Riders who deserve a chance at PCT-level

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Re:

A rider worth mentioning would be Pierpaolo Ficara, already 28 years old and riding for Amore & Vita.
In 2017 he finished 12th on gc in the Tour of Utah and 7th in the PRO Ötztaler 5500, same time as Zoidl and Hirt.
Last year he was 5th in the Coppa Agostoni and finished 3rd in the Tour of Almaty after missing the first half of the season because of a pretty bad crash.
Recently he finished 7th in the Mont Ventoux Dénivelé Challenge and atm he's doing rather well in the Tour de Savoie Mont Blanc.
I'm not saying that he's the next ultramythical climber, but he seems to be good in hard one day races and could add something to the lesser Italian PCT teams, until now he never had any Clinic related problems.

Last time that someone stepped up with "credentials" from that team he made a collection of DNF before returning to them and this year he looks again on the rise, one of the most suspicious team around.

I’m sad to see that they’ve moved registration to Latvia and now have a roster minus most of the Albanians

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

We can take Chris Harper off the list as he seems to get a contract with LottoNL-Jumbo next year. Well deserved.

 

[Anderis]

I read "Chris Horner" and wondered for about an hour if it was a joke or something. :lol:

The fact that you had used outdated team name added to my confusion.

 

[Kokoso]

Alois Kaňkovský, Michal Schlegel, František Šisr, Karel Hník

 

[Mayomaniac]

Re:

Alois Kaňkovský, Michal Schlegel, František Šisr, Karel Hník

This, I was going to mention Schlegel, I was a bit surprised that CCC didn't give him a contract, they only have 3 or 4 climbers who are on his level or better than him and he has a lot of potential.

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

I read "Chris Horner" and wondered for about an hour if it was a joke or something. :lol:

The fact that you had used outdated team name added to my confusion.

I didn't even notice that ... the team will be forever Rabobank for me anyway.

 

[Kokoso]

Re: Re:

Alois Kaňkovský, Michal Schlegel, František Šisr, Karel Hník

This, I was going to mention Schlegel, I was a bit surprised that CCC didn't give him a contract, they only have 3 or 4 climbers who are on his level or better than him and he has a lot of potential.

Wrong nationality I guess. Maybe different reasons, who knows.

 

[Anderis]

Czech is definetely not a wrong nationality for CCC. They've had at least one Czech rider since 2013. And they still have one in Cerny.

Czechia has the biggest number of CCC stores from all countries outside of Poland.

 

[Kokoso]

Re:

Czech is definetely not a wrong nationality for CCC. They've had at least one Czech rider since 2013. And they still have one in Cerny.

Czechia has the biggest number of CCC stores from all countries outside of Poland.

Is it 2013 still? I don't think so. Is one big number? I don't think so. Maybe CCC was good for Czech riders before they wer WT, but this year is different. Team changed a lot, they've got rid of both Schlegel and Šisr. So no, definitely CCC is not good for Czech riders anymore.

 

[Anderis]

Re: Re:

Czech is definetely not a wrong nationality for CCC. They've had at least one Czech rider since 2013. And they still have one in Cerny.

Czechia has the biggest number of CCC stores from all countries outside of Poland.

Is it 2013 still? I don't think so. Is one big number? I don't think so. Maybe CCC was good for Czech riders before they wer WT, but this year is different. Team changed a lot, they've got rid of both Schlegel and Šisr. So no, definitely CCC is not good for Czech riders anymore.

So how many Czechs do you expect at CCC? 1 is still much higher than the average number of Czechs among pro-teams. This country doesn't "produce" that many WT-level riders.

They've got rid of Sisr and Schlegel DESPITE them being Czechs, not because of it. If there's a pro-team with vital interest of having some Czech riders onboard, it's CCC. It doesn't mean they have to hire every half-decent Czech rider out there or it doesn't count. It's laughable to suggest these riders were not kept because of their nationality. If anything, it's Cerny who likely wouldn't be there if not for being Czech.

Also Hirt is rumoured to come back to CCC for 2020, that's how bad CCC is for Czechs. :razz:

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

Jannik Steimle gets a stagiaire spot at Deceuninck-Quick Step. Well deserved.

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

With Jannik Steimle and Ben Dyball two of the riders mentioned here finally got their long overdue WT contracts.

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

And another one gets a well-deserved upgrade to a PCT team: Alexander Krieger joins Corendon-Circus.