Two riders will join us on loan this season.

From Philips comes Ricardo Minali, a very talented sprinter, who will be looking to learn as much as possible from Manninen.

From Team Puma - SAP comes Jordi Nieuwenhuis with a bag of cash. Joris is a solid all-rounder, who will likely be focusing on assisting as much as possible in the classics this season.

Fun fin-fact: There have been at least one Finnish rider in the top division every single season of the @pcmdaily MG.

— Valio - Viking Genetics (@Atlantius_PCM) October 10, 2020

That deal also sees Sasu Helme taking a year at Team Puma - SAP. Sasu is likely to get to ride his own chance several times on the highest level. With the signing of Penasa and the fact that we also have Awet Gebremedhin, who is much the same type of rider only a bit stronger, Sasu would likely have limited chances for himself on our team and we have a lot of competent helpers around his level for Penasa.
We look forward to seeing how he will do in PT races and look forward to getting him back even stronger next year!

That also secures the unbroken streak of at least one Finnish rider in the top division for the entire duration of the MG.

In a surprise turn of events the last day of transfers stage race domestique Joonas Henttala left the team in a straight swap for dutch puncher Jeroen Meijers.
Joonas have been a trusted helper for Talansky and König, but his role on the team grew ever smaller and we could do wit ha bit more hilly depth behind Gautier and Kanerva, which we get this way. We wish Joonas all the best at Philips.

We also signed with two stagiares: Jesper Lindahl and Ukko Iisakki Peltonen. Lindahl will slowly devlop into a competent classics helper while Peltonens could be the heir for Pökäläs Finnish TT throne in time.

At this market season our focus was to aquire som younger prize bulls ready to put into the production right now.
At the start our 5 best had an average age of 31,6 with Manninens 28 years pulling the average down by himself.
We have succeded in bringing that down to 29,8 years!

Now to see how the different parts of the herd have come together,

		FLA	MTN	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	CBL	SPR	ACC	FIG	DWH	PRL
	Penasa	70	80	74	70	75	72	77	50	57	76	68	64	70
	Gebremedhin	69	77	74	64	73	74	76	50	55	75	78	66	64
	Hasta	65	76	70	69	68	73	75	50	50	60	65	62	69
	Lehtinen	67	75	73	65	72	69	70	60	65	67	67	70	60
	Dulanjana	67	74	72	74	75	71	77	63	62	61	60	75	75
	Bergstrom Frisk	66	73	68	71	71	71	74	61	55	65	67	66	71

In Penasa we have a clear and competent leader with a full squad to support him while Gebremedhin will be looking to get a free pass to attack and search his opportunities several times throughout the season.
With an 880k pay check he does however have a lot to prove!

After securing the signature of Penasa we decided that one agressive sub-top climber was enough and made a good deal for us sending Helme to Team Puma - SAP in PT for a year.
We also ended up swapping Henttala away as we have plenty of climbing depth at his level.

		FLA	MTN	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	CBL	SPR	ACC	FIG	DWH	PRL
	Gautier	71	67	79	63	75	71	69	59	67	76	76	63	63
	Kanerva	69	64	78	70	75	69	70	55	64	76	75	69	70
	Meijers	69	64	76	67	74	73	72	61	59	74	65	62	66
	Paajanen	69	71	75	65	70	68	65	64	67	69	67	66	64
	Omarsson	70	71	74	73	71	67	72	65	68	72	68	73	72
	Hänninen, J	69	69	71	69	69	71	73	55	63	70	69	67	69

In the hilly department we haven't made a lot of changes and with age starting to affect Gautier we can't expect as much as before from our French legend.
However with Kanerva reaching his peak we have a good secondary option and since both like agressive riding we hope to make things complicated and difficult to control for the big stars.

Meijers was brought in to bolster the support around our two leades hopefully leaving them fresher towards the pointy end of things.

		FLA	MTN	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	CBL	SPR	ACC	FIG	DWH	PRL
	Pokälä	70	64	71	77	75	73	73	64	60	65	62	64	76
	Dulanjana	67	74	72	74	75	71	77	63	62	61	60	75	75
	Hänninen, A	68	61	64	68	65	67	66	56	69	69	65	58	76
	Peltonen	68	62	62	68	66	66	64	63	63	64	67	63	66

Obviously this is the area where we have been weakened the most on paper with Pökälä taking back leadership from Kittel.
Samuel will have our blessing to focus on the TT's we have to race without feeling any pressure from us.
Our big TT'ers from the past haven't really performed as we had hoped for us anyway...

		FLA	MTN	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	CBL	SPR	ACC	FIG	DWH	PRL
	Daniel	73	56	69	56	76	76	74	80	76	72	69	74	64
	Chatarunga	72	56	67	67	79	72	68	77	70	68	80	56	67
	Kulppi	73	59	67	61	73	69	69	77	65	70	63	70	60
	Kaislavuo	73	65	70	59	73	73	73	73	67	72	76	70	59
	Nieuwenhuis	71	63	68	60	65	71	62	67	68	71	62	75	60
	Lindahl	68	58	67	66	68	69	68	66	62	64	65	67	66

Year after year we have tried signing a big leader for Kulppi, who when loaned out to Evonik as a youngster proved that he can be among the worlds best cobbles domestiques.
Until this year Kulppi have had to carry the mantel of leadership and have not thrived in the role, so we are extremely happy to have secured the signature of Maxime Daniel!

We believe that Daniel with the support of expecially Kulppi and Chatarunga will bring us into the action more often and thanks to his good sprint should be able to get results even when the cobbles are less selective.

		FLA	MTN	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	CBL	SPR	ACC	FIG	DWH	PRL
	Manninen	74	65	66	69	71	75	77	58	81	80	70	71	76
	Minali	69	52	57	56	69	71	74	59	75	75	62	73	66
	Aaltio	77	61	68	69	66	71	71	63	61	61	69	63	70
	Nieuwenhuis	71	63	68	60	65	71	62	67	68	71	62	75	60

While Manninen in 2019 really took a step up with several sprint victories including two stages at the Giro d'Italia he prefers to do things on his own.
For that reason we decided that it was better to hire him a superb trainer than focusing on a lead out as he have never liked it when we have supplied him with a proper sprint train.

Aaltio will, perhaps for the last season, be given the task of making sure breakaways are kept under control early on and doing his best to place Manninen well into the final 5 km. Of course various other riders will be given the same task on different occasions.

		FLA	MTN	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	CBL	SPR	ACC	FIG	DWH	PRL	XP
	Helme	69	75	74	69	71	72	74	62	60	76	73	67	69	4.69
	Hänninen, A	68	61	64	68	65	67	66	56	69	69	65	58	76	3.59
	Bergstrom Frisk	66	73	68	71	71	71	74	61	55	65	67	66	71	3.04
	Hänninen, J	69	69	71	69	69	71	73	55	63	70	69	67	69	2.96
	Lindahl	68	58	67	66	68	69	68	66	62	64	65	67	66	1.29
	Peltonen	68	62	62	68	66	66	64	63	63	64	67	63	66	1.00
	Minali	69	52	57	56	69	71	74	59	75	75	62	73	66	LOAN
	Nieuwenhuis	71	63	68	60	65	71	62	67	68	71	62	75	60	LOAN

This market season we decided to not really go after any young calves.
Minali and Nieuwenhuis are both on loan from other teams, we will of course take care that they develop best possibly, but the details in their training programs are to be decided by their main teams.

Helme will be riding the season for Team Puma - SAP, where he have been told he will have several chances to chase his own luck over the season and we are thrilled to see him learn at one of the worlds best and oldest teams.
Lindahl and Peltonen are only on stagiare contracts, but both could have aa role on our team in the future.

Our talents fully developed will likely have skills like these:

		FLA	MTN	HI	TT	STA	RES	REC	CBL	SPR	ACC	FIG	DWH	PRL
	Helme	69	77	77	68	71	72	76	62	60	79	77	67	68
	Hänninen, A	72	62	66	73	68	71	70	56	69	69	68	59	81
	Bergstrom Frisk	68	78	71	75	75	74	78	61	55	66	68	67	75
	Hänninen, J	70	74	78	70	71	74	76	55	64	76	75	68	70
	Lindahl	73	58	72	66	73	72	71	73	62	64	70	68	66
	Peltonen	69	69	67	75	71	71	71	63	63	65	68	63	73

Ollfardh wrote:
Needs more puns.