“...the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to hear again. The ones you can enter anywhere and inhabit comfortably."
A. Roy
“...the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to hear again. The ones you can enter anywhere and inhabit comfortably."
A. Roy
“...the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to hear again. The ones you can enter anywhere and inhabit comfortably."
A. Roy
The team bids farewell to two riders who, despite our short history, already are legends : Oscar Guerao and Hugues Mottin. Both were key riders in our inaugural season. Though last season was more complicated, they still showed their implication by doing domestique work and teaching the youngsters. Oscar was also deeply involved in Cristian Rodriguez' win of the 2022 Spanish NC.
We also thank Gennadiy Tatarinov, Lukas Talacka and Steven Manuel Polanco for their year with us. The two formers did important work in the mountains and the TTT respectively, while the latter showed his talent by winning a classic and both the Dominican NC. Only the wage cap blocked us to offer him a full contract, but we hope he'll be able to continue his developpement.
We also enter transferts with a renewal fine. Something new for us, we'll have to manage.
“...the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to hear again. The ones you can enter anywhere and inhabit comfortably."
A. Roy
It's rather surprising to see you already over the cap limit pre-transfers, but on the other hand no rider seems to be massively overpaid. So some work to be done in transfers, but if you want to loan someone out to PCT keep in mind there won't be any problems with acclimatization or language in my team
Best of luck in transfers and we hopefully be in the same division again in 2025 (and I don't mean CT).
PS: I'm looking forward to some background information regarding your sponsor change and slight shift in focus. Don't leave me alone in France (though that probably would make transfers easier)!
We'll be looking to sell either Rodriguez or Doubey, who both have been helpful for our huphill teams, and have had some personnal success.
One of Rubio or Rochas will probably leave too.
For others, the door could open too, depending on how the transferts go. The best chance of us selling one one dot rider is between Wackermann and Pacher.
It's rather surprising to see you already over the cap limit pre-transfers, but on the other hand no rider seems to be massively overpaid. So some work to be done in transfers, but if you want to loan someone out to PCT keep in mind there won't be any problems with acclimatization or language in my team
Best of luck in transfers and we hopefully be in the same division again in 2025 (and I don't mean CT).
PS: I'm looking forward to some background information regarding your sponsor change and slight shift in focus. Don't leave me alone in France (though that probably would make transfers easier)!
You'll not be alone in France, as the sponsors show. But yeah, I'll add some background and all, I hope to find some time before transferts begin.
The over the cap isn't good indeed, and maybe some riders could have been released and got back in FA. But for now I'm still to sentimental I think. Also with reasonable wages, some of them could be decent assets in transferts. But yeah, I'll have to manage my things tightly. Also two generations of talents begin to be a strain.
“...the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to hear again. The ones you can enter anywhere and inhabit comfortably."
A. Roy
Being over the cap pre transfers is always rough for a CT team, you will have your work cut out for you, best of luck!
Dont think that should be an issue in this case since its only 35k over the cap while having two riders "too many". So the over the cap situation is pretty easy to solve, it just remains the question whether you can find room to improve somewhere
Hmm, maybe one of the available riders could be interesting to try out as a breakaway rider in a GT... But it's more likely that we'll be in talks for a potential PT Loan, given that France is still one of our secondary focus nations
Good luck for transfers, and as knockout said, that small fine really shouldn't be much of an issue. I've had worse
Good luck with the upcoming transfers, and looking forward to matching up with you in the upcoming CT season
It looks like you've got some decent French/Spanish talents going for loans this year, clearly a development story and I like the long-term approach. I'm curious to see what sort of price you'll be able to raise for Rodriguez or Doubey, both have some useful characteristics and I think it'll be interesting to see what the market looks like for either. Good luck!
A very clear focus in this team, which is always nice to see. The renewals fine is a small nuisance, but given the number of riders looking to make their way out on loan I can't imagine it being anything more than a minor speedbump.
As knockout says there are still paths forward even if it will take some wheeling and dealing. The depth in the mountains and hills are unquestioned already and within the departments a lot of sub-specialisations - pure climbers, stage racers, MO/HI guys, puncheurs, Wackermann... maybe a couple of redundancies that could be optimised, but will have to wait and see what you do As others have said, commendable regional focus going on too.
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
For a team that finished only 11th in CT it's certainly not ideal to start with a renewal fine, although as said it is quite small. There definitely need to be some changes to kick on and challenge for the promotion spots.
Probably would wish some of the domestiques were slightly cheaper, but sometimes they just demand you pay up. I expect some sales, should be an interesting window.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Really surprised at some of these wages. Am sure morale on the team is very high with the strong wages, but definitely know it'll cause a challenge or two this offseason.
not sure what way you're way going to go, but some great options for improvement and a run at promotion if you plan things well and can sell a major fixture.
Being over the cap pre transfers is always rough for a CT team, you will have your work cut out for you, best of luck!
Dont think that should be an issue in this case since its only 35k over the cap while having two riders "too many". So the over the cap situation is pretty easy to solve, it just remains the question whether you can find room to improve somewhere
That's indeed the question, and I hope I'll be able to answer it sooner than later.
Hmm, maybe one of the available riders could be interesting to try out as a breakaway rider in a GT... But it's more likely that we'll be in talks for a potential PT Loan, given that France is still one of our secondary focus nations
Good luck for transfers, and as knockout said, that small fine really shouldn't be much of an issue. I've had worse
Happy to talk with you for either of those plans
The fine isn't too hard indeed, but I'll have to cut space to solve the holes in my team as it is.
Good luck with the upcoming transfers, and looking forward to matching up with you in the upcoming CT season
It looks like you've got some decent French/Spanish talents going for loans this year, clearly a development story and I like the long-term approach. I'm curious to see what sort of price you'll be able to raise for Rodriguez or Doubey, both have some useful characteristics and I think it'll be interesting to see what the market looks like for either. Good luck!
Thank you! I'm indeed looking forward to coming back to competition, but I'll have to survive transfers beforehand
Developement and taking my time was indeed the plan when beginning the game. And if it doesn't work, well, it's only a game full of nice people.
A very clear focus in this team, which is always nice to see. The renewals fine is a small nuisance, but given the number of riders looking to make their way out on loan I can't imagine it being anything more than a minor speedbump.
As knockout says there are still paths forward even if it will take some wheeling and dealing. The depth in the mountains and hills are unquestioned already and within the departments a lot of sub-specialisations - pure climbers, stage racers, MO/HI guys, puncheurs, Wackermann... maybe a couple of redundancies that could be optimised, but will have to wait and see what you do As others have said, commendable regional focus going on too.
I'm pretty proud to manage to keep the focus, even though it's far from what others here have made. And it makes transfers and competition well less stressful
Also I'm well to attached to virtual riders. Always have, in any management game.
For a team that finished only 11th in CT it's certainly not ideal to start with a renewal fine, although as said it is quite small. There definitely need to be some changes to kick on and challenge for the promotion spots.
I still have a lot to learn, mainly to be patient and take time to do the work for the game.
But yeah, the idea is to learn again what sprints and cobbles are.
Probably would wish some of the domestiques were slightly cheaper, but sometimes they just demand you pay up. I expect some sales, should be an interesting window.
Yeah. But they won races, and that counts, I suppose. And then I thought they were better to be sold than released. We'll see.
Really surprised at some of these wages. Am sure morale on the team is very high with the strong wages, but definitely know it'll cause a challenge or two this offseason.
not sure what way you're way going to go, but some great options for improvement and a run at promotion if you plan things well and can sell a major fixture.
I guess that the team's spirit to pay the riders what they deserve has its costs!
Planning will probably be the other major thing to do better. I still have to work my way around C1/HC races.
Thank you and good luck everyone. We've also completed the history page.
“...the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to hear again. The ones you can enter anywhere and inhabit comfortably."
A. Roy
Luca Wackermann
Zuri Metzgete
USA Pro Cycling Challenge
Gisborne GP
Coppa Placi
Uppsala Classic
Steven Manuel Polanco
Tour of the Middle East
As others have said, commendable regional focus going on too.
