Forbes obviously a fun talent, hopefully able to let you forget the Aitur nightmares in the future. Gonzales was on my radar as well, but had to set other targets first. I'm sure he'll enjoy riding in your colours
@kandes - You're welcome to Foster... whoever he is....
@Nemo - Everyone enjoys riding in our incredible jersey!
The Great Big "An incline plane, wrapped helically around an axis" Post
Screwed!
Well, yes and no. Transfers has come to an end, and we'll get ahead of Predictions here. This squad is not going to survive in the PCT. That's ok, that's the plan. We were unable to scout any regional riders capable of contesting at this level, and we were very unwilling to sell out by going after other riders. So we've added yet more regional talents with low-to-middling CT skills (bar Forbes of course who's a decent PCT talent), and worked on how to make the team the best CT one it can be in 2025.
Also, we definitely screwed up transfers! Hidden beneath the shock Kipkemboi news was a late flurry of Stagiere additions. So... being so prepared for CT we actually forgot the PCT has a 20 rider minimum... and we had 18. So we added four local Stagieres to hit our required minimums. Didn't this mess up our cap and budget work? Erm... no, as you're about to see...
2024 Podium Ambition Squad
Nat.
Name
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
OVR
XP
Age
Pot
Wage
Christopher Lagane
70
70
78
66
70
71
71
65
76
77
70
63
65
76.23
4.100
26
6
175,000
Alexandre Mayer
68
69
77
70
65
72
71
61
72
77
76
60
71
75.27
4.100
26
2
100,000
Andrew Norbert
75
67
71
70
75
77
70
55
77
75
70
69
76
74.4
4.100
26
6
75,000
Jay Major
74
50
66
57
74
70
74
70
77
78
62
66
64
74.39
4.100
29
4
65,000
Akil Campbell
74
63
68
76
69
68
68
75
68
73
67
66
75
74.16
4.100
28
4
85,000
Nathan Alexander
72
74
73
72
72
71
73
60
61
67
66
68
72
73.48
4.100
26
3
60,000
Jonathan Croes
66
73
73
75
73
72
71
56
62
65
66
69
75
73.21
4.100
27
3
50,000
Cristian Perez
73
63
67
76
73
73
72
69
66
68
75
69
76
72.97
4.100
25
4
55,000
Hasani Hennis
70
67
70
76
71
72
75
69
75
76
69
68
76
72.89
4.100
27
5
85,000
Joshua Gayral
74
65
72
71
70
71
72
71
71
72
75
62
71
72.89
4.100
27
3
50,000
Kim Le Court
70
70
76
60
67
70
68
62
64
66
76
70
61
72.72
4.100
28
4
50,000
Kristian Vanderpool
68
64
64
77
63
64
61
60
60
63
62
62
76
72.14
4.100
29
3
70,000
Kaden Hopkins
68
60
64
67
71
66
65
55
74
75
63
67
73
71.06
3.13
24
5
50,000
Jesus Roniel Marte
68
65
70
65
70
70
67
71
66
68
69
66
62
70.34
3.13
23
4
70,000
Connor White
73
66
68
71
69
71
66
63
69
69
71
72
73
70.24
3.64
25
5
50,000
Nathaniel Forbes
69
63
67
63
67
65
67
70
66
69
69
66
63
69.87
1.0
22
6
160,000
James Morris Berroa
67
68
67
60
69
66
70
52
65
69
74
79
60
68.5
1.0
22
4
50,000
Ricardo Delgado Gonzales
65
68
67
58
70
66
62
60
67
69
68
66
62
68.28
1.0
23
5
50,000
Nicholas Narraway
58
68
67
54
68
70
69
54
59
67
68
64
63
67.49
1.0
22
3
10,000
Karega Charles
67
58
65
65
67
65
65
64
64
65
70
76
66
66.18
1.0
23
4
10,000
Gian Carlos Hernandez Moran
68
60
61
66
66
65
64
64
67
69
73
68
66
65.97
1.16
23
5
10,000
Kevon Boyd
67
64
59
66
64
69
66
57
60
64
65
68
67
65.03
1.0
23
4
10,000
Headlines
Training spend! We were a Top10 team in terms of total training spend, without making a single sale - that ain't half bad. Lagane is the big beneficiary, moving to 78HL and 76SP. We toyed around for a long time with 79H, but ultimately we feel the split gives us better longer term options. Campbell moves to 75CB, which we believe can return some scoring benefits. Finally Hasani gets 70FL and now looks like a normal SP/TT rider with a green color FL stat.
As you'll see, those wages arn't exactly huge. We've got 910k in unused wage cap this season (I said I had cap set aside to sign Forbes!). A ton of that actually fed directly into training. Plus we're still paying the wages of 4 other riders out on Loan. We could have really made a splash in transfers without this mental regional focus of ours.
Expectations
Not Last would be great, but i'll take just not being embarassed. We have picked Goals (to be revealed at a later date) that could still be acheivable despite this, making full use of our squads unique skill sets. That said it will be a long season without much to shout about. Luckily this AWARD WINNING HQ will continue to be a space for my insane rambling and dumb jokes, y'all can expect to enjoy that.
More Nationalities?
Courtesy of Nathaniel Forbes, Karega Charles and Kevon Boyd we have added yet more Nations into the MG Peloton - and consequently yet more entries into the National Championships. The Cayman Islands, Grenada and Dominica! Honestly i think our mission at this point is just to make the NC reports surrender and flee into the sunset.
You couldn’t do much worse then Spark did last season in the PCT keen to see how the team goes! I like the squad and hopefully they surprise and stay in the PCT. Lagane is a monster and will be insane with more training!
Second Jak on Lagane, love his stat combo. Forbes was a nice pickup, arguable they best new world talent available, and pretty cheap in the end, but you couldn't know that.
Congrats on adding more countries, good practice for the sporcle name the flag test. Rumor has it the ToA is looking at a Caribbean Grand Depart for 2025.
Leaving 910k out of your transfer plans is decidedly out of this world bonkers. I left 150k and considered interning myself in a hospice Kudos for going that way! Thought about sending you a PM about Orosco, but then I didnt really want to lose him.
Loving Lagane as well, congrats! I just hope be doesnt get too much in Stannard's way.
Great to see such an amount invested in Lagane. It’s the only way to push such a project one above. You doing it without any foreign sales objects is impressive. Also a doom sentance, but still very cool! And it must feel somewhat intruiging to know that your setup actually is somewhere in between division. So there’s not far from here to actually being a steady PCT setup. A few more developments, and maybe 2 years more of training and I could see you staying up next time.
@Jakstar - I've my own terrible PCT seasons, this one has some potential for good results. Lagane may need to leave to really acheive his not-quite-Demare potential *hint for next offseason*
@UU - 160k was cheaper than expected, really thought he'd be closer to 200k, so thank you everyone for giving up! I can do the flags, i'm just making it hard for reporters having to remeber the difference between the Dominican Republic and Dominica and Aruba and Anguilla
@Gustav - I really had no-one to spend my cap on because i really don't want to go outside of focus (exception for long overdue promotion pushes). It's nuts but i don't care about relegation, the CT is where this project can flourish and impact races (for now).
@SotD - I'm far too deep into this stupid joke of a project now! I'm wedded to the very painful grind of making a good Caribbean team. We're currently between divisions, but if we can get our handull of 77 climbers together with Forbes and Hopkins, and hold onto Mayer/Lagane then we can think about PCT stability. So you know, only another 4 years away...
We're currently between divisions, but if we can get our handull of 77 climbers together with Forbes and Hopkins, and hold onto Mayer/Lagane then we can think about PCT stability. So you know, only another 4 years away...
Yet still be far the coolest project in MG (sorry Sotd close 2nd)
Feel the MG gods giving you a good stage racer would make this team PCT but having to develop essentially all your domestiques (who else is going to grab a rider from the region that maxes at 74 is holding you back more then anything. Best of luck for the season
I absolutely love your team. But, then again, I loved it from the beginning. The Caribbean is in good hands with you and I love your dedication to the region. I certainly hope you will not have such a painful season as you expect and I am keeping my fingers crossed for survival in the PCT. I am also secretly dreaming of seeing one day this Caribbean team and a particularly Central American one in the PT one day.
Good luck in the new season!
@jt - With exception of Major it's an all home-grown team, talk about long term projects! Chipping away at things, although it would have been nice to 'uncover' a more PCT ready rider.
@DW - PT, i don't know if we'll ever make the PT, it's taken enough time to be CT competitive. But hey, when you pass us on the way up i'll have plenty of cheers to send with you!
The Great Big "Pre-Season Hype" Post
Couldn't think of a fancy title for this one. Race Planning was a little bit of a pain but we got there, making something of a balance between continued development and making some effort to avoid relegation. Whilst there are no official predictions yet, we know this team will do very very well to not finish last. But enroute to that, there are a few races we could sprint something of a surprise in!
PCT Team Standings
Top 20
In Progress
Chrono d'Arenberg
Win
In Progress
GP Lugano
Top 5
In Progress
Baltic Chain Tour
Stage Win
In Progress
Grand Prix Cycliste
Win
In Progress
We went fairly conservative on the Goals. We've had past successes on the CB/TT races, and the current squad offers a couple of options in those events, so goals in Arenberg and Baltic Chain make sense. Lugao and Cycliste who knows, Lagane should feature but at the higher level up there's nothing we can assume. We probably won't score 4/5 goals again, but we have solid aims to finish the year 2/5 and possibly bag goal points from 4/5.
Nothing else to add for now, beyond the lure of a genuine Caribbean holiday grows stronger every day, more so as the nights draw in and the rains return. I wonder if there was some sort of sponsor that could help out....
The season kicked off and is already rattling through at a pace! As normal for a TMM team we've been out in action early, always making our way to far flung lands for the early season sunny days (and the Isle of Man in February, can't have our riders thinking it's all holidays). This also means we learn a ton about the squad very quickly and can establish a strong sense of realism for the season.
This time around, seems our pre-season thoughts (and those of the predictors) were pretty spot on. Lagane took a GC Podium at the Tour Down Under, proving he is better than Demare - no notes, we will not revistit this statement of fact again. Jesus Roniel Marte has confirmed he's a sizable intorvert, and continues to breakaway at the drop of a hat. Guadeloupe is a race we're destined to never do anything in. And our TTT unit is good but missing a genuine leader.
Nothing new in any of that. January rankings flatter to deceive based on Lagane, and even then it wasn't exactly encouraging. We're very much on course to hit out pre-season target of finishing rock bottom! And frankly, we're still loving it. There's enough on display from Lagane & Marte to give us a reason to keep riding, knowing we are capable of a random shock result. Whilst having no sudden surges of "but we might just survive!". Ideal.
Wouldn't change a think. This team is not failing, it's not broken. We're just on our own path and slowly developing. Frankly i'm still stunned that A) this team exists, and B) we even made it to the PCT. Which is why the lesson is nothing to do with how to plan your leaders, or unearth the best stat combo for your talent. It's "Be yourself" and enjoy that. Stick around for more affirmations and absurd positivity - plus the usaual odd gif selection.
*for real, why did you all vote this as an award winning HQ!*
![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
keen to see how the team goes! I like the squad and hopefully they surprise and stay in the PCT. Lagane is a monster and will be insane with more training!
Kudos for going that way! Thought about sending you a PM about Orosco, but then I didnt really want to lose him.
