With the season nearing its conclusion, we are now entering the point in the year where the rumour mill begins to turn. With Rakuten promising big things, and failing to deliver, and relegation looking certain, the team's General Manager has addressed the media to confirm and deny certain speculation, so as to keep the public as well as shareholders informed.
The first question everyone wants to know is about the sponsorships of the team, namely, Rakuten as head sponsor. Rakuten entered its partnership with the team, thanks to Tomohiro Kinoshita being one of Japans most celebrated athletes worldwide. Being a large international corporation, the opportunity to be the name of a sports team was too good to pass up. However, they asked for immediate promotion, which was achieved. The next part will almost certainly be a disappointment though, as the sponsors expected the team to stay in the Top Division, and continue to build itself up, to eventually challenge for a PT title.
According to reports out of Setagaya, Hiroshi Mikitani is displeased with the teams lack of progress, and finds it difficult to see the current roster ever challenging for a PT title. Rakuten Cycling's G.M. has stated that while nothing is definitive yet, a change of sponsorship is possible. A large reduction in budget would likely be expected along with this.
More rumours around the team suggest that many of the older riders are unsettled. They have been a part of the team for multiple years in most cases, and while it is has been a dream for many of them to reach the PT with an Asian based team, some feel it may be time to cash in and move to more successful setups. Rakuten Cyclings GM can all but confirm that while Rakuten may wish to keep some of these older riders who have been amazing servants to the team, they also respect their ambitions and will not hold anyone ransom at the team.
The name on every reporters lips was Kinoshita! Does he also want to leave? The manager says he is one of the few leaders that is expected to stay, which doesn't fully answer the question, but does still provide some insight. Should the team continue to trend in the wrong direction next season however, he will almost certainly ask to leave for a Top Division team.
Reading between the lines, that sounds like the team is expected to see some serious changes next year. Many of the leaders will be moved, and different faces will be added to the team. The main sponsor could also change.
The next few months will definitely be interesting to follow for sure, and next off-season sounds like it may be the most active the team has been since its inception.
It would be quite a shocker to see Kinoshita leave your team, although I do admit I am not looking forward to facing him, if you are back in PCT next season
redordead wrote:
It would be quite a shocker to see Kinoshita leave your team, although I do admit I am not looking forward to facing him, if you are back in PCT next season
Well, I've got to keep readers intrigued Could he leave, possibly. Its unlikely, but in the past he has been untouchable. It may be time to do a full rebuild, and as my most valuable trading chip, I've got to listen to offers.
withoutnonsense wrote:
You have been so unlucky this season. Cio told me that Puma and Rakuten will be roughly on the same level. Now: Puma third, Rakuten relegated.
Thanks. I think Cio was being a bit kind by saying we are on a similar level, but I did have higher expectations for my team. I was hoping to be around Volvo's level in the standings, but I think Shikai and Quintana underperformed and what I thought was depth turned out not to be.
A rough season for Rakuten indeed. I remember the Vuelta very well. Two of the best sprinters there with some terrible sprinting tactics, after the other rider in the sprint train was most of the time Shikai btw. The same Shikai who was shockingly bad in the GC and just like everybody else in the team then never decided to attack to try and make something out of it. Not trying to make you feel bad btw But yeah, you definitely weren't lucky this season. Looking forward to find out what you have planned for next season.
With the season now over, Rakuten Cycling Manager can confirm that the team will see a new look next season, as new sponsors take over the team. He says that the team will remain with a Japanese sponsor, but that other co-sponsors from Europe and possibly North America will also be joining. He says things should hopefully be finalized in the coming week. Based on companies involved, the jersey will probably be one of the more fashionable in the PCT division, but of course taste is subjective.
Since everyone is doing it, we thought we'd start with some fun hints to get the public guessing, on the sponsors for the team.
Fabianski wrote:
Let's just wildly guess at Twitter and Le Coq Sportif
Looking forward to meet you in PCT - hopefully next season works out better for you, you should definitely have a shot at going back up directly!
Those are great guesses. I can definitely see how you got them, but none of them are correct No way a huge company like twitter would want to sponsor a sinking ship like my team The 2nd bird is not a French company believe it or not.
With all of the back end logistics sorted out in regards to sponsorships and funding, it is time that we gladly present our new outfit for the upcoming season.
Voyagin a subsidiary of Rakuten takes over as the head sponsor for the team. They are a travel, accommodations and activities firm based in Japan, focusing on the East Asia region. With Covid affecting travel worldwide, Rakuten felt the need to help advertise one of its struggling branches within the organization, which will hopefully become prosperous again soon, once it is safe to do so again. The Tokyo 2020 Olympics will hopefully spur more travelers to visit the region by 2022, so the timing of the switch makes sense in that regard as hopefully more travelers who plan to visit the region become aware of the brand. A much smaller budget is to be expected and some have even said this move shows that Rakuten has more or less given up on the team, although that remains to be seen.
Bird is a transportation company that specializes in e-scooters, scooters and bike sharing, in over 100 cities around the globe. In 2017 it became the fastest company to ever reach a 1 Billion dollar valuation, which it went on to double by June 2018. Its focus on sustainable transportation make it a great partnership with not only Voyagin, but cycling in general with hopes of expanding further. Its biggest Competitor Lime was a sponsor for the PTs top team a season ago, so Bird has high hopes it has picked the right team to support for the future. They have agreed to be patient, but as a partnership currently, they are not spending an arm and a leg to run the team. With questions about Rakuten/Voyagin's involvement, Bird will have to see progress before they take on more of the responsibility and finances.
Moncler is the teams third sponsor. While the MGUCI rules mean they may not end up in the teams "official" title, they are as much a co sponsor as Bird. Originally a French Fashion and Skiwear company, they are now an Italian brand, with French roots. With continuing growth, and small time collaborations with other sporting ventures, their collaboration with a Danish bike brand helped dip their toes into the cycling world, where they now hope to take their next step and follow in the footsteps of Rapha and Palace, who have helped to make cycling more fashionable with its 2020 Giro d'Italia collab. With Cycling and Skiing using similar materials and cycling clothes becoming more popular in global fashion such as "biker shorts" being one example of this trend, now seems like the perfect time for a luxury brand to enter the market. Working with Le Col they have come up with the clothing and materials for the squad, and helped create an eye-catching design, which will certainly be polarizing.
TechnoGym joins on, as our final sponsor of the team, which will provide the teams training equipment. The official provider of gym equipment for several Football teams, the Olympics, as well as F1 teams. With their stationary bikes and direct drive trainers, as well as Zwift and Rouvy implementation, riders will be able to train in state of the art conditions, even when weather would normally stop them.
Please give a huge congratulations to our Norwegian designer, Hillis in the comments, because we think he's done an outstanding job.
Great shirt indeed! I remember at least one Meiji shirt being one of my favorites back then and now this one could end up being one of my favorites for the season, too
Croatia14 wrote:
Love to see it, though it would've made us some sort of rival teams but that shirt will definitely stand out
From my standpoint, a rivalry with a team such as yours would show we are one of the strongest teams in the game, but that will take a few years of rebuilding imo, so you're safe for the time being
tsmoha wrote:
Great shirt indeed! I remember at least one Meiji shirt being one of my favorites back then and now this one could end up being one of my favorites for the season, too
Thanks. I've tended to go for more "clean" styles in the past, but with the color options with these sponsors, I figured something more unique would be fun. Meiji had some great jerseys in the past. I've (obviously) been a fan of them all. The orignal season one was one of my faves, and I think another one done by Hillis with just a small touch of Camo on that one as well was quite nice. The Oz Cycling had one of my favourites as well btw.
redordead wrote:
Great to see an Asian sponsor step up, so hopefully the mainly Japanese and other Asian nations focus remains strong
Similarly to Zwift I am excited to see how this jersey looks in game
The plan is to keep the focus still, or atleast target some Asian stars, but I think the team may become more International with the co-sponsors demanding riders from their focus regions. Definitely a few more Italians, and Barbier may be joined by a few more Frenchmen too. With not too many strong Asian riders coming up, I think shifting away from the focus slightly makes sense now. I think in the past every region was given stars to appease every manager and in the last few years, we've gone a little more realistic with the ratings of new additions to the db. IRL I'd say Asia is probably the weakest region, and with most of its stars being older now, theres not much future in an Asian (only) focus.
Despite only having a few unmaxed riders, we've been able to develop them this year, or given them useful loans, in order to do so.
Yuriy Natarov | | 1->3 | Pot 5 | Age 23
FL
MO
HIL
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SPR
ACC
FGH
DO
PRO
2020
62
69
66
64
60
66
71
60
65
65
76
56
63
2021
63
73
68
67
63
68
74
60
65
65
76
56
66
Max
65
78
72
70
66
70
78
60
65
67
79
57
69
As our best climbing talent, Natarov lacks a bit of all-roundedness to be a leader, especialyl with his weakness on flats, but his climbing ability will be as good as most talents added, and he should be an okay TTer as well.
Xianjing Lyu | | 1->3 | Pot 6 | Age 22
FL
MO
HIL
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SPR
ACC
FGH
DO
PRO
2020
65
67
69
62
70
70
67
50
63
68
65
72
64
2021
65
70
73
62
72
72
70
50
63
71
68
73
64
Max
66
75
78
63
74
75
74
50
63
75
73
75
65
Our youngest Asian talent, he may lack the backups to be a leader as well, but should turn into a good point scorer for us still.
Jiankun Liu | | 4->Max | Pot 5 | Age 25
FL
MO
HIL
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SPR
ACC
FGH
DO
PRO
2020
72
63
67
63
75
67
79
65
78
78
64
68
65
2021/Max
74
63
67
63
76
69
80
65
80
80
64
68
67
Liu has been with us his whole career, and he is finally ready to become the lead sprinter on the team. He should have enough acceleration to win some stages this season, and has the REC to be strong in the final weeks of a GT as well.
Rei Onodera | | 4->Max | Pot 5 | Age 25
FL
MO
HIL
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SPR
ACC
FGH
DO
PRO
2020
73
64
68
76
73
73
69
61
65
68
64
68
73
2021/Max
74
66
69
78
75
74
71
61
65
68
64
68
75
Coming at maybe the perfect time, Onodera should be the teams best TTer and will hope to contest stage Top 10's now. With a bit of training he could even be one of the better TTers in the MG, so we are happy to have him around.
Lyu is such a nice rider at max, very jealous of you there, love the MO/HI and RES/ACC line! And enjoy seeing our old loanee Onodera maxed, neat rider with the flat and backups plus decent hill and even MO - had a soft spot for him as a loanee thanks to good domestique and breakaway performances back in the CT and always enjoy seeing his name in a report for you
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
jandal7 wrote:
Lyu is such a nice rider at max, very jealous of you there, love the MO/HI and RES/ACC line! And enjoy seeing our old loanee Onodera maxed, neat rider with the flat and backups plus decent hill and even MO - had a soft spot for him as a loanee thanks to good domestique and breakaway performances back in the CT and always enjoy seeing his name in a report for you
Thanks. Lyu I wish was just a bit better on the flats. I almost regret not training him Hills x2 for these first two upgrades since he gets better FL and ACC then, but lower MO as a result. I hope Onodera has a good year, we need good TTers so I'm glad he's well rounded too.
redordead wrote:
I'm happy I was able to help develop Natarov. He didn't enter many breakaways for us, so hopefully he uses his fighter stat a bit better on your team.
Lyu and especially Liu are very good riders
I was surprised Natarov didn't tbh, but maybe he will more now. Thanks for taking him on anyway.
but that shirt will definitely stand out
| 1->3 | Pot 5 | Age 23
| 1->3 | Pot 6 | Age 22
| 4->Max | Pot 5 | Age 25
