jt1109 wrote:

A real grind of a season for you in the end Red, felt for you a couple of time in the race discussion because the riders just weren't active and instead content to just grind away to 7th-12th places which while not fun is quite effective at staying in the division hopefully next season will see some more active rides for you

AbhishekLFC wrote:

Glad that you survived and happy to be able to ride with/against you next season

Nemolito wrote:

Pogi and Siric improved, and the team stayed at the highest level. More chances of improving them even more, and rising in the rankings again next season as well. Congratulations!

This is the first time in all 7 years that we have successfully completed the mandatory win goal. We knew heading into the race that we had a chance, but the fact we did it in such an emphatic manner came as a slight surprise. Tadej Pogacar won two stages on his was to a comfortable overall victory.

This race was a big disappointment as a whole. The final nail in the coffin was Tao Geoghegan Hart missing out on the top 10 by finishing 11th overall.

This was the one goal that we were very confident in achieving. It wasn't one of our better races, but in the end Tadej Pogacar finished 7th, so more than enough.

It's the biggest race in the world so it was again one of our prime targets. This time we were aiming for a more difficult top 5 result, but with the training in the off season Tadej Pogacar was up to the task. Tadej finished 4th overall and the entire team added two stage wins and more podiums in what turned out to be a key race for securing the team's status in PT.

This was the massive failure as we had a very bad season in comparison to our sponsors expectations by only finishing 16th. While our three leaders did solid enough, our plan to replace some of the depth scoring from last year failed badly. Even some of the riders that performed for us in the past went awol. In the end it was too much to overcome and we'll need come up with some new solutions next year.

whitejersey wrote:

I think you can be very happy with the outcome of your goals and they should give you some nice budget foundation to continue to build Tadej Pogacar and Ivan Siric into strong leaders from your region!

AbhishekLFC wrote:

Agree with wj mostly but Giro will be sticking point because of missing it by a single spot. Although that should still give you partial credit. Definitely a good platform to build on next season.

knockout wrote:

Pretty good success in the goal races. The Giro miss hurts but maybe more morally than financially. Hopefully youll be able to bounce back next season stronger in the overall rankings!

baseballlover312 wrote:

Not the best season for you, but I think as like as you have Tadej and stay in PCT, you'll be fine. Tadej is just a bit of training (and a few declines of others) away from being a dominating force that won't need much help.

redordead wrote:


I agree Tadej should be perfectly fine in PCT, thanks!

baseballlover312 wrote:



Haha, I just meant that only a demotion to CT would really derail your team long term! Sorry for the awkward phrasing. Of course, I think you will be more than fine to stay in PT too!

From stagiare to maxed rider. Veljko will add some time-trialing depth where it's needed. He should be a solid all round domestique, especially on flatter terrain and could perhaps even get involved in sprint preparation.

Another story that started with a stagiare contract and via many loans leads to finished development. Kristjan is a natural punchy climber, but he spent his final year working more on his sustained effort as he may be required to ride in a more consistent manner as a helper for Tadej Pogacar. We thank Sony - Force India for having him on loan.

Fred projects to be a long term fixture in our squads for the one day races. But his versatility should allow him to be an adequate addition to the lineup in any race. We thank Tryg - Eni for having him on loan.

Riley was the big free agent investment from the transfer season. He still has another year before his maxed stats that could make him a protected rider in some niche races. But he proved this year he can be an effective contributor even outside of his presumed favoured races.

Another free agent investment we made last year. We're not sure if Yevgeniy will be good enough to aim for a strong in Arenberg, but we still thought his time-trialing ability gives him very nice versatility. If we don't improve the cobbled team with outside help then he probably projects as our best cobbled domestique next season.

Depending on what decisions we make in transfer Logan may turn out to be our best time-trialist heading into next season. Luckily he still has a season of development left. He's climbing skills aren't that good so we focused the training more on becoming better on the flat.

The hope for Husein is that he can leverage his strong energy stats to overcome his more modest climbing ability. Add in his acceleration and we hope to see him in more breakaways, similar to how he was on loan as a level 1 rider. Of course he is also a long term helper for Pogacar.

After spending last season on loan this was Dorde's first season with us. He's a cobbles specialist so he continues developing that skills set to become a valuable helper for Ivan Siric. Perhaps next season he can start targeting a top 50 result in one of the cobbled classics.

One more for the cobbles! Aljaz spent the last two seasons on loan, he's also a late bloomer, but we think he probably spends next season with the team so he can see what PT racing is like. He's a cobbles first rider, but there is still the chance he develops more as an all around rouleur.

Aleks on the same trajectory as Jarc. He's a time-trial specialist. He doesn't really have the potentially to score on his own, but he'll be able to fit into a team time-trialing squad if we ever need to prioritise that sort of race.

Ulrich Ulriksen wrote:

As you note Sheehan works for a certain niche, Tour of South Africa, Denmark, Norway all come to my mind - if only he were on a team that raced some of those.

Ulrich Ulriksen wrote:

Another really interesting one is Fedorov. Not sure if it is intentional but you seem to specialize in riders with unusual skill sets.

AbhishekLFC wrote:

Happy to have had Hocevar max out with us and great to see him take the final step into a more than useful domestique for Pogacar. Have always liked Wright and more recently Fedorov is a rider I chased, so their development will always remain interesting to me Quite impressive to be competitive in PT despite such a strong talent focus!

ember wrote:

Very cool riders you are developing! I'm sure we will talk on several of them when transfers come, as I think I will always admire your team building. Very curious to see if you decide to go for it this season, as I think there are several of your riders with sales value, which could come in handy for you to continue to build and train your regional superstars. Very well done building and developing your squad!