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Rabobank ● 2024
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| quadsas |
Posted on 29-08-2024 20:20
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Small Tour Specialist
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Yet another happy customer, Žalgiris Academy never disappoints !!
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 08-09-2024 09:56
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World Champion
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In addition to the two signings from other teams in Kron and Sossa, we are also delighted to announce the signing of two Free Agents for the upcoming season: Frank Van den Broek and Marco Frigo.
Frank Van den Broek was in fact our first new signing for the 2024 season, but we preferred to postpone his announcement until we knew for sure whether he will ride for us this season or be loaned out to another team.
Frank is one of those hybrid climbers that everyone wants a piece of these days and he will be a great help of our leaders in the future whenever the road will go up.
 | Frank Van den Broeck | 3.50xp | 24yo | Climber | €50,000 |
| FL | MO | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CB | SP | AC | FG | DH | PR | | 69 | 72 | 71 | 63 | 70 | 70 | 70 | 60 | 58 | 66 | 72 | 69 | 63 |
| FL | MO | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CB | SP | AC | FG | DH | PR | | 70 | 76 | 75 | 65 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 60 | 58 | 69 | 75 | 69 | 65 |
If Frank was our first new signing for the 2024 season, Marco Frigo was our last. Frigo is in his best element on short climbs, but can handle longer climbs as well, bringing some power on the flats and time - trials as well. Marco will be a great domestique in the future no matter the terrain.
 | Marco Frigo | 3.50xp | 24yo | All-rounder | €50,000 |
| FL | MO | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CB | SP | AC | FG | DH | PR | | 71 | 69 | 71 | 69 | 69 | 67 | 67 | 64 | 59 | 64 | 71 | 70 | 68 |
| FL | MO | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CB | SP | AC | FG | DH | PR | | 72 | 73 | 75 | 71 | 71 | 70 | 70 | 64 | 59 | 67 | 74 | 70 | 70 |
We were very close to fulfill the Belgian cycling prophecy and bring Remco Evenepoel and Ilan Van Wilder. Unfortunately, that deal fell apart and Xero decided to sell Van Wilder to Puma. Part of the initial deal was also that Joren Bloem will be spending his last development year with Xero and even though the Van Wilder deal did not materialize we decided to go ahead with the loan deal for Bloem as he had already packed most of his bags by the time Van Wilder's destination switched.
In the last couple of season we were caught deep in the relegation battle and it wasn't until the very race of the season that we were 100% sure that we'd be staying up.
With keeping the core of the team and some of the young riders developing further, we felt this season will be a bit less stressful from the relegation point of view, but looking at how strong the newly promoted teams look, it looks like we are set for another long season.
Below you can find Rabobank's 2024 full abilities stats:
| Name | FL | MO | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | CB | SP | AC | FG | DH | PR | XP | Age | | Gerts | 77 | 66 | 78 | 67 | 76 | 80 | 74 | 82 | 72 | 70 | 69 | 67 | 72 | 4.100 | 32 | | Formolo | 72 | 79 | 80 | 69 | 76 | 76 | 74 | 53 | 69 | 71 | 66 | 65 | 69 | 4.100 | 32 |  | Grosu | 73 | 64 | 73 | 62 | 74 | 70 | 79 | 62 | 83 | 80 | 66 | 70 | 70 | 4.100 | 32 |  | Evenepoel | 75 | 74 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 80 | 65 | 63 | 64 | 71 | 81 | 66 | 77 | 4.72 | 24 |  | Champoussin | 68 | 78 | 78 | 61 | 76 | 76 | 77 | 57 | 59 | 76 | 73 | 74 | 62 | 4.100 | 26 | | Van Poppel | 72 | 60 | 64 | 67 | 74 | 71 | 78 | 64 | 81 | 78 | 56 | 69 | 72 | 4.100 | 31 |  | Kron | 73 | 71 | 79 | 66 | 75 | 75 | 71 | 64 | 66 | 73 | 75 | 71 | 65 | 4.100 | 26 | | Van den Berg | 77 | 57 | 64 | 58 | 77 | 77 | 73 | 77 | 71 | 70 | 75 | 71 | 64 | 4.100 | 28 | | Van der Kooij | 73 | 62 | 69 | 60 | 75 | 74 | 83 | 66 | 78 | 77 | 62 | 66 | 66 | 4.100 | 29 | | Meeus | 77 | 61 | 65 | 60 | 74 | 71 | 71 | 75 | 74 | 71 | 65 | 63 | 60 | 4.100 | 26 |  | Goldstein | 75 | 66 | 66 | 77 | 72 | 75 | 72 | 63 | 66 | 67 | 63 | 68 | 75 | 4.100 | 28 | | Tolhoek | 70 | 75 | 75 | 64 | 71 | 72 | 72 | 60 | 58 | 69 | 76 | 70 | 64 | 4.100 | 30 | | Dima | 68 | 75 | 70 | 74 | 72 | 72 | 73 | 59 | 63 | 62 | 71 | 62 | 74 | 4.100 | 27 |  | Kalf | 72 | 58 | 66 | 65 | 76 | 74 | 70 | 75 | 73 | 70 | 65 | 67 | 67 | 4.100 | 29 | | Kooij | 73 | 63 | 66 | 67 | 74 | 71 | 71 | 65 | 75 | 77 | 64 | 66 | 73 | 3.28 | 23 | | Vader | 75 | 74 | 69 | 67 | 72 | 78 | 72 | 62 | 62 | 66 | 70 | 68 | 71 | 4.100 | 28 |  | Sossa | 67 | 70 | 74 | 57 | 74 | 71 | 72 | 55 | 61 | 68 | 71 | 67 | 58 | 3.28 | 23 | | Van den Broek | 69 | 72 | 71 | 63 | 70 | 70 | 70 | 60 | 58 | 66 | 72 | 69 | 63 | 3.50 | 24 | | Frigo | 71 | 69 | 71 | 69 | 69 | 67 | 67 | 64 | 59 | 64 | 71 | 70 | 68 | 3.50 | 24 | | Van Den Berg | 69 | 62 | 65 | 58 | 69 | 72 | 64 | 65 | 69 | 69 | 67 | 63 | 61 | 3.81 | 25 |
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 08-09-2024 13:21
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Tour de France Champion
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I think you should be fine, though a lot of it will depend on the sprinters again, which I reckon may end up being a little frustrating to watch if fine in the end. Cool that you already have guys like Evenpoel, Champoussin, and a wave of young depth waiting behind your current top leaders, so no need to secure them later. I would think this team will look much different at the top next year.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 10-09-2024 10:27
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 12681
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Definitely think this season should be an improvement over the last. Very impressive array of young riders coming through the ranks.
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 10-09-2024 10:45
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Evenepoel is the archetype of a rider I'd love to have, really looking great already - and maxing just in time for a likely big overhaul next transfers, with all of Gerts, Formolo and Grosu starting their decline. Remco and Champoussin are definitely looking ready to take over, though, with the latter being even punchier than Formolo.
Formolo is a good keyword, though - as it's the one of your riders I'm afraid might most suffer from new arrivals, maxed riders and trainings - Areruya, Higuita, Aranburu, Ardila, maybe also the likes of Vansevenant, Amezawa, Novak could all take points from him. There surely were also declines, but in general I feel like the hybrid category has gotten much more crowded this offseason.
On the other hand, I think Gerts should still have more scoring potential than what he got last year, and the same definitely holds for your sprinters. And then it's indeed Remco who could be a difference maker, bringing you out of the dangerous zone - but sadly, I don't view it as granted just yet. I too think your roster has gotten stronger overall - but I feel like others have done so, too. And apart from my team (and maybe one other), I think the newly promoted teams are also pretty strong this season...
Good luck anyway, see out out there on the road 
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 15-09-2024 11:53
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World Champion
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Yes, the plan to replace the current leaders with the young guns from next season onwards is looking good at the moment, but we'll have to see if it will go as smoothly as I'm hoping.
As for your point, Fabianski, about the influx of hybrid climbers coming in this season to the PT, I didn't really think about it so far, but you are right. There's a good chance Formolo's points tally will take a hit this season. But, so far, he always seemed to be able to be landing on his feet, so I hope that will be the case this year as well.
Anyway, I think we are in a much better shape in case we get relegated now that if we did in any of the past two seasons. Because we would not be in a position to try to keep at least one of the old leaders and the young guns in our team on a tight budget if we wanted to bounce back right away. The youngsters should be well develop to take over leadership duties themselves.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 05-12-2025 20:38
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 08-06-2025 15:11
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And we have survived another year! It was a year filled with highs (TONE) and lows (TDF), but in the end we managed to keep our PT spot for yet another year.
Next year will be our toughest battle yet to stay in PT. The rider that got us into this position of always fighting to avoid relegtion, Remco Evenepoel will be finally maxed out, but also all of our three big leaders will see a decrease in their stats.
But before we worry about the 2025 season, let's enjoy the (limited) success we had in 2024. While we only went 2/5 in our goals, we did manage to win one classic and one stage race (both with Floris Gerts) in addition to 5 stage wins (one of which being Grosu's victory in TDF). A shoutout to the team's performance in Colombia, the race where half of our non-GT stage wins are coming from this year.
| Win | Ronde van Vlaanderen |  | | Top 10 | Paris - Roubaix |  | | Top 10 | Giro di Lombardia | | | Points | Tour de France | |  | Top 10 | Team Standings | |
| | Floris Gerts |  | Tour of Northern Europe | | | Floris Gerts |  | Cheshire Cycling Tour | | | Floris Gerts | | Tour of Northern Europe - Stage 3 | | | Eduard Grosu | | Tour de France - Stage 4 | | | Eduard Grosu |  | Tour of Qatar - Stage 2 | | | Danny Van Poppel | | Vuelta a Colombia - Stage 4 | | | Clement Champoussin | | Vuelta a Colombia - Stage 5 | | | Eduard Grosu | | Tour of Qatar | | | Davide Formolo | | Giro d'Italia - Stage 2 | | | Eduard Grosu | | Tour of Qatar - Stage 3 | | | Eduard Grosu | | Tour of Qatar - Stage 4 | | | Danny Van Poppel | | Paris - Nice - Stage 5 | | | Bas Van der Kooij |  | Tour of Tasmania - Stage 1 | | | Bas Van der Kooij |  | Volta a Portugal - Stage 4 | | | Julius Van den Berg |  | Tour of East Java - Stage 1 | | | Clement Champoussin |  | Balkans International - Stage 4 | | | Floris Gerts | | Paris - Roubaix | | | Floris Gerts | | E3 Prijs | | | Floris Gerts |  | Franceville Classique | | | Clement Champoussin |  | Japan Cup | | | Davide Formolo | | Giro d'Italia - Stage 10 | | | Floris Gerts | | Franceville Classique - Stage 2 | | | Eduard Grosu | | Ronde Van Nederland - Stage 1 | | | Eduard Grosu | | Ronde Van Nederland - Stage 3 | | | Eduard Grosu |  | Tour of Lithuania - Stage 1 | | | Eduard Grosu | | Tour of Lithuania - Stage 2 | | | Remco Evenepoel | | Volta a Portugal - Stage 7 | | | Floris Gerts | | Ronde van Vlaanderen | | | Davide Formolo | | Liege - Bastogne - Liege | | | Davide Formolo |  | Classique du Grand-Duché | | | Davide Formolo |  | Clasica San Sebastian | | | Eduard Grosu | | Ronde Van Nederland | | | Eduard Grosu |  | Riga - Jurmala GP | | | Remco Evenepoel | | Tirreno-Adriatico | | | Davide Formolo | | Fleche Wallone | | | Davide Formolo | | Giro di Lombardia | | | Davide Formolo | | Amstel Gold Race | | | Davide Formolo | | Balkans International | | | Floris Gerts | | East Midlands Cicle Classic | | | Floris Gerts |  | Macskako Kerekparverseny | | | Floris Gerts | | Strada Appia Antica | | | Clement Champoussin | | Vuelta a Colombia | | | Remco Evenepoel | | Tour of Tasmania | | | Eduard Grosu | | Great Ocean Road Classic | | | Clement Champoussin | | Balkans International | | | Davide Formolo | | Giro d'Italia | | | Floris Gerts |  | Grand Prix Cyclistes | | | Eduard Grosu | | Tour of Lithuania | | | Davide Formolo |  | Scandinavia Open Road Race | | | Eduard Grosu |  | GP Moscow | | | Andreas Kron | | Fleche Wallone | | | Remco Evenepoel | | Liege - Bastogne - Liege | | | Remco Evenepoel | | Volta a Portugal | | | Clement Champoussin | | Amstel Gold Race |
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 09-06-2025 09:51
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Directeur Sportif
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Nice to see the team pull through in the crucial part of the season and seal survival!
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 09-06-2025 12:32
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Classics Specialist
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With Remco maxing and Kooij coming through next year your team is slowly but surely staving off the storm that is relegation, and if you can get through this coming year until you can train Remco I think you will be one of the scariest teams to be reckoned with.
Obviously easier said than done considering your big 3 all hit their first decline now, but I trust that you're a manager capable of navigating the chaos that this offseason will be.
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| ember |
Posted on 09-06-2025 12:36
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Think I disagree with your «next season will be most difficult» thought. Remco will be a beast, and I’m sure there are lots of points income elsewhere. Grosu with one decline could even score more than 2024 Grosu, seeing how you were forced to do leadouts and launch too early everywhere  |
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| SotD |
Posted on 09-06-2025 12:39
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World Champion
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Selling Formolo to make money to make Champoussin into a new Formolo seems like an obvious route for future succes :-)
Really looking forward to see Evenepoel in action.
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| jt1109 |
Posted on 09-06-2025 18:50
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Classics Specialist
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Congrats on surviving this season Alex, think it looked tight for a while but really quite comfortable by the end, i actually agree with Sotd here been a few times this season i've seen Champousion look very strong on a few occassion this would be his only real training year before we see a trained Remco |
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 10-06-2025 08:18
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World Champion
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I wish I was as optimistic as you guys. Indeed, this is probably the only opportunity to train Champoussin, but finding the funds will be quite challenging. Old guys aren't very marketable and the points they could still bring in for us this season could be more valuable than a trained Champoussin.
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 19-06-2025 14:01
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16552
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Congrats on surviving!
I'll go against the grain and say I agree that next season is probably a challenge for you, though you have endless time to fix that in transfers. Having three leaders decline is tough. While Gerts and Grosu should still be top scorers for another year (with Grosu always being questionable as a sprinter), Formolo's decline takes him outside that top tier of leaders and redundant with Champoussin, so he needs to be replace somewhere.
Interested (but also scared) to see how Evenepoel does. My hunch is that he will be really great, but not the true superstar he might be with more calendar flexibility, like if he was at the PCT level. To the extent he has success as a puncheur for long classics with his backups, that unfortunately conflicts with Champoussin. Of course, plenty of training possibilities to make him a true beast, which seems like your plan given your comments on the timeline.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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