With all the sponsor news out of the way, it was time to head into July, where the next of
Sodexo's Goal was up -
La Tropicale Amissa Bongo.
*****
Despite the race heading into some parts of Algeria, our hero from Scotland,
Nabil Baz, was not selected due to the lack of mountainous terrain. However, the squad was still strong, with
Mickael Cherel and
Alexis Gougeard riding for the GC honours, where we had targeted the Overall Victory.
The early stages favoured the sprinters as
Anthony Lavoine taking the win, but that did not stop our guys going on the attack from the off.
Wajdi Homrani took an early lead in the KoM Standings and a lead which looked comfortable from the first stage.
Stage Two saw deja-vu in the finish, as
Lavoine made it two from two, and deja-vu for the day's break, as
Alexis Gougeard dominated in the KoM sprints, and looked to be
Homrani's nearest challenger for the jersey. Nothing like a bit of inter-team rivalry!
Despite disappointment in the GC, it was an attacking race from Sodexo
Another stage and another day in the break for
Sodexo.
Gougeard made his move to close the gap again to
Homrani, with no-one even close to the pair.
Kazushige Kuboki broke Lavoine's winning streak in the sprint, who looked to be struggling.
The Frenchman's struggled on continued on Stage 4, where
Rafael Andriato took a victory where everyone had tipped Fablok to reassert themselves. The day's break saw
Alexis up the road again, but he was soon running out of KoM sprints in the fight with
Homrani.
Homrani securing the Polka KoM Jersey on Stage 5
Our own battle for a jersey ended on Stage 5, as
Wajdi went off the take the KoM standings ahead of the final stage, and move into the Top 15 in process.
Michael Matthews took the win, with Lavoine again failing to make an impact and leave us with a nail biting final stage for the GC.
For Sodexo, the final stage had the first break without either Homrani or Gougeard in it! Not to worry,
Antomarchi was on duty to make it a full week of Sodexo presence up the road. Stage 6 would also be the first stage not to go to the sprinters.
Federico Rocchetti took the victory, and
Julian rode to a fantastic podium place in 2nd!
Behind, there was controversy, as
Anthony Lavoine was given the same time as a small late break, despite clear pictures of a time gap. The decision by the organisers gave Fablok-Dunlop the GC win, and left some teams questioning how!
*****
From Africa back to the Europe and the
Tour de Slovenie, which ended the month. With no KoM jersey on offer, sadly there would be no repeat of our time in La Tropicale Amissa Bongo.
Mikael Cherel lead the team, however, the ITT on Stage 3 was long enough to rule him or any of the team out of a possible high GC finish. Given that, we looked to take stage wins.
Kazushige Kuboki continued his fine form on Stage 1 with the victory, but would only wear Yellow for one stage. Hills on Stage 2 beckoned, and we saw
Cherel on the attack towards the end.
The day though would belong to
Marc de Maar, as
Mikael sadly faded in the final 100 metres of the uphill finish to come home 7th.
It was a attacking display from Cherel, who deserved more for his efforts
Stage 3 was, as expected, as non-event for the team, with only
Tony Gallopin showing in the Top 30.
Javier Aramendía took the win, as
Pierre Rolland took over the GC lead. Stage 4 was sprinter territory, and
Kirill Pozdnyakov turned lead-out duties into a victory in a hotly contested sprint.
Stage 5 was back to the hills, and a day where the break would have it's day.
Kamil Zielinski proved that there is more to Fablok than Lavoine in the Sprints, soloing to the victory ahead of his fellow breakaway companions. Yet again,
Mikael was on the attack, but his efforts led to nothing, as he came home with the GC favourites and
Pierre Rolland wrapped with the GC win for Generali, and
Mikael ended the race down in 23rd.
*****
August sees the team heading State-side, tackling the
USA ProCycling Challenge and
Cigar City Twilight Brewing GP, before finishing back in Slovenia at the
Tatranska Klasika.
Away from the racing, nominations for the
Tour de l'Avenir took place, which three of
Sodexo's riders.
Alexis Gougeard, on loan from
Festina-Canal+, will ride for his parent team in support of
Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier, whilst
Cedric Thaouta and
Anass Ait El Abdia will join forces with
Team Kenya Airways and their big name rider,
Merhawi Kudus in his fight for overall honours.
Lincoln GP for the first race of an action-paced month, where Sebastian Turgot would be targeting a Top 10 finish over the cobbled climb of Michaelgate. A trio of riders formed the break after a flurry of attacks, but it was clear that the likes of 
Tour of Iceland, where there was no pressure to come away with a high GC finish. An opening ITT, two flat sprint stages and a hilly Stage 3 meant we had no stand-out who could show themselves on each of the profiles.
Giro del Capo was next up, and all our focus was on Stages 3 & 4, where we looked to make the most of the hilly profile. The sprints were nothing stages for us, whilst the MTT on Stage 5 could rule out any hopes of a good GC finish. Only time would tell really…
Hanko Classic. With no real sprinter in the team, we looked for the break, but sadly that failed to materialise as other went clear. Plan A out the window as soon as the flag was dropped.
