Stepan Kurianov (27)

The third signing of the year fills a completely different role in our roster: Stepan Kurianov joins us for a fee of 250,000 from Gjensidige. He will play a crucial role in our classic season and could potentially take over a leadership role in several flat classics. On top of that he will be an important domestique to Jan Polanc and Krists Neilands in the cobbled classics. He is also just 27 years old so could contribute for over half a decade at his current level.

Louis Visser is our third loanee. He has a fairly versatile skill set that seems ideal for flatter stages. He combines a good sprint, the ability to climb short hills quickly and the willingness to attack which make him a very neat attacker for shorter tours. He joins us from Genii Hyundai N Cycling for a year.

Dinmukhammed Ulysbayev is a classic stage racer who is strong in the high mountains and knows his way around a time trial bike. He will be part of our support group for Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier in a couple of his races. Just like Visser, he was loaned to us by Genii Hyundai N Cycling.

There are few riders we have had on our radar for longer than Lars Van der Haar. Finally, we were able to bring him in this year as part of a multi-rider swap with Assa Abloy. His signing might not fit perfectly to our long-term strategy of priorizing young riders with a good long-term perspective but we really value the short-term impact he can give us filling in multiple roles at a high level: He is a strong cobbler, a rouleur who can survive hills and sprints fairly quickly and a great descender. This versatility is a big asset to us.

Our fifth signing is a bit of a nostalgic one: Michel Koch re-joins us as part of a multi-rider deal from Kraftwerk. He was one of the first free agents we signed in our debut season in 2014, was being loaned out for the first two seasons until he finally raced for us in 2016 after promoting to the ProTour. Back then, the team started the annual tradition of announcing their sponsor goal of winning the Tour de France. As our best climber he was "responsible" for getting the prestigious victory and "surprisingly" failed. He left the team in 2018.

Now, five years later, Michel Koch returns to our team and we have once again set ourself the high goal. This time, Michel Koch is far from the best climber in our squad and will not be the focus of attention. Instead he will work as a domestique for a stronger leader. Will the circle close with a satisfying ending?

Hannes joins us as part of the same deal that also brought us Lars Van der Haar from Assa Abloy. We already made him an offer last year but could not match the financial details of their contract offer so we are glad we could bring him in one year later.

Hannes might not be counted as young anymore but he still has potential to grow into a stronger rider. He is a typical stage racer with strengths in the high mountains and in time trials which make him a good Grand Tour domestique for the future.

Our final signing would happen within the final minutes of the transfers windows as we were able to confirm the signing of our first free agent of the transfer window: Latvian Deins Kanepejs joins us on a minimum wage contract. Following a couple of earlier departures amongst our supporting puncheurs, the hills depth was thinned out a bit. Out of the remaining free agents, Kanepejs stood out as an obvious target for us. He will be an important domestique to Miguel Angel Lopez on the hills.

It's been a busy transfer window:
- 9 riders remained with us
- 9 riders were sold
- 1 returning rider was loaned out
- 4 riders loaned in
- 6 riders bought
- 1 free agent signed
- 5 tourists contributed.

Overall, this squad is stronger than last year's one and we feel especially happy that our moves strengthen our long-term roster. Our goal for the season is a top 5 finish and we think these moves could get us there eventhough we are unhappy on missing out on final touches that would have given the squad a much better balance. In the end, we will of course strongly rely on our two superstars to have a big season and their performances will have a decisive input into our success.

baseballlover312 wrote:
Foss developing one of the larger TT/PRL splits in the peloton. I'd like to see how far you can take that.