Unlucky (with the wind conditions?) in the Herald Sun Tour how the TT went.
I'm sure you can build on your experience to make manoeuvres in the offseason.
You have a young core to work with, apart from the TT'ers, so the future looks promising if you can add some pieces
All the best!
MG - Lotto - Caloi
[MG] New Manager of the Year - PCM.daily Awards 2022
As you mentioned the season was clearly an improvement to your first one and with the trend showing upwards in the second half of the season I'm confident you'll take the necessary adjustments in the off-season to compete for promotion next year. It'll surely be interesting to follow your transfer activities with your lessened restrictions.
Overall a really solid season from him. Collecting U25 points and mostly finishing well in GC. I dont think he could have scored a lot more this year with the competition he had. He did what we expected in the end.
Nat.
Name
OVR
XP
Age
Pot
Pts
Riccardo Minali
75.11
4.100
28
4
93
Lets start with the positive. Securing a Stage victory late in the season was great. Overall his scoring isnt horrible also. But the season itself was disappointing. He had so many races to deliver and he barely did, especially when you conider he always was one of the top sprinters on paper.
Nat.
Name
OVR
XP
Age
Pot
Pts
Willi Willwohl
75.04
4.100
29
6
106
We used Willi this year a bit differently with Minali in the team. Our hope was he could be the secondary Sprint scorer but in the end he was our main scorer for sprinting with not so great oportunities like Minali. He set a season highlight with his stage voctory at the Benelux Challenge. We are happy with his performance!
Nat.
Name
OVR
XP
Age
Pot
Pts
Ide Schelling
74.78
4.100
25
5
139
For him its basically the same as for Willwohl, he was our second option for GC after Elosegui. And he did very well in our opinion. Also securing a lot of points from U25 classements and GC in general. Another rider we are satisfied with!
Nat.
Name
OVR
XP
Age
Pot
Pts
Jai Hindley
74.7
4.100
27
6
86
We are actually surprised by the points he scored, we didnt think it would have been this "many". We didnt really notice his performance despite the 6th Place in the last race, Zuri, which was a nice result. We can ay we are also satisfied then with his season aftr all there wasnt much focus on him.
Nat.
Name
OVR
XP
Age
Pot
Pts
Aaron Grosser
74.28
4.100
27
1
15
He often was our co-leader at races with Hindley and we thought he could score well with his sprint skills. But he didnt, 15 pts is really disappointing.
Nat.
Name
OVR
XP
Age
Pot
Pts
Sakari Lehtinen
73.16
4.100
30
4
38
Hired as domestique for our leaders Elosegui & Schelling we are satisfied with his season. Collecting a Podium and even a KoM shirt. A good signing!
Nat.
Name
OVR
XP
Age
Pot
Pts
Mathieu La Lavandier
72.94
4.100
31
6
49
Here its the same as for Lehtinen. He had the same purpose than him and also did better than expected. He even won a Stage at Tour d'Andorra and secured the KoM Shirt at Volta a Catalunya. Another rider we are really happy with.
Nat.
Name
OVR
XP
Age
Pot
Pts
Tom Dumoulin
72.75
4.100
33
6
50
50 Pts arent that bad but if you compare it to our other TT specialist it just isnt enough. We still also remember his poor performance at the Herald Sun Tour, that could have brighten his season but he couldnt deliver.
Nat.
Name
OVR
XP
Age
Pot
Pts
Jonas Koch
72.36
4.100
30
4
1
He probably was a decent domestique for our leaders but thats really all we can say. 1 Point is just bad and his future is questionable.
Nat.
Name
OVR
XP
Age
Pot
Pts
Kobe Goossens
72.18
4.70
27
4
30
The prototype of a domestique. Versatile rider who can support on many terrains. He scored also a bit and most likely will come back next year stronger.
Nat.
Name
OVR
XP
Age
Pot
Pts
Kevin Predatsch
71.49
4.100
31
6
96
Our top TT specialist. He didnt have many possibilities to shine but did greatly at the Herald Sun Tour with his 2nd Place in the GC!
Nat.
Name
OVR
XP
Age
Pot
Pts
Tilen Finkst
70.74
2.47
28
3
17
Loaned from Lidl to help his development and he somehow ended to be our top Cobbles rider. With his developing skills he should be a nice assett for Lidl in the coming years.
Nat.
Name
OVR
XP
Age
Pot
Pts
Florian Lipowitz
70.5
3.4
23
4
9
Still developing so there wasnt a lot of need for him to deliver points. He scored a few of them and we look forward to his future development so he can be a strong help for the leaders.
Nat.
Name
OVR
XP
Age
Pot
Pts
Davur Magnussen
70.26
4.49
31
3
21
Late addition to boost our TT section a bit. Since he is more specialized on shorter ones there wasnt much to show off but he did good enough to help and score a few points.
Nat.
Name
OVR
XP
Age
Pot
Pts
Nicolas Heinrich
68.47
1.0
22
4
5
Just a season to learn and develop for him. We still believe in his future and hopefully he will be able to deliver greatly for us then.
Nat.
Name
OVR
XP
Age
Pot
Pts
Warre Vangheluwe
67.97
1.0
22
6
7
We expect a lot from him once he can show his true potential and in the end he could score a few points also. He hadnt any chance to shine himself but his time will definitely come.
Nat.
Name
OVR
XP
Age
Pot
Pts
Albin Stalberg
66.8
1.0
22
5
0
No points so this season was a failure? No not at all, this was just for learning and he will continue to do so hopefully the next years. Mostly was our leadout for the top sprinters anyway to grow in this role himself in a few years.
Nat.
Name
OVR
XP
Age
Pot
Pts
Tobias Buck-Gramcko
66.56
1.0
22
4
2
Georg Steinhauser
64.92
1.0
22
4
0
Our two stagiares for this year. Not much to say about them but the chances are also low that we will see them again next year in our colors.
------------------------------------------
Pos
Last
Team
Total
RD
PpRD
Proj
1
1
Crabbe-CC Chevigny
1664
140
11.89
1665
2
3
JEWA TIROL Cycling Team
1404
140
10.03
1404
3
2
Stela-Vita
1400
140
10
1400
4
4
Podium Ambition
1332
140
9.51
1331
5
5
Tafjord Kraft
1221
140
8.72
1221
6
7
Ekoi - Le Creuset
1160
140
8.29
1161
7
6
Strava
1145
140
8.18
1145
8
8
Manada Coyote
1127
140
8.05
1127
9
9
Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team
1115
140
7.96
1114
10
10
SEE Turtles
1004
140
7.17
1004
11
12
Bordeaux Métropole - Euskotren
965
140
6.89
965
12
11
Team Würth MODYF
935
140
6.68
935
13
13
Simba Cement - Tanga Fresh
814
140
5.81
813
14
14
Hilcona Racing Team
695
140
4.96
694
15
15
Saeco
524
140
3.74
524
16
16
Babymetal Cycling
493
140
3.52
493
17
17
Caja Rural Cycling Team
423
140
3.02
423
18
18
Adidas-Eurocash
387
140
2.76
386
19
19
Air New Zealand-Alfa Romeo
379
140
2.71
379
20
20
Mercatone Uno - Weba
90
140
0.64
90
Just to make it short: We failed to promote. But we raised our score compared to last season almost 400 Points, so thats what we need to look on. In the end we werent strong enough and our planning wasnt best also. Now its time to prepare and do better next season!
You took a real step forward this year and continue to build your depth with the talent you have, which is looking nice! But with Elosegui's and Schelling's U25 points gone next year, I think you might have to add one more big hitter - or make some improvements to planning, since you said that wasn't optimal - to really challenge for promotion. But I can see you getting there no problem, and I would like to see it, too
Another really nice season which, with the plethora of talents you have coming through, should set you up well for success next year. Yes, Elosegui and Schelling aging out of the U25 competitions will mean less scoring, but (maybe) the mountains will be less crowded next year with the favourites being phased out. I agree with cunego, one more big hitter is needed, perhaps a flandrien from free agency and a touch of training should be enough to get you in the fight for promotion.
Nice to see you improve on last season. Also you have a bunch of really nice talents to build around. Think another step towards the top of the table is likely next season.
@cunego59
Thanks. My current plans will lead to some bigger shifts in the team again but plans and reality not often go well together during transfer season So we will see what squad i can buld for my promotion run.
@whitejersey
So probably more fun than reading the reports for me Thanks for the reporting though.
I never heard of that. Last time i spoke to Warre he seemed to be really happy here and about his future. SO it will need something REALLY BIG to change this
@liefwarrior
The missing U25 points will definitely hurt. After talking to all my riders it seems also that we wont see Elosegui AND Schelling next year here again. There is some tension within this combination.
@AbhishekLFC
Definitely was good step forward and if we can take another one next year nothing should be impossible. I am quite happy with my talents too but the more experienced riders might change a bit more.
@TheManxMissile
True, age isnt any problem here for now. But like stated before there still might be some surprising moves with the leaers of the current team.
--------------------
Cleaned and Updated the first Posts. We will continue to use this HQ Thread also for our 2024 Season. Stay tuned!
Like stated before in 2024 we will also take part in the world of the MGUCI as Team Würth MODYF. We are happy that we still have the support of our title sponsor and hopefully we can reward this with a great run in the new season. After the 2024 season Würth MODYF also has an option to reereevalvalute the current situtation and if they wanna continue our partnership. But thats all stuff for the future for now nothing will change in this partnership.
----------------------
But we still have some other changes and present 2 new Premium Partners:
RYZON
Our new clothing sponsor and premium partner RYZON. They are now responsible for our kits and apparel.
The german based company is know for his premium and high quality sportswear fors especially cycling, running and triathlon. So we hope with this new partner we can gain some more watts.
buycycle
Another new premium partner is the platform buycycle.
Also a german company which offers a platform to buy and sell used and refurbished bikes and organizes it in aprofessional way with secure payment and shipping.
We are very happy we could secure these 2 new partners which will contribute in multiple ways to (hopefully) the success of our team. With them also being based in Germany this suits our project even better and we can continue our path.
Speaking of our german or regional focus in general. While we had restrictions the last seasons of the build of our team with specific riders we needed to aquire, this is almost completely gone now. We have no restrictions when it comes to regions and nations of our riders anymore! Though we still try to focus on germany and europe in general and wanna make sure we have some riders who can represent our team and partners but it's not a necessity anymore.
So thats all about this section. Stay tuned for the upcomming updates when we slowly reach the transfer season!
The negotiations itself went kinda smoothly but some decisions had to be made.
Last name
Country
Age
2024
2023
Difference
Elosegui
ESP
26
140,000
130,000
10,000
Minali
ITA
29
100,000
100,000
0
Willwohl
GER
30
100,000
100,000
0
Schelling
NED
26
100,000
95,000
5,000
Hindley
AUS
28
90,000
78,000
12,000
Grosser
GER
28
RELEASED
50,000
-50,000
Goossens
BEL
28
50,000
50,000
0
Lehtinen
FIN
31
50,000
55,000
-5,000
Sunderland
AUS
28
50,000
50,000
0
La Lavandier
FRA
32
60,000
0
60,000
Koch
GER
31
RELEASED
50,000
-50,000
Lipowitz
GER
24
50,000
50,000
0
Dumoulin
NED
34
RELEASED
50,000
-50,000
Predatsch
GER
32
75,000
57,000
18,000
Hollmann
GER
25
50,000
50,000
0
Vangheluwe
BEL
23
50,000
80,000
-30,000
Magnussen
FAR
32
RELEASED
0
0
Heinrich
GER
23
50,000
50,000
0
Stalberg
SWD
23
50,000
50,000
0
van Sintmaartensdijk
NED
23
50,000
50,000
0
Buck-Gramcko
GER
23
RELEASED
10,000
-10,000
Steinhauser
GER
23
RELEASED
10,000
-10,000
Elosegui and Schelling only with a small increase and i would say they deserved it. Skill wise the salary for Minali also also fine and lets hope next season he can also transform his skills into more results. The biggest raise in the end got Predatsch but he also delivered constantly the last 2 years.
that may be surprising to see right at the top of my table the highest availibility.
First Minali, he is a really well skilled Sprinter but we couldnt make proper use of him last season and decided to go with 1 primary sprinter next year and so we decided for our local Willi Willwohl. So Minali will be availible for a decent and fair price.
And now to the more surprising one, Elosegui. He was our top transfer last season and our best scorer also. But during our contract negotiations he already expressed that he would be willing to try again in a new team if possible. He is still young ha a great skillset and lots of potential in long GC races. And thats why we would part with him because our plan isnt to race much, and especially long GC races next year. Thats why, similar to the sprinters, we decided to go only with 1 primary rider and Schelling fits our concept here more. So he will be also available for a fair price considering his skillset.
About the rest it's basically that 3* and less will be happily seen again next year in our team. Neverthless if there is a good offer for our *** riders we wll see them go. Like you can see there isnt a single completely untouchable rider BUT Vangheluwe is really close to this and I will probably consider most offers as a joke. There needs to be a high number followed by a lot of 0's to even think about letting him go.
Additionally, Lipowitz and Hollmann are available for loan to PT/PCT to level up to Max because they are 4.xx now.
A bit surprised to see Grosser released, but I guess he just wasn't successful enough. Which is a bit surprising, given that he's almost a 1:1 copy of Wackermann who did pretty well...
Also sad to see that Minali didn't deliver as expected for you, having had him on loan in his neo-pro year. We'll see if keeping Willwohl instead is the right call - definitely makes sense from a regional point of view.
Elosegui already on the move is pretty surprising, too. But with two almost identical riders, it makes sense to sell one and maybe get a new rider type instead
I doubt we'll talk a lot, but maybe a loan deal might still be on the table. Good luck for transfers anyway!
Good renewals for you. I'd prefer Elosegui over Schelling, but that's probably a personal thing. It should be an interesting transfer phase for you with nearly all maxed riders more or less available. I'll be following with interest and hope you'll put together a squad to meet you in PCT next season!
Schelling and Willwohl isn't a bad place to start, and I imagine some of the other riders currently listed will become unavailable as the window pans out, but it still looks like you are in for a very exciting transfer window. I'm sure we will be in touch.
This is the Team I can present you for now. This isn't complete yet like you can see we havent enough riders. But there are still some Riders thinking about the contract offers they got from us. Besides that the rest is almost complety sure already (one deal still a few hours but the manager is very trustworthy so there shouldnt be an issue).
Where do we start? Lets start on the bottom of the list. With Darren Van Bekkum we could convince a Talent from us which will be a great help in the future at Stage races:
Darren Van Bekkum
69
69
67
67
70
70
64
54
66
62
71
68
65
1.0
70
77
71
73
74
75
71
54
66
64
73
69
71
4.100
So we are really happy with his decision to sign with us!
The next 6 Riders are returning this year. Our beloved Talents Stalberg, Heinrich and Vangheluwe. They will be for sure a part of our future! Predatsch is our leader for Timetrials and was always a reliable source for Points. Lehtinen and Goossen may not be leaders but they are very important part of the squad to help our leaders.
With Christian Mager we could sign a great help for hilly stages who may be able to score himself too. With his wage and skillset he suits perfectly and as german he makes the sponsor happy too. One of our bigger signings for sure was Beka Nareklishvili! A rider for the cobbles and also great at Timetrials too. We are very happy we could buy him with another rider from our friends of Oxxo - Frisby! He wasnt cheap but we are sure he will be worth it!
Harm Vanhoucke we could secure in a trade with Fastned! Therefor Ide Schelling left us in the other direction and is joining now a Team from his home country. Harm has a similar Skillset than Ide but may be a bit Stronger at Timetrials, so we hope he can be our leader at various Stageraces! Willi Willwohl stays for another year with us and again will be our leader for sprints! He always delivered so far so we are counting on him.
Now lets come to our 2 Rubens! First we have our main Target this year and the other part of the Deal with Oxxo - Frisby, Ruben Zepuntke. The name speaks for himself, one of the best Riders for paved roads out there, not just at CT level. We are really happy that he will lead our northen classics department! We are sure he will do good scoring for us and lead our younger riders!
Ruben #2 is Ruben Guerreiro, we aquired him in a Trade with Everesting for Hindley, Sunderland & some cash. So we're out of Australians now. But therefor we have this versatil weapon for the hilly classics! On first sight he may not be the most punchy guy but he can do a lot! If the climb is longer he doesnt mind too, and if he is in a group with the punchy guys his sprint should speak for him also. This were the reason we wanted him and finally got him!
We also wanna say Goodbye and wish all the best to the following: Inigo Elosegui is leaving us and heads over to Newton Foundation. We are grateful for the nice negotiations we had and without this deal a lot wouldnt have been possible. We are sure he will have a great devlopment there and thankfully we are not aiming directly at the stage races and need to ride against him! Juri Hollmann found a new home in germany at Team Puma - SAP too. A team who really wanted him so we are sure he will also have a nice future there! Riccardo Minali & Mathieu La Lavandier are heading both to Oman to the new Team of Zain - Omantel. I am sure they will have a big role there and hopefully can help the newly established Team! Roel van Sintmaartensdijk will stay under contract but his development will continue at Sauber Petronas Racing at PCT Level. Similar it is for Florian Lipowitz, he his now also heading to Fastned to make another step at his development and this time at the Pro Tour Level!
------------------------
Conclusion so far
If we look at our team almost 1 year ago then there we had 2 major weaknesses. Puncheurs & Cobblers, I am pretty confident to say that this isnt a Problem at all anymore and even would say that this are now our strong points! Therefor we lack now the depths at sprinting and stage racing but we dont see this as a problem and wanted to go that direction on purpose.
Like written above we are mostly done already, just adding maybe a few pieces but the core of our team is now settled.
