Very cool design on the preview! Very enjoyable read too. CT looks very good this season with many solid teams, I feel.
Definitely think we will have a couple of surprises in the promotion spots, and who knows, seeing the full agreemwnt on JEWA, maybe that isn’t as certain as it is predicted For sure, amazing depth for the hills, but I’m not so sure hill depth is vital for a rider like Yates. And if it turns out they don’t have that super scorer, the points have to come from elsewhere too. The team is great, so it could well be they manage just that, but I don’t think it’s given at all they win the title.
Time for PCT, feels like CT has gotten a lot of love til now. I see 2 design problems I didn't bother to fix
1) The rankings didn't take the bottom of the total rankings
2) I had some writing errors on Philips, so their Claude rankings dissapeared from the rankings
Hope I don't crash too many PCs, first page also updated
PT will take some time, not finished writing and some busy days ahead
Think I agree with all 3 analysis for us Mid table is about where id put it us but any bad luck I could definitely see us relegated as well and that's the risk we played taking extra talents on instead of buying a GC leader a great read on all well done
Thank you for the extraordinary amount of effort into these Heine, all have been super cool reads and well thought through. I’m hoping your impression of Lyu is backed up by the PCM engine, as he could be a really nice depth scorer if it treats him well. I was actually very surprised not to have had more issues planning MFK, he was able to make most if not all the races I’d like him at, pleasantly surprisingly.
At this stage after the very competitive transfer season and a division full of excellent managers, I’d take a safely midtable finish.
Glad your kids are ready for the stronger stuff though…let me know and I’ll send a couple of cases for ‘em
TBH, I made Julien Bernard - a PT domestique, into a beast in CT, including in more hilly races like Hong Kong, Placci and Zuri...not to mention that he almost won in Austria. I'm sure Fernandes and Schlegel will turn out fine
I'm not going to argue with a prediction that has us somewhere in the top-half of the division, knocking on the doors of promotion. I think it's an over-estimation, but i won't argue it.
And i think the crux of the BMF preview is correct, no grand winning rider, but death by a thousand cuts. Will rely heavily on the ability to score points here, there and everywhere and just accumulate enough without making a splash.
The overall table is interesting. A couple of stand out teams, a large cluster, a few stragglers (which is most years tbf). Great clashes in philosophy will surely all bubble together into an exciting season!
Outstanding idea and delivery, big fan. Seems very wisely put up. I can't see Sauber winning the division or UBS, McCormick and Zwift that far down, but it's interesting to see the distribution of the different 'experts'.
Third to last isn't ideal for us but seems fair. I'm hoping we can defy that but it's not going to be easy that's a given.
Really interesting previews, thanks for doing this!
I still don't really know what to expect from my team. My own points predictions have them in the same place as your kids, but I'm obviously hoping that you (and your friend Claude) are right
On some of your points on my team:
- Schmid and Paez indeed have mostly separate schedules. Paez should be really fun in races like TDU or Britain, but also some of the easier C1 classics. Schmid will do harder classics like Euskal Bizikleta, and several stage races. We'll see if I got a better feeling on Mauro's schedule than last year ^^
- As I definitely didn't expect to get a top climber, I don't have enough mountain races to have Godoy and Darbellay on separate schedules. Which however seems to be pretty good for Godoy - as you mentioned, the support cast on the mountains is very weak, but whenever Darbellay is there to support him, Godoy can actually live up to his stats. I'm more worried about the couple of races either of them is on his own...
Bad support actually wouldn't just lead to breakaways winning stages, but also to Godoy/Darbellay breaking down early... One reason for me to not be over-optimistic.
- Sprinting definitely isn't our strength this year; fortunately we only have 3-4 flat classics. So Szarka can focus on being a stage race sprinter otherwise, which I think he weill do pretty well on some occasions (and not at all in other races).
- Sommer definitely doesn't feel like dead weight, as he'll be our leaders in C2 racing - and I do believe that he can be in the fight for a Top 10 there Obviously not in C1 races and higher, but Stewart also will be happy about having a little bit of support (even though 70k is expensive for a 76 cobbler!). And with 76 Flat he can also be pretty useful to chase breakaways when Schmid or Godoy need it
For sure, amazing depth for the hills, but I’m not so sure hill depth is vital for a rider like Yates. And if it turns out they don’t have that super scorer, the points have to come from elsewhere too. The team is great, so it could well be they manage just that, but I don’t think it’s given at all they win the title.
Obviously not in C1 races and higher, but Stewart also will be happy about having a little bit of support (even though 70k is expensive for a 76 cobbler!). And with 76 Flat he can also be pretty useful to chase breakaways when Schmid or Godoy need it 
