SotD wrote:

A lot of changes to be made I see. Quite interesting what your plans are. Well I guess I can guess atleast one...

Interesting to see Phinney still staying with you, but I guess he's still a strong rider at a 500K wage, if the secondary stats isn't going to kill him. Enough decent short GC races for him to score points though.

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Wage
	Daniel Vesely	72	59	67	56	73	67	74	56	80	79	60	70	56	250.000

First of the main leader coming in from FA and a rider type that was hugely missed last year. Obviously, he is none of the top3-4 FA sprinters - not that I didn`t try though - but he was on the cheaper side of FA deals I`d say. 250k might be no bargain, but he should be able to help us to score in many races, we couldn`t really deliver at all last season.
Vesely has a nice history for the team already and even at age 33 he should be up there to sprint for the positions.

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Wage
	Loic Vliegen	71	67	77	61	76	70	70	68	66	74	71	69	67	50.000

Loic Vliegen is the next rider with a former team history with us. Back then he was maybe our top puncheur support and showed up nicely also on himself in breaks and great support performances. A similar role with maybe some more freedom and less pressure on him alone might be expected in 2025. At age 32 it`s last prime season and to be honest, he might be one of the younger riders being added this year.

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Wage
	Dylan Teuns	67	74	77	63	71	71	74	50	65	70	69	64	59	50.000

Just like his country man, Dylan Teuns comes to us for the minimum wage of 50k from the FA market. While being a bit older already, he seems to be an even bigger steal as his skill set will be very helpful and might even move him into the luxury domestique for Vansevenant or even the climbers. For that wage an absolute no-brainer to add him as Belgium/puncheur focussed team.

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Wage
	Andrea Dal Col	68	55	61	76	65	67	63	51	59	65	62	59	75	50.000

The team might no longer be half Italian, but the history of Italian top riders is big. Dal Col adds some depth to the TT squad, which might have a lot more to do in 2025 with Taylor Phinney being around. A veteran with a 1-year contract to help whereever he can.

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Wage
	Vito Braet	69	60	66	58	70	71	63	68	68	67	62	60	64	50.000

The former watch list of top talents had been long, but in the end wages went through the roof and we decided to not play this game this season. As PT team it`s additionally hard to go for neo-pros without spending huge amount of additional money and so we are happy to sign young Belgium alrounder Vito Braet as our level 1 talent. He had some experience last year though, not being a pure neo pro and this helps us bringing him from level 1-3 by ourselves even in the PT division. Time will tell what kind of rider he might become.

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Wage
	Kaden Hopkins	70	60	65	68	72	68	73	55	77	77	63	68	75	50.000

Kaden Hopkins surely a rider with quality coming in from loan. With the addition of Vesely, he will get some veteran leadership and surely is there for some support duties while also having some freedom here and there. He is joining for the year coming from Podium Ambition.

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Wage
	Harold Martin Lopez	64	74	71	67	68	71	69	58	62	66	63	63	65	50.000

Similar to Florian Lipowitz last year, a climbing talent joins us in Harold Martin Lopez from the SEE Turtles. He should be a decent support in GTs and mountaineous stage races for Phinney and co. to move back to their original team the year after.

OUT:

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age	Wage
	Steff Cras	68	78	72	73	78	77	77	58	60	67	61	67	70	29	170.000

As we heard, he had a very solid offseason, feeling stronger than ever and at age 29 he is ready for his prime going for own glory a lot more. And as this transfers show, never say never as he is always welcome to make a comeback.

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age	Wage
	Harm Vanhoucke	71	77	72	72	71	72	76	63	67	68	72	70	73	28	105.000

It`s not always easy to re-consider a rider schedule for the season once he got traded. This time though it`s very simple seeing that Harm Vanhoucke has such a similar skillset. Basically we get a Cras light here, 1 year younger, less wage, a tiny bit less climbing and TT. After being with us already before we exactly know what we get and are looking forward seeing him in the climbing support and in especially GT races.

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age	Wage
	Ruben Guerreiro	71	76	77	62	73	73	77	63	72	72	61	67	62	31	200.000

The next rider in that same swap is Ruben Guerreiro. He really delivered last year for former team Würth and should be a very valuable asset for us. His main strength is the hills and he immediately will become the top support for Vansevenant, though his climbing is pretty superior for a puncheur making him a very strong hybrid, which likely sees him also in the climbing support and more important it`s a perfect skillset for some own attacks as well, in especially as his punch out of small groups shouldn`t be underestimated neither.

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age	Wage
	Travis Stedman	70	59	70	57	69	70	66	58	71	72	61	67	60	23	50.000
	Travis Stedman	77	62	73	60	73	74	70	61	74	76	67	70	63	23	MAX

Last but not least another talent in Travis Stedman. He might not be the top talent of this years FA pool but as he already had some experience being on 2.0 he is the kind of rider that can be developed as a PT team. He already is decent in several areas such as shorter hills and sprinting making him a solid allrounder in the future. One possible development way is making him a very solid allrounder with a big engine, which also could be combined with a bit more strength on the uphill of course.

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age	Wage
	Josh Atkins	74	53	67	77	72	73	70	65	60	61	69	63	76	33	150.000

Wage wise almost leader qualities as Atkins went for 150k in the end. Quite a bit more than we had hoped for but after missing out on the Oceanic TT double, the decision was made to go all-in on him to get a decent enough TTT squad. Next to Salas he might be the key element in the TT support but also adds at least mediocre skills on the falt and even cobbles to be considered 7th or 8th squad rider there as well.

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age	Wage
	Thibault Guernalec	69	69	72	74	66	73	72	60	63	64	63	65	74	28	80.000

Once again, welcome back, I guess. We could surely signed him for less in renewals but back then the decision was to update the TT squad a bit more as even after maxing him we went for other plans first. Though once the Oceanic double failed as mentioned above, he became the next optionand obviously adds a bit more climbing skills as pure TT riders.

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age	Wage
	Tom David	70	58	71	61	70	68	61	74	66	67	64	66	61	35	50.000

Tom David is another Kiwi joining us this offseason. He always was an interestingly skill rider but also other teams like this full package a lot. While his palmares might never reached the expectations maybe, he developed into a nice support rider for the hard classics and Van Hooydonck is happy to have him around for those.

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age	Wage
	Christoph Taubel	70	56	62	57	64	68	64	75	58	59	69	71	57	34	50.000

Same for Taubel. Both cobble riders have signed small contracts for the cobbles only/mainly. As one of the best unbid riders left for the cobbles, it was a no brainer to go for him to hopefully solve the lack of support in the 2nd half of the classics.

Nat.	Name	FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age	Wage
	Sakarias Koller Loland	71	64	68	63	70	74	68	66	67	73	74	73	63	24	50.000

Last but not least a small loan-in. The 3rd in total and a rider that might not stand out in any individual area, but is a nice alrounder being semi decent everywhere. He will ride a lot of races learning from the team on highest level, so that he can go back improved for his actual Gjensidige squad.

redordead wrote:

I'm looking forward to seeing the training