We couldn't talk about it, orders from the big bosses from the MGUCI. Even though we knew for a long time which riders we have renewed and for what wage. Luckily Disney didn't manage to get a hold on these files, so we can exclusively present to you the riders who are still being paid by the Sheikh:

Rider	Old Wage	New Wage	Difference
Edwin Avila	€ 50.000	€ 50.000	€ 0
Chris Barton	€ 50.000	€ 55.000	+€ 5.000
Kenny De Haes	€ 50.000	€ 60.000	+€ 10.000
Damion Drapac	€ 60.000	€ 60.000	€ 0
Tareq Esmaeli	€ 50.000	€ 50.000	€ 0
Chad Haga	€ 60.000	€ 70.000	+€ 10.000
Nick Kinney	€ 120.000	€ 75.000	-€ 45.000
Jay Major	€ 55.000	€ 50.000	-€ 5.000
Carlos Alexandre Manarelli	€ 50.000	€ 60.000	+€ 10.000
Leandro Marcos	€ 65.000	€ 60.000	-€ 5.000
Yasmani Martinez	€ 120.000	€ 85.000	-€ 35.000
Darren Matthews	€ 50.000	€ 60.000	+€ 10.000
Diego Milan	€ 70.000	€ 55.000	-€ 15.000
Cayetano Sarmiento	€ 65.000	€ 55.000	-€ 10.000
Bjorn Selander	€ 60.000	€ 70.000	+€ 10.000
Ethan Weiss	€ 50.000	€ 50.000	€ 0

We're quite pleased with the result. Kinney and Martinez both agreed to a wage cut and most other riders kept the same wage or got a minor increase or decrease. This means we have created a lot of room for new riders with PCT leading qualities.

Four riders were not offered a new contract, these are: De Leon, Griffith, Lejman and Rathe. Jiatz returned to Aeropostal but was released shortly thereafter. Unlikely we'll pick him up again since he's Guatemalan.

Given rider availability lists, we won't bother you with complicated assessmens such as "Available", "Likely unavailable" and "Not even for a million bananas". We'll say this: all riders are available, but some riders are more available than others. We think all our riders will be decent enough to at least function as PCT domestiques, but we won't stand in the way if they want to go down a division to get leadership status.

It's that time of year where you're sweating over your keyboard, have a minor heart attack when you receive an email, yell various racial slurs at your computer screen when someone overbids you but most importantly of all it's the best time of the year: transfer season. A few minutes ago the first signings could be announced and we have two new riders for you:

Ahmed Albourdainy



A Qatari cyclist who is friends with Tareq, and he managed to convince his father to pressure the board to sign him. They rode together for Metinvest-Emirates a few years ago before Esmaeli joined us and he went back to local level. Now he's back, at 50000 bananas.

Goodnews Clifford



A bit of a weird signing, but after his release from World Cycling Centre we offered him a contract for 50000 bananas. He won a stage in the Benelux Challenge last year and is the double Nigerian champion. And if that's not enough reason to sign him, his first name is. We are prepared for the puns.

Last night was a very tense period at the headquarters. Between 11 o'clock and midnight we could either sign three PCT leaders or start the third World War. Luckily for the world it became the former, and instead of nuclear weapons we launched fireworks.

Carlos Betancourt



At 23:35, we received confirmation that we have signed this puncheur. He rode for the now non-existant Coldeportes last year and did reasonably well. However, he has gained some weight over the summer, which means we put him on a diet of 275000 bananas.

Niels Albert



Three minutes later and we could pop more champagne. This 31-year old Belgian will be our leader over the cobblestones for 150000 bananas. He will take over the reigns from countryman De Haes, who has accepted a role as his super domestique.

Rigoberto Úran



And three minutes before midnight we could present you our biggest star so far. For a absolute salary record of 600000 bananas (!) we signed this 30-year old climber, also from Coldeportes, also from Colombia. He finished 13th in the individual PCT rankings last year and helped guide his team to eleventh place. Let's hope he can do the same for us!

It's no secret Colombia has many great riders, most of them great climbers. We already have four Colombians in Avila, Sarmiento and new signees Betancourt and Úran. Why not add a fifth?

Jarlinson Pantano Gómez



We signed him for a joint transfer record of 500000 in whatever currency we paid for, but we're confident he'll be worth it. He'll function as super domestique to his leader Úran and might have a few opportunities to lead himself. His wage of 105000 bananas is not super expensive.

The second part of the news title refers to Darren Matthews. Notice how we haven't bolded his name? That's because he no longer rides for us. We sold him for 125k to Podium Ambition, which is all fine until the media got a hold of some quotes. "Glad to get out of such nightmare". Really, after all we've done? Consider your Minion-license revoked, and we will throw nails at you when you race against us. You will be an example to all the other riders who might want to talk shit about our team.

Not every signing we make can be for a superstar leader or someone who can afford two Maseratis per week with his salary, but we also need some domestiques for 50000 bananas. And for that we looked back in our history books to find...

Fabrice Jeandesbosz



Some of our long time supporters might remember him as the Minion with the shortest tenure within the team at just over a week with no races. That's because he got another opportunity elsewhere, where he could be more usefull. Two years later and back in free agency, we will give him another try to ride for us, and expect him to stay here longer this time.

Shaquille Sinclair



This guy has raced for us in the past but was never technically under our contract, since it was a loan deal. But now we signed him for real. Why? Because he's known as the "Hottest thing on wheels", and it's hot in Qatar which means he'd be a perfect fit.

Oliver Naesen



We took a quick look at our squad and noticed how it's quite old, especially in the cobbles department. So we signed a young domestique for that are in the hope that he can learn from the best and move up the ranks himself. And he's Belgian, which means there is no communication problem with his leaders.

As far as friendship goes within the world of cycling, loan deals are usually a sign of gratitude. Or it's just a way to offload an unwanted rider to a competitor. We don't know. But we do it anyway.

Salah Eddine Mraouni



We signed him on a loan deal from World Cycling Centre, which means he will be reunited with Clifford and Naesen. We pay the full 52500 in bananas this season, after which he will return. He specialises in time trials, he's Moroccan champion in said discipline, but he's decent on nearly every terrain. Our jersey department will have to work overtime to manufacture his new kit.

We are done. A moment you look forward to for an entire year and then it's over before you know it and you'll have to wait another year. We will give a more in detail overview of our new squad later, but first we'll show you a short overview of what we did over the past two weeks:

In:

	Rider	Wage	From	Fee/Loan/FA
	Niels Albert	150000	Metinvest - Dacia	FA
	Ahmed Albourdainy	50000	Free Agency	FA
	Carlos Betancourt	275000	Coldeportes	FA
	Goodnews Clifford	50000	World Cycling Centre	FA
	Chad Haga	70000	Movistar - US Postal	Return from loan
	Fabrice Jeandesbosz	50000	Generali - AXA	FA
	Salah Eddine Mraouni	52500	World Cycling Centre	Loan
	Oliver Naesen	50000	World Cycling Centre	FA
	Jarlinson Pantano Gómez	105000	RBC Pro Cycling	500000
	Bjorn Selander	70000	Movistar - US Postal	Return from loan
	Shaquille Sinclair	50000	Free Agency	FA
	Rigoberto Úran	600000	Coldeportes	FA

Out:

	Rider	Wage	To	Fee/Loan/FA
	Jhonnatan De Leon		Free Agency	Not renewed
	Mark Griffith		Free Agency	Not renewed
	Nervin Jiatz		Free Agency	On loan from Aeropostal
	Gracjan Lejman	50000	Balkan Cycling Project	Not renewed
	Darren Matthews	60000	Podium Ambition	125000
	Jakob Rathe		Free Agency	Not renewed

Full team: