The downside of a Continental team having a super successful season is what follows: Top riders move up the food chain, leaving the third-division squad to start over.
That's the position Silber Pro Cycling director Gord Fraser found himself in this year after his team's breakout season in 2016 was followed by the loss of Ben Perry to Cycling Academy, Matteo Dal-Cin to Rally Cycling and Alex Cataford to UnitedHealthcare.
Silber, now in the first year of a three-year deal with the title sponsor, has re-upped this year with a younger roster and is entering into its most important racing block of the season, with the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah, Colorado Classic and Tour of Alberta coming up in quick succession.
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"The biggest challenge for us was just dealing with a few injuries we had this year, with Nicolas Masbourian with his concussion from Saguenay, and Danick Vandale with his tendonitis, it's left us pretty thin," Fraser told Cyclingnews after last week's Cascade Cycling Classic in Oregon. "We brought in Marc-Antoine Soucy from Qubebcor to kind of help us with bodies. He's a great addition. He's already fit in well at Cascade."
Fraser is hoping to start out this week's Tour of Utah in a similar fashion to last year, when Kris Dahl stormed to the sprint win in Cedar City. Monday's opening stage includes two climbs up and over Logan Canyon before a 60-kilometre mostly downhill run to the finish in downtown Logan.
"We are a younger team this year,” Fraser said. “The average age at Utah is 21, so it's going to be a learning experience for the guys. But I thought things went really well at Cascade, and I was happy with the way Nigel Ellsay was willing to roll the dice and risk a lot on both road stages, using breakaways to try and move up from his top-seven, top-eight position on GC.
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