TV PIVOT: ... and now the sports news. Benfica announced through a statement that it will have a cycling team in 2019. The club didn't mention in which division will compete but sources close to the club say that they will start in the Pro Continental division right away with the aim of trying to participate in La Vuelta. It is not yet know if the club will compete through an existing team, same as for example FC Porto with W52 or Sporting with Tavira, or whether a team will be established. All news will be announced at a press conference by club's president, Luís Filipe Vieira on Sunday.
4th november
Luís Filipe Vieira: Good afternoon everyone! First of all, I want to thank everyone present for coming here.
I wanted to start by explaining my change of opinion about cycling. As you may remember, a few years ago I said that Benfica should not have a cycling team any time soon because of the recurring doping cases in this sport. Now through this great friend of mine who is here by my side, Pedro Pereira, I could see that cycling is no longer suffering from this problem so regularly due to the work of the organization responsible for world cycling, the UCI, to punish more and more riders who take advantage through these illegal practices.
Now, I can announce that Pedro will be the sports director responsible for the management of the cycling team of Sport Lisboa e Benfica and that we will start right away in the Pro Continental division.
Finally I just want to clarify that we will not start with the squad of any existing team, so it is a totally new squad.
Now it's Pedro who will speak.
Pedro Pereira: Good afternoon everyone. As everyone already knows, my name is Pedro Pereira. First of all, i would like to thank President Luís Filipe Vieira for this vote of confidence that he gave me when I was appointed Sports Director of Sport Lisboa e Benfica. Our goal for this season will be to try to do the best we can in all the races in which we will participate and try to participate in La Vuelta.´
As for squad, it will be formed mostly by U-23 riders who were free agents or young promises that will have here their first experience as professional riders but we will have also some more experienced riders among them a high profile rider know internationally. Thanks!
Luís Filipe Vieira: The squad, the equipment of the team, the suppliers of the material and the main sponsor will be announced during this week. Now the questions ...
Journalist from RTP: Question to President Luís Filipe Vieira. Unlike all, or almost all, professional teams Benfica will not have the name of its main sponsor. How do you explain this situation? Does it mean that the costs will be borne mostly by the club?
Luís Filipe Vieira: Well, that was one of my demands when I accepted the creation of the cycling team because I wanted this great club to return to cycling like when it left, that is, with the name Sport Lisboa e Benfica to maintain the identity and legacy of the club. As for costs, it is true that the majority will be paid by the club and the name had influence.
Journalist from Eurosport: The question is for you Pedro. One of the objectives assumed by the club is the participation in La Vuelta. If the application is accepted, what will be the objectives of the team? Another question ... were you thinking about participating in the Tour de France or in the Giro d'Italia?
Pedro Pereira:Our goal will be the victory of stages, and can evolve to a bigger goal if we have a rider in good position to win one of the jerseys or to be well ranked in the overall standings. Regarding the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, we did not think about applying because it would lead to more expenses and at this moment La Vuelta is a more realistic and cheaper objective.
Luís Felipe Vieira: Thank you all for the questions.
7th november
TV PIVOT: Benfica just revealed all the details about their cycling team. The main sponsor is Fly Emirates and the jersey is this...
Jersey:
TV PIVOT: Now the squad...
Squad:
De la Parra (21) - Domestique - Free
Júlio Gonçalves (24) - Puncheur - Domestique - Free
Stefan Bissegger (20) - Sprinter - Free
Jielke Saelmans (20) - Domestique - Free
Mikkel Bjerg (20) - Time trialist - ex Hagens Berman - Axeon
Vidal Cía (21) - Climber - Free
Clark Ferrett (20) - Domestique - Free
Miguel Manuel Llorens (21) - Climber - Free
Rafael Lourenço (21) - Puncheur - Free
Dennis Morachimo (18) - Time trialist - Free
Daniel Freitas (27) - Puncheur - Free
Niklas Larsen (21) - Domestique - Free
Jiri Sorm (21) - Sprinter - Free
Kristian Bryngelsson (18) - Sprinter - Free
Álex Castañeto (18) - Puncheur - Free
Aziz Yahia (18) - Time trialist - Free
Léonard Claret (19) - Climber - Free
Petter Eftevaag (19) - All-rounder - Free
Robert Malone (18) - Climber - Free
Michel Ries (20) - All-rounder - Free
Peter-Michael Schachner (18) - Climber - Free
Ricardo Silva Vitor (18) - Puncheur - Free
Meelis Zamorski (18) - Domestique - Free
Didier Halsberghe (19) - Domestique - Free
and finally... Rui Costa! The Portuguese puncheur, world champion in 2013 returns to Portuguese cycling and returns to Benfica where he was part of the team between 2007 and 2008 as an amateur and will be team leader.
About suppliers...bicycle frames will be supplied by Kuota, the wheels by DT Swiss and the group will be from Shimano.
(I did the whole first season before making this post. This season I will post updates here.)
SEASON 1
Sponsor Objectives:
Spoiler
Outstanding results for sponsors:
Spoiler
Rankings:
- World Tour
Spoiler
TOP 1-19 (Individual)
TOP 20-30 (Individual)
TOP 1-19 (Teams)
TOP 15 (Countries)
Sport Lisboa e Benfica TOP 5:
1 - Rui Costa - 14th place - 1864 points 2 - Ulpiano De la Parra - [b]30th place - 960 points 3 - Miguel Manuel Llorens - 129th place - 265 points 4 - Cía Vidal - 231st place - 92 points 5 - Jielke Saelmans - 291st place - 54 points
NOTE: 593 riders scored
- Continental
Spoiler
TOP 10 (Individual)
TOP 10 (Teams)
TOP 10 (Countries)
1 - Rui Costa - 1st place - 2047 points 2 - Stefan Bissegger - 6th place - 764 points
3 - Clark Ferrett - 40th place - 319 points 4 - Jielke Saelmans - 49th place - 266 points 5 - Vidal Cía - 53rd place - 258 points
NOTE: 613 riders scored
- Superprestige
Spoiler
TOP 15 (Individual)
TOP 20 (Teams)
TOP 15 (Countries)
1 - Rui Costa - 2nd place - 3252 points 2 - Ulpiano De la Parra - 26th place - 1195 points 3 - Stefan Bissegger - 66th place - 738 points 4 - Cía Vidal - 145th place - 428 points 5 - Miguel Manuel Llorens - 150th place - 404 points
NOTE: 1004 riders scored
- Wins
Spoiler
TOP 10 (Individual)
TOP 10 (Teams)
TOP 15 (Countries)
1 - Rui Costa - 1st place - 20 victories
2 - Stefan Bissegger - 18th place - 8 victories
3 - Dennis Morachimo - 34th place - 5 wins
4 - Ulpiano De la Parra - 46th place - 4 victories
5 - Clark Ferrett - 98th place / Miguel Manuel Llorens - 115th place / Júlio Gonçalves - 141st place / Peter-Michael Schachner - all with 2 victories
NOTE: 302 riders had at least 1 win.
- Cyclist of the year
Spoiler
Squad
In:
Simone Petilli (26) - Climber - ex UAE Team Emirates
Ivan Sosa (22) - Climber - ex Team INEOS
Kurt De Roeck (20) - Puncheur - Free
André franco (21) - Sprinter - Free
Jan Janecko (19) - Puncheur - Free
Out:
Mikkel Bjerg (20) - Time trialist - Mitchelton - SCOTT
Jielke Saelmans (20) - Domestique - VITAL CONCEPT
Aziz Yahia (18) - Time trialist - Elkov - Author
Daniel Freitas (27) - Puncheur - Efapel
Clark Ferrett (20) - Domestique - Evopro Racing
Ricardo Silva Vitor (18) - Puncheur - Radio Popular - Boavista
Michel Ries (20) - All-rounder - Leopard
Renewals:
Rui Costa - Renewal until 2022
Ulpiano De la Parra - Renewal until 2022
Dennis Morachimo - Renewal until 2022
Peter-Michael Schachner - Renewal until 2022
- Domestique - Free
- Puncheur - Domestique - Free
- Sprinter - Free
- Domestique - Free
- Time trialist - ex Hagens Berman - Axeon
- Domestique - Free
- Climber - Free
- Time trialist - Free
- Sprinter - Free
- Sprinter - Free
- Time trialist - Free
- Climber - Free
- All-rounder - Free
- Climber - Free
- All-rounder - Free
- Climber - Free
- Domestique - Free
- Climber - ex UAE Team Emirates
- Puncheur - Free
