 | |
| Team information | |
|---|---|
| UCI code | ABS |
| Registered | Ireland |
| Founded | 2017 |
| Disbanded | 2019 |
| Discipline(s) | Road |
| Status | UCI Professional Continental |
| Bicycles | Ridley (2017) [1] 3T (2018) [2] |
| Website | Team home page |
| Key personnel | |
| General manager | Stephen Moore |
| Team manager(s) |
|
| Team name history | |
2017–2018 | Aqua Blue Sport |
Aqua Blue Sport was an Irish UCI Professional Continental cycling team founded in January 2017 which folded at the end of the 2018 season. [3] [4]
The team was set up by businessman Rick Delaney, assuring funding for at least four seasons with two-year rolling contracts offered to the riders. [4] The project was based on a self-sustaining finance model, with revenue generated from an online cycling marketplace www.aquabluesport.com being used to fund the professional team. [5]
Aqua Blue Sport featured a 16-rider roster [6] for 2017. Having gained considerable success in the early months of its maiden season, Aqua Blue Sport was invited to the 2017 Vuelta a España. [7] Despite losing their team bus to an arson attack, the team continued at the Vuelta. On stage 17 of their first Grand Tour, Stefan Denifl crossed the finish line first, ahead of Alberto Contador at the summit finish of Los Machucos, [8] however his win was later stripped after he confessed to blood doping. [9] In its first year, the team won its first individual stage, its first national champion, its first overall at a stage race, and its first stage at a Grand Tour (although the latter two were later stripped as a result of Denifl's doping admission [9] ).
On August 27, 2018, the team announced that it would not be racing in 2019, citing difficulties in obtaining race invitations from race organizers and a failed merger with the Vérandas Willems–Crelan team. [10] and ceased racing immediately.
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United States Road Race Championships, Larry Warbasse 
Overall Tour of Austria, Stefan Denifl 
Ireland Road Race Championships, Conor Dunne | Grand Tours by highest finishing position | ||||
| Race | 2017 | 2018 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Giro d'Italia | – | – | ||
| Tour de France | – | – | ||
 Vuelta a España | 128 [lower-alpha 1] | – | ||
| Major week-long stage races by highest finishing position | ||||
| Race | 2017 | 2018 | ||
 Tour Down Under | – | – | ||
| Paris–Nice | – | – | ||
 Tirreno–Adriatico | – | – | ||
 Volta a Catalunya | – | – | ||
| Tour of the Basque Country | – | – | ||
 Tour of the Alps | 73 | – | ||
| Tour de Romandie | – | – | ||
 Critérium du Dauphiné | – | – | ||
| Tour de Suisse | 39 | 41 | ||
| Tour de Pologne | – | – | ||
 Benelux Tour | – | – | ||
| Monument races by highest finishing position | ||||
| Monument | 2017 | 2018 | ||
| Milan–San Remo | – | – | ||
| Tour of Flanders | – | – | ||
| Paris–Roubaix | – | – | ||
| Liège–Bastogne–Liège | 32 | 66 | ||
| Giro di Lombardia | – | – | ||
| Classics by highest finishing position | ||||
| Classic | 2017 | 2018 | ||
| Omloop Het Nieuwsblad | 58 | – | ||
| Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne | – | – | ||
| Strade Bianche | – | – | ||
| E3 Harelbeke | – | – | ||
| Gent–Wevelgem | – | – | ||
| Amstel Gold Race | – | 59 | ||
| La Flèche Wallonne | 105 | – | ||
| Clásica de San Sebastián | – | – | ||
| — | Did not compete |
|---|---|
| DNF | Did not finish |
| DNS | Did not start |
American Road Race, Larry Warbasse 
Irish Road Race, Conor Dunne Groupama–FDJ is a French cycling team at UCI WorldTeam level. The team is managed by Marc Madiot, a former road bicycle racer and winner of the Paris–Roubaix classic in 1985 and 1991. The team is predominantly French.
Nicki Sørensen is a Danish former professional road bicycle racer, and was directeur sportif of UCI Professional Continental team Aqua Blue Sport and Israel–Premier Tech. He competed in five consecutive editions of the Tour de France from 2001 to 2005. Riding as an all-round rider who rode well in hilly terrain, Sørensen was a valued support for the team leader without many wins of his own.
Stefan Schumacher is a German former professional road racing cyclist. Schumacher won the bronze medal in the road race at the 2007 UCI Road World Championships, two stages in the 2006 Giro d'Italia and two stages in the 2008 Tour de France. After positive results on doping products in the 2008 Tour de France and the 2008 Summer Olympics, he received a suspension for two years, later reduced by some months. After his suspension, he came back as a professional cyclist before retiring in 2017.
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Stefan Denifl is an Austrian former professional cyclist, who rode professionally between 2006 and 2018 for seven different professional teams. In 2019, Denifl confessed to doping during a five-year period in his career, and was given a four-year ban from the sport; as a consequence of this, Denifl received a two-year sentence in 2021 for serious commercial fraud.
Lasse Norman Leth; né Norman Hansen; is a Danish professional road and track racing cyclist, who currently rides for Danish club team Team CO:PLAY–Giant Store. During his track cycling career, he has won five medals at the Summer Olympic Games, ten medals at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships and six medals at the UEC European Track Championships.
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Peter Koning is a Dutch professional racing cyclist, who most recently rode for UCI Continental team EvoPro Racing. He was named in the startlist for the 2017 Vuelta a España.
Conor Dunne is a retired road racing cyclist who rode professionally between 2014 and 2019 for the An Post–Chain Reaction, JLT–Condor, Aqua Blue Sport and Israel Cycling Academy teams. He competed as British in his early career before switching to Ireland, and was the 2018 Irish National Road Race champion.
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The 2017 Tour de Suisse was a road cycling stage race that took place between 10 and 18 June. It was the 81st edition of the Tour de Suisse and the twenty-fourth event of the 2017 UCI World Tour.
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Operation Aderlass was an investigation in Austria and Germany into doping practices carried out by Erfurt-based German physician Mark Schmidt. Athletes from various disciplines were named as alleged customers of Schmidt's, receiving illegal blood transfusion for the purpose of enhancing performances, with several of them later confessing. The investigation centred around athletes from cross-country skiing and cycling.
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