alexkr00 wrote:
Well, I don't know why he didn't have a contract for 2016 so I have no idea how in form he will be in 2017, but I figured it was a nice bet. Had him on my list from the very beginning, just had to find the perfect time to put him on a high position.
Meh...how could I miss him...I definitely should have had him on my list due to MG and also after following his couple races since his comeback...
Happy enough about my youngsters! Hope they all show their potential this year. The team doesn't look as good as last year with too many youngsters that could disappoint, but I like its look a lot more if it makes sense Hopefully nothing bad happens to my leaders this time around
Zardini: Not on top of my list, but he surely can score big. Was injured for most of the last season, if he can come back to his 2015 season a hidden gem.
Carboni: Yes, I might have got this man too early. But this guy has potential and a lot of races in the calendar that fit him. Thought that he stays at the team, his move to Colpack might make this not the best of possible moves.
Skjerping: He didn't look too bad last season in the lower tier races for Cannondale where he had his chances. Moving two divisions down with his gained experience means of course less points by just participating. But now he's got everything to dominate .2 races and score big in the plenty of Norwegian PCT tours.
Fumeaux: I like the guys that try their stuff on a different level. The Suisse champion is announced as main captain for Roth and will have plenty of opportunities with that. A strong CT team in behind and a good racing calendar with the reputation of Roth combined with the racing experience and confidence of being the Suisse national champion might lead to some big scoring.
Cattaneo: Guess what? A rider that went down from WT level. Cattaneo, once known as a decent talent, hasn't been able to make deliver the results his talent might suggest. Can a step down make 2017 his breakthrough season?
Overall thoughts: This might be the team with the lowest amount of World Tour riders in it (Puccio not confirmed, but I guess he stays at Sky). We clearly wanted to go lower level in the later rounds, searching for riders that stepped down to shine again. Another decicive aspect was the racing calendar, that's why so many French and Italian riders found themselves into my squad. Let's hope this works out.
I missed out on some of these guys that I really wanted, but where I thought that I can store them for later (Trofimov, van Keirsbulck, Zoidl, Valls). I also missed some fantastic gems I didn't found (Vanbilsen, Machado, Bevin) Still I'm happy with some gems I found. My big goal was that most of my riders are clear captains in their team and thus have a good chance of pulling out many results I can celebrate, even if not in the highest qualities of races. Also I just love to promote CT
This team even increases my hype for the 2017 season start. I can't wait for the Michelton Bay Cycling Classic to kickstart the year...
There is my team for 2017. Almost everyone is new, but Marczyński and Doull are ones I probably had in my team in 2016. I know it isn't really accurate, but it seems to be something special. I decided to show my team by stats that I found on PCM.daily Projects WT Stat Discussion and the stats google document. What are my thoughts? I actually like my team. I have much higher expectations than last year. I have some "underperfoming" riders from last year, some quite nice talents, so I hope for fun 2017 .
I would actually play with that team in newest PCM, but didn't have newest version than 2011.
Pick in round
1.
PLANCKAERT Baptiste
Team Katusha - Alpecin
3
2.
VAN GARDEREN Tejay
BMC Racing Team
9
3.
BONIFAZIO Niccolo
Bahrain Merida Pro Cycling Team
3
4.
HALVORSEN Kristoffer
Team Joker - Byggtorget
5
5.
OOMEN Sam
Team Sunweb - Giant
10
6.
ROLLAND Pierre
Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling Team
1
7.
WALSCHEID Maximilian
Team Sunweb - Giant
4
8.
RUFFONI Nicola
Bardiani - CSF
11
9.
POLITT Nils
Team Katusha - Alpecin
2
10.
BAUHAUS Phil
Team Sunweb - Giant
4
11.
MADRAZO RUIZ Angel
Delko Marseille Provence KTM
10
12.
VLIEGEN Loic
BMC Racing Team
14
13.
SICARD Romain
Direct Energie
1
14.
POLANC Jan
Project TJ Sport
2
15.
GROSSCHARTNER Felix
CCC Sprandi Polkowice
3
16.
VAN DEN BROECK Jurgen
Team LottoNL - Jumbo
1
17.
MANZIN Lorrenzo
FDJ
4
18.
O'CONNOR Ben
Dimension Data
5
19.
FONSECA Armindo
Fortuneo - Vital Concept
8
20.
VAN STAEYEN Michael
Cofidis, Solutions Credits
1
21.
DOULL Owain
Team Sky
3
22.
JEANDESBOZ Fabrice
Direct Energie
4
23.
MARCZYNSKI Tomasz
Lotto Soudal
5
24.
PÖSTLBERGER Lukas
Bora-Hansgrohe
6
Last Name
First Name
FL
MO
HI
TT
PR
DH
CO
SP
AC
ST
RE
RC
FT
Pot
PLANCKAERT
Baptiste
72
67
72
64
69
72
69
74
74
70
73
69
70
5
VAN GARDEREN
Tejay
73
79
77
76
77
70
68
62
74
73
71
68
75
6
BONIFAZIO
Niccolo
75
64
69
60
66
68
60
75
76
75
75
66
65
7
HALVORSEN
Kristoffer
71
62
69
63
62
67
67
73
72
70
71
68
60
6
OOMEN
Sam
69
73
74
70
72
62
60
63
66
74
69
67
73
6
ROLLAND
Pierre
68
77
77
66
67
67
60
63
73
74
71
76
80
6
WALSCHEID
Maximilian
75
61
65
67
67
68
62
75
73
68
73
68
67
5
RUFFONI
Nicola
73
62
66
62
64
72
60
76
76
70
73
66
65
5
POLITT
Nils
73
63
67
72
72
67
73
69
69
71
75
66
73
6
BAUHAUS
Phil
71
62
66
63
66
68
65
73
74
68
70
66
66
6
MADRAZO RUIZ
Angel
67
71
73
66
66
66
60
67
74
71
71
67
79
5
VLIEGEN
Loic
72
65
73
63
65
66
72
69
72
74
75
62
72
6
SICARD
Romain
67
75
73
72
68
66
60
63
67
69
67
75
73
5
POLANC
Jan
68
74
74
66
66
70
60
63
71
69
69
67
74
6
GROSSCHARTNER
Felix
68
71
71
69
70
64
60
61
66
70
67
67
72
5
VAN DEN BROECK
Jurgen
71
76
75
74
74
69
68
60
67
73
71
73
69
5
MANZIN
Lorrenzo
70
61
65
61
61
67
60
73
73
66
69
63
60
6
O'CONNOR
Ben
65
68
67
61
62
63
60
64
66
62
61
64
67
4
FONSECA
Armindo
71
65
72
60
60
65
60
73
73
71
74
64
69
5
VAN STAEYEN
Michael
73
62
66
60
60
73
67
75
75
71
73
68
65
5
DOULL
Owain
70
62
69
66
67
67
60
69
70
67
72
65
65
5
JEANDESBOZ
Fabrice
68
74
74
63
63
66
60
68
69
69
68
72
70
4
MARCZYNSKI
Tomasz
68
71
72
70
68
69
60
63
67
70
68
69
75
3
PÖSTLBERGER
Lukas
72
67
71
66
67
68
60
64
70
70
73
66
76
6
3 - Team Sunweb - Giant
2 - BMC Racing Team
2 - Direct Energie
2 - Team Katusha - Alpecin
1 - Bahrain Merida Pro Cycling Team
1 - Bardiani - CSF
1 - Bora-Hansgrohe
1 - Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling Team
1 - CCC Sprandi Polkowice
1 - Cofidis, Solutions Credits
1 - Delko Marseille Provence KTM
1 - Dimension Data
1 - FDJ
1 - Fortuneo - Vital Concept
1 - Lotto Soudal
1 - Project TJ Sport
1 - Team Joker - Byggtorget
1 - Team LottoNL - Jumbo
1 - Team Sky
Durasek - had his worst year since 2010 but he should be good enough to rebound
Herrada - a reliable domestique who previously finished in the top 200 CQ
Capecchi - new team, while he won't be their biggest star he once finished in the top 100 CQ so he has the talent required to do well
Peters - a youngster in his second year at Sky, so he was worth a punt
Gastauer - should be near his peak at 29, may get more chances this year with the retirements of Peraud and others at AG2R
I'm happy with who I got, but still expected some of the riders I listed ahead of Gastauer would be available before the end; Belda, Doull and Stallaert in particular. I had Olivier on my list for the last few rounds too, just thought he was too much of a risk when there were still quite a few riders I wanted.
Thanks for running the draft roturn, can't wait to see how well my new guys perform
For my team, I guess all I can say is that I liked it a lot more in the 2016 season
Seeing a couple of the other teams here, I suspect my chances of another top placing, should be close to zero. But it will be great to have another season with this little extra to the mix!
Ilnur Zakarin
My top pick is supposed to deliver in GTs finally this year, I hope so at least. Always a good bet for the smaller stage races, and I don't think his GTs will be as disappointing as in the previous seasons.
Wout Poels
I had hoped he would finally have his chance to lead a GT, but it looks unlikely. Still a good pick for any hilly classic, and also for the smaller stage races.
Simon Gerrans
Probably no longer LBL winning level, but winning TDU should at least bring some points. Hopefully he'll surprise me immensely though.
Primoz Roglic
Did not have a bad first season as pro at all, with already a GT stage win. If he develops even further he might go for a good GT GC or stage win plus some smaller stage races, which would make him a brilliant pick.
Alexandre Geniez
A not so risky pick. Always scores quite good in many races, and even top-10s in GTs are far from impossible. Hopefully he can even take another step up, and score even better.
Dylan van Baarle
Just when I feared he would stall a bit, he suddenly went scoring quite well in the cobbled classics last year. Even though he's overshadowed by Vanmarcke a bit this year, I'm confident he can improve even further.
George Bennett
With a Vuelta top-10 in the pocket he showed he's a more than decent climber. I'd be very satisfied if he managed to repeat those performance. Maybe he'll get more freedom to go for own success, which would be good for my points.
Vyacheslav Kuznetsov
Somewhat fluked his way to a 3rd in Gent-Wevelgem this year, but he did show that he's a very strong rider. Plus he's part of my MG team
Andrea Fedi
When he got 2nd in Plouay a few years ago I think it shocked everyone. He's been scoring quite solidly and I'm glad to have picked him, as I think he pretty much guarantees points.
Arnold Jeannesson
A bit the eternal prodigy. He was destined to win the Tour de France, but never really got that far. Still a very good climber, so maybe this will be his year?
Guillaume Martin
Won LBL U23 for a reason, and has been showing steady progress at Wanty. Hopefully he can reach even further next season, but I don't think that's unrealistic.
David Gaudu
Plenty of French talent around. Won the Tour de l'Avenir simply by being the best climber out there. I don't think the step up to the WT will prove to be too difficult for him, and I'm confident he can score well.
Damien Howson
Developed as a good climber in the last season. Sometimes he was a tad underwhelming especially considering how good a TTist he was as a prodigy, but if he develops his climbing further this may be a golden pick.
Amund Grøndahl Jansen
Won the ZLM Roompot Tour last year. A very powerful young rider who takes the step to the WT. Should be a solid addition to the classics and sprints, and hopefully score some points himself.
Lluis Guillermo Mas Bonet
A good rider on the non-flat terrains, with plenty of attacking spirit (he's CJR for a reason). With the exodus at Caja Rural I hope he'll get more freedom to lead a few more races.
Zhandos Bizhigitov
He'll actually ride for Astana next year. Scored decently in the shitty Asian races, hopefully he'll now score in other races as well.
Antoine Duchesne
Another attacking rider, who was rewarded with the KoM in Paris-Nice. Should go on more attacks to secure more points I hope.
David Per
Winning the RvV U23 at the age of 21 is quite impressive, and he's a very good talent. I'm not what role he'll have at Bahrain, but I hope a role good enough to secure me more points.
Kirill Pozdnyakov
Another one of my MG team, and a good climber. Not registered for a 2017 team yet, but with his results this season that should normally not be a problem. I'm actually kinda surprised he wasn't picked up by Gazrpom already.
Axel Domont
A quite talented rider, decent scorer. Should hopefully take a small step up.
Fabio Jakobsen
Quite sure he's among the 3 best Dutch U23 riders. He's a very good sprinter, but he's not very one-dimensional, given his win at the Slag om Norg.
Hartthijs de Vries
Another great Dutch talent. Showed some high quality results in the Topcompetitie last year, hopefully he'll show it as well in the UCI races now.
Cees Bol
Another good young Dutch talent, who I hope is taking another step up this year. Won Olympia's Tour in an impressive manner already, and SEG is a good talent factory.
Hopefully nothing bad happens to my leaders this time around 
Petr Vakoc
Sam Bennett
Sergey Lagutin
Antoine Duchesne
