Kraftwerk had five objectives for transfers
1. Improve on squad size which after renewals was 13 riders and 4 stagiaires, some races would not have a legal lineup.
2. Bring in younger team leaders
3. Free up some wage cap
4. Improve TTT depth
5. Retain a good enough squad to promote

Rick Zabel was a key Kraftwerk team leader but he had a terrible season last year scoring only half the points of the previous year and he felt guilty about the team demotion. He was willing to fall on his sword by joining the transfer list to help out the team.

We made a very cheeky offer for TGH to our good friends at Cedevita and rather than throw us out they were willing to negotiate.

Kraftwerk wanted a good TTT team this year, we were very pleased to boost our TTT depth with two riders in exchange for Zabel plus a big wad of cash. Their combined wage is less than Zabel and both are 28 years old which improves our age profile considerably. This one deal hit all our transfer goals and we were willing to pay top dollar to make it happen, especially as one of the riders was a target for SotD.

Daniel Habtemichael is a good stage racer but his energy stats could be a little better, we are hoping CT level racing is not too intense. His main attraction was his wage of 125k. This enabled Cap Space for a replacement sprinter to join the team.

Michael Christodoulos is a solid time trialist with not too shabby climbing skills and a great prologue that we hope can bring in a few points.

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age	Wage K
	Daniel Habtemichael	67	78	76	74	74	74	73	76	52	59	66	68	69	74	28	125
	Michael Christodoulos	72	68	68	68	78	75	69	70	53	53	64	73	65	79	28	83

Sasu Helme has been a great point per wage rider for Kraftwerk for a number of years. However when he heard a new Finnish team Kone-Nordea, were forming he asked for a transfer and we were happy for a Finnish team to have the best Finnish climber in the game. We hope he performs well for them.

Max Walscheid only joined last year but quickly became a fan favourite so management are expecting some backlash from him being sold to new German outfit Team Zappes Kölsch for a bargain price in order to bring in Cess Bol from our good friends from over the border Jura GIANTS.

Bol has the energy to finish off a sprint and we are hoping the curse of the favourite that caused Zabel to act as a leadout for the other sprinters won’t affect Bol.

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age	Wage K
	Cees Bol	76	64	67	70	67	75	77	81	68	79	77	68	67	69	30	155

As well as the deal to bring Cees Bol to Kraftwerk, we and Jura GIANTS have swapped talents to develop. Henri Uhlig will finish his cobbles development by being a cobbles leader with no support against tougher opposition. This is exactly the kind of experience Uhlig needs to be able to survive at Kraftwerk when he returns!

We are very grateful to have Robin Donzé at Kraftwerk, he has made a big difference to the team just being here in terms of making the minimum rider count. Due to having such a small squad, he will be getting loads of opportunities to gain experience over all sorts of terrain, he might need a bit of a rest when he returns back to Switzerland!

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age	Wage K
	Robin Donze	66	69	68	66	58	69	70	67	57	69	69	65	65	57	22	50
	Henri Uhlig	70	57	60	63	62	70	73	75	76	65	75	68	72	60	24	60
	Henri Uhlig	72	57	61	64	62	72	75	76	78	67	76	69	72	60	25	-

Jason Osborne is another addition to our TTT depth who has good energy stats and a fighting spirit.

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age	Wage K
	Jason Osborne	75	60	65	70	74	73	74	67	65	58	63	77	62	75	31	50

Sam Harrison is an absolute bargain for 50k. He can cover 4 roles, 2nd sprinter, leadout man, cobbles support and time trial 8th man. Shame he doesn’t have more race days, we could send him to nearly every race.

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age	Wage K
	Sam Harrison	71	61	64	66	71	72	69	74	72	77	80	59	61	71	33	50

He is back! Josip Rumac had to be cut from the squad to get within the wage cap but with some good trading we have made room for Josip to return. We saw Rok Korosec had a great season last year in CT, Josip is a very similar rider, fingers crossed for similar results.

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age	Wage K
	Josip Rumac	71	72	74	75	64	72	70	68	55	74	76	66	69	66	31	65

Management wanted to take advantage of being in CT to develop our own rider to level 3 and welcome German talent Luis-Joe Luehrs. He will develop into a useful low wage helper. Sadly to make enough wage cap faithful servant Burr Ho will need to be sacked.

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age	Wage K
	Luis-Joe Luehrs	67	68	68	68	64	67	66	69	60	61	63	67	70	62	22	50
	Luis-Joe Luehrs	68	75	74	73	71	72	71	76	60	61	64	68	70	69	25	-

Abou Sanogo is our third African rider and another bargain for 60k. While Henri Uhlig is riding with the big boys we needed someone to cover our cobbles slot. As well as cobbles Abou can do a bit of hills, fighting, downhill and prologue.

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age	Wage K
	Abou Sanogo	73	62	67	71	64	71	72	64	76	69	70	76	73	70	31	60

It was looking like long time domestique Burr Ho would have to be sacked to make room for German talent Luis-Joe Luehrs but an opportunity came up with our good friends at Jura GIANTS. They needed a development loan on the cheap in exchange for a PT loan.

Jason Osborne our new time trialist was not maxed at age 31 and this was his last chance to develop his full potential, we couldn’t say no. Although it would reduce our TTT potency this year, it would increase it next year when we need it more in PCT (hopefully).

In return we will develop Swiss talent Nils Aebersold.

We paid 160k for Jason and Jura paid 150k for Nils and we made 40k on the deal because we didn’t have to sack Burr Ho. This enabled us to train Alex Evan’s flat stat by +1.

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age	Wage K
	Nils Aebersold	68	65	67	69	60	69	68	67	60	63	66	65	66	62	22	-
	Jason Osborne	75	60	65	70	74	73	74	67	65	58	63	77	62	75	31	50
	Jason Osborne	77	60	66	71	76	74	76	68	65	58	63	78	62	77	32	-

Kraftwerk had five objectives for transfers, how did we do?

1. Improve on squad size which comprised 13 riders and 4 stagiaires, filling all race squads would be impossible.
ACHIEVED We have a 16 man squad (plus the CT 2 free riders) with enough race days to send a 7 or 8 man squad to every race.

2. Bring in younger team leaders
ACHIEVED Bol [30], Habtemichael [28] and Christodoulos [28]

3. Free up some wage cap
ACHIEVED we managed to trade 3 riders 430k wages for 3 riders 363k wages

4. Improve TTT depth
ACHIEVED we added TT 78,74,74,71 (one 74 is on loan)

5. Retain a good enough squad to promote
TIME WILL TELL but I am hopeful

We had to pay top dollar for the trades to make this happen but given the position of not being able to send a legal squad to every race I was willing to pay over the odds for the specific combination of riders to achieve our objectives.

Kraftwerk was last pick in the C2 Free Rider choice and we were lucky there were couple of useful German riders available.

Christian Mager will provide support for Fausto Masnada, and provide some useful hill depth for the Team results.

Jonas Koch has good energy stats for chasing duties and to enable him to position Bol for the sprints.

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age	Wage K
	Christian Mager	69	73	75	76	61	66	68	69	55	59	69	67	69	61	33	-
	Jonas Koch	73	64	67	70	66	71	74	69	69	72	73	71	64	67	32	-

Kraftwerk have managed to cover every discipline with a good scoring option and a decent amount of depth given the tight cap space in CT. We have a squad that can challenge for the CT title and I feel that Kraftwerk has the edge in our depth of scoring. Will that be enough to take the title? I am not sure but I am looking forward to an exciting season.

Rick Zabel and Max Walscheid have been replaced by Cees Bol and Sam Harrison.

Cees has good energy stats and will have the responsibility of delivering a couple of our goal races. Sam will cover lots of roles, leadout for Cees in our goal races, main sprinter for stage races Cees didn’t have the race days to cover, cobbles support and TTT squad eighth man.

Support will be provided by Josip Rumac, Jonas Koch and young Tim Torn Teutenberg who will be gaining experience towards level 4.

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age	Wage K
	Cees Bol	76	64	67	70	67	75	77	81	68	79	77	68	67	69	30	155
	Sam Harrison	71	61	64	66	71	72	69	74	72	77	80	59	61	71	33	50
	Josip Rumac	71	72	74	75	64	72	70	68	55	74	76	66	69	66	31	65
	Jonas Koch	73	64	67	70	66	71	74	69	69	72	73	71	64	67	32	-
	Tim Torn Teutenberg	72	58	63	67	66	68	71	70	68	73	74	66	62	71	23	90

Fausto Masnada will be looking to repeat his efforts in CT that saw Jura GIANTS promoted.

Fausto is supported by Felix Gall, Josip Rumac and Christian Mager. Josip will hope to get results similar to those Rok Korosec managed last season in hilly races with a flat finish.

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age	Wage K
	Fausto Masnada	71	77	77	76	73	76	75	73	60	63	73	69	71	70	32	160
	Felix Gall	67	77	77	76	63	70	71	72	58	61	72	70	64	62	27	80
	Josip Rumac	71	72	74	75	64	72	70	68	55	74	76	66	69	66	31	65
	Christian Mager	69	73	75	76	61	66	68	69	55	59	69	67	69	61	33	-

New recruit Daniel Habtemichael will head up the team in the mountains focusing on stage races with an ITT/TTT.

He will be supported by Alexander Evans, Felix Gall (shared with Fausto) and Burr Ho.

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age	Wage K
	Daniel Habtemichael	67	78	76	74	74	74	73	76	52	59	66	68	69	74	28	125
	Felix Gall	67	77	77	76	63	70	71	72	58	61	72	70	64	62	27	80
	Alexander Evans	66	77	75	72	74	70	72	73	61	57	67	67	62	71	28	90
	Burr Ho	67	72	72	72	72	66	71	69	60	64	69	64	65	70	33	50

Abou Sanogo will try to make sure Kraftwerk score some points in cobbles races while Henri Uhlig is gaining experience riding with Jura GIANTS.

Support is a bit thin on the ground with Sam Harrison, Jonas Koch and Tim Torn Teutenberg doing their best. If the cobbles are not very selective Sam has a sprint good enough to get some high placings.

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age	Wage K
	Abou Sanogo	73	62	67	71	64	71	72	64	76	69	70	76	73	70	31	60
	Sam Harrison	71	61	64	66	71	72	69	74	72	77	80	59	61	71	33	50
	Jonas Koch	73	64	67	70	66	71	74	69	69	72	73	71	64	67	32	-
	Tim Torn Teutenberg	72	58	63	67	66	68	71	70	68	73	74	66	62	71	23	90

Michael Christodoulos is a new recruit to Kraftwerk and will head up the time trial department.

He joins specialists Marco Mathis and Sirak Tesfom as the core of a powerful TTT setup.

Jason Osborne is finishing his development at Jura GIANTS and will return next year to further strengthen our TTT core.

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age	Wage K
	Michael Christodoulos	72	68	68	68	78	75	69	70	53	53	64	73	65	79	28	83
	Marco Mathis	72	62	65	68	77	68	76	64	62	68	71	66	60	75	31	50
	Sirak Tesfom	75	62	64	65	77	70	74	68	53	63	67	72	64	76	31	50
	Daniel Habtemichael	67	78	76	74	74	74	73	76	52	59	66	68	69	74	28	125
	Alexander Evans	66	77	75	72	74	70	72	73	61	57	67	67	62	71	28	90
	Fausto Masnada	71	77	77	76	73	76	75	73	60	63	73	69	71	70	32	160
	Burr Ho	67	72	72	72	72	66	71	69	60	64	69	64	65	70	33	50
	Sam Harrison	71	61	64	66	71	72	69	74	72	77	80	59	61	71	33	50

Robin Donze and Nils Aebersold join us from Jura GIANTS to ride with Luis-Joe Luehrs. They are all gaining experience to reach level 3.

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age	Wage K
	Robin Donze	66	69	68	66	58	69	70	67	57	69	69	65	65	57	22	-
	Nils Aebersold	68	65	67	69	60	69	68	67	60	63	66	65	66	62	22	-
	Luis-Joe Luehrs	67	68	68	68	64	67	66	69	60	61	63	67	70	62	22	50