Congrats to ELCO on the title and bounce back to PT. Love to see our friends at Sony also promoting and after many years of having Lierse high up in my predictions they also make it to the big league
Commiserations to those relegated. I can't remember the final spot being that close before.
In our 8th year in MG, our fourth in a row in PCT, and sixth overall in the division, we finally make it to the PT! Honestly speaking, the transfer window this season went almost perfectly to allow me to build the team exactly how I wanted to. That really helped. 3rd is an awesome outcome, with ELCO and ISA just too far out of reach all through the season.
Olivier was amazing till September, doing everything we asked of him. The last race in Japan was underwhelming but he's allowed one blip for sure. But the star of the team once again was Benoot, and in no way did I feel at the start of the season that he'll beat his previous best score for us (784 in 2022) and also beat Olivier's scoring! Both the TT guys in Cataford and Howson did extremely well and were very consistent. Kulikovskiy did much better than his wage would have you believe. The others pitched in with more than notable results, with everyone managing to score, which is very satisfying.
Congrats to all the others promoting as well and to ELCO for the title. Also very appropriate that the active team just saved themselves on the final day of the season, so congrats on that JEWA.
Thanks to Fab for the rankings update, and for the ones all through the season!
Not that it seems like it will matter as DW hasn't been as active as he should be but missing out on survival by 4 points is a crazy gut punch. Some other big hitters going down in Kraftwerk, feels weird to see that institution be unfurled like that and now they have to make it work in CT next year.
A very interesting promoting class as well, super happy for Abhi finally getting his shot at PT glory and he has an interesting core to work with off the back of this promotion for sure. ELCO going up was never in doubt for anyone and I am super excited to see if SotD can manage to stay in the PT next year with the addition of training funds this PCT campaign has given him. ISA looks like a disband but nonetheless still congrats to Scorchio on a great PCT season.
Seems like Lierse managed to break the curse with Bonifazio finally feeling like ending his abusive relationship with oldfardh and stepping up, maybe now he will get some love from his manager? This also means we finally get to see Oomen in PT where he belongs.
UBS and Indosat also make their PT returns and I am super happy to see that. No Dunbar in PCT is also something that makes me happy, in general the stage racing lay of the land will be so different next year with a lot of staples leaving the PCT.
Also comisserations to Adler on missing out on potential promotion by 7 points, but he's still on the outside for a disband spot. Reis finally deciding that he wants to race to his stats for once, whether that's good planning or just luck time will tell but still a massive season for him anyway.
Personally this season has been great and following Meurisse has been a pleasure that we can look to with great fondness for the forseeable future. Would have been great to see him finish in the top 10 individual standings in his last year as a maxed rider. Will be a massive gap to fill since there are no immediate replacement available in the db!
Yet again thank you for the updates, and thanks to the reporters for a smooth season with very few breaks!
We made the top ten, who would have thought that at the halfway point of the season. Five riders in the individual top 50, though all out of the top 30. Bjerg and Kalaba had very good seasons while the old leadership in Ahlstrand, Cattaneo and Kinoshita did their job, but can not be relied upon to this extent next season.
Congrats to SotD on the PCT title, after many PT titles this one was missing from your cabinet . Congrats to the other managers promoting as well, especially AbhishekLFC and Ollfardh for their first one.
Commiserations to those relegated.
And finally, thanks for the updates here and throughout the year Fabianski. Fantastic work!
Very sad to go down, as this mean we wont be able to hold on to our best riders and will have a hard time strengthening the squad of the free agency with a much tighter wage cap. We'll come back
At least it was not by a 4 point margun. Happy JEWA secured that last place.
Thanks Fab for the final update and all of your hard work with these throughout the year. Much appreciation for another great season to all the people who reported races and ran things in the background. Happy to see SotD take a much deserved win. For us, I have mixed feelings on promotion. It's nice to land top 5 for the sake of competition and to have an expanded budget next season, but I do think the PCT is more fun personally. I'm also a bit concerned that I won't be able to make the squad PT competitive this off-season so may be heading right back down. Congrats to all the other promoters and commiserations to those stepping down for the next season, hopefully you will bounce back!
Cool to see the ELCO project working, but sad to see some longtime managers going down to CT, especially some who have fought to break the glass ceiling a few times already.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Congrats SotD with the title, well deserved. Congrats to Abhi, Bushwackers, Ollfardh and Eden with the promotions! I’m curious to see how you guys will build your team PT proof
We’re extremely happy with the 15th place. 300 points above our internal goal is crazy to me, especially when you see the scoring of our hill squad. Ofcourse ToA was a cheat code this season.
Congrats to Blasing for staying up! Crazy performances in the last weeks. Didn’t expect DW to relegate with Coquard, but in the end it feels better to have someone active staying up.
Commiserations to Bjartne, TMM and D2B. I hope you can handle the rebuild well and I hope to see you all back in 2026!
MG - Lotto - Caloi
[MG] New Manager of the Year - PCM.daily Awards 2022
Will SotD finaly accept he's going to win the PCT now?
Great season for them, incredible depth in some races. ISA was a worthy opponent, sad to see them gone. Also congrats to Sony for keeping us off the podium. Let's see who else can go up.
No Dunbar in PCT is also something that makes me happy
To be honest, that's the point I definitely dislike most about the final rankings. Could very well have done without Dunbar in PT next year
Congrats of course to Indosat nonetheless, feels right for you to go up after missing out by close to nothing last year - nice to see that your Bagioli move was rewarded
It's nice to land top 5 for the sake of competition and to have an expanded budget next season, but I do think the PCT is more fun personally.
I can definitely see your point. I agree that PCT is clearly more interesting from a managerial point of view, offering far more strategic options than just picking 3/6 PTHC bands as in PT. Nonetheless, riding the "big" races is fun as well, even though I fully get that it can get pretty boring after a couple of years.
I'm also a bit concerned that I won't be able to make the squad PT competitive this off-season so may be heading right back down.
Well, congrats on the achieved promotion first of all (as well as to all other promoted teams, in particular ELCO with the division title!). And I don't think you're doomed to be honest. Godoy is a great rider to have in PT (even though he didn't work that well in PCT this season). Jacobs needs 1-2 more trainings and he'll be competitive as well. And Buchmann should be decent enough even after a first decline. I'd say it's a decent base to build up upon, even though your roster's age structure will obviously demand quite some modifications in the next two years.
Looking forward to see maxed Balmer as well, and Blum should also start delivering some points next season already! Wish you all the best
Thanks again for another rankings update Fab, and thank you for all of your hard work being on us these terrific updates throughout the season. Thanks to all of the reporters and people doing all of the work behind the scenes as well - you guys are the best!
What a ridiculous finish again, my poor heart can barely take it. Missing out by 7 points last season was insane, and being on the other end of that this season by weirdly almost the same margin doesn’t feel great. Commiserations to Adler, really sorry that you miss out by such a margin - having been there last season, it sucks. I think you had a terrific season though - having so much $$$ tied up in a young rider and still being in the promotion race to the final race day is a pretty amazing feat - while it looks like not much will change with your team in transfers, it looks like you will be able to do a lot of good with that extra $$$ lowering Ayuso’s wage to human levels that you should be able to pad you’re team even more and I’d be surprised if you weren’t up in the top-5 next season.
Congrats to UBS for landing in 5th, good to see you back up in PT. Congrats also SotD on the division win! It looked like a sure thing a lot of the season, and it’s awesome to see you achieve this feat with such a heavy national focus. Also great to see abhi and Olfardh finally going up (despite Bonifazio’s protesting), excited to see what you both do with your teams in the off season.
For us, it is nice to be going up despite the ridiculousness of the last day. Dunbar had an amazing season, and even then there were still a few hiccups where he could have done even better. Bagioli was everything we dreamed of and more - his USAPCC was crazy and unlike anything I’ve seen before. Tenorio was amazing as well, and Nur Hasan vindicated himself in Paris Tours. Not much else to say right now, thanks again Fab for the lovely updates.
Congrats too to Blasing for Arndt’s miracle masterclass keeping you guys up, awesome to see. Commiserations to T3A, bjartne and D2B going down to CT. Three awesome managers and I hope you’ll bounce straight back up.
1. So happy that this stressful season is over. Avoiding relegation is a relief.
2. Thank you everyone. All the admins all the reporters, Abi, roturn, Ulrich, jt, Laurens, red, KB, Imladrik, seancoll, cunego, Nemo. All who helped with previews and other stuff. Eezefreak for the beautiful kit. Fab, for the final rankings and for all your efforts into keeping us all informed and updated during the season. Just can't imagine this game without your brilliant updates.Seeing Everesting at the top feels wrong though. Are you sober?
3. Congrats SotD. Fortunately your pessimistic uptake didnt come to fruition. Congrats to everyone else who promoted and to the ones, like me, who were lucky enough to suck just a little less than the red line
4. Commiserations to everyone relegated. It sucks lets be honest. Having relegated more times than I can count i can recall the bitterness of this reveal. Bad luck certainly played a part, but there have certainly been aspects which could have been better planned. The good news is next year you start ahead of the rest of the field, so the odds are on your side this time.
5. Finally, thanks everyone, who just participates. I have seen this community thrive and decay. I didnt think it was possible but somehow you guys kept this thing alive through the end of the forum era of the internet to reach this point where it seems it has found a place as a niche curiosity for people who have nothing better to do than read fictional cycling races written by people youve never met in person.
Gentlemen, you are the greatest geeks Ive ever known. Please keep at it!
Thanks for another update here, Fabi! And congrats to our deserved division winner SotD, the other promoting teams of Abhi, Ollfardh, Bushwackers and Eden and commiserations to Adler for just missing out on promotion as well as Bjartne, D2B and TMM for relegating.
October was a good month for us and in the end we finished pretty much mid-table: 12th out of 24, 636 points to the promotion spots and 625 to the relegation zone. On top we got a PpRD of exactly 15, which is weirdly satisfying.
Cool to see the promoting teams, I’m sure they will all build exciting teams for their first year in the PT. Several of the definitely already have very solid bases to build on for the PT, I feel.
And what a thriller that was for a season finale deciding both promotions and relegations. Was hoping to the very end that Tafjord finally could make it work and make progress in the PCT, but not meant to be.
Must say the PCT season have been great to follow this year. Not to myself for next year is to be better at making comments in race threads and such, as there have been so many brilliant stories through the season.
Gustavovskiy wrote:
5. Finally, thanks everyone, who just participates. I have seen this community thrive and decay. I didnt think it was possible but somehow you guys kept this thing alive through the end of the forum era of the internet to reach this point where it seems it has found a place as a niche curiosity for people who have nothing better to do than read fictional cycling races written by people youve never met in person.
Gentlemen, you are the greatest geeks Ive ever known. Please keep at it!
Had to quote this because it resonated with me
A big yay to see Sony promote. Finally the Conglomerate is united
In general, a lot of the expected teams right at the top - even if particularly SotD and Ollfardh tried to convince everyone that wasnt the case. UBS the closest to a surprise but even they have a roster where it isnt too surprising to see up there.
Similar picture at the bottom half. Mostly the expected teams there but im glad that some of the other teams i saw as weaker like e.g. Ekoi didnt get too involved in the relegation fight.
First of all - Thank you a lot to all of you reaching out with a congrats! It means a lot!
We are extremely happy about that win. We have never been in the PCT, so I was a bit worried when I entered here, as there is a lot more juggling funds and tactics here than in the PT, where I know the mechanics quite well, and often have outscored previews due to knowing the races and potential tweaks so well. So it means a lot for me that I'm not completely useless elsewhere, despite also having to aknowledge that my team isn't bad at all in this division. I don't think my team - rider for rider - is top 3 material though, so to get there is awesome!
We knew about halfway through the season, that promotion was the most likely outcome, but despite a lot of managers saying we were the clear favorites for the actual win I didn't quite believe that, as we had a pointwise front heavy schedule - despite using up a low amount of racedays. It turned out that our cobble and GC (TTT) gamble worked very well though, and a very quality-poor (and low on numbers) Tour of America also boosted our points much further than we would have expected.
Promoting with NO top 10 individual riders and just TWO top 50 individual riders is quite an achievement, which just shows how much our depth actually worked. It will probably also punish us next season though.
The battle with ISA was fierce to the end, but I'm obviously happy to take the win - even more so after Schorcio unfortunately lost interest in the game. Which I kinda knew was a risk prior to the season.
We take a bunch of very cool teams up with very talented managers, eager to prove themselves at the top level, aswell as an old PT friend in UBS!
I can't say that I have any favorites in the bunch of promoters as I feel they all bring a lot to the table - and have done for multiple seasons. In particular in terms of activity and role play, and obviously a great know how on the game! But I have to single out one team which in particular made me very very happy to see promote: Lierse! For me it has been one of those teams I was just waiting for to join us at the PT for years. A crazy strong PCT build with talent after talent, but for some reason the barrier just wasn't made to break until now. It is such a deserved promotion, and for me one of the biggest "One to watch" teams of the upcoming season, as the PT setup is already there. It frightens me what another 1mio can do to that team if a similar approach is used at PT.
On the contrary I'm really sad not to see Specialized go up, despite the gap being somewhat clear in the end. Next year!
McCormick was a late bloomer, but made huge jumps in the end, actually getting fairly close to the promotion spot. Impressive, but also with a really cool team!
It sucks to see Coquard being relegated two years in a row, but atleast he is available for pickup, so he doesn't get to ride the CT just yet.
Podium was the obvious pre-season relegation favorite, but they have come a long way, and I think the talents pool is now significant enough to make a quick CT season before biting into the PCT for real. And if not I hope just 1 foreign star can be added, to keep the team develop, as I love the similarities between our setups.
JEWA made the amazing escape in the end, which was absolutely brilliant to see, even if it did cost Tafjord the relegation. Ideally we would have seen Popo relegate for the sake of keeping those guys alive. Can't say I hoped for Popo to relegate though, as I have always hoped for fjoekie to come around and decide to stay. Great guy!
Didn't see the relegation of Kraftwerk coming to be honest. It just didn't seem to work.
Overall a very fun season to take part in, which have definately lifted my morale for continuation a lot, after being very demotivated a couple of seasons back.
Gustavovskiy wrote:
5. Finally, thanks everyone, who just participates. I have seen this community thrive and decay. I didnt think it was possible but somehow you guys kept this thing alive through the end of the forum era of the internet to reach this point where it seems it has found a place as a niche curiosity for people who have nothing better to do than read fictional cycling races written by people youve never met in person.
Gentlemen, you are the greatest geeks Ive ever known. Please keep at it!
Had to quote this because it resonated with me
Me too.
A solid season for McCormick, 2 spots and 150 points better than last year. We have always believed in methodical progress. The very back end nature of our schedule always made things look bleaker than they were but still would prefer not to repeat that I think the team vision got a little fuzzy this year but have been thinking about and will look to crystalize our focus a little this offseason.
Congrats to all the promoters, as others have said a very deserving group of managers. Feel particularly happy for Eden since it would have been brutal to miss out again by a tiny margin after some AI disfavor in the final races.
Sympathy on relegation particularly to D2B, if any team got the shortest end of the sprint lottery stick I think it was them.
Edited by Ulrich Ulriksen on 04-06-2025 02:15
. Congrats to the other managers promoting as well, especially AbhishekLFC and Ollfardh for their first one.
