A fully developed Hayter is primed and ready (we hope) to take over leadership duties in the climbs and stage races. We do not expect to be chasing too many breaks, given our leader is just about sub-top on the terrain. It was a conscious decision not to focus too much on climbing support for this season, but rather more on versatile riders who could help across terrains and disciplines.

Mick Van Dijke is rewarded for his performances last season, by spending time in our training program and hulking up his hill-climbing ability in the off-season. We have improved his support squad from last season, add Boileau, Nerurkar and Vinokurov to the trusted pair of Hofstede and McCormick to deliver him into good positions on the hills of PCT and beyond.

Possibly the 'fun-nest' part of our squad and also the most unpredictable in terms of the kind of expectations we should be making on them, which would also be realistic. Lampawog comes in to lead our Northern Classics setup and is another rider who has benefited from our off-season training program. Scotson adds more muscle to the existing pairing of Hoole and Allegaert.

The flats are another area where we have reduced our focus. However, Kulikovskiy has done very well in the sprints in the last two seasons, basically relying on wheel-surfing without any leadouts, and that is basically the plan this time as well. Alben will be able to share some of the load in stage races, with the latter only racing together in a couple of races. We hope Tim Van Dijke can play the role of an able pace-maker/roleur on the flats

Age is catching up to Zmorka, but he is still our best TT rider by a margin. Conci and Lampawog will be his able lieutenants in a number of TTTs, with Scotson adding more depth to the trio of Van Dijke, John and Hoole this season.

Ronaldo, Trezise and Rojit are all in their final year of development, and are all loaned out. Our target of getting a top cobbles or TT talent remained unfulfilled this season, so we hope to be able to change at least one part of that next season.

After our disappointing relegation from PT last season, we wanted to thin the squad and yet consolidate our leadership positions. We were able to do both, and get leaders who should be competitive or better in all terrains, a team building philosophy we have tried to follow in every season we have been a part of the peloton. Will our leaders excel in all the terrains, most likely not, but we hope to keep chipping away in all of them, to end up in a respectable position at the end of the season. This season is also the transition in us starting to put our faith in our home-grown talents as team leaders with MVD being the first in line to do so, with Hayter and others hopefully following suit in the coming years. With regards to our expectations this season, we do not think we have a team to be a direct promotion candidate, but we are hoping to end up somewhere in the few positions just below the Top 5.

Our top talent from the 2027 maxed class is also perhaps the best talent to ever come out of India. We expect Ronaldo to nail down one of the sprinter spots on our team for the best part of the next decade!

	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CO	SP	AC	FT	DH	PR
2026	72	62	64	65	61	70	75	71	63	76	76	58	68	69
Sprinter	74	61	64	66	62	71	78	72	62	78	78	58	68	72
Track Sprint	74	61	63	66	62	70	78	72	61	78	78	58	68	74

Trezise is another exceptional talent who will max out as a strong roleur who would also be a perfect leadout for a top sprinter! This is not a rider type we have had many of in our history, so we're excited to see how he can perform next season onwards.

	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CO	SP	AC	FT	DH	PR
2026	77	61	61	60	63	70	75	66	67	74	75	63	68	65
Sprinter	79	61	61	60	63	71	76	74	68	76	77	63	68	65
Track Sprint	79	61	61	60	63	71	76	74	67	76	77	63	68	67
Fighter	79	62	62	61	64	71	76	71	68	75	76	65	69	66

The next home-grown Indian waiting to take his last step towards reaching his full potential is Rojit, who will fit well into our TTT unit.

	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CO	SP	AC	FT	DH	PR
2026	70	62	64	65	74	71	72	67	68	70	72	62	60	74
Time-Trial	71	62	64	65	76	72	73	68	68	70	72	63	60	76
Track TT	71	62	64	65	76	72	73	68	68	71	73	62	60	76

Our next in-house puncher talent, and the natural successor to MVD, is Nerurkar, who will already be an able domestique to the former. We're still deciding which exact route to take in this case.

	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CO	SP	AC	FT	DH	PR
2026	69	64	69	74	58	72	69	68	58	66	72	70	69	62
Hills v1	71	66	73	79	59	77	72	70	58	70	77	74	71	63
Hills v2	71	66	75	78	60	75	74	71	58	69	76	74	71	62

Our first talent specializing in Prologues, Beckham will continue his development in our setup fthis season.

	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CO	SP	AC	FT	DH	PR
2026	73	56	58	60	69	69	69	62	65	57	68	69	62	75
Time Trial	76	56	59	61	73	72	72	65	65	57	68	71	62	79
Track TT	76	56	58	60	73	72	71	64	65	59	70	69	62	79

Vinokurov was a target for us in his neo-pro season but we had to shift our priorities and gave up on signing him then. We are glad to have got now and he will also slot into the support staff of MVD for this season and beyond.

	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CO	SP	AC	FT	DH	PR
2026	68	65	69	72	61	65	68	69	57	64	68	72	68	64
Hills v1	70	67	73	77	62	70	71	71	57	68	73	76	70	65
Hills v2	70	67	75	76	63	68	73	72	57	67	72	76	70	64

Domgjoni will take his next step of development with us this season, in the process of becoming a useful cobbles domestique in the future.

	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CO	SP	AC	FT	DH	PR
2026	68	61	65	69	55	71	65	61	69	68	64	66	65	58
Cobbles	72	61	65	70	55	77	69	62	75	72	67	67	65	58
Classics	72	61	66	72	55	75	68	62	73	71	67	70	66	58
Hills v1	69	64	69	75	55	75	68	62	69	71	68	69	66	58
Hills v2	69	61	71	73	55	74	69	64	69	71	68	69	65	58

Our next big talent project will revolve around the development of Poulard. The possibilities are endless, and so is our confusion at the moment!

	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CO	SP	AC	FT	DH	PR
2026	69	69	69	68	68	70	70	70	62	69	71	72	69	67
Stage Race	72	76	74	71	73	77	75	77	62	69	72	73	69	72
Climber v1	70	77	76	69	68	77	75	75	62	69	75	75	73	67
Climber v2	74	77	74	69	68	75	77	74	63	69	74	81	78	67
Hills v1	72	72	74	76	68	77	74	71	62	74	76	77	70	67
Hills v2	70	70	77	75	69	74	77	74	62	72	78	77	70	67
Sprinter	76	69	70	69	68	75	74	82	66	76	78	72	70	67
Track Sprint	76	69	69	69	69	74	75	74	62	76	78	72	70	74
Fighter	77	72	72	71	71	75	75	75	65	72	75	81	72	70

After a gap of a couple of years, we have our next Dutch talent, someone who should be a capable cobbles and classics rider as well as a useful roleur.

	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CO	SP	AC	FT	DH	PR
2026	70	66	67	68	57	69	69	60	68	67	71	64	76	62
Cobbles	77	66	67	69	57	76	74	63	75	72	74	67	76	62
Classics	75	66	70	73	57	74	72	63	75	70	74	72	77	62

Novak has been penciled in as a long term member of our mountain support team, and should go through the paces with us until he is ready to do so.

	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CO	SP	AC	FT	DH	PR
2026	66	68	68	68	65	69	64	70	64	64	66	68	64	65
Stage Race	69	77	73	71	70	76	69	77	64	64	67	69	65	70
Climber v1	69	77	76	71	66	77	71	75	64	65	71	71	68	65
Climber v2	74	77	73	69	65	76	71	74	67	64	70	77	75	65
Hills v1	69	71	75	76	66	77	68	73	64	69	73	73	67	66
Hills v2	69	69	77	75	68	74	71	74	64	68	73	75	65	65

Gustavovskiy wrote:

Some juicy talents there. Had an eye on Novak but couldnt dedicate funds there. Him and Poulard offer quite a lot of options. Trzise should be fun as well, while Nerurkar gives you a option as hilly leader especially a native-one. Looking forward to see the future of your team.

Also good-looking kits

We have gone with the most successful race on our calendar as our first Win goal. MVD will be here and attempt to achieve it.

Another successful race makes it as another Win goal for our newly energized puncher leader.

Zmorka will be in Germany to take on a Top 5 goal, which thought would be a better value choice for our World Champion than the other clashing race.

The last race goal is for our new stage race leader. Even a Top 10 placing might be a challenge for Hayter but we hope he can use his overall stage racing abilities to sneak into the Top 10.

Realistically, Top 5 might be a stretch for us this season. However, we had to make it a Goal to try and get there, as otherwise it would be a boring season!

Our newly improved puncher has a lot of races that he will lead or co-lead in, and there's no question that these will go a long way in determining the fate of our season.

**Races in bold are Goal races.

Conci is our hilly stage race with a time trial specialist for the season, as he will lead in Norway, Ukraine, Denmark, Pais Vasco and Slovenia. He will also ride in support of Hayter in Romandie, Langkawi and Suisse, hopefully contributing to good results in the TTs in those races. He will be Zmorka's lieutenant in Olympia.

**Races in bold are Goal races.

Zmorka goes to wherever there is a long TT, skipping only Denmark as he tackles the Deutschland side of that clash. He will also try to get
the early leader's jerey in ToA and Amissa Bongo, even aim to win the latter if it favours the Time Trialists.

**Races in bold are Goal races.

Hayter will be our leader on the high mountains, with an experimental outing in Ukraine thrown into the mix. We do not expect him to be near the top of the standing in any of these races, but the idea is to keep him safe for consistent Top5/Top 10 finishes throughout the year on the mountains.

**Races in bold are Goal races.

Lampawog will lead the early season (and otherwise) cobbles races, with Arenberg and Benelux looking like the most exciting prospects for us. He will also shoe-horn into the TT setup in Romandie and Amissa Bongo to add some muscle and possible minor points to those races.

**Races in bold are Goal races.

Kulikovskiy will lead in all the flat classics, where we do not expect a lot, and also in multiple stage races with sprint stages, where we do expect more, on par with his strong performances in these races in the past two seasons.

The traditional PCT season opener will have Kulikovskiy leading our charge Down Under. We hope he can challenge for the ending, although a Top 15 seems like a more realistic result.

Mick Van Dijke starts his season as our premier leader, by leading our charge in the second Australian race in our calendar this month. We have high expectations from him in this race. Kulikovskiy is also here to try to take advantage of the hilly/flat stages. Between the two of them, we hope for a good race to end the first month of the season.

Laurens147 wrote:

First test for MVD in TDU; should be a cracker good luck!

The season kicked off Down Under. We were non-descript for most of the race. Haverdings and Alben tried to get away in the second half but couldn't get a gap. In the sprint prep, Kulikovskiy joined the tail-end end of the sprint trains and couldn't make it up. He was eventually out-sprinted by a couple of our youngsters!

1	Sondre Holst Enger	Zwift - Newton Foundation	1h37'00
21	Ivo Domgjoni	Philips - Hero	s.t.
23	David Haverdings	Philips - Hero	s.t.
26	Alexandr Kulikovskiy	Philips - Hero	s.t.
35	Esow Alben	Philips - Hero	s.t.
73	Tim Van Dijke	Philips - Hero	s.t.
83	Piet Allegaert	Philips - Hero	s.t.
119	Nicolas Vinokurov	Philips - Hero	s.t.
120	David Beckham Elkatohchoongo	Philips - Hero	s.t.

Race number 2 started the same way as the first, with Kulikoskiy failing to get into the Top 10 on Stage 1.

Stage 2 finally turned our luck around. After another quiet stage, both Boileau and Mick found themselves near the front in the finish. They couldn't quite keep up with winning move but claimed 4th and 5th respectively on the stage.

Another hilly profile on Stage 3 saw us have a similar approach as the previous one. This time, however, it was McCormick who was the strongest in our team. He finished fast to grab 2nd, and was less than half a bike length away from getting the win!

The flat Stage 4 went the same way as the first stage, with Kulkovskiy finishing outside the Top 10.

Stage 5 was supposed to be the decided. We decided to focus on McCormick for the GC as he was the higher placed rider overnight. And he delivered again, grabbing another 2nd place from the pack, moving himself up to the top of the GC in the process! Kulikovskiy finished 7th and moved into the GC Top 10.

The final sprint on Stage 6 went a bit better, with Kulikovskiy getting 9th and moving up one position in the GC in the process. McCormick finished safely to confirm his win!

1	Hayden McCormick	Philips - Hero	17h36'02
9	Alexandr Kulikovskiy	Philips - Hero	+ 28
20	Alan Boileau	Philips - Hero	+ 1'01
26	David Haverdings	Philips - Hero	+ 1'07
51	Lukas Nerurkar	Philips - Hero	+ 1'13
55	Mick Van Dijke	Philips - Hero	+ 2'46
119	David Beckham Elkatohchoongo	Philips - Hero	+ 10'08
122	Lennard Hofstede	Philips - Hero	+ 10'50

In addition to the GC win and the Top 10, we got depth points from the GC via Boileau and Haverdings, finishing 20th and 26th, respectively. The latter also picked up a surprise win in the U25 classification!



Nerurkar was 8th in the same. McCormick was 5th in both the Points and the KOM. We finished 3rd in the Teams classification.