Team FL

[team fl]

Presentation Team FL founded 3 August 2006


Current Team Roster (November 2023):

- Aron Abreha, 24, Sprinter, Eritrea

48-60-77-48-89, 63 Pavé, 41 Reg

- Chérif Cissé, 23, Helper/Allrounder, Senegal

56-76-79-47-51, 70 Pavé, 38 Reg

- Gianni Giannelli, 22, Lead out sprinter, Italy

49-75-67-58-71, 69 Pavé, 42 Reg

- Gilberto Godoy, 30, Helper/Allrounder, Brasil

53-81-77-50-47, 78 Pavé, 63 Reg

- Holger Hässig, 29, Helper, Switzerland

50-81-50-52-53, 72 Pavé, 42 Reg

- Julio Juantorena, 33, Hill/Pavé specialist, Cuba

75-83-71-48-46, 81 Pavé, 40 Reg

- Keorapetse Kgositsile, 21, Flat specialist, South Africa

50-74-51-51-54, 71 Pavé, 53 Reg

- Ndamukong Nkengasong, 28, Helper/Flat specialist, Cameroon

48-73-71-49-55, 66 Pavé, 52 Reg

- Przemyslaw Pszczolarski, 32, Hill specialist, Poland

72-79-74-55-64, 69 Pavé, 43 Reg

- Spiridon Sprenger, 27, Allrounder, Liechtenstein

58-86-77-53-53, 79 Pavé, 39 Reg

- Tesfaye Tsegaye, 23, Flat sprinter/Pavé specialist, Ethiopia

53-79-48-46-69, 79 Pavé, 37 Reg

- Walter Walkenhorst, 21, Pavé specialist/Allrounder, Germany

50-74-77-57-58, 73 Pavé, 47 Reg


Team Statistics:

Stage Wins (553):

25 - Fran Peterlin
22 - Ngo Nguyen
21 - Stefano Benni
20 - Eduardo Spohr
18 - Phineas Federspiel
13 - Cédric Schmarotz
13 - Perry Henzell
12 - Jean OlléOllé
12 - Iwan Franko
11 - Frits Flaskjer
10 - Gaudenz Taverna
10 - Xaver Unsinn
10 - Carlos Lampe
10 - Clément Clévenot
9 - JungGi Kim (NC)
8 - Stefan Küng (3x NC)
8 - Joe Friesenbichler
8 - Elwyn Oxley (NC)
8 - Afshin Pirhashemi
7 - Harald Mühlenberg
7 - Lorenz Dürr (U23 WC, NC)
7 - Luigi Mastrangelo
7 - Ryan Kilfeather
7 - Nodirkhan Kadyrkhanov
7 - Karl Kopinski (NC)
7 - Zach Wheeler
7 - Magnus Marxer
6 - Eric Lichtenstein
6 - Breyten Breytenbach
6 - Lukas Marxer (NC)
6 - Luca Spirito (NC)
5 - Pedro Garrido
5 - Severino Nicolosi
5 - Kari Steinsson
5 - Martti Rosenblatt
5 - Carlos Tejeda
5 - Harrison Tasher (2x NC)
5 - Pavel Sitko
5 - Feliciano Centurion (NC)
5 - Julio Juantorena*
5 - Pierluigi Piano
4 - Omar Pene
4 - Steve Hasler
4 - Gilles Braas
4 - Roy Lichtenstein
4 - Jan Flachbart (NC)
4 - Royston Lighting
4 - Robertlandy Simon
4 - Bambang Megaranto
4 - Tony Woodcock
4 - Serghei Pascenco
4 - Lorenz Looser
4 - Przemyslaw Pszczolarski* (NC)
3 - Andrea Clavadetscher
3 - Sylvain Boss
3 - Louis Thuilliez
3 - Raffael Kämpfer
3 - Keyser Söze
3 - Alex Goop
3 - Guus Nederlof
3 - Victor Fargas
3 - Eddie Sixpence
3 - Ariel Weisman
3 - Thibault Rossard
3 - Baltasar Banzer (NC)
3 - Jay Blankenau
3 - Bana Hassana
3 - Aaron Armleder
3 - Volkmar Vogt (NC)
3 - Spiridon Sprenger*
2 - Roger Schnitzer
2 - Jens Scholz
2 - Frantz Granvorka
2 - Toni Hassler
2 - Nathaniel Biedermann
2 - Janis Smedins
2 - Wilhelm Wahlforss
2 - Paul Betancourt
2 - Valentin Bratoev (NC)
2 - Hassan Dif
2 - Otto Ospelt
2 - Amartya Sen
2 - Anselmo Grau
2 - René Ritter
2 - Carlos Kaiser
2 - Sean Murphy
2 - Nicola Nicoli
2 - Gunther Grün
2 - TTT (TdS'18, TdF'18)
1 - Josef Fichtl
1 - Knut Bakke
1 - Bill Schneider
1 - Ewald Wolf
1 - Dimitri Jiriakov
1 - Elmar Goop
1 - Zak McKracken
1 - Tommy Zech
1 - Larry Erkisson
1 - Steve Becker
1 - Hannes Büchel
1 - Chuck Bass
1 - Hugo Marxer
1 - Wesley Lichtenkiesel
1 - Tim Hamberger
1 - Harry Hole
1 - Tomasz Kowalski
1 - Lars Hirschfeld
1 - Alain Yoda
1 - Elvis Bodganic (NC)
1 - Desideriu Vatca
1 - Fridolin Tschugmell
1 - Samir Sellami
1 - Dong Dong (NC)
1 - Juan Villafuerte
1 - Kahlid Satour (NC)
1 - Wael Afifi (NC)
1 - Sandro Spaeth
1 - Arthur Arpagaus (NC)
1 - Timo Tammemaa
1 - Yuji Nishida
1 - Bertram Büchel
1 - Ben Bollendorff
1 - Tesfaye Tsegaye* (NC)

Classic Wins (51):

3 - Phineas Federspiel (Gent-Wevelgem'14, Scheldeprijs'14 + '15)
3 - Iwan Franko (Omloop'16, RVV'16, DdV'17)
3 - Pierluigi Piano (Harelbeke'23, DdV'23, RVV'23)
2 - Harald Mühlenberg (Züri-Metzgete'07, MSR'08 )
2 - Pedro Garrido (Omloop'11, Gent-Wevelgem'11)
2 - Luigi Mastrangelo (Flèche'11, Tre Valli'11)
2 - Stefano Benni (Lombardia'12, MSR'13)
2 - Kari Steinsson (Scheldeprijs'13, PR'13)
2 - Perry Henzell (Brussels'16, Paris-Tours'16)
2 - Frits Flaskjer (De Panne'23, Scheldeprijs'23)
1 - Andrea Clavadetscher (Lazio'08 )
1 - Roger Schnitzer (Scheldeprijs'09)
1 - Keyser Söze (Tre Valli'09)
1 - Guus Nederlof (Omloop'10)
1 - Jens Scholz (Flandern'10)
1 - Gilles Braas (PR'11)
1 - Hugo Marxer (Piemonte'11)
1 - Stefan Küng (Omloop'12)
1 - Harry Hole (Quebec'12)
1 - Alain Yoda (Montreal'14)
1 - Elwyn Oxley (Hamburg'15)
1 - Eric Lichtenstein (Quebec'15)
1 - Breyten Breytenbach (LBL'16)
1 - Carlos Lampe (Emilia'16)
1 - Pavel Sitko (Gent-Wevelgem'17)
1 - Omar Pene (San Sebastian'17)
1 - Luca Spirito (De Panne'19)
1 - Thibault Rossard (Scheldeprijs'19)
1 - Eduardo Spohr (Scheldeprijs'20)
1 - Karl Kopinski (PR'20)
1 - Zach Wheeler (Fourmies'20)
1 - Timo Tammemmaa (Gent-Wevelgem'21)
1 - Spiridion Sprenger (Fourmies'23)
1 - Volkmar Vogt (GW'23)
1 - Aaron Armleder (Montreal'22)
1 - Zacharias Zahn (Quebec'22)
1 - Clément Clévenot (Flèche'23)
1 - Julio Juantorena (Québec'23)

-> 2. Plätze: Josef Fichtl (Züri-Metzgete'06), Ewald Wolf (P-B'07), Steve Hasler (Placci'08, Hamburg'08 ), Sylvain Boss (Piemonte'08 ), Elmar Goop (Harelbeke'09), Mavolio Bent (Omloop'10), Luigi Mastrangelo (AGR'11), Cédric Schmarotz (MSR'12), Toni Hassler (E3'12), Stefano Benni (Omloop'13, LBL'13), Jean Ollé Ollé (GW'13), Jan Flachbart (MSR'14), Fran Peterlin (LBL'15), Perry Henzell (Hamburg'16), Iwan Franko (Omloop'17), Feliciano Centurion (PR'17), Ngo Nguyen (Scheldeprijs'18), JungGi Kim (PR'18, Harelbeke'18), Karl Kopinski (PR'19, Omloop'19), Uros Kovacevic (GP de Bruxelles'21), Aaron Armleder (RVV'22), Zacharias Zahn (Tre Valli'22), Montreal'22), Terry Tiktak (Omloop'23), Clément Clevenot (Emilia'23)

-> 3. Plätze: Schavi Nator (LBL'07), Ewald Wolf (Fourmies'07), Andrea Clavadetscher (MSR'08 ), Tim Hamberger (PR'11), Stefan Küng (E3'12), Xaver Unsinn (Tre Valli'12), Arni Steinsson (RVV'13), Wilhelm Wahlforss (Harelbeke'14), Eric Lichtenstein (GW'15), Fran Peterlin (RVV'15, San Sebastian'15), Perry Henzell (MSR'16), Breyten Breytenbach (San Sebastian'16), Iwan Franko (Harelbeke'17), Pieter Coolman (Omloop'19), Karl Kopinski (RVV'19), Baltasar Banzer (Tours'19), Nicola Nicoli (GW'20), Halvor Haugen (Brabant'20), Fiorino Fontdevila (Fourmies'22), Fiorino Forte (Harelbeke'23), Volkmar Vogt (Schledeprijs'23), Julio Juantorena (Plouay'23)

Stage races (30):

4 - Fran Peterlin (Solidarnosc'14, Alberta'14. Minas Gerais'14, Romandie'15)
4 - Carlos Lampe (Lux'16, Sibiu'16, Utah'16, Argentina'16)
3 - Gaudenz Taverna (Bayer '12, Elk Grove'12, Moldova'12)
2 - Kari Steinsson (Sachsen Pflaster'12, De Panne'13)
2 - Iwan Franko (Sachsen Pavés'16, Tour des Pavés'17)
2 - Nodirkhan Kadyrkhanov (SPIH Nostalgia'17, TDU'18)
2 - Afshin Pirhashemi* (TdF'18, AtlasTour'18)
1 - Luigi Mastrangelo (Akropolis Tour'11)
1 - Jan Flachbart (Beijing'13)
1 - Janis Smedins (Tour des Pavés'14)
1 - Tomasz Kowalski (De Panne'14)
1 - Phineas Federspiel (WPC'14)
1 - Valentin Bratoev (Tour des Pavés'15)
1 - Paul Betancourt (Down Under'15)
1 - Harrison Tasher (Tour des Pavés'16)
1 - JungGi Kim (Sachsen Pavés'17)
1 - Lukas Marxer (BinckBanck'18)
1- Uros Kovacevic (Tour des Pavés'21)

Youth jerseys (17):

2 - Fran Peterlin (Solidarnosc'14, Wallonie'14)
1 - Gilles Braas (Sachsen Pavés'11)
1 - Luigi Mastrangelo (Tour Med'11)
1 - Stefan Küng (Tour des Pavés'11)
1 - Stefano Benni (Correze'12)
1 - Roy Lichtenstein (Oman'13)
1 - Eddie Sixpence (Trentin0'13)
1 - Wilhelm Wahlforss (Sachsen Pavés'13)
1 - Phineas Federspiel (WPC'14)
1 - Valentin Bratoev (Sachsen Pavés'14)
1 - Royston Lighting (Tour des Pavés'15)
1 - Carlos Lampe (Ruta del Sol'16)
1 - Bambang Megaranto (De Panne'16)
1 - Samir Sellami (Tour des Pavés'17)
1 - Afshin Pirhashemi (Giro'18)
1 - Luca Spirito (Tour des Pavés'18)

Mountain jerseys (9):

1 - Luigi Mastrangelo (Giro'11)
1 - Wesley Lichtenkiesel (PN'12)
1 - Eddie Sixpence (Scotland'13)
1 - Alain Yoda (Down Under'15)
1 - Carlos Lampe (Utah'16)
1 - Afshin Pirhashemi (TdS'18)
1 - Hieronymus Hilti (TDU'20)
1 - Bana Hassana (Giro'21)
1 - Prometheus Proulx (TdF'22)

Points jerseys (32):

6 - Stefano Benni (EAT'13, Down Under'13, Ruta del Sol'13, Trentino'13, Romandie'13, Giro'13)
6 - Fran Peterlin (Alberta'14, Minas Gerais'14, Mexico'14, Tour des Pavés'15, Romandie'15, Giro'15)
3 - Elwyn Oxley (Ruta del Sol'16, TA'16, Giro'16)
2 - Cédric Schmarotz (Burgos'11, Qatar'12)
2 - Iwan Franko (Sachsen Pavés'16, Tour des Pavés'17)
2 - Ngo Nguyen (TdF'17, TDU'18)
1 - Afshin Pirhashemi* (TdS'18, Andes'18)
1 - Luigi Mastrangelo (South Alps'11)
1 - Nathaniel Biedermann (California'12)
1 - Kari Steinsson (Sachsen Pflaster'12)
1 - Phineas Federspiel (WPC'14)
1 - Carlos Lampe (Lux'16)
1 - Fridolin Tschugmell (Oman'17)
1 - Pavel Sitko (Giro'17)
1 - JungGi Kim (Sachsen Pavés'17)
1 - Magnus Marxer (Giro'22)

Team classement (25):

4 - Tour des Pavés ('10,'11,'16,'17)
4 - Tour Down Under ('15,'16,'17,'19)
2 - Dunkerque ('12,'14)
1 - Alberta ('14)
1 - BinckBank ('18)
1 - California ('12)
1 - Denmark ('12)
1 - De Panne ('12)
1 - Deutschlandtour ('16)
1 - Dubai ('18)
1 - Giro della Toscana ('17)
1 - Oman ('13)
1 - Romandie ('13)
1 - Sachsen Pflaster ('12)
1 - Sibiu ('16)
1 - Tour de Suisse ('13)
1 - Tour du Maroc ('09)
1 - Trentino ('13)

Most Points:

17667 - Stefano Benni
16332 - Fran Peterlin
12201 - Afshin Pirhashemi
10147 - Luigi Mastrangelo
9408 - Nodirkhan Kadyrkhanov
9067 - Carlos Lampe
8104 - Roy Lichtenstein
7794 - Iwan Franko
7780 - Xaver Unsinn
7620 - Ngo Nguyen
7553 - Paul Betancourt
6997 - Elwyn Oxley
6571 - Stefan Küng
6552 - Eddie Sixpence
6433 - Cédric Schmarotz
5850 - Phineas Federspiel
5789 - Jean Ollé Ollé
5672 - Breyten Breytenbach
5484 - Nathaniel Biedermann
5432 - Pedro Garrido
5361 - Gaudenz Taverna
5326 - Perry Henzell
5273 - Pavel Sitko

Most Races:

282 - Victor Fargas
276 - Stefano Benni
268 - Henri Bienvenu
267 - Kenny Banzer
262 - Wesley Lichtenkiesel
262 - Niels Hörnö
256 - Stefan Küng
245 - Daniel Clavadetscher
242 - Fred Colon
237 - Frantz Granvorka
233 - Stéphane Antiga
232 - Tim Hamberger
230 - Pit Schlechter
228 - Ronny Beck
214 - Haruki Murakami
208 - Walter Walch
206 - Xaver Unsinn
206 - Dominikos Petrakis
200 - Hannes Büchel

*still riding

Team FL rider's nationalities (82/82):

[team fl]

Team FL's first time at Paris - Nice

For the first time in the - actually quite long - history of Liechtenstein Cycling, Team FL attends the famous spring tour from Paris to Nice. With Leader full of Ambition, the Turkish Climber and the Devil himself Keyser Söze, the team management hopes for a good result and lots of competitive stages.

Team FL tour rooster:

31 Keyser Söze
32 Ronny Beck
33 Sven Becker
34 Hannes Büchel
35 Daniel Clavadetscher
36 Alex Goop
37 Severino Nicolosi
38 Jens Scholz
39 William deWorde


Stage 1: CLM Monfort Amaury:

Headed by their tourleader Keyser Söze, the Team FL riders started the tour yesterday with the time trial event. As far as the Liechtenstein racing team is not well known for there time trial skills, everything else than just a nice warm up for the next week would have been more than expected. Thus, the 11th place for Keyser Söze was a nice surprice. The time trial was won by Milan Gurovic from the Team Satzte Sich.

Overall standings:
01. 00:00:00 Milan Gurovic (Satzte Sich)
02. 00:00:11 Carlton Myers (Allrad)
03. 00:00:28 Ulrike Meinhof (Galgenberg)
04. 00:00:36 Andrey Vinokourov (Dreizehn)
05. 00:00:46 Erik Holgersson (Gerolsteiner)
.
11. 00:01:03 Keyser Söze (Team FL)

Stage 2: St. Arnoult en Yvelines - Contres:

The time trial on the first day of P-N was followed by a rather flat stage, a stage for sprinters. An early but not very dangerous group was in front of the peloton a long time, chased mainly by the team with the leader jersey, Satzte Sich. After a while, also the sprint teams joined but didn't expect another attack around 30 km before the finish. The group with Alex Goop and Hannes Büchel could hold their lead till the end of the stage. In the sprint of the group, Alex Goop only lost to Sebastian Gerard who wears the sprinters jersey now. Hannes Büchel did well too as 5th, Severino Nicolosi and William deWorde made it still under the top15.

Overall standings:
01. 00:00:00 Milan Gurovic (Satzte Sich)
02. 00:00:11 Carlton Myers (Allrad)
03. 00:00:28 gesperrt c (Galgenberg)
04. 00:00:36 Sebastian Gerard (Gerolsteiner)
05. 00:00:36 Andrey Vinokourov (Dreizehn)
.
11. 00:01:03 Keyser Söze (Team FL)

Stage 3: Contres - Limoges

Flat in the beginning, hilly in the end. This was the 3rd stage of Paris - Nice, with a lot of questions at the start. Will Milan Gurovic defend his leader jersey? Who will win the stage? Gerard again? Well, most of the teams tried to have a calm day and to save their riders for the coming stages. But not Dreizehn. Almost 15 minutes ahead of the peloton, two of his riders tried to escape and hoped for the peloton not to react. Their hope died 30 km before the finish line. Now the race was open. After a sensational attack by Jens Scholz, the peloton put everything they had and got him at the last, steep km, where Kato Wolfsong outsmarted all the favorits and won the stage. Söze and his fellows failed to do the same but still had a nice team result after all.

Overall standings:
01. 00:00:00 Milan Gurovic (Satzte Sich)
02. 00:00:11 Carlton Myers (Allrad)
03. 00:00:28 gesperrt c (Galgenberg)
04. 00:00:31 Sebastian Gerard (Gerolsteiner)
05. 00:00:36 Andrey Vinokourov (Dreizehn)
.
11. 00:01:03 Keyser Söze (Team FL)

Stage 4: Contres - Limoges

It was again the team Dreizehn who put action into the 4th stage. And again, it wasn't enough. The favorits caught the escapers again and with Gerard, there was the expected winner, although the other riders seemed to be a bit confused by the simple sprint tactic. The Team FL did well with two resultas under the top 10 (Nicolosi and Söze). Anyway, the most important fact about the 4th stage is that the leaders jersey went over to Carlton Myers who tries to defend it on the very difficult 5th stage. Likely a climber will do it, so we hope for Keyser Söze to do the effort.

Overall standings:
01. 00:00:00 Carlton Myers (Allrad)
02. 00:00:15 Sebastian Gerard (Gerolsteiner)
03. 00:00:19 Milan Gurovic (Satzte Sich)
04. 00:00:40 Erik Holgersson (Gerolsteiner)
05. 00:00:41 gesperrt c (Galgenberg)
.
11. 00:00:57 Keyser Söze (Team FL)

[team fl]

Keyser Söze King of the Mountains at Paris - Nice

Great teamwork made the effort possible. Keyser Söze showed his strength at the 5th stage of Paris - Nice and helped the Team FL to the expected win.

Keyser Söze was the man at the 5th stage at Paris - Nice and has won the stage against Erik Holgersson from Team Gerolsteiner. After a very intensive race Söze could live up the expectations as the best climber at the 15h tour thanks to great team work. Also in the overall standings he is now positioned 4th. His team mates did the best to catch a group that was in front of the peloton the whole stage and bring him in a good position to play his strength at the final kilometeres. The team management is now very delighted to be able to win a stage at this famous tour in spring. Söze himself raised his score to three career wins in total.

[Falkenbier]

Congratulations. To keep my fingers and toes crossed was useful

[team fl]

hope you didn't hurt yourself. and thanks

[team fl]

Paris - Nice finally done

After 8 days, the french spring tour is done. It was competitive and succesfull for the Team FL, as Söze made it on the podium and he and Büchel could win a stage. But he big winner is the team itself who showed its potential several times, also for GTs like the Giro that starts in May.

In his hometown Ruggell, they celebrated till dawn and of course went then to curch just to continue celebrating afterwards. Hannes Büchel is their new local hero. After some attempts in early stages of the tour, he finally managed to win the 7th stage of Paris - Nice, his first win ever. But it was not only the win itself, it was how he did it. After a long escape he attacked at the last mountain and had enough power to not even keep the distance to his chasers but also show them their limits by far. Hannes Büchel the fighter, the man for every terrain, the handyman. Although not really a sprinter type, he is the perfect asset to every team, for every race, even pave. The missing link between helpers and captains.

His captain during Paris - Nice 2010 was Keyser Söze, another gread rider in the history of the Team FL, some call him the devil himself. Third in the overall ranking, a place on the podium at such a high valued tour. Who had thought of that, especially after the time trial. But he showed his strenghts at the right place, in the mountains. Placed 4th after his stage win on Thursday, he would not stop his efforts. In the shadow of the Büchel's great win, he could leave some competitors behind him and climbed on the 3rd place that he would not give away anymore. The man whose history seems a bit clouded did his job very well and could fulfill all the expectations.

But one of the most sensational moments was the old man's struggle that ended in a 2nd place at stage 6. Alex Goop, the 35 old fighting machine lost to Nicolas Delacroix after an escape over almost the whole stage just by an inch. They crossed the finish line together, not knowing who should take the merits for their extraordinary work.

All in all it was a tour with everything. A worthful winner, thrilling stages, fights for points and seconds and of course good and fair competitiors. So, finally, this is the outcome of Paris - Nice in the afternoon:

14.3.2010,15 Uhr Paris Nimes
1. Platz: Carlton Myers (Allrad)
2. Platz: Erik Holgersson (Gerolsteiner)
3. Platz: Keyser Söze (Team FL)
Bergtrikot: Peter Aerts (Satzte Sich)
Sprinttrikot: Sebastian Gerard (Gerolsteiner)
Jungfahrertrikot: Carlton Myers (Allrad)
Mannschaftswertung: Wizards Cycling

[Lizard]

It´s LaCroix, not Delacroix - though I will be thinking back to this group several times in the future I guess, was a great stage!

[team fl]

Lorenz Dürr U23 World Champion!

Not much more to say. Just incredible...wow...

[Allagen]

glückwunsch. und bedank dich mal bei skullz und mir, wir 2 haben es ganz schön verhauen sonst wäre dürr wohl kein weltmeister

[el Galactico]

Congratulations, and don't care about Allagen. It seems that he is not able to let a victory stay in glory without saying that this was only possible because he failed or several other things happend! Every victory against him is always an accident and pure luck. I know that from Leandro!

A great day for your little RSF country. That is what counts here...

[Demenageurs]

Congrats lorenz!
Good runner, 60 flat and 77 downhill were very good to keep energy for sprint, nobody take his wheel but with his new jersey he will be watch by others sprinters now. Hope to run against him in future!

[team fl]

If you're going to San Francisco...

...be sure to wear some flowers in your hair. Not really Flowers but strong legs were the reason for success today. These legs belonged to Severino Nicolosi who crossed the finish line first in the GP San Francisco.

Between Classics, mainly Mailand - San Remo (MSR) and Dwaars door Flanderen - the Team FL decided to attend a few minor races, one in France and one overseas in California. La Roue Tourangelle didn't go that well as Lorenz Dürr, wearing his nice WC jersey, got only 7th in the final sprint. But today it was different. A bit pissed because of the 7th place at MSR, Severino Nicolosi tried to release his anger in San Francisco in a race that seemed made for him. After a very quiet beginning the peloton got more nervous in the last quarter. Lots of attacks including Mavolio Bent and Jens Scholz around 10 km left to go. At the last steep part, Severino and 4 other riders could build a gap between them and the rest of the now splitted peloton, only Scholz ahead of them. Scholz realised quickly, that he could not win this in a solo ride, so he joined the group to help Nicolosi in the final sprint which was - obviously - very successful. So, Nicolosi could enjoy his first win ever and the team is now ready for the belgian classic tomorrow.

[team fl]

Alex Goop still good for a win

Liechtenstein rider Alex Goop won today's race from Innsbruck to Salzburg after a long escape. In his last season, probably, the 35 year old could celebrate his 3rd career win, all for Team FL.

35 years old and still not tired. Alex the "Fighting machine" Goop gave a demonstration of how you win after a succesful escape. Of course this could only work because the sprintteams waited for too long and the escaping group did work together very well. In the end it was the experience and a bit luck that he chose the right time for his final attack that the others could not follow. Thus Salzburg will be Goop-City for this day. But there's not only time to celebrate. Nobody knows how long Goop's career will last or if this was perhaps his last race. Anyway, for this day, he is the one. Everything else will follow...

[team fl]

Bye Bye dear Alex

After a long and very successful carrer for Team FL, Alex Goop retired from cycling today. The Team FL Manager announced that there are already plans to fill the gap Goop leaves.

36 years old. 193 races, 3 stage wins from January 1st 2009 to April 1st 2010. These are the numbers that stand for Alex Goop's life as a cyclist at Team FL. But it's not the numbers that may show Goop's value for a cycling team. It was his attitude on the road, his "never-give-up" riding style, that made him so exeptional. His teammates called him "fighting machine" not for nothing. Perhaps it was the Giro 2009 that made him this way, that showed his potential. Nevertheless, his career is over and it's not just because it's april's fool day. He joines Elmar Goop in retirement and leaves Nico the only Goop left in the team. Of course he can't just do nothing and so he will work at his fathers butcher shop.

Unfortunately, Liechtenstein is too small to find a successor for such a species of a rider. Daniel Clavadetscher could be compared a little, but well, he's not a Goop. Therefore, the Team FL managment search all over Europe and found a rider thanks to the help of Severino Nicolosi who introduced them to Tony Longo, a young italian Mountainbiker. The Liechtenstein racing team was very impressed by his skills and so they will offer him a contract for May 2010. Perhaps, he will already be fit to ride the Giro then...

[team fl]

Unusual suspect to leave Team FL

34 years old, Team FL climber Keyser Söze decided to quite cycling. The turkish rider known as the devil himself is the second successfull rider after Alex Goop who left the Liechtenstein racing team this month.

After a long time without, Keyser Söze was the first climber for Team FL. He joined the team in March 2009 and won his first race 5 month later, the famous Tri Valli. Before retirement he won two other stages and has now about 2000 eternal points. Not very much, but he did his job very well in only a few races he could ride. Where Söze came from or where he is going to go now, nobody exactly knows. Rumour has it, that he has connections to the turkish and hungarian underworld. Well, Team FL surley won't forget him and wishes him all the best, whatever he is going to do...

Que pasa en Liechtenstein?

With the Söze's retirement there is also the second new rider for May arrived in Liechtenstein. After Tony Longo, the Spanish cycling crack Pedro Garrido will join Team FL. With his new italian teammate, he is supposed to strenghen the team's rooster for hilly races and the spring 2010. So, hola Pedro!

[team fl]

Jens Scholz hits the big time at De Ronde van Vlaanderen

After a long and hard race with many turnarounds, it was Jens Scholz who crossed the finish line first at de famous classic De Ronde van Vlanderen. It was the frist win for Team FL at this traditional - and the most important - belgian race, one of the five monuments of cycling.

But before the current race will be discussed, a little more about the Team FL history at the other monuments. The first time, the name of a Team FL rider was mentioned at such a race was in April 2007, when Schavi Nator got 3rd at "La Doyenne", Liège–Bastogne–Liège. It took another year to celebrate the first - and till then the most important - win at Milan – San Remo, "la Classica Primavera". Harald Mühlenberg did the effort who is still the most succesful rider in the history of Team FL. Also to mention is Andrea Clavadetscher's the 3rd place in the same race. He was the rider who made the win possible. One year later, Steve Hasler could almost repeat Mühlenberg's big shot, but unfortunately stumbled a few meters before the finish and lost the final sprint. Some other minor classics could be won, but at the monuments, Team FL was not lucky anymore. Well, not until this year...

Who's captain anyway
Famous for its cubblestoned and very steep "Hellinge", the team managament decided to have with Mavolio Bent one main leader for this race. Next to him, there should have been two co-leaders, Nico Goop and Jens Scholz. Becker and Nederlof should play their strenghts when needed, Severino Nicolosi served them only as helper this time. Until after the Koppenberg, the tactic seemed to be working. About 50 km before the finish it was clear that Scholz had a better day than Goop, and so it was now for Bent and Scholz, the latter more as a coverage if Bent's plans won't work out.

When Bent failed, Scholz jumped in
Unfortunately, exactly this happend. Although Bent attacked succesfull at the "Muur van Geraardsbergen" the little rest of his chasers reacted imediatly and could catch him after only 3 km of his solo ride. Everthing pointed now for a sprint of the about 20 man strong group. There were other attacks, but like Bent, they got caught instantly as the favorits for a sprint were alerted now. As Scholz was slightly the better sprinter than Bent and had more power left he had to chose the right backwheel for the final meters. He found it on the Raphael Fankhauser's bike from RSV Gundeldinge and outsmarted all the others who tactically waited for each other to do the first move. After Scholz and the team management realised what happened there was no holding back. The victory was celebrated late into the night and Scholz for sure will have his place in the Team FL's Hall of Fame.

[team fl]

Nicolosi finishes GP de Sales as first

Most surprisingly, Severino Nicolosi won the GP des Sales today. First thought as a regeneration race, he defeated the favorites in the final sprint while everybody was looking for the climbers to do it.

As there were lots of good climbers and some competitive classic riders in the peloton, the Team FL management sent Hannes Büchel for an escape and didn't think about to win the race on the last kilometers. Büchel did his job very well and the group consisting of eight riders was caught not before the final km, after a hard chase. There, it were the climbers that attacked followed by some classic riders, including Severino Nicolosi, to everybody's surprise. On the last meters he could play his sprinting skills and cross the finish line as first. It was the second career win for the son of a pizza baker in calabria. The team management is of course very happy about this victory but now, the focus is clearly on the races Paris - Camemberg and Brabant.

[team fl]

Dürr's first victory after his U23 WC win

In the minor race from Camjac to Villeneuve sur Lot, Lorenz Dürr won the final sprint against the favourits. It was his first victory after he won the U23 world championships in March this year.

After a quite boring beginning, today's french race turned into a heavy pursuit. After the big km 1 group was caught and the riders left behind after the Cote de l'Impernal stopped their tempo, lots of dangerous riders attacked. Only the effort of the remaining sprintteams could catch them at the very last km of the race. While they were working hard, the team fl riders decided to watch from the second row and prepare Dürr for the final sprint. Even Sven Becker, one of the fastest riders in the peloton, left his feet in the current position (where else...) and could watch a perfect sprint for the team from Liechtenstein. A bit undeserved, others may say clever, Dürr outsmarted all the favourite sprinters whose teams worked their asses of and could win this very unimportant race. Nevertheless, Dürr at least showes his skill in his nice jersey and helpes Team FL to their 3rd victory in April.

[team fl]

50th stage victory for Team FL!


Severino Nicolosi wins the Southern Sun Classics and ensures Team FL its 50th stage victory in its history!

[VC Aywaille]

Nice FL, verry nice!

Congrats from VC Aywaille!

[Aixteam]

No victory withtout me ...

I'm kidding , congratulations

[bergwerk cycling]

Grats to no. 50 ... it runs very well for you in the moment (könnte heißen: es läuft ja im Moment supi für dich .-)

[team fl]

Severino Nicolosi already in Giro mood. Hopefully...

Team FL started its May season with a victory. In a very confusing final sprint, Severnio Nicolosi won the Luederitz inferno race in Namibia. This was his 4th career win overall, with which he joined Steve Hasler now in this statistic as second best Team FL rider ever. Hopefully, he's not satisfied yet, befor the Giro begins.

Not thinking about having a chance considering the contestants and the last steep part of the race, Ronny Beck and new Team FL youngster Tony Longo tried it with an escape. Together with donald team and later on joined by the Team Sansoucci, they rode in front of the peloton for over 180 km, finally caught at the ascend to the category 1 mountain. In the end it was Severnio Nicolosi, supported by Nico Goop, who could leave all the other riders of the final group behind him, although he did this to the surprise of the most experts. Anyway, Team FL is happy about this victory and is looking forward to the start of the Giro, where Nicolosi will be part of the Team for sure.

[team fl]

The Giro, unhappy and unsuccesful

Attending the Giro for the third time, Team FL was again out for some stage wins. Dürr and Nicolosi as leaders should do it. In the end, they couldn't. Third time is a charm did not count for them this time: on the contrary. The Giro 2010 was completely a desaster.

Second places "en masse", unlucky stage endings, absence in the worst moments: This was the disillusioning result for the Team FL at this year's Giro d'Italia. Even with a stronger line-up that last year, they did not manage to win one single stage. While the tried and tried and lost, also the budget was suffering. A loss by more than 400k credits after the giro, what a mess. At least, Team FL is still able to attend races and pay the rider's salaries. This is the short and pitiful story of the Team's third attempt at the Giro, first time with such a bad result. Nevertheless, next year will be another try for sure. And then, perhaps, it will finish with a happier ending.

[team fl]

The old man does it again!

Severino Nicolosi won the hilly race from Austria to Hungary, Team FL's first victory in June. The old man showed the rest of the team how to do it. Hopefully, they take it as an example...

Until now, June a was pretty desastrous month for Team FL. No victory, no good results. But at least, there is one rider to count on: Severino Nicolosi. The 34 years old Italian hill specialist changed a desastrous month to a - at least - mediocre month, with his win from Oberwat to Köszeg, his 5th overall.