OCM In Focus
  
  The difficulty of securing the signature of a young talent is something that all OCM managers will know. Finding a young rider worth training can be difficult and all managers are after a Young Gun or the next big thing. This OCM In Focus focuses on Korten Cycletek’s recent struggle to find talent. As a team towards the bottom of the Zyte Division, they are facing the classic issue that faces most teams in the lower divisions – the need to find a talent that will bring them up to the top division.
  
  (This article is inspired by a press release by Korten Cycletek and has been edited by this author)
  
  It’s funny how the world works, apparently decent young talents are just like buses and Korten Cycletek press releases: you wait ages for one and suddenly two come at once...
  
  Off the back of the big money transfers of three of its top riders, the decision was taken by team management to acquire a decent young sprinter, either one to compliment Kihlström's hilly sprinting with pure flatland power, or as a cobbles crossover,

to bring back the cobblestone element to the squad.
  
  Off the bat, two riders seemed excellent choices and headed up a talent shortlist; an amazing pure-flat sprinter, Lowell Egan, and a very interesting cobbles crossover in the mould of Jari Fredriksson, Sasha Chahine. After an intense few days of negotiation, it appeared that the team would be securing the services of Egan for the modest sum of 60k.
  
  However, the team's accountant was informed by a friend who worked in the Belgian Government's Financial Irregularites Department, that the selling team 'Maxidas' was actually a front for a major crimes cartel and that the team should be wary before signing any deal with them. Sure enough the whole thing turned out to be a con and, although costly to cancel due to agents fees, the team walked away glad to know they didn't get stung for the full cost.
  
  After this Sasha Chahine was the #1 target for the team, and after a bit of confusion and haggling with Catavia his contract was secured for tidy sum of 40k.
  
  Now, two decent young sprinters

might seem more than enough for any team, but history has been cruel to Korten Cycletek and the lessons of the past tell us that if you are complacent about your talent he will almost invariably not fulfil his potential, so to err on the side of caution a third talent would be required so, coffers full to the tune of some 110k following the transfer of Nuno Meira, the management phoned up their scouting agent....
  
  ….And boy he did not disappoint.
  
   The very first rider he recommended to the team was a real corker, combining both the flat power of Chahine and the ability on rolling hills of Kihlström, the guy could be potentially as good as the legendary Rodney Hodgson (before he tarred his name by getting caught consuming some dodgy meat, of course) only with slighlty less slick bike handling due to not having the BMX background of Hodgson.
  
  So tooled up with three great young prospects, the future is looking decidedly brighter for Korten Cycletek, although whether any of these young guns will avoid the Korten Training Curse and remains to be seen...