The dawn of a new transfer season is upon us, and Team Puma - SAP welcomes you to their transfer center yet again!
After our Pro Tour winning 2018 campaign, several top riders might well be on their way to new teams this time around. The table above is intended to give you a quick overview of who we expect to be most easily available from our roster.
Except for Herklotz and Demare, we do not mind to at least discuss the future of any rider not on this page though.
We would like to lead with the statement that as usual, we would likely prefer pure money offers for every rider presented here, but will certainly listen to any swap offers with interesting riders too and encourage those kind of inquiries just as much.
We prefer inquiries via PM to keep this thread as purely a way for us to update the public on the latest development.
(and please be advised that we don't use Skype!)
And obviously, the amount of riders we will actually sell cannot be foreseen at this point, so if you're genuinely interested in someone, get your PMs in early to get the discussions started, not just ensure that your favorite rider's future is still in our hands, but also that they simply are still on our sell list as a few good deals might see us close the shop again rather quickly and keep the rest.
Fabio Felline is reportedly not too happy about the team's focus on Demare, and would like to smash some lower opposition again!
Despite his secondary role last season, Felline still managed to enter the Top 100 of the 2019 individual PT standings thanks to his great sprint at the end of tough races.
We believe that any PCT team with enough freedom for him will be surprised by his abilities on a suitable course, and alternatively, we heard that punchy sprinters/sprinty puncheurs are incredibly valuable in CT! Felline, in the mold of a Travis Meyer, would definitely be a good bet to finish in the CT Top 10 at the end of the season and push your team firmly into a promotion spot. €150.000 is a good wage for the abilities Felline displays.
After continuous and admirable efforts by many teams, we have had talks with Patrick Bevin and could see his future outside of Team Puma - SAP despite his good results and amazing teamwork throughout the last four seasons.
The Kiwi is the perfect addition to any team seeking stage race success as he comes with a great 76TT for any TTTs along the way, while also providing good climbing support. A €70.000 wage is definitely not above average for such a rider.
Paddy is not averse to attacking himself though, and that was very visible on stage 18 of last season's Tour de France, where his breakaway attempt resulted in an amazing third place going up the famous Tourmalet.
Edited by cio93 on 24-09-2019 01:28
A small update for everyone before transfers calm down slightly for the night:
There are intriguing offers on our table tonight for all of Wilco Kelderman, Dominik Nerz and Francesco Bongiorno.
We usually do not finalize deals without giving everyone an opportunity to have their offers be heard, so this is your friendly reminder to inquire via PM if you have not yet expressed your interest!
Our update for the second evening of transfer season:
We have all but sealed a deal for Francesco Bongiorno .
Several great offers for Wilco Kelderman mean we are getting ever closer to a decision in this regard too.
We can disclose that in terms of pure cash offers, we have reached a stage where you would likely have to put a 2 in front of the number you intend to PM us. There are also several swap deals being considered though.
There continues to be somewhat firm interest in both Dylan van Baarle and Patrick Bevin .
The deals for the aforementioned riders have all been confirmed now, and furthermore, Dylan van Baarle is also leaving us in a deal both sides are happy with.
This leaves us with Fabio Felline and Patrick Bevin on the official transfer list. We need good offers to convince us to part ways with either rider at this point though.
As always, feel free to inquire about any other rider on our team as well except for Herklotz and Demare.
We cannot believe we still haven't sold Patrick Bevin after massive initial interest, so he could still be yours even this late into transfers!
A great stage racer who can support your team on any terrain, and at times manages to grab nice results in the GC or from a breakaway too, all for a lean wage of only 70k!
If you have just enough cap space and budget, it's hard to find a better rider on the market at the moment.
Feel free to inquire if you have any kind of potential interest, we don't need an immediate offer to start negotiating.
Wilco Kelderman
Dominik Nerz
