Very late intiming, Isostar - Adriatic decides to present the full schedule for the running season. Highlights are marked in bold, as they are in the goal races of Philly International Classic, Ringerike GP, 5 Jours du Dunquerque and of course the biggest goal of all, the Tour of Slovenia.
@knockout: Yes indeed we kept those ideas in mind while applying for wildcards. Would've traded one for Milan - San Remo though, but who knows, maybe next season.
Very similar calendar, so I'll be seeing plenty of Isostar this season A couple of clashing goals as well, with Ringerike (win goal) and Dunkerque (top 5 goal). Looking forward to that!
As already announced in the calendar, we have a broad and colourful schedule designed vor our variable team leaders. The big question is: How are these schedules composed together?
The Arrow from Doljenska is focussing on classics this year. To ensure full use of his skillset, most sprinters races despite his strong winter training effort have been scrapped out of the calendar. Instead Marko will race the broad range of tougher classics from bumpy PTHC races (Lac Megantic) to hilly
HC classics with flat finishes (Ringerike GP) to hilly cobbled C1 races (Viana do Castelo) to the really rough PT monuments (Ronde van Vlaanderen, Lombardia). Basically everything that is not straight forward for a typical skillset and involves cobbles or hills at some point.
Jani is riding a lot of obligatory races, including our HC boundaries. A notable miss will be his abscence in Germany, which he dropped for Austria to use his chrono skillset better. Instead, he'll focus on HC/C1 tours, only missing Japan which sadly did not fit into the teams schedule anymore. Notable races will be surely his exotic choices, going to Emilia and the Isle of Man ITT. However the biggest shock may come from his appearance in his home race in Slovenia, where he'll captain the team despite the abscence of mountains on the road.
Our cobbles captain, The Volcano, has a devided schedule. His notable focus will be on the hilly and flat cobbled races, where he sometimes rides for himself and sometimes shares with Kump. He'll more often though also seek his chances in preferrably long uphill races, where he could make use of his outstanding attacking skillset, or rides in support of our captains.
The virtuoz, Matej the Young, is combining explosiveness with impressive technique, which makes him a great future prospect. On the road he is meant to show that on several hilly occasions, where he more often then not shares the lead with Quevedo. He'll be a big factor on the U23 calendar as well, where he'll aim high at the L'Avenir and even more at the hilly U23 classic. Given his young age we decided to build on him steadily rather then overheat our ambitions, that's why he rarely clashes with PT riders rather than racing for young riders jerseys in PCT.
El Presidente seeked his nickname from his combat and supportive role in the new team. Of course not from being a cool looking oversea export that will scare plenty of puncheurs from attacking him in a classic. He'll have mostly the same schedule as Mohoric, swapping out the U23 races and some tours for the Tour of Norway and the Post Denmark Rundt, where he'll lead our stage hunting department. The key for a successful season is to share duties well with Matej.
Mathias Brändle
Date
Cat.
Race
Goal
7.3.
HC
Qatar Oil Mountain Classic
Top 30
10.-15.3.
PTHC
Vuelta al Pais Vasco
Top 50 & Stage Win
18.-23.3.
C1
Tour de Romandie
Top 10 & Stage Win
27.-29.3.
HC
Corsica International
Top 10 & Stage Win
17.4.
PTC
GP Liechtenstein
Top 50
16.5.
HC
Berlin Pro Race
Top 50
27.-31.5.
PTHC
Tour of Norway
Top 10
9.-13.6.
HC
Post Danmark Rundt
Top 5
30.6.
C1
Monterrey TTT
Top 5
5.7.
C1
Isle of Man ITT
Top 5
21.7.
HC
Kenya Mountain Classic
Top 30
5.-11.8.
HC
Int. Österreich Rundfahrt
Top 10 & Stage Win
14.-15.10.
C1
Tour of East Java
Top 30
18.10.
PTM
Giro di Lombardia
Top 50
Given the reduced HC/C1 calendar it was a tough ask to create an appealing calendar for the stroj. However we tried our best, having to announce though that he'll miss our most important race in Slovenia, as he preferred to go to the Tour of Denmark, claiming that the race fits him better. Another disappointment for him was that we couldn't offer any space for the Olympia's Tour. Instead, Brändle will race loads of supportive races including TTTs and hunt for chrono victories. Additionally he is a nice secondary scorer in mountain tours on the side of Brajkovic, especially notable in his home tour in Austria where he'll proudly present his national Time Trial jersey.
@Tastasol: I don't think I really like to clash with you that often. Mohoric and Watson had a great first battle already, white jerseys will be fought out roughly.
And as anybody else I obviously hate to see Boasson Hagen/Wisniowski in my goal races. You had too much influence on my planning anyway, as for the instance of the Baltic Chain Tour where Polanc would've been main opening stage favourite without Wisniowski, and thus I would've gone without him for the stage & leaders jersey bonus As for Ringerike: With the new race design I obviously hope for a reduce bunch sprint instead of Boasson Hagen domination Couldn't have guessed that the level of opposition raises so hard from Kinoshita to now when setting goals.
@Cio: It depends on PCM AI a lot. If it treats it like a pure sprint classic, Kump will have a major disappointment. If it treats it like it should, as kind of a Milan San Remo comparable race, then we may alliance very well for making it as tough as possible
The race where we had possibly the least of expectatoins all season long started the season for us. Mansilla & Giaux were named as the preeliminary leading duo, captaining the team to what should be a Top20 to open the season. A wildcard rider here was Roy Jans, hoping for a rough race on the flat or the possibility for a late attack.
Well, we got nothing. No breakaway, no attack, no sprint. One picture sums our race up properly, at the same time it's the only one where we've ever been seen:
Yes, we failed to come even close to scoring points. Our best rider was Jans in 52nd. Oscar Guerao won the sprint from our friends at SPAR. We may should've chased him harder than we did in offseason.
1
Óscar Guerao
SPAR - Shimano - SCG
1h33'00
2
Matthew Goss
Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ
s.t.
3
Maxime Vantomme
Netia - Vónin
s.t.
4
Fabio Silvestre
Berg Cycles
s.t.
5
Ivano Lo Cicero
Valio - DeLaval
s.t.
52
Roy Jans
Isostar - Adriatic
s.t.
Goal: Top 20 --> failed
Points scored: 0
Manager's satisfaction rate: 0/10
Positive Surprise: not available
Negative Surprise:Lead Sprinters - There is no chance of scoring if you don't even try to. We could've been in the mix, but we just refused to. Nobody in the Top 50 is a plain embarassing result
A 0 pointer is always bad but you could have no expectations for this with one of the weakest lineups throughout the season for you so the impact of this failed race should be minimal. Other races like the Tour Down Under were more important for you
After the DUC disappointment the Tour Down Under was a big race for the 'meninlime. Sending our 1A squad made us expecting a big time race, that should lead into a Top 10 result. The 1,5 bumpy stages additionally looked perfectly set for Kump, and with our strong train we expected at least one stage win, as we set up a fantastic train for him. Marko also expected to try and defend his green jersey from last year. Mohoric and Quevedo are both Top10 riders as well, so they were meant to grab the opportunity and go for the GC independently. Mohoric target on top was the white jersey. But to come back in a great manner, the riders had to live up to the #zeroturnaround spirit to forget the horrible opener.
Reality:
Stage 1: The first check to see how Kump went after working on his sprint in the offseason. Let's see how it paid off later, but first see how our neo-pro Jernej Svab crushed his opposition on the breakaway.
He took the polka dot and the white jersey in the process of winning every intermediate sprint. His break however didn't survive, instead it was Kump for the sprint.
In a messy one however he couldn't live up to expectations and only finished 8th on a double victory day for Fablok.
1
Andrea Guardini
Fablok - Bank BGZ
2h52'54
2
Erik Mohs
Fablok - Bank BGZ
s.t.
3
Wesley Kreder
Kraftwerk Man Machine
s.t.
4
Mark Cavendish
Kraftwerk Man Machine
s.t.
5
Kenji Itami
Meiji - JR East
s.t.
8
Marko Kump
Isostar - Adriatic
s.t.
KoM:
1
Jernej Svab
Isostar - Adriatic
10
2
Thanawut Sanikwathi
In-n-Out p/b Carrefour
8
3
Antwan Tolhoek
Ferrero - Samruk
6
4
Stanislav Zaraliev
VMP - Argon 18
4
5
Behnam Khalilikhosroshani
Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ
2
U25:
1
Jernej Svab
Isostar - Adriatic
2h52'42 (1)
2
Enric Mas
Euskaltel
+ 4 (2)
3
Maximillian Schachmann
Berg Cycles
+ 12 (3)
Stage 2: Our possibly most awaited stage all season: The bumpy sprint in Stirling. We worked all day to bring our sprinter in the perfect position, and that worked well until the final kilometers.
But there the train broke apart. We suspect a mechanical for Mansilla, however he faded big time after a great turn coming from Jans.
Kump tried to work his way back after the issues, sprinting a hard uphill sprint...
...but it wouldn't be enough to prevent from the big upset by Modolo. Our Slovenian captain finished second on the day however, missing out on the expected stage win and the leaders jersey though.
A nice 5th for our former punchy sprinter and Slovenian Champion Grega Bole!
1
Sascha Modolo
Ferrero - Samruk
3h27'17
2
Marko Kump
Isostar - Adriatic
s.t.
3
Maurice Schreurs
Orange Pro Cycling
s.t.
4
Mohamed Shawal Anuar Aziz
Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ
s.t.
5
Grega Bole
VMP - Argon 18
s.t.
We managed to keep polka-dot and white with Svab, Kump improved in the GC to third and now leads the sprinters competition.
Points:
1
Marko Kump
Isostar - Adriatic
28
2
Sascha Modolo
Ferrero - Samruk
26
3
Andrea Guardini
Fablok - Bank BGZ
25
4
Wesley Kreder
Kraftwerk Man Machine
21
5
Erik Mohs
Fablok - Bank BGZ
20
Stage 3: The first punchy stage and we were very afraid of Corkscrew Hill. Inn a perfect scenario no action would happen and Kump could contest in a reduced bunch sprint.
Representing our colours, Bazhkou contested in the breakaway of 4.
Sadly it couldn't seek any success on the stage, as on Corkscrew when the attacks happened everything was together. Sadly our captains not in the front rows. However, in a good hunt to get back, Kump finished together with Flügel 8th only 28 seconds down on winner Schreurs.
Also Mohoric finished 11th and only 48 seconds down ahead of the peloton, taking over white from Svab, who also lost the polka-dot jersey. Kump also lost red to Schreurs, but we took over the lead in the teams classification. Bad luck though with Quevedo loosing major time on a crash thrown out of contension for the GC.
1
Maurice Schreurs
Orange Pro Cycling
3h11'06
2
Chris Froome
Fablok - Bank BGZ
s.t.
3
Diego Ulissi
Generali - EDF
s.t.
4
Tomohiro Kinoshita
Meiji - JR East
s.t.
5
Cesare Di Maggio
MOL-OMV Petrom
s.t.
8
Marko Kump
Isostar - Adriatic
+ 28
11
Matej Mohoric
Isostar - Adriatic
+48
19
Roy Jans
Isostar - Adriatic
+ 1'36
Teams:
1
Isostar - Adriatic
28h36'43 (1)
2
Generali - EDF
+ 21 (2)
3
Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ
+ 33 (3)
Stage 4: Another very interesting day and the chance for Kump taking revenche for stage 2. Therefore we controlled the full race actively from the front, including the sprint preperation while chasing the break still with 3 to go.
We prepared the sprint very well, however Modolo reached out very early and got a significant gap on us again.
But then the Arrow from Doljenska unleashed his inner beast, sprinting up towards him and still leading breakaway rider Kamberaj, our loanee at VMP.
He streamed past everyone including the last man standing, throwing his arms in the air for a well deserved first victory of the 2017 season for Isostar - Adriatic.
Our loanie Kamberaj just missed out on hanging on to the podium against Modolo and Reinhardt.
1
Marko Kump
Isostar - Adriatic
2h55'09
2
Theo Reinhardt
Team UBS
s.t.
3
Sascha Modolo
Ferrero - Samruk
s.t.
4
Xhuliano Kamberaj
VMP - Argon 18
s.t.
5
Mark Cavendish
Kraftwerk Man Machine
s.t.
And with this result Kump climbed up to 4th GC whilst also extending his lead in the points classification.
1
Maurice Schreurs
Orange Pro Cycling
12h25'58
2
Chris Froome
Fablok - Bank BGZ
+ 16
3
Diego Ulissi
Generali - EDF
+ 20
4
Marko Kump
Isostar - Adriatic
+ 24
5
Tomohiro Kinoshita
Meiji - JR East
+ 28
6
Cyril Gautier
Valio - DeLaval
s.t.
7
Cesare Di Maggio
MOL-OMV Petrom
s.t.
8
Aleksandar Flügel
Kraftwerk Man Machine
+ 56
9
Mohamed Shawal Anuar Aziz
Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ
+ 1'16
10
Matej Mohoric
Isostar - Adriatic
s.t.
Stage 5: The GC determining stage with double Willunga Hill is always painful for the punchy sprinters. However, we tried to defend our GC position as good as possible, positioning our riders close to the front for the final climb.
Up the hill young Matej was with the best of the best, finishing the queens stage in 4th as di Maggio won the stage, ensuring his 10th position in the GC and the white jersey.
Kump tried his best to cover the opposition, and held on very well fighting lion-esque. At the end he came in 11th, holding on to the same time as the winner to keep the sprinters jersey and at least 5th GC.
1
Cesare Di Maggio
MOL-OMV Petrom
3h22'04
2
Cyril Gautier
Valio - DeLaval
s.t.
3
Chris Froome
Fablok - Bank BGZ
s.t.
4
Matej Mohoric
Isostar - Adriatic
s.t.
5
Tomohiro Kinoshita
Meiji - JR East
s.t.
11
Marko Kump
Isostar - Adriatic
s.t.
Stage 6: On the final stage it was classically breakaway time. A win could have brought Kump even up to 2nd GC, but the breakaway which we sadly didn't make was never going to be contestable. That means no stage results for us as Michely won, but some great final standings.
1
Kim Michely
MOL-OMV Petrom
1h41'52
2
Maximillian Schachmann
Berg Cycles
s.t.
3
Mark Cavendish
Kraftwerk Man Machine
s.t.
4
Kobe Vanoverschelde
MOL-OMV Petrom
s.t.
5
Kamil Zielinski
Fablok - Bank BGZ
s.t.
22
Marko Kump
Isostar - Adriatic
s.t.
GC:
1
Maurice Schreurs
Orange Pro Cycling
17h29'54
2
Chris Froome
Fablok - Bank BGZ
+ 8
3
Cesare Di Maggio
MOL-OMV Petrom
s.t.
4
Cyril Gautier
Valio - DeLaval
+ 16
5
Marko Kump
Isostar - Adriatic
+ 24
6
Tomohiro Kinoshita
Meiji - JR East
+ 28
7
Aleksandar Flügel
Kraftwerk Man Machine
+ 56
8
Diego Ulissi
Generali - EDF
+ 1'06
9
Mohamed Shawal Anuar Aziz
Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ
+ 1'16
10
Matej Mohoric
Isostar - Adriatic
s.t.
17
Roy Jans
Isostar - Adriatic
+ 2'50
28
Matej Mugerli
Isostar - Adriatic
+ 4'22
Points:
1
Marko Kump
Isostar - Adriatic
66
2
Maurice Schreurs
Orange Pro Cycling
49
3
Sascha Modolo
Ferrero - Samruk
48
KOM:
1
William Walker
Ferrero - Samruk
32
2
Chris Froome
Fablok - Bank BGZ
20
3
Cesare Di Maggio
MOL-OMV Petrom
20
9
Jernej Svab
Isostar - Adriatic
10
U25:
1
Matej Mohoric
Isostar - Adriatic
17h31'10 (1)
2
Calvin Watson
Grieg - Eftel
+ 0 (2)
3
Mario Vogt
Berg Cycles
+ 1'58 (3)
Teams:
1
Isostar - Adriatic
52h34'44 (1)
2
Kraftwerk Man Machine
+ 28 (2)
3
MOL-OMV Petrom
+ 2'18 (3)
Goal: Top 20 & Stage Win & Green & White --> achieved
Positive Surprise:Hill Work - Brilliant team results on the uphill stages made it an impressive overall result for us. Not only the great rides from our two healthy leaders on those stages, but also the team depth did well. Especially Jans seems to be a great new asset from the team, he amazes like last season when paired up with Kump.
Negative Surprise:Leadout Issues - Both on stage 1 and 6 we have proven to not being a dominant force in flat races with Kump. And while we controlled the bumpy sprint stages very well, there are still some finetuning issues left to solve, both on the approach on stage 2 where we failed and stage 4 where we succeeded. That is no surprise though with Mansilla new in the train and the whole team mixed together completely new.
A great race for you for sure. You may have wanted another stage win, like S2 , but 2 jerseys + teams + top5 + top10 + 1 stage has given you a big amount of points to start the season in a good way
Beautiful race for you, no matter what you say, Kump, Mohoric, Svab, Jans... all working well and showing just why they are great riders, hope the rest of the season can stay on a high note like this!
@Aquarius97: Yes that would've made it even nicer, but I agree that I can't be mad about the actual result either
@trembmc: Yes indeed, if only the full race calendar would be TDU
@AbhishekLFC: Indeed, we likely have the most crucial month of our season beckoning - we need major success in February, with a lot of decent Kump race days.
@knockout: Well, I can: Kump winning stage 2, good sprint participation, a brekaway in stage 6, Svab defending the KOM, Quevedo not crashing but attacking the Top 10 as well,...
January saw our step to Australia, attending the Down Under Classic and the Tour Down Under, leaving us with very mixed feelings. Standings look quite decent for us after January.
Team
Total
PTHC
DUC
TdU
ColCla
1
Meiji - JR East
255
121
75
59
121
2
Orange Pro Cycling
236
10
53
173
10
3
Grieg - Eftel
220
170
22
28
170
4
Isostar - Adriatic
192
0
0
192
0
5
Fablok - Bank BGZ
173
0
0
173
0
6
Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ
166
0
125
41
0
7
SPAR - Shimano - SCG
159
4
155
0
4
8
Valio - DeLaval
152
0
74
78
0
9
Berg Cycles
149
53
76
20
53
10
MOL - OMV Petrom
133
0
0
133
0
11
Netia - Vónin
118
31
87
0
31
12
Carlsberg - Danske Bank
108
90
18
0
90
13
Kraftwerk Man Machine
101
0
0
101
0
14
Ferrero - Samruk
101
5
0
96
5
15
Generali - EDF
60
0
0
60
0
16
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
57
0
53
4
0
17
Novatek-Panarmenian.net
50
0
43
7
0
18
Podium Ambition
34
28
5
1
28
19
Newton Foundation
26
0
26
0
0
20
Team UBS
25
0
0
25
0
21
Euskaltel
19
0
0
19
0
22
Compal-Merida
6
6
0
0
6
23
Minions
4
4
0
0
4
24
Team Ticos Air Costa Rica
1
0
0
1
0
25
Haute Route - Mavic
0
0
0
0
0
26
Eritel - Sonatrach
0
0
0
0
0
Projected Rankings:
6
4
Isostar - Adriatic
192
8
24
3360
Individual Rankings:
1
Maurice Schreurs
NED
Orange Pro Cycling
181
2
Edvald Boasson Hagen
NOR
Grieg - Eftel
170
3
Óscar Guerao
ESP
SPAR - Shimano - SCG
140
4
Tomohiro Kinoshita
JPN
Meiji - JR East
124
5
Chris Froome
GBR
Fablok - Bank BGZ
122
6
Marko Kump
SLO
Isostar - Adriatic
118
18
Matej Mohoric
SLO
Isostar - Adriatic
45
44
Roy Jans
BEL
Isostar - Adriatic
11
47
Jernej Svab
SLO
Isostar - Adriatic
10
63
Matej Mugerli
SLO
Isostar - Adriatic
5
80
Luis Miguel Mansilla
CHL
Isostar - Adriatic
3
Now in February though we need to continue the high wave of the Tour Down Under. February includes a lot of crucial races, especially captain Kump will have some major races awaiting. We need to stay right at the Top of the division in spring, to not fall back later. February should be a major step forward to it if everything works well.
Tour de Pologne
7.-13.2.
HC
hilly
Mohoric & Quevedo
Top 10
Matej Mohoric
Leader
Stanislau Bazhkou
Domestique
Xavier Quevedo
Leader
Daniel Jaramillo
Domestique
Luis Miguel Mansilla
Sprinter
Jaka Bostner
Domestique
Ramunas Navardauskas
Free Role
Pavel Potocki
Domestique
2 captains for our first hilly HC race: Young Mohoric and Quevedo. Both will olead our team on the 3 hilly finishes on stages 3, 5 and 6. For stage 1, which is a major target of us, we hope to ride into the leaders jersey by aggressive racing, that should depending on the thinning on the climb either be done by Mansilla or Navardauskas, who also is a Top20 GC wildcard as is Bazhkou. We'll see if Mansilla will this time be able to contest on the flat sprints, he has the skillset to do so and could be set up nicely by Navardauskas. Mohoric will again aim for the youth classification.
Goal: Stage Win, Youth Classification, Top10, Top 15, Top 25
Gent - Wevelgem
8.2.
C1
semi-cobbled
Kump & Polanc
Top 3
Marko Kump
Leader
Ahmed Belgasem
Domestique
Jan Polanc
Co-Leader
Matej Mugerli
Domestique
Roy Jans
Domestique
Jernej Svab
Domestique
Jerome Giaux
Domestique
Tadej Logar
Domestique
This is a cobbled race, where young Polanc is not our leader. It is kind of prone of sprinters that go well over cobbles, and Marko Kump is the definition of those types of gap sprinters. All in for Marko then? Not really, attacking with Polanc is the A2 plan.
Goal: Top 3, Top 10, Top 25
Viana do Castelo
13.2.
C1
hilly cobbled
Kump & Polanc
Win
Marko Kump
Leader
Ahmed Belgasem
Domestique
Jan Polanc
Co-Leader
Matej Mugerli
Domestique
Roy Jans
Domestique
Jernej Svab
Domestique
Jerome Giaux
Domestique
Tadej Logar
Domestique
Same team, even higher expectations. While there are more cobbles to drop our captains, there are also more hills. And our cobbled captains love hills more than most of their opponence. Marko Kump should be a stellar rider for this race, the same goes for Polanc.
Our first wildcard race. And we want to play a significant role, we are not in PT just for saying hello and goodbye. Using the PT triple header we want to draw the race with our energy, offering several types of qualities with Kump as a punchy sprinter, Brajkovic as climber and Quevedo and Mohoric for a puncheurs festival.
Goal: Top 20, 3*Top 50, 3 screenshots
Strade Bianchi
23.2.
HC
hilly
Mohoric & Quevedo
Top 10
Matej Mohoric
Leader
Martin Laas
Domestique
Xavier Quevedo
Leader
Daniel Jaramillo
Domestique
Jan Polanc
Domestique
Tadej Logar
Domestique
Stanislau Bazhkou
Domestique
Jaka Bostner
Domestique
While the hilly classics clash in the PCT occures, our main hilly squad rides in Italy for the famous white gravel roads. We expect a puncheurs festival, and Mohoric plus Quevedo should have the perfect punch for that in Siena. One of them should be able to finish inside the Top10 on the famous finishing drag.
Goal: Top 10, Top 15, Top 30
Tour of Almaty
23.2.
C1
hilly sprint
Kump
Win
Marko Kump
Leader
Ahmed Belgasem
Domestique
Luis Miguel Mansilla
Train
Matej Mugerli
Domestique
Roy Jans
Train
Jernej Svab
Domestique
Ramunas Navardauskas
Train
Pavel Potocki
Domestique
Yes, we want to win this hilly classic. Yes, we are aware of some outstanding opponence coming from the best puncheurs of the division. But, we know how to compete here. Last year the connection of Bole and Drucker achieved an amazing result for us, this year we send our main man Kump. He has an outstanding support on his side, depending on how the race goes 2/3 out of Mansilla, Jans and Navardauskas will lead him out to a potential victory in Almaty.
For all your posts saying how bad your team is, your goals for each race are very ambitious. Take Viana do Castelo as example. When winning is not enough for a target. Have you calculated how many points per race days you would score when hitting all those goals and compared it with the 2016 final rankings?
Like knockout mentioned, your goals are very high for the team in every single race! Looking forward to how you guys go in especially Pologne and Viana do Castelo. Will be interesting how you go in Almaty with all this hype. All the best for the month.
Also, a lot of pressure on the reporter to take those 3 screenshots you mentioned for Grand Duche
AbhishekLFC wrote:
Also, a lot of pressure on the reporter to take those 3 screenshots you mentioned for Grand Duche
Hey, you still have to start a "new" race, take those 3 screenshots of Isostar, and put them in the report without anyone noticing that those are not from the actual race
@knockout: Nope, didn't check. But: Ambitions for September indeed are very high, and we are basing our goals on team strength and, which might be a problem, decent AI. What is sure is that we need a big month, and while goals of course are ambitious, going into those directions is surely needed when we look at later months.
@Abhishek: The pressure is on my team to create the action to justify those. Goals are targets, which our squad could achieve if they get their racing together as they should.
@Aquarius: We're no cheater are we. And we crash at least 1 time a race with a leader, so one is already safe
Big race for us with a sprint for Kump as the goal. Jans...
...joined the breakaway of 4 for us, which held on for most of the day. The team was caught behind a split, but...
...worked hard to get back and made the junction. Due to unknown reasons though then the team decided to just not participate in any sort of sprint preperation, leading to an unsatisfying result, while our friend Nepomnyachisniy won the race for SPAR.
Positive Surprise:The Chase - The team looked awfully in trouble after several splits. Great teamwork brought us back into contension. If we only would've finished that...
Negative Surprise:Sprint Tactics - It is just beyond common understanding how a team, after a long chase, would refuse to bring the best sprinter in the peloton into a half decent position for a bunch sprint.
The team tried to control the race from the beginning to the end. However, we really lacked assistance in taking responsibility for chasing the strong attacking group.
At the end we couldn't catch the group, preventing us from a big result.
Instead of a 1-2 from Giaux & Kump we had to settle for 6th and 7th + to further good placements.
Positive Surprise:Final Sprint - Everything worked out properly, the team was in the perfect position, brought Kump into action and executed perfectly. If it only wasn't for the wrong positions.
Negative Surprise:Breakaway chase - We took a lot of responsibilities, though still not enough it seems. Having the breakawawy costing us over 100 points is just inacceptable.
Down Under Classic
Tour de Pologne
Gent - Wevelgem
Viana do Castelo
Classique du Grand-Duché
Strade Bianche
Tour of Almaty
La Tropicale Amissa Bongo
GP Herning
Qatar Oil Mountain Classic
Vuelta al Pais Vasco
Tour de Romandie
Tour of South Africa
GP Liechtenstein
Philadelphia Int Cycling Classic
Berlin Pro Race
Tour of Norway
Lincoln GP
Lac Megantic Classic
Tour de Slovénie
Monterrey TTT
Kenya Mountain Classic
Int. Österreich Rundfahrt
Clásica San Sebastian
Tour of Ukraine
Vuelta a Colombia
Barbados Cycling Classic
Tour of East Java
GP Kigali
Japan Cup
A couple of clashing goals as well, with Ringerike (win goal) and Dunkerque (top 5 goal). Looking forward to that!
Xavier Quevedo
