jandal7 wrote:

Happy to see an HQ further behind ours in catching up. Us Kiwis not really living up to our being ahead of the rest of the world time-zone wise!

Awesome you are doing it though. Solid work from Gaday in Feb!

Although a cobblestone race on paper, it didn't turn out that way as the race was dominated by the Puncheurs. As a result, our top finisher was Gaday in 41st with Miquel just behind him. 0 points for us.

The less we say about our time in Colombia, the better. Only one top 10 stage finish with 5th for Shikai in Stage 5 from a mid-stage attack. He finished 31st in the GC.

Again a passive race from Gaday through the attacks to conserve energy. A late attack rewarded the winner while Gaday finished 5th best in the main group for a final result of 7th.

A return to the cobbles but not a profile which suited Gaday as he could only manage 14th.

A fairly anonymous 5 days from the team with only 1 Top 10 finish coming on the final stage from Storer. A few points scored though with Conci 12th in the GC and some depth from Cosnefroy 23rd and Storer 25th.

PTHC cobbles and Gaday was right at home. Although the winner would end up taking it by a minute, Gaday finished in the second group on the road to secure a vital 4th to put our month back on track.

Gaday had little rest before he hopped across the channel with his support crew to France where he managed his best result of the season to date. A first podium for him in the Hunter Valley purple!

Back to the C2 and it wasn't our day. Monk would puncture mid-way through and use a lot of energy to catch back up. He could only manage 13th despite being a pre-race favourite.

		Points	PPRD
HC	Strade Bianche	0	0
PTHC	Vuelta a Colombia	25	4.2
HC	Macskako Kerekparverseny	12	6
HC	Tour of Norway	65	13
PTHC	Cheshire Cycling Tour	90	45
C1	1 Jour de Dunkerque	46	23
C2	Geraardsbergen-Bosberg	7	3.5

of the Month: Lucas Manuel Gaday
of the Month: Chen Shikai

Manager Comment: 2 great days in the saddle for Gaday but it was otherwise a tough month for us, with a very disappointing Colombia. We were 16th of all teams within the month, despite racing most available race days, and as a result we dropped down to 17th in the overall rankings.

The month started with a cobbled C2 clasci where Monk once again disappointed as he could only manage 7th.

A hilly classic in China was next up and Storer battled as he could only manage 21st with Miquel 26th.

A week in Poland and what a week it would be.

Gerben Thijssen came up trumps on Stage 4 with his second stage win of the year.

It was then over to Storer who managed 8th on Stage 5, 5th on Stage 6, and topped off the week with a stage win of his own on the final day.

This would propel Storer up to 2nd in the GC, finishing only 7 seconds behind race winner Powless. Conci also scored a few points with 19th.

A time-trial heavy first few stages in Slovenia followed by a few days in the hills.
Castrillo managed 6th on the opening stage which got us off to a good start.
The team managed 3rd in the TTT on Stage 2 which would ultimately be the reason we won the Teams Classification here.

In the GC, Nicola Conci was well positioned from the TTs and rode well in the hills which meant 3rd in the GC for the Italian. GOAL ACHIEVED!

3 days in the C2 cobblestones and Monk should have been well positioned to fight for the win. 12th was all he could achieve.

Another C2 cobbled classic and Monk this time managing 7th. Still unable to make the Top 5.

No luck in this classic for Storer who would finish just outside the Top 20.

Very much a flat classic for the sprinters but no! It was our surprise of the month as Henry Alberto Sam joined the late efforts and took 4th!

The home race for Jakobsen and a solid performance at PTHC level for our lead man as he would take 8th place.

The final C2 race of our season and a final cobbled classic. Again, Monk unable to capitalise as he could only manage 8th.

		Points	PPRD
C2	GP Herning	17	8.5
HC	Badaling International	10	5.0
C1	Tour de Pologne	144	20.6
PTHC	Tour of Slovenia	259	51.8
C2	Tour du Faso	12	4.0
C2	Lincoln GP	17	8.5
HC	GP Wallonie	5	2.5
HC	Lisbon Classic	78	39.0
PTHC	Veenendaal - Veenendaal	54	27.0
C2	Dwars door Vlaanderen	14	7.0

Nicola Conci (Slovenia), Michael Storer (Pologne)
Henry Alberto Sam (Lisbon)
Cyrus Monk (C2 cobbles..)

Manager Comment: We scored very well in the 2 big stage races, especially Conci in the PTHC Tour of Slovenia but Storer's Tour de Pologne efforts were stellar also. A couple of classic results in Lisbon and Veenendaal made up for some more disappointing results in the hills and C2 cobbles.
All in all, we topped the charts for April with over 600 points and 21PPRD, the promotion form we wanted to see! Such a big month saw us jump up to 5th in the PCT as we head into May.

We finish the season in 7th place, a fair way off the final automatic promotion spot of 5th. Importantly though, with 2 disbands in the Pro Tour, this means we're back up to the Pro Tour for 2026!

None of our riders managed to make it into the top 30, but 8 did end up in the Top 100.
The biggest surprise of the year being Henry Alberto Sam with his GC win in the Tour of South Africa being a huge contributor to our promotion. Fellow TT rider, Castrillo, was also a big overdeliver in PpW.
The reliable Jakobsen, Conci, and Cosnefroy delivered well. The trained Storer began to deliver some decent results also.
On the more disappointing side was Shikai. He did not live up his status or his pay.
Only 1 rider was unable to score this season but we're sure he'll find his first point in 2026.

3 out of 5, including 1 of our win goals, is reflective of a strong season with some improvements available. We'll continue to be ambitious as we head into 2026!

We retain the services of 19 riders from our 2025 season. Renewing all but Chen Shikai, who was unwilling to take a significant cut through decline, and of course loanee Declan Trezise who returns home to Philips.
All of our higher paid riders took a pay-cut, the most notable being Michael Storer who was a FA pick up so he moves back towards his non-FA market value. Lucas Manuel Gaday also saw a decline as he nears the end of his career which resulted in him accepting a reasonable decline.
The only larger increases came for our 2 time-trial riders in Henry Alberto Sam, who had a stellar 2025, and Castrillo who also over-delivered significanly. Both riders very much worth the additional increase.

Our trio of sponsors are pleased with this result as we retain all contracted Australians, now making up almost 1 third of our roster. They are particularly pleased with Storer and have demanded he continue to be a leader for us. They're also very pleased with the progress of Brady Gilmore who is now a year out from being a real threat at the top level. Similarly, they expect a continued focus on our young Aussie core led by Zac Marriage and Fergus Browning.

In terms of availabilities, this will no doubt be a surprise to many but both Fabio Jakobsen and Nicola Conci have had discussions with the team and are open to exploring new pastures in 2025. The team does, however, have no need to sell. Their leaving during the transfer window is very dependent on our ability to make certain moves elsewhere so don't expect quick deals for either of these 2.

We do eagerly await the weeks to come!

Signed from the Free Agency for only 90,000 in 2018, at age 22, Jakobsen has been with the team for 7 years. It's hard to picture our team without him given his contributions to the team over the years.

Over 7 years, he has scored 2,963 points!! Three times scoring over 600 points, once each across all 3 divisions.

His first season as a fully developed rider was in 2021 where we won the CT Individual Rider Standings and led our promotion back into the PCT. He didn't stop there as he was again our highest scorer in 2022 finishing in 10th in the PCT standings, leading us to 2nd in the PCT and promoting to the Pro Tour for the first time.
Although not his personal best last season, at 37th in the PCT he was our leading points getter as we made our way back into the PT for the season ahead.

He departs us to join Minions in the PCT where we are sure he will excel!

Signed also in 2018 for the same 90,000 wage, Conci has been integral to our team and, alongside Jakobsen, been a huge contributor to our team over the last 7 years with 1,944 points.

It was clear he was going to be a great talent when he won the 2021 Tour de l'Avenir against the odds. He carried that into 2022 rejoining us in the PCT where he managed 22nd individually, with that win in Pais Vasco the highlight of the season. He didn't quite light the world on fire in the PT but kept scoring points and was again important as our 3rd top scorer last season.

He departs us in a big swap deal to join Philips - Hero in the PCT and we'll definitely be keeping tabs on how the 29 year old goes!

I guess we didn't know at the time just how important 2018 would turn out to be as Benoit joined us then also on a wage of 120,000. Like the 2 above, he has also been a huge contributor, just outscoring Conci over the 7 years with 2,015 points!

He too was an integral part of our back-to-back promotion run with 6th in the CT Individual Rankings in 2021 followed by 46th in the PCT in 2022 and his highest scoring season in 2023 when he managed 650 points (55th) in the PT rankings, with the highlight being an incredible win in the Tour of Northern Europe.

Now at 31, we did feel that he could be a great contributor to us this season but the opportunity came up to bring in a world class rider and so he departed us to join fellow PT team, Specialized.
Although we hope he does well, we don't look forward to coming up against him.

The 28-year-old sprinter joined us on minimum wage in 2021 and has been with us for 5 seasons across 3 divisions. He's not had a great opportunity to ride for himself but has been instrumental to the success of Jakobsen during his time with us.

He departs us to join Duvel - Tsingtao where we understand he'll be a leader in the Sprints. This is an exciting opportunity for him and we wish him all the best!

Having joined us 4 years ago, now at 26, Miquel still has his best years ahead of him. His top contribution for us last year was some points in the final race of the season to ensure we'd hold on to 7th place.

He will continue in the PT next season, joining cycleYorkshire in a direct swap deal.

The best active Australian stage race rider in World Cycling was a no brainer when the opportunity presented itself. Coming off a mixed 2025 season, which did include a GT podium, we're going to need Haig to be firing on all cylinders and we expect he'll do just that riding for his home team!

He'll have strong support both in the TTT stages he may face as well as in the mountains where we are also bringing in reinforcements.

We did see Conci and some cash heading the other direction but it was a needs must situation and we're glad we did it! (especially with where Morton's wage has gone).

We're excited to see Jack in our colours this season!

When we saw that it was likely Groves would be available, we were quickly on our way to Switzerland to make contact with his previous team, Jura GIANTS. We were able to work our way towards a deal (which required selling Jakobsen to fund).

At only 28, he still has many great years ahead of him! His ability to get over a bump as well as to ride on his own over a short distance separates him from many and we're very excited to see what he can achieve for us this season. He'll have support from some of his countrymen who we are yet to announce.

whitejersey: Thanks mate! Was certainly a focus going into this season and we're had some success.

SotD: Hopefully nice enough to keep us in the PT.

knockout: Well, thankfully for me you ran out of time

Jakstar22: Won't be too heavy a PTHC calendar I don't think so you should be alright

By far the best classics and cobblestone specialist we have ever signed! This signing is the clearest indication yet that our sponsors will back us to achieve success, even on a rider from outside our target nation.

Kasper (as he will affectionately be known) is an incredible rider and we couldn't be happier to have him joining us to lead us in the world's toughest and most challenging races. Strong on the flats, strong on the hills, and strong against the clock. He may not love a sprint, but he loves an attack and plans on reaching the final kilometer on his own.

He joins us from Specialized where he had a quite successful 2025 in the PCT, driving his team to promotion also. Part of his transfer did see Cosnefroy and some cash go the other way, but we thought this was only fair for such a rider.

We've made a promise to Kasper to strengthen his supporting cast, and we believe he'll be set-up for success heading into the 2026 season!