Strong squad! Scary mountain duo with Alarcon and Ablenado. I had Ablenado in the squad last year and it was a disappointing year for him but 100% not a reflection of his abilities so he should do well for a home Spanish squad.
Overall strong squad as well. A competitor in most disciplines. Good luck! Will be some interesting battles
Strong squad with good leaders on multiple terrains. Alarcon in particular should be very interesting to watch this year. He's obviously not a super versatile stage racer, especially at this point in his career, but on simple mountain stages he should be far and away the best climber in CT. Guardini is a good leader too, though we'll see if Declerq really ends up riding better than Sinkeldam.
I think your most exciting rider should be Serrano though. Solid Spanish puncheur with good backups and acceleration. Still only 28 too, so someone to build around on a team with quite a few veterans.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
I agree that you have assembled a strong and well balanced team, especially given that it's a brand-new outfit.
Alarcon obviously sticks out by being the division's best pure climber. However, OVL-wise he's only #11 - which is mostly due to the fact that our OVL calculation values energy stats quite a lot, while - looking at his 2021 results - PCM20 seems to pretty much not care about them. So he actually has too many race days for an 81 climber, and I think he'll do really well for you in pure mountain races. As soon as there's a mid-length TT, however, he's quite much screwed.
I imagine that Ablenado will also have quite some races to lead, and I wouldn't be surprised if he was close to Alarcon points-wise at the end of the year. Great rider to have!
Your puncheurs are very good, too. While not being the ones with the highest Hi stats, they are pretty well-rounded, and especially have a nice acceleration. I've never loved racing against Quevedo with Moscon, and I'm afraid this won't change in 2022
Guardini should be one of the division's fastest sprinters, despite his decline. It remains to be seen if his rather low resistance hurts him - sometimes it seemed to be a factor, but mostly not. So I'm quite positive that he'll score a bunch of points for you. Not having a leadout doesn't matter at all - with PCM20 it should even be an advantage, unfortunately...
While you don't have a top cobbler, having 3 similarly strong subtop riders could be a good strategy. In flat races, Domene could be a dark horse due to his good sprint and acceleration, while Sinkeldam and Declerq look like a dangerous outsider duo on the hilly ones. While I don't think they'll win a lot of races, I guess you could bring in quite some points with your cobblers as well!
And then there's Balloni, a "lone wolf" for the time trials. If he has a good day, he can certainly bring home some good results despite his decline. But he's one of quite a bunch of 77 TTers, so I wouldn't expect massive points here. But having one TTer is better than having one imho.
Overall, I think your uphill departments (mountains and hills) stick out - and if they work as well as their stats (and PCM20 experiences) suggest, you could be among the Top3 new teams. Good luck!
Nice presentation, amigo Think you have a very well rounded team, with leaders in every terrain. I would even think Sinkeldam could be a better point scorer than Declerq, as baseballlover also mentioned. Also many Spaniards on the team, which is nice to see. A lot of old Spanish riders in the database, but by picking Azparren and developing him you're showing you are willing to do your best to ensure a nice future of spanish cycling in MG.
Think you have a very well rounded team, with leaders in every terrain. I would even think Sinkeldam could be a better point scorer than Declerq, as baseballlover also mentioned. Also many Spaniards on the team, which is nice to see. A lot of old Spanish riders in the database, but by picking Azparren and developing him you're showing you are willing to do your best to ensure a nice future of spanish cycling in MG.
