The team ended the 2024 season looking ahead to 2025 with a fairly dim horizon. A disappointing year resulted in relegation from the Pro Tour, where the team had spent the previous 2 seasons. Team Owner Luis Leon Sanchez took some personal time off and, during his absence, the 4 Spanish-based sponsors all agreed to withdraw their funding from the project.

This left Luis Leon Sanchez with a decision to make but it was an easy one. Following some soul searching, he pushed on with the search for new sponsors closer to his own new home in New South Wales, Australia.

Putting his marketing and negotiation skills to the test, Luis Leon Sanchez was able to lock-in 3 new sponsors all based in the famous wine region, the Hunter Valley. His love for wine and cycling really appealing to business owners and investors alike.

The 3 sponsors being:
Hunter Valley Tours - winery tours backed by the key local wineries.
Hunter Valley Smelly Cheese - providing the perfect wine pairing.
VisitNSW - state funded sponsorship promoting travel to the region.

In a live Q&A on Instagram, filmed looking out over just one of the many vineyards in the Hunter Valley, Team Owner Luis Leon Sanchez spoke with great excitement for 2025 and beyond.

"I am very eager to work alongside our sponsors to identify targets and goals that will propel both the team and the Hunter Valley region to global success. We have a similar philosophy which you will see play out through the transfer window".

"For our riders, we have a new team home here in the Hunter Valley where they will be able to train in one of the most beautiful places in the world with the rolling hills and long flats providing great natural training facilities, away from the hustle and bustle of Europe".

"To our fans, new and old, we thank you for your continued support and we look forward to bringing a fresh energy to the Cycling World in 2025."

@Jakstar: Thank you! I'm hoping to do more than that but indeed also excited as to the future of the team down under.

@seancoll: We love our TT riders here given their reasonable wages and high outputs! We wanted to ensure strong scoring potential everywhere so hopefully we've done just that.

@bbl: Thanks mate! It primarily came down to a mix of role-playing with Storer being our only Australian leader + the need this season to have a stronger puncheur being greater than our need to have a stronger Stage Racer.

@Abhi: Fingers crossed! I look forward to that offer

@Caspi: Important to find the balance between remaining competitive and achieving newly set sponsor targets but I think we've taken a step in the right direction!

@redordead: Thanks! Our first time being highly touted for PT promotion as it was a bit of an underdog story last time around. Let's hope we live up to expectation.

It was a great start to the year from our co-lead sprinter, Gerben Thijssen, who took a promising 2nd place on Stage 3 before following that up with our first win of the year by taking out stage 6. He ended up 3rd in the Points classification.

New leader Storer struggled to make too much of an impact and finished 9th in the GC. Our youngsters Pau Miquel and Zac Marriage were 2nd and 5th in the U25s.

It was a different story for our other lead sprinter, Fabio Jakobsen, who managed only 1 Top 5 finish (4th on Stage 2) in 5 days over in Mexico. As a result, he could only manage 14th in the GC.
Young Australian, Brady Gilmore, was however rewarded for his aggressive breakaway riding by taking 2nd in the U25 classification.

It wasn't much better for Jakobsen in this first classic of the year as he could only manage 10th in a strong field.

		Points	PPRD
C1	Tour Down Under	75	12.5
HC	Circulo de Juarez	73	14.6
C1	Great Ocean Road Classic	16	8

of the Month: Gerben Thijssen
of the Month: Michael Storer
of the Month: Brady Gilmore

Manager Comment: Not the greatest start to the season sitting in 16th after the January update but some promising signs that have to leave us with some optimism going into the months to come!

It was a passive race from Gaday who did what he needed to do which was to hang onto the race favourites. In the end it was a small bunch sprint where Gaday finished lengths from first but had to settle for 4th. A really strong start to his season!

Our first PTHC classed race would inevitably mean a stronger start list. Gaday was dropped in the final kilometres and would finish on his own 1'34 behind the winner in 10th place. Still a respectable first outing in PTHC.

Again a passive race from Gaday through the attacks to conserve energy. A late attack rewarded the winner while Gaday finished 5th best in the main group for a final result of 7th.

He was more reactive to the attacks this time and finished in a group of 8 after the race winner. He once again managed 7th place.

Our first C2 race of the season would mean the first leadership opportunity for Cyrus Monk. Despite being one of the pre-race favourites, he failed to bridge a gap to the leading 3 and had to settle for 9th in a reduced bunch sprint 1'21 behind. A disappointing first C2 effort.

		Points	PPRD
HC	Omloop Het Nieuwsblad	70	35
PTHC	Roma Maxima	53	26.5
HC	Le Samyn	50	25
HC	Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne	55	27.5
C2	Gent - Wevelgem	12	6

of the Month: Lucas Manuel Gaday
of the Month: Cyrus Monk

Manager Comment: A strong quartet of races from Gaday meant we would finish 9th in the monthly rankings, lifting us up to 13th overall. Still work to do but moving in the right direction!