Kudus and Debesay getting what they deserve <3 Not to mention the scary conglomerate training…
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
Some interesting trainings at PT level, but not too bad really for us. I would have expected more top-end training on mountains (Dombrowski, Morton, Olivier, Reis, Barguil, Bennett, Eastman). Only Kudus as a serious threat to Lecuisinier, who now should be able to stay ahead of Dombrowski for good - as the most important thing. Trainings like Choi, Godoy, Yates and Haig doesn't really interfere with us, as our GC riders are on each end of their scale - so mainly points will be stolen away from other teams, which is good.
Koretzky will face more competition from the likes of Vakoc and Yates, while the others are still either worse, or in another category hills wise (MAL top end), Herklotz, Benoot and Formolo more mountain-puncheurs etc.
Except for Gaviria no top end sprint trainings either, which keeps Coquard at a similar level to last season (With van Stayen leaving the division), and not a lot of U25 trainings that will compete directly with Aidan van Niekerk training.
Overall a good (for once) training session for us, relatively speaking.
As always feel free to waste your money on cobbles, as that doesn't make any difference for us
Good luck to everyone - I hope your trainings work out like intended!
Good to see Adam Yates finally getting a bit of training. And Kudus as a genuine GT threat is awesome to see unlike some of the other abominations that appear to have been bathing in radiation all off season.
Some big training, as expected. Cool to see Eiking getting trained to 80 hill in CT. Some cobbles training, but Wisniowski stays on top, so quite happy with the situation there.
- not likeing the amount of cobble training, now that I have a cobbler myself
- The Yates brothers will be too strong now
- Hope the Herklotz training for Cio isn`t ruining him. At one point his wage/race day ratio will no longer be worth it I think as his results can`t get much better anyway
- Thanks knockout for making MAL too good
- Love that training of Gaviria, even though I had preferred seeing his old stats on PT level for a season to compare with his PCT performance. Now though he is clearly the new best sprinter but also wage wise on another level next year
- Eiking! Great savings of money over 2 years for a very likeable rider.
- and congrats Ollfardh for having now the best Dutch stage racer I guess.
- ...
Some pretty obvious moves and some very interesting ones as well.
Training wasn't really in the cards for us this year, as we needed the money to transfer leaders in. After AKA's training pretty much failed last year, I'm thinking I will be quite limited in how I use it in the future. Focus where it can make a difference and for guys who are part of long terms plans (I have one guy particularly in mind).
Always wondered how much training at the very top is worth it compared to the extra race days. But I suppose if experienced, successful managers keep doing it, the math must play out!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Some interesting training choices. Apart from the obvious ones I really enjoy to see Choi trained and also Godoy is a nice choice for 81 MO.
The PT seems really competitive this year. There's not really a team that appears to be weak (well at least until you scroll until jandal's team). A lot will depend on planning and randomness regarding the final rankings.
SotD wrote:
Except for Gaviria no top end sprint trainings either
I'm unsure if the training is worth it for Herklotz tbh. I can't see him score better with 81HI rather than 79HI with less racedays. He is already winning almost everything he rides, so unless the 81HI will make him win Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Lombardia I think it's more to stay ahead rather than a point vs. investment choice.
For riders like Lecuisinier the added jump made him go from being a podium contender to a winner, and that will always be a good investment even if it does reduce the RD slightly. So top-end training is usually a very solid investment.
I mean first of all, you all know Herklotz transcends all logic and strategy for me.
I guess I'm spending so much more time with the DB than with rankings and the points-related math compared to SotD et al (who's definitely right with his assessment), that I just enjoy those shiny red stats more than any scoring implications that might come with them.
Simply put: I had fun making Demare unique with the only 80+ hil/sp combo ever in the game, and I had fun making Herklotz unique with the only 80+ mo/hil combo at the moment.
And at least for this season, I'm still quite happy with his race program.
Also I'd like to remind people of this situation:
If either Madrazo or Sicard had gone on to do from that group what Herklotz did in the final kilometre on the Alpe with him staying in the group instead, they would've won the TdF.
Training Herklotz is not about winning more than he already did. It's about getting more of a cushion to brace for bad days and the next generation.
Just because he can win these races doesn't mean he will repeat that the next time he lines up there, so any stat extra still increases his chances.
And with Kudus (oh man if only that Cedevita bid had stood ) and MAL continuing their development, we already have seen the emergence of new guys that will challenge us for the remainder of his career (race schedule pending).
Plus, I didn't feel there was anybody else truly worth training on the current roster without ruining their points/wage ratio instead, and with significant wage cap restraints going forward, there were no big names worth chasing with my initial budget either.
Just an overly pedantic note about the db: seems like the 2020 team column reflects the post-renewals team allocations rather than the actual 2020 teams. With that being said, love to scroll through the post-transfers db and can't wait for the season
) and MAL continuing their development, we already have seen the emergence of new guys that will challenge us for the remainder of his career (race schedule pending).
