Daniel Jaramillo managed to join the early breakaway for us.
They got caught in the final 15 kilometers though after a good ride. Afterwards the team failed to position themselves properly for the final sprint. Like that, Mohoric & Quevedo could only sprint for minor positions off-camera in Siena, while Flügel won the race for Kraftwerk.
1
Aleksandar Flügel
Kraftwerk Man Machine
4h38'31
2
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Grieg - Eftel
s.t.
3
Chris Froome
Fablok - Bank BGZ
+ 14
4
Marco Canola
MOL-OMV Petrom
s.t.
5
Cyril Gautier
Valio - DeLaval
s.t.
6
Maurice Schreurs
Orange Pro Cycling
s.t.
7
Cesare Di Maggio
MOL-OMV Petrom
s.t.
8
Christopher Juul-Jensen
Carlsberg - Danske Bank
s.t.
9
Damiano Caruso
Euskaltel
s.t.
10
Ivan Rovny
MOL-OMV Petrom
s.t.
15
Xavier Quevedo
Isostar - Adriatic
+33
16
Matej Mohoric
Isostar - Adriatic
s.t.
Goal: Top 10, Top 15, Top 30 --> failed
Points scored: 21 (Quevedo 11, Mohoric 10)
Manager's satisfaction rate: 2.5/10
Positive Surprise:Daniel Jaramillo - A nice ride to show our colours in the breakaway of the day.
Negative Surprise:Captain Positioning - Looking at who finished in the Top10 there was so much more possible for our double force.
With huge ambitions we went into the Kazakh classic. After catching the break however, we couldn't prevent a group of favourites from breaking away on the last lap. We chased them down till the end, but it was no coming back.
While those favourites sprinted for victory, Isostar could only battle for minor placements. A bummer already, evenmore when Kump was pushede off the wheels of his teammate, so that the men in lime couldn't organize a proper train. Under that aspect the result is kind of reasonable at the end, though missing the Top 10 with 6 riders in the Top 26 is a critical disappointment
Positive Surprise:Train effort - The idea behind the race was perfect. And the train looked rather strong for a great depth result.
Negative Surprise:Marko Kump - He could neither mark the opponence when they attacked nor stay with the train. A horrible day for our captain, failing massively on his win campaign.
For our first full PT appearance we sent our strongest team possible with the goal to upset the favourites. And we should why we are called the "young, lime and free". The team managed to position themselves decently for the final climb, where nothing less than 4 riders climber into the Top20. Perfect racing especially by Mohoric and Mugerli, who both even managed to finish in the Top10.
We overachieved our goals here by quite a margin, what a race!
Positive Surprise:Matej - Both young Matej and old Matej managed to break into the top 10. Rumour has it that especially old Matej found some Strava magic on the road, both making it an outstanding result for the team.
Stage 1: The first stage should've been one for us, with one of our number of hilly sprinters here. Instead, nobody was even close to finish at the front of the pack, not even speaking of the 8 riders that finished ahead of it. Quevedo down in a crash and injured again.
1
Christopher Juul-Jensen
Carlsberg - Danske Bank
4h19'20
2
Simon Yates
Podium Ambition
s.t.
3
Diego Ulissi
Generali - EDF
s.t.
102
Ramunas Navardauskas
Isostar - Adriatic
+ 55
Stage 2: A pure sprinter stage where we were led by Mansilla. It didn't work out as expected, he couldn't sprint properly and even finished behind GC captain Mohoric.
1
Caleb Ewan
Podium Ambition
5h11'40
2
Mark Cavendish
Kraftwerk Man Machine
s.t.
3
Danilo Kupfernagel
Berg Cycles
s.t.
28
Matej Mohoric
Isostar - Adriatic
s.t.
Stage 3: A pure drag race of puncheurs on the final climb to Ustran. Our only puncheur in the mix was young Matej, finishing 15th 2 minutes behind the winner.
1
Aleksandar Flügel
Kraftwerk Man Machine
13h14'09
2
Diego Ulissi
Generali - EDF
+ 36
3
Mohamed Shawal Anuar Aziz
Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ
s.t.
15
Matej Mohoric
Isostar - Adriatic
+ 1'56
Stage 4: Another sprint stage, but one lonely breakaway survivor spoiled the party. Again we neither attacked nor contended in the final sprint properly.
1
Thurakit Boonratanathanakorn
SPAR - Shimano - SCG
5h02'10
2
Danilo Kupfernagel
Berg Cycles
s.t.
3
Mark Cavendish
Kraftwerk Man Machine
s.t.
18
Luis Miguel Mansilla
Isostar - Adriatic
s.t.
Stage 5: The next puncheurs stage to Jelenia Gora brought another opportunity to climb in the GC. Again a mid-range attack did the trick, this time for Sanchez, Netia superstar. Mohoric finished 12th climbing up the ladder, still third U23 and now 12th GC.
1
Luis Leon Sanchez Gil
Netia - Vónin
4h07'59
2
Tejay Van Garderen
Newton Foundation
+ 40
3
Chris Froome
Fablok - Bank BGZ
s.t.
12
Matej Mohoric
Isostar - Adriatic
+ 1'02
Stage 6: In Bukowina Tatranska the final puncheurs festival should take place. But again the breakaway took it away. In the pack Mohoric had his best day, finished with the best in 11th and promoting to 2nd in the youth competition.
1
Olivier Le Gac
Euskaltel
4h49'26
2
Ivan Rovny
MOL-OMV Petrom
+ 21
3
Jesper Hansen
Carlsberg - Danske Bank
+ 2'20
11
Matej Mohoric
Isostar - Adriatic
+ 4'39
Stage 7: The final sprinters stage finishes traditionally in Krakow, as it did this time as well. That meant another sprint disappointment, eventhough Mansilla got his best result finishing 12th.
1
Danilo Kupfernagel
Berg Cycles
2h51'54
2
Wesley Kreder
Kraftwerk Man Machine
s.t.
3
Aleksandr Serebriakov
Novatek-Panarmenian.net
s.t.
12
Luis Miguel Mansilla
Isostar - Adriatic
s.t.
It didn't change anything in terms of the GC, where we finished 9th with Mohoric according to the expectations.
1
Chris Froome
Fablok - Bank BGZ
30h11'48
2
Diego Ulissi
Generali - EDF
+ 7
3
Tejay Van Garderen
Newton Foundation
+ 36
4
Aleksandar Flügel
Kraftwerk Man Machine
+ 53
5
Maurice Schreurs
Orange Pro Cycling
+ 58
6
Simon Yates
Podium Ambition
+ 1'21
7
Cyril Gautier
Valio - DeLaval
+ 1'23
8
Rui Costa
Berg Cycles
+ 1'27
9
Matej Mohoric
Isostar - Adriatic
s.t.
10
Carlos Betancourt
Minions
s.t.
Loosing the U25 competition as well as no back-up points from the GC and no breakaway appearance at all made this race a really bad one though.
Goal: Stage Win, Youth Classification, Top10, Top 15, Top 25 --> failed
Points scored: 62 (Mohoric 62)
Manager's satisfaction rate: 2.5/10
Positive Surprise:Matej Mohoric - One rider saved our race alone, by finishing well up the GC. Only downside is his close miss to Yates in the U25 classification.
Negative Surprise:Supporting Cast - 0 points in a race where you get points until the Top50 and a perfectöy made stage for us is just not acceptable from Mansilla, Navardauskas, Bazhkou and Quevedo (crashing on the first stage though). Potocki and Bostner weren't expected to score, but could've found some better placing as well, at least in breakaway attempts.
Several disappointments made us massively slip in February:
Team
PTHC
Total
1
5
Fablok - Bank BGZ
0
618
2
9
Berg Cycles
53
536
3
10
MOL - OMV Petrom
0
524
4
11
Netia - Vónin
31
501
5
14
Kraftwerk Man Machine
0
499
6
19
Newton Foundation
59
489
7
15
Generali - EDF
38
448
8
2
Orange Pro Cycling
32
443
9
3
Grieg - Eftel
170
419
10
16
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
79
412
11
8
Valio - DeLaval
0
403
12
4
Isostar - Adriatic
0
389
13
1
Meiji - JR East
121
359
14
7
SPAR - Shimano - SCG
4
352
15
12
Carlsberg - Danske Bank
138
344
16
18
Podium Ambition
28
321
17
20
Team UBS
6
315
18
6
Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ
0
314
19
25
Eritel - Sonatrach
7
313
20
21
Euskaltel
4
258
21
13
Ferrero - Samruk
5
254
22
17
Novatek-Panarmenian.net
41
210
23
26
Haute Route - Mavic
0
199
24
23
Minions
4
177
25
22
Compal-Merida
6
148
26
24
Team Ticos Air Costa Rica
0
38
Projected Rankings:
13
12
Isostar - Adriatic
389
23
16,91
2367
Individual Rankings:
1
Chris Froome
GBR
Fablok - Bank BGZ
411
2
Maurice Schreurs
NED
Orange Pro Cycling
327
3
Aleksandar Flügel
GER
Kraftwerk Man Machine
320
4
Michal Kwiatkowski
POL
Netia - Vónin
305
5
Edvald Boasson Hagen
NOR
Grieg - Eftel
268
6
Diego Ulissi
ITA
Generali - EDF
241
7
Cyril Gautier
FRA
Valio - DeLaval
216
8
Tejay Van Garderen
USA
Newton Foundation
213
9
Christopher Juul-Jensen
DEN
Carlsberg - Danske Bank
205
10
Cesare Di Maggio
ITA
MOL - OMV Petrom
180
11
Simon Yates
GBR
Podium Ambition
157
12
Tomohiro Kinoshita
JPN
Meiji - JR East
156
13
Marko Kump
SLO
Isostar - Adriatic
150
14
Patrick Schelling
SWI
Team UBS
147
15
Daniele Dall'Oste
ITA
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
141
16
Óscar Guerao
ESP
SPAR - Shimano - SCG
140
17
Merhawi Kudus
ERI
Eritel - Sonatrach
135
18
Matej Mohoric
SLO
Isostar - Adriatic
117
19
Thibaut Pinot
FRA
Haute Route - Mavic
114
20
Mohamed Shawal Anuar Aziz
MAS
Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ
108
March offers the option to take some of the missed points back. Highlights surely should be Kumps opportunity at Tropicale, the wilcard at De Ronde and the opportunities for Brajkovic in Switzerland and France.
Tropicale Amissa Bongo
1.-6.3.
C1
flat/bumpy
Kump
Top 3
Marko Kump
Leader
Martin Laas
Domestique
Roy Jans
Leadout
Tadej Logar
Domestique
Luis Miguel Mansilla
Leadout
Gasper Svab
Domestique
Ramunas Navardauskas
Leadout
Pavel Potocki
Domestique
It's an easy plan: All for Kump. Leadouts are there for every type of stage, especially stage 2 and 3 should be perfectly fitting for our Slovenian star. A stage win there is anticipated, and from then on it's defending the GC.
Goal: Stage Win, Top 3 Points Classification, Top 3 GC
A flat classic that doesn't fit us as good as many other cobbled races. Our leaders there like it harder, still a good chance for Polanc to use his chance to score a Top 10 leading the team alone.
Goal: Top 10
Qatar Oil Mountain Classic
7.3.
HC
mountain
Brajkovic
Top 15
Janez Brajkovic
Leader
Daniel Jaramillo
Domestique
Mathias Brändle
Free Role
Jaka Bostner
Domestique
Pavel Potocki
Free Role
Martin Laas
Domestique
Jernej Svab
Domestique
Ahmed Belgasem
Domestique
Brajkovic with his chance to lead on a mountain classic, where the best of the best meet up. A Top 10 would be success, a Top 15 is the goal for our experienced leader. Find the right wheel!
Goal: Top 15, Top 30
Vuelta al Pais Vasco
10.-15.3.
PTHC
mountain
Mohoric & Quevedo
Top 15
Matej Mohoric
Leader
Matej Mugerli
Domestique
Xavier Quevedo
Leader
Stanislau Bazhkou
Domestique
Mathias Brändle
Free Role
Jaka Bostner
Domestique
Ramunas Navardauskas
Domestique
Martin Laas
Domestique
A depth race for us. We got a wide range of potential stage winners that will all be allowed to seek their chance in the stacked PTHC race. The leadership is shared between Mohoric and Quevedo. The former will seek the white jersey on top.
Goal: Top 15, Top 20, Top 30, 2*Top 50, white jersey
Tour de Romandie
18.-23.3.
C1
mountain
Brajkovic
Top 5
Janez Brajkovic
Leader
Daniel Jaramillo
Domestique
Mathias Brändle
Free Role
Jernej Svab
Domestique
Pavel Potocki
Free Role
Stanislau Bazhkou
Domestique
Ramunas Navardauskas
Domestique
Ahmed Belgasem
Domestique
Again Brajkovic will get his chances to lead the squad. With a great supporting cast for the TTT the base should be set, and the final ITT should fit both him and Brändle very well. While Brajkovic can hopefully keep up with the best climbers, the Austrian TT champ needs to try and hang on for as long as possible, especially on the hilly stage. Potocki could even have a shot on the young riders jersey in Austria.
Goal: Top 5, Top 15, Stage Top 3, Youth Classification Top 3
Our second wildcard race, and this time we are even more of an outsider. At Grand-Duche we surprised all with our best season performance, and this time we'll try to repeat that. Depending on how the race is raced, both Kump and Polanc could have a scratch at the Top10 if PCM treats them well. Whether that will happen is questionable though, and our duo will try to answer that positively.
We are sending the same squad as in Vlaanderen, only changing one rider. Does that mean success in PTHC? Doubtable. Captain Kump is taking a rest for later tasks, while Polanc leads the team. The opponence will stay strong, while at the same time we miss the hills on this cobbled classic. A top 20 is the realistic goal, but it will be a tough race for us most likely.
Goal: Top 20, Top 50
Corsica International
27.-29.3.
HC
mountain
Brajkovic
Top 10
Janez Brajkovic
Leader
Tadej Logar
Domestique
Mathias Brändle
Free Role
Jernej Svab
Domestique
Pavel Potocki
Free Role
Martin Laas
Domestique
Stanislau Bazhkou
Domestique
The third time we see former winner Brajkovic and Brändle together in action, and the third time it's because of a stage racer. We are focussing on the ITT that comes ahead of the mountain stage to predetermine a GC order, that our riders will try to protect up the classic mountain stage. A Top 10 has to be the goal.
Goal: Top 10, Top 20, Stage Top 5, Youth Classification Top 3
Edited by Croatia14 on 04-12-2017 16:22
Viano was of course very disappointing but taking home two top 7 finishers as well as two more top twenty guys is at least somewhat decent in a rather unpredictable race.
Almaty was a desaster, Bianchi a bit disapponting and a top ten in Pologne okayish imo.
@knockout: thank you for your comment - nice to receive some recognition for the hours of work put into the HQ. I share your analysis on the races, though I see Viana a lot more critical than you
@trek: But quicker then Robots in a sprint? Yeah Brajko needs some big time legs to make it a good month for us. Vintage time.
Polanc as our leader was the man to protect for our reduced team. While Giaux suffered crash issues, the others guided him as long as possible, so that he managed to be in the right group for the final sprint.
With 300 meters to go he looked very good in around 5th position.
However, at the end Polanc faded far down, to even just miss out on our targetted Top10 here.
1
Geraint Thomas
Podium Ambition
4h35'20
2
Maxime Daniel
SPAR - Shimano - SCG
s.t.
3
Lukasz Wisniowski
Grieg - Eftel
s.t.
4
Robert Bush
World Cycling Centre
s.t.
5
Marcos Altur
Newton Foundation
s.t.
6
Marcus Burghardt
Podium Ambition
s.t.
7
Tesfom Okbamariam
Eritel - Sonatrach
s.t.
8
Frederik Nolf
Carlsberg - Danske Bank
s.t.
9
Mike Teunissen
Generali - EDF
s.t.
10
Arman Kamyshev
Orange Pro Cycling
s.t.
11
Jan Polanc
Isostar - Adriatic
s.t.
Goal: Top 10 --> failed
Points scored: 22 (Polanc 22)
Manager's satisfaction rate: 3.5/10
Positive Surprise:Jan Polanc - He did well to hang on for long, leading in a good position for the final sprint. With 300 meters less it would've been a great performance by him, now it's bittersweet.
Negative Surprise:Support - In a starlist lacking depth it is vital to score the minor points. Our (reduced) supporting cast even failed to place any rider besides our captain in the Top50, which hurt us quite a lot.
With better support, Polanc would probably have secured a better result at Herning. Might have been doing too much work early on. March has started off much better for you than February and hopefully the momentum continues.
AbhishekLFC wrote:
With better support, Polanc would probably have secured a better result at Herning. Might have been doing too much work early on. March has started off much better for you than February and hopefully the momentum continues.
hopefully we'll work on that in the offseason - at latest when David Per comes back
Free Rider Mathias Brändle found himself in the breakaway of 4, which later went up to 8.
But the size of the breakaway constantly changed, as due to the enormous pace the race was on a full rampage anyway. Brajkovic had some problems early on with Duarte, both made it back a couple of times but constantly suffered due to the chase they had to do.
Brändle got dropped from the break with 55 kilometers to go. Together with Alizadeh the Austrian fell behind and got taken in by the group.
At the end he lost some vital positions on the final kilometers, though still managed to finish 16th, by far our best result for the day.
1
Dayer Quintana
Team Ticos Air Costa Rica
6h15'41
2
Amaro Antunes
Berg Cycles
s.t.
3
Warren Barguil
Team Ticos Air Costa Rica
+ 47
4
Rigoberto Úran
Minions
+ 1'14
5
Benat Intxausti
Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ
s.t.
6
Florentino Marquez
Berg Cycles
+ 1'59
7
Andrew Talansky
Podium Ambition
+ 2'12
8
Artur Grigrian
Novatek-Panarmenian.net
+ 3'10
9
Stefan Denifl
SPAR - Shimano - SCG
+ 4'26
10
Gregory Brenes
Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ
s.t.
16
Matthias Brändle
Isostar - Adriatic
+ 5'54
37
Janez Brajkovic
Isostar - Adriatic
+ 15'15
39
Daniel Alexander Jaramillo
Isostar - Adriatic
s.t.
Goal: Top 15, Top 30 --> failed
Points scored: 10 (Brändle 10)
Manager's satisfaction rate: 3.5/10
Positive Surprise:Mathias Brändle - A perfect scenario to for once have one of our riders in the break. And Brändle did a great job there, until he cracked on the final 55 kilometers. Not the best of performances from the break, but being in there saved us from a desaster.
Negative Surprise:Janez Brajkovic - Our veteran never had the legs in a race where he should've been able to fight for a Top 10 in a scenario like this. He almost got beaten by freakin Jaramillo. Potocki in 53rd also a candidate for this.
Everything set up for a deep GC run for Marko Kump. Arguably we offer the most versatile leadout of all teams here.
Stage 1: The team set up Kump perfectly on the wheel of Erik Mohs.
He accelerates on the slightly uphill last kilometer, streams past Mohs and into the yellow jersey winning stage one!
1
Marko Kump
Isostar - Adriatic
5h09'51
2
Erik Mohs
Fablok - Bank BGZ
s.t.
3
Maxime Vantomme
Netia - Vónin
s.t.
Stage 2: We worked hard for the bumpy stage that approximately should fit us the best. That means we caught the break together with Ferrero, even dropping Mohs in the process. That led into a position where Jans and Mansilla were in the perfect place to lead out Kump.
Kump however faced technical issues, dropping from Mansillas wheel. Most likely a slipped gear, but he lost his momentum under the flamme rouge.
He tried everything to come back, but was too late to prevent van Asbroeck from winning the stage. Instead he achieved a podium at least finishing third.
1
Tom Van Asbroeck
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
3h58'48
2
Sascha Modolo
Ferrero - Samruk
s.t.
3
Marko Kump
Isostar - Adriatic
s.t.
Stage 3: The second punchy sprint stage, time for a revenge for Kump. However, this time he went too early, almost a copy of Mezgec last year.
He gets passed towards the line and has to settle for a disappointing 6th.
1
Erik Mohs
Fablok - Bank BGZ
4h28'13
2
Tosh Van der Sande
Haute Route - Mavic
s.t.
3
Jocelyn Bar
In-n-Out p/b Carrefour
s.t.
6
Marko Kump
Isostar - Adriatic
s.t.
Stage 4: A flat stage, and again the breakaway is caught in time. Kump with his first positioning issues, picking Nelsons wheel which proved to be the wrong one. He couldn't turn the necessary speed on the flat, not able to pass enough riders to climb higher than 6th again.
1
Erik Mohs
Fablok - Bank BGZ
4h28'21
2
Tosh Van der Sande
Haute Route - Mavic
s.t.
3
Ricki Nelson
Podium Ambition
s.t.
6
Marko Kump
Isostar - Adriatic
s.t.
Stage 5: Another calm one, surprisingly the breakaway couldn't get any opportunities. Fablok dominating the leadout, with Kump in the slipstream of Vantomme.
He grabbed the opportunity pretty early, going aggressive and streaming past his opponence.
Head to head with Guerao they battled it out for the stage win.
And eventhough also Vantomme came up strong late, our Slovenian yellow jersey managed to win the stage in an awesome manner, also grabbing back green too tired to celebrate.
1
Marko Kump
Isostar - Adriatic
3h19'02
2
Maxime Vantomme
Netia - Vónin
s.t.
3
Óscar Guerao
SPAR - Shimano - SCG
s.t.
Stage 6: The final stage was about to defend green and yellow. Thus we didn't mind the breakaway being successful this time, leaving most of the bonifications on the road.
Kump sprinted from the front for minor places (9th+), to secure green.
He failed, going too early and only coming in 7th, missing out on green.
1
Maxim Pokidov
Novatek-Panarmenian.net
2h50'57
2
Nurbolat Kulimbetov
Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ
s.t.
3
Jay Major
Minions
s.t.
17
Marko Kump
Isostar - Adriatic
s.t.
But we have to forgive him, he managed to secure us the first GC win in Isostar's history. What a result!
Final GC
1
Marko Kump
Isostar - Adriatic
24h13'51
2
Maxime Vantomme
Netia - Vónin
+ 16
3
Tosh Van der Sande
Haute Route - Mavic
+ 21
4
Óscar Guerao
SPAR - Shimano - SCG
+ 32
5
Tom Van Asbroeck
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
s.t.
6
Sascha Modolo
Ferrero - Samruk
+ 59
7
Jocelyn Bar
In-n-Out p/b Carrefour
+ 1'06
8
Matthew Goss
Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ
+ 1'11
9
Boy Van Poppel
Proximus Continental Team
s.t.
10
Grzegorz Stepniak
Fablok - Bank BGZ
+ 1'12
11
Luis Miguel Mansilla
Isostar - Adriatic
+ 1'15
20
Roy Jans
Isostar - Adriatic
+ 1'21
23
Ramunas Navardauskas
Isostar - Adriatic
s.t.
Points Classification:
1
Erik Mohs
Fablok - Bank BGZ
90
2
Marko Kump
Isostar - Adriatic
86
3
Maxime Vantomme
Netia - Vónin
80
Team Classification:
1
Fablok - Bank BGZ
27
78
55
20
27
71
278
2
Isostar - Adriatic
69
29
31
65
35
71
300
3
Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ
75
47
44
79
51
36
332
Goal: Stage Win, Top 3 Points Classification, Top 3 GC --> achieved
Fantastic performance from the team right when you needed the points. March is going quite well for you. Should see you comfortably climb back into the top 10
Yes indeed, we really needed that one from Kump. Half of his season is over after Tropicale, with the best races for him having taken place already. Now the gamble part comes, and hopefully we gambled well enough.
The full punchy squad led by Mohoric & Quevedo attempts to prove themselves strong in our first PTHC outing.
Stage 1: In the opening TTT we managed to show our colours well and finished 9th, finishing with 3 NCs of Brändle, Bazhkou and Navardauskas.
However, we managed to drop both of our captains though, not the smartest of moves.
Stage 2: The first hilly stage, but no action from us. we were only visable in a big crash involving Mohoric. Our best riders didn't even scratch the Top 30, being part of an anonymous race in the peloton far behind the best.
Stage 3: Quevedo, clearly injured, struggeling early on the next stage. Mohoric instead grabs his heart with his hands and attacks with 35 to go.
He's setting quite a pace in the attack, but in the end it wasn't to be.
Mohoric even loses 4 minutes on the final hill, finishing together with Navardauskas. However, this performance was still enough to bring him into white (5 seconds over Watson), now sitting 26th GC with Navardauskas in 18th.
Stage 4: Back to normal business on Stage 4. A hilly stage, where the peloton split up into two parts. All our riders in the second one loosing some time, but no contenders for white could stream passed Mohoric, who defended white before the ITT.
Stage 5: Brändle's day should've been the ITT. While he looked great on his bike, he never was up to the challenge and finished far down the order in 19th.
Even worse day for Mohoric, who finished a couple of seconds behind Watson, meaning that he lost his jersey by a spare couple of tenths of a second.
Stage 6: The final hilly stage saw us in the attack for the first time, and it was Matej Mugerli to go there. He even won a couple of KOM sprints on his way.
Despite some great efforts they got picked up right before the finishing hill though.
There Mohoric sadly couldn't attack Watson anymore, so that he had to settle for 2nd in the youth classification. Navardauskas sadly lost his Top 20 having a horrible final day, moving down the order. Mugerli though could sneak inside the Top 8 of the Mountains Classification, taking away some points as 6th. Bostner the painful 101st.
Final GC
1
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Grieg - Eftel
15h40'39
2
Tejay Van Garderen
Newton Foundation
+ 59
3
Simone Ponzi
Hugo Boss
+ 1'03
4
Yuri Trofimov
Tinkoff Sport Academy
+ 1'04
5
Jan Bakelants
Strava
+ 1'47
6
Jack Bobridge
Jayco - Cobra9
+ 1'54
7
Peter Sagan
Moser - Sygic
+ 2'27
8
Francesco Ginanni
Gazelle
+ 3'07
9
Toms Skujins
Evonik - ELKO
+ 4'40
10
Ben Gastauer
Vesuvio - Accumalux
+ 4'58
24
Matej Mohoric
Isostar - Adriatic
+ 13'24
36
Ramunas Navardauskas
Isostar - Adriatic
+ 17'19
39
Matej Mugerli
Isostar - Adriatic
+ 17'52
41
Xavier Quevedo
Isostar - Adriatic
+ 19'37
73
Stanislau Bazhkou
Isostar - Adriatic
+ 27'26
81
Matthias Brändle
Isostar - Adriatic
+ 29'10
Youth Classification:
1
Calvin Watson
Grieg - Eftel
15h54'03
2
Matej Mohoric
Isostar - Adriatic
+ 0
3
Simon Yates
Podium Ambition
+ 2'25
Goal: Top 15, Top 20, Top 30, 2*Top 50, white jersey --> failed
Positive Surprise:Almost decent approaches - We had some smart moves. Mugerli in the break on the last stage, Navardauskas trying to hang on to a solid GC, Mohoric to concentrate on white. It could've worked out, sadly all of our riders had that couple of sloppy stages that prevented us from scoring decent.
Negative Surprise:Aggressiveness - If both of your leaders fall behind on stage 1 already, you assume that your team should attack hard. They didn't even try.
Janez Brajkovic sees himself leading the Team in one of our rare C1 Mountain appearances. His strength in climbing together with decent Hills and Chrono abilities should give him a shot on the Top 5.
Stage 1: The opening TTT didn't look too good at the beginning. Our team shined in a beautiful snapshot however.
And at the end of the day we could make up for a lot of time lost, having a strong unit together. Brändle, Brajkovic, Bazhkou, Navardauskas and Potocki finished together in 4th, unluckily just outside the podium. However, our captains look well set for the race.
1
Team UBS
21'42
2
Generali - EDF
+ 8
3
Orange Pro Cycling
+ 22
4
Isostar - Adriatic
+ 31
Stage 2: A totally flat stage where we decided to focus only on keeping our leaders save. We did with all in the first part of the first group, having Navardauskas as our best finisher in 11th. As the two persons ahead of him lost time, Potocki takes over white.
1
Davide Appollonio
Carlsberg - Danske Bank
3h37'54
2
Anthony Lavoine
Fablok - Bank BGZ
s.t.
3
Fabio Silvestre
Berg Cycles
s.t.
11
Ramunas Navardauskas
Isostar - Adriatic
s.t.
Stage 3: Another flat one, another one not to talk about normally. But Navardauskas tried to mix it in, closing a gap before the final sprint to be in a decent position.
Closing this took too much of his energy thogh, meaning that he couldn't make the Top 10 again.
1
Michael Matthews
Compal-Merida
3h54'14
2
Kazushige Kuboki
Meiji - JR East
s.t.
3
Fabio Silvestre
Berg Cycles
s.t.
13
Ramunas Navardauskas
Isostar - Adriatic
s.t.
Stage 4: Now the party is getting started. The hard hilly stage before the mountain screamer. While 3 Top-Favourites marched away, white jersey Potocki set up a crucial chase for Brajkovic, limitting the losses of the second group all by himself.
On the descent for the final climb then it was Brajkovic to attack this group together with Roglic and van den Broeck.
While Roche won it up ahead, Brajkovic led in the second group 1'38 down.
And even better, Potocki crowned his awesome race with a 7th place leading the next group in, 3'02 down.
Belgasem with a notable 15th, while Brändle, our co-captain, sadly lost 6'43.
1
Nicolas Roche
Fablok - Bank BGZ
5h05'47
2
Michal Kwiatkowski
Netia - Vónin
+ 7
3
Romain Sicard
Orange Pro Cycling
+ 18
4
Janez Brajkovic
Isostar - Adriatic
+ 1'38
7
Pavel Potocki
Isostar - Adriatic
+ 3'02
Stage 5: The queen's stage, a mountains festival. And climbers that previously lost loads of time went in the attack. Sadly not Brändle though.
The race completely blew up with attacks from Marquez, Talansky Barguil and Sicard, and Potocki was dropped more earlier than later. He would loose his GC ambitions, but manage to hold on to white later on.
Brajkovic led a successful chase, the realed some riders icluding Sicard back in.
Together they chased on the final kiometers, but couldn't prevent Barguil from a famous ride to overtake Jani for the podium. Our captain came in with the main race protagonists, making him stay in 4th as Roche lost crucial time.
1
Florentino Marquez
Berg Cycles
5h12'47
2
Warren Barguil
Team Ticos Air Costa Rica
+ 1'27
3
Jocelin Maillet
Ferrero - Samruk
+ 3'29
11
Janez Brajkovic
Isostar - Adriatic
+ 4'32
Stage 6: The final short ITT was one for our team. Brajkovic needed to defend 4th, and Brändle was a major candidate for the stage win. The austrian champ set the first great time.
At the end Cornu though was slightly faster, setting Brändle down to 2nd of the day. Brajkovic also found a decent turn of speed, securing 4th as 11th of the day.
Bazhkou rounded of the day very well in 5th, while we celebrated Pavel Potocki as the best young rider of the race.
1
Dominique Cornu
Euskaltel
10'05
2
Matthias Brändle
Isostar - Adriatic
+ 8
3
Chad Haga
Minions
+ 11
5
Stanislau Bazhkou
Isostar - Adriatic
+ 14
Final GC:
1
Romain Sicard
Orange Pro Cycling
18h27'51
2
Michal Kwiatkowski
Netia - Vónin
+ 4
3
Warren Barguil
Team Ticos Air Costa Rica
+ 36
4
Janez Brajkovic
Isostar - Adriatic
+ 1'37
5
Jurgen Van den Broeck
Euskaltel
+ 2'03
6
Florentino Marquez
Berg Cycles
+ 2'13
7
Andrew Talansky
Podium Ambition
+ 3'06
8
Primož Roglic
Generali - EDF
+ 3'20
9
William Chiarello
Berg Cycles
+ 4'00
10
Jocelin Maillet
Ferrero - Samruk
+ 5'56
18
Pavel Potocki
Isostar - Adriatic
+ 10'18
Sadly Brändle as 31st just missed out on the points spots. Potocki in 18th is decent, though it could've been much more without stage 5 difficulties. Brajkovic finished where to expect him, slightly above par but with smarter control of Barguil and more help of other teams a podium was in sight.
Youth Classification:
1
Pavel Potocki
Isostar - Adriatic
18h38'09 (1)
2
Simon Yates
Podium Ambition
+ 13'58 (2)
3
Cristian Raileanu
Team Ticos Air Costa Rica
+ 14'09 (3)
Potocki comfortably won the youth classification. Sadly in the Teams Classification we missed out on our leading position after stage 4 with our Stage 5 problems.
Goal: Top 5, Top 15, Stage Top 3, Youth Classification Top 3 --> achieved
Positive Surprise:Pavel Potocki - After a difficult season so far he had one hell of a ride on Stage 4, being almost the strongest of the entire race and pulling Brajkovic to a great result to then finish notably himself.
Negative Surprise:Brändles climbing form - He just looses too much time on the climbs right now, has to need to work on it in an altitude camp maybe. Could/should have scored far better.
Sadly we wrote a very anonymous second wildcard race. We could neither manage to compete in the breakaway, nor find the right groups with either Kump or Polanc, our double captains. The biggest issue for us seemed to be that De Rounda was nowhere near as hilly as it used to be. Hence our captains couldn't use its strengths on the uphill terrain properly. They finished in a group far down, while on the front van Avermaet unsuccessfully challenge Sam Bewley for another monument win.
Positive Surprise:Consistency - 6 riders finishing one of the toughest monument is quite an achievement for young Isostar
Negative Surprise:Aggressiveness - Our biggest goal, a breakaway appearance, was unsuccessful. We would've wished for some showing of our beautiful colours.
Edited by Croatia14 on 05-12-2017 16:18
Strade Bianchi 
Tour of Almaty 
Classique du Grand-Duché 
Tour de Pologne 
Tropicale Amissa Bongo 
GP Herning 
Qatar Oil Mountain Classic 
Vuelta al Pais Vasco 
Tour de Romandie 
Also, that RVV participation will be fun to see! 
Yeah Brajko needs some big time legs to make it a good month for us. Vintage time.
