumental win. Boasson Hagen also confirms he's prepared to leave.
It has been three amazing years. I know I haven't been at my best in 2015 and 2014, but that only makes me more motivated to do well this year, as nothing will please me more than proving the criticism wrong, be it in the colours of Aker - MOT or another team. And if I'm leaving Aker - MOT, I need to know that my possible new team doesn't limit my chances of getting that monument win. Then there's no point in leaving.
@tastasol: It all comes down to who can give me the offer I like the most, really. Kind of assume you will hang around as the other Norwegian PT team
@Avin: And not just a possibility anymore, as it's confirmed he's leaving below:
News: Another Transfer Shock for Aker - MOT
Just a day after it was announced Edvald Boasson Hagen is likely to leave, his key lieutnant and possible future leader of the team Sven Erik Bystrom has announced he will leave Aker - MOT as well.
I'm deeply disappointed to see the team let Edvald leave. He was my tutor, my friend and a rider I was willing to dig my own grave for out on the roads. Without him, I can't see how I can continue my development here in Aker - MOT. Thus, I will leave this transfer season.
Team manager ember confirms Bystrom will leave the team. He's also saying it's no longer just a possibility Edvald Boasson Hagen will leave.
From now on, we're planning 2016 without Boasson Hagen and Bystrom. Both will leave. It's a shame we have to do it this way, but it was either those two leaving, or our whole bunch of young and talented Norwegians. We never liked any of the possible solutions, but this has to be the one. We know we will also loose our status as one of the five best teams, but this is what has to be done.
As it stands now, ember confirms Boasson Hagen and Bystrom are the only riders leaving the team this transfer season, but he also admits that can be changed, depending on the interest for the other riders in the team. What is nevertheless clear, is that Aker - MOT is looking at a transfer season which will see significant changes to the team.
It will be hectic, and our team is likely to be worse after the transfer season then what it is now, but that's what you get for playing the game. We've had since last year's summer preparing for this, but admittedly, we can never be well enough prepared for such a situation, loosing our captain and our future captain for the hills. We can only wait and see how we manage to solve the transfers and what riders we want to bring in to replace them. It's quite clear we can't only look for Norwegians with two of the very best from the country leaving us, says team manager ember.
The good news today is that it, in a non related announcement, has been confirmed the transfer season will start at the end of this week. Guess we won't need to wait long to see what Aker - MOT hope to achieve in this year's transfer season, or maybe everything they won't be able to achieve.
The hilly classics have always been Gazelle's main focus and this will not change, demonstrated by the win goal we picked in Liège - Bastogne - Liège. We already had plans to build an amazing puncheur squad and Hagen, who shares our goal of winning a monument, would be the perfect rider to lead it to glory. We'll be in touch soon.
Interesting news from across the border. Seeing Boasson Hagen on another team will be weird, but hopefully he'll get that monument.
Bystrom on the other hand could possibly catch the attention of a newly promoted Scandinavian PCT team...
@alexkr00: Basically what Avin says, described below. Not a nice choice to make, but on the other hand I think that it's good for the game that choices like these have to be made.
@viking90: Interesting! I'm looking forward to it, hopefully the management of Spotify - Haglöfs have control of chaos then
@Avin: I was kind of expecting it, but I hoped "only" letting EBH leave meant I would have room for a decent replacement and a couple of domestiques/Norwegian riders. That looks difficult the way it is now, so I guess we will see what is going to happen. It should be interesting and fun!
@DubbelDekker: I like your win goal! I picked the same, but admittedly without much realism. Was difficult to find a win goal for one of my other captains, so then I went with EBH terrain, eventhough I knew he is leaving No doubts EBH would fit very well into what you've built with Gazelle, and I'm looking forward to hear from you.
@Atlantius: Bystrom is definitely eager to lead, as he expressed in his short statement. Though, he also understands that Aker - MOT need to think of what's best for the team, so it will come down to how we value the offer(s). Looking forward to talking to you!
EXCLUSIVE: Why the Captain Leaves the Ship
This is Per Mandagsfjord back reporting on Aker - MOT. I'm happy to see my article from almost a year ago proved right about Edvald Boasson Hagen and his future in the team. However, I'm not surprised as I had it from several sources. It seems like team manager ember has acknowledged me after that incident though, as I've now been allowed an exclusive interview with him, where he goes on to explain the reasoning behind letting Boasson Hagen leave the team. It's all written below.
Per Mandagsfjord: How is it even possible for you to consider letting Boasson Hagen leave?
ember: The idea came to us already in January last year, after Badaling. Edvald's 2014 was difficult, and it didn't look like 2015 was going to be different after his poor start in China. In 2015 we were also a team with only 20 riders and a tight wage budget, and I've always been prepared to consider selling Boasson Hagen as a solution to that. It's no secret that our many talents have developed, making it difficult to keep our riders within the budget.
PM: In the end, what actually made you go with the decision of letting Boasson Hagen leave?
ember: Well, we kind of had to choose seeing how renewals went and how big wage demands our Norwegian talents actually made. It turned out their demands were a lot higher than expected. In the end, that meant we either had to sell Edvald or sell our entire core of talents. That would have been this team's DNA, and I'm not leaving our DNA behind that easy! Thus, Edvald has to leave. At the end of the day, it's as simple as that, but it obviously saddens me greatly.
PM: But why couldn't you let go of Martin or Guldhammer instead, as they are foreigners in your team?
ember: It wouldn't have made enough of a difference. We are forced to sell one of our captains, and Edvald is the only one we can sell to free up enough money for another rider to make our team exist of at least 20 riders. Admittedly, we could also have sold Dan and replaced him with a 50k free agent rider, seeing us just inside the budget and with 20 riders, but that would have put our team and development on hold as it would have given no one any freedom. The changes we will do will clearly weaken our team, but we're prepared to do that as long as we have faith in that we could come back stronger in a couple of years.
PM: What's your view on the young Norwegians wage demands then, forcing you to let go of your true captain?
ember: They obviously need to make a living from riding a bike, and thus it's understandable that they want some decent money. Though, I must admit it took by a bit of surprise, especially a couple of the demands. I've seen a couple of other managers making complaints about their young riders demanding a lot more than they expected. We're in the same boat, but I'm happy to accept their demands to keep them. I guess that has been proved by our transfer strategy this season, as we will let Edvald go to keep almost all the younger riders.
PM: But Bystrom will also leave, arguably the most talented rider you signed in 2013 and developed from scratch. Why him?
ember: Originally we hoped to let Edvald leave and be left with 600k or more to spend on new riders' wages, but as can be seen from our renewals, that wasn't even close to being possible. Thus, to allow ourselves a little bit of room in the transfer season, only Edvald out isn't enough. We need to clear a little more space, and Sven Erik is our highest paid rider except the captains. That makes it easier to let him leave.
PM: But what will you actually target this transfer season?
ember: To be honest, we don't know yet. It all comes down to the market. One obvious goal is to try to build a train for Kristoff, and we hope that will be possible. We will look for riders able to do a leadout. Looking at our goals for the season, it's obvious they don't go well with our riders anymore, at least the win LBL goal and the top 10 in Lombardia goal. That was admittedly a mistake in the planning from my side, but I guess I just couldn't see a life without Edvald in our team, eventhough I knew it was happening. That could mean we will need to chase a puncheur, to at least give us some kind of hope for the hilly goals, but I honestly doubt it will be possible, as we don't really have that sort of money.
It's expected Aker - MOT will announce both their goals and the renewals they have made later today, when the team manager gets back from Berlin. I can only speculate what he has been doing in Berlin, but it could be that German managers, teams or riders have a certain interest for Aker - MOT in the upcoming transfer season. I must admit that I for once haven't been able to confirm those rumours though.
As mentioned in the interview with Per Mandagsfjord, we're well aware we've messed up what races should be our main objectives this season. Nevertheless, we present our goals and hope we can complete more of them than we will fail:
Win
Liège-Bastogne-Liège
Top 10
Giro di Lombardia
Top 10
Giro d'Italia
Top 10
Vuelta a Espana
Top 10
Team standings
Except for the win goal, we are of the opinion that the other four should be very doable. Our goals are less ambitious than the previous years, which underlines our strategy of rebuilding and aim for less than we've done in both 2015 and 2014. We still hope to succeed in most of our goals, and that's why we've made them the way they are.
We will obviously see to Guldhammer and Martin for the Giro and the Vuelta. Who goes where is yet to be decided, and it also depends on their personal preferences. Our top 10 goal for Lombardia is clearly out of reach if you see our team today without Boasson Hagen and Bystrom, but we will work to sign a decent puncheur during the upcoming transfer season. Whoever we might sign though, we admittedly don't have much hope of winning Liège-Bastogne-Liège. But who knows, we might come back with winning ambitions in La Doyenne in 2017, or most probably 2018.
Speaking of our current riders, our team after the renewals looks like this:
Unfortunately our jersey designer through many years, Sykkel_Freak, decided to stop after the 2015 season. Thus, we've been looking for a new jersey and a new designer, but in the same time we didn't want to change too much. We liked the previous jersey a lot, andwe think everyone recognizes our jersey nowadays and what we stand for, both when a fan or a rider is wearing it.
But small changes and development are always good, and we're very happy and proud to announce aidanvn13 took the time to come up with a great jersey. We'll wear it with pride in 2016, and hopefully it will be seen at the front of the peloton and victorious once in a while.
We can only say thank you to aidanvn13 for his great work, keeping the jersey similar to what it has been, but still adding a couple of new elements. Lars Petter Nordhaug has been with the team from the start in 2012, and he was a happy man seeing the new jersey. Here's what he had to say about it.
It looks stunning, simple as that. I think our jersey has always been one of the best in the peloton, and we saw that when the fans voted the previous edition the second best of all jerseys out there a couple of years ago. I'm really happy to see this, as I was kind of afraid we would get a completely new look, but in my opinion there's no change to throw away something that works. I'm looking forward to race in our new jersey, and I will do so with immense pride.
aidanvn13 has also found time to produce a national champion jersey for Rasmus Guldhammer. With the colours of the Danish flag, we think he has come up with an outstanding jersey. There's also the small detail for those with a good eye, with Rasmus' name written on the jersey. Rasmus found great pleasure in that detail, and with both his name on the jersey and different colours, he should have an easy job finding it when on training camps and races.
We hope also fans, other riders and teams find our new jersey nice, and we're really looking forward to see it in races. The first opportunity comes in China with Badaling International.
Per Mandagsfjord really does know all that right questions!
What happens with EBH will likely be one of the stories of the transfer window. I do like it when the tops names are put up for sale, adds some good dynamics to everything, rather than one team hoarding someone forever.
I can't see us talking too much in the transfer period, but I didn't expect us to last season, and that turned out great! Good luck!
@The Rider: Thank you! And I really appreciated the talks we had about Contador and others last transfer season. Good luck to you as well, whoever you go after this time, be it FAs or contracted riders. And yeah, Mandagsfjord indeed seems to know his stuff. Luckily only transfers can tell if he's right this time...:
LEAKED: Part of Aker - MOT's shortlist
This is Per Mandagsfjord again reporting on Aker - MOT, as I've got more explosive news for you regarding Aker - MOT and the upcoming transfer season. Only hours before it starts, I've been able to get credible information from several close to the team management about who Aker - MOT will try to sign from the Free Agents market this year.
What is obvious from the information I've got, is that there is no doubts Aker - MOT 2016 will be weakened compared to Aker - MOT in 2015 looking at the riders, which must be alarming for their management. Without much further ado, below follows the riders I've been able to place on their shortlist through talking to many, many people with influence regarding Aker - MOT.
Diego Ulissi - I've understood the Italian puncheur is at top of the list for Aker - MOT. Looking at his palmares, Ulissi hasn't done much the previous seasons, and in 2015 there was nothing suggesting he could bloom in a new environnment. Aker - MOT clearly think otherwise as they want to give the Tuscan a chance to shine in their colours.
Tom Scully - In my recent interview with team manager ember, he stated they want to make a sprint train for Alexander Kristoff this season. Thus, it becomes obvious why Scully is a rider they will chase. The Kiwi bags a nice sprint, and it comes with a kick even Kristoff could struggle to follow.
Ian Boswell - The young American is believed to be the team's management second choice looking for a puncheur. Yet to finish his development, big things could come from Boswell in the future, eventhough it will admittedly take a lot of patience and training.
Matti Manninen - Only 24 years old, he will develop into what a source described the perfect leadout rider. I've understood he won't play a decisive role in the potential sprint train for Kristoff this season, but learning by observing could see him play a vital role in a sprint train in the years to come.
Andreas Vangstad - A decent Norwegian domestique who could strengthen Aker - MOT's TTT setup, which isn't convincing at all. It has been said the team management fear the consequences as there are many team time trials this season.
Sindre Skjøstad Lunke - A Norwegian climber talent. The team management believe Lunke could become a solid rider for future Grand Tours. Not as a captain, but as a key domestique to whoever may lead the team.
Those listed are the riders Aker - MOT want the most this transfer season, at least that's how I've understood it. Other names they are keeping an eye up for is Ulissi's compatriot Modolo, Danish talents Würtz and Kragh, and a possible leadout rider in R. Feillu.
However, team manager ember has declined to comment my information, and the same goes for everyone in Aker - MOT's team management. Thus, my information can't be taken as the absolute truth, but seeing my track record with both Grieg-Eriftel and Aker - MOT, I will in all modesty say it is solid.
That was all for now. I will be back whenever I have more information and breaking news to report.
But Carlsberg - Danske Bank was hoping that all PT and PCT teams would just let the poor Danish CT team with no money buy all the future PT great Danish stars for 50k.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Bianchi
Edvald Boasson Hagen 
Rasmus Guldhammer 
Romain Feillu 
Michal Golas 
Stanislau Bazhkou 
Daniel Martin 
Daryl Impey 
Alberto Contador 
Steven Kruijswijk 
Damien Howson
Samuel Pökälä 
Simon Spilak
Remberto Jaramillo
Kobe Vanoverschelde
David Livramento
Joseph Biziyaremye
Lucas Sebastian Haedo
Artem Topchanyuk
Alexandre Shushemoin
Jose Alarcon 
Gustav Larsson 
Tom Scully - In my recent interview with team manager ember, he stated they want to make a sprint train for Alexander Kristoff this season. Thus, it becomes obvious why Scully is a rider they will chase. The Kiwi bags a nice sprint, and it comes with a kick even Kristoff could struggle to follow. 
Ian Boswell - The young American is believed to be the team's management second choice looking for a puncheur. Yet to finish his development, big things could come from Boswell in the future, eventhough it will admittedly take a lot of patience and training.
