DubbelDekker wrote:
So happy for you that you got Meintjes!

Loving the rebuild so far

DarkWolf wrote:
I absolutely love the Meintjes signing! And this has nothing to do with my fondness for him in real life.

AbhishekLFC wrote:
The great rebuild continues with more solid signings, including an returnee!

liefwarrior wrote:
Meintjes is an excellent signing and with JEH you've secured the team's future on the cobblestones. Given the plethora of hilly stage races, I hope Izagirre continues to shine for you. The big question mark is whether Silvestre still has it after his first decline.

redordead wrote:
I wonder how Izagirre will do. Still great main stats, but that ACC is awful

A very nice job rebuilding the team and with Stallaert still on board I expect a pretty good season for you

With Jean Eric Habimana, we signed our first and most important young target early in the transfer window, but with the amount of cap space we had available, we specifically set out to bring more talented riders in. And over the past few days, we signed two youngsters that could play key roles for us for a long time.

A Top 3 sprinter in this class, Tijl De Decker essentially takes Houcaine El Sabbahi's place as our top sprinter in the making - only with an even higher floor. Tijl is super well rounded, only struggling when the road turns uphill but with the energy stats to make up for that. And with a salary of 100.000, we didn't even have to stretch ourselves too thin to secure his signature.

Partly by coincidence, partly by design, our other signing also comes from Belgium. Did Joeri Stallaert talk our scouts into this?

Well, no scout worth his money needed any advice to know how talented Lennart Van Eetvelt is. He's primed to become an elite climber with potential to either specialize and push his physical potential to the limit, or invest in his puncheur skills. Whichever way we go with him, there's no doubt he can lead this team to new heights over the next decade, if he remains in the fold. And that, to us, is well worth the significant 200.000 salary.

We couldn't be more excited - the future truly is bright with these new additions. Only 2 roster spots remain to be filled (at least until the minimum is reached), but our biggest missions have now been accomplished and we're going into these final days of transfers calm and secure in the knowledge that we've done a lot to point us in the right direction.

quadsas wrote:
200k for Van Eetvelt is awesome, dont know why would you even consider first path, but I guess I am all for unique riders. Either way great investment whether you intend to keep him or just ship him off somewhere next year.

Once again, thanks for the comments! Time for our final transfer announcements.

Having signed multiple talents that will shape the future of this roster in Jean Eric Habimana, Tijl De Decker and Lennert Van Eetvelt, as well as leaders and points scorers for the here and now with Louis Meintjes, Ion Izagirre and returnee Fabio Silvestre, the major work of this transfer window had been done. But we still had a little bit of cap space to play with, and some roster spots to fill.

Since quite a few races on our calendar feature team time trials, we wanted to continue to strengthen that aspect of our roster. Nils Politt was the beginning, but we wanted one more above-average contributor. And late in the window, we found him:

Spaniard Carlos Verona joins us as a free agent for the significant wage of 130.000. Now, did we expect to have to spend that much for a rider of Carlos' standing? Not really, but given the lack of time trialists on the market, maybe we should have. And at the end of the day, it was fairly simple: We had a need, Carlos fills it.

At 31 years old, he doesn't necessarily have a bright future ahead of him, but he can be a strong contributor for at least another year in a potentially crucial role and with perhaps an adjusted salary, too. We're definitely very happy to have him on board!

Our next signing is also a veteran, even another year further into his career:

32 year old Darren Young is a true jack of all trades. Or, at the very least, a jack of three trades: While his strongest suit may be his time trialing, he's also a very solid cobblestone rider with a pretty quick finish. This versatility is what was most appealing to us, as he adds to our team time trialing outfit while also giving additional help to Joeri Stallaert and his lieutenants on the cobbles. Plus, with his particular niche skillset, he could collect a few points in Arenberg, too.

Originally from Samoa, Darren is also our first Polynesian rider, as well as the double National Champion, adding a colorful jersey to our outfit. Darren will no doubt be a very useful rider, even if he isn't a longterm investment. We weren't done making those just yet, though. After all other contracts were signed, we had room for one more rider:

Welcome to Bralirwa - Stevens, Welay Hagos Berhe! The Ethiopian youngster feels most at home when the road turns uphill and he's a true diesel engine - great endurance, not a whole lot of explosiveness. He knows his way around a time trialing bike, too, which could be an area to expand upon.

His development, reaching his max at the end of the 2025 season, coincides nicely with the first regression of both Mektel Eyob and Bonaventure Uwizeyimana, at which point we hope Welay will be able to step into their shoes as one of the key mountain domestiques of our team.

While this marks the final rider joining our team, we also have three riders going the other way - even if only temporarily. Talents Renus Uhiriwe and Yacob Debesay will hone their skills in a different environment for a year, spending the season at Genii Hyunday N Cycling and Fastned, respectively.

Souheil Khederi is far from talent status, in fact he goes into the final year of his peak. After three seasons of loyal service, we've found a mutually benefitial opportunity for him to spend some more time at the highest level, joining PT Team Moser - Sygic on a loan deal with split wages, with a moderate fee coming our way - we thank Moser manager Roman for making that happen.


And with all of that, our transfer season has concluded. We're very happy with how it all unfolded and will bring you some retrospective thoughts, as well as a complete team presentation, in the upcoming days.

alexkr00 wrote:
Two very nice young Belgian riders there. Guess you forgot about the extra recovery for sprinters for De Decker there.

For Lennert, a mix path between v1 and v2 could also be considered. Not have the extreme stamina and resistence the first path gives, but also gain a few hill points and get closer to the second path.

Mresuperstar wrote:
Happy for former team legend Carlos Verona getting the pay raise he deserves after years of grinding in the peloton on minimum wage. Obviously wish he could have rode another season with us, but this is a great landing spot for him!

jandal7 wrote:
Love to see Darren Young and his beautiful beard getting another contract!

AbhishekLFC wrote:
Two great talents picked up for sure! Team looks like it's coming together well now.

Transfers are over and once again it's been an exciting and turbulent time. In contrast to last year, when the Biniam Girmay saga overshadowed our plans and then turned them on their head, we were able to follow through with most of what we set out to do.

Heading into the offseason, we had four primary goals, three specific to this year and one overarching one. With a lot of turnover - just 10 of last year's 22 riders will be in our colors again this season -, it is worth looking back on them and see how we did.


1. Create a more balanced team.

There are a few ways to look at this. Last year, our Top 3 earners took up 68% of our total wage bill. This year (taking Izagirre instead of Van Eetvelt given his talent status), that number is down to 43%. Last year, 13 of our 22 riders under contract were unmaxed, leaving only 9 maxed riders who could reasonably be expected to contribute points. This year, only 5 of our 20 riders are unmaxed, and that includes Natnael Tesfatsion, who we expect to be a decent point scorer.

Similarly, our average OVL jumped up by one and a half points. We had 10 riders under contract with an OVL of at least 73. That number is up to 13 and doesn't yet include Carlos Verona, who could contribute decently well here and there, too. And speaking of, we massively upgraded our time trialing squad, a big are of weakness. All things considered, I think we can safely say this goal has been achieved.


2. Become younger

Again, there are different ways to look at this. Last year, we had three primary leaders, aged 31, 32 and 34. This year, we consider four riders to be our captains and they're ... aged 31, 32, 33 and 34. So, arguably no improvement on that front. Two more of our additions, Darren Young and Verona, are 32 and 31, respectively. In total, the average age of our maxed riders went from 30.5 to ... 30.2.

On the other hand, with Nils Politt and Matthew Teggart, we added two important riders below age 30. And while I did mention 13 unmaxed riders last year, 7 of those were loaned in or stagiaires. Comparing the remaining 6 plus one out on loan with our 5 this year plus 2 out on loan, we at least remained consistent quantitavely.

However, and it's a big however: With the signings of Jean Eric Habimana, Tijl De Decker and Lennert Van Eetvelt, our talent department has never looked better qualitatively. Most of our previous talents, perhaps excluding Tesfatsion, were destined to fill domestique spots on the roster. These three can all be leaders in a few years and shape our team for a decade. That alone makes this a - if not fully, then partially - achieved goal.


3. Do all that without relegating

This is arguably the biggest one. We had three major points scorers last year and very little else, and we lost two of them (even if Fabio Silvestre returned, it's a diminished version). Replacing them while adding depth pieces and high caliber talents proved to be a challenge.

Louis Meintjes is of course the biggest piece of the puzzle. I'm confident he can provide fairly steady points scoring. The additions of Silvestre, Ion Izagirre and Nils Politt are the wild cards. All of them certainly have the potential to score well, but they also have obvious weaknesses that could derail their season.

And then, of course, there's still Joeri Stallaert. He's been fantastic, and fantastically consistent, over these past two years, but with Edward Theuns joining PCT, he, too, could see his points total diminish. Yet, while this goal can of course only be assessed after the year, I think we've given ourselves a good chance at a reasonably successful season.


4. Continue to strengthen our Rwandan and African core

This is, of course, the overarching theme of every transfer period. And once again, we have to make a distinction between quality and quantity. In raw numbers, we took a step back: From 7 Rwandans down to 6, from 14 of 22 African riders to 11 of 20.

But looking closer, 1 of those 7 Rwandans was a stagiaire, counting only half, literally and figuratively. Plus, we have Renus Uhiriwe out on loan, meaning we actually have 7 Rwandans under full contract this year, not to mention our biggest ever local talent in Habimana.

And then, of course, we added Louis Meintjes, the most talented and accomplished rider we ever had from the African continent. Like Uhiriwe, Yacob Debesay is out on loan. And Welay Hagos Berhe is the first Ethiopian rider under contract, strengthening our regional Eastern African base even further. So here again, I think we can give ourselves a decent amount of credit.


After this lengthy analysis, here's what you're actually here for - the actual presentation of the riders, as always split up by specialisation:

Joeri Stallaert is still the most important man on the team. In his final peak season, he is supported by old reliable Tesfom Okbamariam and newcomer Matthew Teggart, who makes this a stronger group than last year's all on his own.

Our deepest group, supporting new captain Louis Meintjes. In the absence of Angel Madrazo, Valens Ndayisenga will get an opportunity or two to ride as a team leader again, while Bonaventure Uwizeyimana and Janvier Hadi will also play crucial roles in time trials. Mektel Eyob meanwhile is also one of the better puncheurs of the team.

Ion Izagirre is easily the best pure puncheur we've ever had. His time trialing gives him a unique skillset, but his complete lack of speed could be fatal in true puncheur contests. Natnael Tesfatsion could start to come into his own already this year, while Moise Mugisha hopefully continues his well-known breakaway appearances.

Yes, that's sprinter, singular. With Fabio Silvestre regressing a bit and Houcaine El Sabbahi leaving, this is easily the poorest sprinting department we've had probably ever. Joeri Stallaert will continue to take on the role of lead sprinter in a couple of races, but there will also simply be a few times when we have sprint stages without anyone to contend them.

While our sprinting department has never looked worse, our time trialists have never looked better, or at least deeper. New additions Nils Politt and Carlos Verona will hopefully provide at least minor points from individual time trials, while newly maxed Samuel Mugisha and veteran signing Darren Young will contribute in team time trials. The latter is also a nice addition to the cobbles squad.

Once again perhaps our most important section. And as I've mentioned before, we've never been happier about it.

	Rider	Type	AVG	Age	Wage
	Valens Ndayisenga	Climber	75,24	29	€ 95.000
	Bonaventure Uwizeyimana	Stage Racer	74,84	30	€ 95.000
	Moise Mugisha	Puncheur	73,49	26	€ 55.000
	Janvier Hadi	Stage Racer	73,09	31	€ 50.000
	Samuel Mugisha	Time Trials	71,14	26	€ 50.000
	Jean Eric Habimana	Cobbles	70.79	22	€ 100.000
	Natnael Tesfatsion	Puncheur	74,92	24	€ 85.000
	Mektel Eyob	Climber	74,61	30	€ 75.000
	Tesfom Okbamariam	Cobbles	73,51	32	€ 50.000
	Louis Meintjes	Stage Racer	78,34	31	€ 405.000
	Welay Hagos Berhe	Climber	67,69	22	€ 50.000
	Joeri Stallaert	Cobbles	78,56	32	€ 500.000
	Lennert Van Eetvelt	Climber	70,01	22	€ 200.000
	Tijl De Decker	Sprinter	69,18	22	€ 100.000
	Ion Izagirre	Puncheur	73,55	34	€ 170.000
	Carlos Verona	Time Trials	71,85	31	€ 130.000
	Fabio Silvestre	Sprinter	76,41	33	€ 100.000
	Nils Politt	Time Trials	73,54	29	€ 55.000
	Matthew Teggart	Cobbles	74,01	27	€ 60.000
	Darren Young	Allrounder	69,80	32	€ 50.000
		Average	73,23	28,3