In July Cannondale-Drapac was celebrating a Tour de France podium with Rigoberto Uran. In August the team was facing extinction with a prospective sponsor pulling out of the deal. In September the team welcomed on board EF Education First as a new naming rights sponsor and future shareholder owner. In late October, Cannondale-Drapac is in action at the Tour of Guangxi for its penultimate race of a long, successful but emotional season. A team will also compete in the Japan Cup this weekend, bringing the curtain down on the 2017 season. Charly Wegelius is in charge for Cannondale-Drapac at the inaugural Chinese WorldTour race. He has intimate knowledge of professional cycling`s highs and lows on the bike and in the team car.ADVERTISEMENT `Of course it has been a year of ups and downs. It has been intense but every year in cycling, honestly, is in somewhat or another. We had some really nice results as well, which is really why you race,` Wegelius told Cyclingnews on the morning of stage 1 of the Tour of Guangxi. Winless in the 2016 WorldTour, Cannondale-Drapac has stages at the Tour of California, Giro d`Italia and Tour de France to celebrate in 2017. Although the Tour of Guangxi is making its debut at the upper echelon of the sport and lacks the pulling power of Paris-Nice or Tirreno-Adriatico, Wegelius is backing his riders for results across the six stages. `This is a WorldTour race and that obviously brings with it a certain prestige,` he said. `It brings a chance for riders who don`t always get a chance to ride for themselves to get results in races. It is up to them to take those chances. It can also be a nice first building block towards the next season. If you race long into the season it makes for a much more simple winter.` A motivated squad
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