Most Improved Team 2013

[Afrank]

With transfers winding down and most teams having finalized their roster, which WT team has improved themselves the most for the upcoming 2014 season? List of teams below, copied from cycling quotes, let me know if anyone is missing and will edit.

Looking at the teams IMO there seems to be 5 front runners.

Astana (have gone and signed some great riders to help out Nibali in Westra, Pellizotti, Landa, Scarponi)
Cannondale (Some great future talents in Mohoric and Villella and some guys that will be a big help to Sagan in Marcato and Gatto)
Garmin (Have completely reconstructed their team with guys like Slagter, Acevedo, Cardoso, Langeveld among others)
OPQS (Lots of improvements both in climbers and and guys for the Cav train in Petacchi, Uran, Renshaw, Poels, Bakelants, De Gendt)
Greenedge (Some strong climbers and future talents in Santaromita, Yates twins, Chaves, Ewan)

Honorable mention goes to...
Lotto (some good guys that much improve the climbing/classics part of the team Gallopin, Monfort)
Movistar (some good improvements in the Izagirre's, Malori, Gadret, Lobato, D. Quintana)
Trek (Brought in some good guys that can get some results in smaller races and take some pressure off Cance to do all the winning for the team in Van Poppel's, Arrendondo, Felline, Stuyvens, Vandewalle, etc.)
BMC (Some fairly good guys in Velits, Atapuma, Zabel)

AG2R La Mondiale

In
Alexis Gougeard (2015)
Sebastien Turgot (Team Europcar, 2016)
Damien Gaudin (Team Europcar, 2016)
Patrick Gretsch (Argos-Shimano, 2015)
Maxime Daniel (2016)
Alexis Vuillermoz (Sojasun, 2015)

Out
Anthony Ravard (Retires)
Manuel Belletti (Androni Venezuela)
John Gadret (Movistar Team)
Valentin Iglinskiy (Astana)


Team Argos-Shimano

In
Lawson Craddock (Bontrager Cycling Team, 2015)
Chad Haga (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies, 2015)
Dries Devenyns (Omega Pharma - Quikstep, 2014)

Out
Patrick Gretsch (AG2R La Mondiale)
Yann Huguet (Retires)
Francois Parisien (Retires)
Will Clarke (Drapac)


Astana Pro Team

In
Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DMC, 2015)
Franco Pellizotti (Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela, 2014)
Mikel Landa (Euskaltel, 2015)
Valentin Iglinskiy (AG2R La Mondiale)
Danill Fominykh (Continental Team Astana)
Michele Scarponi (Lampre-Merida, 2014)

Out
Egor Silin (Katusha)
Assan Bazayev (Retires)

Belkin Pro Cycling Team

In
Nick van der Lijke (Rabobank Devolepment Team, 2015)
Barry Markus (Vacansoleil-DCM, 2015)
Jonathan Hivert (Sojasun, 2014)

Out
Mark Renshaw (Omega Pharma-Quick Step)
Tom Jelte Slagter (Garmin-Sharp)
Luis Leon Sanchez


BMC Racing Team

In
Silvan Dillier (2014)
Darwin Atapuma (Colombia)
Rick Zabel (Rabobank Continental, 2015)
Peter Velits (Omega PharmaQuickStep)
Peter Stetina (Garmin-Sharp)
Ben Hermans (RadioShack-Leopard)

Out
Mathias Frank (IAM Cycling)
Ivan Santaromita (Orica-GreenEDGE)
Marco Pinotti (Retires)
Adam Blythe (NFTO Pro Cycling)


Cannondale Pro Cycling

In
Matej Mohoric (Sava, 2015)
Davide Villella (2015)
Davide Formolo (2015)
Alberto Bettiol (2015)
Oscar Gatto
Marco Marcato

FDJ.fr

In
Olivier Le Gac (2016)
Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier
Sebastien Chavanel (Team Europcar, 2014)

Team Garmin-Sharp

In
Dylan van Baarle (Rabobank Development Team, 2015)
Lasse Norman Hansen (Blue Water Cycling, 2015)
Phillip Gaimon (Bissell Cycling, 2014)
Tom Jelte Slagter (Belkin Pro Cycling)
Nathan Brown (Bontrager Cycling Team, 2015)
Ben King (RadioShack-Leopard)
Sebastian Langeveld (Orica-GreenEDGE, 2015)
Janier Acevedo (Jamis-Hagens Berman)
André Cardoso (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA)

Out
Peter Stetina (BMC)
Christian Vande Velde (Retires)
Martijn Maaskant (UnitedHealthcare)
David Zabriskie (Retires)
Michel Kreder (Wanty - Groupe Robert)
Alex Rasmussen (Riwal Cycling Team)


Katusha Team

In
Egor Silin (Astana, 2014)
Alexander Rybakov (RusVelo, 2014)
Pavel Kochetkov (RusVelo, 2014

Out
Xavier Florencio (retires)

Lampre-Merida

In
Jan Polanc (Team Radenska)
Sacha Modolo (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox, 2015)
Rui Costa (Movistar, 2015)
Rafael Valls (Vacansoleil-DCM)
Nelson Oliveira (RadioShack-Leopard)
Gang Xu (Champions System)
Niccoló Bonifazio (Trainee)
Valerio Conti (Trainee)

Out
Adriano Malori (Movistar)
Davide Vigano (Caja Rural)
Michele Scarponi (Astana)


Lotto Belisol Team

In
Sander Armée (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise, 2015)
Tony Gallopin (RadioShack-Leopard, 2015)
Sean De Bie (Leopard-Trek, 2015)
Kris Boeckmans (Vacansoleil-DCM, 2015)
Vegard Breen (Joker Merida, 2015)
Maxime Monfort (RadioShack-Leopard, 2015)
Pim Ligthart (Vacansoleil-DCM, 2015)
Boris Vallee (Color Code-Biowanze, 2015)
Stig Broeckx (Ikke UCI-hold, 2015)

Out
Vicente Reynes (IAM Cycling)
Brian Bulgac (?)
Jurgen Van de Walle (retires)
Gaëtan Bille (Verandas Willems)


Movistar Team

In
Alejandro Marque (OFM - Quinta da Lixa)
Jasha Sütterlin (Thüringer Energie Team)
Adriano Malori (Lampre-Merida)
Gorka Izagirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
John Gadret (AG2R La Mondiale)
Ion Izagirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
Dayer Quintana (Lizarte)
Juan Jose Lobato (Euskaltel-Euskadi, 2016)

Out
Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida)
Angel Madrazo (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA)


Omega Pharma – QuickStep

In
Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-Merida, 2014)
Rigoberto Uran Uran (Sky Pro Cycling, 2015)
Mark Renshaw (Belkin Pro Cycling, 2015)
Wout Poels (Vacansoleil-DCM, 2014)
Jan Bakelants (RadioShack-Leopard, 2014)
Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleol-DCM, 2014)
Julian Alaphilippe (ETIXX-iNHed, 2015)
Petr Vakoc (ETIXX-iNHed, 2015)

Out
Peter Velits (BMC)
Sylvain Chavanel (IAM Cycling)
Jérôme Pineau (IAM Cycling)
Dries Devenyns (Argos - Shimano)
Kristof Vandewalle (Trek)


Orica-GreenEDGE

In
Damien Howson (Jayco-Ais)
Ivan Santaromita (BMC)
Mathew Hayman (Sky Pro Cycling, 2016)
Simon Yates
Adam Yates
Esteban Chaves (Colombia, 2015)
Caleb Ewan
Mitchell Docker (2016)
Leigh Howard (2016)

Out
Fumiyuki Beppu (Trek)
Sebastian Langeveld (Garmin-Sharp)
Daniel Teklehaimanot (MTN-Qhubeka)
Travis Meyer (Drapac)
Wesley Sulzberger (Drapac)


Trek (RadioShack-Leopard in 2013)

In
Fumiyuki Beppu (Orica-GreenEDGE)
Julian Arredondo (Nippo-De Rosa)
Riccardo Zoidl (Gourmetfein Simplon)
Eugenio Alafaci (Leopard-Trek)
Fabio Silvestre (Leopard-Trek)
Danny Van Poppel (Vacansoleil-DCM)
Boy Van Poppel (Vacansoleil-DCM)
Fabio Felline (Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela)
Jasper Stuyven (Bontrager Cycling Team)
Kristof Vandewalle (Omega Pharma-QuickStep)

Out
Tony Gallopin (Lotto-Belisol)
Maxime Monfort (Lotto-Belisol)
Ben King (Garmin-Sharp)
Jan Bakelants (Omega Pharma - Quickstep)
Nelson Oliveira (Lampre-Merida)
Ben Hermans (BMC Racing Team)
Andreas Klöden (Retires)
Thomas Rohregger (Retires)


Team Saxo Bank

In
Michael Valgren (Team CULT Energy, 2016)
Jesper Hansen (Team CULT Energy, 2015)
Michael Kolar (Ducla Trencin-Trek)
Pawel Poljanski

Out
Anders Lund (ends career)
Jonathan Cantwell (Drapac)
Benjamin Noval (ends carrer)
Bruno Pires (?)
Jonas Aaen (Riwal Cycling Team)

Sky Procycling

In
Nathan Earle (Huon Salmon - Genesys Wealth Advisers)
Philip Deignan (UnitedHealtcare)
Sebastian Henao (2015)
Mikel Nieve

Out
Rigoberto Uran Uran (Omega Pharma-Quick Step)
Mathew Hayman (Orica-GreenEDGE)

 

[ingsve]

Not listed: IAM Cycling

Additions: Chavanel, Frank, Kluge, Pineau, Reyes
Losses: Cusin, Pliuschin

 

[greenedge]

I voted OPQS- they bought a bona fide GC contender in Uran/ will have a strong squad to support him. The addition of Renshaw should help Cav more too. Would have been even better with Chavanel still.

Good thread.

Sky have Nieve too.

 

[Parrulo]

If Rui Costa continues his steady rise Lampre could well take this.

Simply because he was the only big hitter changing teams this off season.

Well Uran also moved to OPQS but when was the last time "Quick step" and "hired GC contender riding well" have been used on the same sentence?

Modolo is also solid hire and with Matxin in the team i wouldn't be surprised to see cobo joining them and start riding well again, same for Rafael Valls who looked very promising in 2010 (riding for Matxin) but hasn't delivered at all at Vacansoleil.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Astana and OPQS have added significantly on the GT/GC front.

Orica and Garmin could surprise with revamped plans.

Big changes at Lampre might see them struggle a bit next year.

The rest already have the key players in place.

CQ '13 team ranking:

1. Bel OmegaPharma - Quick Step Cycling Team PRT 11295
2. Gbr Sky Procycling PRT 11186
3. Esp Movistar Team PRT 11118
4. Rus Katusha Team PRT 10234
5. Usa BMC Racing Team PRT 9274
6. Ned Belkin Pro Cycling Team PRT 9133
7. Lux RadioShack - Leopard PRT 8804
8. Kaz Astana Pro Team PRT 8779
9. Fra FDJ.fr PRT 8288
10. Den Team Saxo - Tinkoff PRT 7676
11. Fra Ag2r - La Mondiale PRT 7619
12. Ita Cannondale Pro Cycling PRT 6676
13. Ita Lampre - Merida PRT 6669
14. Ned Team Argos - Shimano PRT 6529
15. Usa Garmin - Sharp PRT 6246
16. Aus Orica - GreenEDGE PRT 5890
17. Bel Lotto - Belisol PRT 5675
18. Ned Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team PRT 5658
19. Esp Euskaltel - Euskadi PRT 4659
20. Fra Team Europcar PROF 4574

 

[Christian]

If you go solely by the "big names" it's hard to look past OPQS and Astana. Those are two teams with the biggest budgets also.

The biggest coup IMO as Parrulo already mentioned was Costa to Lampre. Very few people would have seen that one coming I think.

Lotto got some good reinforcements as well. Trek signed a lot of exciting prospects - but it seems unlikely that they will have immediate impact. Still, an exciting team to watch for the future.

Honourable mention to Vincent Lavenu and his AG2R team, who for the second year in a row have managed to attract good reinforcements on a low budget. Patrick Gretsch is another one of those left-field signings, but a clever one if he can manage to win a couple of prologues. Plus of course the classics riders, which they were direly lacking until now.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Lampre have a bunch of solid new names. Scarponi is aging and no longer the GC threat he was; he's still able to get good results but he's now a threat to place, less often to win. They've also upgraded at the sprinter position with Modolo, however the loss of Malori as an engine will hurt. Trek, barring the expected loss of Horner (which is possibly a blessing in disguise anyway with the increased salary expectation of a GT winner), have placed a large number of young and talented riders on the team to replace either aging retirees (Klöden) or athletes who weren't really able to capitalise on their abilities at the team with consistency (Oliveira, Hermans). Plenty of talent has left the team, though, and while many of these talents could be inconsistent, they did produce results, especially with the likes of Gallopin's San Sebastián win, so that can't be denied either. Movistar's improved their backup squad with strong engines like Malori and Marque, and the merger with Team Gadret will give them some mountain backup (ha!), but while the most important acquisitions are the Izagirre brothers, Ion being the more promising, he is a similar rider in strengths and weaknesses to Rui Costa, only not at the pinnacle of the sport at this time. Costa is a huge loss, which will have sizable implications for the team, and they will likely need to lean heavily on Izagirre and Visconti to fill the void in results that his loss will create.

 

[spalco]

If the Uran signing works out and Cavendish can rebound to dominance it's got to be OPQS, otherwise I think Lampre will do very well.

 

[BigMac]

Looking forward to the debut of André Cardoso at Garmin, he should be very useful in the hilly classics and certainly a good first engine for the mountains in GT's, maybe the Giro-Vuelta. Also exited for Fábio Silvestre, hope to see him doing well this coming spring.

Garmin
OPQS
Lampre

 

[Ferminal]

BMC... they are probably sick of not dominating.

 

[markene2]

I would say IAM has done the best job..

 

[Gloin22]

OPQS did the best out of PT Teams in my opinion.

Orica did by far the best talent wise looking for the future, they have future top sprinter (Ewan) , time trialist (Howson), pure climber (Chaves), puncheur (S.Yates), and a stage racer (A.Yates) . Who all have shown brilliant results and could actually go on to all fulfil their talents.

And that's just the transfers, not adding the talent already in the team with likes of Matthews, Durbridge etc.

 

[theyoungest]

If Rui Costa continues his steady rise Lampre could well take this.

Simply because he was the only big hitter changing teams this off season.

It's the best transfer of the season in the sense that now they suddenly have the world champion on their team. But I fail to see how Costa could surpass or even equal his results this year?

For the immediate future I think OPQS have done the best business, but Greenedge have signed themselves some great talents. With Garmin not far behind, Acevedo could prove to be the rookie of the season.

 

[BigMac]

It's the best transfer of the season in the sense that now they suddenly have the world champion on their team. But I fail to see how Costa could surpass or even equal his results this year?

I think it is more about comparing Lampre results this year, to the ones they can achieve in 2014 with Costa in their Roaster. Afterall, its the ''Most Improved Team'' thread.

As for Costa, he can start early, achieving a good result in P-N, which he didn't last year because of a crash and abandon. He can also finish well the Ardennes and win TdS again, for the third time in a row. Definetly heading for a better GC spot in Le Tour, and who knows, a win in the WC.

Most of his wins are gotten without any sort of serious attacking, so the heavy marking the rainbow jersey gets should not be a problem.

 

[Pentacycle]

Costa's collar bone fracture might just have given him the freshness to fully peak for the WC of Firenze.

If he has a busier spring he'll have a harder time to get the same form later in the season.

 

[argyllflyer]

Interpreting the poll literally, I'd have to look at teams who had a definite weakness - those who excelled in some areas but fell down in others. GreenEDGE spring to mind as they lacked any threat in stage races and they seem to have addressed that.

 

[Leonardus]

On paper it looks like OPQS did the best signings for next year but I'm not sure about their dual GT approach. They have assembled a very strong sprint for Cav but now they also have a group of riders around Uran to chase a good GC. I'm curious how it will work out next year, I wouldn't be surprised if results aren't great.

I think Cannondale might be the team who can improve the most with their signings. With Marcato and Gatto for the classics Sagan might have that little bit of extra assistance to win Monuments. And with Mohoric and Villella they signed some very promising talents.

 

[Gloin22]

Interpreting the poll literally, I'd have to look at teams who had a definite weakness - those who excelled in some areas but fell down in others. GreenEDGE spring to mind as they lacked any threat in stage races and they seem to have addressed that.

Not really at all ( anyway Orica is always a threat in stage races for stage wins, just not GC mostly [ Weening in some WT's though ] - you didnt specifcy )

Santamorita never did anything great in GT. He's a good one day classic rider. Chaves is far from proven GT rider while Hayman is a classics rider. Other are young talents.

What they did though so well is get all the talent, in 1-2 years that team has insane amount of potential.

( although i can already see S. & A. Yates ---> Porte or similar deals occuring )

 

[karlboss]

BMC... they are probably sick of not dominating.

BMC are frustrating, so much money and seem to get so little for it. Looking at their team I don't even know what they are aiming for.

 

[greenedge]

A better placing with TJVG/ increased mountain support- after not letting Frank ride the TDF
Hermans would be good in the classics/ Atapuma for the Ardennes. Velits for the TTT, worker and maybe a resurgence

Astana have improved with their riders but they had the strongest squads at two GT's/ had Fuglsang at the TDF last year too.

For that reason I would say
OPQS
Garmin
Cannondale/ Lampre.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

BMC are frustrating, so much money and seem to get so little for it. Looking at their team I don't even know what they are aiming for.

BMC did finish the '13 season on a good note, I think they can build on that if they get the classics plans right.

 

[argyllflyer]

Not really at all ( anyway Orica is always a threat in stage races for stage wins, just not GC mostly [ Weening in some WT's though ] - you didnt specifcy )

Santamorita never did anything great in GT. He's a good one day classic rider. Chaves is far from proven GT rider while Hayman is a classics rider. Other are young talents.

What they did though so well is get all the talent, in 1-2 years that team has insane amount of potential.

( although i can already see S. & A. Yates ---> Porte or similar deals occuring )

Was thinking Chaves and S Yates who I reckon will do better in overalls than anyone else on the squad. We'll see.

 

[42x16ss]

Not really at all ( anyway Orica is always a threat in stage races for stage wins, just not GC mostly [ Weening in some WT's though ] - you didnt specifcy )

Santamorita never did anything great in GT. He's a good one day classic rider. Chaves is far from proven GT rider while Hayman is a classics rider. Other are young talents.

What they did though so well is get all the talent, in 1-2 years that team has insane amount of potential.

( although i can already see S. & A. Yates ---> Porte or similar deals occuring )

For the moment, Chaves, the Yates Bros. and Santamorita gives them a little more firepower in the 1 week stage races and hilly classics where they were relying almost solely on Gerrans with support from Weening, Clarke and Albasini. Chaves and Simon Yates should end up showing something in GT's in a year or two and are good long term investments.

Santamorita will be good support in the Ardennes/Lombardia for Gerrans and Clarke and may even get to ride for himself there and in the GT's.

Hayman is a stop gap for Langeveld IMO and will probably be expected to mentor the likes of Durbridge, Docker and Matthews for the hard man classics.

OGE still won't be doing anything GC wise in GT's but they've continued to make very smart buys in terms of prospects and mentors.

 

[coimbrawu]

IMO Trek improved so much. They have already build a good team around Cance for the classic races. They have Jungels for the future. Now they get Jasper Stuyven, Felline as other future invests, Kristof Vandewalle as the solid domestique. They have built a very good team to vs OPQS and Cance will have the strongest helpers/domestiques in the past few years in the classic races.

With Van Poppel brothers, Arredondo, Zoidl, Silvestre, Alafaci, their average age goes down so much too. In the past seasons, they just go for Team classification in some stage races or GT, right now they can hunt for stages, go for GC or sprint. So the whole style of the team looks change too(from a conservative team to an excited team, at least looks from the roster)

 

[42x16ss]

IMO Trek improved so much. They have already build a good team around Cance for the classic races. They have Jungels for the future. Now they get Jasper Stuyven, Felline as other future invests, Kristof Vandewalle as the solid domestique. They have built a very good team to vs OPQS and Cance will have the strongest helpers/domestiques in the past few years in the classic races.

With Van Poppel brothers, Arredondo, Zoidl, Silvestre, Alafaci, their average age goes down so much too. In the past seasons, they just go for Team classification in some stage races or GT, right now they can hunt for stages, go for GC or sprint. So the whole style of the team looks change too(from a conservative team to an excited team, at least looks from the roster)

At first glance Trek's not as strong as it was but when you stop and look it is certainly far more versatile and capable of picking up more wins throughout the season, not just Team Class at the TdF