The first WT cobbled Belgian classic of the year, and it's the E3 Prijs Harelbeke. Gaetan Bille, Jens Debusschere, Andre Greipel, Iljo Keisse, Martijn Maaskant, Jurgen Roelandts, Marcel Sieberg and Loic Vliegen are the ones defending our colours here. Our goal here is a top-3, which is hard given the startlist. Every major name in cobblestone country is present here.
Jens attacked. He rode with a group for a while, then solo because the others gave up before being joined by some others again. He was definately the strongest of the day and would've deserved the combativity award. He led the break over the cobbles and was a big part in their ever increasing gap.
When the big guns (though not Jurgen) attacked, the gap shrunk quickly. On paper, Jens was the best sprinter in the group, but the others refused to bring him to the line. He saw no other option but to attack, to no avail. He was caught on the Oude Kwaremont, just when the real fireworks started.
In the end, it was Boonen who snatched the victory ahead of Vanmarcke and Cancellara. Jurgen was pretty anonymous this race but still finished in 12th, 2 minutes behind the winner. Jens finished in the same group, kudos to him! Andre couldn't force a mass sprint and finished 11 and a half minutes down in 58th. And that considering we had to finish on the podium...
After E3 Prijs comes... Gent-Wevelgem of course. Same squad (Gaetan Bille, Jens Debusschere, Andre Greipel, Iljo Keisse, Martijn Maaskant, Jurgen Roelandts, Marcel Sieberg and Loic Vliegen), but different goal. Not a top-3, but the victory is what we have to achieve here. Let's hope it will come down to a bunch sprint, with Andre taking the victory.
But no. About halfway through the race, a split occured in the peleton catching both Andre and Jurgen off guard. They would never see the first group again, and finished 17 and 21 minutes respectively behind the winner, Cancellara. What had to be first place, became 37th place for Andre whereas Jurgen ended up in 71st.
Driedaagse de Panne-Koksijde is a continental race in Belgium. Cobbles. sprints and a TT, makes for great racing. We use 7 out of our 8 riders from the cobbles squad (Gaetan Bille, Andre Greipel, Iljo Keisse, Martijn Maaskant, Jurgen Roelandts, Marcel Sieberg and Loic Vliegen. Frederique Robert replaces Jens Debusschere for this race.
Stage 1:
Arguably the toughest stage, but youngster Loic made the break! In the end, van Avermaet won the stage with Andre in 11th
Stage 2:
Andre won the sprint in the peleton. However, a guy called Nys was ahead of them, so an unfortunate second place for the Gorilla.
Stage 3:
However, Andre put matters straight the next day by winning the third stage! He moves up to second in the GC and leader in the points classification!
Stage 4:
He's not the strongest time trialist, but Andre did a good job that afternoon finishing in 32nd, which brought him 12th place in the GC. Vandewalle won the stage, Boasson Hagen the GC, Greipel the points classification!
The end of the first season part is near. Only 3 races left: Dwars door Vlaanderen, Volta Limburg Classic and our last Tour, of Catalunya. The organizers gave us a difficult goal, a top 5, ridiculously assigned as a medium one. There's only 1 rider who can get close to that: Jurgen van den Broeck. Competition will be tough, with Valverde, Uran, Rodriguez, Nibali etc.
Kenny Dehaes is here for the sprints, hoping on a good result. Sander Cordeel, Francis de Greef, Jesper Hansen, Olivier Kaisen, Rasmus Quaade and Jonas Vangenechten are the other 6 riders to make the squad.
Stage 1:
No guy in the break, but they couldn't stay away so it didn't matter. Bunch sprint, with Calzone as winner and Kenny as 7th.
Stage 2:
A sort-of bunch sprint, the hill a few kilometers before the end shook things up. Kenny held on and finished 12th. Valverde won.
Stage 3:
First mountain stage. Jurgen rode to a 17th place, just over a minute behind winner Pinot. Not the best start but top 5 is still within reach.
Stage 4:
Jurgen nowhere to be seen, finishing 3 and a half minutes behind Velits, saying goodbye to a top 5 in the GC.
Stage 5:
10 minutes. 10 bloody minutes on Atapuma, 9 minutes behind Valverde. 20th in the GC now, winning 15 places is obscene.
Stage 6:
Our riders are too lazy to go into the break, out of which Mourey won the stage. Kenny finished 12th once again.
Stage 7:
Verdugo won out of the break, with again no rider from us in the break. Jurgen lost even more time, dropping to 22nd in the proces.
The last of the Belgian races this season part, it's time for Dwars door Vlaanderen! I guess I don't need to tell you the squad, since you already now it of course (Gaetan Bille, Jens Debusschere, Andre Greipel, Iljo Keisse, Martijn Maaskant, Jurgen Roelandts, Marcel Sieberg and Loic Vliegen)
Loic got himself into the break, again a great performance by our youngster. Unfortunately no camera could capture anything during the race, with only a finish picture available. The results tell us that Paolini won, but more important that Jurgen finished fourth. Some valuable points their in our battle against relegation!
The last race of the first season part is upon us, just across the border in the Netherlands. Last year, Volta Limburg Classic wasn't a big success for us, but we hope to change that by bringen Jelle Vanendert in preparation for the Ardennes, with Dennis Vanendert and Tim Wellens as aides. Kenny van Hummel will have to deal with the sprint, against the likes of Kittel and Calzone. He, Brian Bulgac and Daan Olivier will ride a home race here. Sander Cordeel and Gert Dockx complete the squad. What could possibly go wrong?
Evverthing's the answer. First, Dennis's alarm was broken, which meant he was too late for the start. Jelle and Tim crashed in the first kilometers, which is what I call great preparation. Then, as if things couldn't get worse, Kenny got dropped, rulling out our chances completely. Not yet, because Brian managed to sneak into the break. But guess what, he was caught a few kilometers before the end. Kittel won the sprint, with Jelle in 33rd as our best rider. Oh, and there were no cameras, so no pictures for any of our riders. Everything that could've gone wrong, went wrong. It's the prove Murphy's Law is correct.
Ronde van Vlaanderen is arguably the most important race for our sponsors. A monument, in Belgium, with cobblestones and little hill. The suqad was very predictable. Jurgen Roelandts needs to achieve the top-10 goal our sponsors have set. Gaetan Bille, Jens Debusschere, Iljo Keisse, Martijn Maaskant, Marcel Sieberg and Loic Vliegen are here for the support. And a wild Andre Greipel appeared.
Loic rode in the break for a long time, first with Russian champion Porsev as seen above, later joined by more respectable names, including Bozic who finished second behind Sagan. Jurgen couldn't go with the really big top guns, but finished ninth nevertheless. Which means for once we actually achieved a goal. Loic went on to finish 22nd, which is great for our future prospect!
The organizers of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco gave us a stage win goal, which we knew would be tough. Jurgen van den Broeck was hoping on finally finding some form, whereas Kenny Dehaes will sprint as best he can. For Sander Cordeel, Francis De Greef, Jesper Hansen, Olivier Kaisen, Rasmus Quaade and Jonas Vangenechten, a win can only be possible from the break. Wish us luck
Stage 1:
Not Kenny but Jurgen sprinted to the line here, finishing 17th. Cardoso won the chaotic sprint.
Stage 2:
Jurgen was our best sprinter once again, finishing 57th. Tschopp had escaped the pack.
Stage 3:
10 places improvement to 47th, and no time lost to winner Mollema.
Stage 4:
It's a Christmas miracle, but Jurgen attacked on the uphill finish and finished 6th. Yes, sixth, 44 seconds behind Konig. He was up to 6th in the GC as well! Great job!
Stage 5:
And on the next stage he lost about 2 minutes and dropped to ninth. Winner Westra 4 seconds ahead of him in the GC. Could he overtake him in the final TT?
Stage 6:
Yes, he overtook Westra, but was in his turn overtaken by Izagirre. A ninth place in the GC is not bad, but we couldn't get our belonged stage victory. Costa won both the final stage and the GC.
The Brabantse Pijl, what can I say about it? Last year was a complete farce with some unknown breakaway rider taking the victory. This year, we thought it'd be a good start for our Ardennes team, consisting of the following 8 riders: Bart de Clercq, Francis De Greef, Daan Olivier, Jurgen Roelandts, Paul Rosanski, Jurgen Van den Broeck, Jelle Vanendert and Tim Wellens
It appears we sort of may have kinda slighty misjudged the profile. We thought it would be more hilly and cobbles-less, but it turned out to be the complete opposite. Luckily, Roelandts knows his way around this terrain, but without a supportive team he could only manage 19th. Sagan won, for the zillionth time this year.
Law 18: Only the best German sprinter can win a German classic
One of Andre Greipel's demands this season was that he could ride in the races in his home country. The Rund um Koln would propably end in a mass sprint, which means he'd be one of the big favourites. His biggest competitor would be his eternal German rival, Kittel. Our lead-out train consists of Sander Cordeel, Gert Dockx, Greg Henderson, Kenny van Hummel, Iljo Keisse, Marcel Sieberg and Jonas Vangenechten.
The usual morning break was formed, without one of us. We took care of the chase and controlled the bunch with some other teams. With 25 kilometers to go they still had a lead of 1 minute. 5 kilometers before the line and some of them where still out there. We had to catch them, before things could go wrong again.
And Kenny caught them, and at the sime time provided Andre with the perfect leadout. The Gorilla went, and no one could follow his wheel. He won with a big margin ahead of Martinez and Calzone. Kenny took ninth just ahead of Kittel. It has to be said: Kenny and Andre were amazing!
Law 19: Always hire a psychiatrist in case of cameraphobia
The final paved classic, and it's the big one: Paris - Roubaix. Of course Jurgen Roelandts will be our leader. His support, as traditionally, consists of Gaetan Bille, Jens Debusschere, Andre Greipel, Iljo Keisse, Martijn Maaskant, Marcel Sieberg and Loic Vliegen
No camera could catch a glimpse of one of our riders. Jurgen finished in a disappointing 22nd position, over 9 minutes behind the winner. Suprise suprise, it was Sagan.
Law 20: Attacks are supposed to last longer than 3 kilometers
First race in the Ardennes triplet, and the only one on Dutch soil. In preparation of the Amstel Gold Race we decided to sent Jelle Vanendert on a training camp, and we're fairly certain his hill ability improved. We also have Jurgen Van den Broeck in case something happens to him. Bart De Clercq, Francis De Greef, Daan Olivier, Jurgen Roelandts, the ghost of Paul Rosanski and Tim Wellens complete the squad.
Here's a midstage attack by Jelle, about 40 kilometers out of the finish line. He was caught 3 kilometers later, but he is responsible for the chain of attacks that followed, including the one containing winner Kwiatkowski. Of course he couldn't follow them himself, but still rode to a decent 11th place in the third group. That's what I call improvement.
After Amstel Gold Race follows, La Fleche Wallone. Same principal, same squad: Bart De Clercq, Francis De Greef, Daan Olivier, Jurgen Roelandts, the ghost of Paul Rosanski, Jurgen Van den Broeck, Jelle Vanendert and Tim Wellens. Now, some good results please!
No rider in the break, so it would all come down to Jelle you'd suppose. We've made it no secret that we invested a lot of money in a training camp that should improve his abilities. The 38th place he scored here was definately worth the money. Luckily, Jurgen could save us from a total deception by finishing in the lucky 13th place, just over a minute behind... Sagan again. We should definately try and sign him for next season!
Paris-Roubaix [13 April]
Amstel Gold Race [20 April]
Rund um Koln [21 April]
Tour de Romandie [28 April-4 May]
Giro d'Italia [9 May-1 June]
Tour de Luxembourg [4-8 June]
