First of all we need to apologize to our leaders for sloppy planning, where we missed that the 2nd TT was in fact a TTT.
Seeeing that certainly took the edge of our GC ambitions...

Stage 1 started somewhat disappointing as Paillot only managed to finish 7th on the stage.

Stage 2 went much better for us as Vinther and Breschel made a perfect train for Lo Cicero.

With a preperation like that thre wasn't really anything anyone could do!


The following day we had to do a lot of work and that somewhat messed up our sprint preparation.

Vinther got IVano placed for the sprint, but he just didn't have the legs today.

Stage 4 was even worse as we didn't manage to catch the break in due time only putting Lo Cicero in contention for 6th place.

Just as we thought things could be improving a bit again we were struck by another case of bad luck as a bunch of crashes took down both Vinther, Breschel and Lo Cicero, ultimately forcing the Italian to abandon wearing the points jersey.

No need to discuss th TTT further.



The final day saw Halme in the break showing good spirit after some terrible days.

	Best Rider	Place	Time
Stage 1	Yoann Paillot	7th	+ 24
Stage 2	Ivano Lo Cicero	WIN	s.t.
Stage 3	Ivano Lo Cicero	8th	s.t.
Stage 4	Ivano Lo Cicero	7th	s.t.
Stage 5	Matti Breschel	19th	s.t.
Stage 6	Team Time Trial	12th	+ 1'29
Stage 7	Samuel Halme	50th	s.t.

1	Ivan Kovalev	Wiesenhof - Andrtiz	18h11'08
23	Yoann Paillot	Valio - DeLaval	+ 1'26
42	Samuel Halme	Valio - DeLaval	+ 2'20
44	Branislav Samoilev	Valio - DeLaval	+ 2'24
60	Matti Breschel	Valio - DeLaval	+ 3'21
97	Risto Aaltio	Valio - DeLaval	+ 6'25
99	Bernhard Eisel	Valio - DeLaval	+ 6'34
101	Troels Vinther	Valio - DeLaval	+ 6'38
DNF	Ivano Lo Cicero	Valio - DeLaval	St. 5

This month we bring you the song about the legendary rodeo-bull Bodacious

Not much went quite as planned this month. Berlin was disappointing and while the stage win in Olympia was great we quickly was put down to earth again.

Jukka and Matti getting GC 10-11 due to pure consistency in Dunkerque might even be the highlight of our month, which really says a lot...

In an overall slightly disappointing month the award goes to the guy getting us a win and leading the points competition before having his race ruined by a crash

First off we'll be going to Norway aiming for some great stages from Ivano and a good GC from Yoann.

Breschel will of course be leading us in the hard cobbled classic of Grozny, while Anacona will get the chance to redeem himself in Nelspruit and Andorra.

Last but not least we'll be aiming for a good result in the Monterey TTT.

Start		Race	Days
	Tour of Norway	5	HC
	Grozny Classic	2	C1
	Nelspruit Classic	2	HC
	Tour d'Andorra	5	HC
	Monterey TTT	2	C1

Not only is this close to home but it's also a race that should suit several of our riders with Paillot for th GC/TT and Lo Cicero for the sprints.

Ahlstrand went in to this race with fire in his eyes taking the first intermediate ahead of Vastaranta. That surely puts him solidly as Ivanos main competition.

The boys put up a great train with Manninen putting the NC-jersey to show.
Everything went according to plan.

Well except for Ahlstrand having brilliant legs beating Lo Cicero with a tiny margin.

On stage 2 the team was very strong all day, excpt for the final 3 km where Lo Cicero was left alone and failed to find the right wheel.

Stage 3 meant time for the TT and thus Paillot's strike at the GC.
He delivered the worst TT so far...

On stage 4 things continued to fall apart for us as we put a lot of effort into closing down a resiliant break.
We succeeded in that but blew everything else in the effort.

Just to emphasize how the race is turning out Paillot was taken down by a crash on the final stage

Closer to the finish line Vinther once again does his best to pull in the break. This time with Lo Cicero on his wheel.
Of course with no luck...

Fair to say that this so far is the most disappointing race of the season for us!

	Best Rider	Place	Time
Stage 1	Ivano Lo Cicero	2nd	s.t.
Stage 2	Ivano Lo Cicero	7th	s.t.
Stage 3	Yoann Paillot	20th	+ 1'49
Stage 4	Troels Vinther	21st	s.t.
Stage 5	Ivano Lo Cicero	16th	+ 24

1	Jacob Fiedler	Karcher-Adira	16h12'40
47	Jukka Vastaranta	Valio - DeLaval	+ 3'49
59	Matti Manninen	Valio - DeLaval	+ 4'31
60	Risto Aaltio	Valio - DeLaval	s.t.
75	Krists Neilands	Valio - DeLaval	+ 5'03
106	Troels Vinther	Valio - DeLaval	+ 6'17
107	Ivano Lo Cicero	Valio - DeLaval	+ 6'18
115	Emils Liepins	Valio - DeLaval	+ 6'36
149	Yoann Paillot	Valio - DeLaval	+ 9'03

While we were optimistic that Matti could make another solid race we were far down the favourite list.

So Kaislavuo was sent in the break to show the jersey and the flag.

Everyone knwe all day that Jesse wouldn't play a role in the finale and sadly Breschel wasn't his full-fat self either.

Nevertheless he put some more points in on the account which is always nice.
Only 36 riders managed to finish the entire race, so big kudos to young Neilands for being one of them!

1	Danny Summerhill	Azteca - NBCSN	7h18'43
19	Matti Breschel	Valio - DeLaval	+ 5'34
31	Krists Neilands	Valio - DeLaval	+ 14'17
DNF	Jesse Kaislavuo	Valio - DeLaval	-
DNF	Joonas Henttala	Valio - DeLaval	-
DNF	Essa Khalifa	Valio - DeLaval	-
DNF	Roope Nurmi	Valio - DeLaval	-
DNF	Branislav Samoilev	Valio - DeLaval	-
DNF	Sami Tianien	Valio - DeLaval	-

Of all the races in the season this was one of the ones we had the lowest expectations for...

Vastaranta got a mention, but only for not being able to follow the strongest.

He fought on through but ultimately finished just outside the points.

1	Nicolas Roche	Arrinera	5h02'25
32	Jukka Vastaranta	Valio - DeLaval	+ 3'56
102	Chris Anker Sørensen	Valio - DeLaval	+ 6'09
129	Winner Anacona	Valio - DeLaval	+ 8'53
143	Essa Khalifa	Valio - DeLaval	+ 10'38
145	Roope Nurmi	Valio - DeLaval	s.t.
167	Emils Liepins	Valio - DeLaval	+ 13'46
169	Matti Manninen	Valio - DeLaval	s.t.
180	Joonas Henttala	Valio - DeLaval	+ 19'25

We traveled to Mexico first and foremost to get a good result but also to allow one of the greatest Mexican TT'ers of all time the chance to say goodbye to his home fans.

Bernardo gave a lot early on and helped us get best time on the first intermediate time.
After he had given all he had he dropped off and rode the last bit in an easy pace taking his time to enjoy the celebration of the Mexican people.


Meanwhile the rest of the team churned on and despite losing a bit of momentum in the final part we're very happy to have gained a podium spot.

1	Generali - AXA	1h09'17
3	Valio - DeLaval	+ 29

1	-	Generali - AXA	1h09'17
12	Branislav Samoilev	Valio - DeLaval	+ 29
13	Samuel Pökälä	Valio - DeLaval	s.t.
14	Ingvar Omarsson	Valio - DeLaval	s.t.
15	Mateusz Taciak	Valio - DeLaval	s.t.
16	Yoann Paillot	Valio - DeLaval	s.t.
72	Samuel Halme	Valio - DeLaval	+ 4'33
81	Bernardo Colex	Valio - DeLaval	+ 6'17
84	Dominique Mayho	Valio - DeLaval	+ 6'49

We went to Andorra hoping to be seen in a breakaway and in lesser extent a miracle rise of Anacona.


Andorra showed the UAE-champion jersey on stage 3

That was without a doubt the highlight for us even though Winner did deliver an acceptable TT only to find a new low level on stage 5.

	Best Rider	Place	Time
Stage 1	Winner Anacona	32nd	+ 1'04
Stage 2	Winner Anacona	46th	+ 5'28
Stage 3	Winner Anacona	32nd	+ 6'19
Stage 4	Winner Anacona	20th	+ 1'11
Stage 5	Winner Anacona	79th	+ 25'13

1	Andrei Amador	Team UBS	21h39'37
42	Winner Anacona	Valio - DeLaval	+ 31'59
60	Chris Anker Sørensen	Valio - DeLaval	+ 40'37
73	Gökhan Hasta	Valio - DeLaval	+ 47'17
121	Joonas Henttala	Valio - DeLaval	+ 1h22'11
151	Matti Manninen	Valio - DeLaval	+ 2h10'31
161	Jesse Kaislavuo	Valio - DeLaval	+ 2h33'37
DNF	Essa Khalifa	Valio - DeLaval	St. 5
DNF	Emils Liepins	Valio - DeLaval	St. 5

The month started with a huge disappointment followed by two slight disappointments.

Inspired by Colex' farewell ride to the home fans in his NC-jersey th boys managed to finally deliver in the Mexican TTT.

Obviously that had to be followd by Winner Anacona managing to find a new low in Andorra.
All in all this is one of the worst months since we were Team Live Nation.

Lindau and Lehtinen did not race this month.

With this many disapponintments it was impossible to find one stand-out rider so the award goes to:

July will start off with our biggest challenge yet: The Tour de France.
Obviously we have no expectations of dominating, but it will be a great time for our youngsters chasing breaks and experiences.
To back them up we have Brechel, Vastraranta and Anacona (back when we sset up the team we still believed in him...)

Unfortunately the Isle of Man ITT was a bit too important for us to allow Paillot to race his hime GT.

A combination of our youngest riders and old trusted riders from our CT-days will be taking a trip to Slovenia. This will also be the debut race for our three stagiaires Vainionpää, Kanerva and Höög.

Meanwhile in China Vastaranta will lead our effort to pull a solid result from Tour of Beijing.

Start		Race	Days
	Tour de France	21	GT
	Isle of Man ITT	2	C1
	Tour de Slovenie	5	C2
	Tour of Beijing	5	HC

It's a historic day and happy for us when we enter our first GT and then eeven the biggest of them all!
Obviously our dream is only that we will shine on a few stages and be acive in breaks throughout.

The first real stage went with finding our legs and place, but then Halme found his way in to the break along with amon others Kulppi.

Two Finnish riders in a Tour de France break-away. Who would have thought that just a few years ago?

Brechel did his best trying to mix in with the sprints, but just doesn't have the speed needed at this level.


We wasn't ready for the action on the hilly stage and the TTT was never a target for this squad.

	Best Rider	Place	Time
Stage 1	Matti Manninen	87th	+ 36
Stage 2	Matti Breschel	17th	s.t.
Stage 3	Matti Breschel	15th	s.t.
Stage 4	Matti Breschel	20th	s.t.
Stage 5	Winner Anacona	51st	+ 45
Stage 6	Matti Breschel	46th	s.t.
Stage 7	Team Time Trial	24th	+ 40

1	Taylor Phinney	RBC Pro Cycling	21h33'34
54	Winner Anacona	Valio - DeLaval	+ 4'08
71	Chris Anker Sørensen	Valio - DeLaval	+ 6'56
103	Matti Breschel	Valio - DeLaval	+ 11'25
120	Samuel Halme	Valio - DeLaval	+ 12'58
156	Matti Manninen	Valio - DeLaval	+ 20'33
160	Joonas Henttala	Valio - DeLaval	+ 20'44
174	Jukka Vastaranta	Valio - DeLaval	+ 25'48
188	Gökhan Hasta	Valio - DeLaval	+ 34'51

knockout wrote:
I feel like our teams were riding a lot side by side in the Tour. Both without too much success, together in e.g. that break you mentioned with Kulppi ( ) and both with the same time in the TTT (Olli will not learn it during his loan )

It goes without saying that our focus for this race was going for a great result with FInnish TT-champion Pökälä showing the flag and Nurmi here to learn.


Pökälä didn't quite hit the day but at least got the jersey some PR.


With Paillot the situation was much better as he for once really had some good legs being the top challenger for Schädlichs 2nd place as Fiedlers win was neveer in danger.

1	Jacob Fiedler	Karcher-Adira	1h27'20
3	Yoann Paillot	Valio - DeLaval	+ 58
31	Samuel Pökälä	Valio - DeLaval	+ 3'39
45	Roope Nurmi	Valio - DeLaval	+ 7'10

On the first lumpy stage we had hoped to see something of Jukka and/or Winner, but both disappointed finishing alongside Olli.

On stage 11 we got a bit of hope again as Gökhan Hasta went in the break on a stage suiting his qualitites as a climber.

However the big names wanted the stage win for themselves. The upside being that Anacona rode inside top 20.
However the following stages saw him back to his usual underwhelming self.

On the plus-side all of our riders remain in the race and Anacona have climbed to 30th in the GC. Special notice however goes to Gökhan Hasta, who have climbed from 188th to 96th during the 2nd week.

	Best Rider	Place	Time
Stage 8	Matti Breschel	25th	s.t.
Stage 9	Jukka Vastaranta	70th	+ 7'57
Stage 10	Jukka Vastaranta	25th	s.t.
Stage 11	Winner Anacona	17th	+ 6'23
Stage 12	Winner Anacona	38th	+ 3'38
Stage 13	Winner Anacona	33rd	+ 11'28
Stage 14	Matti Breschel	18th	s.t.

1	Andy Schleck	Vesuvio - Accumalux	53h00'08
30	Winner Anacona	Valio - DeLaval	+ 33'09
95	Chris Anker Sørensen	Valio - DeLaval	+ 1h24'16
96	Gökhan Hasta	Valio - DeLaval	+ 1h28'17
127	Jukka Vastaranta	Valio - DeLaval	+ 1h55'44
134	Joonas Henttala	Valio - DeLaval	+ 2h01'40
138	Matti Manninen	Valio - DeLaval	+ 2h04'39
160	Matti Breschel	Valio - DeLaval	+ 2h23'55
170	Samuel Halme	Valio - DeLaval	+ 2h37'17

We started the 3rd week as we finished the 2nd: Hiding and missing the big breakaway-chances.

But then we had the might Ventoux on the menu. That was just what was needed to motivate Chris Anker Sørensen, who went in the break.

Matti was taken down in a crash. but finished the stage.
The break fought hard but the big names wanted the stage for themselves and Chris & Co. was caught in the forest.


Stage 18 was deemed the toughest stage of them all and the sub-top GC riders decided to make it even tougher.
Apparently that was what was needed to inspire Anacona, who finally showed himself with a bit of attacking on some of the climbs. Great to see!


From there on it was quiet but solid racing up till the final stage with Anacona slowly climbing his way to a GC top 25.


Who would go in a break on the pan-flat final stage other than the saviour of our last two seasons: Chris Anker Sørensen.


Vastaranta contested the final sprint securing us our best stage result in the Tour by squeezing in between number 1 and 3 in the GC.

While we had hoped for significantly more breaks I think it overall was a good experience for us. Anacona showed that he can still be consistent, Breschel did a decent jobs with the sprints early on and our youngsters learned a lot for the future!

17th out of 24 in the team competition is another proof that while we didn't make as much of a mark as we had hoped we would we weren't obliterated either.
7 finishers iss just above average as well.

	Best Rider	Place	Time
Stage 15	Jukka Vastaranta	45th	+ 2'10
Stage 16	Matti Breschel	18th	+ 6'48
Stage 17	Winner Anacona	21st	+ 6'38
Stage 18	Winner Anacona	24th	+ 5'45
Stage 19	Winner Anacona	23rd	+ 7'40
Stage 20	Jukka Vastaranta	64th	+ 4'54
Stage 21	Jukka Vastaranta	11th	s.t.

1	Andy Schleck	Vesuvio - Accumalux	82h11'08
25	Winner Anacona	Valio - DeLaval	+ 1h01'28
67	Chris Anker Sørensen	Valio - DeLaval	+ 2h20'43
78	Gökhan Hasta	Valio - DeLaval	+ 2h34'07
106	Jukka Vastaranta	Valio - DeLaval	+ 3h45'36
124	Joonas Henttala	Valio - DeLaval	+ 4h19'08
138	Olli Kulppi	Evonik - ELKO	+ 4h46'33
139	Matti Manninen	Valio - DeLaval	+ 4h48'21
DNF	Matti Breschel	Valio - DeLaval	St. 18
DNF	Samuel Halme	Valio - DeLaval	St. 18

A one-time visit to the CT-circuit for us this season with a mixture of youngsters combined with Colex and Taciak as road captains.
Also the debut race for our three stagiaires.

Stage one was uneventful for us, but stage two saw Kaislavuo in the break.

He was unlucky and crashed shortly before the break was caught by the peloton.

Taciak was very motivated going into the ITT.

It showed as he put in a strong early time.
In the end he didn't have the speed for a top result though.


Stage 4 saw young Kanerva in the break - and the group even made it to the finish where Hiski got a strong 6th place despite not quite having the physique to follow the more seasoned pros in the finale.
Nevertheless a very nice result for a stagiaire!

	Best Rider	Place	Time
Stage 1	Mateusz Taciak	75th	s.t.
Stage 2	Krists Neilands	92nd	+ 3'36
Stage 3	Mateusz Taciak	19th	+ 1'46
Stage 4	Hiski Kanerva	6th	+ 17
Stage 5	Mateusz Taciak	95th	s.t.

1	Kiril Yatsevich	The Spark Project p/b Bollé	17h53'46
76	Mateusz Taciak	Valio - DeLaval	+ 6'43
85	Krists Neilands	Valio - DeLaval	+ 7'12
97	Hiski Kanerva	Valio - DeLaval	+ 8'20
106	Oskari Vainionpää	Valio - DeLaval	+ 9'02
108	Jesse Kaislavuo	Valio - DeLaval	+ 9'20
109	Sami Tiainen	Valio - DeLaval	+ 9'22
116	Bernardo Colex	Valio - DeLaval	+ 10'50
118	Gustav Höög	Valio - DeLaval	+ 11'45

We are still quite a bit away from qualifying Finland for races such as this one, so our only participant was Paillot riding the ITT for France.

He put in a solid ride finishing in the best half.

1	Taylor Phinney	United States	1h31'51
23	Yoann Paillot	France	+ 2'34

The hope for us here was Vastaranta finding his San Luis-legs.

On the very first stage he didn't have those and lost a good bit of time.
Stage 2 was deemed to be a simple sprinter-stage but things were torn apart with Jukka on the right end and several others further behind.


Early on stage 3 we had Essa Khalifa in the break once again - and as before in the season his group wasn't allowed to slip away.
Vastaranta rode an anonymous finale saving enough enrgy to advance a few spots in the GC once again.


Omarsson got in the break on the final stage but sadly didn't have the legs to finish it off.


We had hoped for a small miracle, but it didn't happen. Still it was good to see Jukka steadily climb a few GC spots after the miss in the first stage.

	Best Rider	Place	Time
Stage 1	Jukka Vastaranta	26th	+ 2'27
Stage 2	Jukka Vastaranta	41st	s.t.
Stage 3	Jukka Vastaranta	20th	+ 1'28
Stage 4	Jukka Vastaranta	23rd	+ 4'54
Stage 5	Jukka Vastaranta	10th	+ 55

1	Tomohiro Kinoshita	Meiji - JR East	20h38'41
17	Jukka Vastaranta	Valio - DeLaval	+ 9'55
70	Ingvar Omarsson	Valio - DeLaval	+ 27'13
113	Chris Anker Sørensen	Valio - DeLaval	+ 39'45
119	Branislav Samoilev	Valio - DeLaval	+ 41'22
138	Essa Khalifa	Valio - DeLaval	+ 49'41
167	Joonas Henttala	Valio - DeLaval	+ 1h03'19
169	Matti Manninen	Valio - DeLaval	+ 1h06'56
182	Emils Liepins	Valio - DeLaval	+ 1h21'24

This was a month of slight underperforming .

Apart from Paillots 3rd place in Manx there was little to impress.

Only one rider did his job:

August is an extremely important month for us - especially tailing a couple of disappointing months with fwe highlights.

San Sebastian and the Canadian race are a bit of a wildcard with Vastaranta/Anacona.

However the big focus of the month is sprinting. First in Thailand for a classic and later for the only race going trhough Finland: Baltic Chain Tour.
We want to win that one! In fact that race is the sole reason we aimed to sign a rider of Lo Ciceros characteristics.

Last but not least we have a bunch of youngsters going to l'Avenir hoping to show themselves. For the three stagiaires this is a grat opportunity to get in line for a full contract with the team next year.

Start		Race	Days	Cat.
5-Aug		Clasica San Sebastian	2	HC
7-Aug		Nakhon Ratchasima Trophy	2	C1
14-Aug		Baltic Chain Tour	5	HC
19-Aug		Grands Prix Cyclistes	2	C1
21-Aug		Tour de l'Avenir	10	U23

We had hoped that Vastaranta would have the legs for a sprint or a late attack in the end.

He came to the line in the first big group, but that was about it and he just managed to get top 25.

1	Aleksandar Flügel	Wiesenhof - Andrtiz	5h13'53
25	Jukka Vastaranta	Valio - DeLaval	+ 1'22
57	Winner Anacona	Valio - DeLaval	+ 2'31
63	Paavo Paajanen	Valio - DeLaval	s.t.
135	Matti Manninen	Valio - DeLaval	+ 9'43
136	Joonas Henttala	Valio - DeLaval	s.t.
146	Emils Liepins	Valio - DeLaval	+ 12'59
169	Risto Aaltio	Valio - DeLaval	+ 15'26
171	Krists Neilands	Valio - DeLaval	+ 17'55

This classic is as flat as they come so you'll all know our plan...


Doing our bit all day.

Eisel and Vinther forming Lo Ciceros train and dropping him off near the front.


Ivano put in a great final push but was ultimately delivered to far behind to win today.

1	Nacer Bouhanni	Euskaltel	3h51'40
2	Ivano Lo Cicero	Valio - DeLaval	s.t.
28	Troels Vinther	Valio - DeLaval	s.t.
55	Bernhard Eisel	Valio - DeLaval	s.t.
72	Samuel Pökälä	Valio - DeLaval	s.t.
95	Krists Neilands	Valio - DeLaval	s.t.
98	Risto Aaltio	Valio - DeLaval	s.t.
101	Roope Nurmi	Valio - DeLaval	s.t.
104	Paavo Paajanen	Valio - DeLaval	s.t.

Our home race and the sole reason we went after a sprinter capable of getting through a cobbled prologue without losing too much time.

The prologue went ok for us though no top result.


Right from the start we showed that this is meant to be our race!



Manninen and Vinther did a good job with the leadout on the first sprint finish, but Lo Cicero couldn't quite deliver in the end.


A similar scenario showed on stage 3, where Ivano had found the speed but no one could match the Spotify train that delivered Ahlstrand for a dominant win.


Things started to get a little nervous on stage 4 when the break was allowed to live for long, but we had it all under control.

Lo Cicero was deliveered just in time to take a very narrow win over Ahlstrand which also saw him take both GC lead and Points jersey before the final stage.


In a very hectic final finale we messed things up a bit with Vinther and Manninen in the wrong order getting a but squeezed by Prio-Porto.
So we dropped Ivano off at the back of their train in stead.

A beautiful win by the yellow jersey securing us our win goal!

	Best Rider	Place	Time
Stage 1	Bernhard Eisel	17th	+ 10
Stage 2	Ivano Lo Cicero	3rd	s.t.
Stage 3	Ivano Lo Cicero	2nd	s.t.
Stage 4	Ivano Lo Cicero	WIN	s.t.
Stage 5	Ivano Lo Cicero	WIN	s.t.
Pts jersey	Ivano Lo Cicero	WIN

1	Ivano Lo Cicero	Valio - DeLaval	15h14'10
2	Jonas Ahlstrand	Spotify - Haglöfs	+ 24
23	Bernhard Eisel	Valio - DeLaval	+ 1'18
68	Matti Manninen	Valio - DeLaval	+ 1'26
79	Troels Vinther	Valio - DeLaval	+ 1'27
102	Risto Aaltio	Valio - DeLaval	+ 4'37
110	Krists Neilands	Valio - DeLaval	+ 4'59
124	Roope Nurmi	Valio - DeLaval	+ 5'04
167	Emils Liepins	Valio - DeLaval	+ 6'22

Getting out of high from Baltic Chain Tour we wre quickly taken back to ground by our trip to Canada.

In fact inly those studying the results very thoroughly will have discovered we were even there...

Actually Jukka did good to be in the right groups but as so often before he just didn't have that much needed final kick that could have gotten him a top 10 overall.

	Best Rider	Place	Time
Stage 1	Jukka Vastaranta	23rd	+ 17
Stage 2	Jukka Vastaranta	43rd	s.t.

1	Tomohiro Kinoshita	Meiji - JR East	10h00'15
26	Jukka Vastaranta	Valio - DeLaval	+ 37
46	Paavo Paajanen	Valio - DeLaval	+ 1'28
89	Winner Anacona	Valio - DeLaval	+ 7'15
95	Chris Anker Sørensen	Valio - DeLaval	+ 7'27
138	Jesse Kaislavuo	Valio - DeLaval	+ 16'56
147	Roope Nurmi	Valio - DeLaval	+ 25'48
148	Joonas Henttala	Valio - DeLaval	s.t.
169	Gustav Höög	Valio - DeLaval	+ 48'56

As per tradition our team was supplemented by a few other riders for this big U23-race where our main goal is being active.
Also it's the biggest chance for our stagiaires to show the kind of spirit that might secure them a contract for next season.
Mayho on the other hand will be riding for World Cycling Centre as they wanted a closer look at him before contract negotiations.


Korsaeth was one of our loan-ins and he made sure to show the jersey on the opening prologue. Perhaps hoping for a change of scenery for next season?


Neilands put in an early attack on stage 2, but it was Vainionpää who found his way into the real BOTD. The two won a KOM each putting them in the shared lead of that competition. Neilands got to war the jersey as he won the first one.

Hiski Kanerva surprised a bit by being our best finisher on the first big mountain finish.


On stage 6 it was finally time for the calves to run free again as Lammertink wears the jersey in the break.
They fought bravely but the sprinter teams had it all under control.

Lammertink took another day in the break the day after, while Kanerva once again showed some strength on an uphill finish.


Our loan-ins did great on the long ITT with Mullen and Lammertink both inside the top 10.
Meanwhile Mayho really outdid himself. Looks like he thrives better in the international atmosphere of WCC than the Nordic atmosphere at our team.

	Best Rider	Place	Time
Stage 1	Truls Engen Korsaeth*	9th	+ 4
	Krists Neilands	65th	+ 10
Stage 2	Ryan Mullen*	37th	s.t.
	Hiski Kanerva	113th	s.t.
Stage 3	?	>10th	?
Stage 4	Ryan Mullen*	80th	+ 7'50
	Krists Neilands	91st	+ 8'29
Stage 5	Hiski Kanerva	39th	+ 20'41
Stage 6	Hiski Kanerva	55th	s.t.
Stage 7	Hiski Kanerva	52nd	+ 4'32
Stage 8	Steven Lammertink*	41st	+ 29'49
	Oskari Vainionpää	72nd	+ 37'34
Stage 9	Ryan Mullen*	4th	+ 1'34
Stage 10	Hiski Kanerva	54th	+ 18'45

* Loaned in for the occasion

1	Merhawi Kudus	Kenya Airways - Dimension Data	39h00'03
19	Dominique Mayho	World Cycling Centre	+ 44'33
61	Hiski Kanerva	Valio - DeLaval	+ 1h29'09
63	Steven Lammertink	Valio - DeLaval	+ 1h31'07
65	Ryan Mullen	Valio - DeLaval	+ 1h34'43
97	Krists Neilands	Valio - DeLaval	+ 2h00'54
111	Oskari Vainionpää	Valio - DeLaval	+ 2h15'58
114	Truls Engen Korsaeth	Valio - DeLaval	+ 2h18'58
117	Gustav Höög	Valio - DeLaval	+ 2h23'21