Lincoln GP (C2HC)

You say cobbles, we say Baugnies. After having done terrible in the Baltic region earlier this month, our team tried to gather a decent amount of points for the second time in the C2HC category in April. Peruvian champion Quispe, finishing fourth in the Betonexpreszz, was on domestique duties this time, with the most important domestiques being Ulloa and Coronel, who actually won this race last year.

Baugnies was feeling good, and tried to get away from the other favourites in the finale. Tsatevich, who won the race in the end, didn't let him go though. Our Belgian cobbler finished third behind him and Bralirwa's Naesen, just holding off some better puncheurs; Basso and Sinkeldam. Even though we are still waiting on our first classic win, we can't be too unhappy with a podium place. We will be finishing the month in Lisbon soon, but without any decent sprinter or rouleur, scoring points will be hard.



Baugnies was unable to shake off the competition in the finale.

Lisbon Classic (C1)

Two wasted race days in Portugal, not in the break, not even close to scoring any points at any time during the race. Very nice win for Eddie Stobart. Highlights of our race below.

Time for another epic battle in Dunkerque. Our cobbled soldier Jerome Baugnies will have to be the point scorer in that race and another in a calm but important month of May for us. Let's have a look at our three races this month.

Our classic cobbles squad is up for the task in Dunkerque, and what a task they have. The one-day French classic is a sponsor win goal. Won't be easy to win it though, as the hills will definitely play their role, and the competition will be a bit tougher than the C2HC Lincoln GP earlier. Stupid sponsors with their stupid win goals. Still hoping for a good result of course, top-3 could be possible and anything outside the top-5 will be a disappointment. Good luck boys!

Tour du Faso (C2HC)

"Shouldn't this be your win goal looking at Baugnies' stats?" is what my abuela asked me this morning. She is a wise woman, as this race should indeed be a better win goal. Baugnies will of course be our main man, and it is no secret that Los Pollos Hermanos will be aiming for their first GC win. His main cobble domestiques will be Coronel and Ulloa. In addition to that, Quicibal will have the job of keeping the attackers at bay and Manarelli will be back from his vacation in Portugal to try and get a stage result in the second stage.

Giro del Trentino

Well, a team time-trial isn't really our thing, but we hope Sterbini can somehow reduce our losses to the minimum. Stage two and three are then the playground of Marquez and Petrovski, who have the freedom to do whatever they want, hopefully getting a decent stage result and/or points from the KoM.

1 Jour de Dunkerque (C2)

Our prayers have been answered! Sponsor win goal Dunkerque was not the best pick on paper for Baugnies, but luckily riding on cobbles suits him better than riding on paper! First of all we were happy to see him at the startlist, as some sources were saying he had left Los Pollos Hermanos for Centovalli-Fiat. Despite the small startlist, Los Pollos Hermanos decided to not send a rider in the break and control the race from early on. The most important domestique was once again Coronel, but also great work has been done by youngster Ruiz, who scored his first ever points as a professional cyclist. In the finale, Baugnies played it smart and followed the right moves, to then leave everyone behind on the final cobbled sector of the day. The first one day classic win in the history of Los Pollos Hermanos is a fact!



Baugnies doing the Bau Wow

Tour du Faso (C2HC)

Some people predicted an "EZ clap" for our superstar Baugnies in Africa, and after winning sponsor goal race Dunkerque, he definitely had a good feeling at the start of the thee day cobbled stage race Tour du Faso! The first stage was won by Maes though, with an invisible Baugnies finishing in the peloton a bit later, having a deficit of a minute against the Belgian from Tryg. Stage two was one for the sprinters, and just like he did three times in Venezuela earlier this season, Manarelli sprinted to a second place. Even though second is the first loser, we are definitely happy with his efforts, too bad he couldn't finish inside the time limit in the third stage, the queen stage.

Luckily for us, the guy responsible for letting him and many others finish outside that time limit was none other than our own Jerome Baugnies. The Belgian was attentive all day, and attacked at the right moment to come in solo and overtake Maes by sixteen seconds! After our first classic win in the previous race, Jerome now delivered us our first GC win as well! He finished second in the points classification, so he scored us a very nice amount of ppRD. Coronel and Ulloa did worse than hoped, but we'll just say this is because they worked so hard for their captain, the winner of the Tour du Faso 2020, JEEEROOOOOOME BAUGNIES!

Cheeky second place for Manarelli

He looks so good in yellow <3

Giro del Trentino (C2)

Well well well, May is a month that just keeps on giving, too bad we signed up for only three races. After winning the cobbled races of Dunkerque and Faso, our boys now went to Italy for the three day mountain race Giro del Trentino. In the opening TTT, we immediately lost almost two minutes to later winner Thibaut Pinot.

No man overboard though, as there were still stages and KoM's to go for. Petrovski was in the early break in the second stage, but after a change of situation in the peloton, he became distanced, never to come back again. The peloton then kept the leaders under control, and our leader, Marquez attacked at the beginning of the final mountain. The Spaniard got some room, also thanks to his GC position probably, and managed to hold on quite well and finished third in the stage, which lead him to fifth in GC.

We were in the early break as well on the final stage, this time with Seboka. Our national champion felt very good and made use of his great downhill capacities by attacking on the final descent, never to be seen again by the other attackers or the peloton! Great win by Seboka, which also ensured him the shared victory in the points classification! Marquez stayed in the peloton quite easily and kept his fifth position in the GC. Great month for our boys in red and yellow, hopefully more of this in the second half of the season!

Marquez attacking in the second stage, on his way to a third place in the stage and fifth in the GC

Seboka feels his moment has come and attacks in the descent of the last stage

Seboka celebrating his win