New ProTeams for 2011 - where is everybody?
Update 10/18/11: For an updated list of riders and ProTeams in 2012 please read: Where have all the Pro Riders gone
Update 03/01/11: This post is now quite outdated with Pegasus disbanding and other teams adding new riders in the winter.
ProTeams are changing it up! Sponsors change, management changes, riders jump from team to team, and I am fascinated with figuring out who is where. Out with the old kits, in with the new. The excitement started one month earlier than usual in 2010. The dust has settled now that October 1st, the deadline to file all the proper paper work with the UCI (the Union Cycliste Internationale), has passed.
According to CyclingNews.com, "Teams were requested to lodge a dossier with the UCI on October 1st, incorporating sponsorship contracts, contracts with 12 riders, details of the team’s budget and a bank guarantee. New teams were also required to submit a description of the team structure". A UCI ProTeam license is required to be part of the UCI WorldTour in 2011.
Everyone wants to know what team Fabian Cancellara will be riding for in 2011? He's riding for the Luxembourg Project, sure, it is not official, but it is almost true (that means I hope it is true). Thor Hushovd is riding for Garmin, Taylor Phinney will be on BMC, Ben King will be on Radioshack, Mark Cavendish stayed put on HTC-Highroad, and Contador will be riding somewhere in Spain alone (a country intent on "cracking down" on doping).
Who are the ProTeams for 2011 (new names & totally different riders for 2011)
What we know for sure is that ProTeam status in 2011 has been guaranteed to these 10 teams: Ag2r, Katusha, Lampre ISD, Omega Pharma-Lotto, Quickstep, Rabobank, Saxo Bank, Sky, Garmin-Cervélo and RadioShack.
In the midst of battle for the 8 remaining slots are 12 teams: BMC, Cofidis, Euskaltel-Euskadi, FDJ, Geox-TMC, HTC-Highroad, Liquigas-Cannondale, Telefonica Movistar (the old Caisse d’Epargne), Vacansoleil-DCM, Astana (late in application, $1000.00 per day is charged for late entries), The Luxembourg Pro Cycling Project, and Team Pegasus (the old Fly V Australia, understood to have applied, but not listed),
Milram has disbanded.
14 teams have applied for Pro Continental status in 2011: Andalucia Caja Granada, Androni Giocattoli, Caja Rural, CCC Polsat Polkowice, Colnago CSF, De Rosa-Ceramica Flaminia, Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli, Landbouwkrediet, Netapp, Saur-Sojasun, Skil-Shimano, Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator, United Healthcare presented by Maxxis, and Verandas Willems.
Europcar (the old Bbox-Bouygues Telecom) has applied (late) to ride as a Pro Continental team in 2011.
Who are the ProTour Riders for 2011 - a major reshuffling of team members
ProTour team rosters: *not quite complete - I've been working to compile this list, and will continue to add to or correct it ...
Ag2r riders 2011: Nicolas Roche, Rinaldo Nocentini, Matteo Montaguti, Kristof Goddaert, Martin Elmiger, Ukrainian Yuriy Kristov, Mathieu Perget, Jean-Christophe Peraud, Sébastien Minard, Mikaël Chérel, Steve Houanard, Matteo Montaguti, Romain Lemarchand, David Le Lay, Cyril Dessel.
Team Katusha riders 2011: Vladimir Karpets, Joaquím Rodríguez, Danilo Napolitano, Alberto Losada, Yuriy Trofimov, Daniel Moreno, Leif Hoste, Aleksandr Kuschynski, Luca Paolini, Stijn Vandebergh, Egor Silin, Pippo Pozzato
Lampre ISD riders 2011: Allessandro Petacchi, Michele Scarponi, Leonardo Bertagnolli, Denys Kostyuk, Dmytro Kryvtsov, Vitaly Kondrut, Przemyslaw Niemiec, Matteo Rabottin, Andrey Kashechkin, Francesco Gavazzi
Omega Pharma-Lotto riders 2011 (License Approved): Marcel Sieberg, Andre Greipel, Jussi Veikkanen, Jurgen van de Walle, Fredrik Willems, Adam Hansen, Vicente Reynes, Gert Dockx, David Boucher, Klaas Lodewyck, Maarten Neyens, Oscar Pujol, Jens Debousschere, Sven Vandousselaere, Bart de Clercq,
Quickstep riders 2011: Tom Boonen, Kevin Seeldraeyers, Dries Devenyns, Kevin De Weert, Maarten Wynants, Sylvain Chavanel, Jérôme Pineau, Francesco Chicchi, Niki Terpstra, Gerald Ciolek, Marc de Maar, Andy Cappelle, Julien Vermote, Jan Tratnik, Marco Bandiera, Guillaume van Keirsbulck, Frederique Robert, Phillipe Gilbert, Jurgen Van den Broeck, Klaas Lodewyck,
Rabobank riders 2011 (License Approved): Carlos Barredo, Matti Breschel, Luis Leon Sanchez, Oscar Freire, Carlos Barredo, Maarten Wynants, Theo Bos, Coen Vermelfoort, Michael Matthews, Tom Jelte Slagter, Robert Gesink, Peter Weening, Sebastian Langeveld
Saxo Bank-SunGard riders 2011: Baden Cooke, Nick Nuyens, Richie Porte, Niki Sorensen, Chris Anker Sorensen, Gustav Larsson, Alberto Contador (likely suspended until God knows when), Daniel Navarro, Benjamin Noval, Jesus Hernandez, Brian Vandborg, David Tanne, Volodimir Gustov, Manuele Boaro. Saxo Bank team staff: Tristan Hoffmann, Fabrizio Guidi, Philippe Mauduit, and Nicholas Gates joining Bjarne Riis', Bradley McGee and Dan Frost, Anders Damgaard .
Team Sky riders 2011 (License Approved): Jeremy Hunt, Michael Rogers, Greg Henderson, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Juan Antonio Flecha, Bradley Wiggins, Geraint Thomas Rigoberto Urán, Xabier Zandio, Alex Dowsett, Russell Downing, Jeremy Hunt, Davide Appollonio, Kurt Asle Arvesen, Simon Gerrans. Bobby Julich will be race coach.
Garmin-Cervélo riders 2011 (License Approved): Thor Hushovd, Roger Hammond, Heinrich Haussler, Andreas Klier, Brett Lancaster, Daniel Lloyd, Gabriel Rasch, Tyler Farrar, Ryder Hesjedal, Christian Vande Velde, David Zabriskie, Dan Martin, Sep Vanmarcke, Andrew Talansky, Ramunas Navardauskas, Alex Howes, Caleb Fairly, Raymond Kreder, David Millar, Jack Bobridge, Travis Meyer, Cameron Meyer, Matt Wilson. Castelli clothing.
Team RadioShack riders 2011: Robbie McEwen, Robert Hunter, Nélson Oliveira, Philip Deignan, Manuel Cardoso, Michal Kwiatkowski, Benjamin King, Jesse Sergent, Lance Armstrong, San Bewley, Janez Brajkovic, Matthew Busche, Ben Hermans, Chris Horner, Markel Irizar, Andreas Klöden, Levi Leipheimer, Geoffroy Lequatre, Tiago Machado, Dmitry Muravyev, Sergio Paulinho, Yaroslav Popovych, Gregory Rast, Sebastien Rosseler, Bjorn Selander, Gert Steegmans, Haimar Zubeldia, Ivan Rovny,
BMC riders 2011: Taylor Phinney, George Hincapie, Cadel Evans, Alessandro Ballan, Yannick Eijssen, Greg Van Avermaet, Manuel Quinziato, Ivan Santaromita, Amaël Moinard, Johann Tschopp, Marcus Burghardt, Karsten Kroon, Timothy Roe, Alexander Kristoff,
Euskaltel-Euskadi riders 2011: Egoi Martinez, Sammy Sanchez, Igor Anton, Romain Sicard, Pierre Cazaux, Mikel Landa Meana, Jon Izaguirre, Koldo Fernandez
FDJ riders 2011 (out of running): Dominique Rollin, Arnold Jeannesson, Pierrick Fédrigo, William Bonnet, Remi Pauriol, Mickael Delage, Steve Chainel, Arnold Jeannesson, Cedric Pineau, Arnaud Courteille, Geoffrey Soupe, Nacer Bouhanni, Française des Jeux would have got their ProTour licence if their application was perfect and if they had sent all the contracts to the UCI on time.
HTC-Highroad riders 2011: Mark Cavendish, Bert Grabsch, Caleb Fairly, Alex Rasmussen, Danny Pate, Matthew Brammeier, John Degenkolb, Craig Lewis, Mark Renshaw, Matt Goss, Tejay Van Garderen, Bernhard Eisel, Peter Velits, Martin Velits, (verifying a full list). Jens Zemke one of the sports directors. *Specialized will be sponsoring this team in 2011. Columbia is no longer a sponsor.
Liquigas-Cannondale riders 2011: Ivan Basso, Vincenzo Nibali, Eros Capecchi, Paolo Longo Borghini, Damiano Caruso, Cristiano Salerno, Cameron Wurf, Alan Marangoni, Juraj Sagan, Ted King, Timothy "Timmy" Duggan, Mauro Da Dalto, Alan Marangoni, Simone Ponzi, Domink Nerz, Eros Capecchi, Paola Longo Borghini, Jacopo Guarnieri, team manager Roberto Amadio,
Telefonica Movistar riders 2011: Davide Appollonio, Ignatas Konovalovas, Xavier Tondo, Beñat Intxausti, Sergio Pardilla, Francisco Ventoso, Branislau Samoilau, Andrey Amador, David Arroyo, Marzio Bruseghin, Imanol Erviti, Rui Costa, Txente García, José Iván Gutiérrez, Vasili Kiryienka, Pablo Lastras, David López, Angel Madrazo, Luis Pasamontes, Rubén Plaza, José Joaquín Rojas, Mauricio Soler, Alejandro Valverde (suspended until 2012). Jose Luis Arrieta will be a sports director for the Movistar team.
Vacansoliel-Palmans-DMC riders 2011: Stijn Devolder, Ezequiel Mosquera, Riccardo Ricco, Ceramica Flaminia, Ruslan Pidgornyy, Maxim Belkov, Thomas De Gendt, Martijn Keizer, Pim Ligthart, Johnny Hoogerland, Jens Mouris, Lieuwen Westra, Wout Poels, Rob Ruygh, Joost van Leijen, Gorik Gardeyn, Björn Leukemans, Frederik Veuchelen, Marco Marcato, Matteo Carrara, Alberto Ongarato, Borut Bozic, Sergey Lagutin, Romain Feillu, Michal Golas, Pim Ligthart, Mirko Selvaggi, Michal Golas,
*Vacansoleil has turned down Thomas Dekker who is back from his +EPO doping in 2009. Hmm, is it getting harder for old dopers to find new teams, novel idea?
The Luxembourg Pro Cycling Project riders 2011: Andy Schleck, Franck Schleck, Fabian Cancellara, Stuart O’Grady, Jens Voigt, Anders Lund, Jakob Fuglsang, Daniele Bennati, Linus Gerdemann, Fabian Wegmann, Maxime Monfort, Davide Viganò, Giacomo Nizzolo, Bruno Pires, Wouter Weylandt, Joost Posthuma, Tom Stamsnijder, Dominic Klemme, Laurent Didier, Brice Feillu, Robert Wagner, Martin Mortensen, Stefan Denifl, Will Clarke, Oliver Zaugg. Three new team managers - Italian Luca Guercilena, German Torsten Schmidt, and Dane Lars Michaelsen will join General Manager Brian Nygaard and Team Manager Kim Andersen. Luxembourg newspaper Le Quotidien reported that telecommunications company Belgacom and Danish wireless communications equipment producer Jabra could be sponsors of the Luxembourg Pro Cycling Project. The team has already announced equipment sponsorships with Trek bikes and Mercedes for vehicles, and Craft apparel.
Astana riders 2011: Tomas Vaitkus, Alexander Vinokourov, Roman Kreuziger, Robert Kiserlovski, Evgeni Petrov, Remy Di Gregorio, Mirco Lorenzetto, Fredrik Kessiakoff, Francesco Masciarelli, Simon Clarke, Tanel Kangert, Allan Davis, manager Yvon Sanquer out of the Astana team.
Missed the ProTeam cut / Continental Professional Teams:
FDJ riders 2011 (no ProTeam license in 2011): Dominique Rollin, Arnold Jeannesson, Pierrick Fédrigo, William Bonnet, Remi Pauriol, Mickael Delage, Steve Chainel, Arnold Jeannesson, Cedric Pineau, Arnaud Courteille, Geoffrey Soupe, Nacer Bouhanni, Gianni Meersman, Wesley Sulzberger. Française des Jeux would have got their ProTour licence if their application was perfect and if they had sent all the contracts to the UCI on time.
Geox-TMC riders 2011: Denis Menchov, Carlos Sastre, Daniele Colli, David Blanco, Mauricio Ardila, Dmitriy Kozontchuk, David de la Fuente, Giampaolo Cheula, Marcel Wyss, Marko Kump, Fabio Duarte, Daniele Colli, David Blanco, Matteo Pelucchi, Daniel Deaz, Tomas Alberio, Daniele Ratto, Juanjo Cobo, and David Gutierrez. Manager Mauro Gianetti. On Fuji bikes.
Cofidi riders 2011s: William Bonnet, Steve Chainel, Nicolas Vogondy, Aleksejs Saramotins, Yoann Bagot, Nicolas Edet, Florent Barle, Adrien Petit, Tony Gallopin, Julien El Fares, Jens Keukeleire
Europcar riders 2011: Sébastien Chavane,
Thomas Voeckler, Anthony Charteau, Pierre Rolland, Cyril Gautier, Kevin Rezza, Jérôme Cousin, Tony Hurel, Yukiya Arashiro, Giovanni Bernaudeau, Franck Bouyer, Mathieu Claude, Damien Gaudin, Yohann Gene, Saïd Haddou, Vincent Jérôme, Christophe Kern, Alexandre Pichot, Perrig Quemeneur, Sébastien Turgot,
Team Pegasus (denied UCI license): Svein Tuft, Christian Knees, Thomas Rohregger, Luke Roberts, Bobbie Trakse, Daryl Impey, Sergueï Klimov, Trent Lowe, Jacek Morajko, Ben Day, Bernhard Sulzberger, Aaron Kemps, Darren Lill, Jonathan Cantwell, David Jai Crawford, Jay Robert Thomson, Phil Zajicek, Clint Avery, Rohan Dennis, Dominique Cornu, Markus Eichler, Thomas Rohregger. Four sport directors for the coming season were Hendrik Redant, Henk Vogels, Egon van Kessel and Edward Beamon.
There are a number of Dopers looking for a new team this year after having a little off-season time to better perfect their "training technique": Danilo Di Luca, Ricardo Ricco, Thomas Dekker are a few, Alejandro Valverde will be back next year. (I have no interest in reading or writing about Ricardo Ricco or Stefan Schumacher ever again). Michael Rasmussen has been rejected by Saxo Bank-SunGard and is still searching for a new team for 2011. Climbing star and second overall in the Vuelta a España; Ezequiel Mosquera doesn’t know what he will be doing next year as his B sample has not been tested as yet. And of course Alberto Contador is out there floating in never never land. Ex-world champion; Igor Astarloa has received a two year suspension from competition.
*UCI team rankings are calculated on the performance of their top fifteen ranked riders.
After careful consideration of all rider results from 2010 and statistical analysis of the possible wins for the ProTour teams, number of non-dopers, and kindness to small children, I can announce my new favorite team for 2011 as BMC. I have thrown out all other considerations and based my decision solely and completely upon being a woman, more specifically, the transfer to BMC of Italian Manuel Quinziato!
Update: remaining top-ranked teams to be decided on November 20
The UCI has announced the awarding of 13 Professional Continental licenses. Team Type 1, Unitedhealthcare ProCycling, Androni Giocattoli, Bretagne - Schuller, Caja Rural, Colnago - CSF Inox, Europcar (formerly Bbox Bouygues Telecom), Farnese Vini - Neri Sottoli (formerly ISD-Neri), FDJ, Landbouwkrediet, Saur - Sojasun, Skil - Shimano, Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator..
