Sad to see Mestric having so much trouble. I thought he would do better at this level, but I guess the engine has changed.
To be fair regarding the shared leadership with Roosen in C2 races in combination with a pretty even field and his low SP he did okay in those races. In the higher categories he's the second lieutenant at best (behind Louvel who's clearly stronger), so his depth scoring is not as important as helping Zepuntke to shine which he did fairly well.
I guess we are far enough into the season that promotion talks are in order
A potential promotion has actually crossed my mind too. But that would still require quite some overperformances and fluke results as the cobbles are mostly done.
Still on track it seems
It was fun to see Katrasnik blow up the race and that actually work for him in the end.
It was fun to see Katrasnik blow up the race and that actually work for him in the end.
If we're still over a PpRD of 20 after June I'll think we're on track. And if Katrasnik further contributes like in Lisbon I'll happily take that. He's clearly fun in the flat classics at least!
Would be awesome to see you compete in PT Fingers crossed!
Fingers crossed here too! I'm not sure we'd be able to actually compete in PT, but there are already some plans in my mind how we could make most use of a promotion
June will be another rather quiet month for us. We have one long and one short stage race as well as one classic on the menu.
Start
End
Race
Cat
12-Jun
18-Jun
Tour de Suisse
PTHC
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Age
Sulkhan Akhmaevi
68
71
70
68
77
69
69
71
60
61
65
63
63
73
28
Arman Garibian
70
76
74
71
73
74
75
78
55
60
71
66
70
73
25
Alexandre Kess
66
68
69
69
65
67
68
70
57
62
64
65
66
64
22
Stefan Kung
73
70
72
73
77
74
72
73
72
63
71
73
78
78
32
Thibaut Pinot
68
76
73
70
61
70
73
66
54
58
63
68
63
61
35
Alain Quispe
81
52
53
53
61
63
61
65
53
67
74
85
55
61
31
Suranga Ranaweera
67
80
77
73
76
75
75
74
52
58
65
57
69
73
30
Kevin Vauquelin
69
77
73
69
74
70
74
73
58
68
69
72
71
73
24
We hope for another nice GC result from Ranaweera in this PTHC stage race. All eyes are on him as we don’t send a sprinter here. Depending on the competition Küng could be in for a minor result in his home ITT. We also hope for some breakaway action from Quispe.
Start
End
Race
Cat
20-Jun
Berlin ProRace
C1
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Age
Ewen Costiou
73
66
69
72
68
71
70
64
66
73
74
68
69
71
23
Gasper Katrasnik
81
61
62
63
69
72
76
69
63
63
72
81
73
69
30
Paul Lapeira
75
69
71
72
61
72
72
68
74
74
74
76
71
64
25
Matija Mestric
73
63
67
70
63
69
70
68
76
55
65
71
75
67
28
Alain Quispe
81
52
53
53
61
63
61
65
53
67
74
85
55
61
31
Dusan Rajovic
72
58
61
64
59
70
76
70
55
78
82
57
57
62
28
Timo Roosen
74
59
65
71
63
71
73
74
75
66
71
76
64
67
32
Ruben Zepuntke
72
56
63
69
65
79
72
64
82
72
65
66
68
65
32
We weren’t on the startlist of this race very often, but with our newly acquired rouleurs we give it a go here. Apart from Katrasnik and Quispe for a late attack we have Rajovic for a sprint.
Start
End
Race
Cat
26-Jun
28-Jun
USA Pro Cycling Challenge
C1
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Age
Alan Boileau
67
75
76
77
65
68
71
73
62
67
76
68
67
64
26
Arman Garibian
70
76
74
71
73
74
75
78
55
60
71
66
70
73
25
Gasper Katrasnik
81
61
62
63
69
72
76
69
63
63
72
81
73
69
30
Alexandre Kess
66
68
69
69
65
67
68
70
57
62
64
65
66
64
22
Lenny Martinez
65
72
71
70
65
70
72
71
57
56
72
70
70
64
22
Aurelien Paret-Peintre
72
76
77
77
72
73
75
73
63
72
74
72
70
72
29
Thibaut Pinot
68
76
73
70
61
70
73
66
54
58
63
68
63
61
35
Nate Pringle
69
60
63
66
69
68
67
64
65
63
64
70
64
68
22
A hilly stage race always has APPs name written on it, so we have some hopes he’ll get another GC top 10 in this race. He has some support here to achieve this.
We had a rather bad May with only two good results, one of which was also in our wildcard race. Even more annoyingly we didn’t even achieve a single stage result worth mentioning in two week-long stage races combined.
Start
End
Race
team goal
results
01-May
05-May
La Tropicale Amissa Bongo
-
2nd KoM
Our riders weren’t even mentioned in the coverage of the prologue, but Küng and Akhmaevi at least stayed near the minor GC placings. Stage 2 saw Roosen and Katrasnik active in the break and chasing KoM points, resulting in 4th and 2nd places in the competition. Stage 3 saw Quispes first breakaway appearance for us, but the break was pretty dysfunctional and soon over. Roosen was once again our man in the break in stage 4 but couldn’t climb in the KoM any further. The final short ITT was once again anonymous and we leave the race without any GC points.
points:
19
Gaspar Katrasnik
15
Timo Roosen
4
Start
End
Race
team goal
results
05-May
10-May
Balkans International
-
GC Top 25
Pringle was once again our man in the break in stage 1 and he gathered some KoM points on the way, apart from that everyone of importance made the first group. But the positioning was already worrying and rightly so as APP lost nearly 3 minutes in stage 2. Stage 3 saw once again Pringle in the break, but he wasn’t strong enough to stay with the others till the end which was a shame as his former companions took the win there. We were mostly inactive in stage 4 apart from some chasing in the peloton mid-stage, apparently to stay warm as no one was active later. Stage 5 saw once again Pringle in the break and nothing apart from it. The final stage was again on the anonymous side with APP losing some seconds but climbing to 24th in the GC. In total it really was an underwhelming race.
points:
20
Aurelien Paret-Peintre
17
Alan Boileau
2
Nate Pringle
1
Start
End
Race
team goal
results
19-May
25-May
Tour of Northern Europe
-
GC Top 5; GC Top 25; 3rd U25
Our riders saved energy by riding an anonymous stage one. Our potential GC options Zepuntke and Louvel lost time in a random split in stage 2, so they decided to drop their own ambitions in the cobbled stage 3 to help Küng stay with the GC favourites. He did and further improved his GC position to 4th in the cobbled TT. Stage 5 was another flat one without any action from our side. Küng was strong in the first of the two decisive hilly stages, being part of several attacks and chasing himself when needed. He was rewarded by climbing to 3rd in the GC prior to the final stage. He lost some time in the final stage, but with all the movement in the GC in that stage he finished the race in 4th. Lapeira added a 24th overall as well as a 3rd in the U25 classification, so the race was a success even without any stage results.
points:
n/a
Start
End
Race
team goal
results
27-May
Paris Tours
-
Top 25
We didn’t send anyone into the break, instead both Quispe and Katrasnik joined the late attack that included the later winner Varga. But sadly they just weren’t able or willing to follow his deciding move so Rajovic was our best finisher in 21st.
points:
10
Dusan Rajovic
5
Gaspar Katrasnik
5
Start
End
Race
team goal
results
29-May
Rheden GP
-
Top 5
We let the other teams work in the chase and put all our money on Zepuntke in the finale. He was attentive and part of some attacks, resulting in a 4th place in the final sprint. At least he salvaged our month to some extent with this result.
Fingers crossed!
Tour de Suisse
Berlin ProRace
USA Pro Cycling Challenge
La Tropicale Amissa Bongo
Balkans International
