Written by Canadian Nippon at 02:36 22/11-2022
The wind of change is blowing around the Canadian Nippon Cycling team as the team is reportedly looking to stream line the processes around training as the team has been inedited with a ton of new talents but are they all really going to race for the team?
“Yes, we have issues with scouting and wanting to train riders that can improve our team” stated a unnamed source close to the team. “We have so where around eight riders that we have collected in the past few season that we would like to train” continued the source.
The riders that the team is mentioning seems to be the following riders:
Caldwell Hemby
Dean Haskin
Justin Hoff
Jakob Norum
Paraskevas Abadiotakis
Sjef Thijsse
Clint Kerr
Eldwin Lafleur
Edan Bassil
The last two in Eldwin & Edan being signed in the past week to join the team roster making it very interesting that they seem to be completing a review of the program now. Yet they still signed two more riders to join the prospect pool.
“We actually targeted these two riders before we actually started the review process and it was part of needing to create space for these two riders that we decided that a review was required.” Stated the source when asked about the two new signings. “Eldwin has massive potential in TT at 237 max potentials so hopefully we will be able to train him sooner than later. He will also be a great addition to your time trials team and depending on training could see a bit of a shakeup coming to the time trial team”
“Edan is a high risk, high reward potential rider with a possible 237 SP max, He will need to relay on his lead outs to score points based on our calculations but should still make a good rider joining the likes of Eli Dauphin as we look to rebuild or retool the sprint team as our main team is starting to get a bit older now.” Continued the source, talking about the two newly signed riders.
So, what is the plan for the team prospect pool moving forward? And what will happen to majority of these prospects?
“Simple put we are reviewing their likeliness to add the team moving forward as we cannot have this many prospects on the roster at any given time as we have too much cash invested into these riders. So, hopefully by focusing on a select few we can get them trained faster and working with the main team rather than having the unknown factor and investments tied up like we currently do.” Added the source really only answering the first part of the questions asked.
We can take from today’s actions what is likely going to happen to some of the prospects since
Clint Kerr was released from the team today.
“It was sad to see him leave the team but simply put his age, time and country doesn`t match what we are currently looking to add to our roster. His potential skill set as LO#1 is also very similar to Albert Nain so with only three years between the two riders it was simply too much of similar aspect and we simply don`t need two of these types of riders at the moment. Hopefully someone will pick him up as I think he has the potential to be a very good lead-out.”
We pushed the issue with the source and asked if any further riders would also be released from contract in the coming day and here is what the source had to say: “Next few days will be unlikely as most are currently signed up for the U23 race; Kutna Hora – Milovice. Maybe after that race we will find time to release some of the riders that will no longer make up our prospect pool.”
From information that we have gathered the team will look to release a good number of the riders with Clint Kerr being the first and actually less likely rider that the team wanted to release. “We were hopeful that we might have been able to come back around to Kerr after we released the other riders and make a final decision on him but at the end of the day it was easier to release him first as he was only one of two riders not signed up to race this weekend.”
The other rider is Dean Haskin also rumored be looking for a new team after his thirty-day non-movement agreement runs out later this month. “When we first scouted him we were extremely gun happy with his signing as we looked at the overall potential of the rider as potential dual threat as CB & TT rider but at the end of the day we just don`t think he will be good enough as either. He would be a interesting project but that isn`t something we require at the moment when we are looking for the sure deal in a prospect. Age is also playing a factor as he was already 23yr old when we signed him. Other riders will take the precedence ahead of him and we cannot wait a full season or two to train this rider so the decision to release him has been made.” The source stated when asked about Haskins future with the team.
We understand that some of the riders being consider or are already penciled into being released are Jakob Norum, Sjef Thijsse and Justin Hoff. The last rider named being a bit surprising since we knew the team had very high hopes for this rider. “We think his training has stalled which if true is a hugely disappointing but happens with young riders. We sign them for their potential and for whatever reason they don`t always reach that potential. If his training hasn`t stalled then training will proceed as normal as we are extremely hopeful for this young Canadian to be a part of our future plans.” Stated the source when asked about the surprise that Hoff might be amongst the riders released.
Also noticed a trend that the team seems to be going away from foreign riders. “We have always wanted to be all Canadian team but simply put we also look for the best talent that we can find so that means sometimes we hire riders from other countries. Look no further than Conan Guillot or Ensio Jarvinen as two great examples as to why.” Added the source when asked about the foreign riders being released.
“Paraskevas Abadiotakis has great potential as pave pacer and might even be strong enough to captain in the future so we are very hope that we can complete his training. He will stay with the team at least through his training process.” Added the source when asked about the only other non-Canadian prospects and lack of noise around him.
So when all is said and done the teams prospects should consist of:
Caldwell Hemby
Eldwin Lafleur
Edan Bassil
Paraskevas Abadiotakis
Justin Hoff
Which will bring the number of prospects down by half to what we would assume will be a much more manageable level for the team moving forward so watch for the wind of change to blow through the team in the next few weeks.
Other notes* Canadian Nippon Cycling has struggled to start season 63 but the team isn`t that concerned by the overall lack of results. “We have been simply put racing too much and haven`t given the rider enough breaks. We are trying to run three teams (time trials, Sprint & Cobble) for the first time in our history but without the riders required to run three teams. While most of our prospects were supposed to aid in regards to those concerns; it really hasn`t been the case so far. Hopefully with the changes to come we can focus on getting a few more riders ready to aid one of the three teams allow us more flexibility moving forward with the three teams. So while dropping down the Canadian and World ranks is disappointing it also gives the team a chance to have a bit of a break and target some races that we wouldn`t otherwise be able to take part. Norway is a great example of race that we could head back to if everything continues on it current path. We should be back around division 2 or 1 towards the end of the season like we have the past few seasons. Maybe even for the better since we might be able to give our TT team an actual chance at the TT World Championship by being well rested this time.” Stated the team manager Robert Bouchard when asked about the team’s current struggles. Adding further, “We had two outstanding seasons and this follows the path of past season as we have two strong seasons followed by one down season before we come back even stronger the following two season. So, if that is case again this season then we will take it as we will come back even stringer next season.”
The team isn`t expected to fall any further until day 62 of the season but if they do it means a lot of things have gone wrong for the strong Canadian team that should be hovering around division 1 & 2 rather than back in division 3 or maybe even division 4.
“We won`t rule out a purpose drop if we end up being anywhere near division 4 around day 62 but it isn`t something we are planning. We actually don`t really plan to ever drop or plan our season. We take it as it comes and react to what is a head of us. I haven`t even looked at division 4 races yet as Norway is now our teams current target only two seasons removed from winning the sprinters Jersey; It would be nice to add another one if we could but we still have races in Division 1 and Haute-Normandie Tour that we are hopeful for some good results that should vault us back towards division 1 sooner then later. If not watch for us to take part in Norway again.” Added the team manager when asked about future plans for the season.
“We can score quickly now with three teams so we should be fine and our season can change quickly depending on a few quick back-to-back results.” Finished the manager of the Canadian Nippon Cycling team.
It will be interesting to see how the rest of the season plays out for the Canadian Nippon team and what other changes might be coming.
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Comments
Thanks in the weird position where I need to start to transition to a younger team so hopefully I hit on some of this young talent.
All the best with new talent.
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