This thread is for team presentation and HQ like posts. You can also discuss team updates right in this thread. Reserve yourself already a main post, which will be linked in the second post.
Based on a points system there will be a small amount of money awarded for the next season. A maximum of 10 points can be reached. One point will give a budget bonus of 20 in the next season. Each update in this thread will give a point. There won't be long essays required, a short update with a few sentences containing the latest results, the upcoming races, a new signed rider or anything noteworthy would be enough. Also considered for this will be posts in the, not yet opened, Previews&Statistics post. A season preview can even give several points: Detailed Season Preview (4 pts), Numbers based Preview (3 pts)
Generally I don't want to give very active people with lots of time too much of a benefit. Everyone that stays just a little bit active over the whole season should be able to get the full bonus easily. To achieve one point you won't have to spend longer than 5 minutes, which should be possible for everyone in the game.
Only for reserving a post in this thread right away for your team you'll already get 1 point. I'll link the main post for each team in the second post. Updating the team post with your team roster after the transfer season will give you another point.
Edited by Croatia14 on 17-11-2020 23:05
Brugse Zot - Trek is a recently born team based in Brugge, in West-Vlaanderen, where the beer Brugse Zot is brewed from De Halve Maan, the only Brewery survived in the historical center of the city. The owner of the team was fascinated by the cycling event that involved Brugge in recent past: De Ronde, and the dream (and why not, the aim) was immediatly to bring back the Trophy, where for many years race started.
This project wasn't possible without cooperation of one of the biggest brands among cycling, Trek, that from years winks to Belgium and northern classics.
After two very successful seasons as the Aviva Cycling Team we attracted an even bigger sponsor and will now be known as Team BP. The sponsor has commited himself to a carbon neutral goal by 2050 and wants to promote it with help of a professional cycling team. Our other partners are also British, the frames are made by Boardman, the wheels by Black Inc. and the apparel is provided by Rapha.
2019 was an excellent year for us, many of our riders performed beyond reasonable expectations. This also led to some rather high wage demands, especially from our two best Brits, Thomas and Geoghegan Hart, and we had to let them go during renewals.
Our transfer season was very successful, we hired the world class riders Peter Sagan and Mark Cavendish, re-hired Tao Hart and added young talents and great domestiques. We lost a bit of depth in the process which we hope to rebuild in the future.
Aviva remains the sponsor of our development team. Last season was learning the ropes, we scouted Britain seriously this time around and picked up four talents. The gem is Wayne Richards, he is just 19 years old but could become a world class sprinter one day. The other three are less exciting, Broomhead will be the better sprinter in 2020, Shelton is a solid puncher, but Grimsdell a rather weak climber.
We retained the service of Max Fritsch, who is now among the best stage racers in the U23 and should reap a few good results which were sorely missing in 2019. We also picked up Hill, Rodriguez and Rakotonjanahary.
Welcome to the Headquarters of Suntory Lucozade Sport Pro Tour Cycling Team and Suntory Orangina Development Team for the PCM Daily ICL Story Game for 2020 season.
Team History
2015
Eurosport Pepsi
CT
1st
2016
Eurosport Pepsi
WT
10th
2017
Suntory Lucozade Sport
WT
8th
2017
Suntory Orangina
U23
6th
2018
Suntory Lucozade Sport
WT
10th
2018
Suntory Orangina
U23
1st
2019
Suntory Lucozade Sport
WT
9th
2019
Suntory Orangina
U23
1st
Sponsors Suntory are a Japanese brewing and distilling company group. Established in 1899, it is one of the oldest companies in the distribution of alcoholic beverages in Japan, and makes Japanese whisky. Its business has expanded into soft drinks owning Lucozade, Orangina and Ribena. Suntory is headquartered in Osaka.
We are very lucky to have our shirt designed by the great graphic artist Bikex
Spoiler
Transfers
Transfers In Scouting
Peter Amiel Florian Le Jeune Jonathan Wright
ICL20 TEAM PRESENTATION
DEPATURES
Manager DaveTwoBob was looking to generate some development funds and therefore took a hard look at the squad and the points they earned. He decided anyone not contributing points or having low potential had to go.
During negotiations The Manx Missile turned down an offer of 1200 which meant we had to part company with the aging sprinter. This day had to come soon and it opened an opportunity to fill a long-standing team issue and recruit a decent cobbler.
To generate some more development funds, hill sprinter Rick Zabel was sold to Tierra del Fuego where we hope he can contribute to a promotion bid with his new team.
New recruit Juris Eisaks gives Suntory the prospect of scoring some decent points over the cobbles. He is only 26 years old so could be our cobbles leader for years, especially if we can negotiate his wage down next season. Juris will be supported by Jens Keukeleire, Edward Smith and Eliot Lietaer.
Sprinting duties now fall to Mads Pedersen and he will be a busy man as he also covers the Classics. Leadouts will be provided by future sprint star David Meyer.
TT leader Michael Hepburn worked hard on his Mountain Climbing in the off season and is now a very useful GT domestique. We released a couple of good TT riders and replaced them with bargain TTer Ilnur Zakarin. Our TTT squad is slightly weaker and a lot cheaper.
Suntory recruited 5 cheap domestiques to replace the higher cost riders who were released. These are Garikoitz Bravo (MO73, HIL73, Wage 130) Stephan Rabitsch (FLAT74, FIGHT75, Wage 120) Alexander Foliforov (MO73, FIGHT75, Wage 120) Sho Hatsuyama (MO73, Wage 110) Johan Le Bon (FLAT75, TT72, Wage 105)
The Suntory squad has been weakened by the loss of Cav and will be relying heavily on Bardet for points. The money saved on wages will be invested in rider development which we hope will have a better long-term benefit rather than recruiting a sub-top rider.
Senior Team Roster
New riders highlighted in green.
DEVELOPMENT SQUAD
Suntory Orangina are the defending champions and we have another strong squad for this season.
Salif Mane is a great sprinter but there was no place for Ricardo Padilla in the Dev Squad which means no leadout although there are some riders with decent Flat to chase a break.
Luis Crawford and Murjikneli Gochashvili have stage races well covered.
Future TT GOAT (according to Shonak) Jonathan Wright can already perform in the race of truth at the tender age of 20.
Cobbles are covered by Mark Safford who can perform on the pave but not much else.
Suntory Orangina have a squad that covers all the terrains and will mount a strong defence of the title. However, there is a bit of a gap with no riders aged 22, next year may be a different story.
Dev Team Roster
New riders highlighted in orange Edited by DaveTwoBob on 28-01-2021 18:46
As of the 2020 season, a new Danish - Norwegian formation, Magnum - Madshus, will join the ICL. Apart from those two nationalities the focus will also be on other Nordic countries such as Sweden, Finland and Iceland. The team management contacted world famous jersey maker krisa in order to create something interesting, and he got us exactly what we were looking for. Not even did he design the jersey, he also found the team some extra Danish sponsors thanks to his many connections: Donkey Republic and CeramicSpeed.
We caught up with KBC - Godiva manager Willie McRettin at the Sahara Hotel in Svilengrad, a few days after the news that KBC was getting an unexpected promotion to the World Tour.
Willie, how did you feel when you first got the unexpected news?
First thought - one word - feckin terrified. Jesus, feckin, bloody, hell, little KBC in the World Tour. Its a bit like Robbie the Bruce fighting the feckin English in just his sporran. Racing against Argos, have you seen all the big lads on that team? Feck.
Second thought - feck it means I have lost my bet with Mihaylov, I have to go to Bulgaria and get drunk on Jack and Tonics. Do you think Sahara Hotel is an odd name for a hotel in Svilengrad? Nikolay thinks it is the best joke he has ever heard. He picks me up at the airport and we get to the hotel and says "Look McWillie, it is the Sahara Hotel on Kamchya street" He couldn't stop laughing for an hour. Great lad Nikkolay, but Jack and Tonic is filthy.
How do you feel now it has sunk in?
Its Jack and Tonic, for Christ's sake, it doesn't sink in.
I meant about the World Tour news
I feel that as soon as I have recovered from the celebration hangover it will be time to start drinking in preparation for getting fecked by all the other greedy bastards during renewals and transfers. Bastards at Filliers - Mora are out to get me just because I tried to steal Wellens and don't get me started on Santos.
Have you talked to the riders since the news?
Yup, we had a call, I told them they are all great lads and they had done great, great work and it had been just a great, excellent season. And it was all pretty jolly. Then I told them that it meant that most of them wouldn't be back, because well, lets face it, being a great lad only gets you so far in the feckin World Tour. Except Nikolay of course, he will always have a job, and Benoot, Hans at the bank is soft on him. And McCalmont sounds Scottish, so might have to keep him.
Before last season the pundits gave your team a shot at promotion but you were far more pessimistic, where do you think you under-estimated your team?
I always said they were great lads, just great. My grannie always said that your feet will never be wet if you start the week assuming the feckin moggie has already peed in your loafers. Always wore loafers my grannie.
Rumor has it you have reversed yourself and decided to operate an U23 team?
Well when a big, feckin Belgian bank comes to you and says, "Willie here is a big wad of cash to run a U23 team," what do you do? Anyway, I told Nikolay he could run it. At least it means I don't have to can Marcel the bartender [Ed - Marius Dieu]. And there are some great Scottish lads I have my eye on who might be good enough to deliver the bottles in U23s. So that is good.
Any thoughts for your fellow World Tour Managers?
Aye, take pity lads, take pity.
Edited by Ulrich Ulriksen on 18-01-2021 20:36
WT Palm Classic | Jan 11
CT.1 La Tropicale Amissa Bongo | Jan 21-27 WT Tour of Toowoomba | Jan 23-27
CT.2 Christchurch - Akaroa | Jan 29
February
CT.2 Volta ao Algarve | Feb 3-6
CT.1 Vuelta a Mallorca | Feb 13-16
CT.2 Tour de San Luis | Feb 14-20
CT.2 National Capital Tour | Feb 23-26
March
CT.2 Clasica Iberica | Mar 2
CT.1 Clasica di Tirreno - Adriatico | Mar 3
CT.1 Istrian Spring Trophy | Mar 20-23 WT Milan - Sanremo | Mar 22
CT.2 København Byrundtur | Mar 25
April
CT.2 Tour of South Africa | Apr 2-12 WT Ster ZLM Tour | Apr 6-10 WT Trofeo Campania | Apr 21
May
CT.2 Tour de Romandie | May 2-7
CT.1 Tour des Fjords | May 25-28
CT.1 Race Horizon Park | May 30
CT.2 Copenhagen - Malmö ITT | May 30
CT.1 GP Moscow | May 31
June
WT Deutschland Tour | Jun 2-9
CT.1 GP Luxembourg | Jun 10
CT.2 Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt | Jun 13-17
July
CT.2 Volta a Portugal | Jul 12-22
CT.1 Tour of Vancouver | Jul 24-30
CT.2 Circulo de Juarez | Jul 26-30
August
CT.1 World Ports Classic | Aug 1-2
CT.2 RideLondon-Surrey Classic | Aug 4 WT Tour of Northern Europe | Aug 5-12
CT.1 Baltic Chain Tour | Aug 16-20
CT.1 USA Pro Cycling Challenge | Aug 16-22 WT Vattenfall Cyclassics | Aug 22
CT.2 Criterium Hainleite | Aug 23
September
CT.2 Cigar City Classic | Sep 1
CT.2 Praha - Karlovy Vary - Praha | Sep 6 WT Quebec Sprint Challenge | Sep 23
CT.2 Qinghai Lake Cycle Cup | Sep 25 WT Virginia Chrono Tour | Sep 27-30
October
WT Paris - Tours | Oct 5
CT.2 Vuelta a Colombia | Oct 8-18
CT.1 Chrono des Nations | Oct 20
CT.1 Japan Cup | Oct 22
Baku Synergy Plus are the first Azeri team to compete in the ICL. Previously known as TVM Cycling Team, we have competed in the World Tour for several seasons and are aiming to improve after an underwhelming 2019 season.
Our major sponsor is the city of Baku, one of the major cities in Eurasia and the largest in the Caucasus region. Along with the Synergy Group and a number of other contributors, they came on board as part of our #saveteam43 campaign at the end of last year to ensure that our team would surive into 2020.
While we have a new major sponsor, many of the team's staff and riders remain from last year. Our team ethos remains the same as ever - we pride ourselves on teamwork, integrity and excellence both on the road and off.
Whatever the next year holds, we can't wait to share this new and exciting chapter with you, our loyal fans. We truly appreciate the support we have continued to receive, even when our future was uncertain. See you all soon!
Due to weak performances in two of their sponsor races, Liege and Tour de France, LS management had to face some budget constraints this season.
In consequences, they had to drop a number of riders, most notably Pello Bilbao and cobble hopeful Roberto Romero Martinez.
Robert Romero Martinez winning stage 4 of Eneco Tour 2018
"We are sure that they will find a place in the peloton rather quickly and that we will see them in some interesting races", the manager was quoted and added, that he would be delighted to welcome them some of the riders back should the future - and a budget - allow for it.
On the upside, Liberty Seguros is pleased to confirm the retention of their two top leadersl, Vuelta 2018 winner Jesus Herrada and Liege 2018 winner Carlos Betancur. Furthermore, the team has managed to secure the renewal of its top talent, first and foremost Juan Pulido, Mathieu Van der Poel and Giuliano Garau.
Liberty management has confirmed that their open for transfer talks.
22 riders have secured their contract for the 2020 ICL season, new In WT so guess we have to strengthen the squad a little more. Some guys agreed suprisingly low wages. Lets see what Aru can do, Van Asbroeck has grown a lot in the off-season so lets see what he can do as well.
IN: Birch, McCluskey, Lowsley, Meyer, Dennis and Stefan van Winden, Fritsch
Very close: Majka, Fernandez, Stannard, Dibben, Christian, Cuming
OUT: Fuglsang, Valgren, Hardy, Duarte, Van der Sande, Bibby, all of jandal's "talents"
Nearly out: Geoghegan Hart
On the fence/waiting: Thomas, Schorn, Dowsett, Monsalve, Simon, Bertilsson, Garcia
It's hard to say goodbye to the riders. Fuglsang was our clear captain only two seasons ago, after his decline he'd still make a nice superdomestique, but certainly not at the wage he's still asking of us. Valgren is just a fantastic allrounder, 944 stat points in total, but he's just not good enough for the WT, CT teams should take a look. The same goes for Hardy, since punchers are fairly rare. Van der Sande did not disappoint, we won't forget he won the GP Montreal 2018, but it's time to move on. We were very happy with Bibby, maybe we should have let him ride his final season ahead of his retirement, but it's a good year to look for younger alternatives. Duarte was very disappointing and has declined a lot.
We made a very generous offer to Geoghegan Hart but he still wants substantially more. As much as we hate to see our second best scorer leave, plus he's a Brit, we probably won't make a better offer. We will contact him again as a free agent, I'm sure.
Thomas also wants a wage increase rather than the reduction we'd hoped for, despite dropping to COB 77, we will see if we can keep him. We are unsure about the rest of the list, all would stay for their min wage or only a little more. Dowsett would be no more than a mascot, but Schorn, Monsalve and Simon all offer excellent value-for-money, however, they are getting rather old. Gonzalo Garcia is the opposite, he's young but seems to be on track to become a Hardy or Valgren. These are tough decisions.
We're happy to have extended with many of our domestiques, all have improved nicely and should offer even better support next year. Fritsch will be the captain of the dev team. Majka will accept a wage reduction, which is a nice surprise. Ruben is very likely to stay, so are Stannard, Christian and Cuming. There's still a question mark behind Dibben, he didn't score well last year, remained at COB 76, even keeping him on his min wage is a luxury and yet he wants more... we'll see.
Back for our fourth season as a cycling team, we at Deutsche Bahn (erstwhile Lufthansa) will aim to build on our mid-table finish in the World Tour in the past couple of seasons, and push into the top half in the 2020 season. The team has undergone a revamp behind the scenes, with a new title sponsor and backroom staff hoping to bring a fresh approach on our journey.
Team Sponsors - Deutsche Bahn
After three years, our team sees a change in sponsorship with Deutsche Bahn taking over as sponsor of the main team, following the successful pilot of the Dev team last season with DB at the helm. We look forward to a long and fruitful partnership and are excited about the coming season.
Equipment Sponsor: Canyon Frames, Shimano Wheels Jersey Sponsor: Adidas
Our focus regions remain the same with Germany being the primary focus, with the change in sponsorship having no effect on this aspect of our team-building. We have had excellent success scouting Austria for young talent and will continue to do the same. We are hopeful of making inroads into Switzerland as well, while our pet project in Liechtenstein is going steady with us giving a contract to the only rider from that nation in the ICL. We will also continue to scout and scour talent from across the globe in our attempt to move up the cycling hierarchy.
We are very much relieved that Majka has put his signature under our second offer. He was the only rider we desperately needed to re-sign. Dibben has agreed to a pay cut, with Thomas and Stannard set to decline next season we're happy to keep him, he'll soon be the best Brit on cobbles, though a little underweight for the WT. Simon will remain an important domestique for the mountains. We don't expect much from Gonzalo Garcia, but we simply need more young riders. Christian and Cuming are great British domestiques.
As previously discussed, we decided against making Tao Hart a new offer. We're obviously unhappy to see him go, but it was financially prudent. While Thomas did not accept our second offer, which would have been a small raise of his current wage. We're getting close, but we won't offer much more, I'd rate the chance of keeping him 50:50. So we might lose two of our top 3 scorers! Stannard and Ruben will also need a final offer, we know how to play it safe with those two, but we might just gamble a little.
Dowsett's time with the team has come to an end. He was 4th in the WC ITT, but he's old, his results during the season were terrible, and so he's already dropped to TTR 75. Hopefully we'll find another good luck charm. Bertilsson is the last rider to be dropped in this round, maybe Polestar will pick him up, he's rock solid.
We still have not made Schorn and Monsalve an offer, we just cannot decide what to do with them. Hanging onto them would reduce the pressure during transfers, on the other hand we lose out on the chance to replace them with younger riders.
Yes it would. And Thomas, too, because he got a PoY. But there's more choice on the fa market this year - including Tao. That carries a risk, of course, I'll probably keep Ruben because I'm risk averse. With Thomas it's that he's demanding a bit too much for my taste. Yes, he scored well last season but his COB dropped, his AVG a bit., too. I think I won't offer the sum he'll definitely accept, though I feel what I will offer should be at least an 85% chance - the other 15% would be down to greed alone.
The team management would like to announce the outcome of renewals as we have concluded the process after three rounds of negotiation. Here are the list of riders retained and those released:
Renewed
John Degenkolb
Simon Yates
Joseph Dombrowski
Michael Matthews
Raymond Kreder
Philip Lavery
Gianluca Brambilla
Phil Bauhaus
Heiner Parra
Jeroen Meijers
Zico Waeytens
Oskar Svendsen
Nino Honigh
Julian Runge
Johannes Windischbauer
Martin Jansen
Julien Vermote
Mario Vogt
Hans-Georg Nentwich
Ronan Van Zandbeek
Pantheras Dimas
Jürgen Reuter
Carl Ilsanker
Casper Von Folsach
Tobias Krautberger
Lutz Berg
David Andrich
Joe Richter
Andreas Linz (Scouted)
Florian Lüttkenhaus (Scouted)
Released
Andrea Palini
Emanuel Buchmann
Marco Platania
Denis Kathmann
Emil Ritter
We are happy to announce that we renewed with all riders that we wanted to, at about 15% higher wages than we were hoping. We would like to thank the released riders for their contributions to the team in the past season(s) and wish them well in their careers going ahead.
We still have a decent budget left to try and improve the team in the transfer window. We need to sign 3 riders to complete our roster, main and development teams combined. The list of riders who'll ride in the development team will be decided after the transfer window is over.
Netherlands, 
Luxembourg
Tour d'Indonesia 
Aleko Vitosa 
Copa America de Ciclismo 
Tour of Bishkek 
Liechtenstein
Jan Hirt
Palm Classic
Vuelta a Tachira
Grand Prix of Sochi
Asmara Cup
Gran Premio San José
Baltic Chain Tour
Pantheras Dimas
Circulo de Juarez
