Pro Team roundup for 2015

Right! New year, new season, new set of team names to learn, and new kits to recognise.

Here's a quick round-up of who is called what for 2015:

2013	2014	2015
Ag2r-La Mondiale	Ag2r-La Mondiale	Ag2r-La Mondiale
Astana	Astana	Astana
BMC Racing Team	BMC Racing Team	BMC Racing Team
Omega Pharma-Quickstep	Omega Pharma-Quickstep	Etixx-Quickstep
FDJ	FDJ	FDJ
		IAM
Lampre-Merida	Lampre-Merida	Lampre-Merida
Lotto-Belisol	Lotto-Belisol	Lotto-Soudal
Movistar	Movistar	Movistar
Orica-GreenEDGE	Orica-GreenEDGE	Orica-GreenEDGE
Cannondale	Cannondale	Team Cannondale-Garmin
Argos-Shimano	Giant-Shimano	Team Giant-Alpecin
Katusha	Katusha	Team Katusha
Rabobank/Blanco	Belkin Pro Cycling	Team LottoNL-Jumbo
Team Sky	Team Sky	Team Sky
Saxo-Tinkoff	Tinkoff-Saxo	Tinkoff-Saxo
RadioShack-Leopard	Trek Factory Racing	Trek Factory Racing

IAM are in, and Europcar are out, having been bumped down to ProConti level for this year, and we also lost Garmin as they have merged with Cannnodale.

So, on balance, from 18 teams last year, we've lost two, and gained one. And as no-one else wants to step up to Pro level, the World Tour team roster is down to just 17.

Of course, this won't make any difference to the races, they will just invite one extra wild card team to make up the numbers. With any luck, it will mostly be Europcar who get the extra invite, which means they will be able to go to as many of the major races as they want/can, won't be compelled to send a team to every single UCI race, thus saving a lot of money, and hopefully we will still see Tommy Voeckler and his face-pulling at the front of the break.

I'm particularly peeved at losing Europcar, as I spotted a new Schleckland pet in Europcar kit at one of the final races of last season, and now I can't work out who he was. What makes a Schleckland pet, you ask? It's not easy to describe, a Schleckland pet needs to be outstanding in some way, and no, I don't mean outstandingly pretty: outstanding in character, in some way.

Luke Rowe was an immediate choice, I saw him at Revolution (UK track racing) and he had won his race, possibly his first win ever, and he had just been told that he'd been picked to join Team Sky. He was positively fizzing with enthusiasm, with lots of "I can't believe I've been chosen!" which struck me as a good combination. Later that year, 2012, he won a stage at the Tour of Britain.

Johan Van Summeren became a pet because of his quirk of tucking up his jersey sleeves, I still have no idea why he does it, but it caught my eye and I gave him pet status and look what happened then! Paris-Roubaix, biggest win of his career!

And of course there is Andy, first and best Schleckland pet, who had a great career.

So on balance, it's well worth becoming a Schleckland pet.

Anyway, there you have it, a quick listing of the teams: as far as the kit goes, we haven't seen much of the new kits yet, but it is only the 12th Jan, so there's plenty of time yet.