Blanco-Belkin

[Armchair cyclist]

Always good to have a team's future secured with a high profile international company.

I see from Belkin.com that they seem to have a pretty good international spread: presence in all continents, although European interest seems very focused on NW Europe: France and Italy are the only Romance language nations where they have an office, and nothing in central/eastern Europe.

I see a team with an Anglophone/Scandanavian emphasis being of greatest interest to the sponsors, unless this is their tool to try to penetrate other parts of the European market.

Pistachio green and a little man made out of dots: the company name in all lower case. I'll let the more artistic among you imagine possible kits.

 

[theyoungest]

Their European headquarters are in Holland, and as a Dutch citizen I can confirm that Holland isn't part of Scandinavia

 

[pastronef]

funny from Jetse Bol

http://www.twitter.com/jetsebol

'Saved by the Bel(kin)?

 

[nesocip]

Where did you see pistachio green?

All i see is black.

 

[Kwibus]

Where did you see pistachio green?

All i see is black.

Yeh and they use quite a bit of pistachio green on their website.
Also if you hover your mouse over that dotted person on the left site corner one dot becomes pistachio green.

I can see an interesting jersey coming out of this. Black with pistachio green accents Another black jersey though.

Personally I hope Team Belkin becomes a bit more of an international team and I really wouldn't mind if they made some changes to the staff.
Really wish they kick Delahaye out. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I just need to blame something at the team, but so much talent and all that seems to happen is riders declining instead of progressing.
Kruijswijk reached the 9th spot in the Giro once and then he also became one of Delahayes trainees... look what happens.

Just get rid of the guy! If the riders still don't progress when he's gone then we know atleast it wasn't his fault

 

[thehog]

Yes all black. Or even white jersey with black typeface? Like the Cervelo jersey's for the Tour some years back.

 

[taiwan]

Black w/ white dots ftw.

 

[thehog]

Yes all black. Or even white jersey with black typeface? Like the Cervelo jersey's for the Tour some years back.

Or they have the euro logo.

 

[theyoungest]

Yeh and they use quite a bit of pistachio green on their website.
Also if you hover your mouse over that dotted person on the left site corner one dot becomes pistachio green.

I can see an interesting jersey coming out of this. Black with pistachio green accents Another black jersey though.

Personally I hope Team Belkin becomes a bit more of an international team and I really wouldn't mind if they made some changes to the staff.
Really wish they kick Delahaye out. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I just need to blame something at the team, but so much talent and all that seems to happen is riders declining instead of progressing.
Kruijswijk reached the 9th spot in the Giro once and then he also became one of Delahayes trainees... look what happens.

Just get rid of the guy! If the riders still don't progress when he's gone then we know atleast it wasn't his fault

Delahaye was already Kruijswijk's trainer before his decline, I would guess. As for most of the team. The problem is: Gesink's good years were also under Delahaye's guidance, as are Kelderman's good first years now. So maybe they just weren't that talented to begin with, and Delahaye is a miracle trainer

 

[Armchair cyclist]

Their European headquarters are in Holland, and as a Dutch citizen I can confirm that Holland isn't part of Scandinavia

Agreed, but you might wish to acknowledge that it (along with the rest of the country) is in NW Europe, and withdraw your snarky comment with an apology.

Thanks for the info about European headquarters: maybe there will be a retained interest in prioritising Dutch riders.

 

[maltiv]

Concerning the trainer...I have to say, I'm very confused as to what exactly Mollema/Nordhaug are doing at their altitude camp at the moment. Pretty much all their efforts look like this: http://app.strava.com/activities/56942768#1047993443 (click on "performance" to get the watts). Seems like their way of training for TDF is sprint training up mountains, up a 30 min climb Nordhaug has no less than 8 efforts above 1000 watts, peaking at 1227 watts, which for his weight is pretty insane really. All the other climbs they've done look like this as well. Are they trying to become mountain-sprinters or what?

 

[The Sheep]

Belkin seems to like dots maybe we'll get to see a pistachio green polka dot jersey.

 

[theyoungest]

Concerning the trainer...I have to say, I'm very confused as to what exactly Mollema/Nordhaug are doing at their altitude camp at the moment. Pretty much all their efforts look like this: http://app.strava.com/activities/56942768#1047993443 (click on "performance" to get the watts). Seems like their way of training for TDF is sprint training up mountains, up a 30 min climb Nordhaug has no less than 8 efforts above 1000 watts, peaking at 1227 watts, which for his weight is pretty insane really. All the other climbs they've done look like this as well. Are they trying to become mountain-sprinters or what?

Actually on that video Mollema posted of their training camp you can hear Merijn Zeeman say 'we need to build in some sprints for his explosiveness'. So yeah, they're trying to become mountain sprinters

 

[maltiv]

Actually on that video Mollema posted of their training camp you can hear Merijn Zeeman say 'we need to build in some sprints for his explosiveness'. So yeah, they're trying to become mountain sprinters

That's great, because in today's type of racing, racing up mountains is all about accelerations and explosiveness. It's not like there's a single team holding a constant 500 watts on the front all day

 

[Pentacycle]

Actually on that video Mollema posted of their training camp you can hear Merijn Zeeman say 'we need to build in some sprints for his explosiveness'. So yeah, they're trying to become mountain sprinters

Well, Mollema came 4th in the Vuelta he prepared by racing post-Tour crits. So it might just do the trick.

On the other hand, they'd better train like LLS has done the past months. He was explosive and he could hold a steady pace for about 40 kms.

 

[Afrank]

Good news, glad to see an entire teams staff won't be out of a job. And good to see new sponsors in the sport, hopefully Belkin sticks around for a long time.

 

[icefire]

That's great, because in today's type of racing, racing up mountains is all about accelerations and explosiveness. It's not like there's a single team holding a constant 500 watts on the front all day

Purito and Contador are riding the tour this year

 

[karlboss]

I can't help but think if Dutch riders want to do well, they need to ride for Sky, Katusha, Tinkoff, Movistar, Omega Pharma, Astana. Riders who move to these teams have progressed really well. All the best Dutch riders are still at blanco, going nowhere. Except terpstra, who doubled his CQ points going to OPQS after one year. These other teams must know something about training that Blanco don't.

 

[Dutchsmurf]

I can't help but think if Dutch riders want to do well, they need to ride for Sky, Katusha, Tinkoff, Movistar, Omega Pharma, Astana. Riders who move to these teams have progressed really well. All the best Dutch riders are still at blanco, going nowhere. Except terpstra, who doubled his CQ points going to OPQS after one year. These other teams must know something about training that Blanco don't.

Terpstra never rode for Rabobank, so not sure why you bring him up. I don't think there is anything wrong with the training at Blanco/Rabobank. It is more that the current Dutch riders aren't as talented as the (Dutch) media makes them sound like. Gesink, Mollema and Kruijswijk are riders who can top 10 in a GT and if they are lucky can podium. Kinda the level of a Brajkovic, Zubeldia or those kind of riders you find in the top 5-10 range. But in the media it sounds like they will podium for sure and if they are lucky they might even win it.
The huge problem with Dutch cycling (and as a result Rabobank/Blanco) is the lack of a big talent. They aren't good enough in the ITT and not the best climbing wise either. The only one who might win something big the coming years is Boom, but he needs luck too. The rest will get lots of decent placings, but I can't see them getting more than that. No matter which team they ride in.

 

[The Sheep]

Brajkovic is not really a top 10 rider in GTs

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Terpstra never rode for Rabobank, so not sure why you bring him up. I don't think there is anything wrong with the training at Blanco/Rabobank. It is more that the current Dutch riders aren't as talented as the (Dutch) media makes them sound like. Gesink, Mollema and Kruijswijk are riders who can top 10 in a GT and if they are lucky can podium. Kinda the level of a Brajkovic, Zubeldia or those kind of riders you find in the top 5-10 range. But in the media it sounds like they will podium for sure and if they are lucky they might even win it.
The huge problem with Dutch cycling (and as a result Rabobank/Blanco) is the lack of a big talent. They aren't good enough in the ITT and not the best climbing wise either. The only one who might win something big the coming years is Boom, but he needs luck too. The rest will get lots of decent placings, but I can't see them getting more than that. No matter which team they ride in.

Anyone with Gesink's results from age 20-24 and not being Dutch would be heralded as a fantastic talent with prospect to win a GT as well. So that's kinda bull****.
On this forum there was recently a list with riders who scored the most CQ points in their young years. Gesink had about double the points as Nibali in the same time frame for instance

 

[Dutchsmurf]

Anyone with Gesink's results from age 20-24 and not being Dutch would be heralded as a fantastic talent with prospect to win a GT as well. So that's kinda bull****.
On this forum there was recently a list with riders who scored the most CQ points in their young years. Gesink had about double the points as Nibali in the same time frame for instance

But Nibali improved each year and Gesink has actually been getting worse. I was talking about now, not 5 years ago. Gesink might have been a future GT winner 5 years ago, but now I don't consider him one anymore. Now I consider him one of the many riders who can get a top 10 in a GT, usually without being visible much.

 

[HCl+HN03]

Brajkovic is not really a top 10 rider in GTs

Of course he is. Look at last Tour. The field wasnt that strong. But not weaker than the Giro/Vuelta recent years.

 

[karlboss]

Terpstra never rode for Rabobank, so not sure why you bring him up.

That he didn't ride for one of these teams mentioned and then he did and he became much better. Just chose him as he happens to be dutch.

 

[manafana]

rabobank get their money back so now for rest of contract, was weird how they pulled out but were willing keep covering extisting contracts.