Too bad about the first half of Romandie indeed, but you still got a lot out of it nevertheless (or at least for a CT team). The points keep coming in, surely you can't lose promotion anymore!
It's one of those races we'd never have entered voluntarily, but well, MGUCI forced us to send a squad to Burkina Faso. As Leo Basso had a great showing in Lincoln GP, we had at least minor hopes of getting a good result.
However, the last cobbled race of the season was clearly our worst. While Leo at least tried something on stage one - which he paid for later on the stage by losing three minutes - we were nowhere to be seen on the following two stages. No attacks, no fighting spirit, nothing - and hence, no points. For the first and hopefully last time this year.
At least, both Basso and Benedikt Mundle managed to finish stage 3 inside the time limit - which is two riders more than last year. But overall, this race alone is a good reason to achieve promotion as quickly as possible - as we'd be sure of not having to do it next year then.
Nothing to see here.
So, let's just forget this race ever happened, and look forward to our next goal race - the Giro del Trentino!
cunego It's kind of logical that Reinhardt gets to race in his home country, sorry for the bad news But as you say, there are five spots available in the Top 5 - and the way flat races have worked out so far this year, I'm not sure at all we'll even make a Top 10 there...
And thanks for the congrats - for sure it's always great to shine at home
Nemo Well, the one thing that really hurts is the missed opportunity on stage 2, both in terms of stage results and points jersey. But as you say, the second half was great, and we should really have a decent shot at the promotion spots
Back to Italy for our next goal race - the only stage race goal, actually. Our sponsors had the same (high) ambitions as last year, i.e. a Top 5 in the GC.
With that goal in mind - and a TTT on stage one - we slightly improved our setup in this discipline compared to last year, where we finished on a good 8th place.
However, instead of getting closer to the top, we actually lost two spots, finishing only 10th this year - a disastrous 1'18" off the best time. Not the start we had been hoping for, for sure...
But our main hopes were on stage 2 anyway, where we brought 2 riders in the Top 10 and two more in the Top 15 last year.
The start of the stage was great, as Gino Mäder made it into the breakaway - and was the rider collecting most KoM points during the day, hence taking the KoM jersey after stage 2!
In terms of GC, it quickly looked worse than last year, with most riders dropping early. Which was disappointing especially from Manfredi, who took 8th the year before. This year, he got a disappointing 26th place, one spot ahead of Hermann Pernsteiner - which was disappointing as well. At least, Gianni Moscon once again showed his great worth for the team and finished 18th - higher than a lot of stronger climbers!
But most importantly, Mirco Saggiorato, who finished 6th on this stage and in the GC last year, really looked great, following Chhetri's move to chase down solo attacker Marquez! Being a stronger and better rounded rider than the Nepalese from our friends of Sauber, things looked really bright for us!
But then, with 3km to go, the incredible happened: Saggiorato completely cracked. Chhetri simply left him behind - something that actually cannot happen. But it did. And he was left behind by many more, better and worse climbers. An underwhelming 16th place on the stage and a 12th GC place were what we got.
We're still trying to search for explanations for this monstrous breakdown, as we never had seen anything comparable from our Swiss climber. But we had to swallow that very bitter pill - and hope for a better day 3.
However, we can make it short: We didn't even try to join the (of course successful) breakaway on that last day, and the peloton's ride was as dull as last year on the same profile. Nothing gained, nothing lost on that day - not enough. At least, Gino Mäder managed to defend his KoM jersey despite his passivity, and he finished 3rd in the U25 standings as well. Meaning he was by far our best scorer in that race - which already says it all.
Overall, it was one of our worst races in team history. Every single day was disappointing, with Gino's KoM hunt being the sole bright spot. We don't know why our climbers were so bad on stage 2, and especially we've got no clue about what happened to Mirco on that day. Besides a huge failure concerning the sponsor goal, we didn't even achieve 10 points per race day here - a truly underwhelming result. It's time to step up again, boys!
The beginning of Mirco Saggiorato's disaster on stage 2
But given what's left in May, we actually can't be very optimistic. Our best bet in the Olympia's Tour, Scully, has been pretty much a no-show so far, and the flat-ish race in Germany might turn into a lottery as well... We'll have to force the luck to embrace us again if we want to stay high up in the standings - we definitely can't continue like we did here!
I guess that's the crux of short stage races like Trentino, one bad day and it's all over. Still it is positive that you seem to have always at least one rider scoring like Mader in this example.
This was the first out of only two races in Germany this year - and of course, Theo Reinhardt had to be our team leader here!
However, given the many ups and downs throughout almost the entire race, we did not only bring a strong sprint support cast with Issiaka Cissé and Manuel Stocker, but also Mirco Saggiorato and Cyrille Thièry in case those hills should be hard enough to make a selection.
It turns out that they weren't. Inexplicably, the team still decided to mainly support Mirco - which is not a bad thing in itself, but it meant that Theo was completely on his own.
And unfortunately, this meant that we didn't bring him into a good position for the bunch sprint, so he had a very, very difficult job. It turns out that he might have had the best legs today, but his bad position unfortunately cost him a great result. The Top 3 were definitely out of reach, but at least he got into the mix for the next spots - where Theo Reinhardt finished 6th in a close fight against Coutinho.
Protecting Mirco Saggiorato turned out to be at least partially fruitful, as he took 14th place, one spot behind Benedikt Mundle. Which means that all in all, we can be rather satisfied with the points we scored here, although it really hurts to have messed up our sprint preparation, given how strong Theo actually was.
Flat one-day races haven't been our friends so far this year, maybe with the exception of the HC race in Australia - and our next flat one-day race will be an HC one as well, back here in Germany. But that's in more than one month - there's still a lot of work to do before!
Theo Reinhardt edging out Coutinho for 6th on the final meters
As expected, Olympia's Tour - which is still ongoing - isn't really working out in our favor. So let's hope the other riders are preparing well for a great job in June - the preview will follow soon!
redordead Sure, that's a risk. But even so, there was stage 3, where we could have shown a reaction. Too bad those mountain stages ending downhill are pretty much ignored by PCM GC-wise...
But of course, you're right, we've often been lucky with someone else than the leader taking the points. That's what keeps our promotion hopes alive, even after a rather bad month.
Final race in May - and one we don't really remember why we have chosen it... With a long-ish time trial and a TTT, it contained two elements that don't really suit our team - so we had to expect a pretty low outcome.
The first stage confirmed this, with our best rider being Nico Brüngger in 51st place in the opening time trial. However, a clearly positive note was Gino Mäder's 4th place in the U25 standings after this stage - he clearly was one of our hopes to not leave the Netherlands empty-handed.
Our main focus however was on Tom Scully, whom we expected some points from with three flat stages and a short epilogue. However, stage 2 was a true bummer for us: our Kiwi once again didn't even bother participating in the sprint, and came only 59th - which was still our best stage result on that day. What was way worse, though, was that Gino was caught behind a split - and unfortunately dropped down to 10th in the U25 standings. With this attitude from Scully and Mäder's bad luck, our second zero-pointer of the month (and of the entire season) was getting dangerously close...
However, we were able to more or less remind Tom Scully of his main capabilities, mainly sprinting. And he at least got the 8th place on stage 3, meaning we'd take home at least one MGUCI point from the race. Still, if a similar CT sprinter manages to get two podiums in the meantime, this still showed that our secondary sprint leader didn't have got enough confidence yet...
Stage 4 then consisted of the team time trial, where we realized the 10th time of the day, together with three other teams. We were ranked 11th, which was about what could be expected.
On day 5, Tom Scully finally showed why we signed him: he positioned himself well for the final sprint - and even claimed the final podium spot of the day, sprinting to 3rd place! Well done - and what a huge relief for the team and the management for what's yet to come this year! Although our Kiwi unfortunately didn't get any support from his teammates, he still was able to score twice in three sprint stages - we definitely hope he'll be able to deliver similar results in C2HC/C2 races where he'll be our sprint leader again!
And our hopes were even higher, as he was close to the Top 8 in the points standings ahead of the closing stage - an 8km epilogue. We expected great things again from Tom Scully, as short time trials are his speciality - but unfortunately, this one was already too long for him... He only managed to finish 53rd, four seconds or three spots ahead of Gino Mäder, who, thanks to our solid TTT and his good epilogue, at least climbed up to 7th in the U25 standings and hence score our only non-stage point of the race... If only he hadn't lost those 1'37" on stage 2, he'd have come 4th, which clearly hurts a bit...
All in all, it wasn't a satisfying race for us. With Scully not participating in the stage 2 sprint, we basically had no chance of getting a decent spot in the points standings, and of course we didn't get any stage points there. Realizing that even an 8km time trial is too long for our Kiwi hurts as well, as we'll have to lower our expectations for some races then. But we have to admit that sending a squad to Netherlands clearly was a mistake from the management, so we won't put too much blame on the riders. Still, with the team not helping Scully and not being present in a single breakaway, the performance remains inacceptable, and we'll have to put this on the table.
Tom Scully taking 3rd place on day 5
May Summary
May was by far our worst month so far in terms of PpRD - which is even worse as we spent 20 race days this month. But if we take a closer look at it, we can definitely be satisfied with our performance in our home race, Tour de Romandie, against much stronger competition. The points taken from Frankfurt Eschborn were OK as well - it was actually our most efficient race of the month.
Giro del Trentino then was clearly disappointing in terms of stage and GC results - only Gino Mäder's KoM win more or less saved that race for us. But it was still unsatisfying.
While we had to expect zero points from Tour du Faso - a race we had to participate in, but that didn't suit us at all - the low amount of points in Olympia's Tour is on one hand based on a bad decision by the management, and on the other hand due to bad performances - which is rarely a successful mixture...
Fortunately, it was our first month of the year with less than 10 PpRD, meaning we have already built up quite a good base to compensate for that in the previous months. Still, we absolutely need to do better next month - which will be the most busy one in team history so far! And we're sure the riders got the message, and they will indeed do better! Stay tuned for the June preview and the races!
After our performance in the past month was according to rather pessimistic expectations, but quite far off our 10 PpRD target, we'll try to get back on track in what is the busiest month in our team history so far!
6 races will make up for a total of 27 race days, whereof 12 are mandatory. A bit unfortunately, as both C2HC stage races don't really suit us once again, as we'll see. Our final HC race of the season will be on the menu as well, as we'll race in all of HC, C1, C2HC and C2 categories. Let's take a closer look:
Jun 02 - 08 | Tour of Vancouver (C2HC)
Spoiler
After Trentino, we already have the next stage race with at TTT ahead of us. At least, this time it comes at the end, so hopefully we'll go into that last stage with plenty of confidence due to previous good stage results!
We actually did pretty well last year, and we're sending some of the same riders to repeat their success:
Rider
Mo
Hi
TT
Spr
Rider
Mo
Hi
TT
Spr
Mirco Saggiorato
77
73
66
58
Manuel Stocker
60
65
69
76
Andrea Manfredi
78
65
65
62
Theo Reinhardt
57
67
67
79
Gino Mäder
73
68
71
67
Maximilian Walscheid
55
62
61
74
Leonardo Basso
67
72
72
71
Issiaka Cissé
53
63
67
78
We have already seen in Tour de Romandie that Andrea Manfredi still likes those mountain time trials - so there is hope he'll make the Top 5 on day one. Together with Mirco Saggiorato, he'll hopefully repeat last year's great showing, where we scored two Top 10 GC results.
For the stage results, our hopes are however rather on Theo Reinhardt once more. We bring his usual sprint train, consisting of Issiaka Cissé and Manuel Stocker. With strong result on all three flat stages, he might have a shot at the points jersey - we expect Theo to end up at least in the Top 3 of this special standing.
Gino Mäder continues his excessive racing program; let's see what he can do in the U25 standings in a CT stage race - this one should actually suit him pretty well!
Expectations: GC Top 10, Stage win, Top 3 Points jersey
Best result so far: 2x GC Top 10 (2019, Mirco Saggiorato 7th, Andrea Manfredi 10th)
Jun 10 - 14 | Post Danmark Rundt (C2HC)
Spoiler
Had the last stage not been a time trial, it would have been the perfect stage race for us. Flat ones, a hilly one - that's what we can handle. Time trials don't belong into this category - especially not such horribly long ones. So let's focus on the previous days, with the following guys:
Rider
Spr
Acc
Hi
TT
Rider
Spr
Acc
Hi
TT
Tom Scully
79
80
67
63
Leonardo Basso
71
69
72
72
Pedro Merino Criado
77
79
68
56
Gino Mäder
67
63
68
71
Maximilian Walscheid
74
75
62
61
Nico Brüngger
63
66
72
73
Fabian Lienhard
73
76
75
66
After a long wait, Tom Scully has finally proven us in Netherlands that he actually CAN sprint. So with three flat stages, we expect a lot from him in terms of stage results, and maybe as well in the points standings. Pedro Merino Criado and Max Walscheid should support him once more - something they have unfortunately always failed to do so far...
In terms of GC, we unfortunately can't have big expectations. That final TT is just way too long, and the one slightly hilly stage cannot outweigh this. If Gino Mäder can again get a notable U25 result, that would be fine. Else, as said before, we're going all-in for stage results!
ven get a few points from this race. That's easier said than done, though...
Expectations: Top 25 GC, 4x Stage Top 10
Best result so far: N/A
Jun 13 - 17 | La Tropicale Amissa Bongo (C2)
Spoiler
We'll have two consecutive races in Africa this month - our final ones of the year. First comes a flat stage race in Gabon, without the least TT kilometers - and hence a perfect opportunity for our chief sprinter! Let's see at who accompanies him:
Rider
Spr
Acc
Res
Rider
Spr
Acc
Res
Theo Reinhardt
79
84
66
Stefan Bissegger
69
70
69
Issiaka Cissé
78
77
67
Andrea Manfredi
62
73
73
Manuel Stocker
76
77
73
Benedikt Mundle
59
69
73
Cyrille Thièry
72
73
73
After his great GC results in Barbados (HC) and Juarez (C1), Theo Reinhardt now gets a great chance to take a big, big result at C2 level. With his consistency, he should be among the GC favorites in Gabon - which should be even more the case given the clash with Danmark, where we expect to meet some other strong sprinters.
Issiaka Cissé and Manuel Stocker should provide him a good leadout, with Benedikt Mundle's job starting earlier, namely with catching the escapees.
But when talking of escapees, we might even send some riders ahead on our own; for this purpose we have nominated Cyrille Thièry and Andrea Manfredi, and Mundle himself likes attacking too at times.
All in all, it is probably the race we expect most from this month, as we believe we have a great scoring potential with Reinhardt!
Expectations: Top 3 GC & Points, 5x Stage Top 10
Best result so far: N/A
Jun 18 - 23 | Tour of South Africa (C1)
Spoiler
Just one day after racing ends in Gabon, stage one awaits us further south, still on the African continent. Three riders will actually do 11 consecutive days of racing, as you can see below.
Given the profile, the line-up's main focus is obviously on the hills - and on TTT, as far as that's possible with our current riders:
Rider
Hi
Acc
Res
TT
Rider
Hi
Acc
Res
TT
Gianni Moscon
79
73
77
66
Leonardo Basso
72
69
73
72
Cyrille Thièry
74
73
73
66
Gino Mäder
68
63
72
71
Mirco Saggiorato
73
72
74
66
Benedikt Mundle
65
69
73
55
Nico Brüngger
72
66
70
73
Issiaka Cissé
63
77
67
67
Given yet another way too long time trial, our GC expectations unfortunately are rather low. Our hopes for good stage results are high, however. And Gianni Moscon is eager to show everyone that his Hong Kong disaster was just a one-off. His great resistance and decent climbing skills have often helped him staying with stronger pure puncheurs - and if stage 5 should be ridden aggressively, that could make a huge difference!
As we're surely not be counted among the favorite teams for the GC win, we are hoping for lots of breakaway appearances - which should be the job of Cyrille Thièry primarily, but any rider is invited to try his own luck.
Some of the stages don't look that tough on paper, which is why we bring Issiaka Cissé as well, in his only race of the year where he gets all the freedom he wants.
And finally, Nico Brüngger, Leo Basso and Gino Mäder will hopefully ensure we only lose minutes and not hours on the dreaded TTT.
Expectations: GC Top 20, 4x Stage Top 10
Best result so far: Stage win, 37th GC (2019, Jan-André Freuler)
Jun 30 | Berlin ProRace (HC)
Spoiler
The stage races are over, but two one-day classics await us on the final day of the race. The first one will surely be the season highlight for one rider - guess who?
Rider
Spr
Acc
Res
Rider
Spr
Acc
Res
Theo Reinhardt
79
84
66
Manuel Stocker
76
77
73
Tom Scully
79
80
70
Maximilian Walscheid
74
75
70
Issiaka Cissé
78
77
67
Stefan Bissegger
69
70
69
Pedro Merino Criado
77
79
68
Benedikt Mundle
59
69
73
Born in Berlin, Theo Reinhardt is really looking forward to this day, where all his friends and family members will be alongside the road and cheer on him. It's our final HC race of the year - and having done well in the first two races, our chief sprinter will surely be highly motivated to shine at home as well!
He can basically choose his leadout based on daily form, as most of his teammates are good sprinters in their own right - even Tom Scully is here to support his German teammate in this race. Let's see if we can pull off another great HC result!
Expectations: Top 10
Best result so far: N/A
Jun 30 | Clasico San Cristobal (C2)
Spoiler
A completely different profile at a completely different location await us a few hours later, as our puncheurs will try to round off this month with a good showing in Cuba:
Rider
Hi
Acc
Res
Rider
Hi
Acc
Res
Gianni Moscon
79
73
77
Leonardo Basso
72
69
73
Fabian Lienhard
75
76
72
Gino Mäder
68
63
72
Cyrille Thièry
74
73
73
Andrea Manfredi
65
73
73
Nico Brüngger
72
66
70
Without any doubt, Gianni Moscon will once again be among the top favorites for this race ending on a short and steep incline. And once again, his climbing skills should give him an advantage given all the elevation gain awaiting the riders throughout the race.
Fabian Lienhard and Cyrille Thièry could on one hand be his strongest domestiques - or they could go attacking on their own, something especially the former hasn't done so far. We've often taken some good depth results from those hilly C2 races - let's do it again!
Expectations: Podium
Best result so far: 15th (2019, Simon Pellaud)
As said earlier, it's the busiest month so far in team history. Unfortunately, three of those six races might be ruined for us by the time trials, but we do have some candidates for good stage results everywhere! Let's keep up the promotion fight, we need every point we can get - and this month will surely be decisive!
I'm sorry but I don't know if Reinhardt's friends and family are allowed alongside the road at the moment Will be nice for you in Gabon though, as you can see your new sprint leader hopefully in some battles against your previous sprint leader (and I say hopefully, as it's still to be soon whether it will be a real battle against Guillén, or the Costa Rican will just finish outside the finish photo five times )
Another busy month coming up and should be a good opportunity to pick up a good haul of points. Especially Moscon in South Africa could be a big difference maker in the title fight!
After one rather good and one pretty bad mountainous stage race - Eritrea and Trentino - number three now took us to the third continent, more precisely to North America. Given the three flat stages in addition to the three mountaineous ones (plus a TTT), the sprints were our secondary goal besides the GC, obviously.
Stage 1 already was one of the uphill stages - tackled individually. Usually, Andrea Manfredi does very well in those races - but he didn't seem to have his best of days. 17th place definitely was way below expectations, and way below his potential. Fortunately, Mirco Saggiorato did a bit better to finish 9th of the day - outside the points, but inside the Top 10. An OK start, but no more.
Day 2 then was really crazy. It was a flat stage with some bumps - and these led to a massive early split in the pack, with 31 riders breaking free - thereof Theo Reinhardt, Issiaka Cissé, Max Walscheid and Leo Basso. As a consequence, it was a hectic stage, with Theo picking up many intermediate sprint points - and the group actually making it to the line. Unfortunately, in the only sprint that really counts, he messed up with his positioning and finally only was able to get 5th place. Bummer... At least, thanks to the intermediate sprint points, he still got to wear the green jersey on the next day.
And that next day brought us a much more normal bunch sprint. And we even managed to build up our standard Stocker - Cissé - Reinhardt train - with our Ivorian unfortunately a bit over-motivated, gapping his sprinter, who had to launch way too early and only managed to get 8th place. Bummer again. And of course, the green jersey was gone with this sub-par performance.
But well, it could have gone worse - and it went worse, on day 4. We didn't have any stage favorite on that day, so the plan was to join the breakaway - but no-one even tried. And even worse, both our nominal leaders - Saggiorato and Manfredi - didn't have the legs to even compete for a Top 10. 15th and 18th was definitely a big disappointment, as a GC Top 10 was slipping further and further away.
The only bright spot that day was Gino Mäder finishing 30th and moving up to 3rd in the U25 standings.
We knew we wouldn't compete for the top spots, but to be that far away - behind some guys definitely within reach - was painful.
Day 5 then was the final chance for the sprinters. And once again, we did quite some work to reel in the escapees, and then built up the Stocker - Cissé - Reinhardt train again. And hey, the guys definitely had learnt their lesson on day 3, as the timing now was really perfect - meaning that Theo Reinhardt left the others no chance and got his first win of the season!
After 4 podium spots earlier this year, Theo Reinhardt sprints to his first season win!
With this performance, he claimed back the green jersey - and now had to hope someone else than Pinot would win the next stage, as this would in fact make him win the jersey!
The good news first: He did win the jersey, as Pinot "only" finished 4th on that day. The other news are all bad, though. Nobody in the break again - and very weak climbers again, too. This time, Manfredi was the stronger of the two, but instead of supporting the better placed Saggiorato, who had probably his worst day of the year so far, he went on to finish slightly ahead of our Swiss leader. 17th and 20th were the places on day 5 - underwhelming. This resulted in a 15th and 16th GC place before the final stage. Not good.
At least, there were some hopes for that final stage, as we have slightly strengthened our TTT squad in the offseason. As a result, we were the 7th team in the preview. But well, pretty much everything went wrong GC-wise in this race - and the closing stage was no exception. We didn't even finish in the Top 10 of the day, behind famous TTT squads like Bralirwa (no offense meant). And as a result, Andrea Manfredi dropped to 18th in the GC, while Mirco Saggiorato was at least able to hold onto his 15th place. Two Top 20 spots doesn't sound that bad, actually, but we clearly failed to even seriously challenge for a Top 10. Gino Mäder, by the way, dropped down to 4th in the U25 standings - which is still a satisfying performance from him, only losing out against Ranaweera, Fabbro and Eg - all clearly stronger than him.
But despite all these GC-related disappointments, let's not forget that Theo Reinhardt leaves Canada with not only a stage win, but also the green jersey in his bag. He clearly made this an acceptable race for us points-wise, and continues to be the one who carries our promotion hopes - along with Moscon, obviously.
However, their teammates need to clearly step up if we really want to ride in PCT next year, as Theo doesn't have that many race days left. Let's see if they manage to do so in Denmark, where the race will come to an end tomorrow already!
Nemo I don't care about that stuff in this virtual game, honestly... And I won't ever switch off spectators in my reports due to any real-life regulations.
The start in Gabon definitely wasn't to my liking, but let's see if we can still have some Theo vs Guillén battles - would be great to see our former star shine there maybe one last time
Abhishek Well, almost half of the month is done, and while we picked up some points in Canada, Denmark won't be a good points harvest for us. We'll have to rely on the sprint races - which doesn't seem to be a great idea with PCM 18... But yeah, Moscon might score some really important points - at least that's our hope!
After the climbers and sprinters in Canada, it was time for the sprinters and time trialists in Denmark. But... wait... We actually don't have any real time trialists. So we went to Northern Europe (or Southern Scandinavia?) without any big GC hopes.
Instead, our focus was on the flat stages, more precisely on Tom Scully, as our top sprinter Reinhardt would step into action a few days later in Gabon.
With the Kiwi, it was always a question this year if he felt like sprinting or not. On day one, he decided to participate, and he did so pretty well - 4th place for Tom Scully.
Day two saw another flat stage, and apparently a Kiwi motivated to repeat the previous day's performance. Wisely, he chose the day one winner's wheel - unfortunately not realizing that the yellow jersey wearer rarely participates in sprints this year. Don't ask us why... As a result, Tom Scully only got a 22nd place - clearly underwhelming, but not due to his lack of motivation, but due to a strategical mishit. That can happen and is fully excusable.
On day three, the only hilly stage of the race was awaiting us - precisely the day we brought Fabian Lienhard for. Unfortunately, we again didn't join the breakaway - despite not having a stage favorite on that day. And even worse, none of our riders got close to the front of the race - finally Fabian Lienhard and Leo Basso just finished inside the first bigger group, in last and third-to-last position. Clearly a very bad day for us - one to simply forget.
So it was revenge time on day four - the last sprint stage. It did indeed end in a sprint - but only three "true" sprinters were actually in the mix. Fortunately, Tom Scully was one of them - and he did not only participate, he even won the stage! First win for our Kiwi, who is finally up to his task lately - great job!
Tom Scully winning his first race wearing our jersey!
So, only the dreaded 35km long time trial was left. Our goal was to somehow keep Leo Basso inside the Top 30, to at least score a few GC points.
But for once, our riders did an amazing job in a time trial. Not only did Leo indeed finish inside the scoring places, he even took 15th place!
But others were doing really well, too. Fabian Lienhard, who had the same total time as Leo pre-stage - having finished in the front group on stage 3 - finished on an unexpected 19th place - which was two spots behind Nico Brüngger, who got our best result of the day (24th) and made a big jump up the standings!
Almost as big was Gino Mäder's jump, who moved all the way up to 21st - and to 2nd in the U25 standings!
All in all, that gave us two Top 10 stage results, thereof a win, four riders in the GC points, a third place in the points standings and a 2nd place in the U25 rankings. Unexpectedly, we left with a really good amount of points - a lot of which are due to Tom Scully finally finding his top form! Let's continue like this, boys - we're still in the promotion race!
Along with Ras Tailteann and Course de Solidarnosc, the five-day tour in Gabon was one of the three main stage-race goals for our sprint master Theo Reinhardt.
While he did unexpectedly well in PCT stage races - nota bene in Juarez and Barbados - the three-day race in Ireland early in the season was one to forget.
But the team has learnt a lot since, and so the setup on stage one looked close to perfect. But not quite, as instead of Stocker - Cissé - Reinhardt, our train was Thièry - Stocker - Reinhardt.
Nonetheless, things looked really well, as Reinhardt was released only with a few 100 meters to go - but with the road leading slightly upwards, it still was too early and he couldn't hold on. Moreover, the officials clearly misjudged the finish line photo, putting Theo Reinhardt down to 7th place, whereas he clearly was 5th or 6th. Definitely a sub-par start to the race for us.
But well, four more days to come to do a better job. Working all day long to catch the escapees, then build up a perfect train - and finish it off in style. That was the game plan, five days in a row. But while the first part obviously worked out, the second didn't at all. Even worse than on day one, Theo Reinhardt only had Cyrille Thièry for the final kilometers!
Already with 2.5km, our sprinter was on his own - but he was wise enough to pick Selig's wheel instead of launching his sprint way too early. A strategy that definitely paid off, as he was in the mix for the stage win until the very end - and he did it! Theo Reinhardt won stage 2 of La Tropicale Amissa Bongo - thereby taking over the GC lead and the shared points lead - great job! Despite the teamwork being sub-par, he completed the most important of our three tasks - finishing it off in style!
Theo Reinhardt sprinting to his second win of the year!
As we were among the teams doing most work anyway, in theory not much changed for us on day three. Unfortunately, one thing still did - we didn't bring our sprinter in position for the final sprint! So Theo Reinhardt even missed out on the Top 10 and finished on an underwhelming 16th place, thereby of course losing the yellow and green jerseys. What a bummer! The dreaded "yellow jersey curse" had struck again...
And given this experience, the goal for stage 4 was actually not to win the stage, but to finish 2nd - hence not being in "danger" of taking over the GC lead again before the final and decisive stage.
This time, we could check the first two points off the list - we worked to catch the break, and we finally, finally did build up our standard train Stocker - Cissé - Reinhardt!
So everything was set for the third point as well - and Theo Reinhardt indeed delivered once again! But he actually did too good of a job, crossing the finish line first!
However, the judges seemed to know about our game plan, and they awarded the win to Kip, and so Reinhardt "only" took 2nd - to move up to 2nd in the GC, just 5" off the lead!
Theo Reinhardt crosses the line first, but Kip gets the win...
With that 5" deficit, one thing was clear: A stage win on the final day would mean the GC win as well (without considering eventual intermediate sprint bonuses). So the goal was clear for the 5th stage - and everyone on the team was committed to achieve it!
And of course, we once again contributed to catch the breakaway - but then the shocker: nobody even cared to set up the sprint for Theo Reinhardt! With 1.3km to go, a group of 11 riders went clear - without any of our riders involved! Goodbye stage win, goodbye GC!
But wait... All of a sudden, with about 800m to go, he had joined this group, and had even moved up to 7th already! With the GC leader even further behind, that could actually have been sufficient to win the race, depending on the stage results!
400m later, though, he was already in 3rd position, behind Selig and Tewelde - which would definitely be enough to win the GC, given that GC leader Lobato was still nowhere to be seen!
But hey, why take third if you can win the stage? Theo Reinhardt came from nowhere, and simply outsprinted all the other guys, having enough of a margin to even raise his arms in the end! Stage win, GC win, Points jersey - this was what we were dreaming of going into this race, and Theo achieved all of it in an amazing way! Congratulations to our German rocket!
Theo Reinhardt wins it all - stage, GC, green jersey!
Unfortunately, none of our other riders was ever able to get into the breakaway or to pick up some bonus seconds at the finish line, so no-one else scored any points. Well, almost; according to our calculations, we took 3rd in the team standings, although this has never been officially confirmed. Anyway, with Theo Reinhardt scoring more than 100 points on his own, this really was a fantastic race for us! Thanks to the entire team for the amazing work!
Meanwhile, Tour of South Africa is about to reach its decisive stage - and we can already tell that we're doing pretty well there, too. Our most busy month in history will surely be our most productive one in terms of points as well - the promotion hunt is going on!
Huge performance by Reinhardt, who has been huge in general this year. Sometimes the train works, most of the time it doesn't, but Theo adapts pretty well either way.
You and Carrefour look set for a long battle for the title now, though Philips might have something to say about it too. Promotion is pretty much assured in any case.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Vancouver wasn't the best and your climbers are a bit hit and miss. Reinhardt despite a few lesser results still came away with a stage win and the green jersey
Scully looks to have taken some confidence from Olympia. Nice to see him score a stage win
Then of course congrats on Reinhardt's win in Amissa Bongo. He's been great all season long and I'm afraid to see him in Berlin
Given Carrefour's recent form they might be the favourites for the title, but I don't think you're out of it by any means and promotion looks more certain with each passing race
bbl Yeah, Reinhardt has been a beast, that's true. Whether our train works or not, he's pretty much always in a great position, and therefore can get lots of good results. I don't know what it is, especially compared to AKA. Of course, his acceleration enables him to gain a lot of places in little time, but his other stats aren't that extraordinary.
He has definitely exceeded all expectations and will be the main reason for promotion - if we indeed get it! I don't see us in the title fight, though, as we've already used up a lot of our RDs - probably by far the most of the division by the end of June. But I hope we can build up enough of a margin to stay inside the Top 5
redordead I always knew the mountain races wouldn't bear a great scoring potential this year. However, I'm pretty disappointed by the lack of breakaway tentatives in those races, given the absence of a GC contender.
Reinhardt is more than compensating that lack of activity, though, and so I agree that we should be safe in terms of promotion - but the season ain't over.
And I'm looking forward to challenging you in Berlin, of course
Nemolito Well, I wouldn't call it easy if it takes an improbable sprint from far away to secure the GC But yeah, the favorite delivered, and that's of course great news for us. 100 points from a C2 race is amazing, and it should help us build up a bit of a cushion for the final months of the year, where we won't be racing that much (e.g. just one race in August).
I admit I've been thinking about a possible PCT season, yeah - and I've got no clue which way to go. We'll definitely need a PCT-worthy leader for the mountains, and some cobblers and TTers wouldn't hurt, either... But that's a lot for a single transfer season - I rather guess we'll make it a one-year stint in PCT this time
After half a month of racing pretty much exclusively against CT competition, here we were again on the stages of the PCT tour, for our final African race of the year. Five hilly stages, one TTT - a setting where we were clearly aiming for good stage results, but - due to the almost 40km long TTT - not that much for a great GC position.
But while we were actually hoping for a lot of breakaway action - due to not having a serious GC contender - we can already say that there was not a single attempt throughout the entire race. Which is a huge disappointment and a clear refusal to work according to the team management's directives.
Instead, the squad decided to ride exclusively for Gianni Moscon. Which is not a bad idea in itself, but given the rather easy finishes on most stages and the Italian's preference for tough finales, definitely not the best choice. And this showed on stage one already, where we did a lot of work throughout the stage - and all we got from this work was a measly 10th place. Nota bene Gianni's first Top 10 result of the year which wasn't a podium... Even worse, no-one else on the team finished up front, so our work basically was for nothing.
The same pictures on stage 2: no Centovalli - Fiat jersey in the breakaway, but many of them working back in the pack. And again, nobody else in the first group. However, either Gianni had better legs on that day, or simply played it better - in the end, he overtook one rider after the other, until nobody was left in front of him - Gianni Moscon won stage 2 of the Tour of South Africa! So, what had been a failure the day before now suddenly worked, to our great delight!
Gianni Moscon edges out Borges on the final meters for his second win of the year!
Stage 3 may have been the easiest one of the entire race, as 68 riders reached the finish line together - even including four of ours. After having again done a lot of work throughout the day, this was pretty remarkable and surely positive news.
What was less positive, though, was that Cyrille Thièry launched the sprint for Gianni Moscon way too early, with the latter dropping all the way down to 12th in the end. Despite a steep finale, which should have suited him well. So while the team performance was good, we again had no notable individual result to report.
Then came the dreaded TTT on stage 4, where we lost 2'40" one year ago. However, in the previews we were listed 10th out of 17 teams, so we had some hopes to not lose as much time this year.
However, we would never have imagined losing two minutes less! Duolingo, the stage winners, were only 37" faster - meaning that Gianni Moscon only dropped to 10th in the GC, just 24" behind the 2nd place! And with the hardest stage yet to come, we were really thrilled by this result and the perspectives for the next two days!
But the outcome was really, really disappointing. Sure, Gianni Moscon stayed with the other top favorites, but after having again done a lot of work throughout the day, we definitely expected an attack from him. But no. And even the front group was much bigger than what we were hoping for - and so, all we got from this stage was a 9th place. So we basically again got nothing.
And the same holds for the final day. A lot of work all day long, our leader making the front group - and finishing outside the Top 10. The positive note was that due to some copmetitors cracking on the final two days, Gianni Moscon finished 6th in the GC - which of course was a whole lot more than what we were expecting pre-race! He furthermore took 5th in the points standings, adding a few more points. Cyrille Thièry showed a good race overall, finishing 21st - but he would surely have been able to do better without wasting that much energy for his leader. Mirco Saggiorato had an underwhelming last day - finishing two minutes behind Benedikt Mundle(!!!), seeing him just drop out of the Top 30.
On the other hand, Gino Mäder again scored some U25 points, finishing 6th in these standings.
Overall, we can say that pre-race we would have been satisfied with the points we take home from South Africa. However, seeing how much energy we wasted for just one single notable stage result, instead of spending that energy in breakaways, definitely hurts. Our boys have to accept that Gianni Moscon is no stage hunter, due to his low sprint and acceleration, and that he can get a good GC result on his own. Instead, we just want to see them more aggressive in the remainder of the season - maybe starting right away in San Cristobal!
Else, we could simply send seven juniors along with Gianni next time - the difference in terms of points probably wouldn't be very big.
There wasn't much respite for the puncheurs after the six-day long Tour of South Africa - and there won't even be less before Tour de San Luis starting tomorrow already, some kilometers further South.
Of course, Gianni Moscon was among the favorites of this hilly race, as in any hilly CT race he enters. Which explains why we were taking on chasing duties all day long. Even more than this, as Leo Basso and Cyrille Thièry pushed so hard across a hilltop with about 30km to go, which proved to cause a decisive split with roughly 20 riders going clear!
Cyrille Thièry was able to stay with his leader until the final 10km, where Eiking launched an attack. But unfortunately, Gianni Moscon didn't seem to have his best legs today, as he wasn't able to follow that move on a pretty easy terrain! Together with Juul-Jensen and Felline, he desperately tried to close that gap - and they somewhat did.
At least Jensen did, as he sprinted to a great 3rd place. Gianni Moscon, however, wasn't even able to follow the Dane, which he would easily do on a normal day. In the end, he go a really disappointing 7th place out of a leading group of 8 riders - after quite some disappointing stage results in South Africa, this result surely doesn't help him to re-gain confidence... It might be a good thing that he has a one-month break after this race.
On the other hand, Cyrille Thièry finished off his great performance with 9th place today - his second Top 10 result of the year, after having scored the same result in Sri Lanka earlier this year. Despite putting in a huge amount of energy to help his leader, he still was able to get this great result - hats off!
Further behind, Fabian Lienhard managed to snatch the final point, taking 25th place. He actually was riding for quite some time in 14th place, but finally ran out of gas and was lucky to still steal a point. Actually, the entire team did a great job, as everyone finished inside the Top 41 - unfortunately, that isn't worth any points, but still looks promising for San Luis! And without Moscon joining them in Argentina, they'll hopefully have a lot more freedom - and will score some even stronger results! Stay tuned!
Gianni Moscon riding to a disappointing 7th place.
Despite the race in Germany having taken place earlier than the one in Cuba, we wanted to post the race report as the final one of this really, really busy month - as it was one of the season's highlights. First of all, it was our final HC race of the year. And secondly, it was the home race of our Berliner sprinter Theo Reinhardt - so no question we sent the best support cast we possibly were able to!
With Theo clearly being an outsider in this race, we were preparing to have a calm first 160km, before preparing the finale for our sprinter. But the other teams were having none of it. Early in the race, they asked us to help with the chase, as they estimated Theo to be a dangerous opponent and hence they wanted to tire us early on.
And so, we can say that no matter the race category, we actually always have to work hard throughout the entire race. On one hand it's a sign that the competition takes us as a serious contender, on the other hand our riders don't have the freedom they'd like to have. Anyway, we helped with the chase, and the breakaway was caught with about 20km to go.
However, one thing we haven't really been able to do on HC level so far is setting up a sprint train. Even worse, Benedikt Mundle once again decided he wanted to be our leader today, and Theo Reinhardt dropped further and further back! Of course, there was no way this strategy would work out, and so we didn't even have a rider in the Top 15 under the red kite - with Theo being even outside the Top 20! What a bummer in a race we were looking forward to so much!
But then, Theo Reinhardt seemed to remember his improbable sprint that brought him the win in Gabon earlier this month - and he launched his turbo mode once again! Overtaking one competitor after the other, he suddenly appeared inside the Top 10 with 600m to go - and clearly had the highest speed out of all sprinters!
And with 200m to go, he had moved up to 4th, behind the leading trio of Ewan, Kemboi and Itami - but then somehow got stuck behind the Japanese! He lost quite some speed in this very important moment of the race - but then found a small gap between Kemboi and Itami, charging for the line!
But the race finally was 50m too short - or Theo Reinhardt simply paid for his horrible positioning. Nonetheless, our Berliner sprinted to 3rd place in his home race - what an incredible result! Clearly being an outsider today, he once again surprised everyone including his own teammates, and got us a podium in a one-day HC classic - needless to say it's our first one! Amazing!
By the way, Benedikt Mundle finished 21st, and scored some points as well, while the rest of the team was far, far, far back in the pack. But in the end, they did a great job, protecting their leader all day long, allowing him to save energy for yet another masterclass sprint - congratulations to everyone!
Theo Reinhardt finishes 3rd in his home race!
And this finally was the last race of an incredibly stacked month. We had 27 race days - in which we scored more than 400 points! We always knew it would be a crucial month for our promotion hunt - and the boys definitely have delivered! Now, we'll have to collect some more good points in July, before we'll rather be in a wait-and-see position for the rest of the season.
But July will also be a breather for our two strongest scorers, with Moscon returning in August and Reinhardt only in September. Other riders will have to step up - stay tuned to see what they are able to do!
Tour du Faso (C2HC)
Leo Basso had a great showing in Lincoln GP, we had at least minor hopes of getting a good result.
Benedikt Mundle managed to finish stage 3 inside the time limit - which is two riders more than last year. But overall, this race alone is a good reason to achieve promotion as quickly as possible - as we'd be sure of not having to do it next year then.
But as you say, there are five spots available in the Top 5 - and the way flat races have worked out so far this year, I'm not sure at all we'll even make a Top 10 there...
Gino Mäder made it into the breakaway - and was the rider collecting most KoM points during the day, hence taking the KoM jersey after stage 2!
Hermann Pernsteiner - which was disappointing as well. At least, 
Frankfurt Eschborn (C2)
Issiaka Cissé and 
Olympia's Tour (C1)
Tom Scully, whom we expected some points from with three flat stages and a short epilogue. However, stage 2 was a true bummer for us: our Kiwi once again didn't even bother participating in the sprint, and came only 59th - which was still our best stage result on that day. What was way worse, though, was that Gino was caught behind a split - and unfortunately dropped down to 10th in the U25 standings. With this attitude from Scully and Mäder's bad luck, our second zero-pointer of the month (and of the entire season) was getting dangerously close...
Tour of Vancouver (C2HC)
Post Danmark Rundt (C2HC)
La Tropicale Amissa Bongo (C2)
Tour of South Africa (C1)
Clasico San Cristobal (C2)
