Absolutely love to see CJJ back where he belongs Per is obviously by age and skill one of the best riders in the world to have, and I also love the Galta addition, a rider I like a lot due to his attacking exploits especially in the 2018 TDF I reported
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
Per, Galta and Quintana are some good additions to your existing core of leaders. Hopefully you're closer to midtable and not fighting relegation like me.
Also very cool to see Petrovski get a contract. I signed him in my first season and loaned him out to PT, technically he's the first rider I maxed
Your climbing department is ready for PT with two 81 climbers! I hope Quintana can forget a bad season with one or two strong GT's for Carlsberg, and who knows, he might be the unexpected key to help in keeping you up in the end. As a newly promoted team staying in is never easy, but I'm definitely rooting for you
jaxika wrote:
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.
Yeah, I think everything worked out ultimately. Hopefully he can carry me pretty far!
SotD wrote:
You have a better team than me now, so you better not relegate ;-)
You have 50x the depth and can actually plan, so there's that.
Marcovdw wrote:
Nairo and Dayer Q. are in the same division again. Be aware of the sibling rivalry we're now involved in as well.
Nemolito wrote:
Your climbing department is ready for PT with two 81 climbers! I hope Quintana can forget a bad season with one or two strong GT's for Carlsberg, and who knows, he might be the unexpected key to help in keeping you up in the end. As a newly promoted team staying in is never easy, but I'm definitely rooting for you
DarkWolf wrote:
Go, go Quintana! I am keeping my fingers he'll deliver to his full capabilities and he'll help your team stay in the PT. Go, go Carlsberg!
Hopefully Quintana can get some motivation from his sibling rivalry and I can craft a calendar that sets him up to succeed.
jandal7 wrote:
Absolutely love to see CJJ back where he belongs Per is obviously by age and skill one of the best riders in the world to have, and I also love the Galta addition, a rider I like a lot due to his attacking exploits especially in the 2018 TDF I reported
Hope to see Galta towards the front at least! JJ obviously the more important addition.
redordead wrote:
Per, Galta and Quintana are some good additions to your existing core of leaders. Hopefully you're closer to midtable and not fighting relegation like me.
Also very cool to see Petrovski get a contract. I signed him in my first season and loaned him out to PT, technically he's the first rider I maxed
I'm not very hopeful given my lack of ability to plan or secondary scoring. But I'm also not hopeless. If things go right, I think we have a chance to skirt by.
Petrovski seemed like a good fit for our final roster spot, hopefully he's good in his role!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Carlsberg didn't sign any talents this offseason, despite some significant efforts, but that doesn't mean that they weren't focused on development. Instead, the team focused on how to to further develop young riders already near their peak.
Two options seemed obvious. Alex Aranburu, the team's 28 year old lead puncheur, just had almost $2 million invested in his training last offseason, but is still a subpar leader for PT, so upgrading his hills ability further seemed logical. An alternative was to train Lennard Kamna either in his time trialing ability or his climbing ability, notching him up the pecking order in TT heavy stage races.
But Carlsberg signed David Per, and then an unexpected deal involving Arturs Belevics put the team's budget in range to do something bigger. So, with $1.7 million in hand after all their sales, the team sent the best equipment and trainers to Belgium and had Per spend the rest of his offseason doing nothing but riding cobbles - different types, difficulties, at different paces. The result, the team believes, puts Per among the top 3-5 classics specialists in the world.
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
2022
79
68
70
72
74
75
71
81
74
74
68
72
71
↓↓↓
2023
79
68
70
72
74
75
71
82
74
74
68
72
71
At 28 years old, Per could still improve further in future seasons if budgets permit, but Carlsberg obviously hope that won't be necessary to keep Per in contention for more wins like his victory in Paris-Roubaix last year. There aren't the same leadership questions as last year's training - it was clear before that by signing Per, they were making him undisputed leader for the next half decade. This just reinforces that.
We spoke to baseballlover312 about the move:
"It's quite simple really. We've always been a team that values cobbles very highly. It's our priority. Signing David was obviously a an instance of that, but it wasn't the end. We considered other options, but we figured none were as significant as reinforcing our confidence in a guy we signed to lead us forward for years. At his level, we expect consistent podiums from him in classics, and we know he can deliver. Plus, this shouldn't change his renewals demands too much given his already high FA salary, which had to be a consideration given our probability to relegate. Overall, I'm very happy with the decision. but only the stones will decide if it was really worth it."
.
Since Carlsberg signed no talents this offseason, we will be skipping that portion of our coverage this year. Our final overview of the team will be out later today!
I was rather expecting Kämna to get some training, but bringing Per to the next level obviously makes just as much sense Hopefully I'll get some monument wildcards so Theuns could challenge Per one last time
I think it’s a wise decision given his age that you make him a proper stand-out even though he was already very good. Will mean many years of success for your team!
Suits me personally too as it’s not a terrain we will be competing in much
Brilliant stuff! Must admit I had seen a couple of other riders getting something like 2mio worth of training, but to enhance a world class rider is often the best return. Well done! Especially training riders outside of my focus :-P
Fabianski wrote:
I was rather expecting Kämna to get some training, but bringing Per to the next level obviously makes just as much sense Hopefully I'll get some monument wildcards so Theuns could challenge Per one last time
SotD wrote:
Brilliant stuff! Must admit I had seen a couple of other riders getting something like 2mio worth of training, but to enhance a world class rider is often the best return. Well done! Especially training riders outside of my focus :-P
Kamna and Aranburu were the other two guys we were seriously considering training, but we didn't think the math made sense given our budget. Unfortunately, we didn't have a full $2,000,000 or more to spend, which would have made multiple smaller trainings viable (like Kamna to 80 TT or 79 + Aranburu 80 hill). We had exactly $1.7 million after all our sales, with <$1k to spare. So the alternative wasn't really multiple trainings, it was either Aranburu OR Kamna going up 1 stat and then either much smaller trainings or a domestique purchase (or keep Guldhammer, which might have been the move in that case).
Ultimately we chose to train Per for a few reasons beyond the scoring impact, which we hope will be meaningful:
1.) We expect to relegate, or at least must prepare for that possibility, and as Bikex says, this makes Per's wage more viable. I think I will be able to reduce Per's wage to about the same spot next year with or without the bump. So it doesn't affect my cap struggles going forward. But if I trained Kamna or Aranburu and relegated, I'm then struggling harder to fit everyone into the PCT cap given that they would need significant wage increases and Per would still be the same. And of course, Per is only 28, same age as Aranburu and one year older than Kamna, so not a shorter term move or anything.
2.) I've always struggled mightily with goals in part because I lacked top top riders, and this makes it easier. As LLS says, Per is now a standout top 3-5 cobbler going forward. I can pencil the max number of cobbled races into my goals each year for the next 5 years and expect a good return. So to me that's a major budget investment going forward.
3.) Aranburu and Kamna can fill their entire race day allocations with somewhat fitting races because they're hybrids, so losing a couple of race days, while definitely worth it, was a consideration. Per losing 2 RD because his OVL goes up means nothing because there aren't enough cobbled races to fill it up either way.
4.) I just love cobbles more than other terrains and given that none of these guys are regional, it seemed like the investment most fitting with my team identity and RP, though the fact that Kamna and Aranburu are homegrown does weigh the other way.
Only time will tell if it was the right call, but given our options, that was kind of my thought process!
SotD wrote:
78MO for both Aranburu and Kämna would also be precise 1,7mio I think. Not that I would say that is a better option.
Ah, fair. Didn't really consider that to be honest, but it certainly was an option. Last year I committed to Aranburu towards the puncheur end of the hybrid spectrum, so I kind of closed out the idea of training his Mtn, but it might have made sense. Don't think I'd do the 78 mountain for Kamna though. I view Kamna as less of a standard stage racer and more of a strong time trialist who excels in TT heavy stage races that have enough uphill to knock the one dimensional guys down. That's how I planned him last year, and he exceeded all my expectations with over 500 PCT points. Don't think mountain training makes him much better for that calendar versus the wage and RD costs (though I suppose I could have done TT and a hill training). Think I'll save the mountain training for Skjelmose in a few years.
Edit: As I mentioned in the post though, Kamna's calendar won't be able to fit him as well in PT, where maybe the mountain would have been more useful for GT's and the like. but good thing I'll be back in PCT soon then!
Edited by baseballlover312 on 23-08-2023 04:17
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
So, the transfer season has concluded, and Carlsberg has a new look. The core remains mostly in place, but they've swapped out their aging leaders for slightly less aging leaders in an attempt to set themselves up long term and at least cosplay as a PT team in the meantime.
The big addition to Carlsberg was David Per, made bigger by his training on cobbles. He'll never be Pedersen or Wisniowski, but he now has the ability to compete for victories in every cobbles race on a good day. The support behind him is somewhat questionable as the team didn't invest more in their cobbles team besides the late signing of Hnik, and the lack of a true sidekick for Per is surprising. But plenty of cobblers have succeeded without it, and they'll hope he can do the same.
With Guldhammer gone, the stage race contingent is different, though still pretty old. Galta and Quintana together will be able to cover every mountain race on the calendar, which is nice, although we haven't gotten much info from our sources about how that division of labor will go quite yet. Which leader will go to two GT's?The support behind them is solid enough, though Aranburu and Kamna's place in the mountain train on paper is deceiving as they will ride mostly separate calendars from the pure climbers.
Beyond those three leaders, it's much of the same from their promotion campaign. Aranburu will be sole hills leader this time around. He's a nice hybrid though not the punchiest puncheur, but we worry that his TT deficit may end up being his true achilles heel in this year's calendar. Kamna, on the other hand, will hope to repeat his strong 2022, but there are question marks there. He was able to ride a calendar perfectly tailored to him in PCT, now he won't be so lucky. He may struggle to find his niche as well as he did previously.
Depth then becomes a significant issue. AKA won't be winning many races in PT, but he's still good enough to compete. The lack of a competent secondary sprinter for GT's and the like will probably hurt though, and while guys like Eg, Gregaard, and Sulvaran are solid, there are too many spots taken up by fill-ins without any real chances to score or be with their leaders when it matters.
This lack of good depth would be more excusable if the team had focused on signing talents, but they didn't. While they certainly tried to sign a couple of Danish youngsters, they came up empty. For the first time in the team's history, they will not have a single eligible rider for the Tour de l'Avenir this August. Of course, with a several leaders under 28 and Skjelmose on the way, it's not like the sky is falling age wise. But the pipeline of reliable domestique talents has dried up for the time being.
Our prognosis isn't great. Are Carlsberg the worst team in the division? Not clearly, at least. But emerging from the relegation fight will take a significant amount of luck and extremely tactful planning, neither of which the team has been able to bring about much in the past. The different strategic game of the PT calendar complicates things further. If they do relegate, a lot of the long term future of the team will rely on negotiations with Per next offseason. Time will tell if this is the start of a successful era for Carlsberg, or their lifetime peak.
Mr. Pickles
Sporting News
Edit: The original version of this article incorrectly stated that Carlsberg would not have a single l'Avenir eligible talent this season. This is of course false, as the team still has 23 year old Skjelmose, who will compete for a GC victory there.
Edited by baseballlover312 on 24-08-2023 02:47
Yes love the Per training!!! As you say it will be a tough year for Carlsberg but setting yourself up in the way you did grabbing Per to join the other leaders with age on their side means I think it's going to long-term be a decent outing, and if you relegate then I'm sure when you probably bounce back very quickly it can be to stay!
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 Per training is very nice. I was expecting the German to get it, but I love that Per keeps getting better. I imagine a great rivalry between him and Pedersen
The team is super solid with Per, two stage racers, hybrid TTer, Andersen sprinting and Aranburu on the hills. Every race covered as I see it
Don't be so negative. I see enough here to put up a good battle not just to avoid relegation but punch into the mid-table with some luck and good planning. Enjoy the season, whatever it brings!
Per is obviously by age and skill one of the best riders in the world to have, and I also love the Galta addition, a rider I like a lot due to his attacking exploits especially in the 2018 TDF I reported 
David Per, and then an unexpected deal involving Arturs Belevics put the team's budget in range to do something bigger. So, with $1.7 million in hand after all their sales, the team sent the best equipment and trainers to Belgium and had Per spend the rest of his offseason doing nothing but riding cobbles - different types, difficulties, at different paces. The result, the team believes, puts Per among the top 3-5 classics specialists in the world.
![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
