Big Donkey

[Robyklebt]

May

12th place in D1 with 11'033 points. 1 win. Giro, only 1 stage with Payot finally, second in GC, but almost 2' back. Concentrating to much on GC, without actually getting close, cost me rather easy Payot wins. Riding badly on other Payot stages cost me other Payot wins. Could have had 5, 2 gone with bad riding, got 1 in the end.
Rrurrambu was seldom allowed to sprint for the win, and then he failed, the one escape for the win didn't work either. Not a BAAD Giro, think I did at least try to put AAD under pressure towards the end, but still missed 1'30 and 100 energy on the final TT.
Rider of the season still Payot

- Guillaume, rider of the season, congratulations!
-Thanks, but I wanted rosa.
-Why didn't it work?
-Volta was stronger, finally.
-But couldn't you have won by riding more aggressively?
-When? Gran Sasso go for the stage, ok, maybe try an attack like FL did ourselves with Payot there. Ok. Crans? Rossi and Lekubarri vs Tesla and Prachar didn't look that good there. Bondone? With the long irregular finish difficult. Earlier on the way to 3 Cime? Ok, the very early try with Steiner the day before maybe. AAD just controlled well, was not easy to find or create an opening, Admittedly we didn't try to create that opening until late, but the parcours didn't present all that many opportunities before that either.
-So a failure.
-Yes, but no need to rub it in.
-Should Big Donkey have ridden for Steiner?
-No, I'm better. Like we did it was ok, keep Steiner in as long as possible, if there's an opportunity try with him, but there really wasn't any, unless you count the stage to Zoldo, when we had very bad connection with our DS. We had our car sent to the back of the caravan for some fairplay infraction it seems, some insults by Big Donkey that weren't even heard, but c4f installed microphones in our team cars. And since Big Donkey bougth the cheapest radios on the market, when the peloton was strung out we had almost no connection, weren't informed of the race situation very well etc. So no, the opportunity to try for Steiner never really presented itself.
-Second place, 1 win, a failure.
-Yes, we had that.
-So what now?
-Dauphiné, then TdF
-But you seem weaker than before the Giro, you seem to have already lost some of your spark in the mountain.
-Yes, since this morning I feel a bit tired, heavy legs. But that's probably because of the little recovery time after the Giro, and let's not forget that one stages 18-20 I invested a lot, 3 days in a row. It seems to have finally hit me now, maybe should have taken the whole week off, instead of racing and being back in training immediately. But give me a few days, by the time the mountains start here I should be back.
-Don't think that's the way c4f works....You're old, on the way down, you won't get better anymore.
-Look, we're humans, not some strings of data, I'm confident my legs will be back soon, will need them this week, then I take a break of course. Trust me, I'll be fine.
-You're in for a surprise I fear, but if you want to dream, ok ok.
-So Dauphiné, what's the goal this time? Third place and no win?
-GC and at least a stage.
-But Frost looks as strong as Volta really...his team stronger than Volta's maybe.
-We'll see, the TT clearly won't help me, but there's quite a lot of mountain after that, you'll see, I'll be there.
-OK, good luck then!

Finances
283'612, actually better than expected, only 100'000 lost in the Giro. So satisfied with that.

Training:
Blake and Matisse both missing a flat, not good, Verkerk 3 sprint, good, rest I forgot. Just copied it in my newish excel file, but closed it too early... idiot. Too lazy to open it again.

Retirements

Archibald Short. Joined the team 01.11.21, starting skills: 48-74-76-49-44 with 54 reg. Top skills: 63-82-77-49-44. 1637 points in 326 races, 18th most in the team. 1 win the GP de Wallonie in September 22, at least he won an important race. Most of his career was spent as a helper obviously. Short now has taken over as Directeur sportif, so we have a complete staff again, (well, no doctor), Short as DS, Drinkwater and Huizinga assistant DS. We expect Short to have a great second career!

New riders

Excelino Marquez from Riohacha, so surprisingly not from the mountainous regions, but from the coast. Carribean region, La Guajira department. Despite that, Excelino is an amazingly good climber, his starting skills 73-52-78-50-53 and 52 reg. 54.1 pavé, not too bad, can develop if his flat goes up, considering that he trained a lot on dirt roads in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta it could actually have been better. Anyway, his goals are the usual, the Giro. 2024 in his case. For the moment all we expect is that he trains, he might give his debut in the Vuelta, might, not sure. San SEbastian before that another option. He will possibly be the leader for the Andes, if they are offered in the afternoon (unsure after the debacle 23) and we start (depends on the parcours too). So anyway, from October-November on, he can expect to be our leader in the mountains.

[Robyklebt]

July July! Barely over and the Donkey already writes his report

Damn, after having almost finished July... seems I didn't write JUne yet either?

Ok, June:
4 wins (+1 NC)
3 Dauphiné stages, 2x Payot, once Lekubarri
Place 6 in D1, 9704 points
Payot rider of the month
+1'507'383
Training see below
New riders and retirements too


Place 5 in D1 with 10'183 points. 4 wins. The big goal was obviously the TdF. Leader Steiner, time for him to get his chance. Had we ridden the TdS, he would have been the leader, but since we rode the Dauphiné, we went with Payot, so time for Steiner now. Worked out ok, he finished second in the end, but his hopes to ride for the win were basically over the moment Hill trained to 88. At 87 he was an ally, at 88 he was almost impossible to beat. He came back into the GC with an attack in the Alps, but even then it looked unlikely he could defend it aganist Hill, and he couldn't. Clearly beaten, hung on for best of the rest. Would Payot have done better? Who knows, but with age, his lack of success in the Giro and Dauphiné it was time for Steiner.
3 stages, we thought it would be Lekubarri to win one, turned out it was Rrurrambu, Verkerk and Steiner the TT. Very nice to win stages with the sprinters! And a TT with Steiner.

After the TdF only one goal, tenth and last win for Payot at San Sebastian, where he got his first career win. The Donkey in the end was too scared of FL, too afraid to lose against Clévenot. Knew that Payot's form was better, but still went for letting Clévenot do the sieb and attack on the last climb, his sprint. Should have tried to sieb with Payot at the first km, and possibly the second too. Or attack, but that costs energy. We would have been a few secs faster, but probably not enough to hold on vs free. Only chance maybe 2 km sieb Payot, no attack. Gives us a few secs more advantages and more energy, but not sure that would have been enough. So no great end for Payot's career... ah, next day Getxo, why not try win number 10 there? We tried, it worked vs Gaizka, we weren't sure about his form, but was for the Tour.

Rider of the season Steiner, 2nd place in the Tour, a stage, that beats out Rrurrambu's stage and great leadout for Verkerk at the Tour. No interview, since he's in altitude training, just in case we ride the Vuelta.

Finances
+1'671'437
Good month considering it included riding a GT with an eye on the GC

Training
Magritte good, Blake bad? Or was already before? Henri super. Forgot the rest.

Retirement:
Since I only now realized I hadn't written anything for June, do that together
01.12.21-30.06.23 Tim Bradman (Aus) starting skills 46-69-58-52-46 with 35 reg. With 72,3 pavé, Best skills: 50-89, 48 sprint and 86,3 pavé. 167 races, 1645 eternal points, 4 wins, 2 stages of the pavé Tour 22 the most important ones. His timing regarding PR was bad, still young when he rode it the first time, although already with 83 flat and 82,1 pavé, he ended up 6th, and too old in 23, with the same skills and the same result in the end. Not a bad career, just a big regret that Paris-Roubaix isn't ridden in October or so...Tim now went back to Australia where he works as a groundskeeper at a cricket club.

No time, we'll deal with Payot in September, after all he retired in August.

New riders
On 01.07.23 Riccardo Lorenzini from Firenze joined the team. Starting skills: 46-72-56-52-66, 41 reg. Sprinter. With flat, goal something like 50-75 and 80 sprint. Number 2 for Sanremo, otherwise should become the main sprinter over Verkerk pretty fast. So GT sprinter for 2024. For the moment he's number 4, soon to be 3, once Gamboa has his 5000 eternal points.

01.08.23: We bought the (minutes)older and hopefully better Longbottom-twin. Stanley. While Henry went to r Taka. Stanley's skills: 48-67-79-51-48 with 53 reg. A 60-80. Starting rather low, not ideal after our current 60-80es barely reached 60 (or haven't done it yet in one case), but being an early buy for 2024.. we hope will be ok. he'll reach 60-80 until the Giro. For the moment he's just there to give bottles to his leaders, we'll expect more from October on or so.

Goals for August:
Vuelta? Or no Vuelta? That's the big mistery for us too was early in the month, still now. no idea if we want to ride that or not. Or save our energy for the Andes? We keep thinking, but decision soon. So if the Vuelta, the first few Vuelta stages are the big goal, if not, we really have no specific goal, the parallel program goals would mostly be in September. Make money and try to win a race sooner or later basically. If no Vuelta, maybe Benelux? No idea yet.

[Robyklebt]

August

6th place in D1, 10'108 points. Finally 3 wins, although it took a while to get the first one. Hamburg with Isidoor from an escape, then 2 Vuelta stages, Steiner and Ceroni. So a good month in the end. Rider of the season: Isidoor Vanuystel. Finally his first win, same as Ceroni, but even if I think very little of the race in Hamburg, it being a one day race makes it more valuable then the Vuelta stage, Since Isidoor is busy riding the Vuelta right now, no interview.

Finances
+1'526'585. So a fairly good month, considering there's a few days of the expensive Vuelta in there. Although we are doing surprisingly well financially there.

Training
Marquez up to 84 with 23, good. Trutat 76 was in August too I think. So excellent, excellent.

Retirements

Guillaume Payot (Fra) 01.06.22-11.08.23 Starting skills: 73-54-74-52-45 with 52 reg. Topskills: 89-58-75-51-45. 11'979 eternal points, number 8 in the team. 2 stage races and 10 wins, only the 15th rider in our team that manages to win 10 or more stages, the 6th climber. So place 13 in that internal classification. 95 races, so 126,1 points per race, number 4 in the team in that. Number 60 in the game at the time of retirement (5000 riders). His most important wins, Flèche Wallonne, San Sebastian and a Giro stage. GC of Tirreno though probably his biggest achievement. 2 Dauphiné stages, a Down Under stage and the GC worth mentioning as well. His first win was San Sebastian, he had trained hard to repeat that win a year later, but failed, but then used the good form to win Getxo one day later, thus reaching the coveted 10 win goal. The Giro, the main goal of any self-respecting climber in the end was a disappointment, second place in GC, 1'55" back, much further than hoped, and only 1 stage win, could have been more stage wins, but there was a reason for only one (besides ineptitude by the DS) Forgot what, you can probably read all about it in the race thread. Still a successful career, Guillaume now has taken up climbing, without a bicycle, coming from a family of mountaineers he was always into it, although we forbid it during his active career, now he's back in the mountains, training for a K2 ascent next May.

Amancio Carpinteiro (Esp): 01.02.22-25.08.23 Starting skills:52-74-74-56-46 with 56 reg. Topskills 62-85-74-52-46. 2257 eternal points in 309 races, number 26 in the team. 3 wins. Hirado GP (fantasy) with a 70km attack, Brabant with a 91 km attack a few days later, Limburg in June 22 with a short attack 24 km from the goal. So a long range attack specialist in his youth, he then didn't have more success as he got older unfortunately. But with 62-85 was a strong 60-80 helper, which was his main role anyway. Amancio now is back in his hometown, Vigo, where he works as fitness coach for the local football team, Celta Vigo.

New rider
Magnifico Garcia from Aracataca, Colombia. 73-48-74-49-56 with 51 reg. Like Marquez an untypical colombian climber, since he comes from the Caribbean region. Like Marquez, his main mountain training ground was the Sierra Nevada de Santa Maria, which lies between their 2 hometowns. Training on the dirt roads there, Magnifico not only developed amazing climbing skills, unparalleled in the region we would have said if Excelino hadn't emerged from their a few seasons earlier, but also an aptitude for pavé/dirt road. 80 internal pavé. Unfortunately Magnifico seldom trained in the flat, often even asking his parents to bring him to the start of the climbs, just a few km away, by car. So with 48 flat, he really isn't ready for the pros many team thought, but his talent in the mountains is undisputed. His goal of course are the GTs, but with his sprint we hope he can do well in some one day races too. For the moment we only expect him to train, mountain but if possible also flat, we force him to ride to the climbs by bike. His nickname logically would be Magnifico, well his name, no need for a nickname, but since the local newspapers started calling Excelino Marquez "El Magnifico" when he first emerged in the junior ranks, when Magnifico emerged the newspapers were obviously surprised and at a loss. Now we have El Magnifico, first climber out of our department ever, now we get this other junior whose name actually is Magnifico.... so he was named "Su Excelencia" We hope that will not create identification trouble with Excelino when they ride together, 2 Magnificos, one Excelino, one Su Excelencia. Annoying journalists, couldn't they have called Excelino "Microsoft"? Anyway, we don't except any results for Su Excelencia for the moment, December tour, depending on the profile, might be the first race where we expect him and Magnifico to show there class together.

[Robyklebt]

September

Place 18 in D1 with 6887 points. Would have been a bit over 10'000 if Steiner didn't leave the team shortly before the end of the month. 2 wins, both of them Vuelta stages by Urs Steiner. Plus the youth jersey at the Vuelta with Marquez and the team classification.

So not a bad month, despite the lack of wins after the Vuelta. 11th for Lekubarri at the Coppa Agostoni, 3rd+4th for Steiner and Trutat in the Giro dell'Emilia the results in the 2 other important races of the month.

Rider of the season clearly Urs Steiner, but since he left the team he can't give an interview. An interview with him wasn't advisable anyway, he loves foul language, even when in a good mood, and currently his mood doesn't seem good.

Finances

+2'647'462, Vuelta payout while only 2 weeks of it makes it the best month of the year.

Training
Marquez +2 mountain at 86 now makes it very good. Steiner -3 down to 83 much less, and precipitated his departure from the team.

Retirements

Reinaldo Gamboa: Joined the team on 01.03.22 with the following skills: 48-74-72-49-63. Trained to 58-74-72-49-78. So not as high in mountain as we had hoped. 296 races, 4 wins and 5018 eternal points, place 66 at the time of retirement in the team (now 67) His most important win the 15th stage of the TdF 2022. His other important win was a Catalunya stage in 23. Still, it's a bit of a mystery how he managed to get to 5000 points, probably just a result of lots of races and the some placements in biggers ones. Gamboa now is back in Cali, joining the construction company his brothers started with his money during his career. We wish him good luck in his new career too.

Urs Steiner:

Joined the team on 01.08.22. Starting skills 73-56-72-54-53 with 52 reg. Best skills 86-59-71-55-53. A slow trainer, he was only at 82 with 23 and 24, Trainings at 25-26-27 and then 29 finally brought him up to 86. Logically he was the number 2 in the team for most of his career, got a stage each in Catalunya and Pais Vasco, plus a second place in GC in Catalunya. He finally got to be leader in the Tour and the Vuelta and finally delivered. A stage, the mountain jersey and second place in GC in the Tour, 3 stages and second in GC again at the Vuelta. Finally 10'029 eternal points in 95 races. Number 17 in the team at the time of his retirement 6 wins. Urs left the team with a barrage of insults, lots "xxxxPimmel" etc. heard. We're not completely sure what he's doing now or plans to do, but we expect he'll continue drinking, play guitar, although just as a hobby and well, more drinking. We wish him the best for that of course. And see you online, you son of a bitch!


New rider

Haregot Woldermariam, our first Eritrean rider joined the team today, 01.10.2023: His skills 55-71-78-62-50 with 65 reg. A future classic, for the moment he'll be used as an overprized early tempo rider. Long term of course we hope he devvelops into a 70-80, even if the 80 part seems difficult. Due to his high reg for the moment we plan to start the Giro 24 only with 1 classic, Haregot most likely, since it's the only one we have as well. With his TT he could be something for some smaller stage races too. Benelux, races like that.

[cataracs]

Why Giro24 with just one classic?

[Chemnitz Pro Cycling Team]

Poor Haregot has to ride without teammates

[cataracs]

Are you bullying him because he's African

[Robyklebt]

Why Giro24 with just one classic?

Taka taka taka taka.. it's written in the same sentence!

Due to his high reg for the moment we plan to start the Giro 24 only with 1 classic,

High regeneration. Means he will be fit again very soon if he ever goes under reg. Not my usual 40 reg classic (although lately I often had to make compromises and buy them with more reg) Can use him quite a lot on consecutive days. As well it means he will costs shitloads of money. If start with 2 climbers (which is the plan) then just this high reg guy should be enough. Now if he doesn't train, or I buy a second classic (will have to at some point, probably for Dec or Jan?) and that other yet unbought classic trains much better (unlikely until May if he comes in Jan, but who knows, then might start the other one, or both if Woldemariam is some sort of 68-75-78... but ok, he should be better than that by May

[Robyklebt]

October

Fast Donks, November barely started, and we already update our press center!
3 wins, Rrurrambu, Magritte and Trutat. Classics: Not a success, very frustrating, bad riding by Donkey, at least in the monument. Let's start with that.
Lombardia, stevens weird riding, ended up without the team in the last flat part, attack clear, it goes, Trutat hangs. Not Lekubarri, who was the guy that was fit. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh. Lekubarri was still on Ghirga from much earlier, in case stevens tried that card. Then when the attack was clear somehow the brain didn't react and change following. Third monument that I ride extremely badly in a decisive moment. Roubaix, after Gipfel had hilariously killed his team 50 km from the end (don't quote me on the exact number) in an attack of stupidity the Donkey rode for him. Attack planned, others were faster in attacking, attacking behind seemed hopeless, wasn't going to catch up, so ride and think of a plan. Turned out to be riding for a second place (that I didn't even get...) Ok, there at some point I tried the attack at least. LBL, instead of keeping Payot in front, dropped to help a classic, in front.. possible win, but ok, not sure if Schappy rides then.. probably not, he's not stupid, in a sprint had 0 chances. Still, since Payot-Rossi was caught immediately, leaving Payot in front would have been better. And now here... not thinking, seeing the attack, but simply not reacting and change the setting. Bad monuments season. But ok, at Lombardia at least I wasn't the only one riding badly, was matched or even surpassed by others. Stevens first siebing from low, meaning sieb with the guy that then will ride, so he gifted everybody extra helpers. Sieb from high! Sieb with a 77, ride up with your 62! Then the 52-61 that he carried along are dropped, and while they might come back, at least some other teams have to work. (Again, maybe the numbers wrong) Then he overdid it, used up his riders too fast, was left with Ghirga (I think) alone, couldn't control the end. Bad! Lost Lombardia like that. Lost? He won! True, but that's because the front lost it too, and later, so it was back to stevens. Front is through, 4 riders?, Trutat not riding, too dead, one goes out, then Medina goes out, the pretty clear favorite in front goes out, last km then surprisingly all out, Velasco goes over, wins. Hysterical. If I had Lekubarri in front, and then he would have been the favorite, wouldn't have happened. But looking at how Gipfel went out with Medina.... we wouldn't even have gotten to the last km ahead if Lekubarri was there, So nothing lost by being stupid for me, if I had followed the group simply wouldn't have worked. At least that's what I tell myself to recover from the shock of fucking it up so badly...

Last important race of the year, Paris-Tours, I have Lorenzini and the pavé guys as leaders. Group goes through. Easy. AAD with 2 sprinters and Watt number 1 favorite, even if Iwachnenko seemed highly unlikely to be a factor. Tukh with Deklavs, another clear favorite. Maybe he was number 1 as rider, AAD with the 2 options. And neither feels the need to ride. Made me feel much better about my ineptitude the previous day again.. Romoc at least tried, but coming on late, he then was dropped on pavé. Lorenzini survived it, but barely, fought ultra-hard on the last sieb km. The attack behind the long gone escape group on the *** after a 6 was caught by the loser group (that now was able to ride surprisingly, for the win they couldn't, for places, of course!) Anyway, Tukh+AAD the worst riding of the weekend, even our collective idiocy-riding in Lombardia was better than that, at least there we tried to win, here those 2 didn't. Not surprising in AAD's case, he has build a solid reputation for not riding for wins in 1 day races, (he claims the reputation isn't based on facts, the reputation is still there though, let him figure out how he got that one...) Tukh on the other hand usually a reliable chaser, too reliable grr. Ranbir. Anyway, a horrible end to the season, Horrible Donks in Lombardia, horrible race in France.

Other classics? Nothing, but there were less than usual, with Emilia already in sept.

15th in D1 with 7538 points, that meant relegation to D2

Rider of the month: Galarrwuy Rrurrambu. Winning Bernocchi in the end worth more to us than Trutat with Japan Cup, and whatever race Magritte won. Ah, big solo on a waffle. Nice, but it's not Bernocchi.

-Galarrwuy, rider of the month! For the second time in your career after December 22!
-Thanks, nice to get the award a second time.
-So which month was better, December 22 or October 23?
-January 23!
-That wasn't an option, December 22 or October 23!
-Well, last month then, last December I got my first win, very nice, but the team hardly rode after that. And the win was in Singapur, Bernocchi clearly is worth more. But really January 23,
-As I said, th..
-LET ME FINISH!!!January I won 2 races, a stage of Down Under, bringing attention to how underrepresented we aborigines are in Australian sports.
-Isn't it a bit late? Cathy Freeman did that years ago.
-I'm no Cathy Freeman, I never won an Olympic Gold... but I honestly think that my win at Down Under and later at the Tour, and Baykali's Australian Championship were the most important sporting achievements for us since Cathy Freeman. Let's hope we inspired more young aborigines to take up competitive sports.
-Ok, ok, whatever!
-Do you have any more questions?
-Your future!
-I will go into politics, will stand for election for the green party. To be able to help aboriginal Australians and of course my community on Elcho Island more effectively.
-I meand as a cyclist.
-No future most likely. I certainly feel the age now. Will ride a few races here and there, but the leaders for sprint now are Chassot and Lorenzini. I'll try to help them and help Baykali, hope he gets another win before his career is over. Unlike me, he's still going strong, even if he seems to be losing a bit of his explosivity too.
-Do you know when you'll retire?
-Probably after Down Under. I'll join the team there, if we ride, either as rider, or more likely as temporary press officer.
-WHAT?
-Yes, your job, I can do that better than you. But don't worry, will only be for that week. After that I'll retire and will use my talents for something more important than press officer of Big Donkey.
-Ok, that's it, thanks for the interview. Bye
-Bye

Training
Was probably brilliant, don't remember.

Finances:

1'285'131
Less than we usually hope, think we started quite cheap most of the time? Hoped for a bit more, but ok, riding Lombardia as badly deserves a lesser profit I guess.

Retirement

Raffaele Pecci: 01.04.22-27.10.23. Pavé rider. starting skills: 46-69-53-58-54 Top skills 49-84-5x-60-54 with 81.3 pavé. Hm, thought it was more? Ha, according to my press center, 47-70-54-59-55 at the start. Top skills unchanged. well, should be 55 sprint. Anyway 244 races, 1674 eternal points. 2 wins, GP Denain and a stage at the pavé tour. 5th in Paris-Roubaix. Sold for only 169'958, which has good chances of being the lowest sale of the year, an old goal of the team, that can't be controlled as well as it used to anymore.. data missing. Sniff. Most of the time he was a helper, leadership only in pavé, got 2 wins, so his career finally a success. Raffaele now is back in Pistoia, works as a dog breeder.

New rider:

André Chassot joined the team on 01.11.23. From Fribourg, his starting skills: 48-59-70-48-79 with 42 reg. We payed 1'863'681 for him A sprinter. And got praise from Kwick, which still confuses us, Kwick usually doesn't praise Donks-riders. His training: Risk at 21, flat and sprint. We predict that he will train +4+3 only, thus ending at 48-63 with 82 sprint at the end of November. We'll see how accurate my prediction was soon. A bit more long term his training goal is primarily sprint, if he reaches 88+, then we plan to go back to flat, hoping to get as high there as possible too. Most likely our Giro sprinter, fighting for the place with Lorenzini. Probably from January on he will be the first sprinter on flat races, until then Rrurrambu and Lorenzini should be the leaders.

Wilson Stringfellow, from Masterston, New Zealand, joined the team for 1'379'731 on 01.11.23 as well. His starting skills, 46-74-62-52-56 with 45 reg. A flat rider for Chassot, after praise from Kwick we were so high on him that we thought he needs one immediately. And Stringfellow good for our salary structure too. 45 reg a bit too high actually, but otherwise almost perfect. 50-high 80 the goal, let's hope he trains mountain fast and but my fearless prediction is that he'll miss 2 mountain trainings. No personal goals in his career really, he should be always in support of Chassot. Even if with 56 sprint (soon 55 most likely) he should be able to get some placements here and there.

[Robyklebt]

November

Goals the winter classics, won 2, Villalba with Marquez, Ouro Preto with Trutat, both with topform on their races. Our 2 only wins this season. Gotxon third in San Francisco the only other good result in the races that count. 5th place (?) in D2, 5221 points. Trutat with 303 points best pointgetter of the season, 1 of the 2 wins, so he's the rider of the season. 5 times top 5 in 7 races, Since he's riding in India right now, no time for an interview

Finances
1'401'787
100'000 below our usual goal, but considering we missed 2 races that likely would have resulted in decent profit, that's ok.

Training
Garcia 1/4, bad. Marquez up to 88 was this month I guess, very good. Rest some good, Matisse, some less, Stringfellow missing 2 mountain and Chassot one sprint... but with Marquez at 88 can't complain.

Retirement:

Patrizio Rossi: Joined the team on 01.05.22. Starting skills 56-74-67-49-49 with 59 reg, 74-79-67-49-49 his top skills. 3937 eternal points in 173 races. 2 wins, a TdF stage in 22 and a fantasy race in June 23. Career goal LBL, 8th place as leader. Good classic, lots of reg made him ride little finally, he wanted too much money to ride. He's now back in Prato, looking for a career as TV pundit, like his grandfather, Paolo. Problem is that cycling pundits are less in demand than football world champions as football pundits. Let's hope he finds employment!

New rider
Enea Novelli from Firenze joined on 01.12.23: Starting skills 54-70-73-52-51 with 36 reg. So a cheaper rider for once, cost only 1'468'641 to sign him, and his salary should not reach the stratosphere later either. Second classic, so his goal is something like 70+-77?. Should be at 66-7x end of February, so his chances to ride the Giro are actually pretty good. Expectations are a leadership, co-leadership in the hilly races from March on, mostly LBL of course. For the first few months we just hope he trains well, and he will probably ride quite a bit.

Season goals:
The winter classics and the December Tour. Try for GC and a stage in Tamil Nadu or Kerala. Or 1 each is ok too. Try to go up to D1 this month, riding the Dec tour we should get points. We start the month in 6th or 7th place, a bit over 1000 points behind the last promotion spot.

[Robyklebt]

January

January already over I was just informed, so let's review it. Edit; Now we were informed that we missed December too. Dammit. Ok, Payot rider of the season, training whatever, finances were there, retirements and new riders will be checked and possibly added at a later date.

Place 12 with 5298 points in D1, 22 races, managed to stay in D1, a positive surprise, after missing +/-20 races over Christmas/New Year. Winning the Dec tour was enough. January 4 wins, excellent, Trutat, Longbottom, Gurruwiwi and Lorenzini. Lorenzini winning a cat 2 in Mallorca is rider of the season:

-Riccardo, rider of the season, congratulations!
-Thank you.
-Finally your first win, and that was enough to get the most coveted award in c4f!
-Yes, he's an asshole.
-What?
-Oh, wrong answer.. sorry. But you told me the first question would be about Novelli, and that if I wanted to keep my job that was the only acceptable answer, decree from the Donkey.
-Ah yes, of course you're right, my mistake? So, let's start again, Riccardo, rider of the season, congratulations!
-Thank you.
-Is Novelli an asshole?
-Yes, he's an asshole!
-Excellent answer!
-I know.
-Finally your first win, and that was enough to get the most coveted award in c4f!
-Yes, nice to get a win even if I don't think it's that late. I'm a bit of a late bloomer, I wasn't as fast as I'm now when I first turned pro. So winning my first race with 27 was ok think.
-Not everybody agrees, but let's move on. The future.
-Obviously I want to keep winning. A win a month would be quite nice.
-Any special goals?
-Of course, Milano-Sanremo, Milano-Torino, De Panne, Scheldeprijs, Giro stages, something like that would be nice. But first let's concentrate on February.
-Ok, good luck then

Finance
1'023'509 so more or less in our 50k per race thing. Fine.

Training
Novelli is an asshole.

Retirement
Galarrwuy Rrurrambu retired on 31.01.24 He joined the team on 01.07.22. Starting skills 48-55-48-49-76 with 36 reg. Topskills 49-61-48-49-89, He 4119 points in 179 races, 7 wins. His most important win a TdF stage, followed by a win in his home tour, Tour Down Under. And Coppa Bernocchi. A good career, but his cultural impact was even greater. He put aboriginals on the sporting map again, Time magazine called him even more important than Cathy Freeman. While Freeman grew up in Queensland, Rrurrambu comes from almost exclusively aboriginal Elcho Island, with little infrastructure, little support early in his career. His success (and that of his younger friend Baykali Gurruwiwi) at the highest level gave and keeps giving lots of the young Islanders, they can succeed in sports. Rrurrambu now is working on the development of cycling on Elcho Island, he plans to stand for the green party in the next election as well. We wish him all the best in this new endeavour.

New rider

Ruud Koopman from Maastricht. 48-67-58-48-45 with 38 reg. A flat rider, although most likely never a top flat rider. A good man to keep the salary down, and in a few months he should be a decent flat rider as well. For the moment all we expect is that he trains, hopefully coming close to 80 in late April. And reach 80 in May or June. 50-82 seems a good goal. Until he has something resembling that of course we don't expect any results from him, and even after that he will have few chances to ride for himself. A career helper, bunking with Verkerk, who felt a bit lonely as the only Dutch in the team lately.

Outlook:
February only has one goal, Het Nieuwsblad. Where we'll fail once again. But we had an epiphany a short while ago: Maybe it would help us to win this and E3, 2 of our missing wins, to buy a rider with skills that actually fit the race! We are now seriously considering buying a guy with some sprint, some mountain, some pavé, to have a decent leader for these races in 25!
Long term outlook. Not too optimistic about the classics, but we'll try. Giro, the team is taking shape. Pre-selection:

Marquez
Garcia
Woldemariam
Novelli (asshole)
Longbottom
Almirall
Lorenzini
Chassot
Henri
Strongfellow
Magritte
Blake

Of course January doesn't only mean January, but also the anniversary of our teams c4f debut in 2006. 18 years! Lots of everything.
We'll keep this part short this year, less awards handed out:
Rider of the year: Guillaume Payot. 10 wins, 2 stage races, Tirreno and Down Under. Most important win the Flèche Wallonne. 2nd in the Giro.
Favorite rider: Gurruwiwi. It was Vanuytsel, but in the end Gurruwiwi overtook him.
Dumbest buy: Woldemariam. Expensive.
Most useful rider: Blake. He's also the most useless rider of course, Pavé leader that stopped at 79, started at 66, but still, 13 up is not all that much considering the higher percentages. So no pavé leader, not even a good active pavé helper, more of a battery on pavé. But a cheap rider that rides lots of 1 day races, has some reg, can do tempo, he turned out to be pretty useful.
Nicest win: No idea. Lorenzini was nice! Or at least I was very happy after he won, that's all I remember, 27th, that's just ok for the last year, first race on 28th it says (Thought it was 27th, but who remembers...)
Worst defeat: Many, the Monuments weren't ridden well last year. Hard to chose one between Roubaix, Liège and Lombardia. Let's chose Roubaix, maybe rode worst there.

Ok, enough awards. Viva Payot! But Urs Steiner in the end turned out quite well too, he just lacks a win like the Flèche to really challenge for the rider of the year award. But Urs "Ventil" Steiner is a legend anyway, he doesn't need public recognition.

[Robyklebt]

Damn, February was fast this year, must have been shorter than usual, January finished days ago, now already February!

February

16th and last place in D1, 3518 points, 2500 behind 15th place, was only 2000 at the beginning of the month I think.
3 wins Marquez in Bessèges, then Garcia twice in one day races, Muscat, where he had topform and Var. The big race of the month ended with a 5th place for Magritte, last in the first group. To have a chance to do better Magritte lacked a nice ally, somebody with similar skills, ok mountain, good pavé, little sprint, preferably with good downhill, to try to survive from the Bosberg till Ninove. And a good manager of course. Blake and Henri 14th and 16th.
Most points this season Lekubarri, 325, but only placements, few races, often placed, not sure how he got the points.
3 NCs won too, but that hardly counts. Even if Gurruwiwi's second national title was cool, started at little over 360, 380 we think, was almost at 0 energy the day before, attacked, the only other guy who showed up a bit later saw him with 2-3 or maybe 5 minutes ahead and decided not to try... would have been an easy catch and win. But Gurruwiwi keeps making Elcho Island proud.

Rider of the season is clearly Garcia

-Magnifico, congratulations
-Thanks!
-2 wins, no training.
-Yes, results are more important than potential, I think I proved that here.
-Yes, but don't you think will be more difficult to get results in bigger races with your lack of training?
-I train. I just don't improve much. What for.. Muscat and Var I can win at this level, I'll improve when it counts.
-Let's hope so. What are your goals for next season?
-We'll ride Paris-Nice and most likely Catalunya.
-But will you ride or will the Donkey make an alternative program for you again?
-I'll start, I'll start, I'm ready for bigger things. I'll help el Magnifico too if he seems he's in better position, but I won't start as automatic number 2.
-Let's talk long term for a moment. The Donkey has been floating the idea of starting with only 1 climber at the Giro. Excelino. Do you think it will happen?
-I don't know, if it does, that's the way it goes. Not that I think it makes much sense, but the Donkey is the boss. He's even been suspected of knowing what he does.
-Not very often..
-Well, some people seem to think so, so it has happened. They could be wrong of course.
-Of course.
-Is he around?
-No, think he's trying to spread common sense somewhere.
-Good!
-Back to the Giro: You still would like to start I guess?
-Of course, but as I said, not my decision. I would have wanted to ride in Colombia too.
-Tour? Actually the Tour seems more suited to both me and el Magnifico, so I expect us to both start there. Often in the past it was only the younger climber that went there, I think this year the Donkey will let el Magnifico start too, the leadership then is open.
-Vuelta?
-No clue...
-D2 next season, with a horrendously low amount of points. Are we going down to D3?
-The risk seems to be there, but don't think it's actually a real risk. We are more likely to come back up immediately. Next season we will ride 2 stage races, we will do well, we will score points, we will do well in Milano-Sanremo. The question is how well we'll do in the cobbled shit. And that gravel
-COBBLED SHIT? WHO ARE YOU, YOU LITTLE SHIT! YOU ARE SHIT. SHITHEAD. SON OF A PAVED ROAD! SHITMOUTH! SHITTY SHITSTER!!!!
-Anton Hasler, please, he didn't mean it like that. It's the hills he really dislikes in Belgium!
-Actually I'm very talented on cobbles!
-Well, if you'd trained your flat riding a bit more...
-We already have that, at the end of the day nobody cares about potential, it's results!
-Well, it's just past 1 o'clock at night here, the end of the day is far..
-Good point I guess. Anyway, who was that?
-Anton Hasler, security is trying to get him out now, some sort of team legend I think, old, but kind of strong still. He won Paris-Roubaix, I just checked, seems to have developed an obsession? He often hangs out here, little else to do in his old age it seems. Is quite nice as long as you just agree with everything he says.
-Oh... let's hope he doesn't show up anymore.
-Where were we?
-Cobbled s
-NO no no, please, he'll come back!
-Cobbled races in Belgium, depends how well Matisse and co will do there. Matisse is held in quite high regard by the team, but he never really delivers. But I don't watch that shi, sorry, those races, had enough of bad roads in Macondo.
-Macondo? Aracataca!
-That's what I said, Aracataca.
-Ok, times up it seems, was a pleasure talking with you.
-I hope we meet again soon. My time is coming.

Finances
+1'316'168 Our goal basically is 1'500'000 a month, so below that, but nothing tragic.

Training
Started of pretty average, then Henri, Chassot, Woldermariam, some Lorenzini, in the end turned out quite well.

Retirement
Nobody retired. Good I guess

New rider
Ceriel Bucquoy from Lessines, Belgium, 53-63-76-52-59 with 37 reg will join the team tomorrow. Our Milano-Sanremo leader for 2025, a hill sprinter. But Donkey, you'll say, you just bought Verkerk again! I'd say yes, you're right, but then I'm not the Donkey, just the press secretary. The Donkey says that a) Verkerk will win MSR 2024, so why not buy a similar rider? A compelling argument, I have to agree. And then he says that they are not identical. Which is true, Verkerk had only 56 sprint, but slightly more mountain. and no downhill. And less pavé. But a certain resemblance can't be denied. Optically though Ceriel is much more stocky. We payed an embarrassing 1'455'651 for him. so 110 too much, annoying mistake. (Verkerk was cheaper if anybody wonders, almost 100k)
Ceriel as fourth sprinter won't get many chances at first of course. But with Verkerk being 34 next season, it shouldn't take too long for Ceriel to take over the position as hill sprinter. Obviously not before the Giro, but from June on we expect him to bring in results. Maybe already at the Tour. While preparing for his career goal, Milano-Sanremo. We hope to bring him to 75 sprint, and a bit above 60 in the hills. Possibly focus a bit more on flat with him than we did with Verkerk, we'll see later about that though.

Goals for March
Many, Milano-Sanremo first of course. Paris-Nice next. And then all the other important races, from Strade Bianche to Ronde van Vlaanderen, although we fear that as usual we won't really have much to say in the outcome of that one. So in March we will not scout for a guy with high pavé as usual, but for a guy with decent pavé, but some sprint, a leader for the hilly pavé races in 2025!
-

[Chemnitz Pro Cycling Team]

No mention of your new band?

[Robyklebt]

March

1st place in D2, 9854 points. 7618 in March, in 31 races. 10 wins, so a successful month, very successful.
But let's go on chronologically
Strade Bianche: 4. H. Woldemariam 9. M. Magritte. Turned out better than expected, even if I have to admit that I don't remember details. Basically Haregot managed to hang on and hang on, missed the Gafurbekov attack, well, didn't think it would make sense following, so kept hanging on to the Taka-driven peloton and got 4th

Paris-Nice: Marquez second, 2" off in GC. Bitter... No. Not at all. I already had so much luck to even end up so close, no regrets there. Ok, except not winning Paris-Nice once again. But Marquez winning 5 stages, 3 could be expected, 2 pretty clear, 1 not really sure, the other 2 just had all the luck in the world. Small group, lucky Donkey, points jersey, can't complain.

Milano Torino: Great Lorenzini, 14th. Well, second in the sprint, only Takahashi better. Good action by 123 123 to keep the climbers far enough back after the first hill, then after the final hill the front group rode together way too well. Despite the fact that the winner seemed clear, 80% Baxter. BW second best sprinter in that group too, everybody rode, wild stuff. Happens, 22" back for the Takahashi group, we sprinters rode well, the front group was faster.

Milano-Sanremo: 1. Chassot 7. Lorenzini 14. Verkerk. GREAT. Season saved. 2024 pretty much a success. But... it was a disappointing race. Yes, now, 2 weeks later I already see it much more positively, I won! But it still wasn't a great race. c4f, like every game I guess, is a game of emotions. That's what you look for. Not the win, the attempt to win and occasionally the win is just the means to get the emotions. That can be a win, but can also be failing, losing. The frustration of doing everything right and then a mistake in the end. The frustration of no mistake at all and still not winning. The joy of winning after riding a perfect race (still looking for that one...) the joy of winning despite making mistakes, from the loss to the win. Or the frustration of thinking you've won it to lose it. Or the thrill of chasing, of being chased. Thrills abound. Not on that Saturday.
The plan was: 3 sprinters, super-train for MSR. But hard to make it work. Add 2 very good flat riders, 90-87. All at 100 form. Add Woldemariam for the Cipressa 5 after the sieb, the downhill and sort of the Poggio. Keep 6 riders fit. The problem, but in a way a blessing in disguise: Chassot with 48-67 very possibly the weakest sprinter on the Cipressa 6. And with Woldemariam, a decent but by no means outstanding puller for his km I'm not sure to come back to the sprinters group. Even if of course Henri-Stringfellow help a lot in the flat. But others with a 87-88, stronger classic, equal downhill, it's 5-6" at the bottom, not sure to come back still. So that weakness gave me enough reason to refuse work until the Capo Berta. I ride, one of my 3 loaders out of commission, no more 6 more or less fit riders, have to cut down to 4, my chances decrease a lot. The big risk of course is that the group goes through, if a guy with a 73-84-89 train refuses work... "But well, look, Chassot, Cipressa! And you only have 1 sprinter, hang on me, you can still beat me! You ride!" So in my fantasies I was looking forward to a stressful first 200 km, where I see my chances ride away, where I'm in tough verbal back and forth with half the peloton, stress, emotions, all released with a win or loss in the end, or with a frustrating group going through. c4f, emotions all around. Reality? First checked the sprinters, as expected, Chassot the weakest Cipressa man. Ok, plan is ON! Let's go for this epic battle of wills! Then....nothing at all happened forever. Nobody thought about attacking. Even if with RfM as leader of the classic faction you knew in advance that the classic faction would just wait for others to make their race, increasing the probability of a successful escape. Finally Tukh goes Donkey just does nothing, Giotti and Brunsketti do it. Somewhere around there discovered that there was a second 3 man train, Zizou, hadn't bother to check that. Hill-flat for sprinters, classics, that's all I needed to see. But reluctantly went in after Capo Berta, really thought this annoying Zizou should, but ok, I go. Cipressa sieb, last, ah no, one of the Zizoutrainman is further back. Perfect. Ride all out, next group caught on the 5 (not sure if the classic was in or out there, AAD group, might have gone out, was in at a moment) All in, others help, Poggio relied on everybody blocking each other, Woldemariam can't do it, worked, sprint, add Stringfellow to the train so to be able to start Lorenzini as late as possible, not to risk the 150 loss. Giotti dangerous, fucks it up (but I think I would have had him under control, maybe too optimistic on that one) Kehrer in Chassot's win goes too early, 100? 89 too... was a bit stronger, but if he goes at 50 he might win. Won, perfect, just no emotions.
But as I said, by now I see it already much more positively, unless I start writing about it... IN the end I did a hidden masterpiece. Not easy to start with 3 sprinters including the weakest Cipressa-topsprinter in the race. Keep the flat faction fit enough to then manage a sprint and win it. Not my fault that I wasn't challenged nearly enough, mentally or physically. Not my fault 50% of the field seemed to have no plan to win beyond "wait and get lucky", but for sure don't try anything, neither tempo to create an opening for classics (they, like hill sprinters didn't even try) or escape. I still did my race as I wanted and had to do it, won it. it's just that the others made it so easy to stick to the plan, wanted to see if I managed to keep the refusal to ride until the Cipressa (wouldn't be easy) wanted to chase hard after the Cipressa (only hard for Tukh), like this was just an emotionless win, give me the emotionally overloading defeat! Well, not now anymore, now I take the win and keep it.

Catalunya: 5 teams, one we chased away on day 1, professional offliner. 4 team race, boring as hell in principle. Kwick made it interesting, but it was Kwick-Big D. we didn't leave anything to the others. 3 stages for Garcia, GC and 4 stages for Kwick. Not winning Catalunya with a climber, embarrassing, but not in this constellation I think. Stage 2+3 I still had to pay attention to the offliner, he had the better climbers really. Stage 5 I fucked up, stage won, but less time gain than expected to Kwick due to that. But in the last stage Kwick was always going to gain quite a bit of time. I tried the offensive tactic, since it was only 12", so 2" ahead plus bonifications... didn't work at all, defensive better in this situation too, but think even with 20" more advantage and riding defensively it wouldn't have been easy to keep the time loss low.

Dwars door Vlaanderen: Matisse, great pavé, no sprint, didn't see many chances. But actually the profile probably fits him better than the hillier ones, even if there's no huge pavé sectors. 10 of 11 teams ahead, we reluctantly ride. Surprisingly weak Schappys, who helped chase too. Hilly sieb his 50es behind Henri, despite Henri's form being only minimally better than their form. More sieb, double attack, Matisse and a Schappy ahead, a few behind with Henri. Ride, looks quite good, not for Magritte but Henri getting a free ride behind.. attack, he doesn't follow. Hadn't put following in. Drinkwater, suspended immediately that is, not me. Not sure he could have followed, he already rode 2 or 3 flat km, which as we all know hurts a lot, but not even trying.. argh. So finally 5th place for Magritte. Actually we rode a very good race with the exception of that following incident.

Ronde van Vlaanderen: Matisse, he will almost certainly finish in the first group, and almost certainly have 0 chances to win there. So escape. Looked rather promising, and went through. Vanuytsel with 39 sprint not ideal, but we didn't know who else to send. Blake would have been best, had the idea too late, 20 minutes after the race or so. 4th for Isidoor, in the back Matisse last of the first chasing group, 5th there, 9th overall.

Rider of the month is: André Chassot. Winning Sanremo, the most important race of the month, pretty clear. Even if Marquez-Garcia die well, with 5-3 stages, but both failed in the GC. And even with GC, Sanremo just bigger.
-André, rider of the month, congrats!
-Thanks.
-Finally your first win on the 15th in the Bredene Koksijde Classic, then a day later Milano-Sanremo. Your career finally took off!
-Yes, management was getting a bit nervous, and to be honest I wasn't too happy with my results until then either. But on the other hand I didn't get all that many chances. 35 races ridden until now, not always as leader. But it's a good feeling finally winning.
-Especially Sanremo
-Of course. Sanremo was the most important race in my career. Giro, Tour, that's goal too, stages and points jersey, but a win in Sanremo is what makes my career a success already.
-So no need to give it all anymore?
-I didn't say that. I'll try in every race, as usual.
-Sanremo, can you tell us how the race went from your persepective?
-Not much to say really, it was a calm race, I was well protected. On the Cipressa I tried to hang on as well as I could, was dropped, but Henri, Stringfellow and Haregot stayed with me, and accelerated well after the hardest moment had passed. Never had problems in the Poggio, downhill went well to, then the sprint.
-Were you ever worried in the sprint?
-There's no time to be worried, I'm busy sprinting. We started off a bit slow, a controlled sprint by Stringfellow, but ready to react if somebody went early, then Verkerk, then Lorenzini and I just had to go at 100 meters. No time to look what happpens behind me, went full power at 100, it worked, I won.
-Big Donkey record winner in Milano-Sanremo! Did it help riding for the team of such a tactical genius?
-Not really, it's 2024, who cares about what he did in 10 years ago? Plus people tell me it was actually Petit Singe that won the first Sanremo for the team. Oldtimers say he was a better sprint manager than Big Donkey. We just rode our race, what the team did in the past didn't affect us, has nothing to do with this year.
-It seems to be really important for the Donkey to be recognized as MSR star....
-Donkey, MSR record winner! I'm amazed! What a great manager. I'm happy to have contributed a win to it! Good like that?
-Should do, thanks.
-What are your goals for April?
-Not much really. We don't plan to ride any stage races, Scheldeprijs is not in my program, so I'll just see if I can strike in some lesser races.
-Ok, good luck then, and congratulations again on your award!
-Thanks

Finances
+2'277'374 Clearly a good result.

Training
Garcia 85 finally, Chassot, Marquez with flat, STringfellow up to 87, Pretty good month too.

Retirement
Baykali Gurruwiwi (Aus) 01.09.22-17.03.24 Starting skills 53-70-54-51-55, 36 reg, best skills: 59-86-54-51-55. 1799 points in 345 races, no. 12 in the team at the time of retirement. 3 wins, 2 of them national championships, so not worth much, but for a rider from Elcho Island still a historic win. A win in a minor race in January 24, at 37 of age his other win. For most of his career helper for his great friend Gallarwuy Rrurrambu. Despite his 55 sprint he didn't get the chance to ride for himself too often. Baykali now wanted to join Rrurrambu at home, Elcho Island, building infrastructure for sports for the young islander and join him in politics too. But after an emergency at our team he agreed to sign a 13 month contract to work as assistant DS for us.

New rider:
Custodio Fortuny from Barcelona joined the team on 01.04.24 for 1'545'451. Starting skills: 51-69-50-55-52 with 37 reg. 72.9 pavé, so 82 internal pavé. His goal obviously is the spring 25. With more sprint than Magritte, we hope that he'll have a few more options for the win than Matisse usually has. Originally we wanted to buy a rider like Paul Gray, who joined Felsenland instead (we didn't have enough money to make an offer anyway) 54-71-78-46-60-69.8-37. So less pavé, but more mountain, downhill and sprint, good for the hilly classics. But in the end we preferred getting a more traditional Donkey pavé rider, 1 reason was that we could't find any youth prospects with similar skills to Mr. Gray, the other, more important reason was Custodio's name. Custudio, custodian, guardian. Fortuny, luck. So the guardian of the luck? After all the luck we had in March, a guardian of our luck is very necessary, when our scout said the name, we already knew we'd sign him, even before he talked about his skills. Training... flat and mountain. He starts with less mountain than Magritte had 54-69-48-54-47 with the same pavé and 38 reg. So -3 mountain, +2 downhill, +1 TT and +5 sprint for Custodio. To be competitive in Flanders, he'll need to train very well, but if in the end he is only there for Paris-Roubaix, that's ok too.

New assistant DS:
As mentioned above, Baykali Gurruwiwi joined the team as assistant DS. After Drinkwater's bad performance during DVV, we suspended him and approached Gurruwiwi. After protracted negotiations, he joined the team in his new role on 01.04.24. (Since yesterday he's suspended , but that's a detail) It turned out to be quite an expensive deal for us. In addition to Gurruwiwi's salary we have to support Rrurrambu's sport center with 10% of our income every month (it took Ferdinand Gygax, our accountant (unofficial) quite a bit of work to make it possible to do that while keeping our earned money too, at least on paper. And we have to sign at least one rider developed in Rrurrambu's sport center in the next 13 months.

Goals for April
The Ardennes, Paris-Roubaix. Everything else secondary.

Stats from the first page of this press center, inspired by FL doing that a few times last year
We finally figured out our identity! Not TTT team, not sprinter team, not GT team, what we are is a March stage race team:

1 win in Paris-Nice, ok, not that impressive, but clear stage win record holder 16 stage wins (my records here say 18?), seems 2006 is being ignored ingame.
4 GC wins in Tirreno-Adriatico, co-record holder with Skullz. with only 6 stage wins 5 behind the number 1. In 7 participations.
5 GC wins in Catalunya record holder, 22 stage wins, record holder too. 9 participations. like for Tirreno over 50% win rate.

Overall we should be number 1 at c4f in these 3 March stage races! (Now we need to work on GC wins in France...)

Paris-Nice 1 win
2006 13. D. Rous 18. F. Sitzmann 2 étapes A.Hasler T. Kühlschrank
2008 1. N. Pucci 5. H. Hochuli
2009 2. P. Ruiz 4. F. Gygax 2 étapes, F. Gygax et P. Ruiz
2011 3. S. Urganov 13. B. Qian 1 Etappe, F. Conti
2013: 7. R. Momyshuly, 20. N. Legrand, 1 Etappe R. Momyshuly
2014: 2. P. Groselj, 7. G. Lajeunesse, 19. S. Poggi, 2 Etappen, M. Creek, P. Groselj
2016: 7. I. Wassberg
2017: 2. E. Zipoli 4. A. Uppdal. 1 Etappe, E. Zipoli
2019: 5. Hir. Matsuyama 10. H. Matsuoka, 1 Etappe, H. Matsushita
2020: 4. F. Antinori, 8. T. Armas, 1 stage, T. Armas
2022: 2. A. Basterretxea 4. I. Ardila, 2 stages, J. Löffel, A. Basterretxea
2024: 2. E. Marquez 11. H. Woldemariam. 5 stages, 5x E. Marquez, points jersey E. Marquez

Tirreno-Adriatico4 wins
2007 ?? Lost results, but catastrophic
2010 1. Y. Gamov, 15. I.Buonarroti, 1 Etappe Y. Gamov
2012 2. D. Mattarozzi
2015: 4. V. Dourado, 1 Etappe, MZF (MacBradaigh, Poggi, Dourado, U. Tobler, Topal, Cayetano, Umesao, Vargas)
2018: 1. L. Zafzaf 9. E. Tobar, 12. S. Vienuolis. 3 Etappen, L. Zafzaf. Punktetrikot L. Zafzaf
2021: 1. T. Eiffel, 3. M. Apicella, 7. B. Faye 15. J. Coderch, 1 stage (T. Eiffel), team classification
2023: 1. G. Payot 11. U. Steiner, 1 stage, G. Payot

Volta a Catalunya 5 wins
2011 10. O. Fahrny, 14. B. Qian 18. S. Berlogea 21. O. Uchigasaki 4 Etappen (F. Conti) + Punktetrikot F. Conti
2012 1 O. Fahrny 2. Y. Ramirez 17. C. Todea 1 Etappe, O. Fahrny
2013 1. M. Trapani, 15. N. Legrand, 16. R. Momyshuly 23. D. Sekiguchi, 2 Etappen, M. Trapani, 1 Etappe D. Gao
2017: 4. A. Uppdal, 5. J. Sax 14. D. Kehrli. 1 Etappe, A. Farkas + Teamklassement
2018: 1. L. Zafzaf, 2. C. Aeschlimann, 8. S. Vienuolis, 1. Etappe, L. Zafzaf
2019: 1. His. Matsuyama 11. Y. Son, 2 Etappen, H. Matsukaze, His. Matsuyama.
2022: 1. I. Ardila 4. A. Basterretxea 7. T. Espariat 10. R. Huizinga. 5 stages, 3x M. Gabel, I. Ardila, T. Espariat.. Team classification
2023: 2. U. Steiner, 6. G. Payot, 20. P. Rossi, 2 stages, R. Gamboa+U. Steiner, team classification
2024: 2. M. Garcia 4. E. Marquez, 3 stages, 3x M. Garcia, mountain jersey M. Garcia