Rakuten has decided to venture into the cycling world, taking over for Meiji, a longstanding outfit in the MG. Rakuten are thrilled to have the opportunity to take over an already established team with an Asian base, however the focus of the new team will be on building the best team possible no matter where a rider is from. Still, to have a rider such as Kinoshita is a great rider to build around.
Rakuten believe starting a cycling team is a very unique opportunity. In most other sports, the team is represented by a city or region, but not many sports can say the team is represented by the sponsor. Rakuten has been gaining more and more recognition as sponsors of the Golden State Warriors in the NBA and FC Barcelona in La Liga, but the opportunity to be the team itself in cycling is a unique opportunity that could improve the exposure of Rakuten even further with good results, which is the hope.
We look forward to competing this season in PCT, but cant wait for what the future holds!
Edited by valverde321 on 11-08-2021 20:49
The squad is in a transitional phase, and we are looking at adding a few new leaders to the team, as well as maybe a top end talent. We can probably add a talent or one or two leaders with our remaining cap space, as it is, but moving on from one or two of our current leaders would give us more flexibility to add all of our targets.
Kenji Itami is our first rider we expect to leave. He is still a great sprinter on the flats, and has a great wage. It wouldn't be the end of the world if he stays, but we would like to rebuild our sprint team a little and he doesn't fit in the plans.
Shikai is another rider that while he is very good, doesn't fit with our plans. He's on a great wage for an 81 MO rider, especially after his strong performances last season, but we are looking at having a more versatile group of riders next season, so Shikai doesn't fit our plan, although again we aren't against keeping him if there is no interest.
We also are considering offers for other riders not part of the long term plans, who would make great teammates, or even a good leader in CT like Mutsumine or Yamamoto. We aren't desperate to move them either, but we feel there should be some interest given their low wages.
Even a rider with "No" has some chance of moving, but would require a great offer (open to swaps), although the chances of them moving are very slim, so it would probably be better to look elsewhere for a similar rider in that case.
Kuboki no Expected though Also sad to see you won't part with the Kuroedas or Yudai, but again I'd be shocked if you did Interestign to see where you take the squad with a few potential big sales to come it seems!
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jandal7 wrote:
Kuboki no Expected though Also sad to see you won't part with the Kuroedas or Yudai, but again I'd be shocked if you did Interestign to see where you take the squad with a few potential big sales to come it seems!
Yeah, they're all super valuable domestiques, but Yudai won a stage from a break, and Kuroedas should be outsiders for PCT cobbles now, which has always been my teams weakest area.
redordead wrote:
Lots of quality on offer. I wish you good luck in your rebuilding project. Rakuten is a high level sponsor indeed, I also like the jersey
Thanks! I thought it was a good time to switch to a new sponsor as I change my goals from having a full Asian squad, to trying to be the best team in the world, and Rakuten is both a Japanese sponsor still, and a huge one, that could realistically fund such a project.
Training has not been included yet, and we are still sorting out if one final stagiare will be joining or not, but this is our provisional squad for the upcoming season.
Leaders Tomohiro Kinoshita Kenji Itami Chen Shikai Michel Sibilla
Kinoshita is the teams cornerstone and will be back to hopefully be a Top 5 PCT rider again, after a bit of a disappointing season last year. Itami is our strongest sprinter, and after a rocky offseason with many rumours of his departure, he finds himself still on the team. He will be fired up to prove to the team, that it was the right decision, and with PCM18, we think he may have a better season than last as well. Shikai is now the main Stage racer on the team, after sharing a split role with Choi, so the pressure will really be on him now. It will be tough for him to replicate last years great results, but if he can stay consistent we will be happy with him.
And new to the team is Michel Sibilla, who joins from Tinkoff for a fee of only 100,000. He is only really suited to flat cobble races, but he should score decently this season still, in an area we used to get 0 points in every season.
Costagli joins the team to replace Choi. He wont bring in as many points, but he should be able to score lesser points, but still consistently at his level, and also be a great helper to Shikai in some situations as well. Iino, Shirota and Hatsuyama will also be great helpers, but could be dangerous breakaway riders.
Puncheurs
Chris Froome Pieter Serry Wataru Mutsumine Rafael Silva
We have really bolstered our hills squad this season. Froome should be a solid scorer, although he's definitely past his prime and likely wont be winning races anymore. Serry is going to be a great helper with a great Mo/HIl and could even see himself as leader in some races. Mutsumine could also be a good finisher, and Silva is not only a solid hill rider, but has great ACC and a decent sprint, so reduced bunch sprints on a hilly day could be his specialty.
Time Trial
King Lok Cheung Pierre Rolland Jacob Salcone Rein Onodera Ryoma Nonaka
We dont have the strongest TT squad, but we think we have decent depth, which should still help for TTTs and a lot of our riders are even better at shorter TTs which could come in handy for short stage races. Rolland is our biggest acquisition for TTs and he will also be a great help in the mountains. Salcone is also very versatile, so we think we've found great value.
Cobbles
Saya Kuroeda Shiki Kuroeda
The Kuroedas are now both maxed and we should see them score decently well this season. Saya in particular could be a very underrated rider for us. They will both likely help Sibilla, but if the hills become too hard for him, Shiki can definitely survive them a bit longer.
Sprinters
Tomohiro Hayakawa Kazushige Kuboki Jiankun Liu Jingbaio Zhao
Hayakawa left the team to test the FA market, hoping for over 120,000, but in the end he didnt receive any interest so joins back for just 60,000. Kuboki is good on hills and has a great prologue so he will surely lead some races, and be a great helper in others. Liu and Zhao will both be even stronger on day, Liu will likely be the top sprinter here.
Rouleur
Yudai Arashiro
Arashiro is our only flat specialist and he is one of the best in the world. He will be a great leadout rider, but he's also already proved he can win flat stages from the breakaway by simply holding off the peloton. He still has room to grow as well.
Stagiare
Yuriy Natarov
Natarov joins as a stagiare, and we are extremely pleased to find a talent such as his in the final few days of the transfer window. Some talents with similar ability were going for nearly 100k, but we were able to fit him in at only 10,000
These are his possible trainings we have uncovered, but there could be more
Very strong hill-squad with Kinoshita as a superb PCT puncher!
Shikai is a very solid GC leader in PCT aswell, guess those two will score a lot of points for you!
After a fantastic 2019 season, where we were able to finish 3rd in the standings, and promote to the PT for the 2nd time in the teams existence, Rakuten this time, looks much more prepared to challenge the division, and avoid relegation. Many of the teams longtime talents have finally maxed, and while the team may be lacking in a bit of high end power for the division, the team has lots of depth.
Last name
First name
2019 Wage
2020 Wage
Difference
Kinoshita
Tomohiro
525000
600000
+75000
Shikai
Chen
260000
260000
0
Itami
Kenji
140000
160000
+20000
Sibilla
Michel
125000
105000
-20000
Serry
Pieter
105000
110000
+5000
Hayakawa
Tomohiro
60000
115000
+55000
Kuboki
Kazushige
85000
90000
+5000
Kuroeda
Saya
115000
90000
-25000
Kuroeda
Shiki
70000
85000
+15000
Liu
Jiankun
50000
105000
+55000
Zhao
Jingbiao
50000
100000
+50000
Costagli
Teodoro
150000
105000
-45000
Iino
Tomoyuki
62500
55000
-7500
Mutsumine
Wataru
77500
65000
-12500
Shirota
Yamato
50000
50000
0
Arashiro
Yudai
50000
65000
+15000
Silva
Rafael
65000
55000
-10000
Hatsuyama
Sho
50000
50000
0
Cheung
King Lok
50000
50000
0
Salcone
Jacob
50000
50000
0
Onodera
Rei
50000
50000
0
Rolland
Pierre
55000
X
x
Nonaka
Ryoma
50000
x
x
Froome
Chris
110000
x
x
Natarov
Yuriy
10000
50000
+40000
Cote
Pier-Andre
15000
x
x
The team fought tooth and nail with a couple riders, including Kinoshita who we expected to increase in wages, but overall, the team has been able to reduce the wage budget from last season heading into this transfer season, leaving the team with lots of space. This will be important for bringing in a few more leaders, and possibly even some talents. Of course, not every rider that has renewed with the team will be riding in our colors come the end of the transfer window. We expect atleast a few to leave for new teams, although can't get into specifics at this point.
Edited by valverde321 on 25-09-2020 17:09
I'd like to say it'll be nice to not see Kinoshita, but we'll probably cross paths in PTHC races
Thanks, Im excited to be back, and this time with a lot more ambitions. Last time I basically kept my squad as is, and signed a few leaders to hope for the best, but it was essentially a plan where I was expecting to relegate.
Indeed we will probably cross paths in PTHC a bit, but depends where if Kinoshita will be there or not.
As you can see, we have several strong riders that we are thinking about selling. Itami is our top sprinter and had one of his best seasons last year, likely because of the PCM 18 AI. He is on pretty good wages for a sprinter of his quality, and his MO stat is also quite good for a sprinter, making him get over the smaller lumps better than others. Sibilla is our top cobbler and is also on terrific wages. He's probably better suited to PCT, based on his weaker climbing abilities, but he would make a great last helper for anyone with a stronger classics leader as well.
Serry joined us last season in a deal for Choi, and in that time he almost scored almost exactly half what Choi did, one of the strongest stage racers in the PCT division. He's a very solid scorer at that level, and would make a good Co-leader. His MO/Hil combination make him a very strong rider, to go along with a nice Fighter stat as well.
Hayakawa is part of our now very deep sprint lineup. The reason for moving on is simply that we dont need as many sprinters as we have currently. A team looking for a strong sprint train would make the most of him.
The last rider we will be actively shopping is Costagli. He's a strong climber, but was unable to have much success last year. However, with his 76 fighter stat, he would make a very strong breakaway rider, which can be very useful for points scoring, especially with the increased breakaway chances that PCM 18 AI offers.
Loan Needed
Stats
Wage
OVL
Loan
Yuriy
Natarov
69 MO, 76 FG
50000
67.28
CT
Our only talent below level 4, Natarov will be a strong climber one day. He's currently LVL 1.46 , but is hoping to get to LVL 3, or close to it after this season. He would likely be a decent support rider at the CT level, and with his breakaway potential, could even be a point scorer.
Anyway, thats it for now. Don't be afraid to show your interest now, so that I can keep track of interest heading into the transfer window. Apart from Kinoshita and probably Shikai, every rider on the team would be willing to let go for the right price or deal so dont be afraid to let me know.
Yudai Arashiro
Jingbiao Zhao
Ki Ho Choi
Expected though 
Also sad to see you won't part with the Kuroedas or Yudai, but again I'd be shocked if you did 
Interestign to see where you take the squad with a few potential big sales to come it seems!
Michel Sibilla
Teodoro Costagli
Chris Froome
Pieter Serry
Rafael Silva
Yuriy Natarov
Jacob
