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[PCT] Nordstrom - BioWare - Vancouver Review!
whitejersey
i.imgur.com/XTmiBPn.png


After initially being the best team in CT not to promote, pushing even more focus on #RouxGate in Tour of Britain from our side at least, we got an email from MGUCI that they were investigating the possibility of promoting us as Ferrero – Samruk weren’t keeping up with the deadlines required to be racing and eventually disbanded.

To some it might have seemed like an easy thing to say yes to, promoted after our first season in the CT, why not? We sat down and talked to CEO of WJSportsManagement, the company behind the team now known as Nordstrom – BioWare, previously Goldcorp – Nordstrom Rack, to talk a bit about the coming season, including title-sponsor change, unexpected promotion, renewals and his vision for the team for both the upcoming transfers and more long term and more.
Q: We’re sitting here in the office in your home in Denmark, why are you operating out of Denmark when the team is based in North America?

A: When I initially started the planning for the team it was going to be a team based in Denmark with a Canadian and American focus on the side but as we sat down to discuss with several partners it became quite clear that the Danish market was quite saturated and we decided to shift the full focus onto the North American side of things but I decided to stay in Denmark due to the familiarity and easy travels for the better part of our European schedule.

Q: Ok, that’s all and good but can you run us through your favourite moments of the 2017 season?

A: There’s too many to point them all out! I think the great performances from GVK, albeit expected, were fantastic. Pellaud’s Tour of Britain was very good until he had to abandon that race sadly, he later crowned a good season with a Swiss NC and that is also fantastic news!

Q: Let’s talk promotion, how does the plans you had laid out for the team?

A: It wasn’t an instant yes on my part and it did take some time to say yes because my plan for the team was always to build a strong core and then promote with that while pushing down the wages. *he lets out a grin accompanied by a slight laugh* And our wages have not gone down this season so already there our plans got spoiled in having to hand out wage hikes to almost the entire team to get them to stay around. Because while we might be able to get better riders in on slightly cheaper wages for PCT level, but I am a man of my word and the only two riders who we have let go in the renewals process are Michal Golas, who had a lot of great showings, his Viana was fantastic, but he was just declining too heavily for us to consider keeping him around at PCT level. And Rob Britton who in all honesty never showed his caliber even at CT level. This means that the main core of our team is still around with Joao Gaspar and James Piccoli coming back their loans with valuable PT experience.

Q: In CT your main focus was the classics, focused mainly on the strengths of GVK and Pellaud will anything change going into PCT?

A: Going into PCT the level of competition will be a lot tougher than last year and Simon, in specific and Gillaume to a lesser extent will have a hard time even finishing top 10 in these fields where we last year saw riders like Burghardt and Hagen dominate their respective classics fields, and as much as I love the guys they are not at that level that’s for sure. They will still get their chances to race for themselves next season without a doubt but its not unlikely to see stronger captains coming in to give us more power. Also, our goal list (not published yet), will also show that our focus has shifted a little bit and you will see and unfamiliar terrain being a focus for us during transfers.

Q: Talking about shifts Nordstrom has moved to being main title sponsor of the team and the team is now racing under an American license. What’s the reasoning behind this?

A: We really enjoyed our time with Goldcorp last year, but the mining industry didn’t really enjoy the relationship and they didn’t see any growth in their brand from pumping money into the team and decided to pull the plug on the deal back in what must have been early August. The guys over at Nordstrom saw our vision and believed in it, and even that much that they put their main chains as our sponsor instead of the “Rack” brand this year, and as much as I grew to love Canada over the course of last year, a part of the multiyear that we have struck with Nordstrom was a requirement that we now race on an American license and move our HQ to USA as well.

Q: To me it sounds like the deal with Nordstrom didn’t require you to bring in a second title sponsor, but you still chose to bring in BioWare, can you expand on that?

A: Yes of course I can! We wanted to stay true to our Canadian fans and we found a good sponsor BioWare that won’t take a lot of the spotlight away from Nordstrom but still be happy to work with us on multiple projects over the 2018 season. Unlike the Nordstrom deal this BioWare will only be with us for the 2018 season, but we very much appreciate their contribution to the cycling world!

Q: If we go back to talking about the riders on the team who were your standout transfers last year and could we maybe see an updated wage sheet if we ask nicely?

A: The wage sheet will be available in a bit we still need to finish up the last few graphical things about it! My favourite transfers last year was securing GVK for sure and he is a guy I see as a franchise rider and would be very hardpressed to see leave the team at all unless we disband! I really think that the signing of Joao Gaspar was pretty clutch and his impact will be seen next year as he is gonna help the team do bits in both mountain stages and hilly classics while he might get to chase a break here and there! Tyler Farrar at 55k last year was an absolute bargain too and he took home Battenkill on home soil, no complains from me that’s for sure!

That will be it from now, but I will try to get a hold of WJ a few more times in the transfer window and over the course of the season to get more reactions from the man him self.
/The Media Intern at WJSM

Edited by whitejersey on 13-08-2019 21:09
 
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whitejersey
Renewals


i.imgur.com/2blZzpJ.png


Renewals interview


The intern sat back down with WJ to talk about the renewals and how he thought they went plus some questions from the recent Q&A request. Here is what came from it:

Hi again, its been a few days since we talked boss but we are here to talk availability and renewals. Are you ready to do that?

I have some time on my hands before the window opens so fire away!


Its apparent that you haven't been able to save wages on any riders outside of the riders that have been released(Golas and Britton *edt), care to explain that a bit?

Yeah for sure! It has definetely not been optimal but the promotion gave us some cap space to move around with and the riders certainly knew their worth in negotiatons thats for sure! It might come back to haunt since we might not be able to pick up riders of a higher caliber for the same wage totals once transfers come around, but the guys deserved the shot and can all do bits in the PCT as helpers etc.


Alright alright, Sauber manager SammyT enquired me to reach out to you and talk about availability and shifting of riders to make space for better riders in the next season. Want me to read his exact question to you?

Sure go ahead, always happy to answer questions from fellow managers!


sammyt93 wrote:
Without naming names, is there potential for some of your non North American riders being moved on to make way for your new leaders/ North American riders, regardless of how successful or integral they have been to the team last year?


Magnificent question! With the depature of Michal Golas we have already seen one non NA rider leave the team this year. Also as you can see in the renewals sheet which has finally been made public most of the available riders are non NA riders so you can even get the names! I think the rider you might have been fishing for with your question was GVK and his status is still pivotal. At the moment he is still a top 10 cobbler in PCT this year and we might not need him to be more than that, that being said the correct offer for GVK could see him on the move. Everyone has a price and is that price met or close to it, we will consider moving anyone this window.


Great answer, there is a comment from fellow promoting manager Aquarius97 that ties into the second half of Sammy's question quite well. Even though you have already seen it I want you to expand a bit on it in this interview.

The one about whether the change was made with one specific F/A in mind? Sure.


In regards to the change in focus its not a total shift, which will be apparent once goals are released. We will still keep a focus on the cobbles but it might not be as outspoken as last years focus was. Also I don't think you can expect us to pick up exclusively NA riders this next window. We will be trying to get the best riders at our disposal for our debut PCT season. Our leaders next year could be American, could be Kazakh, could be French or even German, only God knows at this point in time. Our shortlist at this given moment counts upwards of 50 riders including both Free Agents and riders transferlisted by other teams and even riders who might not be available and is only going to expand as we move closer to transfers opening up.


WJ's phone rings and he leaves the room, the phonecall was classified for a lowly media intern like my sadly. Intern out, any more questions leave them in the comments sections and I will add them to the next Q&A!
Edited by whitejersey on 14-07-2018 22:18
 
whitejersey
res
 
whitejersey
res
 
whitejersey
Initial post up, also if you have any questions for the manager, the media intern will more than happily store them for the next Q&A coming in a few days!
 
Aquarius97
Great interview! As a North American focused team, and as you said, a change of "racing focus" is coming up, will do you an effort to get the best USA FA, who happens to be an amazing climber? Pfft

Also, the jersey reminds me of Quick-Step :lol:
Manager of [MG] Repsol - Netflix


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Yellow Jersey
hmm a shift of focus, that will be interesting. With a massive cap to spend also, you'll be one of the big guns on the FA market, good luck!
 
whitejersey
Aquarius97 wrote:
Great interview! As a North American focused team, and as you said, a change of "racing focus" is coming up, will do you an effort to get the best USA FA, who happens to be an amazing climber? Pfft

Also, the jersey reminds me of Quick-Step :lol:


The jersey was made by Hillis and will presented in all its glory in a bit Smile

The owner does not wish to comment on specific riders at this time but the shift in focus made with the general set of free agents in mind.

Yellow Jersey wrote:
hmm a shift of focus, that will be interesting. With a massive cap to spend also, you'll be one of the big guns on the FA market, good luck!


Hopefully so, with a lot of capsize I pray that we manage this shift very well and come out of transfers with a very solid team for sure!
 
Booker
From fortuitous promotion to a shift in focus - it’s been quite the offseason already!

You must be doing a lot of thinking on your transfer planning with so many wrenches already thrown in the works...
 
sammyt93
Without naming names, is there potential for some of your non North American riders being moved on to make way for your new leaders/ North American riders, regardless of how successful or integral they have been to the team last year?
 
whitejersey
Renewals up in the second post. Hope you guys enjoy the read!
 
whitejersey
i.imgur.com/XTmiBPn.png


The Intern's Perspective: Trouble in Paradise part 1


After the most recent Q&A session with WJ I traveled with him and the rest of the team for the initial training camp in Colorado and some interesting things happened. But to understand some of the coming events we will have to go back to the phone call he recieved that ended our interview.

I was sitting in the lobby going over the recording of our session and trying to create a transcript as I hear very loud yelling coming from the office. While it was very hard for me to make out proper sentences but it was apparent that the words being said weren't nice on either end of the call. But suddenly the door started to crack open. We were moving office spaces in a few days to Colorado so the boss hadn't gotten around to fix it. This meant the converstation got much clearer.

"YES YOU ARE A PIVOTAL PART OF THE TEAM GILLAUME!" I heard the boss scream, trouble in paradise perhaps I thought to myself? Having followed the team, more the administration than the actual team, I hadn't gotten any hints towards any trouble within the team but it seemed like something was up with GVK.

"No I can't grant you guaranteed overall leadership like last year, yes the change in focus plays a part in that, but you signed your contract and its binding."This came out in a much more calm manner. Maybe he realized that screaming at his big start and the guy that secured promotion for the team last wasn't such a good idea. Maybe he was coming to fact with the terms that he might have to give up on him and move him on. "Gillaume we will discuss this in Colorado next week." As he laid down the phone I started packing my things up and found the way back to the hotel where I was staying for the transition period.

On the way back I was trying to figure out what had caused this unsettlement in Gillaume. He had often been touted as a franchise rider by WJ and to be honest he might have been his absolute favourite rider. Did he long for a new challenge? Missing home and wanting to be on a team with more European riders. Maybe he didn't agree with the philosophy that WJ had laid out for the team? All I knew was that this was going to be one hell of a training camp.
 
jandal7
Haha love the intern's perspective Grin Maybe Guillaume is annoyed nobody spells his name properly? Pfft Interesting to hear of the troubles in Paradise as the team maybe look away from the cobbles - if GVK can adapt to being a bit more of a lone ranger he's not a bad guy for the forced cobbles race days Smile
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15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
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whitejersey
jandal7 wrote:
Haha love the intern's perspective Grin Maybe Guillaume is annoyed nobody spells his name properly? Pfft Interesting to hear of the troubles in Paradise as the team maybe look away from the cobbles - if GVK can adapt to being a bit more of a lone ranger he's not a bad guy for the forced cobbles race days Smile


The name is indeed hard to spell Pfft In part 2 we will know more about why he is angry Pfft Will be doing a bit more of the Intern for sure nice little way to add some personality to the HQ without doing fancy stuff all the time Pfft
 
whitejersey
i.imgur.com/XTmiBPn.png


The Intern's Perspective: Trouble in Paradise pt. 2

As the European contingent of the team landed in the airport and got their things and got to the hotel and put their things down, the boss announced that they had to go to the new office space for a meeting....

Everyone was now ready in the for the meeting. WJ took the word, "alright listen up guys this might come as a shock to most of you but a new division is going to mean some quite important changes within the team. Simon and Guillaume, I have already informed you guys of this, but you might no longer be team captains once the end of transfers." So this might have been why GVK was so angry on the phone the other day. "To the rest of you guys you have all been renewed because I believe that you guys can do you job well in the PCT and support our new and current leaders on the parcours around the world, but we're in the big leagues now, you can't mess around like it was possible last year. We will be facing some of the toughest competition the cycling world has to offer as we will be racing against both the Pro Tour and the cream of the crop in the PCT. Oh and Thomas (Peterson, edt) there is this guy called Pluchkin racing in the PCT this year, so I don't think winning any mountain stages is a possibility atm mate." Peterson had a massive grin on his face, some riders may have taken that very poorly but he didn't.

"On a more positive not, we don't have to care about the Hagen fella this year as he got released into free agency and is 100% going back to the PT this year so at least that's something right guys?"

WJ then proceeded to move into the goals for the next season, which atm I can't tell you since I'd like to keep my job and if the team breaks protocol I won't have an employer. But for a lot of people it was apparent that we needed to get some riders in for new terrains that we have yet to travel in before. This seemingly got GVK very much upset as he also found out that the things he had heard about Cedric Lebris being up for sale was true. The French cobbler had become a key component to his entourage of riders last year in the CT races. Lebris himself also scored quite well last year as he sensationally won the C1 race KBC Panne Tour last year while winning a stage in the process. The rider should be interested in trying out CT leadership himself in the coming year even if it meant leaving us to do so.

GVK left the room and proceeded to get back to hotel from what I could gather but the rest of the meeting was rather uneventful. This is it for the Intern's Perspective for now though since the next few days of action and GVK drama has been put behind lock and key and stamped with a big fat red CLASSIFIED stamp sadly, as I said I like my job.

/Intern.
Edited by whitejersey on 16-07-2018 13:14
 
Aquarius97
:lol: :lol: This is really good. Can't wait for the next "chapter" Shock
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whitejersey
Aquarius97 wrote:
:lol: :lol: This is really good. Can't wait for the next "chapter" Shock


Thanks Pfft
 
whitejersey
i.imgur.com/XTmiBPn.png


Time to present this years look as we make our PCT debut! Having gone away from our characteristic white and gold trim of yonder, we're now sporting a nice little fancy blue, white and grey jersey thanks to the lovely Hillis91! The jersey can been below. Along with the Swiss NC and Latvian NC for Pellaud and Smukulis(TT).

i.imgur.com/g9S4tpC.png


i.imgur.com/6EE9kkE.png


i.imgur.com/zx0QF00.png


We would like to thanks Hillis for his great work, this was all for this very short update as we go into the final preparation phase for transfer season.
 
whitejersey
i.imgur.com/XTmiBPn.png


Silly Season with The Intern


With transfers being less than 20 hours away it time to talk about transfer strategy, or at least I will since the boss is too tied up in the whole GVK and Lebris bromance situation to discuss this with me so here’s how the intern believes the transfers should go for NBW.

As its becoming more and more apparent that there will be some massive transfers happening over the course of coming days the strategy has to be laid out. Will it be free agents as the main priority or will it be the budget that has to be used to land a few good deals and then we delve into the free agency. After going up a division its believed that we now will try to land a climber of decent caliber who is at least able to top 5 in shorter stage races and one day races, something we lacked last year. In terms of free agents, the team won’t be pushing advances towards Joe Dombrowski, even though it would be amazing to have an American leading the team it seems unrealistic as the estimated wage he will end at is way out of our league and he will most likely go to a PT team. Instead WJ should be very interested in landing Louis Meintjes, the South African rider is available after Project Africa disbanded and would in WJ’s eyes be the ideal candidate to lead the team in the new terrain. There will most likely be a big fight over the Stage Racer’s signature which could see the wage reach a level where NBW can’t compete, but initial reports indicate that the we should be willing to stretch far in terms of either wage cap or transfer fee to land decent point scoring Climber/Stage Racer.

Other leader candidates include the aging superstar Vincenzo Nibali, the Italian who is now 34 years old would be potentially be a one-year option as NBW tries to cement their position within the PCT. In terms of support riders for the mountains Nordstrom should have their eyes locked onto Tyler Brandt, the riders raced for Newton Foundation last year and is seen as a nice pick up by WJ as he fits the home quota quite nicely. Also, young talents like William Barta and Jack Burke should be on the radar for the climbing prospects of the outfit. Should the team decide to move into transfers for a Stage Racer the ideal candidate at the moment is Leopold König is looking like an ideal candidate. The Czech rider raced well on the Pro Tour last year and that should have poked the interest from the manager. Staying within the stage racing category WJ should be very interested in landing Lawrence Warbasse from the Desigual outfit who are undergoing a bit of a system change as the team is looking to a less American approach. While WJ would ideally like to see another climber join along side Warbasse to give more joint strength in the mountains the 145.000 wage bill on Warbasse should be a very nice bonus as the promoting team looks to get the most of their money this year.

Also, the team is on the lookout for a new lead puncheur as the Swiss champion Pellaud is not going to score well enough in the PCT to keep the team up. The Swiss will be staying with the team unless a godlike offer comes in for his services. Rumour has it that the boss is very keen to sign Alexey Lutsenko and have him in almost every transfer plan for the upcoming season, however a few PT teams have already shown interest for the Kazakh puncheurs abilities and it might be a battle lost before it even started. Other FA puncheurs in the sights of WJ should apparently be Laurent Pichon and Kristian Dyrnes. These aren’t the upgrades over Pellaud that WJ was hoping for and a bid for Jonathan Bellis might materialize very early on in the window for NA outfit that can only dream of landing Tejay Van Garderen. While not knowing what his transfer fee would add up to the American superstar’s wage of nearly 800k is said to be a massive setback for the team. Discussions of moving on Petr Vakoc have also been held. Its said that while a bid for a rider of Vakoc’s calibre is very ambitious for a newly promoted PCT side the young Czech’s abilities and lower wage should make him a better signing that TVG.

There also talks within the office space that the interest in signing Adam Blythe to ride at PCT level is big and as the rider has been put up for sale by Puma there might be a deal to be struck there. This would make for a very scary cobbles setup at the level of racing but is also going to take a massive chunk out of the team’s finances that could cost the team ability to comply with goals for the season since less money would be available to be spent on strengthening the squad in weaker parts of the team. This could to some seem very weird to a lot of people as GVK is already a decent cobbler at PCT level and should score on his own meaning that the money might be spent better elsewhere. Speaking of the future Nathan van Hooydonk is set to be a rider that is being looked at in the Colorado HQ. The young Belgian is said to be considered the long-term hope of the cobbles section of the team. Another young Belgian on the chopping block is Tiesj Benoot, the Belgian multi talent is one of the hottest names this season as he is still yet to be fully developed and can help in multiple terrains.

In terms of outgoing transfers, the availability for the team’s riders have been published earlier but first on the chopping block are Cedric Lebris and Alexander Rybakov. Two riders with very high Fighter stats and decent main stats in their terrains. Both riders should have expressed interest in racing at CT level again next year. Especially Lebris would like to explore CT leadership next year as he had a great time last year by winning a stage and the overall victory at KBC Panne Tour! Alexander Rybakov has a few decent results from last year and with the puncheur field loosing up a bit this year there should be more room for him to grab points. Both riders will undoubtly pull their worth for their 65k and 67k wages in CT.

On behalf of the manager I’d like to say that he is open for discussing anyone and if any PCT leader level riders should be on the chopping block on your team any discussions would most likely occur at every hour of the day!
Edited by whitejersey on 19-07-2018 00:58
 
Yellow Jersey
Hmm I see a name I wish I didn't in there Smile
 
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