From a team that really has everything to a team that is very isolation around sprints and climbs. I like the change though, as well as I liked what you did last season! This is a very dramatic change however and could seem to be a real target for a high PT position. Old riders in and relatively young riders out.
But you go from a team with top 10 aspirations everywhere to clear winners. With both Taaramae and Galta you should be very comfortable in the mountains throughout the entire season, but I may be a bit worried with how you are aiming to solve the hills. Any thoughts on that...
@knockout: Exciting indeed! And I suspect too few is the correct answer to that
@roturn: A Swift/Trentin trade would surely have been interesting, and a kind of deal I would also have liked. And yeah, the duo should be fine. It's the rest of the team that kind of worries me!
@tastasol: Good observation, and rumour has it investigative journalist Mandagsfjord is already at work. We shall see what he comes up with, odds are low we'll keep silent and make him work for his story. Not so sure Taaramäe and Swift will bring me that high in the rankings at all, but more on that a later message here.
@ryant: Thank you, and the same for you! I was happy with how it worked out, as it opened a couple of other opportunities for this transfer season. Fingers crossed Enger can prove to be great value in the PCT for you
@SotD: Well, the problem was we kind of had everything, but at the same time we had nothing, as none of them were scoring big points. And also seeing how renewals went and not counting another freak breakaway year for Galta, we would have been right down in the relegation spots/fight to avoid relegation if you check the final 2018 rankings.
Add that the rest of our "depth scorers" from last season are gone (Vesely, SHE and Paillot), and there isn't much left Which really makes me believe the talk about "a high position in the rankings" is at best over-optimistic, because we just don't have the team for that. Taaramäe and Swift scored 3700 points last season. It would still have taken 1000 points more to avoid relegation. Add that Galta's 800 points were a freak year, 500, at most, points should be more realistic looking at similar riders, and I think we'll at best be around last season's placing.
You're absolutely right being worried about the lack of a puncheur. Obviously I plan to bring in sort of a puncheur, but we're talking about a 150 points puncheur, not a proper points scoring puncheur And where we lack a puncheur, we definitely lack a cobbler... There is Hampus and Walsleben to lead the team, which obviously shouldn't give us anything in terms of points
To be honest, a high position, winning, podium and that stuff haven't crossed my mind at all, simply because the team should be far from good enough to even consider it. My main goal with Taaramäe and Swift is that they hopefully can secure our spot in the PT, together with Galta and some lucky results, while we at the same time rebuild other parts of the team, that we could benefit from in three or four seasons time.
I feel it's actually quite the contrary to being a short-term project with aging leaders, as those aging leaders are needed to hopefully survive and help us rebuild with younger riders again
I would assume both Taaramae and Swift could both score higher than last season, and I see no reason why Galta shouldn’t be around 700 points. If that is the case you already have your relegation zone points there. And then you have at least 17 more riders all scoring an average of 100 points if no one is good. That is 1700 more. And then a 150 puncheur and you aren’t that far from a good position...
And honestly speaking, those 17 riders of yours are likely to average at a higher number than 100. Tvetcov at around 250 or 300. Asvold at at least 150.
I say you’ll end up close to 5th if planning goes well
Transfer News: Three More Domestiques and a Loanee
In a final turn of events, Aker - MOT signed three riders who will wear the team's jersey this season from the Free Agent market late in the transfer season.
We're happy to wish them all welcome to our team, as we believe they'll play key parts in a season where Taaramäe and Swift are expected to be our most prominent riders.
Soufiane Haddi
Sprinter
50.000
28 years old
OVL:73,62
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FI
DH
PR
74
69
65
62
75
69
77
62
77
77
62
63
63
Soufiane Haddi is a rider who fits our focus very well, considering rider abilities. With Swift on board, we need those strong guys on the flat, and Haddi should be able to serve as one. He also bags a solid sprint, making him a possibility in our leadouts for Swift. Those are the reasons we signed him late in the transfer season, after he and his former team couldn't agree on his wage terms. We're happy to say he'll wear our jersey on a 50k wage.
Nihal Silva
Sprinter
50.000
25 years old
OVL:73,07
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FI
DH
PR
73
62
68
62
68
70
73
71
75
76
56
60
62
Sri Lankan Sivla is a very similar rider type to Silva. We were surprised no other teams expressed their interest in him, as we think his future is bright, as he's a versatile rider. His abilities will give him a varied race program, going well on the cobbles, being strong on the flats, and also able to mix it in the final kilometers of a sprint stage. We won't demand worldclass leadouts from him this season, but no doubts we have high hopes for him thinking of leadouts from 2021 and onwards. And who knows, maybe on a perfect day he'll be a key rider in our train this seasons too.
Marildo Yzeiraj
Rouleur
50.000
25 years old
OVL:71,44
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FI
DH
PR
76
62
66
60
73
74
64
64
60
69
85
72
66
Tour of Qatar! Yzeiraj's love for crosswinds, aggressive racing and being in the right position at the right time in pan-flat races is why we brought him in as our final signing. The Albanian will have a key role as a rouleur in Tour of Qatar, where the battle for positions in the crosswind could decide the race. He's brought in as a key rider for Swift in that race, and we're confident he'll prove valuable.
Airidas Videika
Cobbler
50.000
25 years old
OVL:70,15
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FI
DH
PR
70
63
64
66
65
66
69
70
70
75
51
64
68
We're happy to have Videika on loan from DK Zalgiris this season. We'll ensure his development continues, as he should be a very decent cobbler in the future. We hope his race program with us can motivate him further, as he looks set to ride all the big cobbles races, including the two monuments. This could also be his chance to impress us, as it goes without saying we'll keep an eye on his development and performances, as we could well be interested in making a permanent deal and sign him if he's impressive this year.
That leaves two riders that signed this transfer season. Both Tobias Foss and Ivan Sosa will be presented soon, as we're very pleased to have signed them, eventhough they're both loaned out this season.
We're happy to have Videika on loan from DK Zalgiris this season. We'll ensure his development continues, as he should be a very decent cobbler in the future. We hope his race program with us can motivate him further, as he looks set to ride all the big cobbles races, including the two monuments. This could also be his chance to impress us, as it goes without saying we'll keep an eye on his development and performances, as we could well be interested in making a permanent deal and sign him if he's impressive this year.
n-n-n-NANI?
But as my man Ted DiBiase says, everybody's got a price
As the transfer season progressed, it became clear to us that we wanted to invest in young talents. That was the reason we also decided to sign Taaramäe and Swift, as they can hopefully steer us clear of relegation and allow us to use quite a lot of money on riders we don't expect any results and points from already this year.
At one point this transfer season, we actually had 565k invested in wages for young level 1 riders, plus most of the loan cap used for them. That would have included both Sergio Higuita and Orluis Aular, but unfortunately we missed out on those.
However, we did sign Tobias Foss and Ivan Sosa, and we're thrilled to present them both. Together with other riders already in the team that we started developing ealier, we hope they can prove themselves in the future.
Tobias Foss
Stage racer
85.000
22 years old
OVL:70,53
2019
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FI
DH
PR
68
70
68
70
73
74
72
66
60
67
66
65
66
2022
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FI
DH
PR
69
78
72
76
78
80
79
66
60
69
68
66
72
Tobias Foss was an obvious target for us starting the transfer season. As a Norwegian talent, we had to try to sign him, and we're happy that we succeeded. He has already shown that he's a rider for the stage races, having announced his dream is to ride and compete against the best in Grand Tours. Seeing his backup stats, we're confident he'll be one to challenge for future top 10s in Grand Tours, as he's also capable on a time trial bike. To secure the best possible development for him, we're grateful that Carlsberg - Danske Bank wants to have him on loan this season, as we're paying both Foss' wage and a fee to make sure he's in good hands with a different Scandinavian team.
Ivan Sosa
Climber
280.000
22 years old
OVL:70,10
2019
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FI
DH
PR
65
69
70
66
72
75
73
60
59
67
67
65
64
2022
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FI
DH
PR
66
78
78
67
75
79
80
60
59
74
75
66
65
Just like Foss, Sosa comes with what promises to be brilliant backup stats, whatever path he might take going forward. We think we'd like him to focus on the climbs, developing both as a pure climber, but also as a puncheur. Combined with his ability to recover when racing several days in a row, we think that will see him become an asset both for the hilly one day classics and the Grand Tours and classical stage races like Criterium du Dauphine and Tour de Suisse. He'll ride this season on loan with Volvo acc. by Spotify, who has already put together a race calendar for him. We hope to see him be valuable to our Swedish friends, and fingers crossed he can come up with a surprise or two during the season.
Those two will add to what we hope will be our core going forward. At least we managed to keep and add another five riders who all look set to continue their development and improve as riders.
Trond Hakon Trondsen
Sprinter
50.000
25 years old
OVL:72,92
2019
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FI
DH
PR
73
65
72
64
71
73
75
65
74
74
66
67
65
2020
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FI
DH
PR
75
65
72
64
72
74
83
65
76
76
66
67
65
Hampus Anderberg
Cobbler
65.000
23 years old
OVL:72,53
2019
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FI
DH
PR
74
64
68
72
73
73
75
73
60
72
69
61
72
2021
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FI
DH
PR
78
64
69
76
77
76
77
78
60
73
70
62
76
Takeaki Amezawa
Climber
50.000
24 years old
OVL:72,33
2019
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FI
DH
PR
67
72
72
63
74
76
76
60
68
71
67
68
59
2021
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FI
DH
PR
68
77
77
64
76
78
80
60
68
75
76
69
60
Marildo Yzeiraj
Rouleur
50.000
25 years old
OVL:71,44
2019
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FI
DH
PR
76
62
66
60
73
74
64
64
60
69
85
72
66
2020
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FI
DH
PR
77
62
66
60
74
74
65
65
62
71
85
72
66
Nihal Silva
Sprinter
50.000
25 years old
OVL:73,07
2019
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FI
DH
PR
73
62
68
62
68
70
73
71
75
76
56
60
62
2020
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FI
DH
PR
75
62
68
62
69
70
77
72
77
78
56
60
62
Of those final five riders mentioned, we're especially excited to see what Anderberg and Amezawa can do in the future. Together with Trondsen they already have a season of development done, and now both Anderberg and Amezawa will aim to take the final steps with us.
Amezawa is a rider who'll be very similar to Sosa when they're both at their peak. That makes us think he's a great prospect for future training, maybe making hilly races and especially hilly stage races a target of his, considering his good backup stats.
Anderberg is looking to develop into a future challenger for the Queen of the Classics, Paris-Roubaix. He also knows how to handle a time trial, making us think he likes the look of today's Tour of the Northern Europe. Both Amezawa and Anderberg will finish their development in 2021, which will see them max out the year before Foss and Sosa. We're definitely looking forward to what should be some very exciting years.
@Yellow Jersey: If we just could fast forward to 2022 and beyond...
@SN: Seeing what you did the final days of transfers, I'm definitely happy Foss was settled long before then
@bbl: And I'm very happy that you wanted to take him in! Hopefully he can turn into a very decent stage racer whereever there's a TT in addition to mountains. At least his backup stats makes training him to 80 mountain or so tempting in the distant future.
@viking90: Must admit I was kind of surprised that no one went higher on Foss, as I joined late on him. Definitely expected it would take more than a minimum raise bid to secure him. And thank you! Hopefully I can make a some kind of attempt in adding to that core with a couple of certain Norwegian Volvo riders next season Never had the money to make any kind of offer this season, but hopefully that can change next time around
Admittedly we haven't shown much presence during the seasons in our HQ this year. We hope to change that for the final months of racing.
And what better way to start than giving some quick words on our season so far?
We've got to start with La Vuelta. We lined up for the Vuelta a Espana with great expectations as we brought our Estonian star Rein Taaramae to lead the team. And he started in the best way possible, winning the opening prologue at Costa del Sol. We gave away the red jersey the following day, but took it back later in the first week, as Taaramae dominated on the hills. With three stage wins in the first week, we looked great for both the GC win and more stage wins.
Taaramae crossing the finish line for his third stage win in the first week. No time for celebration, as our Estonian was determined to not slip up and make any mistakes this Vuelta.
Going forward, the team decided to ride rather passively on the difficult stages, making breakaway riders fighting for a lot of stage wins. Taaramae won two more stages in the final weeks, as he proved himself as the best TT rider in the Vuelta. Thus, we concluded the Vuelta in Madrid with Taaramae winning the race with 1'03 to Kritskiy.
It goes without saying we were thrilled after the win. It's the first ever GC victory for our team in a Grand Tour. Taaramae really showed his strength, and it was just in time, as his performance in Tirreno-Adriatico gave us questions to answer.
Our performance in the Vuelta was both hoped for and sort of expected looking at the startlist, but obviously it was a relief to see the team and Taaramae get it done. Especially seeing our fist Grand Tour of the season, the Giro d'Italia, went south with our other star, Ben Swift, really struggling. Admittedly he has struggled quite a lot this season, but we're now working to give him his confidence back for his final outing of the season, which is GP Moscow.
Then, moving on to the biggest race of them all, we didn't really have big ambitions nor expectations for Tour de France. Fredrik Strand Galta put up a monster performance there in 2018, winning two stages from breakaways, taking lots of time in the GC, and with that ending 6th overall.
A brave and determined Galta rode away in breakaways on both stage 19 and stage 20. Here he is pulling on stage 20 with T-Mobile riders Guldhammer and Henao following. This was the stage where he moved from 13th to 8th overall.
Well, Galta had other plans, showing grit and determination in the difficult third week, joining breakaways on the final mountain stages. He first fought his way back close to the top 10, and then also well inside the top 10 in the GC. That was such a joy to follow, as he once again shows he's able to take on a challenge and make the most of it. He ended the race 8th overall.
Yzeiraj, wearing the white jersey on loan, sprinted himself into the polkadot jersey on stage 2 of Tour de France.
But we also got a lot more from this Tour! With no sprinter present, we raced very aggressive, joining most breakaways. Early on Yzeiraj wore the polkadot after winning some KoM sprints on the early flat stages. That was great to see, and also a sign for what's to come for us that Tour, as we only continued to join breakaways and fight for KoM points, intermediate sprints and stage wins.
Finally, on stage 17, we succeeded and won a stage. After having taken it easy in a couple of difficult mountain stages, Sindre Skjostad Lunke was ready to be our main guy for the breakaway on this hilly stage. He managed to get into the breakaway, which was a strong one with riders like Summerhill and Kolesnikov present, but also a climber like Machado.
Lunke making the decisive attack on stage 17, leaving the other breakaway riders behind and holding on for a solo win.
But Lunke showed no fear. The stage played out as a long waiting game, as all riders up front understood the final climb, but also the following descent and easy kilometers to the finish line would decide the winner. Our Norwegian climber attacked near the top of the climb, and he never looked back. We must admit we didn't really believe in his chances seeing the strong chase group, but Lunke continued to push on, and he held on to his gap. That paved way for an emotional solo victory, and no matter what Galta would do in the GC, the Tour was definitely a success for us. And as written, an inspired Galta made it a perfect race for us with his huge efforts on the final two mountain stages.
That's all for now. We hope to provide you more updates as the 2019 season is coming closer and closer to Giro di Lombardia, which is the final race in October.
Renewals are done, and we're now presenting wages and availability for our riders. What stands out is obviously that Ben Swift declared he wants to try his luck elsewhere. Very motivated to do that, he accepted a significant wage cut, now earning a modest 440k. We hope that will raise his value for teams interested in him, and if it doesn't give us an offer we feel is right, we'll be happy to keep our best sprinter ever for another year.
Rider Name
2020 Wage
Change
Availability
Fredrik Strand Galta
€ 300.000
+ 60.000
No
Trond Hakon Trondsen
€ 90.000
+ 50.000
No
Sindre Skjostad Lunke
€ 120.000
+ 20.000
No
Andreas Vangstad
€ 100.000
+ 25.000
No
Tobias Foss
€ 55.000
- 30.000
No
Tormod Jacobsen
€ 50.000
None
Yes
Tom Scully
€ 100.000
- 20.000
Yes
Hampus Anderberg
€ 75.000
+ 10.000
No
Philipp Walsleben
€ 50.000
None
No
Takeaki Amezawa
€ 100.000
+ 50.000
No
Rein Taaramäe
€ 1.060.000
+ 60.000
No
Peter Pruus
€ 50.000
None
Unlikely
Ben Swift
€ 440.000
- 220.000
Yes
Serghei Tvetcov
€ 120.000
- 20.000
Unlikely
Nihal Silva
€ 110.000
+ 60.000
Yes
Kashyapa Siriwardena
€ 50.000
None
Unlikely
Ivan Sosa
€ 150.000
- 130.000
No
Marildo Yzeiraj
€ 50.000
None
No
Obviously, only having 18 riders on contract means we've said goodbye to several. We would like to say thank you to Janis Dakteris, Lorents Ola Aasvold, Soufiane Haddi, Daniel Oss and Adrian Gjolberg. Especially to the latter, who has been with us since he joined the professionals. And who knows, maybe we'll try to sign one or two of them from the Free Agent pool, at least they all know that possibility, and thus they'll keep up their intense training through another off-season.
A bit mixed renewals I guess, but at least a very good reduction on Swift. Will be interesting to see what you do with him during transfers.
Could have liked to see more of the Norwegians available, but oh well. With no Danes in your team and Denmark now your secondary team, I'm expecting some good fights the next weeks.
A certain thing regarding my transfer seasons, is that those marked "No" is not not at all for sale. Of course I'm happy to discuss any of my riders, eventhough a "No" here means that my intention starting the transfer season is to keep them. That can change, even several times during transfers!
It could actually be very tempting to put some of them on the table if it makes one or two certain Danes go the other way and join us, seeing our new nationality focus Edited by ember on 29-09-2020 17:44
Taaramäe going up in wages in a season where he declines is really not good... I would have expected his wage to be around 900-950K - Oh well - He's still a world beater though.
Soufiane Haddi 
Nihal Silva 
Marildo Yzeiraj 
Airidas Videika 
Tobias Foss 
Ivan Sosa 
Hampus Anderberg 
Takeaki Amezawa 
Tom Scully 
Philipp Walsleben 
Rein Taaramäe 
Ben Swift 
Serghei Tvetcov 
