There will be several races coming up, where Champion System is going to attend for the first time under the new management. Brace yourselves, we are coming! Those will be:
Amstel Gold Race
Giro del Trentino
Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey
4 Jours de Dunkerque
Amgen Tour of California
Glava Tour of Norway
Bayern Rundfahrt
Baloise Belgium Tour
The Philadelphia Cycling Classic
Skoda Tour de Luxembourg
To be honest, the new management had no chance to decide who is going to race in the first two, because we took over the team just outside of time. Thus we are only going to present you by this who has been chosen to show our jerseys there and maybe try to get some nice results.
Amstel Gold Race (14 April)
Rajesh Kakhi Bobbie Traksel Matthew Brammeier Ryan Roth Chad Beyer Craig Lewis Muhamad Othman Clinton Avery
Giro del Trentino (16-19 April)
Bobbie Traksel Matthew Brammeier Ryan Roth Chad Beyer Craig Lewis Muhamad Othman
The following lineups were thoroughly scheduled by the team management and have been approved by the riders. For all we know, those are final.
Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey (21-28 April)
Muhamad Othman Clinton Avery Chan Jae Jang Ryota Nishizono Mart Ojavee Kin San Wu Chun Feng Zachary Bell
Because we knew that many teams are heading for stage wins here (because of their sponsors goals), we did not try to compete in sprint finals. Also we think that some other stage races fit Christian De Vries more because they include Time Trials. So we nominated no leader and hope that those guys can achieve anything (like a mountain jersey, a breakaway stage win) or just show themselves by an active riding style.
4 Jours de Dunkerque (1-5 May)
Rajesh Kakhi Bobbie Traksel Matthias Friedemann Ryan Roth Craig Lewis Chan Jae Jang Mart Ojavee Zachary Bell
Without a Time Trial, some flat and some hilly stages, we believe that this race is perfect for Rajesh Kakhi. We will see, if he can get a Top5 GC result, which is our goal actually. Furthermore, he can definetely score some nice stage results. To obtain those, we nominated some more sprinters to support him.
Amgen Tour of California (12-19 May)
Christian De Vries Fabian Schnaidt Matthias Friedemann Christopher Butler Chad Beyer Gang Xu Biao Liu Zachary Bell
We are heading out for a stage win here, because that is our sponsor goal. For that we got two options: Christian De Vries for the mountain stages on the one, and our sprinters for stages with a flat final on the other hand. Beyond that we should be able to be competitive in the GC as well, because this tour perfectly fits our leader.
Glava Tour of Norway (15-19 May)
Rajesh Kakhi Matthew Brammeier Gregor Gazvoda Craig Lewis Muhamad Othman Pengda Jiao Chan Jae Jang Mart Ojavee
Above you see another lineup that is totally concentrated on our designated leader Rajesh Kakhi. His team mates are going to support him in sprint finishs and the hilly stages, so that we are looking forward to stage results and a top result in GC as well.
Bayern Rundfahrt (22-26 May)
Christian De Vries Bobbie Traksel Matthew Brammeier Clinton Avery Gang Xu Chun Feng Biao Liu Zachary Bell
Slowly one should be able to guess what we are trying to do here: A top result in the GC (Top5 is our goal) and proper places in sprint finishs, which make three out of five stages here.
Baloise Belgium Tour (22-26 May)
Rajesh Kakhi Fabian Schnaidt Matthias Friedemann Ryan Roth Gregor Gazvoda Chan Jae Jang Ryota Nishizono Kin San Wu
In Belgium we have sprint stages and a hilly stage once more, which leads to the conclusion: Everything is set up for Rajesh Kakhi. Taking into account that this tour also has an Individual Time Trial, we have no big GC ambitions here - stage results are enough to aim for.
The Philadelphia Cycling Classic (2 June)
Rajesh Kakhi Christopher Butler Gregor Gazvoda Pengda Jiao Gang Xu Chun Feng Biao Liu Zachary Bell
As this classic race is also one of our goals (Top10), we will be bringing our expert for hilly races. As always, the whole team focuses on guiding him through the day and absolutely working for him.
Skoda Tour de Luxembourg (12-16 June)
Chad Beyer Gregor Gazvoda Clinton Avery Pengda Jiao Ryota Nishizono Kin San Wu Chun Feng Biao Liu
We are providing a big chance to our usually supporting team-mates here. Everybody who is usually working for our leaders on all terrains, now has his chance to show that he is able to score by himself. Take that chance guys!
Additional previews on all those races will follow just before they start - as well as a race report afterwards. Be prepared to see Champion System racing. We are absolutely focused and looking forward to this.
By the way, the specific rider schedules have been updated in the HQ. There will follow some kind of summary on the cyclists' race calendars within the next days.
Can't await starting to race,
Team Management - Jochen Hahn
Edited by Silvio Herklotz on 16-04-2014 12:54
As the planning for Part 2 has been already presented in terms of the lineups, we are only gonna have a short look on the specific race days our guys will collect during this part of the season. For starters, here is our race day planning again (which can also be viewed in the HQ-Introduction):
As you can see, we tried to balance the race days between the riders somehow, so most of them have now just under 30 race days left. Our leaders have 32 (Christian De Vries) and 28 (Rajesh Kakhi) race days left, so we have the ability to participate in races with a total of 60 race days and always bring a leader (assuming they won't race together). That seems to be a solid base for Part 3. So we could even focus on a Grand Tour (we will se if we are going to do).
The two riders with the most free race days are Christopher Butler (36) and Pengda Jiao (34). The difference to most of the other riders is not big anyways, so we believe that planning Part 3 should work out well. This balanced race day-planning makes it possible to have all riders with their different prefered terrains available, so that none of our guys will have to take races that do not suit their abilities.
However, Zachary Bell (18) and Chan Jae Jang (22) have a little less race days left. So they will be able to recover a bit more in the last part of the season. As you can see, our guys who are specialised in more flat races have less race days left than those focusing on mountaineous ones. That gives us the opportunity to compete well in stage races especially in the upcoming part.
Asking himself if he's writing this for himself or somebody else to read,
The Management - Jochen Hahn
Edited by Silvio Herklotz on 03-03-2014 12:17
With Amstel Gold Race being the first race in this season's Part 2, you will see Champion System appearing on screen soon. But it's not just that - we also got one of our hard goals here and a team leader who is hungry for results. But sit back, we'll get to this.
For our team there is a certain reason why the first Ardennes Classic is so important (which is not just that we are not in the other ones ). Our sponsors set us a goal here, which is the following:
Goal - Hard (countered): Top5
We did everything that is possible to achieve this top place, although it seems to be out of our range as a Pro Continental Team. Thus we selected the following riders:
Rajesh Kakhi Bobbie Traksel Matthew Brammeier Ryan Roth Chad Beyer Craig Lewis Muhamad Othman Clinton Avery
The team's tactics are relatively easy to guess. Rajesh Kakhi is our leader - no question about that. He should concentrate on scoring a result by competing with the best puncheurs in the peloton in the last kilometers of the race. But as you know it takes a strong team to even get there without wasting too much energy.
In the first part of the race, three riders will be doing all the work because of their relatively low climbing capapability. Bobbie Traksel, Matthew Brammeier and Clinton Avery will be using their energy to ensure that Raj has an easy start into the day. Especially Matt and Bobbie are here to improve their climbing form, which could give them an advantage in upcoming races where they are going to be racing for results.
Afterwards supporting Rajesh is up to the rest of the team. Because Ryan Roth, Chad Beyer, Craig Lewis and Muhamad Othman are all about the same strength in hills, there is no kind of rank order between them. Those guys are sharing the same task: Somehow get our leader to the race final among the main favourites and protect him as much as they can.
In the end, it will be up to Rajesh to make us proud.
This leaves us with the last question: What result are we awaiting? Well, we know that achieving our goal is nearly impossible because of the fierce competition. Futhermore, we do not want to put too much of pressure on Rajesh. This is why we state that a Top20 place is what we await here, a Top10 result and you, Rajesh, are gonna have some very nice champagner with us after the race. You may choose between one of those then (well, last five ones are just for achieving goal though )
Should be everything to get you introduced,
Team Management - Jochen Hahn
Edited by Silvio Herklotz on 06-03-2014 14:23
Yeah, well, two things about this.
First: U kidding? But I see it coming... In the end we will be awesome in GC and not achieving the sponsor goal anyways...
Second: Ever thought about racing in an Asian team concentrating on supporting Asian cycling and Asian riders in particular?
My season finally started and I could make my first race as a pro. I was very happy when I travelled to the Netherlands where I would be the team captain at the World Tour classic Amstel Gold Race. That happiness decreased when I saw the weather at the start. It was raining cats and dogs. I totally hate rain, especially when it is very cold on top of that. Back in India I usually hadn't problems like that.
I planned that I could stay with the favourites as long as possible and hoped for a result in the top 20. I don't want to blame the rain, but it is surely part of the reason, why I couldn't fulfill my plans at all. I lost contact way to early, I just couldn't keep on nevermind what I tried, and, as 62nd, lead a group home 8'47'' behind the winner, Joaquin Rodriguez. I am very disappointed with the result, maybe to start my career with a WT Race wasn't the best idea.
In this update, I would also like to publish some changes in my race planning. On top of what I presented before I will also ride the 4 Jours de Dunkerque and the Philadelphia Cycling Classic.
Our first race unter the new management is finished! At the same time, it is also the first race in Part 2 we have been taken part in. It has been Amstel Gold Race - so our first race actually was a World Tour one.
If you are interested in reading how the race went off, you should definetely check out the official report by Selwink. This will also help you getting a deeper understanding of the management's mood right now. If you have not read the team's preview on the race until now, you should definetely do so. For all those who already did (and those whom are too busy/lazy), here you just see our lineup.
Rajesh Kakhi Bobbie Traksel Matthew Brammeier Ryan Roth Chad Beyer Craig Lewis Muhamad Othman Clinton Avery
As the team was fully concentrating on a result for Rajesh Kakhi, we would like to present you some pictures of him being part of the action:
You are wondering why you see a picture of Joaquim Rodriguez winning the race? It's because we want to congratulate Katusha on that magnificient result - and because Champion System was never seen on any picture! Yes, indeed, we are pretty frustrated about this. At least we were awaiting that our guys would show up in the breakaway or at any time try to take their luck. Unfortunately, that never happened.
In the end, we had to take the following result along with the amount of zero minutes of TV-time:
Rank
Rider
Team
Time
1
JoaquÃm RodrÃguez
Katusha Team
6h18'48
2
Alejandro Valverde
Movistar Team
s.t.
3
Philippe Gilbert
BMC Racing Team
+ 20
4
Sergio Henao
Sky Procycling
s.t.
5
Simon Spilak
Katusha Team
+ 36
6
Daniel Martin
Garmin - Sharp
s.t.
7
Michał Kwiatkowski
Omega Pharma - QuickStep
s.t.
8
Carlos Betancur
AG2R La Mondiale
s.t.
9
Nicolas Roche
Team Saxo - Tinkoff
s.t.
10
Rigoberto Urán
Sky Procycling
s.t.
-----
62
Rajesh Kakhi
Champion System
+ 8'47
157
Ryan Roth
Champion System
s.t.
162
Chad Beyer
Champion System
s.t.
164
Craig Lewis
Champion System
s.t.
179
Muhamad Othman
Champion System
+ 13'04
180
Bobbie Traksel
Champion System
s.t.
184
Clinton Avery
Champion System
+ 15'21
190
Matthew Brammeier
Champion System
+ 17'26
Furthermore, we did not achieve our sponsor's goal:
Goal - Hard (countered): Top5 - FAILED
So, after the race, we were discussing what happened out during the race together in a team conference.
[img-r]https://www.abnehmen-aktuell.de/attachments/diaet-tagebuecher/6159d1317844376-schlank-schlaf-erprobt-seit-12-monaten-forum-weihnachtsurlaub-entdeckt-endspurt-euch-anschreien.gif[/img-r]
You should be very happy that you have not been there, because our Sport Director Franky Van Haesebroucke was absolutely furious. The picture on the right shows how it felt to me, personally - although I was happy to not be sitting in the riders' place. Sitting in the car behind the peloton, he could not do anything about it, but had, as he said "one of the hardest days of his life so far". The whole team will now continue discussing what went wrong out there, so we can avoid the same mistakes next time.
Rajesh already told you his thoughts on the race. You should read through it, if you have not yet. We also believe that the rain was one of the reasons for the team's failure. On the other hand, Rajesh stated that the World Tour seemed a bit to hard for him. We guess, he is right with that. In his age and without the support of a strong team, we cannot await a top result. Yes, we are absolutely not happy with the situation, but we will now go on and take into accord that we are not ready yet for competing well in the World Tour. Luckily there won't be any other World Tour races in this part, so that our riders have enough time to get better. Furthermore, it will become even more important to train hard for our cyclists to obtain notable results in future. We need to concentrate on the future now.
We are still absolutely trusting our riders and look forward to the upcoming races. While in Giro del Trentino and Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey we can't await big results as well, we are already waiting for 4 Jours de Dunkerque where Rajesh will get a new chance to show his potential.
Buying the cheapest vodka he can get for the evening,
Team Management - Jochen Hahn
Edited by Silvio Herklotz on 07-03-2014 11:58
With no races being reported at the moment that Champion System is racing in, my job shows his advantage of having more spare time than I would have ever imagined. But of course we are not just hanging around all day, having barbecues and drinking (German, tasty ) beer. No, the riders are training all day and the team management is...well, uh...handling unknown, topsecret tasks, which somehow include steaks, coal and Wicküler.
By the way, for everybody not knowing that beer brand (which should be the most): Wicküler is usually drunk by young people, especially pupils and students, because it is known as a very cheap but still good-enough-to-drink beer. After that discussion if Heinecken could be called a beer at all in NetApp's thread, I'm wondering if some people really know what beer means to Germans. Maybe, I will come back to that at any time.
However, this is about cycling and not about beer. So, we are reporting that we look forward to see our guys performing in Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey. And that... no, that's it. At the moment there is just nothing to tell about any races for Champion System, so we will either stick with beer or just hang around and wait. Maybe we could start making drawings out of some SRM-data. For starters, we will try this one (none of our team, but Jan Oelerich from Team Stölting):
Coming up with any ideas?
Preparing for barbecue,
Team Management - Jochen Hahn
PREVIEW: PRESIDENTIAL CYCLING TOUR OF TURKEY (21-28 April)
The upcoming Tour of Turkey marks the real kickoff for Champion System Cycling Team, because this is the first race in the calendar, which is ridden by the cyclists determined by the new management. However, because of the strong competition for sponsor goals, we are sending a squad without a real leader and have lower ambitions.
But let's take a look on the profiles of all 8 stages first:
As already said in the beginning, we did not send a very strong squad here, but more those guys that usually are in a supporting position:
Muhamad Othman Clinton Avery Chan Jae Jang Ryota Nishizono Mart Ojavee Kin San Wu Chun Feng Zachary Bell
As you can see, we brought no major sprinters or climbers to this race, so we have nearly no ambitions. But there are still ways to compete well. The management is hoping for an active style of riding. We would be delighted to see our guys in breakaways as much as possible and hope that everybody is willing to take his chance to show his strength. Obviously, they won't get them again in the next time when they have to work for others - as they normally do. Thus results are nothing to look at for us, but we just want to see our team's jersey frequently.
Of course, there is always the possibility of achieving a good result through a breakaway or a late attack, but we do not await miracles, so our riders can compete without any pressure.
Let's have some fun this time,
Team Management - Jochen Hahn
Edited by Silvio Herklotz on 27-03-2014 12:28
Things are starting to get interesting from now on! In the last races, we always had some "first time" - and this streak goes on. 4 Jours de Dunkerque is the absolutely first race, where a squad chosen by the new management attends, including a designated leader. Shortly: From this race on, we could really have a chance to score results.
That's what makes it our team's first real endurance test. Same goes for our leader, Rajesh Kakhi, whom should fit the profile perfectly:
You see: Those five stages are quite perfect for Rajesh, particularly because they do not feature a Time Trial. In the first three and the last stage, he will be heading for good sprint results - though he is not a favourite here, he might have a chance to achieve Top10 or even podium results. Most important is to stay with all the other guys looking for a good GC result, or even take an advantage if possible. The most important stage in our means is the fourth one, where Rajesh can perfectly show his strenth in hilly stages. Because of the several hills on the course and our strong belief in his abilities, we are sure that our sponsor's goal is absolutely doable:
Goal - Medium (countered): Top5 GC
Trying to achieve this one, Rajesh needs to be supported by a strong team. Thus we chose the following lineup:
Rajesh Kakhi Bobbie Traksel Matthias Friedemann Ryan Roth Craig Lewis Chan Jae Jang Mart Ojavee Zachary Bell
All of those guys have a special duty to fulfill during the race. While Bobbie Traksel and Matthias Friedemann are here to get Rajesh into a nice position for the final sprints, Ryan Roth and Craig Lewis shall support him especially in the fourth, hilly stage, where it really counts to have strong team mates for saving energy throughout the race. Chan Jae Jang, Mart Ojavee and Zachary Bell are more of overall supporters that either get water bottles for everybody or do the chasing in the peloton when needed (which we hope for after stage 4 ).
All in all, we send a pretty strong team here and are confident that this will be the first time for us to really show our strength on the result tables. But taking into accord that, after the failed Amstel Gold Race, putting to much pressure on Rajesh seems wrong, we have to say that even when we do not achieve the sponsor's goal, a podium finish or Top10 GC would make us still proud.
We will see how it works out,
Team Management - Jochen Hahn
Edited by Silvio Herklotz on 27-03-2014 12:18
Thus we will directly go on to the stages. You will always find all the stages in this report post, which will be updated after the races are reported - this keeps it simple and everything in one place. Only the last ridden stage will be sometimes at the end of the thread, if there are to many posts in between - otherwise you could even miss the updates, which is what we want to prevent. That mechanic will be used throughout the upcoming races as well. Just to show you some names you would not look at usually, here is the lineup again:
Muhamad Othman Clinton Avery Chan Jae Jang Ryota Nishizono Mart Ojavee Kin San Wu Chun Feng Zachary Bell
We had a very flat stage in the beginning, just to get started. So the chances for a breakaway win were damn low as the sprinters' teams would surely do everything for a bunch sprint.
However, Chan Jae Jang (little mistake in official report here, he is South Korean, not Taiwanese champion) tried to get away from the peloton alongside Andrea Peron (TNN).
After not getting away for the first time, he even tried again with the help of Kim Tan (RVL) and Peron.
But in the end, all of that did not help and we could not join the break. Therefore we were also not able to achieve a result. Still, the management ist happy with the riding style today, because Jang brought our jersey into TV.
Furthermore, we got more TV-time through Zachary Bell losing contact to the peloton as the only of all riders.
Of course, that is no big problem, because overall time does not count for us, but we are kind of concerned if he could be ill. Tomorrow, we will know more about that after the doctors have checked on him.
Stage 2 was another flat one. On the way to Antalya, another bunch sprint was awaited, because all the sprinter teams still had very fresh guys to work for their leaders. But that was not a reason for Clinton Avery staying away from an attack. He was the first guy jumping out of the bunch.
After being joined by Andrea Peron (TNN), who was trying to break away yesterday with Chan Jae Jang, Tom Stamsnijder (ARG) and Youcef Reguigui (MTN) and getting caught, he attacked another time and now was able to open up quite a lead riding with Peron and Kim Tan (RVL), who could not get away yesterday as well.
As you can see, sometimes you need to try once more to get what you want. We are very proud of Clinton, because he got us so much TV-time while being in front.
Though it was awaited beforehand, we were kind of sad that the morning breakaway was caught with just 3.5km to go. We do not have to be worried about this, because it should have needed ha miracle to keep the lead on the pacing peloton with so many strong guys.
Of course we were not able to get any result, because we took no sprinter to Turkey. So the result is rather boring for us. We will see how it goes tomorrow on a mountain stage.
By the way, we spent some time with the doctors and Zachary Bell yesterday. In the end, we could not find any reason for his problems yesterday. It seems like he is just not in the right shape at the moment. Zach himself told us that he was just not feeling right and his legs werde kind of locked. Anyway, today he said it felt better, so it is probably nothing to be concerned about long-term and was just like a bad day. Furthermore it is quite funny to see him finish last again - we'll see if he can continue this streak and hold the red lantern. We're wondering if a jersey for the last guy in a stage race would be worth a try...
Stage 3 was supposed to give the GC some shape for the first time. This mountaineous one seemed to be the first chance for all the climbers to show their strength. Therefore we thought that the climbers' teams would really chase all the time, so that in the end we can see a hard fight between the best climbers in the race.
Who has been following the last two races will know, that all of this is no reason for Champion System not to attack. We had a nice deja vu this time, because right from the start Chun Feng attacked. Though he and his fellow escapees were caught after the first climb, Chun managed to get into the daily breakaway by attacking once again. So he raced in front of the peloton the whole day together with Jeff Louder (UHC) and Arnaud Labbe (COF).
While the race went on, Chun was able to win the King of the Mountain sprint at the top of the category 1 climb. Taking this 20 points, he is now one of the main contenders for the King of the Mountain jersey. Unluckily, he did not really fight for the points earlier, so that he is now third in this classification. We will see, if he can go for more points in the upcoming stages. This could turn out as a classification we are interested in at once (as GC is nothing we care about).
Even though Chun showed great effort today, the break got caught with 8.5km to go. Nonetheless, it should be mentioned that all three members of the original breakaway attacked once again when another group came from behind. One usually imagines that the guys from behind would be fresher, but Chun had a very good ride today - he told us that he felt absolutely incredible the whole day - just until they got caught and he had nothing more to race for.
Furthermore, there was another deja vu this day: Zachary Bell finished in last position for the third time in a row, so he kept the red lantern with ease. You know, there are so many competitors for the last place in GC, but he is having a fabulous time here in Turkey staying where should. We will see if he can either bring the red lantern to the finish - or maybe he just saves energy for one day where he will be really showing all his potential.
If you are wondering, why there are no pictures of the race today, you should take a look at the official report: From this stage on we are going for radio reports as somebody decided this would be more fun - Turkey seems to be kind of weird, but well, they do also block Twitter on the internet, so... (no offense to anybody from Turkey )
As you see, we are really struggling with some problems in Turkey right now - unfortunately we have no TV-coverage, you know about that. But today it got even worse, because logistical problems corrupted the stage. When in the end, the bunch was told to go another way than the route plan said, there was big confusion. One of the policemen just stood on the wrong side of the street, so that some riders took the right way, while some others went totally wrong. Because of that, the jersey decided to keep all the Classifications from the stage before without any changes. However, Przemyslaw Niemiec (LAM) took the win and he really deserves it! Though the number of rivals was slightly decreased, he showed a strong performance and therefore we congratulate Team Lampre-Merida on their first victory this season.
However, today we were not in the break, so that all of this confusion had no real impact on us at all. Our eight guys all stayed well in the bunch and had more of a relaxing day. Saving energy so far, they will definetely attack in the upcoming four stages.
This fifth stage seemed like an ideal one for a breakaway victory. Thus Ryota Nishizono attacked right from the start. Unfortunately, he and his companions could not hold their lead until the end, so that 7.5km from the finish line we knew, that there would not be a result for us again. However, we may celebrate something: Chun Feng attacked on the hardest climb today, so that behind the break, he got himself some points for the King of the Mountain. So, from now, he will be wearing the mountain jersey, which really delights us.
We will see, if he can hold on to it and if we maybe can even achieve some stage results in the last three stages.
Today's sixth stage had a mountain finish again, so it was foreseeable that the main GC contenders would reel in the break early. For us, that was not of big interest again, because we had nobody in the breakaway again - unfortunately. Because after 30km the first break got caught, which also included Muhamad Othman. So our team stayed comfortably in the pack, hoping for more chances tomorrow and the day after. We are still happy, that none of the breakaway riders are well placed in the King of the Mountain Classification, so that Chun Feng could hold his lead, although he took no points today.
By the way, it gets kind of weird that Zachary Bell always finishs in last position (or almost) and comes to the finish about ten minutes behind the peloton. We will see, if we can somehow increase his strenght, but it seems like there is something going really wrong. We are starting to lose trust in him...
King of the Mountain:
We still do not know the exact standings, but as Chun Feng is wearing his mountain jersey again, it seems like he is leading this classification.
There is not much to say about this stage: It was almost flat, so it was supposed to come to a sprint finish. Nobody from our team made it to the breakaway of the day again, but that was no further concern... Wait, what?! Yes, for the first time, one guy from the break came into the finish first. Congratulations to Mauro Finetto (VIN) for this great riding. If we would have been at the front too, there was a chance of a stage result. However, we have been attacking almost every day, so we do not blame our riders. Rather we are celebrating that Chun Feng still has the lead in the King of the Mountain jersey and because tomorrows stage is totally flat, he just needs to get to the finish to wear it in the end again. We are proud on you!
Unfortunately we had another quite boring stage. In this last part of the race none of our riders tried something, it came to a sprint finish in the end. As we thought, Chun Feng was able to bring his mountain jersey home, for which we really congratulate him! And, last but not... eh, and least: Zachary Bell was not able to stay in the pack another time.
We came to Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey without awaiting anything, but an active style of riding by all of our riders. Each of them was forced to show our jersey, that was all we were heading for. In the end, almost all of our riders did so: Clinton Avery, Chan Jae Jang, Ryota Nishizono and Chun Feng made it in the breakaway of the day at once, so in half of the stages we had a rider up front. Muhamad Othman also attacked, but was not able to get away from the bunch. We are proud on all those guys because of their strong performance. Although Kin San Wu and Mart Ojavee just could not find the right time to try something themselves, we are sure that they will be able to do so in upcoming races. However, we are sure that all of those guys are pretty strong and will work hard for our team leaders in the next time.
There is only one exception: Zachary Bell. He had the red lantern the whole race and did everything to defend it. On almost every stage he lost time at the peloton, even when it was totally flat! In the end, he finished 1h23' behind the leader, which is about one hour behind the other guys at the back. We have to admit that we do not see a bright future for him. So Zach will be one of the first guys to leave us after the season - unless he will show his strength in another race, where he gets the chance to (but we fear that there are not much for him).
Furthermore, Chun Feng did something incredible. By breaking away on stage 3, he laid the foundations for his win in the King of the Mountain Classification. This is an unbelievable achievement for the 24-year old. We are so proud on him, Chun really showed his strength in the mountains and therefore gilded the stage race for us. Not only that this means some money and ranking points for the team, he also reminded everybody out there that our domestiques are able to achieve results themselves as well.
To all the teams competing in the Points Classification: That was an awesome fight! We congratulate Androni for the win, but we also thank all the others for that great show! We were lucky that our team was not involved anyway.
All in all, we are absolutely satisfied by the performance of the team. Well done, guys!
This stage race is mainly designed for sprinters. The first stage shows that par excellence: We have some hilly and cobbled parts in the beginning, but afterwards there are more than hundred kilometres that are totally flat. Obviously, this was going to be a mass sprint in the end.
Because Rajesh Kakhi is not one of the real favourites in a sprint, Mart Ojavee decided to get in the break - and he managed to do so! His companions were Dion (BSE) and Amorison (CRE).
Right after about 30km there have been two King of the Mountain sprints, where Mart participated well. He was able to win the first one, but in the second he only made it third. All in all, this gives him second place in mountain jersey competition for now. Maybe he will look for more points later?
We will now jump to the end of the race, because with still 10km to go, the chase has been caught, which should be an effect of several attacks coming out of the peloton, which were chased hard after.
While some of the big teams built up their sprint trains (especially Lotto-Belisol), we could not even spot Raj in the front or one of his teammates. Not even with just about a kilometer left he was in no good position. But all of a sudden, he got into sprint mode - hence he was competing even for a podium with 500m to go.
In the end, he could not do that but also the 7th place Raj could achieve makes us proud for the beginning.
None of the other guys from the team were somewhere at the front. We are happy that those guys supported Raj with so much energy throughout the race - but for the next stage it would be nice if at least Matthias Friedemann and Bobbie Traksel would save some energy to support Rajesh in the sprint at the end.
After a first sprint stage, we now go on to... another sprint stage! Yes, it will surely be another boring bunch sprint, but maybe the cobbled sections or the little hillies (nothing that could be called "hills" will make it more interesting.
What indeed did make the race interesting was the attack of Matthias Friedemann. However, he could not get away so today we had nobody in the break, so we could totally focus on the last kilometres when Rajesh Kakhi needs the help of the whole team.
We just jump to the last 5km now, because nothing more than some attacks and chasing happened in between, which didn't change the race situation for us. But now, the "big guys" went on attacks: Boasson Hagen (SKY), Leukemans and Flecha (both VCD). When Voeckler (EUC) and Verboven (EUS) tried to follow, Rajesh also reacted, because otherwise he lost all his ambitions in the GC if the group would have broken clear.
Then it was Lotto who chased the group down and now with 3km to go, everything was set up for a bunch sprint - but Raj has already lost much of energy. When the first sprinters then started turning up the heat, Raj acted wisely and just stayed in the wheels not burning his last bit of power.
With just under 1000m to go, he started his sprint and made his way to the front positions incredibly fast.
In the end, he could achieve a 5th place, so he just missed the podium, which would have been awesome for him. This position is still pretty nice, but we were thinking about what he could have done if he did not follow the attacks earlier. After discussing this topic for a long time, we came to the conclusion that he acted right, because of sponsor's goal (Top5 GC) is more important than saving energy for a sprint. He acted right here and with some luck the group could even have gotten away. However, Raj is still in good position overall now. For the next stages we just wish that his teammates would show themselves more. If he had some support in end, maybe he could score even better.
Today we had a stage without cobbles for the first time. Some hills in the second part of the race and a minor uprise just before the end could have an impact today. However, everything but a sprint again would be a surprise.
In the first part of the race Matthias Friedemann attacked just like yesterday. And he did not get away - just like yesterday.
There came no further attacks from us, but it somehow took about 50km until we had the break of the day. As usually, we did no chasing, because we are saving all our energy for stage 4 (and for the final sprint today, hopefully).
Going to the hills, we were pretty attentive today and Rajesh Kakhi took a position in the front all the time - to avoid both crashes and gaps. He was supported there by his whole team very well.
After all those hills, the sprint was supposed to be messy. As no real sprint trains built up, it was going to be a hard struggle for positions. Rajesh acted well by staying in the front, but not putting his nose in the wind. By the way, we are unhappy again that nobody was there to support him - but after the team worked nicely for him in the hilly part, we can handle this.
When Roelandts (LTB), Boasson Hagen (SKY) and Coquard (EUC) opened up a little gap on the rest, Raj was in a perfect position to get a top result.
But in the end, he was also outsprinted by Rudy Verboven (EUS) and Julien Simon (SOJ). This 6th place is still something to be proud of. Now Rajesh had a nice little streak of Top10 finishs, though a podium finish would have been nice.
Hopefully we will be able to get a nice result tomorrow, because that hilly stage should really fit Raj. Fingers crossed. By the way, because Mart Ojavee did not score any points for the King of the Mountain jersey, he significantly dropped down the standings. Therefore this classification is no concern for us anymore.
You are wondering why there is no spoiler for the fourth stage? Well, this one definetely does not deserve a spoiler! It was totally overwhelming, the whole team is just celebrating! We achieved our first win in our EPIC carreer! Champion System is absolutely curious. Therefore this report will be slightly longer:
This penultimate stage was marked for us the whole time, because its hilly character really fits Rajesh Kakhi. The whole team was going to work for him today. Right from the start, we worked well to help Rajesh: Ryan Roth attacked and formed the breakaway together with Lund (TST), Rast (RLT) and Chainel (ALM) so that he could be a relay station later on.
On his way then Ryan collected some points in Sprint and King of the Mountain Classifications as he maintained a good advantage. The breakaway worked together very good, so that with 85km to go they had a lead of 6'30''.
Today all those guys in the front had superior legs, so with under 30km to go, the lead was still at more than three minutes. That time seemed right for Ryan to attack his fellow escapees.
He told us that at this point of the race attacking was his best chance to succeed, because he felt that the other guys in the break got slightly weaker. So either he would have pulled them the way along, which is not quite clever, or he he would have rested some more. Although he was originally supposed to be helping Rajesh in the end, he decided that the point of getting caught would be too early to really make a difference. When only Lund could follow, he attacked again, although racing alone would cost more energy, but especially Lund seemed not strong anymore and grit his teeth.
Until now none of the favourites tried any attacks, but the whole peloton was just waiting for somebody to make the first move. Raj was sitting in a good position all the time without wasting energy by the superior help of the team today. Everybody worked his ass off for him today. Well done, guys!
At that time, Ryan continued to extend his lead by riding unbelievably strong:
Then with 22km to go attacks started to happen. Rajesh joined those, because major names were in there. With less than 20km to go, he was riding one minute ahead of the peloton with Garzelli (VIN), Voeckler (EUC), Roelandts (LTB), Rutkiewicz (CCC), Rebellin (CCC) and Flecha (VCD).
Now everything started to get a bit messy. As Ryan began to struggle holding his lead on Rast, who distanced Lund and Chainel, Rajesh's group got rid of Roelandts, Flecha, Rutkiewicz and Garzelli. As the groups and the peloton fell to pieces on the steep hills, Rajesh stayed with Rebellin and Voeckler, whom were working to come to the front, where Ryan should be waiting for him.
But at that point, Ryan had decided to go for the win on his own after he saw that his lead on the main favourites was still intact. So he gave it everything he had and did not allow Rast to come closer. In the end, he broke his will so that both kept racing on their own.
At the same time, there were many big attacks behind our guys up front and many groups formed. However, this did not influence us at all, because the rest of the team was just riding in the gruppeto and hoping...
With only 5km left, Ryan was really struggling to climb the hills for the last time, he was all over the place by now. Behind him there was Rajesh constantly closing in. Although Ryan did not help Raj by pulling him, he was a great help at that time, because our leader did a very small amount of work for the group (can be seen in all pictures )
He was able to rely on our man in the front, so that Voeckler and Rebellin had to do the majority of the work. Coming to the last kilometre, Ryan could somehow maintain his small lead and start celebrating early. He had done an incredible job and achieved our first victory in team's history! He is not just the man of the hour, but the man of the day and month as well. Bless him!
Ryan was celebrating so much before crossing the line that he already took down his hands when rolling over the line.
At the same time, the sprint between his three chasers started. Although Raj was allowed to save some energy beforehand, he could not go with the punch of Voeckler and Rebellin and therefore came in fourth - but with the same time.
So, in the end, we have a first and a fourth place. What an incredible result for our little PCT team - especially because Ryan usually works as a domestique and was able to show his strength today.
But before coming to the results, we have to mention, that all our wishes came true with this stage - we achieved so much more than we could have awaited:
Rajesh is now third in GC with only two and six seconds to Rebellin and Voeckler. With a good sprint result he could even move up on a higher step of the podium! Our sponsor's goal should be secure by now, because there is more than one minute of a gap to Boasson Hagen (SKY) in fifth place.
Furthermore, Rajesh is now the best placed U25-rider, which makes him wear a jersey for the first time overall and will provide him some nice UCI points tommorrow. Same goes for the Team Classification. It is unbelievable, that our little PCT team is the best placed on here in France overall. We will be celebrating all night long... Nah, we will not, because there is one more stage to race, but afterwards we will... For sure!
By the way, it should be mentioned, that Ryan moved up the Points and Mountain Classification significantly, but we have no ambitions on either of that jerseys.
After yesterday's stunning performance, for the last stage we had one main goal: Protect Rajesh Kakhi and secure his third place in GC to achieve the sponsor goal. Furthermore, we tried to have at least three guys in the front group, so that we would win the Team Classification. Hence we had nobody in the breakaway today:
As the sprinter teams of Lotto and Sky controlled the peloton and reeled in the escapees, we could focus on saving energy.
But then, right as the sprint tains were setting up, we had a major split in the peloton. Because of some wind, only 60 guys stayed in the front group. We now were curious to know if three of our guys stayed in front. But luckily Matthias Friedemann and Bobbie Traksel were all around Rajesh and those three were still at the front.
In the sprint itself, Raj could not do much, because he was still to tired after yesterday's great effort.
But that 13th place is not bad at all, we are absolutely happy that Rajesh brought the third place in GC home as well as the U25 Classification!
4 Jours de Dunkerque was one of the main goals for Rajesh Kakhi in this part and everything was set up for him to perform well. And he did! But because it would be forgotten otherwise, we want to thank Mart Ojavee for being in the break in the first stage and Matthias Friedemann for attacking twice even though he did not get away. The whole team made an excelent job this week!
For us, stage number four was absolutely stunning. We could not believe it when we saw Ryan Roth giving us the first victory in team's history - from a breakaway. That encouraged us all that attacking and attacking really pays off. And the same day, Rajesh came in fourth and showed a very strong ride on a stage that really fit his capabilities. Thereby he was able to make our dream of a good GC position come true. After that stage he was third overall and could hold this position until the end! We are celebrating hard, because the team exceeded all expectations.
We came here with the expectation of either a Podium Finish or a Top10 GC, but in the end it was a Stage Win and a GC Podium. Thus we are proud to announce that we achieved a sponsor goal for the first time:
Goal - Medium (countered): Top5 GC - ACCOMPLISHED
We thank all the riders that were participating here in France and really look forward to the upcoming races. Being a manager feels so good at the moment, we definetely need some time to realize what happened here. Well done guys!
Amstel Gold Race (14 April)
Rajesh Kakhi
Matthew Brammeier
Ryan Roth
Chad Beyer
Muhamad Othman
Clinton Avery
Giro del Trentino (16-19 April)
Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey (21-28 April)
Chan Jae Jang
Ryota Nishizono
Mart Ojavee
Kin San Wu
Chun Feng
4 Jours de Dunkerque (1-5 May)
Matthias Friedemann
Gang Xu
Glava Tour of Norway (15-19 May)
Gregor Gazvoda
Baloise Belgium Tour (22-26 May)
Skoda Tour de Luxembourg (12-16 June)
). Our sponsors set us a goal here, which is the following:
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Joaquim Rodriguez winning the race? It's because we want to congratulate Katusha on that magnificient result - and because Champion System was never seen on any picture! Yes, indeed, we are pretty frustrated about this. At least we were awaiting that our guys would show up in the breakaway or at any time try to take their luck. Unfortunately, that never happened. 
