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[PCT20] Swisslion Cycling Team | Farewell
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| redordead |
Posted on 06-08-2021 07:42
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Nemolito wrote:
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.
I'm pretty clueless on what to do during transfer season to be honest 
Let's just hope I don't find another way of spending a ton of money to make my team worse, like I did this 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 06-08-2021 09:45
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After months of speculation regarding the team's future, I can today finally say that we can put the speculation to an end. I am proud to announce that one of the most recognisable brands in the Balkan region has decided to sponsor the team for an indefinite amount of time.
Yes, our new sponsor is none other than Cedevita. Cedevita's parent company Atlantic Grupa have decided to make use of their best known brand to sponsor our cycling project. I have held extensive talks with both their CEO Emil Tedeshi and their president of international expansion Enzo Smrekar. Those talks have been very productive as we all agreed on our goals to promote cycling. It was also very important that we managed to retain our status as a PCT team. We are all looking forward to a new start following the official conclusion of this season.
We will hold a full press conference at the start of next season where we expect to fully present the team.
Bostjan Mervar,
team representative and general manager of Swisslion Cycling Team
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 06-08-2021 14:42
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Directeur Sportif
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Very very interesting, great choice!
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 06-08-2021 15:56
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Directeur Sportif
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No more Lions from Switzerland?
Love that you stick to your focus region albeit with a different sponsor. Will be weird not having Swisslion around though!
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 07-08-2021 00:58
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This should hopefully ensure that you don't get frantic phonecalls from agents of Swiss riders trying to get signed to a domestic team
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| redordead |
Posted on 08-08-2021 10:08
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I thought so as well. A bigger brand for hopefully some bigger things to come 
AbhishekLFC wrote:
Love that you stick to your focus region albeit with a different sponsor. Will be weird not having Swisslion around though!
All good things come to an end I guess. Although I hope even better things are on the way now
whitejersey wrote:
This should hopefully ensure that you don't get frantic phonecalls from agents of Swiss riders trying to get signed to a domestic team
Let's hope not. We all got sick and tired of those
"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 09-08-2021 07:02
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Rider Performance Analysis
| Rider | Wage | Points | RDs Used | PTS/Wage | PTS/RD | PCT Rank |  Beltran | € 725k | 781 | 35 | 1.08 | 22.31 | 18th |  Boeckmans | € 223k | 481 | 45 | 2.16 | 10.69 | 49th |  Saber | € 375k | 310 | 42 | 0.83 | 7.38 | 77th |  Nepomnyachsniy | € 120k | 217 | 56 | 1.81 | 3.88 | 101st |  Mottin | € 50k | 127 | 70 | 2.54 | 1.81 | 143rd |  Gilanipoor | € 50k | 115 | 67 | 2.30 | 1.72 | 159th |  Giogieri | € 50k | 54 | 65 | 1.08 | 0.83 | 232nd |  Poljanec | € 50k | 46 | 58 | 0.92 | 0.79 | 256th |  Ablenado | € 90k | 39 | 62 | 0.43 | 0.63 | 283rd |  Kurianov* | € 50k | 38 | 77 | 0.76 | 0.49 | 284th | | Penko | € 50k | 33 | 71 | 0.66 | 0.47 | 306th | | Groselj | € 50k | 7 | 68 | 0.14 | 0.10 | 457th |  Stavrakakis** | € 37k | 6 | 76 | 0.14 | 0.08 | 463rd |  Marin* | € 50k | 4 | 63 | 0.08 | 0.06 | 489th |  Christodoulous | € 50k | 1 | 74 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 525th |  Duyvensteyn*** | € 20k | 1 | 15 | 0.05 | 0.07 | 537th |
| * | Kurianov and Marin on loan from Gjensidige Cycling Team | | ** | Stavrakakis on loan from Festina - OAKA | | *** | Duyvensteyn on a stagiare contract |
Eduard Alexander Beltran
While Beltran scored a ridiculous amount of points last year his total is almost 600 pts lower this time. So despite his wages dropping to 725k his PTS/Wage ratio has also dropped considerably, barely breaking even there.
Best result(s):
Tour of Lithuania Overall 1st, Stage 1st (HC); Grands Prix Cyclistes Overall 2nd (HC); Balkans International Overall 5th (PTHC); Giro dell'Emelia 4th (HC); Apex Mountain Classic 2nd (C1); Gisborne GP 4th (C1); GP Lugano 5th (C1)
Kris Boeckmans
We tried to fill our 2nd sprinter spot in transfers and stumbled upon Kris Boeckmans in free agency. He actually became our #1 sprinter on a very affordable wage. He maximised his scoring in the high value sprinters stage race, scored well in classics, but managed only one stage victory.
Best result(s):
Barbados Cycling Festival Overall 3rd, Stage 1st (HC); Down Under Classic 3rd (HC); Berlin ProRace 5th (HC); Tour of Cyprus Stage 2nd, 3rd, Points 3rd (HC); Tour of Norway Stage 2nd (PTHC); Hanko Classic 8th (C1)
Lahcen Saber
Saber came into the team as our record signing and was expected to lead our sprinting efforts as well as score in some of the cobble races. His cobble season was an unmitigated disaster and his sprint results were sporadic as well. All of that led to one of the worst PTS/Wage ratios on the team.
Best result(s):
Baltic Chain Tour Overall 2nd (C1); Circulo de Juarez Overall 8th (C1); Ronde van Het IJsselmeer 4th (C1); Lisbon Classic 5th (C1)
Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy
The veteran stage racer was brought in to feature in the TT heavy races. His season is best described as hit and miss. From races where he finished top 10 overall to races where he barely scored any points. Not a bad season by all accounts, but more was expected.
Best result(s):
Vuelta al Pais Vasco Overall 10th (HC); Tour of Britain Overall 6th (C1); Jelajah SKL Overall 7th (C1); Tour of Norway Overall 16th (PTHC)
Hugues Mottin
Hugues was a late addition to the team joining us from Andorra Cycling Project. The aim was to target the flat TT events and most other TT stages across the calendar. He had a very slow start to the season, but picked it up in the 2nd half. In the end he was our best PTS/Wage rider, in a vacuum well worth the investment.
Best result(s):
Arab Tour Overall 9th (HC); Deutschland Tour Overall 19th (PTHC); Windhoek ITT 10th (C1); Celtic Chrono 11th (C1)
Abolfazl Gilanipoor
Abolfazl came from our friends at Isostar and as per usual it seems, the deal paid off. We perhaps didn't see as much attacking riding as we hoped for from him, but he still got some solid results while working well for others. Our 2nd best PTS/Wage rider.
Best result(s):
Volta a Portugal Stage 1st (PTHC); Vuelta al Pais Vasco Overall 12th (HC)
Tyron Giogieri
Similar to Gilanipoor, Giogieri was brought in to provide some attacking riding in the mountains. But all the same we saw too little of that with not many other results to show. On minimum wage he was at least a net positive rider.
Best result(s):
Sakartvelo Trophy 5th (C2); Corsica International Overall 21st (HC);
Miha Poljanec
Miha entered this season as a lvl 4 rider. His main aim was to finish his development. He didn't race as much in order to allow some other riders to progress. When he did suit up he mostly did tireless work for the team leader.
Best result(s):
Balkans International Stage 1st (PTHC)
Aberlardo Ablenado
Ablenado came in as a replacement for Pello Bilbao. He was supposed to show some attacking riding, ignoring the GC or score some minor GC places in difficult mountain stage races with time-trials. He did neither, scoring worse than unmaxed riders. A terrible season for him.
Stepan Kurianov
One of those progressing riders was loanee Kurianov. He rode in plenty of races and managed to get in some breakaways and even did some leadout work.
Best result(s):
Torshavn GP 5th (C1)
Izidor Penko
Same as Poljanec, Izidor focused himself on completing his development. He will aim to become an even better support rider next season, as well as score some points in TT events that are his forte.
Best result(s):
Arab Tour U25 1st (HC)
Matic Groselj
Groselj as a level 3 rider again showed he is quite strong on the flat roads. He especially got into a lot of breakaways in the PT wildcard races. He also did some impressive leadout work at times.
Best result(s):
Baltic Chain Tour U25 3rd (C1)
Georgios Stavrakakis
Stavrakakis managed to score some points as a level 1 loanee. He needed plenty of races for his development, but did his best in the flat and cobbled races.
Best result(s):
Baltic Chain Tour U25 2nd (C1)
Gabriel Marin
Marin joined us on loan to complete his development. He raced a fair few races, provided final leadouts for Boeckmans when necessary and even managed to pull off a few results himself to get on the score sheet.
Michael Christodoulos
Michael didn't have his best days on the TT stages, but he is still only a level 3 rider and we are hoping to see him score a few more points next year.
Kees Duyvensteyn
Duyvensteyn was the last addition to the squad, joining on a stagiare contract. With only limited race days available he managed to get into a breakaway and score a point. We look forward to seeing more of him next season.
Bostjan Mervar,
team representative and general manager of Swisslion Cycling Team
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| redordead |
Posted on 10-08-2021 07:39
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Joined: 18-10-2017
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Rider Development - Part 1/3
In the first part of rider development we will take a look at the riders who have been a part of our team since the establishment of the team in 2018.
Miha Poljanec | Pot: 2 | Age: 26 | Lvl: 4.100 | FL | MO | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CO | SP | AC | FT | DH | PR | | 2020 | 76 | 67 | 69 | 63 | 69 | 68 | 66 | 72 | 69 | 70 | 69 | 73 | 63 | | ↓↓↓ | | | | ↓↓↓ | | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | | | | | 2021 | 77 | 67 | 69 | 63 | 70 | 68 | 67 | 73 | 71 | 71 | 69 | 73 | 63 |
Miha has completed his development. After joining our team from Isostar back in 2018 he has been a contributor in our CT season, with his ability on the flat and cobbles standing out. He has worked on improving both of those skills since then and has become a competent sprinter also. We are hoping we see him in more breakaways on flat days when he is not supporting his leaders.
Izidor Penko | Pot: 5 | Age: 25 | Lvl: 4.100 | FL | MO | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CO | SP | AC | FT | DH | PR | | 2020 | 70 | 66 | 70 | 74 | 71 | 73 | 69 | 58 | 65 | 70 | 62 | 71 | 74 | | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | | | | | | ↓↓↓ | | 2021 | 71 | 68 | 71 | 76 | 73 | 74 | 71 | 58 | 65 | 70 | 62 | 71 | 76 |
Izidor's road to success has been a bit longer, in the sense that it has taken a while for his talent to shine. We saw his more consistent performances in TTs this year, but Izidor has never wanted to be just a time-trialist. He has worked hard to improve his ability on the more hillier terrain. We see him as a wonderful domestique who might get to call his own number every now and then.
 Matija Mestric | Pot: 4 | Age: 24 | Lvl: 4.88 | FL | MO | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CO | SP | AC | FT | DH | PR | | 2020 | 70 | 63 | 67 | 63 | 66 | 68 | 66 | 72 | 55 | 65 | 67 | 74 | 67 | | ↓↓↓ | | ↓↓↓ | | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | | | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | | | 2021 | 72 | 63 | 69 | 63 | 68 | 69 | 67 | 74 | 55 | 65 | 70 | 75 | 67 |
Matija joined us as a 21 year old in 2018 so his development has been slower. As a cobbled specialist he really hasn't had the opportunities to have success at this level. He has one year of improving remaining in the hopes he can become a solid cobbler with emphasis on the hilly ones.
Stay tuned for part 2 where we will look at the progress of riders who spent this season on loan.
Bostjan Mervar,
team representative and general manager of Swisslion Cycling Team
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| SotD |
Posted on 10-08-2021 08:12
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Some decent talents you have there. Poljanec with his beasty flat and decent cobble/sprint does make him a wonderful asset in multiple situations - and a great breakaway option too.
Penko seems like a very solid domestique with emphasis on the backup stats aswell. Probably too weak everywhere to make his own presence, but he is likely going to be one of those 50K domestiques that you want to keep until he can't pedal anymore.
Mestric should be ready to take up a decent domestiques role this season already, and might be an OK pointscorer next season. I fear that his physical traits will make him suffer though, as the cobbled races are usually pretty tough. He does have a pretty nice 75DH that might make him a breakaway contender every now and again though.
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 10-08-2021 09:54
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Poljanec might be a rider that joins the early break in a cobbled race, and with his flat stat he might have a chance for a decent result under the right conditions If not, he's always very handy to have when necessary for chasing/lead-out duties. Matija could even join him in one of his cobbled attacks next year, who knows
Nothing but love for Izidor.
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 10-08-2021 10:57
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I really like the look of Miha and Izidor, great job in their development!
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| redordead |
Posted on 10-08-2021 18:56
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SotD wrote:
Some decent talents you have there. Poljanec with his beasty flat and decent cobble/sprint does make him a wonderful asset in multiple situations - and a great breakaway option too.
Yeah, I love that Poljanec has some nice all round stats to go with his ability on the flat. He managed a stage win in Balkans this season, so hopefully he has more results like that in his locker 
SotD wrote:
Penko seems like a very solid domestique with emphasis on the backup stats aswell. Probably too weak everywhere to make his own presence, but he is likely going to be one of those 50K domestiques that you want to keep until he can't pedal anymore.
You pretty much summed it up. I hope Penko can be that rock solid domestique that can be used in different races and perhaps has enough all round stats to have some decent breakaways
SotD wrote:
Mestric should be ready to take up a decent domestiques role this season already, and might be an OK pointscorer next season. I fear that his physical traits will make him suffer though, as the cobbled races are usually pretty tough. He does have a pretty nice 75DH that might make him a breakaway contender every now and again though.
I hope a decent combo of cobble, flat and hill as main stats can somewhat offset his weaker backup stats. He's definitely the weakest rider of these 3.
Nemolito wrote:
Poljanec might be a rider that joins the early break in a cobbled race, and with his flat stat he might have a chance for a decent result under the right conditions If not, he's always very handy to have when necessary for chasing/lead-out duties. Matija could even join him in one of his cobbled attacks next year, who knows
Nothing but love for Izidor.
It would be interesting if we ever see Poljanec as the 3rd man in the sprint train, how he'd do there.
We love Izi also 
Croatia14 wrote:
I really like the look of Miha and Izidor, great job in their development!
Thanks! And thanks for selling me Miha in the first place
To be honest I'm not sure if in hindsight it was worth maxing his cobble stat, but I was swayed after that result in Kuurne as a lvl 1 rider. Since then lots has changed including game versions. But after commiting to the cobbles, I decided to finish the job as there isn't much wiggle room with a pot 2 rider.
Izidor I kinda made a rookie mistake my first season, as he could've been a 77 TT rider 
"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 11-08-2021 12:03
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Rider Development - Part 2/3
In the second part of rider development we will take a look at the riders who have spent this season on loan at other teams.
 Ahmet Orken | Pot: 4 | Age: 28 | Lvl: 4.19 | FL | MO | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CO | SP | AC | FT | DH | PR | | 2020 | 70 | 62 | 66 | 66 | 66 | 67 | 67 | 58 | 73 | 77 | 72 | 71 | 72 | | ↓↓↓ | | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | | 2021 | 72 | 62 | 67 | 67 | 67 | 69 | 72 | 58 | 75 | 79 | 72 | 72 | 74 |
Ahmet spent the year at Berg Cycles where he was honing his sprinting skills, working essentially as a leadout for the numerous sprinters in that team. We would expect him to revise that step again next year to finish his development. After that we see him as a rider who could challenge an appropriate level of sprinters himself.
Tadej Pogacar | Pot: 6 | Age: 23 | Lvl: 3.53 | FL | MO | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CO | SP | AC | FT | DH | PR | | 2020 | 67 | 73 | 71 | 71 | 74 | 74 | 74 | 51 | 63 | 68 | 66 | 65 | 70 | | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | | | ↓↓↓ | | | ↓↓↓ | | 2021 | 68 | 75 | 72 | 73 | 76 | 76 | 76 | 51 | 63 | 69 | 66 | 65 | 72 |
This was the 2nd year Tadej has spent on loan. We are hoping it's the last one as we see him joining us next season. He is slowly working his way towards becoming the versatile stage racer we believe he can be. We might see him get some opportunities to ride for himself next year.
Stay tuned for the last part, there we will review the progress of all the remaining unmaxed riders.
Bostjan Mervar,
team representative and general manager of Swisslion Cycling Team
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| redordead |
Posted on 12-08-2021 08:53
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Rider Development - Part 3/3
The last part of this series covers the remaining who have all made considerable improvements over the season.
Matic Groselj | Pot: 4 | Age: 25 | Lvl: 4.87 | FL | MO | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CO | SP | AC | FT | DH | PR | | 2020 | 74 | 58 | 65 | 73 | 71 | 75 | 68 | 67 | 70 | 70 | 69 | 70 | 75 | | ↓↓↓ | | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | | | ↓↓↓ | | 2021 | 76 | 58 | 66 | 75 | 73 | 76 | 70 | 67 | 72 | 71 | 69 | 70 | 77 |
Matic is continuing his progression into a strong rouleur that can ride against the clock and also sprint. We envision him competing in short time-trials, joining breakaways or reeling them back in and perhaps even being part of a sprint train.
 Dusan Rajovic | Pot: 3 | Age: 24 | Lvl: 4.85 | FL | MO | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CO | SP | AC | FT | DH | PR | | 2020 | 69 | 58 | 63 | 59 | 69 | 73 | 61 | 55 | 74 | 78 | 57 | 57 | 59 | | ↓↓↓ | | ↓↓↓ | | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | | | ↓↓↓ | | 2021 | 71 | 58 | 64 | 59 | 70 | 75 | 69 | 55 | 76 | 80 | 57 | 57 | 61 |
Dusan hasn't been able to contribute much to the team in his first 2 years. Heading into his 3rd season we feel he has made enough improvements in his top end speed that he may be able to sprint for himself. But his full maturation as a sprinter is still to come the year after.
Michael Christodoulos | Pot: 5 | Age: 24 | Lvl: 4.84 | FL | MO | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CO | SP | AC | FT | DH | PR | | 2020 | 69 | 65 | 66 | 73 | 71 | 66 | 66 | 53 | 53 | 64 | 71 | 64 | 74 | | ↓↓↓ | | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | | | | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | | 2021 | 71 | 66 | 67 | 76 | 73 | 68 | 68 | 53 | 53 | 64 | 73 | 65 | 77 |
Similar to Rajovic, Michael has had to be patient in terms of his chances of scoring ranking points. The Cypriot has further improvement to make on his already solid time-trial skills.
Goran Antonijevic | Pot: 3 | Age: 27 | Lvl: 4.87 | FL | MO | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CO | SP | AC | FT | DH | PR | | 2020 | 74 | 61 | 64 | 67 | 65 | 71 | 63 | 67 | 68 | 71 | 79 | 72 | 65 | | ↓↓↓ | | ↓↓↓ | | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | | | ↓↓↓ | | 2021 | 76 | 61 | 65 | 67 | 66 | 73 | 64 | 67 | 70 | 73 | 79 | 72 | 67 |
After spending the year before at the VIP Mobile amateur team, Antonijevic takes a bigger step in his development with his 1st full year in the pros. A late bloomer the Serb is a pure flat rider and will continue to improve in that aspect.
 Ivan Siric | Pot: 6 | Age: 23 | Lvl: 3.83 | FL | MO | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CO | SP | AC | FT | DH | PR | | 2020 | 71 | 63 | 68 | 65 | 69 | 74 | 58 | 68 | 69 | 68 | 59 | 74 | 65 | | ↓↓↓ | | ↓↓↓ | | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | ↓↓↓ | | | | | 2021 | 74 | 63 | 69 | 65 | 72 | 76 | 60 | 71 | 73 | 70 | 59 | 74 | 65 |
Ivan had a solid first season for the team. You can't really expect much from a neo pro, but he did show himself a few times. He is going to mainly focus on cobbles, which should go well with the big engine he has on flat roads. We expect his other abilities like sprinting and climbing short hills to also improve over time.
This wraps up our 3 part series on rider development. We have managed to max our first 2 riders by ourselves and we have plenty more young Balkan talent on the way.
Bostjan Mervar,
team representative and general manager of Swisslion Cycling Team
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| SotD |
Posted on 12-08-2021 09:33
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World Champion
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Some very VERY interesting talents here! Wow...
Pogacar obviously the big name, but honestly wasn't aware that you had this much talent. Well done!
Rajovic and Orken will both be very solid leadout riders with massive acceleration.
Groselj and Christodoulos both very competent TT'ers, even more so in the future.
Siric is a bit of a hidden gem I feel. Strong overall stats and still two more gains to go. Impressive!
Antonijevic is a bit of a fan-favorite for me. We had him in a season because we thought he would be the perfect train-rider for a top sprinter. We basically still do, although I guess I would have rather given him a higher COB stat than a higher PRL stat.
Christodoulos is on my transferlist once more obviously
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| quadsas |
Posted on 12-08-2021 09:59
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I thought Širič was one of top talents in the last batch, but I believe you got him very cheap, I think I would've gone slightly different path with him, but he will a great rider nonetheless.
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 12-08-2021 12:20
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Classics Specialist
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And the talents just keep on coming Crazy how you got Siric to 3.83 from 1.00, really liking the look of him.
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 12-08-2021 13:30
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Pogacar is the obvious Poga-star but that's a fine set of talents, and mostly from the focus region, to develop into useful and better riders!
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| redordead |
Posted on 13-08-2021 07:31
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SotD wrote:
Some very VERY interesting talents here! Wow...
Pogacar obviously the big name, but honestly wasn't aware that you had this much talent. Well done!
Rajovic and Orken will both be very solid leadout riders with massive acceleration.
Groselj and Christodoulos both very competent TT'ers, even more so in the future.
Siric is a bit of a hidden gem I feel. Strong overall stats and still two more gains to go. Impressive!
Antonijevic is a bit of a fan-favorite for me. We had him in a season because we thought he would be the perfect train-rider for a top sprinter. We basically still do, although I guess I would have rather given him a higher COB stat than a higher PRL stat.
Christodoulos is on my transferlist once more obviously
Thanks I don't think I have nearly the level of talent as a lot of other teams, but Pogacar is clearly the rider that stands out while the others are more average, but hopefully useful riders.
Rajovic and Orken are both a bit quirky sprinters. It remains to be seen how they pan out. I see Groselj as more of a prologue guy with the obvious huge engine on the flat. Christodoulos is more of a pure TT rider. I was surprised to find Siric in the DB also last year, so I couldn't resist picking up a rare Bosnian talent
Antonijevic is definitely a rider that has bounced around with stagiare contracts. After the previous season with my amateur team it was a pure RP decision to bring him aboard. He joins a bit of a stacked field of flat riders here, but I went more in the leadout direction with him.
Looking forward if you can come up with a suitable offer for Christodoulos come transfers
quadsas wrote:
I thought Širič was one of top talents in the last batch, but I believe you got him very cheap, I think I would've gone slightly different path with him, but he will a great rider nonetheless.
Siric is a bit of a project rider, but he definitely has some nice potential
Nemolito wrote:
And the talents just keep on coming Crazy how you got Siric to 3.83 from 1.00, really liking the look of him.
I don't think I'll be doing 1.00 -> 3.83 anytime soon again
AbhishekLFC wrote:
Pogacar is the obvious Poga-star but that's a fine set of talents, and mostly from the focus region, to develop into useful and better riders!
Believe it or not Pogacar was not in my plans at all when I promoted to PCT, but I kinda got him on a whim and to keep him on a regional focused team
Without the ability to have regional riders as leaders I had to fill our quotas with talents instead. We have a fair few now, so it's perhaps a chance to focus on other areas of the squad in the coming transfers. But the goal of developing Balkan talent will never stop
"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 23-08-2021 08:30
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
PCM$: 200.00
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First of all thank you to all of you, who have gathered here today.
Today we close a chapter for our team as we say farewell to Swisslion Takovo as our title sponsor. I would like to take this moment to thank Mr. Rodoljub Draskovic, CEO of Swisslion Group. Thank you for the trust you have had in us from the start. If it wasn't for Swisslion and our other sponsors, this project would have never gotten off the ground.
We have been through a lot over these three years. Through ups and downs, but today we won't focus on the negative. No, today we will take a trip down memory lane and look at the highlights we have produced, as we hopefully move on to another successful period. Successful for ourselves and Balkan cycling.
Spoiler
Marco Guillen wins Swisslion's first ever stage at the Tour de Langkawi.
Costa Seibeb doubled Swisslion's success with a breakaway victory on stage 5.
Spoiler
Eugert Zhupa winning on the difficult cobbles at the Tour du Faso.
Spoiler
Tony Martin managed to win the stage 1 time-trial at our home race Tour of Slovenia.
Spoiler
Luka Pibernik won stage 3 of the Benelux Challenge with a brave attack en route to finishing 4th overall.
Spoiler
Our foray into PCT was a turbulent ride, but through that we were able to secure two huge signings that would shape our future. For the distant future we were able to secure a local talent in Tadej Pogacar as one of the most exciting stage racers of his generation. For the immediate future we added Eduard Alexander Beltran to punch us up the standings, in an effort to stave off relegation.
Spoiler
Gerald Ciolek gave the team an early boost with a stage win in the Tour Down Under.
Spoiler Shocking The Cycling World
Eddy Beltran as we came to call him had the dream Swisslion debut. He won the PTHC categorised Tour of East Java with an upset win over some of the PT's best climbers.
Spoiler Punching Above Your Weight
Eddy Beltran continued his great run of results in PTHC with a stage victory and 2nd place overall in Pais Vasco
Spoiler
Eddy Beltran again showed his class as he held stronger riders at bay only to turn the tables on the final hilly stage. The Colombian soloed to stage and overall victory in Cyprus.
Spoiler
After all the success in stage races Eddy Beltran proved he can do it in the classics as well. It looked for a while that he could be challenged, but he produced an impressive victory in the end.
Continuing his strong season in the Italian classics, Beltran was the strongest in climb up to San Luca as he bagged his 2nd victory in Italy.
Spoiler
The season was not going as planned, but newly acquired veteran Kris Boeckmans shone with a stage victory and overall 3rd place in Barbados.
Spoiler
One of the perks of being a PCT team is applying for wildcards. MGUCI granted us the wildcard to participate in the Tour de France. Lahcen Saber was the leader there as he won stage 4 and spent a day in the iconic green jersey.
Spoiler
Miha Poljanec made it a proud day for our team when he won stage 7 of our home race Balkans International. Being part of our team since the start in 2018 meant this was a special moment for Miha and all of us.
Spoiler
Last year's survival hero Eddy Beltran didn't have a great season, but he eventually found form in the Tour of Lithuania where he won the overall with a victory on the final stage.
Thank you to everyone that has spent any of their time following our journey. I hope you enjoyed this little trip down memory lane as much as we did. We hope to see some of you back next year as we come back with a new team and a new outlook.
Bostjan Mervar,
team representative and general manager of Swisslion Cycling Team
Edited by redordead on 24-08-2021 06:19
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