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[PT] Aker - MOT 2015
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 17-05-2015 23:45
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Two good additions to your team  |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 13:44
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Bot Agent
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Joined: 23.11.09
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 18-05-2015 05:24
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11819
Joined: 19-07-2010
PCM$: 300.00
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And there may be one more
Impressive upgrade. With Hagen finally out of his rainbow burden, AKER will aim high this year, I guess. Well done so far.
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| SotD |
Posted on 18-05-2015 05:42
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World Champion
Posts: 12188
Joined: 29-11-2006
PCM$: 2980.00
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Aker is going for a top 5 this year for sure.
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| ember |
Posted on 18-05-2015 22:50
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Team Leader
Posts: 6849
Joined: 27-03-2008
PCM$: 700.00
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Final Signing: It's A Big One
Early last week we decided that if we were lucky, we would have space for one more captain in addition to Edvald Boasson Hagen, Alexander Kristoff and Rasmus Guldhammer if the wages of Kristoff and Guldhammer were kept at a total of no more than around 1,1 millions, and I with a bit of luck that was what we had left.
That made us agree a deal on the Irish star Daniel Martin on Thursday, but it couldn't be confirmed before today as his manager wackojackohighcliffe was forced to go away for a couple of days. But eventhough his other transfer plans didn't go as planned when he was away, we're very grateful as he kept the promise on the deal involving Daniel Martin. Thank you, wackojackohighcliffe.
Thus, we're extremely proud to announce Daniel Martin as our 20th rider and our second foreign rider this season. He's also our last signing this transfer season, which in the end was a great success for us, more on that later.
Martin will play a vital role for us. With him we think a top 10 is realistic for a third time in a row in the Pro Tour. He's the defending champion of Paris-Nice and showed his class on several other occasions as well. We're yet to figure out his racing schedule, but he will be a key rider and captain to whatever race we send him to, unless he wants to join the Ardennes as, where there's no doubt Boasson Hagen will make the calls.
I know this was a surprising move for many after my great season at Pendleton's. It's sad to leave them after last year's adventure, especially the hard-fought victory in Paris - Nice was a highlight. But there isn't much more to say or do about it. The only thing I concentrate on now is to be at my very best when the season finally starts. It will be difficult, but I hope I can do something similar to last year. Admittedly my domestiques aren't as strong here as they were in Pendleton's, but keep in mind they're still developing. The future is definitely looking bright up here in the North, and another plus is that there is no question about my leadership here. I excelled as a leader last year, and I can only hope I will continue to improve.
 Daniel Martin | 29 years old | Wage: 500.000 Euros | XP: 4.100
| FL | MO | HI | TT | STA | RES | REC | COB | SP | ACC | FI | DH | PRL | | 70 | 81 | 77 | 73 | 77 | 78 | 78 | 55 | 65 | 76 | 72 | 63 | 71 |
Aker - MOT
ember
Edited by ember on 18-05-2015 23:01
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 18-05-2015 22:52
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11819
Joined: 19-07-2010
PCM$: 300.00
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To quote an unknown song from Bryan Adams:
Jealousy coming over me 
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 18-05-2015 22:56
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16429
Joined: 27-07-2011
PCM$: 10438.70
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Dan the Man!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| ember |
Posted on 18-05-2015 23:30
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Team Leader
Posts: 6849
Joined: 27-03-2008
PCM$: 700.00
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@sutty68: Yep, they should be valuable for the team in different ways. Galta as our clear talent considering stage racing, Bugge as an important domestique in the classics.
@SotD: A top 5 would be fun, but with Martin I should at least be far away from relegation, which I started to fear when it took time to secure Kristoff and Guldhammer and things started to go the right way late last week. Looking at the team compared to last season, I think we're close to 2014, a top 10 looks doable, but I'm not sure if much more will be possible. But that's anyway a long way ahead of us, now I'm just looking a lot to see the team with all the changes race again 
@tsmoha: It's definitely an upgrade compared to what it looked like early this transfer season, and it's also a clear upgrade considering the coolness of the team, I feel
@baseballover312: Here's for hoping! |
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| SotD |
Posted on 19-05-2015 05:44
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World Champion
Posts: 12188
Joined: 29-11-2006
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You are much stronger than last season imo. You are one of my 3 favorites for the overall win. You can go into top 10 in all races maybe except the TTT, and many of those top 10s should be podiums. Only Vesuvio and Becherovka can beat you this season I think.
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 19-05-2015 11:32
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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What a Great signing in Dan Martin |
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| ember |
Posted on 19-05-2015 19:57
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Team Leader
Posts: 6849
Joined: 27-03-2008
PCM$: 700.00
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We can't hide our joy anymore. We're not just happy with the team we've managed to put together for 2015, we're extremely happy!
| *** | The team now consists of 20 riders | | ***** | 18 of them are from Norway | | ***** | The average age is 25,55 years | | ***** | Eight riders are 24 years or younger | | ***** | The average overall stat is 73,90 | | ***** | Nine riders are yet to be maxed out | | ***** | No loans were made | | ***** | The average salary is 174.500 Euros |
Compared to last season, we admit we're not as strong considering the sprints.
Looking at the hills, it's about the same. Though, without Levarlet we might lack a domestique who can give Edvald Boasson Hagen the needed help in the final kilometers.
Coming to the cobbles, there's no doubt we've strengthened our team. Sibilla couldn't quite be up there with the big guns, it's not likely Alexander Kristoff can either, but he has the capacity to do regular top 10s. Also Vegard Breen and Jo Kogstad Ringheim will be of great value to Kristoff, and they might be strong enough to keep up for a long time in the tough classics.
The final key area is the one with most question marks. Only looking at points, comparing last season to this, we're slightly worse this season with Daniel Martin and Rasmus Guldhammer compared to Alberto Contador and Igor Antón. But their awesomeness (totally objective!) and relatively young age definitely make up for that. We're looking a lot forward to seeing them fight against the greatest stage racers in the well-known stage races.
All in all it's hard to say if we've strengthened our team strictly speaking of the quality, but in our minds there's no doubt whatsoever this team is better then it looked last season. And that purely comes down to the riders we've got, their nationalities and the focus we've managed to keep and even build on. We are looking a lot forward to the racing!
Aker - MOT
ember |
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| SotD |
Posted on 19-05-2015 20:11
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World Champion
Posts: 12188
Joined: 29-11-2006
PCM$: 2980.00
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It is an amazing looking team... Kristoff is a mini Boonen, and he will score big I reckon. And I don't think he is much weaker than the sprint setup you had last season. In terms of GC you are strengthened a lot imo. Instead of one GC rider that was not top notch, you now have two slightly worse ones, that can cover way more ground, and also support Boasson Hagen very well.
Also the team is very well rounded with your talents. I'm absolutely in love with your team, and it is - BY FAR - my favorite going into this season.
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| viking90 |
Posted on 19-05-2015 20:13
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4032
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Can only agree of what SotD already said! |
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 19-05-2015 20:17
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World Champion
Posts: 13915
Joined: 05-08-2008
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And I thought I had a good nationality focus. Yours is just too impressive
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| sgdanny |
Posted on 19-05-2015 20:18
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3591
Joined: 18-03-2014
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Counting all those Norwegians with no obvious negative consequence is the dream for many managers and your living that dream right now Top candidate to get into the Top 3 of the PT, which btw is the biggest stage of the game
Good luck to you and will definitely try and cheer for your team Also the stats you made just makes the team more impressive
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| Cavendish-Fan |
Posted on 19-05-2015 20:26
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Domestique
Posts: 511
Joined: 20-09-2007
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You crashed the norwegian market but you have a great team |
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 20-05-2015 06:31
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World Champion
Posts: 14236
Joined: 20-06-2011
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Without doubt, most awesome team in the game from my point of view. Strong national focus, awesome (overpowered) talents, pretty much all areas of cycling covered and such a nice manager. I am a big fan of your team and will cheer for you to be 2nd best behind Metinvest. 
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| ember |
Posted on 20-05-2015 18:25
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Team Leader
Posts: 6849
Joined: 27-03-2008
PCM$: 700.00
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@SotD & viking90: Indeed they can cover more races, which will be great considering it will make me feel I've got a proper captain in more stage races, but it's not obvious they will do better than Contador's great season combined with some steady stuff from Antón. They won't be able to support Hagen that much though, as they've got to do the stage races, meaning his support will be slightly weaker compared to 2014. But that might not be a bad thing, looking at how 2013 went...
@alexkr00: Thanks! I'm obviously very happy having been able to build the team this way.
@sgdanny: Thanks, eventhough I feel top 3 is unrealistic, also including the training I have planned. And yeah, all these Norwegians is a dream. The transfer season for the 2013 season was key, as I was able to sign most of the talents at a wage of 50k back then. Basically they all signed for minimum wage except for Hoelgaard, as he was the only one of those I signed back then that another team also wanted.
@Cavendish-Fan: I actually disagree, at least for this transfer season, which was your first. After all I only signed two Norwegian FAs, Kristoff and Gjølberg. I would say there was other Norwegians looking like a very good fit to a CT team, not only Gjølberg
@Avin Wargunson: Thanks a lot for the very nice words, it's truly nice to hear that.
I wouldn't say that Norway is that overpowered compared to the amount of teams with Scandinavian and/or Norwegian focus/sponsors. But I guess that the big difference compared to many other teams with a clear regional/nationality focus is that I've been able to sign almost all of them. I would say that a team from Ukraine having Ratiy, Krasnoperov, Popovych as a 32 years old, Grivko, world class talent Zmorka, Prevar, and the depth riders from Ukraine represent considering mountains and hills wouldn't be bad at all
But yeah, no doubts a lot of Norwegian talents have been added to the DB the last couple of seasons, but I suspect that was to at least give Norwegian/Scandinavian teams the chance to get some proper riders from there except of Hagen. To be fair I think Stenersen was the second best Norwegian in the DB in the 2011 season. Obviously I'm very grateful for SN's work adding them, it wouldn't have been possible to make a competitive Norwegian team with a big focus on Norwegians without the riders he has added, that you can quite easily see at my team for the 2012 season
Edited by ember on 20-05-2015 20:06
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| tastasol |
Posted on 20-05-2015 21:00
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2889
Joined: 11-09-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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I certainly think you can skip the relegation talk that you had before the transfers
Strong looking squad with several of my former riders, so you should probably manage a place in the top 10.
Regarding the Norwegians, I must say that you were lucky to get all the talents you could get in 2013, even though it must be said that you paid hugely for those you missed back then (Holst Enger, Breen and Galta).
Will be fun to race against you and all the Norwegians in the .HC-races
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| ember |
Posted on 22-05-2015 12:52
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Team Leader
Posts: 6849
Joined: 27-03-2008
PCM$: 700.00
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Final Preparations On Mount Teide
There's no doubt we really have faith in the two foreign riders we've got in our team. Daniel Martin and Rasmus Guldhammer are vital for the team considering the stage races. Due to the many mountain top finishes this season, we fear they won't be able to use their sprint to go for stage glory too many times.
That's why we've made training on mountains a big priority this winter, eventhough it forced us to do a training camp on Mount Teide due to the roads crossing the mountain passes in Norway all being closed due to the snow.
We've had eight riders on the training camp. In addition to the two captains our six most promising Norwegian climbers joined them. No doubt the company served Martin and Guldhammer well, as they have improved compared to the same time last year.
This is what our stage racers look like before the racing starts:
Daniel Martin | 29 years old | OVL: 79,28 | XP: 4.100
| FL | MO | HI | TT | STA | RES | REC | COB | SP | ACC | FI | DH | PRL | | 70 | 82 | 77 | 73 | 77 | 78 | 78 | 55 | 65 | 76 | 72 | 63 | 71 |
 Rasmus Guldhammer | 26 years old | OVL: 78,24 | XP: 4.100
| FL | MO | HI | TT | STA | RES | REC | COB | SP | ACC | FI | DH | PRL | | 68 | 81 | 77 | 71 | 74 | 75 | 74 | 69 | 70 | 76 | 71 | 65 | 71 |
 Vegard Stake Laengen | 26 years old | OVL: 75,36 | XP: 4.100
| FL | MO | HI | TT | STA | RES | REC | COB | SP | ACC | FI | DH | PRL | | 70 | 76 | 73 | 76 | 76 | 75 | 75 | 60 | 62 | 67 | 71 | 75 | 77 |
Lorents Ola Aasvold | 27 years old | OVL: 73,66 | XP: 4.100
| FL | MO | HI | TT | STA | RES | REC | COB | SP | ACC | FI | DH | PRL | | 66 | 76 | 75 | 65 | 71 | 70 | 68 | 52 | 65 | 72 | 65 | 67 | 64 |
Sigurd Nesset | 24 years old | OVL: 73,55 | XP: 4.62
| FL | MO | HI | TT | STA | RES | REC | COB | SP | ACC | FI | DH | PRL | | 68 | 76 | 72 | 67 | 75 | 75 | 72 | 54 | 64 | 69 | 60 | 68 | 67 |
Fredrik Strand Galta | 23 years old | OVL: 73,28 | XP: 3.99
| FL | MO | HI | TT | STA | RES | REC | COB | SP | ACC | FI | DH | PRL | | 67 | 76 | 70 | 69 | 74 | 75 | 72 | 52 | 63 | 60 | 65 | 69 | 67 |
Sondre Sørtveit | 27 years old | OVL: 72,92 | XP: 4.100
| FL | MO | HI | TT | STA | RES | REC | COB | SP | ACC | FI | DH | PRL | | 67 | 76 | 70 | 65 | 69 | 68 | 72 | 53 | 60 | 62 | 62 | 58 | 65 |
Bjørn Tore Hoem | 24 years old | OVL: 72,21 | XP: 4.01
| FL | MO | HI | TT | STA | RES | REC | COB | SP | ACC | FI | DH | PRL | | 66 | 75 | 71 | 65 | 72 | 68 | 72 | 53 | 58 | 62 | 61 | 72 | 65 |
Aker - MOT
ember |
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 22-05-2015 12:58
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World Champion
Posts: 14236
Joined: 20-06-2011
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Eight 75+ mountain guys, four of them even not maxed wow.
Not the strongest leaders, but certainly some great climbing depth!
Edited by Avin Wargunnson on 22-05-2015 12:58
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