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[PCT '22] Philips - Force India
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| Ulrich Ulriksen |
Posted on 10-03-2023 21:43
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 3264
Joined: 02-11-2010
PCM$: 300.00
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Looking forward to hearing the new direction.
Belgium maybe? Would be a nice fit with the investment in Benoot.
Man Game: McCormick Pro Cycling |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 12:46
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Bot Agent
Posts: Countless
Joined: 23.11.09
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 11-03-2023 06:28
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11677
Joined: 27-07-2015
PCM$: 1861.50
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@Fabianski: Yes, they were around even before I joined via CT. More news to follow soon for sure. Team Manager is very happy as long as no one steals the sponsor before our announcement 
redordead: Hope so too!
@ivan: That looks unlikely unless our jersey maker gets some wildly fantastic ideas!
@Marco: You're welcome 
cunego: Stick around to find out I guess!
@Ulrich: Belgium is definitely under consideration for the reason you mentioned but not first choice at the moment.
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 29-03-2023 08:13
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11677
Joined: 27-07-2015
PCM$: 1861.50
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| Rider | Role | | Tiesj Benoot | Leader | | Tom Van Asbroeck | Sprinter | | Simone Velasco | Domestique | | Tom Dumoulin | Time Trial | | Dan McLay | Domestique | | Yannick Stoltz | Domestique | | Mick Van Dijke | Domestique | | Oscar Samuel Galvan Ramirez | Domestique |
On of the marquee races for us this season and one that is top priority for Benoot. We will be looking towards a podium place in this race as the minimum success criteria, but given how unpredictable the race can be, it is never a given. A strong team will accompany Benoot, with Van Asbroeck also carrying our hopes on the flat stages. Expectation: Top 5
Watch Out For: Tiejs Benoot
| Rider | Role | | Cristian Raileanu | Leader | | Saya Kuroeda | Domestique | | Shiki Kuroeda | Domestique | | Jan Xandri | Domestique | | Joonas Henttala | Domestique | | Gijs Leemreize | Domestique |
Benoot cannot lead our team here, as he will be in Benelux at the same. So it is a rare leadership opportunity for Raileanu. The support team is quite weak. We do not have a lot of expectations from this race. Any points will be a bonus. Expectation: Top 30
Watch Out For: Cristian Raileanu
| Rider | Role | | Tom Van Asbroeck | Leader | | Saya Kuroeda | Leadout | | Simone Velasco | Free Role | | Shiki Kuroeda | Leadout | | Tom Dumoulin | Time Trial | | Dan McLay | Leadout | | Clement Champoussin | Domestique |
We have Van Asbroeck for the flat stages but no strong riders for the hills or the TT. Dumoulin is here but he has been underperforming all year and we do not expect that to change. Again, whatever we get out of this race will be a bonus, besides the expectation from Van Asbroeck to be near the front on the three flat stages. Expectation: Top 20
Watch Out For: Shiki Kuroeda
| Rider | Role | | William Barta | Leader | | Joonas Henttala | Domestique | | Gijs Leemreize | Domestique | | Yannick Stoltz | Domestique | | Mick Van Dijke | Domestique | | Oscar Samuel Galvan Ramirez | Domestique |
Our second and last CT race of the season. Barta did very well in our other CT adventure and we hope he can repeat the same here. The support team is decent without being spectacular. We hope to have some fun here. Expectation: Top 10
Watch Out For: William Barta
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| redordead |
Posted on 31-03-2023 10:48
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
PCM$: 200.00
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Can Benoot continue his great season in a strange race like Benelux? Also I think Raileanu has the potential to do better than top 30 in San Sebastian.
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 01-04-2023 06:25
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11677
Joined: 27-07-2015
PCM$: 1861.50
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redordead wrote:
Can Benoot continue his great season in a strange race like Benelux? Also I think Raileanu has the potential to do better than top 30 in San Sebastian.
Benoot was basically signed with strange races like Benelux and Viana in mind, so let's hope so. Hope you are are more right than me about San Sebastian.
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 17-04-2023 08:56
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11677
Joined: 27-07-2015
PCM$: 1861.50
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A Trip down Memory Lane - Our contribution to Dutch Cycling
Our team was founded in 2017 and joined the Continental Tour of the ManGame. At that time Continental was our secondary sponsor and we enlisted ourselves as Philips - Continental. Since then, the team has transformed and couple of times, having dropped Continental and being just Philips for a couple of seasons. From last season, i.e 2021, we have brought onboard Force India; a name very close to our team founder's heart, as our secondary sponsor and they are now on the verge of completing two seasons with us. It has been an up and down six year journey for us, with Philips as our main sponsor and backing us all the way. Force India will remain as the team's secondary sponsor for next season as well.
Today, on the verge of the Tour de l'Avenir 2022 starting, we feel it is the best time to look back at how we have contributed to Dutch cycling and promoted it's growth by giving a chance to numerous Dutch youngsters to make a name for themselves at the top level.
We started off our journey in 2017. Our first ever Free Agent signing was Dutch all-rounder Jos Van Emden. Our first ever trade was another Dutch all-roudner Albert Timmer, the latter from our friends in Isostar (yes, we have friends in high places ). We strengthened our Dutch core by recruiting Rob Ruijgh and Ronan Van Zandbeek next, both of whom turned out to be excellent additions. Michel Kreder joined us next and was stellar in our first season. Special mention to a certain David Per, who joined us a Level 1 loanee, again from Isotar. He already showed glimpses of the star that he has become today. We rounded out the Dutch signings with Leezer and a Stagiare signing of Lennard Hofstede, our very first talent, so to say. Our season ended in immediate success, as we finished 4th and gained promotion! Marcel Wyss and Michel Kreder were the stars of the team that season.
Kreder finishing 2nd on Stage 3 of the Benelux Challenge. He would finish 3rd in the GC.
2018 was our first PCT adventure. Our Dutch core dwindled a bit with our step up to PCT, as we failed to renew with Kreder and missed out on a couple of our targets, most notably Keizer, with a very late overbid from a rival team. We did make a couple of marquee signings ourselves though, which were our first so to say; Sergio Henao and Lahcen Saber. We did add Te Brake to bolster our sprint squad and Wout Poels as a mountain domestique. We did the bare minimum we wanted to, that is finish safely in mid table, but in was an underwhelming season overall. Henao and Saber did live up their billing though, both scoring more than 600 points.
Te Brake winning Stage 3 of Volta a Portugal.
The fateful year - 2019. We came into this season with the goal of establishing ourselves as a top PCT team. We made our first marquee Dutch signing, that of Wilco Kelderman from PT team Puma - SAP. We followed that up with TT rider Pim Ligthart. Bovenhuis and Wippert joined to strengthen the cobbles and sprint teams, respectively. We made our first ever marquee Dutch talent signings as well; Kevin Inkelaar and Pascal Eenkhoorn. An interesting side-note on this, we signed Eenkhoorn in 2019 but the first time he rode in our colours, besides Avenir, was this season in 2022. He was loaned out for three seasons before that! We rounded out the Dutch signings for this season with a rather expensive FA capture of Havik. So many positives, and yet, we relegated at the end of the season! We never saw that coming. Kelderman did his part, and so did Saber, but we did not have any other notable scorers and finished second to last in the table!
Ligthart on his way to winning Stage 13 of Tour of America
We went back to the CT in 2020 to start afresh. We kept hold of Kelderman and decided to build the team around him. We started off this year by signing another Dutch youngster - Ide Schelling. We signed Tom Dumoulin from Aegon to strengthen our TT department. He did go on to win the Herald Sun Tour. Kelderman himself had three classic wins. We collected the remaining scraps we had left over and signed Van der Sanden on min wage as our lead sprinter. We signed Marten Kooistra as our second ever Dutch Stagiare. There was some emotional aspect to this season as well, as we signed Michel Kreder again, this time from the draft, for one last fling as a top cyclist. We had very fond memories of him riding for us in 2017 even though we couldn't renew him the following season. Havik and Hofstede departed the team in transfers. Once again, we did very well in CT, this time finishing one place higher in 3rd, and missing out on the title by less than 20 points! We were going back to the PCT again. Kelderman was once again our highest scorer, but he still left a lot to be desired. Our real star was Nico Keinath, whose 12 podiums in 48 race days this season is a record which might never be broken by anyone in our team!
Dumoulin on his way to winning Stage 4 of Herald Sun Tour and the GC.
We were back for a second crack in the PCT in 2021. Kelderman would once again lead our charge, but *spoiler alert*, he would do quite poorly! In terms of signings, we made another FA signing of a Dutch youngster in the form of Gijs Leemreize. Inkelaar was loaned out to Isostar and tore up the Tour de France with his attacking prowess! Eenkhoorn too was loaned out to PT to complete his progress, and he had a more solid season. We were struggling in and around the relegation zone for most of the season. It was only the exploits of Pierre Paolo Penasa on the mountains, who often did better than more fancied opponents, that gave us enough points to survive. Tom David and Van Asbroeck also contributed in our survival with Dylan Teuns picking up a very important 9th in the late season Balkans International. Dumoulin was disappointing though. We barely survived, finishing 19th in the process.
Kelderman winning Stage 2 of Tour of Southland.
This season - 2022 - our first order of business was selling Kelderman! We also sold Inkelaar and brought in Ki Ho Choi as part of the same deal to be our team leader. As has become our norm, we started off transfers making yet another Dutch talent signing from the FA, this time it was future puncher Mick Van Dijke. While not Dutch, we did make another shrewd signing, which has turned out to be masterstroke, that of Tiesj Benoot, who has worked wonders in most of his races so far! Schelling and Kooistra went out on loan to complete and further their developments, respectively. Eenkhoorn finally riders for us this season! It's been a much better season than 2021 so far, and we hope we can finish it off strongly.
Right now, we have Eenkhoorn, Dumoulin, Leemreize and Van Dijke as the Dutch riders riding for us, with Schelling and Kooistra out on loan. The above recap is an excellent overview of how we have taken Dutch cycling forward, especially having signed and developed most big name Dutch talents for the past four years or so. Having said this, we believe the time is now right to move on to a different focus next season. Our deal with our new sponsor is already final and we will be bringing you the announcement at a later point this season. In case you want a hint, our transfer dealings this time were a small step towards the direction we are looking to take. We hope the long game will be worth it in the coming years.
Edited by AbhishekLFC on 17-04-2023 09:03
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 17-04-2023 09:16
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3367
Joined: 20-04-2020
PCM$: 425.00
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You've really done some great stuff for Dutch cycling, and as a fellow partly Dutch team, that is great to read. After having kept your team in PCT twice, and being the main point scorer in your CT promotion year, Kelderman has also done quite well at our team with our first ever Grand Tour stage victory 
I'm interested to find out what new direction you will be taking your team, but I assume you won't just drop your Dutch focus in the near future. Looking forward to what your Dutch guys can do for you next season and the season(s) after, and maybe we'll even see more of my or your Dutchies swapping sides at a certain point in the future.
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 17-04-2023 11:36
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 9099
Joined: 13-03-2013
PCM$: 2100.00
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I love how you built the squad with Dutch cycling in mind. Even if you sold some of the big guns like Kelderman and Inkelaar over time, I think you're doing a fantastic job of promoting regional talent and building the identity of the team!
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 17-04-2023 13:23
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World Champion
Posts: 13915
Joined: 05-08-2008
PCM$: 300.00
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Excited to see who the next sponsor will have. And obviously intrigued that some good Dutch talent might be in the market.
A certain team should get a discount on them too for what turned out to be a fantastic deal for you with Benoot
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| knockout |
Posted on 17-04-2023 17:32
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7735
Joined: 21-12-2010
PCM$: 400.00
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You definitely had a pretty cool team build over the years with some self developed dutch talents as well as not-always-as-good-as-hoped Kelderman as the faces of the team. Looking forward to see how you can force your team towards a new focus direction!
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 18-04-2023 08:19
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11677
Joined: 27-07-2015
PCM$: 1861.50
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@Nemo: For now, we are moving away from continuing to develop Dutch cycling with the same fervour as we have for all these years. It's time to look after a new focus region. You are right in assuming that we won't be completely dropping all our Dutch projects that we have taken up so far, but the numbers will likely get reduced.
@Croatia: That was the whole idea from the start and it's good to have achieved it, more or less.
@alexkr: You'll find out about the sponsor soon enough! Some talent might be available, surely. Always open to talk in transfers. Will see what I can do about those discounts
@knockout: Glad that we could carry out our goal of having Dutch leaders and talents in almost every season. Time for a new challenge I guess. Hope the new focus works out in 2-3 years' time at least.
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| redordead |
Posted on 18-04-2023 09:03
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4881
Joined: 18-10-2017
PCM$: 200.00
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I hope the new focus region will bring even more success than the Dutch did
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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| Laurens147 |
Posted on 18-04-2023 10:13
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Protected Rider
Posts: 1123
Joined: 26-04-2020
PCM$: 800.00
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Looking forward to the next chapter for your team
MG - Lotto - Caloi
[MG] New Manager of the Year - PCM.daily Awards 2022
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| KaiserAdler |
Posted on 18-04-2023 11:10
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Domestique
Posts: 570
Joined: 13-07-2022
PCM$: 5800.00
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Curious what direction you’ll take the team. Can’t wait to see the reveal
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 19-04-2023 06:48
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11677
Joined: 27-07-2015
PCM$: 1861.50
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@redordead: Hope you are right
@Laurens: Me too
@KaiserAdler: The reveal will come soon
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 19-04-2023 07:27
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World Champion
Posts: 11395
Joined: 17-12-2014
PCM$: 1020.00
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I know we both love a good dive into team history and really enjoyed this look back at the Dutch era, great write-up! Love to remember things like that Wyss season
Guessing what the next step is I'm very excited for it and looking forward to seeing how it happens
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
5x  x5
2x  x2
2x  x2 |
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| Imladrik |
Posted on 19-04-2023 08:11
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Breakaway Specialist
Posts: 810
Joined: 05-10-2021
PCM$: 600.00
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Yes, very nice piece of history for a new manager like me! And it shows the path to develop a team from nothing, I might need to use that.
Good luck for the end of the season
“...the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to hear again. The ones you can enter anywhere and inhabit comfortably."
A. Roy
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 20-04-2023 11:27
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11677
Joined: 27-07-2015
PCM$: 1861.50
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@jandal: The Wyss year was indeed special, not least because it was our first Had a great time going back and doing this research, so am glad you liked it. Hopefully the transition to the new direction goes well.
@Imladrik: I'm glad that this post will be useful to you and thanks
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 22-04-2023 07:20
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11677
Joined: 27-07-2015
PCM$: 1861.50
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Philadelphia International Championship We didn't come to this race with a lot of expectations. No riders joined the break for us. Minali was not strong enough to be in contention for the sprint. Stoltz finished as our best in 27th. Minali picked up some minor points in 48th.
We had a fantastic start as Penasa stayed with all attackers till the closing kilometers of Stage 1. He couldn't hang on to challenge for the win but finished an excellent 3rd.
Stage 2 went to the breakaway and it was a quiet one for us.
Penasa had a weak Stage 3, losing quite a bit of time to most of the other favourites and dropped to 7th in the GC. Raileanu recovered from a not so good Stage 1 to climb some spots in the GC.
Penasa rode a solid MTT to finish 13th on Stage 4 and maintain his 7th in the GC.
Raileanu joined the break and finished in 3rd on Stage 5. He moved up to 20th in the GC. Penasa stayed with the pack and improved a postion in the GC to finish 6th. We finished 5th in the Teams classification. A decent result for us overall.
Stage 1 was decent for us as Stoltz finished 5th. Van Asbroeck and Benoot limited their losses.
Stage 2 was uneventful as Van Asbroeck refused to sprint.
Stage 3 was a disaster! Benoot and Van Asbroeck lost touch with the lead groups and lost over 2 minutes.
Benoot and Van Asbroeck got back some time on Stage 4 by finishing in the pack behind the peloton.
Stoltz joined the break on Stage 5 but he didn't stay there too long. Van Asbroeck did sprint this time but he finished outside the Top 10. Staying with the lead group meant him and Benoot had moved up to 10th and 11th in the GC.
Van Asbroeck finally did sprint to a decent 6th place on Stage 6. Once again, splits in the pack meant both hm and Benoot further improved in the GC, ending up at 8th and 9th, respectively. This was an excellent salvage job given where we were after Stage 3. We finished 5th in the Team standings.
We sent Raileanu here, so our expectations were muted. Leemreize joined the break but that's about as good as it got for us. We returned empty handed from this race.
Van Asbroeck was dropped early on Stage 1 but made it back. There were no ill effects as he sprinted to 3rd on the stage.
Van Asbroeck was in a good position at the start of the sprint but ran out of steam and finished 9th on Stage 2.
We took the risk of sending Velasco in the break on Stage 3. He won the first KOM, and picked up points elsewhere. He did extremely well to finish 6th, holding off most of the pack. He moved up to 10th in the GC and 3rd in the KOM.
Velasco went in search of More KOM points in the only KOM climb of the day but he attacked too late and couldn't catch up to the earlier break. Van Asbroeck had another sprint, finishing 2nd this time. He moved up to 4th in the Points Standings.
Velasco was now 6th in the GC.
The TT saw an end to Velasco's GC challenge. Dumoulin had a decent stage finishing 6th. He moved up to 15th in the GC. Van Asbroeck was 4th in the Points and Velasco finished 3rd in the KOM.
We had high hoped from Barta after his earlier good showing in California. We did as expected on the Stage 1 TTT, losing less than 2 minutes.
Race was done Stage 2 as Barta finished 58, more than 11 minutes down.
Barta and Henttala joined the break on Stage 3. They finished 8th and 5th on the stage respectively. Henttala finished 10th in the Points. Leemreize finished 10th in the U25s.
Edited by AbhishekLFC on 22-04-2023 07:29
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 23-04-2023 07:18
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11677
Joined: 27-07-2015
PCM$: 1861.50
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We were quite consistent through July and August, which see us in good stead in mid-table. September brings more races, and very important ones at that!
| Rider | Role | | Riccardo Minali | Leader | | Tom Dumoulin | Domestique | | Dan McLay | Leadout | | Joonas Henttala | Domestique | | Yannick Stoltz | Roleur | | Oscar Samuel Galvan Ramirez | Domestique |
We don't expect too much from this, especially after what happened in Philadelphia. Minali is here as our leader with Stoltz hoping to strike lucky. Expectation: Top 30
Watch Out For: Yannick Stoltz
| Rider | Role | | Tiesj Benoot | Leader | | Saya Kuroeda | Co-Leader | | Shiki Kuroeda | Co-Leader | | Clement Champoussin | Domestique | | Gijs Leemreize | Domestique | | Mick Van Dijke | Domestique |
Benoot and the Kuroedas lead us in another cobbled race. We do have high hopes for this, and Benoot has shown he can do well in similar races by winning in Dunkerque. The support team is weak but they won't be needed much. Expectation: Top 10
Watch Out For: Tiesj Benoot
| Rider | Role | | Ki Ho Choi | Leader | | Tom Van Asbroeck | Sprinter | | Pascal Eenkhoorn | Domestique | | Simone Velasco | Domestique | | Jan Xandri | Domestique | | William Barta | Domestique | | Clement Champoussin | Domestique | | Yannick Stoltz | Roleur/Prologue Specilaist |
Perhaps the most important race in the team's history so far. The race we built our team and off-season around this season. Choi leads us here in his last race this year. He is very well supported both on the mountains and the hills. Van Asbroeck is here to challenge on the flats, with Stoltz in support. Speaking of the latter, we are hoping he can make one final splash in the Prologue. Velasco is here for support on the hills and possible (but unlikely) breakaway opportunities. Eenkhoorn will target the U25 classification and will also be the chief domestique to Choi. A good race here will go a long way in our season being classified as a successful one. This race is a win goal for us but a podium is the bare minimum we expect from it. Expectation: Top 3 (Win Goal)
Watch Out For: Pascal Eenkhoorn
| Rider | Role | | Pierre Paolo Penasa | Leader | | Saya Kuroeda | Domestique | | Tom Dumoulin | Time Trialist | | Dan McLay | Sprinter | | Joonas Henttala | Domestique/Time Trialist | | Gijs Leemreize | Domestique | | Mick Van Dijke | Domestique | | Oscar Samuel Galvan Ramirez | Domestique |
This is not a race that suits Penasa too much, with the two long ITTs, but he didn't do too badly last and we are hoping that the mountain stage brings enough gaps with it. Dumoulin is here for the Time Trials, although he has been disappointing once again this season. The team is on the weaker side, with no strong support for our leader. Expectation: Top 20
Watch Out For: Gijs Leemreize
| Rider | Role | | Tiesj Benoot | Leader | | Tom Van Asbroeck | Domestique | | Shiki Kuroeda | Co-Leader/Free Role | | Dan McLay | Domestique | | Yannick Stoltz | Domestique | | Mick Van Dijke | Domestique | | Oscar Samuel Galvan Ramirez | Domestique |
Another important Benoot race for us and this time its a goal race! No Saya Kuroeda this time, as we put all our effort in putting Benoot in the best position to achieve our goals. The support team is a decent one and we hope we can be in contention for the Top 10 spot. Expectation: Top 10 (Top 10 Goal)
Watch Out For: Tiesj Benoot
| Rider | Role | | Tiesj Benoot | Leader | | Cristian Raileanu | Domestique | | Simone Velasco | Domestique | | Gijs Leemreize | Domestique | | Yannick Stoltz | Domestique | | Mick Van Dijke | Domestique | | Oscar Samuel Galvan Ramirez | Domestique |
Benoot, Benoot, everywhere! We round out the month with what has been a successful race for us historically. Benoot drops his cobbles spikes to lead us on the hills of Italy. We have two strong support riders in Raileanu and Velasco here with him, while the rest of the team are not that strong. We still hope for a good result here. Expectation: Top 5
Watch Out For: Cristian Raileanu
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