Tao is again in the role of our team's #2 leader. He has a tough task ahead of him. The team time-trial is not as strong this year and in general the calendar changes haven't done him any favours. Furthermore we are again asking him to lead us in one of the Grand Tours, which happens to be the Giro this year.

Ivan Siric steps into the 3rd leader role following his offseason training. Despite being a completely different rider type Ivan has the unenviable task of filling Enger's big shoes after the great season he had last year. The main focus will be the cobbled classics, especially the two monuments. The sprint classics are more of a free hit where maybe he can attack the race. Similar with stage races like Nederland and Northern Europe, getting into the breakaway is probably the best chance at scoring more than the minimum.

knockout wrote:

Am I mistaken or does that Siric schedule mean that he has quite a few RDs left?

Curious whether that was a conscious decision to keep him away from possible sprint finishes due to his ACC or if the number of unmaxed riders demanded more RDs to level up nicely or what the thought process was there?

redordead wrote:


It's the same for any cobbler, there aren't that many RDs to use. I filled the race spots with either unmaxed riders or ones that can actually do something in a given race/stage. I don't recall the game ever treating him as a sprinter so why bother.

Martin Hvastija:

It's the season opener so we want to get off to a good start. Dusan will get his first chance to sprint for a top 10 result, but the main scoring should come from our time-trialists. Either Steven or Tao can hopefully finish in the top 10 depending on how stage 2 pans out. It's a nice first race for the likes of Riley Sheehan and Logan Currie.

Martin Hvastija:

We don't quite have the firepower to compete with the top prologue riders and sprinters that are at this race. We are going to need a bit of luck somewhere to score much more than the minimum. It's not the best race for breakaways, but Gasper Katrasnik does have some success here from the past, so he's probably our best bet for a surprise.

Martin Hvastija:

We just weren't at it from the get go. In a race like this you have to be 100% all the time. We missed the split on stage 1 with Lammertink and all our potential depth scorers, while Rajovic didn't position himself well enough to compete in the sprint. The effort in the time-trial was subpar as well. All in all this was a horrendous start to the season, so we need to improve ASAP!

Race score: 2/10

Martin Hvastija:

We had 3 days in the breakaway. The most important day of that was on stage 1. Dorde Duric was very opportunistic in taking the U25 jersey then and kept it until the last day time-trial. Groselj and Christodoulos were able to finish in the top 25 overall thanks to a good performance on the final day. The aim is now to carry this momentum into the next races.

Race score: 7/10

Martin Hvastija:

We don't quite have the same top end talent as we did last year, in fact we're relying on a few of the younger riders. Regardless, a good scoring outing is needed here, so we'll try to aim for as high as possible. Top 10 should be a realistic expectation.

Martin Hvastija:

We showed the improvement we wanted to show here. The end result is a satisfying one and albeit having a slightly different team, we hope this sort of performance can be repeated in two weeks at the Paris-Nice team time-trial.

Race score: 6/10

Gorazd Stangelj:

The second stage race of the season for both Tao and Dusan after Tasmania. Both are motivated to get rid of the bad taste from Down Under. We don't expect much GC depth, but we are counting on the young lads to support Tao for a high placing. Dusan will target a stage win or multiple strong results across the sprint stages.

Gorazd Penko:

It's the first mountain stage race of the season and we are here all in support of Pogacar. The race squad selection was made largely with the team time-trial in mind. Still that doesn't mean that's all the TT specialists are here for, as we need them on the flatter sections and in general for the first 2/3 of any stage. The last part is where Daniel Habtemichael, our only other climber will come to the fore to bring our leader in the best possible position.

Martin Hvastija:

This is not an ideal setup with a couple of pure climbers and otherwise rouleurs here to flank Daniel Hoelgaard. Getting into the breakaway will likely be our primary goal and we'll work out things from there. No presure for a result.