Desigual {2018}
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Mresuperstar |
Posted on 27-07-2018 18:08
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8057
Joined: 22-06-2009
PCM$: 650.00
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It's been a long week, but well worth it. Our 2018 Desigual squad is complete.
Vincenzo Nibali
34 Years Old : € 450,000 : 65th PT Individual Standings (445 Points)
Former 2017 team: Pendleton's (Free Agent)
FL | MO | HI | TT | STA | RES | REC | COB | SP | ACC | FT | DH | PL | 72 | 80 | 75 | 75 | 75 | 74 | 71 | 51 | 55 | 56 | 77 | 78 | 75 |
Lo Squalo is on his steady decline from stardom, but we still feel he has one good year left in him. With 69 race days, he will be a reliable GC captain in the two Grand Tours Tenorio can't race in. Perhaps the duo could team up in the smaller mountainous tours as well. Nibali will also be a valuable mentor, being by far the oldest on the roster with a team that has an average of 26.9 years old.
Rick Zabel
25 Years Old : € 250,000 : 191st PT Individual Standings (137 Points)
Former 2017 team: Iberia-Team Degenkolb bought for 215k + Ramon Domene
FL | MO | HI | TT | STA | RES | REC | COB | SP | ACC | FT | DH | PL | 74 | 60 | 69 | 55 | 74 | 70 | 79 | 65 | 81 | 79 | 66 | 52 | 55 |
The son of former great sprinter Erik Zabel, Rick gives us an added dimension in our sprinting core with Roman Maksimov. No one knows how these two will perform together, but it's sure going to be fun to watch. Zabel wasn't initially in our offseason plans, but you can't pass down a bargain for a 25-year-old cyclist of his caliber.
Erick Herrera
22 Years Old : € 20,000 : Stagiare, Level 2.29
Former 2017 team: Azteca-NBCSN
FL | MO | HI | TT | STA | RES | REC | COB | SP | ACC | FT | DH | PL | 64 | 70 | 70 | 62 | 67 | 71 | 71 | 52 | 61 | 64 | 65 | 64 | 60 |
The El Salvador RR and TT champion is already the best cyclist in his country at only 22 years old and he is still (slowly) developing. He joins us later in the season as a stagiare and can provide support in the hills and mountains. He will also get to the race the Tour de I'Avenir with the likes of Xuban Errazkin. Perhaps a full-time roster spot is in his future if he can prove himself to be useful.
Ramon Domene: Traded in the Rick Zabel deal, Domene was a great support rider for our main cobble man Marcos Altur. He even won his stage ever with us at the 2017 De Panne Tour, Stage 2. He will be joining Iberia-Team Degenkolb back in the PCT. Altur will surely miss his Spanish buddy.
Jordi Simon: The capable Spanish climber nobody wanted and had to be sacked to get under the wage cap. We truly hope he can find a team for the upcoming season. He doesn't deserve to sit this season out.
Robert Sweeting: Same situation as Jordi Simon, the American sprinter had to be let go to get under the wage cap (much ado to the Rick Zabel trade). He is also still looking for a team for next season.
Finally, two more cyclists coming in to develop. This season we used up all our Loan Cap with a total of six loaned in cyclists.
| Cyclist | Team | Key Stat | EXP | Wage Paying | | Kashyapa Siriwardena | Ayubowan! | MO:72 | 4.00 | € 50,000 | | Jernej Svab | Carrefour-ESPN | HL:71 | 3.02 | € 34,000 |
That's all. Now time to spend our boatload of cash on training.
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jt1109 |
Posted on 28-07-2018 07:59
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3214
Joined: 23-07-2008
PCM$: 400.00
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Zabel and Nibali are great signings and will help for sure have to agree with Knockout I have no faith in Tenorio on this version of PCM he hasn't been great so far! Love the Kazach helper though he looks a very useful rider to have |
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Mresuperstar |
Posted on 02-08-2018 04:14
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8057
Joined: 22-06-2009
PCM$: 650.00
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With an influx of cash from the TVG cash swap (even though most of it was spent on acquiring Justo Tenorio), we still had plenty of money to invest in training.
Justo Tenorio
FL | MO | HI | TT | STA | RES | REC | COB | SP | ACC | FT | DH | PL | 68 | 84 | 76 | 80 | 78 | 76 | 79 | 59 | 58 | 66 | 84 | 68 | 79 | 68 | 84 | 76 | 80 | 78 | 76 | 79 | 59 | 58 | 67 | 84 | 68 | 79 |
+1 Acceleration. Not much, but nowadays ACC is really important when climbing up mountains. I don't really get it either.
Marcos Altur
FL | MO | HI | TT | STA | RES | REC | COB | SP | ACC | FT | DH | PL | 75 | 62 | 70 | 63 | 75 | 70 | 70 | 80 | 72 | 68 | 70 | 62 | 63 | 75 | 62 | 70 | 63 | 75 | 70 | 70 | 81 | 72 | 68 | 70 | 63 | 63 |
+1 Cobble, +1 Downhill. Our 25-year-old Spanish cobbler is on his way to becoming the best. With Sam Bewley falling from stardom soon, Altur wants to be ready to pounce when his time comes.
Roman Maksimov
FL | MO | HI | TT | STA | RES | REC | COB | SP | ACC | FT | DH | PL | 72 | 53 | 58 | 69 | 70 | 69 | 75 | 58 | 81 | 84 | 59 | 64 | 69 | 72 | 53 | 60 | 69 | 70 | 69 | 75 | 58 | 81 | 84 | 59 | 64 | 69 |
+2 Hill. Maksimov got the training he demanded. Although, he wasn't too crazy about us bringing in Rick Zabel. After we calmed him down and told him we weren't replacing him, he looks confident (or cocky) to take the PT by storm this season. We have stuck so much money into Maksimov's hill stat over the years... it's about time he decided to repay us.
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Mresuperstar |
Posted on 04-08-2018 00:22
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8057
Joined: 22-06-2009
PCM$: 650.00
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Amateur CT Team - Return of Newton Foundation
Desigual is proud to announce an Amateur CT Team sponsorship agreement to resurrect the Newton Foundation cycling team. The Spanish outfitter was a secondary sponsor when the Newton Foundation gained promotion to the Pro Tour last season with Manager Mresuperstar at the helm.
The opportunity to develop younger cyclists is a much better fit for the Newton Foundation brand and what they want to accomplish in spreading their message to young professional athletes.
The Newton Foundation is a charity started by our cyclist Taylor Newton after his father passed away from a stroke two years ago now. The Foundation raises funds for stroke victims and survivors through the National Stroke Association.
The team will be donating all prize winnings toward stroke prevention research.
This new squad will consist of 8 cyclists from mostly the United States and Spain. Team operations and finances are complete separate to anything related to Desigual. Cyclists are released at the end of the season into free agency.
Desigual merely provides support to get the team up and running, and Mresuperstar will handle the scouting and signing of cyclists this weekend.
The team will then be handed over to Taylor Newton to manage the day-to-day operations while he also rides full-time for Desigual.
Lastly, NF will be riding in last season's kit, which Desigual is featured on.
Edited by Mresuperstar on 04-08-2018 06:51
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baseballlover312 |
Posted on 04-08-2018 06:09
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16429
Joined: 27-07-2011
PCM$: 10438.70
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Uhhh, think you accidentally put Travis in the MG universe here instead of Taylor.
In any case, awesome idea!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
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Mresuperstar |
Posted on 04-08-2018 06:52
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8057
Joined: 22-06-2009
PCM$: 650.00
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baseballlover312 wrote:
Uhhh, think you accidentally put Travis in the MG universe here instead of Taylor.
In any case, awesome idea!
Fixed.
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Mresuperstar |
Posted on 18-09-2019 22:51
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8057
Joined: 22-06-2009
PCM$: 650.00
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Entering the 2019 Transfer Season
While Manager Mresuperstar was busy documenting other teams successes as a sports journalist stateside (IRL), his side hustle with his professional Man-Game cycling team took a drastic blow this past season, dropping from the Pro Tour back down to the PCT circuit.
Mresuperstar did his best to keep tabs on his team, but didn't have a lot of time or motivation to watch a struggling squad that only won two stages in 2018.
The results were rather dismal. Forgettable.
Over the last four seasons, the program has been yo-yoing between the PT and PCT circuits. Unable to find its bearings. At this point, Mresuperstar is questioning past transfer/training decisions. Nothing has worked. Back to the drawing board.
With the drop to the PCT circuit comes 1,000,000 less in wages. Cyclists had to be released during renewals. Those shown the door included Vincenzo Nibali, Nelson Oliveira, Daniel Teklehaimanot and Erick Herrera.
That left 12 cyclists with wages already at 2,405,000. More changes are needed.
Mresuperstar still doesn't know how he wants to handle this situation, but has released the following availability information at this time.
Willing To Listen To Reasonable Offers
Justo Tenorio
Marcos Altur
Carlos Verona
Roman Maksimov
Carter Jones
Desigual is in the process of putting together a new HQ that will be unveiled after the transfer window closes. Until then, we will hang out here for now.
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Aquarius97 |
Posted on 18-09-2019 23:41
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4191
Joined: 13-09-2015
PCM$: 300.00
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Interesting list of "available" riders...
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jandal7 |
Posted on 18-09-2019 23:43
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World Champion
Posts: 11392
Joined: 17-12-2014
PCM$: 1020.00
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Agree...
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant."
[ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
5x x5
2x x2
2x x2
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cio93 |
Posted on 18-09-2019 23:50
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World Champion
Posts: 10845
Joined: 29-10-2007
PCM$: 500.00
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Too bad that list leaves out the most interesting rider for us, but that's understandable looking into the future.
I wish you all the best rebuilding in PCT.
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Mresuperstar |
Posted on 19-09-2019 03:16
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8057
Joined: 22-06-2009
PCM$: 650.00
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cio93 wrote:
Too bad that list leaves out the most interesting rider for us, but that's understandable looking into the future.
I wish you all the best rebuilding in PCT.
Out of respect to the Zabel family, we would certainly still listen to offers to potentially send him to a more prestigious and fitting team. No reason to hold him hostage in the PCT if a good offer comes along.
That said, Zabel had a pretty good season for us last year so I'm a little more reluctant to let him go.
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Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 03:21
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SotD |
Posted on 20-09-2019 12:02
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World Champion
Posts: 12187
Joined: 29-11-2006
PCM$: 2980.00
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Zabel and Kozhatayev should be on that availability list surely... I heard they were keen on switching to a certain French/Greek orientated team.
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