Teams & Riders Polti-Visit Malta

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

LaFlo, do you know why they didn't resign Habtom?
I've heard stories about him beinflg hard to deal with when he rode for Bike Aid and they didn't resign him. It's a shame, the guy has a ton of potential.

I really don't know. I haven't heard that there were any issues. The language barrier could have been a problem. I know he had visa troubles but he still rode a decent number of races last year.

 

[LaFlorecita]

3 Kometa boys in the top-10 on today's queen stage in Hungary. Márton Dina was 2nd, Juanpe Lopez 5th and Stefano Oldani 8th.
Dina was so close to the stage victory!

 

[LaFlorecita]

Our boys for the Giro Valle d'Aosta

With Lopez, Ries and Oldani we have three cards to play for the GC. Last year Kevin Inkelaar, brilliantly supported by Lopez, almost won the race, but he lost the jersey on the final day. Let's see if we can do better this year!

 

[Guszek]

Oldani 2nd and Lopez 5th on the second stage. Good job! But we are still waiting for win

 

[LaFlorecita]

Whoop! Ries won today's stage
Good start to the race for our team, in the prologue Puppio was 3rd, yesterday Oldani was 2nd and now today we have a winner
Juanpe López is our best rider on the GC, he was 5th yesterday and again 5th today.

Also, must note Kevin Inkelaar (seen below with López) who won yesterday, he is with Groupama U23 now but was on Kometa last year. He looks like he could be the strongest rider in the race but unfortunately his chances are slim at best, because of the mess that was the first stage when the peloton was directed the wrong way. Same goes for our guys.

 

[LaFlorecita]

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Re:

Whoop! Ries won today's stage
Good start to the race for our team, in the prologue Puppio was 3rd, yesterday Oldani was 2nd and now today we have a winner
Juanpe López is our best rider on the GC, he was 5th yesterday and again 5th today.

Also, must note Kevin Inkelaar (seen below with López) who won yesterday, he is with Groupama U23 now but was on Kometa last year. He looks like he could be the strongest rider in the race but unfortunately his chances are slim at best, because of the mess that was the first stage when the peloton was directed the wrong way. Same goes for our guys.

Inkelaar is also one of the oldest in the field. Same age as Lambrecht, Sivakov, Bernal, Sosa, Higuita...
(I also doubt he 's the strongest in the race).

 

[LaFlorecita]

Wow! Second win in a row for the team, Juanpe López got the win today

 

[F_Cance]

Great win. Any chance some will go to Trek as stagiaires this year?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Great win. Any chance some will go to Trek as stagiaires this year?

I read on a Spanish forum that Juanpe López will ride in Utah with Trek, the source was Spanish Eurosport.
Ries should get a chance as well I feel.

Also Ciro Scognamiglio/Gazzetta reporting Ivan Basso filed for a pro Conti licence with the UCI. In that case I guess big chance the team's biggest talents will stay with the team next year.

 

[F_Cance]

https://www.wielerflits.nl/nieuws/jonge-spaanse-klimmer-lopez-trekt-naar-trek-segafredo

Not only as a stagiaire, but also signing for the next 2 years. Maybe another year at Kometa on PCT level would have been better?

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Re:

https://www.wielerflits.nl/nieuws/jonge-spaanse-klimmer-lopez-trekt-naar-trek-segafredo

Not only as a stagiaire, but also signing for the next 2 years. Maybe another year at Kometa on PCT level would have been better?

He's 22 now. I think if you have the talent and ambition, that's about as long as you should wait.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

https://www.wielerflits.nl/nieuws/jonge-spaanse-klimmer-lopez-trekt-naar-trek-segafredo

Not only as a stagiaire, but also signing for the next 2 years. Maybe another year at Kometa on PCT level would have been better?

He tweeted something today about 1st of August always being an interesting because of the start of the transfer period so I'm not surprised. I don't think it's better or worse for his development to step up to WT directly, but maybe he could have gotten more chances at a ProConti Kometa team. Also for Kometa considering their ambitions I guess it would have been good to have a talented Spanish climber in their ranks for next season. They can't afford to lose all of their 'ripe' talent.
Still, it's an excellent step up for him and a big success for Kometa and the Fundación.

 

[perico]

This kid is good and we need more Spanish climbers rising back up to prominence in the sport.

 

[Koronin]

Re:

This kid is good and we need more Spanish climbers rising back up to prominence in the sport.

Agreed. Hopefully having more Spanish Conti and Pro Conti teams should help along with more cadet, junior and U-23 teams.

 

[Guszek]

Do we have any info about team's future?
Any races in September?
Any transfers?
Will they apply for Pro Conti licence?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Do we have any info about team's future?
Any races in September?
Any transfers?
Will they apply for Pro Conti licence?

The rumors have dried up, it's become really quiet. Not the best sign for the team's hopes of going Pro Conti.
The rumors about Lopez joining Trek, Oldani joining Lotto and even Carlos Rodriguez joining Ineos straight from the junior team, could point towards another year at Continental level. I guess if they'd already secured the license and even the WC for the Giro as was rumored, their star riders would stay.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Exciting news: Michel Ries and Juan Pedro Lopez were just officially announced by Trek as new signings! Good luck boys!
Now we are just waiting on news about Oldani and Lotto!

 

[joorges]

Yesterday, Contador congratulated Xabier Zandio (ds Team Ineos) at Eurosport interview for Carlos Rodriguez signing. He also said that five riders (of Fundacion Contador'19) will ride at UCI World Tour'20 (Carlos Rodriguez, Juanpe, Ries, Oldani and unknown).

 

[LaFlorecita]

Yesterday, Contador congratulated Xabier Zandio (ds Team Ineos) at Eurosport interview for Carlos Rodriguez signing. He also said that five riders (of Fundacion Contador'19) will ride at UCI World Tour'20 (Carlos Rodriguez, Juanpe, Ries, Oldani and unknown).

Damn, that's the confirmation I guess even though it's great that the foundation will have placed 6 riders into the World Tour in 2 years, that Rodriguez signing really sucks. They are going to ruin the boy, he's 18 FFS!!

As for the fifth mystery rider, no clue who he could be. Puppio had some decent results, but WT? Maybe Dina? He did well in the Tour of Hungary

 

[F_Cance]

Would guess Gazzoli. Would be too early though

 

[LaFlorecita]

Would guess Gazzoli. Would be too early though

I'd be inclined to agree (for the record, he is almost 2 full years older than Rodriguez!)
He has had a bit of an unfortunate season, a lot of trouble with injuries this year. I think he'd benefit from one more year at Continental level, dominating the sprints like Moschetti in 2018, before making the jump.

 

[LosBrolin]

Carlos Rodriguez is good but WT next year??? That's just too crazy.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Carlos Rodriguez is good but WT next year??? That's just too crazy.

Compare him to Evenepoel. He's pretty much exactly 1 year younger than Evenepoel. He's shown not even 10% of what Evenepoel showed. Rodriguez is good, he could become a very good pro in a few years time, but he should be nurtured in the U23 ranks, not thrown into the deep end. And Ineos might be the worst team possible for nurturing talents and allowing them time to develop...

 

[LosBrolin]

Compare him to Evenepoel. He's pretty much exactly 1 year younger than Evenepoel. He's shown not even 10% of what Evenepoel showed. Rodriguez is good, he could become a very good pro in a few years time, but he should be nurtured in the U23 ranks, not thrown into the deep end. And Ineos might be the worst team possible for nurturing talents and allowing them time to develop...

Exactly. He should've done just like Tiberi and Piccolo who also both were rumored to go straight to the WT but went to Colpack instead. I mean winning Tour de Gironde (against weak field) and dominating Spanish Junior stage races is cool, but there's quite a big gap between them and WT-races.