January is coming to and end, let's see where we'll be racing in February.

Volta a Portugal (PTHC)

We head to Portugal for our first PTHC race ever, and we can't expect anything. We have no GC riders, puncheurs or time trialists there.
Maksimov is our designated sprinter, and Munoz the rider with the biggest chance of finishing in an okay GC position. Nevertheless, seeing how he is currently struggling in a C2 race, it would surprise us to see him in the top-25.

Tour of Ukraine (HC)

Home race for Zmorka, who will be looking to get some redemption for his weaker performance in Hong Kong. Spilak will be there as well, and he can hopefully also improve a bit GC-wise.

Tour of Southland (C1)

At the same time of the Tour of Ukraine the other half of the team will be racing in New Zealand. We don't have any GC ambitions there, as
Mutsumine will try to hold on as long as possible on the hills.
Maksimov will be trying to score points from the three sprints.

Pro Hallstatt Classic (PTHC)

Spilak returns to the ProTour circuit as he will go to Austria for the Pro Hallstatt Classic on February 26th. The Slovenian has won two out of the three editions so far. We don't expect him to win again, but we hope those former results give him enough motivation for a top-10.

Franceville Classique (PTHC)

We went to Gabon and hoped for Ulloa or Minoungou to get in the break and score some points. They didn't, but Laizer did. The Tanzanian then held on as long as possible as the big guns passed him, and managed to finish 38th, being the only rider of the team in the top-50.

Laizer in the attack

Vuelta al Tachira (C2)

For our mandatory C2 racedays we went to Venezuela for the Vuelta al Tachira. Not just any race for us, as we actually won our first ever stage(s) and KoM there last season. None of the riders of last year would be in Venezuele again though. Our GC rider was Munoz, who disappointed. He only managed to finish seventeenth, scoring very few points. Lopez Nolasco scored his first point of his career by finishing seventh in the U25, and Mutsumine scored his first point for the team by finishing eighth on stage nine, the same stage that was won by former rider Petrovski last year. Around half of our points came from time trialist Beukeboom, who had a strong ride on the last stage, finishing second.

Beukeboom on his way to a second place

Volta a Portugal (PTHC)

Our first PTHC race ever could have been better, but it could also have been worse. We started the Volta with a rather surprising fifth place from Sterbini in the opening prologue. Russian champion Maksimov sprinted to a third and fourth place in stages two and four, and it was nice to see the whole team working for him all day, proving we have our place in the PTHC peloton. Munoz attacked on the last stage and stayed ahead of the peloton, finishing fourth on the day and ensuring some GC, U25 and KoM-points as well. 45 points from a nine day PTHC stage race is not a lot, but it is definitely acceptable with the riders we had there.

The team at the front during the fourth stage

Tour of Ukraine (HC)

Superstar Spilak wanted to get some revanche in Ukraine after a slightly disappointing 8th place in Hong Kong. He missed the boat on the hilly stage though, and after a decent time trial on the third stage he finished... 8th again. Not the best at all, also because of the lack of stage results, but I guess point-wise it's okay.

Home rider Zmorka had a very different Tour. He held on longer than expected on stage two, but had a disappointing time trial on the last day. He scored some extra points with an 18th in GC, but we really hope his time trialing will become better in the coming races.

Zmorka time trialing

Pro Hallstatt Classic (PTHC)

Two times former winner Spilak returned to Austria hoping to finish inside the top-10. As the race came to its conclusion we even started hoping of more, seeing our favourite Slovenian MG rider still positioned very well. The last climb was a bit too much for him though, as a ninth place was his result in the end. Decent.

Spilak at the front of the race with 2 km to go

Thanks to redordead and Darkwolf for the nice comments! Here is the LPH March preview.

Barbados Cycling Classic (HC)

He is back! After a perfect start of the season in Down Under we hope
Manninen can score big again. The Flying Finn will meet the PTC’s finest in sunny Barbados, as he will hopefully win his third stage of the season. A top-5 would be decent, finishing on the podium or even winning would be great. Quispe should be his most important domestique.

Circulo de Juarez (C1)

Home race! We did okay here last year with three riders in the top-15 thanks to breakaway appearances, but this year we do not care about depth. We are here with Manninen this time and hope to score as many points as possible with stage wins, green jersey points and obviously a good GC. The team around him is more or less the same as in Barbados, although home rider Ulloa sadly enough won’t be competing there this year.

Vuelta a Colombia (PTHC)

Kind of a home race! Spilak has an opportunity to score well in the Colombian mountains, where we aim for a top-10 and a decent stage result if some of the stages are raced rather passively. He’ll have home riders Munoz and Osorio as well as Affonso with him, whereas Russian sprinter Maksimov will be hoping to score some points in the two flat stages.

Strade Bianche (HC)

From the Colombian mountains onto the Italian white gravel hills. Our only goal here is a breakaway appearance, as Mutsumine is our best puncheur, and a lot will need to happen to see him scoring points.

Tour of Eritrea (C1)

And back onto the mountain(s) now, as we have to make up for a weak appearance in the Tour of Eritrea last season in C2HC. Spilak will be our leader here as well, on a parcours that should suit him. We will need to make the race hard enough both in the only mountain stage and during the puncheur stages. Domestique Affonso hopefully plays a part in this, whereas Maksimov will be present for the flat stages.

E3 Prijs (HC)

Well, although we do love cobbles, we can’t ask anything more than a breakaway appearance in this race. Minoungou is our best cobbler, which says it all.

Tour of Southland (C1)

We went to Southland without any GC ambitions, but hoped for a possible stage win from our second sprinter Maksimov. The Russian tried drinking some Cedevita before the first stage however, and it left a bad taste in his mouth. He was unable to finish in the top-8 of any of the three peloton sprints. Manager Nemolito on the other hand liked the Balkan drink, saying 'Maksimov's taste is as good as his sprinting legs'. The only media attention we were able to get was when Peruvian champion Ruiz tried to join the break on the fourth stage, but failed.

Ruiz showing his Peruvian nc, made by DarkWolf, on stage four

Circulo De Juarez (C1)

Our home race saw sprinter Manninen disappoint again. He started off decently with a third and fourth place, but then stopped competing in the sprints to fall outside of the top-10 in the GC and barely score points. It was nice to see Quispe and Beukeboom in the attack as soon as the race began, with the former delivering us some points after winning almost all (KoM) sprints on the stage.

Although Manninen started the season in the perfect way in the Tour Down Under, he almost disappeared completely from the radar in the following sprint races. Maksimov has been doing alright in smaller PTHC fields, but was nowhere to be seen in a more stacked sprinter field in C1. Without the sprinting points, we won't be able to survive.

So we decided it was time to bring back a Los Pollos, Centovalli - Fiat, Swisslion Cycling Team and so many other teams' legend: Marco Guillén! Nobody better than the Costa Rican to become our sprinting coach for the rest of the season. He starts immediately, and we hope to see the Guillén-effect as soon as possible in our sprint stages in Eritrea and the Baltic Chain Tour.

Guillén winning a race for the last time in his career, stage one of the Euskal Bizikleta (C2HC) last season