The first transfer dealings of the season have already been completed, with some surprising results. For us at Verkefnið Iceland we have been busier than ever, hurriedly compiling shortlist after shortlist and making offers left right and centre. Like most other teams, many of our first bids were passed through without opposition, and so we have some signings to announce.
Naturally, our first move when the transfer market swung open was to opt for some of the brightest Icelandic talents. The first man we can welcome to our team is Ingvar Omarsson. He is one of the best cyclists in Iceland at the moment but this will be his first season in the professional peleton. Luckily we were able to sign him cheaply without competition, which is quite something. He is a multitalented rider capable of performing well on all terrains, hopefully he will perform well for us this season.
Our second signing was Kari Brynjolfsson. Unlike Omarsson his particular speciality is the cobblestones. He is unlikely to be leadership material for next year but he is strong enough to be one of our best lieutenants. He is also quite strong in time trials and the flat, so could contribute to our lead out train. We also signed another Icelander in David Thor Sigurdsson. He is one of our best sprinters, and even though he doesn't quite have the ability to dominate sprints in the future he is definitely strong enough to play an important role in the lead out train.
On the second day of transfers we made our bids on three other Icelandic riders. This lead to the signings of Oskar Omarsson, Gunnlaugur Jonasson and Runar Örn Agustsson. None of them are strong enough to lead us to promotion, but they all have vital roles in our team. Oskar is a strong fighter/lead out rider. Jonasson and Agustsson are both strong time trial riders.
Our final free agent buy we can confirm right now was Åsmund Romstad Løvik. He is a talented Norwegian climber who should be very impressive. As well as being a talented climber he is strong on the small hills and the flat. He will definitely be a large part of any climbing squad.
As well as free transfers we have also delved into the transfer market proper. This led us to secure another Norwegian climber in Andreas Landa. He is also a very accomplished rider for the mountains. He is slightly weaker on the hills than Løvik, but is stronger at attacking and in the time trials. We also signed a sprinter in Bruno Lima from Portugal. Portugal is a long way from Iceland, but we decided a bargain like him was too good to turn down. We signed Lima on minimum wage for free. Depending on our future transfers he will either be a superb lead out man or our sprint leader. Either way this was a great deal for us.
This concludes this transfer update. We feel like our transfer season started off very well. Not only did we quickly pick up 6 of the best Icelandic riders, we also successfully signed 3 other riders, all of whom have the ability to lead the team. For a summary of our team so far, see the image below.
