Liking the talents, and good to see Olesen going home Would have been nice to have kept him, but couldn't due to wages etc. Will watch his development with great interest
Eden95 wrote:
Liking the talents, and good to see Olesen going home Would have been nice to have kept him, but couldn't due to wages etc. Will watch his development with great interest
Honestly it's a shame he's already 24. Will end up being a very solid domestique for us someday I reckon, and he's Danish, so that's important! None of our talents are world beaters. Is all about building a core to get pieces around, and Olesen's a good example.
I actually got into a bidding war for him back in 2016 and somehow completely neglected him last year, so happy he at least found a team with you! Now he's finally in our colors though, hopefully for a long time!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Nice signings all over. Very much considered picking up Resell myself, but didn't have the cap for a full rider and a staigaire in the end.
A good step up from your team last season, with Stuyven who should be very handy around Juul-Jensen and the, big, big, upgrade on the cobbles. Hope to see you dominate the PCT scene there (but not too much in PT ).
Good luck with Würtz on your team, hope he can do good for you!
Nice signings all over. Very much considered picking up Resell myself, but didn't have the cap for a full rider and a staigaire in the end.
A good step up from your team last season, with Stuyven who should be very handy around Juul-Jensen and the, big, big, upgrade on the cobbles. Hope to see you dominate the PCT scene there (but not too much in PT ).
Good luck with Würtz on your team, hope he can do good for you!
tastasol wrote:
Nice signings all over. Very much considered picking up Resell myself, but didn't have the cap for a full rider and a staigaire in the end.
A good step up from your team last season, with Stuyven who should be very handy around Juul-Jensen and the, big, big, upgrade on the cobbles. Hope to see you dominate the PCT scene there (but not too much in PT ).
Good luck with Würtz on your team, hope he can do good for you!
Resell is a guy I was surprised to see not get a contract. Obviously not a future leader, but a really solid cobbles lieutenant for the future. The fact that he's Scandinavian and I had room for stags made it an easy decision.
A step up indeed, although I didn't plug the holes that I really wanted to going in. Somehow the GC situation is even worse so we just decided to abandon the terrain as much as possible. Hopefully PCM AI gives me enough love on cobbles to steer me clear of relegation again. With Wisnkiowski's training, don't think we'll be much trouble for you anyway. He's a beast!
We're happy to have Wurtz! Always happy to play a part in developing Danish talent!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
After reviewing each aspect of the Carlsberg transfer season, we have finally assembled our scouting report of the final roster for this coming season. Take a look below.
It's clear the additions of Sinkeldam and Vanspeybrouck have really improved the cobbles team. On the other hand, there's not much more to be happy about for Carlsberg fans. They didn't land the GC leader they were looking for, with Garby now they're only climber with even a shout of scoring some minor points. Kragh Andersen's return from loan should guarantee that the team can field a sprinter in every race, so that should help scoring points. Time trialing hasn't been improved, and some depth domestiques are gone in favor of young talents.
Certainly one can't aspect Juul-Jensen or Appollonio to repeat their 2017's, so one has to hope that they will be able to make up those points with the additions to their cobbles team and of AKA. Then they have to hope that is enough to avoid the relegation zone again. They will certainly be in the discussion at least.
Do you think Carlsberg will survive in PCT again? Or will their missed opportunities in the transfer season come back to bite them? Let us know in the comments! Racing will begin shortly, so we'll see what happens on the road!
Mr. Pickles
Sporting News
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
It will be a tough season for you. Haven't looked in depth at the other teams but you could be one of the teams that move across the line all season.
Unless Juul-Jensen and Appolonia continue overperforming that is.
The cobbles squad is obviously great and should help you greatly and I hope they will save you.
Atlantius wrote:
It will be a tough season for you. Haven't looked in depth at the other teams but you could be one of the teams that move across the line all season.
Unless Juul-Jensen and Appolonia continue overperforming that is.
The cobbles squad is obviously great and should help you greatly and I hope they will save you.
I'm expecting Juul-Jensen to have a De Maar 2016 like regression. I think he will still overperform his hill but not as much as long year. Problem is I was still find in 2016 cause I added Garby, Steensen, Boonen, and Docker in CT. I barely added anything here. Appo might completely fade in obscurity all year for all I know.
I really think my survival relies on PCM AI either liking my cobbles squad or not. I guess we'll see!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
I am yet to look at PCT teams properly so this opinion will probably change but i think that you will stay in narrowly because your cobble team is just too strong. While keeping Nolf as lieutenant never was the plan in the first place it is a strong move because Vanspeybrouck is imo the kind of guy who needs a strong lieutenant to succeed. Planning the season well for Appolonio, AKA and Juul Jensen could be crucial in the end.
knockout wrote:
I am yet to look at PCT teams properly so this opinion will probably change but i think that you will stay in narrowly because your cobble team is just too strong. While keeping Nolf as lieutenant never was the plan in the first place it is a strong move because Vanspeybrouck is imo the kind of guy who needs a strong lieutenant to succeed. Planning the season well for Appolonio, AKA and Juul Jensen could be crucial in the end.
Staying up last year was immensely lucky. I have to just hope that the small improvements I've made will be able to compensate for lack of that luck this season, as that's the only way I stay up. At least I have AKA now, so there's maybe 2 flat days in the whole season I won't have a sprinter with that coverage. I can't expect top placings, so hopefully that's enough to scrounge up points.
I had a few scheduling decision with JJ that will hopefully pay off and not ruin the year. Could be make or break.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
I don’t see you as a relegator. Like you say, your team has improved, and I don’t see the competition being stronger either. Imo you have a team that will easily survive if you analize your competition and the weak spots and go hard for results there. You are not a favorite for top 10, but you could end up just below with good planning.
Eden95 wrote:
Pieter will take you to salvation surely Best cobbled rider in the division by far.
Can't say I'm too confident in that in a division with Blythe. Obviously with Nolf and Sinkeldam behind him, VSB should be better, especially in longer, hillier, more grueling cobbles races. But we all know that's not how it goes sometimes. If it works it could be awesome. If it flops, it could be disaster.
SotD wrote:
I don’t see you as a relegator. Like you say, your team has improved, and I don’t see the competition being stronger either. Imo you have a team that will easily survive if you analize your competition and the weak spots and go hard for results there. You are not a favorite for top 10, but you could end up just below with good planning.
My team is improved for sure. Given my team direction, I'm really proud of the cobbles depth, and adding AKA is also really solid. But in the end I really felt I needed a GC guy, and I kind of got saddled without one after my plans went awry. I hope that doesn't come back to bite me. I've been able to avoid those races in planning now or focus on other aspects of them, so hopefully that's enough.
Good planning from me is not something that can be counted on very often. I really made an effort to work hard with the planner to maximize points this year, but like always, I feel like that effort's success relies mostly on how lucky I was rather than expertise, which I lack.
Still, looking at the DB by team last night, I'm feeling a little better. Indeed, CT looks to have gotten stronger still, but I don't think PCT did, at least not significantly.
To all: Thank you for checking in and commenting! Gives me a lot more motivation for HQ stuff going forward!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
News out of Carlsberg's team bus is that they have release their goals for the upcoming season. let's take a look.
1
GP Herning
Win
2
Scandinavia Open
Top 5
3
Gent Wevelgem
Top 5
4
Stage Wins in a Season
15
5
PCT Team Standings
Top 15
GP Herning - Win
Unsurprisingly, Carlsberg again aim to win their home nation cobbles race. They have never been successful before, with their closest result being Niki Østergaard's 4th in 2015. Last year, Frederik Nolf led the team, finishing just 8th. With their new cobbles team ready to destroy the cobbles, this might finally be their year. Of course, the short, flat course may favor opponents like Adam Blythe, but the Danish squad will no doubt be ready to try everything they can to win on home soil.
Scandinavia Open Road Race - Top 5
This former puncher's classic is now a 3 stage stage race, traversing the rolling Swedish hills. Clearly, Carlsberg want to succeed in regional races. Obviously, this is a race for Christopher Juul-Jensen. Being a PTHC race, his chances aren't great, as the competition will be far superior. Last year, he mustered only 21st in the classic version. However, with a motivated team behind him, Juul-Jensen's grit, determination, and aggressiveness might just allow him to pull it off.
Gent - Wevelgem - Top 5
Another cobbled goal, this one C1. Gent Wevelgem is cobbled, though it's traditionally a less selective race than most. It appears that Carlsberg may have envisioned having a different sort of cobbled leader prior tot he transfer season, when they made this goal. That being said, if they can force selections over the cobbles in a race more like 2016 than last year, a top 5 result should be possible given their talent and depth.
Stage Wins in a Season - 15
It appears management may have had a few too many Carlsberg's when they planned this one out. Last year, the team set a goal of ten stage wins, and narrowly were able to pull it out. Therefore, it seems like a logical step to up the ante to 15 stage wins. The problem with that lies in the question, who is supposed to get these stage wins? The team's strength is their multidisciplinary approach and depth. They do not have a strong leader on any terrain to consistently get victories. They're going to need to really get aggressive and lucky to even come close to achieving this one.
PCT Team Standings - Top 15
Last season, the team set a goal to get inside the top 20, and avoid relegation. Surprisingly to many, they were able to do that, finishing 16th in the end, and staying in the Pro Continental Tour for another season. This year, they hope to improve one place, top the top 15, well clear of relegation. Unfortunately, we predict that most of their overachievement last year will not be replicated this year, so finishing solid mid table as they hope will be difficult. Certainly we expect that avoiding relegation will once again be considered true success.
Carlsberg never go too ambitious with their goals, though they might have misplaced a few this year. Obviously, though, they hope to complete as many as they possibly can, as it will surely delight the sponsors to get exposure and results where they most desire.
Mr. Pickles
Sporting News
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Hoping for Vanspeybrouck to do significantly better than Burghardt did, when left us to race on the PCT level. Herning looks doable, though I doubt - just like you said - that G-W ain't the best race for his skills. But who knows? Maybe he launches a winning move somewhere.. Scandinavian Open should be an interesting race this year. We will meet us there
tsmoha wrote:
Hoping for Vanspeybrouck to do significantly better than Burghardt did, when left us to race on the PCT level. Herning looks doable, though I doubt - just like you said - that G-W ain't the best race for his skills. But who knows? Maybe he launches a winning move somewhere.. Scandinavian Open should be an interesting race this year. We will meet us there
Indeed. I can only hope that our depth helps VSB to break up the peloton or attack in a race like G-W. Otherwise it doesn't really fit.
In hindsight, I should have made the PTHC goal a cobbles one, and given JJ a C1 classic or something, but I didn't anticipate having this strong a cobbles team at the end of the transfer season. Hopefully it pays off!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Despite many pundits predicting a mediocre mid table performance from the Danish squad in their sophomore PCT season, the mid season rankings show them in an abysmal 25th place overall, ahead of only Azteca, who did not even attempt to avoid relegation this year.
Lack of success has been the theme of the season for Carlsberg. While Davide Appollonio and Christopher Juul-Jensen have continued to be productive riders, neither of them have come close to their 2017 outputs, and lack of GC results also means that their occasional stage wins do little to help the points total. Marc Christian Garby has been increasingly absent as well, and Asbjorn Kragh Andersen, who got off to a solid start, has been in a slump for much of the last few months.
But undoubtedly, the blame for this catastrophic demise in the infamous Carlsberg cobbles team, led by the "3 Headed Monster" of Pieter Vanspeybroeck, Frederik Nolf, and Ramon Sinkledam, who promised to dominate the cobbles scene in this year. It is quite obvious that that did not happen.
Despite a GC win in De Panne, Pieter Vanspeybroeck has been a complete disappointment in green and blue. Constantly, even with the best team around him, he has been dropped by the likes of glorified CT classics riders. Even when he has managed to stay with him, he has been routinely outfoxed by the likes of inferior lone wolves like Jerome Baugnies and Geraint Thomas. For a man making this kind of money, it's simply deplorable.
The others have not helped him much either. After Frederik Nolf was given a second lease on life this past offseason, he has been completely anonymous. Absolutely nothing of note from him, even on the rare occasions he's been given a chance to lead in a weak field. It seems his contract on served to relax him rather than motivate him. Sinkledam likewise brought promise of success in the hillier classics, but has been nothing more than your average domestique instead.
The result of this disaster is that after the cobbled classics season, which was supposed to be the most lucrative time for the team, Carlsberg - Danske Bank sits 217 points out of 21st place, the final spot to avoid relegation. The road ahead looks bleak.
I attempted to reach team manager baseballlover312 in America over telephone for comment, but he relayed only this short message before hanging up:
"F*ck this noise, f*ck you, and f*ck this f*cking team. We're f*cked."
Team morale certainly isn't on the up. It will take a miracle now for this team to not be blown up and racing at the lowest level next season, if at all. We can only wait to see how it plays out.
Mr. Pickles
Sporting News
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Last week, at the latest MGUCI rankings show, Carlsberg learned that they are almost certainly set for relegation. This week, thing got a whole lot worse.
After much delay, the Cheshire Cycling Tour got off to an interesting start today. Before the season, Carlsberg were picked as one of the favorites to dominate this race, given their incredibly strong cobbles team on paper. However, lack of results during the majority of the classics season have cooled expectations considerably. Still, the team hoped to show some signs of life. They couldn't.
Things got ugly very quickly. Within 20km of the start, homegrown sprinter Asbjorn Kragh Andersen came down with stomach cramps almost immediately. He was quickly dropped, but never liking the cobbles anyway, it became obvious it would be extremely difficult for him to carry on.
However, inexplicably, the team's two top lieutenants - Frederik Nolf and Ramon Sinkledam - fell back with AKA. Despite the team manager directly ordering them to stay with Vanspeybroeck at all costs, both riders fell back and essentially gave up any chance of the team doing anything in the race.
Apparently, something happened between Nolf and Sinkledam at this point. At around 50km to go, Sinkledam had a puncture. Nolf then stopped alongside him, and the two exchanged a few very heated words. Before long, fists were being thrown. After team mechanics broke up the fight, Sinkledam surged away to finish the race with a newly forming black eye. Nolf, now screaming at his team car, threw his bike aside and joined AKA in the backseat.
Up front, Vanspeybroeck rolled in for another disappointing and anonymous 9th place, which along with AKA's abandonment, eliminated any chance of successful stage race for the team.
Both riders declined to comment on the altercation, but team manager baseballlover312 gave us some insight by the team bus later.
"Today, our team had a chance to fight back, to surge ahead and prove those who've doubted us wrong. Instead, they only sunk further, into violence and infighting that has proven to me this team has no life left in it."
It's hard to know what happened yet. We have an investigation ongoing, but both riders pulled out their earpieces early on, and Kragh Andersen has been feeling too unwell to give his side. Perhaps when he gets well again, we'll have more of a clear perspective on what occurred. From our perspective, all when know is that Sinkledam and Nolf exchanged words and profanities, and then fought. Nolf then refused to remount his bike and finish the race. If disciplinary action, even firing, is necessary after investigation, it will be done. This is not tolerated here.
I will say one thing. our team is relegating, and we all know it. Morale has been low. Energy has been low. Comradery has been depleted, and tensions are high as riders fight for their jobs. But we are a team. At the end of the day, anyone who doesn't want to act like they're a part of one can be shown the door. We have nothing to lose for it."
Today acts as yet another episode in a saga of controversy and disappointment for Carlsberg. One must wonder how they will possibly maintain a core or any of their young talents while relegating to CT. Meanwhile, their sponsors must be reeling for the lack of results and bad publicity the team has garnered - and no doubt both would be eager to exercise the rumored opt out clause this coming offseason. After taking 3 years to promote, it seems their fall will be much quicker.
Mr. Pickles
Sporting News
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
I'm so sorry for you and your team. Obviously you had relegation potential but your cobblers have been absolute garbage. And apart from Juul-Jensen I don't see much material to bounce back either
Would have been nice to have kept him, but couldn't due to wages etc. Will watch his development with great interest 
). 
GP Herning - Win
Scandinavia Open Road Race - Top 5
Gent - Wevelgem - Top 5
