@SotD - Cheers bud, I quite like the look of Poole looking into the future, but it is a big trade off to go away from 2-3 more solid depth pieces or even a subtop leader to get him. We looked at Ponomar but his price quickly inflated massively. I like his backup stats, but it’s an investment for sure, for 3 seasons!

@quadsas - I really appreciate the criticism, it creates an opportunity to explain. I saw Carapaz going for 220k+ and thought, that’s not something I’m onboard with, and needed to transition GC leader options. We missed out on Hirt earlier in the window (which in hindsight, would’ve been a great one to keep going with), and there were no other competent leaders left at that point. To make the change, Romo had to be on the block, and while we possibly could’ve gotten a little money in addition for Romo, it was a mid/late window move and so there was a difficulty in getting Karlsson at all. I agree that long-term, Romo is certainly the best option. However, if you look at the comparison of Romo + Carapaz at an overpay vs Karlsson + Bettiol + another 70k wages being used on a domestique, I’m pretty happy with how the window ended up for this season (as I say, long-term I’ll be missing Romo).

The short answer on if the team goals look more likely than last season's, is no.

When viewing the team's goals, you will notice there is a heavy emphasis on the hilly races without a time trial. Heading into the transfer season, there was a clear intention to get a top-class PCT puncheur, along the lines of a Van Niekerk or Eiking or even De Bie, who were all available in free agency. The goals looked attainable when the team was in the hunt for these options, and even better when Javier Romo was secured via transfer. But alas, team construction took priority and Romo was shifted for Faglum Karlsson, who also had to be prioritised in other mountainous races/tours and won't even make the journey to the Balkans where he secured an 11th place GC result in 2024.

All of the hilly goal races will be a major question mark as to how Bettiol will do in a leadership capacity. With his support crew of Lyu, Blouwe and Hermans, he'll certainly have some punchy backing, but it will be very interesting to see if Bettiol manages to get results this season.

In Denmark, Willwohl is expected to be one of the few pure sprinters sent to the race as it is a lengthy tour without a chance of securing the win due to the TT - we hold out minor hopes that he will be a nuisance in a number of stages and potentially have a shot at the points jersey.

As far as the team standings, top 15 is a tricky ask for a promoting side with a balanced approach to team-building, balancing the present and future. All goals look challenging this year - team management will look to improve in the future.

The 2025 PCT season is no more, and Duvel - Tsingtao management is delighted to secure another year in the uber-competitive PCT division, with even more competition coming up from CT and down from PT. With plans to strengthen the team leaders for next season as well as continue with its talent programme, now is the time to see how the team's talents have grown in the last year. Thanks to Fab, from whom this post's format is shamelessly stolen. Without further ado, here are the talents.

	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR
2025	65	69	69	68	68	70	69	69	55	57	63	62	69	67
2026	66	73	72	70	71	73	72	73	55	57	64	62	69	70
Max	68	78	76	73	75	77	76	78	55	57	66	63	70	74

Cian is a bruiser with extreme energy stats to keep him going on even the toughest stages. He won't be kicking for many wins and also won't be showing much fight, relying simply on brute strength to grind down the competition. For that archetype to pay off, he's going to need to be trained to the hilt. Luckily for him, that's the plan for Duvel - Tsingtao. We hope to have a bonafide GT contender in the future. Next season, he'll at least be a useful dom over the bumpy stuff, which is better than the last season at a bare minimum.

	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR
2025	67	69	68	67	64	70	68	68	55	61	65	71	67	63
2026	67	73	71	69	64	72	71	71	55	61	68	74	70	63
Max	69	78	75	71	64	77	76	73	55	61	70	77	76	63

Max will be a nice foil to Cian, taking the much more aggressive stage-hunting route as a climber, as his TT/PRL abilities were never going to be enough to be a GC contender, but he does at least possess some kick. However, with his energy stats, he is sure to have a future as well. The additional positive for him is that he won't need much training to be a very useful asset, but to be clear, it still wouldn't hurt. Nevertheless, we're very pleased with Max's development, which saw us take a slightly odd approach to make him slightly more well rounded than going the pure fighter/downhill route. Team management is curious to hear the thoughts of others on the development route we've opted for on Max.

	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR
2025	68	59	63	66	70	66	65	69	59	58	64	63	62	70
2026	70	59	63	66	73	68	68	71	59	58	64	64	62	73
Max	73	59	63	67	77	71	72	74	59	58	64	66	62	77

Jinyang is a solid TTist, nothing more, nothing less. He is in development as a useful part of a TT contingent on minimum wage. Tsingtao management seems to believe he is a potential Chinese TT champion - what that means in the context of the MG peloton is an altogether different story. Regardless, we are pleased to have a Chinese talent that will develop as a rider for all seasons / divisions.

	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR
2025	70	54	57	60	58	67	68	63	70	70	68	62	60	64
2026	72	54	58	61	58	69	70	64	72	72	68	62	60	64
Max	73	54	58	61	58	70	71	64	74	73	68	62	60	64

Gianluca has been the lone talent with Duvel - Tsingtao since its origins, and management is glad to have contributed to the development of a decent cobble domestique for the MG universe. How much of a future he has with the team remains to be seen, but he is coming into his own as at least a helpful part of the roster.