redordead wrote:
Not great with the goals, but a 3rd and 4th place in win goals it should still count for something.
With Manninen and Zmorka you can probably go all wins again for next season and it's not so unlikely to get something, as well as a good budget to go with it

MacC wrote:
You had all win goals?

I'm off to faint

Just like last year, this award is for you to decide. After counting all the comments and votes in the HQ last year, Quispe won the award against forgotten mountain goat Seboka with 2 votes to 1. It would be massive if we could get the same amount of votes this year. Some people in the team even opted to select Quispe as rider of the year, but it might still be a bit too early for that. The Peruvian did some solid lead-out work and in the end scored 57 points, which made him the 7th (!) best scorer on the team. Mutsumine was a very late attempt during the transfer season to get at least something that looks like a puncheur for breakways. He did join several breakaways, and managed to score one point by finishing 8th in one of the stages in the C2 Vuelta al Tachira. Voting lines opened now!

Although Zmorka could definitely win this award, it's our flying Finn who is Baugnies' successor. He scored more than 1000 points and finished third in the PCT individual rankings, as he even managed to outscore his own superseason in 2020. It will be interesting to see how he does in PT next season, as he has asked the LPH management to go for the points jersey in a specific Grand Tour.

To be the successor of Guillén is definitely something special, but our 2020 youngster of the year deserves it more than anyone. As mentioned countless times in countless threads, Jose was the first rider we scouted ourselves. He only managed to score points once this season (by finishing third in an HC breakaway stage), but still manages to fill the manager's hearts with love everytime he reads his name.

We didn't have any youngster with outstanding results to be honest, but Daniel deserves being in the spotlights for once. He only scored 49 points and was never a name anyone would think of as being a dangerous client for winning something, but delivered great domestique work where necessary for Spilak. He's gotten a few opportunities to show what he got and delivered okay results from PTHC (Colombia) to C2 (Tachira). His skillset could be interesting for a possible stage win in one or more Grand Tours he will attend next year.

Although we have had a great season and naming anyone a disappointment might seem a bit harsh, we simply had to pick someone. We never expected much from Robert, but one could have expected a 78 time trialist going to every time trial possible in an okay time trial team should have scored a bit more.

Nemolito wrote:


Got the idea from TMM, blame him if you fainted

What a hero. He didn't care about the numbers game at all in the Ukrainian cobbled road race and blew away the competition with a mighty attack near the end of the race. The other Ukrainians were no match for him in the time trial either.

He was unable to do anything in the hilly road race, but Luca ended his strong season with a very nice bronze medal in the Italian time trial, only one second too slow for silver.

Dion had some nice screentime during the Dutch national championships. He was active in the road race with a late attack and finished fourth in the time trial with a strong ride.

Also interesting to note is that both Lopez Nolasco and Laningo Laizer are the only professional riders from their country and have thus 'won' the double as well.

The voting for meme rider of the season is incredibly close. Still a little bit of time left to vote for either Quispe or Mutsumine!

Los Pollos Hermanos would like to congratulate loanee Knotten on a decent time trial in the Norwegian championship. Iver Johan finished fourth out of 39 participants, as he will be aiming for a medal next year.

In other news, co-sponsor Galapagos have announced they will increase their budget for next season. Our Belgian/Dutch co-sponsor has stated they want to get something in return for this though. Last season the team had zero Belgians and one Dutch rider, whereas the co-sponsor has asked to go for at least three of those (combined) in our 2022 PT run. The riders do not necessarily need to be leaders though, as Galapagos mentioned that talents and/or loanees will make them happy as well. After two years in the same jersey, some changes are bound to happen to our appearance as well. In closely related news, other co-sponsor Los Pollos Hermanos has made it clear they want to at least double the amount of Mexicans on the team in 2022. Whether the name of the team itself will change is yet to be seen.