And the final (loan) signing for the season is Morne Van Nierkerk who joins us from Xero Racing who pay his 50,000 euro wage. Morne is specialized in prologues ... and slightly longer prologues. He will lead us in a couple of races this season. Morne is also a pretty good rouleur who will fit into our squad for the flat classics just fine.

This roster needs almost no introduction because the majority of it looks very similar to last season. Our big three leaders from last year are still there with Lecuisinier, Lopez and Polanc as proven worldclass riders. Foss and Eenkhoorn will once again cover other mountainous races while our latvian stars Martins Blums and Krists Neilands are crucial lieutenants on their terrains of choice.

However, there are a few "marginal gains" we like to point out: We added two proven sprinters in Nihal Silva and Jaume Sureda. We added arguably one of the greatest groups of min wage loanees possible with Morne Van Niekerk, Nils Eekhoff, Juraj Bellan and Filippo Baroncini all performing key roles in our team. And some of our talents have improved from last year: Most notably, Luke Plapp looks ready to take leadership in some select races for the first time in his career.

It's hard to argue that we have become weaker compared to last season so we are looking forward to another season amongst the top teams in the world of cycling.

quadsas wrote:
Team lookin nice, Plapp will be an incredible scorer even unmaxed, however, Balts are crying due to incredible lack of representation

baseballlover312 wrote:

Kind of cursing myself for not resigning Sureda since he remained on a phenomenal wage, but with wanting to get an additional big sprinter and Forssell developing, he didn't really fit my "no leadouts" mantra. Already can see that wage/PpRD paying off big time.

We had some cash left, Liege - Bastogne - Liege is still the one race we really want to win - so might as well raise our chances with some minor training as long as its still possible.

jandal7 wrote:

This was terrible enough news for me anyway, but your Skype message to ask me to look up the training cost for you should really be counted as psychological warfare

Evonik - ELKO is a team where loaning in riders is an important part of the team building strategy in many years. This year was no different with many of our top targets being loan candidates. As a service to the loaning out teams, we have a long standing tradition of making the schedules of our loanees available so that they can follow the seasons of their riders if they wish to do so. So here is where this year's group will be riding:

Morne has a very front-heavy schedule with many races in the first half. He leads us in Herbiers and Praha, will be a core contributor in the TTTs in Copenhagen, Giro d'Italia and Paris-Nice and will race some stage races where skills against the clock can make a difference in Qatar and Tasmania.

He also rides the flat classics and after Foss, Lecuisinier, Eenkhoorn and Sureda didnt want to ride the cobbles, he was the best option to fill the 8th spot in all the cobbled races.

RDs used: 77 of 77
Expected Finishing Points*: 78

Nils Eekhoff and Morne Van Niekerk might be two riders that look fairly different on paper but they end up sharing an almost identical schedule:

Nils was signed with the cobbled races in mind in the first place and is a natural fit for the TT races as well as the flat classics. Compared to Morne, he replaces Tasmania with Milan San Remo and Amstel Gold Race. Why Amstel? Frankly, there is no particular reason for it other than we rely on all sorts of riders to fill in for the hills and he seemed to have two race days left that didnt really fit elsewhere.

RDs used: 78 of 78
Expected finishing points: 83

Looking at Juraj Bellan's strengths, there are two obvious profiles that suit him: High mountains and time trials. So obviously that is where his focus will be: If he ends up as one of the lowest scoring riders on the team, that would not mean that he did badly, but it's a possible consequence of mostly riding as a support rider for Lecuisinier and Lopez.

Between two Grand Tours, one monument, three team time trials (Copenhagen, Paris-Nice, Giro) and three PTHC stage races with big expectations, he can show his his team work, work rate and resilience on the biggest stages.

RDs used: 78 of 79
Expected finishing points: 43 points

Filippo Baroncini is a young puncheur who has only ever raced in PTHC races and below. This will change this year, as he will race lots of high prestige races this year: He will give his GT debut at home, race no less than three monuments and a ton of different terrains throughout the season.

Most notably, he is a crucial domestique for Miguel Angel Lopez in the hills and will ride most of his races alongside him but he will also race several flatter races including the flat classics and shorter races with some TT impact.

RDs used: 79 of 80
Expected finishing points: 73 points