We went into this race without a huge amount of expectations. Bardet and Battaglin would lead our GC start, while Kreder was the leader for the sprints.

A quiet stage for us ended well as Kreder took 2nd place behind Hochmann.




Scotson got into the break but they really stood no chance in this flat stage. Kreder managed 7th in the bunch sprint.


Scotson joined the break once again but it was a similar story as the last stage. The sprint saw Kreder finished 5th this time.


We were given a massive scare on this, the first climbing stage of the race. A strong 11 man group of GC contenders got a gap after the first climb. Luckily, they were brought back to the peloton before the finish and Bardet managed to get the same time.


David Per, the rider we had picked as the one to watch for us, joined the break on this stage. With 20 km to go, he left his breakaway companions behind and went solo. The peloton behind him fractured and found it tough to close down the gap. The 20 km solo ride bore fruit as Per just held on by a couple dozen meters to claim our first win in MG!




Not a very exciting stage for us, as the action happened elsewhere. Bardet finished safely in the pack of the GC contenders.


Attacked with 20 km to go, behind the break, but this move didn't work out. He waited in the pack and recovered his energy, only to attack again with 5 km to go, together with Rujano. They pulled away from the pack and contested the sprint for the win. Bardet didn't have the legs and settled for 2nd. A great ride from our Frenchman! He moved up to 4th in the GC.




In a somewhat strange move, Ruijgh decided to join the break instead of pulling for Bardet. With 2.5 km to go, Bardet followed an attack from Valls, accompanied by Diaz and Atapuma. He hung on to the group till the end, finishing 2nd again. He was then 2nd in the GC!




After seeing Penasa attack a little while earlier, Battaglin managed to pull Bardet away from the pack and into clear air inside the last 10 km. At one point, Bardet's lead was more than a minute to the peloton, which had the GC contenders. Slowly but surely, his lead was cut down. He was still leading the stage as he passed the final kilometer marker, together with Mannion and Penasa. He could not hang on till the end though and was overtaken by Cataldo, Valls and Pozzovivo. He finished 53 seconds behind stage winner and new GC leader Mannion. Bardet moved down to 3rd in the GC.


With just a second separating Bardet in 3rd and Cataldo in 4th, we knew that we were in for a tough time here. We did not send any rider into the break, saving all our resources to protect Bardet. With about 15 km to go, Ruijgh followed an attack from Gaimon with a couple of others to get a gap from the peloton. They were joined by a few others and sizable group, with riders even in the top 20, getting a gap to the peloton. Second placed Valls attacked after the final circuit of the route began and caught up to the attackers. Mannion was having a bad day and Bardet looked to take advantage, attacking out of the pack with Cataldo, Anacona and Atapuma. Up ahead, De Marchi pulled away from the the group in front and took the win. Valls took 3rd and the GC lead. Bardet won the sprint for 9th from the second group, holding off Cataldo.


It was a wait to see where Mannion would end up. The Azteca rider rode in 27 seconds later, securing 2nd place in the GC. This meant Bardet remained 3rd in the GC, just 5 seconds behind Mannion. He was also 4th in both the KOM and Points classifications. Kreder finished 7th in the points classification.

1	Rafael Valls	Repsol - Honda
3	Romain Bardet	Philips - Continental	0:01:05
28	Enrico Battaglin	Philips - Continental	0:15:58
48	Rob Ruijgh	Philips - Continental	0:24:14
72	Michel Kreder	Philips - Continental	0:44:00
77	David Per	Philips - Continental	0:46:50
107	Tom Leezer	Philips - Continental	1:18:43
117	Ralf Matzka	Philips - Continental	1:41:19
129	Miles Scotson	Philips - Continental	2:20:58

What can I say? This race exceeded all our expectations. Bardet rode spectacularly well to get a podium. Kreder was extremely consistent in the sprint stages, justifying his inclusion in the startlist. And David Per took our first ever stage win. His pick as our 'Rider to Watch' was spot on. Brilliant stuff!

Our full strength sprint train of Bogdanovics - Kreder - Krieger will be on show for the first time, and one of the rare times this season. Given the profile, it could well turn out that Kreder becomes the one going for the win, if Krieger struggles over the climbs. The slight uphill finish might favour the Dutchman anyway. There are enough flat specialists to step in, in case our final train is not able to perform their duties for some reason. David Per will be riding with extra confidence following his stage win in Tachira, and could be a wildcard for a number of situations.

This is one of two races all season where we pitch ourselves against the big boys from PCT. Drucker will lead our charge in his first outing on the stones for the season. A strong support party means we do expect to be among the top CT teams here. We have no misconceptions about being able to win this race.

We won't really be expecting a lot from our climbing races this year. Bardet outperformed spectacularly in Tachira and it would need a repeat of that performance to get a similar result. Stage 2 does not favour our climbers at all, while Stage 4 and 5 are somewhat more suited. We are hoping for an attempt at a breakaway win from the likes of Grabovski, Costa or Timmer. Krieger uses up some remaining RDs by trying to win Stage 3. Grabovski should be competitive in the Prologue.

Drucker starts among the top favourites for our Win Goal race for the year. Our full cobbles support team is also present and they'll need to be behind their leader throughout to ensure he gets through this hard race. We will be hoping Drucker can deliver the goods. This race should be a good indication as to how our season will pan out, given Drucker will potentially be our best points scorer.

Like our mountain races, we won't be setting the world on fire in the hills either! Realistically, we can at best hope to achieve something like the Wyss's 11th place in San Cristobal. The only chance we have of perhaps doing better is if someone decides to try their luck from distance, or the unlikely scenario of a breakaway surviving. We do have riders to get involved in a breakaway scenario.