You guys put together a great year for a top 10, but obviously huge rebuilding to do sooner rather than later. Maybe not next season, but definitely after that. Guarnieri had a monster year, but can't be counted on after decline again. Very interested to see how you go about replacing/supplementing his contribution.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
As the guys above mentioned, it will be interesting to see how you rebuild the team. Nevertheless, congratulations on a rather successful season with an impressive Guarnieri! Looking forward to seeing Magnussen in your team
baseballlover312 wrote:
You guys put together a great year for a top 10, but obviously huge rebuilding to do sooner rather than later. Maybe not next season, but definitely after that. Guarnieri had a monster year, but can't be counted on after decline again. Very interested to see how you go about replacing/supplementing his contribution.
I agree with that assessment. We should get by next season without having to make too many changes, but we're going to have a problem after that. We need to find a balance between bringing in a good core of talents that can challenge for promotion (and hopefully more) in the long-term, and riders who can score points immediately and keep us in PCT in the short-term. Interesting times ahead, for sure
Nemolito wrote:
As the guys above mentioned, it will be interesting to see how you rebuild the team. Nevertheless, congratulations on a rather successful season with an impressive Guarnieri! Looking forward to seeing Magnussen in your team
Don't jinx it! Looking forward to see if he will get an upgrade or not. Of course, as a Faroese rider, I'll consider him again in any case, even though he couldn't get into the team last year. Veyhe deserves some company.
And thank you!
knockout wrote:
Guarnieri has been an absolute legend for your team so far. Kinda hope he stays with you until he retires from the DB.
He truly has. I would like nothing more than to keep him for the rest of his career, but of course, there are some other factors that must be taken into consideration. His wage, primarily
After a year of being name sponsor, Faroese company Bakkafrost has decided to scale down its backing of the team. «When we partnered with Bakkafrost a year ago, our aim was to elevate cycling interest in the Faroe Islands with the hopes of inspiring a golden generation of Faroese cyclists. Unfortunately, the feedback from our scouts has been that the project has failed to generate the buzz and interest we were aiming for. Bakkafrost has consequently decided to scale down its backing of the team, but will remain a minor sponsor. The Faroe Islands will accordingly continue to be a regional focus area, but to a lesser extent than before», team manager ‘Sykkel_Freak’ commented.
The new main sponsor of the team is the Swedish conglomerate Assa Abloy, a global leader in access solutions. In the forthcoming season, the team will thus simply be known as ‘Assa Abloy’. «As a Norwegian, it’s been a dream for me to manage a Scandinavian team, and I’m excited to see that dream become reality. I’m looking forward to take the project in a new direction, where the team will gradually move towards a predominantly nordic profile with Swedish riders making up the core», ‘Sykkel_Freak’ explains. The news comes not long after Swedish PT team Volvo announced their disbandment at the end of the season.
The 2021 kit is produced by Sigr.
Alongside Assa Abloy, the team has also partnered with three other Swedish companies: FinTech giant Klarna, who will provide further financial backing, clothing manufacturer Sigr, and helmet manufacturer POC. Additionally, the team has partnered with Italian companies Pinarello and Campagnolo, who together will provide frames, wheels and groupsets. The Italian link indicates that Italian talents Dainese and Konychev remain in the team’s longterm plans. «We’re looking forward to embark on the new season in collaboration with our partners. The aim is to secure continuity for the team by extending these partnerships for the long run, as we together work towards our goal of becoming a top of the line PT team with a predominantly nordic profile.», ‘Sykkel_Freak’ concludes.
Nice to read Bakkafrost will still be involved with the team, but with the Swedish market opening up, it's understandable to see Assa Abloy joining your adventure. Like the shirt, great work
Following intense contract negotiations, Assa Abloy have re-signed eleven out of 16 riders ahead of the 2021 season. Ben Hermans, Marc Sarreau, Nur Aiman Zariff and Madushanka Perera were not offered new contracts and have been released to free agency. Furthermore, the team was not able to come to an agreement with Jacopo Guarnieri. However, team manager ‘Sykkel_Freak’ remains hopeful that the parties can find a solution in the transfer season that will prolong the Italian’s time with the team for another year. The full post-renewals team with corresponding wages and transfer availability can be seen below.
Rider
Age
OVL
Wage
Availability
Yonathan Monsalve
32
78.90
€ 550.000
● ●
Vegard Breen
31
76.57
€ 150.000
● ●
Paolo Scarponi
32
75.34
€ 100.000
●
Lars Van der Haar
30
75.31
€ 100.000
● ●
Bonaventure Uwizeyimana
28
74.84
€ 115.000
● ● ●
Tony Gallopin
33
73.89
€ 55.000
●
Thomas Bonnin
32
73.79
€ 50.000
● ● ● ●
Torkil Veyhe
27
73.67
€ 50.000
●
Arthur Vichot
33
73.61
€ 60.000
● ● ● ●
Alberto Dainese
23
73.60
€ 300.000
●
Alexander Konychev
23
71.10
€ 60.000
●
Legend: ● Strong intention to keep → ● ● ● ● ● Strong intention to sell.
SotD wrote:
Thomas Bonnin. Hmm, not shabby. I have been trying to sign him quite some times. Maybe this Can be the year :-)
Maybe A great asset at his wage level in my opinion, but I do have fairly good coverage in his area at the moment. Nothing is for certain, but I'm certainly open to the idea of selling this time around.
2021 turned out to be the weakest season yet in the the team's 4-year history. Successes were few and far between, with the only race win surprisingly coming from young talent Alexander Konychev in HC classic Veenendaal - Veenendaal, where the Italian went on a late flyer to grab the win. "Our biggest win of the season, and hopefully the first of many to come for Alexander. This is exactly what we want of him, and he will only get better with time," general manager 'Sykkel_Freak' explains. "Unfortunately we otherwise failed to live up to our own expectations in the sprints and mountainous stage races. We need to take a hard look at ourselves to make sure we improve for next season," he continues.
In addition to the Veenendaal - Veenendaal win, Assa Abloy's highlights were 1 GC podium [Faglum Karlsson], 6 stage wins [Gesbert, Mosca, Coutinho, Guarnieri, Squire, Gonzalez Salas] and 2 team classification wins. Marcus Faglum Karlsson was the team's best performing rider in the individual rankings, ending the season in 39th place with 452 points. "As a Swedish team, it's great to see Marcus performing at a good level, but we have to be honest in that we had hoped from more from his co-leaders," is Sykkel_Freak's verdict.
Mario Gonzales Salas celebrates prologue win in Tour of Japan.
Looking ahead to the 2022 season, Assa Abloy is looking to re-sign most of its roster despite the poor results. "I have to acknowledge that the results this season can't be put on the riders alone. We have to look at the planning as well, which was clearly not up to par with previous seasons. There's no doubt that we have a strong group of riders, and even though there'll be changes in the off-season, I expect to count on most of the roster also for next year. One thing we're definitely looking to do however, is increase our Nordic presence. We faced strong competition in particular for the Swedish riders from Polestar last season, but this year we have a new shot at acquiring our targets," Sykkel_Freak says.
Assa Abloy will enter the transfer window with a squad consisting of 15 riders following completion of renewals. While all key leaders signed new contracts, five riders have been let go from the team: Jacopo Guarnieri, Isaac Bolivar, Thomas Bonnin, Arthur Vichot, and Leopold Konig. "It's always tough to say goodbye, especially to riders who have been with us for a sustained period of time. Jacobo has been our top performer in three out of four seasons, and Arthur was an important contributor to our PCT promotion. Thomas, Isaac and Leopold have all been important to the team. But on the back of last season, tough decisions have to be made, and today that means saying goodbye to these great guys," general manager 'Sykkel_Freak' commented. The full post-renewals team with corresponding wages and transfer availability can be seen below.
Rider
Age
OVL
Wage
Availability
Yonathan Monsalve
33
77,90
330.000
● ●
Elie Gesbert
27
77,67
300.000
●
Marcus Faglum Karlsson
28
76,57
275.000
●
Vegard Breen
32
76,57
145.000
● ● ●
Alberto Dainese
24
76,53
165.000
PT Loan
Lionel Coutinho
30
75,82
135.000
● ●
Robbie Squire
32
75,68
120.000
● ● ● ● ●
Lars Van der Haar
31
75,31
100.000
●
Jan-Andre Freuler
30
74,74
85.000
● ● ● ●
Mario Gonzalez Salas
30
74,66
85.000
● ●
Jacopo Mosca
29
74,66
80.000
●
Paolo Scarponi
33
74,28
65.000
● ● ●
Torkil Veyhe
28
73,67
50.000
●
Alexander Konychev
24
72,96
65.000
PT Loan
Tony Gallopin
34
71,57
50.000
● ●
Legend: ● Strong intention to keep → ● ● ● ● ● Strong intention to sell.
After a weak first half of the season, Assa Abloy sat dead last in the PCT division going out of June. However, several strong performances saw the Swedish team safely navigate out of the relegation zone and ending the season as the 13th strongest team in the division. Highlights include Lionel Coutinho's win in Hanko Classic, as well as three stage wins in the team's first ever appearance in Tour of America, two for Coutinho and one for Marcus Faglum Karlsson.
In total, the team took home 1 race win [Coutinho], 4 additional GC podiums [Paillot x2, Gonzales Salas, Monsalve], 8 stage wins [Coutinho x3, Paillot x2, Gonzalez Salas, Monsalve, Faglum Karlsson], 1 points classification [Coutinho], and 2 KoM classifications [Monsalve, Gesbert]. Yoann Paillot was the team's best performing rider in the individual rankings, ending the season in 39th place with 465 points.
Yoann Paillot celebrates winning stage 2 in Tour of Britain.
Looking ahead to the 2023 season, the additions of Alberto Dainese and Aleksander Konychev will be of high importance to the team, both of whom spent the season on loan at Aker - MOT. The former impressed cycling fans across the globe during Tour de France, where he won 2 stages and took home the green jersey. "Although we had a shaky first half of the season, we showed great character in the latter part, and with the additions of Dainese and Konychev, we're in a great position to challenge for promotion in 2023", general manager Sykkel_Freak summarizes.
Assa Abloy will enter the transfer window with a squad consisting of 16 riders following completion of renewals. While all key leaders signed new contracts, six riders have been let go from the team: Jan-Andre Freuler, Robbie Squire, Paolo Scarponi, Davur Magnusson, Staffan Arvidsson, and Tony Gallopin. "It’s always sad to see riders leave the team, but sometimes tough decisions must be made. These riders leave us for a combination of reasons, largely coming down to age, team fit or wage demands. I’d like to thanks these six riders for their contributions to the team, and especially Tony who has been a great contributor to our success over the past three seasons, " general manager 'Sykkel_Freak' commented. The transfer season now awaits the team in the upcoming weeks, which may open up for the departure of additional riders. Yonathan Monsalve, Lars Van der Haar and Jacopo Mosca are all said to be potential sales candidates for the Swedes. The full post-renewals team with corresponding wages and transfer availability can be seen below.
Rider
Age
AVG
2023 Wage
Change
Available
A. Dainese
25
78.85
580,000
+ 415,000
●
E. Gesbert
28
77.18
250,000
- 50,000
●
Y. Paillot
32
77.09
240,000
+ 20,000
●
Y. Monsalve
34
76.71
175,000
- 155,000
●●●●●
M. Faglum Karlsson
29
76.57
160,000
- 115,000
●
L. Coutinho
31
75.82
165,000
+ 30,000
●●●
A. Gebremedhin
31
75.42
100,000
- 10,000
●●
L. Van der Haar
32
75.31
100,000
●●●●●
A. Konychev
25
74.84
85,000
+ 20,000
●
M. Gonzales Salas
31
74.66
95,000
+ 10,000
●
J. Mosca
30
74.66
80,000
- 5,000
●●●●
T. Veyhe
29
73.67
55,000
+ 5,000
●●●
L. Kvist
24
71.66
50,000
●●
H. Bergstrom Frisk
28
71.50
50,000
- 5,000
●●
K. Magnusson
31
71.33
50,000
●●
E. Bergstrom Frisk
24
68.91
50,000
●●
Legend: ● Strong intention to keep → ● ● ● ● ● Strong intention to sell.
Looking forward to see if he will get an upgrade or not. Of course, as a Faroese rider, I'll consider him again in any case, even though he couldn't get into the team last year. Veyhe deserves some company. 
Yonathan Monsalve
Vegard Breen
Paolo Scarponi
Lars Van der Haar
Bonaventure Uwizeyimana
Tony Gallopin
Torkil Veyhe
Alberto Dainese
A great asset at his wage level in my opinion, but I do have fairly good coverage in his area at the moment. Nothing is for certain, but I'm certainly open to the idea of selling this time around.
Marcus Faglum Karlsson
Lionel Coutinho
Robbie Squire
Jan-Andre Freuler
Mario Gonzalez Salas
