Thanks again to hillis91; this is quite possibly the most beautiful jersey to be sported by a member of our team

Nikolas Maes

Maes joins the team from former PT outfit Iberia - Team Degenkolb for a fee of 700,000. Maes was brought in to contest flat cobbled races for the team this season, and to also assist Matt Goss along with Cheng Ji in the sprints. Whilst the cobbles competition in PCT is much harder than in season past, we believe that with proper utilisation of Maes' terrific rouler abilities he'll soak up a decent amount of points in his goal races.

Tesfom Okbamariam

Okbamariam joins the team as Maes' right-hand man. A former member of the now defunct Eritel squad, he joins the growing African contingent of riders in the team as well as being the second Eritrean to join the team this season along with Meron Russom. His season will consist of following Maes and Goss around to a great number of key races; Okbamariam will certainly be a vital cog in the Indosat machine for the upcoming season.

Bartosz Warchol

After the unfortunate loss of Alberto Bettiol, priority was shifted to bringing in another decent talent to compensate. Warchol's already going to be a valuable member of our mountain squad, racing over 80+ race days in the coming season in support of Keizer and Brenes. A development path has not yet been finalised; although two potential outcomes (above) are the most likely outcomes of Warchol's development.

[C1] WIN - Volta Catalunya

The recent acquisition of Martijn Keizer should prove to be highly beneficial here, with a top-5 result almost nailed on. With one hard MT stage, one medium mountain stage and a 43km ITT, Keizer should have no problems achieving a respectable result in Catalunya. His most recent attempt at the race in 2015, he finished on the podium. The third stage that concludes with a cat.3 climb before plateauing and then rising again will most likely prove to be the hardest stage for the team's ambitions. Nonetheless, with the rest of the race so suited to Keizer's strengths he should have no trouble making up for lost time elsewhere.

Probability: WIN: 6/10 Top-5: 8/10

[C1] Top-5 - Ras Tailtean

A toss-up between Ras and Barbados, Matt Goss decided to prioritise the former as his season's peak. Whilst before the recent transfer season a top-5 was almost a given, the influx of so many more top sprinters into the division means a top-10 result overall will be an achievement. Goss lost the support of Moser and Colbrelli during the recent transfer season; Ji, Maes, Okba and Speirs will be his leadout for the new season. The loss of the aforementioned shouldn't be too detrimental to Goss' performances - last season he tended to jump on other team's trains as a preference to forming his own (or be lead-out by only Ji).

Probability: Top-5: 4/10 Top 10: 7/10

[HC] Top-5 - Int. Osterreich Rundfahrt

Another goal set for Martijn Keizer, Rundfahrt is an incredibly difficult race featuring 3 gruelling mountain stages, 33km ITT and a difficult hilly stage. Keizer will look to traverse the mountains as well as he can and hopefully consolidate his losses on the fifth stage in the final ITT.

Probability: Top-5: 7/10 Top-10: 9/10

[PTHC] Top-10: Apex Mountain Classic

Our annual mistakeâ„¢ goal, we take to the roads of Canada with zero expectations and Gregory Brenes at the helm. It was a toss-up between California, Apex and a PTHC cobbled race for our final race-based goal. We weren't sure what to expect during transfers; would we sign a TT-heavy stage-racer? MT/Hil-based stage-racer? Would we keep Intxausti? Would we actually sign a rider who can ride on cobbles? With Catalunya and Rundfahrt being TT-reliant races, it was decided the safest option would be to opt for this one-day mountain classic in an attempt to cover ourselves should we not acquire a rider who could be trusted against the clock. Unfortunately, Keizer's talents are needed elsewhere during the season to maximise his point-scoring potential and thus won't be making the trip with his teammates.

Probability: lol

Team Standings: Top-10

After managing to sneak into the top-10 of the PCT standings last season, it's not unreasonable to believe that achieving a similar result is possible. We were predicted by many to finish in the region of 15th-16th; after disappointing seasons from Intxausti and Anuar Aziz it was Matt Goss that left it all on the road and pulled us from mid-table obscurity into the top-10. It appears that many teams in the PCT division are very evenly matched and predicting our final position (or that of others) is relatively difficult. Anywho, repeating the feats of the previous season is definitely possible, although there'll be a myriad of teams competing for the same goal.

Probability: Top-10: 5/10 Top-5: 3/10

After a successful season 2017, we feel we have improved the squad and possess a rider who could achieve great things in each discipline. The aforementioned loss of Moser & Colbrelli shouldn't be of much hinderance to Matt Goss as he tends to jump on other's wheels; the acquisition of Nikolas Maes along with Cheng Ji (both 80FL) will be an interesting combination in flat races/stages for sure.

Martijn Keizer is deemed an improvement to Benat Intxausti; possessing far superior ITT abilities amongst other things. As well as being a top stage-racer in the division, he'll be among the top-3 to 5 time-trialists also. Unfortunately, the team failed to acquire another 2-3 respectable time-trialists during transfers in an attempt to not be a TTT embarrassment.
Brenes, Signorini, J-LA & Russom should provide adequate support. Brenes will also assume leadership during a number of races throughout the season after scoring close to 400 points last season.

Anuar Aziz remained on the team after accepting a wage cut during renewals. He'll have modest support throughout the season and should perform much better now that EBH and TVG have gone back to where they belong Lutsenko and Kinoshita will prove difficult to overcome however, as AA is sure to clash with them many a time.

Maes & Okbamariam should provide the team with modest success particularly away from PTHC races during the season. Maes' terrific rouleur abilities will certainly play to his advantage in flat cobbled classics where his big engine will be utilised. After never having a rider on the team capable of even a top-50 result in this discipline, we're definitely excited to see what he can do!