Today, team director De Haas of Philips Continental Team announced his full roster for 2016. Next to the 7 riders he already announced, De Haas confirmed his squad of 18 riders.

The team leaders will be sprinter Barry Markus and time trialist Dylan van Baarle. Marc Goos, Peter Koning, Lars van der Haar, Nick van der Lijke, Louis Vervaeke and cyclocross world champion Wout van Aert will be the protected riders. The helpers of the team are Koen Bouwman, Brian Bulgac, Hartthijs de Vries, Sjoerd Kouwenhoven, Steven Lammertink, André Looij, Jan Maas, Sam Oomen and brothers Sjors and Timo Roosen.

De Haas also stated that, with a squad this strong, promotion to the Pro Continental Tour should be the main goal this season.

Ian Butler wrote:
Will Van Aert and Van Der Haar ride full programs? If the team promotes to PCT, will they come over to road cycling permanently? It'll be hard to have them scoring lots of points if not.

The press have gathered in Hotel Boschhuis in Ter Apel, a small village in the Netherlands, for the team presentation of Philips Continental Team 2016.

After welcoming the press, De Haas started with the presentation of the new equipment. The team will be riding on Giant bikes, with Shimano groupsets and wheels and with Giro helmets.

Furthermore, the team's goals were announced. The main goal will be to promote to the ProContinental Tour. To achieve this, the team will focus on flat races with sprinter Barry Markus. All riders will get a race schedule that fits their strengths, so they can race as efficiently as possible. The main goals are:

Race	Goal
Dutch Championships RR	Top 10
Arnhem - Veenendaal Classic	Top 3
Volta Limburg Classic	Top 10
Ster ZLM Toer	Top 5
World Ports Classic	Top 10

Philips Continental Team will start their season Down Under. After a training camp in Sydney, Australia, the team will travel to the land of the Kiwi's for the New Zealand Cycle Classic.

The first big goal on the schedule is Volta ao Algarve, starting at the 17th of February, where Markus will fight for a stage win in the flat stages, while Goos aims for a good spot in the GC.

The next sponsor goal is the Energiewacht Ronde van Drenthe, where Dylan van Baarle will try to compete with the favorites for the win.

The final stop in March is in France, where the team will try to get a few stage wins with Markus at the Tour de Normandie.

The full schedule

Race	Cat.	Date(s)
New Zealand Cycle Classic	2.2	20/01-24/01
GP la Marseillaise	1.1	31/01
Dubai Tour	2.HC	03/02-06/02
Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia	1.1	14/02
Volta ao Algarve	2.1	17/02-21/02
Tour la Provence	2.1	23/02-25/02
Classique Sud Ardèche	1.1	27/02
Ster van Zwolle	1.2	28/02
La Drôme Classic	1.1	28/02
GP Liberty Seguros - Troféu Alpendre	2.2	07/03-08/03
Rabobank Dorpenomloop Rucphen	1.2	08/03
Energiewacht Ronde van Drenthe	1.1	12/03
Kattekoers	1.2	14/03
Paris - Troyes	1.2	15/03
Handzame Classic	1.1	18/03
Classique Loire Atlantique	1.1	19/03
Cholet - Pays de Loire	1.1	20/03
Tour de Normandie	2.2	23/03-29/03

The first race of the season for the newly founded Philips Continental Team: the New Zealand Cycle Classic. Team leader Dylan van Baarle already is the top favorite for the 6.5km prologue at Massey University.

The team's lineup (sorted by starting order): Van der Lijke, T.Roosen, S.Roosen, Maas, Lammertink, Kouwenhoven, Koning, Van Baarle

Andrew Tennant (Team Wiggins) is the first to set a good reference time: 8'44". Van der Lijke crosses the line 9 seconds behind Tennant. The second rider of Philips, Timo Roosen, beats the time of Tennant by 3 seconds, setting the new reference time at 8'41".

Sjors Roosen approaches his brother by 2 seconds, thus crossing the line as second best so far. Jan Maas finishes 15 seconds behind teammate Roosen, but he probably spared his energy for the next stages. With Steven Lammertink taking over the first place in 8'32", Philips has a triple on the virtual podium.

By the time Kouwenhoven crossed the line only Lammertink remains on the top step of the podium. Both Huffman (Rally) and Hoekstra (Parkhotel Valkenburg) have set a time only 6 seconds behind Lammertink. Peter Koning seems to be struggling with his form at the start of the season. The Dutchman, one of the favorites beforehand, approached his teammate by 7 seconds and won't make it to the podium.

With Van Baarle underway, both Mathieu van der Poel (BKCP) and Neil van der Ploeg (Avanti) have beaten Lammertink's time. Van der Poel now tops the standings with 8'23" as reference time. Can Van Baarle beat this time? Not by far. Van Baarle missed the form of the day and finishes in a 10th time, 15 seconds behind winner Van der Poel.

With this unexpected win, Van der Poel takes the leader jersey and the white jersey. Lammertink will be wearing the white jersey in the second stage as second in the youth standings. Although Philips didn't manage to win the stage, they did get on top of the overall team rankings.

#	Name	Team	Time
1.	M. van der Poel	BKCP-Corendon	8'23"
2.	N. van der Ploeg	Avanti IsoWhey Sports	+8"
3.	Steven Lammertink	Philips Continental Team	+9"