This thread is for team presentation and HQ like posts. You can also discuss team updates right in this thread. Reserve yourself already a main post, which will be linked in the second post.
I feel like the press article reward was a huge success the '18 Teams thread had 17 pages contrary to 2 the year before, so the system will remain:
Based on a points system there will be a small amount of money awarded for the next season. A maximum of 10 points can be reached. One point will give a budget bonus of 20 in the next season. Each update in this thread will give a point. There won't be long essays required, a short update with a few sentences containing the latest results, the upcoming races, a new signed rider or anything noteworthy would be enough. Also considered for this will be posts in the, not yet opened, Previews&Statistics post. A season preview can even give several points: Detailed Season Preview (4 pts), Numbers based Preview (3 pts)
You can also look at the monthly previews done by dominox in this thread, these would be exactöy what I am looking for.
Generally I don't want to give very active people with lots of time too much of a benefit. Everyone that stays just a little bit active over the whole season should be able to get the full bonus easily. To achieve one point you won't have to spend longer than 5 minutes, which should be possible for everyone in the game.
Only for reserving a post in this thread right away for your team you'll already get 1 point. I'll link the main post for each team in the second post. Updating the team post with your team roster after the transfer season will give you another point.
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
Volta ao Algarve:
GC Top 10 Fredrik Ludvigsson [6th]
U25 Top 3 Fredrik Ludvigsson [2nd]
Vuelta a Mallorca
GC Top 5: Wout Poels [4th]
Stage Top 3 Jonas Ahlstrand [2nd, Stage 2]
Stage Top 5 (Wout Poels [4th, Stage 3])
Tour of South Africa
KoM Win: Thomas Nybo Riis
Stage Top 3: Dylan Groenewegen, [3rd, Stage 5; 2nd, Stage 6; 3rd, Stage 11], Matthias Frank [2nd, Stage 10]
Stage Top 5: Ramunas Navardauskas [4th, Stage 3]
Amgen Tour of California
Points Top 3: Dylan Groenewegen [3rd]
Stage Top 3: Dylan Groenewegen [2nd, Stage 5]
Stage Top 5: Dylan Groenewegen [4th, Stage 1; 5th, Stage 4], Ramunas Navardauskas [4th, Stage 2]
Tour des Fjords
KoM Top 3: Fredrik Ludvigsson [3rd]
Stage Top 5: Jonas Ahlstrand [5th, Stage 1; 4th, Stage 2], Fredrik Ludvigsson [5th, Stage 3]
Deutschland Tour
GC Top 5: Alessandro De Marchi [5th]
KoM Win: Thomas Nybo Riis
Team GC Win
Stage win: Thomas Nybo Riis [Stage 5]
Stage Top 3: Alessandro De Marchi [2nd, Stage 5]
Specialized - Playstation was originally an ICL Continental team founded in 2016 by paying agent Vaast Sports Limited. The title sponsors of Specialized and Sony came on board with the project early, both committing themselves to a four-year deal at the time.
The first season was a very quiet start, with only a few victories throughout the season, but 2017 saw Specialized World Cycling come to the fore quite often, and with the likes of Jakob Fuglsang and Heinrich Haussler paving the way, the team finished 4th in the Continental Team Rankings at the end of the season. Alexander Wachter and Sam Oomen also scored big successes in the U23 scene with the development team, but with all these successes, there was trouble brewing behind the scenes.
Vaast Sports were having serious problems in other areas of their business throughout 2017. The company tried desperately to keep the team on the road, but by the end of 2017, Vaast Sports were sent into liquidation, and Specialized World Cycling was not to be present for the 2018 campaign.
But there was something set in motion by the team's successes. 2016 was fairly quiet, but 2017 showed that the organization had the potential to compete in the upper echelons of the Continental peloton, and could possibly have made a bid for promotion in their 2018 campaign which wasn't to be.
Revival
In March of 2018, Tru Blu came on board and committed to bringing the team back. The investment company is relatively young, but with roots and reknown around the world in various industries, CEO Martin Blockhuis was confident in the prospect of the team's revival. Specialized and Sony both came back, agreeing to sign a one-year deal for the duration of 2019 to fulfill their previous committment to the team, both companies aware of the success of 2017. At the end of the year, however, they are both confirmed to be departing, with Tru Blu intent on taking up the title sponsorship themselves, along with partners who have already signed deals for 2020, though they cannot be named here yet in respect of current contracts.
"I remember Specialized - Playstation when they started out," Blockhuis explained when asked how the plan came to be. "I was a recreational cyclist at the time, though I don't really ride anymore. Anyway, I remember SPS as they used to call themselves, well, they sucked in their first season. And I never really followed cycling all that much in 2017, so I didn't know how much things had changed over there.
"In early 2018 we started getting involved in some sports endeavours, we sponsor a few triathletes from California, and a division 2 soccer team in Florida, but we wanted to get into something professional, something that could net bigger, worldwide exposure, and something that could be a long and steady project rather than a whimsical flight of fancy. So I thought back about cycling, since I used to cycle and it just came to mind.
"We did some research on most of the ICL teams to see where we could step into things, who we wanted to carry our brand, but it was only then that I noticed Specialized World Cycling. The name was a bit different, but with a little reading you could see it was the same organization, a lot of the same staff and some of the same riders, and they had a really phenomenal 2017 campaign.
I didn't have to think very long and hard to decide, 'this is the team I want to sponsor, sure they have sponsors in place already, but we can stick ourselves in somewhere probabl-what the team folded?' And so from that point on, we looked into what it would take to resurrect the team, how viable it was, cost-benefit analyses, all that good stuff. In the end we decided, forget just being an afterthought on the sleeve of a jersey that nobody's gonna notice, we're going to do this, and we're gonna create a cycling brand out of it, and so we got started getting things in place from right then in March."
Edited by Scatmaster111 on 26-10-2018 15:58
Our team was formed only a year ago, we hired a number of experienced riders to establish ourselves in the CT division. However, the 2018 season proved far more successful than we dared to hope, with 5325 prestige points we placed 3rd in the continental rankings and were promoted to the top division. Wout Poels was our top scorer, but lots of riders added to our tally, our biggest wins were: Paris-Nice (Fuglsang), Rheinland-Pfalz (Valgren), Geant de Provence (Poels) and the GP Montreal (Van der Sande). Sprinter Daniel Schorn also excelled, picking up 7 stages in mass sprints.
The promotion meant our team was in desperate need of a top rider and thankfully, we managed to capture Rafal Majka through the steal system, we are extremely pleased to have convinced a rider of such high quality to join our team. At the same time and with a heavy heart we decided to drop our top scorer Poels, we understand the wage he demanded after his incredible season but we need the money to fill up the squad with more riders. Denifl and Minguez also left the team, the other 15 riders will tackle the World Tour with Aviva.
During the transfer season we were able to pick up a number of great riders: Geraint Thomas is our new leader for cobblestone races, Romain Hardy will lead the team on hilly terrain. Ruben Fernandez is another good stage racer, so is Fabio Duarte. With Tao Hart and Jonathan Dibben we've picked up two excellent British talents who should already appear on the scoresheet this season. We failed in hiring either of the Yates twins, but were able to reunite the Van Winden brothers.
Squad 2019
Name
Nat
Role
Average
Wage
Age
Pot
Christian Bertilsson
Sprint Train
73.5
190
28
5
Ian Bibby
Allrounder
72.3
130
33
5
Edward Birch
Domestique
70.7
100
25
5
Mark Christian
Domestique
72.5
140
29
5
Michael Cuming
Domestique
71.6
130
29
5
Jonathan Dibben
Cobbles
75.6
390
25
6
Alex Dowsett
TT Specialist
74.8
270
31
5
Fabio Duarte
Climber
75.9
345
33
6
Rubén Fernández
Stage Racer
76.4
450
28
6
Jakob Fuglsang
Stage Racer
77.2
630
34
6
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Climber
76.2
405
24
6
Romain Hardy
Hill Leader
76.8
410
31
5
James Lowsley-Williams
Domestique
73.2
170
27
4
Rafal Majka
Captain
80.8
1360
30
7
Philip McCluskey
Domestique
70.8
100
24
5
Travis Meyer
Domestique
72.1
120
30
5
Jonathan Monsalve
Climber
74.9
270
30
4
Daniel Schorn
Main Sprinter
76.0
430
31
6
Jordi Simón
Domestique
73.3
180
29
5
Ian Stannard
Cobbles
75.5
370
32
5
Geraint Thomas
Cobble Leader
77.9
655
33
6
Michael Valgren
Puncheur
75.6
370
27
6
Tosh van der Sande
Lead-Out Man
74.5
250
29
6
Dennis van Winden
Domestique
71.3
100
32
4
Stefan van Winden
Domestique
71.6
130
30
6
Race Planning 2019
Results Overview 2019
January
WT
Palm Classic
Bertilsson
33rd
WT
Tour of Toowoomba
Thomas
1 stage
Fuglsang
GC 5th
February
CT.1
Vuelta a Mallorca
Lowsley
GC 41st
WT
Vuelta al Pais Vasco
Majka
GC 5th
March
WT
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
Thomas
3rd
WT
Strade Bianche
Bibby
17th
WT
Vuelta a Tachira
Majka
GC 3rd
WT
Milano - Sanremo
Thomas
16th
CT.1
Dwars door Vlaanderen
Thomas
10th
WT
E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
Thomas
4th
WT
Gent - Wevelgem
Thomas
5th
April
CT.1
Wallonië Prijs
Hardy
5th
WT
Ronde van Vlaanderen
Thomas
15th
WT
Ster ZLM Tour
Schorn
GC 15th
WT
Paris - Roubaix
Thomas
7th
CT.2
VDK-Driedaagse De Panne
Meyer
GC 15th
CT.2
Rheden GP
Christian
24th
WT
Trofeo Campania
Thomas
28th
WT
Amstel Gold Race
Fuglsang
27th
WT
La Flèche Wallonne
Hardy
44th
WT
Liège - Bastogne - Liège
Majka
10th
May
WT
University of Lincoln GP
Hardy
10th
WT
Giro d'Italia
Fuglsang
GC 17th
WT
Grand Prix of Sochi
Fernandez
GC 6th
CT.1
Race Horizon Park
Cuming
10th
June
CT.1
La Jurassaine
Fernandez
3rd
WT
Deutschland Tour
Thomas
GC 25th
WT
Vuelta a Guatemala
Majka
GC 3rd
WT
Tour of Mount Fuji
Tao Hart
GC 10th
Tao Hart
U25 1st
CT.2
Circuit des Ardennes
Bibby
GC 33rd
July
WT
Asmara Cup
Hardy
19th
WT
Tour de France
Tao Hart
GC 8th
CT.2
Kigali GP
Van der Sande
16th
August
CT.2
RideLondon–Surrey Classic
Bertilsson
22nd
WT
Tour of Northern Europe
Thomas
1 stage
Thomas
GC 13th
WT
Course du Lac d'Annecy
Majka
4th
CT.1
Baltic Chain Tour
Birch
1 stage
Stannard
GC 7th
WT
Vattenfall Cyclassics
Schorn
20th
WT
Eneco Tour
Stannard
1 stage
Thomas
GC 6th
Stannard
KOM 1st
Team
1st
September
WT
Vuelta a España
Majka
GC 4th
Tao Hart
U25 1st
CT.1
Tour of Britain
Hardy
1 stage
Valgren
GC 7th
WT
Course de la Paix
Fuglsang
GC 42nd
WT
Quebec Sprint Challenge
Schorn
Top 16
CT.1
Richmond Criterium
Dibben
17th
WT
Virginia Chrono Tour
Thomas
GC 25th
October
CT.1
Tre Valli Varesine
Fernandez
11th
WT
Bucaramanga Classic
Bibby
33rd
WT
Paris - Tours
Stannard
8th
WT
Il Lombardia
Majka
2nd
CT.1
Japan Cup
Hardy
12th
WT
World TTT Championships
Aviva
17th
World Tour Scoring 2019
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Total
Majka
216
365
70
249
125
492
240
1757
Thomas
176
404
172
35
6
208
36
0
1037
Fuglsang
173
31
2
9
107
15
16
0
13
366
Hardy
0
21
3
4
50
0
22
0
3
103
Fernández
121
11
115
6
35
3
291
Tao Hart
94
126
160
340
487
1207
Schorn
4
90
30
94
0
0
20
52
0
290
Duarte
42
0
13
0
0
15
70
Dibben
0
32
26
4
4
0
26
0
3
95
Valgren
0
1
46
26
0
34
0
107
Stannard
14
32
7
18
179
98
60
408
Monsalve
0
57
16
110
11
194
Dowsett
2
4
0
12
5
11
0
34
V. d. Sande
0
0
0
1
19
0
12
26
58
Bertilsson
4
0
0
1
8
0
0
0
13
Simón
15
47
0
53
42
157
Lowsley-W.
0
0
5
0
22
27
Christian
4
0
9
7
20
Bibby
26
0
0
85
0
0
4
115
Meyer
2
0
0
5
18
0
25
Cuming
0
0
0
58
4
12
74
S. v. Winden
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
D. v. Winden
4
0
0
0
14
0
0
18
McCluskey
0
0
0
0
0
Birch
0
0
0
11
1
5
17
Total
379
284
1140
406
683
594
691
629
1320
357
6483
RDs
7
6
20
17
28
19
23
19
33
8
180
Pts/RD
54.1
47.3
57.0
23.9
24.4
31.3
30.0
33.1
40.0
44.6
36.0
WT Rank
4
4
2
8
8
8
9
8
7
7
7
---Aviva Futura Project 2019
We have also started our own development team, the Aviva Futura Project, a year earlier than originally planned. It's a very weak team for our trial run, led by Garcia and Fritsch.
Welcome to the Headquarters of Suntory Lucozade Sport Pro Tour Cycling Team and Suntory Orangina Development Team for the PCM Daily ICL Story Game for 2019 season.
Team History
2015 Eurosport Pepsi - CT 1st
2016 Eurosport Pepsi - WT 10th
2017 Suntory Lucozade Sport - WT 8th
2017 Suntory Orangina - U23 6th
2018 Suntory Lucozade Sport - WT 10th
2018 Suntory Orangina - U23 1st
Sponsors Suntory are a Japanese brewing and distilling company group. Established in 1899, it is one of the oldest companies in the distribution of alcoholic beverages in Japan, and makes Japanese whisky. Its business has expanded into soft drinks owning Lucozade, Orangina and Ribena. Suntory is headquartered in Osaka.
We are very lucky to have our shirt designed by the great graphic artist Bikex
Transfers
Transfers In Scouting David Meyer Salif Mane Ricardo Padilla Mark Safford
Transfers In Free Agents Gorka Izagirre Tilegen Maidos Eliot Lietaer
Transfers In Deals Matteo Cavallo
Transfers Out Hayato Yoshida to FA Victór Alcaraz to FA Tetsuya Otsuka to FA Shinzo Hashimoto to FA Michael Matthews to Lufthansa Paulo Zanni to Wilier Triestina Jérôme Coppel to Lufthansa Max Fritsch to Aviva
Squad
Climbers
Romain Bardet is a pure climber, his TT has improved greatly so it is now mediocre. Clément Chevrier will target top 10 finishes in stage races.
These two will be helped by Pierre Gouault, Salvador Castillo, Emilien Viennet, Alexis Guerin and Okuma Yamashita . We aim to develop future star Samuel Crochet to take over from Jérôme Coppel who has left to join Lufthansa where we hope he will perform well for them.
Sprinters
World Class fast man Mark Cavendish will have Mads Pedersen and Rick Zabel to lead him out to get the team some WT wins. We will look to develop David Meyer to take over from Cav as he declines.
Time Trial
Former World Champion Michael Hepburn is our top TT man but the loss of Coppel has hurt our TTT team.
Cobbles
Jens Keukeleire is our main cobbler so not expecting much at all from the pave. Youngsters Mads Pedersen and Edward Smith will develop in the future.
U23
French fast man and future superstar David Meyer is our main recruit this season and we are looking to him to lead our defence of the U23 crown from the 2018 season. He will be supported by Salif Mane and Ricardo Padilla.
The climbs will be covered by Jorge Cano Gonzalez & Murjikneli Gochashvili.
TRAINING
Romain Bardet has been in the wind tunnel trying to make sure he doesn't get dropped in a TTT like last year. Mads Pedersen will take over from Michael Matthews in hill sprints and has been working on his cobbles technique. Samuel Crochet is looking to fill the gap left by Jérôme Coppel as a stage racer with a decent TT.
After a solid season in 2018 which saw the team finish 8th in the WT rankings, TVM Cycling Team is back to once again represent Dutch cycling at the highest level of the sport's elite competition, the ICL. This will be our 5th season in existence and our 3rd at World Tour level.
Our team remains similar to last season, with three notable additions. First up is the Spanish veteran Beñat Intxausti, who will go around one final time this season after crossing from Lufthansa. We will also be seeing a lot more of two young stars in Koen Bekker and Shahrizal Shafeeq, who step up from the U23 competition last year.
We hope to see all our fans out on the course cheering us on as we look ahead to another season of thrilling ICL action!
The Squad
Absolute Leaders
Name
Age
Rider Type
Last Season
WT Pts
Ian Boswell
28
Climber
TVM Cycling Team
554
Tom Dumoulin
29
Time-Trialist
TVM Cycling Team
1043
Bauke Mollema
33
Climber
TVM Cycling Team
1580
Eldir Moreira
25
Puncher
TVM Cycling Team
395
Protected Riders
Name
Age
Rider Type
Last Season
WT Pts
Robert Gesink
33
Stage Racer
TVM Cycling Team
451
Beñat Intxausti
33
Stage Racer
Lufthansa Racing Team
45 (CT)
Barry Markus
28
Sprinter
TVM Cycling Team
269
Daniel Oss
32
Classics Rider
TVM Cycling Team
297
Tom-Jelte Slagter
30
Puncher
TVM Cycling Team
736
Dylan van Baarle
27
Time-Trialist
TVM Cycling Team
275
Luxury Team-Mates
Name
Age
Rider Type
Last Season
WT Pts
Jetse Bol
30
Time-Trialist
TVM Cycling Team
45
Jasper Bovenhuis
28
Climber
TVM Cycling Team
77
Kristjan Koren
33
Time-Trialist
TVM Cycling Team
22
Bert-Jan Lindeman
30
Classics Rider
TVM Cycling Team
59
Elmar Reinders
27
Sprinter
TVM Cycling Team
147
Ramon Sinkeldam
30
Sprinter
TVM Cycling Team
81
Nick Van der Lijke
28
Puncher
TVM Cycling Team
87
Team-Mates
Name
Age
Rider Type
Last Season
WT Pts
Koen Bekker
24
Climber
Giant Asia Racing Team
N/A
Jose Gonçalves
30
Time-Trialist
TVM Cycling Team
59
Chad Haga
31
Fighter
TVM Cycling Team
72
Johnny Hoogerland
36
Fighter
TVM Cycling Team
-
Tan Peng
26
Fighter
TVM Cycling Team
4
Bob Schoonbroodt
28
Classics Rider
TVM Cycling Team
1
Shahrizal Shafeeq
23
Sprinter
Giant Asia Racing Team
N/A
Jos Van Emden
34
Classics Rider
TVM Cycling Team
26
Full team stats
Spoiler
Name
AVG
FL
MO
HI
TT
PR
CO
SP
AC
DH
FTR
STA
RES
REC
Mollema
78.9
70
78
79
73
73
63
68
76
71
72
77
73
75
Dumoulin
78.3
77
73
76
80
78
69
68
73
70
75
75
74
74
Boswell
78.1
73
79
77
70
68
63
66
73
73
78
75
71
73
Moreira
77.9
71
69
78
65
66
69
69
74
69
73
77
67
71
Gesink
77.2
71
76
77
75
73
61
66
70
65
74
75
73
74
van Baarle
77.0
76
69
72
78
77
73
71
72
74
67
73
74
73
Slagter
76.8
70
75
77
69
68
63
69
75
69
74
75
72
75
Oss
76.7
76
67
73
70
70
78
74
76
67
69
74
72
73
Markus
76.7
75
60
69
69
72
68
77
79
74
72
73
74
72
Intxausti
76.4
69
77
76
75
74
57
60
68
71
74
69
69
73
Van der Lijke
75.6
73
69
75
65
68
66
70
75
73
73
75
67
71
Sinkeldam
75.1
74
63
71
64
64
74
76
76
75
71
74
71
69
Reinders
75.0
75
65
72
68
69
69
76
75
74
67
74
69
72
Bovenhuis
74.3
70
75
72
68
69
61
65
72
72
74
73
69
72
Lindeman
74.0
73
65
71
68
66
75
70
73
73
75
73
68
69
Bol
73.9
73
65
68
74
75
72
69
71
70
70
71
71
71
Koren
73.0
69
70
71
74
74
71
68
69
67
68
70
70
71
Gonçalves
72.9
71
69
70
74
73
65
64
68
72
69
71
70
70
Haga
72.9
68
73
72
70
68
59
62
70
69
75
71
68
70
Bekker
72.7
63
73
71
64
62
55
60
71
73
74
71
67
70
Peng
72.4
68
64
72
63
65
67
67
70
68
73
72
65
69
Schoonbroodt
72.3
72
60
68
66
66
73
68
69
68
70
72
68
67
Shafeeq
72.1
71
61
65
62
66
64
73
73
70
61
71
65
70
Van Emden
71.7
72
62
63
69
69
73
63
68
70
64
68
65
66
Hoogerland
70.5
67
69
71
66
66
67
60
69
52
73
68
66
66
Giant AsiaRacing Team
Team Updates
Spoiler
Team Overview
Giant Asia Racing Team is back for season 2019! Our team is focused on providing an opportunity for young riders from South-East Asia to ride in the professional peloton and developing young talent into the future stars of the ICL.
This season we have acquired several new riders while maintaining a 50% regional focus. Giant Bicycles remain as our main sponsor with Alpecin coming on board for the 2019 season.
Jan Barta ends career & talks about CSC team spirit
The season ended and every year that is also the end of several riders' career as professional cyclists. Amongst riders that have already announced their end of the career is Jan Barta and he gave a couple of interesting answers after his final race:
About his final race...
"It was the perfect departure from the racing circuit. Winning the National Championships Road Race has been a goal for years and achieving it on my final day as ICL pro is perfect. I knew I had no chance in a direct fight against VisitUkraine so I'm glad they let me join the break and take the fight from there"
About his transfer to CarbonSports...
"I had three fantastic years with Eurosport/Suntory and the 2015 season was probably the best season in my career but hearing my inner clock ticking i felt that i wanted one more experience before hanging up my helmet and the move to CarbonSports offered me an insight into one of the most succesful teams and was exactly what i wanted to experience at that time"
About his biggest success...
"I had several nice moments in the peleton but the seventh place in the Olympic Games Time Trial has a special place in my memories"
About finishing the Tour de France...
"The Tour de France is a childhood dream for every young cycling fan and I had not finished a GT yet in my career so it was a real special feeling to arrive on the Champs-Élysées after 21 days of hard work for Alberto. It was an honor to be part of this race."
"I have never experienced a cancerous team dynamic like this. The squad was divided into groups and towards the end of the season it was an open war between the south european climbers and the central european classics team."
About the future of CarbonSports...
"I cant see how Alberto [Contador] could want to stay with CarbonSports. He lost the Vuelta due to issues within the team and since the team wont build the team entirely around him due to his age he will probably have to find a new team if he wants to win another grand tour. I suspect that several of his closest friends will leave with him and that the team will focus again on classics and the group of promising talents"
Brugse Zot - Trek is a new team based in Brugge, in West-Vlaanderen, where the beer Brugse Zot is brewed from De Halve Maan, the only Brewery survived in the historical center of the city. The owner of the team was fascinated by the cycling event that involved Brugge in recent past: De Ronde, and the dream (and why not, the aim) was immediatly to bring back the Trophy, where for many years race started.
This project wasn't possible without cooperation of one of the biggest brands among cycling, Trek, that from years winks to Belgium and northern classics.
This year we have a new team jersey, courtesy of hillis91, after having the same one since the creation of the team. Everybody is so thrilled with it and is very grateful for the fantastic job that the designer did...
Without further delay, here is our new team jersey...
Sevilla Cycling Team
Let's hope this jersey brings us the same luck and victories as the old one!
Edited by javibozada on 12-09-2018 19:52
Volta ao Algarve
Salif Mane
Giant 
