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[PT] Assa Abloy 2024
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 28-09-2019 20:17
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World Champion
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Good luck with Stuyven, one of my old riders. Would've prefered to see more Belgians, but not a bad transfer season in my opinion.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Sykkel_Freak |
Posted on 28-09-2019 20:30
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2073
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Ollfardh wrote:
Good luck with Stuyven, one of my old riders. Would've prefered to see more Belgians, but not a bad transfer season in my opinion.
Thanks! He might not get too many chances himself this season, but I hope he can do a good job for Schreurs.
And yeah, I would definitely have liked to sign more Belgians myself, but the ones I targeted were either unavailable, way too expensive, or meant I had to compromise too much on quality. Hopefully we'll have less of a turnover after this season, and can focus more on building up a good Belgian core next transfer window.
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| viking90 |
Posted on 28-09-2019 20:55
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Grand Tour Specialist
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You sure have had a busy week and you put together a nice team!
Guarnieri will have some great leadouts with Kreder & Selig!
Schreurs is nice aswell, tried to sign him myself a couple of seasons ago! |
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| Scorchio |
Posted on 28-09-2019 21:03
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Small Tour Specialist
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In really tough market conditions looks like you've done a very solid job here gearing up for PCT. Reliable scorers in Ignatiev, Guarnieri and Schreurs provide a great core for the season ahead, and they have deep support on their preferred hilly and sprint terrains. Experience and managerial nous shines through.
Sure all the lawyers and agents with their 10% fees were delighted with your catch-and-release approach to re-signing Guarnieri!  . With your obvious devotion to the rouleur ability of your riders, I extend my sympathy in advance to Moschella for the floggings he will be receiving on upcoming training camp rides!
Manager of ISA - Hexacta in the MG |
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| redordead |
Posted on 29-09-2019 08:20
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
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Looks like you've built a strong team that can compete on all terrains. Expected nothing else to be honest 
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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| Sykkel_Freak |
Posted on 29-09-2019 10:50
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2073
Joined: 11-07-2010
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viking90 wrote:
You sure have had a busy week and you put together a nice team!
Guarnieri will have some great leadouts with Kreder & Selig!
Schreurs is nice aswell, tried to sign him myself a couple of seasons ago!
Thank you! Selig and Lobato should be a nice upgrade over Korzh and Feillu from last year, so I hope our lead-outs will improve a little. With the likes of Ahlstrand and Degenkolb in the division, I suspect we won't be doing them too often, though, but nice to have those riders around for when we have to.
Scorchio wrote:
In really tough market conditions looks like you've done a very solid job here gearing up for PCT. Reliable scorers in Ignatiev, Guarnieri and Schreurs provide a great core for the season ahead, and they have deep support on their preferred hilly and sprint terrains. Experience and managerial nous shines through.
Sure all the lawyers and agents with their 10% fees were delighted with your catch-and-release approach to re-signing Guarnieri! . With your obvious devotion to the rouleur ability of your riders, I extend my sympathy in advance to Moschella for the floggings he will be receiving on upcoming training camp rides!
 Pretty satisfied with the team, in light of a difficult market, yes. We're probably one big point scorer and good stage racer away from being obvious promotion candidates, but I hope the team is strong enough to give it a go
redordead wrote:
Looks like you've built a strong team that can compete on all terrains. Expected nothing else to be honest
Thank you!
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 29-09-2019 11:34
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Directeur Sportif
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I think you'll cruise to a mid-table finish with that squad. I'm a fan of Tony Gallopin, he'll do big things for you, I would guess around 300 points. Your approach valuing stamina very high is one I really support, also the high-Acc thinking. However, I don't fully trust in Schreurs, but Ignatiev and Guarnieri should be great stories.
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| SotD |
Posted on 29-09-2019 11:48
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World Champion
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I had high expectations seeing how you came into the CT, but maybe expectations was a bit too high from my side. I felt rather confortable that you would promote to PT without too much of a problem. But I don’t think that is really an option. That Said, it May not be your priority! And I like how you assembled the team, also picking up Guarnieri again! I hope your puncheur works better than his habits tell. If he does you could have a shot at an outside promotion spot. Relegation of course is out of the question!
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| Sykkel_Freak |
Posted on 29-09-2019 12:36
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2073
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Croatia14 wrote:
I think you'll cruise to a mid-table finish with that squad. I'm a fan of Tony Gallopin, he'll do big things for you, I would guess around 300 points. Your approach valuing stamina very high is one I really support, also the high-Acc thinking. However, I don't fully trust in Schreurs, but Ignatiev and Guarnieri should be great stories.
I have put a lot of weight into having aggressive riders (high fighter, high acc, decent back-ups) in terrains where we realistically don't have a top-favorite, with hopes that we can pick up points from breakaways, KoM jersey's etc. We'll see if this has an effect or not, but my hope is that we could push towards a top 10. Mid-table is probably the most realistic, though, indeed.
Gallopin is certainly a rider I'm looking forward to seeing in action
SotD wrote:
I had high expectations seeing how you came into the CT, but maybe expectations was a bit too high from my side. I felt rather confortable that you would promote to PT without too much of a problem. But I don’t think that is really an option. That Said, it May not be your priority! And I like how you assembled the team, also picking up Guarnieri again! I hope your puncheur works better than his habits tell. If he does you could have a shot at an outside promotion spot. Relegation of course is out of the question!
I did try to put together a squad that could promote immediately, but found that a lot tougher this year. The supply of good quality riders on the FA market was a lot slimmer this year, as evidenced by Guarnieri costing me almost 200K more, and I believe this also spread into the transfer market (as seen with sub-top stage racers on medium wages going for more than a million in a few cases). In the end, I don't mind another year in PCT at all, as I think it's often the most fun and unpredictable division, but would like to give promotion a push of course 
On Schreurs; I think it's pretty obvious he was not my first choice, but had to give up on Lutsenko and Beltran eventually as I would have to compromise too much on the rest of the squad. I still think he is one of the better punchers in the division with the right race selection, but we'll see. His low mountain stat probably doesn't give him any favors on a new game either
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| Sykkel_Freak |
Posted on 11-08-2020 17:48
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Small Tour Specialist
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2019 | Delvaux Ends Season in 7th Place
Another season has come to an end, with Delvaux settling for 7th place in the overall PCT rankings following the season ender in Japan. The team started the season in the best possible fashion by winning the first race of the season in Down Under Classic, but slowly slipped down the rankings to a mid-table position as the season progressed. A strong fall however, saw the team rise again to a position just outside the promotion places. General manager ‘Sykkel_Freak’ had this to say on the team’s debut PCT season: «We’ve had our ups and downs this season, but overall we can be happy with our achievements. We’ve learned a lot and have a solid foundation to build on as we push for a promotion place next year».
For the second season in a row, Jacopo Guarnieri becomes the team’s best performer in the individual standings, ending at a strong 9th place. Guarnieri can look back on victories in the mentioned Down Under Classic and Riga - Jurmala GP, in addition to three stage wins at various races. In total, the team can look back on two race wins, four additional podiums, eight stage wins, one KoM jersey and five team classification victories. Lars Van der Haar, Thomas Bonnin, Juan Jose Lobato del Valle and Tony Gallopin were the riders who could join Guarnieri in the history books as stage winners for Delvaux.
Tony Gallopin winning stage 9 of Volta a Portugal.
Delvaux is confirmed to step down as title sponsor for the team after this season, as the team has registered with MGUCI under a different name and different country for the next one. More to follow on that later, however ‘Sykkel_Freak’ could reveal that little will change under the new sponsorship: «We’ve had two seasons now where we’ve failed to sign a pleasing number of Belgians, so we’ve signed with a sponsor that will allow us to have a broader European focus, in line with the current team composition. The philosophy of signing playful and aggressive riders will remain unchanged with the new sponsor, one we're looking forward to reveal to the public in a few days».
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 23-11-2024 13:24
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| Sykkel_Freak |
Posted on 03-09-2020 20:47
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2073
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2020 | Delvaux becomes Bakkafrost
A new season is closing in, and with it comes a bit of a makeover for the old Delvaux team. Having failed to sign a satisfying number of Belgians for two consecutive transfer windows and missed out on promotion to the Pro Tour, Delvaux unfortunately decided to discontinue its title sponsorship of the team after the 2019 season. Luckily we have been able to secure the future of the team, by agreeing a deal with the largest salmon producer in the Faroes, and one of the largest worldwide. From the 2020 season, the team will now be known as Bakkafrost. General manager ‘Sykkel_Freak’ in a statement said: «We are very happy to have Bakkafrost on board and are looking forward to begin what we hope will be a long and fruitful relationship».
This piece of news means that the team will be registered on the Faroe Islands from next season, however the new sponsor is said to be supportive of the wide European focus the team has embraced in its first two years of existence, meaning the Faroese focus is expected to be limited. «Long-term we of course hope to advance Faroese cycling to a level where we can field a team largely consisting of Faroe Islanders that also have the skillset to perform at the highest level in cycling. In order to achieve that, we hope to make one or two Faroese additions in the short-term that can elevate local cycling interest. We expect the rider base in 2020 to include a wide range of European nationalities, however», ‘Sykkel_Freak’ said.
The 2020 kit is produced by Rapha.
All existing sponsors and suppliers remain in place, apart from the kit supplier, as London-based Rapha takes over the responsibility from Vermarc Sportswear. This also means a change in appearence, as our pink and black look of the past two seasons is replaced by a blue look with the addition of a few red details. The new jersey can be seen above, and as seen on the jersey, Delvaux is one of the sponsors that remain in place, though as a minor sponsor from now on. The season planning now continues at the Bakkafrost HQ, with the renewals process said to be already completed. More news on that will follow at a later date.
Edited by Sykkel_Freak on 17-10-2020 15:30
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| ryant |
Posted on 03-09-2020 21:43
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2322
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Nice jersey you have there, its certainly going to be one of the nicer ones around!
 John St Ledger in Team Bunzl-Centrica and Team U25Red Bull Driver in RFactor
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| Sykkel_Freak |
Posted on 04-09-2020 08:29
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2073
Joined: 11-07-2010
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ryant wrote:
Nice jersey you have there, its certainly going to be one of the nicer ones around!
Thank you!
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 04-09-2020 10:39
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Classics Specialist
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I agree, gives me some Alpecin-Fenix vibes. I do not know if I like your sponsor though, as I was hoping on some Faroese additions as well  |
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| Sykkel_Freak |
Posted on 04-09-2020 13:08
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2073
Joined: 11-07-2010
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Nemolito wrote:
I agree, gives me some Alpecin-Fenix vibes. I do not know if I like your sponsor though, as I was hoping on some Faroese additions as well
I for sure have one or two names on my list, but with the current rider base, it's hard to make a lot of Faroese additions without comprising the quality of the team. Hopefully in the future we'll be able to add a lot more than just one or two, though!
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| redordead |
Posted on 04-09-2020 18:35
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
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I didn't expect a shift to a Faroese sponsor, but I guess beggars can't be choosers
I always expect your team to be fighting at the top of the rankings due to your managerial exploits. The broader European focus will certainly help. And another brilliant jersey as well
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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| Sykkel_Freak |
Posted on 05-09-2020 08:18
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2073
Joined: 11-07-2010
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redordead wrote:
I didn't expect a shift to a Faroese sponsor, but I guess beggars can't be choosers
I always expect your team to be fighting at the top of the rankings due to your managerial exploits. The broader European focus will certainly help. And another brilliant jersey as well
Never really managed to put together a Belgian core like I originally intended to, so it felt right going in a slightly new direction now after two seasons
Not being restricted by a strict regional focus will certainly help with putting a competitive team together, yes. I have an ageing squad, so I think the main goal of this transfer season will be to lower the median age of the squad in order to set us up for success in the long run. But hopefully we can maintain a team of fun, aggressive and unique rider types that is also capable of being in the promotion battle this season.
And thank you! Glad to hear people like the jersey
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| aidanvn13 |
Posted on 07-09-2020 20:12
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2797
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That's a dope jersey! Probably my fav in the MG peloton
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| Sykkel_Freak |
Posted on 07-09-2020 21:51
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2073
Joined: 11-07-2010
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Thanks, aidan! Good to have you back in the game
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 07-09-2020 22:03
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World Champion
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Always thought Delvaux was one of the classiest jerseys around and Bakkafrost is a worthy follow-up from what I can tell  Interested to see what changes come in the off-season with the new title sponsor, but sure you'll have a killer transfers for a third year running
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