jandal7 wrote:
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
Thanks you very much! The Delvaux jersey was much simpler that this one, but I did like the pink and black color scheme a lot and it was pretty easy to spot in the peloton.
Transfers will, as always, be very interesting. Hopefully your prediction about the outcome is right
After the unexpected release of Jacopo Guarnieri a year ago, tension was high ahead of another renewals process for Bakkafrost. With last year’s major leaders Jacopo Guarnieri, Maurice Schreurs and Vegard Breen all renewing however, major shock waves were fortunately avoided this year. As many as seven riders have however left the team, and that does not include Ryan Christensen, Gregory Daniel, Lennard Hofstede and Andrea Vendrame, who’s returned to their respective parent teams following successful loan spells.
Four riders where not offered new contracts with the team: Michel Kreder, Artemio Moschella, Jasper Stuyven and Alessandro De Marchi. Bakkafrost manager ‘Sykkel_Freak’ commented: «Michel Kreder has had two very good seasons with the team, sprinting to some fine results himself and also doing great lead-outs for Jacopo. He’s getting up there in age however, and we feel the time now has come to explore other options for the role he has filled in the past two seasons. With the other three, the harsh truth is that their results unfortunately have not met expectations and so we have decided to move them on».
Bakkafrost’s post-renewals team is made up of nine riders.
As for Mikhail Ignatiev, Rudiger Selig and Juan Jose Lobato del Valle, concrete offers were on the table, but the team was unable to come to an agreement with the riders. «Rudiger and Juan Jose were both essential in Jacopo’s sprint train last year and we really wanted to keep them on for another year. With Mikhail, we were slightly disappointed with his results last year, but had a plan in place where we would utilize him a little differently. Unfortunately we were too far apart with regards to the wage envisioned for three riders, but we are hopeful of resuming talks when the transfer windows opens», ’Sykkel_Freak’ said.
Its interesting to me how you once again have such a super small roster post renewals. I guess the average age of your squad plays a big role for that. However those riders you retained look so cool.
It's gonna be intersting to see how Guarnieri does after declining, but I think he's on a good wage to still be a very important part of the team.
Schreurs also took a massive wage cut and with the others all very good riders staying on roughly the same wages, I expect another great season of recruitment from your team
An old, but very solid roster base for a PCT season, and I'm curious to see which direction your team will take with the remaining 1.something million you have available.
I hope I'll get to meet my original jersey creator on the road again in a few races this season!
knockout wrote:
Its interesting to me how you once again have such a super small roster post renewals. I guess the average age of your squad plays a big role for that. However those riders you retained look so cool.
It might be a super small roster to you, but it’s a huge one to me. It’s more than twice the size of what it was last year after all But yeah, that certainly plays a part. I also like to have a bit of space to play around with, obviously.
redordead wrote:
It's gonna be intersting to see how Guarnieri does after declining, but I think he's on a good wage to still be a very important part of the team.
Schreurs also took a massive wage cut and with the others all very good riders staying on roughly the same wages, I expect another great season of recruitment from your team
For sure, it’s going to be interesting to see how Guarnieri does. He’s still a very good rider, but on paper he’s probably been surpassed by a couple of guys, like Gaviria. Last season showed that sprints are very unpredictable, so I think he could end up scoring everywhere from as well as last year to about half that. Hope you’re right about that last bit
whitejersey wrote:
This is going to be a massive window for you with a lot of space in the team to work with, should be very interesting to follow!
Yeah, I’m looking forward to get going. Will be a hectic window, but I’m getting used to that
cio93 wrote:
An old, but very solid roster base for a PCT season, and I'm curious to see which direction your team will take with the remaining 1.something million you have available.
I hope I'll get to meet my original jersey creator on the road again in a few races this season!
I’m sure we will, and hopefully we’ll be able to meet a lot more than just in a few races the season after
Anticipating the upcoming transfer window, two Bakkafrost riders have been made available for transfer: Maurice Schreurs and Nur Aiman Zariff. With the team considering a switch away from the hilly classic focus they’ve had in the past two seasons, manager ‘Sykkel_Freak’ is reportedly willing to listen to ‘any offer’ for the reigning Dutch champion Maurice Schreurs, indicating the strong puncheur could be available for a bargain fee. Sprinter talent Nur Aiman Zariff has also been made available for transfer, as the Faroese team wishes to taper their attention towards European riders. Remaining riders have no particular transfer status attached to them, meaning they could leave if a very good offer is made, but are most likely to remain with Bakkafrost beyond the transfer season.
Another busy transfer season has come to an end, and Bakkafrost is happy to welcome twelve new riders to the team. In a deal worth € 1,600,000, Yonathan Monsalve arrives from Farfetch Pro Cycling to figure as the team’s new leader in the mountains. Reigning Rwandan national TT champion Bonaventure Uwizeyimana and Paolo Scarponi arrives from free agency to act as support for the 31-year-old. «We’re very excited to finally have a competitive team for the mountains, which is something we’ve lacked in the past. Monsalve is undoubtedly one of the strongest climbers in the division and we’re looking forward to see what he can do this season. Scarponi meanwhile, is not only a great climber, but also one of the best descenders in the world. We’re very excited to see how we can utilize that to our advantage», manager ‘Sykkel_Freak’ said.
Despite the high profile transfer of Monsalve, Bakkafrost has perhaps sparked even more attention with their signing of Italian sprinter talent Alberto Dainese, who has become the team’s highest paid rider at an age of only 22. His fellow countryman Alexander Konychev also joins the team as another rider for the future. «We’ve obviously spent a considerate amount of our budget on these two young riders, but in the long-run we think it’s a good decision. With many of our leaders getting into their 30’s, we need to renew ourselves to take the next step as a team and the signing of Alberto and Alexander marks the start of that» Sykkel_Freak said, possibly hinting that the team will prioritize talent over short-term success in the next couple of seasons.
The full 2020 Bakkafrost roster.
Moving on to the more experienced part of the sprint set-up, Madushanka Perera and Marc Sarreau comes in to guide veteran Jacopo Guarnieri to more success, replacing Selig and Lobato who left the team following renewals. In also comes Torkil Veyhe, as the sole Faroese rider of the team, but also as one who can utilize his great skills on the flat and fantastic acceleration to win races. Furthermore, four riders arrive on loan from other teams: Jonas Vingegaard from Aker - MOT, Jai Hindley from Bennelong - Mitchelton, Florian Stork from Team Puma - SAP and Sulkhan Akhmaevi from DK - SVA Zalgiris. Maurice Schreurs has meanwhile left for GCN Racing, where we wish him the best of luck on his new adventures.
Edited by Sykkel_Freak on 19-10-2020 20:38
Monsalve is obviously a really cool signing The mountain support looks really nice, too.
And in terms of sprinters, you should be fine for this year - and for many years to come, with Dainese... I really hope there will one day be a Swiss talent added as strong as he is - will be a beast in 4 years, and even more with some training!
However, I'm missing a true hills leader in your roster; I guess pretty much every other PCT team has got a stronger pure puncheur than you do. Breen will surely do well on the cobbles, but with so many good specialists in PCT (whereof many with better stamina), he'll need some luck to get you top results.
All in all, I'm a bit afraid your investment in the team's (bright) future could put you in relegation danger - but Monsalve and Guarnieri surely do have what it takes to keep you up
One more season for Guarnieri to deliver big results before eventually giving way to the next generation of Italian sprinters in Dainese and Konychev
It's weird seeing your team with a climber/stage racer, but I don't think you'll have much trouble in the division, as your planning is usually top notch
Fabianski wrote:
Monsalve is obviously a really cool signing The mountain support looks really nice, too.
And in terms of sprinters, you should be fine for this year - and for many years to come, with Dainese... I really hope there will one day be a Swiss talent added as strong as he is - will be a beast in 4 years, and even more with some training!
However, I'm missing a true hills leader in your roster; I guess pretty much every other PCT team has got a stronger pure puncheur than you do. Breen will surely do well on the cobbles, but with so many good specialists in PCT (whereof many with better stamina), he'll need some luck to get you top results.
All in all, I'm a bit afraid your investment in the team's (bright) future could put you in relegation danger - but Monsalve and Guarnieri surely do have what it takes to keep you up
We're a bit thin on the hills, I agree. It remains to be seen how Vichot will do without Stuyven and Schreurs ahead of him, but his weak mo and res probably means he will have a hard time performing to the level he did on the old game. I have kept that in mind in planning, though - in terms of pure hill races, it only takes up 10 RDs of our calendar if I'm not mistaken. We'll be present in a lot of hilly races with TT's however, but Gallopin did well in those races last year, and I'm hoping he will again
Hopefully our depth will put us well out of relegation danger. The loss of Schreurs and Ignatiev and decline of Guarnieri and Hermans probably costs us around 1000 points, and then we'll see how much our new climbers can recoup of that. There's some incredible climbers in PCT this year, so it will probably be tough to recoup it all, but I'm hopeful we won't be too far off the ~3100 points that landed ut 7th last year
I'm very much looking forward to the day Dainese is maxed. He's got some strong competition in the likes of Gaviria for example, but is more than worthy of being Guarnieri's replacement There's some good talent coming out of Switzerland lately with Hirschi and Bissegger, and hopefully Hirschi's real life performances lately will inspire a new wave of great talent so Switzerland can one day have their very own Dainese
redordead wrote:
One more season for Guarnieri to deliver big results before eventually giving way to the next generation of Italian sprinters in Dainese and Konychev
It's weird seeing your team with a climber/stage racer, but I don't think you'll have much trouble in the division, as your planning is usually top notch
It is weird, isn't it? Hilly races was frustrating last year, and even though Schreurs was alright and changes in stage designs probably will improve them a bit, I prefer the predictability of the more mountainous races. Judging by the strength of the climbers in PCT this season, it seems like a few people had the same idea, though.
Guarnieri should do well again this year, and should be alright for one more year even. Not sure if Dainese is ready to take on a leadership role after that, but we might keep Zariff around to lead the sprints for us in that stop-gap year. Konychev meanwhile should be very handy already from next season with his flat skills. I'm considering a combination of fighter and track-sprint training with him, which should see him becoming a Dzamastagic type-rider, but with stronger flat and a bit weaker sprint/acc/fighter. Very excited about landing him
Sykkel_Freak wrote:
Konychev meanwhile should be very handy already from next season with his flat skills. I'm considering a combination of fighter and track-sprint training with him, which should see him becoming a Dzamastagic type-rider, but with stronger flat and a bit weaker sprint/acc/fighter. Very excited about landing him
Sounds like he should be sold to whichever team has Dzamastagic so that he can learn from the master
Sykkel_Freak wrote:
Konychev meanwhile should be very handy already from next season with his flat skills. I'm considering a combination of fighter and track-sprint training with him, which should see him becoming a Dzamastagic type-rider, but with stronger flat and a bit weaker sprint/acc/fighter. Very excited about landing him
Sounds like whichever team has Dzamastagic should sell him to Bakkafrost so that he can learn from the master
Bakkafrost is lucky enough to have three national champions on their 2020 roster. While Torkil Veyhe won the road race on the Faroe Islands, Bonaventure Uwizeyimana and Yonathan Monsalve both won the time trials in Rwanda and Venezuela respectively. Below is the NC jerseys the riders will wear this season.
Torkil Veyhe is will wear the Faroese NC jersey in road races.
Bonaventure Uwizeyimana will wear the Rwandan NC jersey in time trials.
Yonathan Monsalve will wear the Venezuelan NC jersey in time trials.
Sykkel_Freak wrote:
There's some good talent coming out of Switzerland lately with Hirschi and Bissegger, and hopefully Hirschi's real life performances lately will inspire a new wave of great talent so Switzerland can one day have their very own Dainese
Yeah, we should have waited with adding Hirschi, he would have been much stronger this year than last year... And I was a bit disappointed that Bissegger wasn't added slightly stronger - but then I would probably not have got him
I don't see that many big talents coming soon, but hopefully they will before the best Swiss riders start declining...
The team’s second season in PCT has come to an end, with Bakkafrost placing 9th in the final division rankings. Just like in 2019, Jacopo Guarnieri opened the season in the best possible fashion by winning the Australian HC classic Down Under Classic. The win was followed up by a series of strong results in the spring and summer season, which unexpectedly propelled the team into the promotion discussion. However, a slightly more difficult fall season saw Bakkafrost slip down the rankings to finally settle outside the promotion places. Thus, the team will embark on a new season in PCT next year.
«We can look back on the season with pride. The team has never won more races than it did this year», general manager ‘Sykkel_Freak’ summarizes. «Jacopo has once again had an outstanding season. His win in Riga - Jurmala GP stands out to me, but the Down Under Classic and Ronde van het Ijsselmeer wins were also important morale boosters. Yonathan also had a good debut season with the team. I have to give him credit for his podium places in Corsica International and Tour of Cyprus against tough competition. However, his convincing win in Tour de Romandie stands out as the absolute highlight for me».
Guarnieri sprints to victory in Ronde van het Ijsselmeer.
Overall, Bakkafrost can look back on 4 race wins [Guarnieri x3, Monsalve], 4 additional podiums [Monsalve x2, Breen, Guarnieri], 7 stage wins [Guarnieri x3, Monsalve x2, Perera, Vichot], 1 points jersey [Monsalve], 1 KoM jersey [Vichot], and 1 team classification win. «It’s a team sport, and it puts a smile on my face to see that so many different riders has been able to put their hands above their head in celebration,» 'Sykkel_Freak' comments. In the individual rankings, Guarnieri placed best of the Bakkafrost riders for the third consecutive season. His 998 points haul saw him place 6th, some 300 points behind winner Pluchkin. «At the age of 33, Jacopo has quite likely had his best season ever with us. I’ve been amazed by his performances this year,» the Bakkafrost manager closes off.
Edited by Sykkel_Freak on 04-08-2021 08:11
That Guarnieri overperformance just seems unfair. I'm glad he's getting old
Apart from that your team always performs very well. Pivoting a large part of your scoring to Monsalve has proved to be a good decision. Under your management I think Bakkafrost will continue to fight for the top spots.
redordead wrote:
That Guarnieri overperformance just seems unfair. I'm glad he's getting old
Apart from that your team always performs very well. Pivoting a large part of your scoring to Monsalve has proved to be a good decision. Under your management I think Bakkafrost will continue to fight for the top spots.
Btw, Down Under Classic is a HC race
Thanks, corrected
Guarnieri's been great every year since I got him, but yeah, this year was something else Need to have a think about whether to re-sign him in renewals or not. I think he could still do a job, and I would obviously like to keep him for sentimental reasons, but it'll be very hard to get him down to a wage that matches his post-decline stats.
Monsalve was an important rider this season and will likely be that again in the next. I hope we'll continue to fight for the top spots, but the problem we have is that time is working against us. Next season, Guarnieri will be 34, Monsalve 32, Breen 31 and Gallopin 33. It could be worth it to take a short-term hit in order to get a bit of a generational shift going and then rather aim for the top spots again a couple of seasons out. We'll see what we do when transfers come around
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 
The Delvaux jersey was much simpler that this one, but I did like the pink and black color scheme a lot and it was pretty easy to spot in the peloton.
Bonnin, Thomas
Breen, Vegard
Guarnieri, Jacopo
Hermans, Ben
Schreurs, Maurice
Zariff, Nur Aiman
