Back in 2020, George Bennett won Stages 1 and 2 and wore yellow until the final day, where a ITT knocked him to tenth. With a shorter ITT coming at the start of this year's edition, Joseph Areruya had designs on replicating some and bettering other parts of Bennett's attempt, as the team aimed to succeed in a Win Goal for the first time ever, after Hugo Houle narrowly missed out on one in the Tour Down Under. We had brought a strong squad to support, including both of Stannard and Habtemichael.


Areruya put in a solid ride on the opening day, beating all the GC rivals he could have reasonably expected to and limiting losses to the stronger time triallists. Meanwhile before camera coverage Morne van Niekerk put in a scorching hot time, eventually good enough for 2nd on the stage behind countryman Kent Main, our South African still looking for his first professional win.


Stage 2 had an uphill finish so we were looking to our man to make a statement about how he wanted this race to go. Stannard delivered him to the front as we entered the final 1500m.


Jay McCarthy went hard an early and many followed, and it looked like the ship had sailed as Areruya was a few rows back inside the final 500m.


However he knew exactly what he was doing, as the early birds lost energy Areruya wormed his way to the front with huge power and took the stage win, moving himself to 4th on GC, 35 seconds down on new leader Faglum Karlsson. He's got a long way to go to match the rep of hilltop finish specialist George Bennett, who has five such victories and more podium places to his name in these finishes, but JA perfectly executed this one.

The team kept their powder dry on Stages 3, 4 and 5, the first two were sprinter's stages and the latter a rolling stage which saw a GC truce and a breakaway victory.


Stage 6 saw a rare occurrence - Areruya not being the first to attack. However he was at least the first to respond as Novak tried to get away from the favourite's group just before the final climb.


However if he isn't first to go he's always got a hard counter in him, and Areruya blew up the selection with his own move once the road went upwards with 3.5km to go until the line.


He couldn't get away but instead went into MTT mode, with nobody willing to work he instead turned his eyes to the faltering Faglum Karlsson and Mas, two of the riders ahead of him on GC. By the 1km banner, with no respite from the wind and no help, Areruya had whittled 23 to just 6.


And nobody would help him, and he would get no break, but nobody could pass him either, as Joseph made it 2 from 2 with a very strong ride, riding most into the dirt and tiring his companions so that they couldn't pass him. With bonus seconds he passed Hamilton on GC, and the gap to Faglum Karlsson and Mas was enough that he moved into the yellow jersey ahead of the final day. Hamilton at 14 seconds and his teammate Storer at 24 were our closest rivals. Also worth mentioning he now had an unassailable lead in the Points Classification.


In the final kilometre of Stage 7, with his teammates having controlled the break and the late attack of Beltran, Areruya could smell a trifecta, a win in yellow to cap an almost unopposed GC victory. He launched early, perhaps showing a sliver of the youthful impulsiveness he had been criticised for in the past. Hamilton, who could yet still take the GC win if he won the stage and Areruya was 4th or worse, lurked on his shoulder.


And indeed, Areruya faded, and indeed, Hamilton looked set to take the win. But what's this? Yes, it's every Xero fans' new answer to "favourite rider not associated with your favourite team" - Andreas Paez, pipping Hamilton to the stage win, securing Areruya's GC win and his own lifetime supply of beers when he's drinking with us.

The late fright could not take the shine of a hugely memorable and successful race. Joseph Areruya's first stage race win is a huge moment for him and the team as our star man, our home-grown hero, shows once again he's the guy we all thought he could be. The team's first successful Win Goal at the ninth time of asking (not the first goal race won, though - that was 2017's San Luis). If we were thinking about the rankings the lack of depth scoring was disappointing given the strength of the squad, but that's a minor quibble in the emotion of such a big win for Areruya and the team as a whole. Yeeeeeeeehaw!

1	Joseph Areruya	Xero Racing	27h42'03
2	Lucas Hamilton	Amaysim Cervelo	+ 2
3	Michael Storer	Amaysim Cervelo	+ 24
...
24	Robert Stannard	Xero Racing	+ 8'38
55	Johann Van Zyl	Xero Racing	+ 14'29
69	Daniel Habtemichael	Xero Racing	+ 16'03
73	Bachirou Nikiema	Xero Racing	+ 16'18
86	James Fouche	Xero Racing	+ 17'38
149	Morne Van Niekerk	Xero Racing	+ 36'13
179	Nils Schomber	Xero Racing	+ 1h10'36

AbhishekLFC wrote:
Set a Win goal and achieve it! That's doing it in style

redordead wrote:
Great seeing Areruya dominating like this. Also completing the win goal is outstanding

Cut to the chase. Nothing much doing here, great 30-50 depth but this isn't PTHC. We love Dzama though.

1	Mark Dzamastagic	HelloFresh - Lampre	4h22'15
2	Yudai Arashiro	Voyagin - Bird	+ 21
3	Vegard Breen	Tafjord Kraft	s.t.
22	Hugo Houle	Xero Racing	s.t.
32	Hans Tesfaye Hartmann	Xero Racing	s.t.
33	Jamalidin Novardianto	Xero Racing	s.t.
40	Corbin Strong	Xero Racing	s.t.
41	Ilan Van Wilder	Xero Racing	s.t.
48	Florian Vermeersch	Xero Racing	s.t.
67	Darren Young	Xero Racing	s.t.
73	Yacine Hamza	Xero Racing	s.t.

A hilly classic and the team were obviously looking to take a win here after missing out in Tuscany. Learning the lessons from going too early there, and having better timing in the Pologne hilltop finishes, Areruya was content to wait for the final climb, believing in his speed there.


With 1500m to go the position couldn't have been better, as Stannard lead Areruya in the first few positions of the peloton.


Kreder and van Garderen had a quick first boost of speed but Areruya still looked good launching his sprint from third under the red kite.


He was holding position well but couldn't find the speed to overtake the leaders.


Areruya eventually faded to a still credible fifth as the late breakers (including Xandro Meurisse, you love to see it) came through. The team are being aggressive in their expectations as they look to move further up the rankings, but it's easy to be too hard on ourselves. The team did their job excellently and some days Areruya won't be the strongest guy. We go again.

1	Tejay Van Garderen	Sauber Petronas Racing	4h34'31
2	Xandro Meurisse	HelloFresh - Lampre	s.t.
3	Bruno Borges	Indosat Ooredoo	s.t.
5	Joseph Areruya	Xero Racing	s.t.
21	Robert Stannard	Xero Racing	s.t.
42	Bachirou Nikiema	Xero Racing	s.t.
87	Johann Van Zyl	Xero Racing	+ 2'22
97	Salim Kipkemboi	Xero Racing	s.t.
101	Ilan Van Wilder	Xero Racing	s.t.
156	Florian Vermeersch	Xero Racing	+ 4'56
163	Morne Van Niekerk	Xero Racing	+ 5'25

In the sprint Houle was 8th - a tad disappointing, but somewhat made up for with Tesfaye Hernandes coming 12th to the delight of the home crowd.

1	Peter Varga	Team PCMHatesUs4Ever	4h52'22
2	Jonas Ahlstrand	Volcanica - Fox	s.t.
3	Jiankun Liu	Voyagin - Bird	s.t.
8	Hugo Houle	Xero Racing	s.t.
12	Heitor Tesfaye Hernandes	Xero Racing	s.t.
41	Jamalidin Novardianto	Xero Racing	s.t.
74	Morne Van Niekerk	Xero Racing	+ 3'31
76	Corbin Strong	Xero Racing	s.t.
80	Florian Vermeersch	Xero Racing	s.t.
81	Yacine Hamza	Xero Racing	s.t.
147	Ilan Van Wilder	Xero Racing	+ 4'45

The team's fourth ever GC win and first ever successful Win Goal headlined a month that was otherwise slightly below par. The memory of Joseph Areruya's maiden stage race victory will live long in the memory, even if the failure in Berlin and a couple of anonymous Top 10s that followed won't.

You can pick holes in his Wallonie performance, but that does nothing to take the shine off his Pologne win...

Make Cheshire a Stage Race Again

1	Edward Theuns	MOL Cycling Team	5h04'27
2	Tiesj Benoot	Philips - Force India	s.t.
3	Lukasz Wisniowski	Aker - MOT	s.t.
65	Darren Young	Xero Racing	+ 9'26
77	Florian Vermeersch	Xero Racing	+ 10'03
119	Corbin Strong	Xero Racing	+ 19'28
130	Regan Gough	Xero Racing	+ 23'47
150	Ilan Van Wilder	Xero Racing	+ 31'47
152	Yacine Hamza	Xero Racing	+ 32'36

A chance for Daniel Habtemichael to lead the team after this was one of the races Areruya swapped out of after his new training path was decided. We wanted to see him continue his good early season form by repeating his Volta a Portugal feat of a Top 10 and the U25 competition.

Things started well with the team finishing 3rd in the opening TTT. You know, we used to be a real team. We used to build things - like minutes-wide deficits in TTTs. Habtemichael survived a wet and windy Stage 2 which saw all of the team bar him and Florian Vermeersch dropped. However Stage 3 proved tougher, with him dropped from a still pretty sizeable front group on the hilltop finish, which was a disappointing result. However with Nicola Conci falling even further back, it did help him to inherit the U25 lead.


Stage 4 saw improvement, as he made the selection on a multi-mountain stage which saw some bigger gaps, and he moved to 9th on GC while extending his white jersey advantage to nearly three minutes.

The final GC day was Stage 5, which was a tough MTT. Daniel's inexperience and lack of pure high mountain power showed a bit as mountain goat Penasa passed him on GC, but that was the only person he let past and so with a quiet day on Stage 6's flatter roads, he secured a satisfactory Top 10 finish on GC to accompany his second U25 win of the year.

1	Rein Taaramäe	Zara - Irizar	18h15'20
2	Mark Padun	Team Popo4Ever	+ 6
3	Jack Haig	Amaysim Cervelo	+ 28
10	Daniel Habtemichael	Xero Racing	+ 1'36
43	Robert Stannard	Xero Racing	+ 9'22
84	Johann Van Zyl	Xero Racing	+ 18'23
156	James Fouche	Xero Racing	+ 34'26
163	Florian Vermeersch	Xero Racing	+ 38'42
164	Morne Van Niekerk	Xero Racing	+ 38'45
175	Darren Young	Xero Racing	+ 43'46
178	Nils Schomber	Xero Racing	+ 45'11

Darren Young was considered among the pre-race favourites but could only manage 25th.

1	Patrick Gamper	Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	2h08'22
2	Silvan Dillier	Team UBS	+ 32
3	Stefan Kung	Crabbe-CC Chevigny	+ 54
25	Darren Young	Xero Racing	+ 4'13
35	Johann Van Zyl	Xero Racing	+ 6'07
47	Florian Vermeersch	Xero Racing	+ 8'05

Despite the pressure on him as one of the major race favourites (next to the top climbers Madrazo and Padun), Areruya looked to be feeling good and having fun on Stage 2, staying attentive and even showing off his super-tuck position on a downhill, perhaps sending a message to the haters and losers who question his descending skills. However, commentator Ulriksen was not impressed and even suggested referring Joseph to the MGUCI stewards.


For once it wasn't Areruya's turn to kick off the attacks, as he followed in the wheels of the other top puncheurs as hostilities began on the final climb.


However keeping your powder dry and staying in the second row has its disadvantages, as those on the wheel of attacker Moscon lost his slipstream over the top of the climb, leaving our man to swing around them and begin the chase himself.


He limited the group's losses to the new GC leader, and as thanks was pipped at the line by Beltran for 2nd place and the four extra bonifications. After the stage we had three riders in the top 5 of the U25 competition as well in Stannard, Kipkemboi and Nikiema, but they were not favoured by any means with Marc Hirshi in the mix.


After some minor GC moves were reeled in, Areruya was right in the wheel of old rival Mark Padun (to whom he fought and often lost for U25 jerseys back in 2020, before Areruya was fully developed) on the final climb.


Areruya withstood the Ukrainian's attack and came around him to counter, forging out a small gap which didn't look much like opening further or shutting.


However 1 vs 6 is a hard feat to pull off against some of the world's best, and over the top Areruya was caught. Among the group he was first on GC, and needed to secure 2nd or higher in the sprint to win the GC.


Aular was on one and was clearly out in front on the descent, so it became about whether or not Areruya could come out of Padun's slipstream to secure 2nd and deny the Venezuelan the GC victory.


He came close but ran out of road and had to settle for third on the stage and a crushing 2nd on GC, a disappointing finish to a very strong race. The 4 second margin of defeat was repeated for Kipkemboi in the U25 standings, while Areruya won the points classification.

1	Orluis Aular	Binance	11h28'22
2	Joseph Areruya	Xero Racing	+ 4
3	Mark Padun	Team Popo4Ever	+ 8
31	Salim Kipkemboi	Xero Racing	+ 4'49
41	Bachirou Nikiema	Xero Racing	+ 6'18
45	Robert Stannard	Xero Racing	+ 6'35
96	Johann Van Zyl	Xero Racing	+ 11'18
103	Corbin Strong	Xero Racing	+ 12'04
138	Ilan Van Wilder	Xero Racing	+ 17'22
147	Florian Vermeersch	Xero Racing	+ 18'09

May concluded with Habtemichael a quiet 15th and 2nd in the U25 in Austria, and Houle a less quiet but more disappointing 15th in Norway, only showing up for one stage to grab a solitary stage podium in a race he was a favourite for three stages.

He keeps racking them up. This competition used to be more fun. Luckily for this and unluckily for the team, he's off until September...

You can't tell that we were here, but we did score points.	You can tell that we were here, but we didn't score points.
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We waited all day in the peloton for Hugo Houle, who is perfectly suited to these tough one-day flat profiles, and could surely see himself grabbing a lot of points. However, he cruised into 28th place well behind the sprinters.	Strong and Van Wilder, who one day might see themselves scoring points on this kind of profile, both decided to go into the day's breakaway. Daniel Habtemichael, who right now might see himself scoring points on this kind of profile, came 125th.
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Maybe he thought the cheers were for him, but they were actually for local hero Heikki Tesfaye Hämäläinen, who came with him in 29th, thoroughly confused why his leader was there.	Minutes behind neo-pro Corbin Strong, who after getting exhausted and dropping from the morning breakaway, came in 106th, and when he got to the team bus was thoroughly confused why his leader wasn't there.

@Croatia - Got to make light of a bad situation. Now working on my jokes for when we have to release one of our young talents in renewals when we don't promote...

@knockout - He's been such a great asset for us, so much of those classics comes down to knowledge of the roads and he has that in spades.

@quadsas - Lol

@redordead - Hope you're right