Croatia14 wrote:
1&1 - ELKO what a classic that would be and a very well deserved relegation candidate (though I doubt they'd even manage to sign up in time with that sponsorship)

knockout wrote:
@quadsas: History proves that Videika has no problem riding for a losing team

knockout wrote:


Hehe

I feel like 1&1 would have been tough to convince to keep my team colors anyway.


@quadsas: History proves that Videika has no problem riding for a losing team

quadsas wrote:


All I see is someone intimitated by the prospect of not being the strongest Baltic team in a couple years. Makes sense you were trying to slowly transition into not being Baltic at all, considering the writing is on the wall already...but Videika may help you slow down the bleeding.

When teams come from disappointing seasons, they often look forward to seeing how strong their talents will be in the next year while others moan their beloved star riders that will never be as strong again as they just were. This is the point in time where teams like to brag about the quality of their talents or at least the quantity of them. We've got a bit of both so here are all the Evonik guys that are expected to be on a different level of performance next year:

Ahmed Youssef Belgasem

Belgasem is the only rider in our squad who was already 32 years old (or older) and is the only one who will decline after this season. He was a very versatile domestique for the one year in our team but it was clear from the beginning that he wont get a contract renewal from us. We hope that he will find another team for the next season - perhaps the amateur team Signal Iduna might have interest?

Dries De Bondt

Signed as one of our latest signings in the 2019 transfers, Dries had room to develop into a solid domestique for flat and cobbled races. One year later and he is finally good enough that we can trust him as a full-time member of our classics team - although he might also be available for a transfer deal.

Paprstka was also signed prior to the 2019 season and is another member of our future cobbles squad. A terrific bike handler, lots of power for long flat roads and not scared of smaller hills: He has everything you need for a good cobbles domestique.

Last season, Kristaps was not deemed ready to help us in PT so he was loaned to SPAR - Siam Cement who rode in *checks notes* the PT. He is the direct replacement to Belgasem as a capable domestique on all terrains - from the highest mountains to the nastiest cobbles. He has absolutely no weakness - unless you are one of those 21 weird PT managers that think TT is an important skill to have. He is expected to further improve next season.

Former mountainbiker Martins Blums is one of the most promising baltic climbers who has made huge improvements while out on loan at Valio where he won the 2019 Loan-in of the Year p/b Evonik award*. He will be a huge help for our uphill leaders and might also contribute a bit with attacks.

*not yet officially announced

Krists Neilands is probably the most promising cobbles prospect in the history of Latvian cycling. He made another big step forward this offseason and will probably be lieutenant to Adam Blythe - if Blythe stays with the team. He also provides huge power for our echelon force for flat races.

One of the rare bloomers in the cycling world - he wasnt seen as a high potential rider for a long time till he joined our team. He might not have as much time in his prime left as some of the other top sprint prospects but he as a truly unique skill set with his incredible power on the flat and fantastic resistance. Whether he will go stage hunting on his own or be part of the sprint train for Michael Van Stayen is unclear as of now.

	FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR		XP	Age
2019	69	78	79	70	74	73	73	50	65	76	78	70	71		4.0	25
2020	70	79	82	71	76	74	74	50	66	78	80	71	72		4.100	26

Not for sale.

knockout wrote:

jandal7 wrote:
MAL is a solid enough reason for me to never have ambitions to promote - I don't want Bennett, Areruya or Higuita to find out he exists

Good transfer season, bad transfer season, relegation, title challenge or rebuild? Every team's (transfer) season is built on the foundation that is built during renewals. Unsurprisingly, we also renewed a couple of riders. 3 of the 25 riders that rode for Evonik in 2019 or were loaned out, were not offered a new contract: Ahmed Youssef Belgasem turned 33 this year and team management doubted that he still can play a role after the resulting decline due to his higher age. Jan Oelerich(32) is a versatile classics domestique but the team management didnt value him enough to pay a renewals fine. Indulis Bekmanis(31) was one of the most loyal riders in the history of Evonik who had a contract with Evonik in all six seasons since the team was founded in 2014. He is now looking for a new adventure and tests the open market to see if there is interest from elsewhere.
Everyone else came to an agreement with us:

Our three leaders from last season all agreed that the drop in the PT rankings was partly due to their performances that didnt match the expectations and accepted team friendly contracts. Combined with some wage rises for talents like Lopez that leaves us with 10.000 in cap space.

cio93 wrote:
Watch knockout make the stagiare bargain of the decade!

Surely MAL will get used to wage increases as he becomes your main focus, I assume you really wish you could train him this season already and literally be done with transfers with a single transaction to call it a day and watch the frenzy unfold from your deck chair.

knockout wrote:


Sounds like a nightmare

knockout wrote:
redordead: So what you are saying is that you expect to have enough transfer cash to finance the next five years of Lopez' training?

Transfers upcoming? Availability lists are the hottest shit. Are they outdated 5 minutes into transfers? Sure. But everyone likes reading them so here we go.

It is expected that we keep Blythe / Skujins / Van Stayen but if you can convince us with a fantastic offer you might change my mind. We are looking to possibly sell a couple of our low wage bargains so if you are looking for some guys with fantastic stats for low wages, we are your seller.

That said, dont be afraid of talking to us if anyone not named Lopez fancies you. We appreciate any idea or talk about possible later developments.