A season of records for us - 8th in the PCT is tied for the highest we've ever placed in the MG, 3134 is the most points we've ever collected in a season, Choi's 808 points in the highest single rider score in our history, first time ever we've had more than one rider (never mind three) score more than 500 points in a season, Choi also managed our first ever win in a mountainous stage race and we finally won Viana with Benoot!! And yet, despite all this, we still didn't do enough to promote! Probably needed just a couple of better races from Benoot in the early season...
Not really sure I can fault much of what happened with the riders this season (besides the occasional AI mess, which effects everyone to some extent I guess). With better Benoot planning, sending him to races like Dunkurque, Kigali and East Cheshire, instead of hills, we'd have promoted, given his record on the hilly cobbles this season. Well, something to remember for next season I guess.
Massive congrats to Nemo on his record-breaking season. Great job done by JURA as well, getting back to back promotions is always a difficult ask. Congrats to all the others who have confirmed promotion already, and I think at least 6th place will make it in as well. Commiserations to those in the bottom 5. Hope to see you rebuild and bounce back in no time!
Huge thank you to everyone behind the scenes who have kept the game running for another season. MG will be nothing without the stage-makers, jersey makers, DB makers, task takers, reporters, preview writers and everyone else I might be missing. A big thanks to Fabianski as well for the in-depth rankings updates. Each piece was a massive effort in itself.
Unfortunate end to the season, but it's been foreseeable at the very least since the Tour of Britain, so the disappointment has already made way for an appreciation of what has been a pretty extraordinary season for us. Similar to Sony, we've set numerous team records (highest team total, highest individual total, highest ranking finish), and all that in a season where we really didn't expect to do so well. A nice contrast to last year, that's for sure.
Congrats to all promoting teams. Very deserving, and special shoutout to the incredible year of LPH. An absolute textbook case of how you use a PT year to set yourself up for long term success, even if it ends with relegation at first. And then, you never hope for disbandments of course, but after that finish, a 6th place promotion would feel somewhat right for Indosat. I really don't expect 7th place to be enough for us, but I guess you never know until the continuation thread closes.
Finally, let me also add my massive thanks for everyone's contributions. All the reports, all the organisation, these stellar ranking updates and everything else. It's a rare thing we've got going here, and I'm very grateful to be a part of it.
We did it! I know I usually fake pessimism to keep my hopes down - and that's definitely what I was doing from about August onwards - but it really was looking bad for a long time there, and I still call this a pretty awesome turnaround, even if I underestimated just how backloaded our schedule was. Our most successful season ever by rankings finish and victories. Our 2020 squad remains my favourite team for moments, squad structure and the riders (and despite coming 5th had a very similar PpRD to this year). But this year brought our first podium in the rankings, double the number of victories than our previous winningest season, and of course our first individual rankings winner. With such a great contribution from a rider we signed at level 1, has been with us for so many years and has finally grown into a leader who makes the difference between promotion and not, I really couldn't be prouder of him.
I speak, of course, of Nils Schomber. I don't think Schomber will ever silence all of the haters, but his 170 points are almost exactly the difference between us and Indosat, so this promotion is his really. Schomber was signed as a stagiaire in our very first season, and now he's our fifth leader in a promotion campaign - and the best 50k rider in the division! Put some respect on his name!
But really this season was obviously about Joseph Areruya. I know he must be insanely dislikeable now to every other team, but this is what I dreamed of as a kid joining the MG looking at the top teams who developed their own stars and rose through the ranks with them. Safe to say it's very special that I've done that with him. 13 wins, 1511 points, and just putting the team on his back when others faltered. He also achieved 3 of his 4 goals (a few seconds away from winning Dauphine) and secured our Rankings one for our most successful ever Goals season by far. Looking forward to the challenge Fabianski lays down for him to live up to his OVL in the PT - certainly far more interesting than laying waste to a division he's overpowered for.
Thomas Pidcock is not the name I expected to be next in scoring but he had a great year and even felt like he only started to tap into his potential. Benelux is obviously his crowning achievement and the source of most of his points I believe. PT will be interesting for him. George Bennett had a really disappointing year in the PCT (his Giro d'Italia was beautiful) - I'm not going to moan too much about his awful AI luck here, but it's a bitter way to lose his final year at maxed stats. Still, he did enough to be a solid third-tier leader for us. Houle also dissapointed, with not being treated as a leader with his declined stats - but provided a huge result in Euskal when it looked like we might be throwing away promotion! A great finish to what is probably the last season of his wonderful Xero career. Fouche was really poor, with one of his biggest races taken away by the AI telling him to race for Schomber in the mountains. Think he'll be better as a Smith/Formolo type in the PT.
Our low-wage guys shined much brighter than last year. We get described as top-heavy for our leadership structure but this is really the best year we've ever got out of our 50-70k guys. Schomber obviously as the best in that category next to Losch (65k), but also three other key scorers for us. Our other L1 rider from our first season is Jamalidin Novardianto - a solid year with 82 points, his best in the PCT. Henok Tesfaye Heyi was our 6th scorer, so reliable turning up when we need some extra scoring and even got his first career podium in a C2 classic. And then van Zyl in his final maxed year is always reliable for scoring on any terrain also in the Top 200.
Enough droning about my team though. Huge congrats to Nemo and Fabianski on quite stunning seasons - the rest of us were a constantly moving peloton, but you were the breakaway riders we never saw again once you escaped with 200km still to go. I can't put it better than cunego did analysing Los Pollos Hermanos and how Nemolito has built that team using his PT year. Just a dominant, dominant squad which is well-built for a PT return.
I may comment often about the meta-game finding itself somewhat 'solved' in PCT using the lower OVL of TT riders, but I would never use those comments to do anything but praise the managers who 'solved' it, and Jura is a brilliantly managed team. Full of cool riders who are often far more than just time-trialists, and finding/developing two leaders who comfortably outperform their wage in other disciplines in Theuns and Masnada. Can't wait to see what you have cooking for your PT debut. I will also add I feel proud that I think I predicted back-to-back promotions in your HQ at the end of last year Fabianski
Thanks to everyone else in the promotion hunt for a fun and challenging season - it's a peer group I really enjoy built over many years of competition! Proud to be promoting next to a giant in Fastned and also with Assa Abloy, who I first promoted with back in 2017 I believe, and is another team I look forward to seeing in the Pro Tour!
I feel sick for Indosat, though. A pretty indefensible AI disaster cost you dearly and, having Bennett take that day off myself I know I would have felt so empty if that cost me promotion too. As others have said I'd never root for a team to disband, but it certainly would be one of the most just non-automatic promotions we'd ever seen if you managed to make it. Bralirwa and Sony are also teams and managers I have great love for who were also part of that hugely entertaining battle for promotion.
So many strong teams remain in the division and I'm already looking forward to how they move forward over the off-season to look upwards next season. Commiserations to those moving down to the CT, I'm sure you'll all be in the mix to come back up. Especially interested in Zwift obviously after their gamble failed to pay off - I need you back up within a few seasons so Vermeersch and Girmay can have their rivalry of the new cobblers
A huge thank you to every reporter for the huge effort it takes, not just to do those hours and hours - let's be honest, days and days - of work but also to bring such a high quality as well, it's what separates this game from a spreadsheet and a huge part of why we all love it so. Also to those running the calendar, the off-season, the database, the graphics and the equipment - those are all huge tasks, thankless ones and in the case of the calendar ones where you have to indirectly hear a lot of moaning and complaining, including over AI issues that just happen in PCM no matter the profile. You do an awesome job. And then to every previewer and every manager who contributes to the community and narrative of the season! I'm sorry my activity has not been as high as usual this year!
And finally a massive thanks to Fabianski for the frankly ridiculous amount of effort you put into these rankings posts, it's certainly not a requirement that you do so but as many have articulated already they are a pretty special extra piece of quality reporting that have added a lot to the storytelling quality of the season. Don't know the status of the PCM.daily Awards, but between your efforts there and your team quality, I think I know who my Manager of the Year is
Thank you for the amazing write-up as always, Fabianski. And thank you to everyone for congratulating LPH.
And congratulations to everyone who will automatically promote. Some very nice teams and managers got (very) close to automatic promotion, but just missed out, which is definitely a shame. Let's see what the continuation thread brings us and how many more teams can promote. Also sorry for the five teams who are relegating. The lowest four have already shown they're capable of building a strong team in CT and I'm sure they can bounce back. Zwift will have to make some tough choices I assume, but when they dominates PCT in 2/3 seasons it will be even more remarkable
For us I'll go a bit deeper into detail in my hq I guess, but once again hats off to the amazing duo of Zmorka and Manninen. They got us into PT two seasons ago with incredible score and both in the top-5 individually, and they simply do it again. Absolute beasts. New latin riders Higuita and Aular did really well in both their leading and domestique roles, and we could also rely on points from Germans Zepuntke and Sütterlin as well as our beloved homegrown riders such as Osorio and the fantastic Ruiz. I don't think it's very usual for an unmaxed loanee to score over 100 points in PCT, but a legend such as Quispe simply isn't a normal guy. He will do great things for the rest of his career, whether it be ad BimboBenneton/Colombini or at any other team.
Great set of promoted teams. Felt like PT discussion threads were getting a bit too inactive at times so its great to have so many active managers join the division. Congrats to all of them!
I'm especially glad to see Xero up there. It's likely no surprise to anyone that I''m especially cheering for my Conglomerate comrades so its great to see them returning and hopefully trying to compete for the first time.
Would have been nice to see Sony join too but at least the days of closely watching the relegation zone seem over for them.
Los Pollos promoting always felt like a sure thing and they controlled the division in style. One of the best PCT seasons in a while and a great base to build on!
Jura the big surprise of the division. I didnt really like the transfer season after having a good post renewals base but apparently i dont know shit and they are a lot stronger than i gave them credit for
Fastned the expected promotion - although i would have expected to see them slightly stronger. Assa Abloy also no surprise to be in the promotion spots. Overall very few surprises outside of Jura in the upper half.
Of the relegated teams nobody sticks out as particularly surprising. Zwift going down is surely one of the more interesting scenarios to watch with their extreme rebuild / tankjob over the last two years. I think there might be a shot at keeping their big 3 talents (Girmay, Powless. Jorgenson) if mre is going to the extremes but it needs tight renewals to get there as well as selling quite a few talents he might not want to sell.
Glad to have evaded relegation, event though this was not a satisfying season. Congrats to Nemo for another stellar year and to the rest of the promoted teams. Commiserations to those going down. Wish you better luck for next season.
Still surprised how close it was in the end. Even with all the strange results we had this year, we could've promoted if we had a normal Arenberg instead of the standard TT we got.
Congratulations to Los Pollos and also Jura for securing the top spots from early on. Both had a terrific season. Xero with a great final sprint as well. After that it all got close but I can't say Fastned and Assa Abloy don't deserve it.
At the bottom it's sad to see Zwift go, but I think everyone is on the spot they deserve.
