Cycling: The UCI announced the decision during the World Cycling Championships in Bergen. From the 2018 season, fewer drivers will be needed. In the future, only eight instead of the previous nine professionals will be at the start of the three major state tours. In almost all other races, too, the squad will be reduced by one man. As expected, the squads of most professional cycling teams have shrunk somewhat. Now there are a few well-known professionals on the road - instead of competing for victories on it.
Janez Brajkovic (34, Bahrain-Merida)
On July 25, 2005, Team Discovery Channel secured the services of then 21-year-old Janez Brajkovic as a stagiaire. The talented Slovenian previously drove for the lower-class team KRKA-Adria Mobil and was able to draw attention to himself with a number of top 10 placements. Just a day before the contract went into effect, Lance Armstrong won his seventh and final Tour de France. A successor should be established. In addition to Yaroslav Popovych, Johan Bruyneel also thought of that same Janez Brajkovic. He had everything he needed for a future Grand Tour winner. He convinced right away, so that he was firmly committed for the coming years. But his development soon faltered. In one-week tours he drove into the top 5 several times, but Brajkovic was never to become a really big class driver. He celebrated the greatest success of his career in 2010 by winning the Critérium du Dauphiné. At that time he did not leave Alberto Contador's side up to Alpe d'Huez. He is now 34 years old. His Bahrain-Merida team let the contract expire. Is there still hope for 2018? At least his last tweet suggests this: "When everything's going south...keep smiling, good things will start happening eventually..."
Daniel Teklehaimanot (29, Dimension Data)
Two and a half years ago Die Welt headlined: "Daniel Teklehaimanot is the hero of Eritrea". As the first black African, he was allowed to put on the mountain jersey of the Tour de France in the jersey of the MTN-Qhubeka team. Beaming freely, he stood on the podium in the dotted jersey. He held flowers in one hand and the trophy in the other. There was talk of one "Milestone for African cycling". At the end of the Tour, the jersey was won by Chris Froome. Nevertheless, Daniel Teklehaimanot's career went well. He was victorious in the mountains classification at the Critérium du Dauphiné in 2015 and 2016. He competed in five major national tours - the last with the Giro d'Italia only in 2017, where he again drove for a few stretchers in a mountain jersey. But now the always smiling man from Eritrea is without a team. Nobody wants to sign him after his contract with Dimension Data was not renewed.
Juan Jose Lobato (29, LottoNL-Jumbo)
In cycling, careers don't always fail because of poor performance. Sometimes the pros block their way themselves. This also happened in the person of Juan Jose Lobato. The Spaniard drove for Movistar for three years and for LottoNL-Jumbo in 2017. He was signed to be the fastest man in the sprints on slightly hilly stages. It almost worked at the Vuelta a Espana when he was only beaten by series winner Matteo Trentin on stage #4. He even secured a win of the season at the Tour de l'Ain. His performance was certainly not outstanding, but quite satisfactory. Certainly they would have planned further with him in the LottoNL-Jumbo team. But in December he took care of himself. During the training camp in Spain he took sleep-inducing substances with Pascal Eenkhoorn and Antwan Tolhoek. Eenkhoorn then wandered around the hotel completely disoriented. Lobato himself slept so deeply and soundly that he could hardly be awakened. The illegal intake was noticed - and Lobato was immediately released. He is said to have distributed the substance to his teammates, who were only 20 and 23 years old. Exemplary is different.
Nicola Boem (28, Bardiani-CSF)
In 2012, Nicola Boem joined Bardiani-CSF after his discovery. Two years later he won a stage of the Post Danmark Tour wearing the jersey of the Italian team. The greatest triumph of his career in cycling would not come until a few months later. At the 2015 Giro d'Italia, he was part of a breakaway group that arrived at Forli just seconds ahead of the peloton. He kept the upper hand against his Italian compatriots Matteo Busato, Alessandro Malaguti and Alan Marangoni and sprinted to victory after a great attack. He has been in the Tour of Italy squad every year since 2013. But the Italian shouldn't be really successful anymore. In 2017 he secured the sprint classification of the Dubai Tour, but apart from that there wasn't much to see from him. Since the Equipe Bardiani-CSF wanted to cut his budget, he didn't extend it: "Two teams contacted me, but the offers were not very convincing. Now I'm looking for a job, maybe even in some factory. But that's okay. I have to think about a new life.”
Julian Arredondo (28, Nippo-Vini Fantini)
Julian Arredondo is also still looking for a new job in cycling. The 29-year-old Colombian is considered an excellent climber. Although he has often been noticed as inconsistent in his career so far, he was usually good for good results at some point in the course of the season - with the exception of 2016 and 2017. There was nothing to be seen of him in the past two years. The change last year from Trek-Segafredo to the lower-class team Nippo-Vini Fantini was therefore the logical consequence. But now the Italian team has not extended with him. An astounding descent for someone who has already won a stage at the Giro d'Italia and finished in the top 10 at a number of week-long tours. He celebrated his greatest successes by winning the Tour de Langkawi, #5 at Tirreno-Adriatico and winning the mountain classification at the Giro d'Italia 2014. Actually, his CV is impressive. But potential employers will surely ask Arredondo what he has been up to in the past two years...