Oldest World Tour teams

Oldest World Tour teams

The men's UCI World Tour features teams from all over the world. But which teams are currently already active for the longest time in cycling? What are the brands that will be related to cycling for many decades in the future? In this post I give a short summary. For this article, I've decided to use the moment that that main sponsor entered as start date. So UAE Emirates that has a complete different identity from the old Lampre team, starts in 2017 for examples. There are also some exceptions that I motivate below the teamslist.

Teams + foundation

Lotto - Soudal - 1985

Jumbo - Visma* - 1996

Cofidis - 1997

Groupama - FDJ - 1997

AG2R La Mondiale - 2000

CCC Team - 2000

Deceuninck - Quickstep 2003

Astana Pro Team - 2005

Education First Pro Cycling 2007*

Team Ineos - 2010*

Trek - Segafredo - 2010*

Movistar - 2011 

Team Sunweb - 2012**

Mitchelton - Scott 2012*

Bora - Hansgrohe - 2015

Israel - Startup Nation - 2015

Dimension Data - 2016 

Bahrein - McLaren - 2017

UAE - Team Emirates - 2017

Motivations for exceptions

* I've decided to take the overall start date of these teams because they kept the same 'identity' as from when they are founded. They have the same transfer policy, in general the same nationalities, the same races as goals,...

** I've chose 2012 for Sunweb because this was the year that the team made a big transformation. It wasn't a team of outsiders like Skil - Shimano anymore but it became a team with a strong policy and a much more dominant way of racing then before. An 'identity't that they still have now. 

Interview Mieke Docx (English)

Interview Mieke Docx

After we interviewed Cesar Benedetti before, we're glad to also interview someone from the women peloton. This time not an established rider but a rider that recently joined the peloton and that we can still expect a lot of. Today we get to know young Belgian talent, Mieke Docx

 

How and why did you start cycling?

I've started when I was about 16-17 years old. I was a big fan of cyclocross and I wanted dto take part in it ass well, but it took a long time before I was allowed to buy my first bicycle because my parents thought that it was a whim because they actually didn't have any experience in cycling themselves. After that it took a year before I was allowed to ride my first race, actually on the road. I've also took part in a few cyclocross races but I quickly realized that my future wouldn't be there. My first year as a junior rider was a disaster, but after it, things improved. But it didn't came into my mind to ever take part in a pro race.

What are your ambitions for this season?

I don't have too high ambitions. I want to grow to the top slowly. But off course I'm very motivated to set again a new step forward. I hope to again win one or more criterium-styled races, but mostly to set again another step forward in the major races with some good results. The national championship is this year in Kortrijk, the city where I'm living so I hope to set a good performance despite that I'm not a real time trial specialist.

What are your goals on a long term in your carreer?

I want to do this sport as a full time job, one day. I see this as a possibility according to the current evolution in women cycling. Next to that, I want to develop myself as a climber. The real mountains aren't my terreain, but the hilly parcours and parcours with short steep climbs could become my terrain on a long term.

Who was your cycling idol before you became a cyclist yourself?

I had two cycling idols, the first one was off course a cyclocross-racer: Tom Meeusen, en and the second one was Kris Boeckmans. He teached me a lot as a young rider and I still hear him often.

How would you describe yourself as a cyclist?

As I said, I'm not a real climber, but I am someone that likes to climb and can handle a few climbs during the races. Next to that, I'm also fast in small groups. I'm not the best in positioning, but in smaller groups where I have enough space, I'm quite quick. I'm also persistant. I won't give up quickly.

What are your passions outside of cycling?

Outside of cycling, I like to fiddle. I don't like to stay quiet so I'm mostly busy with small things, But I also can enjoy Flemish TV and I would like to work behind the scenes for a TV-show after my cycling carreer.

What is your favourite kind of music?

I enjoy listening rap music like Eminem, Tourist LEMC, Dutch music, current pop music. I'm into many styles. For now, I'm listening mostly to the Lewis Capaldi.

Women cycling grew a lot, what could still imrpove in the sport and how do you think that the sport will evolve?

We are on an unbelievable good way. I've noticed that during the Santos Women's Tour Down Under. That's been very well organized. But it's a pity that it's not like that everywhere. There are certainly a few things that still could be improved but if I look on the speed that things grew, then it's almost impossible that not everything is well arranged yet. But I think that if we have enough patience, that women cycling could become fully professional, but as I said, we can't expect these things too fast yet.

Interview Mieke Docx (NL)

Interview Mieke Docx 

Nadat we eerder Cesare Bennedeti interviewden zijn we blij dat we deze keer iemand uit het damespeloton hebben kunnen interviewen. Deze keer ook geen gevestigde waarde maar wel iemand die nog maar net het peloton is binnengestormd en waar we nog veel meer van kunnen van kunnen verwachten. Vandaag maken we kennis met Mieke Docx.

 

Hoe en waarom ben je begonnen met wielrennen?

Ik ben begonnen rond mijn 16-17de, ik was een fervente crossliefhebber en wou dus zelf op den duur ook gaan crossen, maar het heeft even geduurd voor ik mijn eerste fiets mocht kopen omdat mijn ouders dachten dat het een bevlieging was en omdat ze zelf eigenlijk helemaal geen ervaring in de koerswereld hadden. Nadien heeft het nog een jaartje geduurd voor ik mijn eerste wedstrijd mocht rijden, weliswaar op de weg. Ik heb daarna ook wel wat crossen gereden maar ik kwam er snel achter dat daar mijn toekomst niet zou liggen. Mijn eerste jaar als junior was een ramp, maar nadien is het alleen maar beter gegaan. Maar echt met de gedachte dat ik ooit in een profpeloton zou gaan fietsen, reed ik toen zeker nog niet rond.

Wat zijn je ambities voor dit seizoen?

Mijn ambities leg ik niet te hoog, ik wil langzaam uitgroeien tot de top. Maar natuurlijk ben ik wel enorm gemotiveerd om dit jaar opnieuw een stap hogerop te zetten. Ik hoop opnieuw 1 of meer kermiskoersen op mijn naam te zetten, maar daarnaast vooral in de grote wedstrijden een stap te zetten met enkele mooie uitslagen. Het BK tijdrijden vindt dit jaar plaats in Koksijde, de gemeente waar ik woon, dus ik hoop daar ook een mooie prestatie neer te zetten ondanks dat ik geen rasechte tijdrijdster ben.

 

Wat zijn je doelen op langere termijn in je carrière?

Ik wil op een dag kunnen leven van mijn sport, met de evoluties die er nu in het vrouwenpeloton omgaan acht ik dat wel voor mogelijk. Daarnaast wil ik me ontwikkelen als klimster, de echt bergen zijn niet echt iets voor mij, maar de heuvelachtige parcoursen en parcoursen met steile klimmetjes moeten op termijn wel mijn ding worden.

 

Wie was je wieleridool voor je wielrenster werd

Ik had twee wieleridolen, de eerste was uiteraard een veldrijder: Tom Meeusen, en de tweede was Kris Boeckmans, hij heeft me veel geleerd als jong renstertje en ik hoor hem nu nog regelmatig.

 

Hoe zou je jezelf omschrijven als wielrenster? (type renster)

Ik ben zoals ik al zei geen rasechte klimster, maar wel iemand die graag klimt en dat goed verteerd in wedstrijden. Daarnaast ben ik best snel in kleine groepjes, positioneren ben ik niet de beste in, maar in een kleinere groep waar ik de ruimte heb, ben ik best snel. Ik ben ook een doorzetster, ik zal niet snel opgeven.

Wat zijn je passies buiten het wielrennen?

Buiten het wielrennen schrijf ik graag en knutsel ik graag dingen in elkaar. Ik zit niet graag stil dus ben meestal wel bezig met dingetjes, maar ik kan ook enorm genieten van de vlaamse televisie en zou in een leven na de koers wel graag in de televisiewereld achter de schermen terecht komen.

 

Wat is je favoriete muziek?

Ik luister graag naar rap zoals Eminem, Tourist LEMC, nederlandstalige muziek, hedendaagse muziek,... Ik ben best voor veel te vinden. Op dit moment luister ik vooral naar Lewis Capaldi

 

Het dameswielrennen is veel gegroeid, wat kan er voor jou nog beter binnen de sport en hoe zie jij de sport evolueren (bij de dames)?

We zijn op een ongelooflijk goede weg, dat heb in hier nu ook ondervonden in de Santos Women’s Tour Down Under. Dat is zo goed georganiseerd. Maar dat is helaas nog niet overal zo. Er zijn zeker nog punten die verbeterd kunnen worden, maar als ik kijk naar in hoe een tempo het gegroeid is kan het haast niet dat alles al op punt zou staan. dus ik denk met voldoende geduld dat we snel in een heel professionele vrouwenkoerswereld terecht zullen komen, al mogen we zoals ik al zei dat niet te snel verlangen

Interview: Cesare Benedetti

Interview: Cesare Benedetti

For the first time of the short history of this blog, we had the honour to have an interview with a World Tour rider. We had an interview with Cesare Benedetti, winner of a stage in Giro d'Italia. The 32 years old Italian is living in Poland now and is already serving Bora-Hansgrohe and his predecessors since 2010. Let's get to know him better by a small interview. 

You're in the same team for 10 years now, what is your best memory so far in your career? 

In 10 years time you collect plenty of memories. I’d like to remind my first podium in a stage of Tour of Britain 2011 behind Thor Ushovd in the World Champion jersey and Lars Boom, that was a big satisfaction for me. My first Milan-Sanremo with Peter Sagan in the team belongs to the best memories of my career as well. I did exactly what I had to do and then left him at the bottom of the Poggio. When I got at the finish to find out he had finished second, there was a big mix of emotions coming inside myself. We didn’t win but I’ll remember that day because of the big feelings which it created.

 

What are your goals for this season?

The goals of my season are the same as every year. I am not a rider who can target some goals. I can not even decide about my calendar, the team does it for me. I just get to the meeting and to find out what my races are but I can’t say much about it. That’s why my goal is always the same, be as good as possible in every race I will take part in, in order to help the team to win races and to fulfil my duties.

You're living in Poland now. Is cycling as popular, as in Italy?

Well, I might say I leave with my team. Training camps, races, stage races. I am almost never home. I don’t even know what should I call home now. I am sometimes in Trentino and sometimes in Poland and I am very proud about it. Unfortunately, especially in winter, training in Poland isn’t always possible. As a professional rider you need to train always at your 110% and sometimes you need to look for warmer places then. Cycling in Poland is becoming more and more popular but it was already very popular in the past. At the time of the “Peace Race” they used to be the finish line in the stadiums and there were thousands of people watching it. Nowadays more and more people ride bikes for fun and to keep healthy and the cycling market in Poland is quite on fire I would say.

 

What is your favourite race, and why?

It’s difficult to choose only one. I always loved the Tour of Britain (I raced it three times and the last one was a long time ago unfortunately, in 2013) because I like the British atmosphere, the landscape, the roads crowded with spectators, the hotels and the breakfast 🙂. I’ve got only good memories from the three editions I have raced.

What are your hobbies outside of cycling?

I’m always looking for some hobbies but unfortunately I haven’t got any. Wasting time is my favourite hobby, despite knowing that life might be very short, I don’t find motivation for anything else apart from cycling .

 What is your favourite kind of music?

I like old music, my soul has been always old as well, even when I was a teenager. I like mainly the Beatles, the music of Paul McCartney in his after Beatles career (I attended 4 times Paul’s concerts and I can guarantee that the feeling and emotions I got watching him, were way way better than winning a stage in Giro haha) and the King, Elvis Presley. There are some other artists from the 60s/70s/80s then but I can not say I like all their music.

 

How did you started competing in cycling? 

I used to play football, then one day in 1999 I went to watch the start of a Giro stage and liked the atmosphere between the riders. I decided I want to be one of them and 1,5 month later I went to sign up for the nearest cycling club. That’s how it happened.

 

 Who was your cycling idol as a child?

I have never had a big idol, but when I was a kid it was the greatest time for Gilberto Simoni and as we came from the same region, I used to cheer for him of course. On the other hand I was always amazed by the sprints and the sprinters.

We want to thank Cesare Benedetti for helping us with this interview. We really appreciate the time he reserved for us. Good luck fo the coming season!

10 recent impressive victories

10 recent impressive victories

Cycling has a long history of impressive victories that people still talk about. Who doesn't know how Greg LeMond won the 1989 Tour de France with a gap of only 8 seconds? or when Eddy Merckx blowed everyone away in the Pyrenees during the Tour de France of 1969? But also recent cycling history has some impressive victories. I'm listing a few of them down below.

Ronde van Vlaanderen 2016 : Peter Sagan

It was problably not a very long solo but it was a day that you felt that Peter Sagan was clearly unbeatable and there was no way that he was not going to win. He accelerated on the Paterberg and nobody was able to follow him. He left everyone behind and rode solo to the finishline like it was a glory ride.

Worldchampionship Time Trial 2019 : Chloe Dygert-Owen

Many people were expecting a lot from Chloe Dygert-Owen in this time trial. She was very dominant in the American circuit all year long and she showed good form before the time trial. It was only hard to expect where she could finish because she only competed against main European riders during the Tour of Callifornia. But she performed way above expectations. She chased down multiple riders that started minutes in front of her and blow all favourites away.

 

Giro d'Italia 2018 stage 19 : Chris Froome 

It's been a criticism for many years: Chris Froome won his grand tours due to his dominant team. But this time he did almost all himself. He attacked from a very long distance, expanded his lead against a strong chasing group and took pink. It's been one of the longest solo wins in recent grand tour history.

Paris - Roubaix 2010 & 2012 : Fabian Cancellara & Tom Boonen

We rarely saw such dominating riders in the Spring classics since Cancellara and Boonen during these years. Cancellara won 3 of the 4 main cobble classics and Boonen won even all of them in one Spring. Both riders were very dominanted during the cobble races but both showed their biggest performance for the last one: Paris - Roubaix. They both attacked from about 50 km from the finish line, rode all alone over the endless cobble sections, hard wind against a strong chasing group. They rode as easily over the cobbles, as I would ride through butter.

The future of Cyclocross: Where to go?

 The future of Cyclocross: Where to go?

Cyclocross has been dominated by Belgium and to a lesser extend Holland this decade. Almost every rider of the top 10 on a World Cup was a Belgian or Dutchmen, especially in the second part of the 2010ies. Even that the women category is a lot more international, it won't be enough to keep the sport relevant in the world on the long term. Where should we go to make cyclo-cross not like korfbal?

France

Belgium won the most titles in the men's category but the runner-up is France. France still has many cyclo-cross racers and organize a World Cup on almost a yearly base. They also have smaller races on a regular base. In the youth categories of World Cups we often see French riders making it to the podium. There is certainly a lot of potential that could become decent pros.

Czechia

Where does the last Non-Belgian or Non-Dutch worldchampion come from? Indeed, from Czechia! Over the past decade, the Central-European country delivered many decent riders like Randomir Shimunek, Petr Dlask and Zdenek Stybar. The Toi Toi Cup is the main classification in the Czech Republic. Here the best Czech riders can compete against each other on a regular base. The best riders from all over the world often meet each other in the World Cups of Tabor & Plzen what makes it also accesible to the local fans that want to see the best riders in the world in action.

Spain

Who obtains the 3th place on the world ranking? Yes, it's Spain. The Basque Country loves cycling and does the same to cyclocross. There are races in the Basque Country every month with many local riders. Spain used to host the World Cup in Igorre on a regular base. This year cycling & cyclocross legend Marianne Vos decided to take part in a race in Spain during the week of her training camp. Problably they can host a World Cup race again in the first week of December when many other pros have a training camp in Spain as well?

USA

It's a repeating event for a few years now: American riders coming over to Belgium to ride races during the busy Christmas period. The country already hosts a decent calender, including two World Cups. The USA is a big country so there is certainly a lot of potential. They were also the first non-European country to win a medal on a worldchampionship (silver in 2007), since then the general level seems to have improved slightly. In 2022, the worldchampionship will be hosted again in the US. Could we see the first American worldchampion by then?

 

Switzerland

Zweifel, Frischknecht, Tamararcaz,... They are only a few names of succesfull Swiss racers from the last decades. The World Cup in Bern showed that the Swiss can still organize very high quality races. Switzerland is one of the dominating countries in mountainbiking during the Summer Season. Maybe some of their best riders could also get attracted to take part in some cyclocross races during the Winter as well?

No sponsor, no team

No sponsor, no team 

We're heading into the new decade but cycling teams are still depending on sponsorship. If the sponsor stops then the team often dissapears too. I've wrote down some ideas to give cycling teams more ways to get an income.

TV-Money

I know that cycling teams can't decide themselves about it but maybe it's time that all teams in the World Tour make a statement about this. In many sports teams receive money for TV-broadcasting and maybe it's time that also cycling teams take profit of it.

 

Merchandise

Many football teams gain millions ever year by merchandise alone. I don't expect that cycling teams will earn the same amounts by it but maybe they could focus more on it. Making a nice webshop with a wide range doesn't seem like an impossible thing to create. Some good marketing and good products and the incomes could rise already.

Identity

To make people buying your merchandise, you also need to create a loyal group of fans that are wanting to buy your products. That's why creating your own team identity could be a way to let people get more attracted to your team.

Nowadays a whole team can switch to a completely different impression just by having a new sponsor. Lampre was replaced by the United Arab Emirates and the whole team image changed. A famous footballclub like Real Madrid didn't became a completely different team when they changed sponsors.

Cycling teams that are already using this strategy are Quickstep & Sunweb. Quickstep already often shows themselves as the 'Wolfpack' and Sunweb is already known for years for heir 'vertical lines' for many years, no matter which sponsor they had. 

 

Interaction

Maybe another way to make fans more loyal is by interacting more with them. If you give them more then many of them will give you something or even more back too. What about Q&A's or Give aways or social media for example? For sure it's an investment but it can give problably also an 'return on investment'.

Conclusion

Cycling teams won't earn many millions more with my ideas but maybe it could make them a decent amount of money extra so that they are less depending on sponsoring alone and also have other ways to cover their costs. Sponsors will also be likely to sponsor teams with a big fanbases because they attract more attention by fans too (see Football).

5 questions for 2020

5 questions for 2020

2019 is finished, 2020 is began. It's time to start the year with a few questions that we would like to answer on the end of the year.

Will the talents comfirm in 2020?

Remco Evenepoel, Tadej Pogacar, Egan Bernal,... They are only 3 examples of riders that got their breakthrought this year. It's hard to reach the top but it's even harder to stay there. Can they reach their level of 2019 and even improve it?

Who will lead Ineos & Jumbo in Tour de France?

Both Jumbo and Ineos decided to start with their strongest line up in July. In the end of the race only one rider can win the race, but who will be the strongest one? Or who will the sports directors favour?  

 

Can Mathieu Van der Poel win an unique combination?

A monumental classic, an Olympic Medal on the mountainbike and a rainbowjersey in cyclo-cross. This looks like a crazy combination but it seems that we've finally found a rider that is able to do it. Can he make this combination true and make himself the most all round rider in cycling history?

Will Lorena Wiebes be competing in races?

The number one of women cycling has a big conflict with her team Parkhotel Valkenburg and refuses to compete in their colours. This makes that she can't compete in races at least till June. The only alternative seems to ride for the national team in some races. 

Can Peter Sagan take the points classification in both Italy and France?

It didn't happen for a while already that the same rider won the points classificiation in both Giro d'Italia as in Tour de France. Can Sagan make it this year?