The Pro Continental tour is a strange place. Within it are teams that are almost Pro Tour ready and teams that are almost Continental Tour ready. It’s a place where the best cyclist is a time trialist and the worst rider is a sprinter from Cyprus. It’s a place where Silvio Herklotz and Dario Cataldo are on the same wage. Yes, it’s a strange place. So here is my PCT preview. It’s pretty much guaranteed to be inaccurate, but that’s half the fun.
Team: Allianz-BMW
Manager: jaxika
Nationality: German
HC Bands: 1,2,4,6
Overview:
Allianz-BMW brings with them one of the true stars of last years Continental tour in cobbles specialist Nikolas Maes and he will again be counted on to bring in the points for the team. Luckily he is one of the best cobbled riders in the PCT and the team has enviable depth, though perhaps not the strongest Lieutenant for Maes to rely on. Tanel Kangert was the big free agent signing, and the Estonian will do well to justify his outrageous wage. When deployed correctly Kangert is a huge threat – he’s strong on all terrains and an elite timetrialist, so given the right races he could be a big scorer. Choose the wrong races and he could be the biggest flop in the PCT. The mountain support is adequate though, with Talabardon being the key helper. Jeremy Roy was another big addition from RBC Pro Cycling, and he’s a fantastic rider in one day classics and short stage races. Anything beyond that is too much for him. Hungarian Zsolt Der will be the key man supporting Roy. Lastly, but not least, Allianz have brought in some nice sprinters. While Richeze, Castañeda and Dekkers won’t remind anyone of Ciolek, Benatti or Napolitano, they are certainly very capable of results on their day.
Best Prospects:
Johan Esteban Chaves is a PCT leader in the making and between Lampaert, Havlik and Polanc there are 3 exciting young cobbled talents.
Overall:
Allianz-BMW can probably expect no more than high mid-table positioning, but if they get good results from Kangert and get their sprinters into races where they aren’t outmatched, they could be a darkhorse for a promotion spot. My only worry is behind 3 excellent leaders, there isn’t a great deal of exceptional help. You’d have to say, for a German team, they don’t have very many German riders!
Team: AMEXpc
Manager: Mhaley45
Nationality: German/USA
HC Bands: 2,4,5,6
Overview:
AMEXpc brings back a good chunk of last year’s team, with some significant upgrades. Amex is strong on cobbles and the hills, but lacks a truly top level sprinter that would turn the team into a promotion contender. The star man is likely to be Marko Kump, a great allrounder that can survive hills, but posseses a great finishing kick. Kump can also survive over cobbles, which might be a key point for Amex. Eisel and Breschel will lead the cobbled squad, who are interesting because they are excellent sprinters for cobbled specialists. The cobbled depth is also quite solid. The hills might be the best terrain for Amex. Between Kump, Mehr-Wenige, Taborre, and Barredo there are some nice cards that Amex can play in the hilly races. While outside of Kump, they don’t seem to be racewinners, they certainly can pile up some top 10s. The training of Mehr-Wenige also makes him into one of the better pure puncheurs in the PCT. The sprinters you’d be hard pressed to call more than average, but Grillo is perhaps one that could surprise.
Best Prospects:
Robert Bush is potentially a very solid cobbler, and Theo Reinhardt is an interesting prospect, as a sprinter with great acceleration. Rüdiger Selig and Daniel Klemme can also turn into solid riders.
Overall:
AMEXPc are team that is almost certain to finish in the midtable. They simply have too much depth to be in the bottom 5 and the leaders aren’t good enough to push from promotion. It’s a fun little team with a nice level of regional focus.
Team: Team Bacardi
Manager: Kami
Nationality: Bermudan
HC Bands: 3,4,5,6
Overview:
It must be nice to have 3 almost Pro Tour quality leaders! Uran, Intxausti and Ulissi are all slumming it this year in the PCT and hope to be back with the big boys next year. There is little reason to believe that they won’t be. Simply put, all the manager has to do is make sure Uran, Intxausti and Ulissi make use of their race days and they will be golden. There is even ample help for the mighty 3 in some excellent timetrialists in Grabovski and Yatsevich. As well for help in the harder races there is Navarro and Pardilla and for the hills there is Bilbao and Mancuso. I think the manager might have expected Aberasturi to be a legitimate threat in sprint races but considering the depth of the division, he might have to settle for some top-10s.
Best Prospects:
There is only one youngling in Mikel Iturria, who will be a nice rider, but the best prospects Bacardi has are the ones that are almost done their progression. Bilbao and Yatsevich will both be almost PT quality leaders and even forgotten man Ole Hirschlein will become a very solid racer.
Overall:
Just go back to the Pro Tour already, jeez.
Team: BelarusBank ProCycling
Manager: Ste117
Nationality: Belarussian
HC Bands: 1,2,4,5
Overview:
A team that has done a very nice job of bringing in the best riders in Belarus, outside of Sitsou and Samoilev, BelarusBank will be a team that is likely to be fighting against relegation. Yet if there is a rider that can guarantee survival on his own it might be Mark Cavendish. The Brit is an elite sprinter even in the sprinter heavy PCT and he’s got a nice potential leadoutman in Yauheni Hutarovich, who can also get some results on his own. Outside of the sprinters, there isn’t much to talk about. Przemyslaw Niemiec disappointed in the CT and now in the PCT and racing against father time, it will be quite hard for him to get results. It’s sprint results or nothing for Belarusbank.
Best Prospects:
Belarusbank basically have the best Belurssian prospects avaialable, and while none of them are tip top quality, several of them will become nice riders including Bazhkou, Koshevoy and Honkisz.
Overall:
It could be a tough season for Belarusbank, yet they have several fast men that have different strengths – Thorsen and Kankovský may not be able to climb, but the number of pan flat courses that are available to them may make them unexpectedly good point scorers.
Team: Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling
Manager: TheManxMissile
Nationality: Bulgarian/Pacific NW of North America
HC Bands: 1,2,3,4
Overview:
A team that is built clearly for the future that has a reasonable present as well, Boeing-Bulgaria might not be the relegation surefires their manager believes that they are. Unfortunately planning around the vast quantity of prospects this team has means that they will be forced to ride a number of c2 races, which are unlikely to be huge point scorers for the team. The Mountain team is led by Bulgaria’s best cyclist, Petar Panayotov who is a capable climber, but not the greatest against the clock. There is even good support in Izagirre and Sarmiento. The hill squad is an average one, led by veteran Aussie Matthew Lloyd, who is likely to be given a free role to search for results. The strength of the team is the cobbled squad, led by Gerraint Thomas, and supported by a wealth of solid cobblers, foremost amongst those is Bulgarian Martin Grashev. The sprint team has Capecchi and Chicchi, though neither has the quality for top results. Yet, it is the depth in prospects that makes this team special.
Best Prospects:
Just take your pick! Simon Yates, Romain Bardet, Caleb Ewen…Really just a horde of talented riders.
Overall:
They are Bulgarian and proud, but a little luck may actually keep them up this year, however their future is blindingly bright with their vast array of prospects.
Team: Compal-Merida
Manager: Bjartne
Nationality: Taiwanese
HC Bands: 1,4,5,6
Overview
The impressively region focused Compal-Merida boast strength in depth, but not much in the way of top leaders. Though Andrey Zeits is a respectable puncheur, he is a threat for top-10s and not victories. The same can be said for the mountain squad, led by Aleksandr Dyachenko, who is a reasonable climber but pales in comparison to the best of the PCT’s climbers. The depth is the strength of the team, however, with a very nice amount of average riders that might be able to surprise on their day and certainly can be good support for their leaders. If Compal is to have a successful season, it will likely come on the back of their depth. There are a few capable sprinters that Compal possess, but they are generally foiled by small speedbumps, and perhaps more critically, their lack of top end speed. The next strength for Compal is their prospects. They have several excellent prospects under contract at Compal and they have the future of Asian cycling under contract.
Best Prospects:
The stage racing talent from Taiwan, Ki Ho Choi cost Compal a pretty penny in the transfer period, but he is going to be perhaps the best Asian rider to ever compete in the man-game. Compal also has a few lesser talents from some exotic nations that will become decent riders.
Overall:
Compal will be a trendy pick to relegate, but if they can get their great depth in riders to take home lots of KoM jerseys and score a bunch of points, it won’t matter that they do not have a top tier leader.
Team: FCB-Polska
Manager: ggDonovan
Nationality: Spanish/Polish
HC Bands: 3,4,5,6
Overview:
FCB-Polska are a team that are mostly based around two leaders, and with good cause, as those leaders cost FCB-Polska more than $1,000,000 in salary, but both Betancourt and Nazaret are set to be solid leaders who can guarantee points. There is reasonable support for both leaders, but Nazaret will be happy to have Nieve as a capable Lieutenant as well as some other decent helpers. Polish hope Gracjan Lejman will be an interesting rider to follow, he’s got good hill ability, but his backup stats are woeful, it remains to be see if that will hinder his ability to score some secondary points for FCB. The sprinters at FCB aren’t much to write home about and it is clear that the team will not put too much focus on them. It is also interesting that this team will look to avoid races with team time trials, as the team has a dearth of time trialists.
Best Prospects:
David De La Cruz looks like a nice PCT stage racer in the future, and is perhaps the best talent within the FCB ranks. Like any team that Barcelona has, it has a good number of talents and perhaps they might not be future Tour de France winners, many of them will be capable helpers. It will be especially interesting to see the development of Polish cycling – Kamil Gradek is perhaps the most promising of the Polish riders.
Overall:
The quality from the top leaders is there, but beyond the 102 racedays that Nazaret and Betancourt have, there doesn’t appear to be much secondary scoring unless Lejman or Nieve overachieve. So the team will need to count on good planning for those two, and hope that they do not have any disastrous results.
Team: Gazelle
Manager: DubbelDekker
Nationality: Dutch/Belgian
HC Bands: 1,2,4,6
Overview:
Gazelle enters the PCT on a wave of momentum, having romped to numerous victories in the Continental tour. They have maintained the same focus as last year – dominance on the hills and cobbles, along with a commitment to attacking riding. The core of their team is aging, with Nuyens and Steegmans on the decline and Monfort being close to the end of his prime as well, but they’ve also done well in securing some excellent prospects for the future to balance this out. Gazelle is about hills and cobbles, and they tend to avoid the flat, though like last year they have several riders that have good finishing kick as well as climbing ability, such as last year’s surprise package Thiago Duarte Nardin, and now with Daniel Oss they have a similar rider who is perhaps even better than the Brazilian. The manager is also one of the smartest in the game, and if anyone can navigate the calendar choices and race selections to maximize their chances of success, its DubbelDekker. It would not shock me if they make their way into the promotion hunt this year.
Best Prospects:
With a team that has Nuyens, Steegmans and Monfort you’d think they might have went all in on old riders, yet Gazelle has a stable of riders that can pick up the torch when those riders move on. Out on loan to the Pro Tour are Blaz Furdi and Moreno Hofland, with Furdi being a potential PCT leader and Hofland a capable sidekick. Patrick Konrad, Davide Formolo and Jan Tratnik are amongst the most promising but there are others with equal or slightly lesser talent.
Overall:
Gazelle are amongst my favourite teams in the man-game, they have an ethos and they stick to it. This team could be a promotion threat, but I think the manager may be more interested in developing his prospects than hunting for a promotion spot.
Team: Heineken-Cal Giant
Manager: Levi4life
Nationality: American
HC Bands: 1,2,3,5
Overview:
Possibly the least talked about team of the promotion contenders, Heineken had a very quiet transfer period, but when you have 2 almost PT quality stage racers, some quality cobblers and a great sprinter…who cares? Like Bacardi, Heineken have two quality stage racers, in this case we have Brajkovic and Eastman who will have 78 days of stage racing dominance to play with. Dan Holloway, formerly of Pokerstars is the main and basically only sprinter for Heineken, with Taylor Tolleson being the probable lead out man. In cobbled races, there will be the duo of Langeveld and Gaudin deployed. Neither are the best cobblers in the PCT, but top 5s or top 10s are not out of the question – yet beyond those two cobblers, there is basically nothing to support them. Heineken are one of the few teams that basically don’t have an option to play in hilly races, with Ian Boswell perhaps a few years away from being the rider he will surely become. The last thing Heineken has is great mountain support, with Stetina, Peterson and Brandt all being capable mountain goats.
Best prospects:
Ian Boswell is the big name here, and it looks like he will join his young American compatriot, Ryan Eastman as a top rider, though Boswell is clearly one for the hilly races. Robby Squire and Evan Huffman look like capable riders for the future. Von Hoff is also an excellent PCT sprinter in the future.
Overall:
Anything short of a 1 year stay in the PCT will be something of a shock. Even with the quality of PCT sprinters, Holloway is perhaps unique in his ability to get over small hills, something that his major rivals (Ciolek, Napo, Lo Cicero) cannot. Eastman and Brajkovic are somewhat neutralized by the quality of the other stage racers in the PCT and their relative lack of racedays, but should score enough points to propel Heineken back to the Pro Tour.
Team: Jaguar - Eritel
Manager: Sporting Nonsense
Nationality: African (Eritrean to be exact)/British
HC Bands: 1,2,4,6
Overview:
It’s a rare team that can sell one of their best time trialists and best puncheurs and still be considered an outside shot at promotion, yet here we are. Jaguar lacks a truly elite leader, but between Bibby, Behane, Bennett, Tennant and Dowsett…well that might be the most impressive 5 riders in the PCT. And how does Berhane goes for 200,000 and I pay 525,000 for Cataldo who is basically the same and even older than the African? No I’m not bitter… Anyway, the team has increadible depth, and can give its leaders great support in any terrain. They even have a cobbled squad that features the amazing Bakari…well maybe it doesn’t feature him, but he’s on it – though likely Lagab will outscore the greatest cobbler from Gabon. And we haven’t even really mentioned Sam Bennett, a rider that would have been a lot more influential if the PCT had less quality sprinters, but certainly a rider capable of results. In short Jaguar can go on every terrain and put out a solid leader – now that can be said about few teams.
Best Prospect:
Obviously Lachlan Morton grabs the headlines here. A future star in the making it is only a matter of time before he is competing for the top honours in a Grand Tour. Of course because this is Jaguar and developing riders is what they do, they have a cadre of elite prospects that I would list, but its honestly just too numerous. We must also mention Teklehaimanot,Teklit, and Amanuel who are each gaining experience in the Pro Tour and will be ready to lead the team in some races next year.
Overall: Jaguar do one thing and they do it well. They put out a competitive team on a yearly basis, just shy of the top promotion places, and they develop riders well. Now that their focus is on African cycling, it won’t be long before we see top level African riders starting to dominate in the PCT or even the Pro tour.
Team: Kappa-ENI
Manager: Stevenag
Nationality: Italian
HC Bands: 1,2,3,4
Overview:
The team with the highest paid rider in the PCT, Kappa ENI will (obviously) rely heavily upon Domenico Pozzovivo to propel them to safety. The Italian certainly belongs to the elite of the division, but a lack of racedays (only 36) means that his calendar needs to be selected well and the margin for error in the races he does participate in is quite small. Other potential scorers include Marco Marzano, who at 34 has seen better days but could succeed in smaller stageraces against lesser climbers. Oscar Gatto is an interesting sprinter/puncheur who may be let down by his low acceleration in comparison to other, similar riders. Kappa possess good depth, for their leaders, but lack many surefire point scorers and don’t have a real sprint threat outside of a great sprint by Cucinotta.
Best Prospect:
The flowingly named Pierre Paolo Penasa is potentially the next Pozzovivo, and will be a reasonable helper even this year. Other than that it is the developing sprint talents of Fonzi and Appollonio that are likely to form the Kappa sprint train for the next 6-8 years, with Appollonio looking like a future stage winner.
Overall: While Pozzovivo’s wage certainly got more than a little inflated, he’s a great rider in the PCT, with no discernable weakness. Marzano and Oss will really have to score well to propel the team into the upper mid table, but barring a disaster with Pozzovivo, Kappa will be safe from relegation.
Overview:
The almost completely rebuilt Karcher-Adira team is one of my favourites in the upcoming season. They have a good leader in 4 different terrains, though none of them are truly outstanding, they will be able to enter a variety of races and have a chance at a good result. The experienced hand of Vladimir Karpets will be the leader when it comes to the mountains, and even at his advanced age he is a strong climber and time trialist. His support will be strong with the Portuguese climbers Cabreira, Silva and the on loan Vinhas. The allrounder Gerdemann is an interesting rider as he doesn’t have a real strength, just no real weakness. Jonathan McEvoy is a punchy rider with a great sprint, he will be an interesting wildcard if the terrain suits him. And as is customary for the PCT there are 2 strong sprinters in Allan Davis and Danilo Kupfernagel. Kupfernagel had a torrid time last year for AmexPC, and he will have to prove that he can compete at this level.
Best Prospects:
Despite his low potential rating, Fabio Silvestre is a very interesting rider – is he a timetrialist with a good sprint? Or a sprinter who can time trial? His progression will be interesting. Paulinho is also going to be a nice rider in the future. Balloni on loan at Prio will be a very good time trialist when he is finished his development.
Overall:
A very good team that maybe just slightly lacks the top leader to push them over the top, Karcher is a nice mix of youth and experience.
Team: Kazzinc Procycling
Manager: Pellizotti2
Nationality: Kazakh/Italian
HC Bands: 1,2,4,5
Overview:
Team Nepomnyachsniy, Kazzinc will rely on the brothers to provide much of their point scoring. The duo could not be more different, with Yevgeni a stage racer with excellent time trial skills and Alexandr a combination of a cobbler and sprinter. Both of the Nepomnyachsniy’s are talented but they’ve never had to be the focal point of a team before. Kazzinc brings a good squad behind them with several talented support riders/secondary leaders, especially Pozzo and Agudelo could get good results. Kazzinc is also one of the better time trialing teams, and they could be one of the teams to beat in team time trials. Luca Mezgec heads up the sprint teams and while he doesn’t have the greatest support, Mezgec is still a reasonable sprinter for this level. The cobbled team will rely on Taillefour and one of the Nepos though their best chance for a good result is a cobbled race where Alexandr Nepomnyachsniy can use his good finishing kick.
Best Prospects
Favilli, on loan in the PT is a nice sprinter/puncheur combo rider. Evaldas Siskevicius is an intriguing sprinter/puncheur combo and Sulimov and Kozhatayev will become decent cobbled riders for Kazzinc.
Overall:
I like the depth, and I like the prospects, I’m just not sure about the brothers Nepomnyachsniy being the leaders necessary to create a promotion push.
Team: La Vie Claire
Manager: jph27
Nationality: French/Sri Lankan
HC Bands: 1,2,3,4
Overview:
A team that doesn’t offer much in the ‘star rider’ department, La Vie Claire nonetheless has quite a few potential point scorers on their roster. Kai Reus, is the nominal leader and he is a very good time trialist, but not the best in the division. Still, his ability to climb reasonably well could lead to some interesting results. The other leader of note is Cyril Gauthier, the French puncheur from team BPost. A nice, well rounded rider with a surprisingly solid finishing kick, Gauthier is amongst the better pure puncheurs in the division and La Vie Claire will rely on them heavily. The mountain team has Elissonde, Maillet and Gadret and the French trio are reasonably talented, but will struggle against the divisions best. Heinrich Haussler is the lead sprinter, and is one of the few fast men in the division that is fine over small hills – which may be key for him to get good results. La Vie Claire also have Turgot, who is a mediocre cobbler and a reasonable leadout rider, but La Vie probably does not want to ride too many cobbled races
Best Prospects:
Daniel Ricardo Diaz is a typical South American mountain goat in the making, Roy Goldstein will become a very nice timetrialist. The future for La Vie will likely come from Petit, Bagot and Guardini who are all on loan to the Pro Tour this year.
Overall:
A nice team with nice regional focus, but only two real leaders in Reus and Gauthier prevents them from being more than midtable.
Team: Magna-Ryanair
Manager: Firefly21
Nationality: Austrian/Irish
HC Bands: 1,3,5,6
Overview:
What can you even say about your own team? We have good stage race leaders in Rohregger and Cataldo, though one of them is vastly overpaid (guess which one!). The support for those two is quite nice with Pauwels and Naibo. The hilly team is Vastaranta and Simon and if PCM 13 values these types of riders we will do quite well, if not, we won’t do very well. Drujon is the only sprinter of note and he is nowhere close to the elite of the division. We can do decently on team time trials but we don’t have a standout in that department. I like our depth, but wonder if depth will do anything.
Best Prospects:
Marco Haller is a nice sprinter in the making and the time trialists Postlberger and Hofer will be valuable assets, and Daniel Paulus will be a potential PCT hilly leader when he is finished developing.
Overall:
I like our team, it features as many Austrians as I could (though 3 of them are out on loan…) we could finish quite high in the division or quite low, it depends on some of the risks I took in the race planning season.
Team: Meiji - Cannondale
Manager: valverde321
Nationality: Japanese
HC Bands: 1,4,5,6
Overview:
A team that I personally feel is a lock for promotion, Meiji have a roster so deep and talented you wonder how they fit it all under the salary cap. Not only do they have two of the fastest men in the world riding for them in Napolitano and Lo Cicero, they have capable puncheurs in Efimkin and Zaini and even a decent stage racer in Ji. Oh yeah, and they also have solid backup for each of those riders. Unless the manager has decided to send his sprinters to the mountains and the stage racers to the pan flat races, Meiji will see numerous victories in the upcoming season. Their one weakness? They are an awful, awful timetrialing team, with only 3 riders with 70+ in TT.
Best Prospects:
Tomohiro Kinoshita looks like the first Japanese star to ever race in the man-game. Already with good backup stats he will be an impressive talent once he reaches his potential. Hiratsuka, Iino and Itami are the next most promising and each look capable of scoring points for Meiji in the future.
Overall:
An impressive collection of ‘just past it’ veterans combines with youngsters that are just reaching their potential. A perfect storm that should lead to promotion for the team from the Rising Sun.
Overview:
Metinvest appear to be a team that is divided. On the one hand you have Mikhail Ignatiev, a true world class talent leading the team – and there is also Popovych and Rabon to lead races. Yet a true promotion contender would have another rider capable of leading a race – certainly Nolan Hoffman last year emerged as a great sprinter…but you have to wonder that with the influx of sprinters in PCT if he can repeat his miraculous season. Metinvest appear to be a rider short of joinining the pro tour. Nonetheless, they will certainly have their moments this year – and they are strongest on the hills with Rabon or Ignatiev leading the team, and there is good support behind those two. Perhaps a secondary strength of the team is its time trialists - there are several accomplished ones on the books behind Ignatiev – they will be feared in Team Time Trials.
Best Prospects:
The duo of Zmorka and Grosu is only a few years away from leading Metinvest to some brilliant results. Karnulin and Bratashcuk look like they will be nice riders as well.
Overall:
Metinvest clearly aren’t just going to bide their time before Zmorka and Grosu are ready and have quite a good team, I just don’t think its enough unless Hoffman pulls another cat out of the hat this year.
Team: Mobil - Aeropostal Ciclismo
Manager: Miguel98
Nationality: Venezulan/American
HC Bands: 1,3,5,6
Overview:
A team that is very nationality focused, Mobil is a team with 2 very nice leaders and not a whole lot else. Certainly the mountain team is formidable with Columbian strongman Pedraza leading a team with 4 riders with 75+ in their mountain stat. It is that kind of support that will make things easier for Pedraza to pick the right attacks. The sprint team is more than capably led by Cuban Raúl Granjel Cabrera. Even in a division filled with fast sprinters he is quite capable and will always be in contention for top honors. Beyond that Becerra is a decent puncheur and Rizza might be capable of a few results but that is about it.
Best Prospects:
Pedro Sequera is going to be a very good rider when he is maxed out, while Besada, Pirazzi and Sepulveda are the best of the rest
Overall:
It will be a hard fight against relegation, but few of the other relegation contenders have a pair of riders like Granjel Cabrerea and Pedraza, and that could be the difference.
*end of part 1 - part 2 sometime this week*
Edited by Firefly21 on 06-04-2014 21:21
Team: Oz Cycling Project
Manager: tsmoha
Nationality: Australian
HC Bands: 1,2,4,6
Overview
For me, one of the most difficult teams to predict in the upcoming season, Oz Cycling have a number of excellent riders, and probably the best collection of time trialists in the division, but they seem to lack a little something that would put them over the top. Oz is obviously strengthened by getting Jack Bobridge back from the Pro Tour – now fully developed, his combination of comfort on the short climbs and strength against the clock make him a very dangerous rider that will surely score lots of points. Support is likely to come from Visconti and Jiao who might be strong enough to get some surprise results of their own. The mountains is not this teams strength, though George Bennett will be fully developed next year and would perhaps be capable of solo results. Time trialists are fantastic at Oz, with Koren, Rogers, Ford, Olman and even Bobridge himself giving the team significant depth in that department – possibly a big scoring one for the team. The sprint team is led by Australiaia’s own Matty Goss and he is a pure fast man that is reasonable over hills – his leadout train might not be spectacular but when you are that fast…it tends not to matter.
Best Prospects:
The Mongolian menace, Delgerbayar is a rider that loves to attack – it will be interesting to see the allrounder develop. Oz has 5 riders out on loan with the pick of them being Durbridge and Li, with Durbridge becoming a near world class timetrialist at the ripe age of 24.
Overall:
I could (and will) be way off with my prediction for Oz – I think they will have many moments of glory, but I’m not sure if the points from their timetrials will make up for having only 2 great leaders in Bennett and Goss.
Team: Privatbank - Nemiroff Professional Cycling Team
Manager: fjhoekie
Nationality: Ukrainian
HC Bands: 1,2,3,5,
Overview
A team with a gaggle of sprinters, Privatbank make no bones about their aptitude for flat races. They do have a relatively decent mountain team with both Efimkin and Topchanuk, but they will be more interested in top 10s and stage wins than competing for the overall GC. Their hope in more hilly races is the intriguing Konovalovas, and although he will not have the greatest support, his talent on the time trial bike makes him a great fit for certain parcours. But yes, we will get to the teams strength and that is clearly the sprinters. Between Greipel, Vanoverschelde and Ulanowski they will have 3 80+ sprinters with 195 race days so we are likely to see some super powered sprint trains be formed. Uber-leadoutman Vaitkus will also look to be a threat either as a leadout or a late punchy attacker.
Best Prospects:
Pretty clearly the hilly team is waiting for the development of Prevar, which will give the team a nice future 1-2 punch. He’ll be biding his time in the Pro Tour this year though. Smirnovs might be the teams next best prospect though he is quite a few years away from being useful.
Overall:
In a division with less sprinting talent, I’d favour Privatbank more – they will score points though, and its likely to be enough to stay up.
Team: Project: Africa
Manager: aidanvn13
Nationality: South African
HC Bands: 1,2,3,5,
Overview:
A rather unfortunate cloud hangs over the team, and that is the loss of Ukrainian stage racer Krasnoperov, ruled ineligible by the SN-UCI – with him, the team was assured another season in the PCT, without him, they face an uphill climb. Still, there is hope – in hometown hero John-Lee Augustyn, Project: Africa have an interesting wildcard to interject into any race. While not the best pure climber, his lack of weaknesses makes him fairly unique – there will also be good support from fellow African Niyonshuti and experienced Spaniard Terciado. The hilly team is essentially all down to one man, Rwanda’s own Hategeka. A man comfortable on the short climbs, he is just short of the ability to compete with the very best in the PCT. For the sprints, the main man appears to be Russian Rocket, Roman Maksimov who is blindingly fast, unless he is faced with a speedbump. There are some other reasonable sprinters on the books at Project: Africa but sadly they only have Christoff van Heerden and not Juan.
Best Prospects:
The names that stand out are Meintjes, Redecker, Kiflay and Seibeb. Certainly the jewel in the crop appears to be Meintjes who will become Pro Tour caliber leader in the future. Janse van Rensburg and Rabie will rejoin the team after a loan to the Pro tour fills out their development – neither are world beaters, but they will become solid enough
Overall:
It’s a team with good depth, that just doesn’t have the leaders necessary to assure itself of promotion. You have to love their regional focus, but that may not be enough to spare them from relegation.
Team: Quickstep
Manager: Alakagom
Nationality: Belgian
HC Bands: 2,3,4,5
Overview:
A team that mortgaged a decent amount of their future for the chance to promote now, you’d have to say Quickstep will be a favourite to join the big boys next year. Led by 4 top caliber leaders in Marquez, Baugnies, Froome and Vantomme, the Belgian team will have no trouble in their 178 days of leadership. A jaunt to La Tour may disrupt the team slightly but it remains an impressive array of talent. Returning leader Marquez is an elite climber for the PCT and while he isn’t quite as good against the clock as some of his peers, that probably will not matter if he gaps them beforehand. Froome leads the hilly squad and he is..well..really good. Peter Serry would seem to be his natural right hand man. Baugnies is one of the elite PCT cobblers and his support is very solid with Steurs and Vanbilsen being his main helpers. The enigma known as Maxime Vantomme probably wished for a less competitive PCT to compete in but, he’s still an excellent fast man. I don’t know if he has a great leadout available, but Coquard might well be forced into that role.
Best Prospects:
Amazingly, even with 4 great leaders and selling their best prospect, Quickstep still has some notable prospects. Vanbilsen is a cobbled star in the making and already has very nice backup stats. Van Asbroeck, Barbin, Waeytens, Scheit and Wippert all have bright futures in racing though not all of them will be future leaders. Van der Lijke is the Demare before Demare can reach his potential and he will be a welcome addition to the team, once he returns from Team B&O with maxed out potential.
Overall:
An outstanding transfer season has set Quickstep up for success this year. Promtion looks certain barring a major onset of bad luck.
Team: RBC Pro Cycling
Manager: jt1109
Nationality: Canadian
HC Bands: 1,2,4,6
Overview:
As a Canadian I feel obligated to love this team, and fortunately there is much to love about RBC Pro Cycling. I was slightly surprised to see Roy leave the team, but with Bellis joining, there certainly isn’t much of a downgrade. The team relies pretty heavily upon Bellis and sprinter Vanderbiest, though it does have a fairly fearsome set of hill climbers to back up Bellis. Machado is an interesting pick up for the cobbled squad – certainly he’s very proficient over those cobbles, but a lack of great secondary stats might be worrying – he also only has one support rider, Canadian Ryan Roth. RBC appears to be biding its time so that their prospects can develop – and for the meanwhile they have a very nice young core that should get them some good victories
Best Prospects:
Huge Houle is likely the future star of Canadian cycling. A puncheur with a great finishing kick, he will be a very reasonable facsimilie of Bellis once he finishes developing. Warbasse give RBC a potential stage racer to use in the future, while David Boily will finish up his development at Festina, where he could be a nice surprise. At full strength – he’s a rider to be reckoned with.
Overall:
RBC will not be troubled by any fears of relegation, but they don’t seem to have any ambition to promote either – next year would seem to be a key year for them to make progress.
Team: Repsol-Cativen
Manager: brownwm
Nationality: Venezuelan
HC Bands: 1,3,4,5
Overview:
Repsol makes no bones about what type of team it is – they live for the mountains. Fortunately, when you have Kiserlovski and Kashechkin you tend to be able to thrive in that environment. With 95 racedays between them, they’ll have more than half the season where Repsol will have a threat for the overall GC. Acevedo is a mediocre puncheur who will likely be given free reign, while Brea, Ferrari and Andriato make for a weak set of sprinters. There is good support for the mountain goats in Ardila Cano, Soler, Oretega and Briceno who may be good enough to get points in races as well.
Best Prospects:
Salinas and Kebede look like decent riders for the future, but beyond that there isn’t much to write about.
Overall:
A team that is all in on climbers, I do see them having a fair amount of success on those climbs this year. Especially inspired could be another trip to the Tour of America.
Team: Swedbank-PEAB
Manager: viking90
Nationality: Swedish
HC Bands: 1,2,3,6
Overview:
A team that perhaps has the most depth in the division, Swedbank is a team that I am admittedly a fan of. With good leaders like Lövkvist, Skujins and Hoogerland, Swedbank may never have the favourite in any race, but will always be a threat for the podium. Wily old veteran Thomas Lovkvist is one of the better all round stage racers and if he’s deployed well, he could be a big point scorer. Eltink, Bjelkmark and Öste-Macdonald are all capable helpers. On the hills the leader is Skujins, on loan from Vesuvio and Hoogerland is another option that Swedbank can deploy in hilly races. Again, good support exists for those two with Ben Hermans being the notable standout. The team’s sprinter is Michel Kreder, who is one of the few that is fairly comfortable over hills. Jonas Ahlstrand continues his development and he is already capable of winning some points.
Best Prospects:
The aforementioned Ahlstrand is an elite sprinter in the making. Ludvigsson, Jensen and Blikra are the best of the rest.
Overall:
A very nice team that I think will be in the promotion fight to the bitter end, but, while ultimately they will likely fall short of that, the future is bright for Swedbank.
Team: CSC-Orbea
Manager: Mresuperstar
Nationality: Spanish/Portuguese
HC Bands: 3,4,5,6,
Overview:
An old, aging and decrepit team, CSC are trying to reverse the memories of last year by bringing in lots of talent. The star man will be Abal, who is one of the PCT’s elite stage races, though he may struggle over hills. Cobo, Plaza, Lloret, De la Fuente and Serpa all seem like riders that will have chances to ride for their own during the season, but will also be used as support as well. Ventoso leads the hilly squad and he’s a very good climber over short hills with a truly fantastic punch. Sergio Barrio has improved and is something of a one dimensional rider – he’s good on the short climbs, but not much beyond that, still he’s an intriguing wildcard. Sprinters…whats a sprinter? I guess Francisco Anton Martin counts. Cobblers? Well they actually have a few of those, but no one that is going to win much of anything, but they may nab points here and there.
Best Prospects:
Altur will become a nice cobbler in the future, potentially one of the best to ever emerge from Spain. Domene seems to me to be the only other prospect of note.
Overall:
It’s a risky strategy to go all in on experience rather than try to build up via youth, and I don’t think there is quite enough there to grab a promotion spot, but it certainly will be a season full of stage wins and GC successes for CSC.
Team: Team Hornbach
Manager: tyriion
Nationality: Dutch/German
HC Bands: 1,2,4,6
Overview
A team that is built for two things, sprinting and cobbled races, Hornbach may be a 2 trick pony, but when it’s a good trick, people won’t complain. Franzoi is the star man on the cobbles and while this might be his last full year at the peak of his powers, he will certainly have a great season in PCT. The support in the cobbled races is also excellent, with many riders being able cobblers – the pick of them might be Veelers and Trentin though. Trentin is also a threat over some races with small hills, as a potent sprinter he is a man that needs to be accounted for. As for the pure sprinters on the team, there are many but the best of them is likely to be Lavoine, though he struggles over hills. There is great potential for some awesome leadout trains at Horbach, with a really nice depth of sprinters.
Best Prospects:
The Groenewegen is an elite sprinting prospect and Van Poppel seems like he might be his future lead out man. There are some more depth riders out on loan, but the Groenewegen is Hornbach’s ace in the hole.
Overall:
A tough team to rate – as they will be dangerous on the cobbles, I’m not so sure about their sprint strength – and any of the tougher hill stages will likely be a write off. They’ll have their moments this season for sure though.
Team: Team Kenya Airways
Manager: FroomeDog99
Nationality: Kenyan
HC Bands: 1,4,5,6
Overview:
One of 3 African teams in the PCT, Kenya Airways features two of Africas best as their leaders. Both Mwangi Samwel and Hassen Ben Nasser are above average PCT leaders and will surely be motivated to compete for a ‘home continent’ team. Samwel has a nice companion to ride with in Zakayo Ndbri, another, less well rounded mountain goat. Ben Nasser will likely be supported by fellow North African Chaoufi. The interesting wildcards on this team are the Europeans – Gasparotto and Wegmann are similar style riders, with Wegmann being more of a puncheur and Gasparotto more of a sprinter, but they are both comfortable on the short climbs, which indicates that Kenya Airways is likely to be avoiding the flat races. Beyond able Lieutanants, there is not all that much depth at Kenya Airways, though it is probably not that big a deal in the long run.
Best Prospects:
When you splash out 425,000 for a 20 year old, you better hope he’s worth it! Fortunately Merhawi Kudus looks like the real deal. While he may never be a great timetrialist, his climbing skills are likely to be second to none. Other than Kudus, the other prospects at Kenya Airways look like future domestiques rather than leaders.
Overall:
2 leaders and 2 interesting wildcards is likely to keep Kenya Airways safe from relegation, but probably can’t hope for more than that.
Team: Team Puma-SAP
Manager: cio93
Nationality: German
HC Bands: 1,2,4,5
Overview:
Team Puma-Prospects, err SAP, is a team with significant depth, and outstanding prospects. Ciolek, Nerz and Kelderman make up an intriguing leadership trio, though only Ciolek is a real threat to win major races. Nerz leads the stage racing team and this is where the team probably has the weakest support, though they still have Heider to lend Nerz a hand. The hill squad is quite dangerous with Kelderman along with wildcards like Vogt and Felline potentially being able to score significant amounts of points. I’m not sure if Puma fancy any cobbled races this season, but they have 6 riders with 70+ cobble ability – none seem to be great scorers but may score points en masse. The sprint team is the obvious strength of the team. Ciolek has been trained significantly and now puts his name in the mix as best PCT sprinter. There isn’t really another sprinter that can score points – but they do have excellent leadouts in Giaux, Bar, and Minard that could form a formidable sprint team.
Best Prospects:
I think I could write a dissertation on the amount and quality of prospects that Puma-SAP have at their disposal. It seems like half their team is out on loan, but no its only Demare, Bongiorno, Daniel, Bercz and Mager, names that are likely to feature in the next 10 years of the mangame. Demare is perhaps the pick of those on loan, a rare talent that is comfortable over hills and possesses a devastatingly quick finish. The talents on the team range from the almost developed Kelderman as well as Felline, Vogt, Bar, and Bol will likely finish up their development this year and many of them are future PCT leaders at the very least. And of course finally we come to the € 525,000 man, Silvio Herklotz. What he will do with all that money while he’s fetching bottles for his leaders this year, one does not know, what we do know is he is a future star of the Pro Tour.
Overall:
This team is honestly packed with talents, many of which are younger than I am. With an average age of 24.8 the best days of this team are clearly ahead of them – I think the only question to ask will be how they fit all their talents under the wage cap in the future!
Overview
‘V’ stands for Victory, or Venchi as I’m sure the sponsors would prefer – a team that features perhaps the 2nd best cadre of sprinters in the PCT, as well as some quality puncheurs. The stage race team is basically the one man team of Fabio Duarte – he is great on the mountains and an able time trialist but is not the best over short, sharp climbs. His lack of support (seriously Adam Yates might be his best domestique!) will be an interesting story to follow across the season. A lack of depth is not the problem for the hilly team, in fact there is no problem at all! Craven and Di Maggio are the nominal hilly leaders, with Di Maggio being perhaps less well rounded but a better ‘pure’ puncheur – Craven, with his solid backup stats and timetrial skills is more of an all-round threat. The sprint team is also quite excellent – the combination of Van Stayen, Corioni and Van Avermaet gives the team 3 riders capable of stage wins. Van Stayen is also something of a puncheur, and does not appear to be troubled by short climbs.
Best Prospects:
Mohamed Shawal Anuar Aziz may be 28 but his potential has not yet been unlocked, he could be an excellent rider if Venchi commit to his development. Adam Yates is a rare Britsh stage racing talent, perhaps he one day could ride in yellow like fellow Brit Bradley Wiggins, but unlike Wiggins he may actually be able to hold the jersey for a serious amount of time.
Overall:
An enviable team – not only do they have the talent to promote, but they have a very nice base to build upon when they reach the Pro Tour. The key this year is likely to be their puncheurs – the sprinters are going to score but it remains to be seen to what degree they will score – Di Maggio and Craven are likely to be their talismans for the season.
Edited by Firefly21 on 10-04-2014 20:20
The layout looms bad in my phone, but I'm sure its fine on a normal computer.
Really nice way of doing the preview and is again different from all the others. Enjoyed the writing style very much and look forward to reading all the teams.
On B3B, you seem more positive than most. While it's true we have two decent leaders both need luck to deliver big. And relying on luck is never a good plan. Also we are not riding any C2 races, and have just focused on trying to get at least Ewan to lvl3, any other development is a bonus. And it all means we are just short of a full Avenir team as well
Yet another preview to wear down my optimism about this season. Reus, Gautier and Haussler are all potential top 20 rankings riders in my (biased) opinion
Great read though, looking forward to the next part
jph27 wrote:
Yet another preview to wear down my optimism about this season. Reus, Gautier and Haussler are all potential top 20 rankings riders in my (biased) opinion
Great read though, looking forward to the next part
I had a hard time with your team and Metinvest - I'm not exactly sure how to rate timetrialists...in the past they've been very good in the PCT, so I'm probably undervaluing those two teams. I dunno, I'm very, very likely to be massively wrong . But thats half the fun anyway.
jph27 wrote:
Yet another preview to wear down my optimism about this season. Reus, Gautier and Haussler are all potential top 20 rankings riders in my (biased) opinion
Great read though, looking forward to the next part
jph27 wrote:
Yet another preview to wear down my optimism about this season. Reus, Gautier and Haussler are all potential top 20 rankings riders in my (biased) opinion
Great read though, looking forward to the next part
"Gautier is a top 20 rankings rider"
*Spits out coffee*
Schreurs is weaker than Gautier and was 27th last season. Plus Flugel, Ginanni and Roche have all gone off to the PT and in return all we've got is Di Maggio. I'm daring to dream
jph27 wrote:
Yet another preview to wear down my optimism about this season. Reus, Gautier and Haussler are all potential top 20 rankings riders in my (biased) opinion
Great read though, looking forward to the next part
"Gautier is a top 20 rankings rider"
*Spits out coffee*
Schreurs is weaker than Gautier and was 27th last season. Plus Flugel, Ginanni and Roche have all gone off to the PT and in return all we've got is Di Maggio. I'm daring to dream
Nice preview mate, i like how it is slightly different from others, especially with talents mention. Nice to see Zmorka, Grosu and other guys too mentioned and we still have five more talents of six potential. It is nice to have so much talent that likes of Alaphilippe even gets no mention
It seems that you rate Metinvest to slightly miss promotion, that is very similar to other previews and what i think too, shame that Krasnoperov was not landed, we would maybe aim for sure promotion with him.
About those TTists andf their ranking. They are awesome! Why? Because Ignatiev has like two opponents in whole divison who can beat him on a good day and bar some AI disaster he should fight for at least a podium or top5 in every race with TT (and there are couple of HC races with TT).
Compare that with stage racing or sprinting field in PCT, who can be so sure about top5 results? Even likes of Napolitano or Greipel can be very disappointing with a bit of bad luck, but awesome TTists are somewhat guaranteed points. At least that is what i think, so it will probably bite me in ass. Edited by Avin Wargunnson on 07-04-2014 16:30
Thanks for the kind words, Firefly!
You are right; we've started building a foundation for the future and will not be looking to promote as soon as possible. This season the aim is top 15.
Nice previews. The detailed look at the prospects each team has is an interesting addition. Looking forward to the other parts.
Firefly21 wrote:
Part 2 is updated - along with my final rankings - I still owe writeups on Puma and Venchi (and one more?) but they will wait for tommorow
Pretty much agree with your thoughts on Oz. Even though i wouldn't call Bennett a great leader for this year I actually had a hard time filling up his racedays 11th place is something i do expect for my team, too. Especially as I tend to gamble a bit too much in race planning, instead of playing it all safe.
2nd I hope you are right Im not as confident as you. A lot of things would have to go well, and I think the sprints will need to go really well consistently, consistency being an issue with most sprinters in the man game. Ji needs to have a repeat of last year, which will be hard too, as he did better than expected I think last year, and theres more climbing competition as well this year in the PCT I think.
![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
I actually had a hard time filling up his racedays 
11th place is something i do expect for my team, too. Especially as I tend to gamble a bit too much in race planning, instead of playing it all safe.
I hope you are right 
