I really dislike Moscon irl, and will dislike him even more after seeing him win too many races here Congratulations on Reinhardt too btw, if you would be so kind to already tell us which races you're sending him to, that would be nice
Great additions, will be a great duo in the hills. Gianni lacks the sprint and acceleration; let's see how many wins he will lose due to that throughout the season. In any case, he will be a top puncheur to watch.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Well, that was a huge deal of work! We were really not lucky in free agency this offseason, being outbid on Swiss riders by teams from arount the world - don't ask us why, there's no reason except for annyoing us, in our opinion...
But we finally, finally signed with one of our top targets - Switzerland's TTer-Sprinter-talent Stefan Bissegger! Whereas the competition for the likes of Aregger and Page took us by surprise, we were happy to have no competition for our newest addition except for fellow Swiss team UBS.
Now, we've got another raw diamond on board. There are plenty, plenty of options of how to make up his development path, so let's just look at both "extremes" - TTer and sprinter:
Stefan Bissegger, Level 1.00, 22 y.o., € 75.000 wage
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Current
69
64
66
69
66
69
65
60
69
70
64
70
68
TTer
76
64
67
78
73
77
72
60
74
73
64
71
77
Sprinter
76
64
69
70
70
75
77
61
78
78
64
71
75
Whereas today it looks like we could well lose a great TTer, we'll try to find the best possible balance to make him a really versatile rider for sprints AND TTs - let's see how we'll do this. Suggestions are always welcome
We currently have no more ongoing FA offers - which on one hand is better for our nerves, on the other side having signed only two riders (the second one will be presented shortly) is a true disappointment. As we said, other teams went after Swiss riders - whereas better riders were sold for minimum wage... It's a pity we won't be able to bring in more Swiss riders this year, but at least we tried.
And concerning Swiss riders: We finally settled for the fact that Team UBS wouldn't let us get both great Swiss talents, Bissegger and future cobbles star Johan Jacobs. Finally, we got the former, they got the latter - at least the biggest talents remain inside our country!
Congratulations on Bissegger. I like that sprinter alignment, more balanced sprinters are the future and that is a pretty good salary considering some of the other young rider pricing.
No question trying to keep a nationality focus can create some challenges but it feels good when it works.
We would like to apologize for some of the wordings in our previous communication. It is true that while we are still disappointing about missing out on some of our main targets, there's no way to insult teams simply following the process and outbidding us - whatever their reasons to do so may be.
We also have to mention the fact that we were disappointed about the number of negative responses when trying to look for a loan deal for our latest addition - which is the reason why he hasn't been presented yet. We are hoping to do so by tonight, and would apologize for spamming pretty much every PT manager out there in sheer despair to find a deal.
But at least, there are some good news concerning loan deals, too. The deals for both of our Italian level 4 talents have been confirmed, and we're looking forward to get them back at their maximum level in a year!
Fausto Masnada has found a great home in Italy, with Generali. Although the deal comes one year late, meaning we're losing a year of his prime (and training eligibility), we are sure he'll be really useful for them this year and will do even greater things for us starting in 2021!
Generali manager Matt was kind enough to offer us a great 50/50 wage split deal - thanks a lot, and have fun with Fausto!
Andrea Vendrame's deal has been confirmed even earlier. Region-wise, the deal may not be optimal for himself, as he's moving far North, where he joins Volvo for his PT loan-out. But we're sure it will be really useful for him to getting used to the weather conditions up there. Very useful holds for the deal, too, as Volvo pay his full wage for this season. Thanks a lot, viking, and good luck with Andrea!
Even with all the frustrations, I feel like you're making some really good moves this offseason. At the very latest when Masnada and Vendrame come back maxed next year, you should definetely be able to make a push for promotion (from my point of view with somewhat limited experience ). And Bissegger is a neat fit for the hole that Gamper and Fedeli left.
Well - that might be. He did find a great home now, and we're really happy for him! Even though you just pay him about half of what he wanted - don't know if it's a good deal for him
tsmoha wrote:
That's some sick additions. Well done!
Thanks! I guess I was just lucky with Moscon, whereas Pernsteiner and a sprinter (not necessarily Theo, but he definitely isn't a bad choice) worked out as planned.
Aquarius97 wrote:
Reinhardt and Moscon are massive additions for a CT squad, if only Moscon had better sprint...
Thanks, mate! I can tell you the manager of a certain Ulissi told me sprint isn't everything... And I guess he knows what he's talking about
Nemolito wrote:
I really dislike Moscon irl, and will dislike him even more after seeing him win too many races here Congratulations on Reinhardt too btw, if you would be so kind to already tell us which races you're sending him to, that would be nice
Shonak wrote:
Great additions, will be a great duo in the hills. Gianni lacks the sprint and acceleration; let's see how many wins he will lose due to that throughout the season. In any case, he will be a top puncheur to watch.
Thanks, I'm really looking forward to the hills this year. I did so last year, too, but Pellaud being really hit by PCM18, it didn't work out as I hoped. I guess that should be fixed with my current roster. As for Gianni's sprint, I'll just refer to some Ulissi guy again
Thanks! Looking forward to some great hilly fights against you this year (well, maybe not REALLY looking forward, as I guess you're stronger in those ).
Ulrich Ulriksen wrote:
Congratulations on Bissegger. I like that sprinter alignment, more balanced sprinters are the future and that is a pretty good salary considering some of the other young rider pricing.
No question trying to keep a nationality focus can create some challenges but it feels good when it works.
Thank you. You've done a great deal too by bringing Kuss in, if I followed that one correctly. Definitely more US riders available than Swiss ones, but yeah, I've committed to that focus region for now, even if it worked out by far less well than last year. Bissegger was one of my two top targets, so pretty happy I could sign at least him.
cunego59 wrote:
Even with all the frustrations, I feel like you're making some really good moves this offseason. At the very latest when Masnada and Vendrame come back maxed next year, you should definetely be able to make a push for promotion (from my point of view with somewhat limited experience ). And Bissegger is a neat fit for the hole that Gamper and Fedeli left.
Oh yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to next year, when I get a maxed Masnada, and Gianni will be training eligible
Losing Gamper is really THE thing that hurts; I guess I won't get such a guy again, at least not one fitting my focus regions... But well, Gianni is a decent replacement for the time being
We are pleased to announce the re-signing of French sprinter talent Thomas Boudat! While we didn't part ways under the brightest circumstances - he turned down our renewals offer hoping to get a better offer in Free Agency - we were always convinced that he'll add a ton of value to our team once maxed out. Here are his current stats:
Thomas Boudat, Level 4.17, 26 y.o., € 65.000 wage
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
71
51
68
62
70
72
77
58
77
76
62
66
76
While it is clear that we'll have to keep him away from any mountains - just like our current top sprinter Theo Reinhardt, he adds one big plus to our roster: His prologue stat! Starting from next year, we're really looking forward to see him achieve big things wearing our jersey - for the time being, he will ride for cycleYorkshire to fully complete his natural development. We wish him and his temporary home team best luck for the upcoming season!
And by the way - his wage now is precisely what he turned down... Hopefully he'll remember this in next year's renewal process!
With this signing and loan-out, our roster satisfies the minimum requirement of 15 riders, and we still have € 50.000 of wage cap left. Stay tuned to find out what we get out of it...
Yes, dear visitor, you have read correctly: we are welcoming on board Tom Scully!
But how on earth do we get to sign a Kiwi for our Swiss-and-surrounding-countries based roster? And even more: Why would we swap out a Swiss rider for him?
Well, there's a story behind this. After losing out on some great Swiss FA targets - especially being outbid on Marcel Aregger really, really hurt, we met with our sponsors to come up with a plan for the remaining transfer period. The message was clear: all Swiss riders worthy of a fix contract do have one, so we should go for whatever deal would increase our roster's quality - if possible still focusing on our main regions, but not necessarily.
But now, let's talk about our new hire. As pretty much any Kiwi, he's got an excellent track racing education, meaning he is a great sprinter and prologue specialist. He's actually New Zealand's second best sprinter behind a certain Bewley monster - and that translates to stats as follows:
Tom Scully, Level 4.MAX, 30 y.o., € 100.000 wage
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
74
52
67
63
66
70
78
67
79
80
55
63
77
He looks pretty similar to our German sprinter Theo Reinhardt - not having the best top speed, but a good acceleration. Plus - which is the main difference between the two - he is a really good prologue rider, the best we have on the team for sure! Which means that our target races now include flat races WITH short time trials - a huge gain for us!
This signing pretty much wraps up our transfer season. We do not have much money nor wage cap left - but you never know, sometimes crazy deals happen on the final days... Stay tuned!
Today, we have the pleasure of announcing the signing of our first ever stagiaire, Robin Froidevaux!
While he was a possible Free Agency target for us from the start, other (rather surprising) deals quickly ate up more of our wage cap than what we thought, and so we couldn't afford to give him a full contract this year. However, we were finally able to agree on a stagiaire contract with him, meaning he will spend 15 race days with us from August onwards, plus the Tour de l'Avenir.
The team that first wanted to sign him as a stagiare was surprised we outbid them, so let's take a look at his current and possible further stats to see why we did so (besides the fact he's Swiss, of course):
Robin Froidevaux, Level 1.00, 22 y.o., € 15.000 wage (stagiaire)
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Current
67
62
67
63
67
67
63
61
68
69
68
67
65
Puncheur
68
71
75
64
70
71
70
61
68
76
76
68
66
Sprinter
74
62
68
64
70
74
74
61
77
76
68
68
72
If we choose to develop him as a sprinter, he'd be pretty similar to Stefan Bissegger taking that way, although a bit less strong. He would still be a really useful leadout rider on CT level, though.
The puncheur path looks pretty promising, too. Along with a solid mountain skill, he'd be able to chase for KoM jerseys in stage races. If we choose to mix the two paths, we'd end up pretty close to a Lienhard-style rider. Lots of options - we're looking forward to seeing Robin in action later this year!
We do not have any other ongoing deals currently. There were some talks, but no deal was finally agreed on. However, with panic buys/sells/swaps in the last couple of hours of the transfer period being absolutely possible, we're still open to listen to any kind of deal offers. If nothing changes with respect to our current roster, we will bring in another stagiaire.
Official communication by Team Manager Mr. Fabianski
In these last few days, lots of rumors have spreaded all around, about possible rider sells or swaps. Lots of names were around, spreading insecurity among our riders. Whereas we have always insisted on the fact that only good solutions - for the deal partner, the rider(s) and for us - would be considered, we can understand the inconvenience this caused to our riders. This is part of the business, however, and more experienced riders do understand this.
Finally, we announce that no further deals will be made. It's not that there were no possibilities - on the contrary, we had some great opportunities to strengthen our roster. However, this would also have meant to lose some more of our young and hopeful riders. As we committed to the development of young riders when we started a year ago, we finally decided it was worth more to us keeping them on the long term than hunting for every possible point for the upcoming season.
This said, one deal is still open and will be confirmed by the closing of the transfer window. With our friends from Sauber, we agreed to help each other out, having pretty different focus terrains this year. We will get a man who will help a lot in keeping breakaways at bay, whereas Simon Pellaud - a rider Mr. sammyt, Sauber's manager, always wanted to have in his roster - will take the other direction. We wish him and his team good luck for the 2020 season!
And finally, also due to our commitment to the youth, we are bringing in one more stagiaire, who will be confirmed in a few minutes from here, too.
So that's almost everything that needs to be said about our transfer period - except for the CT draft taking place tonight. Who will be the last additions to our team? Find out later today!
Guave wrote:
I shouldn't have been that surprised by the Froidevaux overbid. He looks very promising. Hope he does you well
Well, my problem is that I wasn't online when the stagiaire window opened. Else I'd have immediately picked Froidevaux and Suter. Now, both already had an initial bid - and I had to go for one of them.
But yeah, he should be able to do pretty good things. Not sure at all how I'll develop him (if I re-sign him), but the puncheur way looks pretty appealing.
End of Transfers
Welcome Benedikt Mundle & Gergely Szarka
As we mentioned in our last communication, our final trade was yet to be confirmed. This is done by now, and so we have to bid goodbye to last year's puncheur leader Simon Pellaud, who joins our friends from Sauber Petronas Racing to further strengthen their own puncheur department. While this means that we lost two great riders on this terrain with Pellaud and Freuler (earlier on), we think we have added enough quality to compensate for these losses.
And so, we decided to further strengthen our sprinter team with this swap deal. Joining us from Sauber is Benedikt Mundle - Welcome to Ticino, Benedikt! As you can see from his stats, he has got one big strength:
And that strength is called "chase the breakaway"! While it's true that we do have great sprinters and leadouts, we were still lacking someone to actually help us getting into these sprints. With Benedikt working for us, any escapee will tremble - hopefully! Furthermore, his aggressive riding means that he's also suited for breakaways on flat stages - or for some kind of "finisseur" moves.
Honestly, we do not expect any points from him - other than would have been the case for Pellaud - but just as the leadouts he could bring us many "indirect" points. Beware when we unleash our flat beast!
The second - and final - signing in the regular transfer period is another stagiaire, as announced earlier. Of course, we wanted to sign another Swiss rider. But our second target after Froidevaux - Joel Suter - was already taken, we took a detailed look at the market and then signed the talent that seemed to be most worthy of being developed. And we found one: Welcome to the big stage, Gergely Szarka!
When looking at Gergely's current stats, it's pretty clear which development path he will take:
Gergely Szarka, Level 1.00, 22 y.o., € 10.000 wage (stagiaire)
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Current
70
62
66
60
71
68
65
60
71
71
64
65
65
TR-Sprint
77
62
67
61
72
73
76
60
78
78
64
66
72
As you can see, he's a really good sprinter AND a flat beast in the making! We were pretty surprised that he wasn't picked up as a regular free agent, as we think he would definitely be worth the investment in a few years! Unfortunately, we won't be able to let him race enough to gain a full level, but we are pretty confident we'll keep him for the future, and so one year lost isn't the end of the world.
And for those asking how on earth we could sign a Hungarian - well, we just pushed our limits slightly to the East, with Gergely's home country just bordering Austria, one of our clear focus regions
And that's it from our transfer season! The only thing left is the CT draft starting in 3 hours - we're looking forward to welcome two more riders on board for the upcoming season!
2020 CT Draft Pedro Merino Criado & Nico Brüngger
While the CT Draft is still running, we have already received our 2nd draft pick, meaning transfers are now officially over for us!
We had a clear strategy going into the draft: We wanted another leadout man, and another Swiss. Whereas there was still plenty of choice for the first category, it was much harder to find a good Swiss rider - meaning Switzerland will probably need more lobbying to get a better pool of riders
Anyway, let's head straight to our first signing: It's Spanish sprinter/leadout rider Pedro Merino Criado! Being released from his PCT team after his first decline this offseason, he looked like a perfect target for our needs, as you can see from his stats:
Nico will by no means be among our star riders in what could be his final season, but he'll provide some good support in the mountains and hills - and he is our best time trialist. Well, this doesn't say a lot, but at least he'll bring some well-needed support for the TTTs.
It's pretty clear already - for him and for us - that his contract will only last one year - the final year of his prime - where he will try to give it all he's got left in him! Welcome, Nico, and enjoy your stay!
And with these two additions, we end our transfer period. Next up is the presentation of the whole squad, with all its strengths and weaknesses. Race schedule and goals will follow soon, too. Stay tuned - and we wish you all a lot of fun in the upcoming 2020 season!
With the transfer season officially over, now has arrived the time of Team Presentations - welcome to Ticino, where we present you our 2020 squad!
Climbers
Let's start with the climbers. Unfortunately, we weren't able to find new signings in this domain, as we were late for the top stage racer deals, or had budget restrictions when bidding on free agent climbers. As a result, we will mainly compete in mandatory mountain races this year, but we didn't select many additional ones.
Last year, our top climber was Fausto Masnada - who still has a valid contract with us, but is on loan with Generali. After him, we had Mirco Saggiorato and Andrea Manfredi both scoring just above 100 points. Both of them have renewed their contract, and we are hoping for a similar amount of points. However, given that there will be less mountainous race days in our calendar, this is a pretty high target.
Whereas Mirco goes into his last prime season, youngster Gino Mäder is still developing. He will already be a great domestique in the mountains, before his mandatory PT stint next year. We're hoping to get a few U25 points from him. Moreover, he has improved his ITT skills and will be a valuable rider in team time trials already.
We do have one more good climber, who will be presented in the next category. No longer riding with us is Gian Piero Signorini, who had a disappointing last season and has now found a new home with Nordica - Enel for what will be his final prime season, too.
Puncheurs
Whereas we did not see a lot of movement in the climbing department, there has been much more among our hilly riders. On top of that list is a rider which might make us the most hated team in CT - we hope not because of his previous mistakes, but of his result. Gianni Moscon will definitely be among the division's top puncheurs - although one class below Wilco Kelderman. Nonetheless, he should be able to compete for the win both on short, steep inclines and on longer slopes. He was our "Deal of the Year", joining us in a swap deal for our great talents Alessandro Fedeli and Patrick Gamper. This definitely hurts, but you should have seen our Italian friends at Fiat when we announced them this signing... Crazy guys!
Even better on longer climbs is our second signing in this department, Hermann Pernsteiner. He will allow us to have a double spearhead in several hilly races, but will get to lead the team for races with more climbing involved. Furthermore, we will use some of his race days to help out in the mountain squad, given that he's our 3rd best climber. While he may not get as many top results as Gianni, we do still expect great things from him. Maybe his downhill speed may be worth a win or two as well!
Now on to two of our most aggressive riders. Fabian Lienhard was on loan with Philips last year and has now reached his maximum potential. He is a decent puncheur in his own right, which, combined with his fighting spirit and a good sprint, will hopefully lead to a lot of great breakaway results! However, we are well concious that he probably won't be able to do so when Gianni or Hermann are present as well, so we'll send him to some more mountainous stage races as well. The big mountains definitely aren't his friends, but he doesn't fear them either.
The same holds for Cyrille Thièry, who is a very similar rider. Slightly less punchy, but a better climber, he will try to find his luck in breakaways, too. Besides being a domestique for the two top puncheurs, of course. His 2nd place in Zurich last year was a real highlight - we do hope he'll even get a win this year!
Well, this is actually the place to present our time trialists followed by the cobblers - but just as last year, we don't have much to present... Therefore, let's go on!
These riders will not be leaders in any race - but they will contribute their valuable help to the others!
First goes Leo Basso, a true "Swiss Army Knife"! He can ride hills, TTs, cobbles, he can even sprint a bit - he'll be valuable throughout the whole season. While it is true that he is our best cobbler, we don't want to put pressure on him by calling him a "leader", though, knowing that points are not at all expected on this terrain.
As our final pick, we chose Nico Brüngger in the CT draft. As Leo, he is pretty versatile and will mainly ride races with uphill sections. But he is our strongest time trialist, too, meaning that he will lead the team in TTTs. As for Leo, we don't call him a "leader", though. And just as Pedro, Nico will probably only stay with us for one year, given his imminent decline.
Last but not least in this section, we present a very special rider: Benedikt Mundle. He joined us in a swap deal from Sauber, who took care of Simon Pellaud instead. Benedikt will be an extremely important rider on all the flat races, as he has that big engine it takes to neutralize breakaways. But not only; he has shown his aggressivity several times last year, doing breakaway attempts on his own. Why not try that on the final kilometers of a stage? While we do not expect any individual points from him, though, we are sure he'll help scoring a lot of sprint points. If we do have someone to deliver a sprinter in the right spot, it is him!
Talents
Unfortunately, this section is pretty short. It's not that we did not want to sign talents, but in Switzerland, there weren't many available. We signed one of the Top 2 targets, though, with Stefan Bissegger, while leaving Johan Jacobs for Team UBS. Stefan's development path is yet to be decided on; will he be a sprinter? A time trialist? A time trialing sprinter? We will see. But even though he's one of the biggest talents in our beautiful countries, he probably doesn't have what it takes to be world class one day, which is a pity to realize. But if he fights hard enough, maybe he'll still get there one day? We'll observe his development very closely, and are happy to have him on board!
While no other Swiss talent was able to pull off a regular contract, Robin Froidevaux at least got a stagiaire place in our roster. Robin definitely does have a lot of talent, too, and will likely develop into a punchy sprinter, but there was just that small extra missing to get a full-time contract. However, we do hope taking him in on a permanent basis next year. This year, he'll join us in August for 15 race days plus the Tour de l'Avenir.
This holds as well for our second stagiaire, Gergely Szarka. The Hungarian is the third rider (after Pedro and Tom) from a country not directly adjacent to Switzerland, which shows you just how dry the Swiss talent market was this year. We'd have loved developing another local talent - but we finally had to settle for another country. And Gergely definitely is a massive plus for us, as he'll develop into a decent sprinter and a true flat beast - everything it takes to be a world-class leadout! We're glad to have him on board and would love to keep him for the future, too!
Loan-Outs
We have now presented all the riders wearing our jersey this year. Let's still lose some words about our loan-outs, as they will be an important addition to our roster in one year from now! Fausto Masnada is still our most expensive rider - although we have to pay "just" € 90.000 of his wage, thanks to a great loan deal with Generali. Fausto will be a great stage racer next season; a possible leader in CT, a super-domestique in PCT. His final development step is still unclear, but he'll definitely come back as a stronger climber.
Climber - that's not at all the case for Thomas Boudat. Re-signed in free agency for exactly the same wage he declined during renewals, the Frenchman will round off his sprinter skills during his stay with cycleYorkshire. When he'll come back in a year, he'll be our strongest prologue rider, and almost as great a sprinter as Tom Scully. He is the reason why our newest leadout Pedro is likely to leave us after only one year. For now, we're sure he'll do a great job for his temporary employer!
Finally, we have Andrea Vendrame, who was sent North to the vikings from Volvo. He is going to work on his punch, meaning to strengthen that department next year.
Conclusions
That's it. You've seen them all - now let us know what you think where we'll end up with our updated roster! While we surely are among the better teams on hilly and flat terrain, we do have some weaknesses in the mountains, and no strength at all in TTs and on cobbles. Sure, we selected our races accordingly - but what can a team achieve while being focused only on two terrains?
All in all, we are happy with the transfer period, although missing out on some Swiss targets - we're only talking about the available ones - hurts. And we'll have to start developing them earlier if we want to have more choice for a pro contract. But we still managed to keep our regional focus pretty well - it's a good cake of Switzerland and surrounding countries, with a cherry - eh, Kiwi - on top of it. We are positive to have a lot of fun this year - stay tuned!
And finally, here's an overview of all the riders wearing our jersey this year (i.e. loan-outs excluded):
Great depth on the hills and sprints, and on the mountains as well, albeit with weaker leaders. I think with good planning, you could be knocking on the door of the Top 5. Kelderman versus Moscon should be fun My sprinters will probably be looking to latch on to your sprint train in most races
Not a top top team but as Abhi said the focused three-terrain depth could work pretty well. Might have liked a cobbler or a different stage race leader (hope Manfredi doesn't block Saggiorato, should be ok) on top but not necessary at all. Moscon despite the fact like most here I can't stand him irl is a great rider here and should be a force for you for years to come, especially with Masnada coming back next year a nice career duo for you for a while yet if you want it. Reinhardt could be very high quality for that wage if he kicks off, and I hope for your sake Scully does better than his last CT year! Basso is of course so cool and Thiery as well gives another multi-talented domestique which I love. Good luck
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
Congratulations on Reinhardt too btw, if you would be so kind to already tell us which races you're sending him to, that would be nice 
Stefan Bissegger 
Fausto Masnada has found a great home in Italy, with Generali. Although the deal comes one year late, meaning we're losing a year of his prime (and training eligibility), we are sure he'll be really useful for them this year and will do even greater things for us starting in 2021!
Thomas Boudat
Tom Scully
Benedikt Mundle & 
Gergely Szarka
Pedro Merino Criado & 
Patrick Gamper. This definitely hurts, but you should have seen our Italian friends at Fiat when we announced them this signing... Crazy guys!
Theo Reinhardt as our new sprint leader! While Theo might not have the highest top speed, he has got top-notch acceleration, allowing him to gain a lot of places in no time. Team UBS sold him because they couldn't provide him a sprint train - something we do have.
Issiaka Cissé, and to replace him 1:1 by either Marcel Aregger or Dylan Page. But we felt too secure for the former, being unable to place a counter-bid once we were outbid. When we switched for Page, our wage budget was almost used up, so we couldn't get him either. We finally decided to keep Issiaka, who did a great job as a leadout last year, and even got some valuable points as our sprint leader in some races.
