Written by Velosipedska at 20:11 24/7-2024
Greetings to fans, press and other readers. It was the nicest of seasons, but it’s time to wrap it up. With two races already raced in season 70, let’s quickly recap Velosipedska’s performance in season 69!
---TEAM NEWS---
Financially, our team had a slightly tougher time attracting sponsors this season, cashing roughly 100k in sponsorship money compared to ~200k last season. On the other hand, our prize money increased by 20k, our merchandise store provided 5k more than last season and our riders earned 15k extra with side jobs. We also reduced rider hire costs and training costs compared to last season.
Our final economic position after S69:
Income
-------------------
Starting Balance: 76,081
Funding: 0,-
Rider Sales: 0,-
Prize Money: 157,000
Jobs: 94,000
Sponsors: 109,000
Merchandise: 42,078
Expenses
-------------------
Team Upgrades: 0.-
Supplies: 32,600
Staff: 2,100
Scouting: 0,-
Rider Hires: 75,244
Training: 346,500
Net Balance
-------------------
21,715
---RACE NEWS---
We had no big targets again this season, continuing to develop our young riders into experienced ones. Our first result of the season came on day 21, when Jordan Spirkoski took 3d at Pirmam Climbs. Our first big race of the season was the El Corazón de México tour. Slavco Pitoska wanted a podium spot, but an off day on the hill stage that suited him most ensured a 5th place in GC as the final outcome. Later in the season, Eftim Nastevski secured our only regular race win of the season at Targoviste - Brasov. The best was however yet to come. Slavco Pitoska, angered by his disappointing result in Mexico, went full gas at the Tian-Shen Stone City Cup, taking the GC! Slavco is the second Macedonian rider ever to win a cup, after Boban Karcev won Copa Salsa de Cali for Navarone Cycling Team in season 60. This cup victory is Velosipedska’s first big win since our return to professional cycling in season 66, and one that should mark the beginning of a fruitful career for Slavco Pitoska.
---RIDER NEWS---
There are no big announcements concerning riders at the moment. A couple of old guard riders will be leaving the team soon, but the youngsters still need some support before they can carry the torch alone. When the time comes, we do expect three to six riders aged 35+ to leave the team during or at the end of this season. In terms of captaincy’s for the next season, Jurica Donev is still expected to lead the sprint train despite lackluster results. Jurica did learn a lot whilst racing this season, so we expect him to keep improving. In the hills, Slavco Pitoska has shown to be our strongest rider but Petar Jovanovski is still a strong secondary option. Eftim Nastevski and Jordan Spirkoski have shown to still be able to take top-9 finishes at this level, and will remain captains in the remaining mountain, allround and downhill races.
A quick update on the youth academy. Most of our recent trainees are done, but the following riders are still in training:
- Zlatko Stankov will continue being trained in his good hill potential, but he could be an average climber and okay downhill support rider as well. No captaincy is on the horizon in the near future, but Zlatko should be a great addition to our new hilly climber squad.
- Dimce Pacovski was hired purely for his incredible talent for hill riding. We believe he has some potential in other disciplines, but none of our riders have the pure hill talent of Dimce, which should make him a great hill helper.
- Armend Mustafi has good sprinting and technical talents, and can be average on the flat roads as well. If he performs well in training he could lead our sprint train in the future, but for now we expect him to become at least a nice lead-out man in the second position.
Our youth academy might be empty soon if training continues at the current pace, so if you see a Macedonian aged 23 or younger on a bike, tell him to ride to our training facilities in Ohrid or Skopje!
A few stats to round up the rider news section:
- Eftim Nastevski (231 races) is closing in on Riste Nikolovski’s record of 238 appearances for Velosipedska. Eftim is already scheduled to participate in two more races this season.
- Jordan Spirkoski (208) became the third Velosipedska rider with at least 200 races for the team, after the two riders in the stat mentioned above.
- On day 12 and 13 of this season, Jordan and Eftim will become the 2d and 3d riders with 16 full seasons of service at Velosipedska, including the years in which the team was on a break. Only Riste Nikolovski managed 16 seasons of Velosipedska employment (excluding his current spell with the team as a trainer)
- Slavco Pitoska became the sixth rider with at least 5 results for Velosipedska, after only 25 appearances for the team. He was also the first Velosipedska rider with a cup victory, after the team had already recorded 2 GC wins and 3 YC wins in tours.
Kind regards and thanks for reading,
KrMees (Manager)
Vujadin Mileski (PR)
Subscribers: 11
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Comments
a
As expected from KrMees, a lot of statistics, a lot of information, a lot of interesting news.
Good luck with your team
Thinking about it, but might wait until he picks up some more training points. Main reason to do it soon would be to go for Edmonton this season.
Slavco looks good. Will you TT-center him as well?
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