@Nemolito - The GTs this year have been the highlight in otherwise woeful performances. Hope to be back soon and not just in America



We're just ticking off the season now. September takes us to three races all over Europe, where we're just looking to score some good results without the pressure of the relegation battle, because frankly, we already lost.

Balkans International

First we go to the Balkan peninsula for six days. Kinoshita is a GC contender with the hilly stages, and Kalaba enjoys the local support for the sprinter stages. The Japanese finished third on the first stage with an uphill finish, while the breakaway took a chance away from the Serbian on stage two. He would get a chance on stages four and five, but had good views of Amezawa's and Banaszek's bottoms celebrating. The final stage was deciding for the GC, and the final climb was just too tough for Kinoshita, finishing twelfth on the stage and ninth in the GC. Some good results but no trip to the podium.

Pos	Rider	Team	Time
1	Joseph Areruya	Xero Racing	27h12'32
9	Tomohiro Kinoshita	Minions	+ 2'33
43	Andris Vosekalns	Minions	+ 8'30
53	Dayer Quintana	Minions	+ 10'00
64	Tom Jelte Slagter	Minions	+ 11'49
80	Nathan Alexander	Minions	+ 14'18
109	Dusan Kalaba	Minions	+ 19'26
135	Yannis Voisard	Minions	+ 26'30
162	Leandro Marcos	Minions	+ 45'50

Rating:

Tour of Northern Europe

If you like everything but mountains, this race is for you. Hills, cobbles, flat stages, time trials, northern Europe has it all. We have no rider able to combine it for a GC result, so stage glory is all we can do. Perez finished 31st on the opening time trial, Kalaba 66th on the hilly stage and then thirteenth on the flat stage. Over to the cobbled fourth stage with the Muur and Bosberg where De Witte went into the breakaway and managed to score a sixth place out of it! Kalaba finished fifteenth on the next flat stage featuring a breakaway appearance from Perez. The Serbian sprinter was also our best finisher on the Mur de Huy but 91st is telling. He would close off with an eighth place in the final sprint. It was De Witte who finished highest overall, albeit in 103rd, seven seconds ahead of Perez.

Pos	Rider	Team	Time
1	Benoit Cosnefroy	ZARA - Irizar	27h27'48
103	Mathias De Witte	Minions	+ 16'21
105	Cristian Perez	Minions	+ 16'28
110	Dusan Kalaba	Minions	+ 17'02
125	Laurens Sweeck	Minions	+ 18'39
132	Isaac Bolivar	Minions	+ 20'41
143	Leandro Marcos	Minions	+ 24'27
153	Janis Dakteris	Minions	+ 29'10
175	Rudy Barbier	Minions	+ 41'11

Rating:

Rheden GP

We stay in the area for a cobblestone race around the Posbank in Rheden. By now you should know we have nothing to look for here so we're glad to have Bolivar take the spotlight for a while in an attack.

Pos	Rider	Team	Time
1	Lukasz Wisniowski	Aker - MOT	4h13'53
54	Janis Dakteris	Minions	+ 2'16
64	Leandro Marcos	Minions	s.t.
75	Isaac Bolivar	Minions	+ 3'23
83	Laurens Sweeck	Minions	s.t.
84	Cristian Perez	Minions	s.t.
85	Mathias De Witte	Minions	s.t.
131	Nathan Alexander	Minions	+ 6'27
170	Yannis Voisard	Minions	+ 10'21

Rating:

Rankings

The good thing is we scored more than Binance, so the chances of finishing last are getting lower. The bad thing is we scored less than the teams directly above us, so getting above the cut is growing ever more unlikely if not mathematically impossible by now. Luckily we've given up hope a long time ago so we're already in the final stage of grieve: acceptance. Sweeck has overtaken Brown for tenth spot in our rankings, but Kinoshita seems untouchable and might have a chance of the top thirty.

Pos	Last		Team	Total	RD	PpRD	Proj
1	3		Aker - MOT	7309	174	42.01	7562
2	2		EA Vesuvio	6956	174	39.98	7196
3	4		Evonik - ELKO	6893	172	40.08	7214
4	1		Polar	6712	176	38.14	6865
5	6		Team Puma - SAP	6587	176	37.43	6737
6	8		Gazelle	6495	172	37.76	6797
7	7		Tinkoff - La Datcha Team	6356	174	36.53	6575
8	5		Cedevita	6350	176	36.08	6494
9	9		MOL Cycling Team	5790	174	33.28	5990
10	14		King Power	5719	174	32.87	5917
11	10		cycleYorkshire	5709	176	32.44	5839
12	11		Carlsberg - Danske Bank	5455	176	30.99	5578
13	12		Lidl Cycling	5322	174	30.59	5506
14	13		Grieg-Maersk	5122	174	29.44	5299
15	15		Moser - Sygic	5047	174	29.01	5222
16	18		Rabobank	4888	174	28.09	5056
17	17		ZARA - Irizar	4851	174	27.88	5018
18	16		Amaysim Australia.com	4653	174	26.74	4813
19	20		ELCO - ABEA	4529	174	26.03	4685
20	19		ISA - Hexacta	4394	174	25.25	4545
21	21		Minions	4063	174	23.35	4203
22	22		Binance	3620	174	20.8	3744

Pos	Last	Rider	Nat		Team	Total Points
1	1	Taylor Phinney	USA		MOL Cycling Team	2277
45	49	Tomohiro Kinoshita	JPN		Minions	708
60	55	Mattia Cattaneo	ITA		Minions	574
71	66	Jonas Ahlstrand	SWD		Minions	498
79	79	Dusan Kalaba	SER		Minions	413
104	99	Mikkel Bjerg	DEN		Minions	301
129	125	Andris Vosekalns	LAT		Minions	234
229	209	Alvaro Hodeg	COL		Minions	125
252	237	Rohan Dennis	AUS		Minions	115
266	259	Laurens Sweeck	BEL		Minions	109
276	252	Nathan Brown	USA		Minions	107
284	271	Nathan Alexander	TRI		Minions	101
290	282	Tom Jelte Slagter	NED		Minions	99
307	290	Dayer Quintana	COL		Minions	94
315	308	Cristian Perez	CUB		Minions	91
320	318	Leandro Marcos	CUB		Minions	90
346	337	Isaac Bolivar	COL		Minions	85
357	336	Yannis Voisard	SWI		Minions	80
375	349	Einer Augusto Rubio	COL		Minions	76
392	408	Mathias De Witte	BEL		Minions	71
452	455	Janis Dakteris	LAT		Minions	55
486	490	Rudy Barbier	FRA		Minions	37

@redordead - Definitely one of the few contenders for the award and one of the even fewer who did not perform below expectations!



Our final month as a PT team, unless we finish every remaining race in the top eight with all riders. We will spoil something: that won't happen. But we'll try our best anyway in the final three races of the season.

GP Moscow

A PT sprinter's classic, and the final race for Ahlstrand this season. The field in such races is quite strong so we see seventh as a perfectly acceptable result.

Pos	Rider	Team	Time
1	Max Kanter	Team Puma - SAP	4h19'27
7	Jonas Ahlstrand	Minions	s.t.
44	Janis Dakteris	Minions	s.t.
92	Rudy Barbier	Minions	s.t.
96	Nathan Alexander	Minions	s.t.
121	Alvaro Hodeg	Minions	+ 2'07
141	Cristian Perez	Minions	s.t.
148	Laurens Sweeck	Minions	s.t.
158	Yannis Voisard	Minions	s.t.

Rating:

Grand Prix Cycliste

Our final PTHC race of the season takes place in Quebec, Canada. Kinoshita is mentioned as a, if not the top favorite, but hasn't won anything this season. Attacks came left right and center but a group of five would battle for the win: Koretzky, Lutsenko, Mohoric, Valter and Kinoshita. On the last climb into the final kilometer the Japanese put the hammer down, completely dropping the Frenchman and Hungarian and also breaking the Kazakh and Slovene. The small gap he created there was enough to carry over the line and win his first race of the season, and our first classic win of the season!

Pos	Rider	Team	Time
1	Tomohiro Kinoshita	Minions	4h58'17
78	Laurens Sweeck	Minions	+ 6'01
85	Dayer Quintana	Minions	s.t.
88	Nathan Alexander	Minions	s.t.
93	Leandro Marcos	Minions	s.t.
95	Yannis Voisard	Minions	+ 6'53
112	Cristian Perez	Minions	+ 7'06
126	Tom Jelte Slagter	Minions	s.t.

Rating:

Giro di Lombardia

The season is closed with a monument, where once again Kinoshita is in the discussion regarding the favorites though riders with better climber abilities are rated ahead of him. The bookies were right there, as the Japanese dropped on the Sormana climb and finished twenty-first. And with that, our PT adventure is over.

Pos	Rider	Team	Time
1	Silvio Herklotz	Team Puma - SAP	6h05'16
21	Tomohiro Kinoshita	Minions	+ 2'32
42	Andris Vosekalns	Minions	+ 3'06
94	Nathan Alexander	Minions	+ 6'23
96	Einer Augusto Rubio	Minions	s.t.
102	Tom Jelte Slagter	Minions	s.t.
120	Dayer Quintana	Minions	+ 7'26
142	Yannis Voisard	Minions	+ 10'13
184	Cristian Perez	Minions	+ 24'21

Rating:

Rankings

Even though we bagged a win, and finished seventh in the October rankings, we have not gained a position let alone get out of the relegation zone. Twenty-first out of twenty-two teams, which means we are back in the Pro Continental Tour next season. Outside of the first month we have always been in the bottom two positions, and have been second-to-last ever since May. Our adjusted goal at the time has been to not finish last, so we won't leave fully embarrassed. Kinoshita's win brought him close to the individual top thirty, and solidified his position as our highest scoring rider. Cattaneo, Ahlstrand and Kalaba also made the top hundred. We'll probably go into the details of every rider later on so stay tuned for that.

Pos	Last		Team	Total	RD	PpRD	Proj
1	1		Aker - MOT	7664	180	42.58	7664
2	3		EA Vesuvio	7327	180	40.71	7328
3	2		Evonik - ELKO	7307	180	40.59	7306
4	4		Team Puma - SAP	7180	180	39.89	7180
5	5		Polar	6960	180	38.67	6961
6	6		Gazelle	6844	180	38.02	6844
7	7		Tinkoff - La Datcha Team	6575	180	36.53	6575
8	8		Cedevita	6495	180	36.08	6494
9	11		King Power	5966	180	33.14	5965
10	9		MOL Cycling Team	5946	180	33.03	5945
11	10		cycleYorkshire	5933	180	32.96	5933
12	12		Lidl Cycling	5734	180	31.86	5735
13	13		Carlsberg - Danske Bank	5679	180	31.55	5679
14	15		Moser - Sygic	5389	180	29.94	5389
15	14		Grieg-Maersk	5247	180	29.15	5247
16	17		Rabobank	5177	180	28.76	5177
17	16		ZARA - Irizar	5109	180	28.38	5108
18	19		ELCO - ABEA	4865	180	27.03	4865
19	18		Amaysim Australia.com	4827	180	26.82	4828
20	20		ISA - Hexacta	4618	180	25.66	4619
21	21		Minions	4407	180	24.48	4406
22	22		Binance	3911	180	21.73	3911

Pos	Last	Rider	Nat		Team	Total Points
1	4	Silvio Herklotz	GER		Team Puma - SAP	2362
35	45	Tomohiro Kinoshita	JPN		Minions	901
62	60	Mattia Cattaneo	ITA		Minions	574
64	71	Jonas Ahlstrand	SWD		Minions	569
81	79	Dusan Kalaba	SER		Minions	413
109	104	Mikkel Bjerg	DEN		Minions	301
127	129	Andris Vosekalns	LAT		Minions	244
233	229	Alvaro Hodeg	COL		Minions	130
261	252	Rohan Dennis	AUS		Minions	115
264	266	Laurens Sweeck	BEL		Minions	114
274	284	Nathan Alexander	TRI		Minions	111
290	276	Nathan Brown	USA		Minions	107
293	290	Tom Jelte Slagter	NED		Minions	104
299	315	Cristian Perez	CUB		Minions	101
307	307	Dayer Quintana	COL		Minions	99
337	320	Leandro Marcos	CUB		Minions	90
338	357	Yannis Voisard	SWI		Minions	90
360	346	Isaac Bolivar	COL		Minions	85
370	375	Einer Augusto Rubio	COL		Minions	81
410	392	Mathias De Witte	BEL		Minions	71
431	452	Janis Dakteris	LAT		Minions	65
482	486	Rudy Barbier	FRA		Minions	42

@quadsas - We need fresh bananas more than ever.
@AbhishekLFC - One small highlight in an otherwise mediocre season.
@TheManxMissile - Perez and Alexander were great to have on board (and outscored a few riders as well!). Looking forward to sharing the road again.



While we're wiping our tears from relegation, our riders participate in the traditional post-season activities: the National and World Championships. An overview of how they performed.

National Championships

All riders participated in their respective countries for the road race and time trial events. In the end we only won four jerseys, all expected given the profile. Marcos and Perez split the Cuban jerseys between them (RR and TT respectively), Kinoshita conquered the hills of Japan and Ahlstrand dominated the Swedish sprint.

Rider	Country	RR	TT
Rohan Dennis	Australia	7	2
Mathias De Witte	Belgium	37	38
Laurens Sweeck	Belgium	26	16
Isaac Bolivar	Colombia	23	8
Alvaro Hodeg	Colombia	26	9
Dayer Quintana	Colombia	9	7
Einer Augusto Rubio	Colombia	12	19
Leandro Marcos	Cuba	1	2
Cristian Perez	Cuba	2	1
Mikkel Bjerg	Denmark	21	2
Rudy Barbier	France	95	50
Mattia Cattaneo	Italy	25	3
Tomohiro Kinoshita	Japan	1	4
Janis Dakteris	Latvia	2	11
Andris Vosekalns	Latvia	17	10
Tom Jelte Slagter	Netherlands	15	31
Dusan Kalaba	Serbia	2	3
Jonas Ahlstrand	Sweden	1	14
Yannis Voisard	Switzerland	8	24
Nathan Alexander	Trinidad and Tobago	3	3
Nathan Brown	USA	10	7

Kinoshita, Japanese RR Champion


Ahlstrand, Swedish RR Champion

World Championships

Nine riders across four events in the World Championships in Spain this year, with no participation in the U23 events this year. We start off with the B Road Race, where the team of the winning rider advances to the main race. That winner was Awezama of Japan, which means we see Kinoshita again in the main event. In the TTT we have four riders in the top five: Dennis fifth with Australia, Cattaneo fourth with Italy, Bjerg second with Denmark and Brown first with the USA! Two medals for the team. Good results followed in the individual time trial where Bjerg took fifth, 42 seconds behind winning compatriot Würtz. Finally the road race, where team Japan switched tactics and focused on a sprint for Kinoshita. Herklotz, Hirt and Kudus escaped, the German taking the rainbow jersey, and Phinney won the sprint of the group behind. But in fifth place was our very own Kinoshita!

Rider	Country	B RR	TTT	TT	RR
Rohan Dennis	Australia		5	15	164
Dayer Quintana	Colombia		17
Mikkel Bjerg	Denmark		2	5
Mattia Cattaneo	Italy		4	33	74
Tomohiro Kinoshita	Japan	15			5
Andris Vosekalns	Latvia				27
Tom Jelte Slagter	Netherlands				99
Dusan Kalaba	Serbia	78
Nathan Brown	USA		1

Brown, 1st place TTT World Championships


Bjerg, 2nd place TTT World Championships


Kinoshita, 5th place RR World Championships

@jt1109 - Welcome back! I hope it won't take another six years for us to get to PT again.
@Ulrich Ulriksen - One of the advantages (or disadvantages, more writing ) of having a team with no nationality focus.



As the summer break nears its end, we look back one final time at the 2023 season, in which we sadly relegated back to the PCT. The first part of our rider review contains the riders 21 - 15 in the individual standings. The helpers, the talents, the people whose points haul mostly contains points for just finishing.

Rudy Barbier



Rudy scored the least amount of points on the team, both in total and deducting the points you get for finishing a ProTour race (net points). Given he's just a leadout man not much more was expected, but even the points for finishing were a struggle at times. He failed to finish the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de Suisse, the only rider to abandon multiple races or a non-GT. Our success in sprints did not necessarily come from making trains, so we can probably do without the Frenchman next season, hence his release.



Janis Dakteris



Another sprint train element at the bottom, though Janis scored a bit more as he was also used in the cobblestone races. He appeared in the breakaway of the Ronde van Vlaanderen and East Midlands Cycle Classic, but he could never get far enough to use his sprinting ability for better results. Like the Frenchman, he did not finish the Giro and has not received a new contract.



Mathias De Witte



2023 would not be a year with cobblestones in focus, and not a year where we could use the riders in that capability in C2 races either. Mathias's only true opportunities were getting in a lucky break in one of the cobblestone races, which were hard to come by but managed a sixth place out of a Tour of Northern Europe stage. He was our best finisher in the Ronde van Vlaanderen in 39th. Those results were just enough to convince us to resign him, especially since we might have more focus on the tough roads next year.



Einer Augusto Rubio



Of all the loanees we had expected the most from Einer Augusto, but he has actually scored the least from all loanees (unadjusted). In fairness, his schedule contained all three Grand Tours and just three other races, thus less free points for finishing. His net points tally is actually tenth amongst all riders, which is quite good. He was a frequent sight in breakaways, if we kept count correctly: twice in the Giro, twice in the Vuelta (including a seventh place stage finish and seventh in the U25 classification) and twice in the Tour. Hopefully it was a valuable learning experience and Euskotren - Pays Basque will be happy with his services next year.



Isaac Bolivar



As far as our ambitions on the cobblestones goes, Isaac scored some good results such as 27th in the E3 Prijs, 34th in Paris - Roubaix and 16th in Roma - Maxima, making him the highest net scorer of that quartet. On the other hand, there were many races where he would finish as last of our cobblestone specialists. A very inconsistent performer, and not getting any younger, we decided not to renew his contract going into the transfer season but if we end up with a leader on this terrain and we need more support, we still have his number.



Yannis Voisard



Another loanee, so expectations are naturally lower for Yannis. His highlight of the season was his participation in the Vuelta, where he finished ninth on a breakaway stage. He was also part of the helper crew bringing Cattaneo to a Tour top ten. Not much else to say really, we have no complaints regarding his bottle carrying skills and we hope he has enjoyed his stay at the team. Sauber Petronas Racing have resigned him with his newfound experience.



Leandro Marcos



The road captain of the team, Leandro completed his eighth and final season on the team. The legendary Cuban rider was the worst net scoring cobblestone rider this season, and was mostly shy of the cameras except for some Vuelta breakaway attempts. But we can't be mad at the only rider part of both the 2016 CT and 2022 PCT promotion squad, at the rider with the most seasons on the team out of all 107 riders to have worn our overall. Upon departing we decide to honor him with the highest honor we can give him, the tenth inductee into the Minions Hall of Fame!

As the summer break nears its end, we look back one final time at the 2023 season, in which we sadly relegated back to the PCT. The first part of our rider review contains the riders 14 - 8 in the individual standings. The overperformers, the underperformers, the people who quietly achieved their points haul.

Dayer Quintana



The tireless mountain helper, Dayer often found himself around fiftieth in the GC of mountainous races, which brought a few valuable points. Thirty-first in the Tour de Suisse was his highest finishing position. We looked through every picture by every amateur photographer but could not find a single one identifying him, so we have to settle for this TTT pic in Slovenia where he is one of the eighth. Despite that, the performances were enough to see his contract renewed for a third year, but by now we hope he can outshine his brother.



Cristian Perez



The Cuban time trial champion on loan from Podium Ambition, Cristian proved to be a valuable asset in team time trials. He finished his first ever Grand Tour, the Giro, and had a promising Tour of Northern Europe where he took a good thirty-first in the opening time trial, had a breakaway and showing and almost became our highest finisher. Obviously Podium Ambition sees his ambition.



Tom Jelte Slagter



Our last signing after a rival pulled out at the last minute, Tom Jelte was effectively the only helper Kinoshita had this year. For all his efforts, we realized we might have needed more support. Anyway, his best result was thirty-ninth in the very though Liechtenstein GP and thirty-sixth in La Fleche Wallone. Also, he played the helper part perfectly in the Cattaneo TDF breakaway parade. Unfortunately, no place for him in next year's squad though.



Nathan Brown



Nathan scored well last year on the hill-TT combos's, of which there are plenty in PCT but not so much in PT. His best result was 26th in the Tour de Suisse, and was important wherever there was a team time trial. Back in the PCT we hope he can regain his point scoring ability.



Nathan Alexander



From all the loanees, the other Nathan scoring the most points was not on our bingo card. He could be found in breakaways in cobblestone races, but that was just to make sure he'd reach the finish line. Forty-fourth in La Fleche Wallone was a great result, but his most stellar performance came in the Tour de France, where a breakaway ride allowed him to climb to fourth in the polka dot competition, and hang around the top ten for a while. That surely pleased Podium Ambition's manager.



Laurens Sweeck



Another year without an appointed cobblestone leader, so Laurens once again took charge ad interim. The highest scoring of the cobblestone quartet, he scored not greatly in the two big cobblestone races. Twentieth in (CTRL+C, CTRL+V) Macskako Kerekparverseny was his best finishing position, the extra points probably coming from the fact he raced more races than the others in his discipline. Nevertheless, next season he can become acting leader again, or will we finally sign a leader in that position again?



Rohan D.



Too busy allegedly running over his wife. Might be heading to Prison Cycling Team next season.

As the summer break nears its end, we look back one final time at the 2023 season, in which we sadly relegated back to the PCT. The first part of our rider review contains the riders 7 - 1 in the individual standings. The leaders, the breakthroughs, the people whose brought in a lot of dough but not enough to survive.

Alvaro Hodeg



Few leadership opportunities this year for Alvaro, being mostly used as Ahlstrand's leadout, and the only stage the Swede won this year came when the Colombian failed to make the time limit the day before, make of that what you will. He got sprint leadership in the Vuelta, where he took two second and a fourth place. We will have to re-evaluate the three sprinter setup for next season, but as an academy product, his place seems safe.



Andris Vosekalns



The Latvian stage hunter extraordinaire, Andris almost exclusively targeted the Grand Tours without GC ambitions, that being the Giro and Vuelta. In the Giro he went into some early race breakaways, taking two top ten finishes and the mountains jersey. Too much energy wasted in the early stages meant he wasn't a factor for the win in the end though. In the Vuelta he also appeared in a few breakaways, including stage nine where he finished second and also took the mountains jersey. Again he would lose the lead, but held on to fifth overall. Even though Grand Tour participation is unlikely next year, he will defend our colors again.



Mikkel Bjerg



Touted as a talent for a long time, this was the season where Mikkel has to break through, and was also eligible for U25 classifications for the final time. A sixth place in the first race of the season down in Tasmania together with the overall win in said classification proved to be a good omen. A third place in the Tour de France time trial put his name definitively on the map. A stage win in the Tour de Suisse topped it all off. We're curious to find out what else he has in store next seasons.



Dusan Kalaba



Secondary sprinter is not often a wanted role as the opportunities are often a few stages in stage races, but Dusan has made it his specialty. Almost outscoring his lead sprinter, he only won one stage but what a stage it was. The first stage of the Tour de France, which also meant he could wear the yellow jersey for the next stage. He lost it the day after sure, but at least we have an iconic picture of the Minions in the most iconic jersey ever. You can't take that, or him, away from us.



Jonas Ahlstrand



Transfer controversy aside, Jonas will go into the history book of the team as our best finisher ever in Veenendaal - Veenendaal (fifth), and as the first rider to win a Grand Tour stage. When he crossed the line first in Venice for the final stage, he also took enough points to win the purple jersey for the points classification. Other results that season were mixed, sometimes he came close to winning and sometimes he did not bother. As this is his second relegation in a row he might be cursed, so he is transfer listed.



Mattia Cattaneo



Our best rider coming out of the previous season, we had lesser hope for Mattia to repeat his performances. Seventh places in the tours of Switzerland and Slovenia were his highest finishing positions, but his best performance came in the Tour de France where he finished in eighth place, with an iconic breakaway performance taking him this high. For next season we hope he can still pull the performances that got us promoted in the first place.



Tomohiro Kinoshita



Towards the end of the season, Tomohiro's performances picked up with a win in the Grand Prix Cycliste, and had some decent results here and there to make him our highest scoring rider. When we needed him the most however he did not performed well enough. Eleventh in Amstel Gold Race, twelfth in La Fleche Wallone and sixth in Liege - Bastogne - Liege. If he had performed better there, we might have had more hope in survival. He has been renewed for a less exorbitant wage but one of our first actions on the transfer market will be his sale.

@ivaneurope - Every year I want to go for younger leaders but I always end up with older ones. Perhaps time to change this year
@knockout - Surely one of my favorite riders of the season as well.
@Nemolito - If every stage was flat we might have stood a chance of survival