We got to transfers with a reduced team after renewals saw us part ways with a handful of guys:
Not Renewed
Rider
Reason
T Hayakawa
Greedy aging underachiever
N Zegklis
Ungrateful know-it-all
M Tusveld
Likeable yet dispensable lad
P Kennaugh
You're a legend but it's time you retire, mate.
Leaving these stranglers behind we started our search for world supremacy as we always do. The FA market was ripe with juicy prospects. As such we took up a trio of youngsters for the team:
Seunghwa Joung
Age: 22 | 1.00| Pot 4 |Wage 100k
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
69
66
67
67
69
69
69
60
69
68
69
70
65
69
74
66
67
68
74
76
74
63
76
68
70
71
65
74
Given we don't have a cobbles department to speak of and how much we struggled with that last year we decided things should change. Seunghwa has been lucky enough to be presented with the oportunity to become the centerpiece in our vision for cobbles races at Everesting in future seasons. There are a number of ways we can get him to excel, given his versatility, which makes him a very fun rider to have around and one we are very excited to welcome on board.
Malaika Mwiguru
Age: 22 | 1.00| Pot 4 |Wage 50k
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
65
70
68
65
55
66
67
68
55
57
63
66
74
55
66
77
75
72
55
67
71
73
55
57
70
73
75
55
We are supposed to be a climbing team but by the time we remembered that most talented climbers were already signing millionaire contracts. We were, however, fortunate enough to secure the services of Mwiguru, an interesting niche rider, who shines in the 2 areas we at Everesting prize the most: going up and going down. We are aware he's not going to be the next Kudus but when we add him to Riccitello and Vasko we believe we are building a decent climbing block for the future.
Itai Oshri
Age: 22 | 1.00| Pot 3 |Wage 50k
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
71
60
61
62
62
68
66
70
62
62
73
69
66
63
78
60
63
65
65
73
69
75
64
66
78
73
67
66
Our last FA catch was brought in late in the transfer season. Oshri is a type of rider I don't believe we ever had the chance to develop. A flat beast in the making who packs a punch even at a young age is something new and exciting for us. He should team up well with another rider we have acquired for the not so inclined days. Stay tuned.
A transfer season without inumerous simultaneous chaotic intermanagerial negotiations isn't really a transfer season. Honouring tradition we set ourselves to find a few acquisitions the team definitely needed. First up we looked to find a replacement for Hayakawa. Van Poppel was our no. 1 target, but he only became available later in the season. Fortunately we got blessed with an opportunity we didn't initially scouted:
Adomaitis may not be the world's best sprinter but he is young and maxed. Youth being definitely an asset nowadays we are very happy to have found a rider of Hayakawa's level, only 6 years younger for 350k. Given how our former sprinter had the tendency to only perform in wildcards and ignore the rest of the calendar we took the sensible decision to ignore wildcards altogether. That should be enough for Rojus to show us how #blessed this move was. This should inform our coaches wether to invest in training camps for him in the future.
Bonaventure was more of an impulse buy than anything else, but at 200k we thought he was a bargain even at 32yo. He's definitely the type of rider that fits in our squad building ethos. Besides he really fits our regional focus!
You know that time of transfers where you first 87 plans have gone down the drain and everyone else is publishing superb deals? Well we have a couple of those days every year. One of our goals was to find someone who could raise our cobbles tally from near zero last year. We stumbled upon Schreurs, who looked at that time like the only cobbles rider we could sign for the season and hoped that stat deflation could affect everyone else but us. Schreurs might not be the Bewley we want him to be but he has his merits and should be good enough to helps us navigate those pesky paved roads.
Our latest purchase came yet again from the Baltics. Another GC lieutenant, Gavars is a quality rider whom we count on to share some of his PT experience, help Rodrigues where needed and maybe score some depth points himself. Let's hope those points come in the same plurality of his names.
Sometimes its hard to evaluate pure domestiques (which he was for me as key helper for Lecuisinier and Lopez) based on reports but i always had the feeling that he performed well for me - both in the mountains and in the hills. With the way my cap situation looked, keeping him wasnt much of an option but wouldnt mind if he returned at some point in the future. Hope he does well for you!
@KO: thanks. I have a feeling you won't be needing him much
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Transfers recap #3
Swap frenzy
There's so much one can do to promote one's assets. We had a talk with a handful of our guys before tranfers explaining we would be looking to trade them in search of funds or riders better suited to our team-building strategy. The market however had a different opinion. Second-tier riders had a tough time finding interest, which led us to resort to a bunch of swap deals
Fortunato served us well last year, but he was a domestique climber in a sea of mountain goats. We saw his homesickness and knocked at Bianchi's door, where we were offered the chance to sign Grosser, a C2 eligible punchy sprinter who can either shepperd Stannard or colaborate in leadouts, while also fighting for his chances here and there.
Jimmy Muhindo
Age: 29 | 4.100 | Wage 50k (SEE Turtles)
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
74
58
63
67
65
74
71
68
75
68
64
76
65
65
swapped for E A Rachid
70
77
74
70
74
73
73
76
58
62
68
69
66
73
S Montenegro
69
70
74
77
64
71
73
72
62
64
74
73
68
64
This double swap the deal of our season, which in itself tells a lot about how it went. Our search for a cobbles semi-leader led us to Kuroeda, who was first transfered from Sony to SEE Turtles. After endless conversations with sean and multiple back and forth iterations this slightly convoluted deal was finally agreed. It saw us part ways with our legendary chronic lebanese champion, Rachid, and newly-maxed alumni Montenegro. We reckon Kuroeda has some big shoes to fill. He brings Muhindo with him, who, honestly is not the most exciting rider, but was a sine qua non condition for the swap to take place. We can only hope Rachid and Montenegro find oportunities to shine in CT as we hope Kuroeda can sweep some top10-15s around the calendar.
Unlike Rachid, Hindley was transfer listed. Given his bad 2024 we took the first oportunity we got to let him find success elsewhere. Sony offered us the possibility to trade him for Kooistra, a deal we found really neat. The Dutch can provide excelent support for leadout trains, while he may also find chances for himself in select environments.
Joel Ponce
Age: 28 | 4.54 | Pot 5 | Wage 50k (Bolt - Eesti)
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
68
73
73
73
71
69
71
74
64
62
68
71
69
71
swapped for K Orosco
71
75
74
72
70
74
68
72
61
64
66
70
64
67
The final deal of this series of swaps involved a return. Joel Ponce had left us for Lidl, but he got homesick. On the other end we had Orosco who's just finished his development and was ready to find new challenges. In theory the swap doesn't make much sense, they're very similar riders and we are losing a couple of years because of the age difference and development status. However the 100k fee that came with Ponce gave us the chance to purchase Gavars, so it was a no-brainer.
The final piece of our transfer season consisted on placing our 4.xx riders in PT squads. We found a few managers who were interested in our talents and who became available to guide them in this final year of their development
Patompob had his place waiting for him at King Power. We agreed on a loan but chances are that future seasons lead him to revisit this year's companions I guess. He's admitedly not the youngest of talents, but he is a solid leadout which we will come to thank when he returns to our ranks. In the meantime we hope he can pick up some experience and help his captains for the season. Maybe a sneaky top 10/15 here or there?
Andy Alihonay Diaz Suarez
Age: 24 | 4.18 | Pot 5 |Wage 50k (Polar)
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
67
70
72
74
63
69
73
68
64
65
74
69
74
62
68
71
74
76
63
71
74
69
64
66
76
70
74
62
Wan Yau Lau
Age: 29 | 4.39 | Pot 3 |Wage 55k (Polar)
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
68
71
73
74
64
73
70
69
63
66
72
73
66
64
68
72
75
76
64
74
71
70
63
66
73
74
66
64
Both Diaz Suarez and Lau are going to spend the year at Polar. They have a 5 year age gap between them, but apart from that are very similar riders - punchy fellows who enjoy a not so long hill. Great support for Stannard in the future and quality breakaway material. We hope they can show some of those qualities in PT where they can enjoy some leeway in early escapades. HIL training is the obvious choice for them, but there are some cool options to experiment like Fighter or Climberv1. Guess we'll have to wait for next year to find out how they come up.
Thomas Silva
Age: 24 | 4.41 | Pot 3 |Wage 50k (Indosat Ooredoo)
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
70
65
69
73
66
72
73
71
61
73
74
66
66
64
70
66
71
75
66
73
74
72
61
73
75
67
66
64
Our last man to find a PT placing was Thomas Silva. He is yet another puncheur (we really outdid ourselves, I hear you) on this list and should find ways to shine in breakaways or helping his leaders in the Ardennes or in lumpy fast races. He is a bit more versatile than the others and has even more options to be studied for his final level of development. We're open to suggestions
I liked Silva when he was an FA. Nice South American talent and love punchy guy with a little SP.
Lau and Diaz Suarez are weirdly similar riders, also both have multiple word names, glad you called them out or I wouldn't have know the right place to break their names up.
T Hayakawa
N Zegklis
M Tusveld
P Kennaugh
Seunghwa Joung 
Malaika Mwiguru 
Itai Oshri 
Bonaventure Uwizeyimana
Hamish Schreurs
Eriks Toms Gavars
Aaron Grosser 
L Fortunato 
Jimmy Muhindo
E A Rachid 
S Montenegro
J Hindley 
Joel Ponce 
K Orosco 
Patompob Phonarjthan 
Andy Alihonay Diaz Suarez 
Wan Yau Lau 
Thomas Silva
