Manager: ember
Last Season: 10th

The Team:
Well we have to start with Edvald Boassan Hagen, who is now looking more frightening than ever thanks to even more training. It is actually easy to imagine him doing the Ardennes triple, though he will have huge competition there this season. In addition to his hill stat and his stamina he also has a strong sprint on him, so he doesn’t have to attack to win every race. You would think that with such a valuable leader there would be a lot of support and, while there are a number of lesser domestiques who can help him out, Guillaume Levarlet is the only one who is likely to be there at the end.

Alberto Contador is the next eye-catching name in this squad. It will be interesting to see if he targets stage races or GTs and this decision will perhaps settle the team’s fate. Either way he is a great all-round stage racer, with strong support stats, a good TT stat and a strong ability over hills (perhaps he will also be sent to help EBH in the Ardennes but that could be a waste of his valuable race days). Igor Anton is the other stage racer on this squad and his biggest advantage is likely to be a high number of race days, which will see him probably target a couple of GTs. While he isn’t going to set the world alight he is certainly likely to drag in quite a few points as the season wears on.

Turning away from these two major areas for the team, there are a couple more key point scorers here. Daryl Impey looks like a dangerous rider for any tougher stage and should be capable of bringing in quite a number of stage victories as well as being competitive in some of the several tougher sprint classics this year. Juan Van Heerden is the only other rider on sprint duties here but his support stats are really lacking so it is hard to see him competing with the best. Michel Sibilla is the final leader in this team. He is mostly on his own in the cobbled classics and he isn’t likely to do much beyond fighting around the fringes of the top ten in those races, but either way he should be able to bring some points in an often under-valued part of the season.

Turning now to general squad depth, it has to be said that there isn’t much below the leaders. Most of the climbing or puncheur domestiques aren’t going to last the distance or bring in a huge number of points themselves. There are almost no TTT riders and even the lead-out train leaves a lot to be desired. This makes the team rather fragile – a handful of riders are being relied on to get almost every point for this squad.

In Summary:
A handful of brilliant leaders are at the fore in what is otherwise a relatively fragile squad. If anything goes wrong in their races the squad could really drop down the rankings.

Count’s Call:
Expect this squad to be around the cusp of the top 5, but poor race planning could spell disaster. Oh and EBH should be close to winning the best individual rider.

Manager: Roman
Last Season: 4th

The Team:
We have to start, of course, with Sam Bewley, who is clearly one of the best riders in the entire Management Game. He will be close to winning the individual rider rankings on the back of almost every cobbled classic and a number of sprint stage wins along the way. Strangely he hasn’t got a lot of cobbled support riders around him, just a few domestiques. His lead-out train should be solid, however, which will certainly help him bring in those stage wins. He isn’t the only sprinter in the team either, with Leigh Howard a very strong sprinter for hillier stages. While perhaps not a prolific stage winner, he is still likely to bring in quite a number of points this season.

The team have two GC riders. The first of these is Peter Velits, who is a great all-round GC rider, and one of the better riders on the longest climbs. He could certainly bring in a stage race or two this year and, if given the chance, could even be a podium chance in a Grand Tour. The other GC rider is Jose Rujano. While Rujano isn’t particularly well-rounded he could still be a huge threat in any mountainous stage races or as a stage hunter in GTs. There is a decent support team behind them with riders like Leopold Konig capable of scoring quite well themselves.

These are the main leaders in the team but that is not where the scoring will stop. Peter Sagan is quite strong on the hills and has a decent sprint. While he isn’t likely to win a lot this year because there are better riders than him with this dual capability it is still the sort of combination that will score points. He could make a particularly interesting stage hunter in hilly stage races with only tough sprint stages. There are a few support riders for him in the hills too.

There is a half decent TTT train here, with Jesse Sergent definitely looking like the sort of rider who could take a prologue victory at some point this year. Roman Kreuziger is the other main time trialist in this team. These two have a lot of young riders who should be able to bring a decent squad together for the team tests when required.

In Summary:
Ultimately this team has a few strong leaders with a good depth behind them. Bewley is an absolute monster and with the other riders on the squad this is a tough team to look past.

Count’s Call:
These guys should be in the title fight without any doubt.

Manager: Crommy
Last Season: PCT - 4th

The Team:
Everyone’s favourite Theo Bos is back in the PT where he belongs! Undoubtedly he will be there ruining the team’s plans at every chance.

Seriously though the first thing that my eye falls on in this team is Jan Bakelants who, with his 1.4 million price tag, you have to think will essentially define Bouygues Telecom’s season. Unfortunately with EBH now trained up to 85 hill Bakelants looks less competitive, though their fights this season should be as amazing as ever. It is worth noting that, as with EBH, there is almost no backup for Bakelants in this squad. The next best domestique is at 73 hill and that just doesn’t seem enough to do the job. As such the Belgian is going to have to do it all himself – will that prove too tough for him?

Rein Taaramae is the next obvious drawcard for this squad. One of the best TT riders amongst the GC contenders and also one of the best on the hills, the Estonian is going to be key to the plans of Bouygues Telecom. He has some good support from the likes of Daniel Teklehaimanot and Oscar Solis, which could make him a real danger. With all of the mountain training other GC contenders have been going through, however, you have to wonder if 82 mountain is actually enough.

After this we get to the second best sprinter on the team in Jurgen Roelandts. He is a strong sprinter and should bring in a handful of crucial wins to the squad. His biggest chance will be the fact that he is great on the hills for a sprinter. Not only that but he has a good leadout train if everything comes together for him. In the cobbled classics the squad will be lead by Clement Lhotellerie and Pieter Jacobs. I would not expect any wins but one or two top tens are possible this season if things go their way. Once again below them there are no real domestiques.

As has been said a couple of times, the quality of support riders in this team is fairly low. Tony Martin and Hugues Mottin could help with a TTT train, but there are so few other riders for that discipline that they seem to be wasted space. There are climbing domestiqus here but few of them are likely to score any decent points unless they get lucky somewhere. There is a long tail of developing riders here which will help in the future but in a relegation fight they could prove a liability and are unlikely to contribute much.

In Summary:
98 race days – the total that Bakelants and Taaramae have combined. These 98 will define whether this season is one to celebrate or whether it will point to another year in the PCT.

Count’s Call:
It could be a tough fight against the drop back to the PCT this year but I think they will just manage to stay up.

Manager: SotD
Last Season: 13th

The Team:
Where to start with this squad? There are so many impressive names, but the top of the list both in terms of average and also in terms of point scoring ability is Simon Spilak. Spilak has always been a great MG rider but now he feels like one of the absolute best out there. He will probably end up hunting stage races this year and why not? One of the top few climbers in the world and also a great puncheur to boot – those stage races are made for him! If he takes a crack at a GT, however, he will pretty much have to win it to justify the huge chunk of his race days gone from that. Gianpaolo Caruso and Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier will provide solid mountain support.

Riccardo Ricco is next on the list and while he no longer looks like the sort of man who can win a GT (with the large amount of training going on around him and his poor TT ability), as he did in 2012, he will certainly be a huge threat on whatever he takes on. He is great in the mountains and once again a fantastic puncheur. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him leading in the Ardennes classics as well. There are certainly lots of strong domestiques there. After these two GC leaders there is also Vadim Ratiy. While I personally think that Ratiy will be a bit of a bust this year, scoring only scattered points due to his poor support stats, he is also going to be providing the third GC leader that this squad may need with the low number of race days in the other two leaders.

Oscar Guerao heads up the sprinting department in this squad. Certainly he is going to be a great threat on any very flat terrain, particularly if it is in Spain. There are a fair few leadout riders in this squad that could prove useful, particularly in the classics. In addition Georgos Tzortzakis is the sort of rider who has flown under the radar a bit, but could well surprise people with some stage podiums this season.

Given that the squad has no notable cobblestone riders, let’s move on to general squad depth. Somehow, with all of the leaders mentioned above, this is still a very impressive squad. There are a fair few puncheurs who could last the distance in classics, there are strong leadouts and in fact the TTT squad isn’t too bad, though it probably isn’t good enough to win anything. Not only that but most of these strong domestiques have high race day allowances and are still developing – this is a strong team for the future.

In Summary:
A handful of great leaders and a very strong roster below that. The question is - how will Spilak and Ricco split their duties?

Count’s Call:
This is another team who are going to be in the fight at the top of the table to try to take out the victory.

Manager: rjc_43
Last Season: 12th

The Team:
On paper, looking solely at leaders, Good Energy is one of the weakest teams in the ProTour this season. Simone Ponzi is the biggest name in the squad and while he is certainly a solid puncheur he is far from the level of EBH or Bakelants. As such he will struggle to achieve too any big wins unless his race planning is spot on. His big advantage is his strong sprint stat, which is better than either of those two main rivals. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him challenging for the points jersey at the Giro or Tirreno this season.

Adam Blythe is the next leader in this squad. He is certainly a strong cobblestone rider who has a great sprint on him but his other support stats might let him down slightly compared to the biggest names in the division. Much the same can be said about Jacopo Guarnierei. Guarnieri is one of the fastest sprinters in the division but he will probably struggle on all but the flattest terrains this season. The backup sprinter, Luke Rowe has a similar problem to him. So from these leaders it can be seen that Good Energy lack anyone who is likely to bring in a lot of wins this year.

However, if you look at the rest of the squad it is easy to see the ProTour quality here. Thomas Faiers and Teodoro Costagli head up the climbing department with a number of strong backups. Ponzi will have perhaps the best set of domestiques of any puncheur this season with Damiano Caruso and Tom Diggle just two of the many riders who will be able to support him late into the classics. Andrew Fenn would be capable of leading a PCT squad on cobbles but is here supporting Blythe. The leadout trains have the potential to be great and even the TTT squad can be somewhat competitive. This is where Good Energy really thrives – there is a huge list of riders who can pitch in with a decent number of points.

In Summary:
One of the deepest squads in the division but the lack of any really big names means that wins will be hard to come by.

Count’s Call:
They should be safe from relegation but I still think it will be a bottom half year for Good Energy due to the lack of big points scorers.

Manager: rycadinho
Last Season: PCT – 2nd

The Team:
We have to of course spend a moment on the 1.5 million dollar man – Romain Sicard. The big question now is – does he justify this price tag? The answer, in my opinion, is no. While he is certainly a huge get for the team and may bring in a stage race or two, and depending on who he comes up against maybe even a GT, he is not dominant enough to deserve that price tag. There are 12 riders with a higher mountain stat and quite a number are better in other areas too, particularly time trialing. He has a strong mountain team around him and arguably the best TTT squad too. It seems that the team plan is to take on the TDF, bringing all of the TTT squad along in order to get the most possible time in the opening stage. That would certainly be a huge gamble with the number of superior climbers likely to be there.

Speaking of the TTT train, these are the other big names in the squad – Jacob Fiedler should win some a couple of stages this season, though a lack of climbing ability means he may not be able to take advantage of those wins for GC points. The same can be said about Dennis Van Winden and David Zabriskie, though to a lesser extent in his case. Jack Wolfskin showed the world, however, that a powerful TTT squad can do a lot for a team, but at the same time they had the GC riders to take advantage of it. This may not be the case for ING.

Unfortunately, that is about where the scoring ends for this squad. Ismael Kip perhaps warrants some sort of mention, though he has poor support stats and will struggle to make it to the end of most stages fresh. There are no cobblestone riders and Sicard is the only strong puncheur in the squad, so most classics will have to be written off. There are some climbers to back Sicard up, but none of them look strong enough to score more than a few GC points here and there (maybe Pierre Rolland is he strikes lucky).

In Summary:
Sicard and time trials, particularly team ones, are the only rays of hope for ING this season.

Count’s Call:
It is hard to see a situation in which ING can avoid the drop, unless Sicard wins the TDF and a couple of stage races... even then though it will be close.

Manager: Rin
Last Season: 8th

The Team:
It is somewhat sad to see Damiano Cunego declining and past his absolute best. With these stats he still looks like a potential GT winner though, particularly with this punchy Giro course. As long as he can avoid time trials in his other races he should indeed be capable of bringing in some big results in stage races and also the Ardennes classics. He has a few mountain goats to help him along the way, though his support in the Ardennes is somewhat weaker.

That said, Dimitri Claeys could well be the ultimate leader in these hilly classics, leaving Cunego to take on the tougher ones. Claeys has a fairly large number of race days, which makes him a useful rider and somewhat makes up for his lack of backup stats. As said, however, he will mostly be working on his own, which could be tough given his relatively low stamina. Time will tell how this plays out.

The other classics leader in this team is Marcus Burghardt who looks like a real challenger for RVV and Paris-Roubaix this year – with Boonen on the decline the world needs someone to challenge Bewley’s potential dominance. Burghardt lacks the sprint of these two but his other stats are strong enough to launch just such a challenge. Evert Verbist should be there beside him late in these key races too.

Another declining leader calls Lotto home this season and that is Daniele Bennati. While age has certainly taken its toll on his support stats, he still has a viscious sprint and indeed remains okay over hilly terrain. It would be a surprise if he didn’t bring in some big sprint wins this season. He has a good train around him with Lars Croket and Steele Von Hoff to help.

In addition to these riders the team can put together a decent TTT squad when required, which may make up for Cunego’s relative lack of individual time trialing ability. Below most of these leaders, however, there are few who will score big points. That said, Sebastian Ivars could do well on the right sort of parcours and Artemio Moschella will be one to watch out for his he gets to ride for himself in mountainous races.

In Summary:
Quite a few top leaders in this squad and the ability to score pretty much everywhere will make this a strong season.

Count’s Call:
I think Lotto will be at about the same point they were last year – a comfortable top half finish.

Manager: wackojackohighcliffe
Last Season: 14th

The Team:
If this Pendleton’s squad looks familiar, it is probably because it is almost the same squad as last year. Philippe Gilbert once again leads the team in the hilly classics. He has great support stats but with some of the new big names on the hills getting more training he is looking less and less competitive. In addition, he lacks the kick of some of the other big name puncheurs. His support riders are fairly good, however, with one of the deepest puncheur squad in the PT behind him.

Daniel Martin is the top stage racing name in this team and while he doesn’t look like he can win a GT, he can certainly make it well into the top ten. Time trialing is his only real weakness as a stage racer. This means he has to make up time in the mountains and he certainly has one of the best teams of domestiques behind him to help. Joseph Dombrowski is the most noteworthy name behind him but Konstantin Siutsou and Peter Kennaugh are also worthy of mention. All three should be able to score at least decently in most stage races.

The second best stage racer, however, is Bernhard Kohl. He is definitely less well-rounded than Martin and may struggle in GTs because of that, but he will certainly be someone to watch in other stage races. It also means that Pendleton’s can have a GC leader in any mountainous race. The final leader in this squad is Vladimir Gusev, who certainly looks like a huge threat for a race like the Tour of Northern Europe – he is one of the best-rounded riders in the peloton. He isn’t quite capable of cutting it with the top cobblestone riders but he has a couple of great support riders behind him.

As said the team has a lot of depth of climbers and a few decent puncheurs as well, which should ensure decent scoring in those races. The team misses out by not having any noteworthy sprinter, however, meaning that there are likely to be a lot of 0 point days on the calendar. The TTT squad is far from the worst, but it certainly isn’t capable of competing with the best.

In Summary:
All four of the leaders in this squad should ensure decent points coming in and they are all supported well by riders who can score decently in their own right, even if the team can’t compete everywhere.

Count’s Call:
This should be a mid-table season for Pendleton’s, sitting just around the top ten.

Manager: beagle
Last Season: 9th

The Team:
This is another one of those teams who has kept on an aging star – this time it is the absolute legend Tom Boonen. While he isn’t as vicious as he once was he still has the ability to really compete on both the cobbles and in sprints. Certainly he will find it much harder to bring in the big wins this season, but he is certainly capable. Not just that but his support team is truly enviable – Frederick Nolf, Wim De Vocht and Roger Kluge are all incredible cobbled domestiques and make this easily the deepest and strongest team on this terrain – will that be enough to take on Bewley?

It should also of course be remembered that Boonen is a great sprinter. Last year Pokerstars made it a point of having a great sprint depth and this year is certainly no different. In addition to Boonen, Erik Mohs remains here. He needs pretty much pan-flat courses in order to make an impact but if he gets to the end of a stage he is easily one of the quickest out there. Something like Qatar should really suit him. Pokerstars can in fact cater to the tougher stages as well – John Degenkolb is perfectly suited to them. Not only do they have these three sprinters but they also have great lead-out trains. There is the aforementioned Kluge, as well as Marijn Maaskant and some other riders. On any flat terrain this will be an amazing team to watch out for.

Things don’t end on the flat, of course, and Pokerstars are well-suited to deal with hilly terrain. Francesco Ginanni is great over hills and has decent support stats to help him to take advantage of that. He lacks a bit of a sprint at the end of the course but should certainly be capable of at least a podium or three this season – he just needs to find the right race. Behind him there are a couple of solid domestiques including Jelle Wallays and Ion Izagirre (a useful rider in his own right).

The final leader is Nicolas Roche and part of me wonders if this was the wisest choice of GC rider. His true speciality is on the hills, but with Ginanni in the team it seems like they may step on each other’s toes and stop each other working to maximum efficiency. Of course, I could well be wrong. Roche will probably spend the season hunting the week-long races, which he is certainly brilliantly equipped for, particularly if there is no TT along the way. If he does this then he will be a wise investment in my opinion. There isn’t much in the way of climbing support to help out and the same can be said of the TTT squad. Of course with the depth over the various flat terrains this was bound to happen.

In Summary:
A team great on the flats and on the hills but managing the conflicting specialities of Ginanni and Roche will be an interesting challenge.

Count’s Call:
I’m think just below half table, but if Ginanni strikes a big win then the team could easily go into the top half.

Manager: Gustavovskiy
Last Season: PCT - 9th

The Team:
You have to admire this team’s dedication to the Portuguese theme – it isn’t the easiest nation to tailor to. With that no doubt in mind the team spent really, really big on Tiago Machado. He is a great GC rider to watch as he is one of the best in the mountains, but he falls down both with his TT ability and also his support stats. He may struggle over three weeks if that is the route that he is going with this year. He will certainly be fun to watch, however. If he hunts stage races, that could be much more profitable and will likely see him come up against slightly easier opposition.

Markus Fothen is the other big GC leader on this team and he is starting to get past his best. He can certainly still stick with people in most situations but you can see the effects of age – too many hills may see him struggle and he really does lack any sort of kick when it comes to attacks. Consistent riding is likely to be key for the German. Of course that usually requires a decent support squad to help shepherd a rider through the mountains but unfortunately, there just aren’t any noteworthy domestiques here that will be able to last through those tough stages.

The third big leader here is Rui Costa, who has received some training and now looks decently competitive. Unfortunately he still lacks something against the biggest names and so will likely struggle to go much beyond the top ten of any classic. His big advantage is his TT ability, meaning that races like Tour of Tasmania look tailor-made for his ability. He in fact could be the most key rider in the team this year – if he gets the right race schedule he could score really big points. Once again a big problem will be a lack of support riders. Machado is the only other rider who is strong over punchy terrain and it is unlikely that he will use up his race days doing domestique work.

Thus we come to what will probably be Prio’s biggest problem this season – a complete lack of depth. Other than the three riders mentioned there just don’t seem to be many others who are capable of scoring at this level. Oscar Avelino is quick in a sprint but he will struggle to get to the end of all but pan-flat stages, and even then there are quicker sprinters for those sorts of stages. There are only two rather poor cobbled riders here and the TTT squad has a few decent riders but not enough to bring an entire team together.

In Summary:
The point scoring here will be incredibly top-heavy but Machado and Costa are certainly high-quality. It could come down to their race planning.

Count’s Call:
It could be a quite close but I think Prio will just manage to stay up.

Manager: alexkr00
Last Season: 11th

The Team:
Gone are the days of the incredible TTT depth of the Jack Wolfskin days. Not that that discipline has been completely abandoned but it does serve as a great example of the way this squad has changed over recent seasons. Some things remain the same, however, and that includes Robert Gesink leading the squad. The Dutchman remains perhaps the most balanced GC rider out there – equally good on all three of the key terrains required of him and with fantastic support stats to boost. One of his key advantages in previous years, however, was the TTT squad behind him who could give him some extra time and possibly a leader’s jersey before the better climbers came around. Now, however, he doesn’t have that same advantage. That isn’t to say there is no squad here to help him though – there is a fantastic amount of depth here, but I’ll return to that below.

Sergio Henao is the next big name here and he couldn’t represent more of a contrast with Gesink. Henao will struggle on anything that isn’t a pure mountain stage – hills and time trials will both present great difficulties to him. I’m not sure how his race planning will go this season, as he is a hard rider to place. I would think a GT and several stage races (Colombia for example seems like a great fit) would be on the cards.

It was said above that the TTT squad had been degraded but that does not mean that this squad now lacks depth – in fact it is arguably the deepest squad in the division. Gianluca Brambilla, for example, looks like a mountain domestique but could easily lead a team as well, particularly on Italian soil. Jelle Vanendert, as I can tell you from experience, is not fit to be a lead puncheur, but as support for Gesink he is a great choice and is likely to score well himself. Joost Posthuma always looks like a good bet for something like Tour of Northern Europe, and he can provide key points in those hilly races with a time trial.

Even below these riders there are people like Ramon Sinkeldam who can perform in either type of classic. Wesley Kreder isn’t a pure sprinter but he should be able to survive tough ‘flat’ stages and fight for points along the way. Rob Ruijgh and Riccardo Van der Velde were shrewd buys as both provide good climbing support and have the support stats to do decent things in their own right. Finally, the TTT squad is still probably in the top half of available squads, even if it isn’t what it once was. This is a truly unique team in the division – thin on leaders but big on depth.

In Summary:
This has been one of my favourite squads since I joined the game and even though on paper the leaders aren’t as strong the amount of depth in this team means that it is hard not to really like them.

Count’s Call:
I would think somewhere around the middle of the table, but it is really hard to tell with a team like this.

Manager: roturn
Last Season: PCT – 5th

The Team:
Rothaus is an interesting team – they lack big name riders but they have a number of them. I guess we should start with Martijn Keizer. The Dutch leader is solid in the right type of races (short stage races without short climbs) but if you put him in any sort of situation where he has to deal with punchy stages, he can lose serious time. Not only that but he isn’t good enough to follow the best in the mountains. These two factors leaves him with a lot of time to make up in the time trials, where admittedly he is brilliant, but he will spend all season chasing back these losses rather than seeking out wins. Jose Angel Gomez Marchante is his best domestique, and it is likely that the Spaniard will be leading races this season, but he is rather one-dimensional.

Luis Leon Sanchez is a really useful rider on any team and it is easy to see why – good on the hills and mountains, and strong enough in time trials, he is sure to find a lot of races that will suit him. Unfortunately, once again there are a lot of riders who are simply better on these terrains than him – he should still be in line for comfortable top 10s quite often, but he may struggle with podiums. Thankfully he has great backup from Anthony Roux, but given that he is replacing the fabulous Bellis, you have to wonder if that was a good trade-off.

On the cobbles the team have Sep Vanmarcke, who will certainly be a strong leader for them, but yet again he isn’t likely to aspire much past top 10 positions. Alessandro Ballan and Sven Nooytens can certainly also hunt for valuable points on this terrain and will ensure that Vanmarcke is fresher than some opponents by the key points in the race. This may oddly turn into one of the most profitable areas for Rothaus this season.

In terms of sprinters, Andrea Guardini is the best bet here but he will struggle to score on anything other than pan-flat terrain and even then others are, once again, better. He has a good lead-out train though. The final area to look at is time trialing ability and there is more to like here. Lucas Schadlich and Lars Boom are both great riders here (and Boom particularly in the Northern European Tour) and they have a number of decent riders to back them up in a potentially strong TTT train.

In Summary:
Able to score on most different terrains but lacking a proper leader, this could be a long season for Rothaus.

Count’s Call:
I think it is quite likely that this team will be relegated and it will just be a matter of if they are last place or not.

Manager: mb2612
Last Season: 15th

The Team:
If this squad looks familiar, it is because it is – very little has changed at Santander this year. Angel Madrazo is their big name, looking practically cheap at 1.1 million. He is of course one of the best climbers in the entire game, with a strong ability over the hills and a decent time trial on him. I do wonder if the added importance of acceleration this year will affect him at all, because that is certainly one of the weakest points in his otherwise brilliant repertoire.

Justo Tenorio is essentially a miniature version of Madrazo – not quite as good a climber and with slightly worse support stats, but with a better TT on him. He should certainly be capable of a win in the Vuelta unless one of the big name climbers comes along – even then though he should give them a run for their money. Rafael Valls and David Lopez Garcia will probably be supporting both of them in the quest to win all 3 GTs (I assume that is still the team’s unofficial goal?), meaning that the team are going to be weak in points scorers in most stage races. Surely uncoupling even just one of them from that would prove valuable and could lead to many other points. Of course that could well be the case.

After the other handful of supporting climbers in the team, there aren’t many scorers. Jon Ander Insausti is a surprising inclusion as a Spanish cobbles rider. There are no sprinters here, and no dedicated puncheurs (all of the best on the hills are also the climbers). Not only that but there aren’t many TTT riders either, which is kind of odd given the importance of the TTT early in the TDF this year. If Madrazo loses it in that stage, the team could be left ruing that choice.

In Summary:
The similarity to last year is at once Santander’s blessing and its curse – the team is strong enough to stay up but not strong enough to fight for the top positions.

Count’s Call:
I think that once again Santander will avoid relegation, but as with last season they won’t be far from it.

Manager: Smowz
Last Season: 7th

The Team:
Smowz has shown a willingness in the past to have a bit of a fluid team set-up – very few riders last longer than a season here. However, Fabian Cancellara is one rider who is back from last season. He was absolutely crucial in leading the team to a fabulous (and unexpected) 7th last year. He has suffered the first year of aging, however, so it is questionable whether he can do that again. Certainly he remains one of the top cobblestone riders and one of the top time trialists, but he is just that little bit worse in those disciplines, which means that where once it was hard for all but one or two to compete with him, now there are four or five in each discipline who can match him. Regardless, he should still make a fantastic leader.

Thankfully for Fabian, Jerome Coppel was brought into the squad. Given that normally these two would be rivals, there is little threat of them stepping on each other’s toes. Coppel should be capable of big things this year. His ability on hills sometimes goes forgotten, but it should make him competitive in some GC situations. It is worth noting at this point that Simply Red Bull can put together one of the best TTT squads out there, though with Cancellara having to commit so many race days to cobbled races, it will only rarely be as good as it can possibly be.

Jose Alarcon was a huge risk, but it is great to see him get a big chance in the PT. Certainly he will have no problems with matching the top climbers, on paper at least. His support stats are worrying and both hills and time trials may give him some trouble, but certainly in the right sorts of races he should do really well. Not only that but the new focus on the acceleration stat should really benefit him. There is a solid depth of climbers behind him as well to shepherd him around.

At one time Smowz’s team prided itself on puncheurs. Now there is a great depth there but no leaders. Christopher Juul-Jensen and Oleksandr Prevar (on loan from PrivatBank) just can’t cut it as leaders. Regardless, with this team almost every rider in hilly classics should be capable of mid-range scoring. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of cobbled classics, where Spartacus will be almost entirely on his own. Could this make the difference against someone like Boonen with a great support team?

In Summary:
Two particularly great leaders and a very strong depth of scoring ability should make SRB instantly safe from relegation. The big question mark is Alarcon’s ability.

Count’s Call:
I’m going to be bold and predict a top ten finish, but as said if Alarcon has a miserable year, then that could drop quite a few places.

Manager: Bushwackers
Last Season: 6th

The Team:
This is another team with a lot of loyalty to their riders, particularly the Swiss ones. However, none of their Swiss riders are good enough to lead the team, so Andrei Amador is at the head of affairs. Amador is often overlooked in this game, I feel, but he certainly has the ability to reach a GT podium, except maybe not in the TDF if he takes that on. He is strong enough on the hills and great in the mountains, but he often seems to make his time up in TTs. Matthias Frank and Christophe Riblon are the two best helpers for him and the next leader...

Who is Vincenzo Nibali. Nibali should certainly be capable of a podium in the Giro and the same in most stage races. He is a well-rounded stage racer, though he lacks a real acceleration in the mountains. Regardless, I feel that for his price and ability, he has a great number of race days, which can certainly help to turn him into a point scoring machine. As was seen in the Giro last season his downhill ability shouldn’t be underestimated either.

Stefan Schumacher is a great rider for the squad. He is great on hills, if not necessarily a natural winner on paper. His big advantage will be that he combines this with a solid TT ability, which should allow him to defend any gains he makes on the hills. He doesn’t have a lot of support in the hills, as Jonathon Fumeaux is his best domestique, so he will have to choose his moments carefully.

The team also has a strong TTT setup. Each of the three leaders mentioned above are solid in this discipline and with the addition of Jose Goncalves and Silvan Dillier, amongst others, Swisscom can put together a solid TTT crew. Unless all of the leaders race together it isn’t going to be world-beating, and obviously that situation just isn’t going to arise. It is at about this point as well that the point scoring stops – there is no sprinter and no cobblestone riders worth mentioning.

In Summary:
Three very strong leaders here will mean that the points are there for the taking and there is a real depth of scoring amongst the domestiques too.

Count’s Call:
I’m going to tip them to be in a similar spot to last year, just outside the top 5.

Manager: niconico
Last Season: 16th

The Team:
You’d think that, given this team survived by just 42 points last season there would have been a lot of big transfers in, but this is actually not the case! The leader of the team remains Aleksandr Pluchkin. He is one of the handful of absolute top climbers in the game, as well as one of the best TT riders amongst the GC contenders. Will he have what it takes to win the TDF this year? Hopefully he can at least remain on his bike this time. He certainly has a great support team around him – Nico Keinath, Martin Hacecky and Michal Kwiatowski all lend valuable mountain support. Certainly Keinath is also capable of providing a lower-tier GC leader in most terrains as well.

In addition there is super domestique turned GC leader Rasmus Guldhammer. He was surprisingly strong at times last season and now he is maxed out. He will struggle in any race with time trials and he can’t quite contend with the best in the mountains, but he should pull in some solid top ten finishes this year. Not only that but his decent sprint might make the difference at the end of some stages and allow him to win a few stages along the way. His growth means that relegation might be that bit further away from B&O this year.

On the hills there are a number of low-level leaders and point scorers but no standout name. Andrei Grivko is the most interesting because he also has a decent time trialing ability so should be able to score some points in different situations. Speaking of time trialing, B&O can put together one of the top 5 TTT squads in the division, with new signing Zakkari Dempster proving a useful addition in that department.

Jempy Drucker leads the team on the cobbles and he is certainly capable of some low-level scoring but I’d be surprised if he ducked inside the top ten at all this season, particularly without a true lieutenant. Finally, we should end on the note of Nick Van der Lijke, who was brought in on loan from Quickstep. He certainly provides something the team otherwise lacks – a tough sprinter. I doubt that he will bring in any wins this year, but he should certainly be a consistent scoring. I do wonder if he will be riding the Giro, where the number of tough hilly stages with a flat finish could really suit him.

In Summary:
Despite the lack of transfers, much tougher than last year and certainly capable of scoring more consistently.

Count’s Call:
Up from last year’s brush with relegation, I think B&O will be well up the table, contending with the top 5 in the division.

Manager: CountArach
Last Season: PCT – 6th

The Team:
In the past two seasons, BPost has become the point of comparison for any cobbled team – it was easily the deepest in that department in the PCT in both years. Now in the PT it has to take backseat to Pokerstars in terms of depth, but it is still there. The leader once again is Pieter Vanspeybrouck, who unlike the other big names on the cobbles is a pure northern classics rider. This limits his use outside of these classics and also means that he lacks the finishing sprint of Bewley or Boonen. Regardless, thanks to his training, he should still be in the top 5 of most of those classics, with his faithful lieutenant for the last 4 season Niels Albert also scoring well. Joeri Stallaert provides an option for the less-selective cobbled races that might finish in a sprint.

Jurgen Van Den Broeck comes home to Belgium and he will be having a more mixed schedule than he had last season. I can confirm that he will be taking on the Giro and a number of stage races throughout the season. He is well-rounded, though his support stats are a bit lacking compared to most of the true big names. Not only that but only Ben Curfs and future star Tim Wellens are there to provide support in the mountains.

On the hills Robin Van der Hugenhaben is the leader and he has once again been given training, making him a truly competitive option. He will rarely strike out much above the top ten due to a lack of sprinting ability but his ability in the mountains makes him versatile enough to also provide a stage racing component to his cycling. Once again support is lacking with Romain Zingle the only real support there unless VDB also gets in on the action.

In time trials Dominique Cornu returns to the PT to lead a rather impressive TTT squad. The TTT squad is arguably one of the top 3 in the division and in addition to Cornu has riders like Rick Flens and William Bonnet. Speaking of Bonnet, he will be doubling up as lead-out for German sprinter Andreas Stauff, the final leader of the team. Stauff will struggle on most courses that aren’t flat and he isn’t likely to pull in a lot of wins this season against the big names of the division. Yet between Bonnet, Stallaert and Kris Boeckmans he can boast an impressive lead-out train. Not only that but it means that BPost is now competitive on every terrain... not just cobbles.

In Summary:
This is one of the few teams that can be competitive on all 5 key terrains and that should ensure decent scoring throughout the season but it lacks the big killer name that can push the team to the next level.

Count’s Call:
I think my team will be just outside the top ten and well clear of relegation.

Manager: CrueTrue
Last Season: PCT – 3rd

The Team:
Thomas Dekker lead his team to promotion last year and fittingly he will be leading them in their first season back in the PT. He has a huge history in this game but as he has gotten older other younger riders have been trained and now easily outdo him. Sure, he is still a great climber and he is still a very strong TT rider and sure, he has great support stats, but at the end of the day he just won’t be competitive against the very biggest names. He will have to pick his races very carefully, particularly given his relatively poor support – Thomas Lebas and maybe Patrik Sinkewitz will be his only real support riders.

Alejandro Valverde has a huge history in this game but as he has gotten older other younger riders have been trained and now easily outdo him. Add to that the problem of his own aging and it is fair to say that Valverde just isn’t what he used to be. Don’t get me wrong, he will still score well given his ability on both mountains and hills, particularly if he is riding in Spain, but he isn’t going to be the same threat in the Ardennes, let alone in GTs, that he once was. He still has something of a good sprint and that might be his saving grace. His support on hills is much stronger, however, with the aforementioned Sinkewitz, as well as Maurice Schreurs providing useful assistance as well as a strong scoring ability in their own right.

There are only a couple of second or third tier TT riders in this squad, with Emilien Viennet the best of them. He won’t be featuring much in that discipline against the best and there aren’t enough here to put together a strong TTT squad. Arman Kamyshev is the only name on the cobbles here. As such it comes down to sprinters to provide the extra points that Vueling might need.

Thankfully for them the news is much brighter there – Martin Reimer has the potential to wreck havoc if put in the right races. He isn’t as fast on paper as other sprinters but he is magnificent over hills. If he is put in the tougher races then he could take some serious points for the squad. He isn’t the only sprinting option either – Peter Kennaugh is like a mirror image of him. Kennaugh is quicker but not very good on hills. For this reason the two of them together should be able to cover both scenarios rather well. They are likely to be the two absolutely key riders for Vueling this season.

In Summary:
The two biggest names are solid, but well past their best and both will struggle to score like they did in the past.

Count’s Call:
This is a tough call, but I am going to tip Vueling to either relegate or very narrowly avoid it.

Manager: OlegTinkov
Last Season: PCT – 1st

The Team:
Tinkoff won the PCT quite easily last year and it was Timofey Kritskiy won the individual rankings by just over 300 points. He was utterly instrumental in them securing the title last year. He was immensely dominant but now that he has stepped up to the PT... he just looks almost mediocre. There are a number of riders of his skill level or roughly his level and this means that his point scoring ability will be somewhat limited. He will pull in a lot of top 10s and certainly is capable of a top 6 in a GT (maybe not the TDF) but I just can’t see him pulling in a really big win. He would need a race that focuses on climbing and the ITT alone, and even then there are better riders for those races. Sergei Kolesnikov and Aleksij Kunshin are his two biggest helpers in the mountains and both should score a few points of their own but are generally too one-dimensional for that.

Yuri Trofimov on the other hand is anything but one-dimensional. He is primarily a puncheur with a strong sprint but he can climb well enough to make him into a strong stage racer too. Not only that but he can time trial with the best of them – he has showed in GTs in the past that this is a deadly combination and can be used to seize early stages and leader’s jerseys. Certainly he was a great investment and should be the most successful rider on the team. He may suffer somewhat in the Ardennes, however, with EBH and Bakelants both better than him on paper. Not only that but the classics are always a bit of a gamble, so one or two bad races and suddenly he is a big waste of money. He does have a huge depth of punchy talent behind him to help him get to the end, however.

Unfortunately, that is pretty much where I see the point scoring stopping. There is some climbing depth and some depth in puncheurs, as mentioned, but none of these domestiques are going to score a lot in their own right (maybe Kolesnikov could get lucky with his decent sprint stat?). Leonid Krasnov is the best sprinter here and certainly cannot cut it at this level. Dmitri Kozontchuk is the only cobbler here and once again can’t cut it here. Anton Vorobev leads a TTT squad that is only decent if both of the leaders are in it too, and that is just clearly unlikely to happen.

In Summary:
A bit of a two-trick pony and when one of those tricks relies on the gambles of hilly classics, it is a potentially huge problem.

Count’s Call:
I think it will be a tough year for Tinkoff, who didn’t seem to strengthen enough after promotion, and I think they will relegate.

Manager: SportingNonsense
Last Season: 5th

The Team:
After splashing out 1 million on Andy Schleck last year, his new wage of 870,000 makes him look like a total bargain. He is one of the top tier climbers of the game and he is decent enough on the hills for a stage racer. His weak TT will mean that he will struggle to compete with some of the other top-tier guys like Madrazo. His support stats are impressive, however, and even more impressive is the climbing squad behind him. Jaime Suaza and Dmitri Medvedev head up a long list of potential support riders. Not only are they good on the mountains, several of them are also solid TT riders and that will be useful with the first stage of the TDF a TTT.

SN hinted that this might be Frank Schleck’s last year with the Luxembourg squad and it is easy to see why – age has made him much less competitive. Sure, he is still great on the hills and he is still a very strong climber, but it does make his weaknesses that much more obvious. He can no longer even be called a good TT rider and his sprint is woeful, for example. This does grant him more race days, however, which could be useful. He will probably bring in a few wins throughout the season but I doubt that any of them will be particularly ‘big’ wins. On the hills he has Ben Gastauer as a co-leader, and he will make many other teams jealous – he is good enough to lead a team in his own right. He looks somewhat like Claeys or Di Maggio – a big focus on just a few stats with many of the others ignored.

The next leader here is Ben Swift who, as others have said, is arguably the best sprinter in the division. He is decent enough on the hills to get to the end of most stages and classics, and his finish when he gets there is deadly. His leadout train is enviable too – Pedro Merino Criado and Romain Feillu. Certainly Merino Criado will have chances to ride for himself this year, and he has proven in the past that he can drag in points in mass sprints, even if he isn’t a prolific winner.

Finally, given that there are no noteworthy northern classics riders here, we turn to TTs. Marcel Kittel looks like a typical prologue rider – great at TTs, rubbish at everything else. This gives him a good number of race days, however, so he should be drawing in a lot of points. There are a few other guys like Thomas De Gendt here who can help out in a half-decent TTT squad (or in the TDF squad possibly, in order to limit the first stage losses).

In Summary:
An enviable depth of leaders and domestiques means that this will be a great year for Vesuvio.

Count’s Call:
Certainly one of the top 5 squads in the division, but I don’t think they have quite what it takes to challenge for the title.

Manager: Heine
Last Season: PCT – 7th

The Team:
The first thing that you notice when you look at VW is the huge number of unmaxed riders – what we have here is an absolutely massive depth of potential. Most of them are level 4.X as well, meaning that promotion was well timed for the team too. With all of these young riders it comes down to two old Italians to be the main leaders. Filippo Pozzato is the first of these. He has a bit of a reputation for being unreliable, but he has shown that he can pull out massive wins and podiums when he wants to. He is great on hills, decent on cobbles, and he has a strong kick, as well as good support stats all around. The problem is that he is a bit of a jack-of-all-trades, master of none – there is no one thing that he does better than any other rider in the game. Regardless, he should score rather well all year round.

Emanuele Sella is the second aging Italian leading the squad. Like Pozzato, he has a reputation for unreliability, but as the Giro showed last year, even at his least reliable moments he is still capable of special things. Unfortunately aging is starting to take its toll and he isn’t quite the same man who used to challenge Cunego in the mountains of Italy. Regardless, he still looks like he could maybe sneak into the top ten of the Giro with some luck (though perhaps there will be too many TTs on this route for him). Certainly a stage win shouldn’t be out of the question. The young Jonathon Monsalve is the main support rider there, and he will be desperately trying to prove that he is worth almost a million to his team (though I am sceptical that he is, even if he isn’t quite maxed yet).

Past the two Italians, we come to two German puncheurs. Aleksandar Flugel and Domenik Klemme are both potential top ten candidates in most hilly classics but neither are likely to be capable of getting into the top 5 in those races. You also have to wonder if perhaps sharing leadership could lead to one of them sitting up when the other is doing well, meaning that the second one will miss out on valuable points.

The developing Rick Zabel is their best pure sprinter and I don’t see him competing for more than the occasional top ten. There are a few time trialists here, the best being Matthias Brandle, but nowhere near enough for a full TTT squad. This leaves the cobbles, where Ruben Zepunkte is the undisputed leader. He isn’t fully developed but still might be able to pop into the top 10-15 occasionally. He has the loaned-in Mike Teunissen for support

In Summary:
This team has several sub-top leaders, two of which have a history of unreliability. If the gambles come off then it should be a good year...

Count’s Call:
... unfortunately I don’t think that will be the case and I see VW relegating. With all of the talents here, though, I could see them bouncing straight back.

Manager: dave92
Last Season: 1st

The Team:
Fittingly, we finish on the defending champions. This is another squad that didn’t make too many changes in the transfer season, though they have several talents who developed nicely last year. Taylor Phinney is once again the leader, now the world TT champion. He is obviously great in this discipline and he is in fact a great GC contender, but his failings are well-documented. It seems he will be taking on the TDF this season, and I find this a questionable decision. His main faults are the toughest mountains (and the fact that the best climbers are better on them) and relatively poor support stats. Both of those are going to be necessary in the TDF. He will almost certainly achieve the top 5 goal, but he won’t bring in anywhere near the same points total that one of the other GTs could give him.

Stefan Denifl is the other GC leader here. He is a stronger climber than many direct competitors but his TT ability is a bit lacking, which prevents him from being super competitive. Not only that but he too lacks decent support stats. Thankfully both he and Phinney will enjoy a strong supporting line-up including Thibaut Pinot and Andrew Talansky, both of whom should score well over the season in their own right.

Outside of the mountains, Tejay Van Garderen is the best puncheur in the squad. He should be challenging for top 5 finishes but he is another of those riders who feels like they might just be slipping behind with EBH now at 85 hill. Jay McCarthy provides him with a strong lieutenant and it is possible that this will be his advantage over some of the others – a strong lieutenant may see him fresher at the end of a race. Time will tell.

On the flats there are no sprinters at all here. This means that there will be plenty of 0 point days, something that it is best to avoid when going for a title defence. Danny Summerhill looks like a potentially brilliant rider for the Ronde van Vlaanderen, however, as he is one of the best over hills of the cobbled riders. Certainly he should poke his head into the top 5 once or twice this cobbled season. Kevin Eeckhout provides his best support here.

In Summary:
If I appear harsh on the team, it is only because expectations are very high on them. There are some great leaders here and it will be a strong year for Wikipedia.

Count’s Call:
I do not see them defending their title but I do see them as one of the top 5 squads this season.

So now for the bit where I really embarrass myself... here is my final ranking of squads for the 2014 season. I think that it will be very tight in a few places in particular – the very top of the table, around the top 5-8 and just outside of the relegation zone.

Rank	Team
1	Festina
2	Becherovka
3	Wikipedia
4	Vesuvio
5	Aker - MOT
6	Team B&O
7	Lotto
8	Swisscom
9	Simply Red Bull
10	Pendleton's
11	Bpost
12	Pokerstars
13	Project 1t4i
14	Good Energy
15	Santander
16	Bouygues
17	Prio
18	Vueling
19	Tinkoff
20	VolksWagen
21	Rothaus
22	ING

Not only do you get my rankings now, but Smowz sent me a PM containing his guesses for the ranking. He didn’t have time to do a full write-up but he has done the ranking guesses and written a short comment on why he thinks each team will be there. Here are his guesses:

1. Festina - Spilak is just awesome
2. Vesuvio - Deep deep squad ready to erupt
3. Wikipedia - deposed champions - Phinney's climbing flaws resurface
4. Aker - Hagen's mob continue to improve
5. Swisscom - Amador and Nibili are a nice double act. Both could podium a GT each.
6. Simply Red Bull - outrageous overprediction
7. Bechrovka - Based on Bewley suffering enough crashes to allow old Sparticus glory
8. Lotto - next year they need guys but Cunego and Bennati are still dangerous
9. Pokerstars - nice new hilly focus but Boonen is past sell by date
10. TCS Bank - Best promoted side and Trofimov was worth the price
11. B and O - From near disaster to mid table safety
12. Good Energy - Dangerous breakaway style team in stage races
13. Bpost - The Van's and Cornu look solid enough. Doubts about Stauff though
14. Santander - Needs to split Tenor and McLovin up
15. Bouygues - Half baked squad, but Jan and Rein will do it.
16. VolksWagen - Some risky riders Pozzato and Sella but I think they will squeeze through
17. Prio Porto - Machado 1.4 Mill really. Lucky had some money to splash on Costa
18. Vueling - Dekker will find things have changed. A lot.
19. Project 1t4i - This project is going backwards I fear. Gesink needs a massive year.
20. ING - Sicard is not worth the price. my big TT rivals so I will predict doom.
21. Pendletons - They will be pleased to see this - I predict they go badly and they always do better.
22. Rothaus - Keizer is no stranger to disappointment, the lack of 'red stats' for me gives the whiff of relegation

Smowz wrote:
Alarcon: Vuelta - Colombia - Liechtenstein and... Giro I took the risk

I think Nibbles, Ricco and Sella are sure to go to the Giro but I think with a bit of attacking mountains magic Alarcon can take them. More concerned about one of the 85 MO - ites though might avoid one of them bastards in the Giro but not likely in Colombia. I think Schleck at least.

wackojackohighcliffe wrote:
Great of you to do this Smowz, thanks. A little optimistic about my team I feel, around 15th again I reckon.