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[PCT20] Swisslion Cycling Team | Farewell
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| redordead |
Posted on 10-01-2021 10:35
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
PCM$: 200.00
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 | Lahcen Saber | Leader |  | Ivan Siric | Domestique |  | Miha Poljanec | Domestique |  | Goran Antonijevic | Domestique |  | Matija Mestric | Domestique |  | Georgios Stavrakakis | Domestique | | Matic Groselj | Domestique | | Izidor Penko | Domestique |
Race goals:
| Top 20 | Failure | Lahcen Saber | 26th |
Race score: 4/10
The race report is brought to you by Sijaj,
team media sponsor of Swisslion Cycling Team
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| redordead |
Posted on 11-01-2021 06:29
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
PCM$: 200.00
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 Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne
| Lahcen Saber | Leader | | Ivan Siric | Domestique | | Miha Poljanec | Domestique | | Goran Antonijevic | Domestique | | Matija Mestric | Domestique |  | Gabriel Marin | Domestique | | Matic Groselj | Domestique | | Georgios Stavrakakis | Domestique |
Race goals:
| Top 15 | Failure | Lahcen Saber | 26th |
Race score: 2/10
The race report is brought to you by Sijaj,
team media sponsor of Swisslion Cycling Team
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| redordead |
Posted on 12-01-2021 09:24
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
PCM$: 200.00
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 Tour of Pologne
| 10.04 - 16.04 | HC | Goals: Top 35 GC; Stage win(s)/KOM |
 | Yevgeniy Nepomnyachsniy | Free Role |  | Stepan Kurianov | Domestique |  | Abolfazl Gilanipoor | Free Role |  | Michael Christodoulos | Domestique | | Matija Mestric | Domestique | | Goran Antonijevic | Domestique | | Matic Groselj | Domestique | | Ivan Siric | Domestique |
The race preview is brought to you by Sijaj,
team media sponsor of Swisslion Cycling Team
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| redordead |
Posted on 13-01-2021 11:01
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
PCM$: 200.00
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| Pos | Last | | Team | Total | RD | PpRD | Proj | | 1 | 1 |  | Farfetch Pro Cycling | 1432 | 50 | 28,64 | 5012 | | 2 | 26 |  | Repsol - Netflix | 1181 | 45 | 26,24 | 4592 | | 3 | 14 |  | Mapei | 1179 | 40 | 29,48 | 5159 | | 4 | 16 |  | Team Popo4Ever p/b Nemiroff | 1142 | 75 | 15,23 | 2665 | | 5 | 13 |  | Valio - Viking Genetics | 1086 | 63 | 17,24 | 3017 | | 6 | 2 |  | Bakkafrost | 1027 | 54 | 19,02 | 3329 | | 7 | 6 |  | Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam | 1015 | 62 | 16,37 | 2865 | | 8 | 11 |  | Duolingo | 994 | 50 | 19,88 | 3479 | | 9 | 20 |  | Andorra Cycling Project | 922 | 53 | 17,4 | 3045 | | 10 | 21 |  | Polar | 909 | 56 | 16,23 | 2840 | | 11 | 4 |  | Berg Cycles | 871 | 56 | 15,55 | 2721 | | 12 | 8 |  | Minions | 864 | 50 | 17,28 | 3024 | | 13 | 10 |  | Podium Ambition | 855 | 66 | 12,95 | 2266 | | 14 | 3 |  | Xero Racing | 829 | 48 | 17,27 | 3022 | | 15 | 12 |  | Desigual | 759 | 53 | 14,32 | 2506 | | 16 | 7 |  | GCN Racing | 694 | 57 | 12,18 | 2132 | | 17 | 9 |  | Swisslion Cycling Team | 689 | 60 | 11,48 | 2009 | | 18 | 18 |  | MOL | 624 | 52 | 12 | 2100 | | 19 | 17 |  | Campari Asahi Procycling | 545 | 52 | 10,48 | 1834 | | 20 | 23 |  | DK - SVA Zalgiris | 545 | 50 | 10,9 | 1908 | | 21 | 15 |  | Aramco DP | 543 | 54 | 10,06 | 1761 | | 22 | 19 |  | Adastra N Hell Energy Cycling | 528 | 50 | 10,56 | 1848 | | 23 | 24 |  | Fablok - Chocolate Jacques | 495 | 31 | 15,97 | 2795 | | 24 | 22 |  | Azteca - NBCSN | 400 | 49 | 8,16 | 1428 | | 25 | 25 |  | Kraftwerk Man Machine | 400 | 34 | 11,76 | 2058 | | 26 | 5 |  | Nordstrom - CA Technologies | 384 | 43 | 8,93 | 1563 |
In the second ranking update we see Swisslion drop down the table to 17th. But on closer inspection the situation is much worse. Swisslion rank 20th in projected points scored which puts us just above the relagation line. How has it come to this?
It all started with a subpar 26th place finish from Lahcen Saber in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, little did we know that it would be the best result the Morrocan produced during the cobble heavy period. Nepomnyachsniy had his debut in Hong Kong which turned out to be a disaster, with the Kazakh not making even the top 30. Gilanipoor provided a glimmer of hope with a stage win at the Volta a Portugal, but Beltran dashed those hopes with a 31st place finish at the Pro Hallstatt Classic, closing out a miserable month of February.
Unfortunately the month of March started in a similar way to February. Saber finished 41st in Geraardsbergen and 44th in Roma Maxima, a race he podiumed in the two the previous editions. Better fortune favoured our other sprinter Kris Boeckmans in Barbados. The experienced Belgian scored a stage win and finished 3rd in GC, adding some much needed points to Swisslion's cause. An upturn of results seemed to be on the cards with Nepomnyachsniy improving his form with a 7th place in Jelajah and 10th in Pais Vasco.
Alas that momentum was first halted in Juarez, where Saber finished just 11th in GC with no stage wins. Eddy Beltran momentarily snapped out of his funk with an impressive 2nd place finish in the Apex Mountain Classic. Then Saber proceeded with his poor results on the cobbles in Le Samyn. We closed out the month of March with Beltran finishing an underwhelming 7th in Strade Bianchi, Saber not doing much in the cobbled doubleheader of E3 and Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne and both Kris Boeckmans and Hugues Mottin not delivering the results in Uppsala.
With 60 race days, a third of the season completed the outlook looks grim. Our main leaders Beltran and Saber are not scoring points in the races well suited to them. Looking at the calendar and our upcoming races we are finding it hard to see races where we can score well in. As a result of that our supporting cast simply can't carry that level of underperformance.
It is going to be a long hard season regardless, but we sincerely hope our fortunes change and we find a way to retain our PCT status.
| Kris Boeckmans | | Swisslion Cycling Team | 264 |  Eduard Alexander Beltran | | Swisslion Cycling Team | 161 | | Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy | | Swisslion Cycling Team | 86 | | Abolfazl Gilanipoor | | Swisslion Cycling Team | 78 | | Lahcen Saber | | Swisslion Cycling Team | 76 |  Aberlardo Ablenado | | Swisslion Cycling Team | 10 |  Tyron Giogieri | | Swisslion Cycling Team | 10 |  Hugues Mottin | | Swisslion Cycling Team | 2 | | Izidor Penko | | Swisslion Cycling Team | 1 | | Michael Christodoulos | | Swisslion Cycling Team | 1 |
Bostjan Mervar,
team representative and general manager of Swisslion Cycling Team
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| redordead |
Posted on 17-01-2021 09:28
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
PCM$: 200.00
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 Tour of California
| 01.04 - 07.04 | HC | Goals: Top 35 GC 2x; Top 3 Stage/KOM |
| Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy | Free Role | | Hugues Mottin | Domestique | | Aberlardo Ablenado | Free Role | | Izidor Penko | Domestique | | Abolfazl Gilanipoor | Free Role | | Matija Mestric | Domestique | | Miha Poljanec | Free Role | | Michael Christodoulos | Domestique |
Race goals:
| Top 35 GC | Success | Aberlardo Ablenado | 23rd | | Top 35 GC | Success | Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy | 30th | | Top 3 Stage | Failure | Hugues Mottin | 5th (Stage 5) |
Race score: 4/10
The race report is brought to you by Sijaj,
team media sponsor of Swisslion Cycling Team
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| redordead |
Posted on 18-01-2021 05:54
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
PCM$: 200.00
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Corsica International
| 14.04 - 16.04 | HC | Goals: Top 35 GC; Top 3 Stage |
| Kris Boeckmans | Sprinter | | Tyron Giogieri | Free Role | | Gabriel Marin | Leadout | | Hugues Mottin | Domestique | | Dusan Rajovic | Domestique | | Izidor Penko | Domestique | | Georgios Stavrakakis | Domestique | | Yuriy Natarov | Domestique |
The race preview is brought to you by Sijaj,
team media sponsor of Swisslion Cycling Team
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| redordead |
Posted on 20-01-2021 07:18
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
PCM$: 200.00
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    Baltic Chain Tour
| 04.04 - 08.04 | C1 | Goals: Top 10 GC |
| Lahcen Saber | Leader | | Goran Antonijevic | Domestique | | Dusan Rajovic | Domestique | | Ivan Siric | Domestique | | Matic Groselj | Domestique | | Georgios Stavrakakis | Domestique | | Stepan Kurianov | Domestique | | Yuriy Natarov | Domestique |
Coming off a bad end of the month in March the Swisslion boys made their way to the Baltic countries in Northern Europe. It was to be the last chance for Lahcen Saber to achieve a meaningful result in a stage race. With a strong startlist of sprinters at the race, Lahcen was mainly supported by flat riders like Kurianov, Groselj and Antonijevic. But before the sprinting commenced there was a short prologue with cobbles in Tallinn. Saber got himself off to a good start losing only 5'' to the winner, with loanee Stavrakakis and Groselj also producing a good time to take 2nd and 3rd place in the U25 classification. Stage 2 in St. Petersburg was a missed opportunity. Saber got his positioning all wrong in the final kilometres and could not participate in the sprint, finishing only 15th. Without any bonus seconds the Morrocan tumbled down the standings and there was an ominous feeling around the Swisslion camp of "here we go again". Swisslion did their part in chasing down the breakaway on stage 3 and were rewarded in the end. Saber learned from his previous mistake to finish 7th on the day. That put him back up to 9th in GC.
Swisslion chasing the breakaway on stage 3
Stage 4 was raced in Stockholm, Sweden. Swisslion again committed riders towards catching the breakaway. The catch was made with 16 km to go, it was again Saber's job to navigate himself into a good sprinting position. Starting quite a ways back at first, he managed to work his way onto Gaviria's wheel on the left side of the road. It was down to power in the legs at that point, as the sprinters hit the wind 800 m from the finish line. It was a powerful sprint by Saber, for a while looking like it will be the Morrocan's 1st win of the season, but it came down to a bike throw in the end and Guarnieri was just a cm in front. The result elevated Saber to 3rd place in GC.
Lahcen Saber sprinting to a 2nd place finish on stage 4
The final stage was held in Vilnius with a more undulating course than the previous days. Not as much work was done by Swisslion at the front with the focus on keeping Saber up front and upright heading into the stage's finale. In contrast to previous days the team did a very good job of bringing Saber to the front positions with 3 km to go. With the road turning uphill over the final 1.5 km Saber did an excellent job preserving his power and slowly moving forward as the road opened up. The Swisslion sprinter couldn't quite reach the absolute front in time as a very powerful Gaviria took the win and a better positioned Manninen held on to 2nd place. But the 3rd place finish meant Saber climbed up to 2nd place in GC. It was finally the result everyone was waiting for. As an extra bonus Stavrakakis and Groselj maintained their spots in the U25 classification. We caught up with the Morrocan after the race.
Lahcen Saber securing 2nd in GC with a podium on the final stage
Saber: I'm just so, so happy to finally help this team! My season has been a nightmare and it has been something very hard to deal with, myself and the team. I hope we can all push forward from here on out. We have to keep fighting and we can't give up!
Race goals:
| Top 10 GC | Success | Lahcen Saber | 2nd |
Race score: 10/10
The race report is brought to you by Sijaj,
team media sponsor of Swisslion Cycling Team
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 20-01-2021 07:30
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4669
Joined: 29-09-2018
PCM$: 185.00
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Congrats! Finally a great result - hopefully a sign of more to come!
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| redordead |
Posted on 21-01-2021 06:07
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
PCM$: 200.00
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Fabianski wrote:
Congrats! Finally a great result - hopefully a sign of more to come!
Thanks 
Too bad Saber has already used most of his race days. Hopefully he still has one or two performances like this left in him.
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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| ivaneurope |
Posted on 21-01-2021 06:41
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2933
Joined: 09-05-2011
PCM$: 300.00
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redordead wrote:
Fabianski wrote:
Congrats! Finally a great result - hopefully a sign of more to come!
Thanks
Too bad Saber has already used most of his race days. Hopefully he still has one or two performances like this left in him.
At least he showed up - unlike one Georg Preidler
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 08:24
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Bot Agent
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| redordead |
Posted on 21-01-2021 08:07
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
PCM$: 200.00
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Beltran vs Preidler. Who will be worse? 
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 21-01-2021 08:59
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11675
Joined: 27-07-2015
PCM$: 1861.50
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Think that's a better GC result than Saber ever managed for us I think Better late than never!
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| redordead |
Posted on 21-01-2021 13:37
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
PCM$: 200.00
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AbhishekLFC wrote:
Think that's a better GC result than Saber ever managed for us I think Better late than never!
I think he may have done some other things that he never did for you this season. Unfortunately just most of them on the other side of the spectrum
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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| redordead |
Posted on 22-01-2021 08:40
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
PCM$: 200.00
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Tour of Pologne
| 10.04 - 16.04 | HC | Goals: Top 35 GC; Stage win(s)/KOM |
| Yevgeniy Nepomnyachsniy | Free Role | | Stepan Kurianov | Domestique | | Abolfazl Gilanipoor | Free Role | | Michael Christodoulos | Domestique | | Matija Mestric | Domestique | | Goran Antonijevic | Domestique | | Matic Groselj | Domestique | | Ivan Siric | Domestique |
Race goals:
| Top 35 GC | Success | Yevgeniy Nepomnyachsniy | 18th | | Top 35 GC | Success | Abolfazl Gilanipoor | 31st | | Stage win(s)/KOM | Failure | No one worth a mention | |
Race score: 5/10
The race report is brought to you by Sijaj,
team media sponsor of Swisslion Cycling Team
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| redordead |
Posted on 23-01-2021 12:58
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
PCM$: 200.00
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Tour of Cyprus
| 21.04 - 24.04 | HC | Goals: Top 35 GC 2x; Stage win(s) |
| Kris Boeckmans | Sprinter | | Aberlardo Ablenado | Free Role | | Dusan Rajovic | Leadout | | Tyron Giogieri | Free Role | | Matic Groselj | Domestique | | Matija Mestric | Domestique | | Goran Antonijevic | Domestique | | Ivan Siric | Domestique |
The race preview is brought to you by Sijaj,
team media sponsor of Swisslion Cycling Team
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| ivaneurope |
Posted on 23-01-2021 13:55
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2933
Joined: 09-05-2011
PCM$: 300.00
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At least I did something right for a change by sending Preidler to Cyprus - shame that we won't see the battle of underachievers between Preidler and Beltran
But I've brought Kristoff to the party so he will duke it out with Boeckmans instead of his usual running mate in Saber 
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| redordead |
Posted on 24-01-2021 10:29
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
PCM$: 200.00
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ivaneurope wrote:
At least I did something right for a change by sending Preidler to Cyprus - shame that we won't see the battle of underachievers between Preidler and Beltran
But I've brought Kristoff to the party so he will duke it out with Boeckmans instead of his usual running mate in Saber
I think looking at the startlist I made the right decision keeping Beltran at home
Let's see if either Kristoff or Boeckmans show up this time.
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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| redordead |
Posted on 25-01-2021 06:23
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
PCM$: 200.00
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Corsica International
| 14.04 - 16.04 | HC | Goals: Top 35 GC; Top 3 Stage |
| Kris Boeckmans | Sprinter | | Tyron Giogieri | Free Role | | Gabriel Marin | Leadout | | Hugues Mottin | Domestique | | Dusan Rajovic | Domestique | | Izidor Penko | Domestique | | Georgios Stavrakakis | Domestique | | Yuriy Natarov | Domestique |
Race goals:
| Top 35 GC | Success | Tyron Giogieri | 21st | | Top 3 Stage | Failure | Kris Boeckmans | 6th (Stage 1) |
Race score: 5/10
The race report is brought to you by Sijaj,
team media sponsor of Swisslion Cycling Team
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| redordead |
Posted on 26-01-2021 05:52
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
PCM$: 200.00
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| Eduard Alexander Beltran | Leader | | Gabriel Marin | Domestique | | Tyron Giogieri | Domestique | | Dusan Rajovic | Domestique | | Abolfazl Gilanipoor | Domestique | | Goran Antonijevic | Domestique | | Izidor Penko | Domestique | | Georgius Stavrakakis | Domestique |
The race preview is brought to you by Sijaj,
team media sponsor of Swisslion Cycling Team
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| redordead |
Posted on 27-01-2021 06:16
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
PCM$: 200.00
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| Kris Boeckmans | Leader | | Izidor Penko | Domestique | | Gabriel Marin | Domestique | | Dusan Rajovic | Domestique | | Miha Poljanec | Domestique | | Ivan Siric | Domestique | | Matic Groselj | Domestique | | Hugues Mottin | Domestique |
The race preview is brought to you by Sijaj,
team media sponsor of Swisslion Cycling Team
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Veenendaal - Veenendaal 
