Tour de Langkawi (C2HC)

We had good hopes for a decent GC by Marquez, but he couldn't even crack the top-10. Guillén sprinted to a fourth place on the last stage, his season's best in C2HC.

Our favourite stage was definitely stage 4. Ulloa, the future cobble domestique we scouted ourself in the pre-season, joined the right break, sprinted to a fourth place (out of five lol shit happens), and scored his first points in his career! Felicidades, José Gerardo!

Ulloa doing his thing in stage four

Sakartvelo Trophy (C2)

We came, we saw, we did not conquer. No points, but Quispe definitely proved the haters wrong by not only finishing inside the time limit, but also not finishing last. When crossing the finish line he shouted: "Marco, no sabes nada de ciclismo, algún día voy a ganar esta puta carrera!"

Tour of Chile (C2)

Home race and thus a sponsor top-5 goal, expectations were high. Marquez failed to live up to those expectations after not being able to follow the other climber on the hilly stage. He tried attacking in the final stage and got a respectable fourth place, but it was only enough to climb to eleventh in the GC.

Marquez accelerating in the final stage

Vilnius GP (C2HC)

Even though we still can't believe Lithuania is a real country, we went to Vilnius for a team time trial. We did not choose to go there, as we were forced to participate by the MGUCI. Our only time trialist Luca Sterbini was not happy, as he constantly had to wait for the rest of the team, carrying them to an okay fourteenth place in the end, at least delivering some minor points. Fulgencio Bru managed to finish last out of all participants, while Peruvian national time trial champion Alain Quispe still seems to be obsessed with reporter Marcovwd, as he was heard shouting: "Marco, mirame, ves mi camiseta? Soy un campeón, y tu, tu eres nada!" The team's management would like to distance itself from Alain's words, he will be spoken to soon.

Sterbini too strong for our Latin American Pollos

Three races in August, one of them probably zero points in five stages. Let's take a closer look at our August calendar and expectations.

Macskako Kerekparverseny (C1)

Two years ago Baugnies managed to win the first edition of the Hungarian cobbled classic, but he probably won't repeat that trick in a couple of days. A top-10 would be nice, a top-5 phenomenal. As always, his main domestiques will be Coronel and Ulloa. Maybe the Mexican can get in the breakaway again.

Tour de Vineyards (C2)

As the New Zealand race organisation is planning on changing the final ITT to a TTT, Sterbini will only have one chance to shine. There is a mountain stage and Marquez might score there, but all the TT km's are the reason we can't have any GC hopes. Top-10 would already be nice. Manarelli is our hope for the sprints, and probably our biggest shot at stage victory. First race days for stagiaire Novakowskyi, if he does well he can maybe seduce Popo4ever into signing him.

Tour d'Andorra (C1)

USA Pro Cycling Challenge (C2)

Decent race in the sprinting aspect, terrible in the GC aspect. Three sprints led to three fourth places for the homie Guillén, which saw him conquer a second place in the battle for green as well. He doesn't like the time trial bike though, and dropped to 35th in the GC on the last day. Sterbini also fell out of love with his time trial bike, barely finishing top-20 in the prologue, not even finishing top-25 in the GC. Che cazzo, Luca?

Green boy Guillén

Macskako Kerekparverseny (C1)

We hoped for something nice in our final C1 classic of the year, but something nice did not hope for us. Baugnies missed the decisive move, and when he tried to make up for it, he destroyed his own chances of a top-5 and even top-10, finishing eleventh ahead of Moroccan champion Lahcen Saber. Hopefully our Belgian can redeem himself in one of the other two C2 cobbled classics yet to come!

Jerommeke in the attack

Tour d'Andorra (C1)

Matala... Sebokaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Seboka (in his Lesotho NC jersey) following some guy named Pluchkin quite easily in the last stage, where he consolidated the KoM-jersey and finished fourth on the stage

Tour de Vineyards (C2)

Last stage race for Marquez already, and he performed... okay? There was only one mountain stage, in which he had a good form and finished third in the same time as the winner, so good on him. Too bad the dreams of a top-5 GC were shattered in a relatively easy looking hilly stage. In the end, he finished eighth in the GC after losing some places in the final TTT, which was to be expected.

We did have some/another reason to cheer, as sprinter Manarelli took the win in stage 4, after a very close sprint with Krieger. Hurray!

Marquez climbing well

Well done, Manarelli

The boys in action in the TTT

There will be four races this month, with the only kind of stage not involved being a time trial. We won't score well in the hills, but hope to score some points in the other races to keep our promotion chances alive.

Philadelphia International Championship (C2HC)

The first race of the month is a flat C2HC classic. Although it is categorized as flat, the route still goes up and down constantly. We bring Guillén for the sprint and Quispe for a possible late attack. In my wildest dreams they both get a great result, in reality they might DNF with their well known capacities, or the lack thereof.

Euskal Bizikleta (C2HC)

We don't have any GC hopes, as to this day the only puncheur we have is still Bru. Guillén gets another chance to shine in the first stage, which might end up in a bunch sprint. Once again, not his favourite terrain though. Is Seboka able to provide us with another KoM-stunt? Probably not, but I couldn't not mention the name of our legendary Lesothian.

Lillestrom GP (C2)

Purely looking at our winning chances, this should be our best race of the month. Too bad it's the only non-C2HC race. Baugnies is obviously our supreme leader, while his classic companions Coronel and youngster Ulloa will be by his side in the Norwegian flat cobbled classic. If our Belgian wants to win, he'll need a solo finish though, as the final uphill meters aren't to his liking. Last race of the season for beloved stagiaire Novakowskyii.

Transfagarasan GP (C2HC)

On the same day, at an other place in Europe (Romania), our mountain squad will ride the Transfagarasan GP. A short classic with a brutal final climb. Last race for Los Pollos Hermanos for our precious mountain leader Marquez. Hopefully he can finish with a bang. Petrovski and maybe Seboka might score some points if they are positioned well and are feeling good. Also last race for stagiaire Camargo.