jandal7 wrote:

Happy to see an HQ further behind ours in catching up. Us Kiwis not really living up to our being ahead of the rest of the world time-zone wise!

Awesome you are doing it though. Solid work from Gaday in Feb!

Although a cobblestone race on paper, it didn't turn out that way as the race was dominated by the Puncheurs. As a result, our top finisher was Gaday in 41st with Miquel just behind him. 0 points for us.

The less we say about our time in Colombia, the better. Only one top 10 stage finish with 5th for Shikai in Stage 5 from a mid-stage attack. He finished 31st in the GC.

Again a passive race from Gaday through the attacks to conserve energy. A late attack rewarded the winner while Gaday finished 5th best in the main group for a final result of 7th.

A return to the cobbles but not a profile which suited Gaday as he could only manage 14th.

A fairly anonymous 5 days from the team with only 1 Top 10 finish coming on the final stage from Storer. A few points scored though with Conci 12th in the GC and some depth from Cosnefroy 23rd and Storer 25th.

PTHC cobbles and Gaday was right at home. Although the winner would end up taking it by a minute, Gaday finished in the second group on the road to secure a vital 4th to put our month back on track.

Gaday had little rest before he hopped across the channel with his support crew to France where he managed his best result of the season to date. A first podium for him in the Hunter Valley purple!

Back to the C2 and it wasn't our day. Monk would puncture mid-way through and use a lot of energy to catch back up. He could only manage 13th despite being a pre-race favourite.

		Points	PPRD
HC	Strade Bianche	0	0
PTHC	Vuelta a Colombia	25	4.2
HC	Macskako Kerekparverseny	12	6
HC	Tour of Norway	65	13
PTHC	Cheshire Cycling Tour	90	45
C1	1 Jour de Dunkerque	46	23
C2	Geraardsbergen-Bosberg	7	3.5

of the Month: Lucas Manuel Gaday
of the Month: Chen Shikai

Manager Comment: 2 great days in the saddle for Gaday but it was otherwise a tough month for us, with a very disappointing Colombia. We were 16th of all teams within the month, despite racing most available race days, and as a result we dropped down to 17th in the overall rankings.

The month started with a cobbled C2 clasci where Monk once again disappointed as he could only manage 7th.

A hilly classic in China was next up and Storer battled as he could only manage 21st with Miquel 26th.

A week in Poland and what a week it would be.

Gerben Thijssen came up trumps on Stage 4 with his second stage win of the year.

It was then over to Storer who managed 8th on Stage 5, 5th on Stage 6, and topped off the week with a stage win of his own on the final day.

This would propel Storer up to 2nd in the GC, finishing only 7 seconds behind race winner Powless. Conci also scored a few points with 19th.

A time-trial heavy first few stages in Slovenia followed by a few days in the hills.
Castrillo managed 6th on the opening stage which got us off to a good start.
The team managed 3rd in the TTT on Stage 2 which would ultimately be the reason we won the Teams Classification here.

In the GC, Nicola Conci was well positioned from the TTs and rode well in the hills which meant 3rd in the GC for the Italian. GOAL ACHIEVED!

3 days in the C2 cobblestones and Monk should have been well positioned to fight for the win. 12th was all he could achieve.

Another C2 cobbled classic and Monk this time managing 7th. Still unable to make the Top 5.

No luck in this classic for Storer who would finish just outside the Top 20.

Very much a flat classic for the sprinters but no! It was our surprise of the month as Henry Alberto Sam joined the late efforts and took 4th!

The home race for Jakobsen and a solid performance at PTHC level for our lead man as he would take 8th place.

The final C2 race of our season and a final cobbled classic. Again, Monk unable to capitalise as he could only manage 8th.

		Points	PPRD
C2	GP Herning	17	8.5
HC	Badaling International	10	5.0
C1	Tour de Pologne	144	20.6
PTHC	Tour of Slovenia	259	51.8
C2	Tour du Faso	12	4.0
C2	Lincoln GP	17	8.5
HC	GP Wallonie	5	2.5
HC	Lisbon Classic	78	39.0
PTHC	Veenendaal - Veenendaal	54	27.0
C2	Dwars door Vlaanderen	14	7.0

Nicola Conci (Slovenia), Michael Storer (Pologne)
Henry Alberto Sam (Lisbon)
Cyrus Monk (C2 cobbles..)

Manager Comment: We scored very well in the 2 big stage races, especially Conci in the PTHC Tour of Slovenia but Storer's Tour de Pologne efforts were stellar also. A couple of classic results in Lisbon and Veenendaal made up for some more disappointing results in the hills and C2 cobbles.
All in all, we topped the charts for April with over 600 points and 21PPRD, the promotion form we wanted to see! Such a big month saw us jump up to 5th in the PCT as we head into May.

We finish the season in 7th place, a fair way off the final automatic promotion spot of 5th. Importantly though, with 2 disbands in the Pro Tour, this means we're back up to the Pro Tour for 2026!

None of our riders managed to make it into the top 30, but 8 did end up in the Top 100.
The biggest surprise of the year being Henry Alberto Sam with his GC win in the Tour of South Africa being a huge contributor to our promotion. Fellow TT rider, Castrillo, was also a big overdeliver in PpW.
The reliable Jakobsen, Conci, and Cosnefroy delivered well. The trained Storer began to deliver some decent results also.
On the more disappointing side was Shikai. He did not live up his status or his pay.
Only 1 rider was unable to score this season but we're sure he'll find his first point in 2026.

3 out of 5, including 1 of our win goals, is reflective of a strong season with some improvements available. We'll continue to be ambitious as we head into 2026!

We retain the services of 19 riders from our 2025 season. Renewing all but Chen Shikai, who was unwilling to take a significant cut through decline, and of course loanee Declan Trezise who returns home to Philips.
All of our higher paid riders took a pay-cut, the most notable being Michael Storer who was a FA pick up so he moves back towards his non-FA market value. Lucas Manuel Gaday also saw a decline as he nears the end of his career which resulted in him accepting a reasonable decline.
The only larger increases came for our 2 time-trial riders in Henry Alberto Sam, who had a stellar 2025, and Castrillo who also over-delivered significanly. Both riders very much worth the additional increase.

Our trio of sponsors are pleased with this result as we retain all contracted Australians, now making up almost 1 third of our roster. They are particularly pleased with Storer and have demanded he continue to be a leader for us. They're also very pleased with the progress of Brady Gilmore who is now a year out from being a real threat at the top level. Similarly, they expect a continued focus on our young Aussie core led by Zac Marriage and Fergus Browning.

In terms of availabilities, this will no doubt be a surprise to many but both Fabio Jakobsen and Nicola Conci have had discussions with the team and are open to exploring new pastures in 2025. The team does, however, have no need to sell. Their leaving during the transfer window is very dependent on our ability to make certain moves elsewhere so don't expect quick deals for either of these 2.

We do eagerly await the weeks to come!