RAS TAILTEANN

Ireland | C1 | 3 stages | Flat | February 10 - 12



Edwin Avila
Damion Drapac
Tareq Esmaeli
Jay Major
Laureano Rosas
Nico Schinker
Bjorn Selander
Shaquille Sinclair

Official preview
Official reports: 1 | 2 | 3

A sprinters dream in Ireland, it's the Ras Tailteann. The route is not too tough for Drapac we think, only the third stage might be a bit too much for him. But we have faith he'll give it his absolute best.

On the first stage he was malpositioned and couldn't achieve more than 14th place. On the second stage he had a decent position until the late breakaway decide to impede him and the people around him resulting in Kraftwerk's leadout getting a head start of a mile. He improved his placing by one place: 13th.



We thought he couldn't battle at the front on the third stage but in the final few kilometers he was there, at the front, better than the previous stages. In a tight bunch sprint he finished fifth and picked up 10 bonus seconds (F1 style), which would elevate him to 13th in the GC. We're left wondering where he could've been had the first two stages gone a bit better.

(3/5)
Drapac can take a small hill after all.

VIANA DO CASTELO

Portugal | C1 | Classic | Cobble | February 14



Niels Albert
Kenny De Haes
Odd Christian Eiking
Andzs Flaksis
Bert-Jan Lindeman
Leandro Marcos
Clenne Morvan Moulingui
Ruben Zepuntke

Official preview
Official report

Viana do Castelo is an interesting race. A hilly race but with a cobble downhill sector. Hence we brought our cobblestone led by Zepuntke, who hasn't had the best of start but maybe a different type of profile can awake him from his winter sleep.

Last year the race was won from the breakaway, but this year that was not the case. We made sure of that. Moulingui, De Haes, Lindeman and Flaksis did nearly all the work at the front of the peleton and caught the break well before the end. Then Marcos gave it a pull and the group was just reduced to a bunch of favourites, including Albert and Zepuntke. Now it was up to them to finish the job.



Baugnies attacked, like he did in Gent - Wevelgem, but this team it was more successful as he managed to stay ahead until the end. A group of four riders went to chase, including Zepuntke. Out of their sprint he finished last, ergo fifth in the stage. A good result, but maybe we wanted a bit more given the work we've done. Also a shoutout to Albert, Marcos, Lindeman and De Haes for finishing in the points as well.

(4/5)
Our full cobble squad worked hard today.

VOLTA A CATALUNYA

Spain | C1 | 6 stages | Mountain / Time trial | February 18 - 23



Chris Barton
Chad Haga
Reinhardt Janse van Rensburg
Farzad Khodayari
Carlos Alexandre Manarelli
Yasmani Martinez
Cayetano Sarmiento
Rigoberto Úran

Official preview
Official reports: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Next on the calendar is a mix of everything except cobbles: Volta a Catalunya. It is in Spain but I don't think the Catalan population will be to happy I just said that. Anyway, Úran is a two-time winner here and if he wins again he becomes all time record holder. He goes into the race as one of the big favourites.

The prologue gained him a few seconds on his competitors and after his second place on the second stage, he was already second in the GC behind Denfil. But it was Haga who surprised most of us by placing fourth in the prologue, and impressed even more with a third place on the longer time trial on stage five.



And then everything went wrong. Úran lost loads of time on the hilly stage. Manarelli was well placed 500 meters before the finish line in the only flat stage but somehow disappeared and finished somewhere far behind. Úran and Janse van Rensburg rode underwhelming time trials and as cherry on the cake, Úran lost more time on the final stage after going all-in. To illustrate how unlucky we were: Úran's thirteenth place on the final stage gave him three points for the points classification, which means he was now tied with Haga for sixth. Under normal circumstances sixth place gives two points for the rankings and seventh one, but because they are tied those points are added up and divided by two, which in this case is 1.5, and then rounded down to one each. That means we now only score two points whereas we would've scored three if Úran finished a place lower. This race was tota horseshit.

(1/5)
Viva la España!!!

HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL

Hong Kong | C2 | 3 stages | Mountain / Time trial | February 25 - 27



Chris Barton
Odd Christian Eiking
Tareq Esmaeli
Chad Haga
Farzad Khodayari
Clenne Morvan Moulingui
Laureano Rosas
Cayetano Sarmiento

Official preview
Official reports: 1 | 2 | 3

Our final mandatory C2 trip of the season takes us to Hong Kong (China, before they get mad). A hilly stage, a time trial and a mountain stage, sounds like a great race for our elite stage racer but unfortunately there are some restrictions barring him from participation. But the route suits Haga as well although there will be better riders in CT.

Moulingui appeared in the breakaway on the first stage, and took some points for the mountains classification which would be good enough for fourth at the end of the race. Most importantly Haga didn't lose time to direct rivals, and after a strong time trial in which he finished ninth, he was fourth in the GC. Rosas finished tenth just a few milliseconds off, while Barton finished 12th.



On the final mountain stages Haga did his absolute best and finished three minutes down on the stage winner. He did drop a bit down the rankings to eight, but that's still a great result for him given there are some strong climbers and stage racers in CT. Khodayari and Sarmiento finished right behind him, which was very important because this combined result and the great time trials meant we won the teams classification! Our first win of the something though it's not as amazing as a stage win or overall win.

(4/5)
Even with restrictions we can have a great C2 race.

MARCH PREVIEW

KBC De Panne Tour

Belgium | C1 | 4 stages | Cobbles / Time trial | March 2 - 5



Niels Albert
Kenny De Haes
Andzs Flaksis
Reinhardt Janse van Rensburg
Bert-Jan Lindeman
Leandro Marcos
Clenne Morvan Moulingui
Ruben Zepuntke

Le Samyn

Belgium | C1 | Classic | Cobble | March 10



Niels Albert
Kenny De Haes
Odd Christian Eiking
Andzs Flaksis
Bert-Jan Lindeman
Leandro Marcos
Clenne Morvan Moulingui
Ruben Zepuntke

Vuelta a Colombia

Colombia | HC | 6 stages | Mountain | March 11 - 16



Edwin Avila
Chris Barton
Chad Haga
Carlos Alexandre Manarelli
Yasmani Martinez
Laureano Rosas
Cayetano Sarmiento
Rigoberto Úran

Tour of East Java

Indonesia | C1 | 2 stages | Flat / Mountain | March 14 - 15



Damion Drapac
Odd Christian Eiking
Tareq Esmaeli
Reinhardt Janse van Rensburg
Farzad Khodayari
Jay Major
Clenne Morvan Moulingui
Nico Schinker

Strade Bianche

Italy | PTHC | Classic | Hill | March 20



Niels Albert
Odd Christian Eiking
Farzad Khodayari
Leandro Marcos
Clenne Morvan Moulingui
Xavier Quevedo
Bjorn Selander
Ruben Zepuntke

Tour of Southland

New Zealand | C1 | 5 stages | Flat / Time trial | March 24 - 28



Edwin Avila
Damion Drapac
Reinhardt Janse van Rensburg
Bert-Jan Lindeman
Jay Major
Laureano Rosas
Nico Schinker
Shaquille Sinclair

GP Herning

Denmark | HC | Classic | Cobble | March 31



Niels Albert
Kenny De Haes
Odd Christian Eiking
Andzs Flaksis
Bert-Jan Lindeman
Leandro Marcos
Clenne Morvan Moulingui
Ruben Zepuntke

KBC DE PANNE TOUR

Belgium | C1 | 4 stages | Cobbles / Time trial | March 2 - 5



Niels Albert
Kenny De Haes
Andzs Flaksis
Reinhardt Janse van Rensburg
Bert-Jan Lindeman
Leandro Marcos
Clenne Morvan Moulingui
Ruben Zepuntke

Official preview
Official reports: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

March starts with KBC De Panne Tour. Étoile de Besseges is still going on for some reason while it was supposed to be finished in February, but we'll wait ever so patiently. This race consists of two cobble stages, a flat stage and a short time trial. This means we select the seven cobblestone specialists with Zepuntke as leader and Janse van Rensburg for the TT. Unfortunately no one to sprint but a breakaway is likely to take the win.

The first stage also featured a breakaway, which included Flaksis. Surprisingly the breakaway won the stage, with Owen from Podium Ambition taking the honors. Flaksis finished second at 25 seconds and a good 1'30 over the peloton, which included Zepuntke. He was on the attack but at the last minute he and Thomas were caught by a chasing group.



The next stage went to a breakaway but Albert gained some seconds with a late attack. He moved to third in the GC, with Flaksis now in fourth. Stage three didn't go the breakaway as we suggested, and with no sprinter there was no notable result. Janse van Rensburg finished ninth in the TT, but more importantly Albert and Flaksis both maintained their position despite their bad time trial abilites. Marcos, Zepuntke and Lindeman finished between 15th and 20th, and we also took away the teams classification.

(5/5)
An amazing race brought by our strong cobble squad.

LE SAMYN

Belgium | C1 | Classic | Cobble | March 10



Niels Albert
Kenny De Haes
Odd Christian Eiking
Andzs Flaksis
Bert-Jan Lindeman
Leandro Marcos
Clenne Morvan Moulingui
Ruben Zepuntke

Official preview
Official result

A new race on the calendar, but the recipe is familiar. The team comes off a strong KBC De Panne Tour and is looking to continue. Zepuntke was outperformed there and is out for revenge.

Entering the final lap, a few riders attacked and Zepuntke followed suit. Albert later rejoined the group. Then the pace increased and both guys struggled, being dropped from the lead group.



They were totally out of stamina and finished outside the top twenty. From being with the top ten in the final ten kilometers. I'll call tiredness from De Panne, and we're giving the squad a good rest now.

(1/5)
The complete opposite of De Panne.

TOUR OF EAST JAVA

Indonesia | C1 | 2 stages | Flat / Mountain | March 14 - 15



Damion Drapac
Odd Christian Eiking
Tareq Esmaeli
Reinhardt Janse van Rensburg
Farzad Khodayari
Jay Major
Clenne Morvan Moulingui
Nico Schinker

Official preview
Official reports: 1 | 2

A flat stage and a mountain stage for this two-day trip. Drapac hopes to capitalise on a weaker sprinters field, whereas Khodayari gets a once in a lifetime opportunity to lead, since the other climbers are down in Colombia.

It turned out to be a good gamble to take Drapac here. Most PCT sprinters chose to skip this race and he was likely to at least finish in the top ten. Coming out of Castaneda's wheel, he had a strong final punch which saw him finish third in a photo finish. A few more meters and maybe he would've won, but we can certainly live with third.



On the mountain stage, the riders felt it was more important to help Drapac finish the stage so we could claim extra ranking points for the points classification. Khodayari sacrificed his own GC, which shows the amount of friendship within the team. The plan succeeded, Drapac finished well inside the time limit.

(3/5)
Solely down to Drapac.

VUELTA A COLOMBIA

Colombia | HC | 6 stages | Mountain | March 11 - 16



Edwin Avila
Chris Barton
Chad Haga
Carlos Alexandre Manarelli
Yasmani Martinez
Laureano Rosas
Cayetano Sarmiento
Rigoberto Úran

Official preview
Official reports: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

If you remember back to last year, Úran came across the man with the hamer on the final stage, with Pantano needing to rescue him. The latter is gone, and an extra stage has been added at the end to prevent a repeat. Otherwise the profile looks similar, and we hope Úran has learned from last year's mistakes.

On the first mountai stage he finished a decent fourth, but already lost over two minutes to Pluchkin, who would prove to be unbeatable this race. Martinez has a role as protector, like Pantano last year, but already lost over 20 minutes this stage. On the third stage he went onto the attack and finished a decent twelfth, moving him back up in the GC. Úran didn't have the best of days but managed to limit his losses with Martinez's help, now being fifth in the GC at three minutes from Pluchkin.



On stage five, both Sarmiento and Martinez went ahead to be able to help the leader in the latter stages. Up the final mountain, Úran attacked and while he was countered by the likes of Pluchkin and Denifl, he was now onto the podium after this stage. He had to defend a little over a minute to Duarte on the final stage, and did so in style, finishing second and outsprinting the other Colombian, while Pluchkin proved once more to be a class above the rest. Pluchkin wins the Vuelta a Colombia, Denifl second at 5 minutes, Úran third at 7 minutes.

(4/5)
Pluchkin and Denifl to a lesser extent are just too strong, but beating the rest is a good result.

TOUR OF SOUTHLAND

New Zealand | C1 | 5 stages | Flat / Time trial | March 24 - 28



Edwin Avila
Damion Drapac
Reinhardt Janse van Rensburg
Bert-Jan Lindeman
Jay Major
Laureano Rosas
Nico Schinker
Shaquille Sinclair

Official preview
Official reports: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Tour of Southland, that name sounds familiar, right? It was the scene of our first ever GC victory with Martinez taking the honors in our promoting season. After a year's absence the race has returned at a higher level, but also with a route change with the defining mountain stage cut. Now it's a race which consists of two time trials and three sprints. Janse van Rensburg for the formed, Drapac for the later.

At the opening prologue, the South African finished an anonymous 14th at 13 seconds from Coppel. In the other, longer time trial he finished 15th at 1'42 off Coppel. This gave him 11th place in the GC, with Reus in 12th with the same time. Due to a misunderstanding in the rules from our part, Reus finished ahead of him on the final stage and therefore took 11th off him. Rosas finished 28th. Major finished sixth in the KoM classification thanks to his breakaway appearance on stage two.



Drapac did not fare well on the second stage, where he was caught in the wind and did not have the energy remaining to sprint. Things went better on the next stage, where he found himself at the front in a highly contested sprint. He finished fourth, but could've easily won. It was that close. He proved it wasn't a one time thing by finishing fifth on the final stage.

(3/5)
Not bad, but not exceptional either.

GP HERNING

Denmark | HC | Classic | Cobble | March 31



Niels Albert
Kenny De Haes
Odd Christian Eiking
Andzs Flaksis
Bert-Jan Lindeman
Leandro Marcos
Clenne Morvan Moulingui
Ruben Zepuntke

Official preview
Official result

The cobblestone party ain't quite over yet. Now it's time for GP Herning, a tough race with very few finishers each year. With our strong squad we expect at least seven to finish, and hopefully Zepuntke can grap a decent amount of points.

Moulingui appeared in the breakaway. Unfortunately a Omloop het Nieuwsblad scenario was not in the stars today and his group was caught well before the final.



In the final lap Zepuntke attacked with Blythe and Maes. For a while it looked like a certain podium but the cooperation didn't work out and the trio was caught. In the final sprint he finished a decent sixth, with Lindeman and Albert also taking away a top 25 result.

(3/5)
A stellar cobblestone performance once again.

APRIL PREVIEW

Nakhon Ratchasima Trophy

Thailand | C1 | Classic | Flat | April 1



Niels Albert
Edwin Avila
Damion Drapac
Tareq Esmaeli
Jay Major
Nico Schinker
Bjorn Selander
Shaquille Sinclair

Tour of Vancouver

Canada | HC | 7 stages | Mountain / Team time trial | April 1 - 7



Chris Barton
Chad Haga
Reinhardt Janse van Rensburg
Farzad Khodayari
Yasmani Martinez
Laureano Rosas
Cayetano Sarmiento
Rigoberto Úran

Tour of Ukraine

Ukraine | HC | 3 stages | Hill / Time trial | April 13 - 15



Chris Barton
Odd Christian Eiking
Chad Haga
Reinhardt Janse van Rensburg
Farzad Khodayari
Yasmani Martinez
Xavier Quevedo
Bjorn Selander

Tour of Cyprus

Cyprus | C1 | 4 stages | Cobble / Mountain | April 20 - 23



Niels Albert
Kenny De Haes
Andzs Flaksis
Bert-Jan Lindeman
Leandro Marcos
Clenne Morvan Moulingui
Cayetano Sarmiento
Ruben Zepuntke

Lisbon Classic

Portugal | PTHC | Classic | Flat | April 26



Edwin Avila
Damion Drapac
Odd Christian Eiking
Bert-Jan Lindeman
Jay Major
Xavier Quevedo
Nico Schinker
Shaquille Sinclair

Corsica International

France | C1 | 3 stages | Mountain / Time trial | April 28 - 30



Chris Barton
Chad Haga
Reinhardt Janse van Rensburg
Farzad Khodayari
Carlos Alexandre Manarelli
Yasmani Martinez
Cayetano Sarmiento
Rigoberto Úran

Veenendaal - Veenendaal

Netherlands | HC | Classic | Flat | April 29



Edwin Avila
Kenny De Haes
Damion Drapac
Bert-Jan Lindeman
Jay Major
Laureano Rosas
Nico Schinker
Shaquille Sinclair

NAKHON RATCHASIMA TROPHY

Thailand | C1 | Classic | Flat | April 1



Niels Albert
Edwin Avila
Damion Drapac
Tareq Esmaeli
Jay Major
Nico Schinker
Bjorn Selander
Shaquille Sinclair

Official preview
Official result

This race with the unpronouncable name again. But we'd love to be back here because last year... Drapac won the race out of nowhere! Of course he's back and looking to defend his title.

To freshen your memory: here's last year's finish line photo.



And here's this year's finish photo. Drapac on the left of the picture, well behind the leading group. After a first place last year it's a eleventh place this time around. Not bad, but we were hoping for better.

(2/5)
Last year's win was an overperformance.

TOUR OF VANCOUVER

Canada | HC | 7 stages | Mountain / Team time trial | April 1 - 7



Chris Barton
Chad Haga
Reinhardt Janse van Rensburg
Farzad Khodayari
Yasmani Martinez
Laureano Rosas
Cayetano Sarmiento
Rigoberto Úran

Official preview
Official reports: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Three flat stages, two mountain stages, a mountain time trial and a team time trial. That's how the Tour of Vancouver is defined. Last year we took the trip to Canada too, with the final two stages in total disaster. The closing TTT was so shocking that our main priority in the transfer season was to sign some specialist to avoid another humiliation in this discipline. Úran is one of the favourites but a certain mister P participates as well.

The strengths were made clear on the opening mountain climb. Úran posted the second best time but still nine seconds behind Pluchkin. During the fourth stage, a summit finish at Cypress, Martinez proved to be a great aid by pulling the race leader back twice. Then Úran attacked and oblitherated the opposition, taking the stage win and the GC lead!



On the other mountain stage his legs were worse than Pluchkin who won the stage and retook the lead. Keizer also overtook him and and was now in second by thirteen seconds with only the team time trial to go. Project Vancouver became a success, we did not fail miserably. Instead, we finished in second place behind Generali, just nine seconds slower. Unfortunately we only beat Keizer's team by twelve seconds, meaning Úran came short one second for the silver medal. Still, he's on the GC podium, won a stage, has decent placements in the minor classifications and we won the teams classification! Great race although there was potential to do even better.

(4/5)
We have our first stage win of the season in the pocket!

STRADE BIANCHE

Italy | PTHC | Classic | Hill | March 20



Niels Albert
Odd Christian Eiking
Farzad Khodayari
Leandro Marcos
Clenne Morvan Moulingui
Xavier Quevedo
Bjorn Selander
Ruben Zepuntke

Official preview
Official result

The gravel roads in Italy welcome you to this year's running of Strade Bianche. We send a mixture of our cobble and hills squad to this PTHC classic, but the latter category should be the leading force. Hence Quevedo leads the team.

Before we continue to the actual report, this race was supposed to be raced in March but the night before the race a few cycling-haters thought it would be funny to asphalt certain key gravel parts. The organisation postponed the race by a month to undo this devilish act, which is why the race took part in April.

Zepuntke tried to get into the break but failed. Ponzi won, with Quevedo finished 2 minutes and 49 seconds behind in 35th, ironically outsprinting rattlesnake Betancourt. Khodayari came home in 43rd to pick up some points as well.

(1/5)
Take that traitor!

TOUR OF UKRAINE

Ukraine | HC | 3 stages | Hill / Time trial | April 13 - 15



Chris Barton
Odd Christian Eiking
Chad Haga
Reinhardt Janse van Rensburg
Farzad Khodayari
Yasmani Martinez
Xavier Quevedo
Bjorn Selander

Official preview
Official reports: 1 | 2 | 3

A stage race with more individual time trials than road stages. The uniqueness of the Tour of Ukraine means we have two horses to bet on: Janse van Rensburg for the two races against the clock and Quevedo for the puncheurs stage in between. Haga could be an outsider who's decent at both specialities.

The opening prologue featured an uphill finish. Both Janse van Rensburg (pictured) and Haga finished in the same time, eleven secods behind winner Coppel, for sixth and seventh place. The South African beat the American by a yoctosecond. Khodayari went into the breakaway on stage two with the goal to take the KoM jersey. Unfortunately some others were better and he wasn't good enough for a top ten classification. Quevedo attacked in the final sections and finished twelfth, albeit four minutes down on winner McCarthy.



On the deciding final time trial, Haga and Janse van Rensburg performed a bit worse than on the prologue. Neither could finish in the top twenty, and lost over two minutes to Coppel. For the GC this meant the former finished 15th and the latter 50th. Martinez rode a good final time trial and bettered his GC position to 18th. For Quevedo, who is not a time trial specialist and was overtaken by Koren on his run, the end result was a 20th place.

(3/5)
Some decent finishes in the general classification.

TOUR OF CYPRUS

Cyprus | C1 | 4 stages | Cobble / Mountain | April 20 - 23



Niels Albert
Kenny De Haes
Andzs Flaksis
Bert-Jan Lindeman
Leandro Marcos
Clenne Morvan Moulingui
Cayetano Sarmiento
Ruben Zepuntke

Official preview
Official reports: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Flat, cobble, mountain, hill. That's right about every possible terrain mixed together in one cycling race. Looking at our squad we come here with only one stage in mind though: the second one over the rougher terrain. We bring our full cobble squad in order to cause chaos and put the climbers at great distance. Sarmiento completes the team for a surprise attack.

Let's cut straight to stage two. We had two riders in the breakaway: Albert and Lindeman. They went for the mountain sprints with the former in the lead after the stage. The peloton let the break battle it out for the stage win, where Lindeman won the sprint to take our second stage win of the season! In the proces he also takes the GC and points lead, and our combined performance brings us the lead in the teams classification. Zepuntke finished amongst the other cobblestone stars and a few GC folks who did not fail.



Of course the high GC placements weren't going to stand after the mountain and hilly stage. We did not have a real horse to bet on since Sarmiento ran out of time after being dropped at the first cobble sector. Albert went into the break again on the final stage for some KoM points and left the race in eight place. Lindeman's lead in the points classification remained after the mountain stage but all-rounder Debesay overtook him on the final stage. Yet he remained in second place and brought in some more valuable points.

(4/5)
We got what we came for.