1 + 3
Cool, i've mentioned division re-balancing for a few years now!
Bad side, "forcing" a CT into existence made of secondary teams - potentially. I like the clear target, however it's hardly reassuring as a CT manager. CT so often feels like an after thought, my fear is this only exacerbates the issue and continues to put emphasis onto higher divisions.
I know it's not set in stone, so i'd just say please be open to keeping a larger PCT and scrapping the CT! It's far more radical but would come with some real benefits if done correctly. The MG does not need a CT to function, and if we cannot sustain an active CT of unique teams then it should be considered for cutting - rather than filling with junk (no offense to dev teams that i do know would be genuinely managed and engaged with)
If part of a re-balance is one single 2026 season with secondary teams, then a cut to two divisions, i could support that.
2
Not really in favour. The ToA cut from 21days already kinda sucked, and whilst not a key race to CT teams the ability to go to a "big" race was really cool. To have that ability reduced to 2 teams via wildcard i don't like so much. A couple of long stage races on the calendar make for fun planning challenges in a real risk vs reward way that doesn't happen much in the CT or PCT compared to the PT.
Sliding a 14-day race into one of the bands would be interesting, or another varied 14-day race into the calendar that suits a different style of rider (i.e. ToA is more mountainous, another race is more hill/mm).
4
Not against C2HC. Not really in favour either. A big part of the fun of CT at the moment is the increased freedom you have, and ability to make all your races matter whilst being on a reduced roster and budget vs higher divisions. Having to compromise the team further to go to races you can't compete in isn't as fun.
So could this come with a 300k wage cap boost? So the wage cap gaps between each division is the same.
And some of it depends how many days are for C2HC vs other options.
5 + 6
Sounds pretty good, with or without mandatory 14day ToA. I think that's a benefit to PT teams getting some greater freedom outside the fixed PT calendar, and freedom for lower-end PCT teams to focus around their weaknesses and have more fun.
7 + 8
No comment as these feel obvious adjustments that'd take place regardless of other changes.
If there are radical concepts like PCT GT & Division size changes, why not look at just overall cuts to RD across the whole game. Chop a few PT races, cut out some HC/C1/C2. Make life a bit easier on reporters. Take the Vuelta out of the PT, use that as a PTHC GT, slice up some other stuff (iidk i havn't looked at the calendar in detail) and take 21-25 RD out of each division saving a ton of reporting and would also help prevent under subscription in C1/C2 races (could be a way to avoid C2HC but just having a smaller calendar meaning CT teams are more likely to attend more C2 races, as even if it's not preferred could offer better chances than going to C1).
9
No comment, this should always be under review each season anyway. Shame we can't make that call post-transfers, but I do understand why that is not possible. Although again some of this comes back to CT budgets and lack of real training ability in CT i've talked about plenty before.
Scalable training by division, by stat, by stat level and you could help out a lot making every CT terrain competitive in and of itself (if i keep mentinoing it maybe it'll happen in a few years, like division re-balancing)
7 + 8
If there are radical concepts like PCT GT & Division size changes, why not look at just overall cuts to RD across the whole game. Chop a few PT races, cut out some HC/C1/C2. Make life a bit easier on reporters. Take the Vuelta out of the PT, use that as a PTHC GT, slice up some other stuff (iidk i havn't looked at the calendar in detail) and take 21-25 RD out of each division saving a ton of reporting and would also help prevent under subscription in C1/C2 races
Just popping in to say I really like this idea.
If we're to continue with three divisions, my dream would be to see a mandatory GT in all of the divisions. As others already have mentioned, it's something about those really long stage races that, at least for me, was what got me interrested in watching this sport in the first place. Would love to see a 21 day GT both in the PCT and in the CT-division as well. And I would much rather cut the double amount of race days out of some of the smaller stage races to make the work load on reporters easier.
