Really enjoy your commitment to Logan Owen, he's a cool rider And a lot of admiration for your regional focus and the talents you snapped up - will be very satisfying I'm sure to build that core up over the next few years!
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
The Great Big "We Are Currently the Best Team In The World" Post
It's true! As of right now we hold a 100% record in races. No-one has come close to us Podium Ambition riders so far in 2021. Unstoppable.
Ok so the only races to have taken place are the Caribbean Championships, where we massively stack the field, doubly so for the ITT. But nonetheless we still delivered two hard fought Golds and begin the teams new era in the best way imaginable.
Jyme Bridges in the Road Race begins his final pre-decline season in style. Hennis Hasani shows why he was one of our priority signings in the Time Trial.
This is going to be a long and struggling season. Just lets us bask in this breif moment of wonderful glory!
Congratulations! It is a very nice way to start the season.
I am particularly happy to see Hennis win the gold medal at TT. Now Anguilla can boast a win here as well besides my careers in Pro Cycling Manager and Football Manager.
The Great Big "Ups & Downs of the Early Season" Post
Both Caleb Ewan & Marcos Altur have now lead some races for the team as we started the season with aggressive race selection in the early months. This provides a good litmus test of where we will sit for the season. Get some good results here & we can feel confident, miss our marks and it's a long doom laden year. So which way did things go?
Neither, somehow we hit a middle ground that leaves us more confused than anything else...
Day 1, Goal #1. The Down Under Classic is always a goal, and frankly we don't know why because this race has always been poor for us. Ewan suffered the same old issues, being a top class lead-out instead of a finisher, and only delivered 8th to Fail the goal.
Race 2 at the Tour Down Under flipped the script. Ewan was hit & miss as a lead-out man but consistent bonuses gave him a reasonable, not we wanted from our big leader but enough to be happy with depth scoring.
Because two young guns decided to throw out the script and announce the new Caribbean wave is genuinely here for good, with some Mauritian assistance.
Jonathon Croes & Alex Mayer conspired to become the most dislike riders in the peloton. The Aruban sprinted to second on Willunga Hill in a powerhouse performance. And that coming one day after Mayer snuck into the winning move for 4th and jumping him into 6th overall & the White Jersey. Combined together these results made the TDU a good scoring race built on our new young core.
Honestly it was kind of perfect if you don't think about the Pocket Rocket.
Then we have the cobbles. Marcos Altur struggled to get going, but both Wolverine & Edmo showed good depth in Franceville. Then Marcos had better form in Omloop Het Newieueussewewsblad (i refuse to learn how to spell this race properly!) but our depth was missing. And in our C2 start at Herning Matthews was ok if not spectacular, but our stagiaires and young guns showed promise.
How do we grade the cobbles - With a big bold ? because one race is ok, the next isn't, and then it's promising for the future. All of this leaving management somewhat annoyed we are again going to have a yo-yo season and the relevant stress of not knowing our fate until probably September.
We're not here to talk about Colombia or Pais Vasco. We knew those races were not for this current squad, being filled out with neo-pros and riders just looking for experience. In a few years after we've uncovered a better talent we can target some climbing races.
No, we are obviously here to talk about sprinting. 9 days of pretty much pan flat racing, in the sunshine. It should be ideal for the team with the divisions top rated, and top paid, sprinter! We all know what that means across this year and last for MG sprinting...
9 Days of Sprints. Ewan delivered 3 Top5 finishes. Last year this would have meant we created a lead-out then faltered in the final 500m to miss out. This year, it meant that on about 5 days were just weren't competing. Not making a lead-out, barely supporting the Aussie, and overall just not looking at all like a team with the #1 rated favourite.
And yet, we did get a Stage Win and somehow complete our Barbados Top5 GC Goal! Because in this mental 2021 season of course we can waste 6 Race Days and still complete our first Goal in about two years. Why would we follow logic and help the Manager stay sane?
They say the definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting different results. I say the definition of insanity can be found in a PCM MG Sprint finish. We all know the result will be weird. We all know it will be wildly different to the previous sprint. And we still come back time after time with a smile! ... maybe we're just masochists ...
The Great Big "At Least The Future Is Bright" Post
The latest rankings are out! It makes for some unpleasant reading if you're a T3A fan (shoutout to our one fan, love you Mum!). We've nose dived from title contender, to relegation fighter. And that's before you add the struggle of Veendendaal. And before you realise we've go 21 days of the ToA without an actual climber. So yeah, season going as planned on the relegation path.
But all is not lost! Because our second best scoring rider after Ewan is neo-pro Alexnadre Mayer. And we've continued to see some strong performances from our raft of young guns. So we'd thought we'd have a little look at a couple of them:-
For Alex, it was all about the TDU. He snuck into the right attacking move late on Stage 4 to jump up the GC with a 4th place finish. That guided him to a 6th GC finish, and taking home the U23 Jersey as well. Most recently he's been out in a few breakaway moves. Certainly we think he's developing nicely as a multi-talented Punchuer.
Jacob Morales Ortega
Wage 55k | Age 22 | Potential 5 | Points 0
FL
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MO
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ST
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RC
CB
SP
AC
FTR
DL
PRL
65
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55
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61
We're yet to see too much out of Jacob this season. Although not unexpected from a true Lvl 1.00 neo-pro. That said we've seen some early signs of development during training and he's on route to becoming a solid attacking climber. The Puerot Rican is on track to securing a key 2nd year contract.
5 Points from the Stagiere, a very good opening showing from the Trinidadian. Stagieres are never guaranteed to progress up the team, but scoring points goes a long way to getting that full 50k payday. We love his ability to dig deep on tricky up hill roads, and beleve that even though his raw talent is capped he can be key to future climbing successes.
And what of those future successes? Well the scouts have already been out scouering the island nations, and early indications are of another 5-10 potential talents who could make it to the MG world. In fact we think we've identified a potential Trinidadian Sprint/Classics leader. Time Trialists are never hard to find either. But the challenge is location the future GC and Hills options, especially if we have to try and secure a capable talent on a CT level wage budget.
The Great Big "Our Most Successful Season Ever?" Post
We've said this quite a few times now this year, but goddamn this season is confusing and all over the place! We are simultaneously headed for relegation, and for matching our best ever season for Goals success. Because of course! Why would T3A make any logical sense in this 2021 season. Our management team is quite seriously going insane trying to figure it out.
Alex Cataford might only be good in a couple of races, but in those races he's really good & really consistent. Except he isn't even consistent! Last season AC rode to a shock GC Podium in Tour of Ukraine which catapulted him up the rankings, and he Won the Chrono d'Arenburg, to end the year as one of the divisions best scoring Time Trialists.
In 2021 he finished 6th GC in Ukraine, and 2nd in Arenburg. Not as great as last year, but still right in the mix and bagging strong points. That 2nd Place in Chrono d'Arenburg means we only just missed the Win Goal, not perfect but still secures 4-out-of-5 available Goal Points. And for this team that's incredible! Added to the 5th Place Goal success in Barbados we've secure 9-out-of-15 Goal Points.
We definitely won't get our Ranking Goal, but Battenkill is still very much in play, as long as we don't actually look at Alturs classics result this year. But even so, this is one of our best ever Goal seasons and will give us a strong CT Budget before we even sell Ewan & Altur (& maybe AC, but the Canadian is making a strong argument to hold him!).
Oh yes, and we were talking about consistency. Just to remind the world that the Caribbean revolution is well underway, Darren Matthews finished Run 1 of Arenberg in 3rd Place, a full 30" faster than 14th place AC. The Barbadian NC and team Road Captain again proved he's a versatile threat capable to some good results at this level. God we wish he was 5 years younger and we could train him into something fun.
And then of course AC won the 2nd leg to climb to 2nd Overall, just to prove he perhaps should have competed to the win (although we love Anderberg!). And Matthews collapsed to 19th. Because, you know, our season makes absolutely no sense.
The battle for PCT survival might well be over. But we're going out with some good riding, and a strong looking future. And, whisper it quietly, we might have found a world class climbing talent from the Caribbean...
The Great Big "Inevitable, But Still Winning" Post
The latest rankings are out! We now sit 22nd Overall, and about 19th on Projected. This means we have finally slipped into the Relegation places, although theoretically are on track to survive. That projected is deceptive however. We still have the Tour of America to come, which will eat race days and return very little in points.
As always it's hard to actuately precidct where the points cut-off will be. We're thinking T3A will end up around 1500-1600 points, when survival coult be 1800-2000. Starting to feel inevitable that our pre-season expectation of relegation will come true.
However, all is not lost! Caleb Ewan's 2nd place in the Philadelphia Internaltion Cycling Championship, a PTHC event, will only count in the next ranking and shows we are still capable of battling away. Plus Alex Cataford finally got his first Win on the year, taking the opneing Stage of the Tour de Vineyards, just days after a quiet Celtic Chrono performance. Because yet again, why would this team make sense?
We are fully into CT preperation mode and evaluating who we are looking to keep. This might depend on who our scouts turn up, but with the limited future wage cap it's far more likely we'll hold off brining up new names to the Pros and focus on what we have for another year or two before bouncing back into the PCT and signing an actual competitive Caribbean leader, or two.
Still, staying positive. Not totally beyond survival just yet, and our riders certailny have not given up!
Look, here at T3A we're running out of things to celebrate this season. Just the one stage win on our long slow slide into the CT. But it's not all doom and gloom, as some of our new youngsters have made solid attempts to breakthrough. The latest of these comes at the premier Tour de l'Avenir event!
The Stagiere Nathan Alexander thus far sits 4th Overall after six stages, having climbed with some of the best talents in the peloton. Still a long way to go in the race, but the positives are there. More so when he's hardly considered the best of the new Caribbean wave, behind the likes of Kemp Orosco, Jon Croes or Jacob Morales Ortega.
Nathan is a solid all-round stage racer. He's got good inbuilt strength for the flat roads, and can translate this power into climbing as well as making him useful in a Time Trial. He could be a training option if we are unable to discover our own Caribbean stage racer in three-four seasons.
But in cycling, taking your opportunity is half of the battle. We have our fingers crossed for Nathan as he works hard to maintain a Top10 finish. Avenir has been solid so far for the whole team and we may well be back with more positivity soon.
"But TMM, the season is not finished yet?" Technically true, but we've completed all four Goal races and we all know what the league position will be. So lets get a jump on most teams and start looking back at the season, and maybe even a hint at some future off-season changes.
Goals Barbados Cycling Festival - Top 5 - PASS 5th Caleb Ewan Tour of the Battenkill - Win - FAIL 14th Marcos Altur Down Under Classic - Win - FAIL 8th Caleb Ewan Chrono d'Arenberg - Win - CLOSE 2nd Alex Cataford Team Standings - Win - FAIL Relegation
The season begins with the Down Under Classic, and it's been a team goal for a few years. Not sure why because it always goes badly, and this was no exception. Caleb Ewan delivering an 8th place, not his worst DUC ride but a way short of what we needed.
Caleb Ewan, however, was not entirely lost this season! Our "home" race, the Barbados Cycling Festival has historically been bad just like the DUC. But a Stage 2 Win (Ewan's only victory of the year) and taking advantage of the GC bug allowed him to sneak into 5th Overall and complete the Goal!
From one "winner" to another Winner. Alex Cataford won the Chrono d'Arenberg last year, so we backed him to do so again. Alas a very poor leg 1 prevent this, as he had to fight back to claim Second place. Not a full pass, but 4/5 goal points secured in another good year for the Canadian. He's claimed as many wins as Ewan thanks to Stage 1 of the Tour de Vineyards.
From winners to Marco Altur. I'm not mad at him, i'm just disappointed. Yes, the situation is that bad i'm pulling out the 'Parent Talk'. I can't explain quite why we thought having a Goal rely on the MG's worst ever transfer spend was even considered, but here we are. 14th, just in front of his Lieutenant Wolverine is, i think, our worst ever Goal Fail (excluding Rankings).
Speaking of Rankings, obviously we were not going to Win the PCT. But as part of a long running mild protest against forced Rankings Goals, especially as we've transitioned as a team further and further away from measuring our success on Rankings we continue to pick it. We'll relegate which if obviously a Goal Fail, although that hides the surprising success and front foot riding of the wave of neo-pros on the roster.
All in all this won't give us a massive Budget heading into the off-season. But with the prospective sales of Ewan & Altur we should have enough money to do some good training. Whether that's Wolverine or AC is to be confirmed based on who we can renew & how we structure a team needing to Loan Out half a dozen riders. Equally we could continue to Go Big or Go Home with out Goals to ensure some further budget. Or, perhaps, there's a seismic shift coming and T3A could make realistic Goals as part of the new Caribbean Era... I know, shocking reveleations!
Happy with the progression being made in the team. Does leave us needing quite a few PT Loans for the next season, but knowing this we don't have to worry about building a bounce-back CT team and can dedicate another year to developing the unique project.
All helps finalise our off-season thoughts as we await the very drawn out inevitable relegation. But when you consider the results gained this year by Mayer, Croes and really all our neo-pros the world of MG cycling should be terrified of this team once it's at full strength.
I really respect how you've taken the course of the season in stride despite what both Ewan and Altur have done, and your commitment to your project vision. I'm curious if you'll take one or even both with you to CT, but either way I believe you'll be an immediate contender for promotion. Crabbe have shown that you can do very well while focussing on just one terrain. That said, 76 hill for Meyer and not even maxed? Is that even allowed on your team?
cunego59 wrote:
I really respect how you've taken the course of the season in stride despite what both Ewan and Altur have done, and your commitment to your project vision. I'm curious if you'll take one or even both with you to CT, but either way I believe you'll be an immediate contender for promotion. Crabbe have shown that you can do very well while focussing on just one terrain. That said, 76 hill for Meyer and not even maxed? Is that even allowed on your team?
If i wasn't transitioning to my Caribbean project, i might have quit over how poor Ewan & Altur were this year.
Altur will be quietly taken behind the bike shed and put down. Ewan... well i've got to loan out a few guys so there'll be spare cap space... We'll see, certainly he'll come through renewal as we can get good money for training from his sale (Wolverine needs better claws!).
One terrain? Who do you think we are? This team is now about being rounded and tackling uphill roads as well! Especially as we need another few years to find and grow suitable Caribbean sprinter and classics riders.
It's just a shame neither of us could sustain that January title challenge
TheManxMissile wrote:
Altur will be quietly taken behind the bike shed and put down.
I feel somewhat responsible for this... And then seeing Simon Yates win his first monument has to be a horrible gut punch. My condolences, truly.
Will be interesting to see how the Caribbean project progresses this offseason.
Altur has brought this upon himself, and at least he's going down in MG History. I don't feel bad about the Yates deal, i'm super pumped to watch him do well! At the time i didn't want to just make a normal rounded team, i still dont
Honestly, probably not too much happening this off-season. Get the Loan Outs sorted, grab a few In's to add a little extra cash onto the Ewan fee & see what we can do to Wolverine in training. Then see where we sit in Cap & Roster Space if we want to add anyone, but there won't be many new faces in the FA pool for us this time around.
Really nice talents. Still crying on a daily basis because I was afraid I didn't have the budget to overbid you again for Perez who I suggested and really liked. On the one hand relegating with your three leaders and no depth is not the biggest surprise ever, on the other hand you see Ewan's points and Altur's performances and we could have easily swapped places if Manninen and Zmorka acted the same and vice versa. Will be a fun team to follow in CT, I'd already like to wish you the best of luck with your loan-in and -out scheme
And a lot of admiration for your regional focus and the talents you snapped up - will be very satisfying I'm sure to build that core up over the next few years!
![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
Alexandre Mayer
Jacob Morales Ortega
Kemp Orosco
Alexandre Meyer - 3>4
