Greetings to everyone who has gathered here today.

This is what? My 4th year standing here at the start of a new season. Time sure flies by, doesn't it. It's great to see some familiar faces here again. We all know why. It's that time again, time to start another season of the Managment Game.

While last season did not go according to plan, we are still in PCT and with backing from our new sponsors we are hoping to have a successful season this go around. I would like to thank again Mr. Emil Tedeshi and Mr. Enzo Smrekar. It's an incredibly exciting time for all of us. Our goal in promoting Balkan cycling is not stopping, not at all! We plan to use what we have learned in the last 3 years to take us to the next level.

Myself and our staff are all still here as we look forward to putting together and leading a strong, cohesive squad of riders on the road this year.




We plan to hold another press conference after the renewals process. There we will discuss the ins and outs of the team in more detail, as well as answer your questions about the upcoming season.

We hope you will follow us on our new cycling journey.

Bostjan Mervar,
team representative and general manager of Cedevita

	Race	Class		Rider
	Hong Kong Challenge (2.1)	Stage		Eduard A. Beltran
	Hong Kong Challenge (2.1)	Stage		Eduard A. Beltran
	Hong Kong Challenge (2.1)	Overall		Eduard A. Beltran
	Hong Kong Challenge (2.1)	Points		Eduard A. Beltran
	Hong Kong Challenge (2.1)	Youth		Andres C. Ardila
	Vuelta al Pais Vasco (2.HC)	Youth		Tadej Pogacar
	Baltic Chain Tour (2.1)	Stage		Lahcen Saber
	Baltic Chain Tour (2.1)	Teams		Cedevita
	Tour de Pologne (2.HC)	Stage		Eduard A. Beltran
	Tour de Pologne (2.HC)	Stage		Eduard A. Beltran
	Tour de Pologne (2.HC)	Points		Eduard A. Beltran
	Tour de Pologne (2.HC)	Youth		Tadej Pogacar
	Tour of Chile (2.1)	Points		Eduard A. Beltran
	Tour of Norway (2.PTHC)	Teams		Cedevita
	Ras Tailteann (2.2)	Stage		Dusan Rajovic
	Ras Tailteann (2.2)	Youth		Dusan Rajovic
	Benelux Challenge (2.HC)	KOM		David Gaudu
	Tour of America (2.1)	Stage		Andrea Zordan
	Balkans International (2.PTHC)	Stage		Eduard A. Beltran
	Euskal Bizikleta (2.2)	Youth		Santiago Buitrago

				Cedevita	Title Sponsor
				Giant Manufacturing	Equipment Sponsor
				Northwave	Clothing Sponsor
				Sijaj	Media Sponsor

				Bostjan Mervar	General manager
				Martin Hvastija	Directeur Sportif
				Marko Polanc	Directeur Sportif
				Gorazd Stangelj	Directeur Sportif
				Jure Golcer	Coach
				Gregor Gazvoda	Coach
				Tadej Valjavec	Coach

09.01		Down Under Classic	1.HC
13.01 - 18.01		Tour Down Under	2.HC
27.01 - 29.01		Hong Kong Challenge	C2.1

04.02		Omloop Het Nieuwsblad	1.HC
13.02		Classique du Grand-Duché	1.PT
22.02 - 24.02		Tour of Ukraine	2.HC

01.03 - 04.03		Barbados Cycling Festival	2.HC
06.03 - 11.03		Vuelta al Pais Vasco	2.HC
08.03 - 12.03		Circulo de Juarez	C2.1
23.03		Strade Bianche	1.HC
23.03 - 28.03		Tour of Eritrea	C2.1
29.03		E3 Prijs	1.HC

01.04		Paris - Roubaix	PTM
10.04		Macskako Kerekparverseny	2.PTHC
06.04 - 10.04		Baltic Chain Tour	C2.1
12.04 - 18.04		Tour of Pologne	2.HC
25.04		GP Wallonie	1.PTHC
28.04		Veenendaal - Veenendaal	1.HC
28.04		Lisbon Classic	C1.1

01.05 - 05.05		Cheshire Cycling Tour	2.PTHC
07.05		Liege - Bastogne - Liege	PTM
11.05 - 13.05		Tour of Chile	C2.1
17.05 - 23.05		Int. Osterreich Rundfahrt	2.HC
27.05 - 31.05		Tour of Norway	2.PTHC

01.06 - 06.06		Tour of Japan	C2.1
09.06 - 10.06		Tour of East Java	2.PTHC
12.06 - 14.06		Ras Tailteann	C2.2

01.07		Torshavn GP	C1.1
11.07 - 17.07		Tour de Vineyards	2.HC
19.07 - 22.07		Tour of Lithuania	2.HC
23.07		Betonexpressz GP	C1.2
25.05 - 29.07		Tour d'Andorra	C2.1

01.08 - 06.08		Benelux Challenge	2.HC
02.08		Sakartvelo Trophy	C1.2
08.08		Clasica San Sebastian	1.PTHC
10.08		GP Moscow	1.PT

01.09		Paris Tours	1.PTHC
03.09 - 23.09		Tour of America	C2.1
05.09 - 12.09		Balkans International	2.PTHC
14.09 - 17.09		Euskal Bizikleta	C2.2
26.09		Tour of the Battenkill	1.PTHC
26.09		Rheden GP	1.PTHC
28.09		Milano - Torino	C1.1

01.10 - 08.10		Tour du Maroc	2.PTHC
03.10		Japan Cup	1.PTHC
18.10		Giro dell'Emilia	1.HC

What an awesome team, and always with a great HQ and storyline! The start of this one is looking very good again.

100% agree.

Not quite sure how awesome of a team we will be. Maybe awesome enough to get through another season in PCT.

Hopefully this change keeps things fresh and I can go for another year of full coverage in the HQ. At least for the few oddballs that actually read this stuff

I read this stuff. Or at least I read it as often as I could until now. But with more implication from my part in the game I can read it a bit more often.
I love the focus region and I'm looking forward to see it develop further. Good luck in the new season!

A new era for the team but the purpose remains the same, just getting bigger with the new era. Always have been one of my favourite teams and I'm sure the name change won't change that. Looking forward to our off-season endeavours and then to race alongside you again. Not looking forward to Wilco facing Beltran again!

All the best for transfers and beyond

Thank you for the kind words I'm looking forward to following your story as well



Let's see if we get any bigger Not looking forward to facing Wilco either!

Good luck to you also. Hopefully we don't fight over too many riders

Good day to everyone!

We are here today to announce which riders have renewed their contract with the team and we will take questions regarding our current and future moves in the transfer season. Let me just say that while there were some nerves and some sleepless nights during the renewals. I have to stress that all the returning riders and the ones that have become free agents were a joy to work with during this process.

It has been a solid period of renewing contracts. Among the obvious returning riders are our two leaders Eddy Beltran and Lahcen Saber. Departing are the older riders like Kris Boeckmans, Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy and Tyron Giogieri. Apart from that we bring back our entire young core of talented riders. Poljanec and Penko are back as fully developed riders, while Kees Duyvesteyn earned himself a full contract after riding as a stagiare last year.

With that I present the current Cedevita squad and open the floor up for questions.






Q: Eduard Beltran is back for another season and with another wage reduction. He did not perform near to his 2019 levels, what is the plan with him?

Mervar: Ourselves and Eddy weren't satisfied with what we shoved last season. We discussed things and we agreed that mistakes were made on both ends. We aim to correct those this time.

Q: A similar thing could be said of Lahcen Saber. He came in with a big fee and big expectations, but failed to deliver. Was releasing him in order to free up more cap space ever considered?

Mervar: Not really no. Lahcen is in a similar boat with Eddy. He knows he has to do better, but we also have to put him in a better condition to succeed. Letting him go on a free was never an option.

Q: Tadej Pogacar is back from his 2nd loan spell. Is he finally ready to ride for the team?

Mervar: Yes, absolutely! We were happy to let Tadej develop at Trans Cycling last year, but he's well prepared to step in and contribute starting this season.

Q: One of the names not renewed is Ablenado. How come?

Mervar: He simply didn't fit into our team structure last season. We tried to negotiate a new contract, but we were far away from a deal so we decided to part ways amicably. We wish him good luck in the future.

Q: You have retained all 8 unmaxed riders from last year and added another in Duyvesteyn. At what point does that number become too big?

Mervar: I would agree that we have been stretching the limit over the last two seasons. We will always remain committed to developing Balkan riders, but we are also pragmatic. We realise we have had two years of barely maintaining our status in PCT. At this point it's imperative we maintain our position and if possible look to improve it.

Q: I assume you have answered this just now, but what is the goal for this season?

Mervar: As mentioned we need to stay in the PCT division and we will try to exhaust all avenues to achieve that purpose. Meanwhile, staying true to our mission and ideology that has brought us to this point.










This is just a preliminary list of availability. More in depth information about our transfers as well as loans will be posted before transfer season starts in the adverts.

Bostjan Mervar,
team representative and general manager of Cedevita

Good job of getting Eddy's wage down - no surprise after a rather mediocre season, though. And I hadn't realized that Pog is already that strong, only at level 3 - I'm not looking forward to seeing him maxed in two years

Maybe we'll get a deal this transfer season, but it doesn't seem all that likely given your availability dots. Expect some inquiries nonetheless

Pogacar is not that strong yet, at least not for how much money he wants Two years still seems so far away

I am always willing to discuss different options, so don't hesitate to drop a message

Some great riders on offer. The Slovenians of course very interesting for me, but plenty of good riders on the market here.

I am always willing to talk with the gold standard team in our region and the entire game

Great cuts I think. Should help with the rebuild

Nothing too spectacular in terms of wage cuts, but hopefully enough for a rebuild as you say and another year in PCT

There’s too few dots on the right riders here!

Very well done on Beltran’s wage, together with the solid and exciting riders you’ve renewed on 50k-75k, I’m definitely say this is a great base for buldring a solid PCT team, or even more if transfers go very well