The final days of transfers were pretty exciting ones for us! Whereas other teams had already shut down their activities, we were in negotiations literally until the final minutes - nothing materialized in the final hours, but the days before were definitely fruitful!
We'll find out whether we or our deal partners made the better moves there - but for the time being, we're rather satisfied with the final outcome. Not in terms of roster quality, but that was obvious once we changed our strategy to fully commit to development of Swiss cycling. Still, we think we did some interesting moves and should have the potential to surprise in quite some races.
But let's just take a look at what actually happened:
Departures
We had no less than three departures. One thereof was foreseeable, one wasn't fully surprising, either - but the final one stings a bit, yet we hope it will be worth the pain. Yes, we're sentimental...
The first of the three riders to leave the team was Gabriel Chavanne, an MG legend! And a team legend as well, despite having spent just two years with us in total.
Gabby won two stages for us in 2022, in Jelajah (where he also won the points jersey) and USA PCC. Unfortunately, this was back in the days where prologue riders weren't quite as consistent as in the two last seasons, otherwise he might have racked up even more wins.
Last year, he was 2nd in Paris - Nice, and 3rd in Portugal and Tour de Suisse, always beaten by the infamous SKA. He also ended up 4th in the Qatar ITT, which ended up being his highest scoring race last year thanks to a good GC position.
After leaving his prime years behind, he ended up being a tad too weak to keep up with the top PT prologue riders - but in CT, where he's now, he'll still be fighting for stage wins, which is awesome news for him!
Gabby will now don the Ethiopian Airlines outfit, with the African squad paying us 345k for him. A little below our expected fee of 400k, but given that they ended up missing out on Colin Stüssi - despite having submitted a great offer - we still accepted this fee and hope that both the team and Gabby will have a great 2025 season!
Next up is Alexys Brunel. After Bissegger surprisingly went out on loan, we thought we'd keep Alexys for at least one more year, with him being one of the driving forces of our TTT. As a part of which he also had his greatest success stories with us, winning several of them in our PCT year 2023. He also won the white jersey in Amissa Bongo and Brunel that year, displaying his great potential.
Last year, he was part of the TTT lineup taking 2nd place in stage 3 of the Giro - which also means he contributed to Stüssi's great 7th place in the Giro GC, laying the base in said TTT. The same holds for Stüssi's 10th place in Paris - Nice. In PT, Alexys was a great team player - but we're sure that he can shine even more in PCT, where he is now!
Alexys joins the rebranded Bolt - Eesti squad for the 2025 season, alongside one of his Jura teammates - with us getting two riders back. More on that later.
The other rider who left us in this deal was - and that's probably the biggest surprise of this transfer period - Hugo Page! The young French sprinter talent was set to become our 2nd sprinter behind Groves in 2026, with in particular his great acceleration being a big plus compared to other fast men.
Hugo's biggest achievement was his 3rd place in the Circulo de Juàrez U25 standings in 2023, which he claimed thanks to a breakaway in which he racked up some bonus seconds thanks to his sprinter skills. He also got a Top 20 GC result and a lot of points, showing even as a neo-pro what he might one day be capable of...
We definitely wanted to keep him, but the Estonians insisted on him being included in our deal. In the end, the fact that we will have Fabio Christen reaching his maximum level just one year after Hugo gave us enough security to let go of Hugo. We're still sad, though, as we hate to give up on talents - Patrick Gamper is the best example of why that can be a really bad idea...
Nonetheless, we wish Hugo and Alexys all the best for their future with Bolt - Eesti, and would like to thank them a lot for their services in the last couple of years!
That's it about the departures - there have been 13 of them during this transfer period, including the 4 loan-outs, as you'll see in the summary. But every rider leaving also makes room for new ones, and so, please welcome the following 4 men:
Arrivals
We always knew that Gabby would likely leave the team, and so we tried to find a new strong prologue rider. We didn't dare to inquire on certain riders this year - maybe we should have, as both Ganna and Herregodts changed teams this offseason. And we didn't want to spend too much cash on old riders, so we didn't try to sign Zmorka, which we could definitely have done.
In the end, we found:
Niklas Larsen
Rider
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Niklas Larsen
77
60
68
74
74
73
78
64
77
76
65
66
80
Niklas is not quite as strong as Gabby was in his best days - but his big plus is his versatility. He's also decent in longer races against the clock, which was something Gabby couldn't offer. And he's even an option for the sprinter role in stage races, thanks to great recovery skills, a good sprint speed and great power on flat roads!
And, he's 5 years younger, so we can easily keep him until Fabio Christen gets up to maximum speed as our next prologue racer. Given the inquiries on him in the final hours of transfers, we also have no doubt that we could sell or swap him for good value in the next transfer periods...
But for now, that's not our intention at all - for now, we expect Niklas to score us some prologue points, and also to strengthen our TTT lineup now that not a single 77+ TTer of last year's core is left in our roster! (Bissegger is loaned out, though, and he'll be back stronger, as a sidenote...)
Niklas will also compete in at least one GT - we're yet to see if he'll be our lead sprinter, if he'll get a co-lead role with Szarka or whether we send him as a leadout for Groves!
The Dane was one of two riders we got back in our deal for Brunel and Page, and you may wonder who the other one is... We're glad to welcome:
Jake Stewart
Rider
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Jake Stewart
77
62
72
68
74
77
73
76
76
71
67
68
70
We really struggled to find a good cobbler this offseason. It's not like we didn't try. But we didn't get anywhere. Well, we could have signed the world's best cobbler, Mads Pedersen - giving up on Schmid and Groves in return. No way we would do this, and looking at last year's rankings it wouldn't even have gained us a significant amount of points in the end.
In the end, we found a cobbler we're pretty happy with - not necessarily for this season, but for the future! Jake has this versatility we love so much, being a decent cobbler, a good sprinter (although he takes his time to get up to speed), he can handle hills - and he's great on the flat! On top of that, he's still young with his 26 years. Unfortunately for us, he's kind of a "late bloomer", having reached his top level only now, so we can't train him right away - improving his cobble skills by two points could have been really nice.
But we're sure that he'll find his niche in some races. We compared him to last year's "version" of Florian Vermeersch, who was still developing - and we found lots of similarities. Jake doesn't have the same kick, so he'll surely score less, but if he can get close to 200 points, that would be awesome.
We don't know yet if we will find the funds to train Jake, but if we do, we'd love to try this. He really reminds us of Eddie Theuns - and you might remember what a great job he did for us in the last two years!
Unfortunately, some deals we were still hoping for in the final hours didn't materialize, and so we ended up spending the remainder of our budget on two more local riders. Please welcome (back):
Robin Froidevaux
Rider
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Robin Froidevaux
69
63
69
63
69
69
65
61
71
72
69
67
66
2027 v1
71
65
74
64
74
71
67
61
73
76
72
68
67
2027 v2
73
64
70
63
73
71
75
64
76
76
69
68
66
Robin actually started his career with us - back in 2020, getting first a stagiaire contract, then a full contract in 2021. After our relegation to CT, we sadly couldn't fit him in anymore, and nobody else decided to give him a chance.
Hence, he's still stuck at level 3 of his career progression. This will definitely change this season, as he'll continue his development with us! We're not quite sure yet which path we'll take him, but he should either become a decent leadout rider who can handle some hills, or a punchy attacker who can sprint a little. We'll see.
Arnaud Tendon
Rider
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Arnaud Tendon
65
58
67
56
69
69
65
54
64
68
63
70
52
2029
66
64
75
57
71
73
69
54
65
75
70
71
53
Arnaud was the only Swiss talent who didn't get a contract last year. And we couldn't afford to sign him as a full-time rider, either. He'll spend the 2025 season with us starting from August, with a stagiaire contract - which at least allows him to compete in the Tour de l'Avenir, which he couldn't do last year.
He's basically a weaker version of Froidevaux, which might explain why nobody decided to offer him a full-time contract. But we would like to give him the chance to convince us in the races he'll get to do this year!
With Arnaud being our final signed rider during the transfer window, our transfer period 2025 is officially over! We're still waiting for the confirmation that all of our deals and signings were within the rules, but we do believe that this is the case.
Once we get that confirmation, we'll also know how important our training budget will be - in any case, it will be our highest spend in team history so far!
But for now, let's look back again at what happened during these last two weeks - here's an overview of the departures and arrivals, plus the current roster:
Summary
Departures
Rider
Deal type
Destination
2024 Points
Pre-Transfers
Ethan Vernon
Loan end
Zwift
136
Clément Berthet
Loan end
Euskotren
65
Edward Theuns
Not renewed
FA -> PolderStrijders
716
Tomas Parpstka
Not renewed
FA -> Tryg
133
---
Transfers
Cees Bol
Sale
Kraftwerk
118
Szymon Rekita
Sale
Sony
189
Stefan Küng
Swap + Cash
Zalgiris -> Ekoi
313
Krzysztof Marchewka
Swap + Cash
Zalgiris
35
Colin Stüssi
Swap + Cash
Indosat
620
Xuban Errazkin
Swap + Cash
Bolt - Eesti
258
Gabriel Chavanne
Ethiopian Airlines
Sale
159
Alexys Brunel
Swap
Bolt - Eesti
173
Hugo Page
Swap
Bolt - Eesti
58
Stefan Bissegger
Loan
Simba Cement
178
Robin Donzé
Loan
Kraftwerk
0
Nils Aebersold
Loan
Kraftwerk
0
Roman Holzer
Loan
Simba Cement
0
---
Arrivals
Rider
Deal type
Arrived from
2024 Points
Pre-Transfers
Fabio Christen
Loan end
Lotto-Caloi
120 (PCT)
Jan Sommer
Loan end
Minions
4 (PCT)
---
Transfers
Jose Fernandes
Swap + Cash
Bolt -> Zalgiris
150
Muhammad Abdurrahman
Swap + Cash
Indosat
134 (PCT)
Luis "El Chapu" Chapulin
Swap + Cash
Bolt - Eesti
76
Niklas Larsen
Swap
Bolt - Eesti
239
Jake Stewart
Swap
Bolt - Eesti
69
Pablo Castrillo
FA
n/a
0
Diego Ferreyra
FA
ISA
133 (PCT)
Robin Donzé
FA n/a
0
Nils Aebersold
FA
n/a 0
Roman Holzer
FA
n/a
0
Robin Froidevaux
FA
n/a
0
Arnaud Tendon
Stagiaire
n/a
0
Henri Uhlig
Loan
Kraftwerk
6 (PCT)
Antonio Tiberi
Loan
Sauber
9 (PCT)
Tristan Jussaume
Loan
Zwift
35 (CT)
Jason Osborne
Loan
Kraftwerk
8 (CT)
Looking at this overview, you really have to wonder what we just did to our team! During this offseason, we lost no less than 3,151 points! In particular letting go of our 3rd (Theuns), 4th (Stüssi), 5th (Küng), 7th (Errazkin) and 9th (Rekita) best 2024 scorers - or half of our Top 10 - looks like a really weird choice.
But well, there were reasons for that. The main reason was age. Theuns, Chavanne and Paprstka definitely wouldn't have reached their 2024 scoring again, having hit their first decline. Stüssi, Küng and Marchewka have reached their final year at maximum speed, and Rekita is close to that mark, too. And that's 7 out of 11 permanent departures, not counting last year's loanees who were known to depart anyway.
In Bol's case, it's definitely lack of performance at PT level that pushed us to sell him, whereas in Errazkin's case it's much more a case of redundancy with Schmid. With "El Chapu", we got a pure puncheur back who can hopefully be used as an attacker - not Xuban's preferred role at all.
And the two Frenchies, well, we didn't really want to lose them - but in Brunel's case, we finally accepted because we also managed to sign some TTers, and with Page - the departure that clearly hurts us most in terms of future scoring - it was a tempting deal combined to the perspective of having Christen who is just one year younger.
And what did we bring in? Well, a lot of local talent. No less than five Swiss riders joined us from Free Agency, thereof three neo-pros. All three of them got loaned out right away to get the best possible start to their careers. Froidevaux is back after a three-year hiatus, and Tendon gets a chance to prove himself, in particular in Avenir.
Other than that, we kind of limited our losses in the TT department, by signing Fernandes and Ferreyra, two of our main targets. And by bringing in Jussaume for the season. We still love TTers, even though our depth is clearly weaker than in recent years (meaning more time loss in TTTs as well), but with Bissegger coming back stronger next year, we'd only have to add 1-2 decent riders and we'd be back to a very solid lineup.
With Larsen, we got some kind of replacement for Gabby - hopefully with some similar scoring, despite being a bit weaker in terms of raw prologue speed. Stewart is our new cobbles leader, even though he'll obviously not get close to Theuns' 2024 scoring.
Abdurrahman is our new backup stage racer, and we hope he enjoys some occasional attacks more than Darbellay. The same holds for El Chapu in the hills, where he'll be Schmid's main domestique but also have an attacker role.
Castrillo still has to learn quite a lot, but we're really looking forward to see him racing in two years from now, where he should not be a great prospect anymore, but a great scorer!
So all in all, we only brought in 983 points scored in 2024 - thereof many not even in PT - which is a deficit of more than 2,000 points. Even if we consider that 6 riders took a development step since then, there's absolutely no doubt that we lost a lot of quality and straight points - knowing that we had a margin of less than 600 points to the relegation zone, we pretty much know what the expected season outcome will be...
Yes, there will indeed be some training as well, which will be announced shortly - but we can't expect that this will make such a huge points difference. We'd love to be surprised once again, but we can't expect it.
So, here is our 2025 roster - an updated version and also a full team preview will be presented once our training activities are confirmed as well:
I've said it a few teams but i really grew to love the JURA team last year and i really like what you've done this season in bringing a youth movement in and helping to train some swiss riders (with assumed training to come) should make for an exciting team hoping you stay up could be an incredible base next year
Thanks for the kind words Staying up would be cool, but I think not doable with the moves I ended up going for. I think it wouldn't have been impossible to really improve the roster, but the fast rise in the last years kind of broke my team building, having too many leaders above 30. Now our oldest rider is a loanee, and only two other riders are 30 - I think it should be a good base regardless of the division, even though the roster would obviously have quite a different look in PCT than in PT.
Ferreyra was among my top picks from the FA, as he would have been a very nice supplement to Kiriakidis and Ioannidis, but it was quickly easy to see that it was not meant to be.
In the end quite a bit overpriced, but he's very cool in terms of the next couple of seasons.
I don't think you need even more versatile TTers tbh
He's definitely overpriced, he shouldn't have been more than 250k. But going for one of the "bigger" talents wasn't really attractive due to the high 1-3 fee, and in the end Ferreyra fits the target age structure perfectly well, so... We'll find out how bad of a move it actually was
Ferreyra was a genuine option for me as ell, but he went beyond what I wanted to pay for him quite fast. High price for quality I guess. Should be a good addition for you
He'd be an even better addition if I didn't give up on most of my TTT core But yeah, hoping he'll get some good results, close to 200 points would be fine. Even though the €/point ratio will obviously be awful anyway
Castrillo is an awesome signing. Yes, already 24, but you also get to skip the awkward 1>3 phase too. So I'd say it somewhat evens out.
Also, signing Kung 2.0 is just funny.
I wrote it when I got him, really some Masnada feelings there. Except that Castrillo is younger, and he definitely won't lose a year, so really looking forward to 2027
I think this year your expectation to go down will be correct, but with the big cut you made and the new talents and TT signings are a really good foundation to make your bigger plan work and be better suited for a long-term future in PT once you go up again!
Love Larsen. I floated the idea of trying to upgrade Forssell to him, but ultimately figured it wouldn't make sense for you/jph given the prologue difference. I think he's gonna be a great signing for you that ends up just as valuable as Gaby if not more.
I certainly don't want to be the one to say you'll go down, since it forces me to realize how much danger I'm in as well. Probably will need a very strong season from Groves to make it work, but don't see why that wouldn't be in the cards given the dropoff in PT sprint talent, unless you just get unlucky with AI.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
A few really great riders and I think that you've actually got a number of good options here. Obviously, there's some pieces that could be added to increase your chances, but I think that you could gain some benefit from not being the favorite in many races.
Just going to hope things go your way and maybe a breakaway success here and there will bring some joy as well.
Think we kind of fell into the same problem in the transfer window regarding being one rider short and then going for a lot of depth. Team is weaker than last season but there's enough there to still attempt to stay up with some results like last season!
We need the training numbers before we can pass the final judgement, but yeah it does feel like you might be one leader short of surely staying up.
You might be surprised when you see the training numbers ^^ After some testing, they're not what I initially intended, as that turned out to be not viable at all with the new game.
So in the end, I might not be one, but two leaders short of staying up, which means we'll most certainly relegate.
I think this year your expectation to go down will be correct, but with the big cut you made and the new talents and TT signings are a really good foundation to make your bigger plan work and be better suited for a long-term future in PT once you go up again!
I also thought that the base is good now for years to come. But with the new game it's actually worse than I expected, with pretty much all my designated leaders suffering from the change... So after relegation, it might actually even be more than one year in PCT, trying to fix the roster...
Love Larsen. I floated the idea of trying to upgrade Forssell to him, but ultimately figured it wouldn't make sense for you/jph given the prologue difference. I think he's gonna be a great signing for you that ends up just as valuable as Gaby if not more.
I certainly don't want to be the one to say you'll go down, since it forces me to realize how much danger I'm in as well. Probably will need a very strong season from Groves to make it work, but don't see why that wouldn't be in the cards given the dropoff in PT sprint talent, unless you just get unlucky with AI.
Yeah, Groves might be my biggest hope to somehow stay afloat, but with the points lost elsewhere I doubt he can pull off a miracle ^^
A few really great riders and I think that you've actually got a number of good options here. Obviously, there's some pieces that could be added to increase your chances, but I think that you could gain some benefit from not being the favorite in many races.
Just going to hope things go your way and maybe a breakaway success here and there will bring some joy as well.
Yeah, breakaways really have to go our way, and sprints of course... Will have to see how it goes - and I think by now you can reduce "a few really great riders" to a single one ^^
Think we kind of fell into the same problem in the transfer window regarding being one rider short and then going for a lot of depth. Team is weaker than last season but there's enough there to still attempt to stay up with some results like last season!
At least you've got proven PT leaders, both Haig and Zmorka will score big and will hopefully keep you out of trouble! I hope that Groves can confirm last year's great scoring, but I doubt by now that anyone else could significantly improve their points count...
Obviously a though transfer season for you. These signings make a lot of sense age-wise. It may not be enough to stay in PT but you definitely have something to build on. Looking forward what you did with the training as well!
Best of luck
MG - Lotto - Caloi
[MG] New Manager of the Year - PCM.daily Awards 2022
Not sure how to rate teams in PT, but I'm sure you have a foundation to get straight back up next year, if you end up in PCT after what sounds like a challenging season ahead.
Finally, the year where homegrown puncheur Mauro Schmid became training-eligible! But what we were hoping to be a reason to rejoice, and the opportunity to slowly bring him closer to world-class, ended up being a big pain. More on that later - let's start with the other riders who got to enjoy some advanced training sessions this offseason.
We had three main training targets, and we managed to send all of them to some sort of training camp. However, for Stefan Bissegger, we had to do a compromise. Until late in transfers, it looked like we wouldn't have the funds to send him to a TT camp, and so we decided to cooperate with Simba Cement. We loaned out Stefan to Kenya, with both teams participating in the training costs - Simba will get to enjoy his new strength this year, before he'll come back to us stronger than before at the end of the year.
This is Stefan's new skillset:
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
OVL
2024
74
68
69
69
78
73
77
72
60
72
73
64
71
77
75.20
↓↓↓
2025
74
68
69
69
79
73
77
72
60
72
73
64
71
77
75.80
With this training, Stefan basically replaces Rekita in terms of pure TT skills, but being 4 years younger - and Swiss. Sadly, his training won't score us any single point this season, but we're looking forward to get him back at the end of the season - and who knows, maybe next year we'll find some more funds to really make a difference. At PT level, his TT skills are nothing extraordinary at all, but in PCT he should at least be a solid Top 10 contender - so hopefully he can really enjoy his stay in Kenya!
The next candidate - and a pretty obvious one after Stüssi's departure - was Valentin Darbellay. He already got a little boost last offseason, and we're happy to announce that this year's training camp was even more efficient - let's take a look at his updated skills:
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
OVL
2024
69
78
75
71
75
73
75
77
64
67
65
70
67
76
75.70
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
2025
69
79
75
71
76
73
75
77
64
67
65
70
67
76
76.33
Not only did Val take another step in his climbing skills, he even managed to improve his speed against the clock at the same time! So, we could say that there are exciting times ahead!
Well... we'll see. We know that his lack of speed in the shorter uphills sometimes held him back in the past - and it looks like things have changed in a way that could make this weakness even more consequential. So his race planning was kind of a headache, and we'll only find out at the end of the year how well it worked. He'll likely need some luck in certain races - and it's definitely possible that we're going to look into some hills training for next year if this really holds him back more than we hope it will!
But we're sure that Val will also have his bright moments, because apart from the short uphills, we think he's a pretty well-rounded stage racer now. Ready to step into Stüssi's big footsteps? We'll find out!
And now, the big one. Right from the start of the offseason, there was one training camp we had in mind for Mauro Schmid: The Alps! And the effects we were hoping for this training to yield? Here they are:
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
OVL
2024
72
76
78
79
68
71
78
73
69
70
79
78
74
66
78.28
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
2025
72
78
79
79
68
71
78
73
69
70
79
78
74
66
78.67
It was the obvious choice, making Mauro an even better contender in these medium mountain races he loves so much - Grand-Duché, Lombardia - but also all other tough classics. And it would make him a serious stage hunter in a lot more races, even mountainous ones!
But... This training, while looking great on paper, was not viable. We were always aware that Mauro's stamina was subpar for PT level. But our engineers developed a device, named "booSta", which would allow him to save some of the energy spend on short bursts - where he's really great - to later use it when the legs got more tired. It was no cheating, it was his own energy, and it allowed him to make up for his somewhat low stamina.
However, for whatever reason MGUCI prohibited the use of "booSta" for the 2025 season, completely unexpectedly. Once we knew that, we set up a performance test infrastructure to see what that could mean for Mauro's perspectives. And the results were nothing short of disappointing and discouraging.
We simulated some of the races where he did well last year, but without the use of "booSta". For example, Grand-Duché, where he finished 5th. Without this little component, a lower Top 20 would be the best he could hope for - but in 50% of the race scenarios he would even miss out on the Top 30, simply running out of steam early.
Training his mountain skills would obviously mitigate this issue a little bit, as he'd have to spend less energy to ride the same speed. But it wouldn't make a big difference.
So, what to do? To be honest, had we known all of this before the transfer period, we would have tried to find a nice spot in a PCT roster for Mauro. It's not that the PCT level is bad - but races generally are still a little slower, meaning that less energy needs to be spent early on. We think that Mauro could still perform really well in most of these races.
But given that we set up our performance test infrastructure too late, this wasn't an option anymore. Moreover, Mauro is still a young rider, and we believe he can still get back to where he was last year - extended world class. But without "booSta". We know that it will take time and a lot of money to get there - but for now, we are committed to do exactly that.
Which means that after a lot of deliberation, we decided to send Mauro to the Tortour race - a 1,000km nonstop ultracycling event in Switzerland. And this is the outcome:
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
OVL
2024
72
76
78
79
68
71
78
73
69
70
79
78
74
66
78.28
↓↓↓
2025
72
76
78
79
68
73
78
73
69
70
79
78
74
66
78.34
Yeah, that's the effect of this endurance race. A little more stamina for Mauro, costing us a fortune. And the bad news is that it will take two more years of the same to bring him back to his 2024 level.
The good news however is that if we can really pull this through, his 2027 self will be far more consistent than what we saw of him in 2024. Last year, he had those occasional great results - we're expecting him to shine more often once he also has the stamina of a world-class rider.
More good news is that this training path will only marginally increase his overall valuation by the MGUCI - which is however due to the fact that he's massively overrated (and hence overpaid) now. Due to the rule changes, we probably can't expect more than 500 points from him in 2025 (he scored 851 last year).
However, we have modified his schedule a bit, so maybe we have found some additional scoring potential. And there is still some hope that this offseason training will give him enough of a boost (even without booSta) to be a Top 10 contender in classics on a good day. We'll soon find out...
So, these are our 2024 trainings. We spent a total of € 3,300,000 on Schmid and Darbellay, plus a part of Bissegger's 1M training cost. It's by far the most we've ever done in a single offseason.
Due to some new regulations, and also with some of our riders' weaknesses appearing to have a bigger negative effect this year, one could look at it as a waste of money. We call it commitment - commitment to Swiss cycling, as we think it's the only way to bring Switzerland closer to the top of the rankings, and to maybe end up with a Swiss world-class rider in the next decade.
Well, to be fair, Hirschi has definitely arrived at this level - at least extended world class - but Mauro sadly won't follow him as soon as we were hoping it to happen. But we're committed to our path, even if it will bring us down to PCT for the 2026 season barring some major miracles.
Obviously a though transfer season for you. These signings make a lot of sense age-wise. It may not be enough to stay in PT but you definitely have something to build on. Looking forward what you did with the training as well!
Best of luck
Thanks
We'll see how it goes. I could imagine that next offseason will be one of the most important for a Swiss team in a decade or so, so we'll see if the base will still be solid after that or if we'll go back-to-back relegations after back-to-back promotions
Not sure how to rate teams in PT, but I'm sure you have a foundation to get straight back up next year, if you end up in PCT after what sounds like a challenging season ahead.
It should be challenging indeed, and I think there's no PT team I currently rate behind mine. But yeah, at least my leaders are now 28, 27, 27 and 26 (including Bissegger who's riding for you this year). One of them will likely be gone after relegation to PCT, but we'll see what kind of plans we can come up with.
The commitment to Swiss cycling is impressive and I still really like the look of Groves.
the attempt to make the squad younger has worked really well and I would never want to bet against your planning.
Also, thank you again for taking in Tiberi, hope he does well for you either supporting Darbellay or potentially stage/ KOM hunting
I like Groves, too, if only he was Swiss then he'd definitely have been trained
Decided to go for RP instead of power-play - I believe I could definitely have put together a squad that can stay up, and with J. Christen arriving next year I probably should have taken that road. But well, it is what it is - challenging season ahead, and I hope Tiberi will learn a lot during his stay with us
First of all, love what you did with Bissegger and Darbellay. For Bissegger, the loan deal should be a good long term move, and I expect more deals like this to happen in the future. Darbellay is a very nice regional rider who should have some nice results this year with those stats, and can probably contest GTs now. I've considered improving my own regional riders in similar ways over the years, but always got cold feet. Certainly a useful training.
Then there's obviously Schmid. First of all, I share your frustration. When I signed Aranburu (or Per, or Skjelmose), high resistance was the meta (which is why the old OVL really really overrated a guy like Schmid). So my view of the type of rider Aranburu should be was very much colored by that engine where resistance was king, and now he's in a very similar position to Schmid with low stamina, but also much weaker overall (taking aside is older, not regional, etc). It's extremely disheartening to see the rider you developed not become who they're supposed to be because of a game change.
I'm sure you've been over every permutation in your head already. Obviously, +2 stamina is going to help him this year compared to without it. We've all seen the tests, and in this engine, stamina matters more, especially in longer classics. Does it matter more than the relevant main stats? I maybe still have a bit of a hard time believing that, though that's probably cope since I'm rostering so many low stamina riders as well. I'd tend to think that main stats will keep a guy of his caliber from having a high enough heart rate to drain significant energy through most of a stage, even with low stamina, but maybe that's wrong. Regardless, there's no doubt that for certain races you want to target with him, Liege, Lombardia, etc, stamina will be important.
So, I'd definitely be with you on the stamina training if it was cheaper in any way, but it's really unfortunate that you end up paying just as much as if you went for mountain. Especially since jt's testing seemed to suggest that the stamina stat isn't linear, and seems has a bigger effect from 75-80 than 70-75. That's a lot of money to spend for 71->73. If you're in tank mode, the fact that this won't raise his wage maybe counters the budget cost element and makes it a very wage cap effective move you in the future team. But then again, as you note, his stamina probably matters a bit less if you relegate to PCT anyway. So it's a bit of a catch-22.
I think the deciding factor for me personally is that Schmid will hopefully be your homegrown leader for the next 7 years, and historically, main stats (especially mtn/hill together) have aged better through games than energy stats. Like I said before, resistance used to be all the rage. Acceleration was king before that. Historically, PCM versions tweak energy stats in function or magnitude much more often over time. Considering how strong stamina is known to be in 24, it would hardly be surprising for a future version to nerf it or implement a mechanic that lowers its importance. If that happens, or MG UCI eventually decides to toy with the PCM 25 energy stat modifiers like they did with daily form, these stamina gains could go back to being minimal, whereas a mtn or even hill upgrade seems a bit more safe from that possibility. But that's also pure speculation on my part. No one knows what the future holds.
In any case, I think you're understandably a little more pessimistic on Schmid's chances this year than I would be. PCM 22 already used stamina for yellow and resistance for red, from what I understand. And yes, stamina matter more now, but it's not the end all be all. He may have to conserve energy a little harder in super long races like Liege and Lombardia, but I would be extremely surprised if he finished below 500 points. He's just too strong of a rider. In both steep uphill sprint races like Fleche, and various medium mountain races throughout the year, he should still be a favorite.
Sorry for the essay, it's just a very interesting discussion point!
Edited by baseballlover312 on 10-09-2025 03:37
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
As always I love your squad building, rider taste, and commitment to the project - and the training only proves that. Always love your planning, too - wonder how far above your own expectations you could take yourself again. Ferreyra is a brilliant signing albeit at a huge wage - no secret I was a fan and wanted to sign him but it went out of my price range. The future is bright and I wouldn't expect a possible relegation to be more than a speedbump as you continue to develop the project.
Definitely feel you on the RES-STA change - though I know I don't have a Schmid situation with such a gap for a leader so it may sound like comparing a broken finger to an amputated arm Going into this season I only had one rider with equal or higher STA compared to RES, having made it such a priority for my team to have high RES since about 2018-2019. It's both a part of MG we have to accept and also still feels really shit whenever it does happen Also agree with bbl that I'm sure he will still do very well. And at his age - he's still a home-grown, home nation star, and I don't think any stats reshuffle or division change can take that away from you.
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [PT] Xero Racing
First of all, love what you did with Bissegger and Darbellay. For Bissegger, the loan deal should be a good long term move, and I expect more deals like this to happen in the future. Darbellay is a very nice regional rider who should have some nice results this year with those stats, and can probably contest GTs now. I've considered improving my own regional riders in similar ways over the years, but always got cold feet. Certainly a useful training.
Then there's obviously Schmid. First of all, I share your frustration. When I signed Aranburu (or Per, or Skjelmose), high resistance was the meta (which is why the old OVL really really overrated a guy like Schmid). So my view of the type of rider Aranburu should be was very much colored by that engine where resistance was king, and now he's in a very similar position to Schmid with low stamina, but also much weaker overall (taking aside is older, not regional, etc). It's extremely disheartening to see the rider you developed not become who they're supposed to be because of a game change.
I'm sure you've been over every permutation in your head already. Obviously, +2 stamina is going to help him this year compared to without it. We've all seen the tests, and in this engine, stamina matters more, especially in longer classics. Does it matter more than the relevant main stats? I maybe still have a bit of a hard time believing that, though that's probably cope since I'm rostering so many low stamina riders as well. I'd tend to think that main stats will keep a guy of his caliber from having a high enough heart rate to drain significant energy through most of a stage, even with low stamina, but maybe that's wrong. Regardless, there's no doubt that for certain races you want to target with him, Liege, Lombardia, etc, stamina will be important.
So, I'd definitely be with you on the stamina training if it was cheaper in any way, but it's really unfortunate that you end up paying just as much as if you went for mountain. Especially since jt's testing seemed to suggest that the stamina stat isn't linear, and seems has a bigger effect from 75-80 than 70-75. That's a lot of money to spend for 71->73. If you're in tank mode, the fact that this won't raise his wage maybe counters the budget cost element and makes it a very wage cap effective move you in the future team. But then again, as you note, his stamina probably matters a bit less if you relegate to PCT anyway. So it's a bit of a catch-22.
I think the deciding factor for me personally is that Schmid will hopefully be your homegrown leader for the next 7 years, and historically, main stats (especially mtn/hill together) have aged better through games than energy stats. Like I said before, resistance used to be all the rage. Acceleration was king before that. Historically, PCM versions tweak energy stats in function or magnitude much more often over time. Considering how strong stamina is known to be in 24, it would hardly be surprising for a future version to nerf it or implement a mechanic that lowers its importance. If that happens, or MG UCI eventually decides to toy with the PCM 25 energy stat modifiers like they did with daily form, these stamina gains could go back to being minimal, whereas a mtn or even hill upgrade seems a bit more safe from that possibility. But that's also pure speculation on my part. No one knows what the future holds.
In any case, I think you're understandably a little more pessimistic on Schmid's chances this year than I would be. PCM 22 already used stamina for yellow and resistance for red, from what I understand. And yes, stamina matter more now, but it's not the end all be all. He may have to conserve energy a little harder in super long races like Liege and Lombardia, but I would be extremely surprised if he finished below 500 points. He's just too strong of a rider. In both steep uphill sprint races like Fleche, and various medium mountain races throughout the year, he should still be a favorite.
Sorry for the essay, it's just a very interesting discussion point!
Thanks for your thoughts.
Yeah, I have hesitated a lot to take this decision. It's actually a dumb move from a purely points-oriented perspective. It would probably have been way more efficient to train Groves instead (even though you're never sure with sprinters, either). Or to bring Darbellay's Mo to 80.
But I think that other than stamina, Schmid actually is a well-rounded puncheur. He handles mountains well, he has great acceleration and fighting spirit (sometimes maybe even too much of the latter), and his resistance is really cool for longer uphill finishes. And even if he's somewhat broken now, he's still clearly one of the best Swiss riders out there. So training him ended up being a given, the question was just how.
I do believe that going for the initially intended Mo training would have made him stronger in some races - probably mainly hybrid stage races like Balkans. But I still want him to use as a classics rider, and with most of the classics being beyond 200km, it's pretty clear that his stamina just isn't sufficient. On a good day, when he gets a +6 boost or so, he might still be able to keep up in some races. But on a normal day, he'll just get dropped early. Take Grand-Duché as an example, he'd often not survive the last bigger climb up front, and then be swallowed by far weaker puncheurs who still have some yellow bar left. This obviously depends on the startlist and the racing itself, but missing out on the Top 20 or even Top 30 wouldn't be rare. In Lombardia this is even more of an issue, given the usually stronger startlist and harder climbs. Even just the training to 73 Stamina can make a difference there - for example, on a "normal" day, he'd get a +2 on Sta, which could be enough to keep up in most of the races. I might not need to go all the way to 77, but I think 75 really is a must-have for a good classics rider nowadays.
And to be honest, it's actually a good thing that stamina now matters in long races. It might be that the effect will be lowered in future verions, but yellow for stamina and red for resistance is finally a system that makes sense, so I hope this won't be changed too much in the future.
Then there's also the introduction of the MM stat, wich heavily affects races like Lombardia and G-D. This combined with the new importance of stamina actually makes riders like Romo, who wasn't really good last year, a real threat even in these races. For example, he'll be a Top 5 candidate in Grand-Duché now, whereas the likes of Schmid or Aranburu, who were pretty good in such races thanks to good Mo/Hi combo, will struggle much more due to their lack of stamina. MM is actually another feature that hits Mauro rather hard, as it makes no difference for him compared to PCM22, but brings other puncheurs who are far weaker on the long climbs up to the same level now... We'll see how many points are lost by this as well.
Finally, there's another thing: Stamina also affects the "favourite status" in PCM, and hence the positioning. The 2024 version of Schmid would often be around mid-pack, having to spend energy for closing gaps that open up ahead. Higher stamina Schmid should be closer to the front of the pack, wasting less energy - so it's actually a double effect. When I test some races with last year's startlists, the training can bring Schmid from Bib 161 to around 101, and - depending on the race - even on the pre-race favourites list.
So, long story short: I do believe by now that the training I did was way too expensive (training backups should be cheaper), but it was the right move in the long running - as you say, Schmid has 7 maxed seasons ahead now, and I'd still like him to become the best rider he can be. It's a shame that this costs me 2-3 years of training, as this means he's clearly not going to arrive at world-class level, but it is what it is. When I asked around before picking his final development step, people said it's not worth sacrificing some of his Mo/Hi combo for +2 stamina; nowadays, it actually might be...
As always I love your squad building, rider taste, and commitment to the project - and the training only proves that. Always love your planning, too - wonder how far above your own expectations you could take yourself again. Ferreyra is a brilliant signing albeit at a huge wage - no secret I was a fan and wanted to sign him but it went out of my price range. The future is bright and I wouldn't expect a possible relegation to be more than a speedbump as you continue to develop the project.
Definitely feel you on the RES-STA change - though I know I don't have a Schmid situation with such a gap for a leader so it may sound like comparing a broken finger to an amputated arm Going into this season I only had one rider with equal or higher STA compared to RES, having made it such a priority for my team to have high RES since about 2018-2019. It's both a part of MG we have to accept and also still feels really shit whenever it does happen Also agree with bbl that I'm sure he will still do very well. And at his age - he's still a home-grown, home nation star, and I don't think any stats reshuffle or division change can take that away from you.
I think people view my team more positively than I do
I think it should be a good foundation indeed. However, the question will be how much of this I'll have to sacrifice during the next transfer season to get the Christen brothers reunited
If I could miraculously stay in PT - which isn't realistic at all, let's be honest - this wouldn't be much of an issue, with the wages of Groves, Castrillo and Ferreyra hopefully going down quite a bit. So there might actually be a chance for you to get Ferreyra next offseason
I still hope I'm too pessimistic about Schmid's scoring potential... After all, I think his 2025 planning is a little better than last year's, and thanks to the OVL reduction he also has a couple of additional RDs. He'll again score massively less than Pidcock who has almost the same OVL, but I hope he can still somehow pick up 500 points...
The development path for the team is pretty clear for the next couple of years, at least until Christen maxes. There aren't any "trainable" riders in between Schmid and Christen, so the three targets of this offseason will likely be the same ones next year. When speaking of Christen, I'm thinking about reworking his development path a bit - stamina seems to matter a lot less for sprinters, but 69 will still not be enough... So yeah, besides Darbellay and Schmid, my next top talent also might have some serious issues, guess it's currently not possible to develop well-rounded Swiss riders
For PT teams, there's not a lot to discuss about the calendar. 138 out of 180 race days are the same for all teams, with only the PTHC bands allowing for a somewhat more individual schedule. That's still the part we miss most about the lower division...
Picking bands 1, 5 and 6 last year was a decent choice, and we could have done the same. However, with our TT department getting older, we weren't quite sure how it would look like post-transfers, and hence we decided to skip band 5 this year. Instead, we went for band 4, with the medium mountain Balkans International being a great race to target with Mauro Schmid - at least with the initially intended training plans... We'll see if it can still be a good pick, we believe it will.
So it's bands 1, 4 and 6 this time. There was no question about band 1, the one including the Tour de Suisse, our only home race of the year. Arenberg and Rheden no longer are great fits for us, but we have bigger hopes for Ukraine than last year at least.
Band 4 includes the Tour of Lithuania besides the aforementioned Balkans International. It also has the Grand Prix Cycliste, held in Québec this year, which should be a great fit for Mauro regardless of the stamina issue. And finally Riga - Jurmala, still getting us a sprinter classic despite avoiding one by not picking band 5.
Band 6 is the same as last year as well, with the Volta a Portugal being the big race. We have no clue how it will work out this year; if the rumours about hills skills mattering more, it could be quite a disaster for us... So to mitigate a potential Darbellay failure, we also send Mauro there, despite the too many TT kilometers for his liking. He will obviously compete in San Sebastian and Japan Cup as well, being the defending champion in the former of the two hilly classics. The Franceville Classique won't be a good race for us this year, as we couldn't bring in a good cobbler during transfers...
Generally speaking, we're happy with these bands, knowing that neither of the other bands would have been a really good fit for us. We might pick band 5 again in the future, but only time will tell that. For 2025, our calendar stands, and you can find it here.
Now, let's move on to the next topic, which always is a crucial one...
Goals
Just like last year, we unfortunately had to renounce having a goal for a Swiss race, with the only race potentially qualifying being the Tour de Suisse which still only is rated PTHC. And the only allowed goal for those races is a win goal - which would be completely unrealistic for us, so sadly we couldn't pick it once again.
But which goals could we select then? Well, given that we mostly have the same roster as last year - in particular in terms of leaders - we mostly for races where we already were successful in last year. In fact, in 2024 we achieved 3 of our 2025 race goals, with the final one looking feasible as well.
Do you wonder what these goals are? Let's dive into the details:
Goal #1 | Team Standings | Win
Well, let's start with the goal we definitely won't achieve. All others are feasible with some or a lot of luck, depending on the race, but this one was obviously picked just to get the sponsors to open up their wallets a little bit more this offseason.
We did get a Top 15 finish last year, and usually you'd want to improve on that - but we're pretty much sure that not even the "Avoid relegation" goal would have been feasible for us this year. We missed out on rejuvenating our roster last year, so we did too much this offseason, while also putting more focus on developing Swiss cycling - and the price to pay will most likely be relegation.
Every rider will obviously try to do their best to still somehow secure another year in PT - which would be crucial from a local talents point of view - but we also have to be realistic. The sponsors also know that, but yeah, they obviously still want us to be successful. We'll see to what degree we can satisfy them.
Goal #2 | Ronde van Nederland | Win
Spoiler
We had to pick a race win goal - and what could be a better choice than to pick the only PT-level race we already won last year?
And no, it wasn't Mauro who won it - and he actually won't even participate this year. Instead, all eyes will be on Kaden Groves, who won this race in the last two editions and will be going for the threepeat!
It's definitely not an easy goal, but we have full faith in Kaden to do well here - his skillset is perfectly suited for this route, having enough stamina even for the 200+km stage, and being one of the best PT sprinters in slightly hilly terrain.
Let's take a look at the full lineup:
Rider
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Kaden Groves
75
62
67
72
65
75
73
80
66
80
79
64
67
71
Luis Fernando De La Cruz Chapulin
69
69
73
77
61
75
76
71
64
68
77
77
68
66
Jake Stewart
77
62
67
72
68
74
77
73
76
76
71
67
68
70
Antoine Aebi
69
71
73
74
64
73
71
65
60
69
73
65
78
63
Felix Stehli
68
69
72
74
63
72
71
70
62
70
73
71
70
67
Antonio Tiberi
67
75
72
69
73
69
71
68
54
60
69
70
68
72
Pablo Castrillo
68
73
73
72
69
72
73
70
57
58
67
68
72
68
Robin Froidevaux
69
63
66
69
63
69
69
65
61
71
72
69
67
66
Kaden will have quite some support for the hills, in particular by El Chapu, who is also a U25 contender and will hopefully score a couple of points from the white jersey classification.
Antoine Aebi, Felix Stehli and Pablo Castrillo are also decent on the shorter uphill sections, their target will be to add some depth points.
And Jake Stewart will definitely miss the cobbles on these roads, but will be the most important rider to position Kaden for the final sprint. While not being a great leadout due to his lack of acceleration, he can ride a high speed on flat and slightly ascending roads, the perfect skills to navigate Kaden safely inside the final kilomters.
Winning the race will obviously take a lot of luck, but Kaden knows how to do it - and he can hopefully not only become the first two-time winner, but even the first three-time winner of this race!
Goal #3 | Tour de France | Maillot Vert
Spoiler
We also had to pick a GT goal - and what could be a better choice than to pick one we already achieved last year?
Yes, the route definitely isn't sprinter-friendly this year, with only five flat-rated stages. But one of the main strengths of Kaden Groves is to do well on more bumpy profiles as well. Some of the hilly-rated stages will be too tough for him - such as the Spa-Francorchamps stage 2. But short final uphills like on days 3, 4 or 8 are definitely to his liking, and he could do well on stages like the Montpellier one (S12), too.
Last year, it took him until the final day to take the lead in the points standings - we'd not be unhappy to get some more days this year, and why not start the race with a win and then hold onto the jersey until the S5 TTT?
Here's the team that will support him:
Rider
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Kaden Groves
75
62
67
72
65
75
73
80
66
80
79
64
67
71
Jake Stewart
77
62
67
72
68
74
77
73
76
76
71
67
68
70
Muhammad Abdurrahman
68
77
75
72
72
74
74
74
55
60
68
74
64
72
Lorenzo Delco
73
72
73
73
70
75
74
75
67
64
72
68
77
71
Antonio Tiberi
67
75
72
69
73
69
71
68
54
60
69
70
68
72
Jan Sommer
74
60
63
65
65
73
72
68
73
70
70
71
66
66
Pablo Castrillo
68
73
73
72
69
72
73
70
57
58
67
68
72
68
Jason Osborne
75
60
65
70
74
73
74
67
65
58
63
77
62
75
Yes, supporting Kaden really is the only task they reall have to do - in particular Jake Stewart, once again. He has some skills on the hills as well, which should come in handy when trying to keep Kaden up front in the peloton.
Otherwise, the rest of the team is there for breakaways, breakaways, breakaways. Not even the TTT has any priority, which is in part due to the clash with Lithuania. Muhammad Abdurrahman is still expected to get a somewhat decent GC result, but some breakaway attempts definitely have a higher scoring potential for him than just trying to get a Top 30 or so.
Lorenzo Delco should be our best bet for breakaways in the first two weeks, with Muhammad taking over for the harder stages. But on a good day, any of these riders could get a nice stage result - which must be the goal, in addition to hopefully many Top 5 finishes by Kaden. And the Maillot Vert, if that's somehow feasible.
Goal #4 | Liège - Bastogne - Liège | Top 10
Spoiler
Besides the two races for Kaden, we also have two goals for Mauro Schmid. This one might be challenging, as he was quite far away from the Top 10 last year - but it still looks far more feasible than the other one with our current knowledge.
He'll get more or less the best support cast that we can provide him for a hilly classic:
Rider
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Mauro Schmid
72
76
78
79
68
73
78
73
69
70
79
78
74
66
Luis Fernando De La Cruz Chapulin
69
69
73
77
61
75
76
71
64
68
77
77
68
66
Teten Rohendi
70
75
75
75
70
73
75
74
55
62
73
71
70
71
Antoine Aebi
69
71
73
74
64
73
71
65
60
69
73
65
78
63
Felix Stehli
68
69
72
74
63
72
71
70
62
70
73
71
70
67
Antonio Tiberi
67
75
72
69
73
69
71
68
54
60
69
70
68
72
Pablo Castrillo
68
73
73
72
69
72
73
70
57
58
67
68
72
68
Robin Froidevaux
69
63
66
69
63
69
69
65
61
71
72
69
67
66
Teten Rohendi is our most well-balanced uphill rider besides Mauro, and so he can hopefully support his leader until very late in the race. El Chapu will struggle on longer climbs, but there aren't that many of those in this race, so we're also hoping for him to stay with Mauro until the finale - and maybe get a good depth result on his own.
All of Antoine Aebi, Felix Stehli and Pablo Castrillo should be able to carry the bottles in the first half of the race, so the three stronger riders can save some of their energy for later.
Last year, Mauro's bad positioning made him miss out on the top spots. This year, we're a bit afraid that his low stamina could hold him back - but with most of the climbs not being really long, we think he should fine. If he does get his positioning right this time, obivously!
Goal #5 | Giro di Lombardia | Top 10
Spoiler
The good news about this goal is that Mauro Schmid actually achieved it last year, where we had the same sponsor goal.
The bad news is that there's almost no way he'll do it this year. Before going into the details about our pessimism, let's take a look at the lineup:
Rider
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Mauro Schmid
72
76
78
79
68
73
78
73
69
70
79
78
74
66
Valentin Darbellay
69
79
75
71
76
73
75
77
64
67
65
70
67
76
Luis Fernando De La Cruz Chapulin
69
69
73
77
61
75
76
71
64
68
77
77
68
66
Jose Fernandes
71
75
73
70
77
78
77
76
53
62
67
60
68
77
Teten Rohendi
70
75
75
75
70
73
75
74
55
62
73
71
70
71
Antoine Aebi
69
71
73
74
64
73
71
65
60
69
73
65
78
63
Antonio Tiberi
67
75
72
69
73
69
71
68
54
60
69
70
68
72
Pablo Castrillo
68
73
73
72
69
72
73
70
57
58
67
68
72
68
The lineup doesn't look too bad. Mauro is obviously the leader, but we also have Valentin Darbellay for the longer climbs. His issue however is that he hates the hills, so the purpose of sending him is really just to support Mauro on the longest uphills.
El Chapu loves the hills, but doesn't embrace long climbs. So we'll have to see how long he survives. Teten Rohendi likes any length of climbs, so he's actually our safest bet for providing strong support to Mauro no matter the race situation.
And then there's Jose Fernandes. He's really just here because of his awesome stamina, so we expect him to stay with Mauro for a long time as well, with his physical condition somewhat making up for weaker climbing skills.
But the main issue actually is Mauro himself. Or rather, his stamina. Had we known our simulation results pre-transfers, we would never have agreed on this goal. Because Mauro will most likely run out of energy with 40-50km to go already. Mostly due to bad positioning caused by lack of self-confidence, though - so if we can somehow provide him a good confidence boost, we believe that he could actually have a shot at repeating last year's 5th place!
Because we also did some simulations with where we expect him to be after his next offseason training - and we have good evidence that this training would give him enough confidence to always ride in the first 30 positions, being able to react to the big moves - and going for a Top 5 in the end. But to make this happen in 2025 already, we need to boost his confidence, because all other boosters aren't available now...
So, these are our goals. In an optimal scenario, we could reach 3 of them, but even just getting one, and getting close in two other races, would be a good outcome. Lombardia and the Team Standings goals are looking out of reach, but who knows, maybe we do massively underestimate our riders once again...
Next up will be the team presentation, stay tuned!
The full roster can be found here or in the spoiler, we're quite clearly weaker than last year and will very likely relegate.
Spoiler
Full version
It's PT season #2 for us, after a very successful first attempt.
With the shift of focus to even more promote Swiss cycling, however, it looks rather unlikely that we'll make it three years in a row at the highest level. To have a good chance at staying up, we'd need more than just 2 out of the 18 best Swiss riders according to the MGUCI rating - but we think that we need to take a step back in order to make two steps forward later on.
The step back meant parting ways with ageing riders - and indeed, we brought down the average age of riders with a permanent contract from 27.6 to 26.2 years - with all of our riders having at least 3 maxed seasons to come (including the current one)! This step obviously also means losing a lot of experience - and points. But how much did we really lose? And were there even departments where we grew stronger?
Let's dive into the details, including points expectations for everyone!
Climbers & Stage Racers
2024
[spoiler]
In terms of numbers, it's still a very weak department, in particular considering the three GTs that have to be ridden. At least we still have two climbers - we could make it three including Schmid, but every rider is assigned to just one department.
Looking at climbing and TT stats, at first you might think that we event are slightly stronger than last year, as Valentin Darbellay is now a little faster against the clock than Stüssi. But unfortunately, this slight advantage looks to be more than offset by his weakness on the short uphills. He'll really have to get his positioning right in hilly stages to not lose too much time there - in the big mountains, however, he should be able to keep up pretty well.
He's not quite as well-balanced as Stüssi was, but we hope that he'll still do well in mountain-heavy stage races, where his TTing in short or long stages can be a good advantage.
Muhammad Abdurrahman joined the team in the Stüssi deal, coming our way from Indosat. He's clearly not strong enough to keep up in the tough PT races, so we rather plan him as a wildcard, an attacker. He'll do two GTs for us, with only one being really well-suited for Darbellay - so he'll have plenty of possibilities to look out for breakaways.
Their respective roles are reflected in the expected points:
Rider
Exp.
Act.
PpRD
Proj.
Proj. %
Valentin Darbellay
320
0
0.00
0
0%
Muhammad Abdurrahman
130
0
0.00
0
0%
Total
450
0
---
0
0%
The expectation for Darbellay is actually exactly the same as last year, when he came 70 points short. There's surely some potential to do better than 320 points, given that Stüssi scored 620 last year - but if his weakness on the hills really is an even bigger factor than before - and if stamina also matters for stage racers now - he could even fail to reach his pretty modest target.
Abdurrahman's total will heavily depend on breakaway success, which is impossible to predict. Let him win a TdF stage, and he's already more than halfway there. Getting less than 130 points however would be pretty disappointing.
So in total, we think these 450 points are a goal that should be achievable if both have a couple of decent races - if they even get some really good races, then the scoring could be quite a bit higher. Even though it's hard to see them score almost 900 points this department got last year...
Puncheurs
2024
Spoiler
Just like the climbers department, the puncheurs are rather weak in numbers - but at least we managed to keep our leader around, with Errazkin being sold for some cash plus El Chapu. Forgive us to repeatedly use his nickname, but his full name is just too long...
The duo looks slightly weaker than last year's - but that's only partially true. With the aforementioned prohibition of our self-developed booSta device, Mauro Schmid actually now is a clearly weaker rider than in 2024 - simulations even suggest that Errazkin is the better classics rider by now...
So we're afraid that we'll lose quite some points compared to last year, part of which we're hoping to make up for by a slightly better planning for Mauro.
One factor that shouldn't be underestimated is that Errazkin actually was very similar to Mauro, whereas El Chapu is more one-dimensional but far more aggressive. So we expect him to be much more present in the races where he'll get a free role - in particular in the Vuelta. If he can score better than Xuban did in last year's Giro, the move could pay off even if he's less well-rounded overall.
Let's take a look at our points expectations for our punchy duo:
Rider
Exp.
Act.
PpRD
Proj.
Proj. %
Mauro Schmid
480
0
0.00
0
0%
El Chapu
150
0
0.00
0
0%
Total
630
0
---
0
0%
So, our expectations for Mauro are even 90 points lower than last year's - and a whopping 370 points lower than his actual 2024 score! And this despite a 1.7m training spend for him. Are we crazy?
No. Maybe a little bit pessimistic. But there is strong evidence that Mauro will simply struggle a lot more this year. Sure, he still got the skills. He got the punch. He got the aggressivity. But races might just be a bit too long for him now, which could be a massive hit for his scoring in the classics.
We'll happily take some positive surprises, though. And we also know that he had some real off-days last year where he could do better in 2025. But we think that we'll have to be happy with him getting 500 points this year. Maybe he'll be back to last year's scoring potential after another training round, maybe only after two rounds. But we're ready to support him, even if this year might be a year of (scoring) drought.
For El Chapu, we basically expect him to double last year's score, when he was in his final year of development. It could be more - but it could also be less if the Vuelta experiment goes completely wrong.
Time Trialists
2024
Spoiler
That one really hurts. Our formerly strong TT department got clearly trimmed down. No less than four 30+ aged riders left us with prologue King Gabby, Küng, Marchewka and our strongest TTer, Rekita. Vernon went back to Zwift after his loan end, Brunel was rather surprisingly sold - and Bissegger was loaned out.
In short, not a single rider who was on this list last year is riding for us in 2025. Six of them are gone for good - but at least Bissegger will come back stronger, after his "training loan" to Simba Cement.
This obviously also means that the TT department has been fully renewed for 2025. Jose Fernandes[/b] is a rider who we'd have loved to get last year already - this year we managed to sign him, even if it cost us Küng. Fernandes is already 30 and won't stay forever, but at least he still has got 3 good years ahead.
Diego Agustin Ferreyra is the prototype of a TTer profile we love, not being scared by some hills and mountains, quite a bit like Küng - even though Ferreyra can't stand the cobbles. He's going to be our TT leader for the year, before Bissegger should take this role next year.
After Vernon, we got yet another loanee from Zwift, with Tristan Jussaume joining us for his final year of development. He also handles hills pretty well, meaning we should have a good lineup in races like Tasmania or Ukraine. And he's obviously U25 eligible and should be a Top 5 rider in this special classification.
Christoph Janssen is the 3rd best Swiss TT talent in recent years, behind Blum and Bissegger. He's definitely not world-class, not even extended world-class (which sadly says a lot about our country's current potential), but he'll be an important part of our TTT core all year long.
Last but not least, we have a new great prologue rider, with Niklas Larsen joining us. He's not as strong as Gabby in pure prologues - but he's far stronger in longer TTs, which should actually even make him a better rider for stages between 5 and 10km in length. Thanks to his good TTing, he can also be used for TTTs - and he's a decent sprinter as well, and will get chances as our lead sprinter - and be a potential leadout for Groves.
It's obvious that the scoring expectations will be lower than last year's - just because of the lower number of riders - but by how much?
Rider
Exp.
Act.
PpRD
Proj.
Proj. %
Diego Agustin Ferreyra
170
0
0.00
0
0%
Jose Fernandes
170
0
0.00
0
0%
Tristan Jussaume
150
0
0.00
0
0%
Christoph Janssen
10
0
0.00
0
0%
Niklas Larsen
150
0
0.00
0
0%
Total
650
0
---
0
0%
Compared to last year's 800 points, we only expect 150 points less, despite being 2 riders short. If we compare it to the 1,183 points actually scored by the TTers, it's a difference of more than 500 points, though - despite generally setting the bar higher than last year.
The main reason should be that Küng isn't here anymore. No-one else can match his versatility - scoring more than 300 points as a 77 TTer is quite something...
We set the bar for Ferreyra (who was riding in PCT last year) and Fernandes slightly higher than their 2024 scoring; for the former that should be doable thanks to the higher points scale in PT, and the latter could benefit from his great physical condition in some stage races.
Also, we expect slightly more points from Jussaume than what we got from Vernon; on one hand simply because he'll do more classics with granted finishing points, on the other hand because he's more versatile thanks to his skills on the hills.
For Larsen, we set the bar quite a bit lower than last year's 239 points, where he scored quite a lot in the Tour de France. If he can pull off the same at the Giro this year - wearing the GC leader jersey after stage 2 - we'll be more than happy!
And why just 10 points for Janssen? Well, just because he has very few races, and we don't expect him to score a lot from our TTTs, where the points should rather go to other riders...
Overall, we think that our expectations are pretty realistic. There can always be that one big result that makes a huge difference in scoring, but we feel like we lack the leader for this in 2025. Maybe in 2026?
Cobblers
2024
Spoiler
The positive point is that we now have twice as many riders in this department than last year. The bad news is that none of them can even remotely dream of Theuns' 2024 scoring. It's definitely the department where we lost the highest amount of points during the offseason, being unable to sign a new cobbles leader.
Jake Stewart might one day be a PT-ready leader, but it will take him 1-2 years of training. And even then, he won't have the uphill skills of Theuns in his best days. However, what Jake does have is great speed on flat roads, which will hopefully help him in fast races. He also has a decent topspeed in a reduced bunch sprint, but he needs quite some time to reach that speed. Nonetheless, we think he's a pretty well-rounded cobbler - just a tad too weak to really be a leader at PT level.
But at least there's someone to coach Henri Uhlig in his final year of development. The Kraftwerk loanee definitely lacks Jake's versatility, but should still be able to get some points on the cobbles. How many? Let's take a look at the expectations:
Rider
Exp.
Act.
PpRD
Proj.
Proj. %
Jake Stewart
185
0
0.00
0
0%
Henri Uhlig
80
0
0.00
0
0%
Total
265
0
---
0
0%
185 points might look a bit high for a 76 cobbler, but we're hoping for Jake to mostly finish inside the Top 50 in the cobbled classics. He'll do a lot more classics as well, in particular flat ones, so those finishing points quickly add up. We're also hoping for him to get an occasional Top 30 result or so. Florian Vermeersch showed us last year how it's done; with a very similar skillset, he scored more than 200 points, so we're rather optimistic for Jake's scoring output.
For Henri, we don't expect a lot - he should mainly finish the races, and maybe get an occasional Top 50 as well. He'll also do a GT, we'll see if he can get some breakway points there, which would be very welcome, too.
Overall, we lost a lot of points, as said before. We do have more depth on the cobbles now, as we'll see in the domestiques and talents departments, but Theuns' 716 points will definitely be missed a lot!
Sprinters
2024
Spoiler
The obvious point is that we lost a rider, with Cees Bol leaving and sprinting for Kraftwerk now. Had we known about physical condition to be so much more important now than in previous seasons, we might have picked another rider to sell, but we'll be happy for Cees if he can find his best sprinting legs again.
Otherwise, the department still consists of Kaden Groves and Gergely Szarka. The former was last year's highest scoring rider, totalling more than 900 points. Mostly thanks to two standout results, the back-to-back win in Ronde van Nederland, plus the Maillot Vert in the world's biggest race.
As you might have seen, these two races are now part of our sponsor goal races, and so we're definitely counting on Kaden to get more great results in the Netherlands and in France. Winning will need some luck, but he's definitely capable of doing that. And, deviating from our initial plans, he'll also get another shot at the classics, with in particular Milano San Remo being a big target for him.
Gergely had an amazing Giro last year - and we're hoping for a repeat of that. Additionally, he'll also participate in La Vuelta, and we're hoping for at least one of the GTs being another success for him. We can't expect him to win stages, but getting some solid results including occasional Top 5s would be nice.
By the way, Larsen and Stewart would also qualify for the sprinter department, but for obvious reasons they're not listed here. Larsen will support Szarka in Italy - or go for his own results, depending on who is on a better day.
Less sprinters has to mean less points, right? Let's see:
Rider
Exp.
Act.
PpRD
Proj.
Proj. %
Kaden Groves
600
0
0.00
0
0%
Gergely Szarka
250
0
0.00
0
0%
Total
850
0
---
0
0%
Nope. In terms of expectations, we're 90 points above last year's, having upped Kaden's expected points by 100 points, and Gergely's from 40 to 250 given that he's now a full-time sprinter, unlike last year.
The expectations are still more than 400 points behind last year's actual outcome - which was mostly thanks to the two remaining sprinters, with Bol barely getting half of the expected points.
If Kaden performs close to last year's points total, and if Szarka get's twice his 2024 Giro scoring, we'll be more than happy - but we could definitely live with those 850 points as well, with the sprinters being predicted to be our strongest department. We'll see how often we'll indeed have the luck it takes to get there...
Domestiques
2024
Spoiler
Compared to last year, we lost one loanee but got two new ones instead, with Antonio Tiberi and Jason Osborne. Filippo Colombo basically replaces Paprstka after maxing out; the other three riders were already here in 2024.
It's not the strongest domestiques lineup in PT, by far not. But all of these are valuable riders with a clear role. Teten Rohendi and Lorenzo Delco can do pretty much any race - the latter will even get some cobbles. Cobbles is the main strength for Filippo, whereas Odie Setiawa will mostly do uphill races, just like his compatriot.
Tiberi will support the climbing squad, whereas Jason will be part of some TTT lineups - and also help to catch escapees on flat stages. Or maybe join a breakaway himself, as he really likes to attack.
Overall, we think it's the strongest domestiques lineup we ever had (and we could even include one or two of the talents) - but what does that means in terms of scoring?
Rider
Exp.
Act.
PpRD
Proj.
Proj. %
Teten Rohendi
150
0
0.00
0
0%
Lorenzo Delco
110
0
0.00
0
0%
Filippo Colombo
60
0
0.00
0
0%
Andreas Odie Purnama Setiawa
90
0
0.00
0
0%
Antonio Tiberi
75
0
0.00
0
0%
Jason Osborne
60
0
0.00
0
0%
Total
545
0
---
0
0%
That's quite some points expected here - more than some of the "specialist" departments actually!
But it's pretty realistic, given that all of Rohendi, Delco, Colombo and Setiawa actually scored higher than their 2025 expectations last year. Colombo and Setiawa will only use a part of their race days though (as we simply have too many talents in need of lots of racing), which explains the lower expectations for them at least.
We're unsure how much Tiberi and Osborne can contribute - we'll happily take every point they'll score, though!
Talents
2024
Spoiler
Besides the domestiques, this is the department where we get higher numbers this year than in 2024. And if you add the three level 1 riders currently loaned out, it's definitely a good number of talents we currently have.
Sadly, besides Fabio Christen there isn't a "flashy" one, at least not a Swiss talent - but Pablo Castrillo definitely is one of these versatile riders we love to sign. His hefty wage proves that other teams were thinking alike.
Antoine Aebi actually was the very first rider signed in Free Agency this year (not just our first rider, but the first rider overall). Despite his age and his low potential, we believe that he'll be a useful domestique for some years to come - just like Felix Stehli, who will finish his development at the end of the season, too.
The final rider to reach his maximum level by the end of the year is Jan Sommer, who is set to become a useful domestique for the cobbles - yes, despite his big potential he will sadly not reach the level of a potential leader. A Swiss cobbles leader will be a project for another decade, most likely.
Robin Froidevaux makes a comeback after having spent the 2020 (as a stagiaire) and the 2021 seasons with us; we're committed to bring him further in his development path, but whether we will keep him on the long term will depend on our 2026 division...
Arnaud Tendon failed to get a contract as a neo-pro last year, and we could only offer him a stagiare contract this year as well. He will only be riding the Tour de l'Avenir - but at least he gets to do this one once in his career...
Talents usually aren't expected to score significant points - what about our 2025 batch?
Rider
Exp.
Act.
PpRD
Proj.
Proj. %
Antoine Aebi
85
0
0.00
0
0%
Felix Stehli
40
0
0.00
0
0%
Jan Sommer
70
0
0.00
0
0%
Pablo Castrillo
110
0
0.00
0
0%
Fabio Christen
60
0
0.00
0
0%
Robin Froidevaux
70
0
0.00
0
0%
Arnaud Tendon
0
0
0.00
0
0%
Total
435
0
---
0
0%
That's actually some pretty high expectations - similarly to the domestiques department! But it's also mainly due to some of these riders doing lots of races - they're obviously expected to finish those, hence the high expectations.
We would love to see the likes of Aebi, Stehli and Castrillo joining some breakaways, be it in GTs or other races, which might boost their scoring even more. Fabio could play the same role, but on flat stages, whereas Sommer might pick up some minor points on the cobbles.
All in all, our talents - alongside those mentioned in the next section - should provide some solid depth in the future, but we currently don't have any potential world-beaters in the pipeline.
Loan-outs
The odd name in this list clearly is Stefan Bissegger. As you may know from our training news, we just couldn't guarantee to train him in-house, and so he spends the year out on loan with Simba Cement, who participated in his TT training. We'll be missing Stefan this year, no doubt about that - but we're looking forward to getting him back stronger!
Robin Donze, Nils Aebersold and Roman Holzer all signed their first contract with us, and should provide some good depth to the roster once they reach their maximum level. None of them is a potential world-class rider, but we should be able to find a role for all of them.
Given that PT really isn't the right division for most neo-pros to enter the world of pro cycling, all of them were loaned out to lower divisions. Robin and Nils will try to help Kraftwerk in bouncing back to PCT, whereas Roman will ride alongside Stefan, donning the Simba Cement jersey in PCT this year.
There are no scoring expectations for loaned-out riders - on one hand because their scoring doesn't matter for us (except for renewals), on the other hand because we don't even know their schedules.
Jura GIANTS 2025
2024
Spoiler
We said it before - there is one main difference comparing the 2024 and 2025 rosters: we don't have a PT-ready cobbles leader anymore. We're confident that Stewart will pick up a couple of good results, but Theuns' 2024 points could mostly not be replaced.
Furthermore, we expected Schmid to score 1,000+ points this year with the training we intended for him - but that was before we knew about the whole stamina stuff. We tried to somewhat mitigate the losses by sending him to a tough endurance race instead, but he'll most likely not repeat his 2024 scoring.
A similar story is true for Darbellay, who we thought would replace Colin Stüssi by now, having pretty much the same skillset - but his low stamina plus his weakness on the hills means he'll get nowhere close to Colin's 2024 points. We still did his training camp as intended, because what else should we have done when we finally did all those performance measurements?
There's a little less depth in the TT department, one sprinter less - but more domestiques and talents. Clearly, it wasn't a scoring-oriented transfer period for us, but we did get more local and we did get younger on average.
In fact, none of our riders will decline in the next 2 years, whereas many of our important scorers were aged 31+ before the transfer period. We will most likely take a dive to PCT - which will come at the worst possible moment, but we'll somehow deal with it. In the worst case, we'll go back-to-back, the other way this time.
The overview sounds pretty pessimistic - what about the points?
Dept.
Exp.
Act.
PpRD
Proj.
Proj. %
Climbers
450
0
---
0
0%
Puncheurs
630
0
---
0
0%
TTers
650
0
---
0
0%
Cobblers
265
0
---
0
0%
Sprinters
850
0
---
0
0%
Domestiques
545
0
---
0
0%
Talents
435
0
---
0
0%
Total
3,825
0
n/a
0
0%
You probably don't even need to take a look at previous PT rankings to know that this projected score is not even remotely enough to hold the division. We would have finished dead last with this score last year.
And we would even have finished last with our 2024 expected score, which was exactly 500 points higher than what we have now. Well, we finished 1,700 points above expectations and rather easily stayed in PT.
So, are we just being overly pessimistic? Maybe a bit, indeed. However, we think we now know a little bit more about PT scoring. And we also think we might have been luckier than the average team last year.
Yes, these lucky punches can happen, and they're not factored in. But we can't expect them, we can just hope for them to happen. However, it will take more than just Mauro and Kaden performing a little bit above expectations. It will take a huge team effort to end up close to 2,000 points above these expectations, as that's what we think might be needed to survive.
So, with relegation being an even more likely outcome than last year, what can we expect from the season? Well, we're hoping for some cool racing, in particular we want our riders to be aggressive. We're hoping to get as close as possible to our sponsor race goals, and to get a couple of wins. Other than that, we're not sure we can expect much. Maybe not finishing last would be a goal - but not an easy to achieve one!
Are we still looking forward to the season? Not really. We were looking forward to train our Swiss riders to get closer to world-class level; it turns out that they simply had insufficient basics for that. Shit happens - it did happen, it sucks, and we're hoping that we'll still find the motiviation to move on with our project for some more years.
Let's be honest, the future doesn't look bright. It looks OK-ish. Schmid will be a good rider once we can fix his stamina issues. Darbellay will probably never be a good rider. Christen won't be the rider we intended him to be, with his stamina just being too low if we were to follow our initial plans. This year's neo-pros will be good depth riders, but no more. We'll need a better perspective to continue our project with the current focus.
Yes, there are cool Swiss riders, most of all Hirschi and Jacobs. We were never in a position to sign Hirschi. And we decided to go for Bissegger and left Jacobs for UBS in 2020. We were happy with Mäder/Darbellay, Schmid and Christen last year - we no longer are. But we're not motivated to start any other kind of project, so yeah, we'll have to hope that the upcoming season still has enough positive moments for us to keep going beyond 2025. I wouldn't say it's likely.
We can't say that we planned this - but when we asked our initial jersey designer whether he could create a gentle update, fully including last year's new sponsor Stadler's logo, he accepted the challenge and designed a jersey that we like even better than the previous version!
Ladies and gentlemen, here's the 2025 Jura GIANTS jersey:
Spoiler
The coffee beans obviously are still as present as before - after all, Jura is all about "freshly ground, not capsuled"! But the design is more, how to say, vivacious, with varying bean sizes and transparence. Furthermore, the large white band is gone, if you compare to the 2024 jersey:
We really love the new design for its more "fluid" style - and it's all in red, so it should be recognizable even better, being more distinct from other red and white jerseys we've seen in the past.
Ticino Turismo is more prominent again, as a reminder of how it all started back in 2019. GIANTS Software are most visible on the legs, and hopefully our competitors will most often see those legs from behind!
And in particular one man's legs; after renewals and the transfer season, where we (at least temporarily) lost all of Paprstka, Rekita and Bissegger, we only have one National Champion on our roster this year - but one of the fastest men: Here's the NC jersey for Kaden Groves:
We're looking forward to see our Aussie sprinter showing this jersey - even though we also hope he won't wear it too often, as we prefer even more seeing other jerseys - even greener ones - on his shoulders!
This jersey reveal pretty much concludes our team presentation. We might post some leader schedules, but we're not sure about that yet. But for those interested, here are some facts about our transfer period and current roster:
- 30 riders are linked to our team
- 26 of them have a contract with us, 4 thereof being loaned out
- 4 riders are loaned in
- 1 stagiaire is on board
- 1 rider returned to us after having been part of the team in earlier seasons
- 16 riders are new to the team, including loan-ins
- 14 riders therefore were already under contract last year
- 6 new flags were added: Chile, Mexico, Portugal, Denmark, Canada, San Marino (2 thereof for loan-ins)
- 33 is the new nations count
- 28 Swiss riders have been under contract over the years, with Italy (9) and France (6) being numbers 2 and 3 (and not being represented at all in the current roster)
- 303 is still the highers number of RDs any rider raced for us (Stocker)
- 6 contract years (heading into our 7th season) is the highest loalty; both Bissegger and Szarka were loaned out twice each
- 5 seasons is the longest streak of racing for us, now shared by Stocker and Schmid
- 1,370,000 € is the total amount of wages spent on Mauro Schmid over these 5 seasons; #2 is Groves with 1,140,000 € in just 2 years...
- 93 riders have been under contract in some way over these 7 years
- 96 wins of all types have been scored so far - who will take #100, and what kind of win will it be?
I Think you are a bit pessimistic indeed. Schmid should score better, the same could be Said about your GC riders (including the two TT’ers).
Whether it is going to be enough is always a Big question, but I suspect you’ll go 1.000 points higher in total :-)
I'd be happy if we could somehow squeeze out 1,000 points more, and it might even give us a shot at survival given that I think that the division is a bit weaker than last year at the bottom
Gabriel Chavanne, an MG legend! And a team legend as well, despite having spent just two years with us in total.
Alexys Brunel. After Bissegger surprisingly went out on loan, we thought we'd keep Alexys for at least one more year, with him being one of the driving forces of our TTT. As a part of which he also had his greatest success stories with us, winning several of them in our PCT year 2023. He also won the white jersey in Amissa Bongo and Brunel that year, displaying his great potential.
Niklas Larsen 
Jake Stewart 
Staying up would be cool, but I think not doable with the moves I ended up going for. I think it wouldn't have been impossible to really improve the roster, but the fast rise in the last years kind of broke my team building, having too many leaders above 30. Now our oldest rider is a loanee, and only two other riders are 30 - I think it should be a good base regardless of the division, even though the roster would obviously have quite a different look in PCT than in PT.
Going into this season I only had one rider with equal or higher STA compared to RES, having made it such a priority for my team to have high RES since about 2018-2019. It's both a part of MG we have to accept and also still feels really shit whenever it does happen 
Giro di Lombardia 
