Croatia14 wrote:
Hugenhaben in CT, god damn that will be tough against him
whitejersey wrote:
Hopefully no goals will clash with Hugenhaben, holy shit. That guy is scary for this level of racing
Yea, we're insanely happy we were able to keep him on the team. He does handcuff our wages a bit, but we're happy to work around keeping him.
Pre-Transfer Season Rumors Floating
With the transfer season approaching, rumors have been floating about which riders our team has been looking to keep or move on from. As we know we have had to cut down from our budget from last season with our relegation from the PCT and we will most likely need to keep doing so.
At the moment, here is the breakdown for the riders we are looking to keep or sell:
untouchable
Jakub Kratochvila
70,000
Joey Rosskopf
85,000
Clement Lhotellerie
50,000
Spoiler
Name
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
Kratochvila
67
76
77
70
70
68
72
54
53
64
72
72
70
Rosskopf
73
73
75
76
73
71
70
57
61
70
68
67
77
Lhotellerie
73
61
64
69
75
70
69
77
59
69
70
75
69
Solid Offer Needed
Robin Van Der Hugenhaben
300,000
Kai Reus
125,000
Kristijan Durasek
50,000
Mustafa Carsi
50,000
Johan Le Bon
50,000
Spoiler
Name
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
van der Hugenhaben
73
77
80
71
77
76
75
65
68
66
80
66
71
Reus
77
71
74
79
76
79
78
67
54
62
81
69
79
Durasek
70
71
75
74
74
72
69
52
60
59
61
58
74
Carsi
69
51
55
67
66
68
72
52
78
80
52
68
70
Le Bon
68
75
70
68
73
74
73
57
64
66
71
68
68
Available
Alexandre Aulas
50,000
Domenico Pozzovivo
98,000
Romain Hardy
50,000
Spoiler
Name
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
Aulas
73
55
67
61
75
67
69
73
74
72
63
80
61
Pozzovivo
68
77
73
69
70
75
75
59
56
69
67
67
69
Hardy
70
75
73
59
73
68
70
66
69
70
74
75
59
Gotta Go
Blaise Sonnery
50,000
Robert Sweeting
50,000
Ricardo Mestre
50,000
Spoiler
Name
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
Sonnery
69
71
70
64
66
71
75
53
78
73
67
60
64
Sweeting
73
53
70
60
72
69
75
58
76
75
63
60
67
Mestre
64
74
69
66
68
72
69
50
51
64
68
61
66
Overall this list might not be too much of a surprise, Mestre is getting up there in age, while Sweeting and Sonnery aren't too useful for us anymore which is why we don't really want them on our roster.
On the other hand though, most people maybe surprised to see who we have as untouchable riders, but riders at that quality with such low wages are people we want to retain over the long term.
Reus and Hugenhaben have to be available to a certain extent as we may accept big offers bc of their high wages, but them along with Carsi, Durasek and Le Bon would probably only move if someone overpaid.
Finally we aren't actively trying to get rid of Aulas, Pozzovivo and Hardy, but they also do have value on the market while still being very capable riders, so they are most definitely available.
And that pretty much wraps it up for our take on our team. We do believe we have a strong team going into the season already, but with a little more wage Space, we believe we will be able to upgrade our team massively.
Booker wrote:
Van der Hugenhaben is quite an investment, not one I'd be too worried about mind. He's like the Berkshire Hathaway of the CT.
Scared to come up against him, very scared
Hopefully he performs like I expect him to and brings us up to the PCT, but we'll see, he wasnt as amazing last year as i hoped
Goals Announced
With the transfer season starting, we have decided its about time to announce our goals for this season. Although they are very lofty goals, with a strong transfer season, we truly believe we will be able to achieve all of them.
Circulo de Juarez --- Win
Gisborne GP -- Top 5
Grands Prix Cyclistes --- Win
San Marino Hill Classic --- Win
CT Standings --- Win
Clearly these are very ambitious goals, with 4 out of the 5 being Win goals, including a win in all of the CT. I don't know if we will achieve all of them, but hopefully we achieve 3/5. The question mark may be with the Circulo de Juarez because we are truly lacking of a sprinter at the moment, so we will see how that pans out.
Hopefully you are all looking forward to a great transfer season just like we are here at In-n-Out p/b Carrefour.
Kentaurus wrote:
Asking for wins on those hills is a bold move, Van der Whatever is probably the best puncheur in the CT, hopefully I can ruin some of those for ya!
Not going to lie, you definitely have the team i'm most scared of in all of the CT, i'll be curious to see how many race clashes we end up having, but I expect the number to be quite high.
Ian Butler wrote:
You've got some real quality in your team. Hope we won't meet too much at the front of the race, because I need some wins
Thanks! Helps coming down from the PCT and having luck in renewals, but hopefully our new signings scare you even more.
First Transfer Signings Announced
About 48 hours into the transfer period, we've already made some massive signings that are bound to help us promote into the CT. We've had to let go some riders we wanted to keep but not without receiving substantial compensation.
Jocelyn Bar + Patrick Bercz for 400,000
From Team Puma - SAP
Name
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FT
DH
PL
AVG
Bar
77
55
70
61
75
72
79
68
77
76
72
63
61
74.88
Bercz
72
62
70
60
73
68
75
66
76
77
67
66
60
73.53
Bar and Bercz are going to be fantastic riders for us in our sprint train. Both of them are both excellent over hills for sprinters and will definitely be able to get their own results if they need to. For 400k, we feel like this is an absolute bargain, especially considering Bar and Bercz are both 29 and 28 years old respectively meaning they could serve us well for the next few years.
Marco Haller for 1,050,000
From Becherovka - Petrof
Name
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FT
DH
PL
AVG
Haller
72
61
65
56
72
71
76
58
80
79
66
64
71
74.86
Yup, We dropped over a million on a rider and we're a CT team. As you can imagine this means we're letting go of a quite a few riders. However, Haller is on a very low wage and is a tremendous sprinter who will no doubt do well for us. Also being 26 years old means he'll be sticking around for a while.
Maxime Bouet for Clement Lhotellerie + 150,000
From Festina - Dexia
Name
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FT
DH
PL
AVG
Bouet
75
62
67
76
73
73
75
54
67
73
64
63
76
72.20
Bouet comes over from Festina and is another french rider added to the team. He's brought in to win time trials, help in team time trials, and be a part of a revamped sprint train. We did let go of Lhotellerie, but without any cobble goals, it's not too big of a deal.
Clearly the riders we've acquired are definitely more suitable for our sprint train.
Most of these riders are PCT level in our opinion, but here we are at the CT level in a pretty good spot. But to afford these riders, we had to sell some guys.
Joey Rosskopf for 600,000 + Roman Kreuziger
To RBC Pro Cycling
Name
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FT
DH
PL
AVG
Kreuziger
73
69
72
77
73
73
73
52
61
71
69
61
77
73.73
Rosskopf was loaned out last season and raced for us in our last year in the CT. After maxing out, he became a hot commodity and in came RBC. We were already interested in acquiring Kreuziger so it all worked out and we were able to get kreuziger along with a fee allowing us to pick up some other riders.
Robert Sweeting for 125,000
To Newton Foundation
Sweeting was someone we had to part ways with to make space for more signings. He has a really special place in our team's heart as in our inagural season he was an absolute monster for us. Since then he's stayed on the team, not doing as well as before but still doing great. But with sadness we've decided to move on and we wish him the best in the future.
Domenico Pozzovivo for 280,000
To Wiggle presented by Boardman Bikes
Pozzovivo was a big addition for us last year, and although he did well and won the Tour of America, his age and wage meant that we needed to move on from him this year as we ended up in the CT. He definitely has a special place in our heart as he won one of the most important races in our team's history, but he won't be continuing with us next year.
We still have a few moves coming soon but the major moves we were looking to make are pretty much done. We've added sprinters and Time Trialists who are really going to make our team as well rounded as ever and hopefully propel us to a automatic promotion spot.
Incredibly scary team you've put together there, mate. Neither Haller nor Hugenhaben have any business being in CT. Fantastic job you've done there, holding onto your stud and surrounding him with other point scorers. Early favourite in my book
Booker wrote:
Incredibly scary team you've put together there, mate. Neither Haller nor Hugenhaben have any business being in CT. Fantastic job you've done there, holding onto your stud and surrounding him with other point scorers. Early favourite in my book
Eden95 wrote:
God damn Haller and Hughenhaben in the same team is basically cheating
Thanks guys! I think it all started in renewals as I got really lucky, maybe I overpaid a bit for Haller but i think my signings are gonna tear it up.
Last Big Transfers Announced
With a lot of time left in the transfer season, we have pretty much wrapped up our transfers with these last 2 riders,it's been a big transfer season for us and one of these guys makes it even bigger.
Aidis Kruopis for 350,000
from Spotify - Haglöfs
Name
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FT
DH
PL
AVG
Kruopis
73
64
70
71
73
76
75
69
78
77
70
64
76
74.72
Kruopis is a fantastic rider who can assert himself on pretty much every terrain. On pure flat stages he will most likely be a lead out man, but in tours, with his good time trialing and hill stat, he will get his fair share of his opportunities. For 350k, there was no way we could say no to a rider of his talent.
But to fund our signings, we had to release someone who was a favorite in within the management for his fantastic skillset. Unfortunately his skills didn't totally translate to results, but he was still a riders many of us enjoyed to watch.
Blaise Sonnery for 120,000
to Telia - Brussels Airlines
Unfortunately Sonnery marked another failed sprinter on our team, which was one of the reasons we decided to go all out this year and spend on sprinters. However,
his 5 top 5 finishes 2 seasons ago were key in earning us a promotion spot, and for that we will always be in debted to him. One day we really hope to bring him back but for now, he'll be moving onto another team.
Kruopis is a very good all-rounder who should score points left and right. But he might not win too often because he's not specialized enough. Still, he can prove me wrong
Ian Butler wrote:
Kruopis is a very good all-rounder who should score points left and right. But he might not win too often because he's not specialized enough. Still, he can prove me wrong
Well he did finish 6th in the CT rankings 2 years ago and hasn't declined in stats, so im hoping he does well. I love his skill set and hes definitely going to be a great leadout man when needed
Note: Inspiration for this taken from tsmoha
Full Team Presentation
|Team Leaders|
Robin Van Der Hugenhaben 2nd Season with the team
32 Years Old | 300,000 Wage | Puncheur
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
73
77
80
71
77
76
75
65
68
66
80
66
71
Kai Reus 2nd Season with the team
32 Years Old | 125,000 | Small Tour/Time-Trialist
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
77
71
74
79
76
79
78
67
54
62
81
69
79
Marco Haller Bought for 1,050,000
26 Years Old | 80,000 | Sprinter
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
72
61
65
56
72
71
76
58
80
79
66
64
71
|Domestiques|
Jocelyn Bar Bought with Bercz for 400,000
29 Years Old | 85,000 | Sprinter/Lead Out
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
77
55
70
61
75
72
79
68
77
76
72
63
61
Aidis Kruopis Bought for 380,000
31 Years Old | 70,000 | Hill Sprinter/Lead Out
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
73
64
70
71
73
76
75
69
78
77
70
64
76
Jakub Kratochvila 2nd Season with team
29 Years Old | 70,000 | Puncheur
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
67
76
77
70
70
68
72
54
53
64
72
72
70
Roman Kreuziger Bought in Rosskopf Swap
32 Years Old | 50,000 | Time-Trialist
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
73
69
72
77
73
73
73
52
61
71
69
61
77
|Teammates|
Patrick Bercz Bought with Bar for 400,000
28 Years Old | 50,000 | Lead Out
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
72
62
70
60
73
68
75
66
76
77
67
66
60
Romain Hardy 3rd Season with team
29 Years Old | 50,000 | Climber
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
70
75
73
59
73
68
70
66
69
70
74
75
59
Johan Le Bon 2nd Season with team
27 Years Old | 50,000 | Climber
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
68
75
70
68
73
74
73
57
64
66
71
68
68
Kristijan Durasek 3rd Season with team
30 Years Old | 50,000 | All-Around
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
70
71
75
74
74
72
69
52
60
59
61
58
74
Alexandre Aulas 4th Season with team
31 Years Old | 50,000 | Cobbler
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
73
55
67
61
75
67
69
73
74
72
63
80
61
Maxime Bouet Bought in Lhottellerie Swap
31 Years Old | 50,000 | Time-Trialist
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
75
62
67
76
73
73
75
54
67
73
64
63
76
Ricardo Mestre 2nd Season with team
34 Years Old | 50,000 | Climber
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
64
74
69
66
68
72
69
50
51
64
68
61
66
|Talent|
Thanawut Sanikwathi Bought for 50,000
24 Years Old | 50,000 | All-Arounder
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
66
57
65
65
64
64
64
68
71
72
66
71
68
When Maxed:
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
72
58
66
65
70
67
68
72
78
78
66
72
68
Mustafa Carsi On loan to Vesuvio
25 Years Old | 50,000 | Sprinter
That's just a scary team. Sprints, hills and TTs have great depth whilst mountains have 3 great lieutenants. Reus is an amazing CT rider and Aulas could surprise over cobbles. Hugenhaben is scary with every stat except acc, which isn't terrible anyway. Not good news for the CT, but fantastic for you guys, a top squad there.
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
jandal7 wrote:
That's just a scary team. Sprints, hills and TTs have great depth whilst mountains have 3 great lieutenants. Reus is an amazing CT rider and Aulas could surprise over cobbles. Hugenhaben is scary with every stat except acc, which isn't terrible anyway. Not good news for the CT, but fantastic for you guys, a top squad there.
Not gonna lie, Hugenhaben's lack of acc scares me a bit, I think it really limited him in the PCT last year, hopefully his just shear power in the hills brings us victories though. Thanks for the kind words!
Fantastic team you've assembled and it will be challenge to go up against your guys in any terrain. Looking forward to it though
Thanks! definitely had a head start due to the talent i picked up on low wages in PCT, hopefully they translate to the CT. Can't wait to race against your team too and good luck!
Clearly we went with a C2 and Hill/Flat heavy schedule to put our team at the best chance to win. We didn't register for a single Moutain or cobble focused race (except the C2HC races of course). Robin Van Hugenhaben had many great placings against PCT and will get a bunch of chances to ride against PCT riders with all of our C1 races. Hopefully our scheduling pays off.
Good looking calendar for In-n-Out in terms of race focus/selection. Surprising to some extent given WCC have taken a similar approach that our only overlap I can immediately see in C1 is at Betonexpressz. There again, a lot of our picks are on the pave which obviously differs.
Think is a good choice for you to avoid Tachira, and invest the days at Tour Down Under and elsewhere. We've done something similar, and also ditched Langkawi from C2 choices, and have changed it up by investing those saved RD's in HC outings (! ).
Nothing that transpired during transfers and now calendar announcment has altered my original pre-season view that the CT title fight is a 2-way battle between Azteca and In-n-Out. If anything, your transfers cemented the thought. Haller and in particualr his sprint train could well be devastating across the CT calendar. You're going to have a fab CT season, best wishes .
jandal7 wrote:
That's just a scary team. Sprints, hills and TTs have great depth whilst mountains have 3 great lieutenants. Reus is an amazing CT rider and Aulas could surprise over cobbles. Hugenhaben is scary with every stat except acc, which isn't terrible anyway. Not good news for the CT, but fantastic for you guys, a top squad there.
Not gonna lie, Hugenhaben's lack of acc scares me a bit, I think it really limited him in the PCT last year, hopefully his just shear power in the hills brings us victories though. Thanks for the kind words!
My experience with Klemme in CT, who also has 80 Hil, 66 Acc and similar Spr, was uphill finishes were fine but anything with a flat finish he struggled.
Even so you must have a good shot at the CT title with such a strong Hill, Sprint and TT squad, in fact I wish my leadout train was as good as yours! Good Luck.
I just realized how well your team is composed. Congrats. Now you need to get your planning together better than last season, where it mostly sent you to CT. I am quite surprised by several of your suggestions, f.e. TDU & Tropicale, but that also means well clash several times with our leaders...may you find a great season and come back to PCT with loads of strength!
Scorchio wrote:
(...)
Think is a good choice for you to avoid Tachira, and invest the days at Tour Down Under and elsewhere. We've done something similar, and also ditched Langkawi from C2 choices, and have changed it up by investing those saved RD's in HC outings (! ).
Nothing that transpired during transfers and now calendar announcment has altered my original pre-season view that the CT title fight is a 2-way battle between Azteca and In-n-Out. If anything, your transfers cemented the thought. Haller and in particualr his sprint train could well be devastating across the CT calendar. You're going to have a fab CT season, best wishes .
It really just didnt make sense for us to go to Tachira with all the climbing depth in the CT this year. Gonna be really excited to ride against your team this year, despite the low number of clashes. Regarding the azteca and in-n-Out being the two best teams, it definitely just comes from all the money both of us were able to spend while in the PCT. SanCor and Aeropostal Venezuela Ciclismo definitely got the short end of the stick in renewals so we're really ahead of the pack.
Also thank you so much for your thoughts as always
My experience with Klemme in CT, who also has 80 Hil, 66 Acc and similar Spr, was uphill finishes were fine but anything with a flat finish he struggled.
Even so you must have a good shot at the CT title with such a strong Hill, Sprint and TT squad, in fact I wish my leadout train was as good as yours! Good Luck.
Van Der Hugenhaben was solid in the PCT, and i'm not too worried about him now aftr we got a lot of hilly finishes in our calendar.
Thanks for the kind words and I cant wait to race you guys if we meet up in C1 Races!
Croatia14 wrote:
I just realized how well your team is composed. Congrats. Now you need to get your planning together better than last season, where it mostly sent you to CT. I am quite surprised by several of your suggestions, f.e. TDU & Tropicale, but that also means well clash several times with our leaders...may you find a great season and come back to PCT with loads of strength!
I'm actually super happy with our planning, i think last year we just focused on terrains where we didnt grab enough outright leaders. Our schedule is fantastic imo this year with so many time trials, hilly stages and flat races for Reus, Haller and RVH to excel in. Thanks for the kind words Croatia!
