We travel to Hungary for the next C1 event on the calendar.

Profile:



Not the flattest stage ever but a mass sprint will be hard to avoid.

Team:

Edwin Avila
Goodnews Clifford
Tareq Esmaeli
Fabrice Jeandesbosz
Jay Major
Carlos Alexandre Manarelli
Salah Eddine Mraouni
Shaquille Sinclair

Leader here will be Manarelli. Avila will act as leadout with Sinclair and Major in the train. Free roles for Clifford, Esmaeli, Jeandesbosz and Mraouni. Any screentime will be good.

Race:

We decided to send Esmaeli in the breakaway because he had the best legs. The initial attempt failed but he also made it to the second attempt, which lasted longer.



With 30 kilometers to go it became clear the break wouldn't make it, but we had another ace up our sleeve. Clifford attacked and managed to drop some of the sprinters, but his attempt also proved to be futile.



The result was a chaotic mass sprint where Manarelli was in no way involved. Outside the points for everyone, but at least we made the cameras.

Classification:

Pos.	Rider	Team	Time
1	Matthew Goss	Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	4h42'53
2	Dan Holloway	Novatek-Panarmenian.net	s.t.
3	Óscar Guerao	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	s.t.
4	Samuel Caldeira	Grieg - Eftel	s.t.
5	Jocelyn Bar	In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	s.t.
33	Carlos Alexandre Manarelli	Minions	s.t.
47	Salah Eddine Mraouni	Minions	s.t.
49	Edwin Avila	Minions	s.t.
72	Goodnews Clifford	Minions	s.t.
87	Tareq Esmaeli	Minions	+ 2'04
127	Jay Major	Minions	+ 3'27
128	Fabrice Jeandesbosz	Minions	s.t.
140	Shaquille Sinclair	Minions	+ 5'13

Rider rankings:

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Rigoberto Úran	337
2	Damion Drapac	96
3	Yasmani Martinez	55
4	Carlos Betancourt	50
5	Jarlinson Pantano Gómez	44
6	Kenny De Haes	31
7	Chad Haga	27
8	Nick Kinney	15
9	Edwin Avila	14
10	Jay Major	12
11	Bjorn Selander	11
12	Niels Albert	7
13	Ethan Weiss	5
13	Carlos Alexandre Manarelli	5
15	Diego Milan	3
15	Goodnews Clifford	3
15	Chris Barton	3

Rating:


(1/5)

Next

A race in the United States? Are we out of our bloody minds?

Profile:



Flat rated, but the hill is quite significant.

Team:

Ahmed Albourdainy
Chris Barton
Goodnews Clifford
Tareq Esmaeli
Carlos Alexandre Manarelli
Diego Milan
Salah Eddine Mraouni
Ethan Weiss

We did not send a particularly strong squad here, due to a clash with a more important race and the fact this race is in the United States, where we're not really welcome. Manarelli leads, the other names are Albourdainy, Barton, Clifford, Esmaeli, Milan, Mraouni and Weiss.

Race:

Weiss finished 24th for 5 points, Manarelli far down the order in 64th. Not much more to say really, I'm glad everyone managed to return home without being questioned by the US customs.

Classification:

Pos.	Rider	Team	Time
1	Marko Kump	Isostar - Adriatic	3h48'06
2	Tom Van Asbroeck	Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	s.t.
3	Sascha Modolo	Ferrero - Samruk	s.t.
4	Marcel Aregger	Team UBS	s.t.
5	Juan Van Heerden	Eritel - Sonatrach	s.t.
24	Ethan Weiss	Minions	s.t.
44	Goodnews Clifford	Minions	s.t.
45	Salah Eddine Mraouni	Minions	s.t.
64	Carlos Alexandre Manarelli	Minions	s.t.
67	Tareq Esmaeli	Minions	s.t.
78	Diego Milan	Minions	s.t.
89	Chris Barton	Minions	s.t.
157	Ahmed Albourdainy	Minions	+ 4'17

Rider rankings:

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Rigoberto Úran	337
2	Damion Drapac	96
3	Yasmani Martinez	55
4	Carlos Betancourt	50
5	Jarlinson Pantano Gómez	44
6	Kenny De Haes	31
7	Chad Haga	27
8	Nick Kinney	15
9	Edwin Avila	14
10	Jay Major	12
11	Bjorn Selander	11
12	Ethan Weiss	10
13	Niels Albert	7
14	Carlos Alexandre Manarelli	5
15	Diego Milan	3
15	Goodnews Clifford	3
15	Chris Barton	3

Rating:


(1/5)

We're just glad everyone got out of the country safely

It contains the word food, so it was a no-brainer to race here. And we even put a top ten goal here.

Profile:



From Veenendaal to Veenendaal, which is a lovely town by the way. Notable climbs include Grebbeberg and Paardeveld, with the finish traditionally placed on the Kerkewijk. The reporter has an unhealthy amount of geographic knowledge of this area.

Team:

Niels Albert
Edwin Avila
Kenny De Haes
Damion Drapac
Fabrice Jeandesbosz
Jay Major
Oliver Naesen
Shaquille Sinclair

The weaker sprinter squad is in 'Murica, the stronger one is here. The race is not very hilly so Drapac has a decent shot. Avila, Major and Sinclair can be his train. Albert, De Haes, Jeandesbosz and Naesen complete the squad.

Race:

Only a two men breakaway which was caught with eas by Kraftwerk. Drapac is positioned well on their wheel.



However, it turned out to be a bit of a messy sprint. Maikin surprised the bunch and nearly took the win, his teammate Cavendish just pips him. Drapac ends up in a close battle for third, finishing sixth. Albert finished in a minor points scoring position.



Classification:

Pos.	Rider	Team	Time
1	Mark Cavendish	Kraftwerk Man Machine	4h28'00
2	Roman Maikin	Kraftwerk Man Machine	s.t.
3	Nacer Bouhanni	Euskaltel	s.t.
4	Erik Mohs	Fablok - Bank BGZ	s.t.
5	Maxime Vantomme	Netia - Vónin	s.t.
6	Damion Drapac	Minions	s.t.
27	Niels Albert	Minions	s.t.
40	Kenny De Haes	Minions	s.t.
49	Fabrice Jeandesbosz	Minions	s.t.
58	Edwin Avila	Minions	s.t.
63	Oliver Naesen	Minions	s.t.
93	Shaquille Sinclair	Minions	+ 1'33
103	Jay Major	Minions	s.t.

Rider rankings:

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Rigoberto Úran	337
2	Damion Drapac	96
3	Yasmani Martinez	55
4	Carlos Betancourt	50
5	Jarlinson Pantano Gómez	44
6	Kenny De Haes	31
7	Chad Haga	27
8	Nick Kinney	15
9	Edwin Avila	14
10	Jay Major	12
11	Bjorn Selander	11
12	Ethan Weiss	10
13	Niels Albert	7
14	Carlos Alexandre Manarelli	5
15	Diego Milan	3
15	Goodnews Clifford	3
15	Chris Barton	3

Rating:


(4/5)

Goal achieved, and someone can look back on their homerace with enjoyment

5 Jours de Dunkerque

Details:



France
HC
5 stages
May 1st - 5th

Squad:

Niels Albert
Edwin Avila
Kenny De Haes
Damion Drapac
Fabrice Jeandesbosz
Jay Major
Leandro Marcos
Oliver Naesen

Olympia's Tour

Details:



Netherlands
C1
6 stages
May 22nd - 27th

Squad:

Niels Albert
Edwin Avila
Chris Barton
Kenny De Haes
Jay Major
Carlos Alexandre Manarelli
Yasmani Martinez
Oliver Naesen

Tour of Norway

Details:



Norway
PTHC
5 stages
May 27th - 31st

Squad:

Carlos Betancourt
Damion Drapac
Nick Kinney
Diego Milan
Salah Eddine Mraouni
Bjorn Selander
Shaquille Sinclair
Ethan Weiss

Team:

1	1		Newton Foundation	1497
2	5		Berg Cycles	1443
3	21		Team UBS	1314
4	10		Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	1284
5	3		Fablok - Bank BGZ	1209
6	2		Isostar - Adriatic	1178
7	4		Grieg - Eftel	1146
8	12		Generali - EDF	1105
9	11		Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	1099
10	7		Podium Ambition	1096
11	19		Eritel - Sonatrach	1012
12	6		Orange Pro Cycling	988
13	14		Carlsberg - Danske Bank	946
14	17		Euskaltel	924
15	15		Kraftwerk Man Machine	919
16	8		SPAR - Shimano - SCG	885
17	13		Ferrero - Samruk	877
18	9		Netia - Vónin	857
19	24		Meiji - JR East	854
20	16		MOL - OMV Petrom	816
21	22		Minions	781
22	18		Novatek-Panarmenian.net	765
23	20		Valio - DeLaval	664
24	23		Haute Route - Mavic	536
25	25		Team Ticos Air Costa Rica	443
26	26		Compal-Merida	429

This time we do actually post the ranking and not the projected one. Good news is we're out of the relegation zone in 21st place, but we're by no means safe. Especially since Úran won't race in the coming months we will have to fear being dragged down again.

Rider:

1	Tejay Van Garderen	USA		Newton Foundation	654
2	Andrei Amador	CRC		Team UBS	608
3	Edvald Boasson Hagen	NOR		Grieg - Eftel	550
4	Chris Froome	GBR		Fablok - Bank BGZ	513
5	Marko Kump	SLO		Isostar - Adriatic	507
6	Michal Kwiatkowski	POL		Netia - Vónin	425
7	Diego Ulissi	ITA		Generali - EDF	365
8	Maurice Schreurs	NED		Orange Pro Cycling	358
9	Christopher Juul-Jensen	DEN		Carlsberg - Danske Bank	356
10	Benat Intxausti	ESP		Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	340
11	Rigoberto Úran	COL		Minions	337
12	Aleksandar Flügel	GER		Kraftwerk Man Machine	320
13	Matthew Goss	AUS		Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	319
14	Óscar Guerao	ESP		SPAR - Shimano - SCG	311
15	Primož Rogli�	SLO		Generali - EDF	310
16	Romain Sicard	FRA		Orange Pro Cycling	303
17	Lukasz Wisniowski	POL		Grieg - Eftel	300
18	Tom Van Asbroeck	BEL		Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	299
19	Davide Appollonio	ITA		Carlsberg - Danske Bank	286
20	Maxime Vantomme	BEL		Netia - Vónin	271
49	Damion Drapac	AUS		Minions	149
118	Yasmani Martinez	CUB		Minions	55
122	Carlos Betancourt	COL		Minions	50
139	Jarlinson Pantano Gómez	COL		Minions	44
179	Kenny De Haes	BEL		Minions	31
191	Chad Haga	USA		Minions	27
234	Nick Kinney	USA		Minions	15
248	Edwin Avila	COL		Minions	14
263	Jay Major	BAH		Minions	12
266	Niels Albert	BEL		Minions	12
272	Bjorn Selander	USA		Minions	11
292	Ethan Weiss	USA		Minions	10
352	Carlos Alexandre Manarelli	BRA		Minions	5
367	Diego Milan	DOM		Minions	3
368	Goodnews Clifford	NGR		Minions	3
376	Chris Barton	USA		Minions	3

5 Jours is French for five days, Dunkerque is that movie where that twat from One Direction played a minor role in.

Profile:



Five days, five stages. Some cobbles and some chances for the sprinters.

Team:

Niels Albert
Edwin Avila
Kenny De Haes
Damion Drapac
Fabrice Jeandesbosz
Jay Major
Leandro Marcos
Oliver Naesen

On the GC front we have Albert, De Haes, Jeandesbosz, Marcos and Naesen. On the sprinters front we have Avila, Drapac and Major.

Race:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

The GC was pretty much decided on stage one. Albert and Marcos finished in the front group, the former would eventually finish 11th in the GC.



For the latter, he was also on his way to a good classification until some crashes and splits lost him time. Drapac was also involved and couldn't get to a proper sprint this race.



With no sprinting power, we went for some breakaway appearances. Jeandesbosz on stage one, who was caught within the final two kilometers.



On the fourth stage it was De Haes's turn, and after winning in De Panne he was close here as well. Bazzana won from the breakaway while he and some others were caught in the final kilometer.



Naesen went into the break on stages two and five. After stage two he was leading the KoM classification, but after missing the break on stage three he couldn't finish higher than 6th.



Classification:

Pos.	Rider	Team	Time
1	Lukasz Wisniowski	Grieg - Eftel	20h20'23
2	Marko Kump	Isostar - Adriatic	+ 35
3	Dan Holloway	Novatek-Panarmenian.net	+ 39
4	Roy Jans	Isostar - Adriatic	s.t.
5	Tom Van Asbroeck	Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	+ 51
11	Niels Albert	Minions	s.t.
26	Leandro Marcos	Minions	+ 6'28
51	Oliver Naesen	Minions	+ 12'22
64	Kenny De Haes	Minions	+ 16'04
92	Jay Major	Minions	+ 20'08
97	Fabrice Jeandesbosz	Minions	+ 21'34
118	Edwin Avila	Minions	+ 25'58
128	Damion Drapac	Minions	+ 29'05

Rider rankings:

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Rigoberto Úran	337
2	Damion Drapac	149
3	Yasmani Martinez	55
4	Niels Albert	53
5	Carlos Betancourt	50
6	Jarlinson Pantano Gómez	44
7	Kenny De Haes	32
8	Chad Haga	27
9	Nick Kinney	15
10	Edwin Avila	14
11	Jay Major	13
12	Leandro Marcos	11
12	Bjorn Selander	11
14	Ethan Weiss	10
15	Oliver Naesen	7
16	Carlos Alexandre Manarelli	5
17	Diego Milan	3
17	Goodnews Clifford	3
17	Chris Barton	3

Rating:


(3/5)

Nothing spectacular, but a decent race

Not in the ancient Greek town of Olympia, but a six-day race in the Netherlands.

Profile:



It's in the Netherlands, did you expect anything else?

Team:

Niels Albert
Edwin Avila
Chris Barton
Kenny De Haes
Jay Major
Carlos Alexandre Manarelli
Yasmani Martinez
Oliver Naesen

The squad is centered around Manarelli and his sprint train of Avila and Major. Albert, De Haes and Naesen were nearby and could do some attacking. Barton and Martinez target the individual and team time trial.

Race:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

The race was very time-trial heavy, with an individual and a team effort. The time trial on the opening day did not go too well, with Barton as our best finisher in 38th, a minute down on the winner. The penultimate stage was the team time trial, and our goal was not to finish last after the recent debacle in Vancouver. We finished 16th out of 20, but we were never in the contention for a good GC spot anyway.



We had hoped to achieve some decent sprint results with Manarelli. Things got off to a good start when he finished eight on stage two. However, it was a bittersweet result because De Haes was leading solo with one kilometer to go as last standing from the breakaway.



Manarelli would finish 13th, 38th (with surviving break) and 35th, so he once again proved to be a disappointment. Luckily other riders stepped up to fill the void, for instance our youngster Major. He tried to go into the breakaway on stage four and took some points for the King of the Speedbumps classification. He would finish seventh at the end of the race and add another point to our score, Two so far!



The sixth and final stage and it was De Haes who went into the break again. With some heavy crosswinds he and his compagnions were still ahead with ten kilometer to go.



Then he attacked, and no one could follow him. With one kilometer to go it was him against the peleton, in a similar situation to stage one but this time with a bigger advantage.



And is was enough for him to take his second stage victory of the year, after De Panne. He also rose to second in the points classification due to his intermediate points. That's another 32 combined to bring the total of this race to 34!



Classification:

Pos.	Rider	Team	Time
1	Mikhail Ignatiev	Ferrero - Samruk	14h23'08
2	Ian Stannard	cycleYorkshire	+ 1
3	Elia Viviani	Generali - EDF	+ 3
4	Rasmus Sterobo	Grieg - Eftel	s.t.
5	Ken Sebastian Vassdal	Grieg - Eftel	+ 6
45	Kenny De Haes	Minions	+ 2'25
65	Carlos Alexandre Manarelli	Minions	+ 4'36
93	Yasmani Martinez	Minions	+ 7'56
95	Edwin Avila	Minions	+ 8'12
108	Chris Barton	Minions	+ 10'46
113	Oliver Naesen	Minions	+ 11'54
119	Jay Major	Minions	+ 12'54
134	Niels Albert	Minions	+ 17'12

Rider rankings:

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Rigoberto Úran	337
2	Damion Drapac	149
3	Kenny De Haes	64
4	Yasmani Martinez	55
5	Niels Albert	53
6	Carlos Betancourt	50
7	Jarlinson Pantano Gómez	44
8	Chad Haga	27
9	Nick Kinney	15
10	Edwin Avila	14
10	Jay Major	14
12	Leandro Marcos	11
12	Bjorn Selander	11
14	Ethan Weiss	10
15	Oliver Naesen	7
15	Carlos Alexandre Manarelli	6
17	Diego Milan	3
17	Goodnews Clifford	3
17	Chris Barton	3

Rating:


(4/5)

We expected 0 points, but got away with much more!

No way, it's the PTHC Tour of Norway.

Profile:



We're riding along some of the fjørds and they put a time trial in between.

Team:

Carlos Betancourt
Damion Drapac
Nick Kinney
Diego Milan
Salah Eddine Mraouni
Bjorn Selander
Shaquille Sinclair
Ethan Weiss

Our main target is the hilly stage, and we send our entire hill squad to this race. Betancourt, Selander, Kinney, Milan and Weiss. Since it's PTHC, Mraouni and Sinclair uses this race for development. Drapac might sprint in the first two stages but he should've been in Olympia's Tour in all fairness.

Race:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

On the first stage, Drapac was in the mix at the end but he got a bit boxed in. He finished tenth, but could've been as high as sixth or so. On the second stage he finished eleventh.



On the breakaway in stage two: Selander. This moved him up to fourth in the GC and second in the KoM.



After the time trial he obviously lost that place, but he went into the breakaway again on stage four and secured his KoM jersey!



The stage, however, was not selective enough for Betancourt, who finished in a big group. Our best placed GC rider would be Mraouni, who would finish 31st, and 5th in the youth classification.

On the final stage Drapac thought he could sprint, but it was a few hills to far. In a comical misunderstanding Betancourt was send back to try and help him get back to the peloton where there was no reason to. As a result he lost seven minutes and finished outside the top 100. And then consider we spend over a million bananas on him this summer.

Classification:

Pos.	Rider	Team	Time
1	Jerome Coppel	Festina - Dexia	16h59'08
2	Matthias Brändle	Isostar - Adriatic	+ 1'23
3	Kazushige Kuboki	Meiji - JR East	+ 1'48
4	Jose Goncalves	Team UBS	s.t.
5	Dan Craven	Eritel - Sonatrach	+ 1'56
31	Salah Eddine Mraouni	Minions	+ 3'26
73	Nick Kinney	Minions	+ 7'53
96	Ethan Weiss	Minions	+ 9'57
100	Bjorn Selander	Minions	+ 11'02
107	Carlos Betancourt	Minions	+ 12'00
108	Diego Milan	Minions	+ 12'02
170	Shaquille Sinclair	Minions	+ 28'06
171	Damion Drapac	Minions	+ 29'21

Rider rankings:

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Rigoberto Úran	337
2	Damion Drapac	149
3	Kenny De Haes	64
4	Yasmani Martinez	55
5	Bjorn Selander	53
5	Niels Albert	53
7	Carlos Betancourt	50
8	Jarlinson Pantano Gómez	44
9	Chad Haga	27
10	Nick Kinney	17
11	Salah Eddine Mraouni	15
12	Edwin Avila	14
12	Jay Major	14
14	Ethan Weiss	12
15	Leandro Marcos	11
16	Oliver Naesen	7
16	Carlos Alexandre Manarelli	6
18	Goodnews Clifford	3
18	Diego Milan	3
18	Chris Barton	3

Rating:


(2/5)

Betancourt's diet is not working

Lac Megantic Classic

Details:



Canada
PTHC
One day race
June 8th

Squad:

Carlos Betancourt
Nick Kinney
Jay Major
Leandro Marcos
Diego Milan
Salah Eddine Mraouni
Bjorn Selander
Shaquille Sinclair

Tour de Slovenie

Details:



Slovenia
C1
5 stages
June 12th - 16th

Squad:

Chris Barton
Carlos Betancourt
Chad Haga
Nick Kinney
Carlos Alexandre Manarelli
Diego Milan
Salah Eddine Mraouni
Bjorn Selander

Nelspruit Classic

Details:



South Africa
C1
One day race
June 20th

Squad:

Ahmed Albourdainy
Carlos Betancourt
Goodnews Clifford
Nick Kinney
Jay Major
Diego Milan
Salah Eddine Mraouni
Bjorn Selander

Team:

1	1		Newton Foundation	1829
2	6		Isostar - Adriatic	1792
3	7		Grieg - Eftel	1728
4	2		Berg Cycles	1676
5	3		Team UBS	1573
6	5		Fablok - Bank BGZ	1454
7	4		Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	1435
8	9		Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	1374
9	11		Eritel - Sonatrach	1369
10	12		Orange Pro Cycling	1261
11	8		Generali - EDF	1230
12	16		SPAR - Shimano - SCG	1173
13	10		Podium Ambition	1172
14	19		Meiji - JR East	1119
15	17		Ferrero - Samruk	1090
16	13		Carlsberg - Danske Bank	1070
17	18		Netia - Vónin	1066
18	22		Novatek-Panarmenian.net	1062
19	14		Euskaltel	1003
20	15		Kraftwerk Man Machine	991
21	21		Minions	937
22	23		Valio - DeLaval	923
23	20		MOL - OMV Petrom	822
24	25		Team Ticos Air Costa Rica	574
25	24		Haute Route - Mavic	563
26	26		Compal-Merida	460

21st still, Novatek overtook us but we overtook MOL. We're not safe yet, in fact there's a real possibility we'll relegate.

Rider:

1	Tejay Van Garderen	USA		Newton Foundation	724
2	Marko Kump	SLO		Isostar - Adriatic	701
3	Andrei Amador	CRC		Team UBS	608
4	Edvald Boasson Hagen	NOR		Grieg - Eftel	550
5	Chris Froome	GBR		Fablok - Bank BGZ	513
6	Lukasz Wisniowski	POL		Grieg - Eftel	513
7	Óscar Guerao	ESP		SPAR - Shimano - SCG	482
8	Tom Van Asbroeck	BEL		Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	440
9	Michal Kwiatkowski	POL		Netia - Vónin	425
10	Dan Holloway	USA		Novatek-Panarmenian.net	406
11	Matthew Goss	AUS		Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	397
12	Christopher Juul-Jensen	DEN		Carlsberg - Danske Bank	367
13	Diego Ulissi	ITA		Generali - EDF	365
14	Maurice Schreurs	NED		Orange Pro Cycling	364
15	Maxime Vantomme	BEL		Netia - Vónin	352
16	Erik Mohs	GER		Fablok - Bank BGZ	350
17	Davide Appollonio	ITA		Carlsberg - Danske Bank	343
18	Marcos Altur	ESP		Newton Foundation	341
19	Benat Intxausti	ESP		Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	340
20	Rigoberto Úran	COL		Minions	337
60	Damion Drapac	AUS		Minions	149
124	Kenny De Haes	BEL		Minions	64
141	Yasmani Martinez	CUB		Minions	55
146	Niels Albert	BEL		Minions	53
147	Bjorn Selander	USA		Minions	53
151	Carlos Betancourt	COL		Minions	50
167	Jarlinson Pantano Gómez	COL		Minions	44
220	Chad Haga	USA		Minions	27
259	Nick Kinney	USA		Minions	17
282	Salah Eddine Mraouni	MOR		Minions	15
286	Edwin Avila	COL		Minions	14
288	Jay Major	BAH		Minions	14
312	Ethan Weiss	USA		Minions	12
324	Leandro Marcos	CUB		Minions	11
368	Oliver Naesen	BEL		Minions	7
375	Carlos Alexandre Manarelli	BRA		Minions	6
411	Diego Milan	DOM		Minions	3
412	Goodnews Clifford	NGR		Minions	3
419	Chris Barton	USA		Minions	3

My French is good enough to understand that Lac means lake, but I don't know the French words Megantic and Classic.

Profile:



It's a sprinter classic with minor hills. Pay attention to that final detail.

Team:

Carlos Betancourt
Nick Kinney
Jay Major
Leandro Marcos
Diego Milan
Salah Eddine Mraouni
Bjorn Selander
Shaquille Sinclair

For some reason our scheduler thought this would be a hilly classic and therefore decided to send the likes of Betancourt, Kinney, Milan and Selander here, and Major, Marcos, Mraouni and Sinclair.

Race:

Obviously we played no role in the race. Betancourt scored two points for 35th place. Because of a crashed computer only the top 100 is known, meaning three of our riders don't know their final position.

Classification:

Pos.	Rider	Team	Time
1	Bryan Coquard	Festina - Dexia	4h06'25
2	Matthew Goss	Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	s.t.
3	Mark Cavendish	Kraftwerk Man Machine	s.t.
4	Joeri Stallaert	Spotify - Haglöfs	s.t.
5	Arnaud Demare	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
35	Carlos Betancourt	Minions	s.t.
52	Nick Kinney	Minions	s.t.
91	Diego Milan	Minions	s.t.
95	Leandro Marcos	Minions	s.t.
96	Salah Eddine Mraouni	Minions	s.t.
?	Jay Major	Minions	?
?	Bjorn Selander	Minions	?
?	Shaquille Sinclair	Minions	?

Rider rankings:

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Rigoberto Úran	337
2	Damion Drapac	149
3	Kenny De Haes	64
4	Yasmani Martinez	55
5	Bjorn Selander	53
5	Niels Albert	53
7	Carlos Betancourt	52
8	Jarlinson Pantano Gómez	44
9	Chad Haga	27
10	Nick Kinney	17
11	Salah Eddine Mraouni	15
12	Edwin Avila	14
12	Jay Major	14
14	Ethan Weiss	12
15	Leandro Marcos	11
16	Oliver Naesen	7
17	Carlos Alexandre Manarelli	6
18	Goodnews Clifford	3
18	Diego Milan	3
18	Chris Barton	3

Rating:


(0/5)

For once it's the manager's fault and not the riders'

Tour de Slovenie, Tour de Slovenia, Tour of Slovenia, Tour of Slovenie. Which is it?

Profile:



Two sprints, two hilly stages and a time trial. We have seen this kind of race before.

Team:

Chris Barton
Carlos Betancourt
Chad Haga
Nick Kinney
Carlos Alexandre Manarelli
Diego Milan
Salah Eddine Mraouni
Bjorn Selander

All eyes on Betancourt to see if he will mess things up again. Kinney, Milan, Selander is his familiar back-up crew. Manarelli targets the two sprints, Barton, Haga and Mraouni the time trial.

Race:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Manarelli sprinted to eigth on stage one, his only showing of the race.



On stage two we somehow saw an attack by Betancourt. I swear to god this is not photoshoped or a different rider.



He was caught, unfortunately, but in the uphill sprint he grabbed a fourth place! A miracle! Kinney also with a decent place near the front.



Barton had the best TT to finish 14th, but it was Haga who is now our highest placed rider in 12th. Betancourt dropped out of a good GC position but we don't really blame him for that.



The fifth and final stage saw Milan in the breakaway in his Dominican Republic national jersey. He was caught on the final climb but finished eight! Haga lost a few seconds and dropped to 15th.



Classification:

Pos.	Rider	Team	Time
1	Kai Reus	In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	18h05'56
2	Stanislau Bazhkou	Isostar - Adriatic	+ 1'01
3	Nicolas Roche	Fablok - Bank BGZ	+ 1'16
4	Rui Costa	Berg Cycles	+ 1'23
5	Roman Kreuziger	In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	+ 1'25
15	Chad Haga	Minions	+ 2'29
19	Nick Kinney	Minions	+ 2'51
37	Diego Milan	Minions	+ 4'21
49	Carlos Betancourt	Minions	+ 4'54
57	Bjorn Selander	Minions	+ 5'06
90	Salah Eddine Mraouni	Minions	+ 7'35
118	Carlos Alexandre Manarelli	Minions	+ 10'20
153	Chris Barton	Minions	+ 17'23

Rider rankings:

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Rigoberto Úran	337
2	Damion Drapac	149
3	Kenny De Haes	64
4	Carlos Betancourt	56
5	Yasmani Martinez	55
6	Niels Albert	53
6	Bjorn Selander	53
8	Jarlinson Pantano Gómez	44
9	Chad Haga	37
10	Nick Kinney	23
11	Salah Eddine Mraouni	15
12	Edwin Avila	14
12	Jay Major	14
14	Ethan Weiss	12
15	Leandro Marcos	11
16	Oliver Naesen	7
16	Carlos Alexandre Manarelli	7
18	Diego Milan	4
19	Goodnews Clifford	3
19	Chris Barton	3

Rating:


(2/5)

Another one of those meh races

Nelspruit appears to be a place in South Africa but whenever a little Dutch boy hears the word 'spruit' they run away crying.

Profile:



Hilly, that should be clear.

Team:

Ahmed Albourdainy
Carlos Betancourt
Goodnews Clifford
Nick Kinney
Jay Major
Diego Milan
Salah Eddine Mraouni
Bjorn Selander

This time we planned our hilly squad to a hilly classic: Betancourt, Kinney, Milan and Selander. Clifford and Mraouni ride on their home continent but are a long way from home. The squad is completed by Albourdainy and Major.

Race:

With 60 kilometers to go Selander was involved in a crash, which made him unable to contest for points scoring positions. Betancourt was not seen at the front but finished seventeenth in a big group, also containing Kinney. Some points, but not a lot.



Classification:

Pos.	Rider	Team	Time
1	Edvald Boasson Hagen	Grieg - Eftel	4h59'51
2	Tejay Van Garderen	Newton Foundation	s.t.
3	Maurice Schreurs	Orange Pro Cycling	+ 22
4	Aleksandar Flügel	Kraftwerk Man Machine	+ 30
5	Mohamed Shawal Anuar Aziz	Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	s.t.
17	Carlos Betancourt	Minions	+ 1'30
22	Nick Kinney	Minions	s.t.
61	Diego Milan	Minions	+ 3'47
106	Bjorn Selander	Minions	+ 6'31
129	Ahmed Albourdainy	Minions	+ 8'06
133	Salah Eddine Mraouni	Minions	s.t.
134	Goodnews Clifford	Minions	s.t.
184	Jay Major	Minions	+ 15'08

Rider rankings:

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Rigoberto Úran	337
2	Damion Drapac	149
3	Kenny De Haes	64
4	Carlos Betancourt	62
5	Yasmani Martinez	55
6	Niels Albert	53
6	Bjorn Selander	53
8	Jarlinson Pantano Gómez	44
9	Chad Haga	37
10	Nick Kinney	25
11	Salah Eddine Mraouni	15
12	Edwin Avila	14
12	Jay Major	14
14	Ethan Weiss	12
15	Leandro Marcos	11
16	Oliver Naesen	7
16	Carlos Alexandre Manarelli	7
18	Diego Milan	4
19	Goodnews Clifford	3
19	Chris Barton	3

Rating:


(1/5)

Úran come back from vacation please!

Ringerike GP

Details:



Norway
HC
One day race
July 6th

Squad:

Ahmed Albourdainy
Carlos Betancourt
Nick Kinney
Jay Major
Leandro Marcos
Diego Milan
Salah Eddine Mraouni
Bjorn Selander

Kenya Mountain Classic

Details:



Kenya
HC
One day race
July 21st

Squad:

Chris Barton
Goodnews Clifford
Chad Haga
Jay Major
Yasmani Martinez
Salah Eddine Mraouni
Jarlinson Pantano Gómez
Cayetano Sarmiento

Tour of Beijing

Details:



China
HC
5 stages
July 26th - 30th

Squad:

Carlos Betancourt
Goodnews Clifford
Damion Drapac
Tareq Esmaeli
Nick Kinney
Jay Major
Diego Milan
Bjorn Selander

Team:

1	2		Isostar - Adriatic	2430
2	1		Newton Foundation	2086
3	4		Berg Cycles	2061
4	3		Grieg - Eftel	2018
5	6		Fablok - Bank BGZ	1795
6	5		Team UBS	1708
7	7		Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	1686
8	10		Orange Pro Cycling	1684
9	8		Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	1554
10	15		Ferrero - Samruk	1407
11	9		Eritel - Sonatrach	1387
12	13		Podium Ambition	1383
13	11		Generali - EDF	1366
14	12		SPAR - Shimano - SCG	1314
15	16		Carlsberg - Danske Bank	1273
16	14		Meiji - JR East	1238
17	19		Euskaltel	1225
18	20		Kraftwerk Man Machine	1185
19	18		Novatek-Panarmenian.net	1161
20	17		Netia - Vónin	1135
21	22		Valio - DeLaval	1105
22	21		Minions	969
23	23		MOL - OMV Petrom	892
24	25		Haute Route - Mavic	627
25	24		Team Ticos Air Costa Rica	612
26	26		Compal-Merida	486

Aaaand we dropped back to 22nd. Valio has used up more racedays than us but we have used a lot more than MOL. It will be tight.

Rider:

1	Tejay Van Garderen	USA		Newton Foundation	780
2	Marko Kump	SLO		Isostar - Adriatic	717
3	Edvald Boasson Hagen	NOR		Grieg - Eftel	630
4	Lukasz Wisniowski	POL		Grieg - Eftel	611
5	Andrei Amador	CRC		Team UBS	608
6	Óscar Guerao	ESP		SPAR - Shimano - SCG	532
7	Matthew Goss	AUS		Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	522
8	Chris Froome	GBR		Fablok - Bank BGZ	513
9	Tom Van Asbroeck	BEL		Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	477
10	Michal Kwiatkowski	POL		Netia - Vónin	449
11	Erik Mohs	GER		Fablok - Bank BGZ	443
12	Peter Kennaugh	GBR		Orange Pro Cycling	426
13	Dan Holloway	USA		Novatek-Panarmenian.net	420
14	Maurice Schreurs	NED		Orange Pro Cycling	410
15	Benat Intxausti	ESP		Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	396
16	Kenneth Vanbilsen	BEL		Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	390
17	Maxime Vantomme	BEL		Netia - Vónin	389
18	Mikhail Ignatiev	RUS		Ferrero - Samruk	383
19	Marcos Altur	ESP		Newton Foundation	379
20	Christopher Juul-Jensen	DEN		Carlsberg - Danske Bank	372
26	Rigoberto Úran	COL		Minions	337
73	Damion Drapac	AUS		Minions	149
143	Kenny De Haes	BEL		Minions	64
149	Carlos Betancourt	COL		Minions	62
161	Yasmani Martinez	CUB		Minions	55
165	Niels Albert	BEL		Minions	53
166	Bjorn Selander	USA		Minions	53
185	Jarlinson Pantano Gómez	COL		Minions	44
200	Chad Haga	USA		Minions	37
253	Nick Kinney	USA		Minions	25
301	Salah Eddine Mraouni	MOR		Minions	15
307	Edwin Avila	COL		Minions	14
308	Jay Major	BAH		Minions	14
331	Ethan Weiss	USA		Minions	12
342	Leandro Marcos	CUB		Minions	11
376	Carlos Alexandre Manarelli	BRA		Minions	7
390	Oliver Naesen	BEL		Minions	7
423	Diego Milan	DOM		Minions	4
433	Goodnews Clifford	NGR		Minions	3
440	Chris Barton	USA		Minions	3