In collaboration with the MG governing authorities, a late addition to the 2016 Continental Tour is the ‘World Cycling Centre’ (WCC) development team. Having secured funding from a wealthy individual who wishes to remain anonymous at this time, the WCC team will bring a focus on young rider development while bringing together riders from all four corners of the globe. Following the untimely demise of the Grupo Nutresa cycling team, Scorchio Cycling Management was approached to front this new venture. In a short statement, Scorchio announced:
“I’m delighted to return so quickly to the MG fold, and feel our organisation brings the necessary knowledge and experience to ensure that the World Cycling Centre team hits the ground running given the short time-frame available. Given this short-time frame, we will be relying on much of the existing SCM infrastructure, and hence will remain registered in Colombia for this season given the good working relationship we have with the local governing body. However our backer has requested that we change our registration location for the 2017 season as by then we will have had time to properly establish a new base elsewhere."
Scorchio refused to comment on where this new HQ may be, “2017 will take care of itself” was all that he was willing to say, choosing instead to focus on getting moving for the rapidly approaching 2016 season.
"We have a tremendous amount of work ahead of us to ensure that we are ready for the season kick-off, not least signing the mandatory 15 rider minimum by transfer deadline and finalising our various equipment deals. It is our intention to sign at least 10 riders who have headroom for further improvement with which we can assist. We will also require a small cohort of experienced riders to act as mentors - leading on the road and demonstrating best practise in training, racing and tactics for our young riders to learn from. As we will be bringing riders together from varying different backgrounds and cultures, the World Cycling Centre will not just be about bicycle racing, it will also provide fantastic opportunities for more fundamental personal development for our 2016 intake."
With that, Scorchio hastily exited the press conference with his mobile phone clamped to his ear, no doubt re-establishing links with his vast cycling network.
Edited by Scorchio on 13-05-2017 17:52
More details to be announced later providing an in-depth break-down of transfer season activity, philosophy and outcomes.
Edited by Scorchio on 21-06-2016 14:11
A few questions - will your team be aimed at promoting and performance or development? As in, will always remain at CT or will you try to promote as any other team does?
As soon as we are allowed, there might be some African FA who would need to be developed which I'd like to mention
Thanks Aidan. In the short term, not looking to compete for promotion, just hold our own. With a minimum of 10 unmaxed riders (and lvl 4.XX not all that much use in CT), we will be a very inexperienced squad when 2016 season kicks off. Medium term I see the PCT as the best 'home' for long term rider development, as permits the widest range of development opportunities (iboth from RD's and access to widest range of race classification perpectives), so maybe after a season or two we will evolve enough to aspire towards that. Let us see where the journey takes us!
Exclusive: The story behind the demise of Grupo Nutresa
Within the closed world of the professional cycling community, it was clear that problems were afoot at Grupo Nutresa as far back as last Spring. Only now can the complete story be told with exclusive insight from ex-team personnel and riders.
“The fundamental problem was with the contracts and key individuals at the teams main sponsor” relates ex-team General Manager Scorchio.
“As soon as it was announced that the team had successfully secured wildcard entries to the Tour de France and some of the Spring monuments, major interference started. The organisation had always been set-up such that my SCM_GNU operating company was paid in monthly instalments by Grupo Nutresa. This was handled via their PR and media unit, and worked without a hitch in our first season in 2014, but in 2015, a new manager at Nutresa was appointed to oversee our contracts and budget. This individual started turning up at our early race schedule and was quickly travelling with an entourage in tow and treating SCM_GNU and our race program as his own exclusive private holiday vehicle. By the time of the Spring classics, he had decided that he wanted to drive the team car and act as DS at the races, except all he would really do would be to get drunk, chase after podium girls and cause crashes in race convoys. When we had no choice but to give him his marching orders and raise complaints further up back at Grupo Nutresa corporate HQ, our monthly payments suddenly started becoming mysteriously ‘delayed’. The situation was a disaster. On it’s own financially, there was no way that SCM_GNU could continue to cover the wage bill, so things became really difficult through April and May with delayed wage payments, and by June the situation had reached breaking point. With no appropriate response from higher up in the corporate body at Grupo Nutresa, we at SCM_GNU were forced to relinquish complete control of day-to-day operations to get the money flowing again to ensure riders and staff got paid what they were already owed, and for the rest of the season. From that point forward, my team at SCM_GNU had no direct involvement on race days, although privately, off the books, we still mentored, coached and attempted to assist our riders in finding new teams for 2016 as it became inevitable that Grupo Nutresa had become a financial house of cards that would inevitably collapse.
With the team then being ineptly run by people with no background in the sport, I think it is a huge credit to the vast majority of riders that they buckled down and worked as best they could within the constraints that they were under to focus on delivering solid sporting performances. After the debacle of failing to submit the necessary paperwork to secure entries to the Tour de L’Avenir, and then even more calamitously the World Championship events, the publicity furore in the Colombian press (including leading to questions being raised in the Colombian parliament) finally brought the attention of the Grupo Nutresa board to the growing PR disaster who then were forced to take action. Cutting their losses, they cancelled the contract extension for 2016 and settled all outstanding bills with the intent of sweeping the problem under the carpet.”
It is the understanding of Ciclista Mundo that it turns out that the individual at the heart of the Grupo Nutresa teams problems was in fact the son of a prominent board member. His son has since been ‘reprimanded’ with an internal promotion. A sure case of the game of life being very different for the top 0.01% from what the rest of us experience!”
During the season riders were fearful of the consequences of speaking out impacting on their income and race programme. Having now secured contracts at pastures new, some were now minded to go on the record or at least respond to enquiries.
Stijn VDB: “I’m just glad that it is all behind me, and I have secured a good berth here at Kenya Airways - Dimension Data - back in the ProTour for 2016. Even if from a personal perspective I managed to obtain some significant results, particularly early in the year before all the problems started to emerge, it’s certainly not a year I can envisage looking back on with fond memories in the future given the stresses and strains that we were put under throughout the season.”
Jesus Del Nero: “God it was a tough situation mate, for a good while we’d be getting paid late each month, and this plays on your mind when you’ve got a mortgage to pay and young kids back home to feed. Scorchio did his best to keep us informed of exactly what was going on, and help us focus on our racing, but once that new imbecile came on board and the DS’s were all forced to step back mid-season things really turned to rat-shit at the races. Things became totally disorganised, logistics support fell apart and we‘d have to be combating the idiotic ‘leadership’ of the imbecile that assumed control. He obviously had absolutely no idea about cycles racing, or I’d be surprised any sport given how out of shape the fat-fracker was. Management was also a word that he’d obviously never learned. Eventually it became so bad that you’d just be happy to find that the team bus had made it to the right town at each stage start and finish so that you didn’t end up stuck in some new town with no idea where to go or access to your stuff. In the races, the senior riders like Ardila Cano, VDB, Klemme and myself tried to do what we could to help the young riders out and actually put a reasonable race plan in place and maintain morale and team cohesion on the road – for example we quickly agreed internally to use different frequencies for our race radios to avoid the inane rantings that we’d be subjected to from the team car. The guy was such a moron that I don’t think he ever worked that out even after months of no responses during the races; we’d just tell him the radios weren’t working, or that he must have been out of range.
Do I blame Scorchio for what happened? That’s a hard one, he certainly has to accept some responsibility for naivety of how the teams contracts were set-up and how fragile that made the team financially. But he was a damn good team manager and DS at the races, and logistics were always spot on when he was in charge – no getting to a feed zone to find no soigneur to hand up bottles or feedbags or problems with flights and hotels on his watch. He was a good coach and motivator for the riders as well, you only have to look at the performances and development of riders like Beltran, Tatarinov and Dayer Q to witness that. I hear he is back in the game so to speak, and I wish him well with his new team. I’d happily have a beer with him next time our paths cross; I don’t bear any bad will towards him, in fact very much the opposite.”
Edwin Avila: “After all my great work the previous winter, it feels like a season lost. Look, I don’t really want to talk about it, all it does is make me angry. I just want to concentrate on the season ahead and trying to get some decent results on the board”.
Eduard Alexander Beltran: “I just tried to concentrate on my training and racing and learning from the senior riders. Money would come through late, but it wasn’t such an issue for me as some of the other guys who were really stressed out. Scorchio kept right on top of my training, analysing my power files everyday even after he was pushed out from the day-to-day running, and regular Skype meetings helping me focus on my personal goals and race programme. He has played a major role in getting me to where my career is now, and I’ll always be thankful for that. Missing out on defending my National Championship jersey was probably the biggest blow, but that came late on in the season, and negotiations for a new contract elsewhere were already well advanced at that stage, so I was able to remain calm, and even negotiate to have my best mate and key domestique Danny Osorio stay by my side. With Chaves and the others, I’m glad to have found such a great welcome at my new home alongside so many good mates who shared the Nutresa experience – it created a unique bond between us, and I am therefore delighted to have them continue as team mates for this new journey and adventure at Azteca-NBCSN in 2016.”
Scorchio’s final words were full of admiration for how Nutresa’s riders tried to concentrate on their racing even with all the turmoil going on in the background. “The guys put up a fantastic showing, especially at the Tour de France. Their hard work throughout the season ensured a creditable finish in the PCT standings for a newly promoted organisation. It’s just such a shame that the team had to fold with such a bright sporting future potentially ahead”.
Spoiler
In real life reality:
First of my apologies to the reporters and MG organisers for disappearing without a trace halfway through last season. The reasons were that I did literally disappear without a trace! I packed my life up in my car and over a period of 2-3 months lived under 11 different roofs in 4 countries before reaching my intended destination where I have now proceeded to set up home. Although I had sporadic internet access via cafes, etc. during that time, my focus was necessarily on securing my next lodgings and maintaining Skype contact with my family. I didn't pre-notify, as plan A involved only 2 different lodgings, with internet access at both. Plan A didn't work! I was also very niave in understanding how difficult getting an interent contract would prove here in Spain. The paper trail required was more extensive thatn for setting up a bank account!
All is well now (and was in reality during that time where I may technically have been homeless, but it was a situational position, not an economic one, so no real hardship involved).Onwards with the MG now!
World Cycling Centre 2016 rider presentation #1: Leaders
Despite WCC’s development focus, experienced riders are still necessary to gather results, mentor the young riders and generate race situations where their inexperienced comrades can most benefit as part of their strategic, tactical and physical development. To that end, WCC identified important criteria in attracting team leaders to our set-up. Team management were most interested in riders who still had the majority of their career in front of them and who were engaged by the potential to spend the majority of their career with our organisation as it develops. With the team only finalising its registration after many riders had already arranged their contracts for the 2016 season, the pool of talent still available was significantly reduced. We are therefore delighted to announce that even under these trying circumstances, we have managed to secure two excellent riders who are just reaching the peak of their physical abilities, and have placed their trust in the WCC project as their new home. Without further ado, we present young American cobbled classic expert Robert Bush, and Colombian climbing sensation Michael Rodriguez Galindo as our leaders for our inaugural 2016 season.
Robert Bush
26 years old | XP: 4.100 |Pot: 5 | Overall: 75.18
Wage: 200,000 Euros
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MO
HI
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74
63
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Having attracted Robert to our program, we have assured him that we will make every effort to provide an excellent race schedule for him to include as many cobbled races and semi-classics as possible. To this end WCC will be submitting applications to important higher level races such as Gent-Wevelgem and the GP Kigali to supplement our CT race schedule. With additional signings to be announced shortly we will also introduce important domestiques who have the necessary skill-set to assist Robert in his target races. During the CT cobbled events, we are confident that Robert will be among the top echelon on the start-line and has the capability to regularly compete for the podium places. While the competition will be several steps higher when competing in PCT events, we believe that he still has the opportunity to secure top 10 placings if he can maintain his focus on his own race strategy rather than being phased by the opposition.
Michael Rodriguez Galindo
27 years old | XP: 4.100 |Pot: 5 | Overall: 73.62
Wage: 125,000 Euros
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MO
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COB
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69
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66
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Rodriguez Galindo already has history with team manager Scorchio “I look forward to this new opportunity to work with Scorchio and his SCM organisation. I was delighted with the opportunities that he managed to negotiate for me last season after I signed with Nutresa to ride on loan at the prestigious Vesuvio – Accumalux team to complete my cycling education. This afforded me fantastic opportunities to ride many of cyclings most famous parcours. A particular highlight was winning the KoM jersey at Paris-Nice, as well as supporting my team leaders who I now consider to be good friends to many victories. Now re-united at WCC I will have the opportunity to continue to grow my palmares, challenging for victory in both one-day races and stage races that suit my characteristics.”
World Cycling Centre 2016 rider presentation #2: Student athletes
It’s time for WCC to introduce and welcome our next batch of riders to the presentation stage. I refer to these young men as our ‘student athletes’ as they will be combining academic studies with their race programme riding in WCC colours. We have worked closely with each to minimise conflict between their race and academic schedules. Fundamentally, each will be racing a reduced number of race days to facilitate their studies.
Most senior of these 3 riders is Belgian Oliver Naesen. Oliver most recently was seen racing in the colours of Team Bpost, and brings excellent support skills to our classic focussed race group. Combining puncheur and cobbles abilities, Oliver will offer strong support to Robert Bush, and may also get some opportunities for himself as the races evolve on the road. His race programme will be restricted to around 30 race day focussed on his preferred terrain. This will enable him to combine his racing with starting a two-year MSc degree in the area of sustainable development.
Oliver Naesen
26 years old | XP: 4.100 |Pot: 3 | Overall: 71.85
Wage: 50,000 Euros
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MO
HI
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RES
REC
COB
SP
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73
57
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64
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66
Next we have a rider with similar interests in performing on cobbled terrain, Isaac Bolivar. Isaac is a rider whose career team manager Scorchio has been following with considerable interest given his close association with Colombian cycling.
“I made overtures to sign Isaac in both of the previous transfer periods but was rebuffed. I was therefore delighted to be able to sign him for my new WCC squad from free agency.”
Bolivar himself commented, “My career and progression thus far have at times been compromised by my studies as I have not managed to race as often as required to optimally progress. It has been difficult juggling the two objectives, so I am over the moon to have signed on with such a progressive and understanding organisation as the WCC. Even more exciting is the opportunity to race some of the monuments of the sport now that agreement has been reached to ride for Evonik – ELKO for the 2016 season. They have assured me a light race programme that will enable my continued progression as a cyclist while also enabling me to commit to returning full-time to my studies for this final year of my degree before fully focussing on maximising the potential of my cycling career with no other distractions from 2017 onwards.”
Isaac Bolivar
25 years old | XP: 3.81 |Pot: 5 | Overall: 71.85
Wage: 50,000 Euros
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Knowledgeable cycling pundits have postulated that Bolivar has great future potential, perhaps maturing into the following characteristics
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The final young rider joining our student athlete cohort is Abou Sanogo. Although he has limited international exposure as a racing cyclist, our sources in Africa brought this young rider from the Ivory Coast to our attention as having the inherent talent necessary to have a successful cycling career. Abou has had a colourful life to date, and limited formal education due to having to work from a very young age to help provide for his family. Nonetheless he is obviously a very bright and able young man, and WCC will be providing him with all the support he requires to achieve his high school leavers certificate equivalency. It is to his great credit that Abou feels so passionately about obtaining a solid educational grounding when he also has such great potential for a successful and hopefully lucrative career in cycling in front of him. Team manager Scorchio has taken a particular interest in young Abou’s development both as an athlete and upstanding young man. The WCC coaching team has monitored his cycling ability in great detail during a preliminary selection camp, and identified a niche race programme that will enable him to develop his cycling and racing skills while providing ample windows of time to enable him to focus on his studies. Although it may have a minor impact on his initial rate of development, the WCC organisation believe that in combination with success with his studies, this will set him on a sustainable future path for the rest of his cycling career, and life beyond that.
Abou Sanogo
22 years old | XP: 1.00 |Pot: 5 | Overall: 67.81
Wage: 50,000 Euros
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66
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Knowledgeable cycling pundits have postulated that Sanogo has many different development paths open to him, and while not set in stone, will perhaps mature into the following characteristics
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The WCC organisation believe that it is part of our duty to support student athletes, a category often neglected by professional sports, and cycling in particular. These young men demonstrate considerable maturity in recognising the importance of their studies in terms of long-term career objectives alongside the tremendous opportunities that they have in front of them for personal development both on the bike and in the classroom. We wish them every success in their endeavours.
Edited by Scorchio on 29-06-2016 16:27
World Cycling Centre 2016 rider presentation #3: Green-go Gringos
Segueing from one of our least experienced signings in the last of our 3 student athletes Abou Sanogo, we have 3 further riders who have signed full-time contracts who have very limited experience in professional cycling. Please welcome Emiliano Contreras, Alex Peters and Salah Eddine Mraouni to the stage. These young riders show great promise from their respective performances in the under 23 ranks, and each have demonstrated the potential to raise their game to the professional level. Hailing from Argentina, the United Kingdom and Morocco, they showcase the global approach of the World Cycling Centre roster development. First up we have Alex Peters.
Alex Peters
22 years old | XP: 1.00 |Pot: 5 | Overall: 67.19
Wage: 50,000 Euros
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Knowledgeable cycling pundits have postulated that Peters has many different development paths open to him, and will soon have to make a decision in which direction to focus. One option would be:
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WCC management expressed great surprise that there was no significant interest from the raft of UK registered cycling teams in obtaining Alex’s signature. However this is exactly the type of rider that the WCC intends to focus on – those with talent who are inextricably ignored by others either through over-sight or because they come from an unusual cycling background. Alex will have a busy season ahead of him, attempting to cram a tremendous amount of development and experiential learning into one packed race season spanning one-day, short and long stage races. Given his versatility, Alex will have the opportunity to test his legs across a wide range of terrain perhaps helping him identify his preferred future role.
Salah Eddine Mraouni
24 years old | XP: 1.34 |Pot: 3 | Overall: 67.88
Wage: 50,000 Euros
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Salah is expected to develop into a strong rouleur with the versatility to ensure that he can be a reliable team-mate across multiple terrains
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Salah benefits from having experience in the 2015 season riding as a stagiare at the Quickstep team, having participated in the Tour de L’avenir (50th GC) and an impressive showing surviving a gruelling and hard fought Veulta a Colombia where he secured his first top 20 finish on stage 4. Expected to sign a full-time contract with Quickstep, he was one of many riders caught out by the sudden demise of that team over the winter. The WCC family welcomes him with open arms to our squad. He has already demonstrated good results as a time-trialist being the proud owner of the Moroccan national TT champions jersey. This result followed on from a commendable 13th place in the African continental TT championships at the beginning of the 2015 season – also his professional debut. Salah has a heavy race programme laid out for the 2016 season as the team focus on his future development.
Emiliano Contreras
22 years old | XP: 1.00 |Pot: 5 | Overall: 67.95
Wage: 50,000 Euros
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Emiliano demonstrates all the hallmarks of a future bunch sprinter, already having a good turn of speed, and fearsome acceleration:
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Emiliano has a long career in front of him where he is expected to become an accomplished sprinter. Perhaps lacking the absolute top-end speed associated with the Swift’s, Lo Cicero’s and Degenkolb’s of the MG world, he does however benefit already from a demonstrated competency to cope with the high roads that should ultimately ensure he has a bright future contesting at the Grand Tours on a regular basis.
World Cycling Centre 2016 rider presentation #4: Mountain goats
Our next trio of riders offer various options for races where altitude is a factor, please welcome Muhammet Eyüp Karagobek, Javier Moreno and Alex Ardila Cano.
First up we have Mo from Turkey. He has been on an interesting journey to get to this point, only taking up cycling last year. Prior to that Mo had been an international standard cross-country and 3000m steeplechase athlete. Advised to use a bicycle to maintain fitness overcoming a knee injury, he showed great promise in his local bunch rides and was brought to Scorchio’s attention by the Turkish national cycling coach. With his injury still limiting his ability to run and hence scuppering his chances of Olympic selection, he has now changed his focus to cycling. Incredibly, he is yet to start even an amateur cycle race, never mind a professional event but shows great promise in powermeter tests. WCC will be sending Mo to live in Belgium for the first months of the race season where he will use the Belgian kermesse scene to gain experience in bunch racing before transitioning into his largely stage-race based racing programme with the team. Turkish cyclists are quite thin on the ground in the upper echelons of the sport of cycling, but we feel Mo has the athletic potential to have a solid career. While he will mainly focus on stage hunting this season, there is the potential that this objective will help him to secure decent GC positions on occasion. While he will have opportunities to lead the WCC team in certain races, longer term we forsee him developing into a key domestique well suited to the rigours of either the PCT or CT calendar.
Muhammet Eyüp Karagobek
27 years old | XP: 4.100 | Pot: 5 | Overall: 72.29
Wage: 50,000 Euros
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63
To counter Mo’s lack of experience, we felt it was necessary to bring in a rider with expertise and the ability to shoulder responsibility during stage races to guide our development core. Javier Moreno is the perfect candidate to deliver this role, stepping down from the ProTour having had a long connection with the disbanded Santander team working for riders of the calibre of Tenorio and Madrazo as they delivered podiums at GTs before spending last season with the Bacardi squad. Javi is aware that he is approaching the twilight of his career, and will combine his race programme with initiating a new coaching company in his home country an endeavour with which we wish him every success.
Javier Moreno
32 years old | XP: 4.100 | Pot: 6 | Overall: 72.43
Wage: 50,000 Euros
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Alex Ardila Cano was one of the first riders to be approached by Scorchio when he was appointed to oversee the WCC team, but was in fact the last to sign for the team. Initially, Alex had decided to retire from professional cycling and was exploring new avenues outside of cycling. Hence he first turned Scorchio down when he made his first approach. After a long campaign of persuasion, and assuring Alex that his target races will fall in the second half of the season to provide him with the time necessary to get back into full training, Ardila Cano finally put pen to paper just minutes before the MGUCI rider registration deadline. Although lacking some of the stamina of his youth and still troubled on the descents following accidents in recent seasons, Ardila Cano still retains his trademark ability to accelerate when the roads get steepest. “I was disappointed to have to sign off my career with a mediocre season, with some GC positions just outside the top 10 being the best return for all my hard work. It is true that I was a bit demoralised by my lack of results, and had started the transition towards retirement. However, Scorchio has convinced me to give it just one more year and the opportunity to sign off with a flourish. If I can infiltrate a number of breaks and could pull off a stage victory in this my final season, I would be delighted.”
Alex Ardila Cano
33 years old | XP: 4.100 | Pot: 6 | Overall: 73.36
Wage: 50,000 Euros
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All three riders professed great excitement at the potential to be participating in the Continental Tour's own GT, the Tour of America in September 2016.
I'm surprised you got Contreas so easily, has some very nice future back up stats to match his 78/80 so I wouldn't be surprised if he performed a bit better than that.
Good luck this season, will surely be a very nice team to follow.
WCC were (rightly) unfancied for this outing in Australia without a genuine sprinter in their 8-man team. Hence the plan was to make the race hard for the sprinters and utilise the fact that we have a number of riders with decent flat stat to put the pressure on. Surprisingly we missed the early BotD, but this was to prove not so important. When the hammer eventually went down in the pack, WCC coped well with the echelons and placed 6 riders in the much reduced pack - hopes began to rise in the team car. This was unfortunately the high-point. Bush was potentially too aggressive, his attacking potentially contributing to having his team-mates dropped or struggling to hang on in, and then himself lacking the energy to finish things off having created a promising position approaching the finish. A surprise podium with only Nelson being mentioned by the pundits pre-race. With 4 riders in the much reduced front group of 35, disappointing to not secure a top 10. 16th and 20th position salvaged in the end to at least bring in a trickle of points.
RACE RESULT
1
William Connolly
Schuh powered by Wiggle
4h39'57
2
Albert Timmer
Isostar - Adriatic
s.t.
3
Ricki Nelson
Podium Ambition
s.t.
16
Robert Bush
World Cycling Centre
s.t.
20
Fabian Hernando Puerta Zapata
World Cycling Centre
s.t.
32
Goodnews Clifford
World Cycling Centre
s.t.
35
Clément Venturini
World Cycling Centre
s.t.
60
Georgios Bouglas
World Cycling Centre
+ 2'21
77
Salah Eddine Mraouni
World Cycling Centre
s.t.
94
Emiliano Contreras
World Cycling Centre
s.t.
100
Alex Peters
World Cycling Centre
+ 6'10
Team manager Scorchio wasn't overly disappointed with the outcome though:
"With a highly inexperienced line-up including only 2 maxed riders, little was expected from this outing. Nonetheless we followed the plan to make the race hard, played an important part in proceedings and secured some tv time. 4 riders in the lead group was a good outcome, we just lacked the killer instinct in the finale - this will come with time!"
HQ has been very quiet through the season - apologies. Various factors have limited my time available for MG following and participation (I still have quite a lot of catching up to do across the other divisions - only halfway through this season's TdeF reports, race currently on a knife-edge!).
End of season is key for WCC with views towards the 2017 season; will WCC attract the necessary sponsorship even to continue??? A major contributer will be the teams success versus our goals. With 2 goal races in the final month of the season, plus the fight to achieve team standings goal by season end, this is a crucial time for all involved @ WCC.
To summarise, WCC goals for the season were:
Benelux Challenge (C2HC)
Win
FAIL
Tour de Faso (C2)
Top 5
Ruta America del Sur (C2HC)
Stage Win
Tour de Langkawi (C2HC)
Stage Win
FAIL
Team Standings
Top 15
Faso is ongoing, Ruta America del Sur to come. Currently WCC sit exactly 15th in the team standings.
With respect to the two missed goals, Goodnews Clifford managed 4th overall at the Benelux Challenge after having held the yellow jersey for a couple of days, so a miss, but not ridiculously off target. Similary at Langkawi, two podium appearances on stages were achieved, but unfortunately only 3rd on both occassions. Once was in a sprint finish (Jones), the other on a mountain top finish (Karagobek). Close, bit no cigar .
Basic question out to MG land, anybody able to recommend who active jersey makers are who would assist in producing a new strip for a struggling MG team? Was a major headache for the current season, want to avoid this time around.
Interesting re-capture. You've done your work a lot of justice, finishing that high in the rankings starting very late this year into the free agency.
To the Jersey question: Sadly there is a real lack of jersey makers around currently. I've so far only seen 2017 jerseys from the_hoyle yet, and these are absolutely fantastic!
Thanks Croatia14, not having as successful a first season in CT as you are, but with the late start more or less where I'd originally hoped to achieve. I'll just head off and drop the_hoyle a quick line to see if he has time for a little MG jersey project, thanks for pointing out .
Robert Bush
Michael Rodriguez Galindo
Oliver Naesen
Abou Sanogo
Alex Peters
Salah Eddine Mraouni 
Emiliano Contreras
Muhammet Eyüp Karagobek
Javier Moreno
CLASICO SAN CRISTOBAL 
GREAT OCEAN ROAD CLASSIC 
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