Welcome to the Head Quarters of Kraftwerk Man Machine Cycling Team riding in PCM Daily's Management Game 2018 Season.
The major rebuild during 2017 delivered a solid 13th place in our first PCT season. In 2018 we need to build on that platform.
Negotiations with a new sponsor came to nothing so the team are riding in the same iconic shirt.
Quick Summary of 2017
Spoiler
Point Scorers
Rider
Nation
Points
Mark Cavendish
GBR
903
Aleksandar Flügel
GER
585
Robert Kiserlovski
CRO
233
Wesley Kreder
NED
152
Gennadiy Tatarinov
RUS
116
Roman Maikin
RUS
114
Dietmar Mehr-Wenige
GER
74
Nico Denz
GER
71
Nils Politt
GER
33
Florian Scheit
GER
22
Sang Hong Park
KOR
15
Max Walsleben
GER
12
Ole Hirschlein
GER
12
Florian Vachon
FRA
11
Martyn Irvine
IRL
8
Michael Kurth
GER
6
Takero Terasaki
JPN
6
Linus Gerdemann
GER
1
Thomas Bontenackels
GER
1
Goals
Tour Down Under
Top 5
7th
FAILED
Milano Torino
Win
4th
FAILED
Tour de Pologne
Top 5
4th
ACHIEVED
Tour of Beijing
Top 5
6th
FAILED
Team Standings
Top 10
13th
FAILED
Apologies for the sparse HQ updates last season, lots of real life to deal with, some issues still to be resolved, things should be clearer by Christmas so this HQ may not see too much action until then. On with the shameless cut and paste .
Kraftwerk Man Machine are based in Dusseldorf riding on a German licence. The team is comprised of an international squad to reflect the international appeal of Kraftwerk's music, although Germany will always be the best represented nation. The management will look to recruit riders from Germany, France, Japan, Russia and Great Britain. This reflects the fan base and mix of languages sung on various Kraftwerk songs as you can hear on the track Numbers from their 1981 album Computer World.
Here is a live version from the Minimum-Maximum tour (its playback restricted if embedded). https://www.youtu...3f-JwOGO1A
Pioneers
As Kraftwerk were pioneers in developing new sounds and instruments, the Kraftwerk Man Machine will look to develop new talent. We are open to developing riders on loan from other teams if they fit our nationality profile.
Concept and Icon
The Kraftwerk Man Machine team name is taken from Kraftwerk's 1978 album The Man Machine. The concept of the Man Machine is of humans, technology and nature combined in harmony with the Rider, Bicycle and Parcours being a prime example. The youtube link below is the live version of The Man Machine from the Minimum-Maximum tour (its playback restricted if embedded). https://www.youtu...kd7LbQnfIQ
Kraftwerk are as much about image as music and the shirt design was inspired by the iconic cover of the same album.
A BIG thankyou to the_hoyle for the shirt design and for his guidance in keeping the design pure and elegant.
Renewals have gone well, with a nervous moment as Cavendish held out until the last minute before signing.
Stars Available Again – any reasonable offer considered
The age profile of the squad is not ideal and so some of our older star riders are available for transfer.
Aleksandar Flügel
Hill 81 € 450,000 inflicted a rare defeat over EBH to triumph at Strade Bianchi in 2017 and is a reliable point scorer in PCT.
Robert Kiserlovski
Mo 80, Hil 75, TT 72 € 205,000 was third in the Tour of America in 2017, would make a great CT leader.
Renewals
Nat
Rider
New Wage
Change
Age
Available
Key Stat
Mark Cavendish
€ 550,000
€ 0
32
No
Aleksandar Flügel
€ 450,000
-€ 30,000
32
Yes
Hil 81
Robert Kiserlovski
€ 205,000
-€ 70,000
32
Yes
Mo 80
Wesley Kreder
€ 130,000
-€ 5,000
28
No
Dietmar Mehr-Wenige
€ 138,000
-€ 52,000
30
No
Florian Scheit
€ 50,000
€ 0
27
No
Sang Hong Park
€ 50,000
-€ 2,000
29
No
Roman Maikin
€ 50,000
-€ 10,000
28
No
Michael Kurth
€ 50,000
-€ 5,000
32
No
Cob 75
Gennadiy Tatarinov
€ 50,000
-€ 8,000
27
No
Ole Hirschlein
€ 60,000
-€ 25,000
30
Yes
Mo 77
Nico Denz
€ 55,000
€ 4,000
24
No
Hil 74
Thomas Bontenackels
€ 50,000
-€ 4,000
32
No
Takero Terasaki
€ 50,000
€ 0
27
Yes
SP 73
Max Walsleben
€ 50,000
-€ 4,000
28
No
Nils Politt
€ 57,000
€ 4,000
24
No
TT 76
Martyn Irvine
€ 50,000
€ 0
33
Yes
TT 74
Fabien Grellier
€ 50,000
€ 40,000
24
Maybe
FL 70
Linus Gerdemann
€ 0
-€ 55,000
35
Released
Florian Vachon
€ 0
-€ 50,000
33
Released
Pascal Ackermann
€ 0
-€ 50,000
24
Released
We said farewell to Linus Gerdemann, Florian Vachon and Pascal Ackermann and wish them well in their future careers.
Transfers Out Robert Kiserlovski and Ole Hirschlein both went to CT squad Andorra Project InGamba where we hope they can be part of a successful promotion bid. Thomas Bontenackels went to German PT squad T-Mobile as part of the deal that brought Willi WillWohl (SP79, ACC78) and Daniel Paulus (HIL77, MO74) to Kraftwerk.
Transfers In
From Free Agency we failed to get our main targets so had a switch of focus giving up on getting to top class climber or stage racer in favour of improving our time trial chances and getting more depth in the hills and sprints department to support Cav and Flügel.
Top time trialler Lucas Schädlich (TT 80) will add an extra dimension to the squad and was brought in with the Deutschland tour in mind.
Surprise top leadout man last season Martin Irvine has declined so we were looking for a rider with similar attributes and were delighted to get Westley Gough (FL76, SP76, TT74) for just 60k.
We have to make a big shoutout to gentleman Croatia14 who spotted climber Jocelin Maillet (MO77, ACC77) just before the deadline and did not overbid us so we landed a bargain to get him for 50k. Little did I know at the time that he would turn out to be our mountains leader. He scored useful points behind Henao last season, lets see what he can do as a leader.
I very nearly landed Alex Ariya Destribois for 50k but it wasn’t to be and I found a useful cheaper alternative in veteran Alexandre Shushemoin(HIL75, MO74). I did consider a 5th TT guy for a stronger TTT team but felt another hill domestique for Flügel would be a better bet.
The reason for needing a cheaper alternative was a deal to bring Marco Haller (SP80, ACC79) in from Festina – Dexia. Having Cav, Marco and Willi will allow us to send a decent sprinter to every flat stage we race and hopefully get some points out of them that we couldn’t do last season.
Fabien Grellier is loaned out to very promising new team Delvaux with a L1 to L3 clause, we hope he can make a contribution to their promotion bid.
Lastly we hired our third Austrian Benjamin Brkic as a Stagiaire.
Sadly no improvements in the cobbles department, we showed an interest in Marc Potts but the price went a bit too high for our PCT pockets.
I couldn’t help noticing the remarkable progress made by Pascal Ackermann after leaving Kraftwerk, we hope this is all by natural talent and no “jiffy bags” were involved.
I wanted better depth this season and I have got it, at the expense of mountains and stage races.
Sprinters are 83,80,79,77,76,76,75,73,73
Puncheurs are 81,78,77,76,75,75,74,74
Race selection has been dictated by these terrains.
Here is the full squad
To honour the memory of Ruby Twoface I have committed to send a full squad to every race, with only 21 riders and a stagiaire it will be a challenge!
Edited by DaveTwoBob on 02-08-2018 01:03
Despite Lutsenko joining PCT Aleksandar Flügel has a slightly weaker field to contend with than last year and better support so should improve on last season’s points haul.
Here are the stats of the top PCT puncheurs.
SPRINTERS
Cav has a significantly better leadout squad than last year, hope they can form a train to challenge Degenkolb. Haller will be used as a second lead sprinter with Willwohl taking the role as Cav’s main leadout man.
Here are the stats of the top PCT sprinters.
TIME TRIAL
New recruit Schädlich will be looking to make top 5 to 10 finishes in the flatter time trials targeting home race Deutschland Tour.
Here are the stats of the top PCT testers.
MOUNTAINS & COBBLES
Kraftwerk have the 50th best climber and the 40th best cobbler so any points from these terrains will be a bonus.
Month by Month analysis
I have tried to show which months have the best scoring potential for Kraftwerk based on the 4 riders with the best scoring potential. Cav & Flügel are shown as Race Days while Schädlich and Haller are shown as Stages where they can score.
The analysis shows we can expect a strong start and end to the season from Kraftwerk but March and April will have slim pickings.
44 race days are classified as having negligible scoring potential, that’s a quarter of all race days. If Kraftwerk are to achieve a top 10 or promotion place we need to be very lucky in these races and grab some breakaway, sprint or KOM results.
Month
Days
Cavendish RD
Flügel RD
Schädlich ST
Haller ST
Scoring Potential
Jan
4
2
0
0
0
50%
Feb
21
3
12
0
3
86%
Mar
29
9
0
2
1
38%
Apr
27
4
2
2
3
41%
May
8
2
0
1
5
100%
Jun
14
2
6
0
1
64%
Jul
12
0
4
2
1
58%
Aug
16
7
2
1
0
63%
Sep
36
5
10
1
6
61%
Oct
8
4
4
0
0
100%
Total
175
38
40
9
20
66%
Here is a look at the racing programme of Kraftwerk Man Machine during January and February that includes a win goal at Ras Tailteann.
Cav rides the Down Under Classic and our win goal Ras Tailteann so we are hopeful his rivals avoid this race.
Flügel rides Etoile de Besseges & Tour de Pologne where we expect at least a top 5 and the Pro Hallstatt Classic where the mountains rating may not be to his liking.
Haller leads the sprint challenge in Tour de Pologne while Cav is in Ireland.
Dietmar Mehr-Wenige (DMW from now on) just qualifies for C2 races so might grab a few points from Clasico San Cristobal.
The team is not suited to Tour of the Middle East or Kuurne - Bruxelles – Kuurne so anything out of these races will be a bonus, Willwohl has a rare chance at lead sprinter at Tour of the Middle East so will be keen to make a good showing.
DaveTwoBob wrote:
I wanted better depth this season and I have got it, at the expense of mountains and stage races. Sprinters are 83,80,79,77,76,76,75,73,73
Puncheurs are 81,78,77,76,75,75,74,74
True credo of champions. #OneDayAllDay
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
DaveTwoBob wrote:
I wanted better depth this season and I have got it, at the expense of mountains and stage races. Sprinters are 83,80,79,77,76,76,75,73,73
Puncheurs are 81,78,77,76,75,75,74,74
DaveTwoBob wrote:
I wanted better depth this season and I have got it, at the expense of mountains and stage races. Sprinters are 83,80,79,77,76,76,75,73,73
Puncheurs are 81,78,77,76,75,75,74,74
DaveTwoBob wrote:
To honour the memory of Ruby Twoface I have committed to send a full squad to every race, with only 21 riders and a stagiaire it will be a challenge!
Mission accomplished although it took a lot of rescheduling and some of the riders attending unsuitable races will be cursing the management
Here is a look at the racing programme of Kraftwerk Man Machine during March which covers a massive 32 race days.
Cav rides the SAA Tour d'Afrique our PTHC goal where we are aiming for a top 10 but with all the sprint training that has gone on that will be a challenge. Joining Cav at the Tour of Southland is Lucas Schädlich who we are hoping can deliver a decent GC result. Finally Cav rides Ronde van Nederland for fun.
Flügel avoids Vuelta al Pais Vasco as the TTs don’t suit him, Schädlich has the best chance of getting something out of this race for us.
Maillet tries to get something out of Vuelta a Colombia and Haller goes for the flat stage in Tour of East Java.
Three cobble races are not likely to gain us any points, Le Samyn, E3 Prijs & GP Herning.
Here is a look at the racing programme of Kraftwerk Man Machine during March which covers a substantial 27 race days.
Cav rides Nakhon Ratchasima Trophy and the Veenendaal - Veenendaal where we managed a 1-2 finish last year. On the same day as Veenendaal Haller & Kreder try their luck in the lumpier Philadelphia International Championship.
Flügel has a great chance in the Sochi Cup but avoids the Tour of Ukraine where Schädlich goes for the time trails and DMW tackles the hill stage.
Maillet tries to get something out of the Tour of Vancouver & Tour of California, Haller goes for the flat stages in Vancouver and Willwohl sprints in California.
DMW has another C2 hills race at the Coppa Placci.
.
).
Robert Kiserlovski 
#OneDayAllDay
