Vacansoleil-DCM 2012 Season in Review

In 2012 the Dutch team rode the celeste Bianchi’s so it was fitting that the biggest win of the season came in Italy. That win was Stage 20 of the Giro d’Italia on the grand Stelvio as Thomas de Gendt stayed away for one of the rides of the season and in doing so ensured a podium placing in Milan. Paris-Nice was a team highlight and gave the team important World Tour points but they still finished a rather low 16th. Gendt and Westra were the best performing riders of 2012 but there numerous riders who added flourishes to their team leader’s achievements. Marco Marcato opened his account and the team’s by winning Stage 4 of Étoile de Bessèges. Bert-Jan Lindeman took out the mountain classification at the end of race for the first of two victories in 2012. This was it in February as the team focused on Paris-Nice with stages and classification victories deemed gettable. This was certainly so with Stage 1, 5 and 7 the mountain and team classification all going Vacansoleil’s way. Gustav Larsson won the ITT over Bradley Wiggins before Westra won the queen stage ahead of the Brit on the way to his second place overall. De Gendt made it into a successful breakaway to solo over the line and make it three stage wins. With Westra second on GC and De Gendt fourth, this was enough to take the team classification while Frederik Veuchelen turned back the clock to record his first victory since 2006 as he won his first mountain classification since he started riding in the professional ranks in 2004. To complement the good French results Tomasz Marczyński won the first of two mountain classifications he added to his palmares in his new team.

After the Spanish and French wins Wout Poels won his first young rider classification of the season at Tirreno-Adriatico by the virtue of his eight place overall. To make it four consecutive classification wins without victory over the finish line, Marczyński won the points classification at Volta a Catalunya. Kenny Van Hummel won his first race with Vacansoleil when he crossed the line first on Stage 2 of the Tour of Picardie for his only win of 2012.

At the Giro De Gent won the only Grand Tour of 2012 for the team but it was a grand stage. On the Passo dello Stelvio stage which takes in the Stelvio Pass was a gruelling queen mountain stage won by the Dutchman. He broke away and threatened to take over the maglia rosa but his stage win elevated him into fourth place which he improved upon in the final ITT and became the first Belgian since 1995 to stand atop a podium at a Grand Tour. Martijin Keizer won the TV classification which is awarded to the rider who spends the most time in breakaways. This was to be it at Grand Tour’s with no repeat of Johnny Hoogerland’s maillot pois stint last year. The team has only won a Vuelta and Giro stage in its short experiences of Grand Tours.

In June Poels won his first stage of 2012 at the Tour of Luxembourg. His stage win was over Jakob Fuglsang and Frank Schleck in an impressive showing by the young rider. He ended the race second overall and in doing so won his second young rider classification of 2012 and record a third top ten classification finish. Poels crashed heavily during the Tour de France and was forced to retire to severe internal injuries. He didn’t race again in 2012 but will be a talent to watch in 2013 when he is back to full health and finds his GC form. The team may miss Poels in chasing wins but with Westra and De Gent they are not totally devoid of GC challengers.

Westra won the only overall victory for the team when we won Danmark Rundt. He set up victory with victory in the Stage 5 ITT for his first overall victory since 2009. Marczyński won the mountain classification at his native Tour de Pologne for his third classification victory of the year. The Uzbek Sergey Lagutin won his only race of the year when he won Grosser Preis des Kantons Aargau in June. The Tour was largely disappointing with crashes the only news worthy moments of the Grand Tour. Björn Leukemans won the first of his two victories in 2012 by taking out Druivenkoers Overijse in August and a week later won Stadsprijs Geraardsbergen. Marco Marcato ended his season just as he started it by winning his second race of 2012. This time it was his biggest victory of his career as he won Paris-Tour after finishing as the runner up last year. The young Wesley Kreder finished the season a week after Marcato’s win by launching a late attack at the Tour of Vendée.

Top Five Results 

Paris-Tours Marco Marcato 

Paris-Nice Stage 5 Lieuwe Westra 

Paris-Nice Stage 1 Gustav Larsson 

Paris-Nice Stage 7 Thomas De Gendt 

Giro d’Italia Stage 20 Thomas De Gendt 

Breakthrough Riders: Wout Poels, Marco Marcator, Wesley Kreder and Thomas De Gendt all had impressive moments in their seasons but consistently was also lacking. Poels may have had a good end to his season barring injury but in 2013 hopefully he picks up where he left off before the Tour. Marcato will gain great confidence from his Paris-Tour win but he needs to win some race mid-season. Kreder looks like he can only improve and with another year under his belt he should convert his top five finishes into wins.

Disappointing Riders: Stijn Devolder is a two time Tour of Flanders winner and two time Belgian road champion but his season was largely disappointing. Devolder leaves the team after a barren two seasons without a single win. He is off to RadioShack in 2013 hopeful for greener pastures and podiums. The sprinter Roman Feillu has won several races for the team but just like Devolder he had a winless season after a good 2011 season. If he can start winning again in 2013 that will take some pressure of his teammates and he can build confidence in attempting to win his first Grand Tour stage.

2013? Pim Ligthart was the Dutch champion in 2011 and after a quite year will be hoping to get back to his best. With a World Tour place assured, the additions of Juan Antonio Flecha, José Rujano and Grega Bole all joining there should be a shift toward wins on the road and move away from classification wins. This doesn’t mean a move away from classification wins but emphasise winning stages and one day races. The team changes should affect the team early on but by May they should be firing and once again expecting success at the Giro, Paris-Nice and one week stage races.