Well you win some and you lose some. Only in our case we only won one stage and we lost all of the others. So we relegated as the third worst team in the ProTour last year with some harsh lessons learned. This year though we are confident that we can keep together most of our squad from last year and have a good go at getting right back up to the top flight.
So now our fourth year begins and BPost have shown faith in us once again, though sadly we had to part way with the Flandrian government, who will no longer be contributing money to our team. Regardless, we are certainly maintaining our focus on Belgian riders and if anything we plan to increase the percentage of Belgians on our team. We will also once again only be taking riders from nations that border on Belgium and we hope that this year once again almost all of our protected leaders can be Belgian riders.
Today we can proudly announce our goals for the coming season. If any of these surprise people then you just haven't been paying any attention to us... We have decided to once again concentrate on the cobbles and we can already confirm that Vanspeybrouck will be our leader in all of these races. We can also confirm that with the HC Bands being announced we will certainly be racing all of them.
Those look quite humble to me, in comparison to others. With BPost being one of the best PCT teams at the moment and with Vanspeybrouck on your ranks, those should be comfortably achievable.
Good luck anyway. May we both see each other in PT next season
cio93 wrote:
(may we all 3 see each other in PT next season)
You've got to think that there's a chance that we will. Though as I'm sure we all know a little bit of weird AI and you never know what can happen. It is also impossible to tell what the strength of the division will be until transfers.
Edited by CountArach on 29-04-2015 13:56
We are pleased too announce today those riders whose contract has been renewed for next season. A number of riders took pay cuts but we were able to keep all but one of our leaders. Our total wage bill is also 35,000 under the wage cap so we can in fact look forward to another season with most of these riders joining us again.
Rider
Old Wage
New Wage
Difference
Jurgen Van Den Broeck
500,000
475,000
-25,000
Pieter Vanspeybrouck
300,000
350,000
+50,000
Andreas Stauff
375,000
250,000
-125,000
Dominique Cornu
220,000
210,000
-10,000
Tim Wellens
60,000
170,000
+110,000
Joeri Stallaert
150,000
140,000
-10,000
Kris Boeckmans
50,000
130,000
+80,000
Romain Zingle
55,000
105,000
+50,000
Niels Albert
115,000
75,000
-40,000
Rick Flens
100,000
60,000
-40,000
Victor Campenaerts
50,000
50,000
0
Jerome Cousin
50,000
50,000
0
Ben Curfs
60,000
50,000
-10,000
Welle Jallays
55,000
50,000
-5,000
Mathieu La Lavandier
50,000
50,000
0
Eliot Lietaer
50,000
50,000
0
William Maesen
50,000
50,000
0
Guillaume Van Keirsbulck
50,000
50,000
0
Sven Vandousselaere
55,000
50,000
-5,000
Johan Vansummeren
60,000
50,000
-10,000
We can safely say right now that we don't anticipate a particularly busy transfer period. Most of our riders are definitely staying with us next season and we are only likely to be loaning two riders out - Wellens and Lietaer. Van Keirsbulck is undecided at the moment but may end up loaned out. Wellens in particular is certain to attract some strong interest.
Andreas Stauff is the only leader who may be up for sale but even then we would be looking for a particularly attractive offer and may perhaps favour a swap offer (particularly if you have any young Belgians). We are also willing to listen to offers for Niels Albert but given his extremely low wage and the fact that he has been with us since the team started we would need a very, very strong offer to part with him. In addition all of our foreigners are up for sale for the right price but given that most of them have a low wage it would once again have to be a good offer.
So that means that the following riders have been released from their contracts with us and are now free agents: Robin Van der Hugenhaben Kristof Vandewalle Michiel Van Aelbroeck Dion Beukeboom William Bonnet
Most of these riders were brought in to give us a strong TTT squad for last season but this year we do not see that being a priority for us so their services are no longer needed. Van der Hugenhaben is sure to attract some attention, and we thank him for his season with us (even if he did very little).
Looking forward to see the duels, although I assume we will see his back wheel disappear in the distance more often than not...
Stallaert even going down is interesting, and finally the "Wellens advantage" expired a bit
I'm happy you won't have any real room for transfers, that gives us a chance to stay close to you throughout the season if Ciolek and Kelderman can get us ahead in those terrains to compensate what we'll lose on mountains, cobbles and in those TT-focused stage races...
Team BPost - 2015 
Tour de Suisse
