This transfer season was arguably the one with the least changes to our team. Still we were able to sign some big names, but also valuable members of past seasons left.
Departures
Maxime Daniel --> Festina - Dexia
Daniel from now on gets the chance to hunt for results for the biggest team of his home country. We wish him good luck in the PT. Vitor Rodrigues --> Banco de Bogota
Rodrigues career is nearing its end. Before putting the bike in the closet, the Portuguese wants to know it one more time and gives it another try in CT, that he won dominantly in 2014. Hossein Alizadeh --> Oberfranken
Also Alizadeh will enrich the climbing field of the CT in the upcoming season. There he'll definitely be more able to go for results by himself besides helping Vadim Ratiy achieve his goals. Ahmad Haidar Anuawar --> Retirement
Anuawar was a crucial part of Guerao's successes last season. Now he decided it is time to end his career. He'll start working in his family's Italian restaurant. Wu Peilun --> Unemployment
It hurts to let Peilun go, as he was a member of the team since its inaugural season. Unfortunately in the last seasons he didn't drew attention to himself by his bike riding skills, but by lack of discipline and visits to McDonald's. Nobody will take his great win at the Transfaragasan GP 2014 of him. Masatoshi Oba --> Andorra Project - InGamba
Oba is another long term member of the team not finding a spot this season. Luckily he was picked up by a CT team in the draft. In Andorra he'll support the team lead by former team mate Kiserlovski, of whose TTT squad he'll be a member.
New Faces
Pello Bilbao, 28
OVL
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FI
DH
PR
76,48
71
67
79
63
77
71
71
51
71
75
67
66
61
Moazemi didn't deliver as good as we hoped in the hills last season, so it was of importance to us to sign a stronger puncheur this off season. Rather late in transfers we were able to find a deal with Hugo Boss for Spanish champion Pello Bilbao. We are looking forward to see what he can do this season.
Matthias Brändle, 29
OVL
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FI
DH
PR
76,25
75
76
71
79
73
73
72
56
60
69
62
68
79
Our second star signing in the offseason came from now PT team Isostar. Last season Brändle was an essential part for their push for promotion to PT. We are hoping he will be as much of an asset to us.
Tom David, 28
OVL
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FI
DH
PR
76,61
74
62
75
65
76
74
70
78
70
73
68
70
65
Also our cobbles leader is someone new. Tom David came in exchange for Maxime Daniel from PT winners Festina. In hilly cobblestone races he should be one of the strongest riders in the PCT division this season.
Nur Amirul Marzuki, 26
OVL
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FI
DH
PR
73,87
70
71
74
64
71
72
70
74
72
72
64
71
63
Marzuki is the only established rider joining us from the Free Agency this season. He required a big cut into our budget. Hopefully he'll be worth the 140k wage we are paying him. Should be the best helper for David and Nepo on the cobbles.
Talents
Other than that we were able to sign contracts with three Asian talents: Gidich, already introduced before, Azman and Phonarjthan, who joins us as a stagiare later in the season:
Yevgeniy Gidich, 22
OVL
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FI
DH
PR
73,10
72
72
73
73
74
74
69
55
62
70
72
67
73
2021
73
75
80
73
79
77
72
55
63
75
76
68
73
72
76
80
73
78
77
73
55
62
75
76
68
73
73
79
76
78
79
79
76
55
62
71
72
67
78
76
74
74
80
79
81
74
55
62
71
74
67
80
Muhamad Zawawi Azman, 24
OVL
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FI
DH
PR
71,53
68
71
72
62
67
70
69
50
65
71
71
68
63
2020
69
76
77
63
69
72
73
50
65
75
76
69
64
Patompob Phonarjthan, 21
OVL
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FI
DH
PR
67,64
67
60
63
62
66
70
64
53
69
70
64
66
62
???
74
61
64
62
73
73
76
58
78
77
64
67
62
While Azman's training is rather easy to decide on, there are many options for Gidich, no idea how he'll develop.
As loanees two riders will join us: Ivo Oliveira (Porto - Prio) Samuel Ssabagwanya (Ayubowan!)
Tough to let Bilbao go, as he's been great. But boring to not do any changes so had to cut someone, and then it was easier to let go of someone I didnt take from lvl. 1. Hope he will do great for you, as he's probably much more suited for PCT racing anyway. Best of luck!
Would personally go for the puncheur route with 76 mt for Gidich. Great base for further training that!
Really like the look of your squad I hope that specially Denifl and Brandle can deliver some good results, and the battle for Gidich won't be forgotten soon you sure have loads of riders I'm looking forward to see racing this season Good luck!
Gidich has a couple of interesting options. Personally i prefer the Stage Racer option of those you presented, not sure if hybrid options would be interesting too.
I had to laugh quite a bit at Marzukis wage. Hope he is worth that to you
Plenty of riders there that I'd love to have in my side, I made offers for Brandle, Marzuki and David at least either this season or last season and in Marzuki's case both, so this is definitely a team I'm following closely this season.
That also means I'm likely to be in touch with you in future transfer seasons quite a lot, especially if I can promote to PCT where I'd have the extra budget and cap space.
Looks as though you had quite a successful transfer season
A leader in every terrain and pretty decent depth to boot, I reckon you guys could very well be on your way up to PT come next season
@dev4ever Thanks, hope so too! I'm extremely happy to have added such a great puncheur to my team. I think all of the options would be good training bases for Gidich, it's just so hard to decide what to do. At first I also preferred the 76/80 option, but not so sure atm. @Yellow Jersey Thank you! I hope so too. Especially considering Denifl I have hopes he'll have his best season yet for me due to the more race days he has gotten after the ovl update. @knockout As Gidich is only potential 3 there are not many hybrid options left that would not heavily weaken him in other parts. I'll probably do either the Stage Racer or 76/80 option, but I have no idea atm. Also the time trialling training with 74 in Mo + Hi looks kind of cool imo. Marzuki is definitely worth his wage. @sammyt93 Thanks, looking forward to hear from you in future transfers, maybe some deals will be possible. I was surprised you didn't challenge me for Azman but only for Marzuki. Imo he was the strongest Asian climbing talent available this season. @sutty68 Thanks! NCs are also added now, we will be very colourful once again this season. @Eden95 Happy with my transfer season as well. Signing a strong puncheur was my initial goal to have scoring opportunities in every terrain. Not sure about my chance to promote, though. Problem with leaders in every terrain is that it is harder to fill all of their racedays with fitting races. At least two of my leaders don't have a calendar for them maximizing their scoring potential. @Vien I guess you are right, especially as you are the expert in overpaying for a rider
I agree in Cyprus Marzuki could do great things!
Calendar & Goals presentation
Our team will ride these races:
Spoiler
Down Under Classic
HC
110
110
Clasique Pico Basile
C1
131
131
Tour of the Middle East
HC
205
208
Tour de Pologne
HC
208
214
Gent - Wevelgem
C1
210
210
Ras Tailteann
C1
210
212
Viana do Castelo
C1
214
214
Volta a Catalunya
C1
218
223
Hong Kong Challenge
C2
225
227
SAA Tour d'Afrique
PTHC
301
304
KBC De Panne Tour
C1
302
305
Roma Maxima
C1
303
303
Le Samyn
C1
310
310
Vuelta a Colombia
HC
311
316
Praha - Karlovy Vary - Praha
PT
314
317
Strade Bianche
PTHC
320
320
Tour of Southland
C1
324
328
Jelajah SKL
C1
328
331
GP Herning
HC
331
331
Nakhon Ratchasima Trophy
C1
401
401
Coppa Placci
C2
408
408
Tour of California
PTHC
409
415
Tour of Cyprus
C1
420
423
Lisbon Classic
PTHC
426
426
Veenendaal - Veenendaal
HC
429
429
Philadelphia International Championship
HC
429
429
Cheshire Cycling Tour
HC
501
505
1 Jour de Dunkerque
C2
507
507
Chrono d'Arenberg
C1
509
509
Scandinavia Open
PTHC
512
514
Berlin ProRace
HC
516
516
Tour of Japan
C1
601
606
GP Kigali
HC
605
605
Post Danmark Rundt
HC
610
614
Criterium du Dauphine Libere
PT
616
623
Colombo Classic
PTHC
627
627
Celtic Chrono
C1
705
706
Bayern Rundfahrt
C1
711
714
Kenya Mountain Classic
HC
720
720
Nantahala Classic
C1
726
726
Tour of Beijing
HC
726
729
Rund um Koln
PTHC
802
802
Macskako Kerekparverseny
C1
804
804
Clasica San Sebastian
HC
807
807
Int. Osterreich Rundfahrt
HC
807
813
Volta a Portugal
PTHC
811
821
Baltic Chain Tour
C1
817
821
Tour of Britain
C1
901
905
Deutschland Tour
PTHC
920
924
Rheden GP
PTHC
927
927
Giro dell'Emelia
HC
1003
1003
Barbados Cycling Festival
HC
1012
1015
Japan Cup
HC
1018
1018
Goals:
SAA Tour d'Afrique
TOP5
PTHC
Rund um Koln
TOP5
PTHC
Barbados Cycling Festival
TOP5
HC
Giro dell'Emelia OR Down Under Classic
WIN
HC
PCT Team Standings
TOP5
After Guerao`s outstanding season we decided to focus all our goals on him, starting with a win goal at the Down Under Classic, where he was successful last season.
NC Jerseys:
Despite having the least successful national championships in our team's history with countless 2nd and 3rd places, we still will be able to wear some colourful NCs this season, mostly by riders who joined the team in the offseason. We have both 4 road and time trial champions among our riders:
Spoiler
Austira - Stefan Denifl (RR), Matthias Brändle (TT)
I have updated post #5 with our most notable results this season until this point. With only 4 races left to race, SPAR currently occupies a podium spot in the PCT rankings. This is pleasing to see as this is despite not everything feeling like a success this season with Guerao sucking at everything he does this season and the manager having made some terrible planning mistakes (ignoring race clashes during race selection). The rest of the team did well to compensate for that. A total of 7 stage wins were achieved this season (2 by each of Denifl, Brändle and Bilbao and 1 for Marzuki) and one GC win (Brändle in Danmark). Bilbao missed the GC at Jelajah SKL with less than a second to home favourite Anuar Aziz. Additionally the team won 7 minor classifications, 3 times as best team (Jelajah, Danmark, Britain) and 4 mountains jerseys (Sirirronnachai - Tailteann, Boonratanathanakorn - Praha-KV-Praha, Azman - Baltic Chain, Postlberger - Deutschland). On the other hand there is Guerao, who carried the team on his back almost on his own last season when finishing 6th in the individual PCT rankings. Last year he contributed with 2 classics and 3 stage wins, this season he wasn't even close to a win (2 3rd places). Often he didn't even get a top 10 in sprint stages (e.g. none of the Baltic Chain Tour stages), even in races like Middle East and Cyprus with a weak sprinting opposition Guerao failed to make an impact. I have no idea what happened to him. Now in the last 4 races it is important that Guerao will find more confidence as there are still two goal races which were chosen for him, Barbados Cycling Festival and Rund um Köln. In both the goal is a top 5. The other two races are Japan Cup and Clasica San Sebastion which are both lead by Spanish champion Pello Bilbao.
Maxime Daniel --> Festina - Dexia
Vitor Rodrigues --> Banco de Bogota
Hossein Alizadeh --> Oberfranken
Ahmad Haidar Anuawar --> Retirement
Wu Peilun --> Unemployment
Masatoshi Oba --> Andorra Project - InGamba 
Pello Bilbao, 28 
Matthias Brändle, 29
Tom David, 28
Yevgeniy Gidich, 22
Patompob Phonarjthan, 21
Samuel Ssabagwanya (Ayubowan!)
Good luck!
Austira - Stefan Denifl (RR), Matthias Brändle (TT)
True MVP
