Heine wrote:

There some interesing names there for sure

Mresuperstar wrote:

Booooo... No dot by Bini

TheManxMissile wrote:

No rating on Bini actually means he's infinitely available, so i'll be on the phone.

kandesbunzler26 wrote:

You'll hear from me one way or the other.

ember wrote:

This is exciting! Well done on renewals, and it looks like you have a plan for what you hope to do. Seeing Belgians being available, one way or the other, I will definitely make contact!

whitejersey wrote:

Interesting list for sure, we might be in touch! In general a super solid renewals season. You should be in a really good spot to take on promotion this year!

SotD wrote:

Pellizzari, Vervenne and Amezawa available. Very interesting!

Booker wrote:

Can I just say, I love some of the analysis you've done on PPRD in the post just before the renewals one Sadly, Stallaert's under 4PPRD for me did not quite live up to his stint for you.

And regarding your availability list and judging by others' reaction, it looks like you'll be active at the very least - always a good thing!

baseballlover312 wrote:

Did you know that to this day, Bini still talks about how he was happiest in his first season at Carlsberg, and yearns to return?

Looks like a decent chance for a shakeup down the roster! Not sure we'll have too much to discuss but you never know especially with loans and the like.

redordead wrote:

Good renewals it seems and plenty of transfer activity in the works. Targetting promotion should be very doable if you choose to go in that direction, but I won't complain if you keep Bini out of PT for another season

Eden95 wrote:

Seems like renewals went well for you Interesting list of availabilities that should bring in a decent amount to further the develop of a certain rider I would presume. If Amezawa is to leave, he should be able to net you a nice fee

seancoll wrote:

Really excited about your team next year and the possibility of finding a home for a rider or two between us. Love your roster and identity and sense a fantastic year ahead.

AbhishekLFC wrote:

Think you have a strong team already, in every terrain, and one that should challenge for promotion right away. A couple of improvements and that will become very likely!

jandal7 wrote:

Great season carrying the team to peaceful mid-table from two of my favourite riders in the peloton (until I have to face Bini more consistently). Excited to see how the project keeps evolving, and always love reading the stats and write-ups you do, and in such nice formatting. Best of luck, not sure if we'll have deals to make but surely FAs to squabble for and general chats to have I hope

It's been an active transfer window at Bralirwa headquarters so far. Quite a few riders have been arriving and leaving via deals, and we'll get to those once things have settled down a bit.

But we can also welcome the first four free agent signings of the year. Typically, these would have been the yearly batch of talents that we tend to sign. Not so much this year. The average age of these riders is 33, and two of the guys are even 35, our oldest signings ever.

Why? Because we don't want to be shy about our ambitions for the upcoming season. With our young core of leaders coming into our own, this is when we want to push for promotion. And for that, we need some experience.

Valentin Madouas

30 y/o

Puncheur

400.000€

76.97

It is rarely a good idea to head into transfers with one single target in mind. And of course, there were some plans B through X. But there were certainly voices in the Bralirwa HQ that said this window could simply not be called successful unless Valentin Madouas joins the squad.

Luckily, those voices are now satisfied. At 400.000 - exactly double of what he made at Puma last year -, his signing was slightly more costly than we had hoped for, but we had mapped out our season with a rider at least very much like him in mind, so we're very excited that he joins us after a short but intense bidding war with our friends from Peugeot.

Tim Wellens

35 y/o

Climber

70.000€

74.52

As our second signing, one of the most prolific Belgian cyclists of the last decade joins us to spend (at least) one more year at home. Takeaki Amezawa and Lennert Van Eetvelt will be very busy on many a mountain slope, and after a few departures, our support system looked pretty thin. Enter: Tim Wellens.

We had identified him as a target early in the window, and to make our ambitions clear, we immediately started negotiations with a bid of 70.000. Be it thanks to that signal, or just a classic bit of luck and good timing, that was all it took, and we believe we have landed quite a steal. Tim doesn't just bring experience and tales of victory to the team, but he's still simply a very solid climber. Who knows if he can't score a good result or two for himself as well?

Warren Barguil

35 y/o

Climber

50.000€

73.79

To further bolster our mountain support, we found another iconic climber, ever so slightly past his prime: Warren Barguil. The French is, even at 35, reasonably well-rounded and should fill an important role throughout the year. He joins us for minimum wage.

Roman Seigle

32 y/o

Puncheur

50.000€

74.69

With our climbing support shored up, we needed a solid lieutenant for Valentin Madouas. And again, we found one on the free agency market - another French veteran, another signing for minimum wage: Roma(i)n Seigle.

Just like the man he's tasked with assisting, he is a decent climber in addition to his skills on the hills, and he could be strong enough to score a few good results himself, be it from a domestique role, or in a free role in some other race.

kandesbunzler26 wrote:

I'm not sure I like your increasing focus on French riders

Madouas is just a cool rider, Wellens and Barguil still have a good year in them and Seigle is a great domestique on minimum wage.

AbhishekLFC wrote:

As they say, old is gold! Madouas should be very good for PCT. Wellens, Barguil and Seigle are very good depth pieces for the team too.

jandal7 wrote:

Congrats on winning the Madouas fight

As for the rest.... retirement home Good wages though, and sure they all have more to give!

Nemolito wrote:

Old but still gold! Some nice additions already for this promotion-ready squad

We started transfers with a new star in Madouas, and some good domestique riders to build around him and our other leaders. The latter has been the theme for the rest of the window, though some of these next signings are planned as at least somewhat reliable points scorers, too.

To further staff the team after some more departures, we signed another two free agents - relying again on ageing veterans - and also welcomed two riders to the squad that joined us on swap deals - the youngest two additions of the window, outside of two loan-ins.

Madushanka Perera

33 y/o

Sprinter

85.000€

74.06

We have a reunion! Madushanka Perera joined us in our first PCT season in 2021 and was immediately instrumental in securing our safe stay in the division with a solid 127 points as our second sprinter. Signed in the era of the bargain sprinter for just 50.000, we didn't think his renewal expectations were acceptable, and thus parted ways after just one year.

Now, aged 33, he is back for potentially his last season at this level. He's not quite the rider he used to be, but again he slots into the role of our second sprinter, in which he should hopefully do okay. Importantly, he's also C2 eligible, which could well come into play as we plan our season. He joins us for 85.000.

Jasper De Buyst

33 y/o

Cobbles

65.000€

73.56

Another C2 eligible 33 year old, Jasper De Buyst joins us to strengthen our classics unit. Even at his age, he's still well-rounded and versatile with his good cobbles stat and a quick finish, making him both an asset to our cobbles squad and a potential leadout rider or C2 scorer on his own.

Hamza Mansouri

27 y/o

Stage Racer

132.000€

75.37

Outside of Valentin Madouas, Hamza Mansouri is the most exciting rider we signed in this window. He joined us in a swap deal from Bolt - Eesti and boosts our team on virtually every terrain outside of cobbles. His strong stamina and resistance make him a great asset in every team composition and we're excited to see what he can do for us.

Andreas Miltiadis

30 y/o

Climber/Puncheur

65.000€

75.37

In one more bid to strengthen our team for both mountain and hill stages and classics, we managed to sign our first ever Cypriot rider. In a swap deal from ELCO - ABEA, Andreas Miltiadis joins us to fill exactly that role.

Another fun offseason is behind us. Once again, there's been some turnover - of the 19 riders wie signed in renewals, 7 left the team permanently, 2 went out on loan, and just 10 remain in the squad for the upcoming year. In contrast to last year, though, the leadership group remained unchanged - well, there was one addition - and outgoing riders came from our second rank and our talents.

One more thing was significantly different this year than in years past. In all six offseasons of the team's existence, we hadn't spent a single dime on training. Now, we've invested almost 3.5 million. Before we present the full squad, let's see what that gives us.

Training Biniam Girmay was always priority number one in this offseason, and signing Valentin Madouas was priority number two. We managed to secure both fairly early in the transfer window, but as we made a few more moves and secured more funds, we began thinking about more training beyond Bini.

With none of our other leaders being eligible yet (or anymore, in the case of Amezawa), and no wage cap to put that money into a transfer fee for another significant contributor, improving Valentin became the obvious choice. Will it be money well spent? We can only hope. But it looks fun, at least!

With that out of the way, let's have a look at the full roster:

It's not ideal that riders like David Per, Lukas Spengler or Jonas Rutsch joined the PCT, but with his training, Bini Girmay still projects to be one of the premier cobblestone riders of the division. While our long-time lieutenant Matthew Teggart left, the ascension of Jean Eric Habimana as well as the additions of Jasper De Buyst and Gerben Kuypers (out on loan last year) give us - hopefully - sufficient depth. We expect big things from this group.

Takeaki Amezawa finished 10th in the individual PCT rankings last year despite less than ideal circumstances. We're hoping that now, with an even stronger supporting cast and a schedule planned for him specifically, he can at least repeat his performance. Lenny Van Eetvelt took the (preliminarily) final step of his evolution and becomes a true team leader. Both will mostly split the stage races between them, but also could join forces once or twice.

With the additions of veterans Tim Wellens, Warren Barguil and Andreas Miltiadis, we assembled the best climbing support cast we've ever had. All of them have the skills to also score a point on their own here or there.

With our biggest free agency signing of the year, we upgraded our hills leader from Natnael Tesfatsion to Valentin Madouas. Strengthened even further after his signing, and looking at what a rider like Aurelien Paret-Peintre was able to do last year, we think he can do some real damage in this division.

His main supporting cast consists of Roman Seigle and Moise Mugisha, while all around weapon Hamza Mansouri will also get plenty of chances to ride for himself, in addition to his domestique duties. There is even more depth in this department, as all of Andreas Miltiadis, Jean Eric Habimana and Gerben Kuypers, already listed above, are very capable puncheurs, too.

While we're confident that all of the team leaders listed above will be able to compete at the very highest level of the division, that is less so the case for Jago Willems. Still, in his first maxed season, he should be an upgrade to Alvaro Hodeg from last year. Madushanka Perera will get a lot of chances in sprint stages of stage races (a role that Bini Girmay could also take on here or there), and with Matthew Teggart no longer eligible, he will also be our main guy for our C2 schedule.

Umm ... So, yeah, we basically punted on time trials all together. Outside of one TTT that we couldn't avoid, we've decided to spend as little time as possible on TT bikes. Samuel Mugisha's duties will hence mostly be supporting our sprinters.

For the first time in team history, we didn't sign a single level 1 talent - no unmaxed rider at all, actually. Given that we left Vainqueur Masengesho and Samuel Niyonkuri hanging on level 2 last year, they almost qualify, but that's not ideal, of course. Our roster is rounded out by loan ins Pau Marti and Nicolas Gojkovic, who joined us from ELCO - ABEA and Los Pollos Hermanos, respectively.

As mentioned before, we don't care much for time trials this year. To allow for some other roster moves, we therefore loaned out Renus Uhiriwe to test his newly maxed stats at the highest level at ELCO - ABEA (after hearing nothing but good things from Samuel Mugisha, who did the same a couple of years ago). Hatem Ben Ameur, meanwhile, will complete his development at cycleYorkshire.

	Rider	Type	Avg	Age	Wage
	Jean Eric Habimana	Classics	75,97	25	150.000 €
	Moise Mugisha	Puncheur	73,41	29	50.000 €
	Samuel Mugisha	Time Trialist	71,31	29	50.000 €
	Vainqueur Masengesho	Sprinter	69,94	24	75.000 €
	Samuel Niyonkuru	Climber	69,22	23	50.000 €
	Lennert Van Eetvelt	Climber	76,82	25	200.000 €
	Jago Willems	Sprinter	76,05	25	135.000 €
	Tim Wellens	Climber	74,52	35	70.000 €
	Jasper De Buyst	Cobbles	73,65	33	65.000 €
	Gerben Kuypers	Classics	73,63	26	50.000 €
	Biniam Girmay	Cobbles	78,49	26	350.000 €
	Hamza Mansouri	Stage Racer	75,37	27	132.000 €
	Valentin Madouas	Puncheur	77,40	30	400.000 €
	Roman Seigle	Puncheur	74,69	32	50.000 €
	Warren Barguil	Climber	73,79	35	50.000 €
	Takeaki Amezawa	Climber	77,77	31	395.000 €
	Andreas Miltiadis	Climber	74,30	30	65.000 €
	Madushanka Perera	Sprinter	74,06	33	85.000 €
	Pau Marti *	Allrounder	70,05	22	40.000 €
	Nicolas Gojkovic *	Time Trialist	69,67	22	0 €
	* Loaned In

As I've said before, our ambitions are quite clear. With Bini's first round of training, Lenny Van Eetvelt, Jago Willems and Jean Eric Habimana all in their first maxed year and Takeaki Amezawa still one more season away from his first decline, the window for PT promotion that we've been working towards for the last few years opens now.

In an attempt to compose the team that gives us the best chances for that, we sacrificed a bit of our identity. Last year, we had a record nine Rwandans on the team, now we're down to five, with just seven African riders in total - both the lowest numbers in team history. We also, as mentioned above, haven't signed a single new talent to add to the squad.

On the contrary: To finance the our trainings, we parted ways with three talented youngsters in Giulio Pellizzari, Jonathan Vervenne and Emiel Verstrynge. The Italian was always an investment to sell at a later date, to be fair, and we cashed that in at the first opportunity. But the other two could well have been in our long-term plans.

We also said goodbye to some of our most loyal riders. Guys like Valens Ndayisenga, Natnael Tesfatsion and Matthew Teggart have been important pieces of the team for years.

That said, while we sold a few talents and supporting riders, we managed to pull off everything we set out to without having to sell any of our core leadership group. Takeaki Amezawa is still here; Bini, Van Eetvelt, Willems and Habimana all got stronger, and then we added Valentin Madouas. We have depth like perhaps never before with riders like Wellens and Manzouri. This is where we wanted to be.

And, speaking of identity: At the very least, we have a record five Belgians in the squad now. Two riders from our focus regions will return from loan next year. And, if all goes well, we'll be in the best position to continue the development of Rwandan and African cycling that we've ever been in - in PT.

But it's still a long way until then. A lot can go wrong. After we signed Angel Madrazo in a marquee deal a few years ago, we were perhaps the biggest promotion favorite of that season, only to come crashing down and finish 11th. We think we're better off this time around. But you can never be sure with this game. So, most importantly, we're looking forward to the return of racing, reading the reports and cheering our guys on. See you on the road!