res, thread won't be well fleshed out until Sunday, but putting up these posts so I can post my transfer stuff.
Edited by whitejersey on 13-08-2020 01:31
ITS TIME FOR A REBUILD WEAKLINGS, the boss yelled in the meeting room. We have cut some serious riders for this and no one is safe on this roster. The new sponsors aren’t requiring us to work with a strict national focus, but it wouldn’t hurt if we could pick up riders from their focus regions. For me as new head of recruitment that was pretty important information. I was no longer The Intern and no longer forced to pick up WJ’s various exotic choices of hot drinks. “He “Not-intern” what’s the plan for the window, who are we for sure looking to move on”? That was a pretty tough question to answer on the spot.
There were only two riders were discussions of selling them would never be accepted. Franchise man GVK, had a bad year in 2018 but despite that should still do a good job in the CT, in 2017 he basically carried the team to a promotion and this time around it should be no different. The other rider that would take a considerable bid to get rid off is Boivin. The Canadian torpedo performed incredibly well last year, and should we be able to actively set up a good train for him this year he should be able to contest the best sprinters in the CT peloton.
Looking at riders that could be on the chopping block almost the rest of the team is up for grabs. The 50k riders with the ability to score well such as Tom Diggle and Joao Gaspar would require significant offers to be available but are not as secure GVK and Boivin. The stage race prospect Alexander Vlasov could be a rider to leave the team despite being touted incredibly highly by the management, the thinking here is that he would be one of the most interesting assets to include in a trade for a maxed rider. Speaking of maxed riders the Italian Davide Villella, who had an all around good 2018 could be looking for a new team, rumor has it, that he has been discussing with his personal coach and he feels that he would be better suited for a team able to offer him better option for individual improvement or wanting to be undisputed leader of a hills squad, something that’s not a given since Tom Diggle is also a very strong puncheur.
Piccoli, Smukulis, Anderson and Durasek are all available for offers but they aren’t the first riders to leave unless there’s a compelling argument and a good offer on the table.
We had our first signings ready to go, despite the team's goals being elsewhere WJ was very much keen to pursure British climber Thomas Faiers and he managed to sign him. The 32 year old climber came in for a massive fee of 650,000 and a trade of hihgly touted youngster Alexander Vlasov. The Brit's particular skillset can be seen below, overall a very strong signing for our first season back in CT!
Despite not being a primary Canadian team anymore we decided to pick Adam De Vos aka the Boss from PT sqaud Podium Ambition. De Vos's qualities alligned a lot with our goals, being able to both climb, as well help out Villella and Diggle in the hills, he was an ideal fit for the roster. The transfer fee for the Canadian amassed to a flat 100,000 which the management was very pleased with. The Candian's full skillset can be seen below.
This was the close of the initial transfer news from the this edition of the NENT Show host by "The Intern". More signings to be announced in the coming days so stay tuned for more!
It’s been quiet here on the media channels for quite a while and truth be told, after I was swapped away from being an intern and pushed onto running the team entirely we’ve seen too much success for me to really have time to write random blurbs.
So let’s dive into the goals of the 2019 season and see how we faired shall we?
Geraardsbergen-Bosberg – Win
This race has always been a race that we look forward to every year. In our maiden year racing GVK took home the victory, and this year we aimed for it to be no different, but with a strong field of competitors with Netia’s Przemyslaw Kasperkiewicz being the main contender to look out for. But did we reach our goal?
HELL YES WE DID! Not only did GVK take home the victory, he did it in dominating fashion with a magnificent solo ride to ensure a 2 minute gap to Kaspa in second place, with Kumara in third place. So not only did we nail the goal we did it with style!
1 Jour de Dunkerque – Top 5
Next race on the goal menu is 1 Jour de Dunkerque, another hilly cobbled classic, piece of cake for GVK right? Same startlist as in the Geraardsbergen-Bosberg more or less, meaning that Kaspa was the main contestant to our Belgian cobbles genius.
And another victory for the Belgian and this time in even more dominating fashion than the previous one! A solo ride from a long way out was enough to secure a 3’40 gap to Kaspa yet again. Honourable mention to 0 wage rider Samuel Coronel who managed to pickup a 7th in the standings as well.
Viana do Castello – Top 5
Off to lovely country of Portugal we went. On paper a race profile that would produce another battle between GVK and Kaspa but Viana have always been known to produce unexpected racing results due to it different profile with steep climbs and cobbles enough for everyone to have a go. We got to see some thrilling racing as the rain poured down on the cobbles, multiple breakaway groups were formed one of them included Coronel who would attack away from the pack with 121 km to go and eventually would end up taking home 4th position in the race.
With 45km to go the Pole would end up making his first move for the race victory where GVK instantly replied, Kaspa did drop GVK for a bit but GVK catches up in no time. As they both caught the break, where Coronel was placed, we now had the advantage!
With 18km to go up the climb they went and GVK proved to be the strongest as he ends up winning the race in stunning fashion with a 1’55 gap. Even my recap of the action will not do it justice, do yourself the favour and read the Report of potentially the best race of the entire season! Honourable mention to Coronel who did a heroic amount of work for GVK and securing 4th place as well applause to Kumara who ended up taking home 6th place in the race.
Alright so far it’s been nothing but sunshine and rainbows for our goals, but how about our final race goal for the season, GP Cyclistes awaited in the familiar surroundings of Canada!
Grand Prix Cyclistes – Top 5
Our third top 5 goal of the season, however this one was different in many ways. First off it was our only goal to be raced over multiple stages, secondly it was a pure hills race with no focus on the cobbles and lastly it did not go to plan!
We saw some breakaway action on the first stage from Kumara, however Tom Diggle would end up in a very disappointing 15th position which only amounted to being the best of the rest as he missed the cut on front group.
On the second stage of the race we saw an early disappointing drop from Villella who had been struggling for race pace throughout the season and Canada was no different.
In the end Tom Diggle took home a 16th in the GC which did not meet our goal for the season.
Rankings - Top 10 team standings
Looking at the riders that we kept coming down from the PCT it was potentially a modest call to go for the top 10 goal instead of shooting for a top 5 finish but with a lot of very strong teams coming down there was always going to be a risk of us not making it. In the end we absolutely smashed it and took home a very satisfying 5th place which means that we’re ready to take on the PCT again and for the first time it comes off a legitimate promotion. So overall 4/5 goals achieved, I think that's a succesful season!
