Welcome to the Headquarters of the Euskaltel-Elior team. The team cares about their supporters and supporters of Spanish Cycling in general. Alongside our fellow Spanish teams, Euskaltel continues in their quest to become a dominant force in world cycling.
It is the 5th season that the team has been together. The first season saw our Mountain goats surprise everyone in the CT to seal comfortable promotion in 4th after getting the gears going following a very poor first half of the season. The 2nd season saw Valls lead our Mountain goats to 26th in the PCT, while Bouhanni struggled in his first season in Spain, and we avoided relegation due to the number of disbanding teams. This saving grace saw us focus on more of the disciplines. In our 3rd season as a team the likes of Valls, Bouhanni, Caruso, Roy and Cornu led us to a much more comfortable 20th place in the final rankings. Last season saw Bouhanni, Van den Broeck, Cornu, Caruso and Le Gac manage to secure survival yet again with 19th in the rankings which is our highest thus far.
Of the 26 riders we had in our squad last season, a rather disappointing 8 were Spanish. This despite Euskaltel sponsoring and supporting the team since our foundation. Euskaltel continue to sponsor us going into our 5th season but would like for the team to become more Spanish once again. We had Bavaria as a Co-Sponsor in our foundation season, they were replaced in our 2nd and 3rd seasons by Air-France. Euskaltel was the sole sponsor last season. This 5th season sees French company Elior join the project which sees the team racing as Euskaltel - Elior. Elior would like to see a few more French riders but they are also happy to see us bringing in riders and supporters from around the world.
The Euskaltel - Elior team goes into this 5th season with a renewed optimism. The last 3 seasons in the PCT have taught us a lot and the team management has gained valuable knowledge and experience which will hopefully help us to a mid-table finish in 2018. The team continues to balance results right now and developing young riders for the future. The region of passionate fans which we represent would love to see the Orange of Euskaltel back at the top of world cycling. We look forward to the challenge in 2018!
Edited by Luis Leon Sanchez on 12-07-2019 02:41
Looking good mate. Hope to see you strengthen your setup enough to get close to promotion this time - A long term runner, with a good base around talents, is always very likeable.
Team Announcement: Plans for the Future & Reviewing the Past
The team has, by now, become an established team in the cycling world as they enter their 5th season. 4 seasons have come and gone in a flash and of course we have positives and negatives that we can take from every season so far. The 5th season does of course mean a 5th transfer window for the team to re-invent itself somewhat.
Season 1
Our debut season in the CT saw the management take a very specific approach as we went for riders of all ages who were capable of climbing. This approach was not the most effective as the team struggled through the first half of the season. However, the Euskaltel mindset paid off during the second half of the season as we took some very important results from the breakaways. The season ended with us finishing 4th and gaining automatic promotion to the PCT.
Season 2
The first season in the PCT saw us take the approach of signing far too many climbers and stage racers as well as a couple of sprinters. It was a tough season but we fought through it keeping our spirits high until the end. Unfortunately, Valls and Bouhanni were the only riders who scored fairly well and we finished in the highest relegation spot. We were given the chance to remain in the PCT after Marcovdw turned down promotion, we will always be thankful.
Season 3
After receiving a lifeline, we decided that a bit of an overhaul was necessary. The team released many older riders and signed Cornu as a TT leader and Caruso as a Hills leader. This ensured our safety in the PCT as we finished 20th out of 30 teams. This was a great step forward for the team as we now had a base to work from.
Season 4
The season in which we signed two quality climbing talents in Novak and Mas. Le Gac was the only real point scorer that we added to the team and this proved vital as we finished 19th out of 26 teams which meant a fairly comfortable survival.
SEASON 5
Well, we've left ourselves with a solid base to work with. We do very much regret our approach in some previous seasons as we realize that the long-term success and sustainability of the team is something we have ignored until last season. With the likes of Borisavljevic, Mas and Novak we at least have a start. The team manager has taken inspiration from teams like Puma - SAP who have given an example of a talent-based team that has seen great success finishing 7th in the PT last season.
It is obviously unrealistic to expect that we will be able to take the same approach and we don't plan on doing so but we would like to lower the average age of our team which last season was just over 29 which is too old for our liking. This is something we hope to adjust in the next couple of seasons as we need to ensure that we hold our place in the PCT.
Renewed
Over the off-season, the team manager and staff went away and discussed their plans for the upcoming season and for the future. Once this was done, we began negotiations with our riders from last season.
Firstly, our 3 leaders. Dominique Cornu saw his first season of decline but we decided to hold onto him as he is still a quality rider, he has taken a pay cut of 50,000. Damiano Caruso had a strong season for us in 2017 and despite the fact that he’s getting a bit older we have given him a new contract, he takes a pay cut of 15,000. Nacer Bouhanni was our top scorer last season and being a Frenchman, he has been handed a contract where Elior will cover his increase of 30,000.
Our two talents, Domen Novak and Enric Mas, are of course remaining with the team as they continue to learn and to grow. Novak has seen his wage take a cut of 100,000 and Mas has seen his decrease by 90,000.
We move onto our super domestiques. Juan Jose Lobato has seen his wage increase by 25,000 following a stellar season where he provided much needed support to Bouhanni. Olivier Le Gac also had a superb season thanks to his points in the KOM and Youth classifications, we hope his wage increase of 30,000 pays off for us this season. Romain Zingle didn’t have the best of seasons but he provided strong support to our Hills department and has seen his wage increase by 10,000. Milos Borisavljevic returns from his PT loan as a very worthy climbing domestique and has even taken a pay cut of 5,000 as he returns to race for the team for the first time in a long while. Jurgen Van den Broeck saw a fairly hefty decline over the season but we decided his experience and ability still warrant a contract where he has taken a 50,000 pay cut.
Released
Now onto those who have left the team. First of all, we start with Delio Fernandez, the Spaniard has been with us since our first season back in 2014 and it is very sad to see him go but he was getting older and became surplus to requirements.
We also say good bye to 3 riders who we signed at the start of 2017 who were of varying use to the team. Edoardo Zardini had a shocker of a season and so we offered him a much lower wage that he wasn’t willing to accept so we have parted ways. The Dutch duo of Mollema and Terpstra were both solid older riders to have around but they too are not getting any younger so we have let them go.
What Now?
This all leaves us with a total of 16 riders and a fairly balanced mix of Leaders, Domestiques and Talents. We have kept ourselves a good chunk of the wage cap in order to prepare for the transfer window ahead. We do of course have plans which we would like to execute but it will be a matter of seeing who is available for what price and what wage. We expect a transfer season that is much less hectic than some of the previous ones we have been involved in.
Could be persuaded to let go:
Damiano Caruso
Romain Zingle
Domen Novak (Big offer required)
Will be actively listening to decent offers:
Christopher De Souza
Gorka Izagirre
Jurgen Van den Broeck
Eduard Prades
Francisco Anton Martin
Edited by Luis Leon Sanchez on 17-07-2018 05:35
You should have some good wage cap left to get a decent PCT leader if you want to finally leave the "relegation fight" zone, but surely there are some young Spanish riders in the market that you'll try to sign
Aquarius97 wrote:
You should have some good wage cap left to get a decent PCT leader if you want to finally leave the "relegation fight" zone, but surely there are some young Spanish riders in the market that you'll try to sign
In a weird way I'd almost prefer to be on the brink of relegation for a chunk of the season because it keeps me intrigued and following very closely But yes, would like to be a bit safer. And can't say no to a talent
For an ‘established’ team, you’ll have plenty of wage budget to work with - as Aquarius alludes to, I’m sure you’ll be a big player this offseason
Good luck, we’ll be following closely It will be interesting to see the route you decide to take in the end - Puma or otherwise
The first bit of transfer related news coming out of the Euskaltel - Elior Headquarters is that young Slovenian Domen Novak was seen boarding a plane to Slovenia and the first photos of him in a new jersey have hit the internet. We decided to let the talented climber leave the team and move to the Slovenian PT team where he fits in a bit better. In a brief interview Domen said "I thank Euskaltel for backing me and taking me in for my debut season. I thank the passionate fans for supporting me on the road and in my decision to move to Isostar where I'll be closer to home more often". This allows us to try focus more on Spanish & French talent and allows us a bit more transfer budget to play with.
The other bit of transfer related news is that Spanish veterans Gorka Izagirre and Eduard Prades were both spotted outside the HQ this afternoon looking visibly distraught and a little lost. Gorka has been with the team since we promoted to the PCT and has been one of our longest serving riders. Eduard has been with us for the last 2 seasons and been very visible in the breakaways.
Both riders were asked this morning to report to the Headquarters and they were both delivered the news that their contracts would be ended with immediate effect, both would receive compensation payments. Izagirre had no time for reporters as he left HQ but Eduard gave the following statement:"We are obviously both a bit hurt but we understand the need to plan for the future and ensure the team's position in the PCT. It may take a while to adjust to this but we will both be supporting the team and we're grateful to have had the opportunity to ride for our home team".
A representative for the team also gave a statement: "It's difficult for us to tell two loyal riders that we will be ending their contracts but they were both very understanding of why it had to happen. We thank them for their hard work and services to the team and wish them both the best in their future cycling endeavors".
Our first two Free Agent signings can be announced today. Both of the riders signed are young fellas who both have the potential to be useful Time-Trialists. Both sponsors are happy as we have one Frenchie and one Spaniard.
The big signing of the transfer window for Euskaltel - Elior is a little Brazilian by the name of Magno Nazaret. The 32-year-old joins us from Berg Cycles for a hefty fee of 1,000,000 but it was a fee we were willing to pay given that he’ll be a fantastic leader for us in the mountains this season. His wage of 170,000 is very low for a leader and he may in fact be the only maxed rider to join the team this season.
Nazaret had the biggest grin stretched across his face as he signed his contract down at HQ. This was mainly because the Belgian duo of Jurgen Van den Broeck and Dominique Cornu had burst through the doors to surprise the new addition.
In the first MGUCI season back in 2007 the two Belgians and their new Brazilian team-mate rode together for Predictor-Lotto when they were only ages 24, 22 & 21.
They went through the toughest year of their professional career together and grew very close during this debut season. They all went on their own paths the following season but VdB and Magno ended up together again in 2011 riding for Sport Lisboa e Benfica.
This season is therefore the big reunion for the big 3. Cornu will once again be our man for the time trials and flat stage races with TT kilometres. Magno will be our man for the mountains and mountainous stage races. VdB will this season be one of our helpers for Magno. It is likely that this’ll be the last season that VdB will be a pro cyclist and so it is fitting that he will be riding for Magno who will see this as his last season to lead a team at PCT level while Cornu is also not getting any younger. We believe this trio will prove to be great road captains and we expect a great return from our Brazilian this season!
Aquarius97: Would like to hear your thoughts come the end of this season when I have to decide as I've considered the options and thought these to be the best ones. SotD: I have looked at his potential stats with Track TT and I feel like TT would be most useful for me. Croatia14: Thanks, we expect they'll both be fairly useful in the future. Nazaret will have a massive job to do for me because of the reason you've given!
Euskaltel - Elior 
- A long term runner, with a good base around talents, is always very likeable.
But yes, would like to be a bit safer. And can't say no to a talent 
