First of all, a sprinters race. After winning our home race in Juarez, all eyes were on Manninen for another top result. He started of very strongly by finishing second in the first stage, but couldn't do better in the following three stages. In the end the flying Finn finished just outside the top-5, which is still a respectable result. Loanee Moutsios scored the first points in his pro career by scoring points in the KoM- and U25-classifications after successfully joining the breakaway on stage two.

Moutsios in the breakaway on stage 2

Second hilly classic of the year for our Colombian chouchou Higuita then, although we can say with certainty that he prefers the Italian gravel over Portuguese cobbles. Nothing could be done against his former teammate Areruya, but with a fourth place we can definitely say Higuita did quite well in Italy. As he apparently loves the country a lot, some of his teammates have now named him Higuitaly.

More Higuita screentime in South Africa then, where the first four stages were not amazing for us. Being beaten by the legendary Demare on three easy finishes was logical, but Higuita losing almost four minutes in the team time trial was pure disaster. The Colombian made up for it with two stunning stage wins in a row, resulting in a final GC just outside of the top-10. Osorio and Lopez Nolasco ensured some depth points.

Nevertheless, the man you're all here for, the Pollos superstar, nobody else than Ruben Zepuntke, also raced recently. He went looking for a good result in Norway and returned him with an okay ninth place. For a while it even looked like he was going to be able to challenge for the podium, but in the end he decided the most polite thing to do was let Theuns win the race, like almost every race he enters. Zepuntke is love, Zepuntke is life.

Los Pollos Hermanos is currently sponsoring the Los Pollos team for the fourth season in a row, but have now made clear they will not continue to do so as of the 2024 season. Manager Nemolito is saddened by this news, but tries to stay positive: "We've had some great years, with ups and downs. It's not fun to realize that this Valentine will be the last one Los Pollos and I are together, but it is what it is. We will try to make the most out of the rest of this season to honour our founding sponsor, and hope we can say farewell to them with promotion to PT. I guess it's time to start talking with other sponsors now, hopefully we can quickly find someone to keep funding this Mexican team."

Fabianski wrote:
And if you get new jerseys by the same occasion, I might not even be that unhappy

The only real mountain classic for us this year, as we sent both Aular and Higuita to Austria, hoping for a good result. The Venezuelan didn't have his best day so decided to work for the Colombian, who once again proved his worth for us. Fastned's Olivier was simply too strong, but with a good finish it was Higuita who was the best of the rest. Finally a good result again for the team, which is nice. Aular finished in 22nd, whereas Zepuntke meanwhile finished 11th in the PTHC two day stage race Franceville Classique in Gabon.

Hallstatt was our first good race in a while, but La Tropicale Amissa Bongo in Gabon was simply phenomenal. Zmorka did well by winning the opening prologue, after which the team contributed to keeping the peloton together in the following sprint stages. Although the Ukrainian did what we hoped by winning the GC after a good time trial performance in the fifth stage, consolidating our first sponsor goal, we have to praise some other riders as well. First of all there is Sütterlin. The German went to Gabon with us hoping he would finish inside the top-5, but with a stellar performance and his first win for LPH in the time trial he managed to be Zmorka's runner up in the final GC. Sterbini also did wonderful, by finishing seventh in the final GC. With our worst rider in 53rd and also winning the teams classification, plus also picking up points in the green and U25 competition, we can only say this race has been the best of our season, perhaps history. Seems like the news of Los Pollos Hermanos quitting to sponsor the team has motivated the riders to prove themselves to a future sponsor. Or perhaps even other teams, as rumours have it the Mexican outfit will really become Latin American-only this transfer season.

Hoped for at least a top-5 in the 'flat' German classic, and that's what we got thanks to Manninen sprinting to a fifth place. Nobody else finishing in the points, had hoped for a bit better by Ruiz.

Racing at home always hits different, definitely when you see your youngsters get a good result. Sixth in the Monterrey TTT is nothing to be ashamed of. Great result by Aguilar Mendez and the boys.

An other opportunity for Manninen to shine, but it was Lampre who was shining for the second classic in a row. Sixth place in the end for our flying Finn, with no depth result.

Speaking about depth and shining, we got both in in the Arab Tour! Zmorka won stage three and the GC, Sütterlin finished second in the time trial and fourth in the GC, and the inevitable Quispe even scored points with a top-50 in GC. Effin legend.

Decent result for us in PTHC then, as Venezuelan champion Aular finished seventh in the GC and scored some nice points that way. Youngster Osorio was our second best rider in 27th, whereas Sütterlin and Quispe also scored some stage and KoM-points.

Manninen started the Tour well with a second place on the first stage, after which an attacking Higuita performed a bit disappointing on stage two. All in all we left the race quite content, when Aular finished second on the final (queen) stage, which was rewarded with a fourth place in the final GC.

Fourth top-10 in a row for Manninen in the overview today, after he finished eighth in the flat US classic. Nice to see Ruiz and Quispe score some depth points as well this time.

We were scared to expect a lot of this race, and we were right to be scared. Zepuntke did great on the cobbled stages with two third places, but was already minutes behind in GC after even getting dropped on a flat stage. Ulloa proudly showed his Mexican jersey in the break on stages three and six, which was nice to see. Sterbini also contributed to our points total with a top-8 during the prologue.

Another flat classic, so another possibility for Manninen to shine. He sprinted to an anonymous eighth place, with nobody else on the scoring board for us.

Went to Hungary for a race with a tough name in our second C2 flat classic of the season. No sprinter there, so all of our hope on a late attack from Peruvian champion Ruiz. The man delivered, which brought joy to the hearts of all LPH fans. The attack didn't stick, but we still got a 12th place out of it.

Fabianski wrote:

Weird (and a pity) to see Zepuntke not caring at all about the Benelux GC, but good to see that he at least delivered on the cobbles

Manninen really got downgraded in the current PCM version, with the previous ones liking him much more. Hopefully he saved some good results for the end of the year!