June 1st & 2nd | Dublin Track International amonn Ceannt Velodrome Womens Scratch Junior Mens Omnium Junior Womens Omnium Womens Madison Mens Keirin Womens Sprint Mens Omnium Mens Scratch Womens Keirin Mens Madison Mens Sprint Womens OmniumThe post Results Dublin Track International 2024, Sundrive Road appeared first on Sticky Bottle.

Its Tuesday and Adwitiyas still on the live blog, bringing you all the updates, news, reaction and the usual silliness

On Monday morning, L'Equipe reported the news that Chris Froome's Tour de France selection had been ordered by Israel - Premier Tech sponsors. What's more, they also reported on an in-team feud ongoing between Froome and Michael Woods.According to this report, the reason Froome was omitted from the...

Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) has said his general condition is on the up after his 2nd place finish to Mads Pedersen (Lidl Trek) on the opening day of Critrium du Dauphin yesterday. The Irishman was well-supported by his team and said Dorian Godon his French team mate who has taken a []The post Sam Bennett | The condition is building, my sprint is coming along quite good appeared first on Sticky Bottle.

Decathlon-Ag2r La Mondiale directeur sportif Julien Jurdie has got a tattoo to mark wins by his riders and at the rate things are going right now he could soon be mistaken for a yakuza. Whats behind all these wins? Its been a recurrent question of late and here are a decathlon of attempted answersThe team is on 23 wins at the moment, only UAE and Lidl-Trek have more and on the UCI points scale, they are second this year behind UAE and so kicking sand in the faces of Ineos, Soudal-Quickstep and Visma-LAB for now at least.The chart shows the number of wins per season. 1999 was something special but you can see more recently how the team has had single digit years. A good or bad year can depend on your reference point. As it happens the average rate for a World Tour team in the last few years is, excluding 2020s abbreviated season, 25 wins per year.Theyd have wanted more wins along the way but its also been partly by design, the glory days of wins with house sprinter Jan Kirsipuu ended and they focused on stage racing. Having Jean-Christophe Praud and Romain Bardet on the podium of the Tour de France didnt boost the win rate but they were massive triumphs for a modest budget team.2024 is very different with 24 wins so already. Plus there is depth too, they have over 10,000 UCI points so far this season when they won 9,000 last year. So whats behind it?1. SigningsThe roster changed over the winter but the new signings havent been so prolific. Victory Lafay has yet to race as he nurses a knee injury. Bruno Armirail came close yesterday in the Dauphin but no wins. But Sam Bennett does fit the turnaround story with his four wins and the GC at the Four Days of Dunkerque, these results have lifted the team above Quickstep and Visma for wins so far.2. Management and logisticsThe team management had a sit down last winter because the previous season was so bad. They started asking more questions about what was needed and made some internal changes to management and resource allocation. This is hardly magic formula stuff but it has helped. Team founder Vincent Lavenu is taking a back seat with retirement looming. Theres more focus on nutrition to help the riders. Logistics have been improved which sounds dull but if bikes and team vehicles turn up for a training camp or a race then the team staff can focus on tactics.3. Calendar choicesOne angle here was prioritising riders for certain races. You might remember Benot Cosnefroy dancing with his friends on the Joux Plane last summer because he did not do much else that Tour despite all his talent, the scenes were fun but got team management annoyed. Grand tours are not his thing and so hes being spared them, if he does the Vuelta itll be partly for training. Instead hes been focussing on other races and perhaps thanks to this found winning ways again. Ben OConnor going to the Giro was another part of this, especially as he was supported by a strong team that took two stage wins.4. LuckSport teams depend in part on luck. Theres a lot of academic literature on this for other sports. A team or athlete can have a stock of talent but the ball can bounce one way or the other; a star player can slip on a banana skin while on a shopping trip and be out for months. Management or athletes might try to claim success is due to their unique talent but there is always a degree of fortune here; to borrow from Napoleon you probably want lucky generals. Teams tend to perform to their ability but they can have lucky times and unlucky ones too. In this sense is Cosnefroy winning again this spring a result of the management decisions over winter and focus; or just because hes a talented rider who has won races in the spring before? Probably both.5. UnluckTalking of luck, the team doesnt race in isolation. Rival teams are struggling. Arka-B&Bs new signings Arnaud Dmare and Florian Snchal were injured and ill this spring when if they were 100% theres a good chance they might have won a race that Decathlon won.Likewise Groupama-FDJs house sprinter Paul Penhot, the youngest ever winner of the Coupe de France series last year, looked set to build but required knee surgery in December and has missed much of the season.6. Joly goodLEquipe does a good monthly podcast on cycling and some of the feedback they got was the recruitment of Sbastien Joly as a sports director is working out very well. Formerly of Groupama-FDJ, hes said to bring a sharper focus on winning rather than placing and putting in place clear tactics to deliver the win.7. Youth growing upAt the other end of the age range the team is bringing on young riders, it always has. But a crop of riders like Paul Lapeira, Valentin Retailleau and Valentin Paret-Peintre have grown up in the teams feeder system and are now winning with the World Tour team. This pipeline looks set to continue thanks to the establishment of their in-house Continental development team which can act as bridge between the teams impressive junior squad.8. Van Rysel RCR ProThe new bike is a factor. Professional cyclists are conditioned to flatter their sponsors so there is the they would say that, wouldnt they aspect. But there are still some angles to explore here but riders are often equally quick not to oversell this, after all if it was the bike then prospective employers on other teams could be put off. Its said the previous BMC model was a bit long in the tooth. The new Van Rysel frame could well be an aero improvement. Plus the combo of the new bike and wheels could work well. If this also feels faster then the placebo effect is worth it. It makes for a nice story too given Colnagos are sold in showrooms, Pinarello even has a bottega and Specialized a marketing behemoth while Decathlon is basically a sports kit supermarket now selling World Tour bikes out of retail warehouses although still for 9,000 and there are cheaper World Tour team-issue machines.9. Hassle-free bikesThe other unseen angle of the bike from Decathlon is that it is delivered as a package. For several seasons the team had issues with their bikes, loyal readers will remember the look at the teams accounts which showed unpaid debts from past suppliers and retained bikes on the balance sheet. Both Ridley/Merckx and Factor didnt work out. Plus if the team got frames, they were at times left scratching for other sponsors and suppliers. Now the bikes all come in one box, work as a system for mechanics and management can spend time on other tasks rather than literally shopping for parts.10. BudgetTalk of Decathlons arrival also allows us to evoke another reason: the budget increase. Decathlon is now the lead title sponsor and putting in more funding than Ag2r La Mondiale; a year ago Ag2r paid more than Citron. This financial leapfrog isnt felt immediately in the budget but one hypothesis is that riders know there is budget for next year and beyond and good results now, especially in the first half of the year can mean renewals and extensions.ConclusionDecathlon-Ag2r La Mondiale are having a great time, theyve scored more UCI points in 2024 than all of 2023 and they have more wins this year than the past two seasons combined, including double the amount of World Tour wins this year than last.Whats the secret of success? Abandoning the brown shorts? Nobody really knows, there are several factors at play, ten above is plenty. Riders and staff are talking of reorganisation and management improvements more than the new bike so this internal issue has its backing and we should pay attention. But hypotheses are listed above and hiring Sam Bennett has helped, weve seen the blooming of young talent, the extra cash from Decathlon must be an incentive and plain old luck going their way.What if Bruno Armirail being caught on the line yesterday marks the changing point? So far so good but would the team sign for the season so far if meant a Tour de France without success? In recent years theyve had lean times but enjoyed box office blockbuster wins in the Tour de France thanks to Ben OConnor, Bob Jungels and Felix Gall which has gone a long way to defining their season, and keeping Julien Jurdies tattooist busy.The post Decathlon-Ag2r La Mondiales Strong Start first appeared on The Inner Ring.

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