Fabianski wrote:

Sheehan, Currie, Fedorov, Ciccone... I should stop liking the same riders as you do, as it's you who get them anyway

Fabianski wrote:

Really a great roster you've put together, signing some nice talents as well as some experienced riders with some handy skills (wanted Ciccone mainly for his PRL). After the Pogacar and Siric trainings, I wouldn't be surprised to see you knocking on the door of the Top 5.
On the other hand, replacing Enger's points of an awesome season (900+ iirc) won't be easy, and you have lost a little TT depth. Looking forward to see what Buitrago can do, should definitely be a fun rider to follow

AbhishekLFC wrote:

Fedorov is definitely a rider I like, but he just got too expensive to pursue. Glad he found a good home.

We were delighted to renew our relationship with ISA - Hexacta when it comes to loaning in their riders. Dylan is a wonderful rider for anyone planning their season with his all round ability. As so we'll be utilising him in many different race squads and he will ride in a Grand Tour to ensure him completing his development.

If once you don't succeed, try again. But we succeed the first time, so why not go back to the well? Alexander is the 2nd loanee coming over from ISA - Hexacta. He doesn't need as much development time, but he'll still fill an important role for us in a number of one day races.

Our final loanee is an old friend in fact. Kees started his career as a stagiaire with us back in 2020. After leaving on a permanent deal last year he returns to us this year on loan from his new team ELCO - ABEA. He joins without a loan clause, but we think he'll be involved enough to finally reach his full potential.

It was a successful single season for us and for Damien. He provided us with some high quality time-trialing including a TTT stage win at the Vuelta. On the other side he got a bit of pay rise and is now joining our friends at Sony - Force India for a fee of 700k.

Another rider with only one season here, but what a season it was! Enger finished as our 2nd highest highest scorer and really took to the Pro Tour like a duck to water. He's easily the best and most successful sprinter we've ever had. We were only going to sell him in a deal that worked for us, but having him join a newly promoted Norwegian PCT team just made too much sense. As is, he was sold for a fee of 900k to Tafjord-Kraft.

Craddock and Crncevic both left as part of a swap deal with Lidl Cycling. Both were real solid contributors for us. Craddock this last season and Crncevic in our promotion season 2 years ago. Coming in the other direction was Magnus Cort Nielsen and a nominal fee of 25k.

A free agent signing 2 year ago, Geoffrey was such a great rider to have around and he quickly became a bit of a fan favourite. He was an unsung hero in our promotion season and also proved his worth in the Pro Tour. He left to join Lotto-Caloi for a bargain fee of only 100k.

This was another bigger deal with a few motivations for us. We brought back Gasper Katrasnik who in hindsight we never should've sold in addition to the 900k. We were also motivated to give Govekar a chance to shine as a leader. He showed his ability by winning the U23 WC road race and we wish him all the best. Nareklishvili had to be included to make the deal work.

Cort Nielsen didn't stay with us for long, together with David Gaudu they moved to the Pro Tour team Grieg-Maersk for a fee worth 1m. We want to take a moment to thank David for his 3 years with us. His arrival coincided with an upturn in our team's performance. He's been a great leader and even better domestique for us. His role got reduced this past year so we hope for his success at his new team.

Kristjan got a solid amount of race days last year, therefore we had the option of having someone else look after the final step of his development. He goes to Sony - Force India where he adds depth to his climbing ranks. He then should be ready for a bigger role with us next season.

It's quite a similar situation for Fred Wright. He's set for an important domestique role at Tryg - Eni which should be a good proving ground for him. Next year he hopefully fills his role as an all round rider for us.

This was a deal that came a bit out of left field. We've never loaned out a maxed rider before. We got a 250k fee and Milos's wages paid are being split between us and Zain - Omantel. The deal still feels a bit strange for us, but we felt the money gained was needed at the time and hopefully our team's performance doesn't suffer to much without one of main domestiques.

Our two late bloomers both ended up leaving late in the transfer window. We could have given them the race days ourselves, but we got an opportunity to clear some extra wage space to secure our free agents. They both left to go to newly promoted PCT team Llapi-Vita.

AbhishekLFC wrote:

Three useful loanees brought in for the season.

DarkWolf wrote:

There some very interesting talents added to an already lovely team. Also, due to various reasons, a longtime career I played a couple of years ago in PCM and some real life cycling races, I do love a lot the additions of Fedorov and Ciccone. Good luck in the new season!

Ulrich Ulriksen wrote:

Congrats on training the home town talents. Pogi obviously a monster. I think the Siric training will really help, should be good enough now to some priority and his SP and secondaries will help him at the finish.

Ulrich Ulriksen wrote:

Age profile, as always, is impressive. Every year I look at your squad and regret letting Fred Wright go.

The training to make Tadej even stronger in the mountains is great. Losing 5 race days, not so much. So there is a bit more pressure to perform in every race. Paris-Nice can hopefully be a good early indicator. Tour of Ukraine is probably the least suited race on his schedule, maybe the revised hilly stage can be to his benefit. We expect some of the best climbers to be in Liechtenstein and East Java which should provide a great test. Finally he again finishes his season at the Tour de France, as the most important race on the calendar.

AbhishekLFC wrote:

Very compact schedule for Pogacar, with Ukraine probably not the race I would've expected him to go to. Guess the RD implications matter. Looking to see how the training bears fruit!