• The Cycling News forum is still looking to add volunteer moderators with. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

Teams & Riders Israel Premier Tech

Page 9 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
And what about Riccitello?

Difficult to see him being utilized as a dom for Gee and stage hunting at the Tour probably isn't his bag either, so Vuelta again I guess. In fact a carbon copy of his 2024 calendar wouldn't surprise me.

Hopefully he'll be able to make another step forward this year, but while his climbing might still improve I'm not sure his weaknesses are that solvable.
 
Difficult to see him being utilized as a dom for Gee and stage hunting at the Tour probably isn't his bag either, so Vuelta again I guess. In fact a carbon copy of his 2024 calendar wouldn't surprise me.

Hopefully he'll be able to make another step forward this year, but while his climbing might still improve I'm not sure his weaknesses are that solvable.
I could see Riccitello going Giro with Gee.

I think Blackmore could do Vuelta.

Lutsenko, Ackermann, Woods etc for Tour. Strong could do it as well. More of a team for stages.
 
Riccitiello was really disappointment at last year Vuelta.

Tbf to Riccitello, he looked good on the one MTF before he crashed hard on stage six and then obviously struggled after that. Unfortunately imo bike handling/descending/positioning are all weaknesses of his to varying degrees, so crashes might be a regular thing unless he can work on those issues.

---------------------------

Good start to the season Down Under for Gilmore (I knew I should have picked him for CQ) with fourth place in both the crit and RR. Can he have a Cote-esque season?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sandisfan
The pressure is on. Defending champ and all that.

Disappointing TDU in the context of what happened twelve months earlier. Williams had a small crash on the first GC day, but I don't think that really hampered him. I think he said his legs just didn't have the "minerals". Yeah I've never heard that phrase before either.

Woods did quite well on Willunga to at least nab a top-ten on GC.

Strong wasn't doing as well in the sprints either, but was up there in the following two one-day races and without seeing the races, I think the team worked well there for him. The New Zealander himself said “I think I’ve got to start racing more aggressively, be a wee bit more aggressive, as the pure sprints haven’t been going that well for me”.

The Nats are up next for him.
 
Disappointing TDU in the context of what happened twelve months earlier. Williams had a small crash on the first GC day, but I don't think that really hampered him. I think he said his legs just didn't have the "minerals". Yeah I've never heard that phrase before either.

Woods did quite well on Willunga to at least nab a top-ten on GC.

Strong wasn't doing as well in the sprints either, but was up there in the following two one-day races and without seeing the races, I think the team worked well there for him. The New Zealander himself said “I think I’ve got to start racing more aggressively, be a wee bit more aggressive, as the pure sprints haven’t been going that well for me”.

The Nats are up next for him.
i think this year the team should be more focused about their young riders. strong has couple of more years to reach is top, so i'm not worry about him. i really don't know what to say about Williams, beside the fact that he does like cold and rainy weather, and hates really warm weather, so sending him to Scandinavians races, and TOB , is more advisable for the team.
 
View: https://x.com/IsraelPremTech/status/1886360446627656139


Here's one of those young riders along with a new old one.

Difficult to tell how the lengthy TTT will go with them being rather rare these days. Sixth might achievable? The next two stages after that could be toughies for the team with such strong opposition. I'd love to be wrong, but I don't have much faith in Lutsenko (even if he did school UAE on his own in Abruzzo last year). Stage 4 might bring a successful break? That could be a good opportunity and of course with such a "small" sprint field the final stage could deliver a top-5 for Vernon (good to see him back so soon after his Xmas collarbone break).