So Virgilijus continued his great form by willing the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon.


Then in Norway Alec finished 10th overall.


And then Virgilijus won again.

I'm in Switzerland, and we're ready to go!
Let's close off the pre-Tour season on a high!

The last race before the Tour is a hilly classic formerly known as the GP Gippingen is well-suited to my tastes. Unfortunately, we didn't really do much recon, so once we got into the race we realised that the hills would be to steep for the sprinters.

Mads Christensen went in a solo break.


Daniel and me followed the attacks, but we were a bit late.


I managed to catch most of the riders, but Jungels and Dietziker were ahead with 23km left. The peloton was also close.


I caught the pair with Ulissi, but then Jungels attacked.


Then Ulissi went up himself. At this point we were joined by Cameron Meyer. This was still with 12km to go, and I was really tired.


Unfortunately we were caught straight after that by the next group. 28 in there now.


This was good because Ospina was there to protect me. Unfortunately he was also dead because he was getting water - which I already had... Yeah... Either way, he still protected me, and I was in for the battle for 4th.


We were front, and led into the sprint.


All while Jungels took an easy win.


Unfortunately I just finished randomly in the pack. I couldn't get round Ospina.

So next time I see you I'll be at the Tour. Wish me luck!

So, there's our team for Le Tour 2015! Let's hope we can come out of the race in 3 weeks' time with success!

Hopefully the first stage will be rather comfortable. A hilly finish really suits our punchy sprint train.

For perhaps the first time in memory, there was no break until 60km in, when Pozzato, Jouve, Nuyens and Jungels got away.


Our sprint train was going well. With just under 14km to go the break had almost been caught and we had a good position.


They were caught with 9.3km left. We were going well.


Rene Dokman contributed with a fantastic pull. With 4.4km things were looking really good.


But no! Disaster! Virgilijus got the sprint horribly wrong and instead of going when he was supposed to he stayed in Jarlinson's wheel as he dropped back. Absolutely awful for us!


Degenkolb won it on the line, and as much as I hate to say it, we lost it because of Grazhys.


Alec couldn't recover and finished his first Grand Tour stage in 16th.


I rolled over in 46th, barely knowing what had happened, in between Rohan and Darwin.


My Views

Well, some positives for sure. Hopefully we won't get too bogged down after that, because it could even have been a win.

This stage will be a lot more hilly, but I doubt that there will be any problems just yet.

Today we had a real break. 5 riders went up there.


With 28km to go Greg van Avermaet went on the attack. The break had already been caught.


Thibaut was in charge as he led the peloton over the climb with 20km to go. Van Avermaet had 52 seconds at this point.


Then when Sagan attacked with 17km left, you know I was in first wheel. There was a chance for the stage win.


Unfortunately my group got caught, but I went off on the attack. Sagan and Van Avermaet had 36" to me and there was still a small mountain.


I was caught at the base, and the leaders almost were as well.


I kept working though and got away again with 4.5km left. I was really tired though.


I ended up being caught by Pinot (left). Sagan would win.


Yep.







So no Top 10 again but we have some guys high up in the GC because this stage got rid of some sprinters. I finished 27th after a good fighter performance. Hopefully more to come!