Work at the World Cycling Centre never stops, and this off-season has been busier than most preparing for the big step-up to PCT. The WCC organisation still retains favourable backing from it’s anonymous philanthropic benefactor, an 'individual of high-net worth’. Recent speculation in Forbes magazine relating to the identity of our most fervent supporter in their most recent ‘rich-list’ has been flat-out denied as "fake news".
On the sponsor front, Edward Jones Investments who joined our project in 2017 maintain the largest branding presence, with our continued adoption of their corporate colours. Although a relatively minor financial contributor in their first season, the understanding was always that their financial might would be relied on in 2018 if last seasons ‘push-for-promotion’ approach proved successful requiring a step-change in financial support. CEO James Weddle commented
“Edward Jones are all about value-based investment strategies for our clients, and we admire Scorchio Cycling Managements similar approach to the world of professional cycling. The return-on-investment that WCC garnered in 2017 on a fixed CT budget was an example of how well our business models align, and a great success story for our partnership.”
Long-term technical partners Scott Bicycles, Pearl Izumi and Skoda have each committed to join us on our PCT journey that begins in 2018.
WCC general manager and head DS Scorchio has outlined some general pointers for the upcoming 2018 season.
“Our first season in the competitive PCT division will by necessity be one of consolidation. Securing the CT title counts for nothing once the new season gets underway, and we have to concentrate on establishing a solid base upon which to build the foundations for a long-term stay in the division. Recent seasons have highlighted the general dominance of PT relegation teams and top non-promoters from the previous season as being favoured to be duking it out for the promotion places. Below those 8 or 10 teams with an initial head-start coming into the season, the remainder often spend the majority of the season more in fear of relegation than considering promotion, and it would be foolhardy not to acknowledge that this is likely to be our initial PCT experience. Internally we are delighted with how the renewal process has proceeded, and look forward to the transfer market opening.
With the considerable step-up in number of race days from 120 last year to 175 this, WCC expect to alter last years successful approach of ignoring a terrain completely as the breadth of the calendar and various PTHC and HC band commitments render this strategy sub-optimal in our opinion. This is our first significant strategy change. Our second major change in mind-set is to actively try and reduce our engagement in the crowded European rider market. The vast majority of professional calibre riders originate from the extended European area, so by necessity we still believe that key gaps and specific rider types are best recruited in this region for WCC going forward. However we would like to even more closely associate our WCC brand with the niche American, African and Asian markets as where our rider development efforts can have the most significant cycling-wide impact. The business of professional cycling is in of itself quite cyclical, the relative levels of sponsor interest away from the traditional European heartlands waxes and wanes. WCC hope to assist those regions experiencing difficulties in a given particular timeframe to ‘bridge-the-gap’ so that sufficient rider-base is sustained to enable new sponsors to step forward in areas which are intermittently in-and-out of favour.
We know that come the start of the season that we will be up some weeks and down others, the key for us is to ensure a solid level of consistency throughout to enjoy a trouble free ride. We welcome you all along on this exciting journey with us here at WCC.”
Our final opening assignment is to introduce the various National Champions and their bespoke team jerseys that will be appearing throughout the 2018 season representing the World Cycling Centre.
Spoiler
We are as always delighted to highlight the contribution of fellow MG manager the_hoyle in creating our jersey roster for which we offer many thanks.
Canadian National RR Champion: David Boily
Colombian National RR Champion: Jaime Alberto Castañeda
Mexican National TT Champion: Flavio De Luna
South African National RR Champion: Jay Thomson
Ivory Coast National RR + TT Champion: Issiaka Cisse
Krygyzstan National RR + TT Champion: Evgeny Russo
Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) National TT Champion: Chun Kai Feng
Ride name colour key:
Default = Rider continues from 2017 roster.
Red = New signing for 2018 season via FA or trade.
Orange = Riders loaned out (Wage listed is WCC contribution).
Edited by Scorchio on 29-07-2018 09:55
After a successful 2017 campaign, it is no surprise that the majority of riders have been retained, and that success has brought a general increase in wages across the board. We believe that these remain competitive prices in the current market, and the overall increase in part reflects the success in the 2016-17 transfer market in attracting riders at a premium price offset. MGUCI alterations to their minimum wage regulations (read stat alterations) have also had a material impact.
Three riders were released during the process, Giovanni Visconti, Sander Armee and Andriy Vasyluk. The later still has a number of good years ahead of him, but both Visconti and Armee are likely to have finished their careers wearing WCC colours. We thank all three for their service.
Edited by Scorchio on 18-07-2018 19:11
There you have it. To summarise, WCC management can envisage starting the 2018 season with all re-signed riders if that is how transfers develop. Nevertheless we also have to be open to flexibility in response to market conditions. Top 20 individual standings riders Boily and Bush are unlikely to leave unless needs must. We are more open to offers for last years sensation Sam Harrison (and note teams already utilising his success to try and pawn off cheap knock-offs! ), and relaible sprinter JAC. Reliable domestiques Koshevoy, Thomson and Quintero are open to offers. Managers favourites R-G and Vandouss would need decent offers to entice away.
Perhaps surprising to readers will be WCC's willingness to entertain offers for riders still in development. The level 4 triumvirate ideally require PT loans, but an offer for a full-time move for Venturini will be considered given his European roots not fitting 100% with WCC's current mission. Level 3 riders, puncheur Restrepo and talented cobbler Sanogo are also open to offers; having exposed them to the key early stages of development, if others want to take the helm with them towards maxing, that would let us concentrate on identifying similarly ignored riders with interesting development potential secure in the knowledge that we have assisted Restrepo and Sanogo onto the professional ladder.
The final statement is that we will be aggressively seeking PT partners to finalise the development of Contreras and Mraouni, who given their skill-sets are already in a position to be of use to potential PT hosts on a season long loan.
EDIT: I should also have noted that I am open to comms throughout the transfer season via both PM and Skype. I'm about to spend my one week a year as a professional MG player, so should be availalble through 90% of the European day and evening .
Edited by Scorchio on 19-07-2018 18:39
If I were a PT team I would take Mraouni back on loan in a heartbeat, great guy to have on your team! So to any PT managers listening in, he deserves a PT loan
Best of luck in the transfers mate! Hope you can build a PCT worthy team!
Hey Marco, thanks for the endorsement. Mraouni is an excellent addition to any squad, hence why he has a guaranteed long-term future with us here in the WCC engine room.
He has relayed to me how much he loved the party atmosphere at the Minions, win, lose or draw. Having roomed with Mr Betancourt on more than one occasion Salah indicates that throughout his season with the Minions, Carlos seemed to live in constant fear of having his eyebrows shaved off during the night by Minions management which seems to be an occaisional 'bonding' exercise at the outfit. Rumours have been circulating the peloton that CB is also fed up with managments nickname for him Roland, or 'Roly-Poly'. It was just a few cakes in the off-season! Perhaps Betancourt might find refuge from harrassment at a Colombian based team?
Just noticed that you updated your team in one of your earlier posts, I really like the all-aroundness of your squad. It may not be on that's going to promote this season (at least I dont think it will), but it's definitely one that'll score well on all sorts of terrains. Ji and Berhane should be great in the mountains, especially with all the support you've surrounded them with.
Harrison and Bush may not be as effective as they were in the CT, but they should still bring in solid amounts of points.
You also have a few interesting riders that I'll definitely pay attention to, namely Feng and Redecker who have a really cool skill set.
I'm thinking you should be safe from relegation for sure, and with the youth you have on your team (6 of your top 7 overall riders are under 30), you've built a super nice base to promote next year and proceed to be solid at the PT level.
Also, we're really happy to have Restrepo and Sanogo on loan with us, Hopefully Sanogo can learn a thing or two from Gaudin while Restrepo is actually our 4th best hill rider.
I think some of your estimation around WCC's competence for the upcoming season may have been a bit taken-in by the left-hand side of the stat block. Unfortunately both Berhane and Ji have issues if the racing gets 'jumpy' in the mountains vs. their peers, and hence performances have been very mixed in recent seasons. Similalry, Betancourt has fallen hard from his stand-out 2014 season where he finished 7th in the PCT individual standings to just 92nd last season, promting his employers at the Minions to be pleased to see the back of him!
On the cobbles front, there has been a significant influx into the PCT, that make results like Bush's 4th at HC wildcard race GP Herning seem unlikely to be repeated. We will still endevour to give it a go though!
Nonetheless, we think we can create an environment, team support and race programme that will help all 3 key signings have an upturn of fortunes this season, and as will be outlined over the next week or so here in WCC's HQ, it will be very much required if avoiding relegation is to be achieved!
(and yes, I agree, both Redecker and Feng are cool ).
Finally we are delighted that our level 3 riders Sanogo and Restrepo will spend the season on loan at Carrefour continuing their ongoing development.
The only rider renewed over the winter break to subsequently be departing WCC is Carlos Quintero. Late on in the transfer window it beceame clear that Quintero's great versatility which was a significant asset in the CT division, was not going to be called upon nearly as regularly given our roster size was heading towards 25. With the bigger squad size in PCT it is possible to have more specifically terrain-foucssed riders, and whereas Quintero was used pretty much up to his maximum RD allowance in WCC's 'push-for-promotion' season in support of our leaders across pretty much every terrain, he increasingly looked likely to be sat on the sidelines for a large part of the season.
In consultation with Carlos, and given his wish to maximise his race programme, it was decided to place him on the transfer list. Carlos was quickly snapped up by new CT outfit Oberfranken who immediately recognised his value, and now looks forward to working closely with CT legend Simon Geschke. WCC thank Carlos for his service, and wish him all the best for the season ahead.
Carlos Quintero | Age:32| Colombian | XP 4.100 Pot (4) | Wage: 50,000
WCC will be continuing with our now regular rider introductions + career synopses for our returning riders with new updates from the most recent season, as well as headlining our various recent signings coming onboard for our new PCT journey!
Thanks to alexkr00 for maintaining the rankings archives, and Aquarius 97 for his MG win list compilation spread-sheet, both of which help facilitate WCC's rider synopsis format.
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." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
It seems obvious to begin by welcoming back the riders who propelled WCC to promotion, and first-up we will be bringing on stage the 'big four', who all managed to finish the season in the top 20 of the CT individual standings.
First on stage, let's welcome:
Returning 2017 Team Captain: David Boily
Last seasons major transfer market signing David Boily proved to be the centre-piece of our 2017 campaign. In some quarters it was thought that we had over-paid for his services, but we were confident that with his skill-set and age profile, he was the perfect fit for our needs. Let's first re-cap what we said last year as we brought him into our WCC family:
"David's results will go a long way towards determining the success or otherwise of WCC's 2017 'push for promotion' campaign."
And boy did he deliver! David finished the season 3rd in the CT individual rankings having amassed an astounding 485 ranking points. He immediately hit the ground running with us and in particular gelled incredibly well with his 'wing-man' R-G (a partnership likley to continue for a significant part of his race programme in 2018). Athough he only managed to get his hands-in-the-air once during the regular season, his consistency of top class podium and top 5 results, and strong showings in competition on the PCT calendar were the foundation upon which our season was built. San Luis was a particular highlight, with a stage victory, some days in yellow, 2nd overall in final GC as well as securing the green jersey.
David celebrating a clever victory in stage 4, Tour de San Luis
For the 2018 season, even with the step-up to the PCT, David remains an integral part of our team. We have brought in an additional puncheur leader to help in the one-day classics in particular, but Boily will still have a calendar full of leadership opportunities. We are well aware that the rapid progression in rider quality and professionalism filtering down from the PT means that the PCT standard continues to rise significantly season-on-season. Hence, it would be foolhardy to expect hm to repeat the immense success he achieved previously in the 2015 PCT season; if he can get close to half as many ranking points as he achieved then, we will be delighted - that is the target team management have set David on his return to the PCT.
We look forward to seeing David proudly sporting his new Canadian National RR champions jersey at the head of races throughout the season!
David Boily | Age:28 | Canadian | XP 4.100 Pot (6) | Wage: 230,000
Boily is a guy who will definitely have success this year, no question. He's proven he can succeed in PCT before, and frankly, a lot of PCT talent is also flowing downward to CT, so I wouldn't say PCT is even that much stronger this year. I wouldn't expect 2015, but I'd say he should finish in the top 50 overall at the absolute bare minimum, which should be a great points haul.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Canadian National RR Champion: David Boily
Robert Bush
David Boily
Michael Rodriguez Galindo
Giovanni Visconti
Clément Venturini
Sander Armee
Sam Harrison
Andriy Vasylyuk
Jay Thomson
Saulo Lay
Illa Koshevoy
Abou Sanogo
Emiliano Contreras
Flavio De Luna
Salah Eddine Mraouni
Kasper Asgreen
Brenton Jones
Goodnews Clifford
Thanawut Sanikwathi [Stagiare]
Georgios Bouglas
Muhammet Eyüp Karagobek
Dominique Mayho
Best of luck for the transfer season!
), and relaible sprinter JAC. Reliable domestiques Koshevoy, Thomson and Quintero are open to offers. Managers favourites R-G and Vandouss would need decent offers to entice away. 
). 
