Transfers and Rumours 2016 > 2017

[StryderHells]

Re:

Adam Blythe, Andrew Fenn, Larry Warbasse, Mark Christian and Dan Pearson are final Aqua Blue riders.

They really look to have put together a pretty handy team for their first season

 

[ciranda]

Re: Re:

LOL

They need to make room for Bobridge too though.

No, I was not pointing these guys out to show that they don't deserve to be at World Tour. I've pointed that when these guys are in WT, the other guys could be there too.

Yeah, the term 'world tour level' is often used to praise or dismiss someone. But in reality it's just some longer and harder races with stronger competition and hard to say in advance for sure who can adapt and do well. Take the dismissal of Karel Hnik above; well he was a strong u23 who couldn't get better contracts than with Cult and Verva Active and then it gets harder to make an impression and get noticed because of the limited race programs these teams have. That does not mean he's not *world tour level*. Many many riders including Hnik have better credentials as far as results than Bevin, Blythe, Fenn, Howard etc etc etc etc.

Kokoso.... no, just no....

Hnik would be World Tour pack fodder, and Sisr is only PCT quality atm. Both still interesting though.

Hirt could be an interesting addition to a world tour team, but let's just say he's not proven any kind of stability.. most of his points have come from Austria.

You don't get it. It's not about objective evaluation of worth by some random nerds, it's a consistent pattern of inequality about who gets opportunities. You can argue if it's a problem or not but have to acknowledge it.

 

[del1962]

Re: Re:

Adam Blythe, Andrew Fenn, Larry Warbasse, Mark Christian and Dan Pearson are final Aqua Blue riders.

They really look to have put together a pretty handy team for their first season

Certainly a lot stronger then one pro cycling

 

[yaco]

It's that time of the year when TMP produces his list of riders who don't have a WT contract.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Re:

Adam Blythe, Andrew Fenn, Larry Warbasse, Mark Christian and Dan Pearson are final Aqua Blue riders.

They really look to have put together a pretty handy team for their first season

Certainly a lot stronger then one pro cycling

Judging by the roster I can only assume that the budget is markedly higher than One Pro Cycling. It's not a team of guys stepping up from the Continental level led by a couple of riders with higher level experience as One is and as I thought they would be. It's a team of established WT/PCT riders with just a few stepping up. Its probably fairer to compare them with some of the stronger PCT teams. They are no Caja Rural, but on paper they look about the level of most of the sort of PCT teams that hope to get a GT wildcard, which is impressive for a brand new outfit.

Mark Christian is the only rider who looks to me as if he's pretty lucky to get a pro contract on the road. He's a trackie though, so maybe they know he's stronger than his part time road results suggest. The other new guys, Gates, Pearson and Dunne are all promising.

It's a useful mix of riders who can climb, classics guys and sprinters. Quite a lot of them are good but not excellent at their specialty, so it will be interesting to see who their leaders will be other than Nordhaug. Presumably Howard is faster than Blythe or Fenn?

 

[Lexman]

Roy Jans from Wanty ro Bruxelles- Wallonie in 2017

and this team will PCT instead of CT

that makes Belgium will have 4PCT : Topsport, Wanty, Crelan-Vastgoedservice, Bruxelles

 

[Echoes]

Re: Re:

Glad for him. The way he's been treated by Trek this last season is unfair and disgusting.

Didn't he just underperform?

His role was to help Cancellara, not to perform. He was a domestique. That's what he was paid for and he did that very well.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re:

Roy Jans from Wanty ro Bruxelles- Wallonie in 2017

and this team will PCT instead of CT

that makes Belgium will have 4PCT : Topsport, Wanty, Crelan-Vastgoedservice, Bruxelles

Impressive. When was the last time Belgium had 6 pro teams?

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

The Aqua Blue signings do demonstrate how national bias tends to work in the sport. First and foremost riders from countries with a pro team have an advantage. For the first time there's an Irish one, so Irish riders suddenly get a leg up. But the less obvious factor at work is the An Post team - lots of the guys they've signed have spent time on that team. So even though they aren't Irish, they are on the radar of people involved in cycling in Ireland in a way that an otherwise identical rider on Klein Constantia would not be.

That's not an anti-Czech bias any more than CCC picking up Czech riders but no Irish ones demonstrates an anti Irish or anti Anglophone bias. The main "unfair" element at work is that riders from countries with pro teams have an obvious advantage. After that, other than talent the big problem for riders from elsewhere is the ability to get noticed by teams. Historically for Irish riders that meant going to France, getting a ride with an amateur squad and getting noticed that way. Nowadays An Post and the British domestic scene provide potential alternative routes.

 

[StryderHells]

Re: Re:

Uhrmeged yesss "Volderken from Bavikhoven" riding another year!!!!

Glad for him. The way he's been treated by Trek this last season is unfair and disgusting.

How exactly did Trek treat him unfairly and disgustingly? His role was as a domestique which seems perfectly reasonable considering that he hasn't done much for a long time to suggest he should of been anything more than that.

 

[StryderHells]

Re: Re:

It's a useful mix of riders who can climb, classics guys and sprinters. Quite a lot of them are good but not excellent at their specialty, so it will be interesting to see who their leaders will be other than Nordhaug. Presumably Howard is faster than Blythe or Fenn?

I can see Denifl taking leadership in some races. Howard is faster than Blythe and Fenn and this season suggests that he's back on track after his career stagnating at OBE, I wouldn't expect to see Howard, Blythe and Fenn in the same team very often as from what I've been reading this team should have a good enough calendar to give all 3 opportunities to lead the sprints over the season.

 

[HelloDolly]

I suppose Aquablue will get alot of invites to British races and the Surrey London classic

Would like to see them do some of the Belguim races

 

[TMP402]

Re: Re:

Mark Christian is the only rider who looks to me as if he's pretty lucky to get a pro contract on the road. He's a trackie though, so maybe they know he's stronger than his part time road results suggest.

Top 10s overall at the Tour Alsace and Tour de Slovaquie this year are pretty good results for an under-23; those can be pretty tough tours if I remember correctly. Admittedly he is about to turn 26, but then he hasn't done that much road racing.

I can see Denifl taking leadership in some races. Howard is faster than Blythe and Fenn and this season suggests that he's back on track after his career stagnating at OBE, I wouldn't expect to see Howard, Blythe and Fenn in the same team very often as from what I've been reading this team should have a good enough calendar to give all 3 opportunities to lead the sprints over the season.

I doubt Fenn is going to lead as a sprinter. In some cobbled races maybe (though I question his ability to do that), but mostly he should be a lead-out man to either Howard or Blythe. He's a pretty good at it.

 

[TMP402]

Re:

I suppose Aquablue will get alot of invites to British races and the Surrey London classic

Would like to see them do some of the Belguim races

ONE got invited to the Criterium International, 3 Days of West Flanders, 4 Days of Dunkirk, Brabantse Pijl, Tro-Bro Leon, Luxembourg, Utah and Abu Dhabi, and lots of Belgian one-dayers, so Aqua Blue should definitely be capable of assembling a good calendar.

 

[TMP402]

Re:

It's that time of the year when TMP produces his list of riders who don't have a WT contract.

PCS usually have a list, but I can't find it

 

[HelloDolly]

Re: Re:

It's that time of the year when TMP produces his list of riders who don't have a WT contract.

PCS usually have a list, but I can't find it

Here you go

http://www.procyclingstats.com/teams?c=5&sc=2&type=2

 

[TMP402]

Re: Re:

It's that time of the year when TMP produces his list of riders who don't have a WT contract.

PCS usually have a list, but I can't find it

Here you go

http://www.procyclingstats.com/teams?c=5&sc=2&type=2

THANK YOU

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Re:

Mark Christian is the only rider who looks to me as if he's pretty lucky to get a pro contract on the road. He's a trackie though, so maybe they know he's stronger than his part time road results suggest.

Top 10s overall at the Tour Alsace and Tour de Slovaquie this year are pretty good results for an under-23; those can be pretty tough tours if I remember correctly. Admittedly he is about to turn 26, but then he hasn't done that much road racing.

In some ways he's a bit similar to Aaron Gate, the other rider they've hired who is transitioning to full time road racing from the track, but Gate was more successful on the track and actually won some races as a part-season road racer. I suppose we will see how they adapt.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

ProCyclingStats.com ‏@ProCyclingStats 10m10 minutes ago
. @h_carretero will ride for @Movistar_Team the coming two years

Nice, I honestly thought Samitier would get the promotion above Héctor, but he's had a good season, and didn't disgrace himself against the elites too.

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

Dennis Van Winden to cycling academy team (confirmed on their Facebook)

 

[TMP402]

Re:

Dennis Van Winden to cycling academy team (confirmed on their Facebook)

I hope it goes better for him than the last time he headed east.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Re:

Dennis Van Winden to cycling academy team (confirmed on their Facebook)

I hope it goes better for him than the last time he headed east.

What actually happened between him and Synergy Baku. I know he signed for them and then he went back to RaboLotto after a few months.

 

[StryderHells]

Re: Re:

Drapac riders Will Clarke and Tom Scully to join Brendan Canty at Cannondale-Drapac next year.

Which leaves only 14 remaining Drapac riders! Some merger.

Source: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/cannondale-drapac-announce-canty-clarke-and-scully-signings/

Peter Koning is with Aqua Blue
Lachlan Norris & Gavin Mannion go to UnitedHealthcare
Graeme Brown retires.
The others are not quite up to pro-conti level.

Jens Mouris signed for Roompot a while ago and Brad Evans will be riding for the Drapac-Pat's Veg Conti squad. Of the others Jones will find a home at PCT with Lowndes and Phelan also possibilities to find homes at that level, you'd think that most of the other riders will head back to the NRS.

 

[pastronef]

Re: Re:

Dennis Van Winden to cycling academy team (confirmed on their Facebook)

I hope it goes better for him than the last time he headed east.

What actually happened between him and Synergy Baku. I know he signed for them and then he went back to RaboLotto after a few months.

he had even good results with Synergy Baku. I remember a team slot became available during the season so LottoNL signed him again (Kevin de Weert retired mid season 2015)

 

[Lexman]

Gijs Van Hoecke from Topsport to Lotto-Nl who starts to have real contingent of belgians now : Sep, De Tier, Van Asbrouck, VDB, Campenaerts, Wynants....