In 2011, the number one team in the world, HTC-Highroad, announced it was to fold at the end of that year. The shock rippled through the cycling world – this was the team that currently hosted Mark Cavendish, the fastest sprinter in the world.
The team also hosted Mark Renshaw, widely considered the best lead-out man in the world, and Matt Goss, a young, up-and-coming Australian sprinter.
Under Bob Stapleton, along with the likes of Rolf Aldag and Allan Peiper, the team became the most formidable sprint team in the history of cycling.
Journalists in the cycling world always commented on how the sprint days in the Tour de France had become a formality, the biggest story they could hope for was a rare time that Cavendish was beaten.
The team had undertook perhaps the biggest transformation in cycling history, as it went from Telekom, where the team was ruled by the likes of Jan Ullrich and Andreas Kloden, through its various incarnations until it reached HTC-Highroad.
However, since the demise of HTC, the phenomenon of a sprint-dedicated team has become something of a rarity.
Orica-GreenEDGE looked the likely replacement, having signed Matt Goss. However, after the relatively disappointing showing by him in the last two seasons, they have been seen to be focusing more on the general classification with the likes of Cameron Meyer.
Sky Procycling signed Mark Cavendish, along with his right hand man Bernhard Eisel, but it was soon clear their heart lay with the fortunes of Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome in their battle for the yellow jersey, and, almost as quickly as he came, Cavendish was gone.
Omega Pharma-Quickstep was his destination and though he had a successful season, his team were sometimes not up to scratch.
Indeed, they were outclassed, by Argos-Shimano, newcomers to the World Tour, and home to the dynamic German duo of Marcel Kittel and John Degenkolb.
Argos had already shown what they could do at the 2012 Vuelta a Espana, winning five stages with Degenkolb, but the cycling world was unsure they would be able to reproduce this on the grand stage of the Tour de France.
The answer was firmly given this July. Argos took four stages with Marcel Kittel, their sprint train coming out head and shoulders above the rest.
Out of all the teams currently racing, the boys from the Netherlands look the most likely to mirror their American ancestors.
They have a fast sprinter, a train that is clearly well drilled, and dedicated domestiques.
But what of Mark Cavendish? Is he ready to command a sprint team to the top of the sport once again?
Well, OPQS have signed committed lead-out man Mark Renshaw to support the missile, along with Alessandro Petacchi.
However, they have also signed Rigoberto Uran, and significantly lengthened Michal Kwiatkowski’s contract.
This shows they too are tempted by the glory of general classification contenders.
So, that just leaves Argos-Shimano. They are definitely a dedicated sprinter’s team, but will they be able to command the sprinting world to the extent that HTC did before them?
Time will tell, but one thing is for certain, the 2014 season is set to be the most open sprinter’s season in years.
tony meadows
Guest
Argos-Shimano is the team currently most like HTC in its reliance on sprinters to bring home the honours. Whilst they have promise of future GC participation in Warren Barguil ,at 22 he still has much to prove, expecting even participation in the Tour 2014 is as much as we can hope for.So their hopes next year must rest with Kittel and Dagenkolb. One has to feel that they will again be very prominent in the 2014 Tour. Another team that I think could emerge as an HTC replica is FDJ. I'm only saying could, but they have some genuine sprint talent in two young riders, Naser Bouhanni age 23 and Arnaud Demare age 22.They also have an excellant and experienced lead out man in Mikael Delage as well as some strong riders who can survive a full tour,essental to keeping a team together in support of the sprinters. What FDJ needs in order to become a force alongside Argos-Shimano and OPQS is the development of a more effective lead out train.Several times this year we saw their train hit the front and try to dominate only see them loose control in the final two kilometers as other teams fought to place their man at the head of the peleton. Another question regarding the battle of the sprint is, how will Peter Sagan and Cannondale see their potential in the grand tour ? They could also look more and more like a true" sprint team".
Tomas Fish
Roar Guru
Good point Bones, Lotto definitely have a strong lead out. I hope the rumours of Kittel at the TDU are true, those two fighting it out would be a good watch.
Bones506
Roar Guru
Lotto remain a dedicated sprinters team and still have the best lead out man in the world in Henderson. My money is still on Griepel (also ex HTC )and Lotto to dominatethe TDU although rumours of Kittel cming to town will spice things up.