@baseballlover312 - Reis going that cheap early on forced my hand in signing him, we'll see if it was the right call or if I should have gone for Galta



Eleven renewals, nine free agency signings and two transfers make twenty-two riders ready to take on the 2025 season. Ranging from twenty-two to thirty-four years old, from sixteen different countries spanning five continent, with different skillsets and levels of experience. Let's introduce the bunch, by discipline:

Mountains

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age	Wage
	R. Reis	69	80	76	72	75	77	75	77	55	50	63	65	67	75	33	350k
	E.A. Rubio	67	77	76	74	64	76	74	75	60	60	73	73	65	64	27	85k
	A. Vosekalns	65	77	76	74	61	68	72	70	50	66	70	80	67	61	33	75k
	D. Quintana	68	75	73	70	69	71	70	74	50	60	61	66	63	69	33	50k

While we aimed at signing younger leaders, we had to make an exception for a stage racer due to a lack of alternatives. But when that one is called Reis and finished in the individual top ten last season, it is fine to make an exception. Supporting him in the high mountains are Rubio, signed permanently after an earlier loan stint; Vosekalns, the rider we can count on for attacks; and Quintana, finally in a higher division than his brother.

Hills

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age	Wage
	A. Van Niekerk	69	75	78	80	65	72	75	76	66	64	74	82	71	65	28	450k
	J. Cepeda Hernandez	70	75	76	77	65	71	70	71	61	66	74	73	68	63	29	100k
	S. Kipkemboi	67	75	76	77	57	68	73	73	55	63	76	73	68	59	27	100k

Previously our leaders in the hilly terrain were either old or could only handle short periods. We have signed a leader with neither issue, as the popular Van Niekerk might be the most complete rider in the team. His specific skillset earns him the highest wage in the team, up to him to live up to the hype. We even brought in two mini clones of him in Cepeda Hernandez and Kipkemboi, so if this isn't the year we finally figured out this category, we never will.

Time trials

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age	Wage
	M. Bjerg	75	64	66	68	80	73	77	73	63	68	70	71	67	79	27	200k
	Y. Paillot	68	68	69	69	78	72	71	63	54	61	61	54	69	78	34	100k
	J. Casillas	68	67	67	67	75	70	72	69	54	61	74	67	72	75	30	50k
	K. Predatsch	68	52	53	54	76	72	76	67	61	53	64	70	64	76	33	50k
	F. Hamza	73	51	57	62	75	72	71	67	50	55	66	68	62	78	33	75k

Last year was a breakout season for Bjerg, and the young Dane is rewarded with further trust. While he was a clear step above everyone else last year, the gap should be closer with the experienced Paillot behind him. Casillas gained a lot of experience last year and is not done developing yet. Predatsch was signed purely to support in team time trials, while Hamza will also be given chances in the very short individual efforts.

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age	Wage
	L. Dressler	71	60	64	67	71	70	69	66	69	60	62	67	63	66	23	50k
	F.A. Gomez	64	68	66	64	72	68	70	71	52	56	65	69	67	65	23	50k
	E. Paleni	67	53	56	59	73	66	67	70	54	58	62	67	62	73	23	50k
	C.D. Guavita	65	71	61	51	71	72	62	73	63	50	54	78	64	71	23	50k

The team is proud of its focus on time trialing, committing to the future by signing four talented riders last year. We will be continuing with all four of them this season to eventually replace the revolving door of has-beens relegated to team time trial element. Dressler develops into a time trial-cobble hybrid, Gomez has already claimed his first Argentinian Championship, Paleni looks to have the fastest pure pace, and Guavita goes down the stage race path.

Cobbles

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age	Wage
	M. De Witte	74	60	64	68	61	75	72	67	75	71	69	64	65	61	32	60k
	M. Boros	72	52	62	72	61	71	67	66	76	63	64	78	77	67	33	50k
	B. Ndungu	65	63	64	65	57	70	68	64	69	65	66	71	60	58	22	50k

We are not expecting a lot of points from the rough roads and basically only ride the races forced upon us at our level, but De Witte has shown last season he is capable of scoring points when dropping down to C2 races. For this season we double down with adding Boros to get another points scoring opportunity, and be able to have decent representation in both legs of the Battenkill - Rheden clash. Ndungu is ready to learn from both.

Sprints

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age	Wage
	D. Kalaba	74	65	67	69	70	70	72	76	57	79	79	58	68	78	29	175k
	X. Kamberaj	75	63	66	69	67	73	73	78	68	79	78	64	66	70	31	225k
	Z. Jiang	72	61	64	66	65	69	73	72	62	75	75	65	73	79	31	50k

Traditionally we have a clear definition of primary and secondary sprinter, though this year the line is a bit blurry. Kalaba finally steps out of the shadow of his previous teammates, being given more chances than just stage races. Either he or Kamberaj will be present in almost all stages we expect to end in a sprint, and will also split the few flat classics between them. Jiang could take the leftovers or a leadout role, but will also focus on his specialty: prologues.

The winter break is over. The 2025 season is a go! A lot of racing already happening in the first month, setting the tone for the remainder of the season. A good start will keep spirit's high, a bad start will make us ponder the consequences. Are the new riders up to expectations, have the talents grown to take more responsibility and have the existing core kept their shine. All things to report on the first four races in January:

Tour Down Under

The season opens Down Under with a Tour. Van Niekerk and Kamberaj both make their debuts, taking leadership over the hilly and flat stages respectively. Both had a bit of a false start, the latter taking nineteenth on the opening stage and the former seventeenth on the second stage. Instead is was another debutant Kipkemboi, after a year out of the sport, finishing third on that second stage. The Albanian sprinter cracked the top ten on the next stage while the South African puncheur was our best finisher on the hilly fourth stage, though the Kenyan was still our lead GC rider in fourth. He was our only rider in the front group on the decisive fifth stage, dropping down to sixth in the GC on bonus seconds, and finally Kamberaj finished on a high with a fourth place on the final criterium. We ended up with four riders in the top 25, the three aforementioned as well as the final member of the new quartet Cepeda Hernandez, but no one expected it would be Kipkemboi as best finisher, let alone in sixth. Van Niekerk's thirteenth place is below expectations but excused by the Kenyan's better performance.

Pos	Rider	Team	Time
1	Arnaud Demare	Tryg - Eni	17h21'48
6	Salim Kipkemboi	Minions	+ 45
13	Aidan Van Niekerk	Minions	+ 1'29
23	Xhuliano Kamberaj	Minions	+ 3'41
24	Jefferson Cepeda Hernandez	Minions	+ 3'46
72	Luca Dressler	Minions	+ 10'05
170	Cesar David Guavita	Minions	+ 19'14
187	Enzo Paleni	Minions	+ 26'46
192	Fausto Agustin Gomez	Minions	+ 30'13

Rating:

Volta a Portugal

Our first PTHC race of the year, the longest on the calendar at eight days, and the home debut for our other big signing Reis. He gained some time on direct rivals in the prologue even though he was beaten by Bjerg in third, and by the other first-time time trial specialists Hamza (9th) and Paillot (14th). On the second stage Jiang botched the leadout for Kalaba, the Chinese finishing eighth ahead of the Serbian in ninth while it should have been the other way around and some places higher. Surprisingly, Reis finished in the front group on the tricky hilly stage, where we expected him to lose out to rivals and with a mountain stage and ITT to come, we were expecting a very good GC result now. That motivated Kalaba to take the final podium spot on the next flat stage. The euphoria was gone after stage six, where despite being at the front with less than two kilometer to go, the Portuguese somehow lost a plethora of positions and 55 seconds at the line. In the time trial he also performed shockingly by losing nearly two minutes to the leader and only setting the 62nd time. Even Bjerg failed to make the top ten to make matters worst. The final mountain stage saw no significant gaps created amongst the climbers, Reis being the last to catch on to that group. With some lesser climbers falling away, he went from eleventh to seventh overall to finish the race, which isn't too terrible but discounting the time loss on stage six would have been enough to take fifth, and then a slightly better time trial would have seen him on the podium. Overall it feels like a race of what could have been.

Pos	Rider	Team	Time
1	Andreas Leknessund	Gazelle	25h58'54
7	Rafael Reis	Minions	+ 2'55
50	Einer Augusto Rubio	Minions	+ 19'35
67	Andris Vosekalns	Minions	+ 26'26
74	Dusan Kalaba	Minions	+ 31'28
111	Mikkel Bjerg	Minions	+ 59'23
119	Yoann Paillot	Minions	+ 1h01'51
154	Zhihui Jiang	Minions	+ 1h18'05
188	Faycal Hamza	Minions	+ 1h47'57

Rating:

Circulo de Juarez

Kamberaj's performances improved as the Tour Down Under went on, so we hope he can continue the upwards trajectory into Circulo de Juarez, which has five flat stages conquered by the sprinters. A sixth place on the opening stage did indeed give us hope of a very good result, but the line curved downwards on the next two stages with an eighteenth and twentieth place. The recovery started on stage four with a fourth place on stage four, topped off by a fifth place on the final stage. Finishing inside the bonus seconds three times as well as the mixed order on every stage saw the Albanian take sixth place overall. Given almost every top PCT sprinter was present, certainly not bad.

Pos	Rider	Team	Time
1	Bryan Coquard	Spark Team NZ	17h33'51
6	Xhuliano Kamberaj	Minions	+ 56
83	Cesar David Guavita	Minions	+ 1'26
99	Zhihui Jiang	Minions	s.t.
113	Enzo Paleni	Minions	s.t.
133	Fausto Agustin Gomez	Minions	s.t.
138	Mathias De Witte	Minions	s.t.
140	Luca Dressler	Minions	s.t.
147	Bernard Ndungu	Minions	s.t.

Rating:

Great Ocean Road Classic

In the rotation of flat classics between our two lead sprinters, the first of these will be led by Kalaba. Our youngest member Ndungu got a taste of the breakaway but in such a race it is impossible to take it to the end. In a sprinters field where it would be hard to miss a big name of the PCT division, Kalaba finished twelfth which is according to the expectations.

Pos	Rider	Team	Time
1	Bryan Coquard	Spark Team NZ	3h44'19
12	Dusan Kalaba	Minions	+ 3
108	Mathias De Witte	Minions	+ 2'14
123	Luca Dressler	Minions	+ 2'29
166	Bernard Ndungu	Minions	+ 2'46
175	Zhihui Jiang	Minions	+ 2'49
181	Cesar David Guavita	Minions	+ 2'51
182	Fausto Agustin Gomez	Minions	s.t.
187	Enzo Paleni	Minions	+ 2'53

Rating:

Rankings

A month where there was definitely some room for improvement but overall we scored a decent amount of points, as demonstrated by our sixth position in the PCT rankings. Sure, there are teams which raced a lot less, but as far as season starts are concerned this is a good start. Last season we only had two riders score points in the first month, one year later we have eleven, showing we have gained a lot of depth points. It is Kamberaj with his performance in Mexico taking an early lead in the indiviual Minions competition.

Pos		Team	Total	RD	PpRD	Proj
1		Spark Team NZ	600	23	26,09	4253
2		MOL Cycling Team	514	23	22,35	3643
3		Tryg - Eni	419	21	19,95	3252
4		Assa Abloy	388	15	25,87	4217
5		Sauber Petronas Racing	343	23	14,91	2430
6		Minions	321	21	15,29	2492
7		Everesting	292	21	13,9	2266
8		Bolt - Eesti	280	15	18,67	3043
9		Specialized	270	18	15	2445
10		Lotto-Caloi	243	15	16,2	2641
11		Ekoi - Le Creuset	227	12	18,92	3084
12		Trans Looney Tunes	225	10	22,5	3668
13		McCormick Pro Cycling	215	17	12,65	2062
14		Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team	200	21	9,52	1552
15		Hunter Valley Cycling	164	13	12,62	2057
16		Duvel-Tsingtao	157	15	10,47	1707
17		JEWA TIROL	118	13	9,08	1480
18		Zwift - Newton Foundation	74	5	14,8	2412
19		DK Zalgiris	61	7	8,71	1420
20		Bralirwa - Cegeka	51	18	2,83	461
21		Colombini Kometa	37	9	4,11	670
22		IESE ProCycling Team	27	15	1,8	293
23		Simba Cement - Tanga Fresh	10	7	1,43	233
24		DeNA Roadstars	5	4	1,25	204

Pos	Rider	Nat		Team	Total Points
1	Bryan Coquard	FRA		Spark Team NZ	448
15	Xhuliano Kamberaj	ALB		Minions	100
19	Rafael Reis	POR		Minions	88
28	Salim Kipkemboi	KEN		Minions	58
45	Dusan Kalaba	SER		Minions	25
53	Aidan Van Niekerk	RSA		Minions	18
63	Mikkel Bjerg	DEN		Minions	15
103	Einer Augusto Rubio	COL		Minions	6
104	Jefferson Cepeda Hernandez	ECU		Minions	6
141	Andris Vosekalns	LAT		Minions	2
142	Luca Dressler	GER		Minions	2
162	Zhihui Jiang	CHN		Minions	1

Month two, and it's going to be our least successful month most likely. Two of our six races are in the ProTour which is great for exposure, but we are ineligible for points. The other four races are on cobbles, which is by far our worst terrain. Only in Gent - Wevelgem, which is a C2 race, we can expect points but given it's C2, not that many are on offer either. On the flip side, it will all be uphill from here.

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

The traditional Belgian opener, and for this season Boros joins De Witte as makeshift cobblestone squad which is aiming to crack the top fifty. Three riders in the break: Casillas, Gomez and Paleni, but all of them were there for the giggles. For even more giggles we brought Dressler over as well. Once that was all caught, De Witte attacked more seriously but the Hail Mary did not work out. Through all this Boros kept a low profile and finished... fiftieth. Exactly. Zero points.

Pos	Rider	Team	Time
1	Maxime Daniel	Lotto-Caloi	4h55'14
50	Michael Boros	Minions	+ 7'14
52	Mathias De Witte	Minions	s.t.
60	Luca Dressler	Minions	+ 12'45
113	Bernard Ndungu	Minions	+ 25'35
140	Cesar David Guavita	Minions	+ 31'59
179	Jhonatan Casillas	Minions	+ 54'04
183	Fausto Agustin Gomez	Minions	+ 1h00'03
190	Enzo Paleni	Minions	+ 1h21'50

Rating:

Paris - Nice

The first PT race of the month takes place in France, and the four key riders are Bjerg and Paillot for the time trial, Kalaba for the sprints and Van Niekerk for the hilly stage. The Dane finished sixth on the lone time trial, with the Frenchman surprising with a tenth place, guided by the home crowd. In the flat stages the Serbian finished seventh, twelfth, twelfth, twenty-fourth, seventy-seventh and twenty-second. Those are the winning lottery numbers, not very good results but with no points available no biggy. The South African always finished in the front group, took fifth on the only hilly stage but lost out in the time trial to finish forty-third overall. Given the lack of major gaps on the hilly stage, Bjerg was still high up in the GC and took sixth overall. Also a special shoutout for Dressler taking twentieth overall and seventh in the U25, and Paillot and Kalaba also placed inside the top twenty-five. This combined also meant we won the teams classification, nut again, no points on offer.

Pos	Rider	Team	Time
1	Eddie Dunbar	Indosat Ooredoo	30h22'42
6	Mikkel Bjerg	Minions	+ 34
20	Luca Dressler	Minions	+ 2'04
22	Yoann Paillot	Minions	+ 2'08
23	Dusan Kalaba	Minions	+ 2'10
43	Aidan Van Niekerk	Minions	+ 3'26
117	Fausto Agustin Gomez	Minions	+ 13'16
151	Cesar David Guavita	Minions	+ 22'25
165	Enzo Paleni	Minions	+ 32'21

Rating:

Le Samyn

Over in Belgium, we try again. Guavita the designated breakaway rider, De Witte attacking mid stage and Boros just riding his own pace, this time finishing thirtieth and taking five points for the rankings. What was not part of the script was De Witte still being in the front group in the finale, having enough energy to participate in the sprint and cross the line in third place. 82 points to the rankings! That's 82 more than projected for this month!

Pos	Rider	Team	Time
1	Yuan Tan Peng	Trans Looney Tunes	4h26'55
3	Mathias De Witte	Minions	+ 29
30	Michael Boros	Minions	s.t.
90	Luca Dressler	Minions	+ 6'14
104	Bernard Ndungu	Minions	+ 8'00
131	Cesar David Guavita	Minions	+ 12'01
170	Enzo Paleni	Minions	+ 18'44
174	Jhonatan Casillas	Minions	+ 19'11
177	Fausto Agustin Gomez	Minions	+ 19'17

Rating:

Copenhagen - Malmo TTT

It's the sixth time we participate in the prime team trial event, the fifth consecutive time and the fifth time on a wildcard. We were the second team to start after the top favorites and eventual winners EA Vesuvio, and were glad to just finish within a minute from them. Some teams beat our time, some teams didn't, but the end result didn't matter to us as it was mostly about our future time trial talents getting experience and practicing riding together. Thirteenth is bang in the middle of the pack.

Pos	Team	Time
1	EA Vesuvio	1h04'55
13	Minions	+ 59

Rating:

Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne

Now that we know we can actually perform on the cobblestones, our expectations for Kuurne were higher than normal. Dressler was part of the breakaway this time around, and De Witte once again went on the offensive in the middle part of the race, and led on his own for some time before being caught by the remaining favorites and then dropped from that group as well. Nineteenth is a perfectly fine end result, especially when the best cyclist to ever grace the Earth won the race.

Pos	Rider	Team	Time
1	Ruben Zepuntke	Ekoi - Le Creuset	4h23'41
19	Mathias De Witte	Minions	+ 3'27
42	Michael Boros	Minions	s.t.
75	Luca Dressler	Minions	+ 10'54
79	Bernard Ndungu	Minions	s.t.
114	Cesar David Guavita	Minions	+ 24'27
132	Jhonatan Casillas	Minions	+ 29'39
141	Fausto Agustin Gomez	Minions	+ 39'49
143	Enzo Paleni	Minions	+ 41'40

Rating:

Gent - Wevelgem

The only cobblestone race of the month we looked forward to, because at C2 level the best cobblers are absent and our leaders are among the best of the crop. Nevertheless we followed the plan as before, Guavita and Predatsch for the camera time in the breakaway, and De Witte being one of the first (sub)-favorites to attack. This backfired as he was caught and dropped, finishing twenty-seventh and outside the points. The only race we thought beforehand we were guaranteed to score points turned out to be a bust.

Pos	Rider	Team	Time
1	Leonardo Basso	Bianchi Enel	6h02'16
27	Mathias De Witte	Minions	+ 8'30
29	Michael Boros	Minions	s.t.
41	Luca Dressler	Minions	+ 11'34
66	Bernard Ndungu	Minions	+ 13'45
100	Cesar David Guavita	Minions	+ 21'26
126	Fausto Agustin Gomez	Minions	+ 33'20
130	Kevin Predatsch	Minions	+ 35'42
134	Enzo Paleni	Minions	+ 46'16

Rating:

Rankings

The drop in the rankings for this month was calculated. We even expected to drop much more, but a huge performance in Le Samyn softens the blow to twelfth place. The upcoming months have better suited races so we should be looking up again, and our current position suggest we're fighting for promotion rather than relegation. Only De Witte and Boros scored points this month, but the former's huge result takes him to second in our individual rankings, just behind Kamberaj who had the month off.

Pos	Last		Team	Total	RD	PpRD	Proj
1	4		Assa Abloy		750	24	31,25	5094
2	9		Specialized		721	38	18,97	3092
3	10		Lotto-Caloi		662	26	25,46	4150
4	1		Spark Team NZ		607	38	15,97	2603
5	2		MOL Cycling Team		563	29	19,41	3164
6	3		Tryg - Eni		536	29	18,48	3012
7	7		Everesting		526	40	13,15	2143
8	12		Trans Looney Tunes		516	19	27,16	4427
9	11		Ekoi - Le Creuset		513	25	20,52	3345
10	20		Bralirwa - Cegeka		490	33	14,85	2421
11	8		Bolt - Eesti		431	32	13,47	2196
12	6		Minions		415	29	14,31	2333
13	15		Hunter Valley Cycling		404	23	17,57	2864
14	16		Duvel-Tsingtao		402	30	13,4	2184
15	5		Sauber Petronas Racing		396	45	8,8	1434
16	19		DK Zalgiris		345	18	19,17	3125
17	17		JEWA TIROL		282	22	12,82	2090
18	13		McCormick Pro Cycling		269	26	10,35	1687
19	14		Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team		264	36	7,33	1195
20	18		Zwift - Newton Foundation		237	16	14,81	2414
21	23		Simba Cement - Tanga Fresh		128	17	7,53	1227
22	22		IESE ProCycling Team		94	34	2,76	450
23	21		Colombini Kometa		58	20	2,9	473
24	24		DeNA Roadstars		16	16	1	163

Pos	Last	Rider	Nat		Team	Total Points
1	1	Bryan Coquard	FRA		Spark Team NZ	448
29	15	Xhuliano Kamberaj	ALB		Minions	100
33	423	Mathias De Witte	BEL		Minions	89
36	19	Rafael Reis	POR		Minions	88
49	28	Salim Kipkemboi	KEN		Minions	58
90	45	Dusan Kalaba	SER		Minions	25
104	53	Aidan Van Niekerk	RSA		Minions	18
117	63	Mikkel Bjerg	DEN		Minions	15
178	103	Einer Augusto Rubio	COL		Minions	6
179	104	Jefferson Cepeda Hernandez	ECU		Minions	6
194	424	Michael Boros	CZE		Minions	5
232	141	Andris Vosekalns	LAT		Minions	2
233	142	Luca Dressler	GER		Minions	2
256	162	Zhihui Jiang	CHN		Minions	1