After a stellar first year, the innovative Irishmen of Aqua Blue Sport are ready for their second year in existence. 2017 saw the team enliven every breakaway in the early season, take wins in the US and in Switzerland, and finally participate and gain a stage victory in the Vuelta d'Espagna. Unlike Murias-Euskaltel, this started as a procontinental team and will continue on that level, so the fluctuations in line-up are more subtle, yet still worth taking a look at.


Aqua Blue Sport in 2017
Aqua Blue Sport had a stellar season this year. The team made an early impression by managing to place the Tallest Cyclist in the Peloton, Connor Dunne, in neigh every breakaway in the Australian season. After a series of podium placings, their first win arrived in Switzerland where Larry Warbasse won the first stage and the final KOM classification. Stefan Denifl won the GC in his home ride, the Österreich Rundfahrt, but not before Warbasse morphed into Captain America by taking his national championships in a surprising win. Sprinter Adam Blythe collected a handful of second places.

Tallest man in the break

Aqua Blue Sport's high point came during the Vuelta d'Espagna. Even their start in a grand tour during their first season was an enormous achievement. In the second week, their team bus was targeted by an arsonist, and the rest of the race they had to use borrowed transport. The sacrifice was worth it: on stage 17, when the GC favourites battled it out and put three quarters of a minute into Froome, Stefan Denifl managed to stay ahead as last survivor of the break. He took the stage with 28 seconds advance on Alberto Contador.

Stefan Denifl, Stage 17 Vuelta, Gettys Images sport

Who will leave the team in 2018
As mentioned, the line-up of the team will not change as drastically as that of Murias Euskadi or Orica. Lars Petter Nordhaug, who would have been a headliner for the team, has struggled with the CMV-virus throughout the year. Stating he doesn't want to take the risk burdening the team with under performance in 2018, he will retire. Martyn Irvine, one of three Irishmen in the current squad will retire and transfer into team management. Leigh Howard in the meantime will move out of the sport to focus on track cycling.

New Arrivals in 2018
When ABS started last season, they profited a lot from the folding of IAM Cycling. This year, the team manages to catch three fish to add to their school. The first is a small cult legend within the peloton: The Flying Mullet, also known as Shane Archbold. Famous for his eccentric hairdo, the Irishman spend much of 2017 in bed because of an injury sustained in the 2016 Tour de France. Cyclingtips wrote a fascinating interview about the recovery. Once he did return, Archbold made an impression as an impeccable lead-out man for Irishman Sam Bennett, leading him to a record number of victories in the Tour of Turkey. His mission with Aqua Blue Sport is clear: doing the same for Adam Blythe, who gathered plenty of podiums but no wins.

The other two arrivals are youths: the first is Irish talent Eddie Dunbar, bringing the amount of Irish riders in the team back to it's 2017 level. In 2015, when he was only 18 years old, Dunbar came second in the Irish national championships. The following year he signed with Axeon Hagens Berman, the U23 wonder squad delivering a lot of young riders to the world tour this year. Dunbar's greatest personal feat was winning the U23 Ronde van Vlaanderen, but he's also rather good on a time trial bike. The third is Caspar Pedersen, European U23 Champion. The Dane has won stages in the Fleche du Sud and the Post Danmark Rundt, keeping out of reach of sprinters Nacer Bouhani and John Degenkolb with a late attack. The team has stressed the development of these two young riders, Pedersen even claiming that as soon as the team explained their program for his development, he didn't have to think twice about signing.

Dunbar in Flanders

I wonder if the team's roster is complete. The team has not officially announced a full roster, but the line-up they've got looks like a pretty complete team. However, external influences might tempt Aqua Blue Sport to pick up some bargain riders before 2018 starts. When the team started, they profited a lot from the demise of IAM Cycling, collecting Larry Warbasse, Stefan Denifl and Leigh Howard from the disappearing World Tour team. This time around, it's a continental team that's folding, but one that is close to ABS's dna: the An Post Chain Reaction team. This team has been a steady fixture in Irish cycling for years, but Sean Kelly hasn't been able to attract new sponsors. Roughly half of Aqua Blue's current riders have ridden for An Post at one point of their career, and Aqua Blue might feel tempted to 'save' some of the riders currently and suddenly without contract. I'm thinking especially about the Irish riders in the team: Damien Shaw and Sean McKenna, who both were selected on the Irish national team for the world championships, and Matthew Teggart who rode the U23 road race for Ireland. McKenna and Teggart are both quite young, and have the possibility to develop into valuable domestiques for the team.

So what's in stock for 2018?
All in all, these transfers won't shake the team's identity to the core. With the help of both Archbold and Andrew Fenn in the lead out train, the time is right for Adam Blythe to start trading those podiums spots for wins, preferably in short stage races or early season one-day races, where he has performed the best. The new youths might show themselves in the Belgian classics, while most others will be dependent on gambling on the breakaway. Speaking of breakaway wins: will the team add another Grand Tour win to it's name? Unfortunately, the prospect looks bleak. With a handful of new French and Spanish pro-continental teams, including two French team that have super stars Warren Barguil and Bryan Coquard on their line-up, and with Israel Cycling Academy all but guaranteed a Giro wildcard, the chances for a wildcard for Aqua Blue Sport look slim. Gazprom does not appear on the Giro d'Italia's sponsor list anymore, and with troubles haunting the Italian pro-continental teams, ABS could look to take their spot in the Giro start list.

Larry Warbasse showcasing the team's 2018 bike

If you want to see more like this, here are part one, an analysis of Euskadi-Murias,and part two, on all three teams of the Orica family.  Keep an eye on this page for our next instalment!