Ezeefreak wrote:

Will be interesting to see which direction you move forward too. There is now a lot possible ways, lets see what you come up with.
For our team thats not so bad news just means potentially less competition for japanese riders

Hofstetter joined the break. Rossi was a part of a long range attack but none of these were fruitful. Owen was dropped from the lead group with around 30 km to go. The results were once again disappointing.

33	Diego Rossi	Sony - Force India	+ 5'20
52	Logan Owen	Sony - Force India	+ 9'26
68	Daan Hoole	Sony - Force India	+ 10'28
84	Hugo Hofstetter	Sony - Force India	+ 15'17
85	Piet Allegaert	Sony - Force India	+ 16'06
97	Jo Kogstad Ringheim	Sony - Force India	+ 17'26
124	Tim Van Dijke	Sony - Force India	+ 26'58
137	Mick Van Dijke	Sony - Force India	+ 33'34

Holm Jorgensen was a part of a few breakaways.

Hofstetter finished 5th on Stage 2.

Van Dijke finished 5th on Stage 5. He led the U25s at this point. He lost it on the next stage.

Van Dijke finished 3rd on Stage 7.

Van Dijke did the same on Stage 8 and reclaimed the White Jersey.

Elissonde joined the break on Stage 9 but was dropped in the closing kilometers.

Roson finished 10th from a reduced bunch sprint behind the break on Stage Stage 13.

Van Dijke was 8th on Stage 14, in another reduced bunch sprint behind the break.

Elissonde and Roson joined the break on Stage 17. Neither would survive till the end.

Roson joined the break on Stage 18 as well. He finished 3rd on the stage. Van Dijke finished 6th from the pack.

Van Dijke joined the break on Stage 20. He couldn't hang on over the hard climbs.

63	Jaime Roson	Sony - Force India	+ 3h20'31
65	Mick Van Dijke	Sony - Force India	+ 3h22'01
77	Dinmukhammed Ulysbayev	Sony - Force India	+ 4h09'18
93	Bryan Raul Obando	Sony - Force India	+ 4h31'06
104	Mikel Agirrebeitia	Sony - Force India	+ 4h53'02
106	Kenny Elissonde	Sony - Force India	+ 5h00'34
137	Hugo Hofstetter	Sony - Force India	+ 6h02'45

Alben finished 2nd on Stage 1. Haig and a couple of others lost more than 4 minutes.

We lost 33 seconds in the TTT on Stage 2.

Zmorka couldn't survive the hills on Stage 4 and our GC hopes were gone!

Zmorka finished a poor 14th in the ITT.

16	Jack Haig	Sony - Force India	+ 8'03
28	Marlen Zmorka	Sony - Force India	+ 9'37
44	Tim Van Dijke	Sony - Force India	+ 11'30
52	Daan Hoole	Sony - Force India	+ 13'20
67	Leo Hayter	Sony - Force India	+ 15'40
89	Naveen John	Sony - Force India	+ 24'03
135	Sergio Arias Villanueva	Sony - Force India	+ 30'43
151	Esow Alben	Sony - Force India	+ 36'14

Tim Van Dijke finished 5th in the U25s with Hayter in 7th.

Allegaert joined the break but he can't really climb, so it didn't go anywhere. Leemreize can climb, but apparently not these mountains!

69	Gijs Leemreize	Sony - Force India	+ 27'22
90	Lennard Hofstede	Sony - Force India	+ 38'04
91	Ricardo Broxham	Sony - Force India	s.t.
131	Sergio Arias Villanueva	Sony - Force India	+ 51'50
144	Piet Allegaert	Sony - Force India	+ 54'51
145	Diego Rossi	Sony - Force India	s.t.
149	Hayden McCormick	Sony - Force India	+ 58'41
169	Esow Alben	Sony - Force India	+ 1h13'31

Arias Villanueva joined the break but he was caught a long way from the line. Kulikovskiy finished a decent 11th. Cherkasov picked up minor points in 41st.

11	Alexandr Kulikovskiy	Sony - Force India	+ 43
41	Nicolay Cherkasov	Sony - Force India	s.t.
51	Diego Rossi	Sony - Force India	s.t.
70	Hayden McCormick	Sony - Force India	s.t.
80	Esow Alben	Sony - Force India	s.t.
89	Tim Van Dijke	Sony - Force India	s.t.
105	Sergio Arias Villanueva	Sony - Force India	s.t.
108	Piet Allegaert	Sony - Force India	s.t.

Obando joined the break. Van Dijke attacked with 41 km to go, and then again a few kilometers later. He wasn't strong enough to stay at the front.

61	Mick Van Dijke	Sony - Force India	+ 5'03
80	Nicolay Cherkasov	Sony - Force India	+ 6'07
110	Lennard Hofstede	Sony - Force India	s.t.
147	Hayden McCormick	Sony - Force India	+ 8'40
150	Ricardo Broxham	Sony - Force India	+ 9'54
155	Bryan Raul Obando	Sony - Force India	+ 10'39
161	Sergio Arias Villanueva	Sony - Force India	s.t.
173	Kenny Elissonde	Sony - Force India	+ 12'33

We didn't join the break. Mick was dropped in the first notable spilt in the peloton, and that was the end of our challenge.

87	Mick Van Dijke	Sony - Force India	+ 4'54
99	Hayden McCormick	Sony - Force India	+ 5'41
114	Nicolay Cherkasov	Sony - Force India	s.t.
131	Lennard Hofstede	Sony - Force India	+ 7'16
148	Bryan Raul Obando	Sony - Force India	+ 8'42
168	Kenny Elissonde	Sony - Force India	+ 10'53
170	Ricardo Broxham	Sony - Force India	s.t.
189	Adam Holm Jorgensen	Sony - Force India	+ 18'12

Cherkasov joined the break. Van Dijke was dropped with around 15 km to go. We got a better result, but nothing to write home about.

48	Mick Van Dijke	Sony - Force India	+ 3'08
131	Nicolay Cherkasov	Sony - Force India	+ 9'10
133	Hayden McCormick	Sony - Force India	s.t.
142	Diego Rossi	Sony - Force India	+ 9'32
143	Lennard Hofstede	Sony - Force India	s.t.
153	Kenny Elissonde	Sony - Force India	+ 10'39
165	Ricardo Broxham	Sony - Force India	+ 12'06
174	Bryan Raul Obando	Sony - Force India	+ 14'13

We didn't have a sprinter for the first two stages.

We did some chasing on Stage 3, with Mick finishing in the pack.

We got two Top 20s in the ITT on Stage 4, courtesy Rekita and Tim VD. Mick moved up to 7th in the GC.

Mick attacked with 12 km to go on Stage 6. He didn't get away but finished 10th, in the pack behind the surviving break. He moved up to 4th in the GC.

Van Dijke finished 4th from the reduced bunch on Stage 7. He moved up further to be an impressive 2nd in the GC! He also claimed the win in the U25s.

2	Mick Van Dijke	Sony - Force India	+ 1'17
76	Daan Hoole	Sony - Force India	+ 31'41
81	Diego Rossi	Sony - Force India	+ 33'00
84	Tim Van Dijke	Sony - Force India	+ 33'28
123	Jo Kogstad Ringheim	Sony - Force India	+ 45'23
146	Piet Allegaert	Sony - Force India	+ 52'44
156	Szymon Rekita	Sony - Force India	+ 55'42
176	Sergio Arias Villanueva	Sony - Force India	+ 1h05'16

Ringheim joined the break. He was caught with 58 km to go. Owen and Rossi were part of the enxt attacking group. Although this group did not survive, Rossi eventually ended up 7th, with Owen in 11th, making this our best cobbles result of the season so far.

7	Diego Rossi	Sony - Force India	+ 3'50
11	Logan Owen	Sony - Force India	+ 3'58
31	Daan Hoole	Sony - Force India	s.t.
41	Jo Kogstad Ringheim	Sony - Force India	+ 8'15
53	Hugo Hofstetter	Sony - Force India	+ 15'03
83	Piet Allegaert	Sony - Force India	+ 19'43
96	Kenny Elissonde	Sony - Force India	+ 21'21
103	Tim Van Dijke	Sony - Force India	+ 23'31

Kulikovskiy was nowhere in the picture when the sprint came about.

31	Sergio Arias Villanueva	Sony - Force India	4h33'22
44	Piet Allegaert	Sony - Force India	s.t.
60	Alexandr Kulikovskiy	Sony - Force India	s.t.
80	Nicolay Cherkasov	Sony - Force India	s.t.
88	Diego Rossi	Sony - Force India	s.t.
120	Esow Alben	Sony - Force India	s.t.
130	Tim Van Dijke	Sony - Force India	s.t.
145	Hayden McCormick	Sony - Force India	s.t.

Arias Villanueva joined the break. The sprint was the same as Moscow.

41	Alexandr Kulikovskiy	Sony - Force India	4h09'07
57	Esow Alben	Sony - Force India	s.t.
60	Hayden McCormick	Sony - Force India	s.t.
68	Diego Rossi	Sony - Force India	s.t.
76	Nicolay Cherkasov	Sony - Force India	s.t.
127	Piet Allegaert	Sony - Force India	s.t.
171	Sergio Arias Villanueva	Sony - Force India	s.t.

Zmorka lived up to his billing and got 4th. Rekita also did fine to finish 15th.

4	Marlen Zmorka	Sony - Force India	+ 55
15	Szymon Rekita	Sony - Force India	+ 1'49
54	Sergio Arias Villanueva	Sony - Force India	+ 3'33

Arias Villanueva joined the break on Stage 1. He picked up some KOM points. We didn't get anything from the sprint.

Kulikovskiy did much better on Stage 2, getting 2nd.

A large group finished together on the MTF on Stage 3, with four of our riders in there. Leemreize was the best placed in 17th.

Kulikovskiy did well on Stage 5 as well, getting 5th.

He also got 5th in the Points. Arias Villanueva got 8th in the KOM. Hayter finished 2nd in the U25s. We also finished 2nd in the Teams.

22	Gijs Leemreize	Sony - Force India	+ 20
26	Leo Hayter	Sony - Force India	s.t.
35	Dinmukhammed Ulysbayev	Sony - Force India	s.t.
38	Jaime Roson	Sony - Force India	s.t.
82	Kenny Elissonde	Sony - Force India	+ 14'24
93	Bryan Raul Obando	Sony - Force India	s.t.
112	Alexandr Kulikovskiy	Sony - Force India	+ 24'04
126	Sergio Arias Villanueva	Sony - Force India	+ 26'09

The Prologue went well with Hayter getting 9th and Haig getting 12th.

Alben did very well on Stage 2 to get 6th.

Stage 3 was uneventful.

Haig was in the lead group when the attacks happened on Stage 4. He couldn't keep up and lost over a minute.

Hayter joined the break on Stage 5. Haig was dropped. Hayter went on to win the stage!



Haig came back to win the ITT on Stage 6. Hayter finished 7th.

Leemreize joined the break on Stage 7. He went on to win the stage.



Leemreize moved up to 13th in the GC and 2nd in the KOM. Hayter finished 2nd in the Points and 6th in the U25s. We won the Team classification!

13	Gijs Leemreize	Sony - Force India	+ 6'13
28	Jack Haig	Sony - Force India	+ 13'29
35	Leo Hayter	Sony - Force India	+ 17'12
92	Jaime Roson	Sony - Force India	+ 47'47
114	Mikel Agirrebeitia	Sony - Force India	+ 56'28
118	Dinmukhammed Ulysbayev	Sony - Force India	+ 57'18
130	Naveen John	Sony - Force India	+ 1h02'48
178	Esow Alben	Sony - Force India	+ 1h53'53

Elissonde joined the break on Stage 1 and Stage 2. He picked up some KOM points.

Hofstede joined the break on Stage 3. He picked up enough points to get 3rd in the KOM.

Elissonde finished 8th in the Points.

103	Lennard Hofstede	Sony - Force India	+ 15'23
116	Mick Van Dijke	Sony - Force India	+ 18'10
133	Nicolay Cherkasov	Sony - Force India	+ 22'00
134	Bryan Raul Obando	Sony - Force India	s.t.
136	Ricardo Broxham	Sony - Force India	s.t.
149	Hayden McCormick	Sony - Force India	+ 24'56
170	Kenny Elissonde	Sony - Force India	+ 28'22
181	Sergio Arias Villanueva	Sony - Force India	+ 37'05

Our sprinting didn't improve much as Kulikovskiy failed to get involved.

30	Sergio Arias Villanueva	Sony - Force India	s.t.
35	Alexandr Kulikovskiy	Sony - Force India	s.t.
91	Tim Van Dijke	Sony - Force India	s.t.
104	Nicolay Cherkasov	Sony - Force India	s.t.
105	Hayden McCormick	Sony - Force India	s.t.
120	Diego Rossi	Sony - Force India	s.t.
127	Esow Alben	Sony - Force India	s.t.
148	Piet Allegaert	Sony - Force India	s.t.

The race started off in the worst possible way. Haig, and others, lost more than 4 minutes on the flat Stage 1.

Our first highlight came on in the TTT on Stage 5. We rode a great stage to finish 3rd.

Our first breakaway appearance was on Stage 9, with Zmorka. Expectedly, he didn't make it far. Haig finished in the lead group.

Leemreize joined the break on Stage 10. He stayed at the front all through the stage, picking up KOM points and eventually following the winning move. He edged out Chaiyasombat for the stage win!



Hofstetter finished 9th on Stage 11, his only Top 10 of the race.

Leemreize joined the break on Stage 13. He picked up more KOM points, including a summit win. He would finish 6th on the stage. Haig gained time on some of his rivals.

Leemreize joined the break on Stage 14 as well. He would be dropped on the penultimate climb.

No break action on Stage 15, but after they were caught Leemreize powered through the uphill finish to take another stage win! Haig got 4th, his real contribution of the race, other than the TTT.



Haig followed all the right moves in the closing slopes of Stage 16, getting another 4th place finish, and moving into the Top 10 of the GC for the first time in the race.

Haig stayed with the front group on Stage 17 and claimed 6th.

Stage 18 was relatively uneventful for our leaders, although Haig did gain another place in the GC.

It was all hands on deck to protect Haig on Stage 19 with only Zmorka going into the break. A fruitless effort! Haig, with a couple of other GC contenders, would catch most of the break on the climb to the finish. Haig would finish 8th on the stage, now climbing to 6th in the GC.

The ITT on Stage 20 went perfectly to plan. Zmorka was at his best, taking the stage win. Rekita finished 10th. Haig finished 16th and moved up to 3rd in the GC.

Stage 21 didn't throw up any results, or surprises, for us.

Leemreize finished 7th in the KOM. Hayter was 2nd in the U25s. We finished 9th in the Teams classification.

3	Jack Haig	Sony - Force India	+ 5'26
22	Gijs Leemreize	Sony - Force India	+ 28'17
52	Leo Hayter	Sony - Force India	+ 1h28'40
57	Dinmukhammed Ulysbayev	Sony - Force India	+ 1h46'30
78	Naveen John	Sony - Force India	+ 3h09'23
139	Hugo Hofstetter	Sony - Force India	+ 4h44'17
156	Marlen Zmorka	Sony - Force India	+ 5h13'26
176	Szymon Rekita	Sony - Force India	+ 5h58'35