Columbia: Auf Wiedersehen Ciolek!

by Chris Fontecchio on Sep 13, 2008 5:10 PM EDT in News

Over at CN, Team Columbia's provisional 2009 roster comes with some conspicuous omissions: Gerald Ciolek, Roger Hammond, Brad Wiggins, Andreas Klier, Scott Davis, and Servais Knaven. This is a pretty definitive sign that those guys are moving on. No real surprises; just pre-confirmation. And it's provisional; further departures may be forthcoming, though if not it's still a pretty packed squad w/o Ciolek and Klier. Stay tuned.

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No offence, I hardly call Wiggins a conspicuous omission. He’s worn the Columbia jersey once – the Tour of Britain. Where he’s currently 80th of 85 riders.

pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway

by fmk on Sep 13, 2008 5:20 PM EDT reply actions

From CN's list, posted elsewhere, I know, but I enjoy looking at the list, so

I’m posting it again:

Columbia for 2009 (as of mid-September): Michael Barry, Marcus Burghardt, Mark Cavendish, John Devine, Bernhard Eisel, Linus Gerdemann, Bert Grabsch, Andre Greipel, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Adam Hansen, Greg Henderson, George Hincapie, Kim Kirchen, Craig Lewis, Thomas Lövkvist, Tony Martin, Marco Pinotti, Morris Possoni, Frantisek Rabon, Vicente Reynes, Michael Rogers, Marcel Sieberg, Kanstantsin Siutsou, Mark Renshaw and Michael Albasini

The women’s team, currently ranked number one in the world and leading the women’s UCI World Cup Series will also make very few changes. The ten riders currently confirmed for 2009 are Mara Abbott, Kim Anderson, Judith Arndt, Kate Bates, Chantal Beltman, Emilia Fahlin, Luise Keller, Ina-yoko Teutenberg, Linda Villumsen and Alex Wrubleski

Shoot, those are beauteous team rosters there! I’m so glad to see Gerdeman and Burghardt still there.

by Ruthann on Sep 13, 2008 6:24 PM EDT reply actions

What this means for Columbia

Using the VDS point scale, which I think give a fair approximation of a rider’s value, Columbia has the 2nd best team after CSC with 5735. Of that total the departing riders have 412 or 7% of the total.

Looking ahead these departing riders will probably bring more value than they would have to Columbia. Ciolek especially will be a featured sprinter and since he is more of the Freire climbing sprinter type than the Cavendish flat roads type there will be ample opportunities for him to really boost his production. With Zabel fading into the sunset, Ciolek will very comfortably fit in with Milram.

Wiggins also I think will be more valuable but for a different reason. This being an Olympic year, Bradley’s focus was totally on that. In other years (like last year) he was more productive in road races and should be again with Garmin. But in addition this year he too has been a Cavendish set-up man which further depressed his VDS points. Thus besides his normal prologue speciality I look for him to have lead out love from Dean to contest field sprints.

This is not to say that Columbia is losing riders it can’t replace. Columbia is very rich in its sprinting part of its team. They have Greipel, Henderson, Martin, Hagen along with new Columbia-ite Renshaw to keep them strong there. Its natural for the team to lose a few riders who will probably be quite good in future years.

by ursula on Sep 13, 2008 7:27 PM EDT reply actions

but all the teams are going from 30-man to 25-man squads, so they will all lose some points.

CSC is also losing Larsson and Sastre… that’s a lot of points. But I understand what you mean.

But I prefer Ciolek leaving rather than Burghardt or a GC contender being the one who leaves. Ciolek is a sprinter and Columbia has a lot of riders for that position.

by King of Doping on Sep 13, 2008 7:38 PM EDT up reply actions

Albasini is also joining the team

and he is pretty good, not super talented but able to catch some victories.

by King of Doping on Sep 13, 2008 7:39 PM EDT up reply actions

You are right

Renshaw and Albasini have… lets see…167 for Albasini and actually 0 for Renshaw. But the thing about Renshaw and guys like Hammond is that set-up men don;t get many points on their own; their value is reflected in the likes of Cavendish and Hushovd.

Now about every team losing points… yes and kind of no. Almost all of the big teams are losing and gaining riders on their margins. Some though, and you are right here in thinking CSC, are losing many more points proportionally than Columbia is doing. CSC, Euskatel, FdJ, Cofidis especially.

Some teams are gaining net points, unlike Columbia. I won’t go into more detail now as this is a year-end thing for us to argue about. I do agree that Columbia can better lose Ciolek than Burghardt or Gerdemann.

by ursula on Sep 13, 2008 8:04 PM EDT up reply actions

Wasn't there a story a couple weeks ago

about Wiggins going to Garmin? Was that not confirmed?

by Le Comte on Sep 13, 2008 9:03 PM EDT reply actions

yes

wiggins is confirmed to garmin.
ciolek to milram. klier, hammond to cervélo. <—— these are pretty much almost totally confirmed, except for the press release.

by Jen See on Sep 13, 2008 11:40 PM EDT up reply actions

Interesting Rogers is still there

I’d heard rumours that team management didn’t really want him anymore, that his not riding the Tour this year wasn’t so much for his form being a problem recovering from illness but for other reasons… so, as many rumours turn out to be, perhaps that’s not true. I guess we’ll see next year with their Tour team – does Rogers get another chance at GC or is it a mostly Cav-oriented sprint team?

by guidemd on Sep 14, 2008 12:29 AM EDT reply actions

is it a mostly Cav-oriented sprint team

I don’t think it is. I think they’re a squad that know they have a strong card, but also have quite a few other options to play, As they’ve shown in recent races. Yes, I would probably see them as being more about stage wins in the Grand Tours – and not all of them coming from the Manxman – and then going for Classics and minor Tours. But I don’t think that makes them the one trick pony painting them as “a mostly Cav-oriented sprint team” suggests.

pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway

by fmk on Sep 14, 2008 8:53 AM EDT up reply actions

I didn't say they were a one trick pony

nor did I paint them as a “mostly Cav-oriented sprint team”, I simply asked whether they might in future be that or not. Hopefully not.

by guidemd on Sep 14, 2008 12:18 PM EDT up reply actions

I like Rogers

but he’s got a few strikes against him in the GC-contender department.

1. His association with the T-Mobile doctors is a little unclear.

2. He was part of the 2006 T-Mobile time trial machine. (His performances weren’t Honchar-like; he did about as well as you’d expect from a time trial world champion.)

3. If the Grand Tours announce courses for next year that once again put riders like him (time triallers who can climb) at a disadvantage, then there’s no point in supporting him for a GT. Given a flatter parcors with 120km of time trialling, though, and he might be your guy.

by Softie on Sep 14, 2008 9:06 AM EDT up reply actions