A race that would put any demolition derby to shame with just 39 riders finishing. Our young star Honigh managed a creditable 9th place in this unforgiving race. He was our only finisher!
1
Geraint Thomas
Wiggle presented by Boardman Bikes
8h26'05
9
Nino Honigh
Lufthansa Racing Team
+ 17'48
University of Lincoln GP
We had to hold Degenkolb back from attending this race because of his commitments in the Giro. Van Avermaet did his job well, claiming 5th place. We didn't get anything by way of depth scoring here.
1
Peter Sagan
CarbonSports Cycling - Lightweight
3h50'54
5
Greg Van Avermaet
Lufthansa Racing Team
+ 29
38
Nikias Arndt
Lufthansa Racing Team
+ 4'27
73
Kenneth Vanbilsen
Lufthansa Racing Team
s.t.
111
Phil Bauhaus
Lufthansa Racing Team
+ 12'04
114
Julien Vermote
Lufthansa Racing Team
+ 12'24
127
Lutz Berg
Lufthansa Racing Team
+ 13'51
131
Nino Honigh
Lufthansa Racing Team
+ 14'30
Giro d'Italia
The Giro turned into a nightmare in terms of the GC with Intxausti not close to his best. Degenkolb picked up a stage win, three podium finishes and 4th in the Points standings. Meijers was 5th in U25 classification. Nothing much else to write home about. This was a big hit to our survival chances, as teams we need to beat to stay in the division performed much better. Oh and we managed the Lanterne Rouge as well!!
1
Fabio Aru
Ceramica Panaria - Autogrill - Cipollini
97h16'31
28
Beñat Intxausti
Lufthansa Racing Team
+ 1h05'14
41
Heiner Parra
Lufthansa Racing Team
+ 1h46'33
49
John Degenkolb
Lufthansa Racing Team
+ 2h00'38
51
Jeroen Meijers
Lufthansa Racing Team
+ 2h03'46
83
Oskar Svendsen
Lufthansa Racing Team
+ 2h59'15
102
Phil Bauhaus
Lufthansa Racing Team
+ 3h47'21
125
Julian Runge
Lufthansa Racing Team
+ 4h38'44
136
Martin Springer
Lufthansa Racing Team
+ 5h46'03
Grand Prix of Sochi
Porte was under-par in almost all stages of this and finished 6th when we were expecting him to challenge for a podium position. Frankly speaking he should have given the startlist. Another huge point-scoring opportunity lost by us.
1
Chris Froome
Sugoi - Xanterra
14h04'18
6
Richie Porte
Lufthansa Racing Team
+ 4'19
24
Matthias Frank
Lufthansa Racing Team
+ 11'47
31
Gianluca Brambilla
Lufthansa Racing Team
+ 13'27
99
Martin Jansen
Lufthansa Racing Team
+ 33'52
118
Hans-Georg Nentwich
Lufthansa Racing Team
+ 39'25
126
Carl Ilsanker
Lufthansa Racing Team
+ 42'50
129
Denis Kathmann
Lufthansa Racing Team
+ 44'37
Race Horizon Park
One of the only flat classics where we had Arndt and Bauhaus as our competitors. They managed a top 15 and a top 20, which isn't bad, given the competition.
Take a seat and have a nice read with the Giro review of the Ceramica Panaria - Autogrill - Cipollini team. We still are drunk at the moment and I'm not an english speaker so don't mind the (probably many) spelling mistakes. Both Fabio Aru and Paolo Colombo are here to give their comments on this giro.
Hi guys, welcome in the teams headquarter in Trento. Who is the biggest party animal of the team? FA: That can be only our youngster Paolo. PC: (.... Extremely Loud Laugh) Yeah it might be true. We still had to empty like 40 bottles of prosecco. Seeing my girlfriend again was nice too (winks) FA: No details please.
We go some moments back in the history of our team. Both Fabio and Paolo first rode for other teams. What's the difference between our team and the eams you rode in the past. FA: I rode for a German team, where we had a great group of talented riders. Until Ceramica Panaria (back in the days La Gazzetta Dello Sport - Gaerne) bought me I was really strugling with my career, having troubles to understand my coach who only spoke german and English. I was happy to get the confidence of a smaller Italian team. The fact all my teammates were Italians as well it was really easy to find my place. PC: I also raced for a foreign team, but I didn't really have problems with the English language. But my team folded and I became a free agent. In fact it was clear from day one that I could sign a new pro contract with the new WT squad Ceramica Panaria - Autogrill - Cipollini.
Last winter it became clear that you would have to help Fabio in the Giro d'Italia. What did you think when the managers said they wanted you together with Pirazzi and Formolo to help Fabio get the maglia rosa? PC: I first thought they were telling jokes. I was nowhere near the level of Pirazzi and Formolo let alone the level of Fabio. FA: I was first worried I didn't get better helpers then last year. But in fact the managers proved me wrong. Having friends around you can make a team stronger. PC: All those teambuildings and trainings around the teide volcano has paid off in a way none of us could have thought.
The early season didn't bring the team many points, only two stages and the GC in our home regio tour. FA: Winning isn't simple but when you get that first booster win, others will follow pretty soon. don't forget I was pretty good at Strade Bianche. PC: Unfortunately you did made the wrong choice to not ride with Kwiato. You could have got at least the second place. FA: I know, it's a pity. PC: Talking about Strade Bianche, you still remember what happened the week before after a training ride around Siena. FA: You mean the Coffee ride? PC: Exactly, having a nice espresso and seeing one of your teams take the third place in the Omloop Het Volk. FA: You're not that old, stop tryng to do fancy (having a big smile). Sbara did a great job there, coming from the break, cought back by the peloton, losing contact with the peloton, fighting back to the peloton and then outsprinting all riders in the peloton except for Kristoff. PC: Awesome day that was.
Can we finally go on to the first week of the Giro? FA: Well I don't know I can talk for hours about that omloop day.
The first stage was that team time trial, what do you remember of that day? FA: We didn't lose much time to the other teams, only 3 seconds to Quintana. PC: We were happy we didn't get the last spot, TT's we don't like. Funny thing is Bardet got dropped by his teammates.
On the second stage the team already conquered the maglia azzura. PC: Really cool that I may take that jersey in my first giro. FA: It must be the easiest points we took this giro. Formolino took the 6th place in that sprint, ridiculous. PC: He really brought his sprinting legs. To not mention you how many points did you grab in flat stages? FA: Well I haven't really counted them but that probably gave me the points jersey.
On to stage 3, what did you think when Uran took the stage and the Maglia Rosa. FA: I was scared, their team looked so strong. On that evening we had a group chat trying to make some tactical plan. We were happy that it was Uran and not Nairo. PC: In the end probably the reason we won the giro.
You will have to explain that later. Paolo, you lost the maglia Azzura as quick as you won him. PC: Exactly, it wasn't my goal to grab the KOM jersey. On the plus side on the sixth stage I got the chance to wear that jersey again.
On to stage seven. The first of our stage wins. Fabio can you give a description of that day. FA: The race had a typical start that day, a small breakaway got clear. My guys and Quintana's guys controlled the peloton. The breakaway got caught back and some kilometers later Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen attacked. I saw the danger as Edvald did have a really good start this giro. I was looking at the grupo argos guys, but they where looking at Uran. I asked Paolo Colombo to pace up. He launched me perfectly, I got back to EBH, worked with him to the finish but on a pace that would kill his sprint. In the end he must be really dead, I thanked him and won my first stage. EBH got the maglia rosa. PC: Maybe the best thing of that stage, so we didn't have work for the next stages.
On the tenth stage Fabio took the first Maglia Rosa of his career. Special moment? FA: Of course it's special, chearing tifosi from that point on till the end. About that stage though we weren't really happy. I was surprised Quintana tried to do a long sprint. I got the second place, unfortunately.
Stage elven saw you finish again on the podium. But your biggest contenders took more bonifications then you. FA: We should have worked more on my sprint on mountains instead of trying to get top 10 places in the flat stages (both laughing)
On to stage 15, where Thibaut Pinot came really close in the GC. PC: We were a little surprised Thibaut was still so close in the GC. For some reason he was doing well and we didn't manage to control him that stage. FA: He made me fear some moments. He came way to close to my maglia rosa.
So you decided to attack them all in the 17th stage. FA: Not really. I saw both Verona and Majka attacking. Two riders who ride for teams in the second part of the WT. I had to get them back. When I tried to get them back, Quintana started suffering. Pinot started suffering a little later but also lost like 1 min 30. PC: You forget to mention my 1 km mountain pacing. (winks) FA: Exactly, thanks for that awesome lead out.
On the final weekend we got one more mountain timetrial. Fabio got second behind Quintana. PC: We were watching in the bus and saw Fabio didn't lose to many time on the absolute favourite Quintana. I was looking at Formolo and we both knew we would have to ride a great stage 20.
On that 20th stage Fabio lost some minutes on Quintana but as we know it was good enough to keep the pink jersey. FA: I didn't hav the best legs that day. While Quintana had a super Polanc and Uran that day. My guys did extremely well and I managed to stay with Pinot. Controlling the pace on the downhill, not taking any risks. In the end they all rode away. But I knew I would have got the maglia rosa.
For you Paolo it was also a special stage, You conquered the maglia Bianca that day. PC: I was surprised, I didn't know what to say. Luckily I saw some common faces at the back of the podium. Fabio was there and some of the teams soigneurs. Guess those guys had a good drink that day already. FA: Well I was as surprised to see Paolo there as well. Finally I had someone to talk with. That Iranian didn't spoke the Italian language however he rides for an Italian team.
We will end the interview with your favourite moments. FA: Definately stage 17 where I won in the maglia rosa before Majka. The most important stage of this giro for me. PC: For me it was stage 20 riding up the Bormio 2000 climb. All the tifosi where supporting our team. Even Boaro Boem and Bruno say that was awesome although they were probably drinking beers in the grupetto.
Album
Spoiler
Colombo winning the first mountain jersey
Aru winning stage 7
Aru winning stage 17 in the maglia rosa
Aru pushing big watts in the mountain timetrial
Controlling the peloton
He still can't believe it. The 2018 maglia rosa: Fabio Aru
The 2018 maglia rosso: Fabio Aru
The 2018 maglia azzura: Fabio Aru
The 2018 maglia bianca: Paolo Colombo
Congrats to both. To finalize this interview we will wrap up the rest of your life in Italy in one song, Senza Pagare by J-AX and Fedez. As you won't have to pay for anything anymore in Italy
Great interview and congrats on all won jerseys. However I'm still mad at Kolahdozhagh for gifting you the maglia bianca in the last stage. But if someone deserved the jersey it would be Colombo for all his hard work in front of the peloton in basically every mountain stage together with Formolo and Pirazzi.
We started the month with our home race, the University of Lincoln GP, 140 km from our team HQ. A World Tour race with many of the big names in cycling, so we had no expectation of a result here. We didn't even nominate Stannard for the race, though he would have probably been our best bet. Our goal was to join the early breakaway, but the peloton only let a trio of riders escape, so we had an anonymous day in the peloton. Valgren was the last to survive and finished 34th, claiming a few prestige points, a decent result.
University of Lincoln GP
34
Valgren
4'27
86
McCluskey
9'22
99
Bertilsson
10'12
100
Dowsett
s.t.
112
Christian
12'24
115
Birch
s.t.
121
Van der Sande
13'09
Valgren had his best performance in the Aviva jersey in his next race, the Tour of California. He was given a free role, we had expected he'd hunt for a stage but instead he rode for a good GC result. Valgren arrived with the top group on the hilly stages, rode well in the ITT and didn't lose much on the mountaintop finish and ended 8th, an excellent result.
Our captain for the race was Fuglsang and he finished runner-up behind a dominant Herklotz. A very solid ride by the Danish champion. Bibby, Denifl and Monsalve also performed well, though sadly they threw away better GC positions on the final flat stage, instead of 14th, 17th and 18th they finished 17th, 26th and 27th. But Aviva won the teams classification, a first for our team! Altogether an excellent display by our lads.
Amgen Tour of California
2
Fuglsang
1'56
8
Valgren
6'44
17
Bibby
12'03
26
Denifl
15'13
27
Monsalve
15'45
41
Christian
18'49
74
McCluskey
26'39
Sadly, though not unexpectedly, the same cannot be said for Dowsett's performance in the Copenhagen-Malmo ITT. This was the one ITT we booked for our specialist to captain but once more he underperformed and again was even beaten by Stannard and only set the 19th fastest time. Dowsett should have made the top 10 if he was on form but he just hasn't been able to find it (yet) this season. Stannard's 17th place was definitely decent, all his time trials so far have been above par.
Poels needs to step up his game, he's quite lagging behind Birdsong and Schorn, whilst Dowsett continues the tradition of english-speaking time trialists who disappoint. Great updates as usual, Ripley!
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Thank you! Poels only had two stage races so far, one was great, the other bad (though with an unlucky puncture, too). His big chance will be the Volta a Portugal, there's surprisingly little competition for the GC. He should score in June, too. Dowsett will have more TTs to fail in.
Giro d'Italia. Well, our Giro journey was bad at least. Rivera and Ochoa were doing their job pretty good, until they both decided to just stop racing. After few words with them I can't tell why they abandoned the race, but it was understandable. Our only hope was Chamorro which also did not have a good race. Anacona... was just Anacona. If this (plus a Tachira) was a preview what might wait for us in the coming WT races... we are afraid of coming to race them. Team management is considering releasing a special press statement which might inform about future of this team.
Fjords were actually quite kind for us as both Nowaczek and Komisarek ended this race in the top 10. We're only expecting Nowaczek to be higher in the GC, but after Giro we can't say anything bad about that performance.
And both one day classics: GP Moscow and Race Horizon Park. Nothing to talk about... Sadly.
CCC Sprandi Polkowice - June preview
La Jurassaine
06.01
We have a quite fun team for this race. Anacona in the CT lvl is doing pretty decent, so this shouldn't be that bad race for us. Top 10 will be acceptable.
AVG
FL
MO
HI
TT
PR
CB
SP
AC
ST
RS
RC
Age
Winner Anacona
75,5
69
77
75
67
65
58
61
73
70
68
72
30
Lachlan Morton
75,0
73
75
73
72
72
60
61
72
71
68
74
26
Diego Ochoa
74,6
69
75
74
65
63
59
63
71
71
66
72
25
Ever Rivera
74,5
67
75
73
65
64
60
62
71
70
66
70
27
Daniele Dall'Oste
74,4
69
75
73
65
65
59
65
73
71
67
71
27
Egor Silin
74,4
69
74
73
72
71
57
64
71
73
68
73
30
Konrad Kott
69,0
64
64
65
65
67
68
67
69
68
68
67
25
Tour of Mount Fuji
06.05 - 06.09
We know who we are sending to this race and to be honest we are expecting absolutely nothing from them. We don't have Rivera/Ochoa duo, only Morton. He still doesn't really had a chance to show his skills. There is also Egor Silin who is great addiction to our team. And we have Anacona. He will be losing about 10-15 minutes on mountainous stages so we hope for at least nice weather in Japan!
AVG
FL
MO
HI
TT
PR
CB
SP
AC
ST
RS
RC
Age
Winner Anacona
75,5
69
77
75
67
65
58
61
73
70
68
72
30
Lachlan Morton
75,0
73
75
73
72
72
60
61
72
71
68
74
26
Paweł Poljański
74,4
72
66
74
68
69
68
68
72
74
68
71
28
Egor Silin
74,4
69
74
73
72
71
57
64
71
73
68
73
30
Konrad Tomaszewski
69,2
66
70
67
62
59
58
61
67
67
63
66
27
Kacper FrÄ…ckowiak
67,9
62
69
66
60
58
56
57
64
65
60
64
24
Tomasz Brzeziński
66,5
66
56
59
58
64
58
68
67
64
64
65
21
Tour de Suisse
06.12 - 06.20
Juan Chamorro after a bad Giro will have a chance to prove his abilities. This race is really important for us. Not because it is our goal race, because it isn't. It's because we are sending really strong team. Everyone will find something for himself. Top 3 from Chamorro and top 10 from Morton would be amazing. Few top 5's in the mass sprints from Komisarek too.
AVG
FL
MO
HI
TT
PR
CB
SP
AC
ST
RS
RC
Age
Juan Chamorro
76,3
70
78
75
70
67
61
64
71
71
66
72
27
Lachlan Morton
75,0
73
75
73
72
72
60
61
72
71
68
74
26
Patryk Komisarek
74,7
74
68
72
70
71
72
76
75
74
70
71
25
Ever Rivera
74,5
67
75
73
65
64
60
62
71
70
66
70
27
Daniele Dall'Oste
74,4
69
75
73
65
65
59
65
73
71
67
71
27
Maciej Bodnar
73,8
73
65
68
75
75
69
67
68
69
69
74
33
Eugenio Alafaci
71,6
70
64
68
63
66
65
73
73
70
66
67
28
Tour d'Andorra
06.19 - 06.23
Anacona again will be our leader for this race. He is one of the favourites, so top 3 will be great. Ochoa and Silin can also show their real power. Bring it on boys!
The following riders were featured in a breakaway:
Jungels, stage two, ten and thirteen
Kadri, stage five and six
Wyss the Swiss champ, stage eight
Gougeard, stage eleven, twelve and eighteen
The saddest moment of the race: Kadri thought he'd won stage five from the break but he was celebrating a line too early.
Rolland couldn't really shine this race, and crashed on stage 16.
He attacked on the second-a-last stage but couldn't win the stage. He would finish eleventh in the GC, 21 minutes behind Aru and one minute away from a podium.
1
Fabio Aru
Ceramica Panaria - Autogrill - Cipollini
97h16'31
11
Pierre Rolland
Équipe Cycliste Peugeot
+ 21'25
82
Bob Jungels
Équipe Cycliste Peugeot
+ 2h57'49
113
Yoann Paillot
Équipe Cycliste Peugeot
+ 4h02'58
124
Alexis Gougeard
Équipe Cycliste Peugeot
+ 4h35'58
135
Yves Lampaert
Équipe Cycliste Peugeot
+ 5h38'56
Blel Kadri
Équipe Cycliste Peugeot
DNF
Marco Marcato
Équipe Cycliste Peugeot
DNF
Danilo Wyss
Équipe Cycliste Peugeot
DNF
Grand Prix of Sochi(WT)
Second-a-last place in the opening TTT, a point to improve upon.
Edet taking mountain points on stage two, leading the classification after this stage.
Geniez doing the same thing on stage three, becoming the new leader and the eventual winner.
CCC Sprandi Polkowice exists for the third year. And every year the situation looks more and more interesting. Our first season was the best in terms of wins. Mainly thanks to Ulissi, we managed to win 9 stages, 3 final classifications, as well as both national championships of Poland. Our second season was a bit weaker in this aspect. Only 6 stages won and final classification in the Tour of Vancouver. This year, we have 2 stage wins so far and the situation doesn't look good for the future... Or does it?
We needed three years to find the optimal team. Suitable managers, trainers, masseurs, etc. In addition, our transfer journey looked rather... Poor. Our first "trips" consisted in the fact that we only signed Ulissi, Ferrari, Marczyński, Santambrogio and Bodnar. The rest of the lineup was contracted quickly, often without any prior and subsequent movements. Finally, we could only rely on 5 people from the 17-person squad. Eventually, we finished at the very good 7th place in the final CT ranking. And we were quite close to the promotion to the highest class - World Tour. Have we learned something?
Not really. Our second year was very similar to our first. In July we started to get more points and the situation started to look very promising. And our team? Ferrari was replaced by a young and still inexperienced Patryk Komisarek. Pierre-Roger Latour came to replace Santambrogio. Nowaczek became a better rider, and we also contracted Egor Silin and Daniele Dall'Oste. Finally, we took the 6th place in the final ranking, earning almost 700 points more than in 2016. However, in the prestige ranking, we were 2 places lower than in the previous year. What should we add more? Maybe that we were the first team that missed the promotion. Again...
And we came to the 2018. We have signed few very good riders like: Juan Chamorro, Winner Anacona, Lachlan Morton, Diego Ochoa and Ever Rivera. And it was all in mountain category while only Latour and Santambrogio left us. Komisarek has become even better and got an Italian Alafaci to his sprint train for a duo with Adrian Tekliński. In the team there were less and less cyclists showing inadequate skills in relation to the development of the team. More and more better riders were employed. So should we win more?
This is our first season when the World Tour races have been added to our calendar. So far, after several escapes, we were not able to show the full potential. Even though Anacona managed to fight with the best in Japan, and Poljański was once 5th. The situation is very good in the CT. We get a lot of points and our riders are appearing in the breakaways. Mainly due to the Rivera/Ochoa duo, for which the team is very grateful. What about the rankings then? After racing in the few races in May, we are currently in the 5th place in the rankings. In the team prestige ranking on the 16th spot. But, take a look at those tables:
Continental Tour Ranking
Prestige Ranking
January 2016
16th place (114 pts)
25th place (114 pts)
January 2017
26th place (34 pts)
40th place (34 pts)
January 2018
23rd place (77 pts)
35th place (77 pts)
Continental Tour Ranking
Prestige Ranking
February 2016
16th place (288 pts)
24th place (288 pts)
February 2017
16th place (289 pts)
27th place (289 pts)
February 2018
7th place (732 pts)
11th place (732 pts)
Continental Tour Ranking
Prestige Ranking
March 2016
10th place (674 pts)
24th place (674 pts)
March 2017
19th place (548 pts)
31st place (548 pts)
March 2018
3rd place (1473 pts)
10th place (1473 pts)
Continental Tour Ranking
Prestige Ranking
April 2016
20th place (764 pts)
30th place (764 pts)
April 2017
21st place (675 pts)
32nd place (675 pts)
April 2018
4th place (1887 pts)
12th place (2025 pts)
Continental Tour Ranking
Prestige Ranking
May 2016
18th place (1054 pts)
31st place (1054 pts)
May 2017
15th place (1051 pts)
31st place (1051 pts)
May 2018
5th place (2106 pts)
16th place (2399 pts)
Twice more points than in our first two years... Is this the time?Edited by dominox on 02-04-2018 14:27
CCC are going up - thanks to the amazingness of the former Santos duo
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
With the season rolling along nicely, and with VisitUkraine having one of the most exciting young prospects in their team with Patrik Simek, it comes to no surprise rumours are saying a Czech company is likely to become the team's new secondary sponsor besides Nemiroff, who have recently announced to continue the funding of the team with Anatoliy Budyak, Yuriy Ischenko and Mykyta Sklar as strong Ukrainians.
The company named a lot to be the new sponsor is Czech supermarket chain Albert, which is part of the Dutch Ahold group. The comapny which is based in the city of Prague is also said to be the lone sponsor of the dev team which is likely to at least partially switch focus to the Czech Republic.
Both the team and company have said to not be willing to confirm any of these rumours just yet, however we are sure news will follow before the end of the season.
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game
A great race for us. 3 stages provided by Guardini and Pizzaballa. We also managed to wrap up the points and KOM jersey's. Hopefully more of this will insue in the Tour de France next month.
Founded in 2011 following the split of TNT N.V. and TNT Express, PostNL is a mail, parcel and e-commerce corporation with operations at the Hague, Netherlands. PostNL also operates in Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.
CYAN Breaking News: Telenor to become co-sponsor of the team starting from Tour of Northern Europe. The main team would now be called Polestar Cyan ProCycling p/b Telenor and the three letter code would be PCT.
EDIT: The name would be unofficial for this season as rules do not allow name change during the season. The team would still be officially called Polestar Cyan ProCycling for the remainder of the season with the new name comming officially in effect next season.
Edited by ivaneurope on 11-03-2018 08:31
CCC Sprandi Polkowice - May results review
La Jurassaine
Tour of Mount Fuji
Tour d'Andorra
Le Géant de Provence
