@Abhishek - Yep a great race for us, and awesome rides from both of our leaders! Yes for sure, let's hope the inspiration of Debesay's ride can help the whole squad kick on

@Putin97 - Well, we saw how the first of them went just now Not quite healing the pain, but a nice distraction and hopefully as I said above the start of the process of moving on

@Booker - Ourselves very much included! GB 10th in ToME and Debesay 7th in G-W are exactly the kinds of results I'm looking for this year - that stage win on top was wonderful to see indeed, thanks

I also can't wait to see Debesay maxed - really wish it was done by now though - either, his future skillset isn't top even in PCT (btw #ClassicsNeedsAcc) but he'll just be an even better and cooler version of what he is now - which sounds amazing! And Areruya... well I think Penasa would be a tough opponent in the first few years if they ever meet but glad to hear he's already causing pre-emptive fear, three years from being maxed!

Thanks, I'm trying to build a good squad for the future. If we slog this one out and stay up I'd love to start kicking on with that

@Tamijo - It was nice to finally achieve a pre-race goal to tell you the truth

After a big upswing in our fortunes in February, with three wins and some other great results, we'll look to drive forward with this momentum into an even busier March. Roux gets his first leading role, as does Bazhkou, as all seven leaders get a shot.

Startlist

	Luke	Rowe	Leader
	Carl	Ngamoki-C	Domestique
	Joseph	Areruya	Domestique
	Gregory	Daniel	Domestique
	Jordan	Schleck	Domestique
	Hamish	Schreurs	Free Role

Part of a cobbled double-header with the Roma Maxima and given the sprint stage with bonuses (though it's usually a breakaway oh god I'm regretting it already) we thought Rowe would be our leader here. We'll aim for a top 10 in this field, and a breakaway on the first couple of stages. Daniel is looking forward to the TT, whilst our young African duo are looking forward to it as well, but because it means this race is over.

	Mekseb	Debesay	Leader
	Dylan	Kennett	Domestique
	Tom	Davison	Domestique
	Nils Schomber	Domestique
	Callum	Scotson	Domestique
	Jamalidin	Novardianto	Free Role

A rough course for Mekseb here, pure power cobbles a la Roubaix. However as he showed in G-W he's no one-dimensional hilly cobbler and has a lot of power too, so with a reduced startlist (and hopefully some form on side) a top 10 is the target, but not a necessity. A breakaway, as always, would be nice too.

	Peter	Velits	Leader
	Abofazl	Gilanipoor	Lieutenant
	Tosh	Van der Sande	Sprinter
	Dylan	Kennett	Domestique
	Marvain	Kossohorou	Domestique
	Gregory	Daniel	Domestique
	Jordan	Schleck	Domestique
	Nils Schomber	Domestique

Our first team goal of the season comes in the high slopes of the Andes, in the Vuelta a Colombia. It's "just" a top 10, but nevertheless it won't be easy. A pure climbing race is not exactly Velits' forte, but as he showed last month he can show a punch! Maybe we'd have rather switched the leaders between here and East Java, but we couldn't risk it, with this as maybe our only attainable goal!

Meanwhile Tosh will attempt to take the first stage, and then go into survival mode over the next two days (with some help) to use his generally decent climbing ability to take Stage 4 as well when other sprinters cannot.

At least, that's the plan.

	George	Bennett	Leader
	Luke	Rowe	Sprinter
	Tom	Davison	Domestique
	Hamish	Schreurs	Domestique
	Carl	Ngamoki-C	Domestique
	Joseph	Areruya	Domestique
	Callum	Scotson	Domestique
	Jamalidin	Novardianto	Free Role

A little bit of a home race for us, with Telkom Indonesia hoping for some nice representation. We had a good performance, with two in the Top 20 as a CT team, but not any real action. Hopefully with a better leader in Bennett who can push for a top 10 depending on the startlist, Luke Rowe making his sprint debut for our team, and hopefully Jams not getting stuck signing signatures before Stage 1 this year, we can improve on both counts.

Startlist

	Anthony	Roux	Leader
	Jaco	Venter	Lieutenant
	Mekseb	Debesay	Domestique
	Dylan	Kennett	Domestique
	Hamish	Schreurs	Domestique
	Jordan	Schleck	Domestique
	Joseph	Areruya	Free Role
	Jamalidin	Novardianto	Free Role

A tough race for us, a hilly classic with some of the world's best riders in attendance. Roux isn't way out of his depth but it's a step up from the CT! This is a beautiful race which many of our riders have always wanted to attend, so it will be a great experience, but we are here to score some points. Roux and Venter will be expected to, ideally, but we know even that won't be easy. Surely a breakaway attempt is a must here too

Startlist

	Stanislau	Bazhkou	Leader
	Anthony	Roux	Puncheur
	Tosh	Van der Sande	Sprinter
	Marvain	Kossohorou	Domestique
	Dylan	Kennett	Domestique
	Tom	Davison	Domestique
	Callum	Scotson	Domestique
	Jamalidin	Novardianto	Free Role

A funny little tour up next, with a prologue, a sprint stage with little hills, a hilly stage with slightly bigger hills, and an epilogue. We've brought three leaders here, and hopefully they can all give it a real shot - Stan in his season debut going for the GC if the hills are decisive-ish, or for a minor GC placing if it's just TT-affected. Roux will go for an attack on Stage 3 at least, and maybe Stage 2 over the speedbumps. and Tosh will be doing it the other way: sprinting on Stage 2, and maybe on Stage 3 if he can survive the hills and it's a bunch sprint.

Startlist

	Mekseb	Debesay	Co-Leader
	Luke	Rowe	Co-Leader
	Carl	Ngamoki-C	Domestique
	Gregory	Daniel	Domestique
	Jordan	Schleck	Domestique
	Nils	Schomber	Domestique
	Hamish	Schreurs	Free Role

Another flat cobbles race and a super tough one! But it actually sometimes ends in a smaller group sprint, perfect for Rowe! As usual a top 10 and a breakaway is the goal, and as usual for both that's easier said than done. Let's hope it's a little more Gent-Wevelgem than Viana do Castelo!

AbhishekLFC wrote:
Another great result for the team to help forget Viano This has been a much better month for sure! Hope you guys can keep it up.

Some high highs and low lows in February as our leaders got some outings and we started to acclimatise to the second division. Three victories has already surpassed expectations by a long way, but some poor days has denied us some potentially key points as well. However some spirited efforts and team cohesion mean it's a promising enough start to life in the survival battle.

Screenshot of the Month

Not a lot of stunning snaps of our riders, but a nice shot of our sexy kit in the sun takes it:

Velits shows off his NC kit and our TT bike in a key GC chrono - Credit to tsmoha

From a great stage win to a spirited GC effort to another stage podium, a solid GC ride and support for Velits, it's gotta be...

Waving hello to the PCT after taking yellow - Tour of the Middle East

redordead wrote:
Hopefully Velits's GC win is a sign of more things to come from him

We're still catching up on our backlog of monthly previews and race reports, but we'll also drop a July preview in here for you. No spoilers for previous races but the boys are buoyed by the standings and the recent performances and there is a sense of real fellowship among the squad now as they look to finish the season strongly, with a secure future in the PCT not far away now.

July is a quiet month which should see us slip down the rankings. It has our only foray into the CT as we return to the site of our only GC victory to date - unfortunately due to restrictions without said victor. We then have two HC races, one mountainous and one hilly stage race.

Startlist

	Stanislau	Bazhkou	Leader
	Jaco	Venter	Co-Leader
	Hernan Ricardo	Aguirre	Domestique
	Joseph	Kimathi	Domestique
	Tom	Davison	Domestique
	Callum	Scotson	Domestique
	Joseph	Areruya	Free Role

First off - a welcome to our stagiaires, Hernan Ricardo Aguirre and Joseph Kimathi, the former making his professional debut on his home continent, whilst the latter makes his first professional appearance for 2 years. We're here, on paper, to defend the yellow jersey won by Anthony Roux in heroic fashion last year, despite the MGUCI barring the Frenchman from competing. Instead we had to send him to South Africa - I bet he won't do anything there...

Stan the Man goes to tear the CT a new one if they don't make the hilly stages hell for him, as he's a premiere PCT hilly stage racer and so this could be a stomping ground, were in not for the fact the TT is so insignificant that, well, Roux could win this race. Jaco Venter gets his first (and probably last) leading role for us as he co-leads for if the medium mountain-ish stages are dominant. Meanwhile Joseph Areruya makes his debut at this level and will look for some breakaways.

We'll try to get adjusted to the new barbaric nature of the CT without Xero and Repsol, Ying and Yang, Chaos and Chaos, keeping things balanced. It'll be nice riding a CT stage race without them. Just kidding, Batman is nothing without the Joker

	Peter	Velits	Xero Best Rider
	George	Bennett	Xero Best Helper
	Abofazl	Gilanipoor	Leader Help Rider
	Joseph	Areruya	Leader Help Rider
	Gregory	Daniel	Leader Help Rider
	Callum	Scotson	Leader Help Rider
	Jordan	Schleck	Leader Help Rider
	Nils Schomber	Finish Mountain Classic

The imaginatively-named classic gets the Xero treatment with the world's most consistently inconsistent stage racer Velits, but if there's one thing he is consistent at (other than being inconsistent) it's sucking at mountainous classics - so far. He's backed by a couple of great climbers in Bennett and Gilanipoor and five youngsters who no doubt won't finish. Shhh, they think they're going to Disneyworld.

	Anthony	Roux	Leader
	Stanislau	Bazhkou	Domestique
	Jaco	Venter	Domestique
	Jordan	Schleck	Domestique
	Nils Schomber	Domestique
	Hamish	Schreurs	Free Role
	Carl	Ngamoki-Cameron	Free Role
	Joseph	Areruya	Free Role

We're not expecting much from an HC hilly race with no TTs (feels weird relying on TTs in hilly races after last year, but Stan is the Man). Roux will lead us and hopefully find a spark, whilst we'd love to see Stan or Jaco have a pop en route. Areruya makes it a triptyque in July and again has free reign to go for breakaways, as do the roleur duo of Schreurs and Ngamoki-Cameron - any excuse to see that Fijian jersey is a good one.