cio93 wrote:
There are lots of interesting Milka riders in our shortlist, so we are not averse to include one of them in a deal

Levi4life wrote:
Milka is a new team

I'm worried that if I stay at Team Puma - SAP I won't get any chances to ride for myself in the Pro Tour. If I was to take a step back to a smaller team I know that I would certanily be able to have more opportunities to enter breaks and win. In this current team I'm probably going to end up working for Bennati or whoever happens to become our new leader.

Jonathon Thire is definately on his way out, and we surely won't hinder a transfer with an excessive transfer fee demand.

Pierre has recieved several calls from team scouts already, I guess we have to wait for the detailed offers in transfer season to make up our minds. If these teams are still interested then, it would require a major change of thinking to keep him.

Regarding Olivier Le Gac, both a loan (Evian) and a swap deal (Milka) have their advantages for us. It might depend on the exact offer Milka makes.

We can only repeat our statement regarding Bar and Bouhanni: We didn't make up our mind yet how a loan would affect their development, and we already recieved an interesting offer containing Bar.
They have been a part of our 3-year-plan for good reason, and our decision whether they'll stay still depends on more thorough season planning.
We'll definately renew with them, so phase your offers, and we'll decide then.

Mickaël Delage is a valuable allround domestique for a PT team, and thus we'd like to see him in our jersey next season.
However, the right offer certainly mitigates our wrench.
A swap deal including Delage, Croket and Nikolas Maes would definately appeal to us.

We were thrilled to read through the PT calendar and realize that we'll take part in all those wonderful races a new team normally can only dream of.

We took ourselves some time to thoroughly think through the goals we set for 2013, and we finally came to a conclusion about the 5 results we want to achieve the most.

To justify our goals selection, we want to remind you of our situation.
Unlike many other promoted teams, especially the ones that started together with us in 2012, we have a rider in our team that already proved to be extremely competitive in the highest division, and this rider is obviously Daniele Bennati.
We will keep him no matter what wage he demands, and we can provide him with the support he needs.

Although we are aware that he'll most probably not be as dominant in PT as he was last season, we decided to base all our goals on Bennati.
We trust his expierence to lead the team once more, and the way he helped the team to promote assures us he'll cope with the pressure.

Furthermore, this approach reduces our pressure to sign a star rider in the transfer season. We failed to sign the rider needed to fulfill the goals last season, and we don't want to make that mistake twice when we are in a situation in which we don't have to risk anything.
Plus, seeing how the fight for Cunego is already on and the way some teams heavily base their goals on his signature may prove us right.

Last but not least, we might have to disappoint all the people who expected us to go big with the goals like our fellow promoted teams. Having a sprinter as leader and pursuing the strategy mentioned above just doesn't allow us to.

We start with the most prestigious goal. Daniele already wore the maillot vert in Paris, and he is determined to wear the maglia rossa in Udine this year.
To Win the Points Jersey in the Giro d'Italia is the logical conclusion after its recent presentation. With at least 8 stages in favour of sprinters, and Bennati attending his home GT as the best sprinter in the world, what else should we pursue?

Next is the most logical goal. Although one could question it when looking at our current squad, we are still a very German team sponsored by two very German companies.
Therefore, we want to Win Rund um Köln , our home classic.
We feel confident that we can achieve this tailor-made goal.

In good old Middle East tradition, Qatar is the perfect place for a sprinter.
And with only a 3.5 km ITT to separate the riders apart from time bonuses (and the wind), everything but a Top 3 in Tour of Qatar would be disappointing. We'll try to field our best powerhouse squad to guide Bennati to the right side of any echelon.

Can there be a better race for Daniele Bennati than a completely flat classic?
We don't think so, and therefore a Top 3 in the Flat PT Classic is a must. Even though neither the venue nor the exact profile is known, these words alone increase our heartbeats.

Our last goal differs from most other promoted teams for the reasons stated above.
While we definately attend transfer season to form a versatile team competitive in lots of different races as well as to get a second superstar, it would be presumptuous to expect a Top 10 in the Pro Tour standings. Mainly because we never expected promotion, we have too much work to be done and are far too one-dimensional yet to really believe in that.
Therefore, we want to Avoid Relegation this year in the first place. Anything better will be a bonus, and even relegation doesn't influence our long-term plan negatively.

Alakagom wrote:
Very nice goals. Will follow your team closely.

Alakagom wrote:
Although I disagree about completely flat classic in favour of Benatti I'd say the best one would be that had some small hills in the middle / start, and last 30km all flat ( so no late attacks ) meanwhile he'd be fitter at the end than other sprinters ( that are shitty on hills )

cio93 wrote:


Thanks




I have to admit I might have played a tad bit too safe with that for my personal liking.
But if you have a look at Praha-Karlovy Vary-Praha and Lisbon Classic, the other flat PT classics, they have too many springboards for puncheurs (or even the break to succeed) to safely predict a bunch sprint, and predicting safely is the key with setting sprinter goals

Plus, now he declined, Bennati is merely better than other sprinters in hills.
Lo Cicero and Mohs could be caught out, but it's +1 to Swift/Van Heerden, +2 to Napolitano/Goss and -2 to Bewley, -1 to Boonen.
I presume the CT advantage on that terrain is gone.

mb2612 wrote:
Brave out the Giro points jersey, that's a big bet that Cunego goes to the tour.

alexkr00 wrote:


Plenty of flat stages in the Giro this year. Even if Cunego's in, the jersey still might go to a sprinter

mb2612 wrote:


Cunego normally top tens on most sprint stages, as does Ricco.

A sprinter has never won the Giro points jersey.

It's a brave move.

SportingNonsense wrote:
I was wondering when Tony Martin would make it to the free agency! Time to put him in for a service...