First Name: Martijn
Last Name: North
Date of Birth: 23/02/1990
Nationality, Region if applicable: Limburg, Netherlands
Specialty: Climber
Role: #7 Free Role
FL: 68
MO: 77
HI: 74
TT: 70
PRL: 68
COB: 62
SPR: 64
ACC: 73
DH: 77
FTR: 75
STA: 73
RES: 71
REC: 74
Biography/Character description: Growing up in first South Africa and then in the Netherlands during his late teens, Martijn earned the nickname of 'Houdini', due to his need to breakaway and escape up the road. Born in Durban, to a South African father and Dutch mother, in 1990, Martijn has always been at home of the bike, riding alone amongst the hills and long climbs, testing his body against the elements.
His early career on a bike in the junior ranks was based all on Thomas Voeckler, who quickly became his idol on two wheels. Every about Tommy and his exploits in the Tour de France amazed Martijn. His craftiness on the bike, attacking hard and his desire to fight on the climb was all that North tried to emulate on the road, both with his friends, or whether it was in races. With that came the enjoyment that Martijn took in trying his odds against the peleton in the break - 90% it wouldn't pay off, but Martijn lived for that 10% when it did.
Despite his South African upbringing and heritage, Martijn now rides under a Dutch license. The separation of his parents when he was just 12, means that Martijn holds no connection to his father, other than his family name, with North choosing to ride for the country of his mother's origin.
Changes made at the approval of Selwink via skypeEdited by the_hoyle on 12-08-2015 12:45
I do have permission from Selwink to edit. Hope he's slightly less OP but do he needs more toning down just PM me.
First Name: Hayden
Last Name: Vaillenos
Date of Birth: 04/11/1994
Nationality, Region if applicable: New Zealand
Specialty: Reduced Bunch Sprints/Punchy Climber
Role: #26 neo-pro
FL: 68
MO: 67
HI: 73
TT: 59
PRL: 64
COB: 58
SPR: 72
ACC: 74
DH: 72
FTR: 73
STA: 68
RES: 68
REC: 63
Biography/Character description: Born in Wanganui to a MTB family, Hayden always felt more drawn to the tactical racing of the road. He was always a joker in school and generally everywhere, but a nice guy who knew where the line was.
Winning the Junior National champs at 16 was the first sign to Avanti racing that this kid was special. He quickly signed and won another Junior Title before, after two injury-plaguedbeating Patrick Bevin to the Tour of Southland and came second to George Bennett and the Tour de Vineyards. By then, he was on the radar of Drapac. He wouldn't put pen to paper quite yet, but just as he was about to he was approached by Aegon, who seemed a better fit.
He's a multi-talented rider, climber, sprinter, puncher, loyal domestique and fighter are all roles he fills. He's likeable, funny, and immeasurably loyal. He knows after years of service to his teammates if he fulfills his buckets of potential they will serve him back. He's prone to red mist when pissed off, but this just makes him a better rider but can isolate him from teammates who push it too far on a bad day. He'd rather win solo an sprint but is comfortable with either, especially uphill. More to come as he develops. Speaks Maori and English as well as basic Italian and French.
Edited by jandal7 on 12-08-2015 08:58
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
emre99's stages Thread of the Week : Tour of California 2014 -Official PCM World Cup 2016, 10th best keirin player in the world PCM.daily Awards : 2 Nominee 0 Award
Daily Song Contest WINNER! With Foals - Mountain at my Gates with Greece! 1 like 1 girlfriend ''I call you the stage god. You are the stage god.'' -baseballover312, 15.07.2016
Spots 1, 12 and 13 available. One of them is a leader spot. Make sure to not make him too strong or young.
Also, I'd like to see two Dutch domestiques now. Not the entire team can be foreign, and only 2/6 Dutch so far is quite disappointing to me. Leader is freedom of choice of nationality, but make sure that there's a good chance he'll fit in.
@Coolrex: Not every domestique will be a leader at some point this season. But of course, the leaders can't lead everything, so a domestique will have to show leadership at some point.
@Dippo: I don't reserve spots. There's three times a day spots will open, so plenty of chances I suppose.
First Name: Erik
Last Name: van der Molen
Date of Birth: 7/2/1988
Nationality, Region if applicable: Netherlands, Limburg
Specialty: Hills
Role: Domestique
FL: 65
MO: 70
HI: 75
TT: 65
PRL: 64
COB: 60
SPR: 60
ACC: 68
DH: 70
FTR: 75
STA: 74
RES: 72
REC: 72
Biography/Character description: Erik was born in Sittard. His dad is a hard working man in a bicycleshop. His mother is manager of a company in Maastricht. His parents divorced when Erik was 12 years old. He had a hard time at middle school and the only time he did not think about the divorce was when he could take out his bike for a ride. And that was what he did quite often. He lived partly with his father and partly with his mother and as both had not much time due to their job, he cycled between their houses. In weekends he could go in to more harder hills of Limburg and that is where he found out he was pretty good in it. Not as good as the best, but well. He can die more times in the climbs and still go on. He has always been a fighter. In the end he 'thanks' his parents for getting divorced, as it gave him the opportunity now to cycle for a professional cycling team.
First Name: Mario
Last Name: Rizzi
Date of Birth: 8/10/1987
Nationality, Region if applicable: Italy, Lombardia
Specialty: All-Round, Puncheur
Role: #1 Leader
FL: 76
MO: 69
HI: 80
TT: 66
PRL: 73
COB: 75
SPR: 74
ACC: 80
DH: 77
FTR: 77
STA: 78
RES: 75
REC: 69
Biography/Character description: Mario was born in Como near to the borders with Switzerland into a sports family. His father was also a professional cyclist and Mario admired him and he was going with him at almost all races. The father gave him his first bike even before he was able to walk. His mother was an amateur volleyball player, so Mario has very good background to become an athlete as his parents. When he was young he was an extrovert person and has a lot of friends, also wherever he has been he was the leading person. As he was going older and older he used to known almost all from cycling thanks to his father and in his teeen age he started to race in local club near to Milan. Right from the first races he started to win almost everything and he was scouted very closely by some bigger Italian formatitions. Also in the Milan newspapers they called him „The New Paolo Bettini“, because he was well known for his ability to win solo, from smaller group or in the short hills. But he wasn't prepared for such interest and started to stagnate. He knew he has real talent but he didn't want to train and was a bit stuck in that time.
But his parents were also pushing him into studying so he attended University of Milan. In Milan he met the well-known footballer Mario Balotelli and they were caught by the police several times. On the other hand he was still able to deliver some good results, such as TOP3 place in Piccolo Lombardia when he was 21 years old. But his friendship with Balotelli cost him too much. He never get a long term contract and he was changing the teams very often.
Now he is prepared for the new chapter, but he has a lot of scares from past. He is close person and he doesn't make friends easily, also he sometimes doesn't care about the race and what can happen today. But on the other hand his big pure talent makes him very dangerous contender if he has his day in hilly races.
Edited by HuDCC on 12-08-2015 14:22
First Name: Reinier
Last Name: Paping
Date of Birth: 18/02/1991
Nationality, Region if applicable: Netherlands (Limburg)
Specialty: Sprinter/Classics
Role: Leader (Rider 1)
FL: 78
MO: 64
HI: 76
TT: 65
PRL: 68
COB: 78
SPR: 79
ACC: 79
DH: 75
FTR: 62
STA: 79
RES: 77
REC: 72
Biography/Character description:
Reinier Paping is the hottest thing in the Netherlands at the moment. In the youth races, he won a lot, including a world championship cyclocross. In his first years with the pro's, he unfortunately ended up with a team that used him as a domestique for older riders. He left that team to pursue his own chances with a dutch team, announcing on the press conference it felt like coming home, and hoping he would get his own chances.
A typical dutchie, he doesn't get over a mountain. He does however take a hill decently, growing up in hilly Limburg. He takes cobbles good as well, but his real weapon is his sprint. You can't take him to the line, or he'll destroy you. He's often compared to Peter Sagan for this, but in character he's far more quiet. A bit too quiet even, it could explain why he didn't claim leadership in his previous team. He's often shy in interviews and never makes a headline outside the sport. He doesn't use Facebook or Twitter yet, which is quite unusual these days.
But what he lacks in PR value, he plans to make up with results. His key races are the classics until the Amstel, followed by the National Championship and le Tour, to end at the World Championships with the final form peak.
First Name: Kimi
Last Name: Hämäläinen
Date of Birth: 26/10/1991
Nationality, Region if applicable: Finland
Specialty: Fighter/Roleur
Role: Domestique
FL: 76
MO: 60
HI: 68
TT: 66
PRL: 68
COB: 67
SPR: 65
ACC: 66
DH: 82
FTR: 79
STA: 77
RES: 78
REC: 74
Biography/Character description: Kimi was born in the Lapland part of Finland, but moved to Helsinki when he was young, he discovered cycling at the age of 13 and fell in love with the hills.
He began racing the next year, but struggled to keep up on the hills he loved, many kids were lighter than him but Kimi could recover and use the descent and flat roads after to catch up.
He trained as a roleur and could now win races with a hill mid-way, catching climbers after the hills then winning the sprint, he also began attacking before hills or in flat races and loved being ahead of the bunch.
Kimi continued to improve and at the age of 21 was signed by a continental cycling team and considered a future talent, he never met his full potential spending his time working for leaders in the continental ranks, as a roleur or a downhill guide, able to survive the hill then lead their leader down the hill or return to the bunch if dropped.
Kimi is never able to lead a team, but proved able to sit on front of the bunch or away from the bunch for hours on end, he's usually a loyal domestique, but can get a bit distracted by an opportunity to attack and can get annoyed by spending too many days in the bunch in a row. He can also have trouble with tactics, often attacking too earl but with good direction from a manager or teammates and he will race well.
Kimi has a generally kind and happy personality but can get very angry quickly if annoyed. He also generally has a very good respect for his competitors or break-away companions.
Edited by trekbmc on 12-08-2015 12:11
Coolrex, to be honest I feel like your rider is a bit too all-round and too strong. I mean, Rizzi is basically a Gilbert type of rider and you manage to be stronger or equalt to him in 7 stat categories, which feels unrealistic too me. Lowering your sprinting and cobbling would be a great move, I think.
Please make sure not every domestique has such high stats as I've seen a lot now. I'll probably lower the ones of my own rider if it becomes necessary. One or two 30+ age riders would be appreciated, for the sake of realism. It's not mandatory, so don't do it if you don't want to.
And finally, remember to read the first post properly before sending in a form.
First Name: Hugo
Last Name: Vanautreve
Date of Birth: 12/05/1990
Nationality, Region if applicable: Belgian, Born in Brussels (Flemish speaking)
Specialty: Rouleur
Role: Domestique
FL: 75
MO: 63
HI: 67
TT: 70
PRL: 68
COB: 70
SPR: 58
ACC: 62
DH: 73
FTR: 64
STA: 76
RES: 72
REC: 70
Biography/Character description: Hugo was born into a mixed family, with a Belgian, Flemish speaking dad and a French speaking mother from Albany. Raised in Brussels, Hugo speaks both languages fluently and was brought up mainly in the streets. He's not very literate and quite school at the age of 18, with just a high-school diploma, but he's got a lot of street smarts and posseses a certain quality that makes him a good road captain (not leader, captain).
His love for cycling developed quite late, at the age of 16, therefor he is a late-bloomer. Now, at the age of 25, he sees a first chance to get into a bigger team, away from his years in the continental competition.
Hugo was brought up in a poor family and is not looking for much fame. He's learned early on that bringing home money is all that counts and sees cycling as an honest job with a good pay. This is the kind of guy who won't even think about going his own chances unless the team tells him to. He has no problems riding for hours and hours at the head of the peloton and steers quite well in a sprint-train. A rouleur, a domestique, a hard worker. Hugo is a great asset for any team, to work hard behind the screens. He won't guarantee much television coverage, but he's the guy to ride at the head of the peloton the 3 hours before the television camera's even arrive.
There's still room to progress even further. He rides strong on the flat and is decent on the cobbles. But his main strength is his big motor. He could ride for hours.
Because of his upbringing, Hugo can easily blend in with a group, but will rarely let anyone see the real him. He won't share much personal information, but will get the information necessary. He can be discreet, but if you rub him the wrong way, he won't try and say it nicely.
Finland
