Last season, our manager was invited to watch the Tour of Britain, and enjoyed it so much that we decided to send a team here to race. That might have been a mistake. Claeys is a good puncheur but not a good time trialist, Janse van Rensburg is a good time trialist but not a good puncheur. We also bring Drapac, who only has a chance at one stage.
Our co-leaders already lost 49 seconds on the first stage, with Drapac only sprinting to eighth place on the second stage. Janse van Rensburg then gained back a lot of time on the time trial, finishing second behind Coppel which would also be the GC order. Two hilly stages to go!
Weirdly enough, instead of limiting the loss for the South African, Claeys still thought he was team leader despite being eleven minutes down at this point. He could have made a case for himself if he attacked, but he did not and only saw the back of the leaders. He did improve his GC position to 22nd but with Janse van Rensburg dropping to 16th, it leaves a bit of a sour taste.
Tour de l'Avenir is the place where young riders battle against each other without the experienced riders spoiling the party. We have one rider who qualifies for this race, Hodeg, but we could not enter as a team. Luckily, there was a space available at Iberia - Team Degenkolb, so the Colombian rode in white and black for the duration of the race. He was one of the outsiders for the three flat stages.
The second stage was his first shot. He took the wheel of Ovsyannikov and launched himself to the lead. The other closed in and closed in, but Hodeg reached the finish line sooner than anyone else! Stage winner in Tour de l'Avenir, and as bonus he also took the leader's jersey!
On the third stage, Ovsyannikov took the wheel of Hodeg and launched himself to the win, while the Colombian could only take fifth. He lost the jersey, but kept the memories. He had another shot in the second-a-last stage, where he finished sixth. He survived the final mountain stage to finish 174th in the GC and eighth in the points classification! He helped fellow Colombian and missed transfer target Bernal get to thirteenth in the GC.
Dikes and windmills, welcome to the Netherlands for the Ronde van het IJsselmeer, a race around a lake. This is our final of six mandatory racedays in C2. In previous outings we focussed on hills (not successful) and cobbles (slightly more successful), but now we go for the sprint. Drapac leads the time and is on-par with the favorites from the continental division.
Flaksis went into the break, with Ravasi as his buddy for the next 200 kilometer. Obviously they were never going to make it, but at least we got some stunning stories and picture. Did you know this is the field where Henry Vergnaud met Michelle? I didn't know either. I don't even know who they are.
Anyway, the sprint. McCormick had the prime favorite in Holloway so we let them build the train. Of all the riders in his wheel, Drapac has the best speed and timing. He went head to head against the American in the streets of Enkhuizen, but unfortunately he ran out of road to overtake him. Still, second place is a very good result! Albert finished fourteenth and Marcos sixteenth, after attempting a late attack.
The last cobblestone race of the season takes us over to the States for the Tour of the Battenkill. A long race with a hilly profile, not the best fit for Zepuntke but anything is possible. Albert can also sneak a good result, and we have many riders capable of surviving the breakaway.
However, none of Lindeman, Flaksis and Marcos felt strong enough, with the Dutchman still finishing in a respectable 21st position, with Barton and Hodeg abandoning. The breakaway wouldn't make it anyway. All hope on Zepuntke and Albert then. With ten kilometer to go both where still in the front group, although they could not match the acceleration by Bewley.
Zepuntke got himself in the chasing group. From the six he finished fifth, dropping off just before the sprint. As Bewley rode away to a dominant victory, it is sixth place for the German. Albert ended up in the next group, finishing eleventh. Two good results in a strong PTHC field, we can only be happy with that.
Emelia, Emilia, Tomato, Potato. A hilly classic in Italy suited for Claeys who is one of the favorites for the race. Let's start the final month of racing with a bang!
We used Selander to chase down the breakaway and any eventual attacks. Claeys was in the front group up the final hill and well positioned on the front row. He only had to accelerate to get a good result.
The others at the front did the same, and the Belgian is not the best sprinter. In the end he only finished ninth, one place behind Minion-non-grata Carlos B. Selander finished in the next group in 22nd.
Our longest event on the calendar with nine days, Tour de Maroc is not the best place to come with a strong squad. Especially since the race is PTHC rated, the risk of failure would be high. Therefore, we decided to send a B-squad, hoping to go in successful breakaways. Drapac can have a sprinting opportunity.
The first stage was flat, so the Australian immediately had a chance to shine. He did not, only finishing eighth. At least we scored a point, but that would be all from Drapac this race. He finished in the grupetto on the second stage, and had to abandon on the third together with Hodeg and Major.
At this point, there should be no reason not to join the breakaway, as a high GC position is not likely. Rosas would try on the fourth and fifth stage but was amongst the first to be caught, and not bringing much in terms of KoM points either. Time for heavier artillery with Martinez on stage six, who had been our highest ranked rider till then. Despite not picking up many mountain points, he elevated himself to 19th in the GC, and only dropped to 21st at the end of the race. Haga took a decent 29th and Ivanov, after a break on stage eight, 34th. Not bad considering the strength of the squad, but our goal of the mountains classification was somehow forgotten.
A rankings update close to the end of the season, only four races left including one wildcard, and it is time to concede. We will not achieve promotion. In this latest update we dropped to twelfth, which is far from the fifth place necessary to achieve that. Even our pre-season of goal is not certain, we can still achieve it but we have to score massively. Uran maintains his position in the individual top ten, being responsible for one-third of our total points, but with no races left. Claeys still races in Japan Cup and might be our most important points scorer in the final races.
We received a wildcard for the ProTour time trial event Chrono des Herbiers. Originally scheduled in July, extreme heat meant the race has been moved to October. The race consists of two identical time trials, with the aggegrate result being the final table. Our men for the job are Uran, Janse van Rensburg and Haga.
Day one: Uran was the best of the trio, finishing fourteenth at 1'33 from Phinney. In this field, that is very good. Janse van Rensburg (pictured) finished 23rd at 1'51, while Haga took 44th out of 71 starters.
Day two: though Uran (pictured) was still our best rider, he was a bit slower than yesterday, both in time and gap to Phinney: 21st at 1'42. Haga performed much better than the first day to place in 29th, ahead of Janse van Rensburg in 34th. Overall, it meant Uran finished seventeenth at 3'15, Janse van Rensburg 28th at 4'04, and Haga 31st at 4'24.
Four flat stages in Africa and we brought Vantomme. Facepalm.
But, maybe he can surprise us. Short answer: no. He finished fifteenth, fourteenth, sixty-third and twenty-second, yielding no bonus seconds. He would finish 27th in the GC, as second-best of the riders without bonus seconds.
The only hope we had was going into the breakaway, but because we are lazy we only went once, on a stage without mountain sprints. Albert was part of a monster break of 25 riders, and finished third at the first intermediate sprint for one bonus second. It means he would finish 24th as best Minion.
#
Rider
Team
Time
1
Jonas Ahlstrand
Volvo acc. by Spotify
18h26'29
2
Jacopo Guarnieri
Delvaux
+ 4
3
Ivano Lo Cicero
Team Europcar
+ 10
24
Niels Albert
Minions
+ 48
27
Maxime Vantomme
Minions
+ 49
82
Damion Drapac
Minions
+ 3'02
84
Jay Major
Minions
s.t.
102
Metkel Kiflay
Minions
+ 4'46
124
Edwin Avila
Minions
+ 6'59
144
Fulgencio Bru
Minions
s.t.
148
Alvaro Hodeg
Minions
s.t.
(1/5)
Even Albert is a better sprinter than Vantomme.
Two years ago, Uran won the Deutschland Tour, which was his first big success for the team and proved to be vital for our survival. We return this year, but with a changed route. The mountain stages have been cut, leaving four flat stages and a time trial. As this is PTHC, we have no expectations for Vantomme, and hope Janse van Rensburg can get a good result.
Regarding the Belgian's performances, we can be short. His best result was 70th in the final stage, the only time he got in the top 100. The other riders also didn't bother getting in the break, which hurts as the first stage was won from it, and we could not be a factor in the mountains classification.
Janse van Rensburg had his sights set on the third stage for about a month, as the race was pushed back from September to October. The long wait meant he lost focus and only finished 23rd, with Rosas and Kiflay as very good back-up in 30th and 39th. This would also be the their final GC position, ensuring we got at least some points out of this race.
The last race of the season takes us to the land of the rising sun: Japan. We have nothing to win or lose in the rankings, so riding without pressure. Go Claeys!
We did not send a rider in the break, instead chasing after it. However, the breakaway was very lucky that they all got a spot in the top ten. Missed opportunity.
Claeys managed to survive multiple splits, but there came a point where he could no longer hang on. He would finish five minutes down on winner Prevar, in eighteenth place. This is a pretty disappointing result. Ivanov and Martinez had decent races after helping in the early stages, finishing in 24th and 28th.
We dropped two places in the final few races to finish in fourteenth. A major disappointment since we hoped for promotion and expected top ten. We need to carefully evaluate what went wrong and what went right, and learn from that to come back stronger next year and achieve the goals. Shoutout to Uran for defending his individual top ten despite not racing in the final month. Hodeg also picked up two points in Deutschland, leaving Bru as only rider to go through the season pointless, which does not bode well for his future at the team.
The battle for the rainbow jersey at the end of the season took the riders to Bulgaria, Aleko Vitosa to be exact. The course contained a lot of climbing on cobblestones and even finishing would be difficult. From the six events, four had participation from Minions, only the U23 events were omitted. How did our riders fare in different colors?
Janse van Rensburg and Rosas participated in this event, the latter not making the finish line. The former went into the breakaway and was one of the strongest there, only to be caught on the penultimate climb. He would finish 22nd, albeit at more than an hour from winner Pluchking, but for someone who is not fond of climbing and cobblestones, it is an amazing result.
The only team event saw the biggest participation from us. Uran for Colombia, Kiflay for Eritrea, Janse van Rensburg for South Africa and both Barton and Haga for the USA. Both Eritrea and South Africa finished just outside the top ten, but Colombia and USA were involved in the battle for the medals. Colombia looked too far away on the split times but having amazing climbers, Uran included, brought them the virtual podium, only to be knocked off by the USA, who went to take a silver medal behind Spain. Barton and Haga leave Bulgaria with a medal!
Uran was our only participant here, but he showed the world his skills. With the climbs, the route suited his skillset and was a threat to many elite time trialists. He took the best time at first checkpoint, only to be beaten by six better riders, but seventh is a great start. On the second checkpoint he dropped places to Keizer and Oliveira, still in the top ten, but managed to reclaim their positions on the final climb to temporarily occupy the hot seat. Surely, the other six went ahead again, but seventh place amongst the best climbers in the world, what an achievement!
Uran lined up for his third event, Kiflay for his second, and Ivanov also got to start in his home country, though he could not finish the race. Uran and Kiflay both tried to be in the breakaway, the latter was the first to be dropped there and would also not finish. Uran was a strong climber but he also couldn't make it to the top of the first climb in the lead, falling behind as well and also not being amongst the 76 finishers. Since cobblestone specialist Wisniowski won the race, we are wondering what a Zepuntke (left home by the German selectors) could have done.
To end the season, the national championships are held to determine the best riders from each country in both the road race and the time trial to wear a special jersey next season. Settle down, because we have to discuss fourteen of them. One of the downsides of being an international team.
Rosas took sixth out of eight in the road race, but he was looking towards battling Sepulveda for the time trial honors. Rosas beat him by 21 seconds to defend his Argentinian jersey.
Drapac missed out on his goal of finishing last in both events by finishing 45th out of 50 in the time trial. He did finish last in the hilly road race.
Bahamas
Major is the only professional cyclist in the country and easily won the RR and TT against a bunch of amateurs who had never ridden a bike before.
Albert should be a contender on a cobblestone route, but the country has many specialists who are a step above him. He finished eleventh with Vantomme 19th and Claeys in 34th. In the time trial they were also in the midfield, Vantomme with the best result in 20th.
Ivanov liked the hilly route and went head-to-head with the PA duo of Robov and Lilovski on the final hill, unfortunately falling short of the former by a few meters.
Uran had to defend his road race on a hilly route, which suits him less than the mountain climb of last year. He could only finish fifteenth, one place ahead of Avila with Hodeg further down in 28th. In the time trial he once again proved to be the strongest, beating nearest rival Duarte by more than a minute.
Martinez, Marcos and Bru are the only professional cyclists in Cuba, so we are assured of the jersey. Due to a lack of mountains, the Cuban NC was raced together with Belarus, Mexico and Romania. Martinez was, unsurprisingly, our best rider in both events, taking the Cuban double, and also two third places in the combined classifications.
Janse van Rensburg's only goal is the time trial, but finished a decent fifth in the sprint for the RR title. It turned out not to be a waste of energy, as he also took the TT by a mere seven seconds over M. Van Niekerk. A close affair but he ended up on the right side.
Barton, Haga and Selander were no factor in the flat road race, with Selander best in 13th, the former two would be contenders in the time trial. With Phinney at the start, the win was out of the question. Haga (pictured) took fourth and Barton ninth with decent times.
Despite being the third-oldest professional team at an average age of 29.75, we do have a few young talents. We will report on their development over the past season.
Alvaro Hodeg
FL
MO
HL
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FTR
DH
PRL
XP
Pot
Age
68
53
64
66
67
70
61
51
74
74
53
63
69
3.24
5
23
70
53
65
67
68
72
69
51
77
76
53
64
71
4.57
5
24
After a season on loan at Delvaux last season, Hodeg made his first steps in our colors. Our sprints were woeful but it was never his fault, it were the leaders who failed to finish, not those tasked to lead him out. His biggest success came in different colors, when he won a stage in Tour de l'Avenir and spent a day in the yellow jersey. He still has ability to grow, and we hope to complete his development into class sprinter next season.
Jay Major
FL
MO
HL
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SP
ACC
FTR
DH
PRL
XP
Pot
Age
72
50
66
57
73
70
70
69
75
76
62
66
64
4.83
4
24
74
50
66
57
74
70
74
70
77
78
62
66
64
4.100
4
25
Major is the first rider ever to fully complete the Minions Cycling Academy, joining us as a level one in our promotion season of 2016 and growing to a maxed rider in four seasons. He has grown into a sprinter with nice acceleration, but is also capable of handling a bit of cobblestones.
United Kingdom | C1 | 5 stages | Hill / Time trial / Flat | September 2 - 5
Chris Barton
Fulgencio Bru
Dimitri Claeys
Damion Drapac
Reinhardt Janse van Rensburg
Metkel Kiflay
Germany | PTHC | 5 stages | Time trial / Flat | September 20 - 24
Edwin Avila
Laureano Rosas
Netherlands | C2 | Classic | Flat | September 24
Tareq Esmaeli
Andzs Flaksis
Jay Major
France | U23 | 9 stages | Everything | August 23 - 31
Morocco | PTHC | 9 stages | Mountain / Flat | October 1 - 9
Borislav Ivanov
Italy | HC | Classic | Hill | October 3
Japan | HC | Classic | Hill | October 18
