Thanks for commenting BBL. I'm not sure PCT is stronger or weaker overall than last year, but it is 100% definitely (imo) stronger this upcoming and immediately preceding seasons than it was in 2015-6, and a giant step ahead of the position in 2014.
As for Boily, I think top 50 will be a bit of a stretch. As long as he hits our internal points target we will be delighted. That would be in the vicinity of 60-70th in last seasons PCT rankings. This takes no account of the additional RD's that most riders have available to them this season though, so that points target probably translates to lower in the individual standings. Additionally, Boily will have a race programme heavy with PTHC and HC appearances ensuring that he will be facing the very best possible opposition for the majority of his outings.
Also while discussing Boily, it is worth highlighting that he is one of a few riders that perhaps looks a bit out of place in the MGUCI rider rankings (read OVR rating), sitting just outside the top 100 riders with an overall of 77.04 (a significant increase in comparison to 2017 season position). This combined with his stellar 2017 season in a significant wage rise negotiated for him by his agents. Not dis-similar 'main' statted riders sit anywhere from 0.5-1.5 points lower in the OVR ratings. A bit of digging has identified that the main differenetiator appears to be his downhill acumen. Whether this is worth 75-100K more wages than similar peers only time will tell. It is acknowledged that David's one victory last season did rely heavily on his downhill abilities (San Luis st 4). More of these type of results/utilisation of skills will be necessary this season to continue to attract this additional premium to his wage demands!
After only one season with WCC, Sam Harrison is a rider who has become synonmous with our team. As the second WCC rider to finish inside the top 10 of the CT individual standings, 2017 was a defining season for Sam indicating his proper arrival on the professional scene. Working in tandem with cobbles-compadre Robert Bush, WCC were a fixture at the pointy-end of cobbled races throughout the 2017 season. Sam's maiden victory at Kuurne-Brussles-Kuurne utilised the strength of the team on the day to deliver a sprint victory by a massive margin, highlighting both his ability on the cobbles as well as his deadly sprint finish at the end of any difficult days racing.
Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne 2017 sprint finish
A similarly emphatic victory on stage 1 of the Tour du Faso laid the foundation for overall victory in the three stage event. Other quality performances included 3rd overall at the C1-rated KBC De Panne Tour (also mopping up the U25 jersey, and 3rd in the green jersey competiton), 10th at C1-rated Viano do Castelo, and 7th at late season sprint-fest, Paris-Tours. WCC management had been very keen to potentially work with Sam in the off-season to improve his potential to regularly compete at PCT level, but due to financial reasons these endevours ultimately came to naught. That leaves Sam in the difficult position of falling short of the premium cobbled racers in PCT (and PT when featuring on the PTHC calendar), and similarly being out-classed in the sprint department. WCC management are aware of the situation, and have set what we believe to be realsitically achievable goals for Sam for this season. His continued partnership with Robert Bush, and now Issac Bolivar (having returned from PT loan) will still be a crucial building block of both his and the teams race calendar. We also envisage utilsing his versatility with appearances at events which feature ITT and TTT events.
This may prove a transition year for Sam Harrison after his break-out 2017, but at 26 years of age, Sam's career is still just getting started, and there will be many highlights yet to come.
Sam Harrison | Age:26 | British | XP 4.100 Pot (6) | Wage: 150,000
I'd like to see Harrison surprise-dominate again but PCT is a totally different scene, still there are some races that can suit him and in his best day he can be able to pull of some good results
Harrison is such an interesting rider! But yeah, he shouldn't be a favourite in any PCT races he will ride. Still someone who can steal some points here and there.
As for your normal team, you created a well-balanced squad, though a lot of them suffer from weaker substats. Will be interesting to see if they perform despite of that.
One of a clutch of '80' sprinters in the 2017 CT division, Jaime Alberto Castañeda (JAC) had a stellar season including capturing GC at Circulo de Juarez, the Colombian National RR title (fulfilling a career long dream), and 2 individual stage victories. He also picked up numerous top 5 stage results and hence unsurprisingly was also in the running for the green jersey standings on more than one occasion. This ensured a final position safely inside the top 20 of the individual CT standings at the end of the season, 2nd only to Mohamed Harrif Salleh in terms of pure sprinters in the ranking.
JAC has plenty of PCT-level racing experience, and hopes to add to his extensive existing palmares in this his last season before the inevitable decline due to age occurs. While falling far short of the 'A'-list of PCT sprinters, he has the craft and experience to compete on his day. This season he will expect to have to more actively 'surf-the-wheels' in sprint finishes, as he is highly unlikely to merit a sprint train as was an occasional luxury in CT. In his distinctive Colombian RR NC livery, we hope to see him as a constant presence in the mad dash of the last couple of kilometres.
JAC securing victory at stage 3 of the Circulo de Juarez. An important stepping stone to securing overall victory by the narrowest of margins!
Jaime Alberto Castañeda | Age:32| Colombian | XP 4.100 Pot (5) | Wage: 100,000
Lots of interesting news to divulge today at WCC HQ.
First up we have the release of our (vast!) collection of National Champions jerseys for the 2018 season. Half were won by returning riders from the 2017 roster (Boily, Castañeda, De Luna, Thomson), while the other half are as a consequence of new riders signed for 2018 (Cisse, Russo, Feng, Arissol). Otherwise we confirm that our other riders will continue to wear the same World Cycling Centre kit as in 2017.
We are as always delighted to highlight the contribution of fellow MG manager the_hoyle in creating our jersey roster for which we offer many thanks.
Canadian National RR Champion: David Boily
Colombian National RR Champion: Jaime Alberto Castañeda
Mexican National TT Champion: Flavio De Luna
South African National RR Champion: Jay Thomson
Ivory Coast National RR + TT Champion: Issiaka Cisse
Krygyzstan National RR + TT Champion: Evgeny Russo
Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) National TT Champion: Chun Kai Feng
Seychelles National RR Champion: Ahmad Arissol
Our second major announcement today is to confirm our January race calendar. The full calendar will be released in a month-by-month format, and all releases will be summarised in the overall 'calendar' post on page 1. We will also endevour to update the running 'points accumulated' portion of the overall calendar page as the season progresses.
Date(s):
Race:
Class:
RD's:
Leaders:
Points
10th Jan
Down Under Classic
HC
2
Lay, Feng
10th Jan
Classico San Cristobal
C2
2
R-G, Juarez
28th Jan
Apex Mountain Classic
PTHC
2
Berhane, Ji
31st Jan
Clasique Pico Basile
C1
2
Berhane, Ji
January opens steadily with 8 RD's in total. All one-day classics, a variety of terrains are covered.
On the opening day of the season we have a double-header with our sprinters and flat-beasts heading to the PCT opener, the Down Under Classic, while our eligible puncheurs head for the CT opening Classico San Cristobal. Ambitions are modest in both cases as sprint classics are not a real focus for WCC in a division with the likes of Degentash, Lo Cicero, Ewan, Cav, et al. at the top of the food-chain, while eligibility criteria mean our lead riders are somewhat limited in comparison with the CT-elite expected in Cuba. R-G has had steady results the last two seasons in San Cristobal, and the primary aim is to avoid a zero-pointer in either case. For context, the Down Under Classic is a mandatory race due to band selection that we would unlikely choose to attend if C1-rated, and similarly, a minimum number of eligibility-restricted C2-rated outings are mandated by the MGUCI, hence our attendance in Cuba is mostly directed towards fulfilling part of this requirment. Nonetheless, it will be an exciting day for our young debutants Sendeku, Martinez and Dlamini who begin their respective professional journeys with WCC.
Then we have two mountain classics to close the opening month, one at PTHC level so potentially attracting some mountain 'animals' from PT, the other C1. Both our 80+ mountain climbers attend both events, with decent support in both cases in case any early travails have to be quickly rectified. The downhill conclusion of the Apex Mountain event will give the event a distinct character. Berhane is quite a decent descender, and Ji isn't too shabby either; we hope this may help them overcome some of the deficit to peers that may occur on the way to the summit, perhaps making up for some of their deficiency in responding to 'jumpy' attacks. The Clasique Pico Basile offers an opportunity for both our mountain leaders to test themselves on the never-ending final ascent (33km @ 8.4% !!). Ambitions will be dictated by the strength of the start-list; preliminary hope is for one rider top 10, the other top 15 which reflects the way we see the characterstics of the final ascent matching our riders attributes, and expectations that a number of PCT teams may not sign-up for this event.
Entering his third season leading WCC's cobbles unit, Robert comes off a very successful 2017 CT season where his tandem partnership with Sam Harrison proved very fruitful. Management were perhaps a little surprised that the scoring between the two was not a little more even; Harrison benefitted from some tame racing on the cobbles, which alternatively hurt Bush's chances. Nevertheless, a haul of 229 ranking points to secure 20th in the individual rankings was still an excellent return, and solid improvement over his 2016 form. Top 10 results such as 2nd @ Lillestrom GP (C2HC), 4th @ GP Herning (HC), 4th @ Geraardsbergen-Bosberg (C2HC), 7th @ Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne (C2), 10th @ Gent - Wevelgem (C1) indicate highlights from his 2017 season show-reel.
Robert (2nd from right) makes a late surge to secure 4th @ HC-rated GP Herning
Surprisingly, Robert has still yet to secure a race win in his career, and hopes to rectify that this season. The bookies rate his chances as unlikely in comparison to the odds they were offering in the previous pre-season when GvK looked to be the only serious challenger to his chances in a number of CT outings.
With a return to the PCT, and the apparent step-up in cobbled focus across the division, Bush will have a hard-time indeed making it on to race podiums. His focus has to be steady points accumulation, grabbing top 10 placings when they are on offer, and avoiding finishing any lower than 15th in cobbled events are the targets that the rider and managment have agreed upon at pre-season camp. One bright spot for Bush is that although there are some changes in personnel, his cobbled support unit if anything has strengthened this season in comparison with 2017 which should help him overcome any early race mishaps, or mid-race inattentiveness to then play his cards as the finale approaches.
Robert Bush | Age:28 | American | XP 4.100 Pot (5) | Wage: 115,000
Good wage for a rider of his abilities. Probably not up to the PCT level to get great results, but a consistent support of not so big points, but as he proved last year in GP Herning, with his good sprint, a surprise result is always in the possible outcomes in the flatter cobbled races
@Aqua: I agree, a good rider for his wage, but not a PCT star. WCC have fingers and toes crossed that in tandem with Harrison he can bring in a haul of close to 300 points from the cobbled races. This season I expect Bush to have to carry more of this burden than Harrison, even although their respective wages might suggest the other way around. Is a pretty ambitious target with the level of competition. Consistent finishing around 10th would ensure Bush meets his individual target of 200 points. Comparable riders in PCT last season fell far short of this, but expect less of the cobbled races to end up in large bunch sprints inflitrated by barely cobbler type riders this year. If for some reason that re-occurs, then Harrison is in the wings to step-up and contribute the bigger 'half' of their dual target.
Moving forward, is time to welcome a couple of riders back into the WCC fold having spent last season out on loan in the PT division polishing their professional development (note other loaned out (lvl 3 as was) riders are again out on loan as lvl 4 dudes this season so will be introduced separately).
Returning (now Maxed) loaned-out riders
First up is Mexican ITT champion Flavio De Luna. Flavio joined WCC in 2016 as a relatively late-blooming neo-pro as one of our first development projects. After riding in our colours in 2016, and then last season on loan with Gazelle, at 28 years old he finally reaches his full potential as a versatile domestique. Flavio's main strength is as a time-trialist, and mountain support rider. This season he will also make contributions at hilly stage races, and even the occasional cobbled event. This versatility is one of his defining characteristics as to why we deem him a key core component of our roster now that WC tries to establish itself as a long-term fixture in the PCT division. There will be a number of occasions for De Luna to air his NC ITT jersey at events like the Monterrey TTT, TTT stage in Tour of South Africa, and during various ITT stages such as at the Post Danmark Rundt, Tour of Japan and Corsica International.
Flavio had a steady 2017 PT season on loan at Gazelle. No stand-out individual performances, but he did contribute 95 ranking points along the way while serving the interests of his designated leader. We think this s a good return for a loaning-in team only paying 25K worth of wages. Flavio wanted to express his thanks to the management and riders at Gazelle for making him so welcome and providing such great racing and learning opportunities throughout the season.
Flavio is not viewed as a significant individual point scorer on the WCC roster, instead we hope his good support work will help lift our leaders to more consistent strong showings. If he picks up some minor points here and there on the way, we certainly won't complain!
Flavio riding in Gazelle colours on loan in 2017 defended his Mexican ITT Championship
Flavio De Luna | Age:28 | Mexican | XP 4.100 Pot (3) | Wage: 50,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
67
74
71
75
67
72
70
66
56
68
66
67
74
Palmares
Season
Div
Rank
Points
Team
Victories
2016
CT
357
1
World Cycling Centre
Mexican ITT Championship
2017
PT (Loan)
289
95
Gazelle
Mexican ITT Championship
2018
PCT
World Cycling Centre
The second returning rider is Colombian Issac Bolivar. Issac is very much a management favourite, even if this will be the first season where he actually races in our colours. Signed in 2016, WCC committed to support Bolivar with his dual-focus of completing his University studies while similtaneously completing his cycling education. Balancing both these objectives has meant that it has taken 5 years since his neo-pro debut in 2013 with Evian-MIAT to finally 'graduate' in both endevours. We have finally reached the point where we will see whether or not our, and Issac's own expectations are now met.
Issac had a steady PT loan season with Wiesenhof-Andritz in 2017, with plenty more RD's than during his 2016 stint wth Evonik where his studies took priority. Not stellar, but certainly an acceptable return of 78 ranking points for his host team while assisting leader Ruben Zepuntke (now a PCT adversary!), and surprisingly surpassing his more storied cobbled colleague Enrico Franzoi on less than a third of the wage cost. Issac had a great time under manager Heine's wing, and wishes his now former colleagues well as they step up their two-pronged fight for PT and GT success.
Bolivar slots into our roster as the key support rider for cobbled lead Robert Bush. More importantly from a role-model perspective, Issac is a standard-bearer for aspiring young South American cyclists not full-fixated on defying gravity, but in this case tackling the cobbled terrain. A couple of opportunities to focus exclusively on his own results have presented themselves on the calendar, not least the Chrono d'Arenberg where Bolivar immediately contacted management when the race was announced to put his hat in the ring as a potential starter for WCC. Won't be a favourite, but some point scoring potential on the day. His bread-and-butter though will be to sheperd Bush and when appropriate Harrison safely through the mid-race of cobbled events, and then hang on as best as he can to the coat-tails of the main protagonists in the hope of mopping up depth-points here-and-there. An intelligent and focussed rider, Bolivar has himself identified to management that his personal ambition for the season is to surpass the 1p/WageK threshold (so 50 ranking points). He has additionally identified unfinished business with the Tour of Northern Europe (to which WCC have obtained a wildcard), as it was the one race last year where he was personally most disappointed with his own showing. Issac believes that he can crack the top 50 overall at this event, whereas last season he was an also-ran finishing in 129th. Small horizons in some contexts, but we are glad to see Bolivar is willing to set himself measurable identified goals around which he can continue to develop his potential.
Bolivar policing the break for Wiesenhof-Andritz, st 6 ToNE (mid-picture)
Isaac Bolivar | Age:27 | Colombian | XP 4.100 Pot (5) | Wage: 50,000
Now that the season has kicked off, we need to speed up the intros in order to hopefully manage to introduce our newly acquired leaders at least before they don WCC colours in anger. First up though we want to complete the retruning rider intros. For the core domestiques who return from the 2017 season, we will limit ourselves to a shorter paragraph and then updated palmares for each given that they were introduced more fully in the preceding season.
First up is ex-Colombian National RR Champ Michael Rodriguez Galindo, or R-G to those who follow him on social media. R-G was given responsibility as a lead rider for WCC in the 2016 season (due to the very late entry into transfers!), took a step back in 2017 to playing the more suited key support rider role for Boily, and in 2018 takes a further step down the puncheur hierarchy with the arrival of Betacourt. R-G will under-study Betancourt and/or Boily for the vast majority of his race programme which offers a good mix of 1-day and stage races. Most likely completely restricted to a domestique role in 1-day events, he may occassionally get a chance to shine during stage races. R-G has proven a reliable point scorer in the CT (steady, nothing flashy), easily surpassing the 1p/wageK threshold in both the 2016/7 seasons (much closer to 2p/wageK in fact). Whether he will be able to achieve 1p/wageK in the PCT is more debatable, but certainly a solid personal season goal after first ensuring he has maximised his leaders opportunities.
Michael Rodriguez Galindo | Age:29| Colombian | XP 4.100 Pot (5) | Wage: 55,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
69
74
76
66
72
72
69
55
58
67
73
71
66
Palmares
Season
Div
Rank
Points
Team
Victories
2013
PCT
318
41
Repsol-Cativen
2014
PCT
141
156
Repsol-Cativen
St 7, Tour of Britain
2015
PT (Loan)
188
156
Vesuvio - Accumulaux
Colombian National RR Championship
2016
CT
29
209
World Cycling Centre
St 2, Tour of Scotland
2017
CT
64
107
World Cycling Centre
2018
PCT
World Cycling Centre
Next up we have Ilia Koshevoy. In a similar situation to R-G in 2016, Koshevoy had to shoulder the difficult mantle as 'lead', in this case for mountainous stage races for WCC in 2017 (given that team managment had decided to more or less forego that terrain for the season). To be frank, Koshevoy was (not unexpectedly!) out-classed in that role. He is in a much more relaxed frame-of-mind entering the 2018 season where he now has a more suited role as lead-domestique in mountainous stage races with the arrival of Berhane and Ji during transfers. Perhaps this more relaxed approach will mean that he gets an opportunity or two in the break to stretch his legs on some tough suitable stages and can aspire towards claiming his first professional victory!
Ilia Koshevoy | Age:27| Belarussian | XP 4.100 Pot (5) | Wage: 60,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
69
76
73
68
71
72
74
56
60
69
74
75
67
Palmares
Season
Div
Rank
Points
Team
Victories
2013
CT
314
6
Team Credexbank
2014
PCT
608
0
BelarusBank Pro Cycling
2015
Amateur
2016
PT
491
38
Becherovka - Petrof
2017
CT
150
37
World Cycling Centre
2018
PCT
World Cycling Centre
Having covered our key lead domestique for puncheur and mountain terrain, now is the turn for our time-trial equivalent to step forward - Sven Vandousselaere. Although we have no 'lead' TT-ist, Sven knows his role is as a team-mate rather than a leader. Sven is aware that there are too many better pure TT riders in the PCT divsion for him to realistically expect to have many stand-out performances, but hopes on occasion to utilise his competent skills on lumy terrain to perhaps battle for minor GC places at TT-dominated stage races that feature enough lumps and bumps on other stages to see off the true f(l)atties. He is also excited to be returning to his first cycling love, the TTT event with a debut appearance for WCC in Monterrey. While far behind the leading contenders, WCC lead by Sven, will field 8 riders with 70+ TT, and only two of these have hill ratings of below 70 (69 and 67), so given the undulating parcours, might surprisingly punch above their weight on the day with a little bit of luck?
Sven Vandousselaere | Age:30 | Belgian | XP 4.100 Pot (5) | Wage: 50,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
74
55
69
76
72
72
71
62
70
71
76
60
76
Palmares
Season
Div
Rank
Points
Team
Victories
2009
PCT
235
32
Virgin Media B
2010
---
Amateur
2011
---
Amateur
St 2 Saschen Tour
2012
PT
271
114
Carmeuse - Bouygues Telecom
2013
PCT
198
102
Team Bpost
2014
PT
299
108
Team Bpost - Vlaanderen
2015
PCT
141
112
Team BPost
2016
PT
424
59
Bpost - Vlaanderen
2017
CT
103
63
World Cycling Centre
2018
PCT
World Cycling Centre
Sitting somewhere between a lead domestique and secondary leader role when it comes to bunch sprints we have Spanish sprinter Saulo Lay. Lay was one of the few riders who failed to meet managment's 2017 pre-season points target, and many were surprised to see him retained for the 2018 season. Although his points scoring record last year was less than we had hopd for, he did play a key role leading JAC to overall victory at the Circulo de Juarez (although their ability to combine well across the season was pretty much dis-proved elsewhere). When JAC secured the Colombian RR National title at the end of the 2017 season, it secured him a final one-year contract with WCC. While the mid-season plan had been to move JAC and Lay along and bring in a 'bigger' sprinter with their combined wage, with JAC being resigned, we also felt compelled to commit to Lay at the same time, as their would not have been room to manouvere for much better with how we intended to distribute our wage cap.
This season Lay spends a lot less time in JAC's company, and hence gets more opportunities to fight his own corner. Avoiding most of JAC's programme does mean that he will have to schlep up hills and over mountains on occasion to then get the opportunity to see a sprint stage. He has decent 'wheel-surfing' potential, and this will often be required as he will regularly be a lone-wolf in stage race sprint finishes. Sprint competition is intense in PCT, and limited top results are envisaged. Our main hope is to see Lay actually get involved in appropiate sprint stages rather than just sitting in the bunch. If so, he can then at least hope for an occassional 'float' day where he can utilise his Acc to propel himself in front of potentially stronger sprint rivals and grab some points here-and-there!
Saulo Lay | Age:30| Spanish | XP 4.100 Pot (6) | Wage: 90,000
The final returining 'core' rider is newly-crowned South African National RR Champ Jay Thomson. Thomson has found a niche on the WCC squad helping out our puncheurs who can also rely on his flat skills mid-stage if such are required. In combination with his handy TT ability, this means we can expect to see him support his leaders at multiple 1-day puncheur classics, and then stage races like the Tours of Denmark, Norway and South Africa. At 32 years old, most of Thomson's professional cycling career is behind rather than in front of him, and he has hinted towards potentially retiring at the end of the season after having now achieved his goal of winning both the RR (2017) and TT (2014, 2016) national titles during his career. He therefore has plenty of motivation to ensure that, as potentially his final professional season, he gathers many more happy memories of his time with WCC.
Jay Thomson | Age:32| South African | XP 4.100 Pot (5) | Wage: 50,000
Since it's institution in the Man-Game in 2016, the World Cycling Centre has avoided mountainous stage races when possible, and therefore never signed an appropriate terrain leader. With promotion to the PCT divsion, this strategy is now deemed sub-optimal, and hence strong moves were made in the transfer season to strengthen this department of the team. Our primary approach was to bring on board a South American leader, however riders we deemed appropriate became to expensive to offer what we perceived as good value, therefore we turned attention elsewhere. For less wage money than we had offered for one rider, we have in fact recruited two new riders. The first of these required an excessive wage to finalise recruitment, but this is off-set by his age looking longer-term. The other signing has a much more palatable wage, but less long-term prospects as he is already 31 years old. Together the balance of age vs wage of the combination we believe is a good solution for this first season in the PCT, in particular given the amount of RD's that it allows us to cover between the two. Although not on the elite A-list of stage racers in the division, they do both slot in just behind. With hindsight, post-transfers we are in fact very happy with the situation that arose, even although it was not 'Plan A'. Hopefully we will still feel the same good feelings post-season!
First up we have Natnael Berhane a rider who has spent his entire career to date riding for what culminated as the Eritel organisation in the PCT. With Eritel disbanding, his experience in the division, proven ability to win stage races, and experience riding for a team that has a strong bent towards long-term rider development means that he is an excellent fit for WCC. He has already benefitted from serious investment by the Eritel organisation prior to the 2016 season (Mo 80 -> 81). If we can manage his wage demands in future seasons, he still has future potential to be worth considering the merits of possible further training. In light of this, we have made a minor investment in improving his time-trial ability with wind-tunnel testing backed up by further equipment and position comparisons via track sessions.
Natnael Berhane | Age:28 | Eritrean | XP 4.100 Pot (5) | Wage: 475,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FI
DH
PRL
68
81
75
66
77
73
73
52
62
68
67
71
65
Palmares
Season
Div
Rank
Points
Team
Victories
2012
PCT
459
18
Rapha Condor - Qhubeka
2013
PCT
515
7
Jaguar - Eritel
2014
PCT
55
371
Jaguar - Eritel
2015
PCT
43
440
Eritel - Sonatrach
GC Tour of America
St 7, Tour of America
2016
PCT
57
354
Eritel - Sonatrach
St 9, Tour of America
2017
PCT
49
322
Eritel - Sonatrach
GC Tour of East Java
St 2, Tour of East Java
2018
PCT
World Cycling Centre
Joining Natnael, we have brought a further proven stage racer onboard, Jianhua Ji from China. Ji has spent the majority of his career riding for Asian-based teams, principally Meiji, and more latterly Compal-Merida. The last few season of his career have proven to be a bit of a roller-coaster journey. He was a key component of the Meiji unit that secured PT promotion in 2014, but then struggled in the PT. His return to the PCT has been patchy in recent seasons, but he had a revived solid season in 2017 after moving to Compal - a similar point-scoring return in 2018 for WCC would reflect a good p/wageK return. Ji generally performs best when acting as 2nd-gun rather than under the pressure of leadership. This season he will spend sometime supporting Berhance, but more of his RD's will be spent working in tandem with David Boily, offering a two-pronged approach to mixed stage races, hopefully ensuring that WCC are in an advantageous situation whether hills or mountains prove dominant. Hopefully this will provide him with the race conditions and environment where he can flourish!
Jianhua Ji | Age:31 | Chinese | XP 4.100 Pot (4) | Wage: 150,000
With the step up to PCT, WCC were focussed on bringing in a South American leader for at least one additional terrain, and Colombian Carlos Betancourt was number one on our list entering the transfer season. Carlos has been a high-profile Man-Game rider for a number of seasons now, having been the subject of more than one FA bidding war in the last 4-5 years. His stand-out 2014 season which saw him finish inside the top 10 of the PCT individual rankings highlight his undoubted talent. Since then though, there have been growing suspicions within the professional cycling community that the big pay-days have gone to Carlos' head, and in some circles he is now more well known for chasing podium girls than podium results! Nonetheless, at WCC we think that we can create an environment that gets him back on track, and have put a cunning plan in place to keep Carlos on the straight-and-narrow .
One thing that has been noticeable over the past few seasons is how much more there is of Betancourt at the start of each new season. Team-mates have previously labelled him as 'the man who ate Carlos Betancourt' on pre-season training camps, and it is often mid-season before he doesn't block out the sun for half the peloton. These troubles meant that Betancourt's relationship with his previous Minions team had broken down well before the end of his 2-year contract.
To counteract his destructive winter period behaviour, WCC have taken the unusual approach of contractually agreeing to co-invest in a local business with Carlos, and pay the rent on his nearby winter rental apartment in lieu of some of his future wage payments. While Carlos is not that fussed one way or another about hairsdressing and hairstyles, he has proven to have a very keen interest in the running (and in particular clientele) of the high-end Vidal Sassoon franchise he now co-owns just down the street from his apartment in Medellin. We are happy to report that Carlos has established a winter routine of riding morning, noon and night. At least in the morning his bike is usually a participant! This has also curbed his excesses with respect to relentlessly hitting the night-spots of Medellin and Bogota over the winter period; no need when his 'trawling' can be done in the afternoon close to home! His liking for cake still remains, but all the calories burned from his various 'riding' activities mean that it is more of a cycling Michelin tyre that he has acquired over the winter, rather than the usual truck-sized 'growth-ring'.
With all these measures in place, we believe that we can now rely on Carlos being in good condition for the start of the season, and now just need to identify a similar scheme to keep him focussed on racing during the season. Rumours that he is to have his own personal masseuse follow him throughout the race season remain unconfirmed.
In completely unrelated news, WCC have just announced a new service provision contract with Bogota based gentleman's establishment Club Paradiso.
Carlos Betancourt | Age:29 | Colombian | XP 4.100 Pot (4) | Wage: 200,000
79 points gathered across 8 race-days (< 10 ppRD) is not likely to be enough to avoid relegation if the whole season was to mirror this start. WCC have a season long target of >12 ppRD deemed enough to be a reasonable expectation to avoid finishing amongst the bottom 5 PCT teams. Our stretch target is 14 ppRD to reach our main performance based bonus payment criteria for both riders and staff. However we are not unhappy with the start to the season, as 2 of the 4 races to-date featured no riders that we consider to be our leaders. In total only around 20-25 RD's across the season will suffer similarly, so statistically, January was always expected to be a 'poor' month in terms of the ppRD target.
More positive has been the start to the season by our stage race leader Berhane who has performed well up to standard in his opening two outings. Opening with 14th at the Apex Mountain Classic doesn't sound that exciting, but the majority of the highest scoring placings were dominated by PT teams in this PTHC outing, therefore we performed well in compariosn with the teams we deem to be our peers in terms of lower mid-table PCT. In a weakened Pico Basile start-list, Berhane was again up to scratch, and we were happy across these two outings to see that it is not unreasonable to rely on him delivering a steady stream of points across the season. We have to wait for February to see our various puncheur, sprint and cobbled leaders make their respective season debuts.
February offers an intense month of racing that will ensure that all our riders will have had the opportunity to kick-off their respective seasons. 26 RD's in total, although 8 of these are related to the PT wild-card outing at Paris-Nice. We are happy that our pre-season planning ensures we have avoided any complex race clashes with our race/leader selections.
Date(s):
Race:
Class:
RD's
Leaders
Points
5-8 Feb
Tour of the Middle East
HC
4
Berhane, Ji
Scorers:
6th Feb
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
PTHC
2
Bush, Bolivar
Scorers:
8-14 Feb
Tour de Pologne
HC
7
Betancourt, Boily
Scorers:
14th Feb
Viana do Castelo
C1
2
Bush, Bolivar
Scorers:
15-22 Feb
Paris-Nice
PT Wildcard
8
Berhane, Ji
n/a
Scorers:
n/a
25-27 Feb
Etoile de Besseges
C1
3
Betancourt, Boily
Scorers:
Our full Paris-Nice squad is the only race where so many of our 'leaders' will co-exist, with Berhane + Ji for mountain stages, Boily + Betancourt for the hills, and JAC for the sprints (maybe!). The squad is completed by our 3 development riders acting as domestiques and gaining valuable experience for the future.
From a sponsors perspective, the Tour de Pologne is considered most important, being WCC's season win goal. Victory would be a tall order, and somewhat of a surprise given the likely competition. In selecting our win goal, we thought that the various race clashes that exist around those dates might reduce the overall quality of the field. We have since become aware that a number of other teams may well have had similar thoughts given others have also identified this race as a key sponsor goal.
February is a very important month in terms of RD commitment, and also in getting a fuller picture of what the rest of the season has in store. By the end of the month all of the riders that we consider to be our leaders will have had a number of opportunities to start to establish their position relative to their peers. We enter the month with confidence that we will exit it in a good frame of mind, having fully established our PCT credentials!
Apologies, has been quiet here at WCC HQ, however hopefully our lengthy analysis/diatribes in race forums in part makes up for this!
WCC season summary
Goals
Race
Category
Target
Result
Volta a Portugal
PTHC
Top 10
13th
Tour de Pologne
HC
Win
11th
GP Herning
HC
Top 5
3rd
Clasica San Sebastian
HC
Top 5
16th
Team Standings
-
Top 15
17th
Setting goals is difficult at the best of times, and when moving up a division and hence requiring a significant reshuffle is even more of a stab in the dark. Hence we were relatively conservative with goal setting. However we still ended up only achieving 1 of 5, although a couple more were close. Robert Bush takes the honour in securing our only sponsor target goal at GP Herning.
Rider analysis
Points
Wage cost/point
Koshevoy
Ilia
185
€ 324.32
Bush
Robert
256
€ 449.22
Feng
Chun Kai
91
€ 549.45
Bolivar
Isaac
82
€ 609.76
Betancourt
Carlos
271
€ 738.01
Redecker
Heiko
87
€ 747.13
Boily
David
300
€ 766.67
Affonso
Murilo
60
€ 833.33
Vandousselaere
Sven
60
€ 833.33
Berhane
Natnael
548
€ 866.79
Arissol
Ahmad
55
€ 909.09
Brandt
Tyler
59
€ 932.20
Russo
Evgeny
47
€ 1,063.83
Ji
Jianhua
109
€ 1,376.15
Thomson
Jay
36
€ 1,388.89
Castañeda
Jaime Alberto
66
€ 1,515.15
Lay
Saulo
46
€ 1,956.52
Rodriguez Galindo
Michael
26
€ 2,115.38
Harrison
Sam
58
€ 2,586.21
De Luna
Flavio
13
€ 3,846.15
Juarez
Daniel
10
€ 5,000.00
Dlamini
Nicholas
5
€ 10,000.00
Cisse
Issiaka
2
€ 25,000.00
Sendeku
Getachew
0
n/a
Martinez
Daniel Felipe
0
n/a
WCC overall:
2472
€ 968.85
Rider points analysis is presented in terms of wage efficiency. As in previous season, all riders who achieved a points contribution at a rate of less than 1000/point are in managements good books, and have a better chance that their agents will be well received during renewals discussions. Those whose contribution was more expensive will have to have a hard look at their wage expectations if they want to stay on, or may well be shown the door!
In general, our depth worked quite well, as we have no stand-out overall points contribution (Berhane was top of the table for us in 38th in the PCT individual rankings), but most riders chipped in to some extent, and many of our domestiques did a solid job of also bringing in minor points though the season. The lvl 1+2 riders were of course not expected to make much contribution, instead concentrating on their development. Koshevoy was our most efficient rider, ToA being an obvious highlight, and one of our few genuine over-performances achieved through the season.
Berhane was of course our big outlay in terms of moves on the FA market, and considering how much we had to overpay market value to secure any sort of mtn/stage race leader, we are quite pleased with his return. The tricky issue of how much we can now reduce his wages while still hoping for strong points production is potentially the key headache of the renewals period. His side-kick Ji was not nearly as productive, but we do extend some kudos towards him in having helped both Berhane and Boily at crucial moments in the season to ensure they kept the points ticking over.
We were pleased with our returning cobbled group, where Bush had a solid season, and returning maxed home-boy Bolivar also chipped in well for a 50K domestique (still frustrated that he was excluded from C2 events though!), as did Feng, Arissol, et al. CT promotion hero Sam Harrison was the biggest disappointment here, and we will have to consider our approach to his future, as he falls between not being quite good enough as a cobbler or sprinter in PCT.
On the puncheur front, Betancourt continued his well documented streaky performances, but taken across the season as a whole he was OK, but still looking for him to chip in a bit stronger if retained. Our other CT promotion hero Boily had a poor season until rising like a pheonix from the flames at the Tour of Maroc, providing a glimpse of what we had hoped to see a bit more through the season. The heavy points return he achieved at Maroc did keep his head well above water though!
The biggest flop all around was our sprint unit which was frankly embarassing throughout the season, not even taking advantage of the race programme we had provided for them developed to avoid the big hitters in the majority of ocassions (JAC at ToA was a particular low point). Insiders would be surprised to see any of JAC (declining), Lay, Cisse or Juarez retained in 2019 as a complete re-think is required here; either to recruit stronger options, or focus on other terrains.
More positive is the return of our loaned out riders, where Mraouni (EA Vesuvio), Contreras and Venturini (both Desigual) have maxed out and are ready to take up permanent status now their development is complete. All three made good points contributions, with Mraouni the stand-out achieving a stage victory at ToNE, as well as a spell in the KoM jersey at the Giro while acting as domestiqe for overall victor Andy Schleck. Lvl 3 ->4 riders Sanogo and Restrepo (returning from Carrefour) are both likely to be looking for similar opportunities for a season on loan to the PT to finalise their development.
After operating for 2-years as the 'World Cycling Centre' with substantial private sponsorship keeping the team on the road, Scorchio Cycling Management (SCM) are transitioning their organisation to a more traditional sponsor-led team for the 2019 season. A potential long-term partnership has been put in place with two named sponsor organsiations; in 2019 the team you previously knew as World Cycling Centre will operate as:
When connecting one point to another in a sustainable manner, we are improving the quality of life of more than 350 million people in Colombia, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina, and Central America, through the operation of our 43 affiliates and subsidiaries.
We continue evolving after celebrating our 51st anniversary. Our way of working, communicating, and relating expresses our commitment to the future.
The legal nature of Interconexion Electrica S.A. E.S.P. –ISA– corresponds to a mixed public utility company, formed as a limited liability company, of commercial nature, national, and bonded to the Ministry of Mines and Energy, governed by Laws 142 and 143 of 1994 and headquartered in Medellin (Colombia). The Company has state and private investors. Its stocks and bonds are traded in the Colombia Stock Exchange.
Spoiler
In the interests of reporter sanity, we will not be using the full company title, instead adopting the 'iSA' branding
Secondary named sponsor Hexacta has previous history with SCM having been a minor sponsor of Grupo Nutresa in the 2015 season. Hexacta are a nearshore and offshore software development company that service a global client base from their HQ in Argentina. Leaders in IT consulting, offshore software development, testing and user interface design, with a global client base, Hexacta continues to expand with offices throughout Latin America and recent expansion into the US.
Additional sponsors will likely be unveiled at a later stage, although it is expected that at the very least, SCM will continue their existing relationships with Scott Bicycles and Pearl Izumi cycling apparel.
Very happy to see that Berhane improved on his 2017 season to collect some good points for you, and at the same time adding more history to his Tour of America performance sheet.
And that team-up at TONE between Bush and Mraouni was a great display!
Hi SN, thanks for stopping by, and great to have you back in the MG fold.
The Bush - Mraouni ToNE stage was indeed a highlight of the season for WCC as commented on at the time. Given how successful Mroauni's loan spell was with you, in retrospect I should have told Robert to knock him off rather than give him the stage in order to keep his wage expectations down! . Returning all but 7x wage cost (to you) in ranking points is one hell of a return from Mraouni's season. Our history of successful loans spanning back to the Nutresa era remains strong, so thanks once again for the collaboration.
There is overpaying for FA signings, and OVERPAYING - Berhane definitely falls in the latter category, hence we were delighted that the gamble paid off in the 2018 season, as he steadily accumulated a strong points return, and of course honoured his annual commitment to both succeed (stages) and fail (overall) at the ToA! His 2019 wage is significantly reduced, but still has plenty of future room for further reduction once he starts to forget the heady days of near half a million a season.
Likely transitioning to 2019 HQ imminently, so for those that are interested keep an eye out for the re-birth of WCC as ISA - Hexacta with discussion of renewals and speculation on transfer availability therein.
British | XP 4.100 Pot (6) | Wage: 150,000 
Colombian | XP 4.100 Pot (5) | Wage: 100,000 
Canadian National RR Champion: David Boily
Mexican National TT Champion: Flavio De Luna
South African National RR Champion: Jay Thomson
Ivory Coast National RR + TT Champion: Issiaka Cisse
Krygyzstan National RR + TT Champion: Evgeny Russo
Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) National TT Champion: Chun Kai Feng
Seychelles National RR Champion: Ahmad Arissol
American | XP 4.100 Pot (5) | Wage: 115,000 
Belarussian | XP 4.100 Pot (5) | Wage: 60,000 
Belgian | XP 4.100 Pot (5) | Wage: 50,000 
Spanish | XP 4.100 Pot (6) | Wage: 90,000 
Eritrean | XP 4.100 Pot (5) | Wage: 475,000 
Chinese | XP 4.100 Pot (4) | Wage: 150,000 
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