Gotta say that jersey will be great fun racing against! Will be awesome to see it crossing the finish line in first place. Some very very good talents there, especially for a team which could end up in CT. Looking forward to seeing where you end up and what you do.
And just like last season we finish in the relegation places, but unlike last season this time there will be no 11th hour intervention by the MGUCI. We are officially relegated for the first time in our history. At least we went down fighting with a far above expectations performance in Japan headlined by Julian who did brilliantly. We came close, but no cigar.
This means a drop to the Continental Tour. We have to cut out team down to 15-20 riders and slash our wage budget to just 1,2million. Big hits to the team and a big headache for the HQ staff to sort out. So how are we doing?
Definately Staying
Ricki Nelson - The 28 year old Aussie will be one of the top sprinters in the CT and at a reasonable wage. He should be good for a handful of wins at the lower level. Borislav Ivanov - The 27 year old Bulgarian will be a decent climber for the CT. Not the best but good enough he should be mixing it up the mountains, plus bargain price. Martin Grashev - The 29 year old Bulgarian has HC Classics wins to his name. In the CT he'll be a key part of a very strong cobbles team and good for points. Simon Yates - The 24 year old Brit is on the cusp of fullfilling his potential. He'll have to wait a year though as he'll be leading the team in the Hills. Jamie Sparling - The 32 year old Canadian as one final year at full strength. He was always better in CT than PCT and could be a real outside thread on the cobbles. Mikolay Mihaylov - The 28 year old Bulgarian will get his 4th NC title, maybe 5th, shortly and we can't let him go. He could even get points in the CT! Momchil Robov - The 23 year old Bulgarian has been consistently making a name for himself. The CT could see him come of age just ahead of a 2017 loan. Sven Fritsch - The 22 year old Luxembourger is continuing to progress towards a decent hilly rider. Plus he can always be a thorn in SN's side! Max Losch - Coming back from loan he'll slot in as a wild card rider with great attacking nature and a killer sprint. Stefan Hristov - Coming back from loan he'll slot in as a serious cobbles threat to win big races.
10 Riders for 685k (2015 wages)
Staying But Open To Offers
Geraint Thomas - The 30 year old Brit has been our key leader for 3 seasons. He's a top classics specialist. He should be staying on but he's popular and if a good offer came in we'd have to listen, thanks to Hristov. Geoffrey Soupe - The 28 year old Frenchman would be a great CT sprinter. We like him a lot but France is a popular nation so we could sell him for a decent price tag if we got a nice offer.
2 Riders for 240k (2015 wages) [Total 12 Riders for 925k]
Staying Depending on Wage
Matthew Lloyd - The 33 year old Aussie is declining, but only slightly. If we can pull his wage down he'll be a good rider to have, or he'll be released. Caleb Ewan - The 23 year old Aussie is a HUGE sprinting talent, just massive. But that comes with an inflated wage which is hard to manage at the CT level. If we can, we'll keep him but he might be on the verge of a big money move away! Petar Panayotov - The 29 year old Bulgarian is such a plus for the team. Clear mountains leader he's been brilliant really for us. But he costs the big bucks a CT team can struggle for. If we can we'll hold him but he also could be heading for the money transfer.
3 Riders for 625k (2015 wages) [Total 15 Riders for 1.55mil]
As you can see those three currently would take us way over our cap space. So their futures are very much dependent on their renewal wages. For Ewan and Panayotov we can renew them in the knowledge the fines could be covered in a sale so will be renewed rather than released.
Going On Loan
Valentin Stoenchev - The 25 year old Bulgarian is so close to maxing! He'd be our first 1-4.100 rider and we will get him placed somewhere in the PT! Julain Alaphilippe - The 24 year old Frenchman is a great pick-up for a PT team as we look to max him into a great lead-out rider.
2 Riders for 155k (2015 Wages) [Total 17 Riders for 1.705mil]
So as you can see we're really over cap by this point. We'll be haggling hard to pay a minimal amount of their wages and give ourselves the best chances of bouncing straight up again.
Bye-Bye
Andre Greipel, Kobe Vanoverschelde, Cayetano Sarmiento, Will Routely, Georgie Georgiev, Steve Fisher, Romain Bardet, Spas Gyurov, Stanislav Zaraliev, Stanimir Cholakov, Pavlin Balinski - All being straight released to the free agency Isaac Bolivar - We'll look to renew him but are very open to offers for the Colombian cobbles talent.
A lot of hard decisions to make and we have to let go some riders we've had relationships with for 3 years! But we really need to rethink this team and with a raft of new sponsors and new focus it's all changeing. Everything is geared around coming straight back to the PCT and holding those good riders we've worked so hard to bring in. The off-season will be tough and transfers will be agressive!
![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
