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[PCT '26] Duvel - Tsingtao | Team Presentation
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 01-08-2026 13:56
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World Champion
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BENOOOOOOOOT!
Shoutout to Van Wilder too. Glad to see him with 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
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| knockout |
Posted on 01-08-2026 15:36
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Grand Tour Champion
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Benoot and Watson is a great cobbles duo for now and the future. Great signings!
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 01-08-2026 22:11
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Team Leader
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Some great signings so far! Benoot obviously the pick of the bunch and that fee was indeed a really good deal! He'll be very good at PCT level. I was tempted to join the bidding war on Watson as he looks a really fun prospect. I'm glad Hesters has a good home with you Your other additions all appear to be smart business too.
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| Booker |
Posted on 03-08-2026 17:54
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Protected Rider
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@kb - Thank you, but really there's no reason why a nice rider like Watson couldn't do a little vacationing at the Renault camp, just to see how he likes it 
@Nemo - Cheers Nemo, and thanks for contributing with the swap for Papanov. We'll take care of him. The Duvel backers are thrilled but the Tsingtao sponsors, on the other hand, are livid at the lack of intent to go all out to sign Chen Shikai, letting him wind up in CT of all places! But thank you for the kind words.
@Abhi, @jandal - BENOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT (and the other guys) 
@knockout - Thank you, very pleased we were able to bring in Watson as well, but it only happened because we diversified the talent Pool by being Cruel to Max Poole...sorry 
@LLS - A very warm, awkward Belgian/Chinese welcome to Jules Hesters. Thank you for raising such a nice young man, I'm sure he will get along with his new pals and we'll learn a lot about his real abilities this season!
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 18-08-2026 12:05
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| Booker |
Posted on 03-08-2026 23:08
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 2026 TEAM PRESENTATION 
After securing the signatures of Benjamin Thomas via swap with Jura GIANTS, Daniel Hoelgaard via swap with Tafjord Kraft and Noa Isidore on 1>3 loan from Ekoi - Renault, all in week 2 of the transfer window, the Duvel - Tsingtao 2026 PCT team is set.
In the process, we also bid farewell to Alberto Bettiol, Willi Willwohl, Louis Blouwe, Zouzou Andriafenomananiaina, and Stan Van Tricht.
And with that, now it is time to present the 2026 Duvel - Tsingtao roster!
| Nat. | Name | FL | MO | MM | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CB | SP | AC | FG | DH | PR | OVR | Age | Wage | | Tiesj Benoot | 71 | 75 | 78 | 81 | 63 | 75 | 74 | 74 | 76 | 69 | 71 | 62 | 66 | 62 | 77.88 | 32 | 370,000 |  | Marcus Faglum Karlsson | 71 | 79 | 76 | 73 | 73 | 78 | 75 | 76 | 56 | 60 | 68 | 66 | 74 | 79 | 76.49 | 32 | 240,000 | | Jules Hesters | 75 | 61 | 63 | 64 | 60 | 74 | 75 | 79 | 72 | 78 | 78 | 63 | 67 | 60 | 75.82 | 28 | 125,000 | | Xianjing Lyu | 67 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 65 | 75 | 76 | 74 | 50 | 63 | 74 | 71 | 74 | 67 | 75.68 | 28 | 135,000 | | Ilan Van Wilder | 67 | 75 | 76 | 76 | 73 | 70 | 72 | 69 | 60 | 67 | 72 | 65 | 67 | 72 | 74.98 | 26 | 100,000 |  | Daniel Hoelgaard | 71 | 73 | 75 | 76 | 64 | 71 | 71 | 70 | 61 | 67 | 73 | 72 | 68 | 64 | 74.96 | 33 | 125,000 | | Mingrun Chen | 69 | 77 | 75 | 73 | 62 | 73 | 77 | 77 | 56 | 65 | 72 | 61 | 66 | 62 | 74.88 | 30 | 90,000 |  | Benjamin Thomas | 73 | 56 | 61 | 66 | 78 | 75 | 73 | 70 | 64 | 74 | 79 | 64 | 66 | 79 | 74.87 | 31 | 115,000 |  | Martin Papanov | 68 | 76 | 75 | 73 | 73 | 73 | 73 | 76 | 54 | 65 | 67 | 68 | 66 | 77 | 74.75 | 27 | 85,000 | | Pierre Barbier | 72 | 58 | 61 | 63 | 63 | 71 | 70 | 78 | 69 | 77 | 79 | 60 | 65 | 62 | 74.49 | 29 | 75,000 | | Yikui Niu | 72 | 74 | 73 | 72 | 67 | 76 | 69 | 75 | 56 | 74 | 74 | 73 | 70 | 67 | 74.31 | 32 | 90,000 | | Stan Dewulf | 74 | 66 | 69 | 71 | 67 | 75 | 76 | 70 | 72 | 70 | 71 | 76 | 69 | 66 | 73.51 | 29 | 70,000 |  | Cristian Perez | 73 | 63 | 65 | 67 | 76 | 73 | 73 | 72 | 69 | 66 | 68 | 75 | 69 | 76 | 73.17 | 27 | 55,000 |  | Joris Nieuwenhuis | 77 | 64 | 67 | 69 | 60 | 71 | 74 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 74 | 62 | 76 | 60 | 73.12 | 30 | 70,000 |  | Samuel Watson | 71 | 60 | 66 | 71 | 65 | 70 | 77 | 63 | 72 | 68 | 76 | 75 | 74 | 73 | 72.98 | 25 | 265,000 | | Laurenz Rex | 72 | 61 | 64 | 70 | 65 | 72 | 72 | 66 | 72 | 68 | 72 | 73 | 76 | 64 | 72.58 | 27 | 75,000 | | Mathias De Witte | 73 | 59 | 63 | 67 | 60 | 73 | 70 | 65 | 74 | 70 | 67 | 63 | 64 | 60 | 72.33 | 33 | 55,000 | | Cian Uijtdebroeks | 66 | 73 | 72 | 70 | 71 | 73 | 72 | 73 | 55 | 57 | 64 | 62 | 69 | 70 | 72.02 | 23 | 295,000 | | Noa Isidore | 68 | 65 | 67 | 68 | 62 | 70 | 67 | 63 | 71 | 67 | 73 | 71 | 71 | 68 | 71.09 | 22 | 350,000* | | Jinyang Ju | 70 | 59 | 63 | 66 | 73 | 68 | 68 | 71 | 59 | 58 | 64 | 64 | 62 | 73 | 69.90 | 23 | 50,000 |
*We pay £0 of Isidore's £350,000 salary
ANALYSIS
Clearly, we're delighted to secure some proper leadership in the form of Benoot and Hesters, both also ticking the domestic national focus. But we're also equally pleased to have strength in depth, both in the stage races ( Chen and Papanov) and the hills ( Van Wilder and Hoelgaard), as well as a decent sprint train for the first time in the form of Nieuwenhuis, Thomas and Barbier. Adding to that are some of the sneaky point scorers in the form of Niu and Dewulf, and you never know what the likes of Watson, Uijtdebroeks and Rex will muster up while they're still developing.
A lot of this team's success (or lack thereof) will come down to planning, particularly without a second MT leader in addition to Faglum Karlsson. Nonetheless, we believe that Benoot will be a significant improvement over both Bettiol and Stallaert, while team management also envisions some training for Lyu to turn him into a reasonable second option over the hills. Hesters will be a bit of a wildcard, as we hope his chunky backup stats may help him slightly overperform his fairly mediocre 78/78 sprint/accel combo.
This team has a bit of everything, which is how we like it, but we feel that schizophrenia in roster construction may also keep us away from promotion. A second year of stabilisation in PCT may be on the cards, but we quietly hope that we won't let Benoot down by ending his promotion streak.
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| redordead |
Posted on 07-08-2026 07:46
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Benoot is the clear ace of the team, but after that there are a lot of very good subtop riders and depth scorers. I imagine you won't be flirting with relegation nearly as much as last year
"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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| Heine |
Posted on 07-08-2026 13:47
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Benoot is ofc a great signing. Does this mean you promote this year?
I think in general you have a great depth but just lack a bit of top power behind Benoot to take the step towards promotion. Still some great riders here!
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 09-08-2026 04:18
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Benoot should be very good and very fun. I think you probably lack one more leader to ultimately promote, but should be much calmer in terms of safety.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 10-08-2026 02:49
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World Champion
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Looks like a fun team to plan. The cover-all-bases approach is one I also prefer in PCT (back when I could manage it wage-wise ) and it should be a fun season even if as you say you may have wished for a promotion contender. The project long-term looks good still even with the top two being 32.
Faglum Karlsson always seems to ride to the top of his main stats throughout his career and with the current edition and his STA that's truer than ever. You may not have a second climbing leader next to him as you say, but his strength and the ex-Xero duo of Chen and Van Wilder should make you a strong team for the stage races anyway
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
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1x x1
2x x2
2x x2 |
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 10-08-2026 13:06
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Will hope Benoot does well wherever he rides and he's going to ride for a regional team now! The team will be active in every terrain, without really having a top leader outside of Tiejs!
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 10-08-2026 18:22
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Tour de France Champion
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Lots very fun riders, planning would be interesting with this squad. Promotion, not a sure thing but if the planning is done right it could happen... really needed one more leader, but with a lot of wage on Watson & Cian the future is bright!
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| jt1109 |
Posted on 10-08-2026 18:41
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Going to go against the grain here but this squad looks a fair way off promotion to me and is more of a lower mid-table side.
Benoot and Faglum should combine in the 1200pt-1400pt range to make this pretty safe, but the sprinters will be below average, and I have little faith in the punchers to score much past 200pt.
The positive this team does have is the manager is fantastic at planning so that's going to boost the scoring for sure but won't be a promotion team this year at least. |
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| kandesbunzler26 |
Posted on 11-08-2026 20:29
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Small Tour Specialist
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You have some really cool riders and hopefully have a much quieter season than last year! And take good care of Noa, he'll need all the PCT insights he can get for next season
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| Booker |
Posted on 17-08-2026 23:43
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Thanks all for the comments, I have to say after having had a look through the PCT division, it looks like we're certainly still one of the lower-mid tier teams, as JT posits. Hopefully we'll have enough about us to take advantage of a somewhat weaker hills division this season, and Benoot should be just good enough to singlehandedly keep us up, but as said in the squad analysis, the bipolarity of building for the future whilst trying to stay competitive is a tough balance.
It didn't feel like we were able to maneuver as much as others managed to do, but nonetheless it has been a fun team to build and the plus is we've got some solid pieces for the future. Let's see what MFK and Benoot have in store for us, and maybe the Lyu training will help him turn into another solid depth scoring option for us.
Onwards to the season, soon the HQ will be updated with the new kit so keep your eyes peeled!
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| Laurens147 |
Posted on 18-08-2026 07:57
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Sprinter
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Looking forward to see Benoot shine in your colours! 
MG - Lotto - Caloi
[MG] New Manager of the Year - PCM.daily Awards 2022
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