baseballlover312 wrote:

WTF happened to Kemboi this year? That point total is actually unreal. You'd think his points would be going up over time with the deflation of sprinters. Really sorry for that.

De Bie had a fairly unremarkable season, with only two stage top 5s and a best result of 9th in the one day races he entered. At 34 next season we'd be surprised if his future involved staying with the team, but we thought that last off-season only to receive no offers or interest during transfer season.

Faglum Karlsson was our most expensive signing of the off-season, and while we accept we probably overpaid he earned most of his fee with some strong performances. 11th and 14th in the Vuelta and the Tour, alongside 5th and 6th in the KoM of each and taking a stage win in the Tour made for a fairly solid return, supported with solid rides in Paris - Nice and Balkans International. He has done enough to convince us he's worth keeping in the longer term, but following relegation every rider will have a price, particularly those older members of the team.

van der Poel put together a solid season across multiple terrains, with his most impressive results coming in the harder cobbled races. We hope that the dropdown to PCT will give him some opportunites to lead on the hills, though the hoped for training may prove out of our reach. Watching how a very similar rider in Meurisse has done in the PCT in recent seasons gives us hope that he could be key to a better season next year.

Kemboi's poor season has been discussed elsewhere in our season review, but seeing his best results summarised shows just how bad it was. Only eight sprint top 10s in the entire season, with just the two podiums and only one win. Having been a mainstay of the team since he was a developing rider, if there was ever a time to think about a change of scenery this may be it. But given how well he performed in our last PCT season, it may only be a consideration in the right circumstances.

Burke delivered what we hoped for when we signed him last off-season, with two GT top 20s and some useful results from breakaways. We possibly missed an opportunity to utilise him more effectively in hilly races, which will be a priority for next season should he stay with us.

Larsen joined the team as part of a swap deal that on the surface looked like it didn't quite pay off. However, when factoring in the moves we made with the additional cap space we actually ended up not losing too many points from the deal, and we think Larsen may be able to offer more moving forwards. His stage results over the season were relatively comparable to Kemboi at a much lower cost, and we appreciate the TT ability he brings as well.

Prado had a relatively unremarkable season, and if anything underperfomed our expectations. As one of our older riders and a general feeling that he doesn't quite fit the prototype of the better climbers currently we have a question mark surrounding his future, though he could more valuable at PCT level.

Bettiol had his usual solid but unspectacular season, contributing to our depth scoring but not creating any surprised bar a single stage podium. He's been a long-term mainstay of the team, but as he approaches his first decline there is a question as to if that continues, though we do wonder if he can recreate the successes of his last PCT season.

Dekker did about as well as we could have expected in the opportunities we gave him to lead, though he did get in Kemboi's way a few times when used as a leadout. His cobbles ability also came in handy with 32nd in the Ronde a very good result, and we expect that life in PCT may suit him better than the PT given his particular skillset.

Mansouri completed his development in style, with a number of strong KoM and U25 results, plus a couple of good GCs. We look forward to seeing what he can do in the PCT as a maxed rider, and are keen to see if we can train him further in future to make use of his varied skillset.

Fernandes was signed in the hope that he'd give us a point scoring presence in mountainous and hilly races with TTs, but bar a few solid PTHC results things didn't really turn out that way. Some of that may be down to the general strength of the squad, but we recognise we likely overpaid for him, and will need to think about how best to utilise him moving forward.

Gee didn't achieve a great deal this season, but when you win a Vuelta stage that can be forgotten! Having completed his development we're excited to see what he can achieve in the PCT, even if we wish he was a few years younger to make the most possible use of his versatility.

Thomas had a fairly solid season for a pure TTer given the lack of opportunities to score in TTTs due to our general weakness in the discipline. The lower level of competition in the PCT should aid him, and we'd like to hope that we can improve our TT depth next season to better utilise his abilities.

Craddock was signed in the hope we could benefit from some depth scoring in TT heavy races, but unfortunately things didn't turn out that way. His 2nd in the Deutschland Tour KoM was a decent result, but as he starts to decline we're unsure as to whether he has much to offer us going forward.

Vermeersch had a strange season, with his best result coming in the Ronde and the rest of his cobbled results being largely unimpressive. Now Stewart has completed his development he is likely to be replaced as our cobbles leader, and we think it's unlikely he'll be with us for much longer following his first decline.

Basso is a rider we've long admired, and so when the opportunity to sign him came we jumped at it. He contributed some solid results in cobbled classics, but we think he may be able to offer more at PCT level, though we appreciate he isn't getting any younger.

Schultz was added right at the end of free agency when we found ourselves with a significant amount of unused cap space. While he had a few decent results here and there, overall his season was a disappointment, and we feel like the wage we paid him was so overinflated that he may prove too expensive to keep on a PCT budget.

Crncevic was a rider we had hoped would aid our depth scoring in stage races, but overall this turned out not to be the case. We can see a role for him in the PCT, but that will depend on whether we choose to prioritise stage races given the strengths of our team in other areas, and as ever we note his advancing age with a degree of concern.

Vincent was a rider we thought we had secured a bargain in signing from free agency, but on the evidence of his results this season it seems like the lack of interest from elsewhere was with good reason. He had an ok season, but with no results to write home about, and we wonder longer term if we really need the level of puncheur depth that we currently have given the talents we have developing.

Stewart had a few solid results as he completed his development, and pleasingly showed his ability in both sprints and on the cobbles. We're hopeful that he and Pithie will provide a useful pair of leaders on the cobbles next season, and that he will also prove useful as a leadout or even as a lead sprinter in a few stage races.

Bakke Christophersen had a quiet season, though that wasn't in any way unexpected. We look forward to him continuing his development next season and contributing to the depth of both our climbing and puncheur squads.

Pons was a last minute addition after we lost a silent auction to sign Sean McKenna, and as such expectations were low. He likely suffered a little from being a member of our hills squad and the associated De Bie underperformance, but given his age we don't see him as having much of a role to play going forwards.

Hoang didn't achieve anything of note this season, but we had no expectations he would. There is a question longer term about the value he will provide, but he's similar to Camrda in the respect of being a cheap allrounder and breakaway rider we saw an opportunity to develop.

Baterdene was signed to give us an additional sprinter option, but wasn't give many opportunities to ride for himself. For the minimum fee we paid we were content with what he offered in the opportunities he had, though his long term future is by no means certain given similar sprinters are generally in high supply.

Vine's season was pretty disappointing, as we would have expected more from a rider with his skillset. We have tried to mitigate weaknesses we've identified in his development, but we're unsure as to whether he'll be with us in the long term given his limitations as a climber and puncheur, particularly his stamina.

Ponce had a quiet and relatively unremarkable season, though that was in part due to lack of opportunities. We hope his continued development will come in useful following relegation despite him being older than many of our other talents.

Davies had a unique season, with his two most notable results coming in PTHC races and him achieving very little of note elsewhere. His long term future with the team is perhaps more questionable following relegation, as it becomes harder to develop him as a PCT team, though we can still see the value in doing so.

Pithie is the crown jewel of the team's future, and his year out on loan showed just why we were so keen to sign him. Alongside the expected strong results on the cobbles, he also showed impressive climbing ability, encapsulated by his 14th place in the Tour de l'Avenir. Barring an extraordinary deal being on offer we see him being a key part of our team for the long term.

Evangelos had a better season than we could have ever expected, topped off with his KoM win in the Tour of Britain. We think his results this year bode well for his future with the team, with a focus on cobbles and sprints plus the ability to add value on other terrains as well.

Theorpanous showcased exactly what we wanted to see from him in his second pro season, performing well across a variety of terrains. As he continues his development into a strong all rounder we're hopeful that he can build upon this season's achievements in our colours next year.

Camrda's second pro season saw a number of respectable results, chief among them his 30th in the Tour Down Under. Longer term his future is likely to depend on finances more than anything, as while we like what he can potentially offer as a breakaway rider and all round domestique, we hope to be able to add stronger talents to our roster.

Kunkumpai had a quiet first pro season, but that was to be expected. We're excited to see him continue his development with us next season, and expect him to have a valuable long term role ahead of him.

knockout wrote:

Uff...



Agree, Kemboi was one of the biggest underachievers this year in the entire division. Pretty disappointing. Goals results are looking super rough too. Good luck with the rebuild in PCT. May you return quickly

jph27 wrote:



I think he may have suffered from a combination of the 4th sprinter bug and PCM considering Dekker to be the sprinter (so treating Kemboi as an attacker) in the races they rode together. One of those can be avoided in future, though is frustrating when Dekker was signed as a leadout, and the other hopefully will be fixed by the change of PCM version.

That all being said, with Kemboi only a few years off his first decline and the general randomness of sprints, this might be a good opportunity to cash in. After all, I don't have many other leaders to sell and later regret