Very, very happy to hear that you're continuing! I fully get how demanding it is to combine what you've been doing here with what's happening irl, and I think it's good to recognize when it's not working anymore. But I'm really glad that you chose to downsize instead of pulling back entirely. Obviously, what you're producing here and in the ranking updates will be missed, but having you as a manager is of course far more important.
And from a MG Swiss cycling standpoint, it would've indeed been a shame if the project were to abandon. Schmid still has so much left to win
Thanks. Indeed, RL is getting less compatible with (relatively) significant MG activity lately, so it was either reducing or quitting. Glad there's still enough motivation around for the former
Your last sentence is one reason for this, let's hope you're right
Indeed, one Swiss team isn't enough. Glad to see you're sticking around, it would be an incredible loss for the game if you left. You do a lot and we would still enjoy your work if you dialed it back enough to be sustainable.
Thanks, always glad if work is enjoyed. And yeah, let's bring Switzerland in the Top 10 nations in a couple of years
Great read - As always! And with a happy ending. I would be extremely sad if you were to pull the plug as I see you as a very vital part of the game, and enjoy having you on the "Man-Game Team".
Now I just have to convince you to hand over a couple of those 78/79 TT guys so I can threaten your TTT setup
Thanks. Flattered to see you think of me as a "vital" part of the game, which I definitely don't think I am. Abhi, Ulrich, Nemo, roturn - sure. Me, rather "support cast"
Well, if you get even just my single 79 TTer, you'll be stronger than me already, but if I can get him a Greek ancestor, maybe he'll still go your way
Really happy to read that you'll be staying in! And indeed, I hope you'll manage to find what solution works best for you, investing the limited MG time in what you like.
Thanks for all the work, and good luck for the end of the season!
My issue is I like most about MG, so I could invest my time everywhere
Thanks for the wishes, can sure need some luck in the final months
Glad you are staying on. Good to keep the class of 19 strong. Love what you bring to the game and completely understand stepping back. Hopefully I can still bounce things off you during transfers.
Thanks, means a lot for me to read that from you. Thanks to you for all the work you're doing!
Yeah, sooner or later we'll find a good deal for you
Race Review | Deutschland Tour | PTHC
After five days in Slovenia at the end of last month, this month started with another five days in the same PTHC band - this time just right across the border, in Germany. Well, not exactly right across the border, with the five stages being located in the middle of Germany, so not really close to home either.
Anyway, we were there mainly to get some good results from the four sprint stages, bringing our freshly crowned Maillot Vert winner Kaden Groves.
We also had pretty much our entire TT department on the startline (with the exception of Küng) - but that's mainly depth, not world-class. So some good Top 20-30 GC results were expected, plus a good result by Ethan Vernon in the U25 standings. And maybe getting a good team standings outcome, who knows. Last year, we also won the KoM jersey, which was a great boost to our scoring.
Sadly, the first day followed a pattern we've seen far too often this year already. Groves was way too passive, barely getting a Top 20 position to launch his sprint from - and barely getting a Top 20 rank in the end. A first day to forget.
Stage 2 was far better, fortunately. Whether it's the pretty big hills mid-stage leaving him with more energy than some of his competitors, or just better strategy - we don't know, as there was no TV broadcast until the riders reached the final 200 meters! And this is what we saw then:
Kaden Groves in first position with 200m to go!
We really got no clue how he got into this position, but it reminded us a lot of his Praha stage win, which was pretty dominant. And here?
Kaden Groves winning stage 2 of the Deutschland Tour!
What a win! Like in the Czech Republic, it was a clear and pretty dominant one in the end, and by far not as close as his Tour de France stage win! Great job - and a result that left everything open for the final two flat days!
But let's make it short - it sadly didn't work out for him that well anymore. It looked like he actually did a perfect job on days 4 and 5, picking Kanter's wheel twice - usually a great wheel to follow! But the local hero definitely was let down by his team, who messed up the leadout, leaving him in the wind far too early. Which means that Groves also had to launch way too early in both stages, fading to 9th and 11th respectively. Which was rather disappointing, given that it really looked like he had the legs to fight for another stage podium or even the green jersey! It wasn't to be - but thanks to his stage 2 win, it was still a good race. Kaden Groves ends his season with 3 stage wins - one at each level of GT, PT and PTHC. Plus a fantastic GC win in Ronde van Nederland, repeating his 2023 success.
His biggest success obviously was winning the Maillot Vert, though, definitely the highlight of a sprinter's career.
Kaden scored 943 points this year, a really huge amount - and we wonder whether giving him a little additional boost to make him competitive in any sprinter race might be an idea... We'll see!
And our TTers? Well, it was a pretty mixed bag. Which was only partly the riders' fault, given that day 3 was a very windy one. Some of our riders had really bad weather conditions and simply didn't have any chance of doing well. Stefan Bissegger was definitely our most unlucky rider - he even missed out on the Top 50 both in the ITT stage and in GC, whereas a rider he can usually keep up with even took 10th place on the day. Yep, the condition's weren't consistent at all. We won't call them unfair, though, as road cycling is an outdoor sport. But it's definitely highly unlucky for Stefan, who should at least have been able to fight for the Top 30. Ethan Vernon and Krzysztof Marchewka weren't favoured by the conditions, either - but both were always at risk of not getting a Top 50 anyway. Still, if a rider who's usually at the same level takes a Top 20 and you don't even get a Top 50, that sure leaves a bitter taste.
On the other hand, Alexys Brunel was definitely lucky! He ended up 13th, both on day 3 and in the GC, and we're absolutely happy with that. Sure, a Top 10 could have been possible, but we won't complain; we thought Top 25 would be the best possible result for him under normal circumstances, so we'll take a Top 15 for sure! Szymon Rekita probably is our only rider who ended up in the range we could expect him to, taking 17th place in stage and GC. Nothing to complain about.
All in all, however, it feels like we still were mostly on the unlucky side in this stage against the clock. Only Brunel was definitely on the "lucky" side, with the opposite being true for three riders. Fortunately, we did bring the necessary depth to mitigate exactly this risk - and in the end we got the points we expected, and even more.
Two riders in the Top 20 is better than expected; just the same two in the Top 50 is a bit disappointing. The team standings weren't optimal due to some gaps on a sprint stage, either, and nor was Vernon's 5th place in U25, also beaten by some more lucky riders. But all in all, thanks to the two Top 20 results and our stage win, we leave Germany as a pretty happy team!
This is a really particular race on the calendar. ITT classics are far too rare anyway, with there being only two left in the whole MGUCI tour, including all divisions. Fortunately, we were at least able to do both of them.
But what makes this one even more special than Herbiers is the fact that it's a mostly cobbled route! And not just any cobbles - no, the Trouée d'Arenberg is the stage for what might be the world's most insane race against the clock!
We did have some pretty high hopes, given that Stefan Küng is a rider of the rare species that can do fast TTs and can do decently on the cobbles. Well, nowadays there are some insanely strong riders, and in particular the Top 2 were just riding in a league of their own.
But Stefan was indeed able to keep up with the next group of riders, fighting for the final podium spot! Sadly, though, it wasn't to be - five measly seconds were missing in the end, as Stefan got a still decent 7th place. Despite him setting the best time at race half-time, there's sadly no picture of him...
Küng's points for 7th place actually were already enough to meet our expectations - but we got even more out of this race! Alexys Brunel had another good race this month, getting a respectable 16th place. Szymon Rekita, who usually is faster than Alexys in normal ITTs, finished two spots behind due to his even lower cobbles skills. But all three riders in the Top 20 is a great outcome, and we almost got twice as many points as expected! Great job, guys!
Outcome
Expectation
Outcome
Result
Top 15
7th
Points
50
90
Race Review | East Midlands Cicle Classic | PT
This was already the final "normal" PT classic of the year! And as such, most likely the final race in Edward Theuns' career at this level - at least as a team leader.
The route wasn't quite perfect for him, given the lack of hills, and some relatively long cobbled sectors. But still, a Top 15 was on the cards once again, and hopefully even a Top 10, as we don't have many of them in PT classics this year!
But first, it was Stefan Küng's time to show our jersey! He joined the breakaway of the day, and he turned out to be the strongest of these riders!
Stefan Küng in the breakaway of the day!
Sadly, he was already caught with 55km to go, as the final breakaway rider. The pace was far too high for the attackers to stand a chance; Stefan even dropped all the way back to 92nd in the end. Still, it was a good try!
And Theuns? Well, he was safely riding in the group of favourites - and even tried to join Teunissen for chasing down the leaders with slightly more than 10km to go!
Edward Theuns trying to keep up with Teunissen.
Sadly, he couldn't. And even worse - a couple of kilometers later, he paid for this effort and was dropped!
He would never make it back to the group, and ended up just outside the Top 10:
Edward Theuns taking 11th place.
It's pretty unfortunate to miss out on the Top 10 this closely, in particular seeing similar cobblers like Siric and Polanc making the cut. But we can't blame him for trying - and given the 2 minutes loss, that attempt to follow Teunissen probably wasn't decisive for getting dropped. 11th still hurts a little bit - as one spot higher, and we'd have made it 3/3 races with meeting the points goal. Now, we missed out by 3 points.
Which was mainly because Tomas Paprstka wasn't at his best, and only finished 37th. Eddie got the expected Top 15, but a Top 30 would've been nice by Tomas.
Well, we still have one cobbled race to go, hopefully they'll get a slightly stronger result in Rheden GP! And it will definitely be our final cobbled race with Eddie and Tomas being our top cobblers, as we're well aware that we'll need to rejuvenate this department next year!
Outcome
Expectation
Outcome
Result
Top 15
11th
Points
80
77
August Summary
Despite the little bummer at the end, it still was a great month for us! In Germany, we got twice the points we expected, and in France we almost did the same! So overall, we scored 287 points - 97 more than expected, which is a very good outcome!
The latest ranking updates aren't out yet, as there's still an ongoing race. But we do believe that with this month's points, we should have definitely ensured to stay up, which would be a huge success for us! With our closest rivals for a Top 10 - which is our sponsor goal - doing well lately, it looks like we'll rather be fighting to stay as high up in the Top 15 as possible, but we're sure no-one will complain in the end.
There are still some exciting races left - in particular the big unknown which is the Tour of Northern Europe next month, where we basically throw everyone who could potentially score in the lineup - preview coming shortly!
You never know what happens in a race like TONE so a top 10 finish is probably still well within reach.
Sure, you never know - but we'd likely need an insane amount of points to overtake two out of Carlsberg, Xero and Fastned, the latter two having Balkans left. I think 11th is the best case scenario, maybe 13th the most realistic one.
Nice for sure, for "very nice" I'd still expect a little more But yeah, it was a month bringing us a lot closer to safety, and probably making sure we'll stay up. So I'll happily take it
September Preview
After we had another pretty good month in August, we're rather relaxed now. With the latest ranking updates published, we think it's almost impossible that we'll still relegate, having an almost 600 points buffer to the red zone. And we also believe that we still have some decent scoring opportunities left - not enough to get us into the Top 10, but just staying up would be a big success for us anyway!
In the final two months of the year, we just have two races each, which is mainly due to the generally front-loaded PT calendar. September should be the more important of the two months, given that we'll have the final PT stage race of the year - one we're looking forward to! The other race this month will be a PTHC classic - let's take a look:
Sep 04 - 10 | Tour of Northern Europe | PT
Profile
Lineup
Rider
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Mauro Schmid
72
76
79
68
71
78
73
69
70
79
78
74
66
Edward Theuns
71
66
73
64
74
71
72
79
76
74
63
66
69
Cees Bol
76
64
70
67
75
77
81
68
79
77
68
67
69
Stefan Küng
73
70
73
77
74
72
73
72
63
71
73
78
78
Alexys Brunel
75
67
71
78
72
78
73
66
61
65
69
66
78
Szymon Rekita
72
58
63
79
70
73
73
62
69
70
63
73
78
Tomas Paprstka
75
62
69
62
74
70
68
75
70
72
69
78
63
Filippo Colombo
72
64
68
67
73
72
64
72
71
72
71
71
67
Tactics
The ToNE is another pretty particular race in terms of route design. Three flat stages, OK. Two hilly ones, fine. But a cobbled ITT? And another cobbled stage? Really special!
Fortunately, we have one rider on board who can handle all of this pretty well - Stefan Küng, who even finished on the GC podium three years ago! OK, it was a completely different route, and he greatly benefitted from Generali's win in the cobbled TTT back then (yes, even that was a thing)!
But he just showed in Arenberg that cobbled TTs is nothing he needs to be afraid of, and he also has some good results on cobbles and in hilly stages. So he might be our leader - but that's not certain.
Because if the cobbles should have a bigger impact than expected, Eddie Theuns will be our man. Sure, he's not great in TTs, but it's just a short one, and he's not that bad in prologues actually. So if he can use the cobbles to his advantage, and then keep in touch with the best in the hills, he could be a factor.
However, we expect Mauro Schmid to put the hammer down in the final two stages - and he'll surely not be the only strong puncheur present. He's not great in TTs or on cobbles - but he can handle some of them, and in particular the hilly cobbles on stage 3 should suit him. And with his skillset, he could make a big difference on the final stage with quite a lot of climbing.
And if everything is easier than expected, well, we have Brunel, who's stronger than Küng in normal TTs, and not that different to last year's winner Cosnefroy. And just to ensure we might get a decent team standings result, there's also Rekita, just for the TT.
Do we have a sprinter? On paper, yes. The issue is just that Bol hasn't proven us this year that he actually is one. He hasn't even scored 100 points yet, this is his final chance to get some decent results.
Paprstka is there to help out on the cobbles, if needed. And Colombo is here to learn, taking his final development step to be a decent helper in this kind of race.
Expectations? Well, we do have a sponsor goal here. It's a podium goal. We know that everything needs to fall into place for us to get there - but honestly, if Cosnefroy can win this race, Küng can podium it (even more so given Van Baarle's 2nd place last year). Up to Stefan to prove it! And Schmid definitely could, too.
More realistically, we can expect a Top 10, though - we're looking forward to the race anyway!
Track Record
--- none ---
Expectations
Stages: 4x Top 10
GC: Top 10
Points: 200
Sep 28 | Rheden GP | PTHC
Profile
Lineup
Rider
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Edward Theuns
71
66
73
64
74
71
72
79
76
74
63
66
69
Cees Bol
76
64
70
67
75
77
81
68
79
77
68
67
69
Tomas Paprstka
75
62
69
62
74
70
68
75
70
72
69
78
63
Filippo Colombo
72
64
68
67
73
72
64
72
71
72
71
71
67
Lorenzo Delco
73
72
73
70
75
74
75
67
64
72
68
77
71
Hugo Page
69
65
67
61
71
69
65
63
73
76
68
69
66
Felix Stehli
67
68
71
62
70
70
69
62
69
71
69
69
66
Christoph Janssen
72
65
67
74
70
73
72
55
59
67
65
65
74
Tactics
After some cobbles in a stage race, this is the final cobbled classic of the year. And very, very likely the final race of Eddie Theuns as our leader, and definitely his final one of the year! If he stays next season, he'll return as a domestique - but for now, he still a leader, and a pretty good one!
He took 5th place last year, in a reduced bunch sprint - and that was actually a tad disappointing. This year, we'd happily take 5th place, but any Top 10 should do. It's a rather easy cobbled race, with most of the cobbles downhill - and it often ends with a relatively big group sprinting for the win. And he can still sprint!
Some one else can also sprint - at least on paper - and that's why we bring Cees Bol again. It's his final race of the year, too - and he better gets some results this month if this shouldn't be his final race in our team...
While he isn't a cobbler by any means, the race history shows that even sprinters who can handle cobbles somewhat decently can do well here - not really last yearh, where the race was pretty selective, but definitely the years before. So why not try? In this race, we don't expect him to shine, so he's really got nothing to lose in his home race!
Otherwise, we obviously bring Paprstka one last time (that's pretty much sure), and Colombo is the final rider who's more or less competent on the cobblestones. Delco is here because he can always be useful, whereas the youngsters are here for experience reasons.
A Top 10 would be a great result for Eddie to round off his PT(HC) leader career, let's hope he can get a final one of these!
Track Record
Best: 55th (Edward Theuns, 2023)
Expectations
Result: Top 10
Points: 50
Summary
We said it before - we can actually relax already, as we're pretty sure that our 5,545 points should be enough to stay in PT. And we're even granted to score 80 more if everyone finishes ToNE and Lombardia next month.
However, ToNE still is a big goal for us. If we want our plans for the future to materialize, we'll need quite some money - and achieving the sponsor goal here would bring us a big step closer to getting some financial buffer! Let's hope the riders can do something exceptional once again!
Rheden could well be Eddie's farewell race for us - and whatever result he gets, he'll go down in team history as one of our greatest riders anyway! We're rather surprised to realize that he most likely won't take the all-time points lead, though - only a huge month of September could change that. We'll see the final outcome at the end of the year...
Given that we should have quite some time this month, we're planning to give an update in terms of rider scoring and expectations, but don't take it for granted yet. We'll see - stay tuned for the race reviews in any case!
Nice to see results and motivation picking up again.
I can echo this one, though at least Bol is still doing his best to change that again.
Bol surely wasn't at his best, just like the whole year. Returning to PCT should be good for him.
But he definitely isn't the main rider to blame in ToNE...
Race Review | Tour of Northern Europe | PT
What to say... Yeah, we're disappointed. Despite the race starting so well. Because on day 1, Cees Bol finally got his first stage podium of the year. 3rd place in the bunch sprint. Only to fall back into normal 2024 mode, taking a disappointing 8th place the day after. And a still disappointing 6th place in the final sprint stage, on day 5.
In between, crazy stuff happened on stage 3. Just a couple of cobbled sections, most of them uphill, but nothing fancy. Still, it was the stage with the biggest gaps - by far - of the whole race. Sadly, Edward Theuns wasn't capable of showing his skills on this terrain, not even remotely, by being completely anonymous and barely making the first big chase group. The only positive thing on that day was Mauro Schmid finishing 7th, showing that he's ready for the final two stages in the hills.
But first came the ITT. Which was disappointing as well. Stefan Küng and Alexys Brunel only managed to get 7th and 8th, with Szymon Rekita even being a complete non-factor. The sponsor goal of a GC podium was definitely gone, even after stage 3 already.
And then came stage 5. Not only did Bol miss out on another good stage result, it was much worse. Both Stefan Küng and Mauro Schmid, who did a good job and were always well positioned in the first two flat stages, did an awful job on that stage, missing a split - of course the only one in the race where the officials ended up giving a gap - and dropped even further behind. This was turning into a nightmare race, instead of being one of our best races of the year.
Stage 6 then was better again. Mauro Schmid kept up with some of the best puncheurs present, finishing 5th on the day. Stefan Küng did a decent job as well, finishing in the first bigger chase group. It could have been even better though, given that some weaker uphill riders lost 90" less... Meh, again.
But none of the previous failures was remotely as bad as Mauro Schmid's stage 7. For whatever reason, he decided he'd be the right man to chase the breakaway. As a Top 5 stage contender, nota bene. We've got no clue what he was thinking - probably nothing at all. Of course, he got dropped and lost over 2'30". Instead of getting a stage podium that was very much on the table. Edward Theuns was our best rider on that stage, finishing 12th - his best stage result of the whole race. We couldn't have played this worse, really.
So, no GC podium. Not even a Top 5, which would have been possible without Mauro's two idiotic rides on days 5 and 7. 13th place in GC. Sponsors are not amused, once again... Fortunately, they've already signed for next year...
Thanks to Mauro for throwing a lot of money out of the window. Hopefully you'll agree on getting your wage cut by as much as the sponsors would've paid us for reaching or getting close to their goal...
By the way, points-wise it wasn't even that awful. Obviously, we missed our target, but not by much. Which shows that our expectations weren't unrealistic, and it also shows how much more could have been possible... Mauro Schmid ends up 13th in GC, Edward Theuns 19th thanks to a good final day (if only he'd have joined Gerts et al. in the cobbled stage...). Stefan Küng ended up on a very disappointing 25th place. The route change definitely was horrible for hybrids like him, as confirmed by last year's podium finisher Van Baarle, who got a ridiculously bad 37th place (in particular compared to Cosnefroy who even made the Top 10...). Even Cees Bol made the Top 50, probably his best race of the year.
What remains, though, is the really bad impression of Schmid. Which sadly was the case in virtually every stage race he did. The fact that he ends his U25 career without winning a single U25 jersey just shows that there's something really wrong with him. Sure, with the likes of Vansevenant, Pidcock or Ardila he had some big rivals. But still, he had his chances - and failed.
Mauro definitely has gotten much closer to Selling than Training again. Up to him to change that in the final races of the year - but maybe it's actually his goal to move on to a better team...
What is sad is that we all know what he's capable of, as shown in San Sebastian, or Grand-Duché, or Amstel. But there were clearly more bad races than good ones, in particular with all of his stage race failures. We really don't know how to continue with him, sadly...
I don't recall ever having a Swiss rider on my team
I would hate having to sell him. But as a team that needs some luck to avoid relegation, I need efficient scorers. Schmid is a Top 30 rider in PT according to OVL. In the last ranking update, he wasn't even Top 50, with only Higuita, De Bie and Mohoric also cleraly underperforming among those who have a higher OVL.
And if you compare him to Pidcock, who has the same OVL, the difference is just ridiculous, with the latter scoring about twice as much - and he'll have an even lower OVL than Schmid next year... So, in short, he's just not as good as he should be (probably around 1,000 points at the end of the season), for whatever reason. Maybe he just needs another manager to perform, I don't know... Without his standout result, the San Sebastian win, it would look even far worse.
Really got no clue why, given that guys like Vansevenant or Valter work like a charm - but others like Schmid, De Bie, Mohoric or even Higuita as a perfect hybrid don't. And I don't think it's viable on the long term to overpay such a rider.
Maybe give him another chance with the new game version, might like him better?
Deutschland Tour | 
Kaden Groves.
Ethan Vernon in the U25 standings. And maybe getting a good team standings outcome, who knows. Last year, we also won the KoM jersey, which was a great boost to our scoring.
Stefan Bissegger was definitely our most unlucky rider - he even missed out on the Top 50 both in the ITT stage and in GC, whereas a rider he can usually keep up with even took 10th place on the day. Yep, the condition's weren't consistent at all. We won't call them unfair, though, as road cycling is an outdoor sport. But it's definitely highly unlucky for Stefan, who should at least have been able to fight for the Top 30.
Krzysztof Marchewka weren't favoured by the conditions, either - but both were always at risk of not getting a Top 50 anyway. Still, if a rider who's usually at the same level takes a Top 20 and you don't even get a Top 50, that sure leaves a bitter taste.
Alexys Brunel was definitely lucky! He ended up 13th, both on day 3 and in the GC, and we're absolutely happy with that. Sure, a Top 10 could have been possible, but we won't complain; we thought Top 25 would be the best possible result for him under normal circumstances, so we'll take a Top 15 for sure!
Edward Theuns' career at this level - at least as a team leader.
Tomas Paprstka wasn't at his best, and only finished 37th. Eddie got the expected Top 15, but a Top 30 would've been nice by Tomas.
Tour of Northern Europe | 
