Difficulty: Hard for now, Extreme when, like in every story, hard becomes too easy
DB: RSM/Daily 2019DB V1.2 with custom stats
The Road to Valhalla
Many have tried, Oleg Tinkov even succeeded, but now it's back for good. For a few years now Scandinavian cycling has grown stronger, but without one driving force: their own World Tour team. That all changes in 2019, where, zabelling that Thor Hushovd team that's totally happening, Hummel Procycling gives these proud nations something to cheer for. Of course, not everybody believes. I know that. Some riders, sponsors, and pundits laughed me off.
We haven't the strong Scandinavian squad I had hoped for. Many would say that we don't have either strength or Scandivanian-ness. One of our leaders is a subtop stage racer. The other is a subtop sprinter, unproven at the WT level. We have experience, yes, but those backing them in the scoring are all under 25. Will we even survive with this new promotion and relegation system? We've got the talent with the desire to pull through and fight for all the extra points we can - but ultimately the rankings won't lie. One thing we do know is the responsibility on our shoulders to give Scandinavia the cycling team it deserves - and bring back the glory days of Vikings raiding the mainland.
This won't be a full-fledged story with race reports and the like - only for big races I guess. It's more a story about the career and journey of this team, inspired by Shonak's Lotto and valverde's Deceuninck stories. I won't update it consistently, just when I have time to play PCM. Life and Times should get going again soon, and will still be my main story.
These are the men who will wear our kit and show our spirit as Hummel Procycling begins it's journey as a team. They're not the most fancied squad in the world tour, they don't have the proven winners of Deceuninck or Sky, but we reckon they're alright.
The Leaders
Jakob Fuglsang
Jakob is our big name Dane, a world-class climber on his day who isn't averse to hilly classics or even the cobbles with a mountain biking background. He's our best rider and being from Denmark is the face of this team. His main targets this year are the March-April stage races and hilly classics from Strade Bianche through Paris-Nice, to the Spanish stage races and the Ardennes, before resting up to target the Tour-Vuelta double, with a particular emphasis on the latter leading into the Italian Autumn classics. A huge season but we need him firing in many races all year long.
Nationality: Danish Age: 33 Specialty: Stage Races Palmares: GC Criterium du Dauphine '17
2nd Tour de Suisse '19
2nd Olympic Road Race '16
Christophe Laporte
Christophe is our other top leader but one with decidedly less pedigree at this level. He undoubtedly has the skills to be a top rider in the PCT as he has shown at Cofidis, but in his first year in the WT leadership is a big ask and one most think he isn't ready for. A sprinter who doubles as a classic specialist who can also win short time trials, he is more than a fast finisher. He'll depart from his norm and target the Giro this year as well as his normal Paris-Nice and cobbled classics, with a particular emphasis on Gent-Wevelgem which he's shown he could win.
Next up is the young Dane Søren Kragh Andersen. He had a great season last year with a run in white at Le Tour de France, many outstanding domestique efforts, but he showed his leading potential with a stunning solo victory at the new-look Paris-Tours. A true all-arounder, he's a tough rider for any profile with a good kick and plenty of power. Whether he is ready for leadership, and can find the profiles where he can bring in points is another matter.
Nationality: Danish Age: 24 Specialty: All-rounder Palmares: Paris-Tours '18
Stage Win Tour de Suisse '18
7th Binck-Bank Tour '18
Mads Pedersen
Another home rider, the young Mads Pedersen won hearts with one of the grittiest rides all year as the then 22-year-old finished second in De Ronde van Vlaanderen, showing his mental and physical power and his future in the classics. Right now he's a fantastic all-rounder who has potential to develop in many directions. He'll be our classics leader but will have ample support and backup from our squad to ease the pressure that WT leadership at such an age can bring. He'll ride a big calendar this year, with all cobbled classics before a domestique role plus some breakaways at the Giro before complete carta blanca at La Vuelta where he's hoping to take his first ever Grand Tour stage win.
Nationality: Danish Age: 23 Specialty: Classics Palmares: 2nd Ronde van Vlaanderen '18
GC Post Danmark Rundt '17
Tour de l'Eurometropole '18
Tanel Kangert
Our experienced Estonian stage racer, Tanel joins his teammate of six seasons, Jakob Fuglsang, in joining us from Astana. A leader in his own right, but his skillset and their connection means he can slot into a superdomestique role for Jakob at the bigger races. He'll lead the Giro d'Italia looking at an outside shot for the top 10 whilst we hunt KOMs and stage wins around him, before supporting Jakob in his Vuelta bid later in the year.
Nationality: Estonian Age: 32 Specialty: Stage Races Palmares: GC Abu Dhabi Tour '16
2nd Giro del Trentino '16
16th Tour de France '18
The Climbers
The two lieutenants are both Danes - Jesper Hansen is brought over with Fuglsang from Astana and is a great climber whose best result to date is his GC win at the Tour of Norway in 2015, whilst Niklas Eg is an exciting youngster who already has shown great promise including 3rd in the prestigious Tour de l'Avenir in 2017. We hope as well as helping him to glory, Niklas can learn from Fuglsang to help him become the next big Danish GC man, and help him to become a more rounded rider.
Vergard Stake Laengen, the Norwegian Road Race Champion, is a key domestique for Fuglsang due to his experience and his skills in the time trials as well as the high mountains. He is a great and versatile rider to have on the team.
Our other climbers are two exciting young prospects, the Swiss Gino Mäder, who was one of the most impressive U23 riders last year, with two stage wins and 3rd on GC in the Tour de l'Avenir before mixing it with the pros with 2nd place and a stage win at the HC Tour of Hainan. A punchy climber with a huge potential, we look forward to seeing him grow with us. So too is the young Finn Jaakko Hänninnen, who hasn't raced too much on the road but was third in last year's U23 World Championships and won a hilly classic against names such as Taaramae and Calmejane in September.
The Puncheurs
Enrico Battaglin arrives as a special rider who will often occupy a free role in hilly races or to chase breakaways, the three-time Giro stage winner has done it in three different ways and excels in tough, grinding sprints, making him perfect for bunch finishes on tough days or to finish the job in a breakaway.
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Valentin Madouas is a very exciting talent, just 22 years old and already an extraordinarily consistent rider, be it in the hills, flats or mountains. He won his first professional race with a powerful solo effort to outdo the sprinters in Paris-Bourges, but really excels on the climbs. Right now he has a domestique role but will receive chances to attack and lead, especially as he continues his steady progression.
Fausto Masnada is an exciting prospect who has already established himself as an aggressive presence on the Italian continental scene. It's hard to know where to put him just yet as he's been great on climbs short and long, and will ride both profiles this season in a largely free role unless Fuglsang is present.
Nicola Bagioli is another Italian prospect, a great puncheur with a handy sprint but who is yet to win a professional race despite coming close many times in the PCT last season. His career highlight so far is probably his KOM win at last year's Tirreno-Adriatico, showing his breakaway potential.
Didi Diocicliano may not be a name familiar to many cycling fans, but the young Portuguese puncheur is, in our eyes, a star of the future. A puncheur right now with a good kick, but what gives him that star quality is his maturity, aptitude for longer climbs and his technical skills that have seen him do well in the cobbled junior races, especially on Portugal's "easier" cobbles. Just eighteen years old, this is one for the future.
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A former top junior rider, Sven Erik Bystrøm hasn't garnered as much press as some may have thought since his Worlds Junior Road Race win in Ponferrada 2014 (above) but he's been making a stealthy progression to a great classics rider with a great versatile skillset. He hasn't taken a professional win - you may have forgotten there was a rider between Jelle Wallays and the peloton in Stage 18 of last year's Vuelta, but his second place there is the closest he's got. But with his skills and some free roles this year, surely it's coming.
The Sprinters
Sondre Holst Enger is a tough sprinter, perhaps best known for his dancing podium celebration at the Tour of Croatia. A fast finisher who is not averse to a bit of climbing (having finished on the podium on GC in the very tough Tour of Norway twice), he will lead CT races on occasion but is mostly a fantastic leadout man for Laporte in tough situations. Still just 25 years old, we think the young Norwegian has a bright future ahead at Hummel.
Mikhel Raim is our second Estonian and the current National Champion. A fast finisher who showed he's more than just a sprinter last August when he won solo the difficult Great War Remembrance Race in it's inaugural edition, continuing our team's trend of having no pure lazy sprinters. He's come to prominence in the PCT over the last two years with Israel Cycling Academy and is ready for the step up this year, albeit in less of a leading role.
Jacopo Guarnieri, although best known for his MG feats, is a fantastic classics sprinter who is a perfect leadout for Laporte in a similar way to Morkov in the semi-classics. He's a fantastic domestique, sprinter or even a leader in minor classics and at 31 is experienced but still at the top of his game.
Kamil Malecki is one of the coolest young talents in Poland right now, a sprinter by nature but there's a lot more to him than that - he can survive pretty much any profile outside of the high mountains, with little hills, little mountains, the cobbles or hard efforts on the flat no worries for him. He can learn a lot from the likes of Mørkov and Laporte in this team for sure, and at the same age as Mads that's a combination to watch for the next 10 years.
Bert van Lerberghe is just 26 and already a great rider on the PCT scene in semi classics, a good sprint on him but also a master on the cobbles, having grown up in Kortrijk not far from the action in the Flanders Classics. A top domestique for our classics men and Laporte and certainly will get his chances in the semi classics where he will be a favourite in the 1.1 fields. With room still to grow he is a valuable rider at Hummel.
The Cobblers
Honestly we had a hard time deciding what category to put Michael Schär in. The Swiss is such a talented rider who navigates the cobbles, flats, hills, mountains and even a TT bike with great skill and is one of the best all-around domestiques in the peloton and has been a key cog in many of BMC's successes over the last few years. We can't understate what a rider we have here, and he'll be a key part of many great victories and performances in his time at Hummel we are sure.
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Evaldas Siskevicius made headlines last year due to his great ride in Paris-Roubaix, where he had a rough time of it but battled on to finish long after many riders in his situation threw in the towel, and long after Peter Sagan took the win - in fact they had to re-open the velodrome gates for him. That shows his mental toughness but it doesn't show the great cyclist that he is, who could easily have been within ten minutes of Sagan on a different day. A great classics rider with a good sprint, and a key domestique for many terrains.
Andreas Stokbro Nielsen is our Danish talent to watch, he had a great 2018 at U23 level and in some CT races and is a great rider with a good head and skillset, who has done well in sprints and some tougher races. We don't know where to put him yet, but he's tentatively with the cobblers by his own choice, though his talents right now seem to put him as a classics sprinter. We can't wait to see how he develops.
Taco van der Hoorn is a crafty baroudeur and a classics rider who took his first WT win with a breakaway solo at the BinckBank Tour last season, though he's shown classics prowess with wins in the extraordinarily tough Schaal Schels as well as the Primus Classic last season. He's no slouch over short climbs, has a good sprint on him and is good technically over the cobbles, and is great for breakaways or as a versatile domestique.
Lars Ytting Bak is one of the peloton's elder statesmen and most loyal domestiques, and at 38 is still a fantastic rouleur, powerful and good over the cobbles. His climbing legs aren't what they were (he won Avenir once and was 16th in the Giro!) but he can do the job in the high mountains which make him a great Grand Tour domestique, and stomach power-based hills like a proper rouleur. He'll be our road captain and brings invaluable experience to our squad.
Lasse Norman Hansen may be best known for his track exploits as an Olympic Champion in the Omnium, but those skills have translated to the road where he is a great rouleur who brings power to our TTT, classics and sprint line-ups. Good for longer efforts and in a sprint due to that Omnium background, he's also got the build to do well in the classics where he could be a fantastic domestique, especially to control the semi-classics.
Filippo Ganna is one of the world's great young time triallists and already a World Champion in the individual pursuit, but there's more to him than that: he wants to be a classics threat too and has shown himself already as great in tough races and adept on cobbles, winning the Paris-Tours Espoirs in 2016. He's also not a bad climber at all with a 2nd on GC in the Vuelta a San Juan to his name. He look forward to him already in our TTT and some classics line-ups and seeing how he develops to hopefully be competitive on many profiles.
After a quiet debut at the Tour Down Under save for two breaks from Hanninen, our jersey really got shown off at the Tour of Indonesia.
Enger takes our first ever victory - Stage 1, Tour of Indonesia
Sonder Holst Enger showed great early season form, taking the three opening stages and our first three victories in mass sprints. The final stage had an extremely long Cat.1 mountain halfway through and not only did we protect him, he managed to get over it in a reduced peloton, win the sprint and complete a clean sweep of all four stages and the GC! An absolutely fantastic race and an almost unheard of feat at such a level.
Meanwhile in Europe, Kangert was gearing up for early season success and worked hard in the pre-season to come out swinging. He went to a Challenge Mallorca with a smaller startles than usual and took advantage, winning the opening day before losing a sprint on Day 2 in a three-man escape to Gesink and Petilli. On the final day Laporte made his season debut in the Trofeo Palma, hanging tough to make there final 21-rider selection and finishing second to Moreno Hofland in the sprint, showing his hilly legs are ready as well as his sprinting ones.
I like the team. Jersey is not my cup of tee though, and you clearly sense the awful influence of trekky in the squadbuilding process.
I especially like the core around Fuglsang, SKA and Pedersen. While Frenchies like Laporte and Madouas are cool rirders, they somehow seem a little out of position, especially as they may shrink the freedom of your armada of nice attackers. If you'd only have taken the wages going into that and instead used it to get a star sprinter in, that can be led out by your great flat support that just lacks a World Class sprinter (Kristoff after hard races) or somebody that could turn into that (Halvorsen). Imagine Guarnieri - Grondahl - Morkov - Kristoff guided by Bak, Ganna, Hansen. That could've been crazy.
Also Fuglsang could use some support next season, if you don't wanna sacrifice Madouas for him. All in all I see too many leaders and too few domestiques right now, but maybe you convince them otherwise Otherwise I like most of the individuals a lot, especially I hope that Kangert can receive his opportunities.
Croatia14 wrote:
I like the team. Jersey is not my cup of tee though, and you clearly sense the awful influence of trekky in the squadbuilding process.
I especially like the core around Fuglsang, SKA and Pedersen. While Frenchies like Laporte and Madouas are cool rirders, they somehow seem a little out of position, especially as they may shrink the freedom of your armada of nice attackers. If you'd only have taken the wages going into that and instead used it to get a star sprinter in, that can be led out by your great flat support that just lacks a World Class sprinter (Kristoff after hard races) or somebody that could turn into that (Halvorsen). Imagine Guarnieri - Grondahl - Morkov - Kristoff guided by Bak, Ganna, Hansen. That could've been crazy.
Also Fuglsang could use some support next season, if you don't wanna sacrifice Madouas for him. All in all I see too many leaders and too few domestiques right now, but maybe you convince them otherwise Otherwise I like most of the individuals a lot, especially I hope that Kangert can receive his opportunities.
Good luck jands!
Kristoff would fit the squad perfectly I agree and is a big target as a Scandinavian, but I wanted us to be a relegation candidate. Laporte may not stay around due to that and him being out of place, whilst I agree I'd love to get better support for him next year to give Masnada, Bagioli and Madouas especially room to attack. I like the squad as it has issues by design as realy teams would, and although the future is bright we still have to survive and also fix issues such as Fuglsang's support.
Thanks for the wishes and the longer comments, cool to hear people's opinions on the squad and the structure
Didn't think I gave trek too much, some influence on Laporte, Hanninen, Guarnieri and van Lerberghe who all fit and then I let him have Ganna and Malecki as they are nice rider types
Ganna in action but not yet in form - Etoile des Besseges, Stage 5
Both Laporte and Ganna were favoured for the Etoile de Besseges, but with a strong field including multi-GT winner Vicenzo Nibali, it was a tough ask. Laporte wasn’t in top form in the sprints but gained bonus seconds here and there. Unfortunately neither was quite fit enough to place on GC over the two time trials, a dissapointment for sure but neither had this as a major goal.
The Trofeo Laigueglia saw the seasons of our young leaders SKA and Pedersen begin as they looked to combine to fight for the win. However with a strong field of punchers, all of whom were outfoxed by the intelligent Canola of Nippo, Pedersen had to settle for fourth in the group sprint to sneak into the top 10. A good start to his season with the first classics just a fortnight away!
Andreas Stokbro Nielsen was born just 10 km from where I live, one of my best mates know him in person as he was working at the "Youth Centers" where he spent his childhood - nice choice !! - hope to get a lot of updates on him
About the squad: In general fine, but would (as an investor) like to see a more clean Scandinavian or at least Baltic Sea team develop in the future.
valverde321 : +1
Edited by Tamijo on 02-05-2019 06:24
@valverde - Thanks, I'll be trying out a few different ways of doing things as it's just a fun thing to do here and I'm finding my feet with it. As you know from your story currently, it will obviously vary depending on the race importance Thanks a lot
Tamijo - Yep I can totally understand that, Scandinavian fans would feel a little annoyed to still not have a more "clean" roster at the WT level representing them as other countries/regions do. That's not going to be us due to my own preferences, but we'll do our best
Awesome to hear that personal connection, cool stuff Will try and sneak in some mentions of him, and as a cool talent he'll surely be mentioned in development posts, etc. Looking forward to watching him grow (in real life as much as here)!
A pair of late February stage races up next on the calendar as our riders looked to get into racing form ahead of their spring goals.
In the Vuelta Andalucia it was the last of our leaders, Jakob Fuglsang, who made his first appearance of the year and looked in good shape for his March-April peak by attacking on the flat Stage 3 over a small hill near the end, finishing in a lead group of four (with Roglic, Wellens and Uran) 23 seconds ahead of the bunch, taking third in the sprint. This put him third overall heading into the centrepiece mountain top finish the next day. Unfortunately he didn’t quite have the legs in his first race of the season and slipped to sixth then as Roglic put a huge stamp of authority on the GC.
Meanwhile across the border in France, Madouas and Kragh Andersen had ambitions of a stage win in the Tour du Haut Var. The first stage was a quiet one for the team but we lit up Stage 2, placing van der Horn in a nearly successful break (caught on the final climb), before Madouas attacked around them to crest the climb solo with 13km to go. Eventually caught by a five man group including Nibali and Bardet, he helped work but to no avail as Pinot in yellow had domestiques who brought everything back together with 1.3km to go.
Søren in a tight finish, sponsored by Chris Froome's excuse for Ineos' fracking - Tour de Haut Var, Stage 2
However Hummel weren’t done yet, and Søren Kragh Andersen went to Madouas’ wheel, who lead him out for the sprint, where our Dane finished a respectable third behind Mohoric and Simon. Our leaders finished a solid 10th and 11th on GC to boot. Though we're clearly not at the levels of some in the peloton yet, the form is building and the power coming to the legs as we approach March.
@Abhishek - Yep some solid form building we hope! Fuglsang has hit a new level in real life, these stats are post-AGR but I did a post-FW update to his HI, so not sure how he'll go (especially as he has an intensive stage race calendar in March and April). He better be good for our survival's sake!
Kangert hit his early season peak at the UAE Tour in good condition and with good form from the Challenge Mallorca earlier in the month. A race entered on Stage 3’s mountain top finish on Jebel Hafeet, where he won in 2016 to secure the win at this races’ predecessor, the Abu Dhabi Tour.
[/small]Hanninen leads the field on the mountain - UAE Tour, Stage 3
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Fully focused on bringing the GC home in a weaker field than expected, the boys set to work on Jebel Hafeet as Hanninen chased down the early moves of Roux and Rosa before Mäder put in a counter-attack to force the other teams to do some work. Eventually he was brought back and Hanninen and Enger gained control of proceedings, again thwarting moves from our rivals as Kangert conserved energy.
[/small]The young neo-pro on the move! - UAE Tour, Stage 3
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After following a move from Konrad, Roux and Rosa, Hanninen found himself with a gap under the 5km banner as we maintained our presence but forced Sky to chase!
Konrad jumped to his wheel followed by Kangert and Roux, but when our Estonian made the counterattack he too was followed closely by many riders, and soon it was every man for himself in one of the strangest stages of the year so far, basically a 3km pack sprint.
The rare mountaintop pack sprint - UAE Tour, Stage 3
Kangert didn’t get the result we wanted after our hard work as everyone raced the last 3km very hard, and Winner Anacona darted out in the last 500m for the stage win and the GC lead. Kangert was third, but with a sixteen rider pack finishing together including the sprinter Trentin, that wasn’t secure if wind were to hit or Trentin got bonuses. We made many attempts to gain some bonus seconds at the intermediate sprints, but it wasn’t successful. A first WT podium for our team, but not what we came for.
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad was next and it didn’t receive the top classics startlist that it normally does, meaning Pedersen was considered a favourite. However we managed to stay under the radar in the opening 100km by slipping Taco van der Hoorn into the morning breakaway.
I love it when a plan comes together - Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
The race stayed together until the penultimate climb, the iconic Muur-Kaapelmuur. Roelandts opened the attacking but was chased down by our own Lars Bak, before Søren Kragh Andersen hit the front hard with Pedersen and Laporte in his wheel. In a pre-conceived move, Laporte sat up and our Danish duo were up the road as they passed the iconic chapel, with the Frenchman free to follow wheels and wait for a sprint in the 16-man second group, which also contained Bak.
Over the final climb of the Bosberg with 11km to go, the duo had an advantage of 48 seconds whilst Laporte continued to mark any attempts to bridge from behind.
In the flat kilometres towards the finish in Ninove Drucker placed an attack Laporte couldn’t follow and began to cross the gap.
But it wouldn’t be enough, as Pedersen and Kragh Andersen completed an absolutely stunning 1-2 with a fantastic double effort! Our first WT victory and it has come in style. Bring it on, Sagan!
Laporte was tired from the activity but finished inside the top 10 in ninth, whilst Bak was 13th and van der Hoorn, van Lerberghe and Siskevicius inside the top 35 to complete a day that will take some topping.
The next day surprisingly saw a full classics startlist at Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne, which unfortunately we did not receive an invitation for. Guess they’ll be regretting that one!
We also had some sad news as Mihkel Rain suffered a broken neck in training. He won’t be back for… a couple weeks. Guess our doctor is a miracle worker after all.
Looking forward to watching him grow (in real life as much as here)!
