Shonak wrote:
You deserved it well. I also like your nomination for new manager of the year, given the last season.
Thanks Yeah, had some eligibility problems
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." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
After rumours, negotiations, dissapointments and new ideas, we can finally announce the contracted sponsors, subject to new additions, for the 2017 season. Obviously there had been some dissapointing results and whilst now we can say even if we do promote when a spot opens up we won't be reaching our targeted goals - and this'll have some serious repercussions.
The Primary Sponsors
These are our (wo)men with the money. Our sugar daddies, if you will. But they're no random rich sheikhs. These companies all have a passion for the sport, and, just as important if not more, the project itself.
About: Octagon is the sports and entertainment marketing division of the Interpublic Group (IPG). The IPG is one of the "big four" advertising companies and so being sponsored by the South African arm of the sports arm of the IPG is a smaller deal but with big background. Contract Until: 2017 *new contract Focus Nations: South Africa, Africa*
Octagon help us get our name on the backs of buses, billboards, wherever, in our target countries. Good for publicity, finances and fans. They've done a sterling job in 2016, helping us to a nomination for online HQ of the Year, and will continue in the same major capacity for a renewed 2017 contract
About: The overnight success that is Xero is now a international company still based in little ol' NZ. They develop online accounting software for small businesses (like our own?) Contract Until: 2017 Focus Nations: New Zealand, Australia, Great Britain (minor), United States (very minor)
Xero stepped in at the last minute in 2016, but have been a great asset to the team. However they are very disappointed with us not achieving as highly as we said we would so far, and may take a smaller role within the team, though are still a primary sponsor.
The Secondary Sponsors
Spoiler
About: Has nothing much to do with either government but helps bring New Zealand and South African businessmen and women together. Not related to the NZABC, a NZ-government approved company with the same values who unfortunately said no. Contract Until: 2017 Focus Nations: South Africa, New Zealand, Africa (minor)*
They have been disappointed with the lack of South Africans on the team but understand our struggles and know that their continued sponsorship (plus the fact they, y'know, are contracted for another year) will be one of the main ties that will help us focus our focus.
About: A government-backed, state-owned sponsor, Kiwibank is a subsidiary of New Zealand Post. Of course as many of you know they were involved as a title sponsor for Becherovka, one of the best teams in the world. They left as the team pursued a more Slavic focus, and want to start helping building a team from scratch where no pesky Eastern Europeans will give them the boot. Contract Until: 2018 Focus Nations: New Zealand
Kiwibank will be stepping up the funding for 2017 for a bigger role in the team with a view to renewing early, with a year left, to become a primary sponsor when we reach PCT. This could happen for 2017 if we do get invited up.
About: My Food Bag is another hotshot emerging modern Kiwi company, an online food delivery service philosophising in “Eating food from the ground, sea or the sky. A sure-fire way to enjoy food the way nature intended, with less preservative, salts and a host of other artificial things. With recipes being focused on bringing natural ingredients forwards as the heroes”. We will help spread the word as they hope to develop this message with local (not always possible for us) and free-range produce. Contract Until: 2017 Focus Nations: New Zealand, Australia
They've now got a look at expanding abroad thanks to Octagon and we've loved the nutrition provided by the Kiwi upstart, and we're happy to keep going with this partnership for the 2017 season.
About: Econet are an innovative company based out of Southern Africa but operate in the rest of Africa South America, Europe, East Asia and Australasia. Their core area is telecommunications and specifically broadband and fiber networks. They are also involved in other ventures in other sectors entirely Contract Until: 2018 *new sponsor Focus Nations: Zimbabwe, South Africa, Africa (minor)*, Australasia (minor) East Asia (very minor)*, South America (very minor)*, Europe (very minor)* *The choice of flags here means nothing
Econet are a truly innovative company which we are glad to be sponsored by. As a more worldwide company they don't demand any focus nationalities but will hopefully expand our influence even more in Southern Africa.
About: Telkom Indonesia is a majority state owned telecommunications company, the largest in Indonesia. Contract Until: 2017 *new sponsor Focus Nations: Indonesia
Jamalidin Novardianto is a cult hero now and nowhere is this more clear, other than the manager's room, than in his home country of Indonesia. Not investing too mcuh money, the government wanted in and will sponsor the team, just so they know we're tight and all, as long as Jams rides for us. So until he retires, then.
So, what does all of this mean? Well, in terms of the structure of the team, not much. But in a joint decision by the sponsors, team management, the GM and, unintentionally, the other teams by beating us too much, we've come to a decision that, following the trend of a couple of teams, there will be no title sponsor.
Xero especially is doubtful about the project but we managed to convince them to stay on in a major role. Octagon were rumoured for most of the season to not be renewing but promises have been made. We know we can't get a perfect nationality balance in the team and promote, so we have a one-season target for 2017, provided we don't promote, to continue at the current level of nationality focus on the condition that we auto promote. In addition, we feel we can focus on the project for years to come under the new title, which we think suits the team very well. But fear not for we may not ditch the p/b! I present to you (logo is a WIP):
Tour de Pologne
2-8th of July | Top 5 Race Goal | C2HC
Dissapointing race was dissapointing - Lloyd 2nd in KoM was nice but 7th and 12th in GC was certainly not. Glad this didn't end up being a team goal.
Spoiler
Lloyd secures the Fuchsia KoM jersey for the next day without joining the breakaway - Stage 1
Nzeke, Davison and Diggle in the top 25 but no stage result for us - Stage 1
Diggle a dissapointing 8th - Stage 3
Nzeke 5th, Diggle also in front group - Stage 5
Lloyd edging nearer to the KoM lead - Stage 6
Diggle 3rd on the line - Stage 6
La Tropicale Amissa Bongo
8-13th of July | Stage Win + Top 5 Race Goal | C2HC
Scully was good when he could be bothered, Clarke was terrible all around but guess who was the hero of the race - a top 5 GC and the white jersey win from Jams was our saving grace in an African race we really wanted to do well in,
Spoiler
Novardianto catches a break - Stage 3
Jams 2nd ahead of the pack putting him 2nd on GC, in the white jersey and us 1st in the Team's classification - Stage 3
Gudsell in the BotD - Stage 4
See what happens when you actually sprint? Scully 2nd behind another sprinter who's dissapointed this year - Stage 4
Scully 6th, Clarkey 9th - Stage 5
Volcan de Agua Classic
19th of July | Top 5 Race Goal | C2
I thought we were going here, then I didn't when I watched it, but the results say Salinas came 11th so we definitely were. Hmm.
Tour de Slovenie
25-29th of July | Stage Win + Top 5 Race Goal | C2
We were expected to be one of the favourites if the hilly stages were decisive, however they weren't and subsequently we couldn't even break into the top 10 GC. No stage wins either, which with 4 beautiful opportunities is really annoying. Diggle ended up 2nd in points and KoM as a tiny tiny tiny bit of a consolation.
Spoiler
Clark3y sprints to 3rd - Stage 1
If only "Diggle" had a 2 in it - Stage 2
Diggle in the KoM jersey 22nd in the TT - Stage 3
Clarkey wins... the sprint for 7th behind the break - Stage 4
Diggle wins... the sprint for 2nd behind the break - Stage 5
Screenshot of the Month
Diggle agonisingly close to the win - Credit to matt17br
Rider of the Month
Diggle came close but lacked a bit given his favourite status so this month it goes to...
Hopping up to 2nd on GC and 1st in the U25 classification - La Tropicale Amissa Bongo Stage 5
Jamalidin Novardianto Total RoTM Wins | 3 RoTM Wins This Season | 3
Another rankings update from the MGUCI and, well, it's better than it's been in a while now! After a busy month or two we're back where we were predicted to be and far from the sullen 12-16th the projected rankings had us achieving.
Overall
1
1
Kraftwerk Man Machine
1544
2
2
Podium Ambition
1417
3
4
Ferrero - Samruk
1360
4
3
Chiquita - Universal
1114
5
6
Carlsberg - Danske Bank
1107
9
13
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
867
A four-place jump puts us back in promotion contention, back in our goal for the rankings and back into where we were predicted to finish: the lower top 10, that fickle mistress. A bit of a surprise but it's rejuvenated the feel around the team and we're 100% commited to staying there.
Projected
Team
Total
Rd
PpRD
Proj
1
1
Kraftwerk Man Machine
1544
92
16,78
2014
2
3
Ferrero - Samruk
1360
84
16,19
1943
3
2
Podium Ambition
1417
88
16,1
1932
4
4
Chiquita - Universal
1114
90
12,38
1486
5
5
Carlsberg - Danske Bank
1107
94
11,78
1414
10
9
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
867
96
9,03
1084
With less race days left than World Cycling Centre we're predicted to finish 10th overall based off of our PpRD count but we think with the unsure nature of the WCC prediction (they have a lot of RDs left) and because we only see a few days left in the season where we can't beat 9 points that we could do even better, but obviously 10th is still good, especially after Scully misfired this season. It's also the minimum, so this table shows the amount of work we need to put in in the remainder of the season.
Riders
1
4
Andreas Stauff
GER
Kraftwerk Man Machine
472
2
2
Igor Antón
ESP
Isostar - Adriatic
380
3
17
Alex Dowsett
GBR
La Poste - Mavic
375
4
11
Enrico Barbin
ITA
Ferrero - Samruk
365
5
1
Serghei Tvetcov
ROM
cycleYorkshire s/b ASDA-Savers
350
25
14
Jonathan Salinas
VEN
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
173
27
55
Tom Diggle
GBR
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
167
35
24
Simon Clarke
AUS
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
133
41
85
Jamalidin Novardianto
INA
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
117
85
52
Ole Hirschlein
GER
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
65
99
71
Tom Davison
NZL
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
55
113
228
Tom Scully
NZL
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
49
121
141
Geremie Nzeke
CMR
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
43
136
177
Matthew Lloyd
AUS
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
35
190
253
Timothy Gudsell
NZL
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
21
281
249
Marvain Tognama Kossouhorou
CAF
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
5
308
301
Aleksandr Efimkin
RUS
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
3
344
421
Jean Helwani
FRA
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
1
422
422
Jordan Schleck
UGA
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
0
Pretty good to be 9th without a top 20 scorer! With two 50k'ers in the top 50 we've made some bargain buys but then again we have three 100+'ers outside the top 80. Clarke and Jams may drop over the next few months but we expect Diggle to rise substantially.
USA Pro Cycling Challenge
5-11th of July | Top 5 + Stage Win Race Goal | C2HC
Dissapointing race that not even a top 5 could make up for really.
Spoiler
Jams claiming the first KoM jersey of the race - Stage 1 And hanging on for 6th from the break - Stage 1 Salinas losing time - Stage 5 Turning screws at the front - Stage 6 Diggle 4th, Nzeke 10th, not good enough - Stage 6 Salinas 5th on the day and on GC - Stage 7
Tatranska Klasika
31st of August | Top 5 Race Goal | C2HC
An admirable performance from Salinas to live up to expectations, but nothing overly special here.
Spoiler
Hirschlein dropping as the pace heats up Salinas in a good position at the front as splits start to open up 4th behind two great climbers and a wheelsucker after leading the chasers in the last kilometres
[/quote]
Screenshot of the Month
The boys leading the race and shedding riders left and right - Credit to roturn
Rider of the Month
Really no other outcome was likely to be possible in a month all about him, and he delivered pretty well
Securing 5th on GC in Colorado
Jonathan Salinas Total RoTM Wins | 1 RoTM Wins This Season | 1
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." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
At the end of August our four youngest riders (Jamalidin Novardianto, Jordan Schleck, and making their debut stagiares Kim Ok Cheol and Nils Schomber) teamed up with riders from Shimano - Siam Cement and one from Hugo Boss to make a team primed for... breaks really. Nils and Leung from Shimano could do well in the prologue and Rive, also from Shimano, is a decent sprinter but really we were there for breaks and experience against future rivals, the best young riders in the world.
Best Stage
Best GC
BoTD
Stage 1 (ITT)
Schomber (20th)
Schomber (20th)
Stage 2 (Flat)
Rive (8th)
Schomber (21st)
No
Stage 3 (Flat)
N/A
N/A
No
Stage 4 (Hilly)
Novardianto (31st)
Novardianto (29th)
No
Stage 5 (MTN)
Schleck (51st)
Novardianto (51st)
No
Stage 6 (Flat)
Rive (10th)
Novardianto (51st)
Leung
Stage 7 (Hilly)
Quicibal (11th)
Novardianto (59th)
Quicibal
Stage 8 (MTN)
Novardianto (74th)
Novardianto (63rd)
No
Stage 9 (ITT)
N/A
Novardianto (N/A)
No
Stage 10 (MTN)
Schleck (49th)
Novardianto (60th)
Novardianto
Quicibal, strongest of the break, going solo - Stage 7
Whilst not really a very good race results-wise or what we were hoping for it was a great experience gainer and a chance for our boys to meet some other young riders. Thanks to the riders from Shimano and Hugo Boss who rode with us and the managers who let them ride with us in the Xero jersey.
Herald Sun Tour
1-5th of September | Stage WinTeam Goal | C2
This is what you get for planning and goal setting based on memory of a course and not this year's route...
Spoiler
Scully sprinting to 3rd - Stage 1
Acropolis Cup
3rd of September | Top 5 Race Goal | C2HC
Decent enough given a flat finish and breakaway win but every "average" races takes us further from top 10 in the rankings and outside chances of promotion. No pics of the finale but Diggle came 7th.
Spoiler
Diggle and Davison in the favourite's group
GP Yekaterinburg
29th of September | Top 5 Race Goal | C2HC
Pretty terrible.
Spoiler
Diggle fading to 11th
Screenshot of the Month
Scully in the mix - Credit to roturn
Rider of the Month
Pretty terrible month really so to the only man who did anything...
Sprinting to the line - Herald Sun Tour, Stage 1
Tom Scully Total RoTM Wins | 1 RoTM Wins This Season | 1
@Croatia - Well there's our first poem written for us You could also probably replace September with 2016 though
October Review
Tour du Faso
4-6th of October | Stage Win Race Goal | C2
We weren't expecting a lot but a top 10 spot could be partly won here, and whilst stage one subverted expectations in the good way... well you'll see.
Spoiler
Jams with the favourites (!) on his way to 8th - Stage 1
Taking control in the pack - Stage 2
Gudsell positioning Clarke perfectly - Stage 2
Somehow, seventh - Stage 2
Zuri Metzgete
18th of October | Top 5 Race Goal | C2HC
Ooh look we're not far off 10th and we should be able to get it on paper so let's look how we did ok I'm going to do that now
Spoiler
there are no screenshots here BECAUSE WE DID NOTHING YOU GUYS BETTER BE OK WITH 50K WAGE BECAUSE YOU TWO AREN'T WORTH 275 BLOODY THOUSAND EUROS YOU LAZY PRICKS
Screenshot of the Month
A happier time - Credit to Tamijo
Rider of the Month
AT LEAST THIS GUY CARES ABOUT THE FUTURE OF OUR TEAM!
Giving a rat's ass - Tour du Faso, Stage 2
Timothy Gudsell Total RoTM Wins | 1 RoTM Wins This Season | 1
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." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
@Croatia - Motion passed Indeed an incredible season for Jams, at least someone's getting renewed
End of Season Review
2016 Official Goals
Giro del Capo
Top 10
SUCCESS
Tour of Southland
Win
FAIL - Top 10
Herald Sun Tour
Stage Win
FAIL - Top 3
Barcelona Classic
Top 5
SUCCESS+ - Top 3
Team Standings
Top 10
FAIL - 11th
Success in the two easiest goals - Clark3 in Barcelona and Diggle in South Africa - were accomplished with appropriate ease however the other 3 goals became our undoing.
First off in Southland where we had a hefty load on our shoulders - a win goal in a Kiwi race was expected however it was always slightly too high. However what happened in the race was something else.
The only photo of the "lil knob" himself screwing over the hopes of two nations and one very sad manager
We couldn't even top 10 for crying out loud! It set the tone for some of the lowlights of the season but thankfully our failures were never quite that catastrophic again.
Next of the failures was the Herald Sun Tour. Now this was, according to our sponsor's weird budget system, the "easiest" goal but with over 20 teams all wanting to make it happen it's harder than it looks. Especially when I screw up my planning. A wild Scully appeared
Oh look who can actually sprint!
to challenge Clarke for the third place in sprints crown but were were all but invisible for the rest of the race unfortunately.
Last and certainly not least, the rankings. We were predicted to be lower top 10 but nobody picked us to fail our goal - of course with a strong correlation, nobody picked Scully to be a lazy ass. So with the help of Indonesian Jesus and a string of third places, we actually came pretty damn close despite our biggest leader turning in a measly 52 points. For some perspective that's less than:
- Tom Davison, our 5th best puncheur
- The biggest, fattest, ugliest, slowest top climber you've ever seen, Ole Hirschlein
- Steele von Hoff, who we spent pre-season smack talking because we had Scully
- His leadout man, Simon Clarke
- A Gabonese rider that isn't even Bakari
- At least six Aussie sprinters
- Two of Nelson's leadout men
- And 129 other riders
Short-Term Goals
- In 2016 place a solid CT ranking and develop young talents from our focus nations in particular
- Increase the popularity of all divisions of Cycling in NZ.
- In 2017 promote and come out trumps in the Oceanic CT battle.
- In 2017 continue to develop our younger riders.
- Have a team 75% from our focus countries
Solid CT ranking? Check. Focus nation talents? Nope, a bit of an excuse not much variety this year but something we're looking at developing with some real talents looking to go pro in the next few seasons from NZ, Africa, and the Pacific. Increased popularity? record numbers watched some CT races and followed them from NZ with 3 teams from there and PT was strong again with Bewley having another monster year. PCT is still an issue but as the likes of us and Fox eventually promote it should come. We're a year ahead in terms of winning the Oceanic CT battle but something we'll have to uphold next year as well when we hopefully promote and do more development. And as for the focus countries - yeeaahhh that's not happening right away but it's most certainly a process.
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." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
@the_hoyle - Point still stands, 80SPR should be better than breakaway luck @Croatia - Thanks Yeah indeed we will, and I can't wait to see Jams progress Speaking of which...
End of Season Review - Young Riders
It's been quite the debut season for our two young riders, with Ugandan Jordan Schleck doing lots of pace controlling and has had a steep learning curve in professional cycling. Meanwhile, in what feels like every race Indonesian barodeur Jamalidin Novardianto gets himself into breakaways and fights for KoMs, points jerseys, and, on occasion, stage honours and general classifications!
Now our planning of their race schedules weren't the best, not maximising their experience gaining, meaning that a) according to our stats system, they won't be as good next season, but more positively b) they'll be around next season!
Jordan Schleck
FLA
MON
HIL
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SPR
ACC
FTR
DH
PRL
LVL
POT
61
67
65
52
67
65
72
53
52
66
52
56
60
1
7
61
69
67
52
67
66
73
53
52
68
54
56
60
2
7
Jordan Schleck has continued to train very hard on his climbing skills this year and as a result has become noticeably better over the course of the season, with the stats on the bottom showing the MGUCI's rating system's current evaluation of him now. He will continue to be a useful domestique who we hope will be around for a very long time.
Jamalidin Novardianto
FLA
MON
HIL
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SPR
ACC
FTR
DH
PRL
LVL
POT
71
61
68
68
69
73
71
69
66
74
74
68
70
1
2
72
61
68
68
69
74
71
69
67
75
74
68
71
2
1
Our surprise package of the season stunned us with his fighting spirit and excellence in breakaways which saw him knocking on the door of the top 50 in the rankings. He's actually taken to the velodrome in his free time to hone his skills against the clock and in the frantic sprints to get into breakaways. 2016 was a fantastic season for the Indonesian and we hope that 2017 is even better as we set our sights on the top 5.
@Croatia - Yeah two great talents there to (sort of) make up for the lack of young riders
2017 Jersey Reveal
After a year racing in a fantastic light blue design from bwiggins with the change in the background and foreground (hopefully) at the team for 2017, something a little different was on the cards for 2017. In the end, we found something we felt was just right, designed by the fantastic the_hoyle!
@Croatia - Wow, high praise there Yep fantastic work indeed
@Matt - He sure is, he's been putting out some beauties lately - we're sure lucky to have him!
@sutty - It sure is, hoyle did an awesome job
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." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
Yeah, had some eligibility problems 
South Africa, 
Africa*
New Zealand, 
Australia, 
Great Britain (minor), 
United States (very minor)
Tour de Pologne
Volcan de Agua Classic
Tour de Slovenie
Acropolis Cup
GP Yekaterinburg
You could also probably replace September with 2016 though 
Tour du Faso
Zuri Metzgete
Speaking of which...
