Start	End	Race	team goal	results
01-Jun	03-Jun	Scandinavia Open Road Race	-	GC Top 25; 2nd KoM

We weren’t mentioned or seen in the first two stages which isn’t great in a WC race. But APP stayed long enough with the favourites to finish the race in 23rd place. But the revelation of the race was Juntunen who made it to the break in the final stage twice and was active enough in the KoM sprints to jump to 2nd in this classification – surely something we didn’t expect from him in any race, let alone on PT level.

points:

n/a

Start	End	Race	team goal	results
05-Jun	08-Jun	Tour of East Java	-	GC Top 25; Stage Podium

Stage 1 nearly caught us on the wrong foot, but after Ranaweera was on the wrong side of a split for quite some time everyone was in s.t. in the end. Hodeg managed a 12th place in this stage, too. Stage 2 saw Juntunen in the break, snatching some (in the end meaningless) KoM points and Hodeg finishing 16th. Stage 3 was the decisive one for the GC. We weren’t mentioned anywhere, but with Ranaweera and Pinot in 13th and 28th in GC afterwards it was pretty much what we could reasonably hope for. The former lost a position in the final stage on countback while the later gained one, but it was really more about the stage itself. We got Mestric in the break to cover any shenanigans, but in the end it was once again Hodeg who got the result, finishing in 2nd after squeezing himself into position with a daredevil move.

points:	73
Suranga Ranaweera	39
Alvaro Hodeg	20
Thibault Pinot	14

Start	End	Race	team goal	results
20-Jun	26-Jun	Tour of California	-	GC Podium; GC Top 25; Stage Podium; Stage Top 10

After seeing the startlist we had high hopes for Ranaweera in this race. The initial prologue was as unspectacular for us as the next pan flat stage. Stage 3 saw a first smaller GC fight on an uphill finish and Ranaweera came in 13th with the first big group there. He did the same with a 9th place in the next stage, climbing to 5th in the GC. The fifth stage was one for the sprinters, but then the GC fight really began. Ranaweera was active and strong in the only mountain stage, finishing 3rd right with the favourites, thus getting his first podium for the team and climbing to 4th in the GC before the final ITT, keeping his chances for a GC podium up. And he gained one position in the final stage, getting our first GC podium of the season in the end. Hadi, Pinot, Garibian and Vauquelin added some nice depth scoring, making this race the success we hoped for.

points:	180
Suranga Ranaweera	136
Janvier Hadi	23
Thibault Pinot	11
Arman Garibian	8
Kevin Vauquelin	2

Start	End	Race	team goal	results
21-Jun	24-Jun	Tour of Luxembourg	-	2nd KoM; Stage Top 10

We hoped for a good GC result from Paulus here, but he (and the rest of the team too) lost lots of time in the first stage, so the tactics for the race had to change to breakaway action. Stage 2 saw Belohvosciks in the break once again and Pithie snatching a 10th place in the sprint. Our rider for the next stage was Baudin who took advantage of the C2 rule for stagiaires and showed our colours in the break while climbing to 4th in the KoM competition. And he did even climb to 2nd in this classification after another breakaway appearance in the final stage, ending as our only points scorer in the race.

points:	9
Alex Baudin	9

Start	End	Race	team goal	results
28-Jun		Clasica San Sebastian	-	Top 10

Louvel was in the break of the day, so we didn’t have to work in the peloton. We wouldn’t have to anyway, but it’s nice to have a better reason than having no contender. Which obviously wasn’t true too as APP did what we hoped for (but didn’t really expect) as he was with the favourites nearly till the end and won the sprint of the second group, resulting in a surprising 10th place.

points:	37
Aurelien Paret-Peintre	37

Start	End	Race	Cat
01-Aug	05-Aug	Tour de Vineyards	C1

		FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age
	Kristians Belohvosciks	70	60	62	67	69	71	65	62	59	67	69	65	72	22
	Ewen Costiou	71	66	72	68	71	68	63	66	70	72	68	69	69	22
	Alvaro Hodeg	72	53	65	67	69	74	70	51	79	78	53	64	73	28
	Matis Louvel	75	64	71	71	73	76	69	74	67	67	67	66	71	25
	Tobias Lund Andresen	66	56	60	60	68	68	62	60	71	73	57	63	59	22
	Laurence Pithie	72	66	72	71	73	73	70	73	72	73	67	72	69	22
	Suranga Ranaweera	67	80	73	76	75	75	74	52	58	65	57	69	73	29
	Kevin Vauquelin	68	73	67	72	68	72	70	58	68	68	71	70	71	23

We have Hodeg for the three sprint stages and Ranaweera for the mountain stage, hoping for a not too strong competition in both terrains. The final TTT will probably hinder our GC ambitions though.

Start	End	Race	Cat
07-Aug	11-Aug	Post Danmark Rundt	HC

		FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age
	Lewis Askey	67	63	70	58	69	65	69	72	66	73	60	67	67	23
	Alex Baudin	65	66	66	66	68	66	67	63	63	66	67	65	63	23
	Kristians Belohvosciks	70	60	62	67	69	71	65	62	59	67	69	65	72	22
	Joris Delbove	65	74	72	58	67	72	74	62	60	69	71	72	58	24
	Alvaro Hodeg	72	53	65	67	69	74	70	51	79	78	53	64	73	28
	Antti-Jussi Juntunen	68	63	72	61	67	70	65	61	68	71	68	61	60	25
	Paul Lapeira	73	69	71	61	70	70	67	71	72	73	75	70	64	24
	Tobias Lund Andresen	66	56	60	60	68	68	62	60	71	73	57	63	59	22

We couldn’t avoid this race, so it’s all about getting some stage results from Hodeg once again and seeing our riders in the breaks. Apart from that we’re mostly hunting XP here.

Start	End	Race	Cat
11-Aug		GP Kigali	C1

		FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age
	Ewen Costiou	71	66	72	68	71	68	63	66	70	72	68	69	69	22
	Maxime Daniel	72	55	68	55	75	75	72	79	75	71	68	73	63	33
	Conor Dunne	66	74	74	69	71	72	73	70	62	69	74	69	69	32
	Janvier Hadi	68	74	72	74	73	70	71	61	74	71	68	69	74	32
	Matis Louvel	75	64	71	71	73	76	69	74	67	67	67	66	71	25
	Matija Mestric	73	63	70	63	69	70	68	76	55	65	71	75	67	27
	Rui Oliveira	70	67	76	70	77	72	72	66	75	78	65	67	71	28
	Laurence Pithie	72	66	72	71	73	73	70	73	72	73	67	72	69	22

It’s the last cobbled race of our season and so the last opportunity for Daniel to get a good result. There are some bumps on the road, but he should be okay with them. He doesn’t have his entire support squad here though due to XP management reasons, but at least this gives us the opportunity to send Hadi to his home race.

Start	End	Race	Cat
22-Aug		Milano - Torino	HC

		FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age
	Lewis Askey	67	63	70	58	69	65	69	72	66	73	60	67	67	23
	Alex Baudin	65	66	66	66	68	66	67	63	63	66	67	65	63	23
	Kristians Belohvosciks	70	60	62	67	69	71	65	62	59	67	69	65	72	22
	Ewen Costiou	71	66	72	68	71	68	63	66	70	72	68	69	69	22
	Arman Garibian	69	74	70	71	72	73	76	55	60	70	66	70	71	24
	Olivier Le Gac	70	69	77	60	73	74	71	52	64	69	74	73	60	31
	Tobias Lund Andresen	66	56	60	60	68	68	62	60	71	73	57	63	59	22
	Aurelien Paret-Peintre	72	76	77	72	73	75	73	63	72	74	72	70	72	28

It’s double-header time and we have to split up our hills squad to get something out of both races. With a rather selective finale and an uphill finish we chose to send APP here to get us a result.

Start	End	Race	Cat
22-Aug		GP Lugano	HC

		FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age
	Welay Hagos Berhe	67	71	69	69	71	68	71	60	61	66	67	64	67	23
	Alan Boileau	67	73	75	65	68	70	72	62	67	74	66	67	64	25
	Joris Delbove	65	74	72	58	67	72	74	62	60	69	71	72	58	24
	Janvier Hadi	68	74	72	74	73	70	71	61	74	71	68	69	74	32
	Paul Lapeira	73	69	71	61	70	70	67	71	72	73	75	70	64	24
	Matis Louvel	75	64	71	71	73	76	69	74	67	67	67	66	71	25
	Rui Oliveira	70	67	76	70	77	72	72	66	75	78	65	67	71	28
	Daniel Paulus	69	74	77	64	71	68	73	56	62	71	73	67	64	31

Part two of the hilly double header and it’s actually a goal race for us. We hope to achieve the top 5 with Oliveira here, counting on less selective race than in Italy with most of the bigger obstacles in the first half of the race.

Start	End	Race	Cat
23-Aug	31-Aug	Tour de l'Avenir	U23

		FL	MO	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age
	Lewis Askey	67	63	70	58	69	65	69	72	66	73	60	67	67	23
	Alex Baudin	65	66	66	66	68	66	67	63	63	66	67	65	63	23
	Welay Hagos Berhe	67	71	69	69	71	68	71	60	61	66	67	64	67	23
	Ewen Costiou	71	66	72	68	71	68	63	66	70	72	68	69	69	22
	Tobias Lund Andresen	66	56	60	60	68	68	62	60	71	73	57	63	59	22
	Laurence Pithie	72	66	72	71	73	73	70	73	72	73	67	72	69	22
	Pedro Silva	66	69	70	58	75	73	66	60	65	74	74	65	60	23
	Kevin Vauquelin	68	73	67	72	68	72	70	58	68	68	71	70	71	23

It’s always one of our season highlights to see the future of our team ride in the Tour de l’Avenir. We once again send a nearly complete squad (including two of our loanees) with the addition of Akers Pedro Silva. We don’t have a top-favourite in any terrain, but we have some options in all of them. The major goal will be a GC top 5 by Vauquelin though.