Hello to all and welcome to the 2021 HQ for newly promoted PCT squad Los Pollos Hermanos - Galapagos. That's right, Los Pollos Hermanos has decided to stay on as main sponsor of your favourite South American team! Even greater news is that they extended their contract with two years at once, ensuring us a nice check both in the 2021 and 2022 season. Don't change a winning team is a well known sports philosophy, but we decided to take that one step further. Don't change a winning jersey is our 2021 motto (what's a motto? Nothing, what's a motto with you? yeet), so here it is once again, the_hoyle's lovely and easily recognizable Los Pollos Hermanos kit!
Spoiler
Nevertheless, a new division meant we still needed some extra dough. We love the Latin American market, but as team manager Nemolito is based in Belgium and is afraid of flying, it couldn't hurt to have a Belgian co-sponsor. They might have been lacking a bit on the stock exchange recently, but we are still proud to announce Galapagos as our co-sponsor! They signed a contract of three years with the team, and we really hope they don't go bankrupt by then. The Belgian/Dutch medical research company will allow us to sign some talents and/or more established riders from Belgium. (Not that this didn't happen last season already). As the default jersey won't change, we made a special arrangement with the medical company. Every national champion we (will) have will be riding in a Galapagos NC kit, made by fellow Latin American team manager DarkWolf. The Galapagos green and orange combined with the national flag will definitely make our nc's stand out. Both Galapagos and manager Nemolito would like to express their gratitude to DarkWolf once again!
Edited by Nemolito on 28-06-2022 13:27
Matti Manninen - Tour Down Under (HC) - Stages 1 and 2 + points
Other decent results
Matti Manninen - Tour Down Under (HC) - 2nd GC Simon Spilak - Hong Kong Challenge (C1) - 10th GC Dion Beukeboom - Vuelta al Tachira (C2) - 2nd stage 10 Daniel Munoz - Vuelta al Tachira (C2) - 3rd U25 Roman Maksimov - Volta a Portugal (PTHC) - 3rd stage 2 Simon Spilak - Tour of Ukraine (HC) - 8th GC Simon Spilak - Pro Hallstatt Classic (PTHC) - 9th Matti Manninen - Circulo de Juarez (C1) -3rd stage 1 Roman Maksimov - Vuelta a Colombia (PTHC) - 2nd stage 4
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Wins 2020 season
Carlos Alexandre Manarelli - Vuelta Al Tachira (C2) - stage 2 Stefan Petrovski - Vuelta al Tachira (C2) - stage 8 + KoM Jerome Baugnies - 1 Jour de Dunkerque (C2) Jerome Baugnies - Tour du Faso (C2HC) - Stage 3 + GC Matala Seboka - Giro del Trentino (C2) - Stage 3 + 1st points Marco Guillén - Tour de San Luis (C2) - Stage 8 Carlos Alexandre Manarelli - Tour de Vineyards (C2) - stage 4 Matala Seboka - Tour d'Andorra (C1) - KoM Marco Guillén - Euskal Bizikleta (C2HC) - Stage 1 Jerome Baugnies - Lillestrom GP (C2) Jerome Baugnies - GP Kigali (C2)
Edited by Nemolito on 21-12-2021 09:53
It's quite simple. Old riders were getting worse and they asked too much, so didn't keep those. Seboka was a legend, but he can be a legend elsewhere now. Most of the guys I kept were regional talents, when it comes to scoring points next season, Sterbini should be most useful in PCT, although he should also not score too much. We got more than two million euro's left on our wage cap to find our remaining riders, so I'm sure we can find someone useful on the FA market.
Nat
Name
Main stats
2020 wage
2021 wage
Available
Munoz D.
77mt/71hi
0
65k
No
Petrovski S.
75 mt/73hi
50k
54k
Yes
Sterbini L.
78tt/78pr
50k
53k
No
Quispe A.
80fl
50k
50k
Yes (loan)
Ulloa J.
69hi/73co
50k
50k
No
Osorio A.
72mt/69hi
80k
50k
No
Ruiz R.
74fl
50k
50k
No
Gonzales A.
69mt/70hi
0
50k
Maybe
Los Pollos Hermanos management would once again like to thank Jerome Baugnies, Carlos Alexandre Manarelli, Matala Seboka, Florentino Marquez, Fulgencio Bru, Samuel Coronel, Marco Guillén, Romeo Quicibal, Vitalii Nowakowskyi and Diego Andres Camargo for a great season. Who knows, we might meet again.
We did it! First season promotion! Before the 2020 season started we knew Jerome Baugnies should do very well in the Continental Division. Nevertheless, the way he outclassed the other cobblers, and even finished so high in the individual rankings while having less cobble racedays than mountain goats or puncheurs have their specialties in racedays, was outside of our own expectations. The Belgian was a massive help towards promoting, but neither can we forget the strong performances of Florentino Marquez and Marco Guillén. They all declined and asked for too much money, so we had to let them go.
In fact, only six riders from our 2020 roster remain today, at the end of the 2021 transfer window. The interesting news, thinking about the future of the Los Pollos Hermanos team, is that only one of them is maxed. Luca Sterbini still has some decent years left in him, whereas the other five that did not abandon the ship are all South American talents: Daniel Munoz, Robinson Steven Ruiz, Alejandro Osorio, Jose Gerardo Ulloa and absolute legend Alain Quispe.
Spoiler
Luca Sterbini
4.100
29y/o
€53.000
Fl
Mo
Hi
TT
St
Rs
Rc
Co
Sp
Ac
Fi
Dh
Pr
68
56
66
78
74
73
67
63
57
67
71
65
78
Daniel Muñoz
4.56
25y/o
€65.000
Fl
Mo
Hi
TT
St
Rs
Rc
Co
Sp
Ac
Fi
Dh
Pr
66
77
71
66
71
71
72
55
56
69
68
61
58
↓↓↓
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↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
66
79
73
66
72
72
74
55
56
70
70
61
58
Robinson Steven Ruiz
3.19
23y/o
€50.000
Fl
Mo
Hi
TT
St
Rs
Rc
Co
Sp
Ac
Fi
Dh
Pr
74
66
66
62
70
68
65
64
71
72
63
69
64
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↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
79
68
68
64
73
71
68
66
73
75
64
71
66
Alejandro Osorio
3.14
23y/o
€50.000
Fl
Mo
Hi
TT
St
Rs
Rc
Co
Sp
Ac
Fi
Dh
Pr
67
72
69
68
69
68
69
55
56
66
61
63
64
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↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
69
77
72
72
73
72
74
55
56
68
62
64
68
Jose Gerardo Ulloa
3.12
25y/o
€50.000
Fl
Mo
Hi
TT
St
Rs
Rc
Co
Sp
Ac
Fi
Dh
Pr
69
66
69
63
69
69
69
73
65
67
67
64
64
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
72
66
72
63
72
71
71
77
65
67
71
65
64
Alain Quispe
4.01
27y/o
€50.000
Fl
Mo
Hi
TT
St
Rs
Rc
Co
Sp
Ac
Fi
Dh
Pr
80
52
52
61
62
60
64
53
66
73
84
55
61
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↓↓↓
↓↓↓
↓↓↓
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↓↓↓
↓↓↓
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↓↓↓
↓↓↓
81
52
52
61
63
61
64
53
66
74
85
55
61
The two sprinters
Promoting to PCT had us thinking about our strategy. We have loved cobbles since day 1 and will always keep on doing so, but focusing only on cobbles might not have been our best bet at trying to stay up in the 2021 season. Instead, having a strong first sprinter and a decent back up seemed like the way to go. So that is exactly what we went for and, in my humble opinion, achieved. Sprinter number one is no one less than Finnish superstar Matti Manninen. He has teared the PCT sprinter races apart last season, and if he could ensure like 75% of his points of the 2020 spell, he would make me a very happy manager. In addition to that we have also signed Russian champion Roman Maksimov, who was a decent second sprinter for MOL last season, and will hopefully do the same nice things for us, even though he has declined.
Spoiler
Matti Manninen
4.100
29y/o
€400.000
Fl
Mo
Hi
TT
St
Rs
Rc
Co
Sp
Ac
Fi
Dh
Pr
74
65
66
69
71
75
77
58
81
80
70
71
76
Roman Maksimov
4.100
33y/o
€100.000
Fl
Mo
Hi
TT
St
Rs
Rc
Co
Sp
Ac
Fi
Dh
Pr
71
52
59
68
68
67
72
57
80
82
58
63
68
The return of the King
Ladies and gentleman, apples and pears, HE IS BACK! We would have loved to announce a more well known name coming back, but this man is also a king. Carlos Alexandre Manarelli, who ensured the team their first victory ever with a stage win in our home continent, during the Vuelta al Tachira in Venezuela, has signed another one year contract with the team. The Brazilian champion will not have a lot of opportunities to fight for his own results because of the two sprinters mentioned above, but we are nevertheless very proud to see him wearing our outfit once again.
Spoiler
Carlos Alexandre Manarelli
4.100
32y/o
€50.000
Fl
Mo
Hi
TT
St
Rs
Rc
Co
Sp
Ac
Fi
Dh
Pr
72
53
59
57
71
65
73
61
79
79
57
66
57
An unexpected journey
So we go for two sprinters, and then what? It was not an easy decision, as time was lacking to really scout the DB and prepare for the transfer season and the calendar planning. Marlen Zmorka did catch my attention, which wasn’t that hard being the second best time trialist in the game to be fair. We then decided for a ‘Baugnies-approach’, going as high as we had to, to make sure the Ukrainian signed with us. That turned out to be 750,000 euro in the end, which is quite a sum. We do believe in Marlen a lot, and know that, if we stay in, we should be able to get his wage down and still enjoy his qualities for several years.
Manninen and Zmorka were two terrains covered, but we needed something more. We had the budget for a nice buy, and the rider we decided to go with in the end was noone else than MG legend Simon Spilak. The Slovenian had a terrible year last season in PT, and hopes he can redeem himself and make his name sound as terrifying as it used to by scoring us many points this season.
No cobbles leader was acquired this season, and looking at the strength of the PCT teams in the hills, we are not too unhappy that we didn’t sign a puncheur either. The closest thing to a puncheur we got from FA was the Japanese Wataru Mutsumine, who will be allowed to go KoM-hunting whenever he feels it is opportune to do so.
Both Zmorka and Spilak asked us to strenghten our TTT depth a bit, and we listened to them. We weren’t able to acquire any big names, but we hope Richard Laningo Laizer, Stelly Robert and Dion Beukeboom are able to help them out enough.
Spoiler
Marlen Zmorka
4.100
28y/o
€750.000
Fl
Mo
Hi
TT
St
Rs
Rc
Co
Sp
Ac
Fi
Dh
Pr
74
61
66
82
74
75
72
61
62
70
67
60
82
Simon Spilak
4.100
35y/o
€530.000
Fl
Mo
Hi
TT
St
Rs
Rc
Co
Sp
Ac
Fi
Dh
Pr
68
81
78
73
74
75
72
66
63
68
67
64
73
Wataru Mutsumine
4.100
29y/o
€50.000
Fl
Mo
Hi
TT
St
Rs
Rc
Co
Sp
Ac
Fi
Dh
Pr
69
69
77
64
73
70
68
58
63
71
64
70
64
Richard Laningo Laizer
4.100
32y/o
€55.000
Fl
Mo
Hi
TT
St
Rs
Rc
Co
Sp
Ac
Fi
Dh
Pr
70
52
58
77
70
71
69
68
65
70
69
69
76
Robert Stelly
4.100
33y/o
€50.000
Fl
Mo
Hi
TT
St
Rs
Rc
Co
Sp
Ac
Fi
Dh
Pr
66
56
59
78
64
68
66
56
54
53
73
69
78
Dion Beukeboom
4.100
32y/o
€50.000
Fl
Mo
Hi
TT
St
Rs
Rc
Co
Sp
Ac
Fi
Dh
Pr
73
56
64
76
71
69
65
61
60
70
77
63
76
The desolation of hopes and dreams
Not everything went as smoothly as we hoped during transfers, which is normal of course. For a moment we were hoping for a return of Baugnies, or a season with other MG legend Jan Bakelants. Both were too expensive for us though, which was not to the liking of our new Belgian co-sponsor. Luckily Galapagos is a half Dutch company, and we could shush them with the signing of Beukeboom. We also tried to go for our self found and suggested Cuban talent Cristian Perez, but Cristian sadly chose a lot of Carribean money over the love and chicken we could have offered him for years to come.
We then knocked on the doors of some fellow managers, trying to find riders to spend the season with us on no wage or close to that. It worked, so the next three riders will be riding for us for a combined wage of 10,000 euro in the 2021 season. Gjensidige’s Johan Iver Knotten will be a part of our TTT setup while gaining experience on a higher level, ISA – Hexacta’s Murilo Affonso will be an allround domestique in the mountains as well as the timetrials, and GCN x Eurosport’s Oumaru Minoungou will …
We don’t know what he will do exactly, but he’ll do it with passion, and that is what really counts.
Spoiler
[img-l]https://i.imgur.com/QhUGZOZ.png[/img-l] Knotten looked very glad to join us at the team presentation
Spoiler
Iver Johan Knotten
3.02
23y/o
€0
Fl
Mo
Hi
TT
St
Rs
Rc
Co
Sp
Ac
Fi
Dh
Pr
68
61
61
74
68
67
68
58
59
60
64
66
70
Murilo Affonso
4.100
30y/o
€10.000
Fl
Mo
Hi
TT
St
Rs
Rc
Co
Sp
Ac
Fi
Dh
Pr
69
76
72
73
72
70
74
56
54
68
74
53
73
Oumaru Minoungou
4.100
33y/o
€0
Fl
Mo
Hi
TT
St
Rs
Rc
Co
Sp
Ac
Fi
Dh
Pr
69
59
64
63
71
68
68
74
68
66
76
59
65
The battle of the five talents
That leaves us with the talents we acquired for ourself. Three level 1 talents seemed a nice way to go, add two stagiaires to that and you have the perfect number to finish the Lord of the Rings/Hobbit analogy. Concerning the five talents we signed, we only had to fight for one name. The Hondurese Luis Enrique Lopez Nolasco, who is already 24 years old, was a target of fellow Latin American team Volcanica – Fox. Luckily enough for us that team is in CT at the moment, so we were able to offer Luis Enrique more money, which he gladly accepted. No Avenir for him anymore, but maxing at 78 mountain, 72 hill and 74 time trial makes him a really interesting rider.
The two other FA talents we signed, both for 50k, were both self scouted and suggested, which clearly makes them special for us as well. Victor Alejandro Ocampo, who won the U23 Colombian time trial NC, will max out at 78 time trial and prologue. He will spend the 2020 season at Polestar cycling in the CT. The third and last talent we signed was the Chilean Guillermo Andres Beltran. He will max at 76 mountain and 76 hill, and with a last name like that we should be expecting nice things of him.
The two stagiaires that joined us are the Guatemalan Alex Julajuj, who could turn into a nice domestique in the mountains, hills and time trials, and the Ecuadorian Jefferson Alexander Cepeda, who was part of Azteca last season.
Spilak, Zmorka and Manninen is such a sick leading trio. Very little depth behind that of course other than the two sprinters, but I wouldn't be surprised if those three keep you up on their own. Pretty spectacular deals, that's for sure
Future Ganna is very happy Zmorka went down to PCT, and past Herklotz is very happy Spilak went down to PCT!
Looks like you just got enough of a roster to focus on stage races with a TTT, and just enough of a roster to launch Manninen.
Whether that is enough to stay up remains to be seen, but I keep my fingers crossed for you! *
Great signings and rebuild for the PCT. Used your budget really well. Depth might be less but the leaders alone can ensure mid table or better I think. Zmorka and Manninen on their own has been capable of getting amazing results, and no reason why they can't do so again. Spilak is great pick for PCT still and the TTT backup should help him further. Looking forward to see how you go this season
Very very top heavy. With so many leaders stepping down to PCT it's hard to say whether there will be opportunities for them to score enough points to save you. I suspect a nail biter for you this year
3 awesome leaders but definitely a lap of depth. Manninen is terrific. Hard to expect a repeat of last year, but he's still top tier. Likewise for Spilak given his decline, but he's still an A tier contender in PCT.
Zmorka is the real guy who's going to determine your season I think. If you plan well around him, and TT's aren't super random, you should be able to have a solid year overall. If he struggles to score due to randomness, you don't have any depth to fall back on, which will make it hard.
I assume we'll be fighting some GC battles, but your sprint and TT focuses mean we won't clash at most times. So best of luck!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
That's really some sick additions. Especially Manninen for 400k looks like a bargain if he can come close to what he did last year. Didn't think he'd go for under 0.5M to be honest, so well done
I definitely don't like to see Spilak in PCT. I'm afraid he and Nairo will cross paths pretty frequently, and while Nairo's slightly stronger on the long climbs, Spilak will ride away on the hills and in the TTs. I actually thought I did pretty well with my TTT setup, but yours is far better still, well done again
And Zmorka... I guess pretty much everyone bar knockout would have loved to get him, and while 750k looks a bit steep at first sight, he can bring lots and lots of GC and stage points - while still being really young!
So yeah, your squad is really, really top heavy, and even if Spilak and Zmorka did completely differnt races, they don't cover even half of the season. But if your sprinters can do the rest, you've got good chances of at least staying up - and with just Spilak declining among your leaders, the future would then surely look pretty bright
And my first disappointment about the lack of regional focus went away when I saw your talents - great job there as well! I guess you're really one of the winners of transfers - if you stay up. But you should, definitely
That is a very nice looking leadership trio! I'll only really be competing with you in the GC this season, so hopefully Spilak suffers whenever we meet, but is elsewise excellent.
Top heavy, as others have said. But Spilak is a top tier rider, Zmorka should bag good points. My only question mark is Manninen and if he can get close to last season. Maksimov i have zero hope for, but at least he was relatively cheap.
Might be closer to relegation than other managers think imo, but you've a real chance to stay up with good planning and the Flying Finn.
I think you'll stay up easily with that trio of leaders + the TTT support. Kinda jealous you got Zmorka for just 750k, meanwhile I got outbid on all my FAs targets
I will be happy to finish close to you in the sprint and mountain races. Good luck
We are putting a lot of weight on our leading trio indeed, and with some interesting planning it is yet to be soon whether we will succeed in staying up. What mattered most to me was ensuring that we still contracted at least three more regional talents, to one day reach our goal of 75% of the team being homegrown.
When I go for talents, I usually go for 50k-ish talents, also keeping in mind that there's a decent chance of us relegating and having the troubles of the CT wage cap again next year. The goal of our talents so far is to see them grow into decent 50k (or a bit more) riders, who are useful as domestiques in any division, while being a (semi-)leader in CT and very maybe PCT.
If we stay in, we will still have two strong leaders, if we relegate, our leaders should all be worth something when trying to sell them (if we are able to keep them on during renewals). See you soon for more updates.
Matti Manninen - Tour Down Under (HC) - Stages 1 and 2 + points
Simon Spilak - Hong Kong Challenge (C1) - 10th GC
Dion Beukeboom - Vuelta al Tachira (C2) - 2nd stage 10
Daniel Munoz - Vuelta al Tachira (C2) - 3rd U25
Roman Maksimov - Volta a Portugal (PTHC) - 3rd stage 2
Carlos Alexandre Manarelli - Vuelta Al Tachira (C2) - stage 2
Stefan Petrovski - Vuelta al Tachira (C2) - stage 8 + KoM
Jerome Baugnies - 1 Jour de Dunkerque (C2)
Matala Seboka - Giro del Trentino (C2) - Stage 3 + 1st points
Marco Guillén - Tour de San Luis (C2) - Stage 8
Florentino Marquez, 
Fulgencio Bru, 
Samuel Coronel, 
Romeo Quicibal, 
Vitalii Nowakowskyi and 
![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
