Congrats a very solid season, I don't think I was the only one who thought you would struggle. But those early resutls settled the team's nerves and it turned into a pretty relaxing season for you (at least for someone who wasn't the manager).
Nice write up of your season and overall really a nice and solid season. Not in any danger and your team overall looks really nicely build for the upcomming years.
Look forward to battle again with you next season, though we probably dont have much of a chance
The season is nearly over, so we’ll join those teams having a look at the development of their talents. It’s also the last time we’ll see some of this names in a development post as we max out some of them (for the first time in the team’s history). Best of all, two of them were maxed fully in-house.
But we’ll start with a short recap of our performance at this year’s Tour de l’Avenir:
Start
End
Race
team goal
results
23-Aug
31-Aug
Tour de l'Avenir
-
GC Top 5; 2 GC Top 25s; Stage Podium; 2 Stage Top 5s; 4 Stage Top 10s
We hoped for a GC top 5 with Vauquelin here and he started the race accordingly with an 8th place in the prologue as best of the GC riders. Stage 2 was one for the sprinters, but Pithie wasn’t able to get a top 10 there. It was the same picture in stage 3, but as soon as the peloton got into the hills in stage 4 our team was there. Pithie got our first podium as 3rd in this stage while Vauquelin finished in 7th and stayed the best placed GC rider. In stage 5 Costiou was our best rider in 4th, but Pithie and Vauquelin also finished in the first group. Stage 6 was the first mountain stage. We sent Silva (our guest rider from Aker) into the break, but they didn’t make it really far and in the end Vauquelin wasn’t able to follow the other GC favourites in the final climb, dropping to 6th in the GC. Stage 7 was another one for the sprinters and Pithie finished 10th there. The penultimate stage was a long TT and while Vauquelin only finished 11th there he won quite some time on some of the other GC riders, thus climbing to 4th in the GC. He lost this position because of time bonuses to our former loanee Karatsivis in the final stage, but 5th was his realistic position in the GC anyway. Berhe in 12th and Pithie in 14th overall had also good races.
But now it’s time to look at our talent factory!
Lewis Askey | 23 years old | LVL2>LVL3 | LVL 3.55
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
67
63
70
58
69
65
69
72
66
73
60
67
67
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
68
63
70
58
71
66
70
74
67
73
60
67
67
Lewis already had his first big results, but he still has two seasons of development ahead of him. He’ll be a more vital part of our cobbles department next season nonetheless.
Alex Baudin | 23 years old | LVL1>LVL2 | LVL 2.23
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
65
66
66
66
68
66
67
63
63
66
67
65
63
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
65
67
67
67
69
67
68
63
63
66
67
65
64
After two seasons as a stagiaire Alex finally makes the first step in his development. Time will tell if more steps will follow.
Welay Hagos Berhe | 23 years old | LVL3>LVL4 | LVL 4.65
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
67
71
69
69
71
68
71
60
61
66
67
64
67
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
68
73
71
71
73
70
73
60
61
67
68
64
69
Welay Hagos is on his way to a stage racing domestique and will be a decent one next season already.
Alan Boileau | 25 years old | LVL4>Max | LVL 4.100
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
67
73
75
65
68
70
72
62
67
74
66
67
64
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
67
75
77
65
68
71
73
62
67
76
68
67
64
Alan is one of our maxing riders and he’ll be a vital part of APPs support cast from next season onwards.
Ewen Costiou | 22 years old | LVL1>LVL3 | LVL 3.00
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
71
66
72
68
71
68
63
66
70
72
68
69
69
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
73
66
72
68
71
70
71
66
73
74
68
69
71
We finally decided to develop Ewen into a punchy sprinter (with some decent prologue skills). We always had a soft spot for those.
Joris Delbove | 24 years old | LVL4>Max | LVL 4.100
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
65
74
72
58
67
72
74
62
60
69
71
72
58
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
65
76
74
58
67
73
75
62
60
71
73
72
58
Joris is one of the two riders who were developed fully in-house. He’ll take over Chevriers spot as a mountain domestique / stage hunter.
Arman Garibian | 24 years old | LVL4>Max | LVL 4.100
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
69
74
70
71
72
73
76
55
60
70
66
70
71
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
70
76
71
73
74
75
78
55
60
71
66
70
73
Arman is our second fully home-grown rider. Apart from being a good stage racing domestique (and maybe even depth scorer) he probably won’t wear our usual jersey in the years to come as a potential Moldovian NC dominator.
[b]Antti-Jussi Juntunen | 25 years old | LVL3>LVL4 | LVL 4.01
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
68
63
72
61
67
70
65
61
68
71
68
61
60
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
69
65
74
61
68
71
67
61
68
73
70
62
60
Antti-Jussi is on his way to become a domestique for the hills. We’ll see if he’ll continue this journey with us.
Paul Lapeira | 24 years old | LVL3>LVL4 | LVL 4.66
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
73
69
71
61
70
70
67
71
72
73
75
70
64
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
75
69
72
61
72
72
68
74
74
74
76
71
64
We chose the cobbles path for Paul, making him a nice future cobbles leader (barring some training).
Matis Louvel | 25 years old | LVL4>Max | LVL 4.100
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
75
64
71
71
73
76
69
74
67
67
67
66
71
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
77
64
72
73
75
78
70
76
67
67
67
66
73
Matis is the last of our first talent class (and thus maxing riders). He’ll be a valuable cobbles, TTT and sprint train asset in the next season and is on our training list for the years to come.
Kevin Vauquelin | 23 years old | LVL3>LVL4 | LVL 4.65
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
68
73
67
72
68
72
70
58
68
68
71
70
71
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
⇊
69
77
69
74
70
74
73
58
68
69
72
71
73
Kevin is our future GC leader and we already expect some nice U25 results from him next season despite not being maxed yet.
Awesome talents! A bit sad about the path chosen for Ewen tbh, but it’s always a bit of a struggle to pick paths. Especially when you already have other riders covering some of the possibilities. I don’t see the PRL gain as relevant though, unless you plan to build Ewen into a top sprinter. He won’t be able to combine those stats to actually gain anything significant on better sprinters (or PRL riders for that matter). Would probably have given more focus on his HI, or maybe to make him look a bit more like Lapeira, to have a leadout possibility.
Fantastic group of talents! Said it before the season that i really like the group of riders youve assembled but i wasnt sure if their short term strength would be good enough. Now that youve survived this one toughest season, the future is looking bright!
Like everyone has already mentioned, that's a great bunch of talents covering all terrains! Also very impressive with the French focus for the majority of the young riders.
Congrats a very solid season, I don't think I was the only one who thought you would struggle. But those early resutls settled the team's nerves and it turned into a pretty relaxing season for you (at least for someone who wasn't the manager).
A trained APP is a scary prospect.
The pre-season consensus (including myself) clearly saw us on the edge of relegation, so you weren't alone there. But Askey's upset in GORC and Daniels good scoring in the early cobbles classics gave us a nice cushion.
Let's hope we find enough money in transfers to actually train APP, so he can scare not only you!
APP and Ranaweera did a very nice job leading the team with the other guys chipping in enough to make it a comfortable season
While APP, Ranaweera and Daniel clearly were our best point scorers it actually was a team effort. Let's hope we can replace some of those scorers declining, especially Daniel.
Nice write up of your season and overall really a nice and solid season. Not in any danger and your team overall looks really nicely build for the upcomming years.
Look forward to battle again with you next season, though we probably dont have much of a chance
It's probably the first time we don't have a major rebuild ahead in transfers, so I'm actually optimistic about the years to come.
It's great to see you finally promoting, especially after your plans to shut down. And while you may have a hard time if you stay with your new youth focus, I clearly fear your competition in transfers for some of the talents probably coming in! Maybe I'll have to distract you by negotiating for some of your senior riders
Awesome talents! A bit sad about the path chosen for Ewen tbh, but it’s always a bit of a struggle to pick paths. Especially when you already have other riders covering some of the possibilities. I don’t see the PRL gain as relevant though, unless you plan to build Ewen into a top sprinter. He won’t be able to combine those stats to actually gain anything significant on better sprinters (or PRL riders for that matter). Would probably have given more focus on his HI, or maybe to make him look a bit more like Lapeira, to have a leadout possibility.
Still, as said - awesome talents!
It's great you like our youngsters! For Ewen I had some pretty different paths to choose from. In the end I liked the prospect of a punchy sprinter pretty much like Alaphilippe the most (I always fancy this kind of sprinter). The PRL won't be impressive in the end, but while the classic sprinter path would have given him a decent CO we'll have plenty of cobbles support anyway (also amongst our talents), so he won't be needed there. And all HI improvements would have lowered his SP to a level where he wouldn't have been more than a leadout in any case. And for that we can make use of Louvel and Lapeira who should have quite some non-cobbled RDs left every season once we have a sprinter worth it.
Fantastic group of talents! Said it before the season that i really like the group of riders youve assembled but i wasnt sure if their short term strength would be good enough. Now that youve survived this one toughest season, the future is looking bright!
I recall the "a nice 2027 roster" comment from your prediction But as you say, we should have survived the toughest part and now be able to make use of the constant inflow of developing and maxing riders.
A really nice group here - really like Lapeira myself. With 15 million or so invested Garibian could be the next Pluchkin .
Unfortunately Lapeira's prime is some years away still, but I'm already looking forward to it (though he'll have to compete with the likes of Girmay, Vermeersch or de Lie, plus some others I probably forget about). And Garibian already is the new Pluchkin as I expect him to never rider in our actual jersey again because of a sheer NC dominance in Moldova .
Like everyone has already mentioned, that's a great bunch of talents covering all terrains! Also very impressive with the French focus for the majority of the young riders.
There are some great real-life talents from France coming in this year (and the next ones too), so the goals in transfers are no secret. But it'll be hard enough to get all the talents we want and still put up a competitive team.
Brilliant group of talents and riders! Very curious to see how you play this transfer season. I'm sure you'll have managers knocking and asking for potential deals, which should make it rather easy for you to find money to train APP or whoever you want to prioritize, if that is the goal, and still able to keep most of the talents too. I'd say your building base is absolutely magnificent.
Very well done surviving this season, and it really, really sets you well up for the future, I'd say!
Happy to see our former stagiare Juntunen get to level 4, even if it sounds like his journey with you may be ending. And thanks again for taking on Lund Andresen!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Happy to see our former stagiare Juntunen get to level 4, even if it sounds like his journey with you may be ending. And thanks again for taking on Lund Andresen!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
We did rather well in this year’s NCs. Garibian was uncontested in Moldova, netting him the first of potentially many NC doubles there by just being the only competitor. Ranaweera also won the double in Sri Lanka as the big favourite in both races. Mestric took the RR crown in Croatia, also as the favourite on a cobbled route. And Berhe won the TT race in Ethiopia, not really surprisingly but we didn’t have him on our radar nonetheless, so it actually was a surprise for us.
Rider
RR
ITT
Arman Garibian
Champion
Champion
Suranga Ranaweera
Champion
Champion
Matija Mestric
Champion
Welay Hagos Berhe
Champion
Apart from the winners we had some podium results as well: Paulus narrowly won in the Austrian RR as did Hadi in the Rwandan TT. Dunne finished 3rd in the Irish RR as did APP in the French one – the most important one for our team clearly – and one day we’ll win it.
And that's it for our 2024 HQ. The new season is approaching rapidly, so the new HQ will be online quite soon!
Tour de l'Avenir
Lewis Askey | 23 years old | LVL2>LVL3 | LVL 3.55
Welay Hagos Berhe | 23 years old | LVL3>LVL4 | LVL 4.65
Arman Garibian | 24 years old | LVL4>Max | LVL 4.100 
[b]Antti-Jussi Juntunen | 25 years old | LVL3>LVL4 | LVL 4.01
Suranga Ranaweera
Matija Mestric
