Would be great to see your Berlin lead-out in green in Paris indeed

Maybe someone takes notice and it matters in the offseason



That would be quite something indeed, but I'd settle for a stage win just fine

	Kris Boeckmans	Sprinter		Stepan Kurianov	Domestique
	Aberlardo Ablenado	Free Role		Ivan Siric	Domestique
	Tyron Giogieri	Free Role		Georgios Stavrakakis	Domestique
	Abolfazl Gilanipoor	Free Role		Yuriy Natarov	Domestique

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	Lahcen Saber	Co-Leader		Stepan Kurianov	Domestique
	Kris Boeckmans	Co-Leader		Ivan Siric	Domestique
	Dusan Rajovic	Domestique		Georgios Stavrakakis	Domestique
	Matic Groselj	Domestique		Yuriy Natarov	Domestique

Swisslion made the trip to a new location in the Faroe islands for the Torshavn GP. As an undulating race for the sprinters, the team brought both of their leaders in Kris Boeckmans and Lahcen Saber. But the rider in focus early on was young Ivan Siric, who managed to join the day's breakaway. He spent well over 100 km in the breakaway and as he was caught with 20 km to go, as the race behind was already splitting. Boeckmans was the only rider in the front group for Swisslion, but Saber made it back to the front group heading into the last lap. Unknowingly Stepan Kurianov had also made it there and launched an attack over the last uphill section! He was the youngest and most inexperienced of the 6 attackers. That attack was only caught with 1 km to go, but Kurianov had enough left in the tank to sprint to a 5th place finish. Quite a result for the loanee!

Saber and Boeckmans were following in the wheels to finish 12th and 18th. Perhaps they should've been more attentive in their positioning in the end, to take advantage of the free ride they were given. But at the end of the day it was a successful race for Swisslion. Mostly down to the young rider loaned in from Gjensidige Cycling Team.




Race goals:

Top 5	Success	Stepan Kurianov	5th
Top 15	Success	Lahcen Saber	12th

Race score: 8/10


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I don't want to hear any notion of your team getting relegated from you

Well hopefully we get that PCT ranking update soon, so you can hear all about it there

And in probably every other race thread until the end of the season

Want to bet about it?

Bet what?

	Hugues Mottin	Free Role		Izidor Penko	Free Role
	Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy	Free Role

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	Kris Boeckmans	Sprinter		Stepan Kurianov	Domestique
	Aberlardo Ablenado	Free Role		Ivan Siric	Domestique
	Tyron Giogieri	Free Role		Georgios Stavrakakis	Domestique
	Abolfazl Gilanipoor	Free Role		Yuriy Natarov	Domestique

Race goals:

Top 35 GC	Success	Aberlardo Ablenado	28th
Top 35 GC	Success	Abolfazl Gilanipoor	30th
Top 35 GC	Failure	Tyron Giogieri	72th
Stage win(s)	Failure	Kris Boeckmans	5th (Stage 2)

Race score: 3/10


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team media sponsor of Swisslion Cycling Team

	Lahcen Saber	Sprinter		Matija Mestric	Free Role
	Gabriel Marin	Leadout		Matic Groselj	Free Role
	Miha Poljanec	Free Role		Michael Christodoulos	Free Role
	Dusan Rajovic	Free Role		Goran Antonijevic	Free Role

Being here with a mostly developmental squad of riders, it was no surprise that Swisslion did not garner much interest from the public. But the first week of the race was always going to be the stages the team targeted. Matic Groselj showed our colors on stage 2 with a brave breakaway, holding out until the last few kms. From there team leader Lahcen Saber sprinted to a 3rd place finish. On stage 4 the team decided to stay put and did an excellent job protecting Saber well into the final part of the stage. From there the Morrocan put himself into a great position. Picking all the right wheels and launching his final kick. Lahcen Saber is a Tour de France stage winner.




Apart from gathering valuable experience Swisslion came here to give Saber a chance to add to his palmares of a Giro d'Italia stage win. And he did just that. Also add that Saber got to wear the iconic sprinter's green jersey on the following stage. Stage 5 was another day for Matic Groselj to go in the breakaway and once again he managed to keep the peloton at bay until the very final part of the stage. Saber managed another very impressive 2nd place finish and although it meant the end of his days in green, it was another fine day for the Swisslion contingent. Stages 6 and 7 were largely anonymous, but the single goal of this race has been achieved.




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He might not be in green in Paris, but it was definitely a great sight to see him in green in stage five, for the whole 178.3 km

Congratulations on the win, now let's see how many can survive the mountains to help Saber hopefully win another sprint near the end of the Tour.

	Hugues Mottin	Free Role		Izidor Penko	Free Role
	Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy	Free Role

Race goals:

Top 10	Failure	Hugues Mottin	11th
Top 15	Failure	Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy	24th

Race score: 4/10


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	Tyron Giogieri	Co-Leader		Yuriy Natarov	Domestique
	Abolfazl Gilanipoor	Co-Leader		Artur Sowinski	Stagiare
	Georgios Stavrakakis	Domestique		Kees Duyvesteyn	Stagiare
	Ivan Siric	Domestique		Jeremy Bellicaud	Stagiare

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	Tyron Giogieri	Co-Leader		Yuriy Natarov	Domestique
	Abolfazl Gilanipoor	Co-Leader		Artur Sowinski	Stagiare
	Georgios Stavrakakis	Domestique		Kees Duyvesteyn	Stagiare
	Ivan Siric	Domestique		Jeremy Bellicaud	Stagiare

With a start list released the day before the race, Swisslion were buoyed by the fact that they could achieve a very good result in Georgia. So the team was ever present from the very start in controlling the race. With the breakaway caught on the final climb, it was time to see what options the team had. Unfortunately an attack from Fabbro soon occurred and Swisslion were on the back foot. Both Gilanipoor and Giogieri were favourites for the race, but that strength turned into a weakness. The other teams selfishly relied on the Iranian to do the chasing, thus eliminating him from having the strength to attack in the end. The lack of cooperation also meant that Fabbro was never caught, as he soloed to the win. Giogieri mamaged to finish 5th, with Gilanipoor 15th. Another race that leaves Swisslion thinking, what might have been, if things had been different.




Race goals:

Top 5	Success	Tyron Giogieri	5th
Top 10	Failure	Abolfazl Gilanipoor	15th

Race score: 6/10


The race report is brought to you by Sijaj,
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I will keep reminding you that you won't be relegated

Plenty of room for both of us to go down

	Eduard Alexander Beltran	Leader		Stepan Kurianov	Domestique
	Aberlardo Ablenado	Domestique		Ivan Siric	Domestique
	Tyron Giogieri	Domestique		Georgios Stavrakakis	Domestique
	Abolfazl Gilanipoor	Domestique		Yuriy Natarov	Domestique

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team media sponsor of Swisslion Cycling Team

Shame to see Gilanipoor have to do all the work in Sakartvelo himself, he looked so strong in the report and I was cheering him on! Hope he pulls out another epic solo win one day for you

	Lahcen Saber	Sprinter		Matija Mestric	Free Role
	Gabriel Marin	Leadout		Matic Groselj	Free Role
	Miha Poljanec	Free Role		Michael Christodoulos	Free Role
	Dusan Rajovic	Free Role		Goran Antonijevic	Free Role

Week 2 had no flat stages, so it only meant one thing for Swisslion. Breakaways, breakaways and some more breakaways!

Swisslion put two riders in the breakaway on stage 10 with Matija Mestric and Miha Poljanec. Both riders gave it a good effort, with Poljanec holding out for a while on the final climb. He finished 39th on the mountain stage. A very impressive result for the rouleur by trade. Matic Groselj was in the break on stage 11, another rouleur in a mountain stage. Stage 12 was for Michael Christodoulos as the Cypriot got involved and just got dropped on the 2nd climb of the day. Stage 13 was another tag team effort, this time by Poljanec and Groselj. None of these breakaways resulted in, well results. But plenty of TV time for the young riders, on stages that aren't really their forte.





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