Pos	Last		Team	Total	RD	PpRD	Proj
1	11		Grieg-Maersk	2768	58	47.72	8590
15	19		MOL Cycling Team	1619	58	27.91	5024
16	12		Team Puma - SAP	1606	57	28.18	5072
17	21		Evonik - ELKO	1588	57	27.86	5015
18	14		Polar	1559	48	32.48	5846
19	18		Lidl Cycling	1539	47	32.74	5893

After a good start to the cobbles campaign by Jan Polanc, our team has barely climbed out of the relegation spots. The gap to the top is already large but a lot of racing is still ahead of us and the next month will give us again a few opportunities for good scoring and also starts the GT racing:

Another cobbled monument, the same lineup that we have seen so often in March already. Not the best profile for Polanc but he still can contest for a top 10-15 result and Krists Neilands has repeatedly performed very well here.

On paper, the Giro is our weakest GT squad of the year. We enter the race with a double GC leadership of Tobias Foss and Luke Plapp. Tobias Foss already finished 12th last year and has shown that he can be a good GC option while Luke Plapp is likely one of the contenders for the U25 jersey. The rest of the squad is mostly built with the early TTT in mind. The major exception is Jaume Sureda who is hoping to compete for stage podiums in the sprints.

Very little expectations for this one. Blums is our best chance for a result but realistically, we need to hope for breaks or good sprinting by Silva if we want to get some success.

You have a hard time finding a more prominent race lineup all season. Lecuisinier and Lopez are forming the super duo, Eenkhoorn and Blums are great super domestiques and Konrad, Krasts and Polanc are quite capable on the mountain roads as well.

It's the start of the Ardennes week and that always means Lopez time. Unlike the cobbles team, his support team is constantly changing to some extent but guys like Blums, Konrad, Gavars or Baroncini are relied on heavily.

knockout wrote:

AbhishekLFC wrote:

Somehow Liechtenstein became the worst place to have MAL as super dom for PHL, as the brutal climbs pretty much killed any hopes the former had of a high placing. Do think PHL will come good very soon, and so will MAL

With the season nearing the end, it is time to look ahead at the upcoming season. We only have four riders set to improve before the transfer season but we are very excited about what their development and think that they can play key roles in our quest for improvement.

Aleks Krasts is the future of Latvian stage racing and we are looking forward to see his contributions to team success rise further. He is now at the point where we expect him to majorly help Lecuisinier in the upcoming season and after that he might start to get his own opportunities.

Kristers Ansons is a living embodiment of what has been our team DNA for quite some time. Born and raised in Latvia, he has developed into a fantastic rouleur who is super versatile. He will be an important domestique in all sorts of completely different races and he will be especially important as a potential co-leader for flat classics. It's impossible to not find valuable roles for someone like him.

Fredrik Dversnes (27) | Sprint

FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age
76	67	69	66	74	75	71	69	67	75	77	67	68	2024
78	67	69	66	76	76	72	70	69	77	77	67	68	2025

While not the youngest talent, we have been excited about the potential of Fredrik for quite some time as we think he was a majorly overlooked prospect. We think that he can fill the hole that the departure of Mark Dzamastagic left us and are excited to see him in action in those flat classics.

Luke Plapp (24) | Stage Race

Over the past few years, Luke Plapp has grown into one of the finest young stage racers and he will be crucial in our attempts to be stronger than we were this year. After years of being a team focussed on the classics, we have gradually shifted towards a bit of a stage race focus and with his development (possibly?) finished, we will be even more of a stage race team than previously.

SotD wrote:

“a bit of a stage race focus�

That’s a bit of an understatement

Amazing talents for you here! Krasts is in the way of a certain greek cheap copy though.

Nemolito wrote:

Always a fan of talent development posts, and even more when the talent is this nice! Plapp obviously a great rider, the kind of guy you'd select on almost every stage he can score in any (MG) prediction game. Right?

Latvian talents getting through the ranks are also very nice, with Krasts the big guy when it comes to stage racing. Looking forward to see you final stat gain decision in a year

Following the end of the season, it is time to look ahead at the upcoming offseason. One of the hottest names on the market seems to be Jan Polanc. The monument winner had a tremendous stay at Evonik winning multiple classics and being a key reason for the teams perennial podium contender status.

This era might come to an end as the Slovenian cobble star is looking for a new challenge. Scources with knowledge of the team finances confirm that the difficult cap situation is the main reason for the expected departure. Following the development of Luke Plapp, the team is looking to shift ressources from the classics squad to the stage racing department.

Polanc is a proven star who elevates every squad in every division, has a spotless record in PT in recent seasons and is one of the best possible targets to build goals around with his unique skill set on the uphill cobbles.

baseballlover312 wrote:

The Evonik transformation fever dream just gets weirder and weirder. No classics investment at all from Evonik will be bizarre to say the least!

knockout wrote:

Seeing Polanc in a different team will be weird for me as well but i hope someone makes him a cornerstone of their season plan when his role for me would start to diminish a bit.