Our first title sponsor is the well known French supplier of any kind of cycling equipment Ekoi. And while we used Ekoi products last season already, they only moved up to main sponsor prior to this season.
Le Creuset
Our second title sponsor is the French manufacturer of cookware Le Creuset, well known for its iconic ‘volcanic flame’ casseroles. Le Creuset is with our team since the beginning, initially being our only title sponsor.
Lapierre
French bike manufacturer Lapierre is our bike supplier and a minor sponsor as well, working with us since the founding of the team.
Corima
Our wheels are supplied by another well known French company: Corima is another minor sponsor which is with us ever since.
Renault
Renault is new with our team. The company itself doesn’t need a introduction, so we are more than happy to welcome them as a minor sponsor which sees to the teams logistics as well.
Shimano
Shimano is another well known partner in cycling. They supply us with bike components since the founding of the team, an arrangement that’s probably going to continue as long as there’s no French components partner available.
fi’zi:k
Another new minor partner and supplier is Italian saddle manufacturer fi’zi:k.
Big thanks to Ezeefreak, who made our jersey and custom accessoires!
The rider renewals went mostly as planned as we nearly didn’t had to let riders go that we didn’t want to. Even more than that, we could easily reduce or keep all riders wages without many problems, which also means we probably could have negotiated more aggressively. But all in all keeping certain riders was more important to us than going for the lowest possible wages on all costs. We dearly hope that we won’t suffer from that in the transfer season.
In more detail: We could renew the contracts of all our five talents, including a saving of €50,000 in wages for them. Here we probably could have saved even more, but we didn’t want to risk losing the likes of Balmer and Louvel or having to pay them as much as last year because of a too aggressive strategy.
Apart from that the most important renewals were Alaphilippe, Teuns and Henao, so we could choose our season goals matching their abilities – something we couldn’t do last year. And though we couldn’t offer Henao the wage increase he wanted and thus lost him (for now), the other two were our primary targets out of the three. So we can live with the outcome, even more so as we’re saving a bit on their wages (€20,000 to be exact).
We also renewed two domestiques: Chevrier and Gogl stay with us for the minimum wage which means another €20,000 of saved wages. However, most other domestiques were released, mostly regarding they’re already declining and / or don’t have real sales value and / or they’ll probably be available later in the transfer season if still needed.
All in all we saved a total of €540,000 in wages (including released riders) and €90,000 in wages of renewed riders. We hope the cap space freed this way can be well used in new signings, as we already identified some interesting riders for the next season.
Lots of savings coming through! Shows just how competitive the free agent market was last year. Good job holding on to Alaphilippe and Tuens on decent wages, with nearly €600,000 I don't doubt there will be plenty more French signings this off-season.
I love the look of this HQ as well as your jersey! I like your talents, too, Louvel especially, of course. You've got a lot to build, but also the resources to do so. Like TMM, very excited to see what you do with it!
Wow all green in renewals is a great sight, with some lessons learned from your first year I'm sure and a huge amount of cap shed I'm excited for what you do for your second outing
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." [PT] Xero Racing
First of all thanks to all the kind words, they make me feel more comfortable going into the transfers, especially as they are from some of the very best in the game.
As most of you mentioned, there's quite some cap space freed but I still fear the cap will be the biggest problem in transfers as I'm fearing some bidding wars on the most important riders on my wish list. So probably I'm left with some riders some way down that list and still lots of cap left ...
@cunego
The HQ still needs some trimming when I find the time (and feel like it), but thanks nonetheless. And that Ezees jerseys are great is no news, but still glad to hear it from time to time.
@jandal
All green in promotions is indeed a great sign, though I'm not sure yet I wouldn't have liked a red spot for Henaos renewal better. Time (and transfers) will tell.
@red
@SotD
Given my plans I fear your French riders aren't my top priorities as they're mostly too expensive or I already have some riders of their type I'm happy with. But transfers are of course crazy, so maybe you'll hear from me after all my plans are gone with the wind.
@Croatia
Great to hear from you and such kind words too! I'll probably know if the next season is a success after transfers already, as the main goal for the season (apart from completing some actual season goals and some nice results of course) is about team building. Alaphilippe and Teuns probably aren't the biggest point scorers but they should provide the quality to achieve at least some season goals for the next two seasons (and maybe in transfers I can get one or two other riders for that too). But the main focus is on accumulating as much talent as possible and develop them as fast as possible to get them to sustain the team in three or four years. I stated earlier (I think in the review of last season) that I don't aim for promotion this year (and probably even next year, though that might hurt Imladrik ) to get this done.
@SotD
Oh, and I haven't forgotten that you saw me in contention for promotion last year. That in some way still haunts me
A lot of released riders. But I can see what you're probably going to try for next season. If I am right then we might battle each other a lot I hope we wont battle each other a lot at the transfers and signings of FA's though.
I wish you best of luck and that you may promote right after me
Btw you have a really beautiful shirt. You have a great shirt maker there
kandesbunzler26 wrote:
@Croatia
that I don't aim for promotion this year (and probably even next year, though that might hurt Imladrik ) to get this done.
That cap space hurts me more.
Nice renewal, especially the paycut for Louvel, I didn't dare to go this far for Berthet.
Excited to see what you'll do in transferts.
(And, yes, I agree with you on that wage cap is the worst)
“...the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to hear again. The ones you can enter anywhere and inhabit comfortably."
A. Roy
That I overrated you must surely pay in my advantage. I have faith in you
The FA market is always an overwhelming place to find your leaders, but who knows - maybe this is the year where you target riders that isn't on top of other managers list, and can sneak away with some gold.
I'll be in touch regarding Louvel btw. He could be interesting for me, and who knows - maybe you find a rider from my team you like the other way around at one point or another
● strong intention to keep | ●●● open for offers | ●●●●● clear intention to sell
Loan outs
We’d be interested to loan out especially the likes of Louvel, Boileau, Balmer and / or Garibian to PT teams if you’re able to get them as near to 4.99 as anyhow possible and can pay their wage (at least partially).
Details may change when the new statgains, XP, etc rules are out and when transfers are on their way (of course).
Loan in
We are willing to take in loanees, especially on 1>3 loans with small wages, as long as you are willing to pay the wages yourself (at least partially). Details are subject to change as transfers are going on. Edited by kandesbunzler26 on 05-08-2023 13:36
Shimano 
fi’zi:k 
Vuelta al Tachira
Hong Kong Challenge
Clasico San Jose
(
) Volta a Catalunya
Coppa Placci
(
Tour of the Middle East
Tour of Guadeloupe
GP Izola
Tour de Romandie
Frankfurt Eschborn
Monterrey TTT
Tour of Eritrea
Tour du Maroc
Tour of Britain
Antoine
Sebastian
Geremie
) to get this done.
