Jesus Christ this was bleak. If we thought January was a dull and disappointing start to the season, then February really kicked us down a gear and got our relegation charge started. Although our planning wasn't great and spread our squad out very thin, all of our leaders had unglamorous results, with one stage victory and one solid GC the only positive spots amongst the seventeen race days.
We began at the scene of our first ever PCT victory as George Bennett returned to the Tour of the Middle East, and after his exploits on Stage 3 last season and his off-season mountain program, he was much more of a marked man. We didn't bring a sprinter which gave our neo-pro Sergio Higuita license to enter into the Stage 1 breakaway, continuing his positive start to the season. We then kept our powder dry on Stage 2, before the tough hills of Stage 3 saw Bennett falter slightly - however he stayed within himself for a Top 10 finish (above). Stage 4's mountain finish was an anticlimax as all the climbers finished with the same time, however a 5th place gave him 6th on GC on countback with his Stage 3 companions - nothing to put on the tombstone, but a solid result on his return to PCT racing.
After that... the less said the better, except for the truly inspired racing on Stage 3 of the Tour de Slovenie. After a poor start to the race where it became apparent we weren't going to be in the GC fight as we were last year, we hatched a plan. On the windy flat roads Davison and Bester put the hurt on and briefly chopped up the peloton, caught the breakaway and set up Houle for the intermediate sprint - but this was but a dress rehearsal for the main event. They repeated the trick with the assistance of South African powerhouse Van Niekerk and launched Debesay and Houle into an 8-man split in the final kilometres. Debesay surprised our rivals again with a late attack which saw the others, without domestiques, have to chase him down, giving Houle a simple stage win from the final sprint and a minute clawed back on GC. Our first victory of the season and Houle introduced well to Xero!
Nice thrust with the stare into the camera
Houle would end up 23rd on GC plus 4th in the points jersey, with Bazhkou making a very disappointing start to his season in 28th.
Then came the Tour of Catalunya, our best race of 2018, which quickly made its case to be our worst of 2019. Rowe disappointed in the sprints, with a 5th his best result in a startlist he should have had a handle on, whilst Grmay and Higuita both got top 10s ina. reduced bunch kick after some good work on the peloton. And as for our multi million dollar trained Bennett, one of the race favourites and definite podium contender? Yeah he got 7th, not awful but not quite what we were hoping.
Oh sorry, I read that wrong - he actually got THIRTY SEVENTH. What. The. Shit.
There were a couple of cobbles races, Debesay and Rowe both neglected to try so why should I? Habtom was in a breakaway in Gent-Wevelgem, whilst Nils Schomber broke the Xero record for fastest abandon in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
Screenshot of the Month
Not a lot of great choice this month which is a shame, so I'll plump for
Bennett on his way to 6th in the Middle East - Credit to Kentaurus
Rider of the Month
Our domestiques did great work all month where our leaders faulted - a special shoutout to Shaun Nick Bester for his work in Slovenie plus decent finishes in both cobbled classics, but for his stage result, breakaway, enthusiasm and hard work this month it goes to
Sixth in the sprint - Tour of Catalunya, Stage 2
Sergio Higuita Total RoTM Wins | 1 RoTM Wins This Season | 1
We have five riders out on loans this year: Novardianto (Podium Ambition), Schreurs (bennelong) and Schleck (Vesuvio, duh) in the PT and Habtemichael (McCormick) and Fouche (NENT) in the CT, making this a much more exciting year to watch our loanees than the previous ones! All five were in action this month, some of it truly riveting.
Novardianto and Schleck both were given the call-up for the Copenhagen - Malmo TTT, which means they are some of the best TTers at their teams, which makes sense for Podium Ambition and means that in EA Vesuvio we have finally found a team who knows less about how a TTT works than we do. Jams finished with his team in a respectable 8th, whilst Jordan Schleck hilariously managed to finish in dead last, 16 minutes down and 10 minutes slower than any other rider.
Schleck didn't repeat the trick in the Paris - Nice prologue, reaching the dizzying heights of the top 150, and even beating out some respected riders - or at least, formerly respected riders. He then flirted with the flamme rouge on the flat stages before he put in the week's riding of his life as the last man for eventual 5th place Tom Wirtgen, including one ride to 30th position which saw him mentioned in the race commentary: "Boswell leads in the subsequent group of note at 1'39, only just beating Jordan Schleck, so... something to be proud of." Our radio feed cut out for a second between so and something, we assume it was "that's definitely". An iconic ride as he convincingly beat out 500k-paid puncheurs Mohoric and McCarthy on a hilly-rated stage.
He finished strongly again the next day and ended up a very credible 54th on GC. I believe that those two stage results plus the GC are now his three best results in any race so this is a performance to remember. Certainly he's at least the #2 Schleck in Vesuvio's history already.
Jams went to the concurrent race of Paris - Nice and also made some solid points, he did it early with a strong prologue which saw him sitting 3rd in the Youth Standings for a few days before slipping away. His team once again displayed their lack of prowess at climbing, with him again finishing the race outside of the top 100 but again one of his team's best finishers in a fairly barren outing for T3A.
However, despite his fabulous domestique work and huge workload this month, he can't quite nab our Loanee of the Month award away from the huge Paris-Nice of Jordan Schleck, who as key lieutenant for 5th place Tom Wirtgen provided a valuable contribution to the race, and silenced his own critics with the three best results of his career on Stage 4, 5 and the GC.
If we were worried after February we were properly bricking it after March, which saw a real lack of highlights, with no Top 10s in either of the cobbled classics (Le Samyn and Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne, and two relatively lacklustre 7th on GCs in De Panne (Debesay) and Jelajah (Houle).
Rider of the Month
Hard to justify anybody really as nobody overperformed, but with a stage podium and decent GC in Jelajah it goes to
Winning the sprint for 2nd - Jelajah SKL, Stage 2
Hugo Houle Total RoTM Wins | 1 RoTM Wins This Season | 1
The 20th April. Stage 18 of the Giro d'Italia. Our loan-out Jamalidin Novardianto, in his first Grand Tour, has had a good race for Podium Ambition, getting into some breakaways and working hard for the team. This morning on the final flat stage before Stage 21, he joined a quartet of hopefuls at perhaps the last chance for a non-climbing breakaway stage win.
Throughout the latter part of the stage, with the minutes between escapees and peloton well into the double digits, all three of Jams' companions took flyers off the front as the game began. However Jams, a good shout for the quickest finisher, played it cool and helped to chase them down every time.
7.5km to go and he helps to chase down the very dangerous Malori. Soon after Kanerva tries, not for the first time, and is caught. Despite his youth, and this being his first year on the PT stage, Jams is playing it like a seasoned pro.
3km to go, it looks like a sprint - a good situation for Jams, who can bank on having slightly fresher legs than his companions who have attacked. The pressure is on to bring Podium Ambition their first ever GT stage win, his first career win, and Xero's (in a way) first PT win.
He may not have ever won from here before but he knows what he's doing. 700m to go and he leads out from the front with confidence in his sprint.
And nobody can pass him! In fact, one by one they all lose contact with Jamalidin Novardianto, who takes his maiden career victory at the Giro d'Italia of all places! A huge win for him and for us, and a very special day to see a home-grown talent, who we still remember as a young neo-pro tearing up the CT in his first breakaways, delivering on one of the biggest stages of all for a breakaway artist. What a ride, what a rider, and what a historic day for Jams and his friends over at Xero Racing, who were all watching closely when news came their loaned-out friend was in the mix for something great.
We can't wait to see him in our kit again and welcome him back for next season at his full potential. Thanks to Podium Ambition for taking care of him and giving him this shot in their Grand Tour lineup!
Whilst Jams was off being absolutely amazing in Italy, April was a month of great highs and crashing lows - so an improvement over the previous months of just lows. The first two races saw our first goal races of the season, with Top 5 expectations in California (Bennett) and Ukraine (Bazhkou) - the former was very likely albeit tough, whilst the latter was an outside bet but, then again, Stan was defending a podium. Both races saw a distinct lack of action from our boys (aside from one breakaway stage fight for Morne, below), and whilst Bennett was awfully dissapointing in thirteenth, Bazhkou, and everyone else for that matter, was even worse - we were nowhere to be seen in Ukraine.
However in the three remaining races, we got our asses into gear to try and get ahead of this whole relegation-fight business we had found ourselves a part of. First up was the universally beloved Tour of Cyprus, where, now without cobbles, Bennett would look to see if he couldn't outdo Debesay's third place here last year. Things got off to a surprisingly solid start with Schomber showing he's no one-trick pony with sixth in the bunch sprint, good enough for 11th, on the opening day. Unfortunately he was down to 24th the next day, before we got into the real reason we were here with the GC-focused third and fourth days.
On the MTF of Stage 3, Bennett was third in the small bunch kick after a surprisingly inactive stage, putting himself in the same position overall and, after competing for a few of the KoM points, fourth in that category heading into the final day.
He'd repeat that result on the hilly Stage 4 to keep his podium on GC as well as finish 4th in both minor classifications - a stealthily-obtained great result here, and quite easily the best of the season so far.
Rounding out the month was a double header of flat classics, the HC Lisbon Classic and the C1 Veenendaal - Veenendaal. Houle went to the former with Rowe at the latter, with Debesay and Habtom respectively broadening our options or providing great help.
In Lisbon the plan was clear - Debesay with freedom to attack while Houle waited for his own move or the bunch sprint. With 17km to go after a few feeler moves had failed, Debesay jumped into a promising-looking escape attempt with the likes of Gallopin and Bellis.
The group worked well together, but the gap was never totally secure, meaning there wasn't a lot of time for internal attacks or cat-and-mousing, and so as they took a slim lead into the final kilometre, it would be a straight sprint. Our man survived the hills well and has a decent kick, but he does neither of them as well as Bellis, and had to settle for second on the day - still an absolutely fantastic result! Houle did indeed wait for the pack sprint, and added a 15th to Debesay's podium.
Meanwhile 2,000km to the north-east in Veenendaal, Rowe looked to once again try to use his flat skills to outwit the stronger sprinters, and after failed attempts such as in Adelaide earlier in the year, this time he would find the timing and the company for a succesful run to the line, as he lead what would eventually end up a quartet after some adjustments away fromn the peloton with 18km to go.
Unlike Debesay, Rowe was always the clear favourite and managed his companions perfectly, coming to the red kite in the leading group, leading out the sprint and never looking back. Our first classic win of the season (our time in the PCT, in fact), and a classic it was - a perfect day for Luke Rowe as he took out this race by being the smartest and the strongest, and rounded out our comeback month in perfect style.
Screenshot of the Month
Bennett on the descent in Cyprus - Credit to Marcovdw
Rider of the Month
Both our cobbles leaders bounced back from their awful form on that terrain with excellent showings at the end of the month, but it could only be...
Sprinting to the victory - Veenendaal - Veenendaal
Luke Rowe Total RoTM Wins | 3 RoTM Wins This Season | 1
Rankings
Pos
Last
Team
Total
1
1
Volvo acc. by Spotify
1740
2
6
Team Popo4Ever p/b Nemiroff
1682
3
3
ISA - Hexacta
1649
4
2
Campari/Asahi development
1619
5
4
Rakuten Pro Cycling
1586
22
24
Xero Racing
858
Still in the red zone but looking a lot more optimistic than a month ago, and with some momentum hopefully building after those last three races. We also have a considerable RD advantage - 35 less so far than the team above us! The comeback is far from complete, but it is very much on.
Another very solid month's racing as we looked to jump out of the relegation zone and put some distance between us and those who would be fighting the drop.
We began in Cheshire, where last year Rowe had a great time with the points jersey, 7th on GC and a stage win. A repeat of that between him and Debesay would have been very welcome. However they outdid themselves with a fantastic ride on the cobbled Stage 1 where both of them were in great nick, sticking together to finish 5th and 4th respectively.
Rowe performed consistently on the remaining stages (best result 3rd, above) to end up tying for the win of the points classification, as the duo held their GC positions on the less selective Stage 5 to both finish in the Top 5, a really fantastic result!
Meanwhile in Switzerland, consistency was the name of the game for George Bennett at the Tour of Romandie, and he did it great, ending up with a podium finish on GC! Meanwhile Tom Davison got 5th in a stage thanks to a breakaway, as well as a day in the KoM jersey and a Top 10 in that classification.
Next up was our Win Goal for the season at the Chrono d'Arenberg, which saw Debesay as a huge favourite with Morne van Niekerk and Shaun Nick Bester also thought to have Top 5 chances. Unfortunately none of them fired to the best of their abilities, anf finished in the positions 6-8, a huge dissapointment from Debesay but some decent depth at least.
The Scandinavian Open Road Race was always going to be one of our worst races of the season, but Dyrnes very nearly saved it, missing out by inches on the stage win from the breakaway on day three!
Next were a pair of German flat classics, beginning with Rowe in the Berlin ProRace, where he surprisingly got 6th from a straight sprint against the PCT's best, a pleasant result for sure!
However he was outdone by Houle, who was 100m from a perfect race in Frankfurt. He attacked with 15km to go and was joined by Bellis and Kal, making him a favourite for the sprint as they managed to evade the peloton. He was in second wheel and gained a bike-length lead with just 100m to go, but mistimed his sprint and cracked after an exhausting day, leaving the win to Bellis. A very dissapointing finish but overall a great result.
The month finished with the Tour of Norway, which pre-season looked like one of the best PTHC races for here, but after Bazhkou's form this season we were wary of it. A nice start for us with Tosh van der Sande taking the opening stage and a spell in yellow, unfortunately he doesn't ride for us any more. However we got a stage of our own, the first career victory for our young gun Joseph Areruya!
In amazing circumstances, he arrived nearly a minute behind the leaders in the second breakaway group on Stage 4 and lead the entire climb, riding his companions off his wheel with 2km and catching all four leaders, including Pichon (inside the last 50m) to complete an incredible stage win and move to 1st in the U25, 2nd in the KoM, and 24th on GC.
Unfortunately it all came apart somewhat on the final stage, losing the U25 lead and ten GC positions, whilst Dyrnes missed out on yet another PTHC stage win, third today. Still, a memorable race for that gritty stage win of our future star - the first of many, we are sure.
Screenshot of the Month
Dyrnes in the stage win battle - Credit to Marcovdw
Rider of the Month
Dyrnes was surprisingly okay, Houle almost took a perfect win, Rowe and Debesay got top 5s, but it came down to a tough decision between our climbers - the overachieving GC podium, or the surprise stage win?
On the way to the GC podium - Tour of Romandie
George Bennett Total RoTM Wins | 4 RoTM Wins This Season | 1
Who has two thumbs and no time to do more catch-up monthly reviews? This guy!
Rider of the Month - June
For winning the GC, a stage and both minor classifications at the Tour of Japan, the defining result of our mid-season resurgence and top 10 push...
Confirming the GC win in style - Tour of Japan
George Bennett Total RoTM Wins | 5 RoTM Wins This Season | 2
Rider of the Month - July
Nils "Der Ziege" Schomber's stint in white in San Luis was cool, but for proving some doubters wrong with a solid 6th in Beijing...
Flying under the radar - Tour of Beijing
Tsgabu Grmay Total RoTM Wins | 1 RoTM Wins This Season | 1
Rider of the Month - August
Debesay spent a day in yellow in the Baltics after winning the prologue, whilst Houle did the same after Stage 2 victory in Portugal, where Areruya also entertained and nabbed a top 20. However with third in the latter race, again with a huge result to keep us well into safety, it was
Securing the podium in the final ITT - Tour of Beijing
George Bennett Total RoTM Wins | 6 RoTM Wins This Season | 3
Rider of the Month - September
Dyrnes grabbed the KoM win in Britain, whilst our two cobbled leaders both nabbed PTHC classic top 10s. However only one of them didn't violently defecate in the bed in another one, so it's
Getting dropped for the first of two times, before rejoining the group for his top 10 - Tour of the Battenkill
Mekseb Debesay Total RoTM Wins | 1 (only, somehow) RoTM Wins This Season | 1
Rider of the Month - October
Houle and Bennett were done for the season and everyone else was slightly checked out with no well-suiting races left. In Maroc we tried to get into breakaways and failed a lot, but twice we succeeded and, not only that, they also got results out of it. Bester was fifth on the flat Stage 4, but outdoing him on the mountains of Stage 8 was, quite predictably
Not quite the dream stage win, but a gritty 2nd - Tour du Maroc
Joseph Areruya Total RoTM Wins | 1 RoTM Wins This Season | 1
Recaps of the Season + Rankings, Victories, Awards, Rider Reviews, All-Time Stats and Youth Development to come...
We are pleased to announce the development of our talent programme in 2019. It has been a rather successful year of growth for our young guns as we look to continue developing home-grown riders and giving them major places in the team, which we are soon to be doing with some talents and, in fact, we have maxed three riders who have been here since their neo-pro season for the first time!
Hamish Schreurs 26 | Maxed | 50,000
FLA
MON
HIL
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SPR
ACC
FTR
DH
PRL
71
54
67
52
73
74
70
75
71
71
64
63
61
72
54
67
52
75
75
71
77
72
71
64
63
61
It's brilliant to max the young Kiwi cobbler who joins the ranks of Bewley and David in the Kiwi cobbled ranks. He continued to work to become the best he can on that terrain instead of broadening his portfolio as was considered, but has a decent sprint on him and can even handle the hills ok. Thanks to bennelong - mitchelton for their help maxing him this season, giving him some experience in the PT riding the world's hardest cobbled races. He returns to us as a key lieutenant for Debesay and any future cobbled leaders.
Daniel Habtemichael 23 | 3.10XP | 65,000
FLA
MON
HIL
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SPR
ACC
FTR
DH
PRL
66
70
70
68
70
68
69
52
59
64
66
68
68
66
74
71
70
71
70
72
52
59
65
67
69
70
...
67
78
74
74
74
73
76
52
59
66
68
69
74
Our young Eritrean stage racer came on a lot this year after a very active loan spell with American outfit McCormick in the CT where he featured in many many breakaways, culminating in winning the KoM jersey in the Tour of Bulgaria late in the season. He provided a challenge in terms of deciding which route to take him given his multitalented skill set in long and short climbs as well as the TT bike. Eventually we decided to take him further in the direction of traditional stage races given he would be struggling for a spot in the pecking order in the future with Bennett, Areruya and Higuita to compete with in pure climbing and MO/HI events.
Nils Schomber 26 | 4.44XP | 50,000
FLA
MON
HIL
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SPR
ACC
FTR
DH
PRL
70
54
57
70
63
72
65
50
69
69
63
64
77
72
54
58
72
65
74
67
50
69
69
64
64
79
...
73
54
58
74
66
76
68
50
69
69
65
64
81
Our resident ten-minute wonder, Nils Schomber has continued to hone his time trial skills to realise his future as the man with the most leader's jerseys in the most different tours, his prologue skills beginning to shine and, we believe, will only be brighter after spending next year in the PT.
Morne Van Niekerk 25 | Maxed | 60,000
FLA
MON
HIL
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SPR
ACC
FTR
DH
PRL
74
61
66
76
72
73
71
64
61
67
71
64
75
76
61
67
78
73
75
72
64
61
67
72
64
77
We can only apologise to Morne Van Niekerk for the next 8-9 season of having to carry our TTT squad, now as he maxes out becoming our top TT rider and probably going to stay that way unless a better focus nation talent (or a top stage racer) comes around to displace him from that spot. He isn't limited to his talent in chrono stages though, as he has blossomed into a truly useful roleur who can even handle some minor hills quite well.
Arvid de Kleijn 26 | 4.99XP | 50,000
FLA
MON
HIL
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SPR
ACC
FTR
DH
PRL
69
59
71
60
68
69
74
66
73
72
61
63
67
70
60
73
60
70
70
75
66
74
74
63
64
67
...
70
61
75
60
71
71
76
66
74
75
64
64
67
Our versatile Dutchman was an unexpected addition to our roster this year and didn't astound anyone with his riding, however he is developing well into being a great leadout for the punchy sprinters in particular with skills in hills and sprints in equal measure. Just one year until he's maxed, and he won't even need a loan to do it!
Jordan Schleck 24 | Maxed | 50,000
FLA
MON
HIL
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SPR
ACC
FTR
DH
PRL
63
75
72
53
69
69
77
53
52
72
59
58
6
64
77
73
53
71
71
78
53
52
73
61
61
61
Everybody knows Jordan Schleck can ride up mountains for days and days on end. The problem has always been everything else. Well, that's still the problem, but he's better at mountains now. After a year riding with some other Schleck, he's finally hit his peak and is ready to assume his mantle as best Schleck in a year or two.
Sergio Higuita 23 | 3.60XP | 250,000
FLA
MON
HIL
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SPR
ACC
FTR
DH
PRL
68
69
69
64
73
74
72
60
66
68
65
63
61
68
73
72
64
74
76
75
60
66
71
68
63
61
...
69
78
77
65
76
78
79
60
66
75
73
64
62
Sergio Higuita followed closely in the footsteps of his slightly older counterpart Areruya this year with 11 breakaways and a huge jump in talent to a solid young climber-puncheur with great energy for such a young rider, and if he can match Areruya's points haul next year we would be very happy indeed! Two years to go until he hits his max, and we can't wait.
Dylan Kennett 26 | 4.50XP | 50,000
FLA
MON
HIL
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SPR
ACC
FTR
DH
PRL
72
58
64
69
72
73
69
62
75
74
67
68
75
74
58
65
69
73
75
77
62
77
76
67
68
77
...
75
58
65
69
73
76
71
62
79
78
67
68
78
Our power sprinting Kiwi former track specialist has developed nicely this year under the tutelage of Rowe and Houle, and now is looking like a great leadout - unfortunately not for us, given he most likely will need a PT loan next season to achieve maximum potential.
Than Tung Huynh 24 | 3.99XP | 10,000
FLA
MON
HIL
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SPR
ACC
FTR
DH
PRL
65
59
66
65
67
71
57
60
70
69
74
67
68
66
60
68
65
69
72
58
60
71
71
76
68
68
...
68
62
73
66
74
74
60
60
73
76
80
70
69
It's unclear how this Vietnamese stagiaire fits into our future plans, but if he does we would be happy to have this emerging young baroudeur with a fast finish and decent ability in the hills on for another season, otherwise we would be wishing him well and hoping for him to be picked up, especially by one of cycling's Asian-focused teams.
James Fouche 22 | 2.99XP | 60,000
FLA
MON
HIL
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SPR
ACC
FTR
DH
PRL
65
69
67
68
69
69
70
62
61
68
67
64
68
65
71
68
68
69
70
71
62
61
69
68
64
68
...
66
78
75
69
72
73
77
62
61
75
75
65
69
Entering the pro peloton a year early means that from now on, Fouche will always be a Xero rider, with no need for further loans. However, it also means that he did not make as big a jump in his neo-pro year as Higuita or Habtemichael, who despite being in the same class with similar abilities had a year on him and so will max a year earlier (but at the same age). He is rider who we are most unsure about where he will end up given, like Habtemichael, he is a multi-skilled stage racer, but right now we are considering taking him to a MO-HI approach with a good punch and fighting inclination. Thanks to NENT Racing for taking him on loan this season and giving him as much experience as they could, greatly appreciated!
Jamalidin Novardianto 26 | Maxed | 50,000
FLA
MON
HIL
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SPR
ACC
FTR
DH
PRL
75
61
68
68
70
77
73
69
71
78
74
68
74
76
61
68
68
70
78
74
69
73
79
74
68
75
Giro stage winner Jamalidin Novardianto had a busy and productive year with Podium Ambition in the Pro Tour, where, aside from that magical win, he also worked in the sprint train for Caleb Ewan and found himself in other breakaways, ending up just outside the top 100 in the standings and as one of his team's top scorers. We are delighted to have our fan favourite finally maxed having started his career here, and although he enjoyed his time with T3A, we are delighted that he will never have to leave our squad again.
Joseph Areruya 22 | 1.00XP | 260,000
FLA
MON
HIL
TT
STA
RES
REC
COB
SPR
ACC
FTR
DH
PRL
71
74
74
64
74
76
75
53
68
72
70
59
64
72
77
77
65
75
77
77
53
68
74
73
60
65
...
72
79
79
65
76
78
79
53
68
76
75
60
65
Our young Rwandan soon-to-be-superstar had a rather good sophomore season with a good number of breakaways and points coming in as well as his first ever win in a stage of the Tour of Norway, as well as an Avenir stage win and podium on GC. Next year he takes another step up to assume a true co-leader role where he should be able to find some of his own chances for GCs, U25 competitions, stages and even perhaps some hilly races, as well as learning from and being a key lieutenant for George Bennett. And then 2021... look out world.
@redordead - Thanks, it's been a journey with those guys (except MVN of course who just joined for his final season of developing) and an enjoyable one and so proud to have those three guys maxed finally. And don't worry about it - I've got two years on you and you're certainly going alright already - not looking forward to Pogacar on the prowl soon!
@Abhishek and knockout - Guess it's that time of the season for you guys to hate on Schomber again Thanks otherwise though
It's nice to see talents developing like this. I hope I can sign some similar talents as well, and let them become leaders one day. Although I fear it'll not be that easy to accomplish with the CT salary cap. I do like the "Schomber plan" though, can't wait to see him in yellow at the Tour
@Nemolito - A fellow Schomboisseur, I like you already Thanks for the kind words, and I am looking forward to seeing what you can do. Some good guys can certainly be nabbed in the CT don't worry - basically any of those guys could have been affordable, perhaps not Areruya or Higuita if you were looking to promote but nobody else there cost me more than 80k, so you can definitely pick up a few whilst also being competitive
@Croatia and Abhishek - I really don't get the hate you guys have for Schomber I'll just put it down to jealousy. Thanks for the otherwise nice comment Croatia
@Ulrich - Yeah as much as I am looking forward to having Habtemichael in our jersey I am also quite sad he has to leave you guys, he had an awesome debut season with you and hopefully someone your team remembers in the coming years, thanks a lot for having him
And yes, that was a great stage with the GC fight behind and that incredible stage win fight with Areruya beasting it up the final climb, and a very enjoyable report to boot
After an up-and-down season which saw relegation scares (which got us very scared) and outside promotion hype (which we never really believed), we eventually managed, like last year, to steer clear of both.
1
ISA - Hexacta
3987
174
22,91
4009
2
Volvo acc. by Spotify
3832
175
21,9
3833
3
Rakuten Pro Cycling
3769
175
21,54
3770
4
Team UBS
3281
175
18,75
3281
5
cycleYorkshire
3258
175
18,62
3259
6
Team Popo4Ever p/b Nemiroff
3167
175
18,1
3168
7
Delvaux
3124
175
17,85
3124
8
Campari/Asahi development
3119
175
17,82
3119
9
Duolingo
3015
175
17,23
3015
10
Valio - Viking Genetics
2948
175
16,85
2949
11
Desigual
2932
175
16,75
2931
12
Xero Racing
2800
174
16,09
2816
13
Kraftwerk Man Machine
2765
175
15,8
2765
14
Minions
2759
175
15,77
2760
15
Iberia - Team Degenkolb
2722
175
15,55
2721
16
Berg Cycles
2627
175
15,01
2627
17
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
2621
175
14,98
2622
18
Swisslion Cycling Team
2310
175
13,2
2310
19
Kulczyk - Alitalia
2256
175
12,89
2256
20
ENI - MOL
2247
175
12,84
2247
21
Andorra Cycling Project
2233
175
12,76
2233
22
Carrefour - ESPN
2228
175
12,73
2228
23
Carlsberg - Danske Bank
2170
175
12,4
2170
24
Team Europcar
2093
175
11,96
2093
25
Philips
1874
175
10,71
1874
26
Sauber Petronas Racing
1639
175
9,37
1640
In the end this year we improved two spots and 250 points over last year's debut PCT finish, and given the move to a younger squad and some major talent development this can be seen as a win when it comes to our overall team development and eventual hope of becoming a higher level PCT team and battling for promotion to the Pro Tour. We are extremely proud of this season showing some great mental strength from the riders given that we looked like relegating for quite a period and eventually we put that well behind us.
Pos
Rider
Nat
Team
Total
1
Aleksandr Pluchkin
MOL
Team Popo4Ever p/b Nemiroff
1708
2
Eduard Alexander Beltran
COL
Swisslion Cycling Team
1368
3
Jonas Ahlstrand
SWD
Volvo acc. by Spotify
1136
23
George Bennett
NZL
Xero Racing
670
37
Mekseb Debesay
ERI
Xero Racing
478
42
Hugo Houle
CAN
Xero Racing
457
59
Luke Rowe
GBR
Xero Racing
403
116
Joseph Areruya
RWA
Xero Racing
168
118
Tsgabu Grmay
ETH
Xero Racing
165
133
Kristian Dyrnes
NOR
Xero Racing
138
157
Stanislau Bazhkou
BLR
Xero Racing
111
205
Shaun Nick Bester
RSA
Xero Racing
75
262
Morne Van Niekerk
RSA
Xero Racing
50
296
Jaco Venter
RSA
Xero Racing
40
392
Sergio Higuita
COL
Xero Racing
17
418
Tom Davison
NZL
Xero Racing
14
450
Dylan Kennett
NZL
Xero Racing
8
490
Nils Schomber
GER
Xero Racing
4
524
Arvid de Kleijn
NED
Xero Racing
2
Unfortunately not quite the depth scoring of last year when we had six in the top 100 given Bazhkou's much worse season and the worse performance of Dyrnes vs Anthony Roux last year, but still with Grmay coming in and Areruya stepping up, as well as the previous two riders still above 100 points we still are spreading the love around the squad, equalling last year's 8 in the top 160. Bennett finally managed to break Anthony Roux's single-season scoring record from the CT in 2017 with 670 points and breaking into the Top 25 after a mostly great season including his first ever GC victory at the Tour of Japan. Ultimately no matter how the stats work out though we are very proud of every name in the above list, and every point that they individually or by their domestique work brought to our team total. Chapeau boys!
Predictions
A bit of fun and petty public revenge as we review the previewers and compare pre-season media expectations to reality. Of course remember that obviously hindsight is 20/20 etc.
jph's prediction - 8th
The most positive prediction for sure, we appreciate the love and only wish he was right.
Croatia's expert conglomerate whatever who cares - 10th
We'll only get excited about our prospects when Croatia thinks we're going to relegate, so I won't say that he gave us false hope here, but he was a little optimistic to say we'd achieve our rankings goal this year.
Abhishek's Expert prediction p/b the Conglomerate - 12th
Friend of the show AbhishekLFC nails it, correctly surmising our eventual 12th place finish.
knockout's Expert prediction p/b unfounded Schomber hate - 12th
And so does knockout. Given their praising of Bazhkou and Dyrnes respectively I'm guessing this was a flukey double miscalculation on their parts though!
jandal's "What? I'm totally not working on a conglomerate preview for the third year in a row, here look at this lazy prediction" prediction - 13th
13th? Really? I know this famously dull sack of a man wasn't even trying with this one given how little he fooled everyone into thinking he wasn't doing a conglomerate preview, but to predict us under by a whole place is really just insulting.
jandal's "do you think people will think I'm smarter if I say my stupid garbage but it's next to Croatia, Abhishek, and knockout's stuff?" "Expert" prediction - 16th
So then this Class A nutcase and all-around hack fraud named after some kind of flimsy sand slipper sits around for a couple of weeks with his thoughts (assuming he has one every few days) and then decides to move us three places down? Why do we still give him the bandwidth and the attention?
SN's "just a smidge number-y" preview - 17th
As usual maths and formulae underpredicts us, not by as much as last year but a solid five places below, proving that thousands of years of the greatest logical thinkers the world has ever seen still cannot comprehend the magnificence of this team.
Oldfart's "if you're not in the top 10 in a MTT with every climber in the PCT competing do you even exist?" leader-based preview - 25th and "Doomed"
He acknowledges the preview sucked when it came to us, and acknowledging it doesn't change the fact it sucked.
Voting is well underway for the team awards amongst riders, staff and management and two awards are once again this year put to you, the fans! Below are the links to vote for your Fan's Rider and Race of the Year from two select lists of options. Get voting now so your favourite rider or team performance can be honoured at our awards ceremony next week!
Very cool idea to have fans vote on awards as well. I really wanted to go with Areruya (for obvious reasons ) but felt like someone else deserved it most. I'm very curious what your team looks like post-renewals.
Hamish Schreurs
Daniel Habtemichael
Nils Schomber
Morne Van Niekerk
Arvid de Kleijn
Jordan Schleck
Sergio Higuita
Than Tung Huynh
Jamalidin Novardianto
Joseph Areruya
Thanks otherwise though 
