In the latest episode of the Cycling News Podcast brought to you by Sportful and Pinarello, we talk to Michael Valgren about the 2020 season, his time with NTT Pro Cycling, and his move to EF Pro Cycling for next year's campaign.
The Danish rider spent two years with the African team and was unable to replicate his 2018 form that won him the Amstel Gold Race, but his motivation, why things didn't work out, and how he fits into the EF Pro Cycling roster He talks about how he will fit in.
In addition to hearing from Valgren, we also begin our annual WorldTour team report card analysis.
NTT has had an incredibly strong start to the season. They entered 2020 with arguably one of the weakest rosters of any World Tour team, but by the end of Paris-Nice, they had six wins. However, they had six wins by the end of Paris-Nice. He dominated many online races during the lockdown period, but struggled when racing resumed. Giacomo Nizzolo won the European Championships road race and Ben O'Connor took an impressive stage win at the Giro d'Italia, but little else came of it.
They finished the year with eight wins, but the season was dominated by sponsorship problems and once again several key riders underperformed. The sponsorship issues caused anxiety and tension among the management team before Asos stepped in to help the team going forward, and Procycling editor and former teacher Edward Pickering analyzes NTT's season before putting the team on the score sheet.
We then head to EF and the US team, which went from 17 wins in 2019 to 17 this year. While there were no monumental wins this time around, the team was aggressive in all forms of racing, taking stage wins in all three Grand Tours and a podium finish in the Vuelta a España EF also won the Criterium du Dauphiné in one of the best races of the year, and EF also won the Criterium du Dauphiné in his best race of the year, an impressive victory even without his non-WorldTour victories (such as his win in Colombia). Prior to Pickering's end-of-season scoring, the presenters reflected on the team's year.
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