Honestly I can't work out how Trek were fifth in the rankings last year it baffles me.

Last Season

I want to say Trek had a bad season in 2017 because they didn't win very much and that's usually the signifier things aren't going great but they amassed a lot of points so there must be more to it. A lot of those points were courtesy of Alberto Contador (above) bidding farewell to elite cycling. El Pistolero was second a lot. Second in three stages, the overall and the points classification at Paris-Nice, second at the Volta Catalunya and second at the tour of the Basque Country. That was probably quite frustrating. He also huffed and puffed at the Tour de France, failing to win a stage and finishing ninth overall. He finally got a win at the final opportunity, on the mighty Angliru on stage 20 of the Vuelta. He also finished fifth overall in his home grand tour.

Bauke Mollema also scored a chunk of points, most notably thanks to a stage win at le tour, he also was top 10 overall at Abu Dhabi, Tirreno-Adriatico, the Giro d'Italia, clasica San Sebastian, the Grand Prix Montreal and the Tour of Guangxi. Jasper Stuyven also breached the 1000 point barrier thanks to a stage win at the Giro and the Binckbank tour (where he was second overall), fourth at Paris-Roubaix and seventh at both the Hamburg Cyclassic and Eschborn-Frankfurt. John Degenkolb had a pretty disappointing year, though he was top 10 at the four biggest classics of his season so maybe he's getting back to his best.

Who left?

Already mentioned Contador, but Haimar Zubeldia also retires, while Edward Theuns moves to Team Sunweb and Marco Coledan goes to Willier Triestina.

Who's Joining?

Not a stellar intake, Toms Skujns and Ryan Mullen join from Cannondale, Gianluca Brambilla from Quickstep, plus Alex Frame, Tsgabu Grmay and Nicola Conci.

How will 2018 go?

I'm not expecting much at all from Trek-Segafredo. Ryan Mullen may win a big time trial somewhere, at least he thinks so because he was moaning a lot about his old equipment. Degenkolb will hopefully be able to fight it out for wins in the classics again, and Mollema threaten to get a podium at the Tour de France but find some reason not to in the Pyrenees.