Put some weird bike riders, a few cycling lovers and some crazy ideas together, and you have the perfect mixture to set up a professional cycling team.
Weird bike riders are easy to find, there are no others! But maybe the most extra different ones, you find around a French town, named Toulouse. Hard to understand cause of their accent, it sounds like French, but they understand each other, so that is a bonus. Good thing is they speak English too, well kinda.
Cycling lovers you can find easely in Belgium, no doubt about that. So that is where those two Frenchies found two volunteers to be called from now on : Staff !
Ideas, 100s, 1000s or even more, no problem, but none seems to work, so we will see what comes.
And then you have those strange guys that wanna ride for the team. You can not imagine what funny reasons they find out to become member of the team.
O just one problem, money. There is hardly any money.... so far. Not important, sponsors will line up the moment the results are there. But again ..... but...... no races. Some Chinese bat or some idiot or whatever created a virus. No need to give any explanation about this subject I guess. Unless you been living under a rock or been flying in from another planet.
Now serious, we have done two races in New Zealand (The New Zealand Cycle Classic and Gravel and Tar) and three in Greece (The Tour of Rhodes, GP Rhodes and some criterium). And that was it. We had races on our program in France, Belgium, Swiss, Spain, Macedonia, Kosovo, South Africa, Indonesia, etc...
Now it is waiting for? For what? I donnu, hopefully soon we get green light for a start.
We our ready, we have kit, bikes, team cars, even post cards!
Before I introduce the riders I have to tell you that our team is registered in Guam. "Guam?" I hear you say.
Guam is a U.S. island territory in Micronesia, in the Western Pacific. It's distinguished by tropical beaches, Chamorro villages and ancient latte-stone pillars. Guam’s WWII significance is on view at the War in the Pacific National Historical Park, whose sites include Asan Beach, a former battlefield. The island’s Spanish colonial heritage is evident in Fort Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, atop a bluff in Umatac. The capital is Hagatna and has a population of approx. 166000 people. It is about 540km²!
I have never been there, but it is on my bucket list!
these are our 16 riders:
Simeon Green, (Great Britain, 12 December 1979), alias Sim, the founder of the Continental team, lives in Albi in France. Started in several tours all over the world, Burkina Faso, Rwanda, Serbia, Greece, Morocco etc... Loves a Chimay! Hates track and criterium races. British.
Guillaume "GuiGui" Soula, (France, 29 October 1980 in Toulouse) co founder of this team. 6th on GC Tour du Faso 2009, 4th on GC Tour du Faso 2010 and of course a globetrotter just like his mate Sim. Loves a good (French) red wine.
Romain "DuDu" Guillaume Duverger, (France, 2 March 1985), can climb, can sprint, can ride GC. Placed 5th on GC and Points in Tour of Kosovo 2019. The quiet man in the team, always happy!
The man you count on (and can!). Lives in Poitiers.
Thomas "Perotte" Peyroton-Dartet, (France, 9 July 1985), this man makes an unbelievable comeback after a horror crash in the Tour de Tahiti, September 2018. Good climber and is working hard on his return. 5th place in stage 5 in Tour du Maroc 2010.
Robert Orr, (Great Britain, 1 October 1980 in Nuneaton), From 2017 till 2019 pro with Memil Cycling Team. 5th place in stage 7 Tour du Maroc 2013, 28th Omloop v/h Waasland 2015. Strong rider in stage races.
Boris Clark, (New Zealand, 28 January 1995), Probably the best rider on our team in the New Zealand races. Had to pull out the Cycle Classic, due to mechanical, in the KOM leaders jersey. Finished 10th in Gravel & Tar too. Was 8th in the New Zealand ITT championship 2016.
Matias "T" Fitzwater, (New Zealand, 29 March 1998), together with Boris our big hopes in the team, performed really well in the New Zealand opening races. Was really keen and ready for Europe, but must wait a bit longer to come over to Belgium. I know "T" since he rode with us in the New Zealand national U23 team. Finished 3th in the U23 GC Tour du Maroc 2019, 30th in GP Criquielion in Belgium.
Alexander "Smytie" Smyth (Malta, 10 December 1988) Alex is the current National Champion of Malta, but lives in Melbourne, Australia. Rode for different conti teams in the past (2011 Worldofbike.com, 2015 African Wildlife Safaris CT, 2016 State of Matter-MAAP CT, 2017 NSWIS, 2018 Drapac CT). I know Smythie since 2011, and is a regular visitor in Belgium to race the kermesses. Is a good GC rider and sprinter. Finished 3 times 6th in stages in Tour of Indonesia 2010, 5th in the Oceania Championship 2011, 3th in stage 2 Tour of Singkarak 2012, Came 13th on GC in Tour of Kosovo 2019.
Jake Klajnblat, (Australia, 22 March 1994 in Melbourne) Strong Aussie, been racing many years in Belgium as Elite rider. Finished 20th in Omloop der Vlaamse Gewesten 2012.
Nathan Bunn, (New Zealand, 30 March 1989) Hopefully he gets the chance to come to Belgium soon.
Peter Lombard, (Guam, 24 May 1976 in Mong Mong Toto Maite) one of our four Guam riders. Looking forward to meet these guys.
Gorgi Popstefanov, (Macedonia, 19 July 1987) Macedonian National Road Champion in 2010, 2016. Lives in the U.S. Represented his country at the Worlds 2014 and 2015.
Dan Aponik, (Guam, 17 May 1972) Current Guam National Road Champion.
Jonathan Martin, (Guam, 9 October 1985) represented his country 3 times at Oceania's Championship
James Mowatt, (Australia, 28 May 1990) Former Conti rider of Peter Bauwens's team in Belgium Colba-Superano 2012 and 2013, In 2015 he joined the Aussie Conti team Data3-Symantec. Finished 9th in the GP Nogent sur Oise 2012, 18th in Antwerpse Havenpijl 2013, 7th in stage 2 Herald Sun Tour 2015.
Joffrey Degueurce, (France, 24 August 1997) In fact Joffrey is a track rider, but finished 15th in the U23 ITT championship in France. Will have a go on the road with our team.
Derek Horton, (Guam, 26 September 1972) represented Guam at Oceanias in 2005.
Staff members: Lieve Drieghe (soignee) and Dirk Van Hove (DS)
Weird bike riders are easy to find, there are no others! But maybe the most extra different ones, you find around a French town, named Toulouse. Hard to understand cause of their accent, it sounds like French, but they understand each other, so that is a bonus. Good thing is they speak English too, well kinda.
Cycling lovers you can find easely in Belgium, no doubt about that. So that is where those two Frenchies found two volunteers to be called from now on : Staff !
Ideas, 100s, 1000s or even more, no problem, but none seems to work, so we will see what comes.
And then you have those strange guys that wanna ride for the team. You can not imagine what funny reasons they find out to become member of the team.
O just one problem, money. There is hardly any money.... so far. Not important, sponsors will line up the moment the results are there. But again ..... but...... no races. Some Chinese bat or some idiot or whatever created a virus. No need to give any explanation about this subject I guess. Unless you been living under a rock or been flying in from another planet.
Now serious, we have done two races in New Zealand (The New Zealand Cycle Classic and Gravel and Tar) and three in Greece (The Tour of Rhodes, GP Rhodes and some criterium). And that was it. We had races on our program in France, Belgium, Swiss, Spain, Macedonia, Kosovo, South Africa, Indonesia, etc...
Now it is waiting for? For what? I donnu, hopefully soon we get green light for a start.
We our ready, we have kit, bikes, team cars, even post cards!
Before I introduce the riders I have to tell you that our team is registered in Guam. "Guam?" I hear you say.Guam is a U.S. island territory in Micronesia, in the Western Pacific. It's distinguished by tropical beaches, Chamorro villages and ancient latte-stone pillars. Guam’s WWII significance is on view at the War in the Pacific National Historical Park, whose sites include Asan Beach, a former battlefield. The island’s Spanish colonial heritage is evident in Fort Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, atop a bluff in Umatac. The capital is Hagatna and has a population of approx. 166000 people. It is about 540km²!
I have never been there, but it is on my bucket list!
these are our 16 riders:
The man you count on (and can!). Lives in Poitiers.
Staff members: Lieve Drieghe (soignee) and Dirk Van Hove (DS)
