jandal7 wrote:
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!
I hope you're right. I think this will be a good learning experience for me as a manager, and I hope that we are only a couple of years away from eastblishing ourselves as a perennial PT team. But a lot to do before then still!
redordead wrote:
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
I'm kind fo a sucker for having every terrain covered with a leader of some sort. Most of the time it doesn't work out, though it did last year. I guess I just love having guys to root for every day, even if it costs me a few points along the way.
TheManxMissile wrote:
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!
I do tend to be a pessimist in these previews, only so I don't get my hopes up too much. I definitely think we could end up in the 15-18 range with some luck, but there are a lot of teams in that position and pretty much no sure fire relegators, so it will be tough. The "good planning" aspect is also always a struggle when I'm the one with a race planner in front of me.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Race schedules have been submitted to the MGUCI, which means the offseason is almost over. Before we get to the racing however, our sources have discovered the sponsor goals submitted by Carlsberg, Danske Bank, and Schlumberger.
Judging by the audacity of the first two goals, we have to believe there may be some shenanigans involving more than just sponsor interest behind them. Carlsberg aren't going to win the team standings. Will they will the Tour de France? Maybe if Lenny Kamna discoveries a new, untraceable super-EPO by July, but that's about it. Both of these goals look destined for failure, but surely the team and sponsors knew that already.
The other goals look much more achievable. Frederik Strand Galta will have his primary moment to shine at this year's Giro d'Italia, where he will hope to fight for a top 10 overall. This goal looks realistic, but of course not guaranteed, as much of it will depend on the startlist. The limited time trialing compared to the other 2 GT's may help, and he'll have most of the team's climbing domestiques behind him.
The two cobbled monument goals look easiest after David Per's signing and training, but anything can happen in a one day classic. On paper, Per is definitely capable of a top 10 in both. But a cramp, or a puncture, or just daily form could easily ruin those chances, so they are still risky. The team will obviously have their full cobbles arsenal behind him.
So where does this leave Carlsberg's other leaders? I mean, you can probably figure it out yourself. Or just see when the season starts!
Hmm... looks like you took some highly valued manager as an example for some of your goals
The two win goals should be out of reach indeed, and probably even the Top 5. The cobbles goals are very conservative and really have to be achieved by Per, barring any AI weirdness. And Galta can definitely fight for a Top 10 in the Giro - even though it might be the GT attracting most of the low-TT climbers this year. Looking forward to meet him there, gotta ask him why he didn't want to join us
Good luck, enjoy your PT adventure - hopefully one that doesn't end after just one year
Fabianski wrote:
Hmm... looks like you took some highly valued manager as an example for some of your goals
Whoever that manager is, i really like the strategy.
A lot of times newly promoted teams that go for high goal costs look at five very hard to reach goals and going 0/5 goals isnt rare. You still got very high in goal costs but have three goals that look very realistic to get. Would be very surprising if you get less than 2 goals completed. Definitely looks like you went into transfers with a good plan and sticked with it!
The first two goals are most likely unachievable and the latter two are pretty certain with Per. If you get the Giro then 3/5 is very good for a newly promoted team imo
Carlsberg Secure 13th Place in Inaugural PT Season
The original title of this article was "Carlsberg Survive," an ode to our articles the several seasons Carlsberg barely survived PCT relegation (and the several seasons they did not). But this year, such a headline would not be quite specific enough. Yes, Carlsberg survived their first year in PT, but they did so surprisingly confidently. Finishing in 13th place with 5679 points, they were five spots and over 800 points clear of the slide back to PCT, despite being predicted as a relegation favorite. What happened?
Well, in short, David Per happened. The Slovenian signed a 1,000,000 euro free agent deal last summer, over double the salary of any Carlsberg rider in the team's first nine years. Though people around cycling recognized the 2022 Roubaix winner's talent, the deal was widely regarded with skepticism as a massive overpay for a rider with heavy competition in the cobbled classics. Instead of hedging their bets, the team then doubled down, spending several millions more euros in training money on Per's regimen to make him an even stronger classics rider.
It was a gamble, but it paid. Per's was remarkably consistent all year, winning several races, and very rarely finishing off the podium in his target races. He ended up with 1472 points for 8th place in the PT, behind only the dominant Lukasz Wisniowski among cobblers, and ahead of many huge names. The difference in performance between Per and another cobbles leader like Florian Senechal ended up as the entire difference between mid pack and relegation for Carlsberg.
But he didn't do it alone, of course. Frederik Strand Galta was the team's other big addition, and he had a phenomenal first half of the season, with a Volta a Portugal victory and several other high finishes, showcasing both his strong engine and a new developed punch on uphill finishes. He form fell off after a last week collapse at the Giro d'Italia, but he was still good for 849 points, and really carried Carlsberg early in the year.
Other key players stepped up when needed. Kragh Andersen did his usual act, alternating between brilliance and frustration, but ultimately ending up serviceable. Jonas Gregaard proved several times that his abilities in the mountains are underrated, lasting long into GT's and placing in the top 20 in several races. And Jaime Sureda ended up being a sneaky good 50k wage pickup, taking a Giro d'Italia stage win in an under the radar season.
Carlsberg have room to build now, hopefully onward and upward, to establish themselves a solid PT team capable of competing for the top 10 in the sport. But first: renewals.
Congrats on a great first PT season. Per certainly earned his wage and at 28 can be a stalwart for years to come. With the team in a nice place age wise you should be in good shape to push into the top 10 next year.
Per is a rider very close to my heart with his two seasons on loan with us. Awesome to see him do so well and the training paying off. Congrats on a comfortably safe first season in the PT.
It's been a fairly mild season for Carlsberg as far as talent development, as their proportion of young riders is at a recent low following their promotion push and subsequent fight for survival. Still, some interesting development has occurred, so let's take a look.
Hugo Forssell
Track-Sprinter - 4 > Max - Age 25 - Pot. 3
Flat
Mtn
Hill
TT
Sta
Res
Rec
Cob
Spr
Acc
Fig
Dwn
Pro
2023
68
62
69
73
68
73
74
57
76
76
69
67
76
2024
69
62
69
75
69
74
75
57
77
77
69
67
78
Once a star of the junior circuit, Forssell has proven himself to be a high floor, if low potential prospect. Still once of the best U25 sprinters, he has sacrificed a bit of top end speed to become a very serviceable time trialist, which should make him a solid team time trial option and secondary sprinter on cheap wages for years to come. Unfortunately, his lack of stamina or engine on the flats will likely prevent him from being a prime leadout or classics option in his career.
Goldwijnn Cannister
Cobbles - 4 > Max - Age 25 - Pot. 6
Flat
Mtn
Hill
TT
Sta
Res
Rec
Cob
Spr
Acc
Fig
Dwn
Pro
2023
72
62
67
64
73
66
70
71
73
74
70
63
66
2024
74
62
68
64
75
68
75
73
75
74
70
63
66
The pride of Curacao, Cannister snagged the national championship jersey recently and will wear it for the foreseeable future, unless teammate Gyasi Sulvaran has something to say about it. Cannister comes from humble origins and never showed much as a U23 rider, but he's shaped up into a solid leadout option who can also make a nice domestique in cobbled classics. He was able to make big strides in his recovery this year to become a GC option as well.
Mathias Skjelmose Jensen
Stage Racer - 3 > 4 - Age 24 - Pot. 5
Flat
Mtn
Hill
TT
Sta
Res
Rec
Cob
Spr
Acc
Fig
Dwn
Pro
2023
71
74
71
72
69
74
71
58
64
65
69
65
72
2024
72
77
73
74
71
76
73
58
64
66
70
66
74
It's no slight to the first two riders in our list to say that they were just buildup for the big fish. Skjelmose is the crowned jewel, the heir to Carlsberg and to Denmark, and this season was the beginning of his ascent. He spent much of the year riding his first PT GT's and shadowing older GC riders like Galta and Quintana. But his signature moment came at the Tour de l'Avenir, where we won the race in spectacular fashion.
After coming in a solid but unremarkable third place on stage 6's summit finsh, it looked like the Dane was fighting for the podium rather than the win. And it wasn't surprising, as his Team Denmark squad didn't contain any other true climbers. But on stage 8, he redeemed himself, embarking on a 5 km solo to the stage victory and gaining massive time to his competitors. He would follow it up with another huge victory on the final stage's mountain time trial, to win the race overall. Truly Denmark's champion!
Now going into his age 24 season, Skjelmose is already shaping up to be a secondary scorer in stage races and a white jersey contender, something that will last another year once he maxes. It remains to be seen how Carlsberg will utilize the young Dane this year, but he doesn't need to worry about having any particular schedule to max out his potential at this point, so it will be all about preference and strategy.
Thanks for reading our recap! Renewals news will come next!
Mr. Pickles
Sporting News
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
What a rider Skjelmose will be, the Avenir win was a first big proof of his huge potential! And for the present, Per is an amazing rider to have, incredibly consistent and great to watch with his aggressive riding! Too sad Theuns is past his prime now, would have been some nice duels next year
Congrats on staying up rather easily, and all the best for transfers and the 2024 season!
Congrats on a good season without any major relegation doubts, you should have a good base to build upon for next season. Skjelmose will surely be your future and I fear I'll condemn him often in the future as his skillset is similar to Vauquelins one, but with his one-year advantage he'll be a constant nuisance. But I think you'll cope with that rather well
After a season of somewhat surprising success and a mid-table finish in the Pro Tour, Carlsberg went into renewals with clear, and not especially bold, goals—trim the fat off some contracts, particularly David Per's free agent contract, and assess the need to move on from several older riders. They essentially did that.
Nairo Quintana is the biggest name and the highest paid rider on the roster to be released. Quintana's tenure in green was underwhelming, cracking hard in the Vuelta and being fairly anonymous at the TDF. His tenure wasn't disastrous, and at least added some minor points to the tally, but his chances of being retained, now age 34, were always miniscule. Karel Hnik and Stefan Petrovski faced similar fates as declining domestiques. For the last retiree— Christopher Juul-Jensen, the legacy has already been written, and this was just a fascinating coda. They'll certainly honor him plenty going forward.
Only two released riders remain in their primes and engaged in significant negotiations with the team during the renewals period. Management was never optimistic about retaining Jaume Sureda due to his unexpected grand tour success last year, but they put in an honest effort to meet him somewhere in the middle. It was unsuccessful, unfortunately. The more surprising loss is Mathias Krigbaum. The Dane has been with Carlsberg since he was a neo-pro, and is a nice all-around domestique, but lacks any personal scoring potential and any terrain. Nevertheless, he rejected offers for modest raises. Perhaps he is at a point in his career where he really wants to test the market. Carlsberg will likely contact him again during the transfer season.
That leaves 14 riders under contract for 2024. Let's take a look at their salaries.
Task #1 for team management was to talk David Per down from the 1,000,000 euro contract he signed in free agency last winter. Mission... accomplished? Sort of? No doubt he probably could have been badgered into accepting an even lower salary, but coming down from such a huge salary, not to mention a top 10 individual ranking year, bolstered by training gains in the offseason, is a dangerous maneuver. In the end, € 250,000 in savings is surely not nothing, even if it's marginally less than hoped.
Per was the only truly big mover. In other areas, the negotiations were tight and the margins were slim. Galta and Kragh Andersen each get € 10,000 raises for their fairly successful campaigns. Both obviously wanted as much as possible going into their final peak years. A bigger raise proportionally goes to Jonas Gregaard. He bet on himself by taking a smaller contract for his value last year, and gets a big bump after being a top mountain superdomestique in multiple grand tours. Up to € 112,500 for him.
On the flip side, several riders with underwhelming camapigns saw their wages slashed slightly. Lennard Kamna couldn't follow up his breakout 2022, and is back down to a € 165,000 salary. Alex Aranburu likewise takes a small € 5,000 paycut for his middling results, although that is partially due to an unoptimized calendar for his skillset. Mathias Skjelmose Jensen has been working his way down from his big neo-pro deal, and will finally make a nice salary for his increasing skillset, despite his l'Avenir victory— €105,000.
For the domestiques, not much movement. Matija Mestric fought hard for an extra € 5,000 euros, and the team gave in. They made it up with small cuts for Gyasi Sulvaran and Erik Nordsaeter Resell. The remaining salaries remain the same.
See the following table for the full changes:
First
Last
2023
2024
Change
David
Per
€ 1,000,000
€ 750,000
€ 250,000
Fredrik Strand
Galta
€ 370,000
€ 380,000
€ 10,000
Alex
Aranburu
€ 285,000
€ 280,000
€ 5,000
Asbjorn
Kragh Andersen
€ 215,000
€ 225,000
€ 10,000
Lennard
Kämna
€ 177,500
€ 165,000
€ 12,500
Mattias
Skjelmose Jensen
€ 120,000
€ 105,000
€ 15,000
Jonas
Gregaard
€ 95,000
€ 112,500
€ 17,500
Niklas
Eg
€ 85,000
€ 85,000
€ 0
Gyasi
Sulvaran
€ 82,500
€ 80,000
€ 2,500
Erik Nordsaeter
Resell
€ 75,000
€ 72,500
€ 2,500
Patrick
Olesen
€ 62,500
€ 62,500
€ 0
Matija
Mestric
€ 50,000
€ 55,000
€ 5,000
Hugo
Forssell
€ 50,000
€ 50,000
€ 0
Goldwijnn
Cannister
€ 50,000
€ 50,000
€ 0
Nairo
Quintana
€ 450,000
€ 0
Released
Karel
Hnik
€ 75,000
€ 0
Released
Jaume
Sureda
€ 50,000
€ 0
Released
Stefan
Petrovski
€ 50,000
€ 0
Released
Christopher
Juul-Jensen
€ 50,000
€ 0
Released
Mathias
Krigbaum
€ 50,000
€ 0
Released
That leaves the team with € 1,027,500 in cap space for the upcoming season, with which they will need to fill at least six rider slots.
As always, we spoke to team maager baseballlover for comment:
"Staying pat in PT largely, and thankfully, meant we could mostly stand pat in renewals. We were luckily able to work with David and get his salary a little closer to market for the top cobbles leaders, and that will help us. Besides that, it was a lot of small number negotiations without a ton of changes or tensions. And no tension heading into a new year is good. The one rider I'm still a little disappointed in is Krigbaum. Of course, he wants to get paid like everyone, but for things to fall through, after seeing him join our ranks from U23 all those years ago, was difficult. But besides that, it wasn't a bad renewals period, in our eyes.
Transfers are next, and it will be interesting to see how Carlsberg go about it, especially with both their top GC leader and top sprinter near aging out of their roles. As always, everything's on the table. Our availability projections will come next.
Mr. Pickles
Sporting News
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Hugo Forssell 
Goldwijnn Cannister 
Mathias Skjelmose Jensen 
Nairo Quintana is the biggest name and the highest paid rider on the roster to be released. Quintana's tenure in green was underwhelming, cracking hard in the Vuelta and being fairly anonymous at the TDF. His tenure wasn't disastrous, and at least added some minor points to the tally, but his chances of being retained, now age 34, were always miniscule. 
Karel Hnik and 
Stefan Petrovski faced similar fates as declining domestiques. For the last retiree— 
Jaume Sureda due to his unexpected grand tour success last year, but they put in an honest effort to meet him somewhere in the middle. It was unsuccessful, unfortunately. The more surprising loss is 
David Per down from the 1,000,000 euro contract he signed in free agency last winter. Mission... accomplished? Sort of? No doubt he probably could have been badgered into accepting an even lower salary, but coming down from such a huge salary, not to mention a top 10 individual ranking year, bolstered by training gains in the offseason, is a dangerous maneuver. In the end, € 250,000 in savings is surely not nothing, even if it's marginally less than hoped.
Galta and 
Lennard Kamna couldn't follow up his breakout 2022, and is back down to a € 165,000 salary. 
Matija Mestric fought hard for an extra € 5,000 euros, and the team gave in. They made it up with small cuts for 
