With Dane Lasse Norman Hansen (Cannondale-Garmin), Cult Energy-Stölting Group has a 16-rider roster ready for 2016. Hence, the Danish-German pro continental team has reached the size that was originally planned.

But as sports director Jochen Hahn told radsport-news.com, the recruitment is not over yet. "We are still talking to one, two riders. That can still lead to something," Hahn said, without wanting to name names.

The fact that the squad has seven Danes and seven Germans, is a "coincidence. I have not focused on that," said Hahn, who is very satisfied with the composition of his team. "I think we will have a powerful team," he added.

Alongside the rider signings, the team is working on the racing calendar. "We have a dialogue with the WorldTour race organizers. However, we don’t expect any decisions to be made before December," Hahn announced. He will get help from Theo Maucher who will assume the role of organizer like he already did it at Gerolsteiner.

It is clear that the management is trying to build a double racing program. "A challenging schedule for the experienced riders like Linus Gerdemann and Fabian Wegmann and one that is made for our young riders," explained Hahn.

Super talent Lennard Kämna is one of those young riders. "He has done his first U23 year. We want to be very careful with him,” said Hahn, who is glad to have signed the overall Bundesliga winner despite offers from WorldTour teams. "I think Lennard has decided in favour of a familiar environment. With us he has the security that he needs as a young rider," said Hahn.

Although the line-up is predominantly made up of young and inexperienced professionals, Hahn assumes that Cult Energy-Stölting Group can play a role in big races. "We want to regard the World Tour races not only as an experience, but we will also try to achieve results," said the 53-year-old who was defensive when formulating the objectives for 2016. "We want to find ourselves and integrate the young riders. It would be unreasonable to build great pressure now."