I figure I should explain some of the less popular picks on my team.
DE SCHUYTENEER Steffen (125 points, picked 20 times)
PTSD from missing out on De Lie in 2022.
RICCITELLO Matthew (333 points, picked 17 times)
Exactly the type of picks I tend to make. Young, ascending GC rider with a consistent baseline and the potential to break through. His results in stage races last season: 12th in UAE tour, DNF in Catalunya, 13th in the Giro d’Abruzzo, 5th in the Tour de Suisse, 6th in the Sibiu Tour and 30th in the Vuelta (where he was much more impressive than that GC would let you believe). I think he is ready to get a few top 10s in WT one week races.
TEUTENBERG Tim Torn (253 points, picked 17 times)
Impressive in Mallorca last year. He was consistently good at the lower levels last year. It’s time to step up now and replicate that form in bigger races.
HATHERLY Alan (18 points, 8 picks)
Recent cross overs from mountain bike to road racing haven’t been the instant sensations that Cadel Evans or Jean-Christophe Péraud were but it’s always fun to follow riders from other disciplines try their hand at road racing. There’s also not much downside at that price. I don’t recall ever picking Impey or Van Rensburg so I believe this is my first South African ever.
RONDEL Mathys (131 points, 9 picks)
Did you know that his score is artificially low because he was stripped of his win in stage 3 of the Istrian Spring Trophy (for going through a roundabout in a non UCI approved manner) ? Well now you know and understand why it’s only a matter of time before Hirschi, Alaphilippe, Trentin and Storer are his domestiques. More seriously, I like what Tudor is building but they don’t have a ton of climbers yet so I can definitely see him get a few GC opportunities.
ISIDORE Noa (127 points, 9 picks)
He had some interesting results at the .2 level including winning the GC of the Istrian Spring Trophy (in a field that included Pellizari for instance). Bet you didn’t expect two references to that race in the span of a couple sentences. Anyway, he can score in one day races as well as GCs which is always a plus. Honestly his results versus pros are more impressive than his U23 results which is kind of rare. It looks like, the bigger the race, the better the stronger he is so I’m curious to see how he handles the step up in competition.
CRAPS Lars (132 points, 3 picks)
Every year I try to get one or two riders that are reasonable picks that I expect to be rare/unique so I have somebody to cheer for. Lars Craps is that guy in 2025.
SÖDERQVIST Jakob (164 points, 3 picks)
I’ve talked a bit about him already. Quite expensive for a guy on a development team but I don’t expect him to stay there all year. Worst case, just call him up for a couple stage races where an ITT determines the GC like Poitou Charentes or Denmark plus dominate the U23 scene and it should turn out fine.
CHRISTEN Jan (547 points, 14 picks)
I had him in my team last year until I swapped him out last minute. We all make mistakes, we don’t have to repeat them. So he is in this time. With Hirschi and Ulissi gone, he is about to Hirschi the UCI calendar like nobody has ever Hirschied before (yes I know it’s not a verb, leave me alone).
PIGANZOLI Davide (523 points, 1 pick)
Does it make sense to spend over 500 points on a rider from Polti ? Probably not but Piganzoli checks a LOT of boxes. Is he the best rider on his team and will get every leadership oportunity he can handle ? Check. Want a guy that will consistenly crank out points in every stage race he enters ? Check (his 8 stage races in 2024: 14th in Valenciana, 1st in Antalya, 18th in Tirreno, 10th in the Alps, 13th in the Giro, 11th in Burgos, 9th in Luxembourg with only a DNF in Slovenia due to a crash). Want a guy that can dominate against weaker competition ? Check (see his Antalya result). Sure he might get that kind of easy points most of the time but he is also riding for Polti, it’s not like he’ll see a bunch of WT riders every week. Did he seem to improve as the Giro wore on, showing good recovery skills ? Check. Do you want a 22 years old that just did the best time trial AND the best one day race of his career in the last month of his season hinting that he hasn’t reached his full potential yet ? Check. Want a guy that can score a lot during the Italian fall to carry my team and avoid my usual September collapse ? Check. Want an expensive rider that is also going to be quite rare and exciting to follow ? Check. What more could you want ?
By the way, he isn’t on my team but I’m absolutely shocked that nobody picked Gautherat. How often do you see a guy score over 400 points as a 21 years old, go into the next season healthy as far as I can tell and not get selected even once ?