What stat gain option is that on Jams? Track Sprint? I feel like a sprint training would have been nice value too as those extra points for the cobble stat can turn him into a decent domestique for every level on the cobbles (considering the backup stats too)
Lovely talents obviously. Debesay looks so cool <3
Croatia - Thanks Indeed can't wait to see my regional base and of course Jams come into their own after years of growth. And when Schomber joins them and wears loads of yellow jerseys, I hope you and all the other haters apologise for your doubts
knockout - Indeed that option would also have been very good for Jams, I can't tell you my exact thought process two years ago when I realised classics and fighter were shit but I'm still glad I went for Track-Sprint, he's a very cool rider. But indeed the usefulness on a terrain would have been nice.
Thanks a lot, really hope I can maximise Debesay's lovely skillset next year
Crunch time is really on for your old pal Mr. HQ man to finish the season as the off-season is in full swing. So without further ado, the final four riders of the month:
July Rider of the Month
In Kenya he won the cheers of the African fans, animating the race by attacking early, then opening up the final sprint before devastatingly being passed on the line by Henao...
Leading the final charge to the line - Kenya Mountain Classic
Peter Velits Total RoTM Wins | 1 RoTM Wins This Season | 1
August Rider of the Month
The toughest choice as this could easily have gone to Luke Rowe for 4th in the Baltic Chain Tour, or Peter Velits with his gritty stage win to come back to 6th place in Osterreich, but with his own 17th in that race and his own comeback to 5th place in a tough Portuguese PTHC field after an awful first week is enough for...
Going clear of the favourites on Stage 10 - Volta ao Portugal
George Bennett Total RoTM Wins | 3 RoTM Wins This Season | 2
September Rider of the Month
Unlike the very tough choice in August, this one was a bit of a non-event, so due to a solid 7th place in the Rheden GP...
7th in the "sprint" - Rheden GP
Luke Rowe Total RoTM Wins | 2 RoTM Wins This Season | 2
October Rider of the Month
He may have failed in the GC but the unbreakable spirit and fight of this rider on the way to the KoM and so nearly holding off the top riders solo on Stage 6 of the Tour du Maroc inspired us all...
Off on an adventure in the fog and snow - Tour du Maroc
Peter Velits Total RoTM Wins | 2 RoTM Wins This Season | 2
Another year draws to a close, but this was hardly any old year. Our first in the PCT - and thankfully not our last. We always believed we could stay up in the relegation dogfight - but we never would have predicted there would be no relegation dogfight!
Team
Total
PpRD
1
1
Generali - EDF
4069
23,25
2
2
SPAR - Shimano - SCG
3501
20,01
3
3
Repsol - Netflix
3311
18,92
4
4
Fablok - Bank BGZ
3248
18,67
5
5
Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ
3200
18,29
6
7
Podium Ambition
3112
17,78
7
6
Iberia - Team Degenkolb
3105
17,74
8
8
Ayubowan!
2961
16,92
9
9
Kulczyk - DMTEX
2951
16,86
10
10
Team Reddit
2904
16,59
11
11
Kraftwerk Man Machine
2848
16,27
12
14
Meiji - JR East
2674
15,28
13
12
Minions
2603
14,87
14
13
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
2558
14,7
15
15
Team Popo4Ever p/b Nemiroff
2496
14,26
16
19
Novatek-Panarmenian.net
2481
14,18
17
17
World Cycling Centre
2472
14,13
18
16
Philips - Continental
2466
14,09
19
18
cycleYorkshire
2454
14,02
20
20
Carrefour - ESPN
2338
13,36
21
21
Carlsberg - Danske Bank
2168
12,39
22
22
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
2103
12,02
23
23
Netia - Vónin
2093
11,96
24
24
Nordstrom - BioWare
1894
10,82
25
25
Euskaltel - Elior
1738
9,93
26
26
Azteca - NBCSN
1403
8,06
Not only did we survive, not only did we avoid the relegation battle, but we damn well nearly broke into the top half! It's no miracle for a promoted team (we were fourth of the 2017 promoting class) but we are still very pleased with such a year when at one point it seemed all was lost during transfers. Every rider gave it their all, and we are so thrilled to see the strength in depth of our riders in the individual ranking:
Team
Total
1
Aleksandr Pluchkin
MOL
Team Popo4Ever
1620
2
Alexey Lutsenko
KAZ
Team Reddit
1389
3
John Degenkolb
GER
Iberia - Team Degenkolb
1311
32
Peter Velits
SVK
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
572
40
Luke Rowe
GBR
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
518
63
George Bennett
NZL
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
366
75
Stanislau Bazhkou
BLR
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
278
80
Mekseb Debesay
ERI
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
254
93
Anthony Roux
FRA
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
210
133
Tosh Van der Sande
BEL
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
128
160
Abolfazl Gilanipoor
IRN
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
106
281
Joseph Areruya
RWA
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
38
345
Jaco Venter
RSA
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
23
363
Hamish Schreurs
NZL
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
19
396
Marvain Tognama Kossouhorou
CAF
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
13
421
Carl Ngamoki-Cameron
FIJ
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
9
422
Tom Davison
NZL
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
9
429
Jordan Schleck
UGA
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
9
468
Jamalidin Novardianto
INA
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
4
512
Dylan Kennett
NZL
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
1
513
Hernan Ricardo Aguirre
COL
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
1
582
Gregory Daniel
USA
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
0
583
Callum Scotson
AUS
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
0
584
Joseph Kimathi
KEN
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
0
585
Nils Schomber
GER
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
0
No top 30 scorers but six in the top 100 plus Tosh and Gilanipoor breaking 100 points. In fact to highlight how little we relied on a major scorer, none of our riders managed to beat Anthony Roux's Xero season points record from last year in the Continental Tour! Peter Velits naturally as our top points getter and Luke Rowe also in the top 40 both having big seasons to keep us in the division, but the next two riders, Bennett and Bazhkou, show the meaning of this team's great season. Two less eye-catching riders when reviewing the division, making advantage of hybrid racing, bold racing, gritty racing to bring in two huge points hauls.
Not much to say here except that we are proud of each and every name on that list and each and every point they earned. A mid-table team doesn't catch the press attention or all the plaudits, but we are still very happy and proud of this season.
Predictions
A bit of fun and petty public revenge as we review the previewers and compare pre-season media expectations to reality. So in order from most optimistic to least (and really, most correct to least):
Abhi's Conglomerate Expert Prediction - 13th
A solid showing from our good friend Abhishek, and the only predictor to predict us above where we finished! We should have believed his optimism, as he was the most accurate predictor!
jph's overconfident "Ayubowan wins" prediction - 16th
The next best was jph who predicted quite correctly we'd finish safely away from the relegation scrap. Too right.
Conglomerate Statistical Outcome - 16th
Not bad - we hate formulas but this one least of all.
knockout's Conglomerate Expert Prediction - 17th
Another conglomerate member, another more or less correct prediction. The Evonik manager also thought we'd avoid relegation troubles, but clearly didn't quite realise by how far.
Ollfardh's leader-based preview - 17th
The Belgian's original points-based prediction based on leader strength didn't come quite so close but I'll spare his blushes by just showing his not too inaccurate adjusted formula's outcome.
matt's pizza-fuelled prediction - 21st
Quite a gap here to a series of three "just avoiding relegation" predictions - once again the DB King is not the prediction King, 7 places off and predicting us to make some form of heroic great escape.
SN's "a bit number-like" preview - 21st
The formulas once again underestimate us, proving we transcend any attempt to categorise, minimalise, numberise, etc.
jandal's Conglomerate "Expert" Prediction - 21st
Once again this walking kidney stone of a predictor incompetently predicted us to barely scrape into the division, having no faith in us. What a tosser.
Heine's PCT Preview - 24th
Haha you idiot what do you even know about MG what has your team ever do- oh, won the Tour de France?
bbl's Comedy Central Roast of the PCT - 0 points and relegation
I'm going to be the bigger person and just not comment on this one
Croatia14 wrote:
Very good team efforts. I love the score of Stan once again, who did a great job. Awesome that you proved (almost) all predictions wrong!
Thanks! Yes Stan quickly becoming a Xero hero, that Isostar magic hitting a new level now he has pure leadership
Glad to see you made it through your first PCT season very comfortably, even if you continue to refuse Novardianto’s wishes to return to his homeland to his family
Excited to see what kind of crazy plan you’re cooking up for next season as wel!
Eden95 wrote:
Glad to see you made it through your first PCT season very comfortably, even if you continue to refuse Novardianto’s wishes to return to his homeland to his family
Excited to see what kind of crazy plan you’re cooking up for next season as wel!
I would like to deny these baseless, outlandish and libellous claims from the Indosat manager - clearly being a PT manager has got to his head and he thinks he can bully teams in lower divisions into giving him their riders! Novardianto and his family are very happy with his career at Xero as his fame in Indonesia has allowed for them to move into a nice house and come to see him often.
Thanks though, and oh I don't just have one crazy plan, I have many
This was our squad for the 2018 season, our inaugural PCT class! They came together brilliantly to defy almost all predictions and finish in the mid table, but not just in a solid, mid-pack way - we had our ups and downs, our glorious highs and dissapointing lows, but thankfully more of the former than the latter. They did it all as a team, but now we're going to break it down and review all of their individual seasons, from A to V. Damn, we need somebody with a Z surname!
Hernan Ricardo Aguirre
Seventh in the breakaway sprint - Tour de San Luis
Highlights: His breakaway fun on the last day of the Tour de San Luis with his parents watching, where he got a top 10 result as his group survived. Lowlights: None really. Points: 1 (513th in Division/18th in Team) Rider of the Month: 0 Victories: 0 Breakaways: 1 (1 successful, 7th) Verdict: Outside of that lovely stage fight and top 10, it was a quiet season for our Colombian stagiaire. We don't yet know (well we do but we can't say) if he will be on our books again going into transfers, but he's welcome back in a Xero jersey either way and we can't wait to see him grow into a proper climber.
Joseph Areruya
Doing the hard yards in the KoM jersey in Argentina - Tour de San Luis
Highlights: His great breakaway work, particularly his stint and near miss in the KoM fight in the Tour de San Luis. Lowlights: A lackluster Tour de l'Avenir. Points: 38 (281st/9th) Rider of the Month: 0 Victories: 0 Breakaways: 10 (2nd in a KoM fight and wore jersey) Verdic: A hugely positive neo-pro season for our young Rwandan, who got involved in many breakaways and tried to get into many more. He also did some great work as a domestique and bottle carrier learning the ropes of the pro peloton. Next year he'll be a year wiser and a year stronger as he can be really competitive in those moves and a very very good domestique for Bennett and our climbing and hilly leaders.
Stanislau Bazhkou
Looking all sexy on his way to 3rd on GC - Tour of Ukraine
Highlights: Oh so many great results but it has to be his debut leadership at the Tour of Ukraine where he stunned everyone on his way to beating some of the best puncheurs in the world in the hills and battering them in the time trial to reach the GC podium. Lowlights: His lackluster finishes to the Tours of Britain and San Luis despite favourable positions. Points: 278 (75th/4th) Rider of the Month: 1 (April) Victories: 0 (Excluding our hearts) Breakaways: 2 Verdict: A simply fantastic debut season in Xero colours for Stanislau "Stan the Man" "The Man" "Stanislau the Manislau" "The Belarussian Bazhkooka" Bazhkou, who is fast becoming a hero at the team for his impressive performances as one of the PCT's finest hill stage racers - after his success at Isostar he's mastered the art here and despite his low wage and lack of perceived star power he's been one of our top scorers and a vital part of this squad. He's welcome back next year and whenever after - though we may like to honour Isostar's desire of letting him stay in PCT where he fits best. That's if we manage to promote in the next five years!
George Bennett
Surprising the PCT with our first victory of the season in style - Tour of the Middle East
Highlights: Surely his wonderful ride to say hello to our new division with the stage win and a day in yellow at the Tour of the Middle East. Lowlights: Whatever the hell happened in Japan. Points: 366 (63rd/3rd) Rider of the Month: 2 (February and August) Victories: 1 Breakaways: 0 Verdict: A great PCT season for the Kiwi NC, who represented country and team beautifully by surprising almost everyone outside of team management to score so many points, despite having a couple of misfire or not up to potential races! His rides in the Middle East on Stage 3 (not to mention his courage on Stage 4 when Velits went AWOL) and in Portugal on Stage 10 after a bad first 9 days will long live in our memory. We look forward to seeing what he can do next year with a season of PCT leadership under his belt, and we know he's one of the most motivated riders on the team about this project.
Not surprised to see Bennett doing so well. He already won races at the PCT level back with Bennelong (Oz Cycling) back in 2014 his ride at the ToME was fun though. Watching it as a reporter, was even more fun!
Looking forward to his next year. Interesting news about his motivation maybe he's so motivated, that he may become interesting for the big (Oceanian) players in the market
tsmoha wrote:
Not surprised to see Bennett doing so well. He already won races at the PCT level back with Bennelong (Oz Cycling) back in 2014 his ride at the ToME was fun though. Watching it as a reporter, was even more fun!
Looking forward to his next year. Interesting news about his motivation maybe he's so motivated, that he may become interesting for the big (Oceanian) players in the market
I think winning on his own terrain vs a flat classic is slightly different But thanks though - I was quietly confident he'd hold his own in the all-around climbing stage races and glad he's done so well.
Maybe re-read the last bit though - it's his motivation for this team and this New Zealand project, though he is always thankful to the Oz for developing him as a cyclist! Was originally going to make a jibe at your treatment of Dion Smith but it appears you've changed your mind and made him a CV1 fun rider instead of a Morton drone
Eden95 wrote:
Glad to see you made it through your first PCT season very comfortably, even if you continue to refuse Novardianto’s wishes to return to his homeland to his family
Excited to see what kind of crazy plan you’re cooking up for next season as wel!
I would like to deny these baseless, outlandish and libellous claims from the Indosat manager - clearly being a PT manager has got to his head and he thinks he can bully teams in lower divisions into giving him their riders! Novardianto and his family are very happy with his career at Xero as his fame in Indonesia has allowed for them to move into a nice house and come to see him often.
Thanks though, and oh I don't just have one crazy plan, I have many
Hey now, there’s no need to use these accusatory terms such as ‘bullying’ and what not; I was merely making a simple, helpful suggestion! I know that Novardianto agrees with me
tsmoha wrote:
Not surprised to see Bennett doing so well. He already won races at the PCT level back with Bennelong (Oz Cycling) back in 2014 his ride at the ToME was fun though. Watching it as a reporter, was even more fun!
Looking forward to his next year. Interesting news about his motivation maybe he's so motivated, that he may become interesting for the big (Oceanian) players in the market
I think winning on his own terrain vs a flat classic is slightly different But thanks though - I was quietly confident he'd hold his own in the all-around climbing stage races and glad he's done so well.
Maybe re-read the last bit though - it's his motivation for this team and this New Zealand project, though he is always thankful to the Oz for developing him as a cyclist! Was originally going to make a jibe at your treatment of Dion Smith but it appears you've changed your mind and made him a CV1 fun rider instead of a Morton drone
I have a New Zealand project...I’ll take him off your hands
This was our squad for the 2018 season, our inaugural PCT class! They came together brilliantly to defy almost all predictions and finish in the mid table, but not just in a solid, mid-pack way - we had our ups and downs, our glorious highs and dissapointing lows, but thankfully more of the former than the latter. They did it all as a team, but now we're going to break it down and review all of their individual seasons, from A to V. Damn, we need somebody with a Z surname!
Gregory Daniel
In the breakaway
Highlights: A few breakaways here and there and some very solid work in the TTTs Lowlights: None really. Points: 0 (582nd in Division/19th in Team) Rider of the Month: 0 Victories: 0 Breakaways: 3 Verdict: We were very happy to have Daniel on loan with us next year and was happy to see him grow as a rider. He was very useful in TTT situation which saw us overperform expectations in the few team chronos we found ourselves involved in! We wish him luck on his return to Equinor (or more accurately in the PT where he'll surely ride next year) and thank him for his time with us!
Tom Davison
Enjoying some breakaway sunshine - Tour of Vancouver
Highlights: His role as our team's glue and a great all-around domestique continued, his best race probably Tour of South Africa where he was key to both the TTT and helping Roux do so well. Lowlights: Not much Points: 9 (422nd/14th) Rider of the Month: 0 Victories: 0 Breakaways: 3 Verdic: One of our best riders of the last two years (maybe not points wise) took a step back with the step up to PCT but remained a valueable domestique for many terrains as well as grabbing a few breakaway appearances. Will continue as a Xero rider for hopefully years to come - one of the five remaining from our first season and always a great servant to the team as our "glue".
Mekseb Debesay
Driving the escape that catapulted his GC hopes - Tour of Cyprus
Highlights: Two major standouts - the ride pictured above and the subsequent stages as he rode to a stunning third on GC in the Tour of Cyprus, or his stage victory to make the African fans go wild in the Tour of South Africa! Lowlights: Some lackluster cobbled classics, especially ones like Kigali or Viano which suited him where he was a no-show. Points: 254 (80th/5th) Rider of the Month: 0 Victories: 1 Breakaways: 2 (2 successful, 1st and 2nd) Verdict: An up and down year for our jack of all trades cobbler with some huge highlights and pretty bad lowlights. Hopefully now he's finally got to his maxed potential there will be less underperformances on the cobbles and he can rise back up the rankings where he should be. Still, some flashes of brilliance throughout the year and some solid results in between made for a very nice debut season in our colours and a decent points haul - to many more even better seasons ahead!
Abolfazl Gilanipoor
A majestical day in the Andes - Vuelta a Colombia
Highlights: A truly special 80km solo ride on possibly the hardest mountain stage on the PCT calendar to take a beautiful stage win at the Vuelta a Colombia Lowlights: Went missing occasionally for Velits, not that often though Points: 106 (160th/8th) Rider of the Month: 1 (March) Victories: 1 Breakaways: 1 (1 successful, 1st) Verdict: When you think of Gilanipoor, you think of that stage win, plain and simple! And although I have a bottomless bag of superlatives for what he did that day and could ramble on for pages and pages of the majesty of that ride. But he had a very solid season besides as evidenced by his nice 100-point total, and his many solid rides to support Velits and Bennett in the high mountains. A very good season for our Iranian Miss... yeah maybe not.
hillis - And you for Afoa Daniel was great to have on board and we're glad he managed to grow well!
Tamijo - Wow, thanks a lot! I sure hope I can build and improve off my current base to move up the rankings next year
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
This was our squad for the 2018 season, our inaugural PCT class! They came together brilliantly to defy almost all predictions and finish in the mid table, but not just in a solid, mid-pack way - we had our ups and downs, our glorious highs and dissapointing lows, but thankfully more of the former than the latter. They did it all as a team, but now we're going to break it down and review all of their individual seasons, from A to V. Damn, we need somebody with a Z surname!
Dylan Kennett
Delivering Tosh to the win - Tour of Catalunya
Highlights: Some great leadout work for such a young rider. Lowlights: None really. Points: 1 (512th in Division/17th in Team) Rider of the Month: 0 Victories: 0 Breakaways: 0 Verdict: A quieter year than last for our young sprinter as he learned the tools of the leadout trade after a year where we had a sprinter less crazy than Clarke! Some mad awesome moments with our makeshift leadout trains of Jams, Areruya, even Bennett and Velits, but Kennett delivered Tosh to the win superbly on one or two occasions. We look forward to his next two years of growth before he finally hits his peak!
Joseph Kimathi
Domestique duties - Tour de l'Avenir
Highlights: A podium place in his national championship. Lowlights: Not much. Points: 0 (584th/23rd) Rider of the Month: 0 Victories: 0 Breakaways: 0 Verdict: A quiet season doing domestique work for our Kenyan stagiaire, time and budgetary constraints will tell if he returns on a full contract next year but if not he's welcome back in a Xero jersey and may end up rejoining us anyway! A future KoM hunter and we can't wait to see him grow here or elsewhere.
Marvain Tognama Kossohorou
Powering the breakaway group - Tour of Vancouver
Highlights: A couple of solid stage top 10s himself, a few breakaways and his always great domestique work! Lowlights: Not finding any successful breakaways! Points: 13 (396th/12th) Rider of the Month: 0 Victories: 0 Breakaways: 3 Verdict: Another year in his sexy NC jersey for our Central African Central African in his last year at full potential. As a great servant to the team for the last three years it would be sad to see him go but at the same time he may have to. However we would love to keep him around if we can! He continued his always great breakaway and domestique work.
Carl Ngamoki-Cameron
Using his huge thighs to put the pain on - GP Kigali
Highlights: His ride in the breakaway to hang on to 18th place in the gruelling GP Kigali! Lowlights: None. Points: 9 (421st/13th) Rider of the Month: 0 Victories: 0 Breakaways: 3 Verdict: A second professional year for our Fijian toughman and his first in his sexy new jersey which he was all too happy to show off in breakaways on the cobbles, with one of them netting him a very cool 18th place in the GP Kigali in a great ride.
Jamalidin Novardianto
In the KoM hunt - Cheshire Cycling Tour
Highlights: Some very good supporting rides on the cobbles in particular and leadout work in sprints as he found his feet at the new level. Lowlights: No successful breakaways! Points: 4 (468th/16th) Rider of the Month: 0 Victories: 0 Breakaways: 3 Verdict: A tough time of it for our young baroudeur in the PCT this year, finding his feet at this level took a while but through some great domestique work and a few breakaways he's shown he's adapting. He has one more year of development which sadly he may have to spend away from home in the PT if we can't make it work for him. However we look forward to seeing how he does as an even better rider next year, and at his full potential the year after!
Indeed can't wait to see my regional base and of course Jams come into their own after years of growth. And when Schomber joins them and wears loads of yellow jerseys, I hope you and all the other haters apologise for your doubts 
