@Aquarius - Not ideal at all for me either! @Abhishek - Ouch @Marco - Ouch Ouch Ouch! @Heine - It's a small division when you give every climber 35+ RDs bar Pluchkin! Also I guess Kudus, Henao, Velits and maybe Uran too fall into the same pile of "I don't mind a TT, but I don't want to face Pluchkin or Keizer!"
Should be very fun to see, even if I doubt I'll come away with more than some 5-7th places! Yeah I guess the Romandie guys and honestly I don't know the other races they could go will be pleased to see a lot of guys going to the above calendar!
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
Finally now we can reveal who will be leading us in which races - and the full schedules of our seven leaders throughout the year. From all-in for Velits races to a triple threat in Cyprus, we've pored over the calendar and came up with schedules we hope will keep us safe.
Luke Rowe
An interesting guy to plan, we had to split him between the cobbles, flat classics, flat stage races and climby stage races with flat stages. You'll see we tried to get him to the former two more than anything, split the third and left the latter to Tosh. You'll notice he'll ride mostly C1 - we didn't exactly plan to have a sprinter, nevermind two!
Omloop Het Niewsblad
PTHC
Gent-Wevelgem
C1
Viana do Castelo
C1
KBC De Panne Tour
C1
Tour of East Java
C1
GP Herning
HC
Nakhon Ratchasima Trophy
C1
Tour of Cyprus
C1
Lisbon Classic
PTHC
Veenendaal-Veenendaal
HC
Cheshire Cycling Tour
HC
Berlin ProRace
HC
Malapodolski Whizzkid
PTHC
GP Kigali
HC
Ronde van Het IJsselmeer
C1
Mascara Kickyvany
C1
Baltic Chain Tour
C1
Rheden GP
PTHC
GP Moscow
PT
George Bennett
George's role in the team went through a few different iterations during pre-transfers planning, but with the purchase of Velits we think we have found a nice role for our top Kiwi and home favourite. We have struck a balance between leading and lieutenanting, taking advantage of race clashes, races with stages that would scare the top guns, and his skillset to find what we hope is a calendar that could be a big difference for us come rankings time.
Clasique Pico Basile
C1
Tour of the Middle East
HC
Volta a Catalunya
C1
Tour of East Java
C1
GP Lichtenstein
PT
Tour of Cyprus
C1
Corsica International
C1
Fleche Wallone
PT
Tour of Eritrea
C1
Tour of Japan
C1
Kenya Mountain Classic
HC
Volta a Portugal
PTHC
Tour du Maroc
PTHC
Stanislau Bazhkou
Not one of our top riders, but Stan the Man's unique skillset (utilised last year by Isostar in fine style) means he is counted as a part-time leader, as for every TT stage race (especially one with a few hills and bumpier stages) he's our man. We've split him between some TTT duties, some domestique roles (mostly for Roux) and his own time leading, which is quite often.
Jelajah SKL
C1
Tour of Vancouver
HC
Tour of Ukraine
HC
Fleche Wallone
PT
Scandinavian Open Road Race
PTHC
Tour of Eritrea
C1
Tour of Norway
PTHC
Tour of Japan
C1
Post Danmark Rundt
HC
Tour of South Africa
C1
Tour de San Luis
C2
Tour of Beijing
HC
Tour of Britain
C1
Giro dell'Emilia
HC
Anthony Roux
Our hilly leader from last season makes his way up to PCT after being top dog (on points, at least) last year in the third tier. It'll be a tough old ride but hopefully with some inventive riding and using his fighting spirit and punch he can net some points. Pretty standard calendar, mostly leading hilly races or stage hunting/helping in MO/HI stage races.
@Aquarius - Uh-oh, I don't like the sound of having you wanting my riders out of the way Yes, I feel like for either of them it would have been a slight misstep to ignore such suiting races! Bazhkou to San Luis could be meh or very nice indeed, last year I guess he'd have been nicely top 10 like some similar but slightly worse guys did, but with the depth this time who knows? Also Venter is going there, which is nice for depth points too.
@knockout - I'm already super super super hyped for Cyprus - no clue if I can even get a GC top 20 but I'm hoping to be at the front in stages at least!
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
It's finally time for Xero to take to the roads and begin our PCT journey, albeit later than most other teams due to our HC choices and snubbing of the TDU. Just two races for us, a pair of mountain classics. One in the Great White North (not Russia, but Canada) and one closer to home (but still quite far away), off the coast of Equatorial Guinea of all places. But I once did a primary school project on Equatorial Guinea, so I think we should win due to our advanced knowledge?
Apex Mountain Classic
31st of January | Top 15 Race Goal | PTHC
Startlist
Peter
Velits
Leader
Abofazl
Gilanipoor
Lieutenant
Jordan
Schleck
Domestique
Mekseb
Debesay
Domestique
Gregory
Daniel
Domestique
Nils
Schomber
Finish lol
Jamalidin
Novardianto
Free Role/Dom
Joseph
Areruya
Free Role/Dom
Xero debuts for five of the squad here, as well as Nils Schomber's first race for us as a full rider (Stagiaire 2016, Statoil 2017). 3/4 of this squad is here to gain experience - and what better way to do so than to take on 200km of freaking hard mountains against the best climbers in the world! Not to say they don't have a job they can do - with Velits here we hope he can diesel his way to the top 15 or even the top 10, though classics aren't his forte. We'd also love to see any of the riders get into a breakaway, though it's Jams and Areruya (in his first race as a pro!) who have been given the task.
Clasique Pico Basile
31st of January | Top 15 Race Goal | C1
Startlist
George
Bennett
Leader
Abofazl
Gilanipoor
Lieutenant
Jordan
Schleck
Domestique
Gregory
Daniel
Domestique
Callum
Scotson
Domestique
Tom
Davison
Domestique
Nils
Schomber
Finish lol
Joseph
Areruya
Free Role/Dom
Five of the Apex squad journey south to Africa in just a few days to take on another brutal mountain classic, this time in service of George Bennett instead of Peter Velits. The goal of a top 15 is the same, as well as the desire for a breakaway. A career debut for Callum Scotson, and like Areruya (who must ride both!) he's been thrown into the deep end a bit here.
A bit surprising to see Velits sciping Pico Basile but Bennett leads his leader days too. Would be cool to see Areruya enter the break in his first race. I hope you start your season with a good PTHC outing. Good luck!
Apex Mountain Classic
31st of January | Top 15 Race Goal | PTHC
Startlist
Peter
Velits
Leader
Gregory
Daniel
Domestique
Abofazl
Gilanipoor
Lieutenant
Nils
Schomber
Finish lol
Jordan
Schleck
Domestique
Jamalidin
Novardianto
Free Role/Dom
Mekseb
Debesay
Domestique
Joseph
Areruya
Free Role/Dom
Looking for the top 15 on a very very tough profile on a very cold and foggy day in Canada. We love the profile, but maybe let's not do Canada in January next season MGUCI? We started with Jams near the front, but despite being involved in early moves he'll have to wait to open his breakaway account for the season.
Velits kept his powerd dry on the climb, not having the legs to go with the big hitters of the division. With the climb being not too selective for the top 10 contenders, it wasn't looking great for our Slovakian.
Indeed, just a disappointing 19th for our man - in his defense, neither attacking, descending or sprinting is his forte, but we'd hoped for better!
Clasique Pico Basile
31st of January | Top 15 Race Goal | C1
Startlist
George
Bennett
Leader
Callum
Scotson
Domestique
Abofazl
Gilanipoor
Lieutenant
Tom
Davison
Domestique
Jordan
Schleck
Domestique
Gregory
Daniel
Domestique
Nils
Schomber
Finish lol
Joseph
Areruya
Free Role/Dom
Looking for the top 10 with Bennett in a weaker startlist, but top 15 would be acceptable as well as looking for the top 20 with Gilanipoor if he feels ok. No breakaway today unfortunately.
Things looked ok with Bennett and Gilanipoor in the 20-30 rider selection, but they wouldn't get much further.
A disappointing day for us, with Bennett in 19th and Gilanipoor in 21st just 5 points would come from our outing. A planning mistake really in not sending Velits here, but you can't get them all! A tough day for the lads with just five finishing.
Congrats to our mates over at Philips for Henao's dominant win! Seems like R1 (like the rest, we assume) went firmly to them! Not really a competition this one. Kind of seems like they and Repsol have moved on from us anyway, which we're fine with, by the way. Not that they asked.
February February February. Kinda not a lot to say about Febraury. You know, like, as a month. Leave that to those old fart poets. It's sunny in NZ. Haha, European losers. Can't even have a barbecue at Christmas because your seasons are the wrong way around. We're not weird, you're weird!
On the cycling front, it's a busy month as we really kick ourselves off, with five races and every rider except Bazhkou making an appearance - their Xero debut, if they haven't already!
Tour of the Middle East
5-8th of February | Top 5 Race Goal | HC
Startlist
Peter
Velits
Leader
George
Bennett
Lieutenant
Abofazl
Gilanipoor
Domestique
Jaco
Venter
Domestique
Marvain
Kossouhorou
Domestique
Nils
Schomber
Domestique
Anthony
Roux
Free Role/Dom
Joseph
Areruya
Free Role/Dom
Our first big race with Velits as a leader with a pretty good squad for the hills and mountains. We have no idea who's here (well, some idea) so we'll optimistically aim for the top 5. We have a nice squad for both decisive stages here and we hope Bennett can ride a good GC given the hills and mountains and Roux can maybe even ride for the stage on day 3 as well as domestique duties for them both. Xero debut for Jaco Venter!
Omloop Het Nieuwsblaad
6th of February | Top 20 Race Goal | PTHC
Startlist
Luke
Rowe
Leader
Mekseb
Debesay
Co-Leader
Carl
Ngamoki-C
Domestique
Dylan
Kennett
Domestique
Gregory
Daniel
Domestique
Jordan
Schleck
Finish lol
Hamish
Schreurs
Free Role
Jamalidin
Novardianto
Free Role
This is the price we pay for planning our bands around having PTHC-competitive cobbled riders! It's not the worst profile in the world for Luke Rowe, so a lot of effort will go into helping him to the front group to take a Boeckmans-style win. Back to Kansas: even if we can find 15 points here from a top 20 we'd be made up, and hopefully we can show our colours in the breakaway! Xero debut for Luke Rowe, and a first run-out of our fine-looking Fijian NC jersey!
Gent-Wevelgem
10th of February | Top 10 Race Goal | C1
Startlist
Luke
Rowe
Leader
Mekseb
Debesay
Leader
Carl
Ngamoki-C
Domestique
Dylan
Kennett
Domestique
Callum
Scotson
Domestique
Gregory
Daniel
Domestique
Hamish
Schreurs
Free Role
Jamalidin
Novardianto
Free Role
Much the same squad (Scotson is a welcome new cobbled domestique as we have mercy on Daniel) stays in Flanders for Gent-Wevelgem. Before the season began you might have said Luke Rowe could have been a favourite but somehow the MGUCI have convinced the Ypres council or whatever to cobble literally all of the Kemmelberg on every side and it's absolutely bloody ridiculous. We have hopes that the favourites have mercy, otherwise it's a tough day for us all.
Viana do Castelo
14th of February | Top 10 Race Goal | C1
Startlist
Mekseb
Debesay
Leader
Luke
Rowe
Co-Leader
Tom
Davison
Domestiqe
Carl
Ngamoki-C
Domestique
Dylan
Kennett
Domestique
Callum
Scotson
Domestique
Hamish
Schreurs
Free Role
Jamalidin
Novardianto
Free Role
Just one change again to the cobbled machine as we bring in our James Milner, Tom Davison, to bring calm to the storm of one of the calendar's craziest races, Viana do Castelo. We've always wanted to ride here and everyone is looking forward to tackling one of the toughest parcours in cycling. Not a bad profile for Debesay, we'll see how we go. At any rate, a Jams break here is a must, really.
Volta a Catalunya
18-23rd of February | Top 5 Race Goal | C1
Startlist
Peter
Velits
Leader
George
Bennett
Lieutenant
Tosh
Van der Sande
Sprinter
Abofazl
Gilanipoor
Domestique
Dylan
Kennett
Domestique
Jordan
Schleck
Domestique
Joseph
Areruya
Free Role/Dom
Jamalidin
Novardianto
Free Role
Our second race with Velits/Bennett together and actually the last for a few months and only on three more non-PT events after this. So savour the pure class that is our climbing duo. We also have the much-awaited debut of Tosh Van der Sande, who will, along with Dylan, look to train-hop his way to some sprint success. But mostly here he want to go in for Velits to hunt for (again, we don't know where to aim) the top 5 or podium, and maybe some success behind for Bennett if he's not compromised too much by helping Velits, or, more likely, by the massive ITT.
Congrats to our mates over at Philips for Henao's dominant win! Seems like R1 (like the rest, we assume) went firmly to them! Not really a competition this one. Kind of seems like they and Repsol have moved on from us anyway, which we're fine with, by the way. Not that they asked.
It's not our fault that you decided to renounce to fight in this race Anyway, in this particular battle Henao should win in pure mountain races, Kudus in races with hills involved, and Velits with TTs, so we all get to beat the others in their prefered routes
Also, if you say you have a busy February, with 5 races and 16RDs, imagine what is a month with twice that amount of races and RDs like mine
Ah, you can have fun batteling in ToME and GW with those riders while Kudus and Vanmarcke are waiting for you in the podium
@Abhishek - Sure is! Hopefully, we might be able to find our way past you in Catalunya at least
@Aquarius - I doubt Kudus' massive 1 point advantage in the hills will help him, unless it's an actual hill race in which case... have fun against Roux?
Yes I guess we aren't the busiest, but at a certain point that's stupid planning on your behalf to have a ridiculous number of clashes
Waiting for us on the podium implies that we are also on the podium and you need us for the podium ceremony so: awesome
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
Omloop Het Nieuwsblaad
6th of February | Top 20 Race Goal | PTHC
Startlist
Luke
Rowe
Leader
Gregory
Daniel
Domestique
Mekseb
Debesay
Co-Leader
Jordan
Schleck
Finish lol
Carl
Ngamoki-C
Domestique
Hamish
Schreurs
Free Role
Dylan
Kennett
Domestique
Jamalidin
Novardianto
Free Role
Hunting for a top 20 on a route which should suit Rowe, but in far too tough a field for top scoring. Surely if we can get up for 15-20 points with a top 20 and a top 50 from our leaders this would be a successful day out for us.
Also our first ever chance to tap up Bewley. We booked him a first class ticket to Blackpool for the evening.
Carl managed to get into our first ever PTHC breakaway and show his lovely Fijian NC to the world! A very nice, but tough, day out front for him.
A tough day behind for us as well. Dissapointing a little bit as Debesay and Rowe found themselves in the first and second group behind the action respectively. Debesay actually finishing in the group just outside the top 10 (not much of a group left though!) but with no energy to sprint, and actually probably a minute behind Maes in 11th!
1
Sam Bewley
Moser - Sygic
4h50'15
2
Danny Summerhill
RBC Pro Cycling
s.t.
3
Clenne Morvan Moulingui
Minions
+ 46
32
Mekseb Debesay
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
+ 4'33
42
Luke Rowe
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
+ 9'01
72
Hamish Schreurs
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
+ 9'54
80
Carl Ngamoki-Cameron
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
s.t.
124
Jamalidin Novardianto
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
+ 23'29
DNF
Gregory Daniel
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
DNF
Dylan Kennett
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
DNF
Jordan Schleck
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
A disappointing day for us with just 4 points, but some good experience and a first day on the cobbles ahead of the PCT cobbles season, where we'll be aiming much higher! We must also thank the race medical staff for their speedy work with Jordan's shock blanket once he got off his bike. He's okay now, and can't wait to be in Catalunya. We won't tell him there's TTs there as well.
Tour of the Middle East
5-8th of February | Top 5 Race Goal | HC
Startlist
Peter
Velits
Leader
Marvain
Kossouhorou
Domestique
George
Bennett
Lieutenant
Nils
Schomber
Domestique
Abofazl
Gilanipoor
Domestique
Anthony
Roux
Free Role/Dom
Jaco
Venter
Domestique
Joseph
Areruya
Free Role/Dom
A big race for us - our first shot at giving our season a much-needed kickstart. With no sprinter in our squad, the first two days were about keeping Velits and Bennett safe, which we did comfortably, and getting into a breakaway or two. Joseph was given the job for the first few stages, and was part of failed moves on the first two days.
A sign of things to come, then, on the third day, when our young Rwandan got into his first ever career breakaway. He rode well, netting enough KoM points to put himself third overnight, and riding just under 160km out in front.
Our day started well as Roux followed the team orders to a T by following stage win moves by the other non-GC-threatening puncheurs, starting with 18km to go. First here attentively following Palini's opener, before following Mehr-Weninge's counter soon after. None of these were fruitful put they helped establish a comfy position for Bennett and Velits and put many of our GC rivals in difficulty!
As the peloton looked to recover we entered phase two of our plan - a big attack from Bennett near the summit, and nobody able to respond! Meanwhile Roux was straight into service of Velits a few wheels down in the peloton, ready for what may come.
Despite the best efforts of some big names, he had a healthy but very small gap of 18 seconds to the puncheurs and GC favourites still in the main group. However this was in immediate danger, with Kwiatkowski looking to chase him down!
The Pole (along with Kudus) was successful in bridging, as Velits rode near the front of the pack behind, not allowing anyone else away. However Bennett was in no mood to ride with them...
And threw down a stunning acceleration outside the flamme rouge!
The Kiwi champion suprising the puncheurs and GC contenders with a strong ride in Oman, catapulting himself into the yellow jersey and letting Velits ride in the group behind, eventually finishing fifth after leaving behind nearly everyone in the group in the sprint! Roux was also eleventh after a very good ride.
Two harshly contrasting pictures: Bennett waves hello to the PCT as we claim our first win and yellow jersey of the year on Stage 3, and (still team leader!) Velits cracks outside the last 20km to go, a career-bad day on Stage 4.
Bennett was under assault from before the last climb by some (well one of) the world's top names (and two others) and was left doing all the work in his group. Despite a valiant effort, he dropped to a still amazing 10th on GC, 18th on the stage. Meanwhile, Velits plummeted to 19th on GC, dropping over ten minutes today. One of the worst stages in our history, right after one of the best. You could never say, at any time in our existence, we ever had plain sailing!
A lot of reason to be sad this race, and quite rightly seeing the very sub-par points haul. But as long as Velits can bounce back from this and isn't a flop this season, then the excellent team riding (who said Roux-Bennett can't beat the PCT as well as the CT? ) and Bennett's scintillating ride in his preferred medium mountain terrain bodes well for the future. Onwards and, if we're going to survive, certainly upwards!
Gent-Wevelgem
10th of February | Top 10 Race Goal | C1
Startlist
Luke
Rowe
Leader
Callum
Scotson
Domestique
Mekseb
Debesay
Leader
Gregory
Daniel
Domestique
Carl
Ngamoki-C
Domestique
Hamish
Schreurs
Free Role
Dylan
Kennett
Domestique
Jamalidin
Novardianto
Free Role
An off-season cobbling of all sides of the Kemmelberg and more passages this year made for a much harder Gent-Wevelgem parcours than normal, but the sun was mercifully shining as we chased our first classic top 10 with Rowe and Debesay.
A start to the race we hope PCT viewers will get used to: Jams out for his first breakaway of the season, and his second in three PCT cobbled classics back to Kigali last year! After CNC in Omloop, being in these moves is a trend we hope to keep going! In fact our Flying Fijian was also in some early moves today as well.
After the brutal five Kemmelberg passages, Rowe and eventually Jams were a couple of groups behind the main group, but with Debesay tacked onto the back of the 23-strong leading group we weren't without representation! However things looked on the down for us when Mekseb was nearly a minute down after some attacks in the group, splitting it in half.
Debesay: "I was still feeling good, and when Vanspeybrouck attacked I knew that if I didn't go myself and catch up to him I couldn't catch up."
A successful bridge, and now part of a group of 16 out front!
With a little over 4km left the group was smashed to pieces and Mekseb was in a fracturing group of 8, fighting for sixth!
After a tough sprint, with everybody dying and no slipstream to catch, he fought to 7th place, even overtaking a top cobbler who was part of the 5 ahead in Blythe to complete a stunning comeback, from behind the group of 12, up to the group of 16 and finishing in the top half there!
An unexpected result in such a field, with much more prestigious names and, on paper, stronger riders around and behind him. But he truly earned it, and kicks off our PCT cobbles campaign with a great result - capped off by a 21st from Rowe, who also has a great comeback of his own, from being dropped with still over 50 riders ahead, up to 21st when the lead group was 23 and minutes ahead at one point! Heroic efforts from our leaders to deliver a great opening result.
Great result with Debesay in the Top 10 Rowe made a great recovery to get some minor points too. Hopefully things start getting back on track for you from here.
A surprising result for Debesay, who should have more suited races where he should score big too. A nice way to recover from the blow that ToME S4 was for you
It’s been hard to transition to the PCT for many of the CT promoters so far this year. Good to see Xero eking our some solid results, and also love to see Georgie boy tearing it up in the PCT!
Debesay’s result in G-W was quite unexpected for an, as yet, unmaxed rider. Looking forward to seeing what he does in coming years, in contrast to Areruya, who Kulczyk will be avoiding at all costs.
You’ve got a good looking future being built at Xero, this was always going to be a slog of a season, but it seems to have started steadily
Not a surprise given both are the same type of climbers with strenght in the hills too 
Clasique Pico Basile
) and Bennett's scintillating ride in his preferred medium mountain terrain bodes well for the future. Onwards and, if we're going to survive, certainly upwards!
