We never know what the future brings in an exciting off season, and we are well aware of that, having entered several, this being our 7th to be exact, we know that planning ahead is clever, but relying solely on those plans are definately not the way to go around things. Therefore we present our availability plans for the off season.
Rider
2017 Wage
Change
Availability
Simon Spilak
€900.000
- €50.000
Maybe
Jerome Coppel
€550.000
+ €90.000
Maybe
Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier
€525.000
+ €45.000
No
Clement Koretzky
€280.000
---
No
Bryan Coquard
€190.000
---
No
Tom David
€175.000
+ €5.000
Unlikely
Georgos Tzortzakis
€170.000
+ €10.000
Unlikely
Jakb Novak
€120.000
---
Maybe
Panagiotis Vlatos
€120.000
+ €20.000
Maybe
Piter Campero
€85.000
---
Yes
Yuriy Vasyliv
€80.000
---
No
Olivier Le Gac
€70.000
- €15.000
Yes
Charalampas Kastrantas
€60.000
+ €10.000
Maybe
Alexis Gougeard
€50.000
---
Yes
Maxime Bouet
€50.000
---
Yes
Nejc Kosic
€50.000
---
Yes
Mathieu Bernaudeau
€50.000
---
Yes
What jumps to mind definately is the possibility of saying farewell to some of the teams biggest stars. Simon Spilak, Jerome Coppel and maybe even Tom David and Georgos Tzortzakis could be looking for a new stay. We are very happy with them all, and have absolutely no reason to push them out of the team, so it would take something extraordinary to convince us (and the riders) to change address, but more so than ever it is infact a possibility this time around!
Other riders that might look to attempt something new are Panagiotis Vlatos and Jakub Novak. Both have been an integral part of our TTT-setup, aswell as having their own strengths aswell. In case our leaders Coppel and/or Spilak leaves we might be triggered into letting go of our TTT strength, but we are still uncertain about this alltogether. Jakub Novak did however express that he would like to have a shot at more singular leadership, which he didn't get often last season - often sharing the role with either Vasyliv or Campero, or being domestique for Lecuisinier and Spilak. From those roles he did manage several top 30GC results, and he now wants to target for top 20. Panagiotis Vlatos is a top timetriallists, proving himself by winning the individual TT in Qatar aswell as taking 2nd in the TONE timetrial. He did, have a monster season bagging top 10s in the GC of Tour of Qatar (9th), Chrono des Herbiers (7th) aswell as helping the team getting 2nd in the Copenhagen-Malmo TTT.
Much like Jakub Novak, our Bolivian climber Piter Campero have told us that he would like to give leadership at a lower level a shot, after having landed 22nd in the Giro d'Italia last season aswell as claiming 16th at the Giro di Lombardia.
Depending on the situation several of our strong domestiques and talents might also be looking for new opportunities. Oliver Le Gac and Alexis Gougeard are both top level lieutenaints, but at our setup they have a role a bit further down, while Maxime Bouet and Mathieu Bernaudeau could be leaving due to the lack of TTT strength. Whether or not Nejc Kosic will leave the team is entirely up to the deals surrounding Tom David, and whether or not we fancy a shot at cobbled succes in the coming seasons.
Looks like the defending champion is tempted by the possibility to rebuild, looking at who is/could be available if the right offer is brought to the table! At least keeping the option to rebuild, which is interesting to see. I guess it depends on what might present itself on the FA market and in transfer negotiations with other teams about possible moves when time comes.
Eventhough Spilak had a successful year in Aker - MOT back in 2013 considering his stats then, he's not the rider I find most interest in. A certain Kiwi on the other hand... Looking forward to future talks when transfer season really get going!
Emerson Santos
- We welcome Brazilian sprinter Emerson Santos into our team. Last season we were privileged to be able to loan into two leadout sprinters, but seeing as Bryan Coquard is getting increasingly used to the level and Georgos Tzortzakis performed great last season we have decided to add a leadout to our permanent setup.
Emerson is relatively fast, but most importantly he has a great engine, and we expect him to become even better with a season of experience.
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Emerson Santos
74
63
64
66
71
71
75
53
76
76
70
67
72
26
4.09
€50K
When maxed, this is the stats Emerson Santos will provide.
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Emerson Santos
76
63
64
66
71
72
76
53
78
78
70
67
74
27
4.100
€50K
We asses, that Emerson Santos will be among the strongest leadout riders in the peloton for the 2018 season, while he will attempt to bring our riders in a strong situation this season aswell.
Edited by SotD on 11-09-2017 22:06
But looks great. Very similar to Sbaragli, which didn`t work out that well yet but might in future.
Neither did I before getting access to the DB. Not exactly my first priority, as I would have liked a leadout this season. That not being possible he was my 2nd priority for next season, so I'm happy to see him sign.
I think one reason that Sbaragli didn't work was the fact that you often had Krieger or van der Sanden to interfere also. And with their relatively weak FL stat, I think they might have taken the edge off Sbaraglis work. I'm no sprint-expert though! I have looking into what seems to work, and that is a high FL and high ACC stat. So hopefully 76/78 will be enough. Otherwise I'll have to sign one that's even better for the final kick
Avin Wargunnson wrote:
Scouting done right, with usual Festina well-thought fashion. Perfect leadout material on minimal wage.
Thanks. Indeed put quite a lot of effort into the scouting part this time around, as I didn't have an extra 15-20K to make the pool of targets bigger. So it was all-in on the best possible leadout rider for next season where I am for Coquard to be competitive
- We welcome two new, and strong cobblers for our gravel departement. We get a lot of experience and quite clearly moves from being a very weak cobbled setup to actually having quite a strong team for those races. We also concluded from last seasons experience in the Tour of Northern Europe, that a certain volume of cobbled depth was needed in order to perform well. Both riders have been added for that reason aswell, as Tom David will, as ever, be one of the pre-race podium favorites.
- Olivier Le Gac rode his first season as fully developped, last season, and despite being a valuable helper, we experienced that he wasn't fully ready for the Pro Tour yet. His best results being in the HC classics. Maxime Bouet was an integral part of our Team Timetrial setup, but giving that aspect less focus (while others clearly give it more) might be sensible considering the reduced calender and slightly reduced focus on doing well on those specific races. With the two departements we lose a bit of strength in two very strong assets, but instead we gain strength in some rather weak spots from our arrivals.
SUM:
We have reduced our total wage burden by a total of 20.000€ with these deals, and have added a fee of 357.000€ to our bank account. We find that to be good management. The end result of the losses will have to be analyzed throughout the season, though.
Edited by SotD on 11-09-2017 10:05
The final movements of the day have been announced. Bolivian NC, Piter Campero have decided to leave the team. Campero is the first rider to have scored 200+ points during the season to leave the team, and we are sad to let him go.
Unfortunately wage issues came between the parties, so we had no option but to sell him through the system. We land a fee of 750.000€ for him, so we feel satisfied with the opportunities we have been given further on. We will, however, see this as a severe blow to our mountains department, and would prefer to somehow close that gap down a bit in the future.
On the other hand we are happy to announce that australian climber, Cameron Bayly has decided to join on a one year lone basis, in which the owning team pay the full wage.
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Cameron Bayly
71
72
72
67
70
71
68
58
65
72
76
73
65
27
4.00
€0K
SUM:
We have paid a small fee for the services of Cameron Bayly, but we accept a + on the account of 700.000€ and reduce our wage costs by another 85.000€, having brought it down a total of 105.000€ in the off season.
What would the season be like, if you didn't have a few riders to develop? Last season we only had two riders developping, Alexis Gougeard and Nejc Kosic, and we feel that number is the least we can cope with.
We are very happy to introduce: Matteo Fabbro Aidan van Niekerk
Two very talented riders who come with great perspective, and at a minimum wage of just 50.000€, which we find even more impressive seeing what similar levelled riders have demanded.
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Matteo Fabbro
64
69
67
65
67
68
67
50
61
67
67
69
68
22
1.00
€50K
Aidan van Niekerk
68
67
69
64
70
71
72
66
62
67
75
70
64
20
1.00
€50K
Once they are maxed, this is what we could expect. Both riders have several options though.
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Matteo Fabbro
65
78
75
67
71
72
74
50
61
73
74
70
70
25
4.100
€50K
Aidan van Niekerk
69
73
77
65
72
75
76
66
63
74
82
71
65
23
4.100
€50K
Both riders have imminent wishes to join the CT, or PCT on a one year loan deal, in order to ensure the best possible development possibilities
We kept on loaning riders in to ensure that we would be able to field 20 riders, but then a great opportunity arrived. We made a verbally binding agreement on signing Rick Zabel, who would be our new 2nd sprinter for the upcoming seasons. This piece of news made Georgos Tzortzakis furious and he handed over a transfer request. We decided to accept it, and thus sold him to Project: Africa, where we wish him all the best!
However, what we did not account for, was a loophole in the legislation which made the selling team of Rick Zabel leaving the agreement. As we couldn't legitimize the verbally binding contract, we were suddenly left in the dark. No Zabel! No Tzortzakis!
We have to admit that this could very well be the deciding factor that will end up with us NOT reclaiming the Pro Tour crown, which was our ultimate goal, and we feel terribly sorry for that. We can't do anything about it, but learn the hard way, and hopefully can capitalize on the loss - but money gained - on the long term.
But, some things have happened though
We are very happy to introduce: Nawuti Liphongyu James Piccoli
The two, for us obscure, riders land on a one year loan deal to help us in the mountains and hills. Neither really have what it takes to stay with the best in the Pro Tour, but we want them to learn how to do just that, so they can return to their owners as better riders. We do expect them to have a fair amount of racedays this season.
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Nawuti Liphongyu
67
73
71
72
71
71
72
65
58
62
68
63
71
26
4.26
€25K
James Piccoli
67
71
72
66
69
70
68
62
64
72
69
75
63
26
4.00
€25K
We also bid a final farewell to a few of our riders: - Mathieu Bernaudeau
- Alexis Gougeard
- Nejc Kosic
All had their time at Festina as domestiques. Mathieu Bernaudeau the longest remaining rider of the team. We will greatly miss his cheerful nature, but he has decided to visit the Continental Tour to try to get a few top results to his name before quitting the sport. Alexis Gougeard and Nejc Kosic never got to ride with their full potential at the team, and while we do expect them to do very well at Iberia - Team Degenkolb, we decided that they could not help us any further than what they had already done
We usually don't do enough for the very young riders who aren't able to find themself a professional contract. So this year we have decided to pick up 2 stagiares to take a further look at them.
We are very happy to introduce: Stylianos Farantakis Goran Antonijevic
We have been following Stylianos for a period, but haven't really been able to spot enough progress for us to offer him a pro contract, but we are very familiar with his potential, which we assess as being very high. Goran is a rider we haven't spotted before, but we see him as a rider that can help stabilize our team in TONE, and maybe develop from then.
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Stylianos Farantakis
66
51
65
65
66
67
64
66
70
72
61
63
71
22
1.62
€10K
Goran Antonijevic
71
61
64
67
64
70
63
67
67
69
77
72
65
23
1.00
€10K
Once they are maxed, this is what we could expect:
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Stylianos Farantakis
73
51
66
70
71
73
76
66
77
77
61
64
80
26
4.100
€50K
Goran Antonijevic
76
61
65
67
69
71
68
70
74
76
77
72
65
27
4.100
€50K
Both riders have the potential to be useful as a leadout rider. Antonijevic can become a decent cobbled domestique aswell, while Farantakis should become a very strong prologue specialist, which will add to Bryan Coquards train very well.
Edited by SotD on 17-09-2017 11:50
After selling three riders relatively late, we have been looking at the market to spot decent level riders to use as domestiques for the season. We believe we have managed to do pretty well.
Georgios Bouglas was also on our hitlist of last season, but we weren't able to sign him. Bouglas is a decent sprinter, but lacks the firepower to win at PT level. We do, however, expect him to work well as a leadout given his relatively strong abillity to climb.
The final addition is Murilo Affonso. We have been looking at him left over in the FA pool for quite some time, and find his qualities attractive. He is a strong climbing domestique and we expect him to be valuable, especially next season.
At the very closing hours of the transfer market we were able to land another two riders. This time two riders from Switzerland, which is destined to be a happy moment for a board secretary who's Swiss aswell.
We are very happy to introduce: Julien Taramarcaz Manuel Stocker
Like we announced very early on, we were mainly looking to strengthen our sprinting train setup aswell as our cobbled department. So we are extremely satisfied with picking up two riders this strong at this hour.
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Julien Taramarcaz
73
59
65
70
72
71
69
73
72
73
73
72
71
30
4.100
€50K
Manuel Stocker
71
60
64
69
69
70
68
59
73
74
64
65
69
25
3.00
€50K
Julien Taramarcaz is a very strong addition to our cobbled setup and is an upgrade to last seasons Nejc Kosic. Having also a strong ability against the clock makes him a very valuable asset for the Tour of Northern Europe team timetrial, which we were dreadful in last season.
Manuel Stocker joins a row of talented leadout riders including Emerson Santos, Georgios Bouglas and Stylianos Farantakis. Stocker will likely be the best leadout next to Emerson Santos with his relatively high flat engine, and importantly he is a decent TT rider aswell, which could be useful when joining GC races with a TTT. Stocker is approximately two years from his peak level, though.
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Manuel Stocker
74
60
65
69
70
73
77
59
77
78
64
65
72
27
4.100
€50K
This concludes our transferperiod. The next post will include our entire setup, aswell as forming a few thoughts about how it went.
2017 TEAM:
We are happy to announce that our 2017 team have been concluded, and we want to present our team in stages. Firstly, though, here is a look at how our 2017 team will look like in numbers:
MOUNTAINS:
In the climbing departement of the team not much happened. We still have Simon Spilak and Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier as our main leaders, while Jakub Novak and Yuriy Vasyliv are both luxury domestiques.
We have decided to part ways with Piter Campero who did very well last season, but with a reduced calender we were left with an increasingly few races for him to really shine. Instead we decided to bolster our setup with two talented riders, Murilo Affonso, who will be the most prominent new addition to this years climbing setup. Affonso will not be able to make a huge difference, but he should be solid early on, and will develop into a nice rider with 76MO, 72HI and 73TT - So in that aspect should be almost as strong as Campero.
Other than that, we have signed italian climber Matteo Fabbro, who is out on loan. The 22 year old Italian rider will max out at 78MO and 75HI, so easily increasing our strength over Campero - although it will take 3-4 seasons.
Due to lack of depth we have decided to also loan in a few riders for the hard work early on. Nawuti Liphongyu, Cameron Bayly and James Piccoli are thus with us on a one-year loan solution. Neither will kick in as heavy pointscorers, but should do well on tougher stages, leaving the final work for the best riders. Before renewals we also decided to let go of Markus Eibegger.
Result: Stronger in numbers, but slightly less quality in 3rd tiers.
We have also decided to loan in Julian Alaphilippe, who might best be considered a punchy sprinter, but is likely to primarily help our hilly setup, while getting some chances for attacking early. Due to reducing numbers we will demand a bit more from riders such as Charalampas Kastrantas and Tom David, while we have strengthened ourselves for the future with the signing of Aidan van Niekerk who will easily be able to outperform Le Gac and Gougeard. Aidan is also away on loan this season, however.
Result: Significantly improved in numbers and 2nd tier.
SPRINTERS:
While improving on the cobbles was our main goal, a secondary one was to ensure that Bryan Coquard could have a strong leadout team around in for the seasons 2018-2019, where we aim for him to become one of the greatest sprinters around. We quickly picked up Emerson Santos who should be the perfect solution for the 2018 season, but also stagiare Farantakis, mentioned above, Georgios Bouglas and Manuel Stocker should both be extremely helpful in the 2019 season.
Losing Grzegorz Stepniak and Marco Haller, who was with us last season on a loan deal makes our team worse on the short term, but on long terms we should be stronger. Well, atleast if it wasn't for the fact that also Georgos Tzortzakis left. We are now left with just one top subtop sprinter, while we definately prefer having two.
Result: Strong leadout for the future, but significantly weaker in 2017.
Seeing other teams heavily bolster their setups made us realise that we had to do either the same or have to give other teams those top points. As we didn't have the funds to bolster up we decided to go in the other direction, and letting go.
Result: Top level unchanged, TTT level heavily reduced.
RESULT:
As it's clearly stated above, our team have gotten worse over the off season. Mainly due to losing Tzortzakis, Campero and Le Gac, while getting no pointscorers in - This is estimated as a loss of almost 1000 points (as a reference to the 2016 individual rankings list). We have, however, managed to make the team a bit more harmogenic and have decent domestiques in all aspects, which we have not had for the past two seasons.
Also the departements of riders leav us with exactly 4,7mio worth, which will be spent on training riders. Whether or not we will make up the lost points, is highly doubtful, but we may end up having a few added points here and there, and a much stronger base for the future, which was the key aim. Having kept Georgos Tzortzakis would have been the best thing in terms of chasing a third consquetive PT win, but we will have to see what we can do, and a podium will also be sufficient!
matt17br wrote:
There's a chance you might fight for the title
I hope you're right. I think I will be fighting for it, but whether or not we are strong enough is a good question. We have gotten worse, while some (Aegon and Vesuvio) have gotten quite a lot better.
Overall, a very strong squad, certainly one that if things go as planned should be in the fight for the PT title, although your lack of top sprinters could come back to bite you in the backside. Also, your lack of cobbled depth could also prove a problem, but should be able to get plenty of points in stage races, hilly classics and the mountainous classics. TTTs, as you've pointed out are a potential weakness compared to last year, but hopefully the all-rounders you've brought in should be able to limit your losses well.
Martii_Scots01 wrote:
Overall, a very strong squad, certainly one that if things go as planned should be in the fight for the PT title, although your lack of top sprinters could come back to bite you in the backside. Also, your lack of cobbled depth could also prove a problem, but should be able to get plenty of points in stage races, hilly classics and the mountainous classics. TTTs, as you've pointed out are a potential weakness compared to last year, but hopefully the all-rounders you've brought in should be able to limit your losses well.
Best of luck for the upcoming season mate.
Thanks a lot.
I decided to downgrade my cobbled departement just a tad in terms of what my plans were when seeing how strong other team were. Whether I get 12th or 7th doesn't matter too much.
I do definately agree on the sprinters side. And I shouldn't have sold Tzortzakis, but well, that wasn't part of the original plan, and unfortunately I wasn't the one giving me that headache if we go a bit harsh.
I don't think it's enought to win the 3rd one in a row, but I do think it's enough to land a podium spot - which would also be OK.
It most be a very good feeling having a guy like Spilak who can deliver great result in both GC and hilly classic. Even with selling that fast greek you have Coqaurd who can get you some good results in sprints. TT guys who another only is dreaming about aswell.
I was a little surprised that you didn't wait for the 24 hour period to be over before posting the sale thread for him, it does seem like an oversight I would never have expected you to make considering how good you are at creating deals in this game.
Simon Spilak
Jerome Coppel
Tom David 
Georgos Tzortzakis
Jakb Novak
Piter Campero
Yuriy Vasyliv 
Emerson Santos
Pieter Jacobs
Cameron Bayly has decided to join on a one year lone basis, in which the owning team pay the full wage.
Matteo Fabbro
Aidan van Niekerk
Nawuti Liphongyu
James Piccoli
Goran Antonijevic
Julien Taramarcaz
