(many thanks for the manifold kind words about our Demare post! )
A final goodbye, and the most exciting parting gift!
Today is the day that, after an entire decade on our payroll and eight seasons in the Team Puma - SAP jersey, we part ways with Arnaud Demare.
All kind words have been said already, so it is time to talk business:
Our goal was to ensure that this opportunity would be used to further our future strength and stability, possibly even beyond Herklotz' prime years.
Thanks to our longtime friend liefwarrior at the newly returning PCT outfit Tryg - Gobik, we were able to do so beyond even our most ambitious pre-transfer plans!
While we initially had planned to amass sufficient cash to train up our future leaders in-house, the instant we heard which riders were available for a swap, our heart was fully in this.
Even though great alternative offers came in (and we apologize to those managers again!), the future this deal sets us on was impossible to not fall in love with.
So without further ado, we present two core members of Team Puma - SAP for the foreseeable future: Max Kanter and Georg Zimmermann!
Max Kanter
4.100
26yo
Sprinter
€185.000
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Max comes to us as the best pure CT sprinter of the 2022 season, and while it pains me to say, as a definitive upgrade over Jannik Steimle already.
He has the engine to not mind long, fast days, and that base tenacity hopefully helps him stay in contact over some lumpier terrain as well.
Additionally, he doesn't mind some cobbles along the way to a sprint finish.
We do have some concerns over the two-division jump up, so with him having finished development a year ago now, we plan to work together hard over the winter break to get Kanter ready for the PT sprints and have him become one of the representative faces of Team Puma - SAP for the rest of this decade!
Georg Zimmermann
4.100
26yo
Climber
€120.000
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Georg has left a most outstanding impression two years ago as a loanee for us, with mighty impressive breakaway performances for an unmaxed rider leading to only missing out on the PT Top 100 by a couple dozen points.
Ever since we've seen his potential, we dreamt of being able to utilize his skillset on a permanent basis, and Arnaud made it happen!
Zimmermann's main strengths are exactly the bullet points you'd ask for in a promising climber for breakaway and KoM hunting: He combines his uphill prowess with an elite tier endurance and resiliance, doesn't mind putting in an acceleration for a KoM or finish banner and enjoys trying to gain an advantage descending.
Talks about training are less prevalent with him because we first want to see how his current skills translate to the big races, but being similarly first-year eligible, there's no rush to push him further up.
Two loanees expected to perform
We have also agreed to terms for two strong loanees to ride in our jersey this upcoming season.
Alongside the Demare swap, we discussed another transaction with our friends at Tryg - Gobik, and luckily our negotiations went just as smoothly as with the big deal, so we welcome Tobias Halland Johannessen to the team for the 2023 season!
Furthermore, with some TTers about to be lost, we reinforce our TTT squad again after quick amicable negotiations with DK Zalgiris to host future superstar timetrialist Rokas Kmieliauskas for his first taste of ProTour racing.
Tobias H. Johannessen
4.00
24yo
Climber
€120.000
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Tobias immediately becomes our best climber behind Herklotz, and will aim to cover both KoM jersey hunting and riding for GC to make use of his U25 status depending on the race objectives.
His great sprint makes him a prime candidate for GT breakaway success, but we also have to figure out where to best use him conservatively to capitalize on the extra classification points on offer.
We believe that even at his young age, he's ready to do both!
Rokas Kmieliauskas
3.05
23yo
Time Trialist
€200.000
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Rokas is a competitive TTer in only his second pro year already, and he can easily contribute to our strong TTT squad as well as attempt to go for good U25 results in the many races we target with Filippo Ganna.
With expectations being that he will join the elite TTer ranks within just two years, we're very happy to play a vital role in getting him to that point!
Must have not been easy to let go of Demare, but with two great young Germans and Kanter to 80 or 81 spr it's an understandable move. Some very strong loanees indeed!
@knockout: Definitely about as good a set of loanees as you can get, but also aided by the fact I was happy to pay most to all of the wage!
@nemolito: It definitely hurt, but much less than if his replacements were gonna be 30+ as well.
@quadsas: Even better news!
Another future German star, and more goodbyes
First, we want to thank the riders leaving Team Puma - SAP after many years of service each:
Both Mager and Niu had been instrumental in many Demare stage and classification wins, and as mentioned Weinstein was crucial as mountain support and in several GT TTTs that helped Herklotz win the overall.
Thank you for those efforts and memories, and good luck in your new adventures!
Now for the main news: After negotiations starting in minute 1 of transfers, we eventually found sufficient common ground with our friends at Bralirwa to secure the third centerpiece of the Team Puma - SAP 2030 project, Jonas Rutsch!
And furthermore, to recoup the losses to our TTT team that the departure of Nils Politt in that swap deal brings, who we also thank for countless TTT contributions and even a home stage win in Deutschland Tour two years ago, we got active on the FA market for the first time this season to acquire experienced Austrian Matthias Brändle.
Jonas Rutsch
4.100
25yo
Cobbler
€85.000
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Having just finished his development into a strong cobbler with an excellent engine for long, tough races, we trust Jonas to become competitive at the highest level in a couple of years, and will invest into him as early and as much as possible to rebuild our cobbles department around him half a decade after it basically died with Adam Blythe's departure.
Being another year younger than Kanter and Zimmermann, we're extremely satisfied with our transfer season as we can now work on cultivating the future of German cycling in three different roles!
Matthias Brändle
4.100
34yo
Stage Racer
€100.000
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Matthias is the polar opposite of our three blockbuster signings: a veteran of the sport in his final year(s) at a high level.
We decided to pursue him as the most fitting option left to round out our TTT roster in the latter half of the FA market, with a (mostly) shared language and vital decent climbing legs to bring more to the table across the calendar than pure TTing.
With a rather large wage since this was the final hole to fill with the remaining cap space, there is a mutual agreement that this will be a 1-year contract only to ensure maximum flexibility going forward, but we're looking forward to the experience and ability he will add to the team in that time.
Kanter already showed what he was capable of in Frankfurt last season. Although his departure is bittersweet, we're ruddy excited to see him in a team willing to invest in turning him into a monster. For his part, I have no doubt that Zimmermann will be capable of replicating his brilliant rides of the past two years. Combined with Rutsch, the future of German cycling is certainly secured (although I think Georg should be prioritised for training over Jonas, for purely selfish reasons).
Overall great window for you. Even though money coming in for Demare would also have gone a long way for your training budgets I am sure that Kanter and Zimmerman can become great parts of the team's German focus. Rutsch is also a great cobbles dom for the future and the loans should add some valuable points for your team this season!
@cunego: Fingers crossed over here too! Cobbles have become a more contested terrain recently - aided by an unusual amount of training - so it'll take a while, but as things stand I'm committed to making it work.
With plenty of German cobblers being added this year, but all coming with multiple fatal flaws (Uhlig FL/MO/STA, Heinrich FL/HIL/STA, Ballerstedt STA/ACC), there won't come a better opportunity for a long time.
@DubbelDekker: Appreciated! As I said to knockout, paying most to all of their six-digit wages definitely contributed.
@liefwarrior: I'm extremely excited to have front row seats to both of their careers now!
I wouldn't mind more home wins from Kanter, let's see if his new form is going to be enough to compete with the best. It'll be a tough learning process to go from Demare to him considering their polar opposite preferences, but there's definitely a lot of potential now if I can get the planning right.
Regarding Georg, there's obviously more familiarity, and thus I feel confident to give him one shot at PT untrained and then evaluate the pros and cons of pushing him further if the budget allows.
@whitejersey: I agree and thank you, more on the details of that deal below!
Team Presentation: Team Puma - SAP 2023
2023 marks the biggest change in the past 5 years for Team Puma - SAP, potentially even the biggest one in its history if we consider the impact Arnaud Demare had and the legacy he leaves behind.
With him being one of, maybe THE biggest name transfer listed across all divisions, expectations were high regarding what could be received in return for his departure. Plenty of training targets had been raised in-house over the past years, and plans were to push both Jannik Steimle and Valentin Madouas to true contender roles with the large fee we hoped to raise.
After an (understandable) initial lack of big money offers, there were significant concerns whether the 2m+ offers required for four trainings could be acquired, but all previous planning became an afterthought once Tryg-Gobik approached us with the swap deal of our dreams.
Once it was clear that the future of Team Puma - SAP lies in the hands of Germans Kanter and Zimmermann instead of the Frenchman Madouas, the pre-transfers target #1 of acquiring Jonas Rutsch from Bralirwa-Stevens became even more crucial to be able to eventually cover all races with a competitive German leader, and luckily both teams quickly agreed on that being the best possible outcome for all parties involved.
The rest of transfers consisted of moving minor pieces (with still significant history, as mentioned in their respective posts earlier) to guarantee training funding as well as complying with the wage cap.
Overall, we achieved or excelled at all of our transfer season goals:
- capitalize on Demare value to secure a competitive and diverse German core even post-Herklotz
- conserve the age structure by moving on from riders hitting or approaching 30 without compromising on depth
- continue to advance team relations through loan deals
- free up sufficient wages pre-2024 renewals to avoid cap fee issues for once and facilitate a big signing
So without further ado, here's the full 2023 roster:
It quickly becomes apparent the departure of Arnaud Demare was used to return to a more depth-focused approach while maintaining the German majority not only in the domestique positions, but more and more in vital roles as well.
To illustrate this, Remi Cavagna was our 7th best OVL rider in 2022, with three Germans ahead of him.
In 2023, Cavagna is only our 11th best OVL rider and has seven German riders besting him!
Silvio Herklotz.
Behind him, many balanced climbers around Ben Zwiehoff and Georg Zimmermann form a full lineup aiming to both support Tobias Halland Johannessen in his quest for U25 success across many races as well as race aggressively for themselves to compete for as many KoM jerseys and breakaway wins as possible, with Valentin Madouas being allowed freedom in most hilly races.
A strong and versatile team time trial squad looks to again work on behalf of Silvio in the Grand Tours as well as Filippo Ganna in smaller stage races, with Florian Stork, Kelland O'Brien and Remi Cavagna in particular being able to contribute points with their respective secondary focus of mountains/hills/everything.
Max Kanter now takes over sprint leadership with the option to build a very strong leadout train consisting of Jannik Steimle and Joris Niewenhuis if required/possible, with Steimle additionally looking for some opportunities of his own.
And finally, Lukas Meiler leads us on the cobbles for likely the last time as he tutors Jonas Rutsch before his envisioned move up the ranks.
All in all, it will be a tough task to stay on the PT podium for a sixth consecutive time without the guaranteed points Demare used to bring, but regardless of where exactly this team will end up in the rankings (as long as it's not in the bottom quarter!), the future looks very enjoyable!
Training Camp Report
As mentioned earlier, initial plans were made to push Jannik Steimle to the upper echelon of ProTour sprinters with Demare money.
Despite the change of conditions of that deal, it was still vital for us to continue Arnaud's sprinting legacy, and thanks to Max Kanter already starting out as a slightly better sprinter than Steimle, this swap actually saves us an entire million of training expenses to achieve the same goal with a different, even more well-rounded rider than envisioned.
So as announced far and wide in advance, we've shared our sprint experiences and secrets with Max to prepare him for his new role of PT sprint contender!
Oh yes, thought that must be on the cards with how much you loved the swap deal and love you getting your next great German going
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
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