Okay, here's the cheaper half of my team, continued from my post yesterday...
OOMEN Sam (179 points, 87 teams) - I took him 2 years ago and have always loved his consistency and high level. 2018 was an okay growth year if not a stratospheric one, but 2019 was a disaster. Iliac artery issues and epstein-barr are two things that are super unpredictable for cyclists in terms of timeline for recovery, and recent interviews have played down expectations. But he's such a great talent and can certainly do his own thing with Dumoulin gone, so here's hoping he gets back to his best quickly.
MOSCHETTI Matteo (160, 24) - he looked great up to and including Hatta Dam as a neo, so I'm genuinely unsure why the rest of his year was so poor, I didn't follow him closely and a cursory search didn't bring up anything particular in interviews (he had a few crashes, sure, but it didn't seem like there was one thing). But fast guys always get their chances, and if the first year is a learning curve I'm usually more happy to take a young talent before their second year. Not a ton of competition for sprints at Trek either, their fast guys are mostly classics guys too.
CHERNETSKIY Sergey (126, 8) - another of my rarest picks that ended up being kind of an afterthought. Definitely one of my last adds, he just has a decent pedigree and evidently wasn't a good fit at Caja Rural... all I could find was an interview saying he "needed to make a change", so who knows how Gazprom will do, but there's lots of opportunity in small stage races, and that's what he's been best at in his career. Probably should have just taken Foss though.
HAAS Nathan (118, 40) - Gone are the days where it was a rule for me not to pick riders switching to Cofidis... aside from how he handled the Bouhanni situation, Vasseur has brought them to a level of respectability. Haas is a good addition, and aside from regaining his level in the appropriate WT races, a smattering of Coupe de France races can't hurt his chances either.
MEINTJES Louis (107, 21) - My process on him was: "sigh I guess I have to include him" (creating the longlist), "no way I'm taking him, he's had two bad years in a row" (glancing over the finished long list), "sigh I guess I have to include him" (reading up on the litany of things that went wrong for him that stopped him from getting into race rhythm), "ugh there have to be better options at that price" (looking over the remaining candidates after locking in 2/3 of my team), "sigh I guess I have to include him" (final run through). The least sexy pick I can imagine, but he's a really talented rider, and I think he can score lots more points than last year, so that's the game we are playing and that's my pick.
BAGIOLI Andrea (83, 35) - I always notice when a rider coming into their neo-pro season has a bunch of first placings next to his name, and I've already mentioned that QuickStep is better than any team I've ever seen at turning potential to win into wins at the pro level right away. That's gotta pay off in some classics throughout the year. I also came pretty close to taking his brother as well.
FROOME Chris (77, 93) - I have never seen a rider of his caliber suffer an injury so severe, so I'm totally unsure and curious how the comeback goes. If I had to guess, I don't think he'll end up being a great pick, but I wouldn't bet, say, a spot on my team for any other rider of equal CQ cost on it.
EEKHOFF Nils (74, 18) - first of all, he's at a 60-point discount from where he should be, so that's a good deal. That, combined with proving he can win at the highest level (and draft like a champ!), is a pretty good start. He didn't show too well in some races, but overall he had enough results that he's pretty promising. And then also, Sunweb has been a really weird team in that they've bungled and stifled young talent in the last few years (in my opinion) while they were decent at developing talent before they thought they could win a GT. My hope is that Dumoulin's departure opens up some air for the rest of the team to go adventuring (obviously, as I have like 5 Sunweb riders).
MODOLO Sacha (67, 62) - I remember when I was a young pup on this forum and Modolo got 4th at MSR as a neo-pro with Bardiani. There was a poster (issoisso I believe) who talked about how awesome Modolo was and how promising he was in the U23s, and I aspired to one day know something about young riders like that poster did. Well, ten years later and nope, I'm still mostly picking veterans who had bad seasons in this game. But it did start a low-key fandom of Modolo, which makes me happy that I can take him at this amazing price. I believe his assertion that it was an undetected intestinal fungus that made 2019 a hellish year for him, and that he still has a lot of juice. With Corendon chasing the top PCT designation, I'm hoping they'll give him the appropriate chances and he'll finish on the high end of his career 400-700 average.
STRAKHOV Dmitry (58, 19) - he killed it at .1 and .HC races for two years for Locosphinx, and then suffered at Katusha with a schedule that was 75% WT races. Going back to PCT will be good for him, I think. Funny that I have 3 Gazprom riders and they were probably all the last 7-8 of riders added to my team. We shall see how it goes!
MINALI Riccardo (52, 23) - pretty much the last addition to my team. I had a few I was considering around this price (Geniez, Power) but ultimately when I'm not sure about something in this game, I default to a fast man who will get more chances, all things equal. He said he didn't feel supported or believed in at ICA, but Delko also has 5-6 young fast guys, hopefully that'll go better for him even so.
VICHOT Arthur (28, 57) - ugh, mono. I've mentioned above about my trepidation for this (seriously though, does anyone know the difference between epstein-barr and mono? Are they effectively the same?), but at that price and that potential I'm hopeful.
CAVENDISH Mark (25, 70) - speaking of which, it's the latest patron saint of epstein-barr. I wish I could quit you Mark, but you switched out of a godawful team (for a slightly less godawful team) and more importantly showed some flashes of promise at the Gent 6-day. That's really it, without either of those things or the price, I'd have given up on you like I should've. But, like, I only need 2-300, not the 4-500 I wanted from his cost last year. This'll be the year for sure!
KANTER Max (8, 63) - oh right, I have SIX Sunweb guys. Must have forgotten because I don't think I've ever actually seen footage of him in a race wearing Sunweb colours. This year has to be better than last because last year was the worst.
DE BIE Sean (5, 68) - see last line of Kanter's writeup.
SIMMONS Quinn (0, 76) - I would never have taken an 18-year-old neo-pro doing the straight jump before Evenepoel. I guess neither would have Trek, really. I've been skeptical of young talent turning pro early in recent years, from Mohoric to Kamna, and for good reason as they have been overwhelmed and slow to develop. And the glut of young guns following Remco's leap is sure to offer its share of disappointments. Evenepoel is special because he's a once-in-a-half-century talent; his success doesn't mean others can do the same jump from juniors. But Simmons made an effortless leap to Euro racing from the US and was dominant in the Worlds and most of the races he targeted last year. I don't expect more than 2-300 from him, which would make him a good pick at 0 points, and I wouldn't have picked a junior of equal talent that wasn't a one-day kinda guy, because GC is lower variance. Finishing points in WT races and a few audacious attacks that net him top 10s in 1.1 races will make me satisfied.
Phew, that's it. Can't wait to see what the year of racing brings!
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram