Written by Ello Ello at 22:45 15/2-2020
Of course, if you want a detailed review of this season then you can see the behind closed doors documentary series, All or Nothing.
This season was expected to be one of change. Fazing out experienced riders such as Geo Anamia and Iancu Raducioiu and trying to bring youth to the fore in the shape of Sadiq Chakraborty, Daniel Sammut Castelletti and the trainees purchased early on in the season.
And, all in all it’s been successful. We achieved the biggest target of the season when DSC won the YC at Valpa (completing the set of jerseys), and, whilst unplanned, Brock Moeller brough further YC success when he won the unpublicised YC category of the Coppa della Famiglia, winning one of the cutest trophies in the game.
This season will hopefully let the team build, the signing of Hakon today signals the team’s support for Brock Moeller who looks set to be a superstar rider and one who deserves the team’s full backing. Further investment will be made for this whilst still ensuring the CL and DH divisions get the backing they need. Our race strategy is also changing, not only do we need to add some hill races in but also we have a history of starting the season slow. To change this we’ve scaled back the races we do there to aim to improve the quality of results. The other big change to the season start is that through poor RS management Rudi Base will not race in the Volta ao Porto this season.
Riders:
Rudi Basa - 308 points - 1 result
As ever an almost exact race program to previous years. A slightly worse than usual performance in the Volta to come 4th but top 9s in Blockhaus and Ascona were nice little earners. I think he’ll be back at the Volta in season 53.
Sadiq Chakraborty - 280 points
This time last season I was on the verge of selling him. Today, he’s one of the teams best consistent performers. Chakraborty had the team’s captaincy 6 times and only didn’t score points on one of them. Hopefully as he gets slightly older his performances will push on. Easily secured the Bangladesh jersey.
Lincoln Hannity - 270 points - 1 result - 1 victory
Got unlucky to be honest. Only got 5 chances this year but did get a victory. The top form is recharging and once he’s more available to race he’s going to pick up a lot more points.
Daniel Sammut Castelletti - 240 points - 4 results - 1 victory
After a few seasons of preparation DSC went into the Valpa in the best form possible and he used the top form well, not just winning the YC but securing a wild card and taking his only other captaincy chance with 7th at The Lemon. DSC is now under pressure as two talented young riders have cropped up this season so we shall hope they both max low to ensure DSC is Malta’s number 1.
Sylwester Pilarski - 170 points - 1 result
A season ago he looked down and out, but a top form period where he finished 4th and 3rd gave him a boost and he’s going to a chance to repeat that again this year as EE’s first ever trainee gets potentially his last chance.
Brock Moeller - 138 points - 3 results - 1 victory
In less than 90 days Brock joined the team got trained the the max and won a trophy, I fear he won’t keep this rate up though. Brock is a superstar rider and whilst the targets for him aren’t defined yet he’s only going to grow, especially as he’s YC eligible still this season.
Marc Marcassin - 70 points
A strong alternative captain for those high CL races, Marc looks set to get a few chances early on this season but won’t get anything consistent. Had a habit of off days when he was leading the team but he offers a great alternative to the more regular leaders.
Arpad Faltus - 70 points
Sadly I think this is the end of his captaincy career, it’s been a success though and Faltus can still offer some help for Sadiq.
Geo Anamia - 30 points
Didn’t get the chances to show if he’s still capable of captaining, will get recharged during this season to try and copy what Pilarski did last season.
Team Value: 2,064,255 (last season: 1,885,587 still lower than season 49 because we have large coffers)
Fans: 1952 (last season: 1866)
Subscribers: 23
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Comments
Nice double jersey win in the Volpa!
Good luck for S52!
Good luck for the season!
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