We thought our dealmaking may have come to an end when we wrote our last update, but how wrong we were! Karel Camrda was the first to leave, with Kasper Andersen joining in his place only to then leave as well, in a similar fashion to the previously presented Marton Dina. And then three other, possibly more surprising names, left in swap deals - Joel Ponce, Niklas Larsen and Jake Stewart.
However, all those sales meant 6 new signings! Three came from the swap deals we mentioned above, while three signed from free agency to fill the empty roster slots left by the other deals:
Kemp Orosco
4.100
26yo
€50,000
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
71
75
74
72
70
74
68
72
61
64
66
70
64
67
We let Ponce return to Everesting alongside a fee of 100k in a deal that saw Kemp Orosco join the team. While his headline stats may not be the most exciting, we thought it would be valuable to add a relatively young stage racer on minimum wage. While Ponce may be the better rider in their respective primes, we though the extra three years at maxed stats made Orosco a worthwhile investment.
Hugo Page
4.75
24yo
€60,000
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
71
66
67
68
61
73
70
75
65
76
78
68
70
66
…
73
66
68
69
61
75
71
77
66
78
80
68
70
66
Alexys Brunel
4.100
27yo
€110,000
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
75
67
69
71
78
72
78
73
66
61
65
69
66
78
We didn't plan to sell Stewart and Larsen, but the additions of Peak, Zariff and Mihkels meant that our need for sprinters in both the short and long term had lessened. With Pithie developing, Stewart's long-term value on the cobbles had diminished, and while Larsen's unique skillset was valuable, we expect to be avoiding TTTs as much as possible, and prologues are too variable a source of points for our liking.
That all being said, we wouldn't have sold unless we were content with the replacements. It took some lengthy negotiation, but we managed to secure two riders we've long admired in Hugo Page and Alexys Brunel, through a straight swap with Jura GIANTS. Page provides cover for some of the sprint train duties Larsen and Stewart would have provided, as well as great long term upside, while Brunel offers us a type of rider we have had success with in PCT before (Paillot and Reus).
Henok Mulubrhan
4.50
26yo
€110,000
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
70
67
71
75
62
73
72
74
61
66
70
68
69
57
…
71
68
73
77
62
75
73
75
61
67
72
69
69
57
Yaroslav Parashchak
4.100
25yo
€50,000
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
70
68
72
75
58
70
70
71
58
60
72
73
67
58
Chris Hamilton
4.100
30yo
€55,000
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
72
68
72
76
67
71
74
74
55
64
73
70
68
69
Due to the last minute nature of some our deals, we entered the final hour of transfers with 17 riders and none of the riders that we felt it made sense to sign for the long term available on the market. Needing to sign three more riders, we decided to focus our efforts on signings who we could sell for a decent amount next year if we needed to - though of course we may keep them if they impress this year.
It helped that the best options we found were all puncheurs, which fit with the current strengths of the squad. Henok Mulubrhan was the most expensive of the trio, with some further development to come which should increase his value, while Yaroslav Parashchak has the benefit of youth on his side. And for our final signing, we brought in Chris Hamilton - no relation to the other Australian Hamilton who spent a few days with us earlier this transfer season.
We also added a loan in, in the form of Ivan Romeo - thanks to our friends at Xero Racing for his presentation, which we've left in their style:
Ivan Romeo 22 | 1.00XP | 250,000
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FT
DH
PL
68
68
68
70
70
68
68
55
60
63
68
71
70
71
77
73
77
77
73
75
55
60
64
69
72
77
Training
After we completed all of our deals, we had a ridiculous amount of cash still available. This wasn't intentional, but more a product of some attempted deals not happening, and the amount of the wage cap taken up by Mihkels limiting our options. However, it also meant that four of our riders had the opportunity for some development this offseason:
That's a lot of training.. I do love to see our old loanee Peak shine, whether or not I will love to race against him this year time will tell! The team should be in a great spot for the future.
That's a lot of training.. I do love to see our old loanee Peak shine, whether or not I will love to race against him this year time will tell! The team should be in a great spot for the future.
I did try and spend the money in other ways, but none of the bigger deals I tried came off - sometimes as managers decided not to sell after considering their options, sometimes as better offers came along, and sometimes because I left it too late. It won't add the equivalent value of spending 3.3m on riders in transfers, but hopefully it'll be fun if nothing else!
Can one rider receive 3 trainings in a season?
Nevermind me :-D
Thought I best take advantage of the rare opportunity, hence so many MO trainings this year
Full Roster
I will do a proper team presentation when race planning is complete, but for now here is the full roster (that I definitely didn't forget to post in the previous post). With thanks to knockout for the coding tool, here is the squad we hope will be able to keep us in the PCT this season:
I swore off training sprinters, but if there's one guy that should be an exception, it's Peak. What an absolutely beast. Already should be a top sprinter now at 27.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Love love love the Peak training, would have enjoyed a vdP bump in addition but he should be awesome enough this year anyway. No shocker I really like the squad - race planning will be very fun with your guys
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [PT] Xero Racing
I see some struggling this season. There are some really nice riders like Peak, Errazkin, van der Poel or Burke in the squad, but with the competition they'll be facing in their terrains I'm not sure they will be enough to stay up. But if you are able to do so that's a really cool squad for the years to come!
Looks like you had a lot of fun this transfer season and I had a lot of fun following all your deals. It would be a shame to relegate again so I'll be rooting for you to stay up!
I swore off training sprinters, but if there's one guy that should be an exception, it's Peak. What an absolutely beast. Already should be a top sprinter now at 27.
That's the hope, although I think he's probably going to be just outside the top 5 in PCT this season - even after training Ewan, Dainese, Coquard, Grosu and Liu I think will be better than him. Hopefully he can score well enough in some of the harder races to keep us away from the relegation zone.
Love love love the Peak training, would have enjoyed a vdP bump in addition but he should be awesome enough this year anyway. No shocker I really like the squad - race planning will be very fun with your guys
In a scenario where both were the same age, vdP to 79 HI would have been my first choice. But an extra few years of Peak in his prime seemed more valuable, and I suspect vdP will be sold next season to help raise training funds, which made him a less worthwhile investment.
I see some struggling this season. There are some really nice riders like Peak, Errazkin, van der Poel or Burke in the squad, but with the competition they'll be facing in their terrains I'm not sure they will be enough to stay up. But if you are able to do so that's a really cool squad for the years to come!
I thought the same and then I saw that PCT is weaker than I thought The hope is that this is a squad of riders who are pretty versatile, and with mountains and TTs completely avoided outside of PTHC/HC we can minimise races where we don't score much. Could go horribly wrong but hopefully it'll be enough to stay up!
Looks like you had a lot of fun this transfer season and I had a lot of fun following all your deals. It would be a shame to relegate again so I'll be rooting for you to stay up!
Thanks, I enjoyed our bidding war for Skerl and glad that he ended up with you in the end! Would cause some major problems if we were to relegate as one of Peak, Mihkels and Pithie would likely have to be sold, but I am aware that I probably lost about a third of my team's point scoring potential this off-season so it's a real risk.
Yeah that was what I envisioned with Peak all the time
Thought you would be happy about this! Future trainings will depend a lot on what happens this season (e.g. no relegation), and I have a slight concern that his STA and ACC are lower than ideal, but at least until Pithie becomes eligible he should be the priority for top end training.
In addition to Peak's training, that Errazkin training is probably pretty savvy to be honest. Hoping you have enough quality to stay up, as it is such a fun roster
In addition to Peak's training, that Errazkin training is probably pretty savvy to be honest. Hoping you have enough quality to stay up, as it is such a fun roster
Thanks, I thought about making him 79HI and not doing the smaller trainings but figured that with his slightly weaker SP and ACC it probably would be more useful to make him a better climber rather than a better puncheur. No idea what to expect this season, particularly with the change of game, so fingers very much crossed!
We planned our race-specific goals prior to the sale of Kemboi during transfer season, so our expectations are significantly lower than at the time we set them. However, we think Peak and Zariff should still be able to get close to achieving them, though we suspect we're more likely to be in "near-miss" territory than "succeeded". And the less said about our team standings goal the better...
In terms of our calendar more broadly, we've unsurprisingly avoided mountains and TTs as far as possible in our non-compulsory races. Instead we've prioritised hills and sprints, with a side order of cobbles to make use of some of the versatility in our squad. Our C2 race days will be spent in Tachira and Faso, hoping to benefit from what we think will be weaker than usual CT fields - and hopefully helping limit our low scoring races to keep us away from the bottom five.
We head into our return to PCT with one main objective in mind: avoiding relegation. That being said, our own internal modelling suggests we may have enough point scoring potential in the squad to fight for promotion, although we - and many of the other predictors out there - are a lot less optimistic than that.
A huge part of any potential success this season will hinge on the area we saw the biggest investment this season, our sprint squad:
Barnabas Peak
4.100
27yo
€220,000
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
80
64
67
69
67
73
77
77
61
80
78
64
68
74
Start
End
Race
Category
08-Jan
Down Under Classic
HC
24-Jan
28-Jan
Circulo de Juarez
HC
30-Jan
Great Ocean Road Classic
C1
14-Mar
18-Mar
Tour of Norway
HC
28-Apr
Lisbon Classic
HC
27-May
Paris Tours
HC
03-Jun
Hanko Classic
PTHC
20-Jun
Berlin ProRace
C1
01-Jul
Torshavn GP
C1
20-Jul
23-Jul
Tour of Lithuania
PTHC
03-Aug
05-Aug
Ras Tailteann
PTHC
09-Aug
13-Aug
Post Danmark Rundt
HC
01-Sep
Riga - Jurmala GP
PTHC
07-Oct
10-Oct
Praha - Karlovy Vary - Praha
PT
13-Oct
Philadelphia International Championship
PTHC
Nur Aiman Zariff
4.100
28yo
€140,000
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
70
60
61
61
60
71
67
77
60
80
80
60
67
72
Start
End
Race
Category
12-Jan
17-Jan
Tour Down Under
C1
23-Jan
28-Jan
Tour of Qatar
PT
22-Mar
26-Mar
Tour of Britain
C1
05-Apr
11-Apr
Tour de Pologne
C1
13-Apr
17-Apr
Tour of Slovenia
PTHC
01-May
05-May
La Tropicale Amissa Bongo
C1
14-Jun
20-Jun
Criterium du Dauphine Libere
PTHC
16-Aug
20-Aug
Deutschland Tour
PTHC
10-Sep
14-Sep
Baltic Chain Tour
C1
03-Oct
08-Oct
Tour du Maroc
HC
Peak will get the opportunity to lead the majority of the flat races on our calendar, but when we considered the potential field strength in some of the races we've entered we decided to take a few risks in hope of maximising his scoring. That means that as well as leading our sprint squad in most stage races, Zariff will also lead in La Tropicale Amissa Bongo and Baltic Chain Tour, meaning slightly lower expectations in those two races. They'll be supported by a strong set of leadouts across their races:
David Dekker
4.100
27yo
€113,000
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
77
63
65
66
60
81
77
74
73
77
76
66
64
61
Hugo Page
4.75
24yo
€60,000
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
71
66
67
68
61
73
70
75
65
76
78
68
70
66
…
73
66
68
69
61
75
71
77
66
78
80
68
70
66
Sarris Evangelos
4.09
24yo
€54,000
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
73
63
65
66
69
75
70
67
72
73
73
68
72
70
…
75
63
65
66
69
76
70
72
73
75
75
68
72
70
Madis Mihkels
1.00
22yo
€630,000
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
70
58
61
64
62
71
71
65
66
71
73
67
62
69
…
77
59
63
67
62
78
74
80
71
80
81
67
63
69
Page will get a couple of opportunities to sprint for himself alongside his leadout duties, while Dekker and Evangelos will also contribute to our cobbles squad, alongside two other versatile riders:
Laurence Pithie
3.18
23yo
€156,000
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
73
66
69
72
71
74
73
71
75
73
74
67
72
69
...
76
66
69
72
71
76
73
80
77
76
77
67
72
69
Start
End
Race
Category
23-Jan
28-Jan
Tour of Qatar
PT
01-Feb
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
HC
03-Feb
Viana do Castelo
C1
25-Feb
Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne
HC
05-Mar
Strade Bianche
HC
10-Mar
Macskako Kerekparverseny
HC
12-Mar
Lillestrom GP
C1
18-Mar
1 Jour de Dunkerque
C1
03-Apr
Badaling International
HC
25-Apr
GP Wallonie
HC
29-May
Tour of the Battenkill
PTHC
14-Jun
20-Jun
Criterium du Dauphine Libere
PTHC
08-Jul
12-Jul
Benelux Challenge
HC
20-Jul
23-Jul
Tour of Lithuania
PTHC
09-Aug
13-Aug
Post Danmark Rundt
HC
16-Aug
20-Aug
Deutschland Tour
PTHC
23-Aug
31-Aug
Tour de l'Avenir
U23
01-Sep
Riga - Jurmala GP
PTHC
10-Sep
14-Sep
Baltic Chain Tour
C1
01-Oct
Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec
PTHC
07-Oct
10-Oct
Praha - Karlovy Vary - Praha
PT
13-Oct
Philadelphia International Championship
PTHC
Mathieu Van der Poel
4.100
30yo
€204,000
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
73
70
74
77
69
78
77
74
72
72
77
77
79
73
Start
End
Race
Category
12-Jan
17-Jan
Tour Down Under
C1
03-Feb
Viana do Castelo
C1
05-Mar
Strade Bianche
HC
07-Mar
GP Izola
C1
10-Mar
Macskako Kerekparverseny
HC
18-Mar
1 Jour de Dunkerque
C1
22-Mar
26-Mar
Tour of Britain
C1
13-Apr
17-Apr
Tour of Slovenia
PTHC
29-May
Tour of the Battenkill
PTHC
26-Jun
28-Jun
USA Pro Cycling Challenge
C1
08-Jul
12-Jul
Benelux Challenge
HC
09-Aug
13-Aug
Post Danmark Rundt
HC
22-Aug
GP Lugano
HC
01-Oct
Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec
PTHC
As part of Pithie's continued development we expect he'll take on leadout duties and contribute to our TTT squad when he's not leading on the cobbles, while van der Poel is part of our multi-pronged attack for hilly races:
Xuban Errazkin
4.100
29yo
€145,000
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
71
75
77
78
70
76
75
76
65
63
73
69
67
70
Start
End
Race
Category
07-Mar
GP Izola
C1
14-Mar
18-Mar
Tour of Norway
HC
03-Apr
Badaling International
HC
05-Apr
11-Apr
Tour de Pologne
C1
13-Apr
17-Apr
Tour of Slovenia
PTHC
25-Apr
GP Wallonie
HC
05-May
10-May
Balkans International
PTHC
20-Jul
23-Jul
Tour of Lithuania
PTHC
07-Aug
Gisborne GP
C1
09-Aug
13-Aug
Post Danmark Rundt
HC
22-Aug
Milano - Torino
HC
10-Oct
15-Oct
Tour of South Africa
C1
Chris Hamilton
4.100
30yo
€55,000
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
72
68
72
76
67
71
74
74
55
64
73
70
68
69
Henok Mulubrhan
4.50
26yo
€110,000
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
70
67
71
75
62
73
72
74
61
66
70
68
69
57
…
71
68
73
77
62
75
73
75
61
67
72
69
69
57
Yaroslav Parashchak
4.100
25yo
€50,000
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
70
68
72
75
58
70
70
71
58
60
72
73
67
58
Martin Svrcek
1.00
22yo
€55,000
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
68
66
67
68
65
68
66
66
66
64
69
70
68
66
…
71
73
75
76
67
74
70
71
66
66
75
75
69
68
Errazkin and van der Poel are two of the three aforementioned prongs of our hill attack, while the third comes in the form of the nominal leader of our mountain squad in Burke. Though as noted from our calendar, our only non-C2 mountain RDs come from compulsory races, with hills the priority:
Jack Burke
4.100
30yo
€126,000
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
69
77
77
76
69
75
74
80
55
60
71
77
71
69
Start
End
Race
Category
22-Mar
26-Mar
Tour of Britain
C1
03-Apr
Badaling International
HC
05-Apr
11-Apr
Tour de Pologne
C1
05-May
10-May
Balkans International
PTHC
14-Jun
20-Jun
Criterium du Dauphine Libere
PTHC
25-Jul
29-Jul
Tour d'Andorra
HC
07-Aug
Gisborne GP
C1
22-Aug
Milano - Torino
HC
01-Sep
Pro Hallstatt Classic
HC
03-Oct
08-Oct
Tour du Maroc
HC
10-Oct
15-Oct
Tour of South Africa
C1
Kemp Orosco
4.100
26yo
€50,000
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
71
75
74
72
70
74
68
72
61
64
66
70
64
67
Kantaphon Kunkumpai
3.17
23yo
€50,000
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
65
71
71
70
64
72
67
75
56
64
70
63
74
64
…
67
76
75
74
67
75
69
79
56
64
72
66
75
67
Stavros Theorpanous
3.48
23yo
€50,000
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
70
70
70
70
69
68
71
72
67
68
73
72
69
68
…
75
72
72
72
71
71
74
75
69
70
76
76
71
70
Finally, we have a TT squad (of sorts) centered around the dual threat of Brunel for the easier TT races and Mansouri for the harder ones. The former will also aid our leadout train, and the latter our hill squad :
Love the hillly trio of VDP, Errazkin and Burke - a really complementary set of skills. VDP is the likely favorite for Benelux and could push Benoot at Viano. Teams skip disciplines all the time but usually not mountains, so that will be interesting.
Outside of the two main sprinters I feel this is quite a hybrid-ish team so the scoring from those races should be key to a successful season. Also I'm thinking Ras Tailteann will again be the race with the toughest field of sprinters
Ivan Romeo
J. Burke
H. Mansouri
L. Pithie
S. Evangelos
S. Theorpanous
K. Kunkumpai
M. Mihkels
M. Svrcek
Tour of Qatar
Circulo de Juarez
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
Roma Maxima
Viana do Castelo
Vuelta al Tachira
GP Izola
Lillestrom GP
Tour of Britain
Badaling International
Tour de Pologne
Tour du Faso
La Tropicale Amissa Bongo
Tour of the Battenkill
Hanko Classic
Berlin ProRace
Torshavn GP
Tour of Lithuania
Tour d'Andorra
Ras Tailteann
Post Danmark Rundt
GP Lugano
Riga - Jurmala GP
Pro Hallstatt Classic
Tour du Maroc
Praha - Karlovy Vary - Praha
Tour of South Africa
