Marquez joins us from T-Mobile, as a part of the deal which took Sergio Henao in the opposite direction. He will play the role of the premier climber in our squad, and we will be looking forward to taking advantage of his attacking mentality. As the sole marquee signing for this discipline, and the high number of race days in this terrain, he will have a lot of responsibility to bring in the points.

OVL	FLA	MON	HIL	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SPR	ACC	FTR	DHI	PRL
77.59	68	80	71	70	70	78	77	51	61	80	75	64	70

We got him For a year The Swiss talent which excited everyone, will ride in our colours for the coming season. We tied up with our friends at Centovalli - Fiat once again to take the dynamic rider on loan on a wage sharing basis.

OVL	FLA	MON	HIL	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SPR	ACC	FTR	DHI	PRL
73.16	72	65	73	66	75	71	68	55	73	75	76	69	70

Yet another loan-in. Yet another association with Centoavalli - Fiat! We found a good ally for the season in our Swiss-Italian friends which allowed us to help each other out with various loan deals (updates of loan-outs will be shared later). Thomas Boudat will add more firepower to our flat and sprint squad in support of Saber.

OVL	FLA	MON	HIL	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SPR	ACC	FTR	DHI	PRL
71.01	69	51	67	61	69	70	69	58	74	74	62	65	74

The Belgian cobble-sprint rider will spend the season at Generali in the PT to complete his development. We're excited to have him back at full development.

OVL	FLA	MON	HIL	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SPR	ACC	FTR	DHI	PRL
73.57	73	60	66	66	73	73	69	75	74	73	68	65	68
Classics	74	60	67	66	74	74	70	77	74	73	69	65	68
Cobbles	74	60	66	66	75	74	70	77	75	73	68	65	68
Sprinter	75	60	66	66	74	73	70	76	76	75	68	65	68

Hofstede has been with our squad since joining as a Stagiare in our first season back in 2017. He joins Delvaux on loan to continue his development.

OVL	FLA	MON	HIL	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SPR	ACC	FTR	DHI	PRL
70.22	68	66	71	61	70	69	69	61	60	70	74	70	61
2020	68	69	73	62	71	70	71	61	60	72	77	71	62

One half of our Dutch climbing future is on his way to Centovalli - Fiat in the CT this season, to gain experience and come back a stronger rider.

OVL	FLA	MON	HIL	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SPR	ACC	FTR	DHI	PRL
69.26	69	69	67	64	70	72	73	65	64	68	66	66	70
2020	69	73	70	64	71	74	76	65	64	71	69	66	70

redordead wrote:
Eenkhoorn and Inkelaar!!

Somehow it seems you've improved the present and future of the team in the same transfer season

The incomings continue as we start wrapping up our transfer dealings for this year. We are please to announce three more riders who'll be riding in our colours for the coming season.

Havik is a rider who has been our radar since we started as a team in 2017, and finally joins us from Free Agency after a strenuous bidding war which lasted almost the entire duration of the transfer window! He will be an extremely useful rider in both sprints and cobbles, playing second fiddle to Saber in most races, but will surely get some leadership opportunities of his own.

OVL	FLA	MON	HIL	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SPR	ACC	FTR	DHI	PRL
75.09	73	56	64	56	74	68	75	75	79	76	60	64	66

Le Gac joins us a part of the deal that took Rui Costa to Euskaltel - Elior. He will be a domestique to Kelderman in the hills, joining up with Palini to fulfill a very important position in the team.

OVL	FLA	MON	HIL	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SPR	ACC	FTR	DHI	PRL
74.72	70	69	77	60	73	74	71	52	64	69	74	73	60

Our association with Slovenian cycling and Isostar (now co-sponsored by LimeBike) continues with the incoming of Korosec as a punchy sprinter. If he is anywhere near as exciting as our previous talent import from our Slovenian friends, a certain David Per, we'll have made a great signing.

OVL	FLA	MON	HIL	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SPR	ACC	FTR	DHI	PRL
73.17	70	67	73	68	72	70	66	62	74	76	69	69	71
2020	71	68	75	68	74	71	67	62	75	78	70	69	71

Our last transfer update of the season. Two riders joining us and one more leaving to wrap up our transfer dealings.

Our last full signing is the Austrian puncher Grossschartner, who joins us in a rider plus cash swap. He adds to the firepower in the Kelderman hills train and is still to reach his full potential. Given our calendar however, it is unlikely he will reach his maximum potential this season. We don't mind stretching out his development as we believe he will be an important part of our team presently and in the future.

OVL	FLA	MON	HIL	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SPR	ACC	FTR	DHI	PRL
73.48	67	72	75	67	72	72	71	50	62	70	69	68	69

We made our last signing of the season in the closing minutes of the transfer window. Paret-Peintre joins the team as a Stagiare and will start riding with us regularly from the month of August. He will also ride any C2 races we choose to go before that time.

OVL	FLA	MON	HIL	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SPR	ACC	FTR	DHI	PRL
69.15	64	69	68	66	70	67	70	58	67	67	62	66	64
Climber v1	64	76	72	66	71	71	75	58	67	72	69	67	64
Stage Races	65	76	71	71	75	72	77	58	67	68	62	66	69
Puncher	65	72	75	66	75	70	73	58	68	72	66	67	64

Our final and sixth departure of the season, and incidentally, the only rider to be sold from among those who joined us in CT in 2017 and was renewed both years. Costa has been a very useful rider for us in the two seasons he was a part of our squad. We wish him well as he moves up to the PT to join our friends at SPAR – Shimano SCG, in the deal which allowed Grossschartner to move in the opposite direction.

It's time to announce our team for the 2019 season. We entered the transfer window with the aim of an overhaul after the disappointing outcome last season. We were mostly able to achieve our target of signing younger leaders, while also improving our depth in the hills and sprints.

Marquez will be the leader of our climbing squad. He is an attacking rider by nature and we are counting on the same, not having strengthened his backup too much. Bardet rejoins us as a luxury domestique, but is also expected to get some leadership opportunities. Poels and youngster Inkelaar will perform a lot of the leg-work. Grossschartner, while primarily a puncher, is also expected to help out the climbing team in certain races.

Star signing Kelderman leads our hills setup, with Palini and Le Gac likely to shadow him all through the season. Palini is likely to get a couple of leadership opportunities. Grossschartner will also serve primarily as a domestique to Kelderman. Korosec and Lienhard are expected to help out in this department, as and when required.

Saber was a revelation in the PCT last season and will continue as the leader of our sprint squad. We have been able to bolster his leadout with Havik and Wippert joining Te Brake. All three of the latter could get opportunities to ride stage races as the lead sprinter depending on how our calendar pans out. All-rounders Lienhard and Korosec are expected to help out on the flats. Youngsters Boudat, Gibbons and Bokeloh will also be used in flat races as lieutenants to Saber and the others.

Saber and a trained Havik will share leadership on the cobbles in the coming season. With Saber also expected to lead in the pure sprint races, we believe the cobbles training for Havik gives us some options to use the latter as a leader in cobbled races. Bovenhuis and Allegaert will be their dedicated domestique on this terrain. The former will also be sent to stage races as a KOM and stage hunter.

A department we have not been able to strengthen this off-season. Ligthart joins up with Van Zandbeek as our only pure TT riders. Wout Poels is the other rider who is capable of riding decently against the clock. For stage races, given the current set up, neither Kelderman nor Marquez should be dropped from the TTT line-up.

We are happy with how we were able to turn around our squad from last season, taking part in the most number of deals and trades in a single transfer window in the history of our squad! We are not entirely happy with how our climbing department turned out, having planned our bands for completely different kinds of riders. We also hoped to have a better leader for the cobbles. But that's how the transfer window plays out! What we have achieved is to get in younger leaders and co-leaders and build a strong base for the future.

We were also often naive in waiting for unrealistic deals, while the easier and sometimes more obvious deals slipped out from under our noses. This is a learning we need to carry forward going ahead.

Finally, do we really believe that we will be able to challenge for promotion this season? Well the honest answer at the moment is No. We do however believe that we should do better than the 18th place finish we achieved last year, and currently that is our first goal.

The team management will admit that we've never been a team focused on nurturing riders for the future. Our talent signings previously have mostly been cases of necessity rather than intention. In our first two transfer windows we signed four stagiares and just one targeted talent! However, we decided to push beyond that policy this time. We were able to take our chances and bring in high potential unmaxed riders and talents, most of whom are expected to remain a part of our team in the future. The following is a look at how they look currently and how they potentially could end up looking like.

Hofstede and Allegaert joined the team in 2017 as Stagiares. Minali and Bokeloh were also Stagiares last season. Hofstede will spend the current season on loan at Delvaux while Minali will be at Centovalli-Fiat in 2019.

The rest have been signed this season, and we're quite satisfied with the bunch of talent and unmaxed riders that we managed to bring in. Among them, Van Lerberghe will be spending tis season with the big boys of the PT, and help Generali in their debut season in the division. Eenkhoorn followed Minali to be loaned out to Centovalli-Fiat.

While we do not boast to have the best talents in the world, but we do have a well-rounded set of riders who should cover all kinds of races, besides time-trailing. All talents quoted here are expected to reach full maturity in three years' time at the most. We have to once again emphasize our delight at bringing in the future of Dutch climbing in Inkellar and Eenkhoorn, both of whom should continue in our colours for a long time to come.

The team management would like to present our goals for the coming season. It has now become customary that we choose to target GC goals in four races and a final rankings goal. We have gone for more ambitious goals this time around, and are quite realistic about our chances. But we can't stop dreaming, can we?

From the onset, we entered the transfer window with the goal of signing a top puncheur. This win goal was a result of the same. It helps, that we have been able to bring that said top puncher, and hope to do well in this race.

Another race planned to best utilize a puncher. We had taken a weakened team to this race last season, and it turned into one of the worst races of our season. To compensate, we've made this one of our most important this time around. The PT competition will off course make it very difficult for us to achieve this goal, but we'll definitely give it a go.

We had a top 10 goal in this race last season, but failed to make a mark. We were planning to specifically bring in a climber to tackle this race but failed to do so in transfers. We also set this goal, keeping that intention in mind. As such, this race now looks to be more a case of a salvage job.

This goal was specifically set keeping Saber in mind. He has finished and 2nd and 6th in this race in the last two seasons, and we hope he keeps his run going. We have assembled a stronger cobbles support team this time, and will provide him with all the support he would need to achieve the same.

Having set a goal of finishing in the Top 10 last season, we ended up finishing a long way off. We have been even more ambitious this time around. We have gone back in some ways to our philosophy which worked well in the CT, that of building a team capable of competing in all terrains. Our first target is to improve on last season, and then to perform as well as we can. We are realistic about the fact that the team we've assembled is perhaps not ready to challenge for promotion this season, but an improvement to last season will give the confidence of going all out next season for a promotion push.

Here is our calendar for the coming season. We have been granted access to all our first choice races.

Start	End	Race	Category
10-Jan		Down Under Classic	HC
31-Jan		Clasique Pico Basile	C1
5-Feb	8-Feb	Tour of the Middle East	HC
8-Feb	12-Feb	Tour of Slovenie	HC
10-Feb	12-Feb	Ras Tailteann	C1
26-Feb	30-Feb	Tour of Southland	C1
28-Feb		Pro Hallstatt Classic	PTHC
3-Mar		Roma Maxima	C1
7-Mar	12-Mar	Vuelta al Pais Vasco	PTHC
11-Mar	16-Mar	Vuelta a Colombia	HC
20-Mar		Strade Bianche	PTHC
26-Mar	30-Mar	Tour of Uppsala	C1
28-Mar		E3 Prijs	PTHC
30-Mar		Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne	HC
1-Apr	7-Apr	Tour of California	HC
13-Apr	15-Apr	Tour of Ukraine	HC
27-Apr		GP Wallonie	C1
29-Apr		Lisbon Classic	HC
1-May	5-May	Cheshire Cycling Tour	HC
12-May	14-May	Scandinavia Open Road Race	PTHC
16-May		Berlin ProRace	HC
19-May	23-May	Tour d'Andorra	C1
23-May	28-May	Olympia's Tour	C1
25-May		Frankfurt Eschborn	C1
8-Jun		Riga - Jurmala GP	PTHC
10-Jun	14-Jun	Post Danmark Rundt	HC
18-Jun	23-Jun	Tour of South Africa	C1
26-Jun		Hanko Classic	C1
17-Jul		Sakartvelo Trophy	C2
20-Jul		Kenya Mountain Classic	HC
26-Jul	29-Jul	Tour of Beijing	HC
27-Jul	30-Jul	USA Pro Cycling Challenge	C2
7-Aug		Clasica San Sebastien	HC
11-Aug	21-Aug	Volta a Portugal	PTHC
17-Aug	21-Aug	Baltic Chain Tour	C1
1-Sep		Paris Tours	PTHC
2-Sep	22-Sep	Tour of America	C1
4-Sep	11-Sep	Balkans International	PTHC
27-Sep		Rheden GP	PTHC
29-Sep		Milano - Torino	C1
3-Oct		Giro dell'Emilia	HC
3-Oct		GP Lugano	HC
12-Oct	15-Oct	SAA Tour d'Afrique	HC
18-Oct		Japan Cup	HC

*Races in bold are goal races.

Last year, we had made the mistake of not checking clashes before selecting which resulted in us attending three triple clashes. We made 100% sure that it wasn't repeated and so we have no triple clashes this time!

Our goal races, marked in bold are all towards the end of the season. Months July to September will hence play a very important role in both how this season pans out as well what kind of an impetus we can expect at the start of next season.

We have not applied for any wildcards this time around, because let's face it, why bother turning up where no points are scored, right? That's our team philosophy and while we had made an exception for the Giro last season, we've gone back to the former this time around. We did not need any XP from those wildcards either.

Our season starts at the Down Under Classic and we have a quiet January after that with one just more classic at the end of the month. The pace picks up after that with busy months in February and March. The latter is our busiest month of the season. The pace slows down on an average after that, with a peak in May, before peaking once again in September. A noticeable change to last season is our entry into the Tour of America, our first ever non-wildcard Grand Tour sojourn. We're quite nervous with how it'll turn out but we're also quite excited in a way.

We've been careful not to repeat last year's blunders in race selection, perhaps little too much in a couple of case, but we're hoping to make the best our resources for the calendar we've picked. Looking forward to our globetrotting advantures to begin soon enough.

This is the part of the job that we had somewhat messed up last season. Planning will once again play an important role in how our season turns out. Our task was made easy in one terrain by signing Kelderman. However, we expect the other terrains to be as unpredictable, if not more, than last year!

The following is how we've planned our primary and secondary leaders for the coming season.

Our planning for this season was two pronged, maximize the output for Kelderman, and find the best places to send our other leaders so to avoid the competition as much as possible.

Our two objectives for Kelderman for the season are the two hilly goal races that we've picked. the Tour of Beijing and the Balkans International, and the hilly classics that were available to race in our bands and in C1. We overdid it a bit by selecting GP Wallonie, which is the only hilly race in our calendar where Kelderman does not lead. Palini and Le Gac will share leadership duties in that race. Strade Bianche, San Sebastien, Milano-Torino, Giro del''Emilia and Japan Cup, all will have Kelderman leading the line for us.

We had to split up Saber's schedule between flat and cobbled races, much like last season. He starts all cobbled races that we ride in except E3 Prijs, where we felt it wasn't worth it to take him along, given the strength of the field that is expected to turn up. Havik will lead in that race. He starts us off in the Down Under Classic and participates in all flat classics on our calendar. He also participates in a few flat stage races like Ras Tailteann, Baltic Chain Tour and SAA Tour d'Afrique. He also rides the Tour of Southland, in the hope of the race not becoming too selective in the hills.

It was a difficult task planning for Marquez. With Henao having similar skills last season, and not really living up to potential, we were careful not expose him to too many hilly stages. However with the lack of climbing options in C1 not involving Time Trials, we had to take him to races like Tour of the Middle East, Pro Halstatt Classic and Giro dell'Emilia, which typically do not suit him. The races which do suit him are Clasique Pico Basile, Vuelta a Colombia, Tour d'Andorra and the Kenya Mountain Classic. He will also lead the team in the Tour of America, where we are headed for the first time. Just eight races for Marquez, so he'll need to be at his best in races which suit him to be able to repay our investment in him.

Our sprinters have been split up for all the stage races we travel to and have flat stages. For the flat classics, either 2 or 3 leadouts will accompany Saber to all his races.

Bardet will lead the team in two long stage races, the Tour of California and the Volta a Portugal, and is the designated Mo/Hi leader in the team, despite being far from competitive in that category. We hope to see some of the attacking riding that we produced for us back in our first season.

We built up a team of depth this time to make planning easier. While that plan was successful, we're not at this point what exactly to expect from our leaders, barring Kelderman. Speaking of our new home recruit, he needs to be at his best if we're to avoid a repeat of last season's disappointments. A lot would also depend on how well Saber goes in both his terrains, together with his support staff in the sprints and Havik on the cobbles.

We start our season on opening day in Australia. Saber returns to this race where he claimed 5th last season. The full-house of our sprinting team is here to help him achieve the best possible result. Bovenhuis joins them to try his luck with attacks. We're to get close to last season's performance, although we expect the field to perhaps be tougher this time around.

We won this race last season but have modest hopes this time. Marquez leads with lieutenant Bardet in tow. He has Poels and Inkelaar to help him too. Not the strongest support staff, but that's going to be how our mountain team looks throughout the season. We hope Marquez lives up to his attacking reputation from recent years. That's our only hope of an over-performance. We're excited to see a first ride of young Dutch prospect Inkelaar in this race. Let's see how he goes.

Mostly a quiet race for us as the team concentrated on getting Saber into a good position for the finale. We did so and he responded with a fast finish to go one better than last season and claim 4th.

1	Jacopo Guarnieri	Delvaux	1h38'47
4	Lahcen Saber	Philips	s.t.
44	Thomas Boudat	Philips	s.t.
45	Jasper Bovenhuis	Philips	s.t.
47	Remco Te Brake	Philips	s.t.
103	Yoeri Havik	Philips	s.t.
104	Ryan Gibbons	Philips	s.t.
108	Wouter Wippert	Philips	s.t.
168	Rok Korosec	Philips	+ 3'52

A great start to the season. Saber continuing where he left off last season. We were hoping for some minor points with the full sprint line-up in attendance, but we can't complain about our return from this race.

Anonymous race from the team as Marquez showed himself just once in the lead group with 12 km to go. His next involvement was to get dropped from the lead group inside the final 10 kilometers. After that, it was a case of riding to the line and Marquez finished 17th, our best result on the day. None of the supporting cast could show themselves either. Just five finishers in what turned out to be a difficult race.

1	Justo Tenorio	Desigual	7h38'56
17	Florentino Marquez	Philips	+ 7'21
39	Romain Bardet	Philips	+ 10'31
54	Wout Poels	Philips	+ 14'20
77	Kevin Inkelaar	Philips	+ 22'21
86	Andrea Palini	Philips	+ 23'45

We did not come into this race with high hopes but it was a letdown still. No intent and a lack of climbing firepower was clearly in evidence. We hope this is not a sign of things to come for the season.

Not a lot of expectations from this race as it does not suit our leader Marquez. We do have a couple of wildcard riders Bardet and Lienhard who we hope can get into breaks or attack late on. Inkelaar is another rider we're excited to see in his first stage race. Expectations from Te Brake depend on how strong the sprinter field will be in this race.

Kelderman leads the team for the first time this season and we expect big things. It is either that or we're in for a difficult season ahead! He has the hills support to help him along as well as riders to keep a competitive pace in the time trial.

Saber is back as team leader after a good outing in the Down Under Classic and we're sending our full sprint team in his support here.

We were torn between sending Saber or Kelderman in this race as leader. In the end, we chose to send Saber and the sprint setup in the hope that the hills won't produce gaps in this race. Let's see if our gamble pays off. Le Gac is also here to try his luck in case the hills become selective.

Last year, with Henao as our leader, we failed to make an impact in this race. We're back again, and once again, with a similar leader in Marquez. Bardet joins him as our sub-top Mo/Hi option. As such, we do not have big expectations from this race but maybe we can hope to get some more depth points this time.

Gibbons joined the break on Stage 1, picked up a intermediate sprint bonifications and ended the day as the U25s leader.



A quiet Stage 2 saw Gibbons fall to 2nd in the U25 standings. Stage 3 was a damage limitation exercise, and Marquez came home losing a little over 2 minutes.

Marquez took the initiative and joined the break on Stage 4. He would briefly lead the KOM standings but ran out of energy and ended up 2nd in the classification. His early effort saw him lose more time in the GC and he finished the race in 21st in the GC. Bardet's consistency saw him finish 22nd.

1	Aleksandr Pluchkin	Team Popo4Ever p/b Nemiroff	17h50'34
21	Florentino Marquez	Philips	+ 6'18
22	Romain Bardet	Philips	+ 7'09
88	Felix Grossschartner	Philips	+ 23'19
108	Fabian Lienhard	Philips	+ 39'09
119	Kevin Inkelaar	Philips	+ 48'59
133	Jonas Bokeloh	Philips	+ 1h01'01
150	Ryan Gibbons	Philips	+ 1h24'43
153	Remco Te Brake	Philips	+ 1h34'32

We just missed our pre-race GC expectations but we're decently happy with our return from this race. Two in the Top 25, 2nd place in the KOM standings and a day in the U25 lead for one of our youngsters is not a bad return.

We were poor in the TTT on Stage 1, meaning Kelderman started with a deficit of more than 2 and a half minutes after this stage. He was more comfortable on the Stage 2, and followed the attacks well to claim 3rd on the stage.



We did a lot of work on Stage 3, but a lack of attention in a crucial moment meant Kelderman missed a late split and lost further time in the GC! Ligthart at 23rd, was our best result in the ITT on Stage 4. Kelderman ended this stage in 27th place in the GC, 4'25 down.

Bovenhuis joined the break on Stage 5, but he wasn't strong enough to calim any points on offer. Kelderman, once again, came into his own in the hills, and finished 2nd on the stage, moving up to 11th in the GC as a result. He also won the Points classification.

1	Eduardo Sepulveda	ISA - Hexacta	14h04'10
11	Wilco Kelderman	Philips	+ 4'13
60	Andrea Palini	Philips	+ 11'27
61	Wout Poels	Philips	+ 11'32
73	Olivier Le Gac	Philips	+ 13'12
112	Ronan Van Zandbeek	Philips	s.t.
116	Jasper Bovenhuis	Philips	+ 21'04
154	Pim Ligthart	Philips	+ 39'21
160	Thomas Boudat	Philips	+ 49'58

A disappointing GC performance, mainly because of the silly time loss of Stage 3. However, two stage podiums and winning the Points Standings made up for it somewhat. A little worrying that neither Palini nor Le Gac could finish in the points scoring positions.

A very poor race with Saber getting one Top 10 finish, and that too in 8th place. He would end up 17th in the GC.

1	Mark Cavendish	Kraftwerk Man Machine	12h45'26
17	Lahcen Saber	Philips	+ 33
50	Remco Te Brake	Philips	+ 37
73	Yoeri Havik	Philips	s.t.
94	Wouter Wippert	Philips	s.t.
176	Rok Korosec	Philips	+ 3'38
177	Ryan Gibbons	Philips	s.t.
182	Jonas Bokeloh	Philips	+ 7'35
183	Kevin Inkelaar	Philips	s.t.

Despite a strong support squad, we couldn't deliver Saber to a good position in the sprints on any stage, and Saber didn't really have the legs to go solo himself. A very poor to a race we had high hopes for.

We got a train up for Saber on Stage 1, but it was Havik who ended up as the fastest sprinter! 11th place our highest placing on this stage.

We were hoping for the hill finish on Stage 2 to not be selective, but it turned out to be very selective, ending all of Saber's GC hopes. Le Gac tried to take on the leader's mantle, but just wasn't strong enough to finish higher than 18th. Saber won the bunch sprint on Stage 3, but that was just for 5th place, as he missed the winning move by four riders.



We struggled on the hills once again, on Stage 4, meaning that Le Gac dropped further down the GC, to 31st place. Saber finally found himself in a good position on Stage 5, in the sprint build-up, but once again didn't have the legs to challenge for the win, and ended up with another 5th place finish.

1	Dimitri Claeys	Minions	16h22'08
31	Olivier Le Gac	Philips	+ 3'53
93	Lahcen Saber	Philips	+ 6'45
109	Rok Korosec	Philips	+ 7'22
131	Ryan Gibbons	Philips	+ 8'25
134	Thomas Boudat	Philips	s.t.
148	Yoeri Havik	Philips	+ 9'03
163	Pim Ligthart	Philips	+ 10'36
173	Jonas Bokeloh	Philips	+ 13'06

Another poor race from the team, and also from the team management as we failed to judge the difficulty of the hills, and wasted Saber's RDs on a race ill-suited to him. Perhaps, Kelderman at this race, and Saber leading elsewhere would have been the way to go!

Lienhard joined the and stayed a the front till about 40 km to go. Maruez missed the winning move, but rode under the radar to finish a respectable 11th.

1	Simon Spilak	Isostar - LimeBike	4h43'21
11	Florentino Marquez	Philips	+ 2'55
104	Fabian Lienhard	Philips	+ 14'32
110	Romain Bardet	Philips	+ 15'27
131	Felix Grossschartner	Philips	+ 19'07
136	Wout Poels	Philips	s.t.
156	Kevin Inkelaar	Philips	+ 24'01
179	Ronan Van Zandbeek	Philips	+ 28'05
186	Piet Allegaert	Philips	+ 51'37

After last year's debacle, we came into this race with low expectations. Marquez beat the odds somewhat, and pull a little sheen in what was otherwise turning into a very disappointing month.