Not a lot of expectations from this race except to try to pull off something unexpected. Boev has been having a good season. Van Lerberghe and Paprstka have kept things interesting towards the finish of higher category races. We're just hoping for some kind of surprise from them.

Huge expextations from this stage race, with Kelderman clearly the strongest puncher in the division and also having decent TT capabilities. He has the full support team here. We're hoping that Duoulin can improve from Denamrk and get a good result in the Prologue and the TT. We're hoping the same for Van der Sanden who really needs to get his act together.

Keinath is back to a stage race after a sub-par performance in Pico Basile. Our support here is not the best with the clash with Sakartvelo. Van der Sanden gets another shot at another stage race to improve his form. Dumoulin wil target the Prologue. We also believe that Inkelaar could be in with a shot at the Top 5 in the U25 classification.

Bardet is back racing here after a Top 10 finish last season. We are hoping for something similar but that might still be an over-achievement.

Keinath leads in another race this month, but this time it's a trickier affair with the newly introduced Tour of Chile. We're not sure how the hill stage will play and so we're keeping our expectations lower than we usually would. Boev riders to try his luck on the first stage. We hope Bardet can keep up his improved form here as well.

We'd love to win this race in the home of DK Zalgiris. But let's be honest, we have 1.5 TT riders and we'll do well to even get close to the Top 10.

A huge race, and actually a huge month for Van der Sanden. He leads the team along with Dumoulin and needs to get a good result out of this one. probably a mistake not to have Boev here with his Prologue skills but we have to hope to still be competitive regardless.

We got dropped in the splits in the middle of the race and had to do a lot of work to get back just before the last lap. We were nowhere in the final sprint. Bovenhuis finished 29th as our best finisher.

1	Marko Kump	Nordstrom - CA Technologies	4h16'30
29	Jasper Bovenhuis	Philips	s.t.
51	Igor Boev	Philips	s.t.
61	Bert Van Lerberghe	Philips	+ 1'21
65	Tomas Paprstka	Philips	s.t.
79	Michel Kreder	Philips	s.t.
101	Jefferson Cepeda Hernandez	Philips	+ 2'30

We didn't expect much and got nothing from this race.

Dumoulin finished 6th as our best result in the Prologue. We were hoping for better.

Van der Sanden sprinted to 4th on Stage 2, after a non-eventful stage otherwise.

Stage 3 was the first hill stage and we were in full attention for Kelderman. The team delivered him well to the final climb, where he went head to head with Juul-Jensen and edges out a narrow stage win to take the leader's jersey as well.



Stage 4 went to the break with Kelderman safe in the pack and retaining his leader's jersey. Storer was the new leader in the U25s, after a good support ride in the previous stage.

Fortunes changed on Stage 5 as Kelderman could not keep up with the best times, finishing nearly 90 seconds off the best time. He fell to 6th in the GC as a result. Dumoulin disappointed again with only a 6th place on the stage. Storer fell to 2nd in the U25s.

Stage 6 had a steep climb to finish, and while the team put Kelderman into the perfect spot for an attack, which he did, he could not hold on to his lead, and finished 5th on the stage. He moved up to 4th in the GC while Storer took back his U25 jersey.

Stage 7 was more of the same with Kelderman's late attack not sticking. There was more of a selection this time which meant he would climb two more spots to 2nd in the GC.

We couldn't make an impact on the final stage but held our GC positions.

1	Jakub Novak	Carrefour - ESPN	22h26'42
2	Wilco Kelderman	Philips	+ 1'49
34	Michael Storer	Philips	+ 12'11
52	Calvin Watson	Philips	+ 15'03
56	Geert Van der Sanden	Philips	+ 15'40
76	Tom Dumoulin	Philips	+ 18'56
84	Kevin Inkelaar	Philips	+ 20'14
97	Ide Schelling	Philips	+ 23'59

2nd in the GC, a stage win, 2nd in the Points, and a win in the U25s is a good result. But we should've won...

Horrible start in the Prologue with Dumoulin just managing 19th.

No sign of Van der Sanden in the sprint on Stage 2.

We kept Keinath at the front throughout Stage 3. The first attack was with 3 km to go and Keinath followed as part of a seven man group. Seven became four with 1500 meters left. Keinath couldn't follow the winning move but dropped the others to finish 2nd.

Again, no sign of Van der Sanden on Stage 4.

Stage 5 was a closer mountain affair. Pinot launched the winning attack but Keinath defended his second place, finishing 2nd again on the stage and not losing too much time.

Van der Sanden on Stage 6; is sprint? will rest!

Stage 7: check the profile you'll know what happened. Everyone finished safely.

1	Lawrence Warbasse	Carlsberg - Danske Bank	24h27'41
2	Nico Keinath	Philips	+ 18
25	Joonas Henttala	Philips	+ 5'54
66	Ide Schelling	Philips	+ 11'55
78	Geert Van der Sanden	Philips	+ 15'01
83	Kevin Inkelaar	Philips	+ 15'43
102	Tom Dumoulin	Philips	+ 19'32

2nd in the GC, two 2nd places on the mountains, 3rd in the KOM and 7th in the Points is a good haul from this race. Henttala also picked up his first points of the season. If only our sprinter was interested.

We kept our expectations low, given that Bardet hasn't done much all season.

For a change, we joined the break with Paprstka.



Paprstka was among the last three surviving breakaway. Bardet kept himself in the front group of the peloton till the end. He couldn't put in much of a finish, ending up 8th.

1	Matteo Fabbro	Carlsberg - Danske Bank	6h51'01
8	Romain Bardet	Philips	s.t.
32	Michael Storer	Philips	+ 4'10
63	Jefferson Cepeda Hernandez	Philips	+ 9'47
64	Tomas Paprstka	Philips	s.t.
72	Calvin Watson	Philips	+ 11'32
80	Michel Kreder	Philips	+ 13'11

Bardet performed pretty much according to expectations, although he probably might have been in contention for a Top 5 if the race had become selective.

We kept our expectation low since this was the first running of this race. We were hoping Keinath could keep up his good form.

Boev started his sprint from a long way back on Stage 1. he had to be content with 6th.

We were worried about how the hills might affect Keinath on Stage 2. While he could not make an impact on the stage, he finished 14th and in the front group.

Stage 3 was the target and we concentrated on keeping our leader safe. Keinath was able to follow the decisive and was part of a seven man group with 2.5 km left. He could not push on in the closing stages but did finish 6th on the stage, with the same time as the stage winner. This ensured he tied for 2nd in the GC on time but was given 3rd place on countback.

1	Magnus Cort Nielsen	Tryg - Ritter Sport	12h42'54
3	Nico Keinath	Philips	+ 32
30	Romain Bardet	Philips	+ 6'10
60	Michael Storer	Philips	+ 12'59
63	Kevin Inkelaar	Philips	+ 13'28
72	Joonas Henttala	Philips	+ 14'48
84	Ide Schelling	Philips	+ 18'20
91	Jefferson Cepeda Hernandez	Philips	+ 19'18
103	Igor Boev	Philips	+ 23'56

Another podium finish for Keinath and the first time in our team's history that we've had two riders finish in the points in the U25s - Storer in 6th and Inkelaar in 7th. Not much else from this race.

We received the No. 1 bib and were the last team to start. That was the highlight of our race.

1	Project: Africa	50'41
16	Philips	+ 3'03

This went as well as we thought it would. We did not see the Zalgiris manager cheer us on, which was a disappointment.

Stage 1: Sprint: Van der Sanden - Nope. Cepeda Hernandez took the U25 jersey.

Stage 2: Sprint: Van der Sanden - Nada.

Stage 3: Sprint: Van der Sanden - Zilch. Cepeda Hernandez dropped a spot to 2nd in the U25s.

Dumoulin finished 5th on Stage 4, his best TT result of the season so far.



Henttala also got his best result of the season, finishing 10th on the stage.

Dumoulin and Henttala finished 10th and 15th in the GC respectively, thereby somehow achieving our GC ambitions!

1	Matteo Pelucchi	Sotto il sole di Riccione	14h08'51
10	Tom Dumoulin	Philips	+ 19
15	Joonas Henttala	Philips	+ 25
64	Ide Schelling	Philips	+ 47
72	Jefferson Cepeda Hernandez	Philips	+ 51
99	Tomas Paprstka	Philips	+ 1'01
119	Geert Van der Sanden	Philips	+ 1'13

Not the greatest TT once again from Dumoulin but both him and Henttala sneaks in for some GC points. Earlier Cepeda Hernandez kept the points ticking with his exploits in the U25 classification. We did finish 3rd in the Teams standings, which is some more points.

We've added a bit of all skills present in the team for this race, a race we had to be in because of where it is held. Van Lerberghe and Paprstka are here for the cobbles while Bovenhuis is an all-rounder we expect can keep up on both the hills and the cobbles. Boev is thrown in to mix it up with better PCT sprinters while Dumoulin is also here, to try to keep improving in TTs. Not a very important race for us in terms of points, but one where we'll hope to do well in front of home crowds. First look at the younger Per who starts off as a Stagiare.

Keinath leads us in a mountain race yet again and we have high hopes again. We have to keep him safe on the hilly Stage 6 though. Van der Sanden is here again to try to pick up the pieces of his disastrous season so far. Dumoulin will lead the team in the TTT, hopefully steering Keinath to a good result.

Our second Win goal of the season, and with Kelderrman here, we do expect to win. However, our leader's races haven't been as straight-forward as we'd like, so it is perhaps more sensible to pare our expectations and target a podium finish from this race. The full puncher squad is here in support and it is also a first look for two of our Stagiares, Scaroni and Kooistra.

The second home race of the month, as we send Van der Sanden to try to make a nuisance of himself. Realistically, it is perhaps the possibility of a late attack by either Van Lerberghe or Paprtska which excites us more in this race. Again, we do not have high hopes here, and just want to put on a good show for the home fans.

A good start for us as Dumoulin took 3rd place to start things off in the Prologue.



Dumoulin's stay at the top of the standings was short-lived as he was dropped on Stage 2. Boev finished 9th.

No action for us on Stage 3.

Stage 4 was the cobbles. Led the chase of the break as the pack got closer. Continued at the front after the catch. Summerhill attacked with 6 kilometers to go and Van Lerberghe was able to follow. He caught up with 3 kilometers to go and they led by 15 seconds over the pack. Summerhill started his sprint early, but Van Lerberghe kept his wheel. The acceleration didn't allow the attacking Gaviria to catch up from behind. Van Lerberghe took the lead with 300 meters to go as Summerhill faded. His gap ensured that he kept Gaviria behind and won the stage!



Van Lerberghe moved up to 2nd in the GC.

We knew Stage 5 would be tough and that's how it turned out. Van Lerberghe lost more than 10 minutes on the stage and fell to 15th in the GC.

Per joined the break on the final stage.



The break survived but Per couldn't contest the sprint and finished 5th. Still, a good result from our Stagiare in his first race for the team.

1	Fernando Gaviria	Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	23h36'51
15	Bert Van Lerberghe	Philips	+ 11'23
34	Tomas Paprstka	Philips	+ 16'59
39	Igor Boev	Philips	+ 18'02
50	Gorazd Per	Philips	+ 22'22
55	Michel Kreder	Philips	+ 23'52
73	Jefferson Cepeda Hernandez	Philips	+ 31'44
79	Jasper Bovenhuis	Philips	+ 35'55
112	Tom Dumoulin	Philips	+ 1h07'14

We came into this race with limited expectations but go away with a stage win, a podium and a Top 5. I think we gave a good account of ourselves here and Van Lerberghe forever goes into cycling folklore with his win, especially because of the riders he was up against in the sprint!

Dumoulin tied for the best time on Stage 1. The judges awarded him 2nd on count-back. This is his best result of the season till date.



Van der Sanden couldn't get into the Top 10 on Stage 2.

We set the pace on Stage 3 after the break was caught and the pack hit the final climb. Keinath got a gap to the pack along with Ranaweera and Marquez with 200 meters to go. Ranaweera was too strong in the finish as Keinath finished 2nd.



He moved up to 3rd in the GC.

Van der Sanden finished outside the Top 10 again on Stage 4.

Same story repeated on Stage 5, with Kreder this time out-sprinting his leader!

We were worried about the hills on Stage 6 but Keinath managed to finish in the group of favourites and lost no time. Marquez did lose time, moving Keinath up to 2nd.

We did not do badly in the TT, finishing 6th, but we lost too much time to Carrefour and didn't gain enough on Sauber, which meant Keinath lost a place in the GC to end up 3rd.

1	Jakub Novak	Carrefour - ESPN	18h36'59
3	Nico Keinath	Philips	+ 22
23	Joonas Henttala	Philips	+ 4'14
32	Kevin Inkelaar	Philips	+ 6'48
59	Romain Bardet	Philips	+ 11'37
61	Ide Schelling	Philips	+ 12'04
71	Michel Kreder	Philips	+ 13'09
82	Geert Van der Sanden	Philips	+ 15'23
83	Tom Dumoulin	Philips	+ 15'26

3rd in the GC and 23rd from Henttala gives a decent haul of points. Add to this two second places in the stages, 3rd in the KOM and 5th in the U25s by Inkelaar makes it a good race for us.

Our second Win Goal race of the season, and again it was up to Kelderman to get it. But despite strong work from Cepeda Hernandez, who led the pack and even closed down some late moves, Kelderman couldn't follow the winning move and was out-sprinted in the pack to 3rd place.

1	Costa Seibeb	Project: Africa	5h29'58
3	Wilco Kelderman	Philips	s.t.
25	Calvin Watson	Philips	+ 29
29	Jefferson Cepeda Hernandez	Philips	+ 55
62	Jasper Bovenhuis	Philips	+ 4'45
68	Michael Storer	Philips	s.t.
71	Marten Kooistra	Philips	s.t.
74	Cristian Scaroni	Philips	s.t.

We miss our Win Goal, which sets us back a little. Maybe we were too ambitious in our goal selections, but with Kelderman we believed we had a realistic chance of getting it. Watson picks up a single point but we wish he was more involved today. Cepeda Hernandez did a good job.

Schelling joined the break in our home race and did a great job holding out till 21 km to go.



Van der Sanden was nowhere to be seen again but Bovenhuis endured we got some points from this race with a 21st place finish.

1	Jacopo Guarnieri	Bakkafrost	5h39'26
21	Jasper Bovenhuis	Philips	s.t.
41	Tomas Paprstka	Philips	+ 58
86	Bert Van Lerberghe	Philips	+ 2'08
116	Geert Van der Sanden	Philips	+ 2'39
134	Jefferson Cepeda Hernandez	Philips	s.t.
139	Gorazd Per	Philips	s.t.
152	Ide Schelling	Philips	+ 7'04

Van der Sanden disappoints once again. Not that we expected much from this race, but it would be good if our sprinter showed up some times. Props to Bovenhuis for getting us some return and to Schelling for a brave breakaway ride.

Always an interesting race this one with lots of possibilities. We've covered both sprinter and roluer bases with Boev, Van Lerberghe and Paprstka in the starting line-up, along with decent support. We hope we can be involved at the front of the race in the business end.

Our final Goal race of the season sees Kelderman lead the team in this hilly stage race. We come here with a Top 5 Goal but we really should be in the running for the win here. A podium would be a minimum requirement. Kreder gets his only chance to lead this season as a sprinter in this race. We don't expect much but it would be nice to see him involved in the first two stages.

We expect a tough cobbled race, which isn't exactly Van Lerberghe's specialty. But nonetheless, he has done well in races like previously, so we do expect to be in the running for the high spots. Paprstka as always will be an able lieutenant, and Bovenhuis should be one too.

Keinath leads the team but this isn't his strong suit. He thrives in stage races and hasn't replicated that success in classics. Nevertheless, we still hope for a high finish, with a full mountain support here.

Kelderman goes up against the big guns of the PCT to try and bury some of the ghosts of last season. He actually went a long way towards that in Kong Hong, actually winning that race, which was beyond our wildest dreams. We don't have those kind of hopes here either but if we can challenge for the Top 5, that would be good. We have a full support team here, but we don't really expect them to get any points from this race.

AbhishekLFC wrote:
Looking forward to those races (speaking before Philadelphia off course ).

A poor race for us as Boev failed to compete in the sprint and got no points!

1	Asbjorn Kragh Andersen	Carlsberg - Danske Bank	4h43'49
32	Igor Boev	Philips	s.t.
40	Tomas Paprstka	Philips	s.t.
44	Jefferson Cepeda Hernandez	Philips	s.t.
57	Jasper Bovenhuis	Philips	s.t.
67	Marten Kooistra	Philips	s.t.
69	Bert Van Lerberghe	Philips	s.t.
71	Gorazd Per	Philips	s.t.
79	Michel Kreder	Philips	s.t.

A bad race for us and a bad start to the month. A rare no-show from Boev means we lose further ground to the teams above and around us.

A quiet start for us as Kreder couldn't compete in the Stage 1 sprint.

Nearly a dream return to sprint leadership for Kreder here as a good leadout from Cepeda Hernandez and Storer allowed him to be in great position for the finish. He was beaten on the line and had to be content with 2nd.



The hills on Stage 3 were not selective and Kelderman could only finish safely in the pack.

Stage 4 was a disaster as the steep climbs did not favour Kelderman and he was dropped quite a way before the finish. He only finished 18th on the stage and 16th in the GC. Storer did well to grab 18th in the GC.

1	Odd Christian Eiking	Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team	16h38'28
16	Wilco Kelderman	Philips	+ 2'58
18	Michael Storer	Philips	+ 4'29
41	Kevin Inkelaar	Philips	+ 9'28
52	Calvin Watson	Philips	+ 11'16
70	Ide Schelling	Philips	+ 14'43
88	Cristian Scaroni	Philips	+ 18'18
89	Michel Kreder	Philips	+ 18'24
127	Jefferson Cepeda Hernandez	Philips	+ 27'02

Another goal missed and that makes it only 1 out of 3 so far! Really disappointing result from Kelderman here. We did get soome added points from Storer's GC position, 3rd place in the U25s and Inkelaar's 5th place in the latter.

We didn't join the break but Paprstka atatcked with 114 kilometers to go and joined up with the front group.



Bovenhuis also attacked a few kilometers later and joined the break.



Van Lerberghe suffered a puncture back in the pack but did get back to the peloton after more than 20 kilometers of chasing. Paprstka atatcked again with 20 kilometers to go from the front group, as the chasers came closer.



He was caught by the front group with 8 kilometers left. Past the last cobbled section, he was in a leading duo with Albert of the Minions. Paprstka would ride away with 4 kilometers to go but he was caught under the Red Kite by five riders. He would finish 5th in the sprint.



Van Lerberghe's recovery ride gave him 10th place. Bovenhuis finished 22nd.

1	Jerome Baugnies	Los Pollos Hermanos	5h22'39
5	Tomas Paprstka	Philips	s.t.
10	Bert Van Lerberghe	Philips	s.t.
22	Jasper Bovenhuis	Philips	s.t.
60	Geert Van der Sanden	Philips	+ 9'45
68	Gorazd Per	Philips	+ 12'46
76	Michel Kreder	Philips	+ 17'11
82	Marten Kooistra	Philips	+ 17'36

Our cobbles trio keep delivering great results and we are very happy with this result. We were not sure if this race would exactly suit us but Paprstka took the race to his opposition and was well supported by Bovenhuis. Van Lerberghe did well to recover in the second half after the puncture.

We chased from the start. Cepeda Hernandez did a lot of work at the front. Bardet took over in the closing stages. Keinath followed the early attack and joined up a four member lead group in the final kilometers. He would get dropped though a kilometer later. Keinath was passed by a rider before the line but still finished a good 5th.



Bardet would add to the good result with a 13th place finish.

1	Thibaut Pinot	Project: Africa	2h37'38
5	Nico Keinath	Philips	+ 1'29
13	Romain Bardet	Philips	+ 3'19
40	Joonas Henttala	Philips	+ 5'36
77	Kevin Inkelaar	Philips	+ 8'29
95	Ide Schelling	Philips	+ 11'08
105	Cristian Scaroni	Philips	+ 12'08
113	Jefferson Cepeda Hernandez	Philips	+ 15'53

We didn't join the break but chased them instead. Kelderman was in a good spot throughout. Watson got dropped with less than 8 kilometers to go. Kelderman moved to the front with less than 2 kilometers to go. He kept attritioning up the hill, keeping the other behind. I was down to three riders with 400 meters to go. Kelderman used his superior puncher skills to keep the others behind and took the win!

1	Wilco Kelderman	Philips	5h18'57
48	Romain Bardet	Philips	+ 5'23
68	Michael Storer	Philips	s.t.
88	Cristian Scaroni	Philips	s.t.
89	Joonas Henttala	Philips	s.t.
91	Calvin Watson	Philips	s.t.
107	Kevin Inkelaar	Philips	+ 8'08
111	Jefferson Cepeda Hernandez	Philips	s.t.

It was an all too familiar sight of Kelderman leading in the closing kilometer. Previously, he's given up those positions before the finish but this time he made it count! It's his third classic win all season and a good one too.