Belatedly, my team with a little analysis, but there probably isn't much to discuss as my heart invariably wins out over my head, particularly when it comes to the big decisions, and so I have a lot of rare, expensive riders;
AYUSO PESQUERA Juan
POWLESS Neilson
GANNA Filippo
CICCONE Giulio
GALL Felix
PLAPP Lucas
RICCITELLO Matthew
TILLER Rasmus Fossum
SIMMONS Quinn
VAN GESTEL Dries
TURNER Ben
SOSA CUERVO Ivan Ramiro
UIJTDEBROEKS Cian
BUCHMANN Emanuel
GELDERS Gil
STAUNE-MITTET Johannes
BRENNAN Matthew
GEOGHEGAN HART Tao
ENGELHARDT Felix
TORRES ARIAS Pablo
KÄMNA Lennard
LOUVEL Matîs
VAN DER HOORN Taco
DEL GROSSO Tibor
CAVAGNA Rémi
KRON Andreas Lorentz
FERRON Valentin
VERMEERSCH Florian
GLOAG Thomas
VAN BAARLE Dylan
TULETT Ben
SEIXAS Paul
PHILIPSEN Albert Withen
Ayuso v WVA. Would love to have included the latter, but too many doubts. Not sure the GTs will be the usual points-fests for him, his recovery from injury, and seeming increasing tendency to crash. Ayuso isn't much less risky perhaps, but couldn't get past the fact that he had 1000 points by the end of April last year, and could easily be on parity at least after the Giro.
Powless - Am choosing to assume that 2023 was the start of a meteoric rise, which was supported by his results after coming back from injury at the end of 2024. Seems competitive over nearly all terrains. Surprised he isn't more popular?
Ganna - Bit of a risk as he'll probably need a very good classics season to become a good pick. However, I like him more as a rider and person than the other options that were available.
Ciccone - If there's even a half-decent reason to select Ciccone, I'll take it. Hoping he'll ride a lot more one-day races this year, and focus less on GC. Whatever happens, there's always times throughout the season when you're glad he's on your team. See also Van Der Hoorn, Tiller, and Louvel
Gall - Probably should have thought a bit more about what being the GC leader for Decathlon would mean for his schedule., and points return. Not sure about this pick now tbh.
Plapp - Yes I got greedy for those early points, assuming he stays on his bike, could be at parity by the end of the Australian summer. After that, much less convinced, but he might begin developing as a rider.
Riccitello - Had him last year and was really impressed in the few races he showed his potential. Little bit crashy/naive, so hopefully he comes back stronger and wiser. Could be this year's Van Eetvelt and should have lots of opportunities to prove it at IPT
Simmons - Always have at least one rider who anonymously stays in the team until the final analysis, then can't be bothered to remove them. Last year it was Lopez, who was surprisingly successful. Hoping Simmons gets over his various psychological and physical issues to fulfil his promise.
Van Gestel v Hayter. Almost complete opposites. The potential upside for Hayter is obviously much bigger, but couldn't bear the thought of another season watching him hang around at the back of the peleton waiting to crash. Van Gestel is always to the fore, aggressive and can surely only improve at Soudal with those qualities? Plus he'll be easy to spot with his Meerkat style.
Sosa - Have never really had a rider for the Asian tour, so hoping he's still good enough for those unipuerto stage races, and a few others on Kein-Pharma's calendar.
Turner - Understandable that so few people still believe in him, but his performances at the end of last year were his best for a long while. He'll be given co-leadership at least in the classics given the departures from Ineos.
Most of the rest of are fairly common, with a couple of exceptions;
Gil Gelders - Was really impressed by some of his support riding last year, and hoping he gets a few more opportunities to show what he's capable of.
Englehardt/Ferron - both were very impressive in 2023 where I came to close to picking them. Being honest, not sure why they had such mediocre seasons last year, but don't want to miss out again if they return to form.
Completely missed a lot of popular riders - Senechal, Dinham, Behrens, Gesbert, Magnier. Don't mind if these do well as they were never part of the selection process.
These though will probably annoy me throughout the season as considered them, but couldn't quite fit them in due to the points combination, or my personal preference/ignorance - Bagioli, Nordhagen, Lafay, Widar, Bisiaux, Carthy, Vader.
Good luck everyone, Have loved reading all the comments.
TDU
Plapp
Brennan
Gloag
Van Baarle
Withen
Van Der Hoorn