Goal	Outcome	Rider	Result
Top 25 GC	Failure	David Gaudu	34th
Win U25	Failure	David Gaudu	6th

Race score: 1/10

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The race started with a breakaway of 12 riders, including some big names that went up the road. Cedevita was an active participant in chasing down that breakaway. Heading into the final part of the stage the team pushed the pace even harder and made a first split in the peloton. The breakaway was caught on top of the penultimate climb. From there the attacks began.

Slagter launched first and it was a powerful attack that no one could follow initially, but Beltran and Spilak eventually brought him back, reducing the front group to 35 riders in the process. The same three riders attacked again and gained a gap. The Slovenian couldn't keep up on the final categorised climb as Beltran and Slagter continued to extend their lead. In the end it came down to an uphill sprint finish between the two and the Colombian proved to be the strongest. They both managed to gain 1'00'' lead over the other favourites ahead of the time-trial.




Stage 2 was all about damage limitation for Eduard Beltran. As GC favourites like Brändle, Keizer and Bobridge all put in impressive times, the Colombian did so as well, by his own standards. 1'43'' behind stage winner Lammertink was labeled as a success. In total it dropped him down to 4th in GC, but only 22'' behind the race leader. With a final hilly stage to finish the race, everything was still in play.




Stage 3 had a decent sized breakaway also. 10 riders ahead of the peloton. Cedevita didn't exert too much effort chasing, but some of the other teams were happy to do it. With that the breakaway was caught 17 km from the finish. Kwiatkowski launched the first big attack this time and the Pole was able to open up a gap to the rest. Kelderman tried to follow on the steeper section, but had to drop back eventually.

Beltran then took it upon himself to chase down Kwiatkowski. It didn't happen in one big burst, but the Colombian had the rhythm and tempo on this climb and was closing the gap meter by meter and also slowly pulling away from the pack. The catch was made in the last kilometer and while Slagter was following, he started to struggle. Beltran then made his final attack and managed to gap Kwiatkowski and Slagter to take another stage victory!

Both started the day behind the Colombian and with the 20'' bonus and an apparent gap to the rest it quickly became clear that Eduard had won the overall as well. The main group finished 31'' behind him. But he didn't just win the stage and the GC. With the two stages he also secured the green jersey in the points classification. A dominant display that evoked memories of his first season with the team back in 2019.

Adding to the team's success was youngster Andres Camilo Ardila who won the best young rider classification. An unexpected early achievement for the man who will try to follow in Eduard's footsteps in the years to come.

Goal	Outcome	Rider	Result
Top 5 GC	Success	Eduard Alexander Beltran	1st
Stage win(s)	Success	Eduard Alexander Beltran	1st (Stages 1, 3)

Race score: 10/10

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Congrats! Must feel really great to see Beltran start the season in such a dominant way after last year's disappointments

Beltran is back!

Beltran did some amazing racing here and Ardila with a nice showing for his very young career. I loved it!
Congratulations!

Superb race for Cedevita! Obviously Beltran with two stage wins and the GC delivered you most of the points, but it is indeed very noteworthy to see Ardila shine bright like that so early in his career. Congratulations!

Thanks, I was hoping for a good result, but I didn't expect the dominance. Last year lowered my expectations for him, so this was definitely a nice surprise


I hope so. Looks like I made a good choice sending him to Hong Kong. It still remains to be seen how he does in a full puncheur field.


Thanks, I loved it as well!


Thanks, both Colombians did shine bright. I doubt Ardila scores much more points than he already has, but I'm using all his RDs so maybe he finds another favourable U25 startlist
If nothing else I have one awesome highlight from this season already

Martin Hvastija: This is primarily a race to give the young riders more experience. A breakaway appearance is our goal here with Poljanec and Mestric as outsiders to score points.


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Pos		Team	Total	RD	ppRD	Proj.
1		Red Bull Zalgiris	416	21	19,81	3467
2		Podium Ambition	344	10	34,40	6020
3		Bralirwa - Stevens	337	9	37,44	6553
4		Los Pollos Hermanos	303	21	14,43	2525
5		Team UBS	301	13	23,15	4052
6		Sauber Petronas Racing	274	23	11,91	2085
7		Duolingo	273	12	22,75	3981
8		Carlsberg - Danske Bank	254	21	12,10	2117
9		Carrefour - ESPN	248	18	13,78	2411
10		Project: Africa	214	23	9,30	1628
11		Cedevita	211	11	19,18	3357
12		cycleYorkshire	173	12	14,42	2523
13		Team Popo4Ever p/b Nemiroff	161	13	12,38	2167
14		Binance Cycling	139	20	6,95	1216
15		Aker - MOT	136	11	12,36	2164
16		Eurosport x GCN	126	10	12,60	2205
17		Philips - Force India	116	11	10,55	1845
18		Assa Abloy	106	18	5,89	1031
19		Jura - Fiat	92	11	8,36	1464
20		Voyagin - Bird	91	10	9,10	1593
21		Minions	89	7	12,71	2225
22		Indosat Ooredoo	71	8	8,88	1553
23		Tryg - Ritter Sport	71	18	3,94	690
24		Kraftwerk Man Machine	62	8	7,75	1356
25		Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	56	10	5,60	980
26		Polar	48	6	8,00	1400

We have the first ranking update of the 2021 season. Cedevita currently sit in 11th place in the table. The season started in Australia and unfortunately the start wasn't great. No points were scored in the Down Under Classic and very little in the Tour Down Under. East Asia was a lot kinder to us as Eddy Beltran dominated the Hong Kong Challenge. A massive performance that shifted our narrative from disappointing to a positive start to the season.

We still have a lot to look forward to. Beltran's start fills us with some confidence for his next races. February will be a lean month for us in terms of races and points. We will know more about our prospects after the March races.

Eduard Alexander Beltran		Cedevita	186
David Gaudu		Cedevita	13
Andres Camilo Ardila		Cedevita	12

Bostjan Mervar,
team representative and general manager of Cedevita

Congrats, Beltran really did a great performance in Hong Kong

EABeast! Nice start of the season, hope your leaders will keep on performing like this

Thanks! He really was great


Even if Beltran manages to continue in this fashion, we will need other riders to step in and score.

Goal	Outcome	Rider
Breakaway appearance	Success	Andres Camilo Ardila

Race score: N/A

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Gorazd Stangelj: This is a race to give the young riders more experience. A breakaway appearance would be nice, but there is no pressure on the lads here.


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Goal	Outcome	Rider
Breakaway appearance	Success	Andres Camilo Ardila

Race score: N/A

The race report is brought to you by Sijaj,
team media sponsor of Cedevita Cycling Team

Marko Polanc: This is primarily a race to give the young riders more experience. Penko is our best chance of scoring some points in this race. A breakaway appearance on stage 2 would also be our hope.


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Martin Hvastija: This is Lahcen's first race. We don't have great support for him here, so Matija and Ivan are going to be tasked with putting him in a good position for the final kilometres. From there we hope Lahcen can find his way in the sprints and deliver a solid result to start his season.


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Maybe not the best flat support ever, but even though he's only level 3 I think Siric could already be a very important rider for Saber in Barbados. Strong on the flat, decent sprint and nice stamina/resistance should be more than good enough for a sprinter who can hopefully follow the other sprinters trains. I hope Manninen also doesn't get a train tbh Best of luck!

Tbh I don't remember why my squad is so weak here. I was probably trying to give xp to so many riders that needed HC RDs

I still hope Saber can have a solid race here

I don't have good support for my sprinters either. My love for mountains and hills shows itself in the building of my team. But some sprinters stick to the right wheel when not supported so perhaps Saber can perform well using that strategy.