Relegation: A first for the team, not for their manager. After two seasons in the Pro Tour, Zwift Pro Cycling has been dropped to the PCT circuit after finishing dead last in the top flight last year. A new low for one of the biggest American teams in the pro peloton. Disappointing, yet fully expected.
Management decided to go all-in with a complete rebuild and bring in emerging talents from close to home and across the globe. Developing a strong core to take the team back to the Pro Tour and beyond is now the goal. A revitalization.
At the helm is team manager Mresuperstar. The American enters his third season with the team and a remarkable 12th season in the Man-Game.
Prior to Zwift Pro Cycling, Mre managed the following teams: Team CSC-Orbea (2012-14), Movistar-US Postal (2015-16), Newton Foundation (2017) and most recently Desigual (2018-20). More history can be found below.
While any cyclist can enjoy Zwift, only the elite can pedal our program forward.
Strade Bianche
49 Jack Burke
61 Juan Pedro Lopez
74 Riley Pickrell
[BOTD - Riley Pickrell]
Tour of South Africa Stage 1: 2 Pascal Ackermann (GC - 2 Pascal Ackermann) Stage 2: 2 Pascal Ackermann (GC - 2 Pascal Ackermann) Stage 3: 112 Pascal Ackermann (GC - 2 Pascal Ackermann) Stage 4: 17 Zwift Pro Cycling Stage 5: 34 Pascal Ackermann Stage 6: 9 Pascal Ackermann
Lillestrom GP
25 Biniam Girmay
38 Bram Welten
61 Nihal Silva
[BOTD - Carlos Canal]
Roma Maxima
24 Biniam Girmay
75 Nihal Silva
106 Carlos Canal
GP Wallonie 1 Pascal Ackermann
53 Juan Pedro Lopez
67 Lewis Stroll
USA Pro Cycling Challenge Stage 1: 8 Matthew Walls (GC - 8 Matthew Walls) Stage 2: 2 Matthew Walls (GC - 4 Matthew Walls) Stage 3: 12 Matthew Walls (GC - 6 Matthew Walls) Stage 4: 34 Matthew Walls (GC - 5 Matthew Walls)
Veenendaal - Veenendaal
35 Lewis Stroll
71 Biniam Girmay
72 Pascal Ackermann
[BOTD - Lewis Stroll]
Tour d'Andorra Stage 1: 22 Jack Burke Stage 2: 64 Jack Burke [BOTD - Uga Ryuki] Stage 3: 17 Jack Burke Stage 4: 26 Jack Burke Stage 5: 15 Juan Pedro Lopez
Excited and curious to see what you do in the PCT return. Excited to get to race against you for the fourth time and even more for racing against you in a couple of years when Girmay and Vermeersch are maxed
It won't be surprising at all with the amount I talk about it and update my own that I absolutely love your history updates every year. 738RDs is stunning for one rider on one team
Spoiler
Love the one TTT win in 11 years
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." [PT] Xero Racing
The first phase of the transfer window is negotiating contracts with our current squad and releasing riders we no longer want to keep around. With one million missing from the wage budget, some hard decision had to be made.
Here is how those discussions played out over the last few weeks:
Riders Released
The following 10 cyclists were let go before the start of the transfer season:
Jaume Sureda: The 27yo sprinter is just entering his prime, but we just haven't seen enough from him to warrant the wage increase he asked for. No stage wins = no contract renewal.
Aviv Yechezkel: To be honest, we thought about keeping Aviv but he turned into a cap causality. We will the leave door open for a possible return.
Stan Dewulf: Another cap causality we didn't really want to lose. Time will tell if we can lure him back or not.
David Dekker: New rider, same story. Plus, David wanted a sizable pay increase. Doesn't he know times are rough right now?
Carlos Verona: This one really hurts. My longest tenured rider and has accumulated the most race days. We have strong hopes that Verona will decide to come back and race with us next year, but we also gave him the option to earn more money in free agency should another team want the veteran.
Lewis Stroll: Could have kept him for cheap, but we have to cut costs. Not fun, but this is the cost. Sorry Stroll.
Nickolas Zukowsky: Sorry Zukowsky too.
Eric Young: Not sorry Young, your old legs are catching up to you.
Kevin Vermaerke: Kevin is probably the best prospect we are losing. He has great potential but the more we look at his current abilities, it was just hard to see him filling a role on our team in the future. Hopefully he lands somewhere good and continues his development.
Carter Jones: Long-time mountain helper. Not a bad word to say about the amount of effort he has given us over the years. But, at 33yo, it's time to look for younger and fresher legs. That's the cruel, harsh reality of this business.
Riders Renewed
The following 14 cyclists signed new contracts heading into the transfer season:
2022 Wage
2023 Wage
Difference
Simon Yates
665,000
625,000
-40,000
Neilson Powless
190,000
170,000
-20,000
Pascal Ackermann
150,000
170,000
+20,000
Jack Burke
135,000
165,000
+30,000
Matteo Jorgenson
150,000
130,000
-20,000
Juan Pedro Lopez
60,000
120,000
+60,000
Bram Welten
165,000
145,000
-20,000
Jhonatan Narvaez
110,000
105,000
-5,000
Harold Tejada
50,000
105,000
+55,000
Biniam Girmay
940,000
600,000
-340,000
Jake Stewart
60,000
55,000
-5,000
Simon Carr
50,000
50,000
0
Sean Quinn
100,000
65,000
-35,000
Ethan Vernon
225,000
150,000
-75,000
Looking to Sell/Swap/Loan
The highly anticipated rider availability post can be found below:
Availability
Simon Yates
YES
Neilson Powless
No
Pascal Ackermann
Maybe
Jack Burke
No
Matteo Jorgenson
No
Juan Pedro Lopez
No
Bram Welten
No
Jhonatan Narvaez
YES
Harold Tejada
No
Biniam Girmay
HAHA No
Jake Stewart
Maybe
Simon Carr
Maybe
Sean Quinn
No
Ethan Vernon
No
Cash is king but trade offers will also be considered when the time comes.
Some solid renewal work being done there! Obviously a few painful losses for you with Carlos Verona being such a key figure for you for so long. Nice job cutting more than a third of Girmay's wages and a good cut on Ethan Vernon as well. Once you sort out the cap space issues you should be able to put together a solid team to at least ensure your survival in PCT, but the 600k on Girmay will still be a massive hindrance.
Girmay on 600k? That's still like 75k more than i expected. Really curious what you'll do in transfers to replace Yates. Am I correct in guessing that a training camp of Powless might be a part of the plan?
Do you want me to help with advertising Yates to PT teams during transfers? Because I will be more than willing after all the times he's beaten Areruya, Houle and others
As knockout said there was definitely more to be done with Girmay I'd guess but uncharted territory and understand it's better to be safe than forced to make him a nearly-millionaire again. Hope he and Vermeersch can somehow find their way together for a tussle in a breakaway or something at some point
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." [PT] Xero Racing
Interesting indeed to see where Simon Yates could be going.
Also I'd be interested in talking a bit about Jake Stewart once the transfers open - Possibly in an (for you) interesting swap deal. So hit me up once the transfers start
Yates definitely isn't an option for me, but one of the "Maybe" riders could well be, given that he's the type of rider I've been missing a lot in several races lately
Surprised not to see more interest in your other YES availability outside Yates... Guess we'll just say that we'd love to provide a homecoming for any Ecuadorian riders here or elsewhere
It's tempting to try and bring about a Yates brothers reunion, but that might not actually be the most interesting thing about that availability list...
I could use a long nap. But we shall continue our multi-part transfer season summary instead by breakdown who we sold and who we managed to buy. Departures will come first, some hard goodbyes were had.
Riders Sold
Simon Yates: Four fun-filled seasons. Millions spent on training. The second-most wins in our program's history (13). But a wage that we just couldn't afford to pay as we dropped down to the PCT level. We had to do what was best for both us and we agreed to trade Yates to Great Britain's newest PT team, cycleYorkshire, for a cool 1,000,000 and the return of a former team legend (see below).
Jhonatan Narvaez: Now in the prime of his career, we had high hopes for Narvaez but he just never managed to get out of the shadows and make a name for himself. Instead of investing more money to make that happen, we decided a change of scenery would be best for his career. That said, Narvaez stays in the States, joined another American team: McCormick Pro Cycling. He leaves for a 450,000 fee and the return of another former cyclist (see below).
Jake Stewart: After being loaned out the last two season, Stewart doesn't get his chance to ride for the team that first signed him. ELCO - ABEA wouldn't take no for an answer and pried the young cobbler away from us for 500,000. It then became clear why ELCO - ABEA wanted Stewart so bad because they traded him again to Lidl Cycling to acquire Zisis Soulious and Georgios Boutopoulos.
Riders Bought
Omar Fraile: Welcome back home old friend! After two seasons away, Fraile rejoins us for his ninth season under Mre's management. From 2013-20, Fraile racked up the second-most race days in our program's history (520), the second-most breakaways (26) and tied for third-most wins (11). Fraile doesn't quite have the legs like he used to, but he makes up for it with the veteran leadership. The 33-year-old will be by far the oldest member on a very young team, but well worth his 175,000 wage.
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FT
DH
PL
68
75
71
78
73
75
70
57
59
65
78
64
78
Brendan Rhim: Another familiar face has returned to us to help complete the Narvaez deal. Rhim rode for us in 2020 and 2021 as a loanee. We practically developed the 28-year-old American into the rider he has become and are excited to see what he can do now at his full potential.
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FT
DH
PL
66
77
72
62
68
72
73
63
62
69
69
64
64
Matthew Walls: The only signing we paid cash for. We basically took the money from the Jake Stewart sale and re-invested it into buying our sprinter of the future. Walls joins us from Los Pollos Hermanos following a 500,000 fee. The Level 4.88 prospect is 25 years old and has a very modest wage of 55,000. He is set to join the 80+ Sprint Club next season.
FL
MO
HI
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FT
DH
PL
72
61
61
61
71
70
72
61
78
76
60
64
71
74
61
61
61
73
71
73
62
80
78
60
64
71
Free agent signings and loan deals coming in the next update!
Justo Tenorio
Simon Yates
Tejay Van Garderen
Erick Herrera
Rui Costa
Biniam Girmay
Jhonatan Narvaez
Pascal Ackermann
Aviv Yechezkel
Jorge Abreu
Jack Burke
Nihal Silva
Federico Olei
Stan Dewulf
Nicolay Cherkasov
Jernej Svab
Vincenzo Nibali
E. Parra Bustamante
William Chiarello
Serafin Jose Blanco
Daniel Hoelgaard
Renewals has gone well, some tough cuts and after sales you look ready to make some moves!
