Teams & Riders Israel Start-Up Nation

[Leadbelly]

Frigo seems like a breakaway specialist, long solo in Provence and some of the French one day races last month.

Yeah he was so close in Provence in those horrible conditions. Anyway it's a contract year for him and I hope they extend him.

Maybe I'll have a look at the potential leavers and stayers when I have time. 13 are of out contract according to PCS (not including Zabel).

 

[AmRacer]

I'm thinking, would one from the team ever race again?

 

[Armchair cyclist]

Zabel already wanted to quit last year because he is more in the influencer business.

I had forgotten that he hadn't retired years ago. He hasn't really been an influencer in a race for quite some time.

 

[Leadbelly]

Not the best start to the Giro.....

As expected the three sprinters, but no leadout riders isn't going so well. Vernon was really well placed on stage 3 tbf, but didn't have the speed to to take advantage. I guess it can only improve as we get a bit further into the race and a few of the other sprinters drop out.

Speaking of drop-outs, Woods and Raisberg are both DNS today. So without the Canadian we can probably put a line through the ~6 tough climbing stages left. Great.

Let's hope they try for the break today with Frigo/Clarke/Schultz.

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Tro Bro Leon was good fun though. Sheehan, Blackmore and TVA were all towards the pointy end with the American looking very attentive to what was going on and on another day might have done better than fourth.

 

[Leadbelly]

Yup. Nothing to write home about in Italy. So far it's going worse than the 2022 edition and it was bad from an IPT entertainment point of view. Really bad.

Thankfully there is other racing going on. Strong wasn't too far away from Cosnefroy yesterday in his comeback race after a bit of a break. Could be in the mix again today at the Boucles de l'Aulne.

The devo team are also in action at the super tough Fleche Ardennaise and I get my wish in that with no Blackmore now, some of the other youngsters will have an opportunity to shine here. Maris did well in this race last year and Marti/Lima could also be in the mix.

 

[Leadbelly]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1789670151123570832

View: https://twitter.com/IsraelPremTech/status/1789670151123570832


Great performance from the second year espoir. Widar was marking all the moves behind the lone leader, so third was probably about the best realistic result achievable from that situation and he ended up with plenty of big U23 names finishing behind him. If I'm not mistaken as well, Lima was the best finisher that wasn't part of the early winning break. There's life after Blackmore.

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Meanwhile in France MWS was able to put his good form and legs to his own use and get another podium for the team. I can't really remember him doing too much of note for the team looking back the past few years, but he told DV "I had two difficult years with stress problems, I had to bounce back after that. To be back at this level is really satisfying and I'm very proud of what I did last year to get back. It was a lot of work and finally I can move forward".

Contract year for him and with him being so anonymous I had him marked down as one that might get moved on, but if he can continue like this, who knows. A teammate/helper that is able to get their own results every now and then is always useful.

 

[search]

Contract year for him and with him being so anonymous I had him marked down as one that might get moved on, but if he can continue like this, who knows. A teammate/helper that is able to get their own results every now and then is always useful.

yep, there was an interview in Danish press recently, and he said so himself, that he needs results now, otherwise his cycling career may be over at the of the year. If possible, he'd like to stay at IPT

Würtz har pistol for panden – "kæmper med næb og kløer for at blive i sporten"

Mads Würtz skal bruge resten af sæsonen på at vise sig frem.

sport.tv2.dk

 

[Bolder]

I just took a look at their roster again, excepting some of the Israeli riders and holdovers like Froome, Fuglsang and Zabel, they have a better team on paper than half the WT teams. They definitely lack a real GC rider, but those are really hard to find, even for a WT team. Blackmore could be it but he'll be moving on

 

[Leadbelly]

I just took a look at their roster again, excepting some of the Israeli riders and holdovers like Froome, Fuglsang and Zabel, they have a better team on paper than half the WT teams.

Top half seems a bit generous imo. I'd say they're very strong in one particular area - hilly one day races/stages. Weak/lacking results in a fair few others - GC with serious climbing, TTs (excepting Vernon in shorter efforts) and even sprints (unless we include Einhorn in Rwanda and Taiwan).

Somewhere about 15th is where I'd put them which is still pretty good.

Maybe I'll have a look at the potential leavers and stayers when I have time. 13 are of out contract according to PCS (not including Zabel).

Okay. Thirteen according to PCS (add a grain of salt) and there's a couple of others I might add to that. Obviously if any of these guys suddenly start winning/failing like crazy then my view might change, but here's my guess at the team's thinking

Keepers - Strong, Teuns, Einhorn and TVA. No real explanations needed. I guess the danger is more that someone else comes in for either of the first two.

Adios - Fuglsang and Hollyman. The Dane is probably on a fairly large salary and age has just caught up on him.

Israeli/Canadian Connection - Boivin, Houle and Sagiv (suffering from EBV recently). Certainly no harm in keeping either of the first two, I'm more just linking these three in that if they do leave, chances are they'll be replaced by guys of the same nationality. Cote or Tene the obvious (only?) replacements.

Thats leaves four (Frigo, Clarke, Schwarzmann and MWS). They're more in a grey area. If they can get someone better in or need to strengthen elsewhere in the team then they could be under threat.

The other two that I thought potentially could be involved are Froome and Woods(!).

I can't remember if it was here or on another forum, but someone put forward the theory that the team might make a deal with Froome - you'll get selected for the TdF if you retire at the end of season. No news on that per se, but he is down to ride the Dauphine now and that's with zero results again this year. Probably wishful thinking.

Now the Canadian has a contract for 2025, but said in relation to extending to 2026 and the worlds in Montreal - “I don’t want to be the guy that doesn’t perform at the highest level, I don’t want to be racing if I’m not improving, if I’m not doing big things”. So if the results or performances aren't forthcoming in the rest of 2024, could he call it quits early?

Now to have a think about who they might try and recruit.

 

[Leadbelly]

So the Giro brought a solitary top-five and three top-tens in addition to that. Not great by any metric, but the real problem for me was that they just weren't involved enough in the action. Frigo tried a couple of days from what I read and Hofstetter did what he could with very limited help in the sprints, but the only stage I remember, from an IPT point of view, was the one where Clarke got a top-ten and Alaphilippe won.

Now yes they had injuries/illnesses/withdrawals. However I'm not convinced it would have been that much different even with those riders still in the race. Woods came in to the race out of shape and none of the stages had his name written on them. Maybe he could have snagged another couple of top-tens or maybe he would have done nothing.

Quite disappointing after last year's heroics.

Certainly if they are lucky enough to get back in the WT in 2026 and can't pick and choose their races any more, they'll need to have a more rounded squad that can compete in a lot more areas.

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Can't see the Yates rumour happening. I've had a quick look at the list on PCS for riders with expiring contracts and yeah with people like Yates/O'Connor/Arensman, they may be linked as Adams has money, but it ain't happening.

Quite difficult actually to see a realistic climber. Guillaume Martin? Would be a double whammy in that it would weaken a rival for the WT in Cofidis. Simon Carr?

It's a lot easier to see classics or hilly type guys, but they're not overly needed. However if that's all that available then Watson or Van Gestel wouldn't be too bad.

Stites for a pick from left field.

 

[Armchair cyclist]

I notice that D Dekker is out of contract at the end of the season. If he doesn't join this team, nobody in the sport has any culture or humour.

Just think of the non-dairy spread sponsorship potential.

 

[RedheadDane]

I notice that D Dekker is out of contract at the end of the season. If he doesn't join this team, nobody in the sport has any culture or humour.

Just think of the non-dairy spread sponsorship potential.

Whaaat?

 

[Leadbelly]

Whaaat?

Think Desmond and not David.

(However I did have to google the non-dairy spread bit - never seen those ads. However I do remember it being used for a Scotch (?) video tape ad)

 

[RedheadDane]

Think Desmond and not David.

Whaaaaat?

That's outside my cultural experience.

 

[Armchair cyclist]

Whaaaaat?

That's outside my cultural experience.

child.

 

[Armchair cyclist]

Think Desmond and not David.

(However I did have to google the non-dairy spread bit - never seen those ads. However I do remember it being used for a Scotch (?) video tape ad)

Even I had forgotten that one: Maxell audio tape (ask your parents) Probably no longer got much of a budget for sponsorship.

Or Vitalite

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

And here was me thinking it was a joke about a double decker bar

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Blackmore and Dekker wouldn't really work either.