Fl	Mo	Hi	TT	St	Rs	Rc	Co	Sp	Ac	Fi	DH	Pr
68	74	72	70	74	69	69	59	62	62	67	65	70
70	76	73	72	76	71	71	59	62	63	67	65	72

Meron is one of the first riders to join the team back in the MTN - World Bicycle Relief days. We've been waiting for this moment for quite some time now. He'll be such a welcome addition next year as he'll serve as a hand lieutenant and may even take a stab at overall results.

Fl	Mo	Hi	TT	St	Rs	Rc	Co	Sp	Ac	Fi	DH	Pr
64	67	67	67	67	66	67	53	66	71	73	66	69
64	68	68	68	68	67	68	53	66	71	73	66	70

We're developing Jean Bosco into a rider who should one day be a strong climber (75Mo) and TTer (75TT) who will be an excellent addition to our stage race squads.

Fl	Mo	Hi	TT	St	Rs	Rc	Co	Sp	Ac	Fi	DH	Pr
65	73	70	64	67	66	69	52	63	69	67	68	64
65	76	73	65	69	67	71	52	63	71	70	69	65

Valens is developing into a future hopeful for Rwanda as a very strong climber. He already has a Rwandan national title to his name and is no doubt one of the biggest talents from the country.

Fl	Mo	Hi	TT	St	Rs	Rc	Co	Sp	Ac	Fi	DH	Pr
72	56	70	62	72	66	75	52	75	76	59	60	63
73	57	72	62	74	67	76	52	76	78	59	60	63

Heiko will be a great asset as a sprinter who can get over climbs with relative ease. He could be used as a leadout and may even go at it on his own a few times. Who knows, maybe a bit of training investment could turn him into a real threat.

Fl	Mo	Hi	TT	St	Rs	Rc	Co	Sp	Ac	Fi	DH	Pr
70	70	71	65	68	67	67	59	61	69	75	58	65
71	73	74	66	69	68	69	59	61	71	78	59	66

Costa has already shown his fighting spirit by joining the breakaway numerous times in the past seasons. He's served us proud so far and we are sure he'll be a valuable team mate to a PT team next year. He's developing into a climber with a great mountain/hill combo.

Fl	Mo	Hi	TT	St	Rs	Rc	Co	Sp	Ac	Fi	DH	Pr
67	60	63	70	67	68	65	52	60	67	70	60	70
69	60	64	72	68	70	66	52	60	67	71	60	72

Till is growing into a solid TT rider who will help us build a strong African TTT train sometime in the future. For now, he still helps bolster up TTT efforts in stage races.

Fl	Mo	Hi	TT	St	Rs	Rc	Co	Sp	Ac	Fi	DH	Pr
66	73	70	63	68	69	66	51	58	62	71	70	63
66	75	71	63	70	71	67	51	58	63	72	72	63

Songezo is another valuable domestique/breakaway rider addition. He's a hard-worker and fighter, so we're glad to welcome him back.

Fl	Mo	Hi	TT	St	Rs	Rc	Co	Sp	Ac	Fi	DH	Pr
70	67	70	68	71	70	69	54	66	70	78	66	69
71	67	73	69	74	71	70	54	67	72	80	66	70

This is a guy who loves his breakaways. He doesn't just talk the talk, he walks it and has proven that with many breakaways in his racing. He's a good all-rounder as well and a solid domestique on any terrain - except cobbles, but who needs cobbles?

Fl	Mo	Hi	TT	St	Rs	Rc	Co	Sp	Ac	Fi	DH	Pr
69	75	73	68	74	72	74	57	61	62	68	73	68
70	78	76	69	75	74	76	57	61	64	71	74	69

Louis, ah, Louis. Our very own South African superstar. So much history behind this young man already. He was the only rider I had to sign in the team's first season. A season which saw him progress from level 1 to 2.99. But, not to worry. He's finally back with us and we are certain he could challenge for some big races next year.

Rewind back to our first ever race as a team and it was a goal race: Tour d'Algerie. MTN was eager to impress in our first season and on our home continent. Africa was relatively unknown to the MG world with no African team present before 2013 (bar Rapha Condor - Qhubeka who were half African). Our Egyptian fast man, Cherif Abdallah impressed on the first flat stages with consistent top 5s and a podium to boot... but no win.



Now, fast forward ever so slightly to stage 6: the mountain stage. The Big Kahuna. This was a stage to separate the men from the boys - or more accurately, a battle for 2nd place behind the CT superstar, David Arroyo. He's a man who is the envy of any PT team, but decided to sign for a shady Dutch team who rode for a project about building a berg (mountain) or something. He was tipped to dominate the CT ranks as he was a total cut above everyone else. However, neither the berg project or Arroyo's total domination ever materialised, partly due to the fighting spirit of riders like Julián Rodas (but mostly due to a shitty PCM12 AI).

The early breakaway was caught and on the final climb everything imploded. As the race was whittled down to a group that contained only the favourites, including Arroyo (Die Berg), Martinez (Kenya), Marzano (Kappa), and Moreno (Iberia), Rodas made his move and caught many off guard. He quickly pulled up a gap of about 20 seconds on a chaser, Marzano. He maintained this lead until with just 200m to go, Marzano and Moreno had caught Rodas - heart break!



But wait, you forgot we were talking about the Colombian king himself, Julián Rodas! No fucking way he was going to let victory slip from his grasp. And with a final fight from within, he seized the victory and left the whole CT division in awe. The little Colombian king had beaten the mighty Spanish superstar, David Arroyo.



Unfortunately it was not enough to take the GC win, as Moreno had collected bonus seconds on some of the previous stages. Nonetheless, this was our first ever win and will probably be the sweetest one ever.

Stage Result:

1	Julián Rodas	MTN - World Bicycle Relief	2h59'53
2	Marco Marzano	Kappa-ENI	s.t.
3	Daniel Moreno	Iberia - Communidad Valenciana	s.t.
4	David Arroyo	Die Berg Komt Er	+ 21
5	Yannick Talabardon	Allianz-BMW Cycling Team	s.t.
6	João Cabreira	Adira-Isq Project	s.t.
7	Matteo Carrara	Allianz-BMW Cycling Team	+ 1'07
8	Yasmani Martinez	Kenya Airways - Barclays	s.t.
9	Mikel Nieve	FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm	+ 1'31
10	Evgeny Bakhin	PFG-Armavia	+ 2'00

General Classifcation:

1	Daniel Moreno	Iberia - Communidad Valenciana	16h59'43
2	Julián Rodas	MTN - World Bicycle Relief	s.t.
3	Marco Marzano	Kappa-ENI	+ 8
4	Yannick Talabardon	Allianz-BMW Cycling Team	+ 41
5	David Arroyo	Die Berg Komt Er	s.t.
6	João Cabreira	Adira-Isq Project	s.t.
7	Matteo Carrara	Allianz-BMW Cycling Team	+ 1'27
8	Yasmani Martinez	Kenya Airways - Barclays	s.t.
9	Mikel Nieve	FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm	+ 1'51
10	Evgeny Bakhin	PFG-Armavia	+ 2'20

Miguel98 wrote:
:/

Hopefully your team won't fold aidan. One of my personal favourites of the game.