Kentaurus wrote:
There will be several clashes between Chaves and Van der Hugenhaben I'm sure, my guess is we will probably split the points pretty evenly between us. The killer is going to be the lack of breakaway chances in these races for other teams as there should almost always be one of the two of us to control the race, and we both have depth on the hills as well.

Reporting for these hilly races with our teams should be a ton of fun though.

As we get closer and closer to the season, it's interesting to compare our team and see how our leaders will compare to other team leaders.

Explanation
The way this is going to work is that we will be seeing the riders with the top 5 attributes in Mountains, Hills, Time Trials, Cobbles and Sprints. However, I will trim it by only considering competent riders. What i mean by "competent riders" is riders who will actually score results and don't just have some outstanding stats. For example: Daniel Thorensen who has 82 SP and 85 ACC but has 61 FL and therefore is effectively useless.

I've decided to define a competent rider as a rider as a ride who has over 63 Flat, so I don't count climbers who are going to get dropped immediately on flat stages, 53 Mountain and 58 Hill so I don't count riders who are going to get dropped before sprints.

So without further ado, lets get into it.

Rank	Name	Team	MT	HL	STA	RES	REC
1a	Ryan Eastman	Azteca	80	71	76	75	76
1b	Jaime Suaza	Eddie Stobart	80	65	65	76	67
3a	Rafael Valls	Repsol Honda	79	75	78	77	78
3b	Oscar Solis	Andorra	79	60	68	78	76
3c	Pierre Paolo Penasa	Kulczyk	79	73	75	72	77
3d	Winner Anacona	Reddit	78	74	75	72	74
...
18	Robin Hugenhaben	In-n-Out	77	80	77	76	75

Thoughts
Looking at this list, I'm not super convinced by Suaza and Solis with their super low hill stats, but considering we aren't looking to have any mountain riders, having someone in the top 20 who will barely ride any mountain races is pretty cool.

Overall, I would definitely expect Eastman and Valls to be the beasts in the mountains, Eastman more in tours and Valls more in individual stages, but there are also so many climbers in the CT so it'll really be interesting.

Rank	Name	Team	HL	STA	RES	REC	ACC
1	Robin Hugenhaben	In-n-Out	80	77	76	75	66
2	Johan Chaves	Azteca	79	74	73	72	72
3a	David Boily	World Cycling	78	72	72	69	74
3b	Anthony Roux	Xero	78	78	71	70	75

(too many 77 hill riders)
Thoughts
Here we are at the top, and we would have someone tied for fourth highest hill in Kratochvila. This is probably where we are going to make our biggest inprint. However, I am very worried about Anthony Roux and David Boily in hilly finishes, they both have very good acceleration and Roux has fantastic backup stats. However overall we're looking good with Robin Van Der Hugenhaben.

Rank	Name	Team	FL	TT	PRL	STA	RES
1a	Kai Reus	In-n-Out	77	79	79	76	79
1b	Tony Martin	Lobauer	74	79	78	75	75
1c	Hugues Mottin	Andorra	69	79	79	67	74
1d	Robert Stelly	CycleYorkshire	67	79	79	66	70

(too many 78 TT riders)
Thoughts
Reus seems to be by far the best Time Trialist in the CT. He's the only rider who's got the amazing time trialing, plus amazing back up stats, plus good on multiple terrains. The only one who could possibly compare is Rohan Dennis who is a worse Time Trialist. Then on the other hand you have Tony Martin who is just a worse version Kai Reus regarding the backup stats and climbing stats. So we're looking good here.

Rank	Name	Team	FL	HL	STA	CB	SP
1a	Buillaume Keirsbulck	Nordstrom	72	71	75	78	70
1b	Robert Bush	World Cycling	74	62	75	78	71
3a	Jempy Drucker	Philips	74	65	75	77	74
3b	Stijn Vanderbergh	Xero	75	66	74	77	61
3c	Arnaud Grand	Sauber	72	65	74	77	65
...
19	Alexandre Aulas	In-n-Out	73	67	75	73	74

Thoughts
Man we really messed up by not keeping Lhotterlerie, who would have been a top 5 cobbler in this division. Although his stats aren't as great as these other guys it would have been nice.

The guy that really stands out to me here is Jempy Drucker, I absolutely love his high flat and sprint stats which will be really interesting. However Keirsbulck is probably the best pure cobbler with his good backup stats and all.

Rank	Name	Team	FL	STA	REC	SP	ACC
1a	Raul Cabrera	Aeropostal	75	75	82	80	77
1b	Marco Haller	In-n-Out	72	72	76	80	79
1c	Giacomo Nizzolo	Telia	73	70	71	80	79
1d	Cameron Meyer	Reddit	72	70	74	80	76
1e	Jaime Castaneda	World Cycling	71	71	78	80	79
1f	Mohamed Salleh	Sauber	70	73	77	80	80

Thoughts
This is the most interesting category in my opinions as I think each one of these riders has a flaw that comes along with them. Cabrera would be low acceleration, Nizzolo and Meyer would be back backup stats while Castaneda and Salleh might not make it to the end of the race to sprint.

I think for us Haller is the most all around one which puts us in a good spot, but Cabrera looks fantastic and will probably do a bunch of damage in flat tours.

jandal7 wrote:
Very interesting analysis. That sprint field looks amazing to watch but not to be a 79 sprinter in Hope in that hilly field Roux and Boily's acc balances the 79 and 80 hills of Chaves and Hugenhaben You guys look stacked, Haller is amazing, Reus is amazing, Hugenhaben is ridiculous in CT. Aulas should actually do quite well I think, doubt he'd be the 19th best scorer, will be higher. 3/5 terrains with top scorers, cobbles with a good leader for an non-targeted terrain and Hugenhaben maybe getting some mountain action on the odd occasion? makes for a very very good looking CT team, and a strong title candidate. Look forward to seeing your squad in action, especially in Manx, Windhoek, slovenie and the other races we don't have to face your guys

Booker wrote:
What an interesting take, and the effort is definitely not overlooked!

Kai Reus is going to be a monster on the time trials, hoping Mullen can fight for the leftover podium places. Same with Hugenhaben, Vichot will need to use his ACC and FGHT to counteract the objectively "better" riders. No redeeming qualities for those fighting Haller though, having him is just cheating. You've been able to retain/put together just an unbelievable team, clear favourites for me.

I totally get what you're going for here with a profile of the top riders by main stat, but I hope some of the key backups (read: ACC) will leave us in better position than some of those standouts with lower stat floors. At least, that's what we're banking on. Looking forward to the upcoming season, but not if your squad is at the front of the peloton, beating Kulczyk - DMTEX into submission with our less-than-ideal resistance levels.

Bold: Team Goals

Race	Classification
Clasico San Cristobal	C2
Tour of Almaty	C1
Gisborne GP	C2HC
Eurkal Bizikleta	C2
Tour de Slovenie	C1
Ringerike GP	HC
Manx International	C1
Grands Prix Cyclistes	C2HC
Tour of Britain	C2HC
GP Yekaterinburg	C2
Zuri Metzgete	C2HC

Mistakes were definitely made in RVH's planning in retrospect. When we first planned our season out, we had him going to the Tour of Slovenie just to try to get a GC victory. But hindsight is 20-20 and definitely shouldn't have tried to get sneaky about it and should have just sent him to some more climbing races. Overall it's not too bad because the races where he isn't represented, Kruopis will lead us and is a great sprinter in the hills.

Apart from that, I would expect Hugenhaben to still have a great season, races like the Tour of Britain and Eurkal Bizikleta are hopefully going to massive scoring races for him.

Bold: Team Goals

Race	Classification
Great Ocean Road Classic	C2HC
Barcelona Classic	C2
Geraardsbergen-Bosberg	C2HC
Bayern Rundfahrt	C2HC
Windhoek ITT	C2
Tour de Slovenie	C1
Isle of Man ITT	C1
Ringerike GP	HC
Benelux Challenge	C2HC
Tour of Britain	C2HC
Herald Sun Tour	C2

Reus will be racing in 7 (If i counted correctly) ITTs this season, and will be present in many flat and hilly stages to act as lead outs for Haller and Kruopis respectively. Reus probably wont find himself at the top of the point scorers leaderboard, but with his great Time Trialing, we're really hoping for 2 or more stage wins from him, especially considering that he's definitely the best Time-Trialist in the CT.

Bold: Team Goals

Race	Classification
Great Ocean Road Classic	C2HC
Barcelona Classic	C2
Geraardsbergen-Bosberg	C2HC
La Tropicale Amissa Bongo	C1
Bayern Rundfahrt	C2HC
Betonexpressz GP	C1
Tour de Langkawi	C2
Ciculo de Juarez	C2
Tour de San Luis	C2HC
Paris Tours	C2HC
Herald Sun Tour	C2

With Haller, we definitely did a great job planning, all of his races are very flat heavy, with no real wasted race days. We did send him to some bumpier races just because we know he has the ability to go over bumps as well as any other sprinter, if not better.

Bercz and Bar, will most likely be following Haller to each of his races to act as a lead out, giving us a tremendous sprint train that will be as good as any, but with an amazing sprinter to finish that races off.

1	Rafael Valls	ESP		Repsol - Honda	753
2	Anthony Roux	FRA		Xero Racing p/b Octagon	631
3	David Boily	CAN		World Cycling Centre	485
4	Johan Esteban Chaves	COL		Azteca - NBCSN	455
5	Pierre Paolo Penasa	ITA		Kulczyk - DMTEX	454
6	Robin van der Hugenhaben	NED		In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	453
10	Kai Reus	NED		In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	370
18	Marco Haller	AUT		In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	235
47	Jocelyn Bar	FRA		In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	129
53	Jakub Kratochvila	CZE		In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	119
57	Roman Kreuziger	CZE		In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	110
134	Maxime Bouet	FRA		In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	43
146	Romain Hardy	FRA		In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	38
167	Kristijan Durasek	CRO		In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	28
170	Alexandre Aulas	FRA		In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	27
180	Aidis Kruopis	LTU		In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	23
264	Johan Le Bon	FRA		In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	8
278	Patrick Bercz	GER		In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	7
281	Thanawut Sanikwathi	THA		In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	7
407	Ricardo Mestre	POR		In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	0

1		World Cycling Centre	1780
2		In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	1597
3		Kulczyk - DMTEX	1583
4		Philips - Continental	1535
5		Team Reddit	1414

Type	Name	Years with team
Main	Carrefour	4
Secondary	ESPN	5
Minor	In-n-Out	5
Minor	Caisse d'Epagne	1
Minor	Auchan	2
Equipment	Trek	4
Equipment	Bontrager	1
Clothing	Nike	1

Resigned
Rider	Old Wage	New Wage
Robin Van Der Hugenhaben	300,000	327,000
Alexandre Aulas	50,000	50,000
Romain Hardy	50,000	50,000
Jakub Kratochvila	70,000	75,000
Kristijan Durasek	50,000	50,000
Mustafa Carsi	50,000	95,000
Marco Haller	80,000	165,000
Jocelyn Bar	85,000	148,000
Roman Kreuziger	50,000	50,000
Patrick Bercz	50,000	70,000
Maxime Bouet	50,000	50,000
Thanawut Sanikwathi	50,000	50,000
Not Resigned
Johan Le Bon	50,000	Not offered
Kai Reus	125,000	Demands not met
Ricardo Mestre	50,000	Not offered
Aidis Kruopis	70,000	Demands not met

Signed from Free Agency on 85,000 wage

Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FT	DH	PL	AVG
Andrea Palini	69	70	78	66	75	68	69	54	68	74	69	61	66	75.24

Andrea Palini is an Italian Puncheur who we've brought in on an 85k wage which we see as quite a bargain. At 29 years old, hopefully Palini is someone we can retain for years to come.

-------
Signed from Free Agency on 50,000 wage

Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FT	DH	PL	AVG
Kevin Feiereisen	74	62	68	58	73	68	75	63	77	78	61	68	69	74.77

Feiereisen is going to be a great leadout for any sprinter we go into the season with, especially on a 50k wage. He's only 26 which means depending on his wage demands, we'll try our best to retain as good lead-outs such as him on a 50k wage are great value.

-------
Transfered from Festina - Dexia for 1,000,000 and 3 riders

Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FT	DH	PL	AVG
Jerome Coppel	77	66	77	83	78	78	74	54	65	74	73	64	83	79.65

Coppel is a huge rider considering our focus nation, it's unfortunate how much we gave up to bring him in, but it's a move we felt like we had to do, especially with our plans in the FA market. Hopefully this gamble pays off.

To Festina - Dexia for Jerome Coppel

Rider	Seasons Raced With Us
Robin van der Hugenhaben	2
Marco Haller	1
Jocelyn Bar	1

Hugenhaben was someone we constantly looked to move going into this season. Although he has good stats, his wage was just too big for us to keep with us. Unfortunately the price to get rid of Hugenhaben was Bar and Haller. Bar and Haller both had a substantially bigger wage than last year, limiting their value compared to what we brought them in for. Haller also doesn't really represent a true sprinter at the PCT level in our eyes, which is another reason why we had to move on from him

Loaned in From World Cycling Center on split wages

Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FT	DH	PL
Abou Sanogo	69	61	69	64	68	69	62	71	67	69	73	72	70

If leveled up as cobbles + maxed as classics

Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FT	DH	PL
Abou Sanogo	73	61	71	64	71	72	64	76	69	70	76	73	70

-------
Loaned in From World Cycling Center on split wages

Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FT	DH	PL
Jhonatan Restrepo	69	65	71	69	68	67	71	55	69	70	63	67	69

If leveled up as sprint + maxed as hills

Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FT	DH	PL
Jhonatan Restrepo	72	66	74	69	72	69	74	57	71	73	64	68	69

Both of these guys are great young guys with good potential. It was nice to bring in two talents who can offer us some production despite their age and only have to pay 25k wages for each othem.

Signed from Free Agency on 380,000 wage

Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FT	DH	PL
Ivano Lo Cicero	72	56	64	56	71	63	79	69	84	78	54	60	75

Italian sprinter Lo Cicero is a proven comodity at the PCT level, finishing 3rd in the PCT rankings in 2016 and in the top 35 last season. Going into the season we were especially looking for a big sprinter to bring us points, and by moving Haller and Bar we were able to free up wage space to bring in this absolute beast

-------
Signed from Free Agency for 50,000

Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FT	DH	PL
Daniel Schorn	76	56	61	69	67	65	77	62	77	77	66	65	72

Schorn was a mainstay for many years at Wiesenhof - Andritz, but after he moved on this off-season, we made a move for him to be a part of our hopefully effective sprint train. At 50k, the Austrian should be a steal and offer a lot of help for our main sprinters.

To Isostar Slovenija in a Rider Swap

Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FT	DH	PL
Jakub Kratochvila	67	76	77	70	70	68	72	54	53	64	72	72	70

With the team seemingly moving more and more away from a hill-specific team, Kratochvila was alway on the cards for a transfer out. He was terrific in both seasons with us, claiming 5 top 5 finishes last year with a great individual output in the CT. Unfortunately it just made sense for us to move on from him and bring in a talent who will most likily surpass him, along with a good veteran cobble/sprinter.

-------
From Isostar Slovenija in a Rider Swap

Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FT	DH	PL
Jérome Giaux	73	59	67	68	72	68	78	71	77	75	67	68	68

Giaux offers us nice versatility as he's able to perform on the shorter/flatter cobbled stages while also being able to participate in our sprint train. The Belgian will probably lead us in the very few cobbled races we participate in, but should be valuable in those races.

-------
From Isostar Slovenija in a Rider Swap

Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FT	DH	PL
Jernej Svab	69	68	71	56	68	70	67	66	66	74	64	67	54

If level up + maxed in hills

Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FT	DH	PL
Jernej Svab	71	70	76	57	72	72	69	66	67	77	67	68	55

Svab was the person who pushed us over the edge to aquire Kratochvila. He's a great slovenian talent who we be very effective when maxed due to his high hill and acceleration rating. He shares a lot of similar traits as Kratochvila, but although he won't be able to climb mountains like kratochvila, his acceleration means he'll be very involved on a race-by-race basis (when maxed of course).

Atlantius wrote:
I wish you the best of luck with Lo Cicero and hope you'll get the 2016 version rather than the 2017 one.

Loaned in From Festina - Dexia with us paying 50,000 wages

Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FT	DH	PL
Ioannidis Nikolaos	66	71	70	71	73	71	69	57	58	69	71	67	72

If maxed as a stage racer

Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FT	DH	PL
Ioannidis Nikolaos	67	75	73	75	76	74	73	57	58	70	72	67	76

Festina approached us with them desperately looking for a someone to take Nikolaos on loan. We've done nice deals with them in the past and gladly took him on loan, especially with them giving us a 55k fee for our troubles.

Signed from Free Agency on 265,000 wage

Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FT	DH	PL
Romain Vanderbiest	74	64	64	67	74	69	81	58	82	77	55	65	74

With the team having many flat goals, it only made sense to bring in someone like Romain. His speed is tremendous and he'll be leading the team in every race that doesn't include Lo Cicero. He's a similar sprinter to Ivano, with a high top speed but not amazing acceleration, but we should be able to put him into great positions with the sprint train we've been trying to develop.

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Signed from Free Agency for 110,000

Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FT	DH	PL
Wen Hao Li	75	53	61	78	73	68	71	50	75	75	64	64	78

Li is a great timetrialist who should offer a solid amount of points in any race against the clock. However, his real value also lies in with his amazing ability on the flat, paired with his great sprinting abilities, Vanderbiest and Lo Cicero will love him by the end of the season.

-------
Signed from Free Agency for 70,000

Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FT	DH	PL
Alan Banaszek	66	61	62	61	67	67	62	57	69	73	65	67	67

If maxed as a track sprinter

Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FT	DH	PL
Alan Banaszek	74	61	65	64	70	74	74	57	79	81	65	70	75

Banaszek is only 21 years old, but with the potential he has, it only made sense for us to make a big push for him in free agency. He should fully maxout in 3 seasons at which point he'll be a great leadout man/backup sprinter.


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Signed from Free Agency for 50,000

Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FT	DH	PL
Jan Drago Petelin	68	70	68	62	69	67	66	50	54	68	65	59	61

If leveled up to 2.0 as a Climber v2 and maxed as a Climber v1

Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FT	DH	PL
Jan Drago Petelin	69	78	74	62	70	71	71	50	54	75	72	61	61

We were very surprised to be able to pick up this young man from Luxembourg. Petelin may not be the next Andy Schleck, but his climbing is fantastic and he has solid backup stats including a 75 acceleration.

Transfered from Ebuddy for 50,000

Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FT	DH	PL
Jonathan Castroviejo	70	72	75	70	71	70	70	56	67	74	73	65	70

Castroviejo is someone who fits our team very well. He's a very all-around rider but will be super helpful for Coppel in the hillier tours that he features in. When we made this deal we didn't have much money, but we felt like for 50k, that we couldn't go wrong.

Transfered from BNZ for 39,000 and Mustafa Carsi

Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FT	DH	PL
Aleksa Crncevic	66	70	66	67	66	66	69	64	61	68	66	75	66

If maxed as a stage racer

Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FT	DH	PL
Aleksa Crncevic	67	76	70	73	70	70	75	64	61	69	67	75	72

Crncervic comes do us in a deal where we gave up young sprinter Mustafa Carsi. Although we would have loved to keep Carsi, the 95k wage we gave him in renewals was really crippling for us. Luckily we were able to flip him for Crncervic, who will blossom into a good stage racing hepler by the time he's maxed.

Rider	Seasons Raced With Us	Team	Terms
Mustafa Carsi	1 (on loan)	BNZ Cycling	Crncervic Swap Deal
Kristijan Durasek	2	Nordstrom - BioWare	90,000
Roman Kreuziger	1	DK Žalgiris	55,000
Jernej Svab	0	Disegual	ON LOAN

It was hard to see Kristijan Durasek go after 2 great seasons with us. He endured our season of falling back down to the CT, and celebrated with us as we came back up to the CT. Unfortunately his age became a big factor in wanting to move him, as it was in deciding to move Roman Kreuziger. Jernej Svab was aquired earlier in the window, but would benefit greatly from experience at the highest level, so a loan to Disegual.

SportingNonsense wrote:
Feiereisen is a good leadout option, so nice to see him picked up and with some good sprinters to serve. Ultimately wanted a little too much to stay at Vesuvio, with us not having any use for that kind of rider.

Croatia14 wrote:
You brought a brilliant team together honestly! On Svab: Maybe you get even more out of him if you go climber v2 on the 4 -> max training, which could bring him to 78 Acceleration.

whitejersey wrote:
Am I wrong thinking that its going to take Banaszek 4 seasons to max out since he is born in 97 and hence can't go from 1-3 this season? The team it self though is looking like it turned out very nicely. Vanderbiest is going to be interesting to follow that's for sure!

It's a weird set of goals, but given our sprinting ability, we're hoping the goals in Vancouver and Philadelphia will be completed. California will be a bit tougher as a climber has taken the points jersey for the last few years consecutively. Originally we were hoping to bring in a sprinter who could go over hills well which is why we picked the Tour of California and Philadelphia International Championship as big goals. Hopefully we can overcome the slight change of plan and we can still accomplish a few of these goals.

Also we didn't get invited to Riga - Jurmala GP because I'm trash at planning. So only 4 possible goals for us to complete this year.

Transfered from Ayubowan! for 210,000

Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FT	DH	PL
Adrien Petit	76	52	65	61	76	72	78	72	80	78	65	68	66

Petit was not someone we were looking to move for until very late in the transfer window. The Sales of Durasek, Bouet, Hardy and Kreuziger were all made with bringing in Petit as the end goal and lucky for us it all worked out. At 28, Petit has quite a few years at the top left and will be the top leadout man in our squad. However, his ability to go over cobbles will mean he also leads us in many races involving cobbles this season.

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Transfered from Evonik - ELKO for 152,000

Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FT	DH	PL
Damien Gaudin	74	51	68	67	77	69	71	77	57	71	72	58	67

Gaudin is another rider that we didn't originally have in our plans, but moving Carsi freed up some wage space and we had leftover money from some other moves. Gaudin gives us another nice cobbled rider who should pick us up some points in the cobbles.

Rider	Seasons Raced With Us	Team	Terms
Romain Hardy	3	Eddie Stobart	50,000
Maxime Bouet	1	Telia - Brussels Airlines	65,000

Unfortunately, bringing in those 2 big frenchmen meant 2 older frenchmen needed to move on. Bouet and Hardy were great for us last season, Bouet being a terrific timetrialist and Hardy doing great in the CT both times we were there. Hardy was the second longest tenured rider for us as this would have been his 4th year with us, but money talks (age does to) which means we needed to move on from him.

Moving Hardy and Bouet and bringing in Gaudin and Petit feels like great business for us. Petit is someone who's going to seem like a steal in a years time, as 210k is very little for him. Getting him for that price is huge reflection on the state of the transfer market this year. For Gaudin, this is his last year at his peak, but he should still be a solid cobble domestique next year for us, so bringing him in for that price/wage was raelly a no-brainer.

This marks the end of the transfer season for us, hopefully you guys see promise in our squad, and we should have a team presentation coming up quite soon!

Booker wrote:
Phenomenal business to get in Petit at that price - I would've been all over that, had I kept the wage cap available.

This team is going to be formidable, likely well-outperforming the top 20 goal

Jerome Coppel
From Festina - Dexia for 1,000,000 + 3 riders
32 Years Old | 700,000 Wage | TimeTrialist/Hilly Tours

FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FI	DH	PRL
77	66	76	83	78	78	74	54	65	74	73	64	83

Coppel was not someone we expected to bring in this season, but when the oppertunity fell in our lap, we had to take it. Being French and considering he finished 17th in the PT last year, he will be our main leader and all of our planning was made with him in mind. Hilly tours with a timetrial will be his bread and butter to bringing in points for us and we're sure he'll do great.

Ivano Lo Cicero
Signed from Free Agency
30 Years Old | 380,000 Wage | Sprinter

FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FI	DH	PRL
72	56	64	56	71	63	79	69	84	78	54	60	75

Ivano is someone we wanted to bring in from the outset of free agency. All of our goals were with signing him in mind. Luckily we were able to sign him and considering he's finished in the top 35 in the PCT the last 2 seasons (including 3rd in 2016), we're sure he'll do great for us. With the sprint train we've constructed for him and with some good planning, the sky is the limit for him.

Romain Vanderbiest
Signed from Free Agency
30 Years Old | 265,000 Wage | Sprinter

FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FI	DH	PRL
74	64	64	67	74	69	81	58	82	77	55	65	74

Romain is someone we had our eyes on throughout Free Agency, and although grabbing him at 265,000 felt like a little bit of an overspend, he fits our team's identity as a great sprinter and a experienced frenchman. Last time he was in the PCT, he finished 51st in the individual standings, but with his experience and great sprint train that he'll have at his disposal, he should bring us quite a few victories this season.

Andrea Palini
Signed from Free Agency
29 Years Old | 85,000 Wage | Puncheur

FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FI	DH	PRL
69	70	78	66	75	68	69	54	68	74	69	61	66

To us, Palini at 85,000 wages is an absolute steal. Palini finished 86th in the PCT last year, riding for Ferrero, and with so many hill leaders going to the PT, we're hoping he can improve on that a bit. Palini will be our leader in any hilly classics we're registered in and will have a free role in any race that has even a speed bump in it, and we're confident of his ability to take advantage of this liberty that he'll have.

Adrien Petit
From Ayubowan! for 210,000
28 Years Old | 200,000 Wage | Cobbled Sprinter

FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FI	DH	PRL
76	52	65	61	76	72	78	72	80	78	65	68	66

Petit was brought in for an absolute bargain price and is possibly the piece of business we are most happy with from this transfer season. Petit will be a leader in all the flat cobble races we attend, and will act as a great leadout man for our sprinters, along with getting his own opperunities here and there.

Kevin Feiereisen
Signed from Free Agency
26 Years Old | 50,000 Wage | Main Leadout

FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FI	DH	PRL
74	62	68	58	73	68	75	63	77	78	61	68	69

Feiereisen comes from Vesuvio on a minimum wage contract to be one of our top lead-out men. At Vesuvio, Feiereisen didn't necessarily have top sprinters to be a leadout man for, but luckily we'll have Vanderbiest and Lo Cicero that he can serve well. With a low wage and being only 26, he figures to stick around our team for a while.

Patrick Bercz
2nd Season with the team
29 Years Old | 70,000 Wage | Leadout/Hill Sprinter

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

Bercz's first season with us was full of success. He was the main leadout man for Jocelyn Bar and Marco Haller, and helped them finish 47th and 18th respectively in the individual standings. This year he figures to help us do the same, while getting a few more oppertunities to act as a hilly sprinter, a role that Bar was very successful as last year.

Daniel Schorn
Signed from Free Agency
30 Years Old | 50,000 Wage | Leadout

FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FI	DH	PRL
76	56	61	69	67	65	77	62	77	77	66	65	72

Schorn has all the abilities to be very valuable for our sprint train. He is good sprinter, but really hangs his hat on his talent on the flat. He'll be an amazing pace setter and will offer a ton of experience at high level racing after spending his last few years in the PT and PCT.

Damien Gaudin
From Evonik for 152,000
32 Years Old | 75,000 Wage | Main Cobbler

FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FI	DH	PRL
74	51	68	67	77	69	71	77	57	71	72	58	67

Gaudin will split leaders duties with Petit in most of our cobble races. He'll be the guy we work for if the cobbles become to difficult for Petit. Gaudin, another frenchman, should fit right into our team with his experience as well and should be a great teacher for our talents.

Jérome Giaux
From Isostar in Rider Swap
32 Years Old | 70,000 Wage | Leadout Cobbler

FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FI	DH	PRL
73	59	67	68	72	68	78	71	77	75	67	68	68

Despite his age, Giaux scored an ok amount of points last year and should be a perfect leadout man for Petit. He shares a lot of same abilities as Petit but also has the versatility to step back and also be a leadout for Lo Cicero and Vanderbiest on the flat.

Alexandre Aulas
5th Season with team
32 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

We're extremely happy to have retained Alexandre Aulas this season. He's the only rider to have ridden for us for every single year that we've existed. Once again, he should be a fantastic helper on the Cobbles in what will probably be his last year with us due to his age. Hopefully we can be very succesful in his Swan Song season with us.

Wen Hao Li
Signed from Free Agency
29 Years Old | 110,000 Wage | TimeTrialer/Leadout Man

FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FI	DH	PRL
75	53	61	78	73	68	71	50	75	75	64	64	78

We fell in love with Li's skillset from the moment we saw him on the market. at 29, he'll offer great value in timetrials where he excells. However, he also can sprint like crazy for a timetrialist which will mean he'll be amazing in the leadout.

Jonathan Castroviejo
From eBuddy for 50,000
31 Years Old | 50,000 Wage | Hill Domestique

FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FI	DH	PRL
70	72	75	70	71	70	70	56	67	74	73	65	70

At 50,000 wages and 50,000 transfer fee, Jonathan was a luxury buy that we had to bring in. He can help on all sorts of terrain and will hopefully be present in breakaways throughout the season. He will be a great helper for Coppel and Palini and will definitely get his own chances as well.

Thanawut Sanikwathi
2nd Season with the team
25 Years Old | 50,000 Wage | Cobbled Sprinter Talent

FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FI	DH	PRL
68	57	65	65	66	65	65	69	73	74	66	71	68

Thanawut comes from the same mold as Giaux and Petit as a hilly sprinter. He isn't all the way there yet, but with a PT loan next season, he should max out as a very valuable rider. This year he'll learn from a ton of experienced cobblers and sprinters which should help his development.

Aleksa Crncevic
From BNZ Cycling in Rider Swap
23 Years Old | 50,000 Wage | Stage Race Talent

FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FI	DH	PRL
66	70	66	67	66	66	69	64	61	68	66	75	66

We're super excited about aquiring Crncevic from BNZ. When he's maxed, he should be a great stage race helper which we're incredibly excited about. Even now, he's a menace in the Downhill and is still a servicable climber which hopefully means he'll try to get into breakaways often

Jan Drago Petelin
Signed from Free Agency
22 Years Old | 50,000 Wage | Climbing Talent

FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FI	DH	PRL
68	70	68	62	69	67	66	50	54	68	65	59	61

Petelin is the second rider rider from Luxembourg that we've brought in this transfer window. Just like Feiereisen, he should remain with us for the long term. Petelin will be an amazing attacking climber with terrific acceleration when he's maxed. For now he'll train to gain experience from our older guys. Considering he's a level 1 experience talent, it'll be a while before he's maxed, but he'll be great once he gets there.

Alan Banaszek
Signed from Free Agency
21 Years Old | 70,000 Wage | Sprinting Talent

FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FI	DH	PRL
66	61	62	61	67	67	62	57	69	73	65	67	67

Banaszek looks to be the most promising of all of our talents. When maxed, he'll be a great spinter who will be able to survive speed bumps (unlike our last sprinting talent Mustafa Carsi). However, he's the furthest away from being maxed out, this year he won't be very valuable, but should soak up good experience.

Jernej Svab
From Isostar in Rider Swap (On loan to Desigual)
23 Years Old | 54,000 Wage | Puncheur Talent

FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FI	DH	PRL
69	68	71	56	68	70	67	66	66	74	64	67	54

Svab goes out on loan to Desigual after being brought in for Isostar. When maxed he's going to be a very interesting stage hunter in the hills. He won't ride for us this year or next year in order to Max him out, but when he comes back in 2 years, he'll be a fantastic young talent for us.

Ioannidis Nikolaos
On Loan from Festina
25 Years Old | 25,000 Wage | Climbing Talent

FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FI	DH	PRL
66	61	62	61	67	67	62	57	69	73	65	67	67

Jhonatan Restrepo
On Loan from World Cycling Center
24 Years Old | 25,000 Wage | Hill Talent

FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FI	DH	PRL
69	65	71	69	68	67	71	55	69	70	63	67	69

Abou Sanogo
On Loan from World Cycling Center
24 Years Old | 25,000 Wage | Cobble Talent

69

61

69

64

68

69

62

71

67

69

73

72

70

These youngsters have been brought in from other teams to round out the squad with some youth. They all offer help in different ways with Restrepo and Sanogo most likely being good helpers for us in the hills and cobblers respectively. We hope to give them experience and they'll develop into solid riders in the future.

Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SP	ACC	FI	DH	PRL
Jerome Coppel	77	66	76	83	78	78	74	54	65	74	73	64	83
Ivano Lo Cicero	72	56	64	56	71	63	79	69	84	78	54	60	75
Romain Vanderbiest	74	64	64	67	74	69	81	58	82	77	55	65	74
Adrien Petit	76	52	65	61	76	72	78	72	80	78	65	68	66
Andrea Palini	69	70	78	66	75	68	69	54	68	74	69	61	66
Kevin Feiereisen	74	62	68	58	73	68	75	63	77	78	61	68	69
Jerome Giaux	72	59	67	68	72	68	78	71	77	75	67	68	68
Damien Gaudin	74	51	68	67	77	69	71	77	57	71	72	58	67
Patrick Bercz	72	62	70	60	73	68	75	66	76	77	67	66	60
Daniel Schorn	76	56	61	69	67	65	77	62	77	77	66	65	72
Wen Hao Li	75	53	61	78	73	68	71	50	75	75	64	64	78
Jonathan Castroviejo	70	72	75	70	71	70	70	56	67	74	73	65	70
Alexandre Aulas	73	55	67	61	75	67	69	73	74	72	63	80	61
Ioannidis Nikolaos	66	71	70	71	73	71	69	57	58	69	71	67	72
Thanawut Sanikwathi	68	57	65	65	66	65	65	69	73	74	66	71	68
Jhonathan Restrepo	69	65	71	69	68	67	71	55	69	70	63	67	69
Abou Sanogo	69	61	69	64	68	69	62	71	67	69	73	72	70
Aleksa Crncevic	66	70	66	67	66	66	69	64	61	68	66	75	66
Jan Drago Petelin	68	70	68	62	69	67	66	50	54	68	65	59	61
Alan Banaszek	66	61	62	61	67	67	62	57	69	73	65	67	67