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[PCT20] Swisslion Cycling Team | Farewell
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| redordead |
Posted on 02-07-2021 13:04
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
PCM$: 200.00
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 | Lahcen Saber | Free Role |  | Matija Mestric | Domestique |  | Gabriel Marin | Domestique |  | Matic Groselj | Domestique | | Miha Poljanec | Domestique |  | Goran Antonijevic | Domestique | | Dusan Rajovic | Domestique |  | Ivan Siric | Domestique |
Race goals:
| Top 30 | Failure | Miha Poljanec | 33rd |
Race score: 4/10
The race report is brought to you by Sijaj,
team media sponsor of Swisslion Cycling Team
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| redordead |
Posted on 06-07-2021 07:01
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
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 Tour of Lithuania
| 26.09 - 29.09 | HC | Goals: Top 3 GC; Top 3 Stage |
 | Eduard Alexander Beltran | Leader |  | Michael Christodoulos | Domestique |  | Tyron Giogieri | Domestique | | Ivan Siric | Domestique | | Matija Mestric | Domestique |  | Georgius Stavrakakis | Domestique |  | Stepan Kurianov | Domestique |  | Yuriy Natarov | Domestique |
The Tour of Beijing, erm I mean Lithuania. This was an important race for Swisslion last year and an important race again as Eduard Alexander Beltran again came into the race as one of the main favourites. Stage 1 was never best suited, but the Colombian did stretch his legs a bit on some of those climbs as he safely finished in the peloton. Rinse and repeat on stage 2, before we saw some action the following day. A strong breakaway proved too hard to control as Beltran did several turns at the front, but all he succeeded in doing was dragging the other favourites with him, en route to a 5th place finish. Not the best tactics. Last stage was the queen stage and with 6 riders on the same time, it was all to play for Swisslion. The crucial action came in the final 5 km as an attack from Slagter was followed by one of the favourites in Buchmann. Beltran risked the others having to chase as things came back together on the final climb.
Eduard Alexander Beltran celebrating his first win of the season
The final ascent was very steep and although Beltran didn't start quite at the front, he had no problem gradually moving up. By the flamme rouge he was in prime position. From then on he could really put down the power needed as he kept at the front all the way to the finish line. Yes, that's right! Eduard Alexander Beltran won the stage and the race with his arms lifted in the air, finally showing that Colombian NC jersey in all it's glory. He waited all season for this moment and it finally came. The win ultimately confirmed that Swisslion will be in the PCT division next season as well.
Eduard Alexander Beltran also winning the race overall
Race goals:
| Top 3 GC | Success | Eduard Alexander Beltran | 1st | | Top 3 Stage | Success | Eduard Alexander Beltran | 1st (Stage 4) |
Race score: 10/10
The race report is brought to you by Sijaj,
team media sponsor of Swisslion Cycling Team
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 06-07-2021 08:37
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3367
Joined: 20-04-2020
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Finally! Beltran made you wait a long time, but at least he chose a nice moment to win, celebrating your team prolonging its stay in the PCT division! Nice 10/10, and lovely picture of EAB winning the stage in his Colombian national jersey (yeah, I know I took it and I am kind of praising myself, but hey, good decision by you to use it  )
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| redordead |
Posted on 06-07-2021 12:57
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
PCM$: 200.00
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Nemolito wrote:
Finally! Beltran made you wait a long time, but at least he chose a nice moment to win, celebrating your team prolonging its stay in the PCT division! Nice 10/10, and lovely picture of EAB winning the stage in his Colombian national jersey (yeah, I know I took it and I am kind of praising myself, but hey, good decision by you to use it )
Finally indeed! 
But to be honest I think he just knows renewals are coming soon and he wants to keep his big fat wage
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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| redordead |
Posted on 06-07-2021 14:23
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
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AbhishekLFC wrote:
Congrats for Lithuania! Great to see Beltran finally coming back to form. Hope he has a great October too. He's gonna meet Kelderman twice
Thanks!! 
Hopefully the Kelderman from Lugano also shows up in Emelia
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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| redordead |
Posted on 07-07-2021 06:24
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
PCM$: 200.00
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 Bayern Rundfahrt
| 12.10 - 15.10 | C1 | Goals: Top 15 GC |
| Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy | Leader | | Michael Christodoulos | Domestique |  | Aberlardo Ablenado | Free Role |  | Artur Sowinski | Stagiare |  | Hugues Mottin | Free Role |  | Kees Duyvesteyn | Stagiare | | Matic Groselj | Domestique | | Jeremy Bellicaud | Stagiare |
The race preview is brought to you by Sijaj,
team media sponsor of Swisslion Cycling Team
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| redordead |
Posted on 08-07-2021 12:02
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
PCM$: 200.00
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| Eduard Alexander Beltran | Leader | | Matic Groselj | Domestique | | Tyron Giogieri | Domestique | | Stepan Kurianov | Domestique | | Dusan Rajovic | Domestique | | Georgius Stavrakakis | Domestique | | Matija Mestric | Domestique | | Yuriy Natarov | Domestique |
The penultimate one day race for Swisslion, GP Lugano. The team achieved 9th place at this race last year, but this year came with Eduard Alexander Beltran looking to aim higher. The race organisers changed the profile of this race from last year. As a result the race wasn't particularly selective with some sprinters making it all the way to the finish. Beltran was well positioned throughout the race, but sprinting is not his best skill. Still somehow mostly due to clever positioning he was able to finish in 5th spot which is a good result. The team though will be considering whether coming here again is worth it.
Eduard Alexander Beltran sprinting to a 5th place finish in Lugano
Race goals:
| Top 5 | Success | Eduard Alexander Beltran | 5th |
Race score: 6/10
The race report is brought to you by Sijaj,
team media sponsor of Swisslion Cycling Team
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| redordead |
Posted on 10-07-2021 10:13
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
PCM$: 200.00
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| Eduard Alexander Beltran | Leader | | Dusan Rajovic | Domestique | | Aberlardo Ablenado | Domestique | | Michael Christodoulos | Domestique | | Tyron Giogieri | Domestique | | Goran Antonijevic | Domestique |  | Abolfazl Gilanipoor | Domestique | | Ivan Siric | Domestique |
The race preview is brought to you by Sijaj,
team media sponsor of Swisslion Cycling Team
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| redordead |
Posted on 12-07-2021 08:38
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
PCM$: 200.00
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Bayern Rundfahrt
| 12.10 - 15.10 | C1 | Goals: Top 15 GC |
| Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy | Leader | | Michael Christodoulos | Domestique | | Aberlardo Ablenado | Free Role | | Artur Sowinski | Stagiare | | Hugues Mottin | Free Role | | Kees Duyvesteyn | Stagiare | | Matic Groselj | Domestique | | Jeremy Bellicaud | Stagiare |
Race goals:
| Top 15 GC | Failure | Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy | 18th |
Race score: 4/10
The race report is brought to you by Sijaj,
team media sponsor of Swisslion Cycling Team
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| redordead |
Posted on 19-07-2021 13:40
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
PCM$: 200.00
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| Eduard Alexander Beltran | Leader | | Dusan Rajovic | Domestique | | Aberlardo Ablenado | Domestique | | Michael Christodoulos | Domestique | | Tyron Giogieri | Domestique | | Goran Antonijevic | Domestique | | Abolfazl Gilanipoor | Domestique | | Ivan Siric | Domestique |
Race goals:
| Victory | Failure | Eduard Alexander Beltran | 4th |
Race score: 4/10
The race report is brought to you by Sijaj,
team media sponsor of Swisslion Cycling Team
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 04:18
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 19-07-2021 16:55
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3367
Joined: 20-04-2020
PCM$: 425.00
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Not the end of the season you hoped for, but in general I think it's fair to say that Beltran's end of the season results were hopeful, with the win in Lithuania of course the most important one. Swisslion rightfully remains in PCT, and I believe you'll manage to improve your squad during the transfer season. Looking forward to some sponsor news
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 19-07-2021 18:19
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11675
Joined: 27-07-2015
PCM$: 1861.50
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October wasn't great but a good two months before that ensured you survive Looking forward to see how you rebuild next season and racing alongside once again in the PCT! I guess more Beltran vs Kelderman battles are inevitable provided they both stay in out teams.
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| knockout |
Posted on 19-07-2021 18:32
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7735
Joined: 21-12-2010
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Between Lugano and Emilia, Beltran found solid form at the end of the season and I guess he avoided being outscored by a team mate which would have been a shocker. Hopefully, he'll be reasonable during renewables this time.
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| redordead |
Posted on 20-07-2021 07:47
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
PCM$: 200.00
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Nemolito wrote:
Not the end of the season you hoped for, but in general I think it's fair to say that Beltran's end of the season results were hopeful, with the win in Lithuania of course the most important one. Swisslion rightfully remains in PCT, and I believe you'll manage to improve your squad during the transfer season. Looking forward to some sponsor news
Yeah, hopeful. Hopeful as in I hope he doesn't ask for too much money in renewals There was no need for him to go ham in Lithuania and Lugano as we were pretty much safe by then. Meanwhile Emelia was a huge failure when we actually needed a win 
Looking forward to fight relegation again next year Stay tuned for the sponsor news 
AbhishekLFC wrote:
October wasn't great but a good two months before that ensured you survive Looking forward to see how you rebuild next season and racing alongside once again in the PCT! I guess more Beltran vs Kelderman battles are inevitable provided they both stay in out teams.
Yeah, August and September were good months for us. Let's see if I can spend a lot money making my team even worse this transfer season also
Gonna be fun to see where both Wilco and Eddy end up
knockout wrote:
Between Lugano and Emilia, Beltran found solid form at the end of the season and I guess he avoided being outscored by a team mate which would have been a shocker. Hopefully, he'll be reasonable during renewables this time.
Yeah, I think he easily became our top scorer after getting 200 pts in Lithuania (cough, Beijing, cough) I also hope he'll be "reasonable" during renewals, because he still scored nearly 600 pts less than last year 
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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| redordead |
Posted on 30-07-2021 09:39
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
PCM$: 200.00
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National Championships Recap
With our entire team competing across the different national championships we have a lot of results to go through. But before the racing started we already knew two of our riders had won their respective NCs automatically. Those two are Abolfazl Gilanipoor and  Ahmet Orken who spent the year on loan at Berg Cycles. Both are double national champions in the road race and time-trial. Congratulations to both of them.
The other results are as followed (including our loan outs, excluding our loan ins):
| Rider | Nat. | Nat. Group | RR | TT | | Eduard Alexander Beltran | | | 1 (1) | 15 (15) | | Kees Duyvesteyn | | | 12 (12) | 16 (16) | | Jeremy Bellicaud | | | 38 (38) | 49 (49) | | Hugues Mottin | | | 50 (50) | 4 (4) | | Miha Poljanec | | | 9 (9) | 18 (18) | | Tadej Pogacar | | | 12 (12) | 6 (6) | | Izidor Penko | | | 15 (15) | 3 (3) | | Matic Groselj | | | 20 (20) | 1 (1) | | Michael Christodoulos | | | 2 (14) | 1 (3) | | Dusan Rajovic | | | 4 (17) | 5 (21) | | Goran Antonijevic | | | 5 (18) | 3 (9) | | Artur Sowinski | | | 15 (15) | 17 (17) | | Matija Mestric | | | 24 (4) | 3 (10) | | Aberlardo Ablenado | | | 22 (22) | 11 (11) | | Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy | | | DNF | 1 (1) | | Tyron Giogieri | | | 3 (15) | 12 (2) | | Ivan Siric | | | 1 (9) | 14 (2) | | Lahcen Saber | | | 1 (1) | 2 (6) | | Kris Boeckmans | | | 1 (1) | 40 (40) |
Riders eligible to wear their national champion jerseys next year are:
| Eduard Alexander Beltran | Road Race | | Matic Groselj | Time-Trial | | Michael Christodoulos | Time-Trial | | Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy | Time-Trial | | Ivan Siric | Road Race | | Lahcen Saber | Road Race |  Kris Boeckmans | Road Race | | Abolfazl Gilanipoor | Road Race + Time-Trial | | Ahmet Orken | Road Race + Time-Trial |
Again a big congratulations to all the winners. For many of them we don't know which team they will be riding for next season, but we wish them all the best and hopefully they get a chance to show off their special jersey.
Bostjan Mervar,
team representative and general manager of Swisslion Cycling Team
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| redordead |
Posted on 03-08-2021 07:47
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
PCM$: 200.00
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| Pos | Last | | Team | Total | | 1 | 2 |  | Farfetch Pro Cycling | 4447 | | 2 | 1 |  | Repsol - Netflix | 4191 | | 3 | 3 |  | Mapei | 3963 | | 4 | 4 |  | Desigual | 3795 | | 5 | 7 |  | Xero Racing | 3419 | | 6 | 8 |  | MOL | 3300 | | 7 | 9 |  | Team Popo4Ever p/b Nemiroff | 3264 | | 8 | 5 |  | Kraftwerk Man Machine | 3262 | | 9 | 6 |  | Bakkafrost | 3144 | | 10 | 10 |  | Duolingo | 3098 | | 11 | 11 |  | Polar | 3072 | | 12 | 12 |  | Valio - Viking Genetics | 2929 | | 13 | 16 |  | Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam | 2832 | | 14 | 13 |  | Minions | 2797 | | 15 | 14 |  | Berg Cycles | 2647 | | 16 | 15 |  | Podium Ambition | 2621 | | 17 | 18 |  | Fablok - Chocolate Jacques | 2595 | | 18 | 17 |  | DK - SVA Zalgiris | 2584 | | 19 | 19 |  | Swisslion Cycling Team | 2260 | | 20 | 21 |  | Andorra Cycling Project | 2105 | | 21 | 20 |  | GCN Racing | 2069 | | 22 | 23 |  | Aramco DP | 1976 | | 23 | 22 |  | Azteca - NBCSN | 1900 | | 24 | 24 |  | Nordstrom - CA Technologies | 1828 | | 25 | 25 |  | Adastra N Hell Energy Cycling | 1600 | | 26 | 26 |  | Campari Asahi Procycling | 1331 |
Skipping update #6 and we are at the final update, the season is over and we have again managed to survive it! We are one place and 50 points worse off compared to last year as we finish the season in 19th.
The last part of the season started in Battenkill where we didn't expect much, but also didn't score zero. After that came our most successful race of the year, the Tour of Lithuania. The first 3 stages were quiet in terms of results, but our leader Eddy Beltran won the final stage and also the GC to go with it. An impressive 200 points over the 4 days. Beltran continued his good form in Lugano where he placed 5th from a sprint finish, his best of the season. Our first appearance at Bayern Rundfahrt was less successful as the mountain stage didn't suit us and Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy finished his season with 18th place overall. The final race was our win goal at Giro dell'Emelia, but we weren't able to repeat last year's heroics. Beltran wasn't at his best and only managed 4th. Not a great way to end the season with another missed race goal, but we were at least happy that our PCT status was assured by then.
Leading our scoring this season was of course Eduard Alexander Beltran, a strong final part of the season somewhat masked his poor start. The reverse goes for Kris Boeckmans who didn't finish great, but had still had a successful season. Lahcen Saber's cobble heavy schedule didn't work for him, but he did have some bright spots during the year. Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy was brought to lead us in the TT races, but in his last season as a leader, he produced very inconsistent results. We will recap all the riders performance later in the off season.
| Eduard Alexander Beltran | Swisslion Cycling Team | 781 | | Kris Boeckmans | Swisslion Cycling Team | 481 | | Lahcen Saber | Swisslion Cycling Team | 310 | | Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy | Swisslion Cycling Team | 217 | | Hugues Mottin | Swisslion Cycling Team | 127 | | Abolfazl Gilanipoor | Swisslion Cycling Team | 115 | | Tyron Giogieri | Swisslion Cycling Team | 54 | | Miha Poljanec | Swisslion Cycling Team | 46 | | Aberlardo Ablenado | Swisslion Cycling Team | 39 | | Stepan Kurianov | Swisslion Cycling Team | 38 | | Izidor Penko | Swisslion Cycling Team | 33 | | Matic Groselj | Swisslion Cycling Team | 7 | | Georgios Stavrakakis | Swisslion Cycling Team | 6 | | Gabriel Marin | Swisslion Cycling Team | 4 | | Kees Duyvesteyn | Swisslion Cycling Team | 1 | | Michael Christodoulos | Swisslion Cycling Team | 1 |
We will have further posts about the season and future developments in the coming days, as well as sponsor news. Stay tuned.
Bostjan Mervar,
team representative and general manager of Swisslion Cycling Team
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| redordead |
Posted on 04-08-2021 08:20
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
PCM$: 200.00
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| Race | Country | Category | Goal | Cost | | Balkans International |  | PTHC | Top 5 | **** | | Tour of East Java |  | PTHC | Top 5 | **** | | Scandinavia Open Road Race |  | PTHC | Top 5 | **** | | Giro dell'Emelia |  | HC | Win | **** | | PCT Team Standings | | | Top 10 | *** |
Balkans International
We highly overestimated ourselves in picking our race goals this season. But let's start with the one that we actually made. Eddy Beltran managed to finish exactly 5th, as he did last year. So we managed to make our goal in our home race. Something that is still well appreciated by our current and future sponsors.
Tour of East Java
We unexpectedly won this race last year, so we thought top 5 is realistic. Well we were very wrong. The top climbers came to play and Beltran simply could not keep up with them. Lesson learned.
Scandinavia Open Road Race
Scandinavia we thought could play to Eddy's strengths in a similar way Pais Vasco did last year. But the "hilly" prologue was not tough enough so Eddy was at the mercy of the top PT puncheurs. The other stages weren't selective enough and without any bonus seconds the end result was what it was. Another lesson learned.
Giro dell'Emelia
Another race that we won last year and we genuinely thought we could win it again. Unfortunately it seems that it just wasn't our day. Obviously every missed goal is a big disappointment, but not even making the podium stung. Especially since we didn't have anything else to ride for at that point in the last race of the year.
PCT Team standings
The mandatory MGUCI goal. We knew this was going to be difficult, but we hoped we could at least fight for it with some luck. Reality is luck or not, we were a long way off the pace.
Bostjan Mervar,
team representative and general manager of Swisslion Cycling Team
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 04-08-2021 15:00
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16429
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Obviously it's never fun to fail most of your goals, but every year you survive offers renewed potential. Looking forward to facing you in PCT!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| redordead |
Posted on 05-08-2021 06:49
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
PCM$: 200.00
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baseballlover312 wrote:
Obviously it's never fun to fail most of your goals, but every year you survive offers renewed potential. Looking forward to facing you in PCT!
I think "renewed potential" is a very good way to phrase it, because we are probably largely dependant on how renewals go for us
Good to have you back in PCT, but I'm not sure how much I'm looking forward to facing you. I think your team is much better than mine outside of Beltran. Hopefully we can both survive
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 05-08-2021 21:36
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3367
Joined: 20-04-2020
PCM$: 425.00
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Very happy you survived after a strong end of the season! Story now a bit similar to last season, as EAB should go down in wage and from there on you can build a team and try to find some more scoring guys, as declining riders like Boeckmans, Mottin and Nepomn should be scoring less points if you decide to keep them. Sucks that your goals are only 1/5, but I'm looking forward to see what you will do in the transfer season.
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Tour of the Battenkill 
GP Lugano 
