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[PT'26] Ekoi | Transfer Recap & Roster
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 28-07-2026 10:43
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Second Nemo on the first line, great pickups for the season and for the long term future!
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| ember |
Posted on 28-07-2026 11:33
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Must admit I woul have loved to see you build and work for survival and more in the PT, but of course it's easy to understand your switch of plans.
That future lineup, assuming it starts already in 27 in the PCT, but especially going from 28 in the PT, is looking absolutely magnificent! Congratulations  |
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| kandesbunzler26 |
Posted on 29-07-2026 13:05
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Nemolito wrote:
Two helpful future assets! One regional guy is already decent, but definitely nice to see you're also embracing the latino culture even more. Quispe will make sure he'll feel right at home!
I hope they will play their role in the future. And maybe we'll find some more Latinos still ...
knockout wrote:
Castro was someone i noticed with a very interesting skill set likely to be cheap in wages for ever!
I take that as a compliment from the grandmaster of useful cheap domestiques!
Nemolito wrote:
What an amazing batch of signings!!!
Nice to see you found another local domestique with that Gregoire dude. A shame you had to pay so much, I wouldn't forgive the one causing this if I were you.
I hope to bring nightmares to all puncheurs with G&G for a long, long time!
And the dude who also bid on Gregoire has a very high place on my blacklist reserved for him, just a shame I can't find it at the moment ...
AbhishekLFC wrote:
Second Nemo on the first line, great pickups for the season and for the long term future!
Now we just have to live through the immediate future 
ember wrote:
Must admit I woul have loved to see you build and work for survival and more in the PT, but of course it's easy to understand your switch of plans.
That future lineup, assuming it starts already in 27 in the PCT, but especially going from 28 in the PT, is looking absolutely magnificent! Congratulations
There might have been a way to build a proper PT squad for this season, but it would probably have taken some years to transform it into a sustainable long term stint. I actually think the path taken could take us back to PT for 2028 already or at latest 2029 and then we'll enter with a squad built of young regional PT ready leaders!
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| kandesbunzler26 |
Posted on 30-07-2026 20:16
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Igor Arrieta joins us as part of a rider swap for Boileau with Philips – Hero. He’s a minimum wage talent and will develop into a very (very!) attacking mountain goat, so we really hope he’ll already join some breaks this season (although he obviously doesn’t need to have bloody elbows while winning).
Spoiler | | FL | MO | MM | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CB | SP | AC | FG | DH | PR | Age |  | Igor Arrieta | 64 | 73 | 70 | 66 | 57 | 68 | 71 | 67 | 61 | 64 | 69 | 80 | 66 | 62 | 24 |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 07-08-2026 05:36
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| kandesbunzler26 |
Posted on 30-07-2026 20:16
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A certain manager whose name shall not be mentioned liked our outreach to Latino riders, so we are more than happy to add another Costa Rican TTer to our roster (he’s actually the NC in this discipline). Sergio Arias Villanueva joins us as part of the Boileau swap and will be a very handy TTT and ITT depth rider with still some years in his legs while on a near minimum wage of 55,000.
Spoiler | | FL | MO | MM | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CB | SP | AC | FG | DH | PR | Age | | Sergio Arias Villanueva | 74 | 60 | 62 | 63 | 77 | 74 | 76 | 71 | 61 | 62 | 68 | 71 | 65 | 77 | 28 |
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| kandesbunzler26 |
Posted on 30-07-2026 20:17
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Alan Boileau has his place in our history books secured as our first ever signing four years ago. But with the next generation coming in we felt the need to give him an opportunity elsewhere (more precisely at our friends from Philips – Hero) while also freeing some cap space.
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 31-07-2026 08:55
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We've come at a point where you have almost more latino's than us, so I'm going to have to ask you to go back to French riders and talents. They usually come cheaper anyway, definitely the level 3's!
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| kandesbunzler26 |
Posted on 31-07-2026 18:58
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Emiel Verstrynge and is another minimum wage talent that joins us from Bralirwa –Cegeka for a fee of 370,000. He was high on our list pre-transfers as an all-round classics domestique with still a year of development ahead and is planned as part of our classics squads for quite some years to come.
Spoiler | | FL | MO | MM | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CB | SP | AC | FG | DH | PR | Age | | Emiel Verstrynge | 70 | 66 | 70 | 73 | 56 | 70 | 74 | 55 | 74 | 60 | 71 | 71 | 67 | 56 | 24 |
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| kandesbunzler26 |
Posted on 31-07-2026 18:59
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Alexander Hajek adds to our Austrian contingent (and we actually have a long tradition of Austrians in our colours). He joins us as part of Bolt – Eestis attempt to trade every rider on the circuit in and out, costing us a fee of 480,000 with Jesse Kramer on top. He’ll develop into a cool rider for all kind of uphill races (and also joins our squad for our main race goal of the season: plain dominance at the Tour de l’Avenir).
Spoiler | | FL | MO | MM | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CB | SP | AC | FG | DH | PR | Age | | Alexander Hajek | 67 | 72 | 73 | 73 | 61 | 71 | 72 | 71 | 57 | 58 | 68 | 66 | 71 | 58 | 23 |
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| kandesbunzler26 |
Posted on 31-07-2026 18:59
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Jesse Kramer only rode for us as a stagiaire, but we wish him the best for his future career nonetheless as he leaves to Bolt – Eesti as part of the Hajek deal.
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| kandesbunzler26 |
Posted on 31-07-2026 18:59
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We also say goodbye to our second stagiaire from last season. We found a nice regional fit for Gabriel Grozev who joins IESE ProCycling Team for a modest fee of 100,000.
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 01-08-2026 07:49
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Glad to have made that move. Hope it benefits us both
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| kandesbunzler26 |
Posted on 02-08-2026 20:09
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Victor Loulergue is our last signing from FA and will make his first steps as a pro at Deutsche WindGuard where he’ll spent his rookie year on a 1>3 loan. We pay the minimum wage and fee there. He will develop into a nice flat engine that can also climb decently, hopefully making him a long-term cheap domestique.
Spoiler | | FL | MO | MM | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CB | SP | AC | FG | DH | PR | Age | | Victor Loulergue | 68 | 63 | 65 | 64 | 63 | 68 | 67 | 66 | 62 | 61 | 68 | 66 | 70 | 69 | 22 |
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| kandesbunzler26 |
Posted on 02-08-2026 20:11
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Alexys Brunel was on our shortlists forever (Fabianski can certify that) and we are glad to finally have signed him. He joins as from ELCO – ABEA after a short stint there in exchange for Ewen Costiou and a fee of 440,000. He perfectly fits the profile for the last need in our 2027 PCT roster: a sub-par TTer that can also survive some hills. And with still only 28 years he’ll be able to fulfil this role for quite some years too.
Spoiler | | FL | MO | MM | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CB | SP | AC | FG | DH | PR | Age | | Alexys Brunel | 75 | 67 | 69 | 71 | 78 | 72 | 78 | 73 | 66 | 61 | 65 | 69 | 66 | 78 | 28 |
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| kandesbunzler26 |
Posted on 02-08-2026 20:11
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Ewen Costiou leaves us to ELCO – ABEA as part of the Brunel deal. His big days so far came in the last Tour de l’Avenir when he did the leadout for Arnaud de Lie, but we hope that’s not all we’ve seen from him in the future!
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| redordead |
Posted on 05-08-2026 07:25
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I know you went big on talents, but I'm still looking forward to seeing the full team after so many transfer moves.
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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| kandesbunzler26 |
Posted on 05-08-2026 20:30
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redordead wrote:
I know you went big on talents, but I'm still looking forward to seeing the full team after so many transfer moves.
The transfer recap / roster post is ready to be posted once transfers are officially over. But for now the roster can already be seen here.
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| kandesbunzler26 |
Posted on 06-08-2026 21:16
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Transfers are done and so it’s time to present our first PT squad. We went into transfers with a clear plan of using our PT stint and the accompanying cap space and budget raises to set up a team that will already be able to be competitive in the PCT in 2027 (in the best case to fight for promotion then) and then in PT afterwards with much changes while effectively sacrificing the upcoming season to achieve this goal, so we don’t get tangled up in trying to combine realistically fighting against relegation with signing the big French talents that were available this year – only to probably fail in both in the end. So we ended up with five goals for transfers:
1) Sign Romain Gregoire and Noa Isidore.
2) Sign as much additional talent as possible.
3) Create a roster that realistically allows us to get into the PCT wage in the next renewals.
4) Create a roster that will be competitive in PCT next season without many changes.
5) Keep (and sign) riders that allow for some fun this season.
So let’s have a look at the different departments and see how we did:
Our clear GC leader is Vauquelin who finally finished his development. We hope he will be able to snatch the occasional GC top 10, some white jerseys and maybe a stage result or two. Garibian will be his loyal lieutenant while Martinez, Hajek and especially Arrieta will have the opportunity to go into breakaways.
| | FL | MO | MM | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CB | SP | AC | FG | DH | PR |  | Igor Arrieta | 64 | 73 | 70 | 66 | 57 | 68 | 71 | 67 | 61 | 64 | 69 | 80 | 66 | 62 |  | Arman Garibian | 70 | 76 | 74 | 71 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 78 | 55 | 60 | 71 | 66 | 70 | 73 |  | Alexander Hajek | 67 | 72 | 73 | 73 | 61 | 71 | 72 | 71 | 57 | 58 | 68 | 66 | 71 | 58 |  | Lenny Martinez | 66 | 76 | 74 | 72 | 68 | 73 | 75 | 75 | 57 | 56 | 73 | 70 | 70 | 67 | | Kevin Vauquelin | 70 | 79 | 75 | 71 | 76 | 72 | 76 | 75 | 58 | 68 | 70 | 73 | 71 | 75 |
Technically Gregoire is already our leading puncheur, although his skillset will probably see him stage hunting from breaks more often than actually riding like a team leader. Essentially the same goes for Gautherat as his lieutenant.
| | FL | MO | MM | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CB | SP | AC | FG | DH | PR | | Pierre Gautherat | 71 | 61 | 67 | 73 | 58 | 73 | 71 | 67 | 63 | 66 | 71 | 68 | 64 | 57 | | Romain Gregoire | 71 | 68 | 72 | 75 | 62 | 74 | 73 | 69 | 65 | 67 | 74 | 71 | 73 | 58 |
Zepuntke will probably still be our leader in most cobbled races with Louvel as his (improved) lieutenant, although we wouldn’t be surprised if the latter actually takes over the lead in some races. Verstrynge as well as loaned in Forbes and Sillankorva will be a good further support.
| | FL | MO | MM | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CB | SP | AC | FG | DH | PR | | Matis Louvel | 77 | 64 | 68 | 72 | 73 | 75 | 78 | 70 | 78 | 67 | 67 | 67 | 66 | 73 |  | Emiel Verstrynge | 70 | 66 | 70 | 73 | 56 | 70 | 74 | 55 | 74 | 60 | 71 | 71 | 67 | 56 |  | Ruben Zepuntke | 71 | 55 | 62 | 68 | 64 | 78 | 71 | 63 | 81 | 71 | 64 | 65 | 67 | 64 |
Two years ago this unit was non-existent, so we’re really happy we now have some capable TTers and should also be able to field a decent TTT team when needed. Brunel will be our leader in TT-heavy stage races, although he probably won’t be a top 10 contender there. With him and specialist Kopfauf we also have some nice options for the few prologues.
| | FL | MO | MM | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CB | SP | AC | FG | DH | PR |  | Sulkhan Akhmaevi | 68 | 71 | 70 | 68 | 77 | 69 | 69 | 71 | 60 | 61 | 65 | 63 | 63 | 73 |  | Sergio Arias Villanueva | 74 | 60 | 62 | 63 | 77 | 74 | 76 | 71 | 61 | 62 | 68 | 71 | 65 | 77 | | Alexys Brunel | 75 | 67 | 69 | 71 | 78 | 72 | 78 | 73 | 66 | 61 | 65 | 69 | 66 | 78 | | Emanuel Castro | 67 | 66 | 70 | 73 | 72 | 68 | 68 | 70 | 60 | 66 | 71 | 65 | 65 | 72 | | Markus Kopfauf | 69 | 62 | 65 | 67 | 65 | 67 | 74 | 67 | 52 | 74 | 73 | 70 | 68 | 81 |
This one is easy: we don’t have a sprinter, so technically Kopfauf is our lead sprinter.
Instead of sprinters we decided to go for rouleurs instead. The season goal for Quispe is to snatch some early KoM jerseys while Baudin is still developing, so Katrasnik will be our leader for flat classics.
| | FL | MO | MM | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CB | SP | AC | FG | DH | PR | | Alex Baudin | 71 | 66 | 69 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 71 | 72 | 64 | 64 | 69 | 70 | 72 | 67 |  | Gasper Katrasnik | 81 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 69 | 72 | 76 | 69 | 63 | 63 | 72 | 81 | 73 | 69 |  | Alain Quispe | 81 | 52 | 53 | 53 | 61 | 63 | 61 | 65 | 53 | 67 | 74 | 85 | 55 | 61 |
Both loan-ins were already talked about in the cobbler section, but especially Forbes could also snatch a white jersey or two in the cobbled stage races.
| | FL | MO | MM | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CB | SP | AC | FG | DH | PR |  | Nathaniel Forbes | 74 | 63 | 67 | 70 | 63 | 72 | 70 | 69 | 77 | 69 | 70 | 72 | 67 | 63 |  | Jaakko Sillankorva | 71 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 68 | 72 | 71 | 68 | 73 | 66 | 70 | 66 | 68 | 67 |
We have three riders loaned out whose main task of the season is to gain enough XP to reach level 3 while actually learning all that’s needed as a pro.
| | FL | MO | MM | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CB | SP | AC | FG | DH | PR | | Noa Isidore | 68 | 65 | 67 | 68 | 62 | 70 | 67 | 63 | 71 | 67 | 73 | 71 | 71 | 68 | | Victor Loulergue | 68 | 63 | 65 | 64 | 63 | 68 | 67 | 66 | 62 | 61 | 68 | 66 | 70 | 69 |  | Cameron Rogers^ | 73 | 62 | 65 | 68 | 71 | 72 | 70 | 68 | 65 | 65 | 67 | 71 | 67 | 74 |
So how did we in regards of our five goals for transfers?
Goal 1: Sign Gregoire and Isidore
We did sign Gregoire and Isisdore, so that’s a goal clearly achieved. And while especially the former was even more expensive than thought the latter actually was cheaper than planned, so in total we stay beyond our worst case plan regarding their wages while having saved quite some loan out fee on top.
Goal 2: Sign further talents
We enter the season with a total of 21 riders owned by us of which 11 are still developing, so we clearly have added talent in numbers. But we’re really happy with what quality of talent we added too! Apart from our primary target we signed Rogers, Hajek, Baudin, Castro, Loulergue, Arrieta, Verstrynge and Gautherat who will all develop into useful domestiques at least while being nearly entirely on minimum wage. And only one of them is actually a lvl. 4 talent which will come in handy for our third goal.
Goal 3: Potential for cap reductions of ~1m
We end transfers with a total wage hit of nearly exactly 3.5m by riders we own. With the realistic cuts for our talents Gregoire, Martinez, Isidore and Rogers as well as those for Zepuntke (due to decline) and Quispe (who will be released) and more than minimum raises only expected for Verstrynge (maxing) and Louvel (training) as well as Vauquelin (depending on his results) we see a realistic potential to actually reduce wages by a million in renewals which would leave us with a 20 man roster for next season.
Goal 4: Create a PCT competitive roster for 2027
If we’re able to actually keep that roster together we have a really nice looking squad with capable leaders for the mountains and stage races in Martinez and Vauquelin, a strong puncheur in Gregoire, a cobbles leader duo of Louvel and Zepuntke, a strong TT unit with Brunel as a sub-par leader as well as a competitive TTT unit plus Kopfauf as prologue specialist and Katrasnik as option for flat classics. Given how our last PCT seasons went with sub-par sprinters we think we’ll do fine without any sprinter at all, probably even increasing the scoring via late attacks. And with the roster essentially complete already pre-transfers race and goal planning can be optimized along those lines.
And that’s what our 2027 roster could look like:
| | FL | MO | MM | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CB | SP | AC | FG | DH | PR | | Sulkhan Akhmaevi | 68 | 71 | 70 | 68 | 77 | 69 | 69 | 71 | 60 | 61 | 65 | 63 | 63 | 73 | | Sergio Arias Villanueva | 74 | 60 | 62 | 63 | 77 | 74 | 76 | 71 | 61 | 62 | 68 | 71 | 65 | 77 | | Igor Arrieta | 66 | 75 | 72 | 67 | 57 | 70 | 73 | 68 | 62 | 64 | 70 | 83 | 69 | 62 | | Alex Baudin | 74 | 70 | 71 | 68 | 68 | 72 | 74 | 73 | 65 | 64 | 71 | 73 | 75 | 67 | | Alexys Brunel | 75 | 67 | 69 | 71 | 78 | 72 | 78 | 73 | 66 | 61 | 65 | 69 | 66 | 78 | | Emanuel Castro | 69 | 66 | 70 | 74 | 74 | 69 | 69 | 71 | 60 | 66 | 71 | 66 | 65 | 74 | | Arman Garibian | 70 | 76 | 74 | 71 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 78 | 55 | 60 | 71 | 66 | 70 | 73 | | Pierre Gautherat | 72 | 62 | 69 | 76 | 59 | 76 | 72 | 68 | 63 | 68 | 73 | 70 | 65 | 58 | | Romain Gregoire | 72 | 69 | 75 | 79 | 63 | 77 | 75 | 70 | 65 | 69 | 77 | 73 | 74 | 59 | | Alexander Hajek | 68 | 75 | 76 | 74 | 62 | 73 | 74 | 73 | 57 | 59 | 70 | 67 | 72 | 58 | | Noa Isidore | 71 | 65 | 69 | 71 | 62 | 73 | 69 | 64 | 75 | 69 | 75 | 75 | 72 | 68 | | Gasper Katrasnik | 81 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 69 | 72 | 76 | 69 | 63 | 63 | 72 | 81 | 73 | 69 | | Markus Kopfauf | 69 | 62 | 65 | 67 | 65 | 67 | 74 | 67 | 52 | 74 | 73 | 70 | 68 | 81 | | Victor Loulergue | 71 | 67 | 68 | 65 | 63 | 71 | 71 | 68 | 63 | 61 | 70 | 71 | 75 | 69 | | Matis Louvel | 77 | 64 | 68 | 72 | 73 | 75 | 78 | 70 | 79 | 67 | 67 | 67 | 66 | 73 | | Lenny Martinez | 67 | 79 | 76 | 74 | 70 | 76 | 77 | 77 | 57 | 56 | 74 | 71 | 71 | 69 | | Cameron Rogers | 76 | 62 | 65 | 69 | 74 | 74 | 73 | 70 | 65 | 65 | 67 | 73 | 67 | 77 | | Kevin Vauquelin | 70 | 79 | 75 | 71 | 76 | 72 | 76 | 75 | 58 | 68 | 70 | 73 | 71 | 75 | | Emiel Verstrynge | 71 | 66 | 71 | 74 | 56 | 71 | 75 | 56 | 76 | 61 | 72 | 73 | 67 | 56 | | Ruben Zepuntke | 70 | 54 | 61 | 67 | 63 | 76 | 69 | 61 | 80 | 70 | 62 | 64 | 66 | 63 |
Goal 5: Have fun riders for 2026
But before the hopefully bright future arrives we’ll have to do 2026 first. So we kept riders like Quispe, Arrieta and Katrasnik to join breaks as much as they can – something we actually expect from most of the squad apart from our cobbles unit because we’ll hardly ever have a stage or GC favourite out of this terrain. But without strong leadership we hope for the occasional stage win or KoM run from breaks to keep the spirits up!
So altogether the transfer season went as expected and hoped for. There might have been room for improvements in deals here and there, but overall we are pretty happy with how we’ve set up the team for the future!
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| Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 07-08-2026 00:13
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Could be a long season but you had a goal in mind and I would say that's been achieved with the talents you've brought in to ensure a bright future! You can be sure I'll come to you at some stage for your Australian talent but until then, I hope you look after him well 
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