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Team Saxo Bank
Retired [X] Ogre

Over the last several years, Team Saxo Bank and the company behind the team, Riis Cycling A/S, have undergone a remarkable transformation. With regard to sports and business, much has happened since the autumn of 1996 when the first step was taken to create what are today the world's best professional cycling team and a company that won the Danish business magazine Børsen's Gazelle Award in 2003.

Bjarne Riis took over the team and the company in 2000 and has since headed the entire project, which continues to develop based on his vision and ideas. Latest expansion is an introduction of a distribution section within the organisation.

Initially, the company had its headquarters in Herning in the west of Denmark, but in the winter of 2003, Riis Cycling A/S moved to Lyngby, north of Copenhagen. The company employs approximately 60 people and the new headquarters is the future centre for numerous new business initiatives supervised by Riis Cycling A/S.

In terms of sport, the last seven seasons have included many substantial victories. In 2001, Laurent Jalabert made a real breakthrough both in popularity and with his results in the Tour de France with what was then Team CSC Tiscali. Two stage victories and winning the Best Climber's Jersey made the team and Jalabert in particular, one of the race's strongest competitors.

The following year, Jalabert once again won the Polka-dot Jersey and prior to that, the team's newest gamble, Tyler Hamilton, fought for overall victory in the Giro d'Italia. With the guidance of Bjarne Riis, the American was retrained and went from being Lance Armstrong's key assistant rider to being one of the sport's strongest stage riders. With a stage victory and an overall second place finish in the Giro, the scene was set for betting on the Tour de France, a gamble which really began to pay off the following year.

Along with Carlos Sastre, and the newly acquired Peter Luttenberger, Hamilton established a solid victory in team competition in the centenary Tour de France in which Team CSC brought home three sensational stage victories, making them one of the race's leading teams. After a critical start with Tyler Hamilton breaking his collarbone, the team bounced back to execute a successful race of historic proportions.

The team also achieved great success in the prestigious Classics. Jalabert won Clasica San Sebastian in both 2001 and 2002, after which he ended his phenomenal career with Team CSC. Jakob Piil won his first World Cup race in the 2002 Paris-Tours. In the spring of 2003, Tyler Hamilton won the Liège-Bastogne-Liège, on top of giving a spectacular team performance. This provided the starting point for an extraordinarily successful 2003 season, which included a total of 23 victories.

During the 2004 season, ambitions rose and performance improved again. Consistently garnering points throughout the season, the team came particularly close to ending the year ranked as number one in the world. With noteworthy victories in the Tour Méditerranéen, Paris-Nice and the Criterium International, the team established itself as a major player in the spring. Even though they did not win the Classics, the team had a solid lead in the rankings up to Tour de France.

In keeping with tradition, the World's Greatest Bicycle Race ended up being an impressive race for Team CSC, like something out of a fairy-tale. Ivan Basso and Carlos Sastre lead the team in the overall standings, ensuring that Team CSC's first podium spot went to Ivan Basso, who completed a great Tour de France with an historic stage victory in the Pyrenees. The experts could easily agree that Team CSC was the most striking team in the 2004 Tour de France.

In the weeks following the Tour, Team CSC kept up its high level of performance, continuing its winning streak. The Tour of Denmark, the LUK Challenge and an impressive bronze medal for Bobby Julich at the Athens Olympics were among the highlights of the last part of the season.

With a record-breaking number of victories in the 2005 season, Team CSC finished a monumental year by being listed as number one in the world. A major, long-term goal was reached, and with 54 wins, Team CSC and Riis Cycling A/S had gained a key position in professional sports management on a worldwide scale. Thorough planning, technologically new approaches, team spirit and an exceptionally broad crew was the foundation stone of its success, which included some of the most important prestigious trophies in the sport. Ivan Basso captured the Pink Leader's Jersey in the Giro d'Italia as well as a second place in Tour de France, David Zabriskie and Jens Voigt captured two Yellow Jerseys in the Tour, Carlos Sastre finished third in Vuelta a España and the team had stage victories in all three Grand Tours. Bobby Julich's victory in Paris-Nice was also among the highlights of a phenomenal year that pointed toward a fantastic 2006.

2006 indeed gave a lot of victories: Once again the team classification in the ProTour was won and a total of 51 victories were included. Fabian Cancellara won Paris-Roubaix and the time trail world championship, while Fränk Schleck won Amstel Gold Race and the legendary Tour de France-stage victory on Alpe d'Huez as he finished the year as number three in the ProTour rankings. Ivan Basso won Giro d'Italia, and Jens Voigt gained a stage in Tour de France plus no less than three stages and the overall classifications in Deutschland Tour. Finally Carlos Sastre finished all three Grand Tours as the only rider in 2006 and he even finished fourth in both Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana.

Sastre improved on these statistics in 2007, where he was fourth in Tour de France and second in Vuelta a España, where he also received a lot of praise for his eagerness to attack throughout the race. Earlier in the year Stuart O'Grady celebrated the biggest triumph of his career with the victory in Paris-Roubaix and Jens Voigt defended his victory in Deutschland Tour. The major break troughs were down to Andy Schleck and Chris Anker Sørensen. Schleck took a brilliant second place in Giro d'Italia and Sørensen a sixth place in Deutschland Tour as well as a top-20 spot in the Vuelta. Last but not least Fabian Cancellara was on a roll with seven days in the yellow jersey during Tour de France and another gold medal at the Time Trial World Championships. These championships also saw Alexandr Kolobnev take a silver medal in the road race.

In 2008 the team faced a new challenge as CSC announced that they would stop their sponsorship after the season. In June Saxo Bank signed on as new sponsor. To begin with they would join as co-sponsor with CSC and as of 2009 the team will be Team Saxo Bank.

After eight seasons, Team CSC Saxo Bank experiences continual goal-oriented change in the face of new, major challenges that especially concern another attempt to take the overall victory in Tour de France as well as one well-defined, distinct ambition: To always improve.
New Team Page Beta
Player Ma St Ag Av Skills Inj G Cp Td It Cs Mvp SPP Cost  
1
Hagen Bernutz
Goblin
6 2 3 7
Dodge, Right Stuff, Stunty
Sure Feet, Side Step, Diving Tackle
   13 0 6 0 0 3 33/ 100k
(115)k
  
2
Matthew Goss
Ogre
5 5 2 9
Bone Head, Mighty Blow, Thick Skull, Throw Team Mate
Guard, Break Tackle
   9 0 0 0 3 2 16/ 160k
(154)k
  
3
Danny In t'Ven
Goblin
6 2 3 7
Dodge, Right Stuff, Stunty
Sure Feet
   10 0 3 0 0 0 9/ 60k
(50)k
  
4
Gustav Larsson
Ogre
6 5 2 9
Bone Head, Mighty Blow, Thick Skull, Throw Team Mate
+MA
   5 0 1 0 3 0 9/ 150k
(140)k
  
5
Juan José Haedo
Ogre
5 5 2 9
Bone Head, Mighty Blow, Thick Skull, Throw Team Mate
Guard, Break Tackle
   16 0 0 0 7 1 19/ 160k
(154)k
  
7
Matti Breschel
Ogre
5 5 2 9
Bone Head, Mighty Blow, Thick Skull, Throw Team Mate
Guard
   19 0 0 0 7 0 14/ 140k
(131)k
  
8
Kurt-Asle Arvesen
Ogre
5 5 2 9
Bone Head, Mighty Blow, Thick Skull, Throw Team Mate
Guard, Break Tackle, Multiple Block
   24 0 1 0 9 2 31/ 180k
(169)k
  
9
Roger Theel
Goblin
6 2 3 7
Dodge, Right Stuff, Stunty
Sure Feet, Side Step, Diving Tackle
   37 2 9 0 1 2 41/ 100k
(115)k
  
11
Joost De Maeseneer
Goblin
6 2 3 7
Dodge, Right Stuff, Stunty
Sure Feet, Catch, Sprint, Side Step
   34 0 10 0 2 5 59/ 120k
(138)k
  
12
Kasper Klostergaard
Ogre
5 5 4 8
Bone Head, Mighty Blow, Thick Skull, Throw Team Mate
+AG, +AG, Guard
 -av 32 8 2 1 4 2 34/ 220k
(175)k
  
13
Dominic Klemme
Ogre
5 5 2 9
Bone Head, Mighty Blow, Thick Skull, Throw Team Mate
Guard, Break Tackle
   15 0 1 0 6 1 20/ 160k
(154)k
  
11 players  
Coach: erased000026 Re-Rolls (140k): 4  
Race: Ogre Fan Factor: 15  
Current Team Value: 0k Assistant Coaches: 0  
Treasury: 90k Cheerleaders: 0  
Team Value: 2030k Apothecary: Yes  

Games Played:37 (24/5/8) |TD Diff:26 (60 - 34) |Cas Diff:70 (69/40/23 - 33/23/6)
Last Opponent: Grand et Fort 2