Tim Rex was one of my absolute favourite additions of this intake and i cant believe he was available so late in the process for min fee! If you ever want to get rid of him...
Why would you take Lovidius that way? I was hoping he would be available for the Dev Team draft as I was going to take him and make him 77hi, 79Sta, 77Acc as with +2 Hill training that would be a really strong PCT leader
sammyt: With this game engine, I don’t like the look of the hills v1 route, landing in low 60s for both FL and MO. Genuinly think he has more value this way, at least for my team in the future.
knockout: Must say I was surprised myself seeing him not picked up. Being a Belgian made it all the better! Maybe a case of many PT teams waiting for dev. team picks, and maybe considered just about not good enough by all PCT/CT teams, or just not big enough of a priority.
knockout: Must say I was surprised myself seeing him not picked up. Being a Belgian made it all the better! Maybe a case of many PT teams waiting for dev. team picks, and maybe considered just about not good enough by all PCT/CT teams, or just not big enough of a priority.
For me the one big reason was the need for a loan & 1to3 clause when i have only 20 riders in my roster making that really difficult to deal with. I didnt have much hope to get him but he was #1 on my dev team priority rider draftlist
knockout: Must say I was surprised myself seeing him not picked up. Being a Belgian made it all the better! Maybe a case of many PT teams waiting for dev. team picks, and maybe considered just about not good enough by all PCT/CT teams, or just not big enough of a priority.
For me the one big reason was the need for a loan & 1to3 clause when i have only 20 riders in my roster making that really difficult to deal with. I didnt have much hope to get him but he was #1 on my dev team priority rider draftlist
knockout: Must say I was surprised myself seeing him not picked up. Being a Belgian made it all the better! Maybe a case of many PT teams waiting for dev. team picks, and maybe considered just about not good enough by all PCT/CT teams, or just not big enough of a priority.
For me the one big reason was the need for a loan & 1to3 clause when i have only 20 riders in my roster making that really difficult to deal with. I didnt have much hope to get him but he was #1 on my dev team priority rider draftlist
As transfers went, it felt like an easy choice prioritizing money elsewhere than his potential 1 —> 3 loan Happy to have him maxed at 26 years of age with it!
Things got quite hectic in the final 48 hours of transfer season, meaning the team lines up with 3 loan ins this season, but also have 3 riders out on loan.
Nat.
Name
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Age
Wage
Anders Foldager
71
65
66
67
65
68
72
66
59
68
72
71
70
67
25
65 000
Jefferson Alexander Cepeda
70
76
74
72
67
73
73
70
57
60
71
64
60
66
28
-
Alex Julajuj
67
72
72
71
73
72
72
70
55
60
68
65
69
73
28
-
Julajuj comes in at a loan from McCormick Pro Cycling. The not so young Guatemalan will max out in our colours, surely riding at least one Grand Tour in the process of just that. Julajuj is also likely to play quite a bigger part in the team compared to what we first thought when bringing him in. Being our 4th best TTer definitely counts for something, and we need him to understand our TTTs will be all about not dropping our leaders!
Anders Foldager is the second loan in we've got. His wage speaks for itself, this is a guy with a nose for breakaways. His 2025 was sensational in that regard. We don't believe nor expect any repeat of that, but he'll get race days to be sure to level up, making our friends at Grieg-Maersk happy when he returns back to them.
Our final loan in is arguably the most profilic. Cepeda wasn't a planned loan, but when finalizing the Stokbro deal, it became clear Gazelle had overseen a detail in their finances. Thus, Cepeda came our way, with Gazelle paying his wage, whereas we only pay them a very small fee. We must definitely say thank you to their manager DubbelDekker for the quick solution. Cepeda should feature in a lot of races for us, as his attributes should make him a key rider for any of our leaders in the mountains.
Nat.
Name
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Age
Wage
Alexander Konychev
82
61
64
67
60
77
78
73
63
76
75
76
61
73
28
115 000
Christophe Laporte
70
59
65
70
59
67
69
69
72
69
68
64
61
62
34
50 000
Tim Rex
70
68
68
67
63
69
68
64
66
66
69
70
68
61
22
-
Among our loan outs, Tim Rex has already been covered. The two others, are bigger surprises. It's with great pride we can say Laporte gets the final year he deserves, riding for newly promoted Peugeot. He should be able to share his experience and get the other riders to understand what it actually takes to be a true professional in this sport.
Then there's the loan out of Konychev. Wow, how we come to regret that with 12 hours left of the transfer season... First seen as a great opportunity for Konychev to show the world what he's capable of racing for McCormick, as his 2025 was clearly very limited due to the presence of Kragh. Well, 12 hours before transfers was officially done, Kragh confirmed he was leaving our team in a shock move. This is the move we're the least happy with all transfer season, as loosing Kragh in such a way, wasn't a great bit of business, to put it mildly. Then to also have loaned out Konychev a good week before, made the misery complete!
Anyway, Konychev should be magnificent for McCormick, and we're very excited to see him race for them as the clear rouleur and leader for any flat classic! Anyone wondering how great he can be, can scroll through the tense report of last season's World Championship Elite road race.
Transfer season was about to end for Aker - AB InBev several days ago, when putting in a 95k wage offer for Ricardo Delgado Gonzales. He was supposed to be our last signing, before having fun picking a rider for a development team.
Then Isaac del Toro became available.
We decided we were prepared to let go of whatever it would take to make it happen, as del Toro being available felt like a once in a MG lifetime opportunity.
We then worked to make it happen, and it quickly appeared it was well within what we were prepared to sacrifice. As things got going, it looked to be Godoy, Carboni and several domestiques leaving, as we were looking good for rider numbers pre del Toro. We thus submitted our final offer to Banco Vaticano-Valkyrie close to the deadline set, and we were quickly told we held the winning offer. Great!
Then, the trouble came. We had all major deals landed when we gave the offer. In the early hours of that particular night, we learnt what we thought was an offer for Carboni wasn't going to hold. Seems like our management got a bit too excited and a misunderstanding/miscommunication left us in a pickle, when the final 24 hours of the transfer season came.
But in the end, we managed to bring in the funds, via a Kragh sale to Danish team Carlsberg. Thus, the following riders left as a consequence of del Toro joining, in addition to the planned +1 MM and HI training for Valter also obviously isn't happening anymore:
Nat.
Name
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
OVR
Age
Soren Kragh Andersen
81
63
64
65
70
77
78
72
65
76
74
72
71
83
75,3
32
Caio Godoy
68
81
79
76
67
75
76
77
54
59
75
71
68
67
77,86
31
Samuele Battistella
71
75
75
75
66
71
77
72
63
67
71
74
68
72
75,22
28
Andreas Stokbro
75
62
66
69
66
75
73
66
77
71
71
69
67
66
75,18
29
Magnus Cort Nielsen
71
77
75
73
71
75
74
72
59
53
70
64
63
71
74,95
33
Embret Svestad-Bardseng
71
72
72
71
67
73
69
72
60
66
70
70
69
67
72,28
24
Mark Donovan
72
76
74
71
65
74
77
69
62
63
71
72
74
67
73,85
27
Gone were the core we built for during transfer season. Was it worth it? Absolutely not, we're sure all analytics can explain why. But for us? Absolutely yes!
Bienvenido, Isaac del Toro
Nat.
Name
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
OVR
Age
Isaac Del Toro
68
73
72
70
70
72
71
74
63
60
72
65
69
69
72,21
23
Isaac Del Toro
71
83
81
74
74
79
77
80
63
62
77
68
72
71
79,5
26
Earlier described as a once in a MG lifetime opportunity, we went all in convincing del Toro this was the right move. We genuinly believe he's a true world class rider once finished his development. Our best comparison for all our time in the MG, is when Herklotz came flying through as a kid. No pressure!
Obviously the level at the very top of the world speaking of stage races and Grand Tours is extremely high, and there are several young riders at the top/very close to the top already, making it even more difficult for del Toro to establish himself as a world class rider in the future.
We can't wait to see him maxd out in 2029. It can't be quick enough!
Impressive that you were able to realize such a deal so late in transfers. With the development path changes del Toro suddenly the best talent in the game. However, with the kind of resources you had to invest into this, it's surely not a gift from the administration anymore.
Other than that you still have a great team and I don't see you in relegation danger at all.
Whether it is a viable move or not is purely down to the game versions in the future. If we were to continue this one I think this is definately the correct Long term solution!
I’m very interested in how you aim to develop him in the future. He has one major flaw compared to the other top top riders of the past like Herklotz, Spilst etc. - His sprint. Cheap to do something about, but Will take too Long. So I hope he can score huge without it!
Incredible talent and while extremely costly, i'm very jealous. Was my #1 target this off-season and i agree with you that he is a generational prospect amongst a group of very strong stage racer coming up! If you would be able to stay up despite that huge package needed for him, this would be an incredible feat!
ivaneurope: Haha, definitely a group you’d want to hear the chats from!
Bikex: Yeah, del Toro becoming a 83 talent definitely played its part in us decided to go for him. Now he looks like a 1000+++ points scorer when done developing, which he didn’t do before the rework. For your general comments on the team, I definitely disagree about staying well safe, and I think you’ll see why in our next post, the team presentation
Sotd: Good point on the sprint stat, which by the current game version, feels like it means a lot for climbers and puncheurs. However, it will only take two years to be 66 sprint, which sounds a lot more safer. Must admit this wasn’t about making a move that was possible «calculate» to be a good one. Rather purely emitional driven To have a team with De Lie and del Toro leading the line for several years felt most definitely like a brilliant opportunity. Maybe especially as they, on paper, should be so great that it should be easy to build a team around and for them.
knockout: Good to hear he was top target for you in the early transfers, we take that as some kind of reassurance about the decision, I guess Agree keeping the PT spot would be amazing for us as a team, and one we will fight for, as it will make life a whole lot easier thinking of what is to come.
* We had 22 riders on contract when transfer season started. 5 of those remain.
* In total, we've got 25 riders racing this year in our colours.
* Of our riders, 11 haven't finished developing. We also have 2 unmaxed riders on loan.
* We have a record low OVL average stat with this team. 72,87 is our average OVL.
* We're using 1,5 millions in wages on riders not maxed out.
The numbers speak for themselves. The way the transfers played out, it's obvious this is a year where we hope to fight against relegation, and survive!
Aker - AB InBev 2026
Nat.
Name
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
OVR
XP
Age
Attila Valter
72
78
80
81
66
76
75
74
61
69
78
73
71
66
79,28
4.100
28
Hampus Anderberg
78
64
67
69
76
77
76
77
82
60
73
70
62
76
78,62
4.100
30
Domen Novak
68
80
79
77
66
74
76
77
61
66
76
73
75
64
77,56
4.100
31
Giovanni Carboni
70
79
78
76
69
73
73
73
62
67
69
61
72
69
76,45
4.100
31
Arnaud De Lie
75
64
68
71
62
77
75
77
75
76
81
65
66
62
76,05
4.39
24
Cedric Bakke Christophersen
69
75
75
74
67
74
79
72
64
66
72
74
68
71
74,84
4.100
25
Nils Eekhoff
75
60
64
68
75
76
77
67
75
70
71
67
64
76
74,4
4.100
28
Kevin Geniets
74
70
73
75
68
72
74
71
64
62
69
75
69
71
73,96
4.100
29
Andreas Odie Purnama Setiawa
68
70
73
75
74
76
72
71
57
62
70
76
66
74
73,46
4.100
30
Jefferson Alexander Cepeda
70
76
74
72
67
73
73
70
57
60
71
64
60
66
73,77
4.100
28
Filippo Colombo
73
64
66
68
67
75
73
65
74
72
72
71
71
67
73,61
4.100
29
Blerton Nuha
72
71
72
73
66
75
72
69
58
65
74
79
73
66
73,58
4.99
26
Samuel Gaze
75
63
66
69
58
76
80
71
72
69
71
67
72
63
73,13
4.100
31
Ben Healy
68
73
73
73
71
76
71
69
51
60
66
72
65
66
72,73
4.100
26
Isaac Del Toro
68
73
72
70
70
72
71
74
63
60
72
65
69
69
72,21
2.83
23
Alex Julajuj
67
72
72
71
73
72
72
70
55
60
68
65
69
73
72,15
4.24
28
Cesar Macias
73
56
60
63
58
68
73
67
60
74
74
65
68
64
71,6
3.27
23
Ricardo Delgado Gonzales
65
72
71
70
58
71
68
65
60
67
72
71
66
62
71,08
3.35
25
Vincent Van Hemelen
70
67
71
68
69
70
71
66
68
68
70
72
70
67
70,4
3.30
26
William Junior Lecerf
69
69
69
68
64
67
68
70
64
67
70
72
71
64
69,98
2.0
24
Mads Andersen
70
60
62
68
65
69
70
64
69
68
68
72
69
69
69,93
3.30
26
Gabriel Francisco Rojas
65
71
70
69
61
68
67
75
59
63
68
76
66
57
69,82
3.50
26
Anders Foldager
71
65
66
67
65
68
72
66
59
68
72
71
70
67
69,78
3.13
25
Edvin Lovidius
62
61
65
69
54
71
71
63
56
66
70
66
67
55
68,36
1.67
24
Hamza Amari
69
54
56
58
59
63
69
65
63
69
70
59
59
65
67,39
1.68
24
We clearly got two leaders in the team, with Valter and Anderberg. The former will be back to a calendar filled with many more classics and traditional race days, compared to last year where he did the Vuelta. For Anderberg, we're hoping for a more consistent season than his 2025, where he had his moments, but also several disappointing races.
Behind those two, you can also argue Novak and Carboni will race as leaders of our team. They'll definitely lead the team in many races, and especially the Grand Tours. We don't expect great results from traditional racing as leaders, though, and we hope to see them attacking and aggressive, to make stage hunting and possibly KoM jersey hunting a route to points and success for the team. That's why we brought both into the team. It obviously comes with a risk, as if they're not good enough, or not prioritized by the game engine for breakaway heroics, we'll struggle massively in Grand Tours and other mountainous stage races.
That's about it when it comes to leading the line. Behind them, we've a team offering limited support for our captains, at least for this season. We hope we get to see De Lie sprint on one or two occasions this year, that would be really cool after seeing him taste victory for the first couple of times last season, in both l'Avenir and in the Belgian championship.
Other than that, we must try to send teams to the different races where we give ourselves as great of a chance for breakaway participations and maybe some lucky stage results here and there along the way. It isn't as straightforward as you'd like to think, though, as we'll have to take the riders' development into consideration when looking at our race planning, with lots of level 3 riders in the team. Luckily that's an "easy" level to secure development for in the Pro Tour, but it will still see us line up with a very young team on multiple occasions.
Speaking of age, we're happy to see how our team become younger this transfer season. The average age of the team is now 26,9 years, especially compared to the 29,5 average age we started the transfer season with.
Finally, we can't help ourselves, but add what might be in the future. With 11 riders yet to max out, of course we have to take a sneak peek and see how our team might look in 2028. We've even cheated, and added those riders maxing out in 2029 or 2030 with their maxed out stats, sorted by their new OVL's, either as maxed out riders whenever that happens, or with updated declined stats as if it was 2028.
Offered a lot for Del Toro, but that future is really nice with Del Toro and De Lie on top with leadout already ready and support for Del Toro aswell. With Macias and Del Toro, maybe a Mexican co-sponsor later?
Will be exciting to see the battle, you got some really nice riders but lack a real sprinter and lack TT. While Novak and Carboni are a weaker climbing pair than most PT teams got (Thought I like their MM a lot)
The depth obviously took a hit for Del Toro, but with Valter still getting training and Anderberg being a top 3 cobbles rider, plus Novak and Carboni as strong GT options in this engine, I don't think it's as dire as you fear. There are definitely worse teams in the division, and while relegation is possible. I would probably lean towards survival absent a big underperformance.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Happy to have him maxed at 26 years of age with it!
To have a team with De Lie and del Toro leading the line for several years felt most definitely like a brilliant opportunity. Maybe especially as they, on paper, should be so great that it should be easy to build a team around and for them.
