Welcome to the annual "best and funniest transfers thread", with me, your host, jandal seven. The only thread I've ever seen where a rival manager has literally begged me to sell their rider for him - but it was Guerao, so morally I had to decline.
We are basically clearing out, Bennett aside, the equivalent of our 2020 PCT promotion class, with Higuita taking the Areruya role. That was a team built on multiple great leaders scoring hundreds of points each, so these are very valuable pieces.
I'm super available here or on Skype (thejandaldaily), if you got kicked out of the Skype group for pissing everyone off I guess maybe discord as well
Stats
OVL
Wage
Areruya
Joseph
79MO, 79HI
79.14
€530,000
Bennett
George
81MO, 76HI
78.04
€340,000
●
Higuita
Sergio
78MO, 77HI
77.71
€350,000
●●●●●
Rowe
Luke
79SP, 75CB
77.51
€275,000
●●●●●
Houle
Hugo
79SP, 75HI
77.22
€260,000
●●●●
Meurisse
Xandro
77HI, 74MO
77.14
€210,000
●●●●●
Stannard
Robert
77HI, 75RS
75.98
€130,000
●
Habtemichael
Daniel
78MO, 74TT
75.92
€125,000
●●
Pidcock
Thomas
70sALL, 75RS
75.66
€320,000
Fouche
James
76MO, 73HI
74.52
€77,000
●
Schleck
Jordan
77MO, 73HI
74.33
€65,000
●●●●●
Nikiema
Bachirou
75HI, 70SP
74.23
€60,000
●●
Van Niekerk
Morne
78TT, 76FL
73.97
€52,000
●
Tesfaye Heyi
Henok
76RS, 75FL
73.87
€50,000
●
Novardianto
Jamalidin
78RS, 79AC
73.80
€53,000
Kipkemboi
Salim
75HI, 73MO
73.73
€50,000
●●
van Zyl
Johann
74HI, 73TT
73.00
€53,000
●
Vermeersch
Florian
70CB, 70SP
71.07
€170,000
●●
Hamza
Yacine
73SP, 73AC
70.71
€50,000
●●●
Schomber
Nils
81PL, 76RS
70.49
€65,000
●●●
● strong intention to keep | ●●● open for offers | ●●●●● clear intention to sell
One or both of Luke Rowe and Hugo Houle will leave. The duo have both been great winners and points-scorers for the team, each with a Top 50 season in the PCT for the team and never much lower than that, with Houle also 53rd in the PT last season showing their aptitude across all divisions as really valuable leaders, from the conversation for top of the CT standings to the type of low to medium wage leader that any team would love to have. Houle stands as marginally the least likely of the major targets to move but it is very much on the cards.
Luke Rowe is a fantastic flatbeast-sprinter-cobbler hybrid who has had brilliant results in all three domains, twice winning Veenendaal-Veenendaal over some of the world's best sprinters with a late attack and also getting multiple wins over the years from bunch sprints, and once coming 5th in the HC Cheshire Cycling Tour using his cobbled skills. A top 30-40 scorer in PCT (was 42nd once despite sharing his schedule with Houle) or a Top 10 one in CT.
Hugo Houle has Tour de France stage wins and spells in yellow to his name, and with his hilly skills can chase points jerseys in all kinds of races, coming 4th in that category at Le Tour last year. He shares Rowe's ability to do it in different ways, with sprint wins and great results from late attacks as well. A top 60 scorer in PT, Top 30-40 in PCT (was 43rd once despite sharing his schedule with Houle), and a Top 10 one in CT.
Xandro Meurisse is also on the move. 62nd in the 2020 PCT standings, Xandro is a still training-eligible all-around puncheur with skills in the sprints, mountains (2nd in a Vuelta MTF) and the cobbles (won Viana do Castelo) to make your mouth water with the planning possibilities, and if trained to 79HI his backups and 71SP 78ACC make him one of the best puncheurs in the PCT (after already being among the best of the second tier in 2020) or even at 78HI the best in the CT. Also a very handy rider for PT as a luxury domestique or weak-terrain leader and stage hunter as evidenced by his 122nd place finish there last year. Top 60 in the PCT, Top 5-10 in the CT, and very intriguingly training-eligible to make one of the best rounded second-tier puncheurs in the game.
Sergio Higuita is freshly maxed, U25 eligible and begging to build on his 97th place finish in the PT last year as a level 4 rider by cruising into the Top 40 or 50 of the PCT (L4 Areruya with worse backups, unfavourable races behind Bennett, and 1 less MO was 52nd in 2020) or becoming a PT or PCT team's new long-term project - trained in either MO or HI he could become one of the world's best in a couple of seasons. Not yet the biggest name but surely one of the riders on the market with the hugest potential and already would be a huge leader in the PCT and a very very solid one in PT. I really shouldn't have to sell a guy with these backups, 78/77, and just 25 years old. Top 70 in PT, Top 40 in the PCT, Top 1 in the CT, and with this much potential, it just makes too much sense for any team.
Jordan Schleck would be very tough to let go for us, being with us since the beginning. Still only 26 and pot 7, he will be an incredibly valuable 60-65k mountain domestique for nearly a decade with slow decline speed, great RES and the ACC to attack on occasion as well. Otherwise he could also be a great CT leader. He is also the best rider in the Schleck family now and the best Schleck normally is in the Top 5 of the Pro Tour historically so yeah.
Division
Level
Wage
Availability
Pidcock
Thomas
PT/PCT
3.31
€320,000
●●●●●
Fouche
James
Any
4.99
€77,000
●●●●
The team are also looking to loan out one of Thomas Pidcock or James Fouche. Details will come in later but Pidcock would be a split wage and Fouche with you possibly paying the majority though it's somewhat flexible.
Thomas Pidcock doesn't need to be discussed, he would be a real scorer due to being all-around and a breakaway threat, and maybe the most valuable multi-tool domestique in the world at PT or PCT level. Preferring to go to PT since he can gain much more XP there, but those PCT teams wanting a perfect way to make an impact in their GT wildcard can hit us up too!
James Fouche is a great proposition being 4.99 and so no worries for any division to max him (CT would just need an HC race, which we all now know is super doable). A leader in CT or a super valuable climbing domestique in PT or PCT, essentially getting paid to take a useful rider for a year on a lower wage than you'd find him in FA. You know how loans work, we don't need to explain this to you.
Oh yeah I forgot to mention we'll take in some loans maybe if you pay us. I'm just kidding in those threads about being bad at maths, I'm super good at planning talents - did anybody see me have Areruya for three straight years of PCT without needing to loan him out?
Meurisse and the sprinters are tied up in a deal for Meurisse plus either one of them, which is flexible and so whichever one you prefer is still available!
Higuita is naturally receiving healthy amounts of interest starting around the 1 million mark, we are looking for at least 200-300k more than that to really set a deal in stone and hope to have that sorted to post a deal thread at the opening. Nobody has made that leap to an instantly acceptable offer yet so you can get in there!
Schleck has an offer of 350k.
Schomber has some interest but nothing to push him past a 3/5 for the time being.
Pidcock has interest in a loan currently but no deal yet and obviously flexible around fees and different loan splits, so hit me up with your angle and we'll chat.
All the leaders being sold have pretty good deals which although within the rules I would have to accept overbid on I'm not feeling like doing huge advertising to do so Contact me if you want to know more about any.
Schleck is now at 400k, 450 overbid.
Pidcock has had another inquiry but no more concrete movement from the last update and is still wide open for your offer
Contact me if you want to know more about any.
