[Drummer Boy]

Extension for Piccoli.

http://israelcyclingacademy.com/from-rock-bottom-to-two-more-years-in-the-worldtour-piccoli-resigns-with-isn/

From glancing at that URL, I had thought they were announcing that Piccoli had "resigned." 

Glad to see that wasn't the case. 

I had completely forgotten that he was Canadian, and was imaging him being much older for some reason. It was bit odd, however, that they were speaking about him as if he were still a teenager.

I also couldn't help but notice in that video that his sister, girlfriend and mother all sort of look...the same. 

A nice show of family support, though.

[Leadbelly]

Aha!

When I read the other day that Ecuador had withdrawn from the race (and others might also have for all I know) I just had a feeling/hope that this might be on the cards.

https://www.facebook.com/IsraelCyclingAcademy/posts/2535180686585474

The WT riders are all too old now, so the team will have to come from the devo squad. That's five from Levi, Lahav, Goldstein, Davidzon, Abu-Fares and Ben Moshe.

They'll get their arses handed to them of course, but it'll be a good experience.

https://www.directvelo.com/actualite/82818/tour-de-l-avenir-la-selection-israelienne

Unfortunately for Davidzon, it is him that misses out.

Saned ABU-FARES (Israel Cycling Academy Continental), Espoir 3
Yuval BEN MOSHE (Israel Cycling Academy Continental), Espoir 3
Edo GOLDSTEIN (Israel Cycling Academy Continental), Espoir 2
Omer LAHAV (Israel Cycling Academy Continental), Espoir 2
Eitan LEVI (Israel Cycling Academy Continental), Espoir 2
Roi WEINBERG (Israel Go Pro), Espoir 2

Lahav did pretty well in Rwanda I thought and is only 51kg according to PCS. He might be their best bet on the climbing days, which is all of them bar one. Ben Moshe is fast-ish, but even a top-ten on the one sprint stage would be a big surprise.

Edo Goldstein is supposedly the most talented of the three brothers. Not much data is available though to make a valued decision on that unless you count being able to hang with Evenepoel on a stage in junior race the other year.

[LukasCPH]

Unfortunately for Davidzon, it is him that misses out.

Saned ABU-FARES (Israel Cycling Academy Continental), Espoir 3
Yuval BEN MOSHE (Israel Cycling Academy Continental), Espoir 3
Edo GOLDSTEIN (Israel Cycling Academy Continental), Espoir 2
Omer LAHAV (Israel Cycling Academy Continental), Espoir 2
Eitan LEVI (Israel Cycling Academy Continental), Espoir 2
Roi WEINBERG (Israel Go Pro), Espoir 2

And unfortunately for the rest of them, l'Avenir got cancelled. 

[Leadbelly]

So we had all those names linked earlier in the year and not so many of them have signed. I'm okay with that. Teuns was the only one I would have really, really liked to have seen and maybe Jungle Bob. The pair of them could have given good support to Froome in one race per year and then covered a lot of bases in the classics and one-week races.

Woods is finally an exciting transfer. Another oldie, but since he was a late starter to the bike world, that should be less of an issue.

I think that makes 22 confirmed riders for next year. Add in the three Israelis and Boivin (I think he'll be okay as long as he wants to continue riding) and four spots are left.

Politt going to Bora leaves a big classics hole to be filled. There's not many good options about though. Vanmarcke (I feel his time has past), Terpstra (could be a stop-gap for a year), AGJ (good, but is he a leader?) or Trentin (surely a bigger team will pick him up).

Assuming Barbier, McCabe and Raim all leave, that still leaves 3 sprinters plus Einhorn. However none of the three really fill me with confidence of getting a big result against the best. Still would Philipsen or the topical Meeus want to join?

That leaves climbers. The rumour was that Aru was under scrutiny, but had to show something in the remainder of the season. So far he's been a bit better than last year. However was still outclimbed by Hermans in Burgos. Valter? Going to Groupama according to the world of Twitter. Zakarin? They tried to sign him last year, might he change his mind now? Majka? Far from my favourite rider, but you can send him to the Giro, Vuelta and a few WT stage races and he'll hoover up some stage wins and UCI points if that's your thing.

[Leadbelly]

https://twitter.com/YallaIsraelSUN/status/1294984792807809024

Considering the opposition, this is the best Israeli result ever.

The devo riders weren't shaming themselves either over in Poland. Some bad luck in the final stage, but they showed well on the other days despite the difficult conditions.

The less said about the Dauphine the better.

[search]

I think that makes 22 confirmed riders for next year. Add in the three Israelis and Boivin (I think he'll be okay as long as he wants to continue riding) and four spots are left.

Here is an interview with Boivin, talking about missing out on the Tour team (1st reserve), and that it won't be easy next year either, with the team strengthend even further. So sounds like he will stay with the team indeed

https://www.lapresse.ca/sports/cyclisme/2020-08-20/pas-de-tour-de-france-pour-guillaume-boivin.php

[Leadbelly]

Going by the first two days, it's going to be a long Tour......

I think the plan was for Niv to try and get in the break today. He was certainly towards the front going through neutral, but there was no way on earth he could have made it into that strong group on the flat. Krists should have given it a go imo.

Things are a bit better over in Hongrie - the scene of many a memorable ICA moment. Einhorn was 6th and 5th in the two sprints and Piccoli and Badilatti have managed to avoid losing time so far (a favourite of theirs on "easy" days). Two more sprints to come and then the not so tough MTF on the final day. While there are no big GC names here, there are plenty of mid-level ones, so it won't be easy to get a result.

Finally the devo squad is back in action. In Poland again! There is a 1-day version of the Carpathian Couriers tomorrow with a smaller/weaker field than normal (Favourites: Tracz, Uno-X, Repa, Arm and Pajur) and then I presume they will also race in Baltyk - Karkonosze a few days later.

Still waiting for that first Israeli win outside Israel, but it might not be far away.

[Leadbelly]

Still waiting for that first Israeli win outside Israel, but it might not be far away.

The best Ben Moshe could manage in the Baltyk - Karkonosze was an 8th.

Turek gave a little interview about the race and painted a shambolic picture.

https://www.roadcycling.cz/clanek/chaos-v-polsku-dan-turek-paty

Why was the first stage canceled?

Above all, it was the worst organized race in the last three years, which I completed. They allegedly wanted to give a prologue before the first stage, but canceled both on the grounds that the mayor did not want sports events. My private opinion is that they wanted to save money.

I did not find stage profiles anywhere, not even on the race websites.

Nobody!

So was the problem more?

No one knew the day before what the second stage would look like. No one knew the exact schedule and route. We arrived at the start, and there was nothing ready. Just nothing at all. Then they told us that the mountaineering premium might be somewhere else than originally intended, but it is not certain.

Was the second stage better?

No. Originally it was supposed to go around a hundred, at the last minute it was shortened by a third. But in the middle of the stage, the race stopped, we stood for long minutes, allegedly because they crossed the borders of the regions and it was necessary to change the police escort. So they neutralized this part of the stage. Then they kept driving straight on the wide road and very fast, the very conclusion narrowed to the width of one car, turn right and finish. Very "good" idea. Fortunately, no one got involved there.

So a bit of an "exotic" experience of this business.

It was generally accepted between the teams that no one would come here anymore. Certainly not our team.

Hopefully they'll have a better experience at Solidarnosc which starts today. Einhorn has dropped down to the team for this race and if he continues with his Hongrie form then that elusive win could come.

[Leadbelly]

Einhorn has dropped down to the team for this race and if he continues with his Hongrie form then that elusive win could come.

Unofficially he did it!

https://twitter.com/ProCyclingOrg/status/1303725139482357762

[Leadbelly]

I actually thought it was the first UCI win for an Israeli outside Israel, but Ido Sirkin begs to differ.

https://cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=16928

Nonetheless it's a big moment for the team.

[LukasCPH]

The best Ben Moshe could manage in the Baltyk - Karkonosze was an 8th.

Turek gave a little interview about the race and painted a shambolic picture.

That's the third Polish 2.2 in as many months to not exactly cover itself in glory ...
In July, the Dookola Mazowsza had one stage cancelled due to a (not race-related as far as I remember) road accident, but wasn't the greatest experience anyway.
The Tour Bitwa Warszawska 1920 sent riders over gravel sections that more resembled a sand pit, so teams set an ultimatum to the organisers, and eventually one stage was neutralised.
And now this.
 

[Leadbelly]

Solidarnosc had issues on one stage as well.

https://naszosie.pl/2020/09/10/zamieszanie-z-finiszem-2-etapu-wyscigu-solidarnosci-i-olimpijczykow/

The stage from Krosno to Nowy Sącz was shortened by a few kilometers, but the signs indicating the distance from the finish line remained unchanged.

This situation meant that many cyclists were not prepared for the finish, as they followed the markings along the route.

ICA and Einhorn lost out in the confusion, but Dempster thought in general the race was well run.

I must say that the organization of the WSiO is perfect for me. Of course there was a communication error today, which was disappointing, but looking at the rest of it, it is a really well organized race.

Along with the victory on stage one, Ben Moshe grabbed a second on the final stage and Einhorn finished third in the GC.

https://twitter.com/YallaIsraelSUN/status/1304787871916847105

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Rumours earlier in the week that Barbier had extended for two years.

Kinda disappointing if true. Not that he's bad, but it's not as if he's head and shoulders above the others and while it looks like Raim and McCabe are leaving, Jones is joining mid-season, Einhorn surely deserves to be given more opportunities and who knows, maybe Ben Moshe could move up to the WT squad.

That still leaves a very high density of fast men.......and knowing I-Sun they're probably sniffing around Nizzolo or Aniolkowski.

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Still no cobbled classics leader either. Maybe we'll get some transfer news tomorrow on the rest day.

[Leadbelly]

Rumours earlier in the week that Barbier had extended for two years.

....and there it is.

https://twitter.com/YallaIsraelSUN/status/1305526350837673984

He knows that winning sprints is a team effort. “We need to work together in the sprint and keep the same leadout team as much as possible. It is impossible to win a sprint alone. I go very fast in the last few meters and I always do a fast final. With a strong team around me we can win quickly in the WorldTour.

Rudy has been working with team coach Greg Henderson, and is now on his way to the Tour of Slovakia to prepare for the Giro. “We have a great team at the Giro to put me in the best position in the sprints.  I watched the sprints in Tirreno and the team leadouts were amazing. I’m excited to join them in Italy!”

Cimolai leading him out seems a good option, but why wasn't he at TA then? Just checking back and him and the Italian haven't raced a sprint stage together yet in the team. He teamed up with Zabel in UAE to some good effect, so he has had some practice with the train. It does smack somewhat of a last minute decision.

The other thing I checked out just now were the Giro profiles. I thought it was meant to be more sprint friendly than the Tour this year? Maybe that was when they were going to start in Hungary, but now it certainly doesn't look very Barbier friendly. I count three nailed on full sprints and then there's a couple of others which might be too much for the Frenchman.

As for the Giro team as a whole, those profiles make me hope that they take more than one climber. Navarro was at TA, but Badilatti surely deserves a spot and why not Piccoli? The Vuelta might suit him more, but if Martin and/or Hermans double up then his chances there could be limited.

[LukasCPH]

Cimolai leading him out seems a good option, but why wasn't he at TA then? Just checking back and him and the Italian haven't raced a sprint stage together yet in the team. He teamed up with Zabel in UAE to some good effect, so he has had some practice with the train. It does smack somewhat of a last minute decision.

It feels like they aren't planning their riders' programs as thoroughly as some other teams, doesn't it.

[search]

Navarro is confirmed for the Giro, I think. That's what he said at least

[Leadbelly]

Very disappointing stage in the mountains today.

Nobody in the first break which luckily Bora brought back, nobody in the second successful break and nobody going with Rolland to bridge over. Okay Neilands did bridge to the first break which turned out to be wasted energy and he did try to get away from the peloton along with Politt a bit later in the stage, but I don't think I saw Hermans at all after neutral and the only sight of Martin was him hanging round the back of the peloton early in the stage.

What is there left? One and a bit chances of a stage win coming from the break? Not that a win is essential imo, but aggressive riding and some excitement for the fans is.

[Leadbelly]

That's more like it.

----------------------------

Now say what you like about the recent Polish races, in this season of cancelled events I'm sure more than one CT team is grateful that there are any low level stage races going ahead at all.

A quick look at the UCI website, and of the fifteen .2 stage races (I'm not counting the espoir events) in Europe that have been raced, or are pencilled in to be ridden since the lockdown ended, five (!) will have been in Poland. In fact the majority have been in Eastern Europe.

Anyway if you've been paying attention that means there is one more Polish race to come and it starts tomorrow. It's the Tour of Malopolska and yes ICA are racing again.

It's a lot hillier than the other Polish races.

Prologue - 1.3km at 8.5%
Stage 1 - HTF 4.4km at 6%
Stage 2 - only chance for a sprint, but could see some breakaway action
Stage 3 - MTF 10.1km at 7.5%

It's the usual suspects who are lined up - Vosters, CCC Devo, Wibatech, Vino, Tartu etc etc along with ICA. No names yet. The only two I know who are riding are Ovett and Avila.

[Leadbelly]

Team and result from the prologue:



Mr. Zwift the best on the day.

There was another good performance from Vojtech Repa today (4th) to add to his third at the Euro U23 RR. He might be a name to watch in the future. Maybe a devo team *cough cough* or a forward thinking PCT might take a punt on him.

[Leadbelly]

Stage 1:



Not bad from young Goldstein.

Repa again impressed, finishing in a small group with the stage winner. Someone who has really been linked with the devo team (and not just my wishful thinking) is Juntunen, who was the best of the rest in 6th.

Hopefully there will be some interesting riders in the devo team in 2021 (there aren't too many in the main team!). We know Jones will be there for the first half of the year. Someone like Magnus Sheffield would be the absolute dream - it's a bit strange tbh that there have been zero rumours about him. The main thing though is to have only 1-2 max of the oldies. Don't get me wrong, I like Edwin Avila, but it's totally pointless having him in the devo team. Dan and either Awet or Ben would be plenty and give good support in multiple situations.

Spoiler (hover to show)

Now watch them parachute McCabe into the team.

[Leadbelly]

Stage 2:



Edwin taking my previous statement to heart. No, but seriously he had crashed the previous stage and they thought he might be a bit concussed.

A three man break did manage to stay away today and it was Abrahamsen of Uno-X who took the win. They're racing on three fronts currently. Next year it could four or five if you add in Dare Devo and a women's team that there was some news about this week.

Aniolkowski won the sprint from the bunch ahead of three (!) Tartu riders.

[LukasCPH]

A three man break did manage to stay away today and it was Abrahamsen of Uno-X who took the win. They're racing on three fronts currently. Next year it could four or five if you add in Dare Devo and a women's team that there was some news about this week.

The women's team is planned for 2022 - but jumping right in at the WWT level.

[Leadbelly]

https://twitter.com/WielerFlits/status/1233328410723848192

The winner of the overall will get a stagiaire contract with the WT team. Unfortunately the competition ends in the middle of September and thus the lucky rider will only get ~1 months worth of racing, but there's a fair few one-day races for them to get their teeth into at that time of year.

In addition one of the three best club riders in the competition will get a permanent contract with the feeder team.

Unsurprisingly this will not be happening this year. I think there have only been two races in the competition so far with just one more planned.

“Unfortunately Israel Start-Up Nation cannot offer an internship contract to the winner of the Top League and no contract to the winner of the club classification for the continental Israel Cycling Academy this year. The corona virus and its consequences are at the root of this. Due to the fact that due to the coronavirus, unfortunately many Top League competitions were canceled, ICA cannot sufficiently assess whether the riders who would be eligible for the contract for the continental team, fit in the vision of the management. ”

They do hope though that the collaboration will continue through next year.

As I say there still is one race to go, but the leading riders currently who have missed out on the offer are:

WT Stagiaire: Coolens (Beat). He's the joint leader along with Dekker who is obviously heading elsewhere.

ICA Contract: Joeri Stallaert (1991), Victor Broex (2000) or Stijn Siemons (1997). Logic says they would have had to go for Broex.

[Leadbelly]

Stage 3:



Different presentation of the result to show the names that Goldstein was climbing with today. Encouraging stuff again, but of course do remember he was ~2 minutes down on the winner.

That performance meant he finished 15th in the GC.

The overall winner? Well, what do ya know Joe, it was Vojtech Repa!! Beaten to the stage victory by Traeen, but held onto the GC by 3 seconds. Somebody sign him up quick.

[Leadbelly]

http://saaremaasport.ee/israel-start-up-nation-mihkel-raim-on-kandidaat-vuelta-koosseisu/

Small chat with Raim

He should be riding the Vuelta, but nothing is confirmed yet. It will be nice for him to get this reward with the team, but I think it will be his last effort for them and I'm rather worried that he is waiting around to hear from them instead of exploring other avenues.

The islander (Raim), whose current contract with Israel Start-Up Nation expires at the end of the year.

"It would be good for the contract to perform well there, but my goal is to go to Vuelta already with the contract. I wouldn't want to go on a three-week bike tour without a contract, it would be too stressful. "

There aren't too many spots left on the team. He might get a sentimental contract in the devo team, but if I was his agent I would be hawking him around to B&B, Nippo, Bingoal etc.

[Leadbelly]

http://www.feltet.dk/nyheder/israel_start-up_nation_har_udtaget_giro_ditalia_holdet/

Rudy Barbier
Matthias Brändle
Alexander Cataford
Davide Cimolai
Alex Dowsett
Daniel Navarro
Guy Sagiv
Rick Zabel

Should do okay on the 3 sprints and 3 TTs ....... but not very well on the other 15 stages.

Can you tell I'm not so keen on the selection for the race?

Okay the sprint field isn't very deep with Demare and Gaviria the only ones from the current top rank of sprinters. A top three on one of the sprint days wouldn't be too big a surprise.

There are other days, on top of the three certs, that could end up a (reduced) sprint, but will Cimolai be able to hang on? The pace could be high on those days as Matthews tries to drop Demare/Sagan who in turn will want to get rid of Gaviria/Viviani etc.

The main problem is of course only having one climber who tbh is on his last legs. The non-selection of Badilatti for his "home" GT is a strange one. He wasn't far off the climbing performance of Muhlberger at Sibiu. I think he could have given good visibility to the team on some of the many climbing days. Even Schelling, who I didn't think would ride for the team again after his time on the naughty step, would have been a better option. I can only think that Matteo is lined up to ride the Vuelta instead.

[search]

not a great team, yeah, but Navarro seems to see some improvement at least:

"In the Tirreno I finished with a lot of confidence, because my feelings got better and better towards the end of the race. [...] As usua, the route of the Giro is a tough one, with long stages, and all those high-altitude ones in the last week, I'd like to be a protagonist in", concludes Navarro, who's contract with Israel Start-Up Nation is about to expire, and who is confident to do a good Giro to find a team which will give him the opportunity to continue another year among the pros.

https://www.esciclismo.com/actualidad/carretera/63405.html

So that (as expected) also confirms that he won't stay with the team. Best hope is probably, that his old friend Contador may pick him up to guide the yougsters at for a year?!

[search]

The Fleche Wallonne team is not too bad, but Dan Martin calling it a "luxury situation", having all those team mates that can win the race from an early attack, was a bit of a surprise to me, I must say

[Leadbelly]

A typical FW ride from him today. Starts the climb at the back of the peloton, has to expend energy working his way forward and weaving in around other riders. Nevertheless still looks good, but doesn't have quite enough in the end.

It wouldn't surprise me if he'd the quickest ascent today.

[Leadbelly]

Shock news - ICA are not racing in Poland!

They're in Italy instead. Today it's Il Piccolo Lombardia and presumably later in the week it's the Giro della Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia.

The opposition today is definitely a step up from Malopolska. We're talking some of the cream of current U23 riders: Tiberi, the Lotto boys, Colleoni, Conca, Leknessund, Bayer etc etc.

Obviously I'm not expecting too much from the team.

[Leadbelly]

Going by the first few stages, the folly of the Giro selection (which seemed obvious to me beforehand) means it's going to be an even longer race than the Tour.....

Cimolai was only 7th in the first reduced sprint and Barbier will get his first chance on Friday. Maybe it'll be time after that for #FreeZabel.

Naturally there's nothing to cheer for on the climbing days either as Navarro has been nowhere so far.

-------------------------

Nothing much to report from Lombardia. I think the large early break went all the way and all the Israelis were DNF. Miles and Plamondon were some of the last finishers.