@Abhishek: Indeed! I think we underperformed in some races. If it happens once or twice, we should be fine, but if it keeps happening, we are in big trouble.
Vuelta a España (GT)
Second Grand Tour of the year, and definitely with some expectations as well after a not so succesful Giro. First goal for us was to get a stage win to complete our GT stage winning trilogy, then we wanted to get as close as possible to a top-5 in GC, and an other goal was a decent final standing in the points classification and consistency in sprints in general.
So, let's start with the good news. We got the stage win! On stage 10, a flat stage, Halvorsen bagged his first victory for the team, beating Wouters from our friends at Lotto - Caloi in a very close sprint.
Then to remain positive, Aular did reasonably well in the fight for a good GC. When looking at the competition it was clear that top-5 would be hard and seventh was a realistic goal. In the end, the Venezuelan champion was quite consistent, even tried his luck with some attacking in the group of favourites, and finished 8th. Our second best rider and his most important domestique Osorio was 41st. Nothing too special, but that's life.
The third goal seemed to be unreachable, sadly. The competition was strong, so expecting 5 sprints wins of course would be crazy, but apart from the one stage win and one fourth place Halvorsen mostly finished around the 15th position. Mostly even in a great position with 2 km to go, but then deciding not to sprint, or at least let go for one km before starting his sprint. Our rouleur Ruiz not being used at all also didn't feel very pleasant. So that means, for the second GC in a row, our scoring was quite a bit below what could and should have been possible. Adding that to some other underperforming races, and the fans are starting to bite their nails for the second half of the season, where we'll go to the Tour de France with our weakest GT line-up, at least in theory.
But we want to end on a positive note. Locally seeded and grown Aguilar Mendez sat on the hotseat for a little while during the individual time trial, and also sprinted to a fifth place on a flat stage that went to the breakaway, great result for the Mexican. Nigerian champion Abolaji was in two breakaways as well, including the one where Aguilar Mendez sprinted to a fifth place. Always a good feeling to see developing riders making a mark.
Relegation talk getting more serious after each race, so we really needed to score points in Scandinavia. We had a good rider for the course in Sergio Higuita, and he did very well by starting the race with a third place on the first stage. He was a bit weaker on the second stage, which suited him less, but still fifth in GC with one stage remaining, a stage that suited him on paper. Everything seemed to be going perfectly until the final km of that stage, where Higuita imploded and dropped all the way to thirteenth in GC. Extremely bad day for him sadly, definitely when looking at some names who beat him on the stage and in GC. The team is having a bad streak. This will need to end soon if we want to stay in PT. Vamos muchachos!
@UU: Thank you very much! Hopefully Higuita likes the Spanish weather more in San Sebastian.
GP Moscow (PT)
Flat classic with a Halvorsen clearly not in form, so we had some fear he'd finish 18th again. During the day we saw youngster Galvan Ramirez join the breakaway and trying to be the last man standing, which was nice. In the end Halvorsen finished ninth in the sprint. Not a stand-out result, but acceptable for sure.
Mexicano Galvan Ramirez attacking
Criterium du Dauphiné (PTHC)
Final race of the season already for Eastman, who needed to make up for a weak Vuelta a España. And he did. He finished second in GC and even came close to winning the race after an attack on the final stage, so it's good to see him end his Oxxo career with a (minor) bang. Which is not the same as a banging minor. Great work by master domestique Aular has to be reported as well, and Sütterlin coming close to winning the time trial as well. Damn you, Sony!
Eastman's last finish in an Oxxo jersey
Chrono des Herbiers (PT)
Vive la France as the journey for Sütterlin to his next race was rather easy, the well known Herbiers PT time trial classic. The German actually did very well to finish sixth, and with Zmorka's third place and Vlatos' 19th place we had a nice total points tally of over 300.
Better from Halvorsen in Moscow, amazing from Eastman in Dauphine (Sutterlin has done well enough ) and a great output from Herbiers means that this last update is an excellent one for the team
Better from Halvorsen in Moscow, amazing from Eastman in Dauphine (Sutterlin has done well enough ) and a great output from Herbiers means that this last update is an excellent one for the team
We open this post of several race reviews with the PTHC Clasica San Sebastian. Higuita looked strong, but attacked just at the right moment, and had no more juice left for the final sprint for second place, finishing 8th in the end. No depth points, with second best rider Beltran in 77th.
Higuita only just unable to follow Schmid's attack
Tour de France (GT)
We thought we underperformed in our other two GT's, but nothing could prepare us for a GT this bad. Aular had a very realistic top-10 goal, aiming around seventh in GC, but barely scored any stage points and finished 13th. Lopez Nolasco had one very good stage to finish third, but was also anonymous and making wrong decisions elsewhere, dropping to sixteenth in the end. Our sprinter Marin scored exactly three points.
Philadelphia International Championship (PTHC)
A sprinters race with a top-5 possibility for Halvorsen. Had to be content with eighth, which is another underperformance. Good rouleur and decent sprinter Ruiz was unable to finish higher than 41st.
Deutschland Tour (PTHC)
Historically a good race for us, but history is there to be changed. Individual good performance from Zmorka to finish third in GC, but Sütterlin finishing outside of top-20, with Vlatos around 180th, is crazy, to say the least. Halvorsen was there for the sprints as well, but he did not get away with a stage podium on four opportunities.
Zmorka on his way to the podium
Tour of Slovenia (PTHC)
Historically a badrace for us, and history is there to stay the same. Had some good hopes of at least a decent GC this time around, but the whole team took a day off on stage 3, finishing ten minutes behind the stage winner. Zmorka scored some points with a fourth place in the long time trial.
East Midlands Cicle Classic (PT)
A cobbled race, so around 20th place is what we could expect. 21st place was the final verdict for Ulloa, scoring some points in our penultimate cobbled classic of the season.
Final race of the season for Halvorsen. A good sprinter capable of top-10 and even top-5 with his 81/80 spr/acc and decent back-ups, as well as good flat support in Ruiz and others. Three sprint stages, not even one top-10 in the end. 25th (!!!) in GC in a race that could/should have been vital for our surival (have heard this before), and barely any points we take back home from Ireland. Galvan Ramirez came close to winning white, finishing second in that classification.
Not great, indeed - although Deutschland Tour still was good. Vlatos so far back must surely be due to him helping with the chase on stage 4 I guess, maybe he just got an ELCO shirt to make it less obvious.
Slovenia once again shows why we all love the PCM22 AI, just stupid to drop the entire team. And Ras was the great sprint engine striking once again, really not much luck for you lately.
But Higuita surely will do something special in ToNE, Lombardia and whatever other race he has left?
@Abhishek: Thank you for choosing Frisby for your daily healthy meal. No bad steaks here, although one could argue that buying Halvorsen was a mis-steak?
@Fabianski: I honestly wouldn't call Deutschland Tour good, with so many of the team that could score really well simply not scoring or scoring very low And think you can change the 'lately' to this season as well But definitely hoping that Higuita delivers us safety in Lombardy, Japan and Tone, although I fear we'll need some luck in Tone for him to score well. Maybe Marin does something there finally
@Laurens: So do I! Need to stay in PT so I have the budget to make sure no talented Brazilians go to your team eh
Not a lot of races for us in the past weeks, but we went onto cobbles twice. First time we visited different countries for the cobbled/hilly/time trially Tour of Northern Europe. The race started off very disappointing with the whole team losing many time for no reason at all, and Marin unable to perform in the sprint opportunities. On the final two hilly stages, Higuita did well with a third and fourth stage, but barely any gaps were created and he didn't do better than 29th in the final GC.
Higuita finishing on the podium during stage six
Tour of the Battenkill (PTHC)
Ulloa was only 64th in the Tour of Northern Europe, but had a chance of a best result of the year in the USA, with a relatively weak startlist in Battenkill. Top-10 was the ultimate hope, in the end we have to be content with 14th. Definitely not the worst result of the year for him though, scoring some welcome points in the fight for PT survival. All hope in Higuita's basket now, with two rather hard hilly classics remaining!
With the Japan cup and Lombardia over, Oxxo - Frisby has managed to stay in PT for the first time in its existence. Also for the first time in our existence that we actually stay in the same division for two years in a row. Japan Cup and Lombardia weren't perfect races, but Higuita did just enough to secure survival. Today, we'll do a season rider recap.
Ryan Eastman - 32nd - 911 points
To be fair, participated in three one-week stage races and was second in all of them. Very good. Tasmania was a (half expected) bust, but the Giro was a big disappointment. Should have really done better than fifth there, but all in all a nice return in points from the American.
Marlen Zmorka - 38th - 801 points
Our beloved Marlen. Won his first GT stage for us, won another time trial in Tasmania and the points jersey in Praha. Also part of 2 TTT winning set-ups. A shame the TT AI in Deutschland was so bad, or he would have done even better. Great return on investment as always.
Sergio Higuita - 59th - 634 points
A lot of top 10's in classics and stage races, but in general missing that stand-out result to score really big. Puncheuring in PT isn't easy with superb established as well as up and coming hybrids, but is nevertheless definitely most probably very likely our number one training target in the off season.
Kristoffer Halvorsen - 65th - 574 points
Mixed feelings. Started off great with fifth in Qatar and fourth in a PTHC classic, but went missing since the Vuelta, missing many chances to score big. Very happy about the one stage where he showed up in the Vuelta though, completing the team's trilogy of GT stage victories.
Orluis Aular - 89th - 427 points
His only goal was performing in 2 GT's, but the abysmal TDF AI really screwed him over. Did well enough in the Vuelta and also did okay as domestique of Eastman. Next season his schedule is probably similar, but with us focusing on self developed riders only, he won't need to domestique anymore either.
Jasha Sütterlin - 114th - 312 points
Last year in the prime for Jasha, and as always a very solid return on investment. Great part of the TTT, and came close to individual glory as well on multiple occasions. Hopefully he can lead a CT or PCT team next season, as he already showed he knows how to win races there.
Luis Enrique Lopez Nolasco - 145th - 232 points
The Honduran champion has been a great domestique for Eastman all year. Received freedom in the TDF and almost got a top-10 there, with a stage podium as perhaps the biggest achievement of his career.
Panagiotis Vlatos - 160th - 198 points
The legendary Greek played a vital role in our survival with 200 points, being part of the TTT winning set-up as well. He will still be a very useful TT'ist next season, ideally he is released and can prove himself useful for his old team in PT again.
Bilguunjargal Erdenebat - 210th - 147 points
Bilguunjargal also proved to be a very useful domestique, with still many years to go, who knows what else he is capable of. He shouldn't leave us during the next transfer season, but after that it would also be a utopia of me to see him go back to his original team.
Victor Alejandro Ocampo - 231st - 136 points
Oh look another TT'ist. This time a homegrown one, who was the national time trial champion this season. If Bernal competes this time around, that won't happen anymore, but Victor is definitely a training target for us in the coming years.
Oscar Samuel Galvan Ramirez - 232nd - 136 points
Highest points amount ever scored by a Mexican from our team, olé! It's clear that he got a great development season at Sony/Philips, as he's also the best scoring unmaxed rider of us this season.
Guillermo Andres Beltran - 257th - 122 points
Higuita's main domestique. Not the same power as many other top domestiques, but we still love him. He's here to stay.
Jose Gerardo Ulloa - 263rd - 119 points
Our first talent, our first love. Lead cobbler (well, only cobbler as well) of us this season, and with a 14th place in Battenkill ge got close to hist first cobble top-10. He isn't a training target because of his age and general skill level, but we also don't see him leave that easily.
Robinson Steven Ruiz - 271st - 115 points
After a great season and a classic win last year, this season just wasn't it for our personal Robinson Crusoe. Just like Halvorsen, he was invisible quite a lot, and wasn't able to help the Norwegian like he helped Manninen in the past.
Daniel Eaton - 279th - 113 points
A little extra when buying Eastman, but also played a pivotal role in the TTT wins. He should also not stay longer at the team, but he was a great asset to have around. Strong in the time trials, solid on eveyr other terrain as a domestique as well.
Alejandro Osorio - 332nd - 93 points
Solid stage racing domestique, as we're used to from him. He's here to stay for sure as well.
Fatiu Abolaji - 338th - 92 points
Was a pleasure to get him from level 3 to max in the past two season. With the non self-developed tt'ists on the way out, it's nice to have him stay around. Adding a bit of spice to the latino community in the team.
Yesid Albeiro Pira - 355th - 87 points
Good domestique this season, and as he is now maxed out, will destroy everything that comes upon his path in the next.
Yaroslav Parashchak - 367th - 85 points
Best loanee points-wise. Useful puncheur domestique, and tried to be in the break a couple of times.
Didier Merchan - 384th - 80 points
The suffering of the Colombian climber is over, after being sent to a lot of cobbled races this season. No online turtle course for Didier, but he knows how to fry a chicken as good as your always drunk tio now.
Jose Pablo Aguilar Mendez - 394th - 76 points
Not a lot of points for the Mexican in his final year of development, at least that should improve next season. Hopefully.
Ben Healy - 431st - 65 points.
Healy will go back to Glanbia a happy man, as he'll finally be able to race the races he was made for. Was a pleasure to help him max out.
Gabriel Marin - 741st - 43 points
Honestly what the fuck was this. 43 points! Most of them even finishing points. Abysmal, to say the least. He'd be the perfect asset in CT though, division winning material, I swear.
'Unlucky' is how I would describe this season for you. You should never have been this close to relegation with the team you built in transfers! With the planned overhaul coming up, I'll definitely be following closely.
Also, Galvan Ramirez and Ocampo will always be very dear riders to us for their role as loan ins. Love to see them continue to grow.
Honestly what the fuck was this. 43 points! Most of them even finishing points. Abysmal, to say the least. He'd be the perfect asset in CT though, division winning material, I swear.
Quite the stretch, I'd say, as we had 15 riders with 78+ sprint in the division this season. Would like to see him in CT, though. Perhaps one of the freshly demoted PCT teams could be interested.
Honestly what the fuck was this. 43 points! Most of them even finishing points. Abysmal, to say the least. He'd be the perfect asset in CT though, division winning material, I swear.
Quite the stretch, I'd say, as we had 15 riders with 78+ sprint in the division this season. Would like to see him in CT, though. Perhaps one of the freshly demoted PCT teams could be interested.
Vuelta a España (GT) 
Halvorsen bagged his first victory for the team, beating Wouters from our friends at Lotto - Caloi in a very close sprint.
Aular did reasonably well in the fight for a good GC. When looking at the competition it was clear that top-5 would be hard and seventh was a realistic goal. In the end, the Venezuelan champion was quite consistent, even tried his luck with some attacking in the group of favourites, and finished 8th. Our second best rider and his most important domestique 
Osorio was 41st. Nothing too special, but that's life.
Ruiz not being used at all also didn't feel very pleasant. So that means, for the second GC in a row, our scoring was quite a bit below what could and should have been possible. Adding that to some other underperforming races, and the fans are starting to bite their nails for the second half of the season, where we'll go to the Tour de France with our weakest GT line-up, at least in theory.
Aguilar Mendez sat on the hotseat for a little while during the individual time trial, and also sprinted to a fifth place on a flat stage that went to the breakaway, great result for the Mexican. Nigerian champion 
Abolaji was in two breakaways as well, including the one where Aguilar Mendez sprinted to a fifth place. Always a good feeling to see developing riders making a mark.
Scandinavia Open Road Race (PT) 
GP Moscow (PT) 
Criterium du Dauphiné (PTHC) 
Eastman, who needed to make up for a weak Vuelta a España. And he did. He finished second in GC and even came close to winning the race after an attack on the final stage, so it's good to see him end his Oxxo career with a (minor) bang. Which is not the same as a banging minor. Great work by master domestique 
Sütterlin coming close to winning the time trial as well. Damn you, Sony!
Zmorka's third place and 
Vlatos' 19th place we had a nice total points tally of over 300.
) and a great output from Herbiers means that this last update is an excellent one for the team 
Beltran in 77th.
Lopez Nolasco had one very good stage to finish third, but was also anonymous and making wrong decisions elsewhere, dropping to sixteenth in the end. Our sprinter 
Marin scored exactly three points.
Tour of Slovenia (PTHC) 
East Midlands Cicle Classic (PT) 
Ras Tailteann (PTHC) 
And think you can change the 'lately' to this season as well 
Tour of Northern Europe (PT) 
Bilguunjargal Erdenebat - 210th - 147 points
