We needed a big season from the highest paid rider we've ever had under contract and, to an extent, you could say he delivered in the key races. Ultimately, we survived and he contributed strongly with almost 900 points.

Perhaps his best performance this season came in the Vuelta a Colombia where consecutive 3rd places and a 4th in another stage resulted in 2nd in the GC which put his season back on track.
For his singular Grand Tour, we went with the Vuelta a Espana being our home race and goal race combined. Stage results included a 2nd, a 3rd and 4 Top 5s. Pre-race predictions had him 4th but he could only manage 5th in the General Classification at the end of our 3 weeks in Spain.

Whether Tim will spend another season with us will ultimately depend on whether he'll accept a lower pay come renewal time given he's getting hit by decline the first time and was highly paid coming from the Free Agency. We shall advise shortly on the outcome of these negotiations.

Following in the foot steps of Thijssen, Hesters was signed in 2021 on the minimum 50k at the age of 23. He is now in a position to be a quality lead-out man for many years as well as someone capable of going for it on his own from time to time.

He is one of our oldest talent signings who joined us at age 24 for Free from the CT Draft. We decided to retain the Colombian who will be a great contributor to our TTT squad in 2024 and he should be fighting for the National TT title also.

Signed only last year for 60k, Finkler already had a bit of experience elsewhere. He will be a key domestique for us in the Hills where we have been lacking a specialist supporting cast. An aggressive rider with a bit of a kick, we hope to see him in the breakaway a few times also.

Also signed in 2022 for 60k, El Chapu took a stage win from the breakaway last year to announce himself to the world. He was quieter in 2023 but will now be able to provide some depth support in the Hills. He has a year remaining in his development and is likely to end up a similar rider to Finkler.

Another 60k signing who was the 3rd of the young Punchy trio to join us that year. Miquel is our only Spanish talent at the moment and further strengthens the Hills squad. Unlikely the other 2, he doesn't have the same punchy and aggressive nature but he'll have a key role to play now and in the future.

We've been blessed for young TT talent over the years and Vandevelde is no exception. He was a bit more costly in 2022 when he joined us for 100k but this just shows the potential teams saw in him. He'll already be a quality addition to our TTT squad in 2024 and he's not done with his development yet! One to watch in the future for sure!

The surprise package of 2023 was the young Guatemalan who almost took a famous victory but was pipped on the line but took 2nd from the breakaway in Veenendaal - Veenendaal. HAS joined as a Stagiare for 10k in 2021 and has stayed with us since. He has a year remaining in his development but we hope to see this aggressive young time trialist out in the breakaway again in 2024.

We come out of our Renewals Negotiations in a good place. 17 riders with a wage total sitting at a touch over 2 million gives the team plenty of space to bring in some top quality riders to support our push for continued PT success in 2024. With an average age of under 27, our core will be able to keep us going for many years to come.

Varied news across the board for those staying with Conci, Thijssen and Cosnefroy demanding increases following the saaons they just had. Others took cuts to support the teams financial needs. Finkler and Hesters finished their development and saw expected increases also.

Wellens had a great 1 and only season with us but he isn't getting any younger + his ridiculous demand through decline meant we needed to part ways. Borges underperformed and also began his decline so keeping him wasn't an option. Ovsyannikov is a bit more of a surprise but he's not strong enough in the cobbles to be a point of difference compared to our other sprinters + his wage demand was high and so we let him seek pastures new.
Hofstetter has spent many years of his career with the team but his services are no longer required with Hesters now in a place to be his replacement. We thank him for his services.
Fernandez will have a separate post during the transfer window which looks back at his decade with our team. His loss is the saddest that we as a team have ever had to endure.

@cunego:
Declining leaders come and go but we're definitely happy with how the rest of the team is set-up. Going to need to do some interesting work as you say with the FA market but the plans are in place.

@quadsas:
He was too greedy. Had to be let go.

@kandesbunzler:
Thanks mate! Always looking to ensure we have a secure future. Unfortunately, I'm not sure whether the rider you're hinting it will fit in with our plans to survive the PT.

@redordead:
I was hopeful of that but he wanted more than his 2023 wage, even with the decline, and he wasn't willing to settle for what we thought was a reasonable wage. Gotta use that space wisely now.

k@nockout: A necessary approach and definitely important that I get this next couple of weeks right!

@liefwarrior: That's the one! Need to keep the team energetic and youthful. I also saw a need to make some changes as to have a more successful season and set-up for the future.

@bbl: Logical and required. Well he's considerably more expensive now than Kamna but he did score well as you note. A gem from the start

At the age of 23, a Spanish climber was searching for a new team having found himself in the Free Agency. When approached by Luis Leon Sanchez, the GM of Euskaltel - Bavaria, he was skeptical. This was a team which hadn't once participated in a race being run by a young manager new to the sport. That new team won the bidding war for him. Little did both parties know what was ahead of them.

The above events took place in 2014, it's hard to believe that this was 10 years ago. Young Fernandez spent his first year with the team in the Continental Tour followed by a year out on loan in the Pro Tour in 2015 and then 8 years where he has been riding under the management of LLS.

2014 was the most illustrious year of Ruben's career. The highlight coming in the Tour d'Algerie where he won a stage from the breakaway and went on to win the General Classification. This being our first ever race win.
His contributions saw him finish with 210 points as our 2nd best rider that season. Ultimately this is what led to our unlikely first-season promotion.

What followed was 8 seasons which included 2 relegations into the Continental Tour, 2 bounce back promotions back into the Pro Continental Tour, and finally, a promotion into the Pro Tour followed by a single season in the Pro Tour for Ruben Fernandez.

During this time, he rode too many race days to count, scored 629 points, three times finished in the Top 100 rider rankings, and never asked for more than $80,000 a year.

A true legend of the Team. An entire decade of riding in our colours and with us since our inception. As a team player throughout, he understood the need for us to part ways as the team looks towards the future and he inches closer to retirement.

We wish him well as he may yet have another year of professional cycling ahead of him. Whether he does or not, we will look to bring him on board in a non-riding capacity in the future.

Thank you Ruben