Written by Canard Solutions B at 14:17 12/10-2023
Season 66 review - Part 1
Canard reach new heights on the flat and rocky valley roads
Canard has smashed all previous team records with a fruitful fortnight in Season 66. Canard nears the end of the season having already broken the club record of 14 results. Among this impressive haul of podium finishes, is Canard’s largest number of victories in a single season. To date, the team has taken 7 victories between 4 separate riders, a clear sign of Canard’s increasing strength and depth.
Sprinting and cobbles has been a key focus over the last few seasons and all the results this season have come outside the mountains. Therefore, it is clear now that Canard’s decision to move away from the traditional climbing focus was the right one as the results from Season 66 proves.
There are four main reasons for Canard’s record-breaking year that this article will explore:
1. Canard has continued its success on the flat and rocky roads
Canard has always enjoyed success in one-day racing and this season has seen similar success.
- Gasch continued to show age is just a number as rhe 35 year has enlarged, his already bulging, palmares with a win at Frederikshavn – Aalborg and a second at Mutrad – Wadi Kabir. The victory in Denmark confirms Gasch long held love affair with the southernmost of the Scandinavian countries. It has been a happy hunting ground for the Andorran as he has stood on a Danish podium 19 times in his 13 seasons at Canard.
- Fausto Aguero is now the favoured leader of the cobbles squad with stage wins in West Africa and two one-day wins in Macau at Confronto no Largo do Senado and Germany’s famous Rund um den Aachener Dom. Canard has built a fierce depth on the pave with Canadian Cyril Hagelin joining Pawlowski, Periate, Sabih and Zuidema as Aguero’s select henchmen to tackle the tough cobblestone races.
2. Stage races has been Canard’s secret ingredient
Multi-day racing has particularly driven Canard’s success this year. 10 of the 14 results have come in Stage races with four riders leading the team to stage race success.
• Fausto Aguero opened Canard’s season account with a breakaway victory on Stage 1 of the three day La Coupe de la Soif Éternelle. The large time gap established on the gravel in Senegal meant Fausto had enough buffer to hold onto 9th on GC and 2nd in the Youth classification at the West African tour.
• Later in the season, Selmo Escudero took third overall in the hilly Canadian classic, the Edmonton Red Deer Tour. A third and fourth on two stages was enough for Selmo Escudero to take the bronze medal.
The other results at stage races are especially noteworthy and comprise the final two sections of this article.
3. Long term lead out man Nez lays claim as Gasch’s heir apparent
Jairo Nez smashed all expectations taking three podiums and the overall Sprint Classification at the inaugural Karpaty Tyr in Ukraine. After a disappointing Kangaroo Tour, Gasch stepped aside for the Karpaty Tyr to give his long-term sprint partner Jairo Nez full leadership responsibility in Ukraine. An opportunity he seized with both hands.
The technical sprinter opened well finishing a fast 2nd to Nullinger’s Pierre Uhland on Stage 1 which put him firmly in contention for the sprint jersey. On Stage 5, the next opportunity for the sprinters, Nez took control launching a long-range sprint on the river front of Frankivsk holding off Olpe 04ers, Osvaldo Pereira to win the race in a photo finish. The following day a breakaway on a hilly Stage 6 meant the contest came down to a final showdown on Stage 7 between Sambir and Lviv. Osvaldo launched an early attack on the tight finishing circuit in Lviv’s town centre to take the win but a hard-fought 3rd place sandwiched between Germany’s Lars Arnold and Pierre Uhland meant Nez snuck the jersey by just 4 points.
Final results:
Ukraine Karpaty Tyr, Sprint Classification Div 3 Canard Solutions B
2. Ukraine Karpaty Tyr, Stage 1 - #1
1. Ukraine Karpaty Tyr, Stage 5 - #1
3. Ukraine Karpaty Tyr, Stage 7 - #1
The impressive performance takes Nez to a career milestone of 10 results overall and sends a strong signal to Canard’s management that the former lead out man can be the heir apparent to succeed Gasch – as his retirement is expected to be announced early next season.
The Cali born Columbian will also be a popular choice for succession as nurturing national, regional and Spanish speaking talent has been a central focus since Canard’s inception. The shared captaincy model between El Salvador’s Selmo Escudero and Jairo Nez, who specialise in the hillier and more technical sprints respectively, could prove to be a powerful combination to drive Canard’s future success when Gasch steps aside next year.
4. Time trialling touted as the final piece to Canard’s puzzle
Elsewhere, Canard’s new TT specialist Mancho Verme made it a debut to remember by taking the victory at the Rio Grande prologue. He set an unbeatable tempo in the time trial race on Stage 1 of Volta da Lagoa dos Patos and was fastest on all time splits. It is also the first time Canard has won a race against the clock. The win is a culmination of the significant investment Canard has made in the TT discipline following the failed experiment with Kenya’s Shem Kipchirchir. Kipchirchir was moved on from Canard last season after a series of non-results and Columbian Verme was scouted as a rider with the potential to win. Since then, Verme has had a sustained training period and numerous sessions in the wind tunnel in Belgium.
The result caps an amazing couple of days for Canard’s Columbians. Mancho also hails from Nez’s Cauca Valley. Growing up in Palmires, just 27 kilometres from Cali, Verme raced on the same junior team as Jairo Nez and was a key factor in Mancho joining Canard at the end of last season.
Following on from Mancho’s success, Canard is doubling down on TT as an additional specialism, adding two incredible TT talents to the roster with the prize money. Norwegian Vetle Ramstad, 23, and Lars Stancombe, 20, from the United States Virgin Islands have both been identified as top-level prospects with incredible TT potential and good Sprinting pedigree. However, training is expensive, takes time and with neo-pro Rune Marths still finishing his cobbling tutelage, time will tell whether the team can afford to keep hold of both talents. It is likely that age will be a factor in the decision making, so don’t be surprised if you see Ramstad on the transfer forums soon.
5. More success to come?
As Season 66 draws to a close, Canard still has potential results to come with Selmo Escudero leading Canard at the Tour of the Western Cape in the season’s final week and a smattering of other one-day races may also throw up a surprise or two.
Lastly, Canard also currently holds two National jerseys with Selmo Escudero in the colours of El Salvador and Sadaqat Sabih in the emerald green of Saudi Arabia. Only time will tell if they can hold these to the final day.
Part 2 of the season review will confirm what the team can achieve in the final few days and will feature an exclusive interview with team manage Juan Yeteas. However, if nothing else happens, Canard Solutions Bogota has confirmed its place in the third division and shown its competition it deserves to be there.
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