Yep, I think he is fairly cheap too for a FA. I guess noone really made them one of their top priorities and had other stuff going on and couldn't commit to him.
Having made 14 new signings, you would think that our transfers would be slowly coming to an end. Instead, on a day that saw four riders depart, we added another four to our ranks.
Firstly, the two free agents. We wanted to sign a strong puncheur talent this transfers, and after we couldn't quite reach deals for some other riders, we're delighted that Xianjing Lyu is joining the team on a 260k wage. More than we'd have liked perhaps, but a worthwhile investment for the future.
The second free agent is a rider we're committed to developing for this season at least, despite not having the most glamourous maxed statline. Karel Camrda will be loaned out to develop, and we think that in time he will become a great rider for breakaways and a useful domestique. Sure, the headline stats are nothing special, but the support stats make him a rider we think worth helping develop.
But it's the transfer market where the biggest deals have happened since our last update. We were sad to let Steff Cras go, and we didn't exactly enjoy shelling out 1.2m in addition. But for the first time in at least a decade, and possibly the team's history, we have a true superstar leader, as Sean De Bie joins from Fastned. He may be getting older, but we think he'll still be competitive for another few years yet - and hopefully will help us steer clear of relegation this season.
With Cras leaving, we also moved to add another stage racer. For a fee of 600k Ignacio Jesus Prado joins us from Moser-Sygic, and we expect he'll get some leadership opportunities as well as being a key domestique for Barguil on occasion. To help finance this move and some of the others already mentioned, we said goodbye to Louis Meintjes (1.5m to Bralirwa - Stevens), Anthony Turgis (650k to Lampre - Pinarello) Edoardo Affini (450k to MOL) and Stefan De Bod (350k to EA Vesuvio).
That takes us to 18 signings this window, and we're hopeful of making another one or two moves. Is that too many? Let's hope not!
Also interesting pick with Camrda. He actually has a couple of interesting routes where he can get to 70 in all stats except for COB - or he could be forced a bit in either MO/HI or SPR while having solid opposite stats. Brilliant breakaway rider
As always I really really love the riders being brought in. Peak is so cool, hope he can get some training at some point
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
Thanks for the kind words everyone! I didn't expect to undertake this kind of rebuild this transfer season, and it's certainly been quite challenging to make work, but hopefully it works out well in the end. Given past performances "works out well" = not fighting relegation, which I suspect will be the aim once again
And another one!
We thought our transfer business was likely to be over when we made the sales we needed to finance our move for De Bie, which saw team legend Adam Yates sadly leave for 1.1m to Indosat Ooredoo, and Cees Bol join Jura GIANTS for 400k. Yates has been a key part of this team's history, our first rider to win a GT jersey and our first rider to finish on a GT podium, and it will be strange to see him riding in the colours of another team. Maybe we'll bring him back one day, who knows?
However, after attempts to use the spare cap space we had to upgrade the squad in the here and now faltered for various reasons - free agents going beyond our price range and riders no longer being for sale or valued above what we were willing to pay - we found ourselves with space to make another move (at least).
Having checked our calculations, we identified Cedric Bakke Christophersen as the rider with the best future potential remaining on the market, relative to our other talents of his rider type. He joins us on an 85k wage, which we'll pay as he heads out on loan to Jura GIANTS for his first pro season. In the long term we see him as a key part of our hill squad, and perhaps as Bettiol's ultimate replacement.
After the signing of Bakke Christophersen, we found ourselves with 20k of cap space remaining and having made 19 signings so far this transfer window. 20 seemed a nicer number to end on, so we decided to try and sign a stagiare. After our first two choices were offered full contracts, and our third choice became too expensive, we settled on adding another cobbles talent in Vito Braet. While it currently looks unlikely he'll get a full contract after this season, he was on our list of potential backup signings had we not been able to get Finkst for minimum wage, so may be a rider we return to in future - hence our interest in developing him now.
To our surprise we reached the end of the transfer period with enough money left to train one of our riders. Originally we thought we'd be limited to smaller trainings, but happily it turned out our sums were wrong and we actually had more cash in the bank than we thought. We think we've put that money to good use, as Mathieu van der Poel becomes 77 HIL - we look forward to seeing him contribute in his new and improved form this season!
We enter our 12th season having undergone an off-season of significant change. 14 riders left the team between renewals and the end of the transfer period, with 20 joining. Amongst those departing were two of our longest tenured riders in Adam Yates (signed in 2016) and Anthony Turgis (signed in 2017), as well as two of our other leaders going into the transfer season in Louis Meintjes and Rasmus Tiller.
In their place come some big names and exciting talents, but only time will tell if the changes we've made will keep us out of the relegation fight. Either way, we feel like our squad is better prepared for both this season and those to come than it was in 2022, even if it may not necessarily be stronger than it was after renewals.
Stage Racers
Warren Barguil
4.100
32yo
€500,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
70
81
75
70
77
77
82
55
64
75
66
76
70
Magnus Cort Nielsen
4.100
30yo
€140,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
72
78
74
72
76
75
74
60
54
71
65
64
72
Ignacio Jesus Prado
4.100
30yo
€110,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
72
77
73
74
73
73
75
61
64
70
72
70
78
Hamza Mansouri
3.81
24yo
€115,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
72
69
70
72
75
72
75
62
68
73
73
65
72
…
73
73
73
76
78
75
79
62
68
74
74
65
76
Derek Gee
3.00
26yo
€60,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
70
71
67
70
69
72
73
58
69
71
75
71
68
…
71
75
70
74
72
75
77
58
69
72
76
71
72
Loaned out to Kraftwerk Man Machine
Stavros Theorpanous
1.00
21yo
€50,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
68
68
68
67
66
69
70
66
67
72
70
68
66
…
69
75
73
74
71
74
77
66
67
73
71
68
73
Our stage race squad takes on a new look with Meintjes, Yates, Cras and Elosegui departing. In comes Warren Barguil as our main leader for the mountains, for this season at least - we may look to replace him once his decline begins, but we hope he may be useful for another season or two first. Ignacio Jesus Prado is another new signing, and he and Magnus Cort Nielsen will split leadership responsibilities when Barguil isn't present.
Overall this is a weaker climbing setup than we fielded last season, and a lot weaker than our pre-transfers squad looked on paper. But in a few seasons time we hope to have regained some of that strength, as Hamza Mansouri, Derek Gee, and later Stavros Theorpanous (loaned out this season) complete their development. They're not talents on the level of Cras and Elosegui, but they are perhaps better suited to domestique duties - and should hopefully prove easier to fit under the salary cap.
Puncheurs
Sean De Bie
4.100
32yo
€630,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
73
71
84
72
77
76
69
68
72
75
74
65
68
Mathieu van der Poel
4.100
28yo
€190,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
73
70
77
69
78
77
74
72
72
77
77
79
73
Alberto Bettiol
4.100
30yo
€130,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
72
71
77
68
78
75
74
66
71
77
75
68
67
Xianjing Lyu
4.81
25yo
€260,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
66
73
76
63
73
74
72
50
63
73
71
74
65
…
67
74
78
63
75
75
73
50
64
75
73
75
65
Jay Vine
3.68
28yo
€60,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
67
73
71
64
65
74
74
61
66
72
74
62
68
…
69
77
76
65
68
76
77
61
67
76
78
63
69
Loaned out to Jura GIANTS
Cedric Bakke Christophersen
1.00
22yo
€85,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
66
66
68
63
68
72
65
64
66
68
70
64
67
…
69
72
77
64
74
77
70
64
68
75
78
67
68
Loaned out to Lampre - Pinarello
Karel Camrda
1.00
22yo
€50,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
68
66
67
64
69
70
68
54
66
71
70
68
66
…
69
72
73
66
76
76
72
54
67
75
74
73
68
The highlight of our transfer season was undoubtedly landing one of the world's top puncheurs in Sean De Bie. Like Barguil he's about to begin his decline, but we expect he'll remain our hills leader for at least two or three seasons - even at 32, it's hard to turn down the opportunity to sign a rider of his quality. He'll be supported by two versatile puncheurs in the newly signed and trained Mathieu van der Poel, and one of the few remaining members of our promotion winning squad, Alberto Bettiol.
Despite De Bie's decline being imminent, the future of our hills squad looks bright. In Xianjing Lyu we managed to sign one of the top talents available in free agency, though his long term future remains a question mark given van der Poel and Bettiol still have a few seasons left at their peak. Jay Vine will be an explosive climber/puncheur hybrid when he finishes his development, and a breakaway threat from next season on. Additionally, we managed to add two talents we've sent out on loan - Cedric Bakke Christophersen is a rider we anticipate sticking with us for the long term, while Karel Camrda may find it harder to carve out a future role, but may get a chance if he shows promise as a breakaway rider.
Time Trialists
Alexandor Cataford
4.100
30yo
€145,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
74
72
70
79
75
75
73
67
60
69
67
71
79
Nikita Razumov
4.100
27yo
€90,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
74
63
70
79
75
72
73
56
64
66
70
65
79
Jhonatan Casillas
2.70
28yo
€50,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
67
63
64
71
67
69
65
54
61
73
66
72
71
…
68
69
68
77
71
73
71
54
61
74
67
72
77
Loaned out to Jura GIANTS
Scott Davies
1.60
28yo
€50,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
64
68
66
69
67
68
68
55
61
68
63
65
69
…
65
75
71
76
72
73
75
55
61
69
64
65
76
We made adding another top tier time trialist alongside Alexandor Cataford a priority this window, and were delighted to land Nikita Razumov. While Razumov is a weaker all rounder than Cataford, we think he may have room for improvement in future while also being able to contribute straight away.
Jhonatan Casillas and Scott Davies (loaned out this season) are two older riders we're pleased to give a chance to develop. In the longer term we expect only one to stay with the team, and given his greater strength going uphill currently think that will be Davies, but for now we're glad to be developing both.
Cobblers
Gianni Vermeersch
4.100
31yo
€90,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
77
63
70
61
74
78
66
75
74
72
60
78
63
Jodok Salzmann
4.100
28yo
€105,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
73
63
71
64
77
76
71
77
67
71
70
69
64
Jake Stewart
3.22
24yo
€55,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
73
62
70
68
69
73
64
71
72
70
66
67
70
…
77
62
72
68
74
77
73
76
76
71
67
68
70
Stagiaire
Vito Braet
1.60
23yo
€15,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
69
60
66
58
70
71
63
68
68
67
62
60
64
…
74
60
67
58
75
75
64
75
72
67
62
60
64
Loaned out to Team Würth MODYF
Tilen Finkst
2.47
28yo
€50,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
72
62
67
65
69
69
65
70
68
70
67
72
64
…
76
62
68
65
73
73
66
76
72
70
67
72
64
After a few years of trying to be competitive on the cobbles following the signing of Rasmus Tiller, we've changed approach this season. Signing Gianni Vermeersch is a perfect example of our new cobbles strategy - getting riders who can contribute in breakaways or as part of our sprint train, rather than one dimensional riders who can only score in 20 racedays or so each season. Vermeersch and Jodok Salzmann will try to sneak a few surprise results in the cobbled races we do ride, although this is the area of the squad we're likely to be most keen to upgrade in future.
Part of that upgrade is likely to come when Jake Stewart completes his development. If possible we'd hope to do some training beyond that, to turn him into the first top cobbles rider in our colours since Jerome Baugnies. Vito Braet joins us as a stagiaire later in the season, for what is likely to be brief stay to help him develop, while Tilen Finkst (loaned out this season) may get longer to develop given his higher development potential, despite being 5 years older.
Sprinters
Salem Kemboi
4.100
28yo
€330,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
78
62
64
63
74
77
81
50
80
80
61
68
81
Barnabas Peak
4.100
25yo
€210,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
80
64
69
67
73
77
77
61
78
78
64
68
74
David Dekker
4.99
25yo
€75,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
75
61
65
60
79
76
69
72
75
74
66
64
61
…
77
61
66
60
80
78
73
72
77
76
66
64
63
Patompob Phonarjthan
2.30
26yo
€50,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
68
60
63
62
66
71
65
53
71
71
64
66
63
…
74
61
64
62
70
76
76
55
78
77
64
67
67
Salem Kemboi becomes our longest tenured rider with Yates and Turgis leaving the team, having joined us back in 2017. He'll once again lead us in the sprints, hoping to benefit from the steady decline in the number of top tier fastmen. Barnabas Peak joins as the long term replacement for Kemboi, and is a very similar rider that we have high hopes for even before any future training plans are able to be realised.
In David Dekker we've added a rider we think will become an elite leadout man, although he may become a cap casualty when he maxes given past experience with talented sprinters. Patompob Phonarjthan was a little bit of a wildcard signing as our second sprinter talent, and may not be the most secure rider on the team in the long term, but we're excited to see what he can bring as he develops.
