End of an era. A bit weird knowing I kind of had an impact on this
But on the upside, I don't it will be very hard for you to keep in the team the riders that could bring you right back to the PT. Unless, of course, you will try to take this opportunity to rebuild the squad.
Unexpected, Aegon has always been a constant in the peloton ad long as I can remember. The new Jersey is lovely, and I have a feeling we’re going to be seeing it at the front a lot next season Even with the inevitable relegation downsizing, I think it’s possible you keep a team together that will be in promotion contention straight away.
Commiserations on the relegation! You really had some tough luck this year, but we definitely don't need to look into the details to find the main reason of failure:
2021
7
Sean De Bie
BEL
Aegon - Peroni
1623
2022
41
Sean De Bie
BEL
Aegon - Peroni
718
Although De Bie was surely expected to take less points than last year - on one hand because he had an amazing 2021, on the other hand due to calendar and RD reduction - scoring less than half of last year's points is just a huge underperformance. Add to that missing luck in GTs (breakaways), Olivier not doing as well as he could - and even though Wellens and Groenewegen did a decent job, relegation was unavoidable. Sorry to see you go down.
On the other hand, as alex mentioned, a relegation is always a great opportunity to take some respite and rebuild parts of the squad, instead of constantly having to fight against relegation. The change in sponsorship and the new jersey are the start of a new era, so I'm looking forward to see your rebranded team take shape in the offseason Good luck in PCT! And I really don't think your stay down with us will be long, even less so given the outflux of 7-8 really strong teams!
The relegation was harsh, especially given how bad De Bie and Olivier suddenly became! Nevertheless, will follow your PCT journey next season, and think it's going to be a short one indeed.
It will be weird no longer seeing the Aegon and the light blue jersey in the peloton from next season. Think the transition will be very interesting, and it's a great start with a nice looking jersey. Looking forward to see how you remold the team
Like others have said gonna be a bit weird without Aegon. It's never nice to relegate, but maybe this is just one step back before taking two steps forward.
First of all, thanks to your posts and best wishes.
Ezeefreak wrote:
11 years, who thats quite some time but starting something "new" is also always thrilling. The shirt is also great obviously
Reading here that Koep might be available is something we are really glad to read. I think with his experience he should be very useful to a CT with german focus
Best luck for this new part of your journey and that you'll be soon be back up there again!
Was about time to start something new I guess. Not my initial plan from years ago but still changing a bit.
jandal7 wrote:
Wow! Going to be very strange not having Aegon or the light blue jerseys in the peloton. If the Fastned era is anywhere near as successful then it's going to be a great adventure though!
Guess you've been waiting for Gazelle to be in a different division to rip off their jersey?
Question is if the Aegon era was even that successful. Sure, most time was in PT and iirc I was once close to top5 or even in there. But I guess other managers could have made a title contender around some of my riders.
And yes, Gazelle and me in same division with that jersey would be hard to find. The light blue was always very easy to see.
Sad end to an era, especially that final race, where I expected De Bie to deliver and instead he totally collapsed. Well. I'm sure you will bounce back from relegation in style!
Let`s hope so. Last time it was just 1 year in PCT and I won the title by a very small margin there (wasn`t it vs. Gazelle even?)
Anything but direct promotion would be hard indeed.
alexkr00 wrote:
End of an era. A bit weird knowing I kind of had an impact on this
But on the upside, I don't it will be very hard for you to keep in the team the riders that could bring you right back to the PT. Unless, of course, you will try to take this opportunity to rebuild the squad.
Rebuild surely has to happen seeing the difference in wage cap, but not planned to go full 180°. It will happen slowly as usual for my team of long term riders in their feel-good oasis.
Eden95 wrote:
Unexpected, Aegon has always been a constant in the peloton ad long as I can remember. The new Jersey is lovely, and I have a feeling we’re going to be seeing it at the front a lot next season Even with the inevitable relegation downsizing, I think it’s possible you keep a team together that will be in promotion contention straight away.
That`s the plan and I would be disappointed not to see this jersey a lot in the important phase of the races. Ideally not in the dropped pictures.
PCT is quite a lot different to my last trip there. So no idea, where my riders will exactly rank and what terrain is best to have.
Indeed the main factor this year. 718 points doesn`t even sound that bad, but seeing his potential of easily 1000-1200 it would have been enough to move over the line. With Olivier and Hooydonck as well struggling, that were many points missed, which also good performances by Wellens/Groenewegen couldn`t carry. And yes, breakaways are a problem for years now. Seem to not find the suited riders anymore for that. Was a lot more lucky in my early years there.
redordead wrote:
Like others have said gonna be a bit weird without Aegon. It's never nice to relegate, but maybe this is just one step back before taking two steps forward.
As long as I get all my talent development plans in PCT as well, I am fine with it. This would be worst case really to struggle there. The limited budget though at least not helping with the "rebuild" as more decent talents were originally planned to get this season as my leaders all start to go towards 30-32.
It always suck to relegate but I’m quite interested to see how you’ll start to rebuild. Some riders aren’t in a good age to gamble on for the PT in 1-2 years. But also some very interesting talents/riders still to build on.
Fingers crossed that it will be a minor bump before you are back :-)
Even with the inevitable relegation downsizing, I think it’s possible you keep a team together that will be in promotion contention straight away.
