Yet another cobbled classic in Belgium awaited us - the 4th of the month, the 3rd for Edward Theuns. Having won Omloop and Le Samyn previously this month, all eyes obviously were on him - and he once again was among the top favourites.
First, however, it was once again Cedric Bakke Christophersen setting the tone. The breakaway went nowhere, as it usually does in classics, but he showed our colours nonetheless.
Eddie then was in the front group when it mattered - but for once he missed out on the winning move. Stallaert got a deserved win, with Van Hooydonck being the only one able to stay with him and taking 2nd. Unfortunately for our friends from UBS, Swiss NC Lukas Spengler joined the move as well but faded in the end.
So 3rd place went to the best sprinter of the chasing group - Edward Theuns! It wasn't the win this time, but two wins and a 3rd place in three races is pretty amazing and definitely more than we could hope for! Congrats on a great month, Eddie!
A mandatory trip to Mexico, where we were racing our only "sprinter GC race" of the year. We hesitated a long time which sprinter to send - or even if we shouldn't send a sprinter at all, given that none of ours really could be among the favourites.
In the end, we opted for sending both Cees Bol and Dylan Page, hoping that at least one of them could get a couple of bonus seconds and hence a noteable GC result.
Stage 1 wasn't perfect with a 13th place by Cees - he was positioned well, then inexplicably dropped back and couldn't make up enough ground again. But on day 2, he executed everything to perfection, from positioning over launching to finishing - our first stage win of the year! 2nd place in GC and points came on top of that.
However, stage 3 was the final one where he did well, finishing 7th. On day 4, he was out of contention right from the start, whereas on day 5 he did the same mistake as on day 1, dropping back to 20th after being perfectly positioned earlier on. So no additional bonus seconds.
All in all, two good stages were enough for Cees Bol to finish 7th in GC and points, scoring 100+ points in a race where we didn't expect much!
On top of that, Hugo Page (yeah, the second Page) joined the breakaway on day 5, picking up KoM points and - more importantly - bonus seconds, to finish 23rd in GC and 3rd in U25! The rest of the team didn't bother at any point, but we got lots of points and are happy with that.
Cees Bol winning stage 2 in Mexico!
Ranking Update
We were rather satisfied with our 9th place by the end of January, despite a weak HK Challenge, and we expected to move even higher up with February being an important cobbles month.
After some great performances by Eddie Theuns, but also a disastrous Tour of Ukraine, the points scored in Juárez made the difference between a solid and a great update. Well, great it is: We're in 2nd place right now! After Omloop and Viana, we'd have been first, but by the end of the Volta a Portugal (where we didn't participate), we'd slip down a bit. Le Samyn and KBK, plus a strong Juárez made us move past most other teams again, though!
In the end, Los Pollos just had an awesome home race, which placed them ahead of us. But we can't take them as our point of reference, anyway. So yeah, it's looking great for us right now - but we also have to keep in mind that Theuns has already had (and won!) his potentially highest scoring races, the HC ones (supposing he won't be fighting for the win in PTHC). So we know we won't be able to stay there - a Top 10 remains the goal, and only the sponsors are talking about promotion at this point.
We don't want to start dreaming, we need hard work, day after day. And then we'll see where that work can bring us - it's a fine line between greatness and disaster, as seen in Ukraine for us, and for some sprinters in Juárez.
I don't comment as much as I should, but I try to always read, and it always is a pleasure.
Ukraine was a miss, but in the end, many strong results, and Theuns justifying the investment. Bol is strong, too.
Congrats on your terrain history, and fingers crossed for the rest of the season (even in our clashing races, given that we shouldn't have the same goals).
“...the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to hear again. The ones you can enter anywhere and inhabit comfortably."
A. Roy
Just like in February, 9 races await us in March - three of them being PT wildcards, though. And we'll have the first three "real" TTT tests, after the first one was a wildcard warm-up for us.
Unlike in February, we can't easily split the races into a classic and a stage racing half, with 7 of them being in the first category. But we obviously do a 5/4 split again, with the first part covering the first 20 days of the month. And here are these five races:
Mar 01 | Geraardsbergen - Bosberg | C2
Profile
Lineup
Rider
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Giorgi Tediashvili
73
66
69
65
74
76
72
74
69
71
70
66
65
Nejc Kosic
71
57
65
60
72
68
65
76
58
62
77
66
60
Felix Stehli
67
66
69
62
70
69
68
62
69
69
67
69
66
Cedric Bakke Christophersen
66
66
68
63
68
72
65
64
66
68
70
64
67
Christoph Janssen
71
63
65
72
68
71
70
55
59
66
64
65
72
Hugo Page
66
65
66
61
68
68
62
61
69
72
68
69
66
Scott Davies
64
68
66
69
67
68
68
55
61
68
63
65
69
Gustas Raugala
69
65
65
68
66
68
63
54
58
64
64
71
69
Our first C2 race of the year went pretty well - and the second one has exactly the same line-up. With our top cobbler not allowed to race, Giorgi Tediashvili will likely lead the team again, as he's simply stronger on a rather undulating terrain than Nejc Kosic. The Slovenian is the stronger cobbler, though, and could try a mid-race attack - or simply support his Georgian teammate.
The rest of the team are our youngsters, who need this C2 experience for their development. However, in Gent - Wevelgem, both Felix Stehli and Cedric Bakke Christophersen made a breakaway attempt as well - maybe inspiring some of their teammates for this race?
We can't expect any top-notch result, but Giorgi showed in G-W that he can well be in the fight for the Top 10 spots with some clever race tactics - and we're hoping to get in those regions again.
Expectations: Top 15 Best result so far: 19th (Patrick Gamper, 2019)
Mar 03 | Isle of Man TTT | C1
Profile
Lineup
Rider
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Colin Stüssi
71
79
73
75
77
73
78
55
63
66
65
69
69
Stefan Bissegger
74
68
69
78
73
77
72
60
72
73
64
71
77
Alexys Brunel
75
67
71
78
72
78
73
66
61
65
69
66
78
Valentin Darbellay
69
77
71
75
73
75
77
64
67
64
70
67
76
Stefan Kung
73
70
73
77
74
72
73
72
63
71
73
78
78
Szymon Rekita
72
58
63
79
70
73
73
62
69
70
63
73
78
Krzysztof Marchewka
65
64
60
77
73
75
74
50
52
64
62
65
77
Christoph Janssen
71
63
65
72
68
71
70
55
59
66
64
65
72
This is one of the races we were most looking forward to pre-season - so we hope we won't be disappointed by its outcome! We send pretty much our strongest possible lineup to this race (as will likely our competitors as well), sacrificing one TT skill point by nominating Janssen instead of Masnada.
But we already know that this will be the strongest team at the startline, with no other PCT team being able to match our lineup. However, we know that other teams have stronger team leaders, and so it will be all about smart race tactics and leading time distribution. Nonetheless, we hope to win this event, as we did last year when it was held as an ITT competition. Everything less than a podium would be a major disappointment, given our heavy investment in this department.
Expectations: Top 3 Best result so far: n/a (not yet held as a TTT event)
Mar 05 - 10 | Vuelta al Pais Vasco | C1
Profile
Lineup
Rider
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Xuban Errazkin
71
74
78
70
76
75
76
64
63
73
69
67
70
Fausto Masnada
71
77
76
73
76
75
73
60
63
73
69
71
70
Stefan Bissegger
74
68
69
78
73
77
72
60
72
73
64
71
77
Alexys Brunel
75
67
71
78
72
78
73
66
61
65
69
66
78
Valentin Darbellay
69
77
71
75
73
75
77
64
67
64
70
67
76
Stefan Kung
73
70
73
77
74
72
73
72
63
71
73
78
78
Szymon Rekita
72
58
63
79
70
73
73
62
69
70
63
73
78
Krzysztof Marchewka
65
64
60
77
73
75
74
50
52
64
62
65
77
We have participated here twice - and we haven't been able to get a decent result yet. Can we do so this time?
Well, we do somewhat regret that we weren't able to send Stüssi here as well, given that stage racers often tend to do well here. Well, that wasn't our case last year, where Masnada was completely anonymous - yet we decided to give him another chance.
Unlike last year, we send a very strong TTT lineup this year - meaning that we're hoping to get a great result on day one, but also meaning that we have a lot of TTers here who will hopefully do well in the ITT, too. Basically it's just Stüssi missing from the strongest possible lineup.
Instead, we have Xuban Errazkin, who will try to capitalize on the hilly stages to get a decent GC result. The example of Calmejane last year shows that it's not even needed to have any climbing or TT skills at all to do well, and we believe Xuban should be better than that.
But our more serious hopes are on Fausto Masnada and Valentin Darbellay, who both are good climbers, and while the former is great on the hills as well, the latter is stronger against the clock. We sure hope this team is strong enough to finally crack at least the Top 20 - but we'd prefer the Top 10!
Expectations: 4x Stage Top 10, GC Top 10 Best result so far:
- Stage: 2nd (Marcel Aregger, 2022)
- GC: 23rd (Fausto Masnada, 2022)
Mar 18 | Strade Bianche | HC
Profile
Lineup
Rider
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Edward Theuns
72
67
74
65
76
73
74
80
77
76
64
67
70
Mauro Schmid
72
74
77
68
71
77
72
69
70
77
76
74
66
Xuban Errazkin
71
74
78
70
76
75
76
64
63
73
69
67
70
Felix Stehli
67
66
69
62
70
69
68
62
69
69
67
69
66
Cedric Bakke Christophersen
66
66
68
63
68
72
65
64
66
68
70
64
67
Hugo Page
66
65
66
61
68
68
62
61
69
72
68
69
66
Scott Davies
64
68
66
69
67
68
68
55
61
68
63
65
69
Gustas Raugala
69
65
65
68
66
68
63
54
58
64
64
71
69
Yet another race where we don't have a strong record yet - one participation, no points. To be fair, however, we didn't send even a decent puncheur there back in 2021 - this is clearly different this time around.
In 2023, we do have some good puncheurs - and as will be the case in most hilly classics, our team will be lead by Mauro Schmid and Xuban Errazkin. The latter is the better puncheur (this year), whereas the former is much more aggressive and can create some surprise moments.
We hope at least one of them can stay with the front group for as long as possible - although neither of them is likely to fight for the top spots. Except if Mauro can do something really special.
Our biggest name on the lineup is without any doubt Edward Theuns - however, he's only here because there aren't enough cobbled races to fill his calendar. He should still be able to provide some good support to our two captains, whereas the rest of the team is here to gain experience, potentially by joining the morning breakaway.
Expectations: Top 20 Best result so far: 43rd (Cyrille Thièry, 2021)
Mar 20 | Strada Appia Antica | PT
Profile
Lineup
Rider
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Edward Theuns
72
67
74
65
76
73
74
80
77
76
64
67
70
Mauro Schmid
72
74
77
68
71
77
72
69
70
77
76
74
66
Cees Bol
76
64
70
67
75
77
81
68
79
77
68
67
69
Stefan Kung
73
70
73
77
74
72
73
72
63
71
73
78
78
Giorgi Tediashvili
73
66
69
65
74
76
72
74
69
71
70
66
65
Nejc Kosic
71
57
65
60
72
68
65
76
58
62
77
66
60
Felix Stehli
67
66
69
62
70
69
68
62
69
69
67
69
66
Hugo Page
66
65
66
61
68
68
62
61
69
72
68
69
66
Another race without any pressure, given that it's one out of three cobbled wildcard races this month! And we think that we bring one of the strongest riders for this kind of race, as Edward Theuns is among the strongest riders in the world in terms of cobbles-hills-sprint package - which is pretty much what is needed for this race.
And he showed last year that he really likes the race, finishing 2nd! We'll see if he can repeat this great result in one of his final chances to shine at the top level. He'll get support from Mauro Schmid in the first 3/4 of the race, the rollercoaster terrain. Then it's up to Nejc Kosic and Giorgi Tediashvili to take over - if they're still there, that is. And for the only time of the year, he also gets help from Stefan Küng, who fully focuses on TT races otherwise.
Whereas it's clear why we send some talents here, you may ask why Cees Bol is present as well. That's a good question - the answer is: mainly to provide additional support in the hills, with the Dutchman being hard to tire out even on undulating terrain.
Can Eddie get one more podium at PT level? We'll soon find out!
Expectations: Top 10 Best result so far: n/a
Cobbles, TTTs, shorter and longer climbs - there's something for everyone bar the sprinters in this first part of the month. Sadly for the latter, this won't change for the last 10 days of March - but more on that later. We're most excited to finally see our TTT lineup against the PCT competition!
Mac Thanks. Well deserved, I don't know, but we were definitely expecting a strong month of February with Theuns as our top rider. Fortunately, he delivered
Imladrik Indeed, Theuns and Bol are above expectations so far, making up for most of the Ukraine (and partly Hong Kong) failure.
Looking forward to meet you in Pais Vasco
We won't meet very often in March (only in Basque Country thus far), but I think that's a good sign for my team given the high opinion I have of your squad. And at least Isle of Man and the TTT in Basque Country should guarantee you some good results.
Second out of three (cobbled) C2 races - second one in Belgium, after Gent - Wevelgem last month. The pre-race favourites list gave us some hopes for another Top 10 result - given that Giorgi Tediashvili's versatility should be even more useful on this route than on the flatter parcours around Gent.
Once again - clearly a returning pattern - Cedric Bakke Christophersen joined the morning breakaway - according to the reporter, alongside Colin Stüssi?!? Well, it turned out that it was rather Félix Stehli, with the former not being eligible for the C2 category.
As usual, the break didn't go anywhere (Cedric and Félix finished 63rd and 64th), and in the end it was a rather big group fighting for the win. Well, for the positions behind Gaday, that is. We've been looking out all race long for our cobblers, but couldn't spot them in the first positions - until we realized that Giorgi Tediashvili was actually wearing the Georgian NC jersey, with more white than the normal one (from the distance, it almost looked like a Polar shirt), and he was indeed close to the front!
Even more than that - Giorgi Tediashvili sprinted to a fantastic 3rd place!
Well, it might look like a long shot to call a 3rd place in a C2 race "fantastic" - but Giorgi is still a developing rider, and it's only our 4th cobbles podium nonetheless - remember that we had none pre-sesason!
To round off the great C2 result, Nejc Kosic took the last point available in 25th place, just like in Gent.
Giorgi Tediashvili just crossed the finish line in 3rd place!
That's 2/3 of our C2 races done, and we're more than happy with our scoring so far!
kb Indeed, I don't think you'd like to face us more often in TTTs this year On the other hand, your puncheur department is at least as strong as mine, so I wouldn't be surprised to see you get stronger stage results in Paiz Vasco
red I'm hoping for some points in Juárez then, given that Ukraine is a complete disaster with the team being fully ignored by the most random game engine ever...
Seems like you did just that, replacing the Ukraine pts in Juarez
Fabianski wrote: Second out of three (cobbled) C2 races - second one in Belgium, after Gent - Wevelgem last month. The pre-race favourites list gave us some hopes for another Top 10 result - given that Giorgi Tediashvili's versatility should be even more useful on this route than on the flatter parcours around Gent.
He repaid my trust of hyping him up in the preview
The even on the Isle of Man was one of those we were most looking forward to! In the past, it has always been an ITT event - last year in the C2 category, won by Szymon Rekita - but now, in 2023, the infamous Isle of Man TT got another "T" to its name - making it a team event for the first time ever!
Which was pretty good news for us, as we'd have been nowhere close to winning if it still was an ITT. But for TTTs, we can boast to have the strongest PCT lineup on paper, therefore giving us pretty big hopes for a podium result - at least.
With the starting order being randomly decided, we were already the 2nd team out on the road and didn't have a clue what our time would be worth in the end. We set the early best time at the split and on the finish line - just above 50 minutes of racing - but only the 13 next teams would make clear how fast we really were.
Well, we were the fastest - by more than 20 seconds in the end! Los Pollos and fellow promoting team Glanbia joined us on the podium after a strong ride, but we didn't crack under the top favourite pressure and got the win - our first TTT classic win, by the way!
Our riders crossed the finish line in the following order, the first 5 of them scoring 20 points each: Colin Stüssi, Krzysztof Marchewka, Stefan Bissegger, Alexis Brunel, Szymon Rekita, Valentin Darbellay, Stefan Küng, Christoph Janssen.
It's worth noting that this was Rekita's first race of the year - and he got to crest the top step of the podium for the 2nd year in a row!
Jura GIANTS finishing their race around Isle of Man.
We can definitely say that the beginning of March was successful - two classics, two podiums! Vuelta al Pais Vasco is next - let's hope we can come up with some smarter team tactics than in Hong Kong and Ukraine, and actually transform our TT prowess into a good GC result!
red I think we might be ~150 points above my expectations so far, with the cobbles and Juarez going better than expected, HK and especially Ukraine being worse. We've definitely been on the lucky side of things so far, sure...
And kudos to expecting Tedia so strong in Geraardsbergen, looks like you know the game far better than I do
Laurens Thanks Definitely didn't expect that podium!
And yeah, Bakke has some races where he wasn't in the breakaway, but I guess he was up front in more than 50% of his races. Too bad he's only a loan-in
Nemo Title favourite? No way!
Sure, we're on a high, but we'll have quite some potential zero-pointers later in the year (basically all hilly classics, plus all PTHC stage races, plus HC stage races like Pologne, ...)
And especially compared to your team, I only have Theuns who's better than your leader on the same terrain. Looking at Aular vs. Stüssi, Higuita vs. Errazkin, Manninen vs. Bol and Zmorka vs. Rekita, I guess we don't need to discuss about who's the title favourite
Abhi Thanks for the kind words I'm definitely happy about the first months overall, clearly more ups than downs. But I also expect to drop later, so I guess that's just some temporary fame
Well, I wouldn't mind clashing even less with your team, as I'm afraid Benoot will pop up in pretty much every hilly race I'm in
Also, the overview above is just the first half of the March calendar, we'll definitely meet in TOSA as well, and I guess in Lillestrom, too
We never had much success in this race - although we always thought it'd be well-suited to decent hybrids like Moscon or Masnada, looking at what other riders did well in the past.
However, this year was the first time we brought a really strong lineup for the opening TTT - and guess what? It worked! Like a few days before on Isle of Man, we won the team race against the clock - meaning our riders were up front in the overall standings after day 1! Alexys Brunel crossed the line first and therefore became the first GC leader, whereas Xuban Errazkin's hopes for a good GC got an early hit as he was dropped in the TTT, losing half a minute.
Jura GIANTS posting the winning time in the stage 1 TTT!
The Spaniard then was in the mix on stage 2, and even had a great position heading into the final sprint - but neither him nor Stefan Küng are strong sprinters, so they finished 7th and 8th. Some minor stage points still - and Küng took over the race leader jersey after this stage.
Day 3 saw a first selection, with a group of 14 breaking clear on the final hill - fortunately for us, Fausto Masnada was part of this group, and although he only finished 11th, he took over the yellow jersey. 3 days, 3 different leaders.
And that jersey switching game continued - this time, we weren't successful, though. Although Szymon Rekita took a strong 3rd place in the TT (with Alexys Brunel adding a 7th place), it just wasn't enough to overcome the deficit to those who finished up front the day before. So the leader's jersey went to Bralirwa and Izagirre.
Day 5 was the one we dreaded most, given that this was where we lost everything last year. Not so this time, fortunately! Fausto Masnada rather easily kept up with the front group, and in the end almost finished on the stage podium - 4th place. Unfortunately, those couple of inches meant that he couldn't get back the leader's jersey (and a 16" advantage) - instead Oomen took that spot to tie Masnada's overall time, but the Dutchman got the jersey for some reason. Still, Fausto was 2nd in the GC, and everything was still at play.
However, Oomen showed that he was a deserving race leader - he won the final stage and the GC. Fausto Masnada wasn't positioned well enough to make a final charge for a good stage result, but finishing with the same time as Dunbar - 3rd in GC - meant that the Italian secured his 2nd place GC finish! After a big, big disappointment in Hong Kong, Vuelta al Pais Vasco was a big, big success for him now - and he'll hopefully confirm this result later this month in South Africa!
But we also have to mention Valentin Darbellay, who rode a completely anonymous race - except for his 10th place on the final stage - but this was still worth a solid 12th place in the GC, despite him not really liking hilly races. And it turned out to be a really great race for the team, with Stefan Küng finishing on a very strong 15th place, and Xuban Errazkin ending up 19th. The latter was pretty disappointing, given some of the names ahead of him - but he'll hopefully turn things around in South Africa.
We also ended up 2nd in the team standings, and both Stefan Bissegger (great 4th place) and Alexys Brunel (8th place) scored some U25 points. Every single one of our riders scored here - we've already mentioned 7 of them, the 8th one being Krzysztof Marchewka, who contributed to the TTT win and got some points from there as well.
Given the lineup we sent to Basque Country, we were hoping for about 120 points, which means an average of 20 points per day - we ended up around 200, which is a fantastic outcome in a C1 race (and over 10x more points than last year)! It also means we take over the division lead for a couple of days - until Manninen's Pollos will take it back after Guadeloupe, that is.
Given that the hills are our weakest terrain this year, there aren't many hilly classics on our calendar - but the legendary Strade Bianche are part of our schedule. Our best result (in our only participation) so far was a 43rd place - we definitely wanted to do better! For this, we sent our strongest hilly riders in Xuban Errazkin and Mauro Schmid.
However, our first rider to get some TV time was another one - no, for once not our Norwegian, but Félix Stehli. He was part of a 17 rider breakaway - that held out surprisingly long. Subsequently, Félix was rewarded for his performance by the first career points, picking up the last 5 points for 30th place! Congratulations, Félix!
For our puncheur duo, it was all about staying in touch with the front group for as long as possible - unfortunately, they got their positioning quite wrong and eventually lost contact. Xuban Errazkin finished 23rd - our new top result in this race - and Mauro Schmid ended up 27th. Both scored 5 points as well, just like Stehli.
Overall, these 15 points are an OK outcome - we knew we could also end up with a zero-pointer here. However, given that Meurisse - who basically has the exact same skills as Schmid - sprinted to 3rd, we still somewhat regret that our leaders weren't able to stay up front. But that's a lesson learnt, we've been lucky in other cases - and hopefully we'll do far better than that later this month in South Africa!
Laurens Thanks It was one of these races that could go either way - one of these races that can decide on whether you stay in the Top 10 or drop out. Fortunately, we've got more races going well than not so far to build up some cushion - and I hope our good depth will indeed help us keep the points coming in
The nature of the races in this second block is quite different from the first ones, with cobbles taking the upper hand again - only one of three cobbled classics being a PCT race, though. But we'll start with the only none-cobbled race of the batch - our first goal race of the year:
Mar 22 - 27 | Tour of South Africa | HC
Profile
Lineup
Rider
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Xuban Errazkin
71
74
78
70
76
75
76
64
63
73
69
67
70
Fausto Masnada
71
77
76
73
76
75
73
60
63
73
69
71
70
Stefan Bissegger
74
68
69
78
73
77
72
60
72
73
64
71
77
Alexys Brunel
75
67
71
78
72
78
73
66
61
65
69
66
78
Stefan Kung
73
70
73
77
74
72
73
72
63
71
73
78
78
Szymon Rekita
72
58
63
79
70
73
73
62
69
70
63
73
78
Krzysztof Marchewka
65
64
60
77
73
75
74
50
52
64
62
65
77
Christoph Janssen
71
63
65
72
68
71
70
55
59
66
64
65
72
Besides Hong Kong and Romandie, this is the only stage race we've attended in every single season so far - but for the first time it's actually HC rated! And for the first time, it is also a sponsor goal - with our donors expecting a Top 5 GC result.
Given that Gianni Moscon finished 6th (2020) and 7th (2021) here - plus a 12th place last year where he didn't have any notable TTT support at all - that looks realistic at first. But given that the race has been promoted to HC, we'll face some really tough competition this time! Plus, Moscon is no longer around.
Instead, Xuban Errazkin takes over the team lead, which he shares with Fausto Masnada in case the race favors some more hybrid riders for once. Xuban is a tad weaker than Gianni, finishing 3 spots behind the Italian last year - so what does give us hope to still succeed our Top 5 goal?
Well, it is the team. More precisely, the team time trial lineup. It's as strong as never before - and most likely the strongest one of the whole field, despite sacrificing some TT power, mainly to be able to send Errazkin here.
What gives us hope is that only the Top 5 were within one minute in last year's TTT stage - and four of the Top 5 ended up with a GC Top 5. Bar stage 5, the road stages don't tend to yield big gaps - so a strong TTT and great consistency will be key.
Will we achieve our goal? We don't know - but we believe we do have the riders it takes to do so - Errazkin, Masnada, and a whole batch of time trialists - of which at least Stefan Küng, and maybe Alexys Brunel, might be in for a decent GC result as well!
Expectations: 4x Stage Top 10, GC Top 5 Best result so far:
- Stage: 3x Win (Jan-André Freuler, 2019; Gianni Moscon, 2020 + 2021)
- GC: 6th (Gianni Moscon, 2021)
Mar 23 | Macskako Kerekparverseny | PT
Profile
Lineup
Rider
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Edward Theuns
72
67
74
65
76
73
74
80
77
76
64
67
70
Mauro Schmid
72
74
77
68
71
77
72
69
70
77
76
74
66
Cees Bol
76
64
70
67
75
77
81
68
79
77
68
67
69
Dylan Page
75
57
66
60
72
72
75
66
78
79
62
55
59
Giorgi Tediashvili
73
66
69
65
74
76
72
74
69
71
70
66
65
Nejc Kosic
71
57
65
60
72
68
65
76
58
62
77
66
60
Felix Stehli
67
66
69
62
70
69
68
62
69
69
67
69
66
Hugo Page
66
65
66
61
68
68
62
61
69
72
68
69
66
The second out of three cobbled wildcard races this month - and one that should suit Edward Theuns pretty well. Should - but didn't necessarily in the past. The hilly course surely is to his liking - but when facing the world's top cobblers, every cobble section and every hill hurts a little more than one division lower.
He did finish 5th twice, but also has a 19th place two years ago. We hope that the support of Nejc Kosic and Giorgi Tediashvili will be strong enough to leave him with enough energy for the finale - in any case, we're looking forward to the race!
We might also see Mauro Schmid in an early breakaway - our top talent will surely like the hills a lot - the cobbles a bit less, though. The rest of the team is here to gain experience, and to provide some support in the first third of the race.
Expectations: Top 10 Best result so far: 69th (Leonardo Basso, 2021)
Mar 25 | Ronde van Vlaanderen | PTM
Profile
Lineup
Rider
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Edward Theuns
72
67
74
65
76
73
74
80
77
76
64
67
70
Mauro Schmid
72
74
77
68
71
77
72
69
70
77
76
74
66
Cees Bol
76
64
70
67
75
77
81
68
79
77
68
67
69
Dylan Page
75
57
66
60
72
72
75
66
78
79
62
55
59
Giorgi Tediashvili
73
66
69
65
74
76
72
74
69
71
70
66
65
Nejc Kosic
71
57
65
60
72
68
65
76
58
62
77
66
60
Felix Stehli
67
66
69
62
70
69
68
62
69
69
67
69
66
Hugo Page
66
65
66
61
68
68
62
61
69
72
68
69
66
Here it is - our first ever monument! We're thankful to be given the chance to participate in one of the world's most famous cobbled races. And we do actually have one rider on board who has already won this race and hence is a monument winner - we're obviously talking about Edward Theuns!
Eddie won the race two years ago, and has two more Top 10 results to his name the years before. He didn't quite have the best legs last year, but he's shown before that he loves this race. Lots of hills and a flat finish - what else could suit his skills better? And it doesn't come as a surprise that he won the race by mastering a 3-rider group two years ago.
Nejc Kosic and Giorgi Tediashvili will again be his main domestiques on the cobbles, whereas it remains to be seen how long Mauro Schmid can keep up to provide support on the many, many non-cobbled hills as well.
We're really looking forward to this race - having nothing to lose will hopefully give Eddie an additional boost in what's his very last monument at his top level!
Expectations: Top 10 Best result so far: n/a
Mar 30 | Lillestrom GP | C1
Profile
Lineup
Rider
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Edward Theuns
72
67
74
65
76
73
74
80
77
76
64
67
70
Giorgi Tediashvili
73
66
69
65
74
76
72
74
69
71
70
66
65
Nejc Kosic
71
57
65
60
72
68
65
76
58
62
77
66
60
Cedric Bakke Christophersen
66
66
68
63
68
72
65
64
66
68
70
64
67
Christoph Janssen
71
63
65
72
68
71
70
55
59
66
64
65
72
Hugo Page
66
65
66
61
68
68
62
61
69
72
68
69
66
Scott Davies
64
68
66
69
67
68
68
55
61
68
63
65
69
Gustas Raugala
69
65
65
68
66
68
63
54
58
64
64
71
69
Despite the last two weeks of the month including four cobbled races for us, only one of them actually matters - this one. The three others are PT wildcard races, which Edward Theuns can use as warm-up races against world-class competition, to be really ready for Lillestrom!
The race has even less hills than many others, so positioning on the cobbles and sprinting might be even more important - he's shown so far that he's pretty good at doing this. So hopefully he'll arrive on the final kilometer inside the leading group - where once again his main competitors should be Stallaert and defending champion Daniel.
As usually, Giorgi Tediashvili and Nejc Kosic are there to support him, with the rest of the team being here to gain experience - maybe some breakaway experience even.
Expectations are high, as they always are on the PCT cobbles - let's go, Eddie!
Expectations: Top 5 Best result so far: n/a
Cobbles and the first goal race - that sums up this second batch of races. Only two of the races really matter, though, so we better be prepared to do well in these - we'd nonetheless happily take a strong result especially in RvV!
Our first ever cobbled PT classic awaited us - and we were looking forward to it! For some good reason - Edward Theuns finished this race in 2nd place last year, so we had some hopes of even getting a PT podium here!
Unlike in most other cobbled classics so far, none of our riders joined the breakaway - instead, we actually contributed to chasing down the attackers! Which we successfully did, alongside many other teams - and so it was all up to our leader on the final kilometers.
Things were looking great with 5km to go, as Eddie rode away together with Anderberg and Per. Only Anderberg had enough left to stay away though - he went on to win the race in a dominant way.
Per and Eddie were caught - and unfortunately, our leader didn't have his best day, being unable to keep up with the chasing group taking 2nd to 5th. In the end, Edward Theuns just edged out Gerts for 6th place - definitely a good result, but still a slight disappointment given how the race unfolded, and given last year's result. But we know now that we are absolutely competitive against PT competition - and so we'll hopefully be as well in the PTHC cobbles later in the year!
Edward Theuns finishing Strada Appia Antica in 6th place.
We also want to mention Giorgi Tediashvili (39th), Mauro Schmid (42nd) and Stefan Küng (46th), who all finished inside the Top 50 as well - in fact, if we had been scoring eligible, we'd have been the 5th best team! Let's hope we'll be just as strong when actual points will be at stake!
We know that we're a bit late for some of the pending race reviews - apologies for that, our content manager currently has a bit less time due to personal reasons.
Hence, we have decided to group the races into just two updates - first the disappointing one, to then conclude the month on a high note.
With this in mind, you already know that South Africa was a bummer for us. It may not have been that bad points-wise, but it still was bad. Why? Well, it was a sponsor goal. We had a Top 5 goal here - given that we have the division's strongest TTT setup and a decent puncheur with Xuban Errazkin - plus a solid backup option in Fausto Masnada - we were confident to rather easily achieve this goal. Did we get it? Let's go stage by stage.
Stage one wasn't great, but not disastrous either. Three riders managed to get a small gap in the end - Xuban Errazkin was on the other side, being lucky to not lose some additional time. 19th place was a warning for him to get his positioning right. Even more so for Fausto Masnada, who was temporarily dropped and ended up on a pretty awful 114th place. Without additional time loss, though.
On day 2, the good news was that Xuban Errazkin had understood this warning, being far better positioned and even picking up some stage points with 7th place. We knew that bar stage 4 we couldn't hope for big results from the favourites group, so this was a pretty good one for sure.
What wasn't pretty good, but completely awful, though, was the rest of the team not caring about the stage at all. Bar Krzysztof Marchewka, who protected Xuban until the last couple of kilometers and who only lost 47", the rest of the team finished far away from the Top 100, all of them losing 2'44"!
We had been hoping to play a role in the team standings, and more particularly had the goal of getting two options in the front group - but with Fausto Masnada simply not taking this race seriously and acting completely against the team strategy, we lost our second option in a completely unacceptable way already on day 2. First big bummer.
The Italian then decided to show up on day 3 - kind of, at least, finishing 21st. Our sole team leader Xuban Errazkin was two spots behind in 23rd. Not good, clearly not, but at least no harm done.
But why let the others do us harm if we can do it ourselves? The TTT on day 4 - combined with the failure that was stage 2 - can only be labelled "self-destruction", or even worse, "self-sabotage". Yes, we did win the stage, which obviously is great news, with the team doing a stellar job again. But: we also dropped Xuban Errazkin, who lost 1'17" to his teammates. The strategy was to wait for him at any cost - we might have sacrificed the stage win - but he absolutely HAD to finish with the rest of the team. Well, they did what they wanted - and we weren't happy with it. Our GC hopes were completely down the drain, with both our leaders having lost time in a very stupid way at two occasions.
Even worse - had Fausto Masnada been a little more attentive on stage 2, he'd have been the race leader after day 4... But it looks like we're lacking some cleverness to win the big races.
At least, both Xuban Errazkin and Fausto Masnada stayed with the select front group on day 5 - the former even launched a late attack, but to no avail They finished 10th and 13th on the day - with the Italian clearly showing that his earlier time loss wasn't due to bad legs, but due to his attitude... Our riders were 8th and 11th in the GC after this stage - but still no Top 5.
Day 6 then was too easy to really make a difference. And indeed, 164 riders finished inside the big group - none of ours was ahead, unfortunately. Fausto Masnada even lost a GC spot due to Higuita's great back-to-back stage wins, whereas Xuban Errazkin was able to hold onto his 8th place. None of the other riders was relevant in terms of GC - which also is a bit disappointing especially for a rider like Stefan Küng, given that e.g. Paillot ended up 34th...
But the big bummer was the fact that if Masnada had just stayed with the front group on day 2 - something he should have easily been capable of - he'd have won the race by 13 seconds. And had the team not dropped Errazkin in the TTT, they could've been almost a minute slower and he'd still have gotten that Top 5.
But now, it's our by far easiest sponsor goal missed. Not due to not having the right riders for it, not due to bad daily form - just due to horrible tactics. Due to the riders not following the pre-race tactics, but taking their own - obviously subpar - decisions in-race.
The consequence will be a miserable budget next year, so those who were expecting a bonus very likely won't be happy. Don't blame us, blame those who did stupid things out on the road. And they know it was stupid - hopefully they'll learn their lesson and do better at the next attempt.
But enough complaining, let's still point out something positive: In a race where there were just three different stage winners, we - as a team - were one of them, winning the stage 4 TTT. This means we did win 3 TTTs out of 3 this month, meaning our pre-season strategy definitely did work out well so-far. We'll have to do some adjustments in certain lineups for next year, but we're happy with the general TTT performance for sure!
At this point, we'd have loved to post a picture of the winning TTT squad - but unfortunately, the reporter forgot to take one of the top favourite and later stage winning team (not meant as a reproach, just a bit unfortunate). So, no pic this time - but you'll get some in the next update!
red Thanks! Indeed, opening TTTs are cool - I wished South Africa had one as well
Catching on!
Some great results on the cobbles, even though many of them don't get you points. Still, it's a great tribute to your team's construction abilites.
I can understand why South Africa is a bummer, but in the end, the sponsor goal isn't that far off, and it still is a handful of points.
Still, that TTT was a pain to report in general ^^'
“...the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to hear again. The ones you can enter anywhere and inhabit comfortably."
A. Roy
Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne | 
Cedric Bakke Christophersen setting the tone. The breakaway went nowhere, as it usually does in classics, but he showed our colours nonetheless.
Circulo de Juárez | 
Cees Bol and 
Dylan Page, hoping that at least one of them could get a couple of bonus seconds and hence a noteable GC result.
Hugo Page (yeah, the second Page) joined the breakaway on day 5, picking up KoM points and - more importantly - bonus seconds, to finish 23rd in GC and 3rd in U25! The rest of the team didn't bother at any point, but we got lots of points and are happy with that.
Patrick Gamper, 2019)
Isle of Man TTT | 
Vuelta al Pais Vasco | 
On the other hand, your puncheur department is at least as strong as mine, so I wouldn't be surprised to see you get stronger stage results in Paiz Vasco 
Title favourite? No way!
Tour of South Africa | 
Macskako Kerekparverseny | 
