sammyt93 wrote:
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.
sammyt93 wrote:
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.
I was too trusty. Heine said multiple times that this was a deal, and he wasn't going to back out from it. He's been in the game for a very long time, so I had no reason to distrust him.
And if I wanted a high fee for Tzortzakis I had to hit while some managers still hade money to spare. So I took the gamble. And it didn't pay off.
On the positive side, Tzortzakis is decreasing and hence me not being able to sell him for more than half than what I got was the realistic scenario for next season. And the money gained from the deal made me have more money for training one of the riders I didn't think I would get money for.
So on the longer perspectives a sale of Tzortzakis was a good thing. Short terms a bad decision. Also had I known I would have sold him, I would have kept Campero and possibly Le Gac aswell.
viking90 wrote:
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.
Good luck!
It is, but it also gives headaches It's a pain to plan his season as there are so many options to go by, and the limited amount of racedays invite to skip a Grand Tour...
Coppel and Vlatos should do alright again I hope. Coquard is lacking the SPR stat to make a great season, and we don't have the sprint train to make it feaseable to train him too much.
Like most seasons, Festina riders will be undergoing some sort of development through the off season. This season is no different. While last season was a bit of a slow period due to the vast amount of maxing out riders, including the likes of Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier, Bryan Coquard, Tom David, Clement Koretzky, Yuriy Vasyliv, Pite Campero, Yoann Paillot and Laurent Pichon (The two latter being sold), this season is back to development of top talents.
Three riders have improved, and are ready to take another step up: Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier Bryan Coquard Clement Koretzky
Lecuisinier is one of the brightest stars of modern cycling, and the Vuelta 4th is looking increasingly set for another top result this season. Coquard was struggling under the immense pressure of last season, but is one of the fastest riders in the peloton under the right circumstances. This season he takes another step towards joining the top sprinters. Clement Koretzky have enjoyed several seasons with great results, as his ever aggressive style have made him jump into numerous attacks. This season he takes another step, and could be considered an outsider for all hilly stages.
We present to you, the three new leaders:
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Pierre-H. Lecuisinier
71
82
75
77
78
80
79
65
67
74
65
70
77
24
4.100
Clement Koretzky
73
71
80
61
77
70
71
63
71
79
73
70
61
27
4.100
Bryan Coquard
73
58
65
65
71
74
84
56
82
83
60
65
79
25
4.100
There is a great chance of these riders further developping in the future, and each one of them have a very specific idol, that they are looking to reach the level of.
Edited by SotD on 19-09-2017 19:43
Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier, 24 years old (4th Vuelta a España)
Having his entire professionel career contracted at the Festina-side, it's hardly difficult to spot where the young french riders sympathy lies. Lecuisinier was loaned away to Alstom-RBC in the Pro Continental Tour immidiately after signing his Pro contract back in 2013, but since then he has been a solid starter at Pro Tour level, slowly increasing his status in the world of cycling.
Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier had a big dream of one day winning the Tour de France when he signed the initial contract, and one way of proving that the talent was there, was winning the Tour de l'Avenir. Twice runner up in the race proves just how much he cares about that race, but also shows that while being a great talent, hard work is needed aswell!
Hard work and talent, fortunately is a combination that Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier have, and his steady progress have been key to own motivation, the young frenchie recently stated in an interview with CyclingNews. In 2015 he had his first taste of Grand Tour leadership and co-leadership when he managed to take 13th in not only the Vuelta a España, but also the Tour de France.
In last season (2016) he took a rather big step up, when entering the Tour de France as a luxury domestique for Simon Spilak. While the captain wasn't able to win the race, Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier took a notable 7th place, beating the previous podium hope Romain Sicard by 2 minutes. 7th place also instantly puts Lecuisinier on the map over best french GC results in the Tour de France.
The current top 5:
1st Christophe Moureau (2007)
3rd John Gadret (2009)
4th Cyril Dessel (2008)
5th Romain Sicard (2015) 7th Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier (2016)
And what really made the pundits go wild, was the fact that he did so as a helper, while also claiming a massive 4th as a leader of the 2016 Vuelta a España, which is easily the best French GC result ever.
This season Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier unfortunately isn't going to be attempting two Grand Tours while it could likely be his last chance to do so. Instead he will be looking to go for one Grand Tour, aswell as 3 smaller GC races. We present to you:
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Pierre-H. Lecuisinier
71
82
75
77
78
80
79
65
67
74
65
70
77
24yo
Career Highligts
4th Vuelta a España ('16)
- Winner of U25 competition
7th Tour de France ('16)
- Runner up U25 competition
8th Paris-Nice ('16)
8th Tour of California ('15)
13th Tour de France ('15)
Obviously a great rider to have. Awesome results last year, so I fear he will once again be able to beat Morton wherever they attend Loving those HQ updates, btw. Always nice to read MG stuff after this post-transfers depression. Keep them coming!
tsmoha wrote:
Obviously a great rider to have. Awesome results last year, so I fear he will once again be able to beat Morton wherever they attend Loving those HQ updates, btw. Always nice to read MG stuff after this post-transfers depression. Keep them coming!
Thanks a lot. and thanks for commenting. It makes it a bit more motivating to keep on writing stuff
I hope his acceleration will help him achieve better results than Morton, but they will definately keep on bouncing heads for years to come
I really look forward to the day when they are 1-2 on the podium of a GT rather than on the U25 competitions
Lecuisinier already being eligible for training at 24 y/o is just sick . THis guy has such a long and succesful career ahead of him, never mind the highlights he has already accumulated. Also a big thumbs-up from me on all the articles in the HQ, love the level of detail and analysis as well as regular output.
Scorchio wrote:
Lecuisinier already being eligible for training at 24 y/o is just sick . THis guy has such a long and succesful career ahead of him, never mind the highlights he has already accumulated. Also a big thumbs-up from me on all the articles in the HQ, love the level of detail and analysis as well as regular output.
Thanks
Yeah he should have a pretty decent career, although there's quite a lot of very talented GC riders. It is going to be atleast another two seasons before he is 85MO. So 26yo. By then Pluchkin, Taaramae, Madrazo, Alarcon, Tenorio, Dombrowski, Phinney, Sicard, Morton, Cattaneo and Herklotz are all 82-85MO riders. So I don't think Lecuisinier is a realistic GT winner before turning 27-28. Doesn't matter though
Bryan Coquard, 25 years old (6th GP Moscow)
The young french sprinter, Bryan Coquard signed for Festina in 2013 together with Lecuisinier, who was mentioned previously. The progress of Coquard wasn't quite as smooth as Lecuisinier, however, and he had to make it a two-season stop to the Pro Continental Tour, first at EVIAN-MIAT and later to promoting side Quickstep, who unfortunately disbanded later on.
The young frenchie is still looking for his first professional win, however and many experts suggest that this should be the season where he finally manages to do so.
Having lost the greek sprinter, Georgos Tzortzakis a lot of pressure lies with the young sprinter, but also a lot of room to attend races that suits him better. This is the first time ever he have a team around him to actually work his cause, and it will be interesting to see if that is the key to unlocking this hidden gem. We present to you, Bryan Coquard!
As a team that has had and does still have a big interest in French riders, I hope that Lecuisinier has a great season for you as he was very promising last season.
I also hope that Coquard proves to you what he can do as he is a very promising rider on paper. A rider who I have had my eye on for a long time although I don't ever see him leaving your set up. Let's hope he has a blinder!
Luis Leon Sanchez wrote:
As a team that has had and does still have a big interest in French riders, I hope that Lecuisinier has a great season for you as he was very promising last season.
I also hope that Coquard proves to you what he can do as he is a very promising rider on paper. A rider who I have had my eye on for a long time although I don't ever see him leaving your set up. Let's hope he has a blinder!
Thanks
Coquard isn't likely to leave anytime soon no. He is one of the projects I really want to work. I never had a top top level sprinter before, and he could be one if trained wisely
Clement Koretzky, 27 years old (4th Giro di Lombardia)
Despite not being quite as young as Lecuisinier and Coquard we still value Clement Koretzky as one of our talents. He might have been a bit underway, but he is making some remarkable progress nontheless. As a complete opposite of Bryan Coquard, Clement Koretzky has made a very steep leaningcurve, and came back from loan after 2013 at EVIAN-MIAT to deliver wonderful results.
In his first season at Pro Tour level Koretzky managed to take two Pro Tour wins, first a stagewin in Tour of Qatar, and later on also in Volta a Catalunya.
In the 2015 season he went on to impress as he took his first classic top 10 when he managed 7th in the Badaling International, but it was in the final race of the season he really showed what kind of rider he was becoming. By taking 4th in the Giro di Lombardia he propelled the team into a shocking overall Pro Tour win ahead of favorites Vesuvio - Accumalux.
Last season, Clement Koretzky was once more in the stagewinners role, when he took a strong stagewin in the Tour of California also claiming the KOM jersey aswell as a very surprising 6th overall. He didn't manage to secure any other stagewins, but throughout the season he performed at a very high level, capping 9th at Liege-Bastogne-Liege, 11th at Fleche Wallonne aswell as impressively riding towards GC top 10s in Tirreno-Adriatico and Deutschland Tour. A season that is definately hard to replicate!
Having went from one strong performance to the next, there's no real stopping this riders. Koretzky takes on the hills with great attacking nature and survive even the toughest mountains without too much losses. His timetrial capabilities are not noteworthy though, but might improve over time aswell. We present to you: Clement Koretzky!
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Clement Koretzky
73
71
80
61
77
70
71
63
71
79
73
70
61
27yo
Career Highligts
4th Giro di Lombardia ('15)
6th Tour of California ('16)
- Stagewin and KOM
7th Tirreno-Adriatico ('16)
9th Liege-Bastogne-Liege ('16)
11th Fleche Wallone ('16)
Having won the Pro Tour of 2015 and 2016 we have been looking at marginal gains throughout, and use very specific statistics to get there. One of the meassuring tools we use is the "Chase for equality", which is a simple comparison tool, in which we divide the team into different pools and attempt to level out the needed points scored in previous seasons, to get a similar amount of points - or atleast a supposed needed amount of points.
This season is a bit different. Not only did we win by a rather big margin last season, and thus not having a realistic benchmark from other teams to sum up against, but we also have gotten less racedays for all riders. Some riders are certain to feel this more than others. Our guess is that GC riders will suffer the most, as especially cobblers, but also TT'ers, sprinters and puncheurs have a more spread out calender and uses less racedays to perform, while the GC riders will often have to attend atleast one Grand Tour. So what we have done here is to downgrade the GT setup by 10%, while the other areas are only downgraded by 5%.
We also take a look at the average points needed to secure a PT win, from the past three seasons and use that as out benchmark, rather than looking solely at 2016.
This gives an average of 7.716 pts which sounds reasonably as a similar amount of points would have won in both 2015 and 2016. From here, we have to deduct some points also.
In 2016 Becherovka scored 1.048 points from their top GC riders (Velits and König). Those points are reduced to 943 points. The differrence left is 6.666-1.048 = 5.618pts. That is reduced to 5.337 points. As a grand total this is 6.280 pts.
In 2015 Vesuvio scored 1.962 points from their top GC riders (Schleck and Suaza). Those points are reduced to 1.766 points. The difference left is 7.575-1.962 = 5.613pts. That is reduced to 5.332 points. As a grand total this is 7.098 pts.
In 2014 Vesuvio scored 2.798 points from their top GC riders (Schleck and Suaza. *Note, Frank Schleck is not counted towards GC). Those points are reduced to 2.518 points. The difference left is 8.906-2.798 = 6.108 points. That is reduced to 5.803 points. As a grand total this is 8.321 pts.
The new average - 7.233pts
So that is our benchmark, for realistically winning the Pro Tour in 2017! Let's have a look at what our riders did in 2016, and what we would reduce those figures to. This is being used to set up some sort of realistic level for each category.
Name
2016 points
Reduced points
Simon Spilak
1807
1626
Jerome Coppel
1317
1251
Georgos Tzortzakis
688
654
Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier
996
896
Clement Koretzky
820
779
Tom David
334
317
Yuriy Vasyliv
214
203
Charalampas Kastrantas
191
181
Markus Eibegger
101
96
Panagiotis Vlatos
357
339
Piter Campero
195
185
Mathieu Bernaudeau
78
74
Bryan Coquard
277
263
Olivier Le Gac
148
141
Jakub Novak
229
218
Andreas Hofer
130
124
Nejc Kosic
55
52
Grzegorz Stepniak
71
67
Maxime Bouet
132
125
Pavel Potocki
63
60
Marco Haller
53
50
Alexis Gougeard
59
55
Looking at the total, this would have given us 7.756 pts, which is still well above the benchmark needed. BUT, here's the difficult thing. The team have changed quite drastically, having lost 12 of the above riders, which brings a loss of 1.683pts. This leaves us with a new benchmark (before adding new riders) on 6.073. That is 1.160 points below the new benchmark for winning the Pro Tour of 2017.
We will continue to look at leveling out the ponts of reduced numbers from 2016 into divided groups, in order to see where our strengths and weaknesses lies, and what to possibly expect.
A huge loss has to be made up for when looking at Georgos Tzortzakis. He takes out 654 points. Luckily for us, Bryan Coquard is trained and should - from that alone - score more points. He is also free to ride the races that suits him perfectly instead of sharing those with Tzortzakis. Taking all things into consideration we expect Bryan Coquard to score 450 points, leaving us with a minus of 470 points.
COBBLERS
2016 adjusted
Tom David
317
Nejc Kosic
52
TOTAL
369
Having a total of 369 points in this category clearly makes us have only small margins to lose, but if we look closer Tom David should be in the same position as he was last season, at around the 15th strongest cobbler. He underperformed in TONE and lost some points he should have gained. We believe there is a good chance that Tom David can score 350 points this seaon. Then having lost Nejc Kosic, but added Pieter Jacobs and Julien Taramarcaz we expect those to score around 200-250 points. If we put that to 250 we get a total of 600 points which is is roughly + 230 points, levelling out the loss of the GC/HI setup.
TT'ERS
2016 adjusted
Jerome Coppel
1251
Panagiotis Vlatos
339
Mathieu Bernaudeau
74
Andreas Hofer
124
Maxime Bouet
125
TOTAL
1.913
Last season was a very strong TT year for us, winning a couple of Team timetrials aswell as having both Coppel and Vlatos performing at a high level. We believe that Jerome Coppel have every chance to do well again, given the race calender and the possible outcomes. Vlatos is likely going to struggle to gain a similar amount of points, so we have to deduct him to 300 points. Bernaudeau, Hofer and Bouet are all lost, which leaves us with a minus of 360 points (including the loss of Vlatos points).
This leaves us with the final group
DOMESTIQUES
2016 adjusted
Charalampas Kastrantas
181
Markus Eibegger
96
Grzegorz Stepniak
67
Pavel Potocki
60
Marco Haller
50
TOTAL
454
This was a relatively small pool last season compared to this one, so we definately expect to make amends. Kastrantas 181 points is an unrealistic high for him. We have to set him at 150 points at the most. The remaining four riders have all been lost, meaning a total loss of 300 points. Instead we have added Murilo Affonso, Nawuti Liphongyu, Cameron Bayly, James Piccoli, Julian Alaphilippe, Georgios Bouglas, Emerson Santos, Manuel Stocker and two stagiares, Farantakis and Antonijevic. If we adjust numbers and expect 80 points in average from all domestiques except for the stagiares, this gives us 640 points. We expect the stagiares to score 15 points each, which gives us a total of 670 points. Deducting 300 leaves us with a plus of 370 points.
If those points are added together:
GC RIDERS / PUNCHEURS -250
SPRINTERS -470
COBBLERS +230
TTERS -360
DOMESTIQUE +370
This sums up to -480pts. Our benchmark of last season was 7.756pts, and deducting the above leaves us with 7.276pts. The benchmark we were after was 7.233. So after this analyzis we are +43pts, in terms of the benchmark of 2nd place in the overall Pro Tour.
The conclusion is - We are still within a fighting chance to get a 3rd Pro Tour win, if our numbers add up, our riders perform similarly to last season (or slightly worse for some). If another team beats the benchmark we obviously have to adjust ours aswell, but for now, if all is planned well, our riders perform like last season, and we don't have a new highjumper to beat the benchmarks for 2nd place - Then we can win the Pro Tour!
The season is upon us, and we have discussed finances with our main sponsors in regards with the future season goals. These are our targetted races for the upcoming season:
Tour of Tasmania - Win
Tour de France - Top 3
Team standings - Top 3
Vuelta a España - Top 10
Liege-Bastogne-Liege - Top 10
With this we also present our key riders raceplanning:
Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier
Tirreno-Adriatico
Tour of California
Vuelta a España
Deutschland Tour
Jerome Coppel
Tour of Qatar
Paris-Nice
Milano San Remo
Chrono des Herbiers
Tour of California
Tour of Norway
Praha - Karlovy Vary - Praha
Tour of Northern Europe
Tour of Tasmania
Clement Koretzky
Badaling International
Paris-Nice
Milano San Remo
Tour of California
Amstel Gold Race
Fleche Wallone
Liege-Bastogne-Liege
Scandinavia Road Race
Tour of Norway
La Megantic Classic
Praha - Karlovy Vary - Praha
Deutschland Tour
Tour of Tasmania
Giro di Lombardia
Some fairly modest goals for the defending champions, I'd say. All five should be well within reach with your team, that's for sure.
Though, I'm not sure you're allowed to post race planning, as the last message from roturn on the forum was that not all PT planners are in. Though, I might have missed something written on Skype or somewhere else
I like your rider plannings and think you will come close minimum or repeat the title in PT.
Too impressive your stage race duo with Koretzky also a rider that is loved by AI and Coppel will always be up there in those races planned.
If Tom David steps up as well a bit, your title is guaranteed imo as Coquard as well should do okay.
Tasmania is set for another thriller. Obviously. Last year's close runner-up for Bobridge was both great and heart-breaking. It's just fair if it goes the other way this time
We won't see Morton vs Lecusinier or Spilak in a GT then. Could be worse
ember wrote:
Some fairly modest goals for the defending champions, I'd say. All five should be well within reach with your team, that's for sure.
Though, I'm not sure you're allowed to post race planning, as the last message from roturn on the forum was that not all PT planners are in. Though, I might have missed something written on Skype or somewhere else
I need money for next season if I'm to train Coquard, Lecuisinier and Koretzky further So yeah, fairly modest. I tried picking a few more difficult, but couldn't get to max without a serious risk of losing 2 goals or more, so decided to go for 20 points but a realistic shot at all 5.
I like your rider plannings and think you will come close minimum or repeat the title in PT.
Too impressive your stage race duo with Koretzky also a rider that is loved by AI and Coppel will always be up there in those races planned.
If Tom David steps up as well a bit, your title is guaranteed imo as Coquard as well should do okay.
I hope you are right mate. That said, several of my riders heavily overperformed last season, so can't really expect it to happen again.
Jerome Coppel was fairly easy to plan this season despite the fact that I would have like to have him in a GT. Same goes for Koretzky to be honest, but the pointgains is just too little. Maybe it would be an idea to take a look at Grand Tours to ensure that different kind of riders are capable of riding in those without losing most of the racedays.
Tom David and Bryan Coquard are both very open questionmarks for me.
It's a pain to plan his season as there are so many options to go by, and the limited amount of racedays invite to skip a Grand Tour...
Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier
Loving those HQ updates, btw. Always nice to read MG stuff after this post-transfers depression. Keep them coming!
