[PCT] Zwift Pro Cycling {2023}
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liefwarrior |
Posted on 17-08-2023 21:31
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Breakaway Specialist
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Interesting team that you're putting together here. I'd have my concerns about Fraile and Powless clashing but there are plenty of true stage races available this year. It does feel as though so far only that duo and Pascal Ackermann are true leadership material but given the number of other riders who can probably snag a stage win or lesser classification the scoring potential is there. And that despite the Girmay limitation!
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Mresuperstar |
Posted on 20-08-2023 23:04
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Grand Tour Champion
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Our transfer season is over! We welcome the following riders to Zwift Pro Cycling.
Carlos Canal: We start with a young Spanish climber who has the potential to be a great breakaway artist in a few seasons. His stamina to withstand longer climbing stages and technical ability to handle descents makes him an intriguing rider. The fact he accept a minimum wage bid to come here is an added bonus.
FL | MO | HI | TT | STA | RES | REC | COB | SP | ACC | FT | DH | PL | 68 | 67 | 67 | 61 | 71 | 67 | 64 | 62 | 66 | 67 | 72 | 73 | 62 | 69 | 76 | 70 | 61 | 79 | 74 | 68 | 62 | 66 | 71 | 77 | 81 | 62 |
Thomas Gloag: We like to hoard young climbers and Gloag is no exception. You can never have enough mountain depth and Gloag will be a nice addition to our core in a few seasons. The 22-year-old prospect was signed for 170,000.
FL | MO | HI | TT | STA | RES | REC | COB | SP | ACC | FT | DH | PL | 70 | 69 | 68 | 59 | 70 | 71 | 68 | 55 | 65 | 69 | 60 | 69 | 60 | 71 | 77 | 75 | 60 | 74 | 75 | 75 | 55 | 65 | 75 | 66 | 70 | 61 |
Tristan Jussaume: Our No. 1 transfer target. Every year our scouting team tries to identify up-and-coming "unicorns" as we like to call them. They are the riders that stand out for their unique talents. Jussaume jumped off the page as the peloton is starting to see a rapid decline of cyclists that specialize in hilly races with TTs. We got incredibly lucky to bring in the Level 1.00 Pot 5 talent for just 100,000. We were prepared to offer way more.
FL | MO | HI | TT | STA | RES | REC | COB | SP | ACC | FT | DH | PL | 65 | 55 | 71 | 70 | 70 | 68 | 63 | 63 | 60 | 65 | 60 | 66 | 70 | 71 | 56 | 76 | 77 | 76 | 74 | 69 | 63 | 61 | 67 | 65 | 67 | 77 |
Riley Pickrell: Another 22-year-old Canadian. Although I doubt Jack Burke is going to be able to convince this one to go on training rides with him. Pickrell loves the bumpy roads and will be a great asset for future superstar Biniam Girmay in the coming years. Pickrell was picked up for 50,000.
FL | MO | HI | TT | STA | RES | REC | COB | SP | ACC | FT | DH | PL | 69 | 65 | 66 | 65 | 65 | 72 | 67 | 67 | 63 | 67 | 65 | 68 | 64 | 74 | 65 | 71 | 65 | 70 | 75 | 70 | 74 | 63 | 67 | 70 | 69 | 64 |
Uga Ryuki: History Made! The first Japanese's rider ever to be signed by Mre. Only fitting that it comes the season after Valv321 decided to leave the sport. A small tribute to an old friend. That said, Ryuki has the potential to be a mainstay for the foreseeable future if he enjoys his time in America. The 24-year-old Level 3.00 Pot 4 talent is energetic with a courageous fighting spirit.
FL | MO | HI | TT | STA | RES | REC | COB | SP | ACC | FT | DH | PL | 71 | 68 | 70 | 63 | 72 | 70 | 69 | 60 | 66 | 71 | 73 | 65 | 64 | 72 | 71 | 75 | 64 | 74 | 72 | 71 | 60 | 67 | 75 | 77 | 66 | 65 |
Nihal Silva: Surprisingly, Silva isn't the first Sri Lankan under Mre's management (Kashyapa Siriwardena rode for the team as a loanee in 2018). We see Silva as a key member of our cobbled sprint train setup with Girmay and Bram Welten. Depending on who is still around and has the legs on any given stage will determine who the team will try to setup to achieve stage wins. The 29-year-old maxed cyclist was signed for 60,000.
FL | MO | HI | TT | STA | RES | REC | COB | SP | ACC | FT | DH | PL | 75 | 62 | 68 | 62 | 69 | 70 | 77 | 72 | 77 | 78 | 56 | 60 | 62 |
Lewis Stroll: Welcome back Lewis! A wage cap release at the start of the transfer season has found his way back to us. Stroll will ride his third season with the team. A valuable climber that is always willing to work.
FL | MO | HI | TT | STA | RES | REC | COB | SP | ACC | FT | DH | PL | 66 | 72 | 69 | 72 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 55 | 62 | 68 | 70 | 75 | 72 |
Sean Flynn: Stagiare #1.
FL | MO | HI | TT | STA | RES | REC | COB | SP | ACC | FT | DH | PL | 67 | 60 | 67 | 57 | 69 | 67 | 65 | 60 | 66 | 69 | 63 | 62 | 60 | 71 | 64 | 75 | 59 | 76 | 71 | 69 | 60 | 67 | 73 | 67 | 63 | 62 |
Vinicius Rangel: Stagiare #2.
FL | MO | HI | TT | STA | RES | REC | COB | SP | ACC | FT | DH | PL | 67 | 65 | 65 | 65 | 70 | 69 | 69 | 66 | 65 | 68 | 67 | 65 | 65 | 72 | 70 | 70 | 70 | 75 | 74 | 74 | 68 | 67 | 71 | 72 | 68 | 70 |
Both prospects will level up.
Zwift Pro Cycling 2023 (Without Training)
We finish with 23 cyclists — 21 on the roster with two stagiaires and two loaned out. Besides Girmay's absurd 600,000 wage, our next highest paid rider is Fraile at 175,000. I believe we have a very balanced squad with a lot of depth. While we might not have the best riders in the world, we have a young base that will carry us for years to come. The future remains very bright. We just have to stay patient and stay the course. One day we will get rewarded.
Next update will include training!
Edited by Mresuperstar on 21-08-2023 12:27
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baseballlover312 |
Posted on 21-08-2023 00:04
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Tour de France Champion
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Very excited to see the training, but not so excited to tell Kamna the news about Powless.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
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DarkWolf |
Posted on 21-08-2023 05:23
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Protected Rider
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I love the look of Matteo Jorgenson and I am really happy he spent his first season with my team. That way I get to have some small bragging rights.
Very nice looking team.
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redordead |
Posted on 21-08-2023 08:16
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Powless is gonna be scary post training
I like how the rebuild is going. Hopefully you don't flirt with relegation too much.
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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ember |
Posted on 21-08-2023 11:33
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Team Leader
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Very interesting second part of your rebuilt, that you started last season. Well done purely age wise, with Fraile, as a team legend, being the only one being 30 or older.
Must admit I don't have an overview of the transfers in the PCT, neither any other division, but at first sight, I'd say that it doesn't look like an automatic promotion going back up to the PT. The training might change it, curious to see how much money you've got to spend |
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cunego59 |
Posted on 21-08-2023 12:27
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Team Manager
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Maybe training will change my mind but while the long-term future looks great, I'm honestly a little worried for the here and now. There will likely be few points coming in from cobbles, I don't have too much faith in any of Welten, Silva or Walls, so that leaves a very deep, but not very elite climbing group - which will shine in TT-heavy races I suppose - and a whole lot of weight on Ackermann's shoulders.
I guess you can get a lot out of good planning with this team, and I trust you to do just that, but from what I can tell so far, PCT will be pretty stacked, so I think you'll need to ride close to your maximum in most races to even get by. I've been wrong about my evaluation of PCT teams before, but to me it looks like you've taken quite a gamble here.
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alexkr00 |
Posted on 21-08-2023 13:59
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World Champion
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Sadly, I agree with cunego. The long term future looks amazing, but it will definitely be a struggle on the shorter term, especially this year. But there is some climbing depth in there, so with the right planning and some luck I guess any unpleasantries can be avoided.
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TheManxMissile |
Posted on 21-08-2023 14:26
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Tour de France Champion
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Joined: 12-05-2012
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Not necessarily a relegation certainty, but i think you'll be close to there than to a promotion spot. That said, relegation wouldn't cripple the team that's now stacked with talents to work on. Get through this year, stay PCT and things will be very bright.
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Mresuperstar |
Posted on 27-08-2023 13:53
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Grand Tour Champion
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For some reason, money always seems to be tight when it comes to training. As other teams find a way to fund multi-million training camps, we just don't have that luxury it seems. After failing all five goals last season and selecting some easier, regional focused goals in our return the PCT, there wasn't much money left to spend on training after paying our renewal fee, buying Matthew Walls and our PT wildcards.
So, while we obviously wanted to do more, this is the best we could do.
Neilson Powless
FL | MO | HI | TT | STA | RES | REC | COB | SP | ACC | FT | DH | PL | 72 | 77 | 72 | 78 | 76 | 74 | 76 | 59 | 65 | 71 | 64 | 65 | 78 | 72 | 78 | 72 | 78 | 76 | 74 | 76 | 59 | 65 | 71 | 64 | 65 | 78 |
+1 Mountain. Powless stayed in Europe this offseason to train on the high slopes in preparation for next season. We need him to be a more of a clear cut GC contender at the PCT level. There is still the option that he might invest more time in the wind tunnel in the future to possible chase after a ITT rainbow jersey.
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baseballlover312 |
Posted on 27-08-2023 14:26
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16429
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Powless has a chance to score very, very well in PCT - he's an even better Kamna/Conci and both scored terrific last year. I'm curious how you plan him though with the mountain training if he's your main GC guy for stage races. That's not really where I see him most efficiently scoring in the PCT calendar. Although you do have Fraile for the TT heavy races already.
Edited by baseballlover312 on 27-08-2023 14:35
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
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Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 08:42
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Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 27-08-2023 20:22
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Team Leader
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Interested to see how the season treats you. There's no question next year onwards you'll have immense point-scoring material, but you still have a long year before that. Powless looks relly good though. Good luck!
Also if wanna trade Eritrean cobblers next year I may give you a discount
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Mresuperstar |
Posted on 11-09-2023 14:13
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Grand Tour Champion
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We are going back to our roots. Mresuperstar was admit that we should heavily target USA races this season and prove we are the best team in the United States before we look to make the jump back to the Pro Tour.
In Zwift's two-year existence, the team has yet to complete a season goal (0/10). Mre doesn't have a great track record with completing goals either on the previous teams he has managed -- 15/55 for an abysmal 27.2 competition percentage.
Using the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) strategy, Mre and his staff came up with the following team goals for this season:
***Team Standings*** | Top 10 | Tour of America | Win | Tour of the Battenkill | Top 10 | Tour of California | Top 5 | Philadelphia International Championship | Top 10 |
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Ulrich Ulriksen |
Posted on 11-09-2023 23:34
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Directeur Sportif
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Hmm, sure I have seen those ToA and California goals somewhere before.
Man Game: McCormick Pro Cycling
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seancoll |
Posted on 11-09-2023 23:42
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Domestique
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The second manager to release a Tour of America win goal (that I've seen) and some great options to contribute to that ambition. If the entire trio of Jorgenson, Powless, Fraile are there together, this could be very dangerous.
Have to believe you'll get at least 1 of these 5 this season as Team Standings should be very doable as well, I would think
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redordead |
Posted on 12-09-2023 07:45
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Mresuperstar wrote:
In Zwift's two-year existence, the team has yet to complete a season goal (0/10).
I don't want to be too negative, but I think extending that to 0/15 is a real possibility
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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Mresuperstar |
Posted on 13-06-2024 15:48
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Grand Tour Champion
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Joined: 22-06-2009
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Zwift Reevaluates Support After Back-To-Back Relegations
Zwift, a prominent global online fitness platform, has announced a comprehensive review of its support for the Zwift Pro Cycling Team following recent developments. With the team's relegation to the Continental (CT) division, Zwift has initiated a strategic reassessment of its sponsorship and financial commitments.
Zwift's core mission revolves around fostering inclusivity and accessibility within the cycling community. The sponsorship of the Zwift Pro Cycling Team has historically been a cornerstone of this mission. However, in light of the team's recent performance challenges, Zwift deems it necessary to reevaluate its strategy and allocation of resources.
The company extends its gratitude to the cyclists and staff of the Zwift Pro Cycling for their unwavering dedication. Their passion for the sport has been evident and appreciated throughout the partnership.
While the extent of direct support for the Zwift Pro Cycling may undergo changes, Zwift remains steadfast in its commitment to promoting cycling and supporting athletes globally. It will continue exploring avenues to utilize its platform and resources to advance the sport.
Understanding that the cycling community may seek further clarification on this decision, Zwift is committed to providing more information as it becomes available.
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KaiserAdler |
Posted on 13-06-2024 16:34
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Domestique
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Relegating someone never feels good, and especially now. Obviously I’m glad to avoid the drop but sad to see you relegate once again. But I am confident you’ll turn this around into a rebuild that we will all learn to fear. Powless gave me a real scare in ToA, beating Reis for the podium and jumping over us. And in all honesty, I was really lucky to have such luck with Afewerki or it wouldve been me crawling back to CT. You will be back next year.
redordead wrote:
Mresuperstar wrote:
In Zwift's two-year existence, the team has yet to complete a season goal (0/10).
I don't want to be too negative, but I think extending that to 0/15 is a real possibility
Red proving once again he had a crystal ball, how sad the reality may be. Good luck in the off season mate, see you in the upper ranks soon.
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quadsas |
Posted on 13-06-2024 16:52
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Small Tour Specialist
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Will be a boring year in CT as Powless and Matteo will absolute brutalise the circuit
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cunego59 |
Posted on 13-06-2024 17:04
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Team Manager
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Really sucks to see you relegate. The risk was always there with this squad, but still. On the one hand, you're about as well set-up to bounce back immediately and re-joing PCT in good shape as you could possibly be (I agree with quadsas there). On the other hand, with this coming at this moment in your team building, some really tough decisions will have to be made. Yours should be one of the most fascinating offseasons to watch this year. I kinda hope that Zwift will continue to lead that process, but whichever way you go there, I'm sure you'll bounce back quickly!
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