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[PT] Festina-Dexia (2018)
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 26-07-2018 18:22
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Classics Specialist
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That last version of Ackermann looks insanely scary considering you can train him when he becomes 27 and could end up at around 81 hill within two season.
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| knockout |
Posted on 26-07-2018 18:42
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Grand Tour Champion
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Joined: 21-12-2010
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Pascal Ackermann <3
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| cio93 |
Posted on 26-07-2018 18:53
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World Champion
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Ackermann's maxed puncheur version looks scarily similar to Demare's first maxed season if we leave out the -3sp. The only stats more than 1 point away would be cob(+2), fighter(-4) and prl(+7)...
I would've loved Ackermann as a super-domestique specifically for Demare, but I figured his wage demands would become problematic. I definitely don't fear him as a challenger though, no matter how much you might train him. 
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| SotD |
Posted on 26-07-2018 20:26
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World Champion
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viking90 wrote:
As usual an active transfer period for but even more active this season I suppose.
A lot of interest signings, espacially those greeks since that one of your focus.
Weber & Daniel could be a nice duo on those cobbles as said in cio´s HQ Weber caught my eye aswell.
Ackermann is a very very nice rider to have aswell when maxed 
Yup it has been significantly more active this season than the past 2, where I basically fought to keep my team as intact as possible while adding a talent or 2. This season is going very much in the opposite direction almost taking me back to before I signed Spilak. Which is actually not good at all! But unfortunately it was necessary for more than one reason. 1) I was ridiculously above cap from the gun despite having just 14 riders, and I had 23 fit the season before, and none of them developped significantly. Emerson Santos being the biggest developper. and 2) I wanted to gather money for making Lecuisinier, Coquard and Koretzky better so they could lead at PT level, instead of being subtop riders.
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| SotD |
Posted on 26-07-2018 20:28
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World Champion
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whitejersey wrote:
That last version of Ackermann looks insanely scary considering you can train him when he becomes 27 and could end up at around 81 hill within two season.
Yup. I signed him for option 1 and 3. Despite him being the best here-and-now rider with option 2, he definately is the one I'm looking to train. So for now I'll have to up Coquard, Koretzky and Lecuisinier so I have room for training Ackermann too
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| ember |
Posted on 26-07-2018 20:32
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Team Leader
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Ackermann is indeed very, very nice. In my opinion option 3 is a no-brainer, thinking of the future as a puncheur with amazing acceleration and solid backup stats otherwise as well.
Must say I like Barbier too, should become a very nice leadout rider
All in all, looks like you've been able to do well after selling Spilak, and seeing your talk in your adverts threads, I guess we'll soon see some huge training as well! |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 19:16
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| SotD |
Posted on 26-07-2018 20:52
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World Champion
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I agree 
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| SotD |
Posted on 26-07-2018 20:53
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World Champion
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cio93 wrote:
Ackermann's maxed puncheur version looks scarily similar to Demare's first maxed season if we leave out the -3sp. The only stats more than 1 point away would be cob(+2), fighter(-4) and prl(+7)...
I would've loved Ackermann as a super-domestique specifically for Demare, but I figured his wage demands would become problematic. I definitely don't fear him as a challenger though, no matter how much you might train him.
I don't think you should fear him either...
Ackermann will never become a rider at that level. But maybe with 83HI he will be able to still fight for podiums in ardennes, or with 84SPR he will be able to win races
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| SotD |
Posted on 26-07-2018 21:00
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World Champion
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ember wrote:
Ackermann is indeed very, very nice. In my opinion option 3 is a no-brainer, thinking of the future as a puncheur with amazing acceleration and solid backup stats otherwise as well.
Must say I like Barbier too, should become a very nice leadout rider
All in all, looks like you've been able to do well after selling Spilak, and seeing your talk in your adverts threads, I guess we'll soon see some huge training as well!
Yeah Barbier isn't too shabby either... I reckon that he and Stocker will be just man-marking Coquard in the future
I am still considering my options regarding him... Training him like option 1 will give him a better sprint and better flat, and won't cost too much to get him to 77HI. Of course he won't ever get to 83HI then, but maybe that is overkill... I don't know... Depends on what I can do with Koretzky I guess.
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| SotD |
Posted on 29-07-2018 15:51
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World Champion
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The 2018 transfer season is over. Throughout the 2017 season we announced that it was time to chance and rebuild the team. Also we wanted to make sure the future of greek and french cycling were to be seen, hence adding some depth have been of great importance. Because of that we are now up to 12 French/Greek riders, and ind the future we would like to further increase that number.
We are pleased to present a team, that should still be competitive at Pro Tour level, and also announce that we have a fair bit of money which will be spent to train our French leaders. Trainings have not been included in the above. While keeping a fairly strong (we are guessing lower top 10) PT setup, we also have a total of 9 riders yet to develop. So while we are not competitive at the very top anymore, we are hopeful of being so again in the near future.
We expect to be back to top 5, atleast, by 2020. Without including trainings for the 3 upcoming seasons, this is what our team is looking like in 2020:
We are especially satisfied with having once more significantly increased our hilly setup so we can infact pose a threat on several different terrains. Also having a clear French leader in all of the 4 main terrains, and a greek top timetriallist makes us extremely pleased.
We are also happy to announce, that our shirt have gone through a slight re-vamp, and would like to applaude the_hoyle for this work.
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 01-08-2018 10:04
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Team Leader
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Very nice squad! I like how you have stepped back and now developing talents! I still think you will be competitive at the top this season but that's just my opinion! Good luck to you!!
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| SotD |
Posted on 01-08-2018 10:54
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World Champion
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Jakstar22 wrote:
Very nice squad! I like how you have stepped back and now developing talents! I still think you will be competitive at the top this season but that's just my opinion! Good luck to you!!
Thanks a lot mate
I have taken out 3000+ points from my team, and with some luck have added 500-1000, so top 10 could still be possible, but nothing more than that surely
Indeed it is great to get back to developping riders full on, rather than half part development, half part competitive. I think this is a very exciting season, and I'd love to see some of my french riders power away
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| Eden95 |
Posted on 01-08-2018 11:23
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Still a definite top-10, really looking forward to see what you've decided to do in terms of training Also a fan of the new 're-build'-type approach after the departures of guys like Spilak and Coppel. Hope the coming season is fruitful
Aaand hope to see Le Roux prove his worth and give Koretzky and co. a hand when the road gets steeper!
Indosat - ANZ HQ
"This Schleck sandwich is going to cause serious indigestion for Evans" - Phil Liggett |
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| SotD |
Posted on 01-08-2018 11:54
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World Champion
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Eden95 wrote:
Still a definite top-10, really looking forward to see what you've decided to do in terms of training Also a fan of the new 're-build'-type approach after the departures of guys like Spilak and Coppel. Hope the coming season is fruitful
Aaand hope to see Le Roux prove his worth and give Koretzky and co. a hand when the road gets steeper!
Not a definite top 10 imo, but should be there or thereabouts. 8-12 is my best bet.
Le Roux will be very important indeed!
We would have liked to use wages better for the likes of van der Hugenhaben, Chamorro and Bar, but it should be OK I guess...
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| SotD |
Posted on 07-08-2018 17:36
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World Champion
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 Bryan Coquard, 26 years old (Lead sprinter)
Bryan Coquard is a sprinter who showed great progress in the future, and last season we presented him as our new lead sprinter. As a world class rider, who were at the top of his game. And while all of this was true, he has showed a remarkable development over the winter break, and is now even stronger than before.
Bryan Coquard will be one of the 5 strongest pure sprinters in the world this season, and while he already showed his capabilities last season, we are expecting him to be having a great chance to win the big wins this season.
At PTHC level he opened up his win account last season, in Tour of Norway. A race we dominated with 3 stagewins and the overall win to former rider, Jerome Coppel. He also managed a 2nd place in the first stage of the Tour d'Afrique aswell as a 2nd place during the Giro d'Italia. What was even more interesting was the fact that he later turned out to be a winner in even harder competition when he also won Lac Megantic, another PTHC race.
With his regular approaces in sprints, he managed to also take some strong GC results, such as 3rd in the Tour of Qatar and 7th at Tour d'Afrique. He crowned the season with a nifty 9th in GP Moscow.
This season key races will yet again be the likes of Tour of Qatar, SAA Tour d'Afrique and GP Moscow. But certainly more races will suit him now - And he'll be even more likely to win.
With his impressive development we now assess him with the following skillset:
| FL | MO | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CB | SP | AC | FG | DH | PR | | Bryan Coquard | 73 | 58 | 65 | 65 | 71 | 74 | 84 | 56 | 84 | 83 | 60 | 65 | 79 | 26yo |
Career Highligts
Winner Lac Megantic Classic ('17)
3rd Tour of Qatar ('17)
6th GP Moscow ('16)
7th Tour d'Afrique ('17)
9th GP Moscow ('17)
Stagewin Tour of Norway ('17)
2nd Stage
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| SotD |
Posted on 07-08-2018 18:01
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World Champion
Posts: 12188
Joined: 29-11-2006
PCM$: 2980.00
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 Stylianos Farantakis, 23 years old (Track Sprinter)
Last season a young greek rider named Stylianos Farantakis joined on a stagiare contract, and while we normally would asses the rider to either fit or not fit, we have decided to bring Farantakis back for a second look as stagiare. This with the conclusion that we were mainly focusing on his characteristicas in a wrong way.
We saw Stylianos Farantakis as a strong sprinter, but mainly a sprinter to perform his own chances, or ride as a leadout rider in Grand Tours with TTTs. After having reassesed his qualities by looking at him, we do believe that we have a relatively rare talent on our hands, something we wish to further develop, and if he shows enough progress, want to develop further.
Back in 2017 this is what we evaluated Stylianos Farantakis too look like:
| FL | MO | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CB | SP | AC | FG | DH | PR | | Stylianos Farantakis | 73 | 56 | 65 | 70 | 71 | 70 | 75 | 66 | 79 | 78 | 61 | 63 | 78 | 27yo |
A very strong overall rider, but lacking the firepower all over to really make a lot of fury around him. Several other sprinters are faster, stronger and more agile, and with 78PRL and 70TT he would also lack the top here to get stage results, aswell as posing enough quality to actually help in team time trials.
So having talked to co-workers and looked further in to the numbers and data, this is now what we believe Stylianos Farantakis will become. A much more rounded rider, that will actually be beneficial in leadout trains (still), while also being a very strong TTT rider, and getting results of his own in prologues. The perfect domestique for Coquard in his late years of blossom.
| FL | MO | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CB | SP | AC | FG | DH | PR | | Stylianos Farantakis | 73 | 56 | 65 | 74 | 73 | 69 | 76 | 66 | 77 | 76 | 61 | 63 | 80 | 27yo |
Career Highligts
- No notable results
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| SotD |
Posted on 11-08-2018 12:09
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World Champion
Posts: 12188
Joined: 29-11-2006
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 Matteo Fabbro, 23 years old (Climber)
Young Italian climber, Matteo Fabbro joined relatively late during last seasons transferperiod, on a shockingly low 50K minimum wage, while similar riders went for significantly more. Matteo is a climber of the old Italian school, going relatively well up sharp and short climbs, but even better on the longer runs.
Being a decent descender and reasonable against the clock (although the shorter the better), Matteo could be a rider to pose a serious threat at GC races in the future.
Last season, he was away on loan to SPAR - Shimano - SCG to prove his worth, and while he generally did well, it was a hard start to the life as a professional rider. The first ever race he rode, Down Under Classic, he came in last, but once the more suitable races were on offer, he was significantly stronger.
At the Kenya Mountain Classic, Matteo joined a 3 man large breakaway for the first time in his career. Unfortunately the break wasn't allowed to move, so instead Matteo did a great job reeling in the later attacks for his team leader Stefan Denifl.
It was a season where learning was the key, however, so nothing notable happened during the season, except for bottle-fetching. This season we will be looking to see whether or not he is capable of performing at an even higher level, while still being helper mostly. We evaulate Matteo Fabbro as a rider with these stats at the moment:
| FL | MO | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CB | SP | AC | FG | DH | PR | | Matteo Fabbro | 64 | 73 | 70 | 66 | 69 | 70 | 70 | 50 | 61 | 69 | 69 | 69 | 69 | 23yo |
Once Matteo get the hang of everything, we do however believe that he will end up like this:
| FL | MO | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CB | SP | AC | FG | DH | PR | | Matteo Fabbro | 65 | 78 | 75 | 67 | 71 | 72 | 74 | 50 | 61 | 73 | 74 | 70 | 70 | 25yo |
Once fully developped we are likely going to attempt to see what his level is as a GC rider riding his own chances. He might even be attempting a Grand Tour, due to his age of just 25 could in fact throw him high in the U25 competition.
Career Highligts
- No notable results
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| roturn |
Posted on 11-08-2018 12:17
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Team Manager
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Fabbro is a talent, who was high on my list as well but went with Carboni as very similar rider instead, who is also around those stats with a bit more allround and therefore minus a bit acc.
Both should be very nice domestiques on PT level and would need 2-3 years of training for more while immediately would be very good CT leaders and decent in some PCT races as well. |
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| SotD |
Posted on 11-08-2018 12:30
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World Champion
Posts: 12188
Joined: 29-11-2006
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 Loic Vliegen, 25 years old (Puncheur)
Belgian puncheur-talent Loic Vliegen struggled to find himself a home in this off season, and while we had him on the radar for quite some time, we only picked him up in the very end of the transfers.
From 2015-2017 he rode under the colors of Team BPost, a very succesful Belgian side. Unfortunately circumstances had him left uncontracted for the beginning of the 2018 season, where we fortunately managed to pick him up.
Loic is a typical Belgian classic rider who is decent in the hills aswell as the cobbles. We like to focus on his abilities on the hills, though. Straight after signing him, we assessed him with the following stats:
| FL | MO | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CB | SP | AC | FG | DH | PR | | Loic Vliegen | 69 | 65 | 72 | 60 | 72 | 68 | 68 | 68 | 65 | 71 | 68 | 68 | 66 | 25yo |
After a few years in the Pro Tour peloton, he should be able to compete at a relatively high level, and will look something like this:
| FL | MO | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CB | SP | AC | FG | DH | PR | | Loic Vliegen | 70 | 68 | 77 | 61 | 74 | 70 | 70 | 68 | 66 | 75 | 72 | 69 | 67 | 27yo |
We are happy with this assesment, and believe Vliegen will become a very valuable PT domestique once fully developped. His aggressive nature should also give him a decent shot at succesful attacks, which we are looking forward to.
Career Highligts
- No notable results
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| SotD |
Posted on 11-08-2018 12:37
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World Champion
Posts: 12188
Joined: 29-11-2006
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roturn wrote:
Fabbro is a talent, who was high on my list as well but went with Carboni as very similar rider instead, who is also around those stats with a bit more allround and therefore minus a bit acc.
Both should be very nice domestiques on PT level and would need 2-3 years of training for more while immediately would be very good CT leaders and decent in some PCT races as well.
True. I was also chasing Carboni, and tried to see if I could land him on a 50K wage like Fabbro, so I had another similar rider maxing a year later, in case Fabbro was too expensive
70ACC for Carboni was a bit worrying for me though, but then again the low FL stat of Fabbro could be a problem. Carboni with 78MO 77HI is definately better though!
I doubt Fabbro will be a rider I'll train much. He could be a new Vasyliv/Campero kind of rider to score 200-300 points in the PT, while being very valuable as a helper, on a reasonable wage.
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