Team:

1	1		Isostar - Adriatic	2861
2	2		Berg Cycles	2858
3	3		Grieg - Eftel	2677
4	7		Team UBS	2388
5	4		Newton Foundation	2281
6	9		Orange Pro Cycling	2219
7	5		Fablok - Bank BGZ	2165
8	10		Ferrero - Samruk	2103
9	6		Generali - EDF	2087
10	8		Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	2061
11	13		Meiji - JR East	1861
12	18		SPAR - Shimano - SCG	1838
13	11		Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	1782
14	19		Kraftwerk Man Machine	1709
15	12		Eritel - Sonatrach	1695
16	14		Euskaltel	1647
17	17		Carlsberg - Danske Bank	1635
18	16		Novatek-Panarmenian.net	1635
19	15		Podium Ambition	1585
20	23		Minions	1551
21	20		Netia - Vónin	1395
22	21		Valio - DeLaval	1345
23	22		MOL - OMV Petrom	1272
24	26		Team Ticos Air Costa Rica	958
25	25		Compal-Merida	852
26	24		Haute Route - Mavic	725

We missed the July update because it wasn't released to the public and it would've been horrific for us anyway. But August was our best month of the season and look at that, we're out of the relegation zone! We aren't safe yet, we have to keep up this form, but things are looking a lot sunnier and happier than before.

Rider:

1	Edvald Boasson Hagen	NOR		Grieg - Eftel	990
2	Andrei Amador	CRC		Team UBS	932
3	Tejay Van Garderen	USA		Newton Foundation	878
4	Lukasz Wisniowski	POL		Grieg - Eftel	753
5	Marko Kump	SLO		Isostar - Adriatic	737
6	Diego Ulissi	ITA		Generali - EDF	674
7	Óscar Guerao	ESP		SPAR - Shimano - SCG	643
8	Chris Froome	GBR		Fablok - Bank BGZ	641
9	Tom Van Asbroeck	BEL		Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	639
10	Mark Cavendish	GBR		Kraftwerk Man Machine	615
11	Rigoberto Úran	COL		Minions	581
12	Michal Kwiatkowski	POL		Netia - Vónin	579
13	Mikhail Ignatiev	RUS		Ferrero - Samruk	544
14	Florentino Marquez	ESP		Berg Cycles	541
15	Matthew Goss	AUS		Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	525
16	Maurice Schreurs	NED		Orange Pro Cycling	518
17	Tomohiro Kinoshita	JPN		Meiji - JR East	506
18	Peter Kennaugh	GBR		Orange Pro Cycling	490
19	Dan Holloway	USA		Novatek-Panarmenian.net	483
20	Aleksandar Flügel	GER		Kraftwerk Man Machine	476
87	Damion Drapac	AUS		Minions	149
88	Carlos Betancourt	COL		Minions	149
104	Kenny De Haes	BEL		Minions	131
164	Yasmani Martinez	CUB		Minions	71
175	Chad Haga	USA		Minions	67
179	Jarlinson Pantano Gómez	COL		Minions	65
181	Bjorn Selander	USA		Minions	64
200	Niels Albert	BEL		Minions	53
230	Cayetano Sarmiento	COL		Minions	42
249	Carlos Alexandre Manarelli	BRA		Minions	37
272	Nick Kinney	USA		Minions	31
288	Leandro Marcos	CUB		Minions	27
345	Salah Eddine Mraouni	MOR		Minions	15
355	Edwin Avila	COL		Minions	14
356	Jay Major	BAH		Minions	14
376	Ethan Weiss	USA		Minions	12
400	Diego Milan	DOM		Minions	10
414	Chris Barton	USA		Minions	8
415	Oliver Naesen	BEL		Minions	7
463	Goodnews Clifford	NGR		Minions	3
511	Tareq Esmaeli	QAT		Minions	1

Vuelta is Spanish for Tour. A is Spanish for of. Colombia is Colombia in every language known to me.

Profile:



When you say Colombia you say cocaine and mountains. The former is on the doping list, the latter is what you get during this race.

Team:

Edwin Avila
Goodnews Clifford
Jay Major
Carlos Alexandre Manarelli
Jarlinson Pantano Gómez
Cayetano Sarmiento
Rigoberto Úran
Ethan Weiss

Four out of five Colombians on the team are selected here, with Úran as obvious leader. Pantano Gómez and Sarmiento are his lieutenants. Avila acts as lead out for Brazilian Manarelli. Clifford, Major and Weiss complete the squad.

Race:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Good news! Clifford appeared in the breakaway on stage one. Bad news! He wasn't strong enough to challenge for the win, as one of his compangions took the win away from the sprinters. Manarelli finished sixth.



The second stage, the first mountain stage, was dominated by Amador, who is clearly the strongest once again. Úran had a very good day and could match him in the latter phases of the climb, finishing second on the stage.



On the next stage he lost 12 seconds to Amador and Henao, remaining second in the GC. Pantano Gómez also held his own in the top twenty.



With both Manarelli and Avila (and Major and Weiss for completeness) abandoned during the mountain stages, stage four was left uncontested for us.

Onto stage five. Úran already had some troubles during breakfast and it was clear to us he wasn't in the best shape. Luckily Pantano Gómez was in a better shape, else things would've gone down horribly. Úran lost a lot of time, dropping to fifth in the GC, but everything could've been much worse. Pantano Gómez can take a lot of credit for minimising the damage.



Classification:

Pos.	Rider	Team	Time
1	Andrei Amador	Team UBS	21h30'36
2	Sergio Luis Henao Montoya	Ferrero - Samruk	+ 2'08
3	Stefan Denifl	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	+ 3'54
4	Merhawi Kudus	Eritel - Sonatrach	+ 5'51
5	Rigoberto Úran	Minions	+ 7'24
14	Jarlinson Pantano Gómez	Minions	+ 15'20
54	Cayetano Sarmiento	Minions	+ 1h00'26
105	Goodnews Clifford	Minions	+ 2h01'22
DNF	Edwin Avila	Minions	DNF
DNF	Jay Major	Minions	DNF
DNF	Carlos Alexandre Manarelli	Minions	DNF
DNF	Ethan Weiss	Minions	DNF

Rider rankings:

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Rigoberto Úran	705
2	Carlos Betancourt	149
2	Damion Drapac	149
4	Kenny De Haes	131
5	Jarlinson Pantano Gómez	94
6	Yasmani Martinez	71
7	Chad Haga	67
8	Bjorn Selander	64
9	Niels Albert	53
10	Cayetano Sarmiento	42
11	Carlos Alexandre Manarelli	40
12	Nick Kinney	31
13	Leandro Marcos	27
14	Salah Eddine Mraouni	15
15	Edwin Avila	14
15	Jay Major	14
17	Ethan Weiss	12
18	Diego Milan	10
19	Chris Barton	8
20	Oliver Naesen	7
21	Goodnews Clifford	3
22	Tareq Esmaeli	1

Rating:


(3/5)

Five bananas for the first four stages, one for the last.

A slightly hilly area in the Netherlands, where there are a lot of ticks I can tell you.

Profile:



Main points of attraction are the Posbank climb (not to be confused with the Postbank, a bank) and the subsequent cobble sector.

Team:

Niels Albert
Kenny De Haes
Tareq Esmaeli
Fabrice Jeandesbosz
Leandro Marcos
Salah Eddine Mraouni
Oliver Naesen
Shaquille Sinclair

Our Belgian cobbles specialist Albert is not even on the favourite sheet in this PTHC race. Maybe a De Haes or Marcos or Naesen can get a breakaway and score a result from there. Esmaeli, Jeandesbosz, Mraouni and Sinclair are also here to suffer.

Race:

It was very difficult to spot Esmaeli in this rather large break, but the organisers assured us he was in it. We don't know if he actually finished the race, because only the first fifty riders are known to the time sheet because the finish line was attacked by ticks and those who didn't finish had to be rescued.



With strong opposition, we were kinda surprised when Albert followed an attack by Burghardt and Wisniowski. For a while it looked like the three of them could stay ahead of the others and battle for the first three spots, in which we happily would've taken third since Albert's sprint is woeful.



Unfortunately some dirty games were played in the final three kilometers (not by Albert, but by the other two) and the group was reeled in. Bewley won with a late acceleration, Albert finished eighteenth in the main group. Marcos and Naesen 42nd and 46th in the group behind. We don't know about the others.

Classification:

Pos.	Rider	Team	Time
1	Sam Bewley	Moser - Sygic	Winner
2	Lahcen Saber	Jayco - Cobra9	+ 36
3	Adam Blythe	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
4	Floris Gerts	eBuddy	s.t.
5	Matteo Trentin	Aker - MOT	s.t.
18	Niels Albert	Minions	s.t.
42	Leandro Marcos	Minions	+ 2'35
46	Oliver Naesen	Minions	s.t.
?	Kenny De Haes	Minions	?
?	Tareq Esmaeli	Minions	?
?	Fabrice Jeandesbosz	Minions	?
?	Salah Eddine Mraouni	Minions	?
?	Shaquille Sinclair	Minions	?

Rider rankings:

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Rigoberto Úran	705
2	Carlos Betancourt	149
2	Damion Drapac	149
4	Kenny De Haes	131
5	Jarlinson Pantano Gómez	94
6	Yasmani Martinez	71
7	Niels Albert	67
7	Chad Haga	67
9	Bjorn Selander	64
10	Cayetano Sarmiento	42
11	Carlos Alexandre Manarelli	40
12	Nick Kinney	31
13	Leandro Marcos	29
14	Salah Eddine Mraouni	15
15	Edwin Avila	14
15	Jay Major	14
17	Ethan Weiss	12
18	Diego Milan	10
19	Oliver Naesen	9
20	Chris Barton	8
21	Goodnews Clifford	3
22	Tareq Esmaeli	1

Rating:


(3/5)

Be careful bananas, don't get yourself bitten!

I love self-explaining titles.

Profile:



Flat, flat, flat, flat, oh no a hill, oh no another hill.

Team:

Carlos Betancourt
Tareq Esmaeli
Nick Kinney
Jay Major
Leandro Marcos
Diego Milan
Salah Eddine Mraouni
Bjorn Selander

Betancourt, maybe he can shine this race. Traditional support in Kinney, Milan, Selander. And we have Esmaeli, Major, Marcos and Mraouni.

Race:

It should be no surprise that Edvald Boasson Hagen from Grieg - Eftel took the win. That guy is a monster. What did surprise us was the performance from Milan and Betancourt. Both dragged themself up the final hill and somehow took sixth and seventh. No doubt we're safe from relegation now!



Classification:

Pos.	Rider	Team	Time
1	Edvald Boasson Hagen	Grieg - Eftel	4h32'38
2	Tomohiro Kinoshita	Meiji - JR East	+ 44
3	Chris Froome	Fablok - Bank BGZ	s.t.
4	Aleksandar Flügel	Kraftwerk Man Machine	s.t.
5	Mohamed Shawal Anuar Aziz	Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	+ 1'02
6	Diego Milan	Minions	+ 1'47
7	Carlos Betancourt	Minions	s.t.
77	Nick Kinney	Minions	+ 2'54
78	Leandro Marcos	Minions	s.t.
83	Bjorn Selander	Minions	s.t.
97	Tareq Esmaeli	Minions	+ 5'26
170	Salah Eddine Mraouni	Minions	+ 8'36
180	Jay Major	Minions	+ 10'20

Rider rankings:

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Rigoberto Úran	705
2	Carlos Betancourt	177
3	Damion Drapac	149
4	Kenny De Haes	131
5	Jarlinson Pantano Gómez	94
6	Yasmani Martinez	71
7	Niels Albert	67
7	Chad Haga	67
9	Bjorn Selander	64
10	Cayetano Sarmiento	42
10	Diego Milan	42
12	Carlos Alexandre Manarelli	40
13	Nick Kinney	31
14	Leandro Marcos	27
15	Salah Eddine Mraouni	15
16	Edwin Avila	14
16	Jay Major	14
18	Ethan Weiss	12
19	Oliver Naesen	11
20	Chris Barton	8
21	Goodnews Clifford	3
22	Tareq Esmaeli	1

Rating:


(4/5)

Betancourt has seen the light!

Giro dell'Emelia

Details:



Italy
HC
One day race
October 4th

Squad:

Carlos Betancourt
Tareq Esmaeli
Nick Kinney
Jay Major
Leandro Marcos
Diego Milan
Salah Eddine Mraouni
Bjorn Selander

Barbados Cycling Festival

Details:



Barbados
HC
4 stages
October 11th - 14th

Squad:

Ahmed Albourdainy
Edwin Avila
Damion Drapac
Tareq Esmaeli
Jay Major
Carlos Alexandre Manarelli
Shaquille Sinclair
Ethan Weiss

GP Kigali

Details:



Rwanda
C1
One day race
October 17th

Squad:

Niels Albert
Goodnews Clifford
Kenny De Haes
Fabrice Jeandesbosz
Leandro Marcos
Diego Milan
Salah Eddine Mraouni
Oliver Naesen

Team:

1	4		Team UBS	3021
2	3		Grieg - Eftel	3005
3	2		Berg Cycles	2974
4	1		Isostar - Adriatic	2959
5	8		Ferrero - Samruk	2563
6	5		Newton Foundation	2499
7	6		Orange Pro Cycling	2440
8	7		Fablok - Bank BGZ	2385
9	12		SPAR - Shimano - SCG	2246
10	11		Meiji - JR East	2229
11	9		Generali - EDF	2207
12	10		Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	2204
13	15		Eritel - Sonatrach	2155
14	14		Kraftwerk Man Machine	1930
15	13		Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	1873
16	16		Novatek-Panarmenian.net	1824
17	17		Carlsberg - Danske Bank	1816
18	20		Minions	1785
19	19		Podium Ambition	1751
20	18		Euskaltel	1680
21	21		Netia - Vónin	1550
22	23		MOL - OMV Petrom	1448
23	24		Team Ticos Air Costa Rica	1381
24	22		Valio - DeLaval	1366
25	25		Compal-Merida	1015
26	26		Haute Route - Mavic	834

We haven't been this high lately, so surely we can look forward to the final month of the year. We need to have a major implosion and those beneath us need to have an amazing month for things to go wrong for us.

Rider:

1	Edvald Boasson Hagen	NOR		Grieg - Eftel	1294
2	Andrei Amador	CRC		Team UBS	1234
3	Tejay Van Garderen	USA		Newton Foundation	878
4	Chris Froome	GBR		Fablok - Bank BGZ	787
5	Lukasz Wisniowski	POL		Grieg - Eftel	775
6	Marko Kump	SLO		Isostar - Adriatic	737
7	Rigoberto Úran	COL		Minions	705
8	Michal Kwiatkowski	POL		Netia - Vónin	689
9	Diego Ulissi	ITA		Generali - EDF	674
10	Merhawi Kudus	ERI		Eritel - Sonatrach	669
11	Warren Barguil	FRA		Team Ticos Air Costa Rica	665
12	Mikhail Ignatiev	RUS		Ferrero - Samruk	658
13	Óscar Guerao	ESP		SPAR - Shimano - SCG	643
14	Tom Van Asbroeck	BEL		Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	639
15	Tomohiro Kinoshita	JPN		Meiji - JR East	638
16	Sergio Luis Henao Montoya	COL		Ferrero - Samruk	633
17	Stefan Denifl	AUT		SPAR - Shimano - SCG	628
18	Mark Cavendish	GBR		Kraftwerk Man Machine	615
19	Aleksandar Flügel	GER		Kraftwerk Man Machine	547
20	Romain Sicard	FRA		Orange Pro Cycling	546
81	Carlos Betancourt	COL		Minions	177
97	Damion Drapac	AUS		Minions	149
111	Kenny De Haes	BEL		Minions	131
144	Jarlinson Pantano Gómez	COL		Minions	94
180	Yasmani Martinez	CUB		Minions	71
192	Chad Haga	USA		Minions	67
194	Niels Albert	BEL		Minions	67
199	Bjorn Selander	USA		Minions	64
241	Diego Milan	DOM		Minions	42
245	Cayetano Sarmiento	COL		Minions	42
251	Carlos Alexandre Manarelli	BRA		Minions	40
286	Nick Kinney	USA		Minions	31
292	Leandro Marcos	CUB		Minions	29
367	Salah Eddine Mraouni	MOR		Minions	15
375	Edwin Avila	COL		Minions	14
376	Jay Major	BAH		Minions	14
398	Ethan Weiss	USA		Minions	12
426	Oliver Naesen	BEL		Minions	9
430	Chris Barton	USA		Minions	8
475	Goodnews Clifford	NGR		Minions	3
516	Tareq Esmaeli	QAT		Minions	1

The final month of truth begins...

Profile:



With a puncheurs classic in Italy.

Team:

Carlos Betancourt
Tareq Esmaeli
Nick Kinney
Jay Major
Leandro Marcos
Diego Milan
Salah Eddine Mraouni
Bjorn Selander

Hey, this is the exact same squad as the last race! To save time I'm copy-pasting this section. Betancourt, maybe he can shine this race. Traditional support in Kinney, Milan, Selander. And we have Esmaeli, Major, Marcos and Mraouni.

Race:

Marcos in the break to show the Cuban colors.



Unfortunately Betancourt and many others were involved in a crash and never really recovered. As a result none of us finished in the top 100.



Classification:

Pos.	Rider	Team	Time
1	Domenik Klemme	Novatek-Panarmenian.net	4h54'24
2	Mohamed Shawal Anuar Aziz	Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	s.t.
3	Michal Kwiatkowski	Netia - Vónin	s.t.
4	Edvald Boasson Hagen	Grieg - Eftel	s.t.
5	Maurice Schreurs	Orange Pro Cycling	s.t.
113	Leandro Marcos	Minions	+ 4'33
117	Tareq Esmaeli	Minions	+ 5'07
118	Salah Eddine Mraouni	Minions	s.t.
119	Diego Milan	Minions	s.t.
121	Bjorn Selander	Minions	s.t.
124	Nick Kinney	Minions	+ 5'32
126	Carlos Betancourt	Minions	s.t.
150	Jay Major	Minions	+ 11'39

Rider rankings:

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Rigoberto Úran	705
2	Carlos Betancourt	177
3	Damion Drapac	149
4	Kenny De Haes	131
5	Jarlinson Pantano Gómez	94
6	Yasmani Martinez	71
7	Niels Albert	67
7	Chad Haga	67
9	Bjorn Selander	64
10	Cayetano Sarmiento	42
10	Diego Milan	42
12	Carlos Alexandre Manarelli	40
13	Nick Kinney	31
14	Leandro Marcos	29
15	Salah Eddine Mraouni	15
16	Edwin Avila	14
16	Jay Major	14
18	Ethan Weiss	12
19	Oliver Naesen	9
20	Chris Barton	8
21	Goodnews Clifford	3
22	Tareq Esmaeli	1

Rating:


(2/5)

Sometimes things are outside your control and you shouldn't be too critical when it happens.

Aside from our usual ramblings around the actual races, some U23 events have been taking place this season without any points gain at stake, hence we didn't report on them. One of our riders, Jay Major is eligible for these races and participated in them over the year. So we thought it would be adequate to report on his performances.

The first three races were U23 events for actual races. Major was leased to Aeropostal Venezuela for these, because it wasn't financially feasible to have him race on his own. In the first race, Ronde van Vlaanderen, he finished 56th at over 15 minutes behind the winner. At Liège - Bastogne - Liège he did considerably better, finishing 33rd at 6 minutes. Then it was off to Paris - Tours, a sprinters classic which should be more suited to his abilities. However, he would finished two minutes behind in 49th place, leading his group over the line.

The other event was the main prize for the U23's, the nine day Tour de l'Avenir. Major raced for Vesuvio - Accumalux for this event, and was the designated sprinter for the flat stages. On the third stage he was involved in the bunch sprint and came across the line in eight. In the photograph below he's on the right of the screen, in the red jersey.



On stage six he took fourteenth place, however we have to account for eight breakaway riders who finished in front of the peloton, so he was actually sixth amongst the sprinters. Here he is in the center-left of the following overhead shot.



Unfortunately, Jay had to abandon on the final stage. The mountains had become too much for him and he was too tired to finish the race. We don't blame him, it was a tough race and he's not exactly made for the mountains. The most important thing is that he gained experience in these races, and he showed in the sprints that he has the potential of becoming a leader in his own right in the future. Remember the name, he will be a force to reckon with in the future: Jay Major.

We wanted to race here because we had a Barbadian in our squad but then he deserted to another team. Unfortunately it was too late to change and a boycot would be useless.

Profile:



Four days of pure sprinting.

Team:

Ahmed Albourdainy
Edwin Avila
Damion Drapac
Tareq Esmaeli
Jay Major
Carlos Alexandre Manarelli
Shaquille Sinclair
Ethan Weiss

Both our lead sprinters Drapac and Manarelli can fight who will lead out the other, or they'll both go for their own chances. Avila, Major and Sinclair form a decent setup. Albourdainy, Esmaeli and Weiss enjoy the beaches and carry some bottles.

Race:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Internal unrest caused no sprinting train to be set up during the four stages and therefore we haven't seen any of the Minions during the race. How Weiss finished 38th in the GC and scored 5 points remains a mystery to us,

Classification:

Pos.	Rider	Team	Time
1	Mark Cavendish	Kraftwerk Man Machine	15h32'47
2	Óscar Guerao	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	+ 2
3	Matthew Goss	Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	+ 3
4	Nacer Bouhanni	Euskaltel	+ 31
5	Juan Van Heerden	Eritel - Sonatrach	+ 37
38	Ethan Weiss	Minions	+ 2'25
74	Damion Drapac	Minions	+ 3'57
84	Edwin Avila	Minions	s.t.
97	Carlos Alexandre Manarelli	Minions	+ 5'00
123	Jay Major	Minions	s.t.
132	Shaquille Sinclair	Minions	+ 7'13
155	Tareq Esmaeli	Minions	+ 14'45
160	Ahmed Albourdainy	Minions	+ 17'21

Rider rankings:

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Rigoberto Úran	705
2	Carlos Betancourt	177
3	Damion Drapac	149
4	Kenny De Haes	131
5	Jarlinson Pantano Gómez	94
6	Yasmani Martinez	71
7	Niels Albert	67
7	Chad Haga	67
9	Bjorn Selander	64
10	Cayetano Sarmiento	42
10	Diego Milan	42
12	Carlos Alexandre Manarelli	40
13	Nick Kinney	31
14	Leandro Marcos	29
15	Ethan Weiss	17
16	Salah Eddine Mraouni	15
17	Edwin Avila	14
17	Jay Major	14
19	Oliver Naesen	9
20	Chris Barton	8
21	Goodnews Clifford	3
22	Tareq Esmaeli	1

Rating:


(0/5)

An invisible banana for an invisible race.

We made it to our final race of the season.

Profile:



Raced on poor African road surface.

Team:

Niels Albert
Goodnews Clifford
Kenny De Haes
Fabrice Jeandesbosz
Leandro Marcos
Diego Milan
Salah Eddine Mraouni
Oliver Naesen

The five expected names on a cobble classic: Albert, De Haes, Jeandesbosz, Marcos and Naesen. The two Africans: Clifford and Mraouni. And Milan.

Race:

An early three man break went up the road, later joined by Grashev and our own Naesen. Both men have reasonable capabilities on the cobblestones and worked together quite well.



So well in fact, that the two of them were still in the lead with 30 kilometers to go. They were caught by a smaller group, but they managed to find themselves amongst the front.



Grushev starting working for Burghardt and it paid off for Podium Ambition, the German won the race. Albert and Marcos were in the group behind Naesen but the latter still had some energy left so we decided to play him out. And it was a good decision from the management, because who rolled over the finish in an amazing fifth place? Naesen, outsprinting Kamyshev and Grushev!



Marcos and Albert came across the line in 15th and 20th respectively for some minor bonus points.



Classification:

Pos.	Rider	Team	Time
1	Marcus Burghardt	Podium Ambition	5h30'20
2	Jan Polanc	Isostar - Adriatic	+ 10
3	Mike Teunissen	Generali - EDF	+ 27
4	Edward Theuns	Generali - EDF	+ 44
5	Oliver Naesen	Minions	+ 2'34
15	Leandro Marcos	Minions	+ 7'30
20	Niels Albert	Minions	s.t.
50	Goodnews Clifford	Minions	+ 16'01
63	Kenny De Haes	Minions	+ 16'49
76	Fabrice Jeandesbosz	Minions	+ 21'56
94	Salah Eddine Mraouni	Minions	+ 29'04
DNF	Diego Milan	Minions	DNF

Rider rankings:

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Rigoberto Úran	705
2	Carlos Betancourt	177
3	Damion Drapac	149
4	Kenny De Haes	131
5	Jarlinson Pantano Gómez	94
6	Yasmani Martinez	71
7	Niels Albert	70
8	Chad Haga	67
9	Bjorn Selander	64
10	Oliver Naesen	45
11	Cayetano Sarmiento	42
11	Diego Milan	42
13	Carlos Alexandre Manarelli	40
14	Leandro Marcos	37
15	Nick Kinney	31
16	Ethan Weiss	17
17	Salah Eddine Mraouni	15
18	Edwin Avila	14
18	Jay Major	14
20	Chris Barton	8
21	Goodnews Clifford	3
22	Tareq Esmaeli	1

Rating:


(4/5)

Very strong end to the season which should see us safe.

Team:

1		Grieg - Eftel	3461
2		Isostar - Adriatic	3187
3		Berg Cycles	3122
4		Team UBS	3056
5		Newton Foundation	2773
6		Ferrero - Samruk	2739
7		Orange Pro Cycling	2717
8		Fablok - Bank BGZ	2699
9		Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	2612
10		SPAR - Shimano - SCG	2480
11		Eritel - Sonatrach	2472
12		Meiji - JR East	2393
13		Kraftwerk Man Machine	2375
14		Generali - EDF	2323
15		Novatek-Panarmenian.net	2049
16		Carlsberg - Danske Bank	2040
17		Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	1983
18		Podium Ambition	1921
19		Euskaltel	1881
20		Minions	1837
21		Netia - Vónin	1705
22		Valio - DeLaval	1600
23		MOL - OMV Petrom	1564
24		Team Ticos Air Costa Rica	1432
25		Compal-Merida	1020
26		Haute Route - Mavic	904

WE MADE IT! WE MADE IT! 20th place, which means we are assured of another season in PCT! We will post a full reveal with every little detail you need and didn't need to know at a later date.

Rider:

1	Edvald Boasson Hagen	NOR		Grieg - Eftel	1504
2	Andrei Amador	CRC		Team UBS	1234
3	Tejay Van Garderen	USA		Newton Foundation	976
4	Lukasz Wisniowski	POL		Grieg - Eftel	945
5	Mark Cavendish	GBR		Kraftwerk Man Machine	903
6	Óscar Guerao	ESP		SPAR - Shimano - SCG	828
7	Chris Froome	GBR		Fablok - Bank BGZ	798
8	Marko Kump	SLO		Isostar - Adriatic	737
9	Matthew Goss	AUS		Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	718
10	Sergio Luis Henao Montoya	COL		Ferrero - Samruk	711
11	Tomohiro Kinoshita	JPN		Meiji - JR East	708
12	Rigoberto Úran	COL		Minions	705
13	Warren Barguil	FRA		Team Ticos Air Costa Rica	705
14	Tom Van Asbroeck	BEL		Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	699
15	Michal Kwiatkowski	POL		Netia - Vónin	689
16	Diego Ulissi	ITA		Generali - EDF	686
17	Merhawi Kudus	ERI		Eritel - Sonatrach	669
18	Mikhail Ignatiev	RUS		Ferrero - Samruk	663
19	Stefan Denifl	AUT		SPAR - Shimano - SCG	653
20	Erik Mohs	GER		Fablok - Bank BGZ	608
92	Carlos Betancourt	COL		Minions	177
100	Damion Drapac	AUS		Minions	149
113	Kenny De Haes	BEL		Minions	131
152	Jarlinson Pantano Gómez	COL		Minions	94
194	Yasmani Martinez	CUB		Minions	71
197	Niels Albert	BEL		Minions	70
205	Chad Haga	USA		Minions	67
206	Bjorn Selander	USA		Minions	64
250	Oliver Naesen	BEL		Minions	45
257	Cayetano Sarmiento	COL		Minions	42
258	Diego Milan	DOM		Minions	42
260	Carlos Alexandre Manarelli	BRA		Minions	40
276	Leandro Marcos	CUB		Minions	37
297	Nick Kinney	USA		Minions	31
364	Ethan Weiss	USA		Minions	17
386	Salah Eddine Mraouni	MOR		Minions	15
391	Edwin Avila	COL		Minions	14
393	Jay Major	BAH		Minions	14
441	Chris Barton	USA		Minions	8
483	Goodnews Clifford	NGR		Minions	3
526	Tareq Esmaeli	QAT		Minions	1
529	Ahmed Albourdainy	QAT		Minions	0
550	Fabrice Jeandesbosz	FRA		Minions	0
593	Shaquille Sinclair	JAM		Minions	0

I guess Tareq Esmaeli is also winning every other possible award?

Qatar Oil Mountain Classic - Win

Our new home race, and we thought Úran would be one of the favourites. He was, but unfortunately he couldn't win due to an overambitious breakaway who achieved it's glory. His fourth place is a good result in all but the first goal of the season is a failure.



Tour of Vancouver - Top 10

Again a mountain race for Úran, and anything but a top ten would be a complete failure. Before the final team time trial he was in fifth place, but then a near horror-scenario almost cost him a top ten. Although seventh place is technically within the scope of this goal and therefore success, but the result in itself is disappointing.



Dutch Food Valley Classic - Top 10

A sprinters classic for Drapac, a very risky choice but given the name and the blind love the manager has for this area, we had to. Top ten is the lowest we could set the bar and Drapac finished in sixth. Goal achieved!



Deutschland Tour - Top 5

PTHC competition and no time trials were Úran could gain time, this was one of the tougher goals. I guess you all know the story, but in case you don't remember: Úran won and therefore single handedly secured our survival in PCT.



PCT Team Standings - Top 10

Before the season we would be surprised if we were to finish in the top ten, and we didn't. But that's cool, survival was the real goal and we did just that. It's just that the lords in higher positions only gives us something extra if we achieved the actual goal.

A lot of people had their opinion on how the final rankings would look at the end of the season, and now it's time for us to review how good or bad they managed to review our final position. For the record, we finished 20th.

Atlantius - 3rd

We don't know what drug Atlantius was using when he made this prediction, but it should stay banned forever.

Average - 14th

If we averaged amongst every prediction we would finish in 14th, leading to the conclusion that we were slightly overpredicted.

Bushwackers - 22nd

The only of the predictions which had us in a relegation place and luckily that didn't happen. Suck on that Bushwackers!

Co-efficient Based - 5th

We dont't know what coefficient this was based on but it's obviously wrong. So wrong it should be a criminal offense.

Croatia - 11th

Croatia used a mixture of formulas and his own judgment to come to this 11th place. Maybe he should tweak the formulas or his judgement is completely wrong. Or both.

History Based - 11th

History? What history? We didn't have any history in PCT before this season, so how the hell did we get 11th there?

Knockout - 13th

13th place would prove to be the knockout to the credibility of this prediction.

Marcovdw - 16th

Marcovdw is the smartest guy in the universe but he was slightly off here. Doesn't matter, happens to every genius sometimes.

Matt - 18th

One of the closest predictions to our actual result. This Matt guy knows what he's talking about.

Median - 12th

This prediction shows how useless the median is as an estimate of the final position.

Slightly Mathematical - 9th

I would suggest to whoever made this prediction to go back to high school, because this maths contains so many errors my red pen ran out of ink.

Tamijo - 11th

Tamijo is a newbie to the world of MG so I don't blame him for being a bit off. Hopefully he'll learn how to accuratly predict next season.

Tastasol - 18th

The closest amongst the predictions together with Bushwackers and Matt. Unfortunately I have no award for you guys because the Sheikh has taken all my budget away. Maybe you can get one of the leftover bananas, but you'd have to contact the Sheikh directly.