Aranburu, Guldhammer, Jensen and Lander are all welcome to stay in PT
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
jandal7 wrote:
Aranburu, Guldhammer, Jensen and Lander are all welcome to stay in PT
I could imagine one of them doing another PCT year, though
There's no regional focus fit at all, but some of the available riders still look rather intriguing to me - not sure if we'll end up talking, but we might do
In a shocking development, new PT team Carlsberg - Danske Bank have given Slovenian cobbles leader David Per an absolutely insane $1,000,000 contract for the upcoming season in free agency. There's certainly nobody happier about Isostar's demise now than David, who will make more the double the next highest salary in Carlsberg team history. We reached out to manager baseballlover312 for comment:
"Uhh, I did that, yeah. I don't know, you ever just do things? Like sometimes your body does something and later your brain is like, oh wait, why did I do that again? Carlsberg got us a keg for the opening night of transfers and I was kinda buzzed to be honest. I think maybe I confused him with Mads Pedersen for a second. Well we'll figure something out I guess. YOLO."
Carlsberg will need to do a lot of work to build a competitive team with that contract on the books, that's for sure.
He had a super season last year so you'd hope he can repeat his efforts again this season! I'm glad he's in the one terrain I'm not particularly focussed on
Huge wage for sure but no reason that can't make the rest of the team very competitive too!
I dont think it's the most likely move to avoid relegation but it is building for the future and after a wage cut next year, he will be able to fit well into whatever division you are building for. And he has the shot at going on a classics run to save yourself. It's not like you paid 1m for an undeveloped talent. And not to forget: Per is just awesome
Very nice signing! Should do well for you even if you dropped a cool million on him - that is just the reality of free agency. Should carry the mantle of classics leader from Trentin very well!
John St Ledger in Team Bunzl-Centrica and Team U25
Transfers are over! Usually promoting teams are more apt to buy than sell, but this transfer season was a bit unconventional for Carlsberg. They made a splash in free agency and decided to go a different direction. Ultimately they were able to sell all the riders they hope to sell, although the timing at which it happened made it difficult to acquire scorers with the cap room generated. Regardless, we saw some huge names leaves.
Rasmus Guldhammer | Climber | 2021-2022
Rasmus Guldhammer has been the king of Danish cycling for over a decade. As such, he was highly coveted by Carlsberg, for a long time the sole Danish team in the peloton. Time after time it didn't work out. They followed him from B&O to Aker to Volkeswagen. But finally, in the 2021 transfer season, Carlsberg were able to secure the Guldhammer as their leader ahead of his age 32 season.
The Dane did not disappoint. His 2021 season included 5 stage wins and a top 5 in the team's first ever Grand Tour at the Giro. His attacking style and all around capabilities immediately gelled with Carlsberg's philosophy, and success followed in the form of a top 15 in the PCT standings.
He began to decline after that season, and there were talks of the team moving on from Guldhammer in favor of a younger leader. instead, the team decided to keep him on for one big promotion push. It worked. Guldhammer, though slightly weaker on paper, still managed to finish 21st overall in the PCT standings as the team's leading rider in their successful promotion campaign. Consistency was key. When he struggled one day, he made the most of the rest of the race, as in his KOM victory in Dauphine.
Unfortunately Guldhammer declined again this offseason. While the team contemplated the possibility of keeping him on to hunt for KOM's, the opportunity to sell became more appealing with the arrival of new leaders and a chance to hit a budget goal through sale. He moves to DK Zaligris for a fee of $500,000, where he will still have a chance to ride for himself in PCT.
Kristian Haugaard Jensen | Puncheur | 2022
Like Guldhammer, Jensen was a long sought after target of Carlsberg, especially after he was trained to his current level as a true leading puncheur. He transferred into Carlsberg last season from Indosat and was primed to represent his home team. Perhaps unfortunately for him, the team stumbled into some money and trained Alex Aranburu to 79 hill last offseason, meaning Jensen was forced to share leadership duties on the hills with his younger counterpart. Despite this, Jensen was still a solid leader for Carlsberg and a key part of their promotion campaign.
With the team promoting to PT, they decided that it made more sense to pick one hills leader, and Aranburu being the younger of the two basically made that decision. Jensen moves all the way down to the CT division to ride for Manada Coyote next season in a swap involving Nairo Quintana and a $504,000 fee. There, he'll have the chance to not only lead for himself, but potentially dominate an entire division.
Sebastian Lander | Sprinter | 2021-2022
Yet another long time target of Carlsberg, Lander joined late in the offseason in 2021 to act as a secondary sprinter and classics rider. His first season was unremarkable besides a stage win in the Tour de Pologne, and the team discussed moving on. Instead, the departure of Georgios Bouglas opened up the chance for Lander to have a more stage race heavy workload over just classics. He did not disappoint, having a solid season marked most impressively by 6th place in the Benelux Challenge, salvaging a goal race for Carlsberg after Matteo Trentin unexpectedly cracked.
With his age increasing and a need for funds, Carlsberg decided to move on from Lander this season. He joins Gazelle for a fee of $300,000.
Arturs Belevics | Time Trialist | 2018-2022
Belevics joined Carlsberg as a stagiare in 2018, and very little of the MG world took notice. But as time trialing grew into fashion, and it became clear that Belevics had true talent, his popularity began to rise. Fully developed at 26, Belevics became an unexpectedly prolific scorer with his consistency in TT races and steadfast support in flat races. Though a non-Dane wearing his trademark Latvian TT NC, Belevics became a fan favorite among the Danish faithful for his victory in Stage 5 of last year's Post Danmark Rundt.
Reports were that Carlsberg were not looking to trade Belevics, and in fact were especially hesitant to do so, but Tafjord Kraft put an offer on the table that opened up other doors for the team, and they couldn't refuse. Belevics leaves, along with Kasper Asgreen, for a fee of $700,000. He'll have the chance to lead in CT now.
Kasper Asgreen | Puncheur | 2017-2022
Asgreen is a bit of a "what could have been" story for Carlsberg. Asgreen joined the team as a talent all the way back in 2017, the same offseason as Christopher Juul-Jensen. At the time, Asgreen looked to be in the same mold as his mentor, a true puncheur with great acceleration and a fighting spirit. Unfortunately, that style fell out of vogue over the next few years as heartier puncheurs with more versatility came to dominate the peloton. Asgreen never really got his chance to shine, especially at upper levels of the sport.
Once Jensen left, it was decided that Asgreen was not the right guy to support a hybrid like Aranburu and would be better off in a lower division. He leaves in the same deal as Belevics to Tafjord Kraft for $700,000 total.
As always, we asked baseballover312 for his thoughts:
"Every year there are tough departures. This year was no different. Guldy has been a leader both on the road and the bus for us the last two years, so it was tough to say goodbye, even if it made sense for everyone. But what made this year especially difficult was having to trade two homegrown talents. We saw Arturs and Kasper mature here as both riders and people for years, and now that's over. We'd had a conversation with Kasper about our direction before transfers, but breaking the news to Arturs was rough because he didn't expect it. Neither did we. Ultimately this is a business, and he's excited for the chance to lead in CT, not to mention the confidence boost of seeing how much he's worth on the market. But we definitely lost a lot this offseason. just hope it was worth it."
Departures are sad, but the hope is the arrivals are more exciting. We'll get you those soon!
Alright then, onto the arrivals. The fun part. Quite a few this year, and some big names!
David Per | $1,000,000 | Cobbles
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
79
68
70
72
74
75
71
81
74
74
68
72
71
Carlsberg have had a focus on cobbles since the very beginning, and their promotion to PT, along with Matteo Trentin's decline and exit, made signing a new cobbles leader a top priority. The target, none other than last year's Paris-Roubaix champ, David Per. The price, well... a cool $1,000,000 wage in cash courtesy of free agency. Excellence doesn't come cheap, but he instantly slots in as the team's best ever rider.
Despite the cost's impact on relegation chances, Carlsberg management remain optimistic that this signing sets them up for the future. Per is only 28 years old, and there may still be some untapped potential in him. His wage is unruly for sure, but he will undoubtedly be a long term piece for the team to build around.
Frederik Strand Galta | $370,000 | Stage Racer
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
69
81
73
73
78
79
77
52
63
66
66
70
71
Second on Carlsberg's priority list was to get a GC leader fit to take on the mountains heavy PT calendar. They made many inquiries, but ultimately the opportunity to get a Scandinavian was too good to pass up. Galta joins from Cedevita for a $1.5 million fee after riding with MOL last season. He'll be their top climber this year, though the team is still discussing his exact calendar with him. He's also still 31 years old, so he has a couple of peak years left, and thanks to his reasonable wage, he could be a solid piece for a PCT rebound even if the team relegates.
Nairo Quintana | $450,000 | Climber
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
67
81
73
70
76
75
75
51
50
65
72
60
70
After the Galta signing, Carlsberg were wondering what to do about a third new leader. At the time, they were still carrying Kristian Haugaard Jensen as a second lead puncheur, which they did not feel was a good fit for the calendar. The opportunity arose for a swap deal that could help both Carlsberg and Manada Coyotes. Nairo arrived along with a $504,000 fee in exchange for Jensen.
Nairo hasn't had the best couple of the years and is getting up in age. Nevertheless, Carlsberg management are hopeful that the GT centered calendar in PT will give him opportunities to score well without the pressure of following every attack that he often had in shorter PCT races. Perhaps more importantly, his arrival allows the team to cover every GC race on their schedule rather than stacking two secondary puncheurs in the same races.
Jaume Sureda | $50,000 | Sprinter
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
73
63
71
61
71
69
75
65
77
79
72
65
61
The departure of Lander left Carlsberg without a secondary sprinter. They were disheartened to miss out on the rush of good secondary sprinters on the FA market, but managed to find Sureda still looking for a contract a few days in. He doesn't have the best top speed, but he can climb well and has great acceleration. They'll look for him to steal some placings throughout the year.
Karel Hnik | $75,000 | Cobbles
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
73
54
64
53
73
69
65
76
72
67
67
77
53
The arrival of Per made Carlsberg want to go out and get some support. Hnik spent years helping Sam Bewley dominate the cobbles with Becherkova/Moser, so why can't he do the same here? (probably because he doesn't have Sam Bewley, but I digress) He's still a solid cobbler and joins from free agency for $75,000.
Stefan Petrovski | $50,000 | Climber
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
70
75
73
66
72
73
67
54
61
68
75
70
66
Management thought long and hard about how to lose their last roster spot. Ultimately, they decided that they could use another punchy climber to plug into their calendar when needed. Petrovski is an experienced climber who likes to attack and can hopefully get in some breakaways.
But wait... there is one more signing to cover...
Spoiler
Christopher Juul-Jensen | $50,000 | Puncheur
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
70
67
75
64
71
69
66
67
63
74
77
66
64
HE'S BACK! Juul-Maar is back on Carlsberg. He was sent down to lead a CT team two years ago, but just as the scripture foretold, he has risen on the third season to save Carlsberg! In all seriousness, Juul-Jensen is clearly not the rider he once was, but he's still a solid puncheur helper and attacker, and can cover some cobbles when necessary. Now he gets to have a final season where he belongs!
"It wasn't easy out there this year, that's for sure. but ultimately, we got the one signing that matters. Not too often you have the chance to sign someone of his caliber. Oh, you don't wanna talk about Juul-Jensen? Cause JJ being back is all I really care about right now. Well, anyway, we're happy to have gotten three genuine leaders this offseason, even if it probably isn't enough to avoid relegation. We'll, uh, talk about Per later, but we're happy to have both Galta and Quintana on board. At the very least we'll have guys to pull for in all our GT's this year, which should make the PT experiment more fun than it would otherwise be. From there, it's all up to God and JJ I guess."
Our transfers coverage isn't done, there's still a big reveal to be made!
Im happy that at the final Galta arrived at your team. I hope he will do hes Best again, as in last year. As you said, with the leaders you had isnt be a problem to go back to PCT, still a remaining in PT its in cards too.
David Per 
Rasmus Guldhammer 
Arturs Belevics 
Frederik Strand Galta 
Nairo Quintana 
Jaume Sureda 
Karel Hnik 
Stefan Petrovski 
