@jandal7 - Oh Vanbilsen is of no concern to Jerome. Jerome does what he wants, and he wants to destroy these pretenders. He's the OG PCT cobblist.

That being said, I think he'll be keen to work with Debasey out there on the hilly pavé

Booker wrote:

jandal7 wrote:

I seem to remember Debesay carrying him to a win in Battenkill 2016. He wants repayment

Booker wrote:


Baugnies doesn’t do reparations.

That being said, Penasa and Valls might be willing to help Velits to a top 5 finish or two

jandal7 wrote:

I seem to remember Debesay carrying him to a win in Battenkill 2016. He wants repayment

Belatedly, Kulczyk - DMTEX's season calendar for the 2018 season (already underway) has been released. In unrelated news, the team's secretary has been fired.

We're particularly looking forward to March into early April, where all of our goal races are located. Also, Kulczyk - DMTEX is attending a 'grand tour' for the first time at the Tour of America in September!

Dates	Race	Category
January
10 Jan	Down Under Classic	HC
28 Jan	Apex Mountain Classic	PTHC
31 Jan	Clasique Pico Basile	C1
February
6 Feb	Omloop Het Nieuwsblad	PTHC
8-14 Feb	Tour de Pologne	HC
10 Feb	Gent Wevelgem	C1
14 Feb	Viana do Castelo	C1
15 Feb	Classique du Grand-Duché	PT WC*
18-23 Feb	Volta a Catalunya	C1
28 Feb	Pro Hallstatt Classic	PTHC
15 Feb	Strada Appia Antica	PT WC*
March
3 Mar	Roma Maxima	C1
7-12 Mar	Vuelta al Pais Vasco	PTHC
10 Mar	Le Samyn	C1
11-16 Mar	Vuelta a Colombia	HC
14-15 Mar	Tour of East Java	C1
28 Mar	E3 Prijs	PTHC
28-31 Mar	Jelajah SKL	C1
31 Mar	GP Herning	HC
April
1 Apr	Paris-Roubaix	PT M*
2-7 Apr	Tour of Vancouver	HC
13-15 Apr	Tour of Ukraine	HC
20-23 Apr	Tour of Cyprus	C1
27 Apr	Sochi Cup	C1
29 Apr	Veenendaal - Veenendaal	HC
29 Apr	Philadelphia Intl Champ	HC
May
1-5 May	Cheshire Cycling Tour	HC
2-7 May	Tour of Romandie	C1
3 May	Fleche Wallone	PT WC*
16 May	Berlin ProRace	HC
27-31 May	Tour of Norway	PTHC
June
3 Jun	Malopolski Wyscig	PTHC
5 Jun	GP Kigali	HC
8 Jun	Riga - Jurmala GP	PTHC
10-14 Jun	Post Danmark Rundt	HC
26 Jun	Ronde van Het Ijsselmeer	C1
30 Jun	Monterrey TTT	C1
July
1-8 Jul	Tour de San Luis	C2
5-6 Jul	Celtic Chrono	C1
20 Jul	Kenya Mountain Classic	HC
26-29 Jul	Tour of Beijing	HC
August
4 Aug	Macskako Kerekparverseny	C1
7 Aug	Clasica San Sebastian	HC
7-13 Aug	Int. Osterreich Rundfahrt	HC
11-21 Aug	Volta a Portugal	PTHC
September
2-22 Sep	Tour of America	C1
4-11 Sep	Balkans International	PTHC
27 Sep	Tour of the Battenkill	PT WC*
29 Sep	Milano-Torino	C1
October
1-9 Oct	Tour du Maroc	PTHC
18 Oct	Japan Cup	HC

*Races in bold are goal races.

Shonak wrote:
Super aggressive racing by Baugnies so far, grande! Glad he has found his infamous hunger and willpower again to put in attacks when everybody else is on the limit. Especially satisfying to see him getting Viana do Castelo, my favourite race, this season. Langeveld also very solid so far but feeling the decline, imo.

Vamos Kulczyk! Stay calm and let Baugnies attack

The podium placements for 2018 are now fully updated, and can be found in THIS POST.

Top performers of year:

1. Jérôme 'No Surprises' Baugnies - 5 wins
2. Rafael 'Puta Madre' Valls - 2 wins
3. Enrico 'Am I a PCT leader?' Barbin - 1 win
4. Sam 'OK, I'm definitely not a PCT leader' Bennett - 1 win
5. Mektel 'Token' Eyob - 1 win

Special mention goes to Pierre Paolo Penasa with 4 podiums including 3 2nd-place finishes this year.

Warsaw, Poland - As soon as the transfer window of 2018 had been completed, Kulczyk - DMTEX's secondary sponsor, DMTEX notified team management that this would be their final year sponsoring the team. They were unhappy with the lack of French riders that had been brought in, with only Anthony Lavoine riding in a leadership capacity for the PCT team.

Team manager Janek Wasko supported DMTEX's decision: 'We want to thank DMTEX for their tremendous support over the first two years of our team's history. We couldn't build a team that was suitable for their commercial requirements, but hard decisions had to be made in the building of this team. We think we are vindicated with Kulczyk's performance in 2018, finishing 9th in our maiden PCT season. However, we completely understand DMTEX's priorities are growing exposure in the French market, which we couldn't provide. We wish them all the best.'

He added, 'However, we are absolutely delighted to announce Alitalia has stepped up their involvement and decided to come onboard as a full-time secondary sponsor in 2019! They have been excellent since I've been with Kulczyk, and covered some additional costs during the 2018 season, including supporting the team's involvement in our wildcard PT invitations. I can't wait to work with them!'

With Wawro's blessing, it is Kulczyk's pleasure to announce Alitalia has moved up from Transportation Partner to Secondary Sponsor. The 2019 version of the Polish team, concentrated on building an EU-promoting cycling project with key cyclists from countries of refugee status, will be known as Kulczyk - Alitalia!

jandal7 wrote:
Congrats on the great season for your PCT debut, love your base for growth next year! Like the Italian subfocus as a new direction too - hope to see that go well for you this transfers

Booker wrote:


Thanks jandal, and congrats to you too mate! A very solid foundation has been laid for the coming years.

Have you been staring at the DB_Renewals all day too?

Decisions, decisions, to be made...