Slovenian riders do not only grave the road in terms of our leaders, but also deep into our roster spots. Several young Slovenians took spots in our roster, hungry for taking the next step in 2017.

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Jernej Svab is a young puncheur, formerly riding for small amateur teams and lately for Sava. We can see a great puncheur in him for the future, especially taking a look at his stunning attacking stats and general allround game besides chronos. In 3 years Jernej is meant to be one of the big supportive riders in the speed train for Matej Mohoric.



Tadej Logar

Tadej is a versatile climbing puncheur. He is a little bit older than Jernej, but he also is one small step ahead of them. We see the potential in him to become a long-term support rider for our captains, that's why we gave him a 3 year-contract to develop into a great depth rider on several terrains. And who knows, maybe Tadej can rise above his estimated limits and become a lead rider.



Jaka Bostner

Jaka has maybe the last option to step into professional cycling with 27. The punchy climber can't be concerned a big talent anymyore, however, we decided to give him the opportunity to ride for a long-term contract this year. We hope that this may lift his game to another level.



Miha Poljanec

Miha has a pretty strong skillset for his age, not only allround but especially by being a strong roleur on the flat. We gave him a stagiare contract to have him on track for some big turns of speed, with which he is given the opportunity to offer a broader CV for a potential future contract.

After presenting all national signings we now move on to the international signings. Most of them somehow have an already existing connection with our sponsor group though.

Matthias Brändle is the current national time trial champion of Austria. The versatile chrono specialist will wear a beautiful NC created by Fenix design next season:



Brändle has his major strengths in riding the big time trials. He is a Top 10 chrono guy in the division, which sadly has no big value alone. What makes him an outstding rider is his combination of power in the TTs with hard pace on both the flat and long climbs. The only thing Matthias should avoid is the hills and cobbles, but we have plenty of other riders to approach that terrain.

Our valuation of him can be seen in the very high price we paid to Wiesenhof for a rider that didn't score too much last season. However, this year stuff might change in that terms giving him more chances to lead or co-lead alongside Jani. He hasn't had a far way from Germany to Slovenia, and should really feel home staying in green colours, only a little bit more flashy this year - to glance in the lights of success?

In a quiet trade with Ferrero - Samruk the crew acquired another very valuable foreign rider: The experienced allrounder Ramunas Navardauskas. In further terms we also want to enlighten our respect for our fellow promotion members, which we have deep respect towards. They once again built up a great spot, with the luxury to make Ramunas Navardauskas available.

The Lithuanian will be a key-domestique on several terrains. Especially for the hilly sprint races, he is the captain de la route for Kumps hilly sprint trains, and will often work in 3rd-last position for our captain. Also, in any hilly races with TTs he'll be given the freedom to race, as he is on tough sprint stages when Kump isn't there. Last but not least, Ramunas will be a very valuable asset in the TTT formation as well as being a powerhouse on the flat.

knockout wrote:
I'm jealous on that signing. Would have loved to fit him into my team. You landed a bargain there!

Roy Jans

Jans came alongside Marko Kump in the Boss trade. And that basically draws his major role. Pacing the race up for our big captain, often fucntioning as the first guy in our train driving our leadout and Kump into positions. Especially on the hilly and cobbled classics he will be of immense worth for Kump.



Luis Miguel Mansilla

The first of our two secondary sprinters in Luis Miguel Mansilla. Of course he won't be a major sprinter in PCT, however he might be able to grab some points here and there, if he can make his hill stat to use. Moreover, he is the perfect leadout man for Kump, adding up to the skillset of him on a lower level. He'll lead Kump out on the punchy/bumpy sprint stages, and when Kump is not there he'll get some chances for his own.



Jerome Giaux

The second of those is Jerome Giaux. He has his strengths on the flat stages, and with that complements Mansillas skillset very well. On the cobbled half-classics he'll be the final leadout man in the train with Jans for Kump, on the flat classics he'll either ride for Kump or get chances on his own. Also his working radius includes helping Jan Polanc on the hard cobbled races.



While Mansilla is an import that was necessary to find the best possible leadout for Kump, both Giaux and Jans are also some dedication to our sponsor PEI Waterland, that supports us this season. Now already it looks like we'll go for another try to add a major BeneLux cobbler for those next season.

Xavier Quevedo

One last trade addition on the transfer market was Venezoelan puncheur Xavier Quevedo. The young hills specialist has a stunning turn of acceleration on offer, especially uphill. His strengths very much match the ones of our youngster Matej Mohoric, so they'll spend a lot of time pushing each other to the limit for the #1 puncheur role in the team. However, they will race plenty of races together as a 1-2 punch. We have to admit, that Xavier als is intended as an investment for the future. If Mohoric can take the next big step we hope he takes, then we have the perfect lieutenant for him already in our own team.



Daniel Alexander Jaramillo

Young colombian Daniel Jaramillo could be taken as the strange signing of our team. He is not yet there to have a major impact on the team. With 26 years of age he is also not the youngest anymore. However, we still believe in him. His combination on climbing power together with his punch offers the impression of a very solid attacking climber in his later years. We hope that Daniel can take the next step with us, so we signed him on a 2-year contract to try and go for it.



Ahmed Youssef Belgasem

Sometimes it's not about the youth or the origin or the talent. Sometimes it's about dedication. We decided to sign somebody completely different: Ahmed Belgasem. The African allrounder has seen everything. He can turn the speed and work on every terrain, both being a powerhouse on the flat, climbs, cobbles or anywhere else. In all his races for us he'll be a valuable domestique, and adds to our fraction of multi-level riders. We'll see him working a lot on the front of the peloton surely.



Romeo Quicibal

Our second stagiare will be the 4th southern american rider, who added a strong fraction to the team. Quicibal is an outright powerhouse on the flat, and will work for our captains in the final months of the season. His highlight of the season may well be the flat sprint race in and around barbados, where he has full freedom to attack and ride for a contract in 2018.

jandal7 wrote:
Some really great signings there, four very very good riders who will be big assets for you now and in the years to come

Scorchio wrote:
Interesting to see quite so many of last seasons promotees shipped out. Makes a handy total that you could utilise for transfers/training, but looking at the deals, also pretty good value for the buying teams in each case. Only Tennant looks a wee bit steep imo, and even then, not ridiculous. Katrinik expensive now, but in future will look good value.