The newly named Team Giant-Shimano briefly flirted with the abyss after last season, the late withdrawal of their new sponsorship deal left the team scrambling for the funds to continue. Thankfully bike manufacturers Giant stepped in with a long term deal, securing the future for Giant-Shimano. The Dutch team formed in 2005 and has grown organically since then, successfully making the step up to the World Tour last season and showing that they definitely belonged there. The team’s major successes have come through the sprints where they have two of the fastest men in cycling, many lesser sprinters who can win races in their own right, and a number of strong support riders to do the dirty work. The Giant-Shimano sprint train is about as well drilled and effective as there is in the sport; it’s a weapon they use frequently. The team has established a pattern of recruiting low key or young riders they can trust and developing them, generally eschewing the more established names. That hasn’t changed now that they are a World Tour team, and while the sprinter heavy team could use a stronger GC presence, they prefer to be patient and develop their own, rather than recruiting some readymade leaders.
For now though the team remains firmly behind its star stage winners, twenty five year old Germans Marcel Kittel and John Degenkolb. Kittel is one of the three truly elite sprinters in cycling, and after 2013 arguably the best of all. Since joining the team as a promising time trial specialist, the hugely powerful Kittel has taken to sprinting to remarkable effect, with 43 wins, and five coming in Grand Tours. He is a double winner of Scheldeprijs, the most sprinter friendly of the Belgian Classics, and his four win haul at last season’s Tour de France saw him come out on top against Mark Cavendish and Andre Greipel. Marcel Kittel should return to the Tour de France this season, with his mind on the Green Jersey, though it will be hard to dethrone Sagan who can pick up points on the tougher stages that simply aren’t available for a pure sprinter such as Kittel. John Degenkolb is a fine sprinter in his own right, a notch below those elite guys in terms of pure speed but a more rounded rider. As a neo-pro with HTC-High Road in 2011, Degenkolb recorded six wins, including two stages in the Criterium du Dauphine. With the demise of that team, Degenkolb joined Argos-Shimano, winning a further eleven times in 2012, taking a hugely impressive five stage wins in the Vuelta a Espana. Degenkolb also finished 4th in the World Championship road race in Valkenberg, a race more akin to an Ardennes Classic than a bunch sprint and one suggestive of his future evolution. Degenkolb won six times in 2013, with impressive victories in Paris-Tours, the Vattenfal Cyclassics and a stage of the Giro to add to his palmares, however it is becoming increasingly clear that his future is not that of a pure sprinter. Rather he is more suited to the tougher races, the Cobbled classics and monuments, while his strong climbing makes him an excellent opportunistic sprinter.
Slovenian sprinter Luka Mezgec, 25, joined Giant-Shimano after impressing in the Tour of Qinghai Lake in 2012, where he recorded four stage wins and took the Green Jersey. His first season with the Dutch team was one of good performances and near misses, but victory eluded him until the final stage of his final race of the season, when he won the bunch sprint that ended the Tour of Beijing. Mezgec remains the third choice sprinter on the team, but on such a sprint oriented team that means he will still have ample opportunities throughout the season, as his record in 2013 shows. As well as his win in China, Mezgec was 3rd three times and 5th on the final stage of the Giro d’Italia and recorded twelve other top 5 sprint finishes across the season. South African sprinter Reinardt Janse van Rensburg is probably the most gifted all-rounder of the sprinters, a fine time-trialist and a good climber; he lacks the outright speed of some of the others but has the makings of an excellent opportunistic sprinter and is an option for the uphill sprints. Ramon Sinkeldam, 24, is a good strongman sprinter and a fine lead out man, spending much of the season working for others but will have more freedom during the Classics season. The winner of the Paris-Roubaix espoirs in 2011, Sinkeldam is a promising Cobbles specialist, and after finishing outside the time limit in his senior debut in Paris-Roubaix he managed a highly credible 25th last season. Sinkeldam should be the team’s second option for the Classics, alongside Degenkolb. German Nikias Arndt, 22, looks likely to develop into the next star sprinter on the team after an impressive neo-pro season in 2013. Arndt won his first professional race with a stage win in the Arctic Tour of Norway, came 3rd on the final stage of the Vuelta and recorded two podium finishes in the Tour of Turkey, both coming on stages were Kittel had been dropped. The team have a number of support sprinters who spend most of their season working as part of the sprint train for Kittel and the other faster sprinters. Riders like Jonas Ahlstrand, Tom Veelers, Koen de Kort and Bert de Backer, fast men in their own right, and in some cases experienced classics riders. While hard working domestiques such as Roy Curvers, Cheng Ji, Albert Timmer and Tom Stamsnijder do their best work making sure that the race comes down to a sprint.
The GC project
With their stage winners well established and looking certain to keep the results flowing, Giant-Shimano can afford to show patience as they develop their climbing options and ultimately GC contenders. They have accumulated some talented climbers and for now are content to let them go on the offensive in the hills and mountains while they develop, rather than pushing for GC placing. The most notable of these is the terrific Warren Barguil, a twenty two year old French climber whose talent has been obvious for some time, a stage winner in the 2011 Tour de L’Avenir, he repeated that success while also finishing 1st overall in 2012. Barguil made his Grand Tour debut in last season’s Vuelta a Espana, where at just 21 he tok two excellent stage wins, both from breaks and with the second of them coming when he out sprinted Rigoberto Uran on a summit finish. While he can focus on stage hunting for now, Barguil looks destined to be a GC contender of note and must look to develop as a time trialist with that in mind. Tom Dumoulin is a powerful all-rounder and strong time trialist who copes well with rolling terrain and if he can work on his climbing he could well develop into a GC rider in the future. For now though Dumoulin can focus on racing against the clock and his continued growth as a puncheur, which will make him more dangerous in the one-day races. German Simon Geschke and newly acquired Belgian Dries Devenyns are both experienced puncheur’s who are at their best seeking breaks in the mountains or in the hilly Classics. They, along with Thierry Hupond and Tom Peterson, will offer experience and support to their more gifted young team mates; they are the experienced backbone of the team’s climbing unit.
French climber Thomas Damuseau, 24, took a step forward in 2013, making his Grand Tour debut at the Giro and winning the KoM Jersey at the Criterium du Daupine. Austrian climber Georg Preidler also made his Grand Tour debut with a solid showing at the Vuelta, having earlier impressed in the Tour de Pologne when finishing 3rd on the Passo Pordoi in the Dolomites. Swedish all-rounder Tobias Ludvigsson is a strong time trialist and a good climber, he also made his Grand Tour debut in 2013, riding the Giro, and has potential as a GC rider if he continues to lose weight and improve his climbing. Three neo-pro riders in 2014 will add yet more climbing talent to the team. American Lawson Craddock, 21, is a gifted climber and time trialist with terrific potential as a future GC rider. Another American Chad Haga, 25, came to cycling late but his time trialling power and all-round skill set will serve him well as a domestique, while he has attracted plenty of admirers who feel he is a future GC contender. Dutch climber Daan Olivier, 21, is more of a pure climber than either of the Americans, he has struggled for fitness and form at times but his potential is impressive.
2014 outlook
Wins and lots of them, with a coterie of stage winners and no GC riders to hold them back, we should expect to see the Giant-Shimano riders on the podium throughout the season. Kittel will return to the Tour de France with a strong team around him eager to prove his sprint ascendency, while Degenkolb should continue to add prestigious victories to his palmares. At the same time the team’s young climbers and GC riders should be able to develop and flourish in a pressure free environment.
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