cunego59 wrote:
I'm always a bit sceptical with guys like Van Asbroeck, who are decent at multiple but not great at any one thing. But I hope it works out for you. Penasa should be a pretty reliable scorer, I think.

Pierre Paolo Penasa leads our mountain team for the season. Andrew Talansky is also expected to lead in certain races. Cristian Raileanu is an all-round climber and will play the role of a super-domestique this season. Anguilet and Teuns will also have important roles in the mountain train with able support from Zoidl, Henttala, Lafay and Schelling.

Kelderman is back leading our hills line-ups in the PCT, and we will be hoping for a much improved performance from him this season. He has a much stronger and well-rounded support team around him this time. Teuns is expected to be his chief lieutenant but the latter is also expected to get leadership duties in a couple of hills races. The versatile Raileanu and Anguilet will ride on the hills as well. We are looking the possibility Talansky joining the hills squad in certain races if required. Tom David could make some guest appearances on the hills if required. Roy Jans is expected to add muscle power to the hills as well. Lafay and Bovenhuis are also expected to help out.

Tom David is our leader for the cobblestones. Parstka and Bivenhuis are expected to accompany him to all cobbled races while Van Asbroeck might make the occasional appearance. Moricz will also be ever-present in the cobbles squads.

It was a conscious decision, much like last year before the draft, to not concentrate on the flat terrain. However, when the chance to sign Van Asbroeck came around late in transfers, we jumped on it to get in a serious leader in all terrains. Jans and Paprstka will be his primary helpers, while David is also expected to show up in certain flat races.

We have added Zoidl to our TT setup from last season. Talansky is also expected to join the team in TTT races, unless he is tied up otherwise.

Our yearly Dutch talent acquisition sees Leemrieze join the squad and the future Dutch climber factory line. We are pleased to have picked him up cheaply and will be taking care of his development ourselves.

Garcia and Sagadin will ride as Stagiares this season. They should develop into useful riders going uphill.

We have three Toms and a Tomas. All four of their wages combined are less than what Xero is paying their Tom!

Once it became clear to us that our top targets were out of reach this transfer window, we started to target a competitive leader for every terrain and depth of squad behind them. We think we managed to achieve the same to some extent and hope it is enough for us to keep picking up points everywhere which would help us keep safe. We are quite realistic about our prospects this season, and do not believe anything better than 20th place is a realistic expectation. We hope to keep our heads above the relegation water and just about managing to scrape through is fine by us at this point.

We know that this is not be the greatest advertisement of our team-building and neither it is the greatest target to present to our sponsors after they have backed us so loyally and thoroughly. However, staying in the PCT will help us take the next step in our evolution. With multiple riders reaching their peaks at the end of the season and coming back to lead the team next time around, it is better for our future to remain in the PCT and allow them to do so.

knockout wrote:
I think you have a pretty good chance to achieve that 20th place goal. You have a strong group of sub top leaders and Kelderman as the face of the team and i would be surprised if you drop into the relegation spots.

valverde321 wrote:
Comparing to my team, I actually think you have a much better team than me. Not sure if thats good or bad for either of us, but it very deep and you still have some great talents coming along too.

redordead wrote:
I get Kraftwerk vibes from this setup. Loads of depth, but replace TTs with cobbles and some sprint depth with a great puncheur like Kelderman.

And I agree with knockout the chances of achieving that top 20 place are pretty good

Nemolito wrote:
Depth, great leaders, regional talents, all lovely to see. Have to admit that I'm also a bit skeptical of Van Asbroeck, but I hope he proves me wrong I'll be cheering for you this season, and as long as Penasa doesn't go to Spilak races I'll make sure to keep Mighty Mutsumine away from the Wilco races

Bikex wrote:
In my opinion you did well to build your team. Sure the price for Van Asbroeck was quite high but that late in transfers it was a good decision to take him.
I'm sure Tom David can get back his old form. For me he was an essential part of the team in the year I promoted to PT. 500k for him will be a bargain.

Minali will complete the final step of his development at Aegon - Peroni this season. He is already a decent option as a leadout rider and can hope to pick up some points this season, even at PT level.

	FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CO	SP	AC	FT	DH	PR
2021	71	52	58	57	70	73	78	59	77	77	62	74	68
Sprinter	73	52	58	57	71	73	79	60	79	79	62	74	68
Track-Sprint	73	52	58	57	70	74	79	59	79	79	62	74	70

Inkelaar will ride with PT champions Isostar as he takes the last step towards becoming our leader for pure climbing races from next season.

	FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CO	SP	AC	FT	DH	PR
2021	64	78	69	63	74	75	77	56	60	74	69	69	63
Climber v1	64	80	70	63	74	76	78	56	60	75	71	69	63
Climber v2	64	80	69	63	75	77	78	56	60	75	70	71	63
Stage Race	64	80	70	64	75	76	79	56	60	74	69	69	64

Eenkhoorn is the more rounded stage racer on our books. He will also ride in the PT with Generali this season to complete his development. We love his Prologue stat!

	FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CO	SP	AC	FT	DH	PR
2021	70	76	72	67	74	76	78	65	64	71	69	67	73
Climber v1	70	78	74	67	75	77	80	65	64	73	71	67	73
Climber v2	70	78	73	67	76	78	79	65	64	72	70	69	73
Stage Race	71	78	73	69	76	77	80	65	64	71	69	67	75

Schelling will ride in our colours this season as he continues his development towards becoming the third cog in our regional climbing core in two seasons' time.

	FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CO	SP	AC	FT	DH	PR
2021	70	72	69	66	72	71	68	63	62	66	71	66	68
Climber v1	71	77	74	67	74	73	72	63	62	70	76	67	69
Climber v2	71	77	71	66	77	75	70	63	62	68	74	71	68
Stage Race	72	77	72	70	76	74	72	63	62	67	72	67	72

Having joined us as a Stagiare last season, Kooistra's development will actually kick-start this season as we look forward to having a useful flat rider in our book in the future.

	FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CO	SP	AC	FT	DH	PR
2021	69	59	64	58	68	66	57	66	70	70	61	62	63
Sprinter	76	59	65	58	73	67	69	71	77	77	61	63	63
Track-Sprint	76	59	65	59	69	71	68	66	77	77	61	63	70
Cobbles	74	59	65	58	75	71	64	73	75	71	62	62	63

Our latest Dutch climbing talent should also develop into a great sub-top leader or super-domestique depending on the direction we take his development.

	FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CO	SP	AC	FT	DH	PR
2021	65	69	68	63	66	69	66	60	62	66	69	65	63
Climber v1	66	78	76	64	69	74	73	60	62	73	78	68	64
Climber v2	68	78	71	63	74	78	70	60	62	70	74	76	63
Stage Race	68	78	73	70	73	76	75	60	62	69	70	66	70

Luka Sagadin continues our ever-present association with Slovenia. He will develop as a useful helper and a KOM hunter.

	FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CO	SP	AC	FT	DH	PR
2021	69	68	68	61	68	68	66	54	66	68	70	68	62
Climber v1	69	75	72	61	69	72	71	54	66	73	77	69	62
Climber v2	70	75	69	61	72	75	70	54	66	72	74	76	62
Stage Race	70	75	71	66	73	73	73	54	66	69	70	68	67

Garcia is yet another climbing talent on our books after we brought him in as a Stagiare this season. He should become more than useful as a domestique and a KOM hunter when fully developed.

	FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CO	SP	AC	FT	DH	PR
2021	67	69	68	65	70	70	67	55	63	69	60	62	64
Climber v1	68	76	75	66	73	73	73	55	63	75	67	63	65
Climber v2	68	76	71	65	77	76	70	55	63	72	64	69	64
Stage Race	70	76	72	71	76	74	73	55	63	70	61	63	70

Our late late pickup from Free Agency. Kalf will spend the year on loan at MOL to complete his development. He will join up with our cobbles and flat squads next season.

	FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CO	SP	AC	FT	DH	PR
2021	71	58	66	65	74	73	69	73	72	70	65	67	67
Sprinter	73	58	66	65	75	73	70	74	74	72	65	67	67
Cobbles	72	58	66	65	76	74	70	75	73	70	65	67	67

Four of our talents, Minali, Inkelaar, Eenkhoorn and Kalf, will be maxed next season while the rest will be in various phases of development. Our in-house talent factory can look as shown below in three seasons' time.

	FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CO	SP	AC	FT	DH	PR
Inkelaar	64	80	70	64	75	76	79	56	60	74	69	69	64
Eenkhoorn	71	78	73	69	76	77	80	65	64	71	69	67	75
Leemreize	66	78	76	64	69	74	73	60	62	73	78	68	64
Schelling	71	77	74	67	74	73	72	63	62	70	76	67	69
Garcia	68	76	75	66	73	73	73	55	63	75	67	63	65
Sagadin	69	75	72	61	69	72	71	54	66	73	77	69	62
Minali	73	52	58	57	70	74	79	59	79	79	62	74	70
Kalf	72	58	66	65	76	74	70	75	73	70	65	67	67
Kooistra	74	59	65	58	75	71	64	73	75	71	62	62	63

redordead wrote:
Philips certainly have the monopoly on Dutch climbing talent