August didn't quite turn out the way we hoped, so we needed a strong September to keep us in the top 3 battle. 4 races with mixed opportunities atleast should give us something to look for.
On home soil and a flat sprint classic. A race that shouts out for Bryan Coquard.
Except for one small thing, it all went according to plan. Coquard won the sprint. Only Søren Kragh Andersen had decided to sneak away before the sprint, and managed to stay ahead. Still 2nd is a good result for us.
We expected between 100-180 points, with the higher end demanding a race win. So we are safely inside the expected area.
We arrived at the Balkans with a very solid team as Koretzky and Boily on paper should be decent fits for many stages, aswell as Bouglas with an outside chance for stagesucces aswell.
Unfortunately it took quite a while for us to realize that the race wasn't bad for us.
Luckily David Boily slowly got stronger and stronger, and on stage 6 he took a 2nd place in the sprint. In the end he wasn't quite strong enough to fight for the fun spots, but 8th in the GC was another very solid result. Koretzky and Zoidl both supplemented in the GC taking home 16th and 32nd.
Prior to the race we had expected 100-160 points, and we almost exceeded that.
Overall points: 154 pts
Tour of Northern Europe:
#201 Clement Koretzky
#202 Anatoliy Budyak
#203 Miltiadis Giannoutsos
#204 Andreas Miltiadis
#205 Emmanuel Morin
#206 Giacomo Nizzolo
#207 Juan Osorio
#208 Ioannis Spanopoulos
TONE has never really been a race for us, although Tom David did well for us a couple of years. This time we decided not to bring any cobblers (Karatzios) as the combination of cobbles, TT and hills really didn't suit him, and thus we could create a brick around our legs. Instead we went for a full on breakaway setup with Nizzolo for a potential sprint result.
On stage 3, Koretzky managed to make the most of his qualities to move away with a small group towards the end. Unfortunately van Garderen left this group behind, so Koretzky had to settle for 2nd.
Nizzolo though was in his usual lower-end-of-the-top-10-mood, to salvage nothing. Koretzky took home 4th on the finall hilly stage, so in the end the race was better than expected. We expected anything between 35-70 points.
In Germany we came with all we had. Vlatos, Zoidl and Ioannids for the GC and Coquard with his leadout Bouglas for 4 flat stages.
It wasn't meant to be for Coquard though, as he didn't even bother making a sprint, and in the end scoring 17 points from this race is just pathetic.
Fortunately, Vlatos was here, and taking 4th on the ITT aswell as the GC helped us a lot to achieve our pre-determined estimate.
We came with big ambitions, and luckily Vlatos kept us afloat, but we expected 180-210 points, which could have been easily achievable if Coquard delivered just 1 good sprint.
Overall points: 177 pts
Prior to the month we expected between 410-620 points, so taking home 545 points is very solid. We would have liked to kiss the 600 points mark, but we came through a month in the upper end of our expected tally.
The final month of the season. We come with a decent show in September, but quite the gap to 3rd, while the teams in 5th-6th are coming very fast from behind. So we need to stay sharp!
Tour du Maroc:
#131 David Boily
#132 William Barta
#133 Stylianos Farantakis
#134 Simon Guglielmi
#135 Ioannidis Kiriakidis
#136 Emmanuel Morin
#137 Giacomo Nizzolo
#138 Riccardo Zoidl
Marocco isn't a great fit for us. Boily have shown this season that he is a very solid rider that can fight for a top 10 despite stages getting quite hard - but we have to admit, that this race is probably too hard. So we need to chase stage glory and Boily, Barta and Zoidl are our best chances to do so. Nizzolo is here as our lead sprinter, with Farantakis to help him, but other than that we bring some very young and not that strong riders. Maybe we can surprise.
In recent years this have been an amazing race for us, won by both Spilak and Coppel, aswell as a podium from Lecuisinier. This season however we don't bring that firepower. Lecuisinier was very close to ending up here, but instead was sent to East Java and Pro Hallstatt where he secured 224 points. We would have needed a very big result here to match that.
Instead we bring Coquard for the sprint, Koretzky for the hill and Vlatos for the TT. If we are very lucky they could all fight for a stagewin - fully aknowledging that they won't all get a good result. For the GC Zoidl and Ioannidis will have to attempt to stay close and could maybe land something like top 20-30. We need a good race, but it could go in all directions really.
Expected points: 80-150pts
Giro di Lombardia:
#101 Clement Koretzky
#102 William Barta
#103 David Boily
#104 Francesco Bongiorno
#105 Anatoliy Budyak
#106 Charalampas Kastrantas
#107 Ioannis Spanopoulos
#108 Aidan van Niekerk
We bring everything we have in the attempt to suck out whatever left there is to suck out from this seasons points haul. Koretzky obviously as our main guy, but also Boily and Bongiorno if the race becomes very difficult, while van Niekerk and Budyak both have a good mixture and could ride aggressive. Left are just Barta and Spanopoulos who are here as domestiques. Even they could fare pretty well.
A top 10 is the goal, and hopefully some depth too.
Expected points: 100-150pts
Overall expectations:
Somewhere between 230 and 400 points should be possible in this final month. Could we score 239 we will land on exactly 7000 points for the season. We expected 6500. Being already past that point with a month to go is very pleasing. Not being that close to top 3 is hurtful though as that scoring should have secured a top 3 by now!
Now all we can do is sit back, and enjoy the show. Good luck everybody!
Expected points: 230-400ptsEdited by SotD on 02-07-2021 10:49
The season is over, and we can have a look at what went well, and what didn't. Overall we are very pleased with our 6950 points, which normally would have put us in the region of 2-3rd overall, but a fair bit off the win. This season the pointharvest could only secure 5th, and not particularly close to a better result. We have to applaud the teams above us for their performances - we couldn't be expected to do anything more ourselves!
Prior to the season we expected 6500 points, and that those points came through like this. On the left is the expected scores, in the centre the actual scoreline and on the right we have the difference between the two.
Name
Expected pts
Actual pts
Difference
Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier
1600
2044
444
Bryan Coquard
1000
984
-16
Clement Koretzky
750
875
125
Francesco Bongiorno
400
238
-162
David Boily
350
343
-7
Panagiotis Vlatos
350
495
145
Aidan van Niekerk
250
327
77
Anatoliy Budyak
200
72
-128
Giacomo Nizzolo
200
85
-115
Georgios Karatzios
150
198
48
Charalampas Kastrantas
150
211
61
Nikolaos Ioannidis
150
119
-31
Riccardo Zoidl
150
121
-29
Georgios Bouglas
125
126
1
William Barta
125
120
-5
Michail Mavrikakis
100
56
-44
Ioannis Spanopoulos
100
79
-21
Stylianos Farantakis
75
50
-25
Miltiadis Giannoutsos
75
149
74
Ioannidis Kiriakidis
75
73
-2
Andreas Militadis
75
77
2
Emmanuel Morin
75
42
-33
Juan Osorio
75
66
-9
Alexandre Delettre
15
0
-15
Simon Guglielmi
15
0
-15
As it can be seen, most riders have performed pretty similar to what I would have expected. But we have some highjumpers in form of Lecuisinier, Koretzky and Vlatos and to a minor degree van Niekerk, Karatzios and Giannoutsos. It's always really nice to see when our riders outperforms the expected, and those results were the main reason for us to exceed our expectations.
On the contrary we are very dissapointed with the results from especially Bongiorno, Budyak and Nizzolo who never found a good flow this season. Budyak might be a bit harsh being a loaned in rider - but with stats resembling van Niekerk we would have expected him to be atleast somewhat competitive from time to time. Also with his U25 aspirations. Bongiorno more often than not rode as a part leader or as a pure domestique and thus can explain some of the results here - but as the leader of the team he didn't perform well either and that is worrying! Giacomo Nizzolo had most of the season for himself, and had some great chances to shine in reduced competition, but he just couldn't find the speed once.
This brings us to a look at the team for the upcoming season. Let's start with development!
Rider development
We have quite a few riders moving onwards and becoming more important riders for us in the future. Let's see:
Michail Mavrikakis
4.100
27yo
Climber
€50.000
Fl
Mo
Hi
TT
St
Rs
Rc
Co
Sp
Ac
Fi
Dh
Pr
70
75
71
69
73
72
67
54
61
67
63
64
69
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
70
77
72
71
74
73
69
54
61
67
63
64
71
Michail joins our elite domestiques group, who can expect to get a fair free roles to go stagehunting, but is now moving up to be a designated team member for Lecuisinier. This isn't likely his last step towards being the best greek climber ever.
Ioannis Spanopoulos
4.100
28yo
Climber
€50.000
Fl
Mo
Hi
TT
St
Rs
Rc
Co
Sp
Ac
Fi
Dh
Pr
69
74
73
70
72
71
68
54
60
64
66
62
71
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
69
76
74
72
73
72
70
54
60
64
66
62
73
Similarly to Mavrikakis, Spanopoulos now joins a very important part of the team, in which we can help control things for Lecuisinier. Spanopoulos is a well rounded rider and replaces the role of William Barta, who will return to his own team.
Miltiadis Giannoutsos
4.20
24yo
Climber
€50.000
Fl
Mo
Hi
TT
St
Rs
Rc
Co
Sp
Ac
Fi
Dh
Pr
66
73
69
68
72
74
70
57
64
66
74
66
73
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
67
76
71
70
74
76
73
57
64
67
75
67
75
With Giannoutsos we keep the track of greek GC riders intact. Unlike the others Giannoutsos isn't fully maxed yet, and at just 24 years of age, there is plenty to come! The natural born climber keeps a little hidden trait in being pretty strong on prologues too, which might lead him to having a couple of free roles in the upcoming season where he can chase U25 results. Other than that he too joins the mountain setup for Lecuisinier.
Ioannidis Kiriakidis
4.20
24yo
Timetriallist
€50.000
Fl
Mo
Hi
TT
St
Rs
Rc
Co
Sp
Ac
Fi
Dh
Pr
67
70
70
72
69
70
70
62
63
70
69
73
72
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
68
72
72
74
71
72
72
62
63
71
70
73
74
The final greek climber in the pool, isn't so much a climber as he is a good allround domestique. Kiriakidis joins Giannoutsos in the not-fully-developped group, with him also being just 24 years old. Kiriakidis will take a different approach though and will be seen more as a timetriallist than a climber for us, and his role in the upcoming season will mainly be to fill out Team-Timetrials and help where it is needed most.
Aimiliano Vila
3.30
24yo
Puncheur
€50.000
Fl
Mo
Hi
TT
St
Rs
Rc
Co
Sp
Ac
Fi
Dh
Pr
69
66
70
63
68
70
71
54
66
68
70
68
63
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
69
68
72
63
68
71
72
54
66
70
72
68
63
Aimiliano is back from a season at CT level, and it is still uncertain that he will be riding in the Festina-colors this season as we don't see him being ready to really fill out a competent domestiques role just yet. So we are likely going to see him look for a season in a lower level, to further enhance his qualities as a fairly decent puncheur.
Michail Kortsidakis
4.100
27yo
Roulleur
€50.000
Fl
Mo
Hi
TT
St
Rs
Rc
Co
Sp
Ac
Fi
Dh
Pr
76
63
69
54
74
74
73
72
67
72
76
70
73
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
77
63
69
54
75
75
73
74
68
72
76
70
73
Heading away from anything resembling climbing, Kortsidakis is one of the most interesting talents to come out of the greek talent school. We have been looking very much forward to seeing him this strong, and being a super strong roulleur is a much needed trait in our team. We hope he can give a bit of points in the cobbled department aswell.
Georgios Stavrakakis
3.00
23yo
Cobbler
€50.000
Fl
Mo
Hi
TT
St
Rs
Rc
Co
Sp
Ac
Fi
Dh
Pr
69
61
67
68
67
65
63
69
64
67
69
61
70
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
72
61
67
71
70
67
64
72
64
67
69
61
73
Stavrakakis might have taken the biggest leap of all our talents, and it isn't a coincidence. Our cobbled leader, Gergios Karatzios have 2 seasons left in his prime, and that is exactly the time needed for Stavrakakis to move into his final statgain, which means that he can take over. This season he'll be our 3rd tier cobbler, next season he'll move into a lieutenaint role and by 2022 he'll lead the team.
Stylianos Farantakis
4.50
26yo
Sprinter
€50.000
Fl
Mo
Hi
TT
St
Rs
Rc
Co
Sp
Ac
Fi
Dh
Pr
70
59
64
71
73
68
74
66
75
76
61
62
75
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
72
59
65
72
74
70
78
66
78
78
61
63
77
The last greek rider this time is arguably the biggest talent since Tzortzakis and Vlatos came through. With resemblances from both Farantakis will become a strong sprinter with a decent TT and a very solid prologue. We expect big things in the future, although this season will be as leadout for Coquard.
Andreas Miltiadis
4.50
25yo
Climber
€50.000
Fl
Mo
Hi
TT
St
Rs
Rc
Co
Sp
Ac
Fi
Dh
Pr
67
71
71
67
69
69
63
68
61
71
63
67
67
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
68
73
73
67
70
70
65
68
61
73
65
68
67
We aren't exactly done with the greek region just yet, as we have two cypriot riders aswell. The first one is Andreas Militadis who will move into being a lower-end domestique for us next season, but once he maxes will be a solid 75/75 MO/HI rider.
Alexandros Agrotis
2.30
23yo
Climber
€50.000
Fl
Mo
Hi
TT
St
Rs
Rc
Co
Sp
Ac
Fi
Dh
Pr
69
66
66
67
69
67
68
63
65
67
70
69
68
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
69
68
67
68
70
68
69
63
65
67
70
69
69
Agrotis rounds off the greek region talents, and while it's still early days, we are looking forward to seeing him develop. Agrotis will be looking for a CT loan out once more, though to ensure the best development conditions.
Remy Rochas
4.20
25yo
Climber
€50.000
Fl
Mo
Hi
TT
St
Rs
Rc
Co
Sp
Ac
Fi
Dh
Pr
66
73
70
61
69
68
70
60
61
69
68
65
62
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
67
75
72
61
70
69
72
60
61
71
70
66
62
We can't ignore our roots, and thus here comes a small bunch of french talents, trying to move forward in the Festina-setup. Rochas returns from a season at PCT level, and takes over the role of Mavrikakis, as the unmaxed low-end climbing domestique. Similarly we also expect him to play a vital role after the upcoming season, as he will progress further.
Victor Lafay
3.20
25yo
Puncheur
€50.000
Fl
Mo
Hi
TT
St
Rs
Rc
Co
Sp
Ac
Fi
Dh
Pr
65
70
70
62
70
69
69
62
62
68
72
66
60
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
65
72
72
62
70
70
70
62
62
70
74
66
60
Lafay is being set up to become a very aggressive puncheur attacking rider, but we aknowledge the fact that he's yet to make his presence, and thus it is likely that he will be looking for a loan out to the PCT later this off season. It isn't give yet, as he could be strong enough to provide some assistance though.
Emmanuel Morin
3.20
26yo
Puncheur
€50.000
Fl
Mo
Hi
TT
St
Rs
Rc
Co
Sp
Ac
Fi
Dh
Pr
69
62
72
63
71
70
65
63
68
72
63
66
65
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
69
63
74
63
72
71
66
63
68
73
64
66
65
Despite riding in the Festina-shirt this season, Morin joins the group of quite some puncheurs that isn't yet ready to help at PT level, and thus seems like a good bet for a PCT loan out this season. He does have a couple of interesting gains still to come, and will max at 78HI, which is pretty interesting for a 50K bargain.
Juan Osorio
4.20
26yo
Climber
€50.000
Fl
Mo
Hi
TT
St
Rs
Rc
Co
Sp
Ac
Fi
Dh
Pr
66
72
69
69
70
68
71
61
70
68
67
64
67
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
67
74
71
71
72
70
73
61
70
69
68
64
69
Osorio is one of just two "abroad" talents within the team, and he moves into being a very solid domestique for us. He is also very fast on the line, so any breakaway attempt should see him have a good shot at a result.
Hector Carretero Millan
3.40
26yo
Climber
€50.000
Fl
Mo
Hi
TT
St
Rs
Rc
Co
Sp
Ac
Fi
Dh
Pr
63
72
68
65
65
59
65
57
64
60
58
62
64
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
63
74
69
67
66
60
67
57
64
60
58
62
66
Climber, Carretero Millan was picked up late, but maxing at 78MO he could be a very solid and cheap domestique for years to come. The only issue for us is the nationality, which (together with Osorio) put's him in the line of a possible sale/trade.
Now we have taken a look at the 15! unmaxed riders at Festina, which once more underlines that we have to be very content with 6950 points at the end of the day. These riders could be looking to change home in the off season!
Was happy to have Stavrakakis on loan this season. He even scored some points for us
Yes we are pretty happy with the core so far - although at top level neither can actually make a presence without heavy training. But that fortunately is a thing
Glad to hear Stavrakakis wasn't a complete waste of racedays for you
Seeing which riders you intend to train is always interesting and some of those greek talents could need further investments. Would love to see Kortsidakis getting some of that with his rouleur skills as a great base.
knockout wrote:
Seeing which riders you intend to train is always interesting and some of those greek talents could need further investments. Would love to see Kortsidakis getting some of that with his rouleur skills as a great base.
Yeah, in the future there will be enough to train, but Kortsidakis unfortunately can only be trained after an additional season. So in the upcoming season only these is available for training:
- Charalampas Kastrantas
- Nikolaos Ioannidis
I have been looking to train Kastrantas for many many seasons, but he keeps performing between 200-300 points pr. season with his current stats, so I am reluctant to make him so good that he won't go into his many breakaways. Next season is the last chance to do so, however so I'm a bit all over the place whether I should make him 77HI or 75MO or nothing at all... He doesn't have very solid physical stats.
Ioannidis on the other hand is an obvious choise. I could make him 75HI to make him as well rounded as possible, or more likely 77MO or 77TT. He have sufficient physical stats to make a future GC 2nd/3rd tier. With 3 available training sessions I'm looking at either:
79MO, 75HI, 75TT or
81MO, 73HI, 75TT or
78MO, 73HI, 78TT
Or simply stop at a lower rate, to allow for boosting as many greek riders as possible. After next season I have these available:
As I think Spanopoulos is the most uninteresting I think he'll probably "just" remain as he is - unless I have just enough to train him, but not enough to train one of the others.
I have a dream of making Kortisdakis 80COB, but knowing that the likes of Farantakis, Stavrakakis and Giannoutsos being eligeble for training after just 1/2 seasons of training Kortsidakis it's probably not possible. Mavrikakis as 79MO will definately happen at some point, maybe even 80-81MO, but making him 83MO just seems silly. That's more for Giannoutsos.
Having Koretzky with 2 more seasons as a maxed rider I also need to see if I can find his replacement. The obvious choice is to make van Niekerk 81HI during the next 2 seasons, and then maybe 82-83 by the time Koretzky is going to decrease. Another option is to replace Koretzky this off season - or the next with something more "classical". I spot a couple of riders that would be obvious choices if they are available.
Anyhow - there's plenty of trainings to be done in the future - I just hope I can find the money for it. It's not like I will have a ton of riders to sell in the upcoming seasons with the heavy focus on Greek riders.
Paris-Tours:
Georgios Bouglas
Andreas Miltiadis
Balkans International:
David Boily
Anatoliy Budyak
Riccardo Zoidl
Tour of Northern Europe:
Giacomo Nizzolo
Juan Osorio
Deutschland Tour:
Tour du Maroc:
William Barta
Tour of Tasmania:
Aidan van Niekerk
