Plenty of promise and change in the CTour the major expansion will lead I am sure to an even more immersive experience.
The PCT ranks sees 30 very different but in the main competitive looking squads. The expansion meaning it will be highly competitive.
Who is going to win the TT duel
That competition has led to a very active transfer season that saw some very interesting and at times surprising developments. Perhaps the biggest talking point proved to be the arrival of two top class time traillers in Zabriskie and Rogers. It's a strange one really as whilst 2010 and 2011 saw strong chrono men underpins strong campaigns for promoting teams, last year a top time trialler proved a bit of a curse.
That said this skewed distribution of time triallers may have caught a few managers thinking a Reus, Cornu or Boom were going to clean up following Ignatiev finally disappearing from the scene. Far from it!
Alarcon is back to dominate in the mountains
The mountain magician Jose Alarcon transferred out of Protour Aker to Team Bintang to cause his usual mischief, he has been handicapped by the new average system, but will also find the competition a but tougher. Former team mate Taaramae, high class Spanish stage racer Abal and former Tour runner up Dekker add to the now familiar battles with Italian climber Pozzovivo. There are a number of strong climbing squads, meaning the battlegrounds in the mountains will be just as animated as ever.
Ginanni has a good chance of his best year in 2013
The freak that was Di Maggio may have departed but the hilly classics have still got some high quality strength there. Ginanni has his best chance yet however to step up another level, though plenty of training money invested could be dangerous to him. Froome, Roche, Leverlet, Mendes, Dowsett and Gautier have been improved which will hurt those who thought they had snuck in a weak discipline. Efimkin, Fligal, Sinkewitz, Ben Nasser, Zaini, Roy, Schruers and Bellis should still be highly competitive.
BPost took a little while to get going but Vanspreybrouck will look to get back to his 2011 best
The cobbles as ever are a niche area with Bpost again looking to dominate, now lacking top rivals with Pokerstars promoting, Jaguar selling their cobbled stars and Koppert disbanding. HTC Nieuwsblad, AMEX and UPC all have made a decent fist of stepping into the void. Meanwhile Cancellara may have disappeared but some of his support crew remain at Bouygues Telecom, with VolksWagen and Rothaus still with riders who could challenge also.
Napolitano landed a big wage - can he justify it?
Bennati's sprinting propelled Puma up into the protour, Evian have looked to step into the wake of the Italian's sonic boom. One of a number of massively waged sprinters Napolitano will have to work hard to justify his 750K wage. Lo Cicero, Cavendish, Vantomme, Avelino, Roelandts and Kennaugh look likely to challenge the Italian.
Here is my look at each team in turn. I will go six by six.
Air Baltic: Splashed out on Mark Cavendish who leads a decent trio of sprinters with Docker and Vaitkus. Konovolovas is also a decent hilly time trialler.
The Baltic move has inspired plenty of purchases of talents from that region, though will find first year quite testing even in those C2 races.
Top five earners take up 60% of the budget which is too much considering there isn't any sure fire points earning potential there. Midtable at best for AirBaltic.
Alstom - The expensive hilly squad is key here 950K was spent on Roy, Anderson and Durasek. However there is a number of hilly races in the Ctour so should pay reasonable dividends.
Gadret has found a home in 2013 and is reasonably priced as is Ivars, both could do well this year. Morobito will also prove useful.
A few too many sentamental re-signs from last year that rather use up roster space including sprinter Haddou, there was a reasonable he was up for grabs in the second draft last year.
Should be an okay mid table finish with plenty of climbing points for Alstom.
AMEX - Has looked to specialise in flat land points, strange as AMEX were an excellent climbing squad last time. Eisel, Breschel and Kupfernagel are good solid signings and should secure some good results for AMEX.
Seemed to have a single rider cap, but certainly overpaid for one or two riders like Michael Kurth for example.
Experienced racers Chavanel and Barrado lead team over hills will look to sneak away in breaks perhaps a legacy of the previous season notes take by manager.
Difficult to predict, I don't see anything higher than mid table but I think manager has a good race planning brain so could well get well above the lower reaches despite a lack of true rider power.
Bouygues Telecom - Both relegated teams have kept their elite stage racers. They don't get a lot of races so you have to get it right. Taaramae has done this before when partnered with the CTour legend Alarcon, will have to race him this year which should be quite the showdown. Sauza and Solis were a bit of a novelty act in the protour, but one dimensional mountain goats have had success in the Ctour.
Roelandts looks a rarely expensive re-signing, then again considering the free Agent prices of some of the the elite sprinters looks more reasonable. No sprint train so will be more on his own this year.
Under usual circumstances Tony Martin would have been a steal for his wage, manager a bit unlucky that he and French time trialler Mottin will struggle to land any wins this year.
A good team, I am concerned that Taaramae will not be able to give good enough value as stage racers in the Ctour are prone to do to give Bouygues are strong shot at bouncing back to the Protour. Should make top 10.
Cisco - As already commented if you have a rider over 500K in the Ctour you had better make sure he is a winner. Surprising Caruso we re-signed for 650K and Cisco couldn't get rid of him.
Efimkin was signed in for nearly two million, expensive but is certainly in the top ten punchaers in the Ctour as he was back in Milka promotion season in 2011.
A lot of good climbing sub leaders and high level support with Taborre, Dyachenko, Osella and Salerno. Should ensure Cisco go okay toward just above mid table.
Went for massive restructuring with lots of loan activity - the 2013 team is so-so but is one of those that will often talk glowingly of the future.
Evian - Massive 750K spent on Napolitano, so have Evian pulled a Vantomme or a Bennati? It's probably somewhere in between. Sprinters certainly have the potential to score heavily, Napo is one of three sprinters in the top 20 scorers from last year. The other two were Bennati and Davis, Bennati is protour and Davis has reached the dreaded 33. However there are lots of variables with sprinters so we will just have to see.
Serpa returns to the Ctour and remains a good climber, though clearly past his best and will likely not score as hugely as he will have in the past.
Lots of talents some of which will prove to be duds, will have little choice but to race loaned in talent, depriving some of their own starlets that is a shame.
Napolitano and Serpa should be enough to ensure team is clear of relegation but no better than lower mid table.
Edited by Smowz on 18-01-2013 19:14
Hollister - Steady improvers looked to spruce up slightly aging squad with some young recruits including decent Spanish climber Izagirre. Though Spanish recruit will struggle to improve in the Ctour, young Colombian Beltran looks a decent prospect also.
Hollister are a strong solid climbing squad, Kiserlowski is a good battling climber with a decent amount of race days, his back up squad of Monsalve, Rodrigues and Ochao Quintano are a really good support crew as well.
There is a useful hilly classics and sprint squadron here too. Betencourt and Izagirre will share the load on the lumpy stuff, with the still quick Davis and Serebriakov joined by Venezualan fast man Brea.
Hollister have improved steadily over the years and were not too far away from promoting last time out. Went to and dominated the Tour of America could do so again and this might push them closer.
HTC Nieuwsblad -The winners of division 2 have with a long term strategy mainly concentrating on lowlands talents. Team have admitted they feel they are likely to be at the lower end of the standings. With Marquez and Baugnies on the books they do have a reasonable chance of avoiding a wage cut.
As a couple of teams found out last year going pretty much all in for talents can led to some lean races. Spending 600K on Morton and Boswell as good as they could possibly be in 2016, does hit a teams ability to have strength in depth is the short term.
Manager has a proven ability to picking a decent planner, though I do fear for them. Cobbled riders like Baugnies often do little outside their specialist terrain, meaning it places a bit too much on Marquez. Could be relegation contenders.
ING Cycling - Quite obviously aiming for promotion with no time wasted on buying in talents. Two big strengths here with strong depth in climbing, meaning the potential to score heavily in stage races. The other is with Zabriskie and Van Winden against the clock.
Roche has been trained in hills that was a crafty swerve noticing which field looked weaker. Should lead to plenty of podiums for the Irishman in hilly races.
Remains one of the older squads around two big 30 something purchases added to the aging Castano saw to that. Rivalry with Rogers for Zabriskie one of the battles of Ctour season.
Good chances to promote, though mountain stage race squads have not always done that well in the Ctour so some caution required.
Jaguar Eritel - Mammoth squad, changes and training budget. Froome and Dowsett are the leaders and both should do well in the hilly classics - though the strength of this squad has been dampened as it refocuses on young up and coming African riders.
It is a rather oversized squad, some riders may struggle to see the light of day and some may ride but be found wanting. Nethertheless it will be a fun road with these Africans.
There has been a conscious decision to try and 'develop'this team so it is weaker than the previous incarnation Rapha. They'll race a lot in Africa, but will probably not find competition as sparse as it was last year. Will likely finish mid table this season with some good hilly performances from the Brits and some nice token performances from the Africans.
LukOil - Mediocre division 2 team came in at the last minute to the Pro-Conti ranks. Worked hard to build a solid Eastern European climbing squad. Enjoyed veterans last year and so proved again with the likes of the two Vladamirs, Iglinski and Huzarski. Iglinski and Karpets have enjoyed decent Protour careers and it is nice to see them led some races at the PCT level.
Some fairly low level riders here signed for minimum wage and talents are not really much to excited about, so team will likely reside in the lower reaches. I think the experienced stage race trio may be enough to keep LukOil away from the relegation zone if it comes to that.
Meiji - Looked to strengthen a Japanesed based but weak 2012 squad. We have to peer carefully at their transfers to reveal the true stars of the team, a quartet of Italians which include young hilly classics prodigy Zaini. Not dissimilar to Di Maggio last year gets a generous amount of racing compared to big name punchaers in division so could be a key weapon.
Jianhua Ji comes as part of a fairly wage intensive package with two very raw and high maintenance Pendletons youngsters. Ji is a nice novelty but isn't anything special compared to other teams climbing leaders. That said there is decent depth in Meiji's climbing both on mountains and hills.
A number of mid range fast men have been melded together to form a motley crew, not sure what it will accomplish other than a guarantee of a sprinter in every stage race Meiji enter in.
Some improvements made and could keep Meiji in PCT ranks for another year. A good base of climbing riders should provide platform in future years.
Edited by Smowz on 18-01-2013 19:17
Metinvest - High volume of riders which is probably reliant on veteran riders like Popovich, Hesjedal, Sheydyk and Popkov for strong points. One of many to go mad on talents but have done well to get several loaned out, particularly those they are paying zero wage for.
Like so many looking forward a few years in advance, but will have to plan carefully if they wish to avoid the lower spots. Look very similar to Cerne last year, with a powerful leader handicapped by low race days. Hoffman is a fairly good sprinter and they have a number of breakaway victory style riders.
Need a bit of a wing and a prayer really.
Oz cycling - It was no problem finishing bottom of the CTour standings last year as this was always a work in progress. Bought in a real big name in World TT champion Rogers and will be looking to make maximum use of his race days. Though will be surprised to see Zabriskie down at this level.
Have a trio of decent punchaers in Lloyd, Visconti and Jiao and with Chrono men Olman, Peraud and Ford there is some bite behind Oz cycling 2013.
I think Oz cycling have done enough to progress up toward Midtable this year - squad needs a bit more development but is well on its way.
Armavia - Bottom rung division 2 team made a bit of a mess of transfer season. Have come up with a quirky very young exotic team. Lo Cicero and Nooytens are the odd ones out in that they have the ability to score consistently.
That said both riders are hampered considerably by lack of team support. Lo Cicero is capable of upsetting the big sprinters but could be inconsistent and may find a few sprint train screw jobs. A lot of the youngsters actually are not going to develop much and probably haven't got the ability to really score consistently at this level or even CTour level.
Surely headed for bottom spot again, could have been more selective in transfers. But as ever will be entertaining to follow.
Pivovarna Lasko - Had some issues in transfer season which has led to team getting rough end of deals. The aging Devolder and expensive punchaer Ben Nasser hardly represent value for money, but team have at least retained a competitive edge.
Hutarivich leads a a couple of fast finishers, with Bole and Bozic having ability to survive all but the toughest of hill climbs.
Marco Kump is another of those expensive 'youngsters' though is already a pretty decent all round rider. Still will struggle if asked to lead this year which I suspect he will be.
Manager had limited time to make team and it shows, still has chances to avoid lowest places. Mid table would be a success.
P Porto - Out went Luis Leon Sanchez and in comes a bunch if new leaders really breathing a new all round competitive edge to this Portuguese franchise.
Ruben Plaza still has something to offer at this level, whilst Ventoso can be infuriating he could prove to be the ’Bellis’ of 2013 (mind you so could Bellis himself!).
The Portuguese youngsters are now beginning to mature and with punchaer Mendes, Brazilian climber Nicacio and sprinters Avelino and Santos there are plenty of Portuguese speaking winners in this team.
I see a much improved season for the team, possibly even a surprising promotion push with the right combination of races.
Repsol Cativan - Always favoured climbers in division 2 and has stuck to what they know. They are now the highest ranked true South American team though interestingly are led by man game veteran stage racer Andrei Kashechkin.
Will definitely have an impact on the longer slopes with seven decent mountain goats. Former Aker men Agudelo and Vasquez are good plucky climbers that come with a but of pedigree. Meanwhile Solar and Acevado will do okay in hilly stages and classics.
Team have a couple of powderpuff sprinters, probably signed as stage race sprinters which could give a decent outlet of points.
Remind me of the 2012 CSC team which due to the one dimensional nature of the squad struggled to maintain a decent scoring rate. Will have moments of glory particularly in South America but will overall fall in the lower half this year.
Edited by Smowz on 18-01-2013 19:20
Rothaus - Will look to an improve on a so so 2012 showing on the team standings and reduction in a certain sprinters wage and squad numbers have allowed a new leader in Bellis to join.
The fast finishing punchaer has never really let any of his previous teams down and is still just 25 years old. Should go well again you fancy in any hilly race that doesn’t finish on a hill top. He’ll have a nice amount of support with a similar German rider in Geschke also drafted in from the free agents pool.
World champion Boom showed in the worlds road race that he can win on any given day. The Dutchman has a fantastic engine and should figure prominently once more. Meanwhile Vantomme who has had two messy seasons should start to settle down and deliver results.
It's a definite improvement here and into the top half for the German team. Have learned much from first year and looking to build a powerful base for possible 2014 promotion push.
SRAM - Had a good solid first season as Trilux, have refined the squad a little in 2013 probably abandoning the cobbled stuff in favour of hilly races and sprints.
Hilly leaders Gerdemann, Wegmann and Duggan lack the bite of the best punchaers so will have to work hard to find podiums. Haussler and Mezgec are nearer the top end in sprinters, hard to work out how their seasons are going to go as sprinters are a fickle bunch.
Have loomed to develop a German-American team so will take time for full metamorphosis so I think a season in the Midtable for SRAM.
Swedbank - Scandenavian team have slowly improved throughout the years and in general the depth of the squad has slightly improved again in 2013.
The issue here however is the whopping 540,000 wage paid for Swedish sprint hopeful Ahlstrand, who has been purchased with a couple of years down the line in mind. I am not a fan of this type of purchase because it limits the team for the next couple of years. In fairness when a great Swede comes into view I guess you really need to go for him!
As I said previously other than Ahlstrand there is some good riders in this squad. Lovkvist is pretty decent and other riders like Hoogerland, Eltink, Kreder and Hermans look attractive at their wages.
Should just about finish above halfway, another perhaps looking toward a possible 2014 promotion drive.
Bintang - Lead the climbing PCT teams by some margin in 2013, with an awesome collection of mountain goats.
Jose Alarcon will have fewer race days this year, but will still start as one of the favourites to top the overall individual rankings thanks to his now legendary climbing ability. It is a shame that he has yet to truly lead in a Protour race, but this in part leads to his mystique.
Nazaret and Krasnoperov were a tad inconsistent last time out but freed of the pressure of leading in the toughest races could do better. Behind the scenes some decent punchaers like Ghiselberti, Lejman and Zeits have been sneaked in. This trio could be important as its difficult to score consistently across the year with mountain climbers alone.
I think will be in most predictions top 5 at least, the mountain ability is very impressive. Were just short last time, so I think should find themselves amongst the promotion pack this year.
Bpost - Looked for quantity of high class good value riders rather than a few superstars. Could well prove a promotion formula as it worked well for some of last years promoted crop.
At the top end Vanspreybrouck will be looking forward to undisputed cobbled leadership this year after an at times confusing cobbled tactics last year. Will get to race a number of Protour races this year and really is a specialist so not really missing out by not actually being in a protour team. Could well be back to his dominant best along with partner in crime Niels Albert.
Cornu and Gaitier are the other headline acts, though both may not be quite as strong as manager had hoped will still provide Bpost with far more high end results than they had last year. Drujon and Feillu didn't come in cheap, but still look the business with good all round stats to back up their fast finishes.
Lots of developmental talent kicking around, shouldn't be so cumbersome as to drag team down the balance seems about right.
Overall will surely be there and abouts in the promotion race. Will do well in the cobbled races and I think have cleverly avoided the mountain races once again.
CSC -Plenty of changes at CSC who have had to heavily restructure to hang onto Costa and Anton whilst bringing in another Spanish stage racing heavyweight. Will ride the Tour this year I would imagine with all three of their star names, which will likely be the highlight of a likely mid table sort of year.
Abal like any stage racer in the CTour is a gamble with his race day handicap and high wage. His wage isn't to badconsidering he was a free agent but still is fairly restricting for the rest of the squad. Last years leader Anton was well purchased last year, but didn't really set the world alight in his racing may do better in the freedom to pursue lesser races. Costa was better and with his skill set could go well but equally could come up a bit short, not really a classics man and not really a stage racer.
Spent a huge amount on Barrio, hoping he could be this years Di Maggio. It's an interesting gamble, though he doesn't appear to be quite in the same league. He is the highlight of an otherwise fairly sorry looking bunch of a back squad. Obviously plenty of talent there but hard to see most really proving worthwhile in 2013.
Lack of depth behind the big hitters means no better than mid table for me.
Edited by Smowz on 18-01-2013 19:22
UPC - Another of the former CDiv2ers and worked hard to fill the a PCT Dutch team void. Marquee signings of Reus and Elijzen spoiled somewhat by arrival of other TT heavy hitters to the Ctour. Reus should still be near top end of leader boards but will find it hard to win any which is important for a rider of his wage too do.
Outside the big chrono double, the team has a decent cobbled team to support the fast finishing Veelers who'll certainly give Bpost some sleepless nights. Lots of riders with decent finishing speed, but unfortunately none perhaps with that turbo charged finish. Riders like Boy Van Poppel, Traksel, Knees, Gavazzi, Priamo look like decent sort of lead out riders but they have no one really to lead out.
One of those that will point out how good they'll be in 2016 or something like that. To be fair some good talents have been signed like loaned out Trentin and Dutch young pair Teunissen and Groenewegen. Teams like this though in this area seem to have come and gone, I hope UPC can keep these talents going.
I do fear for this team, it isn't too bad a squad on paper but something seems to be missing. I said in the team thread they looked like Koppert and they were around the lowest teams.
WWE - Another quirky transfer season from WWE, I find it hard to disguise my contempt for the wage being paid for the much ballyhooed Dombrowski. The young American was always going to be hot property but over 25% of a PCT's wage cap seems an pretty high price to pay for this young freak.
Whilst this Dombrowski project moves along its up to the rest of the team to get results. It's a heavy veteran climbing focus, Pellizotti and Ardila have been good climbers and much travelled over their careers. They are still tough cookies and should do well in America's lengthy stage races. Pellizotti famously taking 11 stages in the Tour of America two years back.
Greipel remains and has some company in useful Dutch youngster Vingerling in the sprinting corps. The German remains one of the better sprinters in the CTour but not the very best so needs to pick small sh** races to star in.
Mainly aging squad with a heavy high wage youngster anchoring down they 2013 campaign. Veterens will do enough to keep WWE in their usual low mid table position.
Tinkoff - I am not going to curse them with the my pic for number one team this time out, I realise that was a bit ambitious. But this Russian style team is just my cup of tea in terms of all round strength.
Kritskiy is becoming the big name in this squad with he and the returning Kunshin now looking for results after their Protour apprenticeship. Have enough depth in the mountains and hills to score consistently well all seals. Rovny, Zakarin, Kolobnev and Rybakov are good men for the hills and will be score a lot of good hunting in pack results.
A number of new talents have been purchased after Tinkoff halted their battle with newcomers to their region LukOil. The Russian focus proving hard as ever to compete with others with more international rosters.
May well still be up there near the top of the standings, really does depend on having a bit of luck that was in short supply in 2012.
Vespa - The Ginanni - Pozzovivo double act remain and this year are joined by Cataldo in a pretty heavy transfer from Wiggle. I wonder whether Vespa can shake two slightly disappointing Midtable team ranking positions off to challenge for a higher position this year.
Have been more than happy with strong race results rather than all round consistency in the past. Pozzovivo's Giro podium last year was a team highlight, with Ginnani also landing a good amount of hilly wins in 2012.
There is a good depth about the 2013 Vespa team, with Bosisio, Montaguti, Loosli and Bono lending some good support to their leaders. There is also a really dangerous sprinter in Guarnieri loaned in from Pearl Adidas who has really decent back up stats.
I think this is an improved Vespa on display here and one that has a good chance of promoting. Ginanni and Pozzovivo have limited race days which makes race planning crucial. I'm backing them to do well.
VolksWagen - Continuing to look for that X factor after falling a bit short of the promotion battle in 2012. Heavily invested in young Dutch stage racer Martijn Keizer who forms a very strong double act with another young stage racer Ratiy. Hilly classics expert Flugel remains and with slightly less depth in this category this year will also be a major asset.
Depth was what was missing last year with riders like Flugel and Ratiy often left on their own too often to score. There is nuggety points scorers all over the place this year including veterans Kessler and Delgado along with Colombia sprinter and a curious cobbled squad.
Will be up there with the top teams at the end of the year, I think VolksWagen will promote this time out and with an amount of young stars could be a rising team in the Man Game.
Vueling - CT has done a decent job of turning the dismal relegation from Protour team into genuine challengers for promotion from the CTour. I like the the looks of the domestiques most of which are capable of backing up the leaders with good positions themselves.
The problem could be the lack of race days of their star men. Dekker is possibly capable of hurting well known Ctour stage racer Jose Alarcon. Dekker put the likes of Taylor Phinney to the sword at the Tour of Romandie last year and will not be outgunned as he was by the likes of Madrazo and Cunego. However it'll only take a few tumbles or under achievements to turn Dekker into an expensive flop.
Sinkewitz is beginning to lose his punch, already seemingly in decline after a lean year in the Protour. Could rebound in the level below, but could be a bit ht and miss. Thankfully Dutch youngster Schreurs is there to back up.
Kennaugh is the last of the sprinters to leave the bosum of his British team and could be a big factor behind Vueling having a big season. Most of the promotion contenders have nabbed a big sprinter so expect some big showdowns.
It maybe tough for the likes of Vueling and Bouygues Telecom to get season planning quite right against the battle hardened CTour vets. Vueling will be near the top end could be a bit short.
Edited by Smowz on 18-01-2013 19:23
I think ING look the strongest team this year, they’ll avoid the cobbles and have enough talent to be very competitive everywhere. The domestiques gathered are pretty good also. I am also fairly convinced by VolksWagen, I am probably a bit biased here as both are part the my class of 2011!
It's harder underneath I think Bintang are obviously strong up the climbs if very one dimensional. With Long time ManGame managers behind them Vespa, Vueling and Bouygues Telecom should be up there as will brilliant race reporter CountArach's Bpost crew. I'll throw Tinkoff into this mix of promotion contenders as I still really fancy their squad of very green looking numbers.
I also fancy fellow reporter roturn and his improved Rothaus crew to sneak in the top 10, along with the always slightly improving Hollister team. But I don't think either of these two will promote.
Looking through the squads, I think some teams will be quite happy to be here if they can get 3 or 4 of their goals. Jaguar will surely be at least in this group with the very large amount of training thrown on their leaders as will Cisco unfortunately lumbered with Caruso.
Last seasons bottom rung team Oz Cycling have made considerable improvements as have Prio Porto. SRAM are in much the same position as they were last year with CSC and Swedbank having made some small steps forward.
The Old CDiv2 teams had a rough time of it, with the CTour teams mixed in. Though I may have derided them slightly (hey I am a harsh critic) both French outfits have got the edge for me along with with perhaps Repsol Cativen which get us down to P20.
Let's start with a caveat here, this is only a prediction! But it is pretty clear that Team Armavia are going to struggle and are favourites for bottom spot. At the other end I am probably being a bit cruel on WWE, but I feel they favour the risky long stage races which along with the ludicrous Dombrowski wage will cost them. AirBaltic have a lot riding on Cavendish, though his sprinters backing him up should score okay. They could do better but sprinters can be a fickle bunch to put too much faith in.
We have seven other teams that are hard to separate. Meiji's Ziani is their get out of mediocrity card and should see them above the CDiv2ers. I think UPC on the other hand have too much hope wrapped up in cobblers and TTers.
AMEX and HTC showed good planning skills in last years division 2 so are hard to seperate. Metinvest and LukOil will butt heads and cost each other I think. P Lasko meanwhile had a hard time in transfer season, Ben Nasser has to do really well.
21. WWE 22. AirBaltic 23. Meiji 24. AMEX 25. HTC Niewsblad 26. Pivovarna Lasko 27. Metinvest 28. LukOil 29. UPC 30. Armavia
Edited by Smowz on 18-01-2013 19:25
Sorry to those I was a bit harsh on, I didn't want to sit on the fence and say what I thought.
Quite a wall of text well done to those that read it all and sorry to ING cycling who are cursed with my number one pick. That is a heavy burden to carry round all season!
And yet another great preview, thanks Smowz. I'd put my team in the 25th-28th range, so I guess you got it right, or at least what I think is right, about us. As I said in roturn thread, we'll need a lot of luck to stay in the PCT, but hey, I hope Cyalogic helps us somehow.
Couldn't say it any better. I will take mid-table and fight for promotion in 2-3 years. Thanks for the great read. Skimmed most of them but will go back in the middle of the season to have a good laugh.
roturn wrote:
I think you overrate my team although I take this 10th.
I actually thought the 15th in my preview might have been too high.
It`s interesting how different we think with many teams. Good examples are HTC, Oz and Amex.
Simple math: If you add Bellis' points up to your team's total from last year, you are in the promotion zone. Considering you haven't really lost any big points scorers, I think you will be right up there again this year. Bellis might score a bit less but Vantomme should certainly score more.
And nice preview. Considering how close these teams all are, PCT is probably the most exciting competition this year.
I know. I did this math during transfers as well. But then guys like Zabriskie, Rogers, Keijzer, Cornu came and destroyed my hopes of another high scoring season by Boom. Then Froome, Gautier, Roche etc. started to train and this won`t help Bellis. Vantomme is still a question mark.
So I am not sure if I get that high although I would like it.
Now read also the rest of the preview. Very well done Smowz.
A well timed preview for my train journey! A great read, but wouldn't expect anything other than that from you!
Interesting that this years new-to-division teams may struggle to make as much impact as in previous years - I guess the addition of CT may have limited their free agent cheap options - or have existing PCT teams just done a better job at improving?
The only consolation I have is that previous previews have proven to be way off. Getting #28 and 29 in 2 previews isn´t really encouraging, but we will fight for every point and hope to stay in the PCT.
2nd I hope you are right, that would be alot of fun. I have to say it's nice to see someone else believes that ING are the best team in the division. On the other hand, I feel this year is both the strongest PCT year ever (I think that is the reason for no new teams high up for Smowz) and also the tightest. Pretty much any of the 10-15 best teams can promote
The former D2 teams have a tough road ahead of them. No experience of the complicated transfer season, smaller budgets to work with, a much more complicated race planning process. AMEXpc may have placed too much emphasis on sprinters as it appears the PCT has a lot of quality sprinters this season.
The one thing missing from AMEXpc's previews is the potential of Yannick Stoltz to generate points out of breakaways. We knew were were going to be weak on the hills and the TT's were ripped apart with the addition of two PT level stars. Combine those facts with our near total avoidance on the mountains and that leaves way too much success stacked on the shoulders of our cobblers.
We hope to avoid relegation and anything up from there will be found money.
Both of the PCT previews were well constructed and insightful. Fun reads, and accurate for AMEXpc. Struggle we may, but were are not ready to throw in the towel.
========================================= Team Manager of AMEX - Navigon
Editor of the Cobbler
