Good luck for the upcoming month! We'll see each other in Romandie and Chile, but as we're not really in the same division, that should'nt come in a fight.
And glad to see that even with some frustrating results, you easily top the division.
Some mixed fortune lately but still leading the division and the promotion challenge is going very well. Will be interesting to see how Stussi does in his home race. We'll hopefully be nearby watching! We'll also meet in Chile.
Here we are. Our only home stage race this year, as we aren't allowed to participate in Tour de Suisse as a CT team. And not only home race, but of course goal race as well! Just like last year, our sponsors expected a 5th place GC finish from us - remember that a year ago, Nairo Quintana missed out on this goal by taking 7th after having missed one decisive split.
We knew beforehand that reaching this goal would be even hard this time, with Colin Stüssi clearly being a less strong pure climber than Nairo. On the other hand, we brought some great mountain support for him with Gino Mäder and Fausto Masnada. Furthermore, we had a much stronger TTT setup this time, led by Szymon Rektia and Krzysztof Marchewka and rounded off by Erick Rowsell and Leo Basso. And there was also Marcel Aregger, targetting his first stage win of the year.
The TTT on the first day was too short to create decisive gaps, but every second gained there was a second gained anyway. And for the first time ever, we even were among the favorite teams in a C1 TTT!
But unfortunately, the TV stations apparently didn't take us seriously, as there are absolutely no images of our boys from stage one. Which is a shame, as they were very, very fast - and in the end missed out on the stage win (and the leader jersey) by just 2", taking a great 2nd place! A great start - but the fact that so little was missing for the win still hurt a bit. Maybe on one of the remaing five stages?
Stage 2 was the first out of two opportunities for sprinter Marcel Aregger - who was seen as one of the day's top favorites by the bookmakers, probably also due to his good hills skills and the couple of bumps on the closing kilometers.
But while he chose the right wheel during sprint preparations, he always left a small gap to the rider ahead of him - and in the end didn't even manage to outsprint him. Given that this rider was one who usually is considerably slower, this must be considered a bad performance - and 4th place indeed isn't what we were hoping for. One more chance left.
Marcel Aregger finishing only 4th on day 2.
Day 3 was the one we dreaded the most, because of its hilly finish. Not exactly the main strength of Colin Stüssi - instead, Fausto Masnada was considered to be among the stage favorites!
However, either the latter didn't believe the bookies, had just absolutely horrible legs, or didn't really care. He missed out on a split pretty early in the race - just like Gino Mäder, who did so even earlier. Both of our main support riders distances - we had to bid goodbye to a decent team and depth result early on, which was definitely disappointing and would need some talking post-stage.
At least, Colin Stüssi was attentive and was safe in the main group, seconded mainly by Leo Basso and Erick Rowsell. And while the two helpers were eventually gapped as well, Stüssi seemed to have quite a lot left in the tank, and even joined the sprint for the stage win - just to fall short of the podium. That's two 4th places in as many days - and especially those inches missing for Stüssi really hurt, as some bonus seconds would have been really great to take.
Colin Stüssi narrowly missing out on a podium finish on day 3.
So, half of the race was done, and Colin Stüssi was up to 2nd in the GC - but the gaps were so small that even dropping outside the Top 20 could have easily happened with a bad day on stage 4, the big mountain stage.
One again, our full focus was on Colin, and none of our riders even tried to join the breakaway of the day. Meaning that winning the KoM jersey like back in 2019 probably wasn't an option - instead, we were still hoping for a GC podium!
And Colin did a great job all day long, always staying with the main group, without wasting any energy for pointless moves. Which turned out to be the right strategy, given that a group of 21 riders reached the top of the Col de la Croix - the final climb of the day - together. And even Fausto Masnada was inside that group, after having been dropped and caught up again!
Unsurprisingly, it finally was Masnada who got our best result of the day, given that he's definitely more explosive and hence better suited for reduced bunch sprints than Stüssi. 8th place it was this time - we'd have happily taken a higher spot, but definitely couldn't complain about our 4th Top 10 finish in as many days.
And most importantly, Colin Stüssi still held onto a podium spot; while he was overtaken by stage winner Padun, he was able to keep all others behind him. Except for Taaramäe obviously, who was ahead anyway. So we had a great situation going into the decisive stage - a mountain time trial, where we have always been doing well so far! Our best result was a 3rd place by Nairo Quintana last year - so we were hoping for at least a Top 10 finish by Stüssi to secure a Top 5 spot!
But first came all our other riders. And unfortunately, their performances didn't give us a lot of hope - as both Gino Mäder and even more Fausto Masnada were miles off their usual pace! Just to compare - Masnada finished 17th on this stage last year - he was down in 63rd place this time! And Mäder wasn't much better - 5" and 16 spots to be precise. A huge disappointment by those two!
But it was just a foreshadowing of what could be expected from Stüssi - not much. He lost 37", and he lost out to some riders he shouldn't (the extreme case being 16" to Costagli!), and dropped all the way down to 7th in the GC. 7th. What a bummer, what an awful performance by the entire climbing team. Sponsor goal failed - literally thrown out of the window, given away for free. Needless to say that they weren't amused...
Obviously, the general mood in the team was really bad on the last day. Everyone knew that we hadn't done our job well, and Stüssi knew it best. Obviously, taking a 7th place GC finish in this stacked field would be a great result - but it isn't with the standings after stage 4, and especially not after this bad performance on stage 5. Knowing that he wasn't the worst of the top climbers didn't really help, we just failed.
And we also failed on the last day, in a race that will be remembered as "The race of the near misses". 2nd by 2" on day 1, 4th on days 2 and 3, 7th in the GC in a Top 5 goal race. And 3rd on the final stage by Marcel Aregger, after a good leadout by our team. Again beaten by a clearly slower sprinter - perfectly reflecting our race.
And what's worst to know by now is that it would've been enough for Stüssi to take 3rd instead of 4th on stage 3; with these bonus seconds, he'd have finished 5th... Almost, almost, almost - all the race long. Frustrating.
To be fair, in any other stage race against this competition, we'd be happy with what we achieved here. But we can't be happy with this in our home race, in a sponsor goal race. Still, thanks to every rider for trying. We failed again - may we succeed next time!
Marcel Aregger ending up 3rd on the final stage.
Ulrich If your leaders focus on C2, I guess I saw Boswell's twin brother a couple of times this year in C1/HC
You had an amazing start to the month with Keough winning in Thailand - looks like we just countered that in Romandie by using up 3x more RDs... So I'm not that sure about a solid lead yet - if you get some great stage results in Olympia, that could well be worth more than a lower Top 10 GC result or so...
Imladrik Thanks Good luck to you as well
Abhi You're definitely right in terms of promotion challenge - but with that team we definitely have to promote. With some better luck - especially in longer TTs and on hills lately - we'd even have a solid lead, but alas it's a duel with McCormick now. Which is obviously nicer from a neutral perspective
I think Stüssi did well in his home race, just not well enough. This time you were watching from behind - in Chile that's probably going to be us
After a bitter-sweet ending of the Tour de Romandie, the riders didn't get a long break until they tackled the next C1 stage race. Another short one, another one for the "hybrids" - those who are strong on both longer and shorter climbs. Hence, another perfect opportunity for Fausto Masnada to shine, as he already did in Hong Kong.
Furthermore, Gianni Moscon came back to Chile carrying some good memories in his bag, having won a stage here last year.
But on day one, it was sprinter time - according to the profile, at least. And so we brought Grzegorz Stepniak, who got some great support from Noam Cohen and Manuel Stocker.
However, that stage went to the breakaway last year, so we were expecting to have guite a big workload awaiting us to actually compete in the bunch sprint.
But something went lost in translation - our riders clearly misunderstood our orders, with not a single one of them actually helping with the chase. Even worse - all of our sprinters didn't care about sprinting at all!
As a result, the stage once again went to the breakaway - and our highest placed sprinter on day 1 was Grzegorz Stepniak in 82nd place... We're still trying to figure out what went wrong, but something indeed did go completely wrong.
At least Fausto Masnada was attentive, finishing 21st and being safe in the pack.
Stage 2 was the one we had the best memories of. Gianni Moscon won that one last year with a late attack over the last hill.
And for once, he also seemed to have good legs on this day, as despite not being on the official favorites list, he asked his teammates to do some work for him! He was very present throughout the stage, even taking 2nd on a KoM sprint.
That KoM sprint also was the starting signal for Mauro Schmid to set a horrendous pace, causing splits over and over, leaving other team leaders isolated by gapping their domestiques.
And so, once the remainders of the peloton reached the final hill, guess what happened - exactly, Gianni Moscon attacked again! And like last year, the others thought that he wasn't dangerous enough in terms of GC to jump after him - which allowed him to open up a decisive gap and win this stage once again! He has never been on a stage podium this season before this day - and now he just wins a stage in style! And takes over the GC lead - just like last year...
The only downer on this day was Fausto Masnada not caring at all and finishing 52nd (behind Mauro Schmid) - it really looks like the two Italians just are unable to cooperate unfortunately.
Gianni Moscon gets back-to-back wins on stage 2 of Tour of Chile!
Given the time loss of Masnada and Schmid, we knew that we had to give everything we had to support Gianni as well as we could on stage 3, in order to secure a decent GC result. But given that even top climber Nairo Quintana only managed to finish 14th, a Top 20 finish would have been a great result.
Unlike the day before, Gianni Moscon was never close to the front throughout the entire stage - but on the upside, that also meant he didn't waste energy being in the wind.
He did get dropped, of course - but not by a whole lot of riders, and he didn't lose a lot of time! While he took the expected drop in the GC, he only fell down to 12th - which is a new best for us in this tour anyway!
So while Gianni Moscon rightfully received a lot of criticism earlier on in this season, he showed a completely different face in Chile, singlehandedly getting us a really decent points haul! Thanks to Gianni and to those who supported him during the race! Well done!
By the way, he also took 7th in the points standings - and Mauro Schmid added another point by finishing 7th in the U25 classification. Our most disappointing riders here were Fausto Masnada, who just didn't care on a course that should have suited him well, and Grzegorz Stepniak, who ignored the only stage he came here for. But the good news is that even if two of your designated leaders disappoint, sometimes there's another one who can step up - and Moscon definitely did!
red A fail is a fail, right? As I said, it was a good race, but a failed sponsor goal is a failed sponsor goal - and that's no good news for next year's budget.
But I'm hoping for you that you'll fail like we did in your next races - or even better, not fail at all
Laurens Thanks. Yeah, it was a good race for sure, but we'll have to find some icing next year then
May isn't quite done yet, but we'll give you an overview of the month in the Olympia's Tour review. With two stages left, we'd say it was a good month - it could even become a very good one.
But given that some races are delayed while others are started early, we have to post the June preview now, or the first race might already be done. It's one out of six races this month, which is not only the highest race count of any month, but also the highest RD value with 24 race days spent!
Given that there's so much to present, let's go straight to the first race without further ado:
Jun 03 | Pro Hallstatt Classic (HC)
Spoiler
It's our 2nd HC classic of the year - and the final one. We had to come back here after a really disappointing showing last year, where a 40th place was all we got from a race that was PTHC categorized back then. Especially Quintana's complete failure will be remembered...
The competition will surely be very strong this year as well, as we expect all the strongest PCT climbers to be there. Hence, we have to bring our best mountain goat as well:
Rider
Mo
Hi
Acc
Rider
Mo
Hi
Acc
Colin Stüssi
79
73
66
Panagiotis Karatsivis
70
68
70
Gino Mäder
77
71
64
Alexandros Matsangos
68
68
68
Erick Rowsell
74
69
67
Christoph Janssen
62
63
66
Unfortunately, we are unable to send our strongest possible lineup due to race day limitations, but we hope that our Swiss duo Colin Stüssi and Gino Mäder will still be strong enough to keep up with the best for most of the stage.
Their main issue is obvious - neither of them has a strong acceleration, hence they'll have to try some mid-range attacks, hoping to make them stick. Erick Rowsell is the only rider who could support them up to a certain point, while the youngsters are just here to admire the strongest PCT guys!
Expectations: Top 20
Best result so far: 40th (2021, Hermann Pernsteiner)
Jun 09 - 13 | La Tropicale Amissa Bongo (C1)
Spoiler
It's back! After the race wasn't held last year, the last name in the Hall of Fame is still Theo Reinhardt, who won the race for us back in 2020. However, the course has changed quite a lot for the 2022 edition, leading to the following lineup:
Rider
TT
Spr
PRL
Rider
TT
Spr
PRL
Szymon Rekita
79
69
78
Grzegorz Stepniak
63
78
72
Gabriel Chavanne
65
76
82
Noam Cohen
57
77
57
Christoph Janssen
69
59
69
Manuel Stocker
69
76
71
Panagiotis Karatsivis
68
64
67
Alexandros Matsangos
67
61
67
It's one of the only races on the calendar where Szymon Rekita will be challenging the top PCT time triallists for a great GC position in a stage race! So we're definitely looking forward to this fight - it should also give us some hints at potential training options for the offseason...
For the prologue, there's of course once again Gabby Chavanne, who will without any doubt be among the top contenders - although he doesn't have the best memories of his last clash with the PCT cracks in Pologne. Time for revenge!
The rest of the lineup is all about sprints - and talents. In the former category, Grzegorz Stepniak will try to repeat some of Reinhardt's success from two years ago, although the competition will likely be very tough. He has Noam Cohen and Manuel Stocker as potential leadouts - but the experience shows that we're unlikely to set up a sprint train at this race level.
But first and foremost, we'll have to make sure that Rekita doesn't lose any time on those sprint stages - and then it's up to the Pole to bring home a great result!
Expectations: Top 10 GC, 3x stage Top 10
Best result so far: GC Win (2020, Theo Reinhardt), 2x Stage Win + Green Jersey (2020, Theo Reinhardt)
Jun 16 - 22 | Tour of Vancouver (C2)
Spoiler
Our main target this month! Mountain-top finishes - thereof one MTT - plus a team time trial, this looks like a perfect opportunity for our 2022 roster! And here are the riders competing in Canada:
Rider
Mo
Hi
TT
Rider
TT
Spr
Acc
Colin Stüssi
79
73
75
Szymon Rekita
79
69
70
Fausto Masnada
77
76
73
Krzysztof Marchewka
77
52
64
Gino Mäder
77
71
75
Leonardo Basso
72
71
69
Erick Rowsell
74
69
73
Grzegorz Stepniak
63
78
77
It's the third out of four races this year where our Top 3 climbers will all be present! Given the mountain time trial on day 1, Colin Stüssi should be one of the top favorites to take the yellow jersey on the first possible occasion - and hopefully not hand it over to anyone else!
Fausto Masnada has shown in Catalunya that he's ready to take over leader duties in case our Swiss captain should show any weaknesses, and with Gino Mäder we even have a third option for the GC. The youngster will hopefully collect another white jersey here, as he should be the heavy favorite for this classification.
Erick Rowsell is here to help both in the mountains and in the TTT, whereas Szymon Rekita and Krzysztof Marchewka clearly are here to carry the team to another TTT success on the closing day.
Leonardo Basso is an important puzzle piece of our TTT lineup as well, but he furthermore should help bring Grzegorz Stepniak in position on the flat stages. The Pole is our weak link in the TTT, but he'll hopefully make up for this by delivering some great stage results in the sprint stages instead!
Given our strength in the mountains, TTs and TTTs, we have to target the overall win here - obviously knowing that a bad day can happen to anyone. And knowing that the competition clearly won't be weak!
Expectations: GC Win, 3x Stage Top 10
Best result so far: 7th GC (2019, Mirco Saggiorato), Stage Win + Green Jersey (2020, Theo Reinhardt)
Jun 17 - 22 | Tour of South Africa (C1)
Spoiler
Despite the clash with Vancouver, we're once more back in South Africa - trying to make this the fourth year in a row with at least one stage win. Here are our candidates:
Rider
Hi
TT
Spr
Rider
Hi
TT
Spr
Gianni Moscon
79
66
59
Manuel Stocker
65
69
76
Mauro Schmid
74
67
69
Noam Cohen
65
57
77
Marcel Aregger
71
68
78
Gabriel Chavanne
64
65
76
Alexandros Matsangos
68
67
61
Christoph Janssen
63
69
59
Looking at this roster, the conclusion is that we should probably have skipped the race this year. At least GC-wise, none of our riders will be relevant, given that we're bound to lose several minutes in the TTT. The clashing TTT in Vancouver is obviously doing serious damage to our lineup.
Still, stage wins are always an option. In fact, Gianni Moscon won a stage both last year and in 2020, while Freuler took a win in our very first year in 2019. To make it four years in a row with a stage win, Gianni should indeed be our best option - and we guess he'll get some freedom on stages 5 and 6 at latest. He even took a GC Top 10 in the last two years, but our TTT lineup was on another level back then...
But even before, Mauro Schmid will hopefully join some breakaways, and maybe fight for KoM honours. Or a stage win?
Bringing Marcel Aregger is a pretty long shot given the profiles - no single truly flat stages - but we believe that he's strong enough to join the fight for the win on several stages. If he does, he should be a serious threat given his speed. And if not - well, we'll learn our lesson.
The rest of the team is mainly here because we needed to fill up the roster - and the better suited riders, especially the TTers, are all in Canada. Christoph Janssen being our strongest TTer says it all about our TTT ambitions...
Expectations: 4x Stage Top 10
Best result so far: 6th GC (2020, Gianni Moscon), 3x Stage Win (2021, 2020 Gianni Moscon, 2019 Jan-Andre Freuler)
Jun 25 | Monterrey TTT (C2)
Spoiler
Despite skipping Juarez, we're still going to Mexico this year, for our first participation in the Monterrey TTT! And as you'd expect, our strongest time triallists will travel directly from Vancouver to Monterrey:
Rider
Mo
TT
Res
Rider
Mo
TT
Res
Szymon Rekita
58
79
73
Christoph Janssen
62
69
68
Krzysztof Marchewka
64
77
75
Panagiotis Karatsivis
70
68
70
Erick Rowsell
74
73
74
Alexandros Matsangos
68
67
67
Leonardo Basso
67
72
73
Manuel Stocker
60
69
73
Given our previous experiences this year, we're hoping to be fighting for 2nd place behind Glanbia in this race. Looking at the profile, we probably should've brought our stage racers to Mexico as well, as that long climb mid-race could definitely break our race.
We'll be counting on Erick Rowsell and maybe Panagiotis Karatsivis to pull on the uphill parts, while the Polish duo Szymon Rekita and Krzysztof Marchewka should ensure some high-speed travelling on the flat sections. The latter has already won this race twice, by the way - he actually won last year with BWT.
We know that our lineup is pretty unbalanced, but they've shown in Olympia's Tour that this can still work out. We're definitely hoping for a Top 5, but a podium would be nice!
Expectations: Top 5
Best result so far: n/a
Jun 27 | Apex Mountain Classic (C1)
Spoiler
While the fastest TTers moved over to Mexico, our best climber stayed in Canada for our third participation in this classic. Here's the full lineup:
Rider
Mo
Spr
Acc
Rider
Mo
Spr
Acc
Colin Stüssi
79
63
66
Panagiotis Karatsivis
70
64
70
Erick Rowsell
74
61
67
Alexandros Matsangos
68
61
68
Mauro Schmid
73
69
75
Christoph Janssen
62
59
66
Clearly, all hopes are on Colin Stüssi. He shouldn't be among the main favorites, so maybe he'll get a chance with a mid-range attack - else he'll have a hard time getting a notable result. Still, a Top 20 finish should be possible in any case.
Mauro Schmid will hopefully join the morning breakaway - although chances are slim to actually succeed. But if you don't try, you don't win, so hopefully he'll at least try to show our colours. Erick Rowsell should be the one staying with Stüssi for as long as possible, before the Swiss will have to finish off the work on his own.
Expectations: Top 20
Best result so far: 7th (2021, Nairo Quintana)
As said before, this is our busiest month all season long - but not all races are really well-suited for us. If we do well in Vancouver and Monterrey, it should still be a good month overall - as our chances are definitely not inexistent in the C1/HC races, either. A good month should keep up our push for the division title - but we're definitely not allowed to miserably fail our best suited races!
red Thanks It was about time, though... On the other hand, a real shame to see what's happening to Beltran this year, hopefully he'll finally step up again!
The race is already quite far back, and probably has gone from everyone bar Glanbia's manager's memory. We do have some good souvenirs of the race as well, though, so let's look back on what happened during those 6 days in the Netherlands!
Stage 1 was a medium length TT to kick things off. And as with all CT level time trials this year where he's present, Szymon Rekita was the number 1 favorite.
But as pretty much in all TTs already done this year, he failed to live up to his status. It wasn't a complete failure, though, as he finished 4th.
Someone who also disappointed in the majority of his TTs so far went one better, though: Krzysztof Marchewka stole the final podium spot from his teammate. It was also a pretty good first day for Leo Basso, taking 23rd. Which was enough to get us the lead in the team standings!
Szymon Rekita riding to 4th place on stage 1.
Stages 2, 3 and 5 were all flat stages, with the important TTT on day 4 in between. For the - presumed - bunch sprint finishes, we brough Grzegorz Stepniak, who already scored several nice results this year.
But he clearly couldn't live up to expectations this time, bringing home a 7th place from stage 2 as his best result. He simply didn't care about sprinting the other two days - we had some serious talks with him after the race. So the sprints were clearly disappointing.
So, what was left then? Well, the stages against the clock. We did by far not bring our strongest lineup here, given that we left all our top climbers - who are our numbers 3-5 in TTs - at home. So it wasn't a surprise by any means that we didn't win stage 4. It definitely was a surprise, however, that we only finished 15" behind Glanbia, which was worth 2nd place - and the GC lead for Krzysztof Marchewka! He was 6" clear of the Glanbia armada - with only a short TT left to lose time, he sure started dreaming...
Jura GIANTS TTT train approaching the finish line of stage 4.
Stage 5 then was a near miss for us. Not only did we not get anything from the sprint, as mentioned before, but all of our riders missed a split on the final kilometers! Fortunately, no GC contenders were in the group up front, so all we lost was a spot in the team standings (where we had dropped to 2nd after the TTT by the way).
So, the final stage 6 was decisive for the GC positions! And we had a reason to celebrate early on, as Erick Rowsell - the only climber we sent here - posted the early best time. And that time stood even as Szymon Rekita reached the finish line - a sign that our Brit had a great day, but our TT leader didn't.
The latter impression was unfortunately confirmed soon after, as our duo was beaten not only by one, but by two Glanbia riders. However, Krzysztof Marchewka still had everything in his own legs - but having never been in such a situation before, unfortunately failed. Not badly - he still took 8th place of the stage - but he lost too much time to hold onto the GC lead.
So it was a 1-2 for the Irishmen - alongside 6-10, an absolutely insane team result! Honor to whom honor is due - congratulatios to the manager and his riders!
Krzysztof Marchewka trying to bring home his yellow jersey - and ending up 3rd in the GC!
Still, we did by far not leave empty-handed, either. Although not having been able to claim a win during these 6 days, we ended up with Krzysztof Marchewka on the GC podium, and Szymon Rekita just 1" behind in P4. Same result as on stage 1, and that's 3 4th places for Rekita (stages 1 & 6, GC). If he eventually finds his best legs, he should definitely reach the top spot sooner or later! Leo Basso was our third rider scoring GC points, finishing 22nd. Unfortunately, we weren't strong enough on the final day to claim the lead in the team standings - we ended up 3rd, just 14" behind the winners.
Kudos to Christoph Janssen, who finished 5th in the U25 standings!
All in all, it definitely was a successful race - and we actually took more from it GC-wise than we expected looking at our TTT setup. But the boys did a good job - just not good enough to stop the Men in Green!
May Roundup
Overall, we can't complain about this month. We scored a good amount of points in our 15 race days - but when taking a closer look, there still are some situations that sting in hindsight. Colin Stüssi's MTT performance in Romandie surely hurts most, as a Top 5 GC finish definitely was on the table, but he missed out with a mediocre race against the clock. Krzysztof Marchewka missing out on the GC win in Olympia's Tour while tackling the closing stage as the GC leader hurts, too, as well as Szymon Rekita's lack of top TT results so far.
On the other hand, the unexpected stage win in Chile by Gianni Moscon - alongside a good GC result - compensates for those near misses.
In the unofficial CT rankings, we were just able to hold onto our lead - but more details will follow once the May & June ranking update will be posted. Be prepared for some surprises, though...
After last year's disappointment, we gave the race in Austria another chance - and we were hoping for a Top 15 spot, given that Colin Stüssi was mentioned in about that region in the race preview.
As we usually do in those races where we don't have a top favorite, we sent a rider up front in the breakaway. Once more, it was Alexandros Matsangos showing our colors in the early live pictures.
But unfortunately, it was the only time all race long that one of our riders did something relevant. For whatever reason, Colin Stüssi missed a split leaving about 30 riders up front - one he should have easily made even on a bad day. His result: 32nd place, which is not only disappointing, but is getting close to a refusal to work. Unacceptable.
And things were made worse by the fact that Pomoshnikov, a rider who isn't superior to him by any means, took 2nd place... If such a failure should repeat, this will have consequences. We can't afford any zero pointers in our quest of winning the division, and especially not those that should never happen if the riders put a minimum of effort into the race.
Race Review | Monterrey TTT (C2)
Another CT race, another TTT - and hence another race where we should be fighting for a podium spot! It was almost an identical lineup like in Olympia's Tour, where we finished 2nd place in the TTT. Led by our Polish powerhouses Syzmon Rekita and Krzysztof Marchewka, the boys knew what they had to do!
But actually, no. They did not only know what to do, they just didn't do anything. The race was a full disaster - and no, the climbs weren't an excuse, given that the first section was almost flat. But even there, we simply failed. 8th place is below even minimum expectations - the second race to completely forget this month. Of course, we scored a handful of points, but we definitely could and had to expect more. Some special training incoming for certain riders - not only a physical one...
We do have some fond memories of this all-hilly race in South Africa, having won a stage in every one of our three appearances. To make sure we could continue this streak, we did not only send Gianni Moscon - stage winner in the last two seasons - but also Marcel Aregger, who had already scored some great results in hilly races. We supposed that at least two stages should be easy enough for him to hold on.
In terms of GC results, our hopes weren't too high, as we sent probably our weakest ever TTT lineup to this race - due to the clashing Tour of Vancouver also having a TTT stage.
We were proven right concerning Aregger's skills on day 1 already, as he was there in the fight for stage honors. Actually both our leaders were there - but they unfortunately couldn't agree on who should be the sprinter and who the leadout. Hence, both got a Top 10 result, but not as high up as we were hoping for; Gianni Moscon was 8th, Marcel Aregger 10th. In the aftermaths of this stage, we tried to convince Gianni - who is slow - that on certain stages, he should just help Marcel - who is fast.
Gianni Moscon and Marcel Aregger sprinting to 8th and 10th on stage 1.
However, on day 2 it looked like we didn't find the right words - or that there's a hidden hierarchy among the riders which we don't appreciate. In any case, it was Marcel Aregger chasing down the escapees, hence burning all his energy early on - only to finally see Gianni Moscon miserably fail on getting a stage result. Not even a Top 10 - an unacceptable strategy there. At least there was a gap after the first 18 riders, so a decent GC result no longer looked unrealistic.
Stage 3 was the one Gianni Moscon won last year, and the team did everything to help him get back-to-back wins on this course. Mauro Schmid set the pace in the finale - but his leader was nowhere to be seen. Absolutely nowhere. In the end, it was the worst stage for us so far, with Moscon getting a miserable 20th place. In what would have been a perfect stage for Marcel Aregger. But the latter didn't get the least bit of support by the team and finally resigned, not even joining the sprint. The ambience reigning during team supper wasn't the best, that's all we'll say about that.
Day 4 then was the dreaded TTT - a stage we're usually looking forward to, but not this time. We took a respectable 14th place - however, the deficit to some similarly rated teams was about a minute, which clearly hurt. The lack of at least one TT powerhouse was noticeable, and it set us way back in terms of GC fight. Our best rider after this stage was Marcel Aregger in 56th place - as Gianni Moscon didn't see the necessity of pulling through and in the end left a 3" gap to his teammates...
Stage 5 was the Queen stage, a very tough up-and-down all day long on a hilly circuit. Last year there were huge gaps and few survivors, which was our hope for this day.
And for once, we clearly can't blame Gianni Moscon for not trying or bad tactics. He was one out of five riders fighting for the stage win - given his inexistent sprint skill, he obviously finished 5th, but gapped a lot of other competitors!
The judges however didn't agree, and so 24 riders were awarded the winner's time. Still, Gianni moved up to 16th in the GC - even a Top 10 finish now seemed possible!
Gianni Moscon taking 5th place on day 5.
The closing stage however wasn't among the toughest ones - according to the profile. It was actually even one we eyed by sending Marcel Aregger. And he proved us right, as he was in a select group of just about 20 riders - however, again doing a lot of work instead of waiting for the sprint... In the end, he dropped back, and Gianni Moscon again failed to get a big result - 9th place.
So this ended up being our first participation in South Africa without a stage win - and even without a stage podium. Given that we mainly came here for stage results, this was a big disappointment. Sending Marcel Aregger here admittedly was a gamble - but the way the team treated him and didn't give him any chance of succeeding was just awful to see.
On the other hand, Gianni Moscon failed to get a major stage result in a weaker than usual field, but at least consistently was in the front group. He finished 12th in the GC - with our best possible TTT lineup, he could actually have been fighting for a GC podium...
We'll learn our lessons from this race, and will hopefully return more successfully next year. However, it was yet another bad race points-wise this month - that's getting a really bad habit lately, and definitely isn't good for our ambitions. We'll have to sit down and see how we can turn things around!
With Amissa Bongo postponed and the other three June races already covered, all that's left to look back on are two races in Canada - having mountains as their common theme:
Race Review | Apex Mountain Classic (C1)
Our 2022 results so far clearly show that we're no classics team. Not a single Top 5 result in 8 one-day races so far - not even in the 5 C2 classics - it was about time to change that!
Furthermore, Colin Stüssi owed us a great result after a complete failure in Hallstatt earlier this month. And the startlist was very favorable, with just a couple of stronger climbers than him present!
And the results clearly show what would have been possible - and yes, we unfortunately have to use the subjunctive once again... CT rival Kuss - definitely not a stronger climber than Colin - took 3rd place, while our team leader... got dropped early on and only took a 20th place! A miserable race once again, which unfortunately is a too common scheme this month... At least he scored a handful points, unlike in Austria.
But if we learn something from those races, then it's that Stüssi simply cannot do classics. We don't know what it is, but he's just failing them badly. This will definitely be something to look into once transfers approach...
Race Review | Tour of Vancouver (C2)
If we're not a classics team, well, we must be a stage racing team! And for the 3rd out of 4 times this year, we lined up our strongest possible squad - meaning Colin Stüssi as our GC leader, with Gino Mäder and Fausto Masnada as mountain domestiques. Furthermore, Szymon Rekita, Krzysztof Marchewka, Erick Rowsell and Leo Basso for the closing TTT, and Grzegorz Stepniak as the team's only non-TTer for the sprints.
The race kicked off with a mountain time trial - and having brought the best rounded stage racer on the startlist (in our opinion), we were hoping to take the GC lead right from day 1.
Which wasn't to be, as by know we know that Colin Stüssi just can't win any races. He finished 3rd, though, behind the Caja Rural duo of Alarcon and Ablenado. Putting some time into the supposed closest rivals, especially looking at the TTT on the final day. Fausto Masnada in 5th and Gino Mäder in 8th place did a really good job, making sure we'd have even two backups should our team leader fail like in Catalunya.
The next two days were for the sprinters. And even though we didn't bring any support for Grzegorz Stepniak, he did a great job. Launching his sprint a bit late on day 2, he made a late surge and claimed the final podium spot - another 3rd place!
On day 3, he seemed to have picked a good wheel - but the sprinter he was following somehow just didn't sprint! And so, he was completely out of the game when the sprint started - at least that's what everyone thought! Because at the very end, Grzegorz Stepniak suddenly popped up, overtaking one rider after the other - until there were none left! Second stage win of the year for him - and the lead in the points standings on top of that!
Grzegorz Stepniak wins stage 3 in Canada!
Those were obviously some nice bonus points for us, but the real race started on day 4 - with the first true test for the climbers!
Everyone seemed to agree we should have the strongest team for the mountains, and so we had to work all day long. However, when the attacks started, we just didn't seem to be ready. Colin Stüssi was caught off-guard, but given his climbing skills we expected him to soon catch up with the attackers.
Well, sometimes - or often - expectations don't meet reality. Colin just seemed to have a pretty bad day, losing second after second to the leading trio. Eventually, he lost 1'44" to stage winner Kuss - something that really shouldn't happen. With the two rather evenly matched in their skillset, it's obviously possible to lose out some times, but losing almost two minutes was really rough. Once again, Colin couldn't live up to the expectations we have in him, especially after having spent so much money on his training optimization. We came here to win the race - and now it looked like we wouldn't even get a GC podium...
The only good news that day was that Grzegorz Stepniak still held onto his green jersey - and on day 5 he even had the chance to seal that one!
But the sudden drop of motivation in the team probably affected him, too, and so he delivered his worst result out of three sprint stages. Still, a 5th place clearly is nothing to scoff at - and it secured the points lead for yet another day! And only Kuss or teammate Stüssi were realistically able to challenge him for the jersey!
So, day 6 definitely was the day of truth. Was our heavy investment into Colin Stüssi just a big waste of money? Or could he finally live up to his billing?
The entire stage until the foot of the final climb looked the same like on day 4 - the GC leader's team didn't bother working, and we again had to take lots of turns at the front of the pack.
This time, however, Colin Stüssi was right where he needed to be when attacks kicked off. Like two days ago, Schlegel was among the most active ones - and Colin followed him alongside Kozhatayev. And as the two others sat up, Colin just continued to ride his pace - thereby opening a gap!
At first, Schlegel was able to follow him, but eventually Stüssi just rode away from the Czech! Now we finally saw the "true" Colin Stüssi in action, looking to reap the fruits of our investments! And he did indeed pull through, winning stage 6, and cancelling out almost the entire deficit from two days ago!
Unfortunately, he faded a bit on the final meters, allowing Kuss to gain back some seconds and finally hold onto a comfortable lead. Still, Stüssi delivered big time on that day, moving up to 2nd in the GC, winning the KoM jersey - and the points jersey, two points ahead of teammate Grzegorz Stepniak! What a day that was for him!
Unfortunately, our other climbers had to do too much work before and weren't able to keep up with many similarly strong riders. But Fausto Masnada still sat in 15th place, and Gino Mäder had a good shot at finishing 2nd in the U25 - while standing no chance against Revard who didn't have to work as hard as Gino.
Colin Stüssi takes his first stage win in our colors!
So, one final stage was left. While we were once again TTT top favorites, the short distance of just below 20km also meant that closing that 43" gap to Kuss was close to impossible. So the stage win was the main goal - which would likely come with a win in the team standings as well.
That was the plan, and it worked out! Being the fastest team at the split already, the boys pulled through and claimed our second TTT win of the year! That's 3 stage wins in 7 days, alongside two 3rd places - we definitely can say it was a successful race!
Jura GIANTS on the way to winning the final stage!
At least it was successful points-wise. Because we failed our main target - getting the GC win. We gained 23" on McCormick, bringing down Colin Stüssi's GC deficit to 20" - it's obvious where he lost those, and many more. So we still have to wait for his first GC win - he should have one realistic chance left in Trentino.
But otherwise, we had a fantastic race. Let's just list again the main achievements:
3x stage win: Grzegorz Stepniak, Stage 3 Colin Stüssi, Stage 6 Jura GIANTS, Stage 7
Points jersey: Colin Stüssi, Winner Grzegorz Stepniak, 2nd
KoM jersey: Colin Stüssi, Winner
Team Standings: Jura GIANTS, Winner
After a whole month full of minor and major disappointments, this was a great race, for the riders, the staff, the sponsors. And for the division standings, obviously, as especially McCormick had a pretty good month.
We should have scored somewhere about 30 points per race day, which would make a total of roughly 210 points - for a C2 race, that's definitely massive! We'll post a rankings update once they're made official, but the huge performance in Tour of Vancouver has likely saved us the division lead!
Let's hope we'll continue similarly strong in July - we can already tell that we didn't in Arab Tour, but hopefully other races will be better again!
I'm really happy Colin finally delivered for you!
Just in time for me to return the favor by putting two JURA riders in my TdF lineup, may their adventure be as exciting.
It's a long time since our last race update, so let's take a look at a couple of results in the last two months. The races in this batch have one thing in common: they heavily depend on time trialling skills. Unfortunately, the outcomes also were pretty similar - with one pleasant exception. Let's take a look:
Race Review | La Tropicale Amissa Bongo (C1)
With some delay, the flat 5-day stage race could finally be held. It featured a prologue, three flat stages, and a longer ITT. We sent specialists for all disciplines: Gabriel Chavanne, Grzegorz Stepniak and Szymon Rekita.
However, already stage 1 - the prologue - was a huge disappointment. Gabby Chavanne delivered a completely unacceptable performance, finishing 31st while being the peloton's strongest rider in this discipline!!!
Fortunately, Szymon Rekita somewhat saved the day; while not delivering an outstanding result with 10th place, he at least stayed in GC contention.
However, the next three days were just as disappointing - or even more. Grzegorz Stepniak simply didn't feel like sprinting, and got two 19th places as his "best" results.
And finally, Szymon Rekita also slightly disappointed in the closing ITT, finishing 8th while looking to be a Top 5 candidate. 7th place in the GC was acceptable, but nothing more.
A special mention goes to Alexandros Matsangos, who scored his first individual points for us (i.e. no TTT or team standings points), taking 6th in the U25 classification.
All in all, a race to forget, from start to end.
Szymon Rekita delivering our highest prologue result with 10th place.
Race Review | Arab Tour (C1)
Another C1 race with 3 flat stages and an ITT, and so Grzegorz Stepniak and Szymon Rekita were on the startlist again.
However, although that didn't seem possible, the outcome was even worse than in Gabon. No sprint participation from Grzegorz Stepniak, and Szymon Rekita, a Top 5 contender again, even missed out on the Top 10 and finished both the stage and the GC on an underwhelming 12th place.
There aren't even any pictures of our riders from this race, and that's probably better like this. So let's move on.
Race Review | Windhoek TTT (C1)
Yep, another C1 race - a TTT this time. Given some race day limitations - and the lack of a truly competitive squad given that we didn't want to send our stage racers - our TT powerhouse Szymon Rekita wasn't part of the lineup.
So the squad was led by Krzysztof Marchewka, with the next strongest TTer being Erick Rowsell. Which may give you a hint at what to expect.
And indeed, we finished far down the rankings - 3rd to last, which usually would be unacceptable for our standards. But we couldn't expect more with our lineup - and the gap to the next higher team was above 30".
However, with only 13 teams participating, we still took 11th place and a couple of points. In general, it was yet another bad result - but this time an expected one.
Jura GIANTS approaching the finish area.
Race Review | Isle of Man ITT (C2)
As with the other races where we sent Szymon Rekita to, we had some pretty high hopes for CT's only TT classic of the year. And with our Pole being the division's strongest rider against the clock, anything less than a podium would have been pretty disappointing.
And fortunately, for the first time of the whole year, Szymon Rekita really lived up to his favorite billing! He didn't let anyone get even remotely close to him, crushing the competition with 52" and more of advantage! Just to put that in relation - the gap between 2nd and 10th place was 53"...
The outcome was even better than "just" the win for us, with Krzysztof Marchewka finishing 5th! He was looking even stronger early on, but it's definitely a great race for him - and for us as a team!
It's actually the only classic so far this season where we managed to get a Top 5 result - and we even got two of them in the same race!
Szymon Rekita powering to a commanding win in Isle of Man!
So in general, while we had really high hopes for TT-heavy races pre-season, this batch of races was really disappointing. Of course, the Isle of Man success outweighs some of the lower performances, but our PpRD in those races was definitely weaker than expected. Mostly due to rather disappointing TT performances, but we definitely have to blame our sprint department as well.
At least we got a classics win, even if it was "just" at C2 level. It was the 3rd classics win in team history - all in C2. Time to get up to the next level!
In terms of rankings, we were able to hold onto the lead after the month of July (bar Tropicale which wasn't raced yet). Promotion should be pretty much secured by now, which was our sponsors' goal - and the division table is still very much possible. We'll hopefully get another update soon!
cio Happy to help you get that TdF win - although I guess Herklotz wouldn't have needed B&B for that
Stüssi did have some weak races, especially in Catalunya and Vineyards (coming later), but at least Vancouver was pretty nice
red Well, August was a rather empty month with just Trentino and Frankfurt, but I guess the scoring was pretty decent, at least in terms of PpRD September and October will have some risky choices with Bayern and Morocco - so that could be high scoring or just awful
Abhi Thanks It was pretty inconsistent, with races like Arab, Tropicale or Frankfurt being not perfect, and races like IoM or Trentino having a pretty favorable outcome. Guess that's the highs and lows every team (bar Zara or Isostar maybe) know
The next batch of race reviews is mostly about mountains. Ranging from the mountain fest in Andorra, over Trentino with two mountain stages and a TTT, Vineyard's flat race with one mountain stage, to a flat-rated mountainous sprinter classic - every style has its place in this update. As well as a pretty disillusioning (provisional) conclusion.
Race Review | Tour de Vineyards (C1)
The format in New Zealand was pretty simple: three flat stages, a mountain stage to separate the wheat from the chaff, and a closing TTT to decide on the winner. So it was a race for sprinters and climbers, basically - and for us that meant a race for Grzegorz Stepniak, Colin Stüssi and Gino Mäder. And of course a strong TTT support.
But, what to say. The sprinter didn't sprint, the climbers didn't climb. A nice 3rd place in the TTT unfortunately didn't help much. 21st and 22nd in the GC for Colin Stüssi and Gino Mäder wasn't just bad, it was an awful result. Period.
Jura GIANTS showing in the TTT that they actually DID participate in the race.
Race Review | Tour d'Andorra (C1)
The formula in Andorra was even simpler than the one in Vineyards: 5 days of climbing. Another chance for Colin Stüssi to prove that he's ready to take on leader duties when we'll likely be back in PCT next year.
Colin Stüssi on the S4 MTT, one of his four decent stages.
Race Review | Giro del Trentino (C2)
Almost a home race for us, the event in Trentino already featured among our sponsor goals in our first two seasons - where we always got some Top 10 results, but never the desired Top 5. It was now or never to achieve this goal - with all of our top climbers present. Hopefully one of Colin Stüssi, Gino Mäder or Fausto Masnada would take home that result - although behind the scenes we were obviously expecting at least a podium.
These hopes were confirmed by another strong TTT performance, where - led by our Polish duo Szymon Rekita and Krzysztof Marchewka - we took 2nd place behind CT's best TTT outfit, BWT.
Stage 2 used to be the decisive one - and it again was this year. We did quite some work to bring Colin Stüssi into the best possible position - and he ended up getting the best possible result from this, the stage win! He also took over the GC lead thanks to our strong TTT performance the day before - everything was set up for our 2nd GC win of the year!
The closing stage however was a pretty hectic one, and despite our climbing trio - with which we should on paper be able to control any mountain stage in CT - there were some dangerous attacks. Finally, Colin Stüssi finished the stage in 34th place - which was the last spot in the group of favorites! Phew!
We were close to lose the race, but for once we didn't. Colin Stüssi won a stage, the race - and the sprint jersey on top of that! Gino Mäder didn't have a good last stage, either, and lost his lead in the U25 standings, where he finished runner-up.
All in all, it clearly was a successful race for us, with the first sponsor goal of the year accomplished - despite local hero Fausto Masnada not showing up at all in the entire race.
Colin Stüssi winning the Giro del Trentino!
Race Review | Frankfurt Eschborn (C1)
Because we had two race days left to spare, we selected the least flat of all flat races, the classic in Germany. With quite some climbing involved, we thought it should be a great opportunity for Marcel Aregger, who is a better puncheur than most sprinter, and a better sprinter than most puncheurs.
Well, it turns out you should either be a top puncheur, or a top sprinter (even without any climbing skills at all) to do well, and not a hybrid. Zero points.
Summary
We did have one great race in this block, which was Trentino. As we were hoping for ahead of the season, we're doing pretty well in the CT mountains this year, with 1st, 2nd, 2nd and 1st in Catalunya, California, Vancouver and Trentino. Promotion is not only on the table, it should basically be sealed by now.
Furthermore, we finished among the Top 3 in 6 out of 7 TTTs inside stage races, with the exception being South Africa due to the clash with Vancouver. We'd rather not mention the two TTT classics we did, though...
However, our ambition was not only to do well this year, but to set up a team that should already be pretty competitive in PCT next year. And that's where we miserably failed.
We got one single Top 5 GC result in C1 so far, and that was in the pretty random Hong Kong Challenge. What bothers us most is that we don't have a clue why our riders don't perform better at C1 level.
For example, Benjamin Thomas won La Tropicale; Szymon Rekita, who should be at least as strong hasn't got a single Top 5 GC yet. Nicola Conci won Pais Vasco; Colin Stüssi hasn't got a single Top 5 GC yet. Why does it regularly work of other teams to get weaker riders (compared to the favorites, not to our riders) winning, and we can't?
If this season's results show us one thing, then it's that we have got some great CT-level leaders - but they're worth close to nothing even at C1 level. So the best thing we can do transfers come will probably be to sell Stüssi, Rekita or Moscon to CT teams, and get some riders who are really ready to take on PCT leader duties. Because having useless riders above min wage in PCT is not affordable for a newly promoted team - and Stüssi, Rekita and Moscon are pretty much useless at that level. And that sucks a lot.
Due to some interfering duties, we were unfortunately unable to provide more timely race updates - so here's yet another batch that will cover September races. With one exception, though - and that's the first race.
Race Review | Tour de l'Avenir (U23)
The traditional race in France is none for the points, but nonetheless an interesting and important challenge for the future stars! This year, we teamed up with new Italian team Bianchi - Panerai, to compete as Jura Bianchi team. Mauro Schmid was clearly the strongest rider in our lineup, and we were expecting some good stage results especially in the hilly stages!
However, the good results started right away with the prologue, where Christoph Janssen narrowly missed out on the podium to take 4th place!
Starting with stage 2, all eyes then indeed were on Mauro Schmid - unexpectedly. Stages 2 and 3 actually were flat ones, and we definitely didn't expect him to shine there - but he did! He took 8th on stage 2 and would have finished higher up if got some better timing in his sprint - which he did get the day after to take 3rd on stage 3!
Day 4 then was THE stage for the puncheurs, and Mauro didn't disappoint - on the contrary! Bianchi's Bayer did a fantastic job to set him up, and Mauro Schmid then simply powered away to take the win!
Mauro Schmid taking the win on S4 of the Tour de l'Avenir!
Stage 5 was another one for the puncheurs, but Mauro probably partied a bit too hard the day before, finishing "only" 6th, and dropping from 3rd to 4th in the GC. Only to move up to 2nd the day after by riding the TT of his life and finishing 3rd in the long stage against the clock - an awesome performance!
Day 6 was considered to be a rest day for our team, not getting a notable result - but saving some energy for the mountains! And those mountain stages did go rather well, with Mauro Schmid taking 6th and 9th on the final days - to end up 2nd both in the GC and the points standings!
Mauro Schmid taking 9th place on the final stage - and securing 2nd overall!
Big thanks to the team that supported Mauro so well throughout the race, and congratulations to Mauro Schmid on a big race! May those results give him the confidence boost he needs to do well in the races that "count" as well!
Race Review | Tour of the Middle East (C2)
The formula of this four-day race was pretty simple: pan-flat, a little less pan-flat, hilly, mountainous. 4 stages, one decisive one on the final day. We did bring sprinters and climbers, hoping to continue our GC podium streak in C2 races.
But good stage results were obviously a target as well, which is why Marcel Aregger was part of our lineup. He did a decent job on stage 1, taking a solid 6th place.
What's good about back-to-back sprint stages, however, is that you can improve the fine-tuning right on the next day. And that's what we did - as a result, Marcel Aregger won the stage, moved up to 2nd in the GC and took over the points jersey!
Marcel Aregger wins stage 2 in the Middle East!
Stage 3 then was the one we dreaded the most, with our climbers not really liking short sharp climbs. Schlegel does, and he easily won the stage with a nice gap - which obviously was less nice for Colin Stüssi. However, our GC captain finished safe inside the first group, starting the decisive stage with a 35" deficit.
And whereas he had some disappointing results earlier in the season, he delivered big time here, being the strongest of the GC favorites! Unfortunately, an outsider named Hoem was even stronger, which meant that Colin Stüssi had to settle for 2nd both on stage 4 and in the GC.
Colin Stüssi taking a strong 2nd place behind a monstrous Hoem
Nonetheless, we are very happy with this result. With only one really GC defining stage, there's no second chance, and we're really happy that Colin delivered here! It can always happen that supposedly weaker riders have a fantastic day, and it did happen here - hats off to Hoem and Tafjord.
2nd in the GC plus 3rd in the KoM standings are still a great result for Colin Stüssi, whereas Marcel Aregger got a 2nd place in the points standings in addition to his stage win.
Unfortunately, Gino Mäder once again had a disappointing race, finishing only 19th in the GC and 4th in the U25 standings - which we were expecting him to win. At least he provided some good support to Colin, making this race a big success nonetheless.
Race Review | Bayern Rundfahrt (HC)
The good news for Gino Mäder was that he got the chance to do better just three days after. The race in Bavaria is pretty TT-heavy, with one mountainous stage to separate the TTers from the climbers. In theory.
Gino did indeed do pretty well on day one, finishing 27th - leaving behind some clearly stronger TT specialists. Szymon Rekita expectedly got our best result of the day - although 14th place was rather disappointing given that he should have been fighting for the lower Top 10 spots.
His compatriot Grzegorz Stepniak did a far better job on the flat stage 2, capitalizing on a rather weak sprinter field and taking 3rd place after launching his sprint from far, far behind!
Grzegorz Stepniak sprinting to 3rd place on day 2 in Bayern!
Day 3 then was the day where Gino Mäder should have shaken off the TT specialists to move up in the GC. Should have. Not only did he fail to gap them, he even lost time to some non-climbers like Houle or Paillot! Another absolutely underwhelming race by the rider who was our top prospect in our inaugural season - he's been a complete failure in non-C2 races his year unfortunately.
So, all eyes on Szymon Rekita for stage 4 then, hoping our TT ace could somewhat limit our damage in terms of wasted race days. And boy, did he limit the damage! Not having won a single stage race TT this year on the lower levels, he simply went on to post a time no single rider could beat - victory!
Szymon Rekita celebrating an unexpected stage win on the closing day!
All in all, it was a successful race in terms of stage results, with our Polish duo fully delivering - while Gino Mäder unfortunately once again suggests that the Swiss stage racing future doesn't look as bright as we hoped it to. By the way, in the closing ITT even Erick Rowsell was roughly 40" faster...
Race Review | GP Lugano (C1)
Home race! At least it was THE home race in our Centovalli era - nowadays our HQ is closer to Zurich than to Lugano, though. Nonetheless, it was one out of three races in our home country, so we definitely did want to make an impact!
Well, we didn't. Not even remotely. We didn't try to join the breakaway. We didn't chase the breakaway. We didn't make the important splits with the riders we hoped to make it. Mauro Schmid was the only one to arrive in the front group. But to continue the "didn't"s, well, he didn't even try to get a result. And so, we didn't get any points.
The only thing we truly did was: disappoint. The fans, the sponsors, the staff. A race to forget.
Race Review | Milano - Torino (C1)
Home race! At least it was during the Fiat era. We still do have some strong Italians in our roster, though - although Gianni Moscon's results this year left a lot to be desired.
Needless to say that we couldn't score less than in Lugano anyway, so the result wouldn't be an even bigger disappointment no matter what. And guess what, it wasn't disappointing at all!
OK, maybe there was a very slight disappointment - due to the fact that Gianni Moscon narrowly missed out on the podium! But we'd take a 4th place by him in Torino any day, by far his strongest classic performance this year! Congratulations!
Gianni Moscon losing the sprint for 3rd against Eiking, yet still claiming a great 4th place in Torino!
September Summary
No question about it, Middle East made this month another successful one. In terms of scoring, Bayern also was satisfying thanks to the stage results, although Mäder's GC no-show once again was very disillusioning in what concerns the future.
The Lugano - Torino double header at the end of the month was also OK-ish in terms of scoring, although the zero-pointer at home definitely looks awful. For once, however, we can say that Moscon saved the day.
The latest CT rankings also look pretty favorable for us now, as we have an advantage of more than 350 points over McCormick. However, the Tour of America points were still missing, so we expect them to come a bit closer.
Promotion should still be a done deal, though, as we're over 700 points clear of a non-promoting spot. The clear goal now however is to win the division - and we're looking to be on track!
Our final HC adventure of the year took place in northern Africa, more precisely in Saber-Land, aka Morocco. Our target in these HC races was to find out whether or not we're already more or less ready to tackle PCT racing next year.
The results so far were pretty mixed - in terms of stage results, we seem to be pretty well set, taking two stage wins (and a total of three podiums) in Poland and Bayern before. GC-wise, a 24th place in Bayern was our "best" result, whereas in the two classics we competed in - Wallonie and Hallstatt - we had to settle for a 23rd place. So ahead of this race, the perspectives weren't too bright in terms of big scoring.
We fully admit that we didn't send our strongest team to Morocco - it rather was yet another test to see if Gino Mäder really is as bad as it looked like this year, or if there's still some hope.
Where there definitely is hope is in the sprints. Stepniak had two podium finishes in our earlier HC races, and Marcel Aregger also got one on stage 1 - 3rd place! A great way to get the race started!
Marcel Aregger sprinting to 3rd on day 1 in Morocco!
To make the GC story short: stage 2 already confirmed that no, there's no hope for Gino Mäder to ever be competitive at this level, or any level that's not C2. 36th on day 2, 20th on stage 4 after joining the breakaway and being destroyed by some weaker climbers, and an even more underwhelming 55th place on stage 5 - all in all, that's 31st place in the GC and some measly consolation points.
Marcel Aregger was having a far better race, though, as the veteran went on to finish 3rd again on stage 3, coming just 5 points short of taking over the green jersey!
Marcel Aregger finishes 3rd once again on stage 3!
After stage 5, and ahead of the final sprint stage, he still was just 5 points off the points jersey and had a great chance of getting a final highlight in his maxed career!
And he indeed was right in the mix once again - but unfortunately didn't have the patience to wait for the right moment this time, launching too early and dropping to 7th in the end.
Nonetheless, Marcel Aregger can leave Morocco with his head held high, taking two stage podiums and 3rd in the points standings! Overall, it obviously was a disappointing race once again, being absolutely not competitive in the uphill stages, and not even doing something useful from breakaways. At least we know where we have to improve our roster for next year - although it hurts to admit that one of our weak links is a Swiss rider...
The 5-day pan-flat race in Australia rounds off the C2 stage racing season, offering four chances for the sprinters - and a big GC opportunity for the TTers. It's actually the only one for the latter, given that Olympia's Tour has an additional TTT, and both Jelajah and USA PCC are rather for the prologue specialists.
So this was the big chance for Szymon Rekita to finally take a great GC result, after performing below par in similar C1 races. As a backup option, we also brought Krzysztof Marchewka to Australia.
All good things come in threes, though - and that's true for Polish riders as well. Meaning our sprinter was Grzegorz Stepniak. He celebrated some big wins before, and now had four more chances to shine.
But who needs four chances, when one is sufficient? Grzegorz Stepniak took Wippert's wheel on stage 1 - which turned out to be the perfect choice, as our favorite Polish sprinter edged out his "leadout" by some inches to claim the stage win plus the first yellow and green jerseys of the race!
Grzegorz Stepniak wins the opening stage of Herald Sun Tour!
However, our riders sometimes seem to party too hard after a big win, as our sprinter was nowhere to be seen on stage 2. It almost looked like the yellow jersey curse - that seemed to be banned - struck again...
At least he was back in contention on day 3! The Top 3 unfortunately went clear in a somewhat unorganized sprint, but our sprinter was best of the rest to claim 4th place! It was only when looking at the results that we noticed something strange, though - the rider who participated in the sprint was Manuel Stocker! Unfortunately never used as a leadout this year, he at least got a good result on his own for once - while Grzegorz Stepniak had another no-show.
Manuel Stocker surprisingly sprints to 4th on stage 3!
However, the day we were eagerly - and nervously - waiting for was the next one - stage 4, a 20km individual time trial! Could our TTers complete our perfect run of C2 GC podiums, or would we miss out on the last possible occasion?
Krzysztof Marchewka's ride then was very reassuring, as he posted the clear best time. Which was stronger than Erdenebat's, Sterobo's and all Glanbia riders' times. Only one single rider was able to beat last year's Polish ITT vice champion - obviously the Polish ITT champion, Szymon Rekita!
It was our first 1-2 in team history - definitely a memorable day for the team! And this also meant that our duo was 1-2 in the GC after stage 4 - only a flat stage to survive, and one of the most notable results in team history would be in the books!
Szymon Rekita (top) and Krzysztof Marchewka (bottom) achieving an amazing double on stage 4!
That final day of the race went by... pretty uneventfully. Which means that we didn't get another notable stage result (Grzegorz Stepniak finished 10th) - but first and foremost, we brought home the GC 1-2 with Szymon Rekita and Krzysztof Marchewka!
A picture for the team's Hall of Fame - Szymon Rekita winning Herald Sun Tour ahead of Krzysztof Marchewka!
What an amazing result by the team to cap off the C2 stage racing season! Congratulations to all riders who contributed to writing team history - obviously our two GC heroes, but also Grzegorz Stepniak with his stage 1 success, Manuel Stocker scoring points on stage 3, Leonardo Basso taking 24th place in the GC, Christoph Janssen who ended up 5th in the U25 standings, and Alexandros Matsangos who was the only rider not scoring any points, but still being an important helper!
All but Stepniak and Matsangos also scored some points for winning the team standings - which is something we only achieved for the second time this year! Congratulations again to the whole team!
C2 Stage Racing Roundup
We already started talking numbers - and so let's continue there and talk about the one category of racing that was crucial in our bid for promotion - and for the division title: C2 stage races!
Here are the facts:
- We participated in 9 C2 stage races
- We scored a GC podium in every single one of them - a total of 10 GC podiums in 9 races!
- We got 3 GC wins, 5 2nd places, and 2 3rd places
- We got 10 stage wins from these 9 races
- We got a stage win in all races but California and Olympia - where our highest stage results were 2nd places
- We won 3 points jerseys, 1 KoM jersey, 1 white jersey and 2 team standings
- We scored three-digit numbers in all but the U.S. races (California and USA PCC)
- We scored 1,228 points in 46 race days - or 26.7 PpRD in C2 stage races
- The GC podiums were achieved by the following riders:
Colin Stüssi
Win Giro del Trentino
2nd Tour of Vancouver
2nd Tour of Middle East
Fausto Masnada
Win Vuelta a Catalunya
Szymon Rekita
Win Herald Sun Tour
Marcel Aregger
2nd Jelajah SKL
3rd USA Pro Cycling Challenge
Krzysztof Marchewka
2nd Herald Sun Tour
3rd Olympia's Tour
Gino Mäder
2nd Tour of California
Clearly, our 2022 roster was perfectly suited for this race category. However, all but Marchewka won't be allowed to compete at this level next year, and we won't be doing tons of C2 races - so our goal will be to get the team up to the next level.
But for now, we're enjoying what we have achieved in 2022 after a painful relegation at the end of 2021!
Tour de Romandie (C1)
Fausto Masnada. Furthermore, we had a much stronger TTT setup this time, led by 
Szymon Rektia and 
Erick Rowsell and 
Good luck to you as well 
Tour of Chile (C1)
Noam Cohen and 
Pro Hallstatt Classic (HC)
La Tropicale Amissa Bongo (C1)
Theo Reinhardt), 2x Stage Win + Green Jersey (2020, 
Tour of Vancouver (C2)
Tour of South Africa (C1)
Monterrey TTT (C2)
Nairo Quintana)
Olympia's Tour (C2)
Arab Tour (C1)
Windhoek TTT (C1)
Isle of Man ITT (C2)
Tour de Vineyards (C1)
Tour d'Andorra (C1)
Tour de l'Avenir (U23)
Tour of the Middle East (C2)
Tour du Maroc (HC)
Herald Sun Tour (C2)
