Welcome to the newly founded Greek cycling team ELCO - ABEA. The team is founded on the license of newly folded Festina - OAKA, and will ride their first ever season at Pro Tour level. Despite the team taking over the license the team will have a strict nationality foundation, that ensures the best possible development of Greek cycling.
Personal note:
Thank you so much for the kind words in the Festina-thread, through PM, Skype chats etc. - It has meant A LOT to me! Really! At the point of closure I had decided to stop the game, but your comments helped me open my eyes as to how much I appreciate not only the game, but also the community in which it is played.
My motivation has been going in the wrong direction for a couple of seasons, but isn't at an all time low. With the new setup I try to move away from the elements of the game I cannot control, and thus annoy me and strip away my motivation. Instead I will try to fight with new motivation and help the game thrive under a more positive attitude - and gratitude. Whether I can actually live up to that is another matter, but I will try my best.
Edited by SotD on 13-06-2023 20:21
Andreas Miltiadis | Tour de France, Stage 6 William Chiarello | Vuelta a España, Stage 14 Stylianos Farantakis | Tirreno-Adriatico, Stage 2 Stylianos Farantakis | Tour of Slovenia, Stage 1 Bryan Coquard | Paris-Nice, Stage 2 Bryan Coquard | Paris-Nice, Stage 3 Bryan Coquard | Deutschland Tour, Stage 2 Bryan Coquard | Deutschland Tour, Stage 4 Bryan Coquard | Deutschland Tour, Stage 5
2ND, STAGE
William Chiarello | Tour de France, Stage 19 William Chiarello | Vuelta a España, Stage 13 Georgios Bouglas | Tour de France, Stage 3 Miltiadis Giannoutsos | Giro d'Italia, Stage 9 Bryan Coquard | Paris-Nice, Stage 5 Bryan Coquard | Tour of Tasmania, Stage 1 Bryan Coquard | Praha - Karlovy Vary - Praha, Stage 4 Bryan Coquard | Ronde van Nederland, Stage 3 Bryan Coquard | Tour of Qatar, Stage 3 Stylianos Farantakis | Tour of Qatar, Stage 2 Clement Koretzky | Tour of Lithuania, Stage 4 Clement Koretzky | Tour of Slovenia, Stage 3 Panagiotis Vlatos | Praha - Karlovy Vary - Praha, Stage 1
3RD, STAGE
William Chiarello | Tour de France, Stage 18 Ioannidis Kiriakidis | Tirreno-Adriatico, Stage 7 Bryan Coquard | Paris-Nice, Stage 7 Bryan Coquard | Ronde van Nederland, Stage 1 Bryan Coquard | Tour of Qatar, Stage 1 Georgios Bouglas | Tour of Qatar, Stage 2 Ioannis Spanopoulos | Volta a Portugal, Stage 7
#5 Joshua Kelly | Praha - Karlovy Vary - Praha
#8 Miltiadis Giannoutsos | Giro d'Italia
#10 Michail Mavrikakis | Volta a Portugal
PTS RESULTS
#1 Bryan Coquard | Paris-Nice
#1 Bryan Coquard | Ronde van Nederland
#1 Bryan Coquard | Deutschland Tour
#3 Bryan Coquard | Tour of Qatar
#5 Stylianos Farantakis | Tirreno-Adriatico
#6 Bryan Coquard | Praha - Karlovy Vary - Praha
#7 Bryan Coquard | Tour of Tasmania
#9 William Chiarello | Vuelta a España
#9 Clement Koretzky | Tour of Lithuania
#10 Panagiotis Vlatos | Praha - Karlovy Vary - Praha
U25 RESULTS
#1 Ioannidis Kiriakidis | Tour of Northern Europe
#2 Ioannidis Kiriakidis | Tour of Tasmania
#2 Ioannidis Kiriakidis | Praha - Karlovy Vary - Praha
#3 Ioannidis Kiriakidis | Tour of Qatar
#3 Miltiadis Giannoutsos | Scandinavian Open Road Race
#4 Miltiadis Giannoutsos | Tour de France
#5 Miltiadis Giannoutsos | Giro d'Italia
#5 Ioannidis Kiriakidis | Scandinavian Open Road Race
#5 Ioannidis Kiriakidis | Deutschland Tour
#7 Miltiadis Giannoutsos | Tour of Tasmania
#7 Miltiadis Giannoutsos | Paris-Nice
#7 Aimiliano Vila | Ronde van Nederland
Edited by SotD on 31-05-2023 19:49
The Greek Cycling Mythologi:
Cycling didn’t exactly start in ancient Greece, but that doesn’t mean that the mythologi is non-existent. Greece have their Heroes, their God’s and their warriors – And this is their story. The story of the biggest Greek achievements. Told by the man who has been in charge of the majority of the best the Greeks have ever seen.
It was a different time back then. It was back in 2011, when the first Greek cyclist signed a professional contract at the worlds elite. The sprinting talent of Georgos Tzortzakis became the cycling God of Greece by a single stroke of a pen. Signing a contract with Pro Tour setup, Festina – Corona, only to be loaned out to the lower divisions immediately. The sole existence of the God was short lived, as the 2012 season also saw Panagiotis Vlatos sign at the Festina setup, now co-sponsored by Conec. One God became two – but neither was ready to shine their glory upon the biggest scene, and left the team for training their skills at the lower levels of cycling.
By many the future glory of Greek cycling was ignored entirely, but the two Gods sparked an immediate interest within the country, and by the start of 2013 a new record high (6) amount of Greek cyclist had found their way into the professional scene. Perikles Ilias and baby-brother og the first God, Polychonis Tzortzakis (The warriors), signed with other teams, while the Festina-setup adopted further two members of the Greek hero/warrior-assembly. The first hero (level just below gods) was Charalampas Kastrantas with Ioannis Tamouridis as a warrior. And while the Gods fared well in the valleys, the Hero started to rise into the hills and Greece started to expand. While Tzortzakis and Kastrantas kept working their strengths at lower level it was Tamouridis and Vlatos who became the first ever riders to ride a full Pro Tour season.
The shift from 2013 to 2014 saw some remarkable changes, that hit Greek cycling hard. Festina was in a dire economic situation, which lead Tamouridis to be the first Greek Warrior to leave the scene. The wages of Kastrantas couldn’t be covered by Festina, and he left to Gazelle at the Pro Continental Tour. What seemed to be a rise of Greek glory suddenly seemed like a program in dissolvement. The two God’s was still within the team, but there was massive work to be done to ensure that Greek cycling would evolve, rather than stop. The warriors, Ilias and P. Tzortzakis kept up the fight and played a vital role in the development of the history. In the midst of the Greek collapse, the brothers from Cyprus started rising to the occasion, and Athanasiades, Skettos and Adamou signed professional contracts at Privatbank and Euskaltel. While neither of them would ever move past the rank of Warriors, they did their time, and worked as motivation for the younger generation.
The downfall quickly turned into a genuine revolution. The first ever Greek cycling team formed at Continental level – Elta Hellenic Post gave home to many new (and old) warriors. Simantirakis, Gkazonis, Tamouridis, Ilias, Sakellaridis, A. Bouglas, G. Bouglas, Katrakis, Drakakis, Karatzios, Efstatiou and Volikakis joined forces to create a solid base for the future. From Cyprus also Skettos (brother) and Loizou joined. Due to the enhanced interest in Greek cycling, also warriors like Chatzakis found a home at Buff – Polska. Kastrantas had found his way back home to the Festina team which still housed the Gods of Tzortzakis and Vlatos. From the depths of doom to the rise of Greek as a true cycling nation The Elta – Hellenic Post team and the warriors of the past deserves a massive chant from the warriors of today! They changed the endgame in a way that no one saw coming!
The Elta – Hellenic team continued for another season, and further developed some of the riders we know today, such as Nikolaos Ioannidis and Georgios Karatzios. At the other end of the spectrum we saw fully developed top athletes like Vlatos, Tzortzakis and Kastrantas help win the Pro Tour division for Festina 3 years in a row, which put a massive interest in Greek cycling. Also the 2016 season saw one of the future Heroes rise from the dirt. Stylianos Farantakis signed with Compal-Merida, while Georgios Bouglas joined the World Cycling Centre to further spread the word of Greek cycling.
The one and only Greek cycling team folded by the end of 2016 leaving numerous Greek riders behind. Some was picked up, but most wasn’t. The legend of Neofytos Sakellaridis signed for Generali, while P. Tzortzakis kept fighting at different sides at PCT level. Youngster Farantakis had sparked and interest within the Festina setup who signed him on an august-november stagiare contract, to show his potential. The immediate stop of Elta – Hellenic Post did leave the talent development in ruins, however and only 1 Cypriot had contract in 2017 after a record high 4 in 2015. Likewise Greece had fallen from it’s glory days of 17 professional riders to now just 7. The level, however – Had increased drastically!
2018 became interesting for the sport due to the invention of amateur teams, that gave room for talents and misfits to prove themselves. This gave room for the talents of Ioannidis Kiriakidis and Cypriot Andreas Miltiadis to grow. It was also in 2018 the scouts of Festina had finally noticed that the leftovers of the now past Elta – Hellenic team, and the development sector of Greece was a diamond in the rough. In came Georgios Karatzios as one of the new Heroes as well as Warriors Nikolaos Ioannidis and Miltiadis Giannoutsos who was loaned out to develop them in a manor known by Vlatos and Tzortzakis. Cypriot Armanto Archimandritis game through on a short deal aswell. Other talents, such as Zisis Soulious and Anastasios Koumpetsos joined the warrior league of development aswell. For the first time since the abandoning of Elta – Hellenic Post we had a team who invested heavily in Greek cycling. And it was about time. One of the Gods, Georgios Tzortzakis turned 33 and his top end speed wasn’t what it used to be.
2019 sparked a full scale investment of professional Greek cycling, when the state offered the sporting university of OAKA a place alongside the name of Festina. After 2 years of negligent investment the Greek sporting department noticed a healthy development, and jumped the bandwagon to further enhance that. At this point the Festina – OAKA setup had a massive 10 Greeks and 1 Cypriot assigned, while 2 other Cypriots and 5 greeks had contracts elsewhere. The cycling God of Tzortzakis had stepped down after a huge career (likely the single most dominant Greek rider ever) to ride at Andorra Cycling Project. Aimiliano Vila, Michail Mavrikakis, Michail Kortsidakis and Ioannis Spanopoulos all became new contracted warriors, and in the meantime Charalampas Kastrantas had nearly grown from a Hero to a God, taking stagewins in Grand Tours, aswell as fighting for the KOM glory.
In more recent time a few more have joined the party and by 2021 - 18 Greek and 4 Cypriots – formed a new all time record high. A development that is bound to continue with the newly founded ELKO – Abea setup, founded on the ashes of Festina – OAKA who announced their stop in professional cycling 3 quarters into the 2021 season.
  Greek Cycling Gods:
Georgios Tzortzakis (2011-2020) x points
3x stagewins, Giro d’Italia (2015, 2018)
Win Lisbon Classic 2017
3rd B World Championships 2014
3rd GC, Tour d’Afrique 2016
5th Praha – Karlovy Vary – Praha 2015
7th GP Moscow 2014
Stagewin, Deutschland Tour 2016
2x 2nd place stage, Giro d’Italia (2015)
2x 3rd place stage, Tour de France (2018)
2nd place stage, Tour of Northern Europe 2016
2nd place stage, Deutsckland Tour 2016
3rd place stage, Tirreno-Adriatico 2016
3rd place stage, Tour of Colombia 2016
3rd place stage, Tour of Qatar 2015
3rd place stage, Tour of California 2014
2nd and 10th PTS Deutschland Tour (2016, 2015)
3rd PTS Tour d’Afrique 2016
8th PTS Tour of Qatar 2015
10th PTS Tour of Northern Europe 2016
Greek Cycling Heroes:
Charalampas Kastrantas (2012-Present) x points
Stagewin, Vuelta a España 2019
Stagewin, Criterium du Dauphine 2016
2nd place stage, Vuelta a España 2019
6th PTS Vuelta a España 2019
8th U25 Deutschland Tour 2016
Georgios Karatzios (2015-Present) x points
Win Rheden GP 2021
10th Franceville Classique
Ranking:
The ranking of Greek cyclings finest is achieved by the following:
0 Titan | +3000 points
1 God | +1500 points
2 Hero | +500 points
3 Warrior | 0-500 points
MacC wrote:
Great news! Do I understand you will compete in the POT with only Greek and Cypriot riders?
That's the plan yes - But I will sign some talents/leaders that can be sold on in the next season, otherwise I have no chance of accumulating money for training my greek riders.
But we will attempt to build a full size squad of Greek/Cypriot riders (23-25 riders or so) and then see what is left. Could be that I keep a rider that I swap in from a sale of an existing rider - or could be something I can pick up from the FA pool. Haven't really decided, as they won't play much of a role.
I'm still playing with how I can make it work. Maybe those riders will ride all the same races to not mix up the "non-greeks" with the greeks.
SotD wrote:
Maybe those riders will ride all the same races to not mix up the "non-greeks" with the greeks.
So you're advocating for some kind of Greek apartheid?
Very happy to read that you're continuing and looking forward to your transfer season. I expect some heavy training is on the way. Got to say I'm a bit surprised that you'll sell Aidan as well.
SotD wrote:
Maybe those riders will ride all the same races to not mix up the "non-greeks" with the greeks.
So you're advocating for some kind of Greek apartheid?
Very happy to read that you're continuing and looking forward to your transfer season. I expect some heavy training is on the way. Got to say I'm a bit surprised that you'll sell Aidan as well.
Absolutely. We might even begin to conquer other nations
Yeah, selling Aidan is probably also the worst part of it, but it doesn't really make sense to keep him if I can't train him like I planned to - and it will heavily influence the development of my Greek riders if I have to invest 2-3 mio in Aidan each season.
So for now he's on the ramp aswell, and I hope to find him a home where he is a key priority!
Very nice turn of events! Happy to see you continue playing the MG, SotD
Can't wait to see what kind of training you'll do. I guess all the sales you are "forced" to do this season could fund your training for several seasons moving forward Should be great to follow!
Was going to have a moan (well probably not but I was going to think a moan ) about someone changing sponsors completely to random letters - but I think this is a pretty good reason to and one I'll never complain about. Didn't leave a comment in your HQ yet because to be honest I didn't know if you were leaving or not from your posts, very happy to see you are because as everyone else said it would have been one of the greatest losses we could have had.
Love to see the all-in Greek direction and can't wait to follow your progress. Real end of a great era in MG history with Festina gone, but look forward to the next chapter - even if officially it's a whole new team (which should really mean you don't get to sell those other riders )
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
I guess the money will be short lived with the amount of trainings I hopefully can do. Taxes tend to make things difficult, but I'll definately give it my best
And oh of course. Hillis was/is the creator of the jersey! Added that directly below the jersey now. Sorry for forgetting mate!
But the MG superstar that shares a last name with me (in a different language) is now available. Hmm. Probably going to have to sell my entire team to afford him
Awesome to see you sticking around, I love the all-in on Greeks and Cypriots! Also love the attention they’ll receive through training. This team in a few years will look very interesting
ELCO - ABEA
Andreas
William Chiarello | Age: 31 | 235.000€
Clement Koretzky | Age: 32 | 450.000€
Andreas Miltiadis | Age: 26 | 65.000€
Lorenzo Delco | Age: 27 | 50.000€
Jean Bosco Nsengimana | Age: 31 | 50.000€
Joshua Kelly | Age 26 | 50.000€
Jay Vine | Age: 27 | 100.000€ 
Praha-Karlovy V.-Praha
Vuelta a España, Stage 14
Tirreno-Adriatico, Stage 2
Tour of Slovenia, Stage 1
Deutschland Tour, Stage 2
Tour of Tasmania, Stage 1
Ronde van Nederland, Stage 3
Tour of Qatar, Stage 3
Tour of Lithuania, Stage 4
Volta a Portugal, Stage 7
Riga - Jurmala
GP Moscow
Grand Prix Cyclistes
Classique du Grand-Duché
Tour of Northern Europe
Scandinavian Open Road Race
GP Liechtenstein
Balkans International
