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[PCT] Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling 2014
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 26-02-2015 14:02
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Tour de France Champion
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The Great Big Follow Up To The Development Post
So a bit over a month ago we went through our riders development for the season. We made some good progress on developing our talents but could have done a bit of a better job overall in the end. Luckily we did a good enough job that we won't need to loan out Yates, Bardet, Cholakov, Ewan, Bolivar, Robov, Fritsch or Losch next season.
Yates, Bardet, Cholakov and Losch will need a bit of careful planning to make sure they get up to the next level or two but as all of them have their key spots in the squad we don't imagine that being any problem at all.
However we will need to sort out a couple of loans next year. We've had some practice in this already. Geoffrey Soupe signed with us and was immediately shipped out to get him maxed off. Simply-Red Bull made this a nice easy thing to do and it's been great so see Soupe in the PT for a season.
Looking ahead to next season and we will be sending another rider to the ProTour. Stefan Hristov climbed to 4.10 this season, taking him beyond the point were we can develop him in either the PCT or CT divisions. Stefan's key stat is 75CB and will be looking to join a team to get him to 4.100 across next season.
The other rider is very much dependent on our division for next season. If we are unlucky enough to go down to the CT then Valentin Stoenchev will be hunting a PCT, or PT, loan to get him from 3.18 to 4.00 or higher. Valentin is a 71TT'er and can be a nice part to a team.
It's a tough call to have to loan out Hristov. He would be excellent alongside Grashev for us at any level but our commitment to developing Bulgarian cycling means we have to send him away. Similar with Stoenchev we adore him. He can become a top-level Bulgarian but to do so we might have to loan him out for two consecutive seasons, a blow to our own quotas of Bulgarian cyclists.
Full discussions will obviously have to wait until Transfer time but we felt it good to make teams aware that we will be looking to loan out a couple of guys and who they were. Now you can start planning that in yourselves.
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 01-03-2015 12:58
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Tour de France Champion
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The Great Big 140 Characters Post
Double digits in wins, 5x more than in our debut season! A second victory over cobbles. A win for one of our biggest Bulgarian riders. This should be a great time to celebrate everything we've managed to achieve this season.
But we've just watched as Hornbach probably blasted themselves clear of any relegation fears. For nearly 9 straight days of attacking from Grashev we look set to come up short right at the end of the season.
This bookmarks so well with Bahir Dar. Grashev layed down an incredible performance in the African cobbled classic, the first cobbles of the year. But he was 2nd behind Hornbach. And today, the final cobbles of the year, he gets ahead of Hornbach but still doesn't get the reward he deserves.
Valiant, gritty and heart-warming. And there is still one stage to run in Faso and one final HC classic to go. We are not eliminated quite yet 
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Posted on 25-11-2024 19:16
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 03-03-2015 09:22
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The Great Big 2015 Part 1 Post
We'll begin with the announcement that today is the first day we run operations out of our new Vancouver office! It's take a few months to set up our new home which includes: an indoor testing lab, a gym, operations offices, a bicycle workshop and a medical office. It caters to the needs of the riders when they are in town and should get the office staff on their bikes as well.
The transition from the Seattle base will take another couple of weeks. We've got a lot of team kit to move North and systems to set-up. Plus we still have one race to go so need some people still working away to polish the current season off. Our Bulgarian/Europe base isn't changing.
Moving on we can present our first jersey of 2015! For our NC jerseys we have taken a unique approach in partnering up with a sponsor just for the NC's in Whoosh Innovations, creators of the Salmon Cannon.
Credits to Bikex
Lovingly nicknamed the "Fish Jersey" by the staff it's quite a depature from our previous NC's. The primary space given over to Whoosh, but Bulgaria and Lululemon still visible. You'll note there's no Nike logo, well that's because Lululemon have made their first mens cycling jersey for us.
You'll certainly see it on the back on the Bulgarian RR and ITT winner, and hopefully on a couple more guys backs next season. Our main jersey is still being polished off but we are hoping to present it very very soon now. It still has plenty of green, don't worry.
Finally we'll give the first words on rider futures. We are still unsure of our division so there is only so much we can publicly say. Francesco Chicchi got a last minute reprive for this season but an entire year of completely embarassing performances see him firmly out the door. Will Routely has been a terrific road captian and domestique for us for two seasons, but age waits for no man and we can't justify holding onto him after decline. Cayetano Sarmiento also won't be in our colors next year. Whether he makes it through renewals with us or is straight released is unknown. We would be preppared to renew him to sell him and save a team some wage because he will cost more via free agency.
A lot of decisions are pending for the team as we await our divisional fate. Technically we are not relegated yet so we go to Japan with a very simple task to just ride as hard as possible knowing we've got nothing to lose. We are also lobbying the UCI over various other ways to remain PCT. We won't go quietly into that goodnight, no sir!
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| roturn |
Posted on 05-03-2015 11:01
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Are you sure Routley declines after this season?
He is 1983, and declining starts with 1982 riders if I am correct.
So for CT you could still trust your road captain I think.
And quite surprised you don`t renew with Chicchi.  |
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 05-03-2015 11:07
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Tour de France Champion
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I thought it was '82 last season so would move to '83 this season. On the working he's 31 now so will be 32 in 2015 and riders decline at 32.... I would be happy to be wrong
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| roturn |
Posted on 05-03-2015 11:10
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I am actually quite sure that you are wrong.
Check the most recent statgains file. I jsut did and it says 82 as first decline.
I am in the same situation with Luis Leon Sanchez and he is 1983 as well and I am pretty sure he has one year left before declining. |
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| Kami |
Posted on 05-03-2015 11:10
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TheManxMissile wrote:
I thought it was '82 last season so would move to '83 this season. On the working he's 31 now so will be 32 in 2015 and riders decline at 32.... I would be happy to be wrong
32 is the last year that a rider will have without declining, they'll start declining the year they become 33.
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 05-03-2015 11:12
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Kami wrote:
TheManxMissile wrote:
I thought it was '82 last season so would move to '83 this season. On the working he's 31 now so will be 32 in 2015 and riders decline at 32.... I would be happy to be wrong
32 is the last year that a rider will have without declining, they'll start declining the year they become 33.
Now I'm confused 
In 2013, riders born in 1981 would start declining..
2014, 1982..
2015, 1983, no?!
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 05-03-2015 11:17
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Tour de France Champion
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The 2014statgains file, in the MG Dropbox says 1982... I'm so confused
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| roturn |
Posted on 05-03-2015 11:20
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Not at home right now, so can`t check what older stat gains file said. |
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 05-03-2015 11:27
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I am also quite sure that Roturn is right, for 2015 it should be 82 born and older, for decline.
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| Kami |
Posted on 05-03-2015 11:28
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tsmoha wrote:
Kami wrote:
TheManxMissile wrote:
I thought it was '82 last season so would move to '83 this season. On the working he's 31 now so will be 32 in 2015 and riders decline at 32.... I would be happy to be wrong
32 is the last year that a rider will have without declining, they'll start declining the year they become 33.
Now I'm confused
In 2013, riders born in 1981 would start declining..
2014, 1982..
2015, 1983, no?!
I checked the statfile and it does indeed says that, but when calculating it:
Tom Boonen is from 80, so if he would start declining at 32, he should have had a decline 3 times already (82,81,80) which would give him -4 in sprint. He still has 83 sprint this season, which would mean his original sprintstat was 87, which is impossible  . Schleck & Bennati would also have 85+ stats if we calculate it this way. So i really think riders only start declining when they turn 33 and their last year at max is when they are 32.
Edited by Kami on 05-03-2015 11:29
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 05-03-2015 11:38
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Well then instead of getting rid of Routely due to decline i'm getting rid of him because i plain and simple can't afford him... And seeing as he's from Whistler that's a big statement for team so focused on it's regionality 
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| roturn |
Posted on 05-03-2015 11:40
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Isn`t he a 50k rider? |
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 05-03-2015 11:45
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roturn wrote:
Isn`t he a 50k rider?
It's all renewals dependent... Based on 2014 wages it is possible to keep him but a surprising move. Ultimately it's looking like a choice between going for promotion or going with role-play. I can't have any riders increase wage, not possible to work in increases
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 07-03-2015 10:14
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 08-03-2015 21:53
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The Great Big Disecting 2014 Post
It was long hard fight of season, and one that came up short. Time to take a look back at the season and pick out what we could have done better and what lessons we need to learn for the future.
| | Team | Total | PpRD | | 1 |  | Quickstep | 5210 | 29.771 | | 2 |  | Heineken-Cal Giant | 4745 | 27.114 | | 3 |  | Oz Cycling Project | 4731 | 27.190 | | 4 |  | Venchi - Ferranti | 4152 | 23.726 | | 5 |  | Bacardi Limited | 4087 | 23.354 | | 23 |  | Allianz-BMW | 1709 | 9.766 | | 24 |  | Team Hornbach | 1670 | 9.543 | | 25 |  | Team Kenya Airways | 1642 | 9.383 | | 26 |  | Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling | 1439 | 8.270 | | 27 |  | Project: Africa | 1369 | 7.868 | | 28 |  | Mobil - Aeropostal Ciclismo | 1326 | 7.577 | | 29 |  | BelarusBank Pro Cycling | 1307 | 7.511 | | 30 |  | Compal-Merida | 1025 | 5.857 |
Well ultimately the problem was that we didn't score enough points. We came up 203 short on Kenya, not a huge total. Looking back i can pick out enough races to just about make up that gap... and then there was the Faso Fiasco. Martin Grashev was all over the race in Africa and really tried to bag a huge victory, one that would have seen us safe! Compound that with some more poor tactics from an inconsistent Thomas and a slightly underperforming Petar Panayotov and it's a tough pill to swallow.
That lack of big results is gaping hole we have in the squad, and it's one we carried forwards from our first season. Geraint Thomas is a strong and reliable leader, but he won't be that huge season long scorer. He should have broken 400 without too much sweat though. Petar Panayotov is again a strong and pretty reliable leader, but again he lacks that big ability to win a top race without luck. Just 251 points is a poor return on his 325k wage.
There were some really impressive riders though! Matthew Lloyd had a season well above expectations. He was often queit but efficient at placing himself into good GC positions. He could also deliver a win when asked, and his total of 291 deeply impressed the management. Martin Grashev popped in some strong rides, namely 2nd place in Bahir Dar if you can remember that far back. His attacking spirit in Faso will live long in the memore. 176 points is a decent return but his support work for Thomas needs some work. Momchil Robov might only have earned 40points but it's 40 more than anyone thought possible for the first-year rider, a massive season for Momchil!
| 1 | Brajkovic | Janez | SLO | Heineken-Cal Giant | 1439 | | 2 | Marquez | Florentino | ESP | Quickstep | 1315 | | 3 | Intxausti | Beñat | ESP | Bacardi Limited | 1244 | | 54 | Thomas | Geraint | GBR | Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling | 371 | | 74 | Lloyd | Matthew | AUS | Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling | 291 | | 88 | Panayotov | Petar | BUL | Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling | 251 | | 125 | Grashev | Martin | BUL | Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling | 176 | | 184 | Izagirre | Gorka | ESP | Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling | 103 | | 300 | Sarmiento | Cayetano | COL | Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling | 46 | | 322 | Robov | Momchil | BUL | Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling | 40 | | 370 | Ewan | Caleb | AUS | Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling | 27 | | 384 | Bolivar | Isaac | COL | Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling | 24 | | 395 | Routley | Will | CAN | Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling | 22 | | 401 | Georgiev | Georgi Petrov | BUL | Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling | 22 | | 446 | Yates | Simon | GBR | Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling | 15 | | 448 | Mihaylov | Nikolay | BUL | Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling | 15 | | 471 | Fritsch | Sven | LUX | Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling | 11 | | 480 | Capecchi | Eros | ITA | Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling | 10 | | 529 | Gyurov | Spas | BUL | Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling | 5 | | 539 | Bardet | Romain | FRA | Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling | 4 | | 552 | Stoenchev | Valentin | BUL | Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling | 3 | | 565 | Hristov | Stefan | BUL | Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling | 2 | | 576 | Cholakov | Stanimir | BUL | Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling | 1 | | 610 | Aleksiev | Aleksander | BUL | Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling | 0 | | 611 | Chicchi | Francesco | ITA | Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling | 0 | | 612 | Sparling | Jamie | CAN | Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling | 0 | | 613 | Losch | Max | LUX | Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling | 0 |
Everyone had predicted us for relegation, including me. Ultimately everyone was correct, including me. However fair to say everyone, including me, has been impressed with the team to finish 26th and to push those above right to end of the season.
The Big Problem: Lack of a Big Star Scorer
The Minor Problem: Some poor luck and inconsistency
The Big Positive: We came really really close
The Minor Positive: We're not officially relegated just yet
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 09-03-2015 08:14
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Nice to see Lloyd delivering a fairly good season, scoring points which almost helped you to stay up. Panayotov would surely be a better scorer in the CT, even though you are not officially quite there yet
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 11-03-2015 15:25
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The Great Big 2015 Post Part 2
Still awaiting official confirmationf relegation this post will contain quite a lot of unconfirmed information pending the final announcement. But it will all be based upon being CT next season, so probably safe to take it as it is and assume that's what will happen. Plus there is some actual confirmation stuff.
First up, new sponsors mean a new team name! Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling (B3B) served us well this year but Boeing is no long affiliated with us. Lululemon comes in, as does Canucks and they've been a huge influence behind the scenes on rebranding the team and securing it's long term future and identity. So prepare to meet the......Lululemon/Bulgaria Blackfish! Our abbreviation os obviously chaning, becoming BLK which is representitive of Blackfish. Our new Short/Nick-name is quite simply The Blackfish and we will be refering to ourselves either by BLK or by The Blackfish.
This is part of the Canucks design to rebrand the team. A simpler name should increase brand recognition across the markets. It also provides greater identity for fans to cling to and celebrate. The plan being that Blackfish will always be part of the team name even as the specific sponsors come and go. Much more like a traditional North American sports team.
Of course all his change naturally comes with a new jersey! The fans love of our "traditional green" was heard and has been incorporated into the jersey. Our new artist Jakstar22 followed instructions very well to produce a jersey incredibly close to our intial concept ideas. We love it, the riders seem to like it. Certainly it should stand out in 2015's Blue&White peloton.
We said it would be a bit different! The Bulgaria green is still there, now teamed up with an increased red coloring through Lululemon. The purple ties us into the Canuks family as well as helping us stand out in the peloton. There is also the white to complete the Bulgaria reference and provide some color contrast. A new high-tech mesh has been sown into the back of the jeresy to aid in rider cooling on hot days.
You'll notice various teams are also presenting customised equipment for 2015, we are not. As part of our divisional drop we are haveing to cut costs, which means going back to factory brand Specialized bikes. Excellent bikes, we are still trying to negotiate for some Venge McLaren frames at the present time. Finally we are keeping the pink accessory colors, because after two seasons we really like it!
Moving away from the busy work we have now finished the move into our Vancouver Offices. Having seen the new Tour of Vancouver leader-shirts and part of the route quite litterally running by our front door we will be attempting with all our might to achieve a spot in the race.
On to riders. Not going to go into huge amounts of detail because this is the area most dependent on the final decision on our divisional future. The below reflects a CT move:
Definately Staying
 | Geraint Thomas | 79CB 74SP | 170k |  | Martin Grashev | 75CB 72MO | 60k |  | Eros Capecchi | 74SP 70HL | 50k | | Simon Yates | 73HL 72SP | 125k | | Spas Gyurov | 73TT 70CB | 50k |  | Jamie Sparling | 74CB 78FT | 50k | | Stefan Hristov | 75CB | 50k |  | Romain Bardet | 72MO | 50k | | Momchil Robov | 69MO 69HL | 50k | | Valentin Stoenchev | 71TT | 50k | | Stanimir Cholakov | 73SP | 50k |  | Isaac Bolivar | 70CB 69TT | 50k | | Geoffrey Soupe | 79SP 79AC | 60k |
Definately Staying - Wage Dependant
| Petar Panayotov | 78MO 72HL | 325k |  | Matthew Lloyd | 76HL 73MO | 140k |  | Gorka Izagirre | 75MO 70TT | 150k | | Caleb Ewan | 76SP 75AC | 400k |
Definately Staying - Wage Cap Space Allowing
| Will Routely | 74HL 70CB | 50k | | Georgi Georgiev | 74MO 70HL | 50k |  | Sven Fritsch | 69HL | 50k | | Max Losch | 78FT 69SP | 50k |
Released to Free Agency
| Francesco Chicchi | 50SP | 50k | | Aleksandr Aleksiev | 69HL | 50k | | Cayetano Sarmiento | 76MO 76FT | 63.5k |
Please not that Stefan Hristov will be actively seeking a PT loan spot. He would be excellent classics support at minimal wage. Also note that Valentin Stoenchev will be actively seeking a PCT loan spot. He's a solid domestique, minimum wage and you'll forever have our help and support.
Francesco Chicchi has just been constant failure after constant failure and after a late save last year is gone so hard there's an Italian shaped hole in the wall! Aleksander Aleksiev doesn't stack up to the other Bulgarian talents and must leave to allow them space to grow, but we will miss him so very much! Cayetano Sarmiento was a surprise buy, did ok but doesn't fit with out team identity moving forwards and we wish him all the best luck!
Petar Panayotov is the outstanding Bulgarian rider and we wil do everything to keep him on our books, especially as he would make an excellent CT leader! But we need to squeeze that wage down quite a bit. Matthew Lloyd was probably our surprise rider of the year, and like Petar, would be one heck of a CT leader to have. He looks good to stay but you'll see the issue in a moment. Same for Gorka Izagirre, great rider and great for CT but his place is reliant on.... Caleb Ewan! The super talent comes with a super inflated wage. We won't let him leave lightly and will try and squeeze every single $ from his contract possible. If he goes then Lloyd and Izagirre are instantly saved in our team. And if Ewan does go it won't be to FA anyway, we would be selling him to benefit ourselves.
If you are interested in buying Ewan we will be open to offers for him, even we can fit him in cap. We recognise his talent and that he could change any team into a winning team in 2 seasons time, so make us an offer and we will listen.
Will Routely we want to keep. From Whistler, just down the road from our new HQ, he's a perfect rider for us and for CT, but we'd rather have those above over him. Georgi Petrov Georgiev has never delivered for us. We want him but he's used up his lives and now relys on space being left by others leaving. Sven Fritsch and Max Losch were last minute buys and are both decently talented. But they don't particlarly match our regional visions so rely on spaces opening up through other departures.
Ultimately a lot hangs on renewals and how far we can cut Lloyd, Izagirre, Panayotov, Ewan (and to an extent Yates and Thomas). Our goal is to fit them in but if we must we will sell. We are also willing to take some over-cap fine because we are confident we can balance out through sales of our bigger stars and talents.
That was quite a great big post (get it!) and a lot to digest as we head through the early off-season. We will update with more certainty once we a) know our division and b) can post the results of renewals.
Edited by TheManxMissile on 11-03-2015 15:27
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 11-03-2015 16:48
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Interesting choices you have to make concerning rider futures. I don't know how the new AI is on cobbles, but with this setup you could very well have a real CT cobbles powerhouse on your hands.
Renewals will really be key for you though. Would hate so see Panayotov having to find a non-Bulgarian team to ride for...
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![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
