After the most mediocre 2014 season imaginable, having almost no wins at all, our 2015 season in the PCT proved tremendously successful, as we finished inside the top 5 and seized one of the automatic promotion spots. This largely came thanks to tremendous performances from our team leaders, most of whom had stuck with us after we relegated from the PT in the previous season.
This year we are back in the PT and we will be looking to at least stay up. BPost stick with us for the fifth year straight and remain committed to Belgian cycling. The Flandrian government is back with more funding as well, realising how important it is to commit to the sport directly now that Quickstep have disbanded.
We hope that we can once again be the standard bearer of Belgian cycling, and we hope to achieve our target of staying up primarily with Belgian riders and Belgian leaders, while still fostering the next generation of Belgian talent through from youth.
Today, with renewals now completed, we can announce the riders that will be provisionally making up our roster for the coming season. It can be seen that a number of riders have had a large increase in their wages, some of them as a reward for hard work, and others because they are now finally coming into the peak of their careers.
As part of this announcement we are also announcing those riders who will not be joining us for next season. Of particular note here is Johan Vansummeren, who was one of the first riders brought into the team when it started in 2012. He is also notable for bringing in the first win of our team, a late attack during a stage in the Criterium International of that year. The fact that I just knew that fact off the very top of my head should tell you how integral he has been to our team over the history and how closely he has been woven into the history of this squad.
We wish all of our released riders the best of luck in finding a new team. Certainly the young Belgians are worth looking at for any CT team that may want to raise some PCT-quality domestiques all of their own.
In the coming days we will be announcing the availability of our various riders. We expect that a number of them will be available for the right offer, but we anticipate that most of our current leaders will remain leaders in the coming season.
In another announcement today, we are pleased to present the goals for the coming season:
Nat
Goal
Result
Avoid Relegation
Top 10 - Tour de France
Win - Ronde van Vlaanderen
Top 3 - Paris-Roubaix
Top 3 - Tour of Northern Europe
Our ultimate goal is simply to avoid relegation. We are confident that we can put up a much stronger fight this season, with many of our riders who were young when we first came up now reaching their full potential.
We are also targeting a top ten in the Tour de France. Belgians are calling out for a top GT rider and we like to think that if we can push for a top ten here, we can give them someone to believe in. Tim Wellens, we believe, is just that man.
Finally, our other three goals should surprise no one. The Ronde van Vlaanderen is the ultimate goal for the season, as it will be for every single season that we are racing at the top level. Pieter Vanspeybrouck will once again lead us there, and we think that this is easily his best chance to win it ever. Not only that but Vanspeybrouck will be leading us at Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Northern Europe, and we think that a podium is a very realistic goal for one of Belgium's favourite riders.
Ian Butler wrote:
Well, I very heartily wish you that victory in the Tour of Flanders. Go get it!
Thanks Ian, I'm confident of at least a top 5 and even a podium, but with Van Avermaet now being completely overpowered, I honestly doubt that I'll get it.
Today we announce the availability of our riders for the coming transfer season. Each rider has been given a star value to represent how likely we are to listen to offes. The stars mean the following:
* = Don't even bother making an offer.
** = We will at least take offers, but they would have to be quite good for us to listen.
*** = We will accept offers, depending on how the rest of transfers goes for us.
**** = We will listen to offers on this rider, though note that you still have to hit our asking price.
***** = We are aiming to sell this rider.
Note that of course these are not binding, so we will free to knock back any offer at any time.
Reports have emerged today that Romain Zingle, who has been with his current Team BPost for a number of years, may be looking for a move away. It is understood that he does not believe that he is capable of leading a PT squad on the hills, and fears that another rider may be brought in, relegating Zingle to super domestique duties.
Zingle would very much like to lead a PCT or even a CT squad, and it is understood that his team are now willing to listen to offers for the young Belgian puncheur.