cunego59 wrote:
Rough couple of performances, especially by Kelderman. Really keeping my fingers crossed that things get better for you!

Nemolito wrote:
Not a lot of luck indeed. I was glad to see Teuns winning the final Pais Vasco stage in style, but it hasn't helped you a lot in the relegation battle of course. Really hope Kelderman finds a good form for his next races, and Penasa, David and TVA also net you a decent amount of points.

redordead wrote:
It hasn't been a good season so far, but taking from my experience last year things can still turn around. Just gotta stay in touch of safety until fortune turns.

We had a very good start to April. Van Asbroeck finished 4th on Stage 1.



Van Asbroeck started the sprint on Stage 2 from too far back and could only finish 12th. He did move up one place in the GC.

Leemreize joined the break on Stage 3. He was caught inside the final 10 kilometers. Van Asbroeck was in much better position in the sprint and finished it off with a 3rd place. He was now leading the GC.



A no-show on Stage 4 pushed Van Asbroeck down to 4th in the GC. He was 5th in the Points standings.

Moricz joined the break.



David followed the first major attack of the day with six others inside the final 20 kilometers. David was dropped with 6 kilometers to go, but he was still holding off the group behind. He did hold them off till the line and claimed a good 7th.



Bovenhuis finished 20th, with Moricz brave ride getting him 22nd. Paprstka finished 39th.

Henttala finished 7th on Stage 1.



Leemreize joined the break on Stage 2.



He was caught with 47 kilometers to go. Raileanu finished in the front group.

Stage 3 was uneventful. Same with Stage 4.

Raileanu finished 9th on Stage 5 in what a good result for him.

Raileanu once again stayed with the best on Stage 6 riders till the closing kilometers but couldn't hang on till the end. He finished 17th.

Schelling and Anguilet joined the break on Stage 7.



Anguilet won a KOM sprint but the group got caught with 28 kilometers to go. Raileanu finished in the front group again, this time 19th. He finished 13th in the GC. Teuns got some points for 47th.

Kooistra joined the break.



The break got caught around the 25 kilometer to go mark. David followed the first major acceleration as a part of a 15 rider group. But he was no longer in the front group with 15 kilometers to go. The pace dropped following this and David got back with 2 kilometers to go. He didn't have the best legs for the sprint finish, and had to settle for 11th.

Lafay joined the break.



He was caught with 35 kilometers to go. Kelderman attacked with 10 kilometers to go. He was caught with 6 kilometers to go. He wasn't in a great position when the dash to the line started and didn't have the energy to do much, finished a lowly 23rd. Lafay finished 29th with Jans in 49th.

Not much from us in this race and Van Asbroeck just managed 11th with an ok sprint.

redordead wrote:
Looks like there was an upturn in april

Bovenhuis joined the break on Stage 1.



He picked up points in both the Sprint and the KOM points. It was all downhill from there as both David and Van Asbroeck failed to stay with the attacks and finished 6 minutes behind the stage winner.

Moricz joined the break on Stage 2.



He too picked up some KOM points, winning one in the process, No action for us in the sprint with Van Asbroeck not up there.

Morica joined the break again on Stage 3.



He picked up enough points to move into the KOM lead at the end of the stage! No action for us in the sprint once again.

Moricz joined the break again on Stage and picked up enough points to keep the lead.



Moricz did it again and joined the break on Stage 5. He won two of the KOM sprints and confirmed the jersey for himself and us.



David finished 7th in the sprint, where we showed up for once.

Moricz won the KOM jersey. He also finished 5th in the U25s.



David and Van Asbroeck finished 20th and 23rd in the GC respectively. Bovenhuis, Paprstka, Moricz and Lafay finished 33rd, 39th, 50th and 99th in the GC to also pick up points. We finished 7th in the Teams classification.

We finished 15th in the Stage 1 TTT.

There was no action on Stage 2.

We did some pacing on Stage 3 and Raileanu took some KOM points from the pack. Penasa finished in the lead group behind the lone winner, while Raileanu finished in the next group, 43 seconds behind.

Zoidl and Anguilet joined the break on Stage 4.



Zoidl won the first KOM and picked up more points in the others. He moved in to the KOM lead before being caught by the peloton.



Penasa missed the winning move and finished in the second group, 7th on the day. Both Talansky and Raileanu also finished in the same group.

Penasa was our best rider in the MTT on Stage 5, finishing 24th.

There was nothing for us on Stage 6. Penasa, Raileanu and Talansky finished 15th, 17th and 20th in the GC. Zoidl was 48th. The latter was also 4th on the KOM.

Our second and final wildcard performance of the season. We didn't do much except pace on the front a bit in the early stages. Kelderman finished 8th in the reduced bunch sprint in the finish.

Quiet Stage 1 for us.

Penasa's hill weakness caught up to him and he lost a minute on Stage 2.

Anguilet joined the break on Stage 3.



Talansky and Penasa finished in the lead group behind the late attackers.

Penasa and Talansky finished 18th or 19th in the GC. Lafay finished 6th in the U25s. We finished 8th in the Teams classification.

We stayed out of the limelight on Stage 1. Penasa finished 7th.

Stage 2 started the same. The break stayed away on the stage, with Penasa 10th, and also moving up to 3rd in the GC.



No action on Stage 3. Same with Stage 4 more or less as the break too it again. Penasa finished 10th. Stage 5 was quiet again. So was Stage 6.

We expected Penasa to lose time on the Stage 7 MTT and he did, losing his podium place.

Still a very good result from him and a first real showing in the mountains this season. He finished 4th in the GC. Talansky and Raileanu finished 23rd and 31st in the GC respectively. We finished 4th in the Teams classification.

Moricz and Jans joined the break.



David joined the attackers while Jans was in the chase group.



David launched the winning move with only Stallaert going with him.



Unfortunately for David, Stallaert was just too strong but our leading man took 2nd and our best cobbles result of the season.



Moricz and Jans finished in 20th and 21st.

Nothing for us on Stage 1.

Kooistra joined the break on Stage 2. Nothing in the sprint for us again.

Not a good Stage 3 ITT for us with Dumoulin finishing 42nd.

Stage 4 was again not memorable. Pretty much the same again on Stage 5.

Schelling in 81st and Zoidl in 92nd was our only point-scorers.

redordead wrote:
Building some form now

Quiet day for us as no one joined the break, we didn't chase and Van Asbroeck started the sprint from too far back to manage 11th. Bovenhuis finished 23rd.

We didn't do much on Stage 1. On Stage 2, Penasa showed excellent climbing legs to be a part of the decisive move of the day. He did fall back a bit at the end but still had enough to finish 7th on the stage and in the GC.



Talansky finished 25th, Anguilet 54th, Henttala 84th and Zoidl 90th. We finished 4th in the Teams classification.

Stage 1 was poor with Kelderman in 12th. He improved somewhat to be 8th on Stage 2.

At the end of Stage 3, Kelderman led the sprint to the line with half a kilometer to go but couldn't hang on. He finished 2nd.



We lost more than a minute in the Stage 4 TTT.

Kelderman was aggressive on Stage 5 for a change and gained some time to his GC rivals, finishing 7th on the day. He moved up to 3rd in the GC.

Kelderman finished 7th in the reduced bunch sprint on Stage 8 to retain his 3rd place GC spot. He also finished 4th in the Points standings. Schelling finished 8th in the U25s.

Leemreiz joined the break. They would be caught before the final climb. Penasa was a partg of the early attacking action.



He stuck with the front group till the end and managed 8th place from the sprint finish.

cunego59 wrote:
Good to see Kelderman showing up a bit in South Africa. And Penasa with very solid, steady results, too. I'm glad that gave you some buffer to the relegation zone, even if things are still very tight. Fingers crossed that your guys indeed carry that momentum forward!

redordead wrote:
It's gonna be a tight race, I hope you pull through

Van Asbroeck was among the top favourites for this race.

Moricz joined the break.



Van Asbroeck started the sprint from too far back, and though he did make up a lpt of ground, it was good enough only for 7th.

Dumoulin failed in yet another ITT on Stage 1. Henttala in 27th was our best result.

No action for us on Stage 2.

On Stage 3, Talansky followed the first move of the day with two others with just under 8 kilometers to go. They were caugth but Penasa and Talansky worked well together after that at the front. Talansky finished 3rd on the stage with Penasa in 8th. They moved up to 5th and 9th in the GC.



No action again for us on Stage 4 or Stage 5.

Zoidl joined the break on Stage 6. Our regular dose of bad luck caught up to us as both Talansky and Penasa were inexplicably dropped on Stage 6. They fell to 10th and 15th in the GC and our race was spoiled for good.

Talansky dropped to 12th in the GC after the Stage 7 TTT but Penasa did move up a spot to finish 14th.

Talansky finished 4th in the KOM with the Team in 6th.

Paprstka joined the break.



Penasa was a part of the early attacks but paid for it in the end, slipping down to finish 12th. Talansky did well to get 14th.

Raileanu was among the three riders making the first move in the closing stages of Stage 1.



He would be caught. He would be our best finisher on the day, losing half a minute. Kelderman lost nearly 7 minutes.

Leemreize joined the break on Stage 2. They would be caught with 12 kilometers to go. We did not have a sprinter for the stage.

We worked a lot on the front on Stage 3, with Kelderman turning super-domestique. This did not help he first dropped and then so did Raileanu. The latter finished 21st on the stage, but did move up to 12th in the GC.

Raileanu was the aggressor on Stage 4 with 12 kilometers to go. That move would be closed down but he would try again with 5 kilometers left.



he would be caught and then dropped in the closing stages. He still finished a great 5th and moved up a spot to 11th in the GC. Teuns was 42nd. Kelderman was the Keldercrap that he always is.

Lafay joined the break on Stage 1. He picked up some KOM points. Penasa wasn't in contention throughout and finished 16th.

Anguilet, Schelling, Kooistra joined the break on Stage 2. Anguilet won a KOM and held on at the front to finish 2nd on the day.



Schelling finished 6th, also ahead of the pack. Penasa finished in the pack.

Anguilet joined the break again on Stage 3. Anguilet picked up enough points to go into the KOM lead. Penasa was aggressive on this stage, attacking and countering moves from the pack. He finished 9th on the stage and moved up to 13th in the GC.

Penasa was our best finisher on the Stage 4 MTT. He was 11th.

Talansky joined the break on Stage 5. It was a poor decision not to send Anguilet and he lost his KOM jersey. Talansky did fine and moved up to 25th in the GC. Penasa couldn't make up any ground and ended 13th.

Anguilet finished 2nd in the KOM. Lafay was 7th in the U25s. We finished 6th in the Teams' classification.

We did not have a rider in the break. Kelderman was dropped with 90 kilometers to go and never made it back. We did not score any points.

Stage 1 prologue didn't go well with Dumoulin only finishing 18th.

A rare good day for the team on Stage 2 as Van Asbroeck launched a good sprint with 400 meters to go and held the lead till the line to win the stage.



He moved up to 3rd in the GC and led the Points standings.

Bovenhuis joined the break on Stage 3 but everything after that was a disaster with both David and Van Asbroeck losing a lot of time.

Dumoulin joined the break on Stage 4 but was dropped after the third KOM. No time loss on this stage for our GC men as both finished in the reduced leading group.

The hard hilly Stage 5 did not suit either David or Van Asbroeck and they lost even further time in the GC.

We did quite a bit of work in the peloton on Stage 6 chasing the break. Not exactly sure why! Van Asbreock went into the lead in the sprint too early this and ciuld not keep going in the high winds. He finished 5th. David finished in the leading group. Both moved up in the GC to finish 24th and 25th respectively. paprstka finished 47th.

Van Asbroeck finished 5th in the Points standings.

redordead wrote:
Gotta keep going and hope a big result comes from somewhere.