Teams & Riders Israel Premier Tech

[Leadbelly]

Encouraging result yesterday for Ackers. After his poor sprints in UAE I thought my worst fears about his signing were coming true. Still, he was in the perfect position and couldn't come round Pedersen never mind do anything to compete with Kooij. Plus several of his competitors were absent from the sprint. So just encouraging, nothing more than that.

Things are going a bit better in TA with a good TT from Vernon (maybe the bikes aren't that bad after all), a podium from Strong after missing out the day before and Neilands climbing well today.

The real action starts on Sunday though.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1766065577489990106

View: https://twitter.com/IsraelPremTech/status/1766065577489990106


There's usually a YouTube stream available for anyone up at 5am or whatever.

 

[Leadbelly]

Phew. A bit of a rollercoaster in Taiwan.

It looked like it was going to be much simpler than it turned out with Einhorn's sprint win being followed by Hollyman's late attack on the second stage giving him a small buffer over most of the other contenders.

However the Brit's legs had other ideas on not particularly tough parcour (not great for him in a contract year) and he lost the jersey to Cobo on stage 4. Thankfully the whole team responded well on the final stage to mug Kern Pharma, get enough bonuses for Blackmore and win the stage to boot! Not bad at all.

They'd better be handing Blackmore a contract soon.

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The devo team are back in action again tomorrow at the Youngster Coast Challenge. They officially started their season already at Samyn, Monsere and Criquielion but that was a mixed team with some of the main riders and the devo guys found it pretty tough going (the weather didn't help).

Tomorrow should find a level that is more suited to them. Not that I'm expecting too much though.

 

[Leadbelly]

Not a huge amount to report in the last ten days.

Schultz got one of the team's best wins, if not the best, in Catalunya. However with the great legs that Williams obviously had over the week (went over the top of Pradell with the Pogacar group), it's a bit of a shame they couldn't get a second one somewhere. On the negative side Woods looked far from his best and Teuns got ill (not sure why he was even at the race - should have been at the cobbled classics imo).

There was a decent collective result in Nokere Koerse (via a bit of shouldering it has to be said) with three top-tens, but that was followed up by some collective crashing in De Panne (Ackers out for a bit with a collarbone).

The other classics didn't bring too much cheer. Top-ten at Milano-Torino and various top twenties at MSR, E3 and GW.

Various one day races are next up on the calendar and hopefully we'll get to see Blackmore on European roads at the rebranded Volta NXT Classic.

 

[Netserk]

Do you know what the status is for Gee and if he will be ready for the Giro?

 

[Leadbelly]

Do you know what the status is for Gee and if he will be ready for the Giro?

Only thing I have seen about him recently is this tweet.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1770443692186226763

View: https://twitter.com/IsraelPremTech/status/1770443692186226763


So he's out training at least. Surely though we'll have to see him in Abruzzo if he's thinking of riding the Giro again - I don't think the team is down to ride any other stage races pre-Giro.

If he does ride will lightning strike again this time? Really he's done virtually nothing of note since then apart from that one-day race immediately after the Giro last year where he looked decent.

 

[Netserk]

Good to see.

 

[Pinot's goat]

Do you know what the status is for Gee and if he will be ready for the Giro?

He's posting long rides again on Strava. I do think he is the type of rider who needs a lot of race days to get the form to do what he did in the Giro last year so I don't think it will be a good idea for him to go this year.

 

[Leadbelly]

Arghhh so close today to a great result, it only enhances my thoughts from the other day that Teuns should have done more cobbled classics this year, but as he says below, he had stomach issues after Strade Bianche and is only just getting over them.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1774471192872653172

View: https://twitter.com/WielerFlits/status/1774471192872653172


He also says he thought that he might have been able to go with MVDP.

“On the Koppenberg there is the first moment of “bad luck”. Tim Wellens loses his balance there and becomes obstructed. I almost hit him full-on, so I had no choice but to get off. Otherwise I think I might have had the legs to go with Van der Poel. Maybe between quotes then. We will never know.”

Let's see how he gets on in the Ardennes.

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I didn't see any of the race, but Blackmore had a decent debut in European racing at the Volta NXT. Top-ten and quite active going by the reports.

 

[Bolder]

Arghhh so close today to a great result, it only enhances my thoughts from the other day that Teuns should have done more cobbled classics this year, but as he says below, he had stomach issues after Strade Bianche and is only just getting over them.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1774471192872653172

View: https://twitter.com/WielerFlits/status/1774471192872653172


He also says he thought that he might have been able to go with MVDP.



Let's see how he gets on in the Ardennes.

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I didn't see any of the race, but Blackmore had a decent debut in European racing at the Volta NXT. Top-ten and quite active going by the reports.

Riley Sheehan 13th at 2’. I kept seeing him in the third group but the ES commentators ignored him. That’s pretty big for a guy who was conti level a year ago. He beat a lot of big names.

 

[RedheadDane]

Riley Sheehan 13th at 2’. I kept seeing him in the third group but the ES commentators ignored him. That’s pretty big for a guy who was conti level a year ago. He beat a lot of big names.

Do you mean wasn't even conti level?

 

[Bolder]

Do you mean wasn't even conti level?

Whatever level the Denver Disruptors are…

 

[tobydawq]

Whatever level the Denver Disruptors are…

Sounds like a baseball team.

 

[Leadbelly]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1776678058566488147

View: https://twitter.com/IsraelPremTech/status/1776678058566488147


Final stage coming up today in this tough little stage race.

Wind whittled the GC field down to 37 riders on stage one. Crashes on stage two took Drege and Magnier (1-2 on the first stage) out of contention and yesterday the leader Gruel suffered as others attacked him.

Blackmore is still in the hunt for the GC win. I'm not sure what happened to him on stage two as he finished a few seconds back (held up behind a crash?), but he seemed back to his normal self yesterday. There's realistically only him, the leader Bregnhoj, Graat, Adamietz and Rouland left in it.

Stream should be available below later on.

Le Direct - Sport en France

www.sportenfrance.com

 

[Leadbelly]

Short Blackmore interview with DV.

Joseph Blackmore pas récompensé de son engagement - Actualité - DirectVelo

Joseph Blackmore pas récompensé de son engagement : Joseph Blackmore a joué son va-tout ce samedi lors de la troisième étape du Circuit des Ardennes. “J’étais loin...

www.directvelo.com

This Sunday during the last stage, Joseph Blackmore will try to reverse the course of the Circuit des Ardennes (2.2) to win his third consecutive stage race. “I haven't looked at the course too much, I think it will be windy. The goal is always to win. Today I was close. I am only a few seconds behind the overall leader . ”

His calendar for the rest of the year will include the Giro U23 (good news to get the invite after missing out on some other U23 events), l'Avenir and the Euro + Worlds MTB championships.

 

[Leadbelly]

He only went and done it.

Incredible really. Beating Magnier in a much reduced sprint to get the required bonuses. Did the Soudal rider have a bit of a gear issue?

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Naturally there's sweet F.A. to cheer on elsewhere in France for the team.....

 

[RedheadDane]

Time to boot Froome from the ProTeam, and promote Blackmore?

 

[Leadbelly]

Time to boot Froome from the ProTeam, and promote Blackmore?

I think if it was that easy to get rid of Froome it would have happened a long time ago. The important thing is just to get him (Blackmore) signed for 2025 before a bigger team comes along.

 

[shalgo]

GC wins on three continents for Blackmore this year!

 

[Leadbelly]

Joseph Blackmore passe Mathias Bregnhoj sur le gong - Actualité - DirectVelo

Joseph Blackmore passe Mathias Bregnhoj sur le gong : Le Circuit des Ardennes s’est joué à coup de secondes. Leader au départ de la dernière étape, Mathias Bregnhoj...

www.directvelo.com

The consensus from DV was that an isolated Bregnhoj did too much in the end following riders he didn't need to (but I imagine in the heat of the moment it's not always easy to ID every single rider who attacks) and thus had nothing left at the end.

Still if not for a slight mech for Magnier in the sprint "The chain passed over the small plate twice", he surely would have held onto the lead.

Blackmore is down next to ride for the main team at BP and then LBL U23 with the devo team, which is somewhat strange as I thought the team didn't have an invite this year.

 

[Leadbelly]

After Brabantse Pilj I was quite optimistic about Amstel Gold, but I should have known better....

It's all very well for VDP to play it cool and gamble on others bringing it all back, but for Teuns to do that? He just doesn't have a fast enough finish to warrant doing that imo. He had plenty of opportunities to go with some of the attackers, Pidcock himself went quite late, but for whatever reason Teuns didn't fancy it. Team orders maybe? Anyway to continue the gambling analogy, Teuns got to the line and found out he hadn't even thrown the dice.

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The much better bit of news though is Blackmore's two-yr contract (though still lacking official confirmation). He looks a real nugget. Hopefully we'll see him racing with the main team a bit more later in the year and thus give a chance to some of the other devo guys to have their own opportunities.

 

[Leadbelly]

Excellent result at FW. The team always seems to do better when I can't get to watch the race....

I did skim through a replay of the action and Williams seemed to be involved with every snippet I saw. I did wonder what on earth he was doing riding second wheel for a fair bit in the run in. My initial though was "Is he riding for some other IPT rider in the grp?" I couldn't see another one, but obviously with hindsight and a fuller knowledge of the race situation he was just being really attentive.

LBL tomorrow for the team. Two of the big six are present, so thoughts of victory are much lower.

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The devo squad are riding tomorrow too at Kattekoers.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1781592015328694603

View: https://twitter.com/IsraelPremTech/status/1781592015328694603


Now while at LBL U23 he could count on and got great support from Lima, Marti and Maris. Here the team looks a fair bit weaker imo. Gonna be a tougher ask to win here.

 

[Leadbelly]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1785255255875235973

View: https://twitter.com/IsraelPremTech/status/1785255255875235973


Stage hunting again like last year, but this time with three sprinters in the team too. Not sure how well that will work. Stewart had been slated to ride it with Vernon, but only six days of racing for him after injury means a GT would surely be too much too soon. Maybe he'll be drafted in to help Ackers at the Tour instead.

Woods the only serious climber and tbh after looking at the parcour, none of the stages scream that they're gonna be a winner for him.

I'm not ruling out a stage win for somebody though. Hopefully a "weaker" UAE team here will mean nearly as many opportunities for the break as last year.

 

[Samamba]

Rick Zabel retiring. Not at the end of the season, but immediately. He will end his career in Rund Um Koln at the end of the month, but will ride that with the national team.

Very interesting to me, because of the weird timing and it happening out of the blue.

I have a feeling Israel looked for someone who wanted to get out to get Blackmore in asap as he's obviously already ready to become a pro. They did it before (for Teuns).

 

[Faserr]

Yes, he did a podcast about this today where he explained it. Blackmore is moving up, Zabel already wanted to quit last year because he is more in the influencer business. He still got a a good offer and is probably getting a good amount of money for this year. He still will ride factor bikes this year.

 

[Pinot's goat]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1785255255875235973

View: https://twitter.com/IsraelPremTech/status/1785255255875235973


Stage hunting again like last year, but this time with three sprinters in the team too. Not sure how well that will work. Stewart had been slated to ride it with Vernon, but only six days of racing for him after injury means a GT would surely be too much too soon. Maybe he'll be drafted in to help Ackers at the Tour instead.

Woods the only serious climber and tbh after looking at the parcour, none of the stages scream that they're gonna be a winner for him.

I'm not ruling out a stage win for somebody though. Hopefully a "weaker" UAE team here will mean nearly as many opportunities for the break as last year.

The TTs are a good option for Vernon as well. Frigo seems like a breakaway specialist, long solo in Provence and some of the French one day races last month.