June gave us a great boost for our promotion race, yielding more than 300 points in 27 race days! July now is our final really busy month of the year, and so we'll have to make good use of it to extend our margin on the non-promotion spots - before mainly having to wait and see in the next months.
We'll compete in three stage races plus the mandatory CT TTT in Lithuania - and there will be opportunities for puncheurs, climbers, sprinters and - if we had any - time trialists. Let's look at all of this in detail:
Jul 01 - 08 | Tour de San Luis (C2)
Spoiler
A hilly stage race, including three hilltop finishes - perfect terrain for Gianni Moscon. Yes, but... there's an additional 20km time trial, and that one doesn't really suit him. Therefore, we have a team leader that might be surprising to some:
Rider
Hi
TT
Prl
Spr
Rider
Hi
TT
Prl
Spr
Hermann Pernsteiner
77
61
64
61
Tom Scully
67
63
77
79
Fabian Lienhard
75
66
70
73
Stefan Bissegger
66
69
68
69
Cyrille Thièry
74
66
65
72
Benedikt Mundle
65
55
55
59
Pedro Merino Criado
68
56
56
77
Maximilian Walscheid
62
61
71
74
For the first two stages, our man will clearly be Tom Scully. He has already done some great prologues this year, and with a prologue and a sprint stage, the top target would be to see him in yellow after these two stages. The green jersey might be a more realistic target, though, with the final stage being flat again and stage 4 maybe offering some options, too.
But our main targets definitely are the hills - and this time, we really want to see attacks! Hermann Pernsteiner, while definitely among the CT's most balanced puncheurs, is by no means a GC contender due to the long ITT. So we want to see breakaways from Fabian Lienhard and Cyrille Thièry. Both are perfect for this role, having a good sprint to gain KoMs and maybe even stages. It's a risky game, however, and as the season unfolded until now, we can't actually expect them to ride according to our game-plans...
Still, we want some good stage results, and maybe a Top 15 GC - it probably won't be possible to get more out of this, due to the 20km ITT on day 5.
Expectations: GC Top 15, 4x Stage Top 10, Points Top 3
Best result so far: Stage win (2019, Marco Guillén), 14th GC (2019, Jan-André Freuler)
Jul 11 - 17 | Tour de Langkawi (C2HC)
Spoiler
Our final trip to Asia this season brings us our final mountain stage race of the year, too. But fortunately, it's not all about mountains in Malaysia, with four flat stages and two mountaintop finishes. Plus, a very, very short prologue. Guess who should be able to handle the flat parts best?
Rider
Mo
Spr
Acc
Prl
Rider
Mo
Spr
Acc
Prl
Andrea Manfredi
78
65
73
65
Tom Scully
52
79
80
77
Mirco Saggiorato
77
58
72
66
Pedro Merino Criado
57
77
79
56
Hermann Pernsteiner
75
61
72
64
Stefan Bissegger
64
69
70
68
Gino Mäder
73
67
63
72
Benedikt Mundle
59
59
69
55
Of course, Theo Reinhardt would probably have been our top shot in the fight for green, but Tom Scully can additionally do well in the prologue. Such were our reflections, at least. However, races so far have shown that prologues of under 3-4km simply have random outcomes, so we have to hope that luck will be on our side.
If that should be the case, wearing yellow after stage 1 and/or 2 could be possible - in each case, our Kiwi should be able to fight for the points jersey with 5 stages suiting him well. Despite his horrible climbing skills, we hope he won't drop out, due to the mountain stages looking not THAT hard.
When speaking of mountains, Mirco Saggiorato has been our most consistent climber so far, and we hope that either him or Andrea Manfredi can take home a GC Top 10. Luck hasn't been on our side in the previous mountain races, so it's time to turn things around here! Gino Mäder will hopefully score some more U25 points, and Hermann Pernsteiner should be able to provide good support to our climbers.
Expectations: Top 10 GC, 4x Stage Top 10
Best result so far: Stage win (2019, Marco Guillén), 12th GC (2019, Andrea Manfredi)
Jul 23 | Vilnius GP (C2HC)
Spoiler
And yet another one of those C2HC races we'd rather not participate in. It's the mandatory team time trial in Lithuania, where we definitely don't have any big ambitions. Let's still take a look at our "specialists" who are going to wear our jersey in the Baltic:
Rider
TT
Hi
Res
Rider
TT
Hi
Res
Nico Brüngger
73
72
70
Manuel Stocker
69
65
73
Leonardo Basso
72
72
73
Cyrille Thièry
66
74
73
Gino Mäder
71
68
72
Maximilian Walscheid
61
62
70
Stefan Bissegger
69
66
69
Benedikt Mundle
55
65
73
With our best time trialist having a stat value of only 73, it's clear that we won't be fighting for the top spots. However, the hilly TTT in South Africa brought us a surprising 7th place - with some hills in this race as well, let's see what we can get out of it! The goal would be to improve on last year's 12th place - there are three more teams this time, however...
Expectations: Top 11
Best result so far: 12th (2019, Centovalli - Fiat)
Jul 27 - 30 | USA Pro Cycling Challenge (C2)
Spoiler
4th race of the month - and the 4th continent, as we head to North America for yet another sprinter race. As announced in the review of Berlin Pro Race, Theo Reinhardt will take a break this month - which should be good news for some competitors. However, we do have a better suited rider for this race anyway, and this guy will of course participate:
Rider
Spr
Acc
Prl
Rider
Spr
Acc
Prl
Tom Scully
79
80
77
Stefan Bissegger
69
70
68
Pedro Merino Criado
77
79
56
Nico Brüngger
63
66
69
Manuel Stocker
76
77
71
Benedikt Mundle
59
69
55
Maximilian Walscheid
74
75
71
With three almost pan-flat stages and a 5km epilogue, Tom Scully will be our undisputed leader. And he should actually even be among the top favorites for this race - behind local hero Keough and AKA (if participating). Tom is among the division's strongest riders on short time trials, and he's among the fastest sprinters as well - at least sometimes.
He'll have his standard leadout rider (who has never done a leadout so far, though), Pedro Merino Criado - plus one of Theo's main helpers, Manuel Stocker, who might himself score a good GC result with some luck.
We don't expect the other riders to be very active, but they should support Scully as well as they can - and please, Benedikt Mundle, don't try on your own... You can chase down all the escapees, you can break the pack into pieces (behind our sprinters, of course) - but don't try to be our GC captain.
Expectations: GC Top 3, 3x Stage Top 10, Points Top 3
Best result so far: 7th Stage 1, 35th GC (2019, Manuel Stocker)
With our two highest scoring riders taking a well-deserved break this month, everyone else now has a chance to shine - especially Tom Scully, who will compete in all three stage races and should have the highest scoring potential. But we're looking forward to see all our puncheurs in action without being on domestique duties - let's rock that month, boys!
redordead Yeah, Moscon has been really consistent. However, I wonder what I could do to help him get even better stage results - training his sprint will probably be a waste of time and potential, but Acc, Mo and Hi should be good options.
The points are flowing, true - especially on that final day of the month, with more than 100 points from 2 races
bbl Don't tell anyone, but actually we mixed something in his bottle... We don't want his wage to go up too much
Reinhardt will already cost enough next year, that's for sure... And he surely deserves a raise!
Killing it with that Theo signing and taking advantage of a terribly one sided deal to land you Moscon, as long as you beat Philips I may consider not clappin dem cheeks next season
Nice to see we'll meet everywhere this month, my riders will gladly use your car's slipstream in exchange for some quick Spanish lessons, which are always welcome in the cycling world I think. Reinhardt has been killing it indeed, with an improvement of the CT's season best in HC I believe (which was already his to begin with )
It's already quite a while since our puncheurs are back from Argentina - or still riding in Malysia, where our final mountain stage race will end tomorrow.
The first two stages of the Tour de San Luis looked quite tailor-made for Tom Scully: a prologue and a flat stage. And while he met the expectations time-wise with a gap of just 4" behind the winner on stage one, his 12th place wasn't quite what we were hoping for. However, it was also a matter of bad luck, as the riders all the way up to 7th posted the same time...
However, he knew that even with a 3rd place on stage 2 he had a chance of taking over the leader jersey. And the team support was perfect: Fabian Lienhard and, for the first time all season, Pedro Merino Criado built up a great sprint train - and Tom Scully didn't take 3rd, nor 2nd - but he won the stage! Taking over yellow and green nicely rounded off this great win - number two for him, after a stage in Denmark last month.
Tom Scully takes the win on day two in Argentina
The next two days then were made for the puncheurs - so, basically for Gianni Moscon. However, with the prologue and another 20km time trial, the profile didn't suit him, so we sent Hermann Pernsteiner instead, who got to lead his sole stage race of the year here.
Which of course meant that we didn't have one of the stage favorites in our team, and hence our goal was to go for breakaways. Unfortunately, the riders didn't get the message on day three, which ended with a disappointing 13th place of Hermann Pernsteiner as our best result. At least, he kept up with the first bigger group, while Kelderman, JJ and Novak were too strong for everyone else.
We recalled to our boys that we wanted to see some breakaway action that evening - and finally it helped. Somewhat. Because we actually brought Fabian Lienhard and Cyrille Thièry exactly for that purpose, but attacking was our pretty much least suited rider, Benedikt Mundle.
Which really was a pity, as the group made it to the finish line - but instead of one of our good sprinters, we had our slowest guy in the front group. Under these circumstances, his 4th place on the day must be considered a success - but so much more would have been possible. At least, he took provisional 2nd place in the KoM standings - while Tom Scully still was in green, by the way!
The dreaded time trial then was on the menu on day 5. While youngster Stefan Bissegger did a really good job taking 38th, losing barely more than a minute, Hermann Pernsteiner did pretty much the contrary. Even sprinter Tom Scully - who dropped to 5th in the points standings - was just 5" slower...
So it was redemption time on days 6 and 7 for our Austrian puncheur. But he didn't seem to have understood that his job was leading the team here. Sure, he still got our best stage result on day 6, but 17th was by no means satisfying - especially given that the finish seemed to clearly favor the stronger climbers among the puncheurs. And he IS a good climber. Usually. Not on that day...
Benedikt Mundle then again attacked on day 7, trying to re-gain some spots in the KoM standings. He did, and finally finished 4th - only two points short of 2nd place, though... But that was about all good news of the day, as Hermann Pernsteiner definitely proved us that he is by no means a worthy team leader. He was only our third best rider on this final hilly day - two spots ahead of Tom Scully... Instead, Fabian Lienhard tried to step up, but his 20th place isn't really noteworthy, either.
So all our hopes for a decent GC result were gone, but at least Tom Scully had a chance of getting a 2nd good result in as many sprint stages. And like on day 2, Pedro Merino Criado did a great job leading him out, releasing the Kiwi only with about 600m to go - and Tom Scully again crossed the finish line first! 2nd stage win of the race - at least that's what everyone thought. Everyone but the officials and team legend Marco Guillén, who for whatever reason was declared the day's winner. While we are stoked to see him win again in what might be his farewell season, we can't hide our anger at an obviously incorrect ruling.
No, Tom Scully was not the official winner of this stage...
On a more positive note, let's mention that Pedro Merino Criado finished on a strong 6th place on this closing stage, Tom Scully took 3rd in the points standings (instead of 2nd, which he would have by officially winning the stage), and Benedikt Mundle finished 4th in the KoM standings.
Hermann Pernsteiner's 17th GC place is a big letdown; he clearly missed his chance as a team leader and probably won't get any more. As most points could of course be won with a strong GC result, we leave this race with much less than what we had expected. Thanks to our sprinters, it wasn't catastrophic, but we can't afford many more low-scoring stage races like this. Let's hope we can end the Tour de Langkawi on a higher note...
redordead Yes, he unfortunately is. Only Philadelphia and Solidarnosc left for him. But Moscon will hopefully take over in the late season
quadsas I had the choice between Reinhardt and Bouhanni, and went the clearly more expensive way. I don't regret... I do somewhat regret having traded Gamper for Moscon, but yeah, I'm definitely lucky Lierse proposed us that "terribly one sided deal"
Nemo We do already have a Spanish teacher, sorry... However, now that Merino Criado has actually started doing some work, maybe I'll get back to you
I've been pretty lucky with HC races so far; winning a stage in Austria last year, taking Top 10s in all HC races this year - I hope it continues like that next season
Scully sprinting? Do you have his family hostage or something? Because we tried that and it didn't work for us...
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
This stage race in Malaysia is actually one for the climbers - however, given our latest results, our main hopes were on Tom Scully, given one prologue and four sprint stages besides the two uphill finishes.
And our Kiwi didn't disappoint on day one: Right behind prologue favourite Luke Keough, he finished 2nd and got himself into a great position for the first sprint stage on the following day.
But how big was our disappointment on day two, when pretty much the same sprint lineup as earlier this month in Argentina didn't work out at all. Tom Scully basically was on his own - and he definitely messed up his positioning. So instead of getting back-to-back stage podiums, he even finished outside the Top 10 - a first big bummer!
And we were prepared for yet another disappointment on day three, the first stage for the climbers. Our mountain department has been disappointing in the last few races - and so they were here. None of our riders was mentioned throughout the entire stage, being far away from the Top 10 - but at the finish line, out of nowhere, Mirco Saggiorato arrived on a fantastic 6th place! We don't know how he managed to make good that much ground on the final meters, but we were stoked that he did - what a relief after all those mediocre climbing results lately! Both Andrea Manfredi and Hermann Pernsteiner remained anonymous and finished 24th and 22nd - thereby still moving into the MGUCI point ranks. But the highligh was definitely Mirco's 6th place - and therefore the 6th GC rank to defend from now on!
Mirco Saggiorato taking 6th place, surprisingly beating the likes of Pinot or Marquez!
Day four then was another one for the sprinters. And this time, we seemed to care a bit more than two days ago. At least, we were participating in the chase - and Tom Scully took a much better position, which finally allowed him to get the 3rd place in the bunch sprint!
Unfortunately, though, four escapees arrived ahead of the pack. So instead of a podium, he "only" got a 7th place - but at least some good points for the green jersey fight.
On stage number five, we then had to go all-in to defend Mirco Saggiorato's great GC position. And we took responsibility, participating in the chasing work again.
But even more than that - in his final mountain stage race at his prime, our Swiss climber seemed to feel incredibly well, following Keinath and Warbasse trying to chase down Pinot! Admittedly, he did overestimate him self a bit - but not that much! He was overtaken by a few riders in the end, but Mirco Saggiorato finished this second mountain stage in 7th place - not only defending his GC place, but even gaining a spot to take 5th! What a great race by him!
And finally, Andrea Manfredi had a somewhat better day, finishing 18th and moving up to 17th. Hermann Pernsteiner went the other way round, dropping from 22nd to 27th. Still inside the points, though. Furthermore, Gino Mäder was 6th in the U25 standings after that day - and our strong team results were worth the 3rd place in the teams standings by that point! With everything still open in the green jersey fight, and two flat stages yet to come, this was looking more and more like an amazing race for us!
However, the boys might have thought the race was already over - we don't find another explanation than late-night-parties for a dismal 23rd place by Tom Scully the day after. The green jersey hopes were definitely gone with that underperformance - and we had some serious talks with our riders after that stage. Hoping they would somehow turn things around on the final day...
One thing we found out was that they were absolutely not keen on helping out with the chase again. So we took a different approach by sending Benedikt Mundle in the breakaway. As the group of four was reeled in inside the final kilometers only, that strategy worked out - nobody else had to do any work before the final sprint.
But despite having an easy day, Tom Scully almost missed the train - he just managed to latch onto Bouhanni's wheel. Being far back at the start of the sprint once again proved to be beneficial, as these two were among the Top 3, together with points leader Carsi, with 200m to go! And then the incredible happened - Tom Scully won the stage and drew level with Theo Reinhardt's 3 stage wins this season! (though the latter has a GC win to his name, too) Our Kiwi has really found his winning form - something he apparently didn't really ever have before!
Tom Scully saved the best for last, winning the closing stage!
So, let's do some book keeping now that the race is over. We had five stage Top 10 places, thereof a win and a second place - great job!
But most importantly, Mirco Saggiorato brings home our best GC result from a mountain stage race this year - 5th place! Andrea Manfredi (17th) and Hermann Pernsteiner (28th) contribute a few points as well.
Tom Scully moves up to 3rd in the points standings thanks to his stage win - one point short of the second place. If only he hadn't refused to sprint on half of the flat stages... But we still can be really happy with his performances lately!
Gino Mäder finishes 6th in the U25 standings - that's OK, but we had hoped for some even stronger results pre-season. This is however more than compensated by 2nd place in the team standings - actually, there was a gap on the final stage, and thanks to escapee Benedikt Mundle, we had two riders up front versus 0 from Sauber, so we overtook our dear friends on the final day.
And that's it from this race. Only two left this month: the mandatory TTT, and another highlight for our Kiwi with the USAPCC. Stay tuned for more hopefully great results!
jandal I tried that and it didn't really work for half of the season, either... threatening him to leave him in the Netherlands after his refusal to work in Olympia's Tour might have done the job
The CT's mandatory team time trial event in Lithuania was our second-last "unwanted" race participation of the year. But apparently, we weren't the only ones to rather dislike this event, given that the race preview still saw us in the top half of the 20 CT outfits!
And that was indeed what we managed to get out of the race. As often this year, we performed slightly below the general expectations, so while the preview saw us in 7th place, we finished 8th. Which is no bad result, given that his rank is again worth +/- 10 PpRD, clearly keeping us on-track. Well done, boys - onto the next one.
Centovalli - Fiat crossing the line, taking 8th place.
Race Review | USA Pro Cycling Challenge (C2)
The all-flat race in the states was tailor-made mainly for two riders: local hero Luke Keough, and our team leader Tom Scully. Both have displayed their strength so far, belonging to the division's best sprinters - and both being very good prologue riders.
However, being a pre-race favorite doesn't guarantee a good result. Stage 1 actually left both us and McCormick without words: 15th Keough, 16th Scully - both not even really trying to join the fun!
This definitely had to change if this was to become a successful race for us. But the picture was very similar on stage 2 nonetheless: the positioning was pretty awful, but at least Tom Scully managed to sprint to 8th place, thereby gaining some bonus seconds and a few points for the green jersey. By the way, Keough was 15th again - behind a teammate...
On day 3, Tom Scully finally seemed to have picked a good wheel - but when Wippert launched, our Kiwi just stayed behind the flying Dutchman's leadout!
But what seemed to be completely dull proved to be a wise choice, as Wippert completely cracked and finished outside the Top 10 - while Scully sprinted to 5th with a very late push. The third sprint was the best - but a 5th place as his best result from three sprints was still a disappointment. Not as big a disappointment as Keough, though, who finished... 14th.
Tom Scully is about to overtake a few more riders and finish 5th.
So the final stage would definitely make or break our race. None of our other riders had shown up during the three first stages, hence all the pressure was on our sprinter. Sitting in 11th pre-stage basically meant that a GC Top 10 would be absolutely mandatory, and a Top 5 wasn't completely unrealistic.
When he started, top favorite Luke Keough held the best time, 4" ahead of everyone else! Luckily, Tom Scully had a 14" advantage - so losing two seconds didn't hurt that much, especially given that this was the provisional 2nd stage place, and of course the provisional GC lead!
And then one rider after the other came short of Scully's overall time - which was especially surprising for AKA, who lost 20" on our Kiwi! After 3rd placed Lutsyshyn fell behind as well, the GC podium was secured - the question was just which step he'd take! And it was very, very close - in the end, 2" were missing both for the stage and the GC win! But with a 2nd place on the day and in the GC, Tom Scully definitely delivered, taking home a very good amount of points once again! Very well done!
Tom Scully riding to 2nd on the stage and in the GC!
July review
In the July preview, we said that a lot would depend on Tom Scully - which didn't make us overly confident, given his early season results. But the Kiwi has finally woken up and has proven to be up to his task, scoring good points in all of his races. Stage wins and podiums in San Luis and Langkawi, three stage Top 10s and a 2nd GC place in the US - hats off!
Moreover, Mirco Saggiorato rode to an amazing 5th GC place in Malaysia, which definitely couldn't be expected. All in all, despite our puncheurs clearly disappointing in Argentina, it was yet another very successful month, where we should again end up slightly above the target 10 PpRD mark. With only 30 race days yet to come - thereof many hilly ones - we really look set for promotion by now, although we won't win the division. But the PCT perspective - one year before our "master plan" - also means that we'll have some work to do on the sponsor side, as we couldn't afford a PCT season with the currently budgeted sponsor contributions. However, there are rumors that Fiat are so happy about our result that they might even rethink their decision of quitting... Stay tuned!
redordead I doubt about the title bid, actually. The others would need to fail badly everywhere, especially given that we've only got a couple of RDs left.
Nemo Yeah, really great to see Mirco shine probably one last time And sorry to see Marquez performing way below par sometimes...
Here I am, happy if I get 10 pprd in a race that suits me, meanwhile you're scoring 10 pprd in an unwanted race
Happy for you that Scully managed to finish second in the USAPCC, after a not so promising first three stages.
Also, not your fault Marquez is fooling around like he is, I've hopefully learned my lesson on the type(s) of rider(s) I should sign in the coming transfer season
After we have done a lot of races so far, only 30 race days are left for the last three months of the year. And August is the most quiet month of the year, containing only one single race. At least, our youngsters will compete in Tour de l'Avenir as well, so we included that one in this preview.
Aug 09 | Rio Vista Chinesa (C2)
Spoiler
The season's last journey to South America brings us to Brazil, more precisely to Rio, where Cyrille Thièry showed a great performance last year by getting an 8th place. However, Cyrille doesn't come back - and the profile is quite different, too. The big climb that had to be taken five times last year will be tackled just once this time, but we'll have a pretty bumpy finale with an uphill finish. Therefore it's again time to shine for our lead puncheur:
Rider
Hi
Acc
Res
Rider
Hi
Acc
Res
Gianni Moscon
79
73
77
Robin Froidevaux
67
68
67
Fabian Lienhard
75
76
72
Stefan Bissegger
66
70
69
Mirco Saggiorato
73
72
74
Gergely Szarka
66
71
68
Nico Brüngger
72
66
70
Max Walscheid
62
75
70
Of course, it's once again all-in for Gianni Moscon, who has already shown his muscles in those kinds of finishes. The support cast isn't as strong as it could be, but it seemed like this year's parcours was too easy to really be in need of a lot of support riders. On the contrary, if the race shouldn't be too selective, Fabian Lienhard might score our top result, given his strong sprint and acceleration. Some additional depth points by Mirco Saggiorato and Nico Brüngger would be welcome - but they'd be most probable if we're actually the team doing most of the work. Let's see - at least we get Bibs 11-18, meaning that the organizers consider us to be the 2nd strongest team...
Most notably, our stagiaires Robin Froidevaux and Gergely Szarka will make their debut race for us - they definitely do have some chances to recommend themselves for a pro contract, but that will be even harder given our very likely promotion to PCT... We'll of course still be cheering for these two and all the rest of the team!
Expectations: Top 3
Best result so far: 8th (2019, Cyrille Thièry)
Aug 23 - 31 | Tour de l'Avenir (U23)
--- Profile not yet revealed ---
After having been part of a three-team alliance last year, we have paired up with our friends from Sauber this time and will ride the most important junior race as the Swiss National Team. Four riders from each team build up the squad, which admittedly isn't an all-Swiss one - but let's rather take a look at our roster:
Rider
Mo
Hi
TT
Spr
Rider
Mo
Hi
TT
Spr
Gino Mäder
73
68
71
67
Stefan Bissegger
64
66
69
69
Jamal Hibatullah
72
67
62
60
Robin Froidevaux
62
67
63
68
Marc Hirschi
70
72
65
66
Gergely Szarka
62
66
60
71
Mushin Misbah
70
66
69
62
Johan Jacobs
60
66
62
60
Gino Mäder should be our GC leader in this race, and he has a pretty good mountain support cast. Marc Hirschi will be our aggressive leader; he already finished 4th in the KoM standings last year, let's see if he can take the next step this year! Else, he'd get another chance next year...
Stagiaire Gergely Szarka is the team's strongest sprinter - it remains to be seen if that's enough to really compete for high stage results. But well, the most important thing is anyway for the boys to have fun - and to gain some experience!
Expectations: Top 10 GC, 4x Stage Top 10
Best result so far: 18th GC (2019, Stephen Williams (cycleYorkshire))
So, not a lot of racing for us - and probably not a lot of points, either, given that our only race is a C2 one... Other teams will probably get closer or even overtake us in the standings, but that's the downside of having a lot of races already done. On the other side, we have delivered pretty well so far - up to the others to catch us now!
Nemo It wasn't even the most extreme race in terms of PpRD in an unwanted race - I guess Basso scored even higher in Lincoln GP So yeah, I guess that's another sign that the season is unfolding much better than expected for us!
redorded Oops... fixed Yeah, I won't go into bashing him too much anymore, but a little bit actually seems to motivate him
It's already quite some time that this race in Brazil took place - but let's still take a moment and give you a short review.
Our expectations were pretty high - and at the same time we knew that it might become one of those messy races pretty much anyone could win.
It looked to be a decent race for us with just 5km to go, when Gianni Moscon followed - once again - a move by Eiking! In general, our leader was very attentive throughout the race, and so it was great to see he followed that decisive move as well!
But well, it proved to be not decisive at all. Kelderman neutralized the move, and the whole peloton of more than 30 riders followed - the worst-case scenario for slow sprinter Moscon.
Finally, an outsider got the win by a gutsy late move, Fabian Lienhard launched his sprint way too early (and finished only 17th), and Gianni Moscon wasn't able to match the speed of the fastest sprinting puncheurs. A pretty disappointing 7th place was the result - but given the non-selectivity of the course, it could have been much worse. It was a race slightly below par, but within the acceptable range for a finish that was as messy as we dreaded it.
Gianni Moscon finishing 7th in Brazil.
Sponsor News
No other race this month, so we had quite a lot of time to prepare the next season behind the scenes. Besides working out the perfect development programs for our riders, we had a lot of talks with our sponsors lately.
Basically, everything was already set up for next year; Ticino Turismo would continue as our main sponsor, and GIANTS Software agreed to take over secondary sponsorhip from Fiat, who told us they'd end their engagement by the end of the year. Meaning we envisioned to race the 2021 season under the beautiful name of Ticino - GIANTS.
But all this was set up with another year of CT racing in mind. With the promotion to PCT getting close to be sealed by now, Ticino Turismo told us they wouldn't be able to act as a primary sponsor in the MGUCI's medium league. On the other hand, already after the surprising Moscon deal, Fiat made us know they might come back on their decision depending on how the season unfolds - and that's what they did. PCT offers enough attractivity for them, while CT would have been too anonymous.
So the current situation is that we still have Ticino Turismo on board, but not as a main sponsor in PCT. GIANTS Software have confirmed their intent to increase their engagement, and Fiat will stay with us, too. What we have to figure out now is how our budget will be composed next season, and of course the team's name. We're willing to continue riding under the Swiss flag - but currently, the future of Swiss cycling unfortunately doesn't look all that bright in terms of talents. Plenty of discussions are still ongoing - but we're sure we'll finally find the optimal solution for everyone involved! Stay tuned!
knockout Personally, I love TTTs. It's just that my team doesn't really share my feelings here
August was one of the calmest months in team history - probably even the least busy one ever - we're back to business in September. Three classics - one on each "major" terrain - and two hilly stage races await us, so let's take a closer look:
Sep 01 | Philadelphia International Championship (C2HC)
Spoiler
The final mandatory flat classic this year is at the same time our final race of the year on the American continent. Last year, team legend Marco Guillén used this race to warm up his legs for Poland one month later - let's try to copy & paste that strategy!
Rider
Spr
Acc
Res
Rider
Spr
Acc
Res
Theo Reinhardt
79
84
66
Max Walscheid
74
75
70
Issiaka Cissé
78
77
67
Stefan Bissegger
69
70
69
Pedro Merino Criado
77
79
68
Robin Froidevaux
68
69
67
Manuel Stocker
76
77
73
Benedikt Mundle
59
69
73
Theo Reinhardt will ride his second-last race of the season - and those C2HC classics haven't been very kind to him. While he mastered the HC races, he was often unable to shine at our "usual" level. The direct sprint preparation shouldn't be the issue - especially Issiaka Cissé and Manuel Stocker have often worked well together.
However, this time we bring Pedro Merino Criado as well, so Stocker could actually focus on keeping the late attackers at bay, together with Benedikt Mundle - who unfortunately has already fed up his sprinters more than once this year... Let's hope he'll prove his worth for the team again! We'll surely need him, given the often messy final stages of those classics.
Expectations: Top 3
Best result so far: 9th (2019, Marco Guillén)
Sep 03 - 07 | Tour of Britain (C1)
Spoiler
We then change continents, but keep the same language - well, kind of... It's neither the language nor the weather conditions that pushed us to come back to Britain, but rather last year's success: stage win, GC Top 15 - can we do better?
Rider
Hi
TT
Spr
Res
Rider
Hi
TT
Spr
Res
Gianni Moscon
79
66
59
77
Gergely Szarka
66
60
71
68
Fabian Lienhard
75
66
73
72
Manuel Stocker
65
69
76
73
Mirco Saggiorato
73
66
58
74
Andrea Manfredi
65
65
62
73
Nico Brüngger
72
73
63
70
Max Walscheid
62
61
74
70
Well, in each case we *should* do better. Of course, Gianni Moscon hasn't all of a sudden turned into a great time trialist, but he has already proven that he can limit the damage in such mid-length time trials. And then, it's all about making the race so hard that not many can follow him. Especially the first and fourth stages look good for this - although we see his best chances for a good stage result on stage 5 with the short uphill finish.
On the other hand, stages 1 and 4 could be great opportunities for Fabian Lienhard if the pace isn't too high. For stage 2, the only flat one, we bring Manuel Stocker, who should have decent support in Lienhard and Max Walscheid - we'll see.
Repeating the stage win from last year would be amazing, but realistically we'll rather focus on bringing Moscon into the GC Top 10 - given last year's results, that should definitely be feasible!
Expectations: Top 10 GC, 3x Stage Top 10
Best result so far: 13th GC (2019, Fausto Masnada), Stage Win (2019, Jan-André Freuler)
Sep 10 - 13 | Euskal Bizikleta (C2HC)
Spoiler
Back to a race where we did absolutely horribly last year. According to the organizers, it *should* be the same profile as last season, but there's no official confirmation yet, so we'll see... In any case, we can't really do worse GC-wise than 57th place, can we?
Rider
Hi
Mo
Spr
Res
Rider
Hi
Mo
Spr
Res
Gianni Moscon
79
73
59
77
Robin Froidevaux
67
62
68
67
Hermann Pernsteiner
77
75
61
71
Gergely Szarka
66
62
71
68
Leonardo Basso
72
67
71
73
Stefan Bissegger
66
64
69
69
Pedro Merino Criado
68
57
77
68
Andrea Manfredi
65
78
62
73
Last year, Max Walscheid had two good results on the first two stages - before the entire team, including our best puncheurs, decided to protect him on the first hilly stage - taking 114th through 121st places on that day.
Let's try to avoid such a waterloo this year. With Gianni Moscon, we should have one of the Top 5 contenders for this race, so hopefully we'll get the priorities right this time. Nonetheless, we're hoping for some good sprint results by Pedro Merino Criado on the first two days.
The support for Moscon should be decent both in the hills and even on the longer climbs, with Hermann Pernsteiner being a strong "hybrid" rider and Andrea Manfredi being our best pure climber. It's the last stage race for our puncheurs, so it would be great to see them deliver another great result!
Expectations: Top 5 GC, 4x Stage Top 10
Best result so far: 57th GC (2019, Cyrille Thièry), 2x Stage Top 10 (2019, Max Walscheid)
Sep 23 | Transfagarasan GP (C2HC)
Spoiler
Yes, a mountain classic - so it has to be one of those mandatory races. Indeed - as the final two months are stacked with those, with three C2HC races per month. At least, last year's top performer is back - let's see if he can do similarly well!
Rider
Mo
Res
Rider
Mo
Res
Andrea Manfredi
78
73
Gino Mäder
73
72
Mirco Saggiorato
77
74
Nico Brüngger
71
70
Hermann Pernsteiner
75
71
Stefan Bissegger
64
69
Gianni Moscon
73
77
Benedikt Mundle
59
73
Pretty much everyone on the team who knows more or less how to handle a mountain will be at the start line in Romania. Andrea Manfredi showed one of his strongest performances in this race last year, taking a very good 8th place. With the support we're providing him - including the two puncheurs Hermann Pernsteiner and Gianni Moscon, alongside our second strongest climber Mirco Saggiorato - should be strong enough to carry him up the rankings again.
We had mountain races where we clearly exceeded the expectations, and some where we disappointed - let's pull off another great show for the final mountain of the year!nd Andrea Manfredi being our best pure climber. It's the last stage race for our puncheurs, so it would be great to see them deliver another great result!
Expectations: Top 10
Best result so far: 8th (2019, Andrea Manfredi)
Sep 29 | Milano - Torino (C1)
Spoiler
The final race of the month THE race of the year for our secondary sponsor Fiat, with the finish line being pretty close to their factory in Torino! And we hope that our line-up will be to their liking:
Rider
Hi
Mo
Acc
Res
Rider
Hi
Mo
Acc
Res
Gianni Moscon
79
73
73
77
Nico Brüngger
72
71
66
70
Hermann Pernsteiner
77
75
72
71
Stefan Bissegger
66
64
70
69
Cyrille Thièry
74
70
72
73
Andrea Manfredi
65
78
73
73
Mirco Saggiorato
73
77
72
74
Benedikt Mundle
65
59
69
73
For Gianni Moscon, it's obviously one of the season highlights as well - and despite the race being C1 rated, he should definitely have a shot at a great result! This year's profile demands clearly less pure climbing skills - which we don't really know if it's good or bad for Gianni.
What we know is that Hermann Pernsteiner and Mirco Saggiorato can support him in both disciplines, the former being stronger on the short and the latter stronger on the long uphills. At least, the uphill finish should suit us - so while it's not very realistic, we're surely dreaming of winning this very special race!
Expectations: Top 10
Dream: Win/Podium
Best result so far: 12th (2019, Andrea Manfredi)
Except for Philadelphia, it's a month full of Moscon races - he actually spends almost 1/3 of his total race days in September! Which obviously means that we expect some high results, with him hopefully climbing up the CT rankings as well! And maybe Theo can finally shine in a CT classic, too - we wouldn't be surprised if he did!
I can copy-paste my result on Abhi's thread, as we'll see each other in every race, either as contenders or with me reporting
I would like Guillén to repeat last year's performance in Philadelphia, while I'll try to "break" your 57th GC place record in Euzkal But a big month for Moscon indeed, hope he does well for you!
The season highlight of the next-generation superstars took place in France, and our ambitions in the neighbouring country were pretty high. Gino Mäder was a contender for a Top 10 GC result, and Marc Hirschi from our friends of Sauber Petronas was our man for the hilly stages.
Gino Mäder set a good foundation for his GC quest in the prologue, where he finished just outside the Top 10.
It was the lone highlight of the first few days, though, as we didn't manage to send anyone in the successful breakaways on stages 2 and 3. Day 4 then saw the first hilltop finish, and we worked pretty hard all day long to bring Marc Hirschi into position. Without too much success, though, as Marc "only" finished 9th - still, it was our first Top 10 stage result!
However, one day later we clearly improved our best result, as stagiaire Gergely Szarka displayed his sprinter skills for the first time, and took 5th place! And had he not been boxed in, who knows... Well done, Gergely!
Gergely Szarka finishes 5th on stage 5.
On stage 6, we then had our first very critical moment of the race, as Gino Mäder was inattentive on the flatter sections and was caught in a split! Marc Hirsch sacrificed his own stage win chances and brought our GC leader back - thank you, Marc! And in the end, Gino Mäder even had enough power left to take 9th of the stage - a very good result on the hills, a terrain that isn't his favorite one! This result made him move up to 7th place before the first mountain stage.
And that stage wasn't just a mountain stage - the reporter even named it a "beast"! However, the racing wasn't quite as hard as the profile suggested it, and so outsider Higuita took it with a gutsy early attack on the final climb. Gino Mäder unexpectedly kept up with the big guns Sivakov and Bernal, finishing 11th on that day - however beaten by some more aggressive similarly strong riders. Still, he gained one GC spot and now was 6th ahead of the long time trial - his big chance to even move up into the Top 5!
He was obviously super motivated for this stage, as he didn't only keep up with the best of the best - no, he even took the provisional lead at the finish line! And already as the next rider crossed the line, his Top 5 push proved to be successful.
Even more than that - only one single rider got close to him on that day - very, very close, as Conci finished with the same time. The jury checked the exact timings - and then decided to award the stage win to Gino Mäder - his first ever win, congratulations! And as a bonus, he even moved up to 2nd in the GC - an amazing picture with only one rough day to go!
Gino Mäder on his way to winning the time trial!
But that final day contained some more pretty tough obstacles, including another mountaintop finish. Marc Hirschi made use of his free role once again - to not much avail, though. Maybe next year!
On the other hand, Jamal Hibatullah and Mushin Misbah once again provided great support for Gino Mäder - who was able to stay with the best almost until the very end! He took 6th place on the closing stage, losing a GC spot to top favorite Egan Bernal - who however finished behind the surprising Italian Nicola Conci!
Gino Mäder losing some meters in the end on the final day.
In the end, Gino Mäder finished Tour de l'Avenir in 3rd place, and took 5th in the points standings - wow, what a fantastic result for Switzerland's next GC hope! Well done, Gino and the entire team!
Nemo Great job by Guillén in Philadelphia - definitely didn't expect him to beat Reinhardt this year! Well done!
redordead Well, I think we did - you took 6th, I got 7th, that's fine for me at least
Tour de San Luis (C2)
Gianni Moscon. Yes, but... there's an additional 20km time trial, and that one doesn't really suit him. Therefore, we have a team leader that might be surprising to some:
Marco Guillén), 14th GC (2019, 
Tour de Langkawi (C2HC)
Vilnius GP (C2HC)
USA Pro Cycling Challenge (C2)
Do you have his family hostage or something? Because we tried that and it didn't work for us...
Rio Vista Chinesa (C2)
Tour de l'Avenir (U23)
Stephen Williams (cycleYorkshire))
Transfagarasan GP (C2HC)
