Teams & Riders Israel Premier Tech

[yaNzKEWL]

And what about Riccitello? Was strong last year in Suisse and with another GT under his belt he should be even stronger.

 

[Leadbelly]

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.

 

[Salvarani]

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.

 

[Netserk]

And what about Riccitello? Was strong last year in Suisse and with another GT under his belt he should be even stronger.

I would like to see him in the Tour, despite breakaways not getting many chances in the stages that suit him.

 

[aruipksni]

Hirt was 8th on last Giro, so not taking him will be a surprise.
Riccitiello was really disappointment at last year Vuelta.
i guess Froome is out of the question...

 

[Leadbelly]

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.

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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?

 

[Leadbelly]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1879330558096056550

View: https://x.com/IsraelPremTech/status/1879330558096056550


The pressure is on. Defending champ and all that.

There's a couple of stages that could suit Strong, but do you go for the stage win with him or chase bonifications for Williams?

 

[ingsve]

Hirt was 8th on last Giro, so not taking him will be a surprise.
Riccitiello was really disappointment at last year Vuelta.
i guess Froome is out of the question...

Even with his early crash he was 30th overall after being 56th in his first GT so that is fairly normal progression. Not sure it's fair to expect much better.

 

[Leadbelly]

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.

 

[aruipksni]

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.

 

[Leadbelly]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1886360446627656139

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).

 

[Leadbelly]

Asier Ortega, Denilson Fabián Ávila y Víctor Grau acuden a la Challenge Vuelta Ciclista a Extremadura Júnior Masculino-Junior Femenina

Kike Maranchón (Picusa) entrena esta semana en Benidorm con la Academia del Israel – Premier Tech Este fin de semana se disputa la Challenge Vuelta a Ciclista Extremadura. Una competición que se co…

alicanteconelplatogrande.com

Going by this article a few juniors were training with the devo team this past week.

Kike Maranchon, Diego Lopez and Jose Salgueiro are mentioned. All rode for Picusa Academy last year and maybe there's some sort of unofficial link-up there as Omer Ramon (also at the training camp) rode for them last year too.

No guarantee of course that all or any of them will sign up, but it's always interesting to keep an eye on them.

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Valenciana is so far kinda going as I thought. It was pretty good TTT tbf especially as according to Vernon their radios weren't working.

 

[Leadbelly]

Maranchon, Diego Lopez and Jose Salgueiro are mentioned. All rode for Picusa Academy last year and maybe there's some sort of unofficial link-up there as Omer Ramon (also at the training camp) rode for them last year too.

They're riding some familiar looking bikes

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https://twitter.com/x/status/1889631007541780515

View: https://x.com/IsraelPremTech/status/1889631007541780515


First race of the year for five of the seven and like Valenciana I'm not expecting too much. Three possible sprints, so maybe a stage podium or some top-5s?

 

[Leadbelly]

Almost forgot that Pau Marti and Alvaro Garcia are riding tomorrow for a Spanish selection at Murcia and a hard looking Jaen is on the menu for Marti on Monday according to the provisional start list.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

I have emailed the admins to see if any work-around on the filter might be possible, but we may have to give Maranchón an alternative to his preferred forename; I see at least some Spanish websites have him as Quique Maranchón, which would be phonetically similar, or maybe we will have to stick to what I assume to be the formal version of his name, which I assume to be Enrique.

The irony of the issue combined with the team he is being linked with will not be lost on many of you.

UPDATE: Filter has been adapted. Obviously there will be absolutely no toleration of misuse of this being unlocked.

 

[Bolder]

I have emailed the admins to see if any work-around on the filter might be possible, but we may have to give Maranchón an alternative to his preferred forename; I see at least some Spanish websites have him as Quique Maranchón, which would be phonetically similar, or maybe we will have to stick to what I assume to be the formal version of his name, which I assume to be Enrique.

The irony of the issue combined with the team he is being linked with will not be lost on many of you.

UPDATE: Filter has been adapted. Obviously there will be absolutely no toleration of misuse of this being unlocked.

As a MoT I appreciate the irony!

 

[Leadbelly]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1892882047854686247

View: https://x.com/IsraelPremTech/status/1892882047854686247


Like previous years it's IPT-lite in Rwanda.

They're talking up Kretschy for the GC, but apart from this race itself he went AWOL far too many times in races last year. I think a stage victory with Einhorn (or Gilmore on the slightly tougher days) is a more likely outcome.

Prologue to kick things off today.

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Nice fifth place on one of the sprint stages for Kogut in UAE. Admittedly he did benefit from a crash taking out some competitors in the run-in, but earlier on he was part of the first echelon in the winds with the big names. He wasn't able to do anything on the other sprint days, but he's lacking in help here tbh.

Riccitello has been doing his thing on the climbing days. He's 12th on GC going into the final stage today (benefiting like Kogut from that crash which held up some of the guys ahead of him in GC) and that's where he finished last year.

 

[Leadbelly]

Riccitello has been doing his thing on the climbing days.

..... and he did his thing in the echelons on the final day. It's not too surprising. He almost got caught out on an earlier stage.

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Things are going a bit better in Rwanda.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1894409064307716351

View: https://x.com/IsraelPremTech/status/1894409064307716351


Winner winner chicken dinner. Tene was very close yesterday to winning as well.

 

[armchairclimber]

Joe Blackmore's entries look ambitious ... in a good way.
Omloop
Strade Bianche
Ronde Van Vlaanderen
Brabantse Pijl
L-B-L
Tour de France

I presume he'll do Dauphine as well. It'll be interesting to see him in SB with his gravel/mountain biking background. Obviously he isn't going to win it, but he might get a decent placing.

 

[Leadbelly]

Joe Blackmore's entries look ambitious ... in a good way.
Omloop

Not being able to watch on Saturday I can only see that he finished way down the field 5+ mins behind. Was he visible at any point earlier in the race?

Although he got his second place in the reduced sprint on stage 2 at Alpes - Maritime, I was a bit disappointed that when Buitrago and Scaroni attacked he was nowhere to be seen. I don't even think he was in that first chase group of 8-10 (?) riders. Maybe he was just gambling on it coming back together or still feeling the side effects of his crash earlier in the month.

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Nice win for Gee at Gran Camino. Not super-duper opposition, but a win's a win and more importantly he looks to be fulfilling my wish of a decent level all year round and not just for a month or two around a GT.

Hofstetter's result today was the other main highlight for the main team recently. Not the fastest sprinter present by far but got left in a nice place by Boivin + another unidentified IPT rider and then managed to get on the right wheels. One of his favourite races (Le Samyn) is up next for him.

 

[Leadbelly]

Hofstetter's good form continues. He seems to be taking over TVA's scoring role in these smaller races. Would he have preferred though for the team to be present at PN?

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https://twitter.com/x/status/1898744564279644393

View: https://x.com/IsraelPremTech/status/1898744564279644393


Another test for Gee. Much tougher opposition than in Spain, but still without any of the big-4.