Our sole classic of the month was another chance to shine for our cobbles superstar Edward Theuns. And the hopes were really, really high, given that there were plenty of hills - including a hilltop finish - and Eddie is the best cobbler-puncheur-sprinter in PCT.
Unsurprisingly, the bookmakers also had him as a Top 3 favourite - so the other teams gave us some responsibility to control the race, and we could unfortunately not send anyone in the morning breakaway.
Eddie felt quite strong during the race, trying some pretty opportunistic attacks once the final 50 kilometers were reached. None of these went really far, but the steady attacking by him and others reduced the size of the pack, first to 28, then to 12 - unfortunately, none of his helpers was able to make the latter cut.
Inside the final 10km, there was another opportunity to attack, when Summerhill accelerated, and Eddie was the only one being able to follow! And under the 5km banner, he made his move:
Edward Theuns hitting the front of the race with just 5km left to ride!
Summerhill was able to rejoin 2km later, with the duo being still 20" clear of the pack. And, as said before, with Eddie being one of the best puncheurs among those left, which mostly were the top cobblers!
However, it looks like he spent too much energy too early in the race. Just one kilometer later, they were caught by the other race favourites - and from there, Eddie stood no chance of getting a top result anymore.
In the end, what looked really promising ended up in a truly disappointing 7th place by Edward Theuns. Truly disappointing because the profile was tailor-made for him, and because he was very strong in that race - but clearly made multiple poor tactical choices.
Edward Theuns ending up on a disappointing 7th place in Dunkerque.
Well, even though the outcome was disappointing, we can't be truly mad. We love Eddie for his attacking style - and it has clearly worked out earlier this year, with wins in Omloop, Le Samyn and Lillestrom. Attacks always have the risk of backfiring, and it clearly did today. Eddie just did too many attacks - but we're sure he'll learn from that, and do a better job in a pretty similar race in Kigali!
By the way, none of our other riders were able to score, with Giorgi Tediashvili narrowly missing out with 28th place.
cunego Indeed, didn't expect to come out of this race with anything positive after the TTT - but Xuban had greater things in mind
Stüssi seems to be doing pretty well in Romandie, hopefully he'll bring that result home. You did fairly well, too, so good job!
Indeed, good luck to both of us for the final Romandie stage and Norway
Home race! Not the "big" one, the Tour de Suisse, which our sponsors want us to win - but the "little sister", the Tour de Romandie - where we did have some actual chances of being successful!
The win looked to be out of reach seeing the startlist, with the likes of Oomen, Choi, Meintjes or Yates making the trip to Switzerland and being backed by a solid TTT team at the least. But a Top 5 looked doable with some good days of racing.
Maybe the most crucial day came right on day one: the TTT! We came second in the opening stage last year - and with our massively strengthened TTT outfit, there could only be one goal: winning the stage!
And guess what? We did! It was pretty close - but we won! Unfortunately, communication wasn't optimal, and so Colin Stüssi ended up in 6th position - and the timekeepers decided that he was 3" behind the rest...
Jura GIANTS overtaking Tafjord on the line, setting the winning time on the opening stage!
It was TTT win #4 this year - in the 4th race where we were the top contenders! Fantastic consistency by our time trial specialists, hats off!
Winning the opening stage obviously also meant taking the first yellow jersey - Krzysztof Marchewka crossed the line first and got to wear it on day 2. Stefan Bissegger took the first white jersey of the race - definitely a great day for him as well!
Day 2 was one of two stages we brought Cees Bol for, trading a chance for some great sprint results for potentially a couple of seconds lost in the TTT. On stage 2, he wasn't able to convince us that we took the right decision, as he - once again - got his positioning very wrong and only was able to sprint to 8th. An awful result given the weak sprinter's field.
There was still some good news on the day - at least for Stefan Bissegger, who took over the yellow jersey! A Swiss rider wearing yellow in Switzerland for a Swiss team - this was once again team history being written!
And by the way, Christoph Janssen got to wear the U25 jersey in Stefan's stead - finally some kind of reward for a rider who contributed to three TTT wins (IoM, ToSA, Romandie) and wasn't rewarded by a single point for that!
Stefan Bissegger in yellow after stage 2!
Stage 3 was the hilly one - and one we had good memories of, given that Colin Stüssi took 3rd place here last year!
This year, he was unfortunately unable to repeat that result; he still finished safely inside the group of favourites, though.
However, given that Meintjes got some bonus seconds, Colin was also unable to take over the yellow jersey from Stefan, and we had to hand it over to Bralirwa. Nothing unexpected, but still a tad disappointing. Colin was still 2nd in the GC going into the revamped stage 4.
Revamped? Not really - just shortened. Instead of ending after the downhill to Les Diablerets, like in the last decade or so, the organizers decided that they wanted to test pure climbing skills and not the downhill capabilities this time. Hence, the finish line was on top of the Col de la Croix. A modification we clearly didn't like at all, given that our chances for a great GC would have been much better with the classic parcours. And maybe also because we had several great results on the previous route in our CT times...
Alas, we had to cope with the Swiss organizers being not very friendly towards us. And Colin Stüssi actually did a good job! He was feeling strong, even leading the chase of some attackers here or there, despite not being among the top climbers. Well, he probably did overextend himself a little, as he was unfortunately unable to keep up with the Top 5 in the end. He finished in 7th place - dropping down to 5th on the GC. He still had a solid 15" margin on the next riders, but we definitely didn't like being at risk of losing out on the Top 5 once again...
On a more positive note, Valentin Darbellay had a good day, taking 16th on the day and moving up to 18th in the GC!
Colin Stüssi ending up 7th, right behind Bennett - a familiar view for those following the Giro...
So, onto stage 5 then. The mountain time trial. The stage where Colin threw a Top 5 and even a potential GC podium out of the window last year. Redemption time!
This didn't hold just for him, though - his teammates did a great job before Colin even started! Stefan Bissegger matched the best time when ending his race - he finished 14th. Stefan Küng also just came short of taking over the hot seat - 11th place for him in the end. Valentin Darbellay was even stronger and cracked the Top 10, finishing 9th on the stage.
And Colin Stüssi? Well, he did far, far better than last year! He finished 13" behind stage winner Powless, which was good enough for 7th on the day. But more importantly, he didn't concede any spot in the GC - the Top 5 was secured!
And it got even better: neither Meintjes nor Penasa were able to match him, losing all of their pre-stage advantage - Colin Stüssi moved up to 3rd in the GC!
What a day it finally was - four in the Top 15, Colin moving up to the podium - and Valentin Darbellay entering the GC Top 15! Wow!
Colin Stüssi on his way to a potential GC podium!
On the final day, our goals were twofold. The main goal obivously was to keep Colin out of trouble, securing that valuable GC podium. But we were also eager to see Cees Bol's real skills, targetting a stage podium.
Well, we miserably failed the latter goal. Cees once again was completely out of position - we have no clue why this keeps happening to a great rouleur, he'll definitely have to improve that in future races. "Fortunately", there was a breakaway win on the final stage anyway, so Bol's failure didn't really matter.
However, we did achieve the big goal - Colin Stüssi took 3rd place in the 2023 Tour de Romandie! Big congratulations to the team who provided great support - first of all in the TTT, but also in the uphill stages. Great job - and another chapter in our team's history book! A podium by a home rider in a home stage race - well done!
Hats off also to Valentin Darbellay, who was often criticized due to a lack of strong results (especially after his complete failure in Hong Kong). Valentin ended the race in a strong 15th place, showing that we shouldn't quite write him off yet.
And kudos also to Stefan Bissegger. As a TT specialist, he definitely proved his versatility by ending up 7th in the U25 standings. It's a race he won't forget anyway, thanks to his stint in yellow! Stefan Küng had a good GC finish, too, taking 36th place - which unfortunately isn't worth any points at C1 level, though.
All in all, it was a race that completely lacked the high-end stage results except for the TTT stage. Which is disappointing mainly for the flat stages; we couldn't expect to be among the top competitors uphill. But thanks to great consistency and another great TTT result, we left with a GC podium, which feels so much better than "just" another good stage result! Well done!
I'll have to catch you previous posts - haven't been here as much as I'd want these months, but great read on the last.
And of course, great to see you having good results on one of the home races, and the TTT choice paying off. An example to follow I think!
“...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
Some flat stages, some hills and a TT - exactly the kind of race we were primarily targetting this year! Besides our usual strong batch of TTers, we also sent Colin Stüssi and Fausto Masnada to Norway, hoping to make the hilly stages hard enough to drop the pure TTers and getting a great GC result.
And then, there was Cees Bol, who's been a reliable scorer in the first couple of months. However, not this month, unfortunately. And he wasn't able to turn things around on the first two days in Norway, either.
On day 1, he tried to overcome his positioning issue by getting right up front - a 1km sprint obviously was too much, and he faded to a miserable 18th place.
This seemed to have crushed his confidence entirely, as he was once again out of position on day 2, as in every single other flat stage this month - 13th place. It's safe to say that he's had an awful month, with every race day spent being wasted.
But when you'd think that it can't get worse, it obviously does. That's called Murphy's Law - fortunately, Mr. Murphy wasn't around during most of the year so far. But he has always been in hilly stage races, be it Hong Kong, Ukraine or even Lithuania (where he luckily disappeared on the final day). And so, the ITT on day 3 was really, really bad. Szymon Rekita was among the worst 79 TTers, and instead of getting a stage Top 5 - like Haugard - he finished 13th. That's not awful yet.
However, Alexys Brunel, who should easily have gotten a Top 15 result, finished all the way down in 36th - losing out to riders up to 4 stat points weaker! Something we haven't really seen this year before... He also was slightly behind Stefan Küng, who also had a pretty disappointing ride.
Things got even worse, though, with Colin Stüssi only finishing 59th - 56 seconds behind some other climber he should actually have beaten that day... Fausto Masnada was another couple of seconds back, although his result was pretty fine for his skillset. Looking at how some just slightly better riders performed, though - a minute ahead - still makes us wonder why none of our riders had it in their legs...
In short, going into the hilly days, the hopes of a decent GC result were basically gone. Everyone lost about 30" too much in the TT, which also showed in the team standings: we brought top TTers with stats of 79-78-77. Which adds up to the exact same number as Los Pollos' and UBS' top riders - but we were a minute behind these two teams... We just have no clue what happened - we can only hope it won't repeat again!
On day 4, we then finally had something to be happy about. Although Fausto Masnada could beat stage winner Jorgenson on a decent day, losing out to Buchmann was kind of expected - and 3rd place on the day a welcome relief. Colin Stüssi finished 4th, right behind him - and both were in a front group of just 11 riders. They moved up to 13th and 14th in the GC, with Fausto now ahead of Colin due to the bonus seconds.
We also had 3 riders in the big group that was half a minute down: Cees Bol, Stefan Küng and Alexys Brunel. The two TTers moved up to 10th and 11th in the GC - making it four riders between 10th and 14th.
Fausto Masnada and Colin Stüssi finishing 3rd and 4th.
With this situation in mind - knowing that we'd likely get at least two in the Top 15 anyway - the only strategy for the final day could be full attack! Küng actually did that last year, winning the final stage. But unfortunately, the riders didn't quite get the message - or nobody was willing to sacrifice his own chances for some teammates getting a great result. Hence, nothing changed about the GC situation on the last day. At least Cees Bol was a bit stronger again, taking 6th place - his best result out of 7 flat-ish stages this month...
Cees Bol sprinting to 6th place on day 5.
So we ended up with Stefan Küng taking the final Top 10 spot in the GC, followed by Alexys Brunel - who finished 2nd in the U25 standings. Fausto Masnada and Colin Stüssi ended up 13th and 14th - with Cees Bol also scoring some GC points for 28th place.
We also won the team standings after a really solid team effort on the final two days - our first special classification win this year!
All in all, it ended up being a very solid race points-wise, thanks to the HC points scale. However, we're still a bit frustrated by the ITT outcome - especially given that Küng and Brunel finished behind both Vangstad and Daniel, who would've been within reach especially for our French youngster. And obviously Stüssi losing a minute to Uwizeyimana in the TT still is inexplicable, but it is what it is. Maybe we were saving our best TT legs for some other races - preferably for goal races!
May Rankings
As we're talking points anyway, let's just take a look at the latest ranking update. And despite the month including many really frustrating stages - especially the flat ones, but also a couple of others - it actually was a great month for us scoring-wise! For the 2nd time this year, we were the top scoring team, which also means we've taken back the division lead!
Pos
Last
Team
Total
RD
PpRD
Proj
1
2
Jura GIANTS
1981
83
23.87
3891
2
1
Fastned
1862
85
21.91
3571
3
3
Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes
1858
78
23.82
3883
4
5
Assa Abloy
1534
64
23.97
3907
5
4
Los Pollos Hermanos
1435
71
20.21
3294
And we're definitely not just there because we've spent more race days than the others - while it's true that we've been among the more active teams in the first 5 months, we also have the 2nd best scoring average per race day so far.
So, do we start believing in a potential promotion? Well, the rankings are looking great for sure. But we also know that most of our potentially high scoring races are done already. Most of the cobbles, most of the TTTs. Besides Kigali, there's no race left where any of our riders will be among the top favourites - and even the remaining C1 stage race with a TTT - Vineyards - probably won't be as good as it may have been without the Deutschland Tour clash.
We currently have a healthy 600 points gap down to 6th place - but we also have quite some races left where we aren't expected to score a lot. Pretty much all June races are in that category, except for Amissa Bongo where we'll hopefully get a good team effort again. So we don't want to draw any early conclusions - the next ranking update will definitely give us a better view of where we're going to end up!
In terms of individual rankings, Edward Theuns still is our clear #1, still sitting in 4th place. However, while he's our clear-cut team leader, we do already have 4 riders above 200 points, and seven riders with 3-digit scoring. The latter is unmatched so far, which clearly shows that we're not just dependent on one rider, but it's the team depth that actually makes our success so far! We'll probably take a deeper look at the current scores and trends during the next month, if we find some time to do so. But we can safely say that most of our team leaders are on track to reach their points target - or have already accomplished it, like Theuns, Masnada or Bol!
If we really want to have a shot at promotion, we need to clearly outscore the pre-season expectations - so far, we're on track, but we need to keep pushing hard!
Imladrik Shifting the focus on TTTs was a long-term project, ever since I signed my now-maxed young TTers. It worked out well in CT last year, and with the added firepower of Bissegger and Brunel it even works in PCT, so that looks to be a worthwile strategy indeed. However, I've heard that the calendar team will cut some of the ITTs/TTTs sadly
Laurens Thanks Indeed, Stüssi has been doing well in the couple of races he did so far, but we'll need him to do the same in the coming months
And Küng obviously is great as well, although I've probably "wasted" many of his RDs in TTT races... Thanks for sending him over
May was a huge month in terms of scoring - June will be a huge month in terms of racing! With 23 (non-wildcard) race days, it's our most busy month (which will be followed by the calmest one).
However, we can unfortunately not expect to get close to last month's scoring efficiency. We'll face really tough competition in every race we're in - so we're just hoping for solid performances throughout the month, plus maybe one or two standout results.
Let's see in more detail what awaits us:
Jun 04 | Pro Hallstatt Classic | HC
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
Fausto Masnada
71
77
76
73
76
75
73
60
63
73
69
71
70
Valentin Darbellay
69
77
71
75
73
75
77
64
67
64
70
67
76
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
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
Looking at the profile and then at our lineup may suggest that this should actually be pretty fine. Well, it wasn't last year. It has never been in this race - not even when Quintana was racing for us. What was most disappointing last year is that Pomoshnikov finished 2nd - and Colin Stüssi, who isn't really worse, didn't even get us a single point...
Still, we send Colin again, hoping he'll make the right split this time. But this time, there's also Fausto Masnada. Weaker on the long climbs, he clearly has more punch - and given that Kinoshita was able to finish inside the Top 10 last year, we hope Fausto will be able to pull off something similar.
The two co-leaders get some additional support from Valentin Darbellay - a diesel climber who doesn't really like the punchy sections, so he's clearly not here for a big result. The rest of the team consist of talents who get to discover the Austrian mountains.
What can we realistically hope for? Well, a Top 15 should actually be doable, and another rider in the points would be nice. If we're lucky with some mid-range attacks, maybe even a Top 10 could be on the table - but we clearly can't expect that to happen.
Expectations: Top 15 Best result so far: 32nd (Colin Stüssi, 2022)
Jun 08 - 14 | Tour de Suisse | PTHC
Profile
Lineup
Rider
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Mauro Schmid
72
74
77
68
71
77
72
69
70
77
76
74
66
Colin Stüssi
71
79
73
75
77
73
78
55
63
66
65
69
69
Dylan Page
75
57
66
60
72
72
75
66
78
79
62
55
59
Valentin Darbellay
69
77
71
75
73
75
77
64
67
64
70
67
76
Manuel Stocker
75
60
65
69
71
73
76
59
76
77
65
65
71
Gergely Szarka
75
62
67
61
72
72
75
60
76
76
64
66
70
Felix Stehli
67
66
69
62
70
69
68
62
69
69
67
69
66
Christoph Janssen
71
63
65
72
68
71
70
55
59
66
64
65
72
Home race #2! This time, it's the "real" one, the Tour de Suisse. It's our win goal, actually. Yeah, we know we won't achieve it - but our sponsors wanted this one, and we wanted to find a suitable stage racer who could at least get a GC podium. Well, we'll very likely miss out.
Sure, Colin Stüssi did a good job in the Giro - and you'd think the competition is highest in a GT, so a good result should be doable in PTHC. But we all know that competition actually is often far tougher in PTHC than in GTs, and that's what we unfortunately have to expect for our home race as well. And we might actually do worse than back in 2021, where we got a 6th place GC finish as a wildcard team...
We don't know all of our opponents yet, but it's safe to say that even a Top 10 GC result will be hard to get. We'll try, for sure - and Valentin Darbellay is here to help Colin as well as he can. And if Colin can actually stay with the best in the only really tough mountain stage, and not lose any time in the hilly stages - he might use his good TT skills to get a strong result indeed.
We're also really looking forward to Mauro Schmid finally resuming (non-wildcard) racing! Sure, one reason for sending him here is to gain experience. But when you look at some of the stages, it's clear that we also send him here to join breakaways and go stage and KoM hunting! Especially the arrivals in Lucerne and Fribourg (S3, S4) could be great for him - or even the flat rated stage 5 to Schwarzenbach with a short bump and an uphill finish. We really hope that he'll at least try something here!
There was a lot of hesitation concerning which sprinter to send here. We finally opted for the home rider, Dylan Page. Bol might have been competitive in some of the hilly rated stages as well, but we finally thought it wouldn't be worth the risk. So we're hoping for Dylan to get us some good stage results as well!
The rest of the team is here for sprint preparation - if we get to do any - and just for experience. You may wonder why we didn't send a team with 8 Swiss riders - well, we just needed Küng's and Bissegger's race days elsewhere, and they wouldn't have been fighting for the ITT stage win anyway.
What to expect here? A GC Top 15 should be doable, Top 10 would be great. Otherwise, we're hoping to join lots of breakaways and to fight for stage results and maybe the KoM. Just be active and show our jersey in our home race - even more so given that neither UBS nor Sauber are present this year!
Expectations: 3x Stage Top 10, GC Top 15 Best result so far:
- Stage: 2nd place (Thomas Boudat, 2021)
- GC: 6th (Fausto Masnada, 2021)
Jun 09 - 13 | La Tropicale Amissa Bongo | C1
Profile
Lineup
Rider
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Cees Bol
76
64
70
67
75
77
81
68
79
77
68
67
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
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
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
Gustas Raugala
69
65
65
68
66
68
63
54
58
64
64
71
69
Despite the Tour de Suisse being our main sponsor goal, our biggest hopes in terms of scoring definitely are in Gabon! Szymon Rekita finished 7th here last year, and should be our highest finisher again. However, competition has gotten bigger with Los Pollos' relegation (and Zmorka and Sütterlin arriving), plus Dunbar getting some training. And other teams also have massively stocked up on TTers.
Furthermore, we just had a massive ITT disappointment in Norway, with none of our riders performing at their highest level. Still, we hope this won't repeat here - and we definitely bring a stacked TT lineup! Stefan Bissegger and Alexys Brunel are also U25 eligible - although we somewhat expect CT's Van Moer popping up to take that jersey...
With Krzysztof Marchewka, we also have a backup option in case one of the Top 3 riders fails - and obviously someone to hopefully take some additional depth points. We even decided to leave Stefan Küng at home, preferring to use his race days on more bumpy profiles.
With our 79-78-78-77 TT lineup, we should theoretically be among the favourites for 2nd place in the team standings (1st should go to Los Pollos' 82-80-78 trio) - but well, we also had one of the best TT lineups in Norway, and we ended up being the 8th "best" team there...
With three flat stages, it's also another potentially big race for Cees Bol - but his May results don't leave us overly optimistic. On the other hand, he's done great before, and it's time for some redemption! And by the way, we actually won this race back in the days where it didn't have any time trials...
A Top 10 in the GC is our expectation here, although Rekita only finished 13th in the Norway ITT. At least he'll have two chances to do well here. Bissegger and Brunel ideally should get a Top 20 and finish high up in the U25 standings, and we'd like to get a podium in the team standings as well. And some nice sprints by Bol, of course!
Expectations: 3x Stage Top 10, GC Top 10 Best result so far:
- Stage: 2x Win (2x Theo Reinhardt, 2020)
- GC: Win (Theo Reinhardt, 2020)
Jun 18 | Frankfurt Eschborn | 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
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
Manuel Stocker
75
60
65
69
71
73
76
59
76
77
65
65
71
Gergely Szarka
75
62
67
61
72
72
75
60
76
76
64
66
70
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
Gustas Raugala
69
65
65
68
66
68
63
54
58
64
64
71
69
When we had picked all the races we wanted to participate in, we still had two open race days. Not wanting any additional C2 races in our schedule, we had to pick a sprinter classic. Well, we went for the least flat one, which is this one.
We do actually have some pretty good memories back from the days where this was a C2 race - but we miserably failed last year when it got promoted to C1. Our designated leader Aregger just wasn't good enough in either sprint or hills to be competitive - something we've tried to improve on this year.
The prototype of a hilly sprinter obviously is Démare. Or Ackermann. Both should be among the favourites if they participate. Our slightly weaker version of a punchy sprinter is Eward Theuns - who already showed his puncheur skills with a 6th place in Wallonie! There will be more sprinters present in the finale of this race, though - but we believe that he doesn't have to fear many of them after a strength-sapping race...
But in case it's really the "pure" sprinters who fight for the win, we also have both Cees Bol and Dylan Page in our lineup. The former should definitely make the cut if the division's top sprinters do, the latter might struggle a bit more. Leadouts Manuel Stocker and Gergely Szarka are also there, just in case they're actually needed for once.
We definitely want to - and have to - improve on last year's disappointing result, with a loanee getting our highest (yet non-scoring) finish. We believe that especially a physically strong rider and strong rouleur like Bol should have his chances here - but we obviously wouldn't mind some more Theuns magic, either...
Expectations: Top 10 Best result so far: 6th (Theo Reinhardt, 2020)
Jun 22 - 28 | Tour of California | HC
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
Dylan Page
75
57
66
60
72
72
75
66
78
79
62
55
59
Valentin Darbellay
69
77
71
75
73
75
77
64
67
64
70
67
76
Manuel Stocker
75
60
65
69
71
73
76
59
76
77
65
65
71
Szymon Rekita
72
58
63
79
70
73
73
62
69
70
63
73
78
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
Another race that got a category change recently - California was C2 last year, when we took 2nd place with Gino Mäder. Now it's HC - and we already know that the startlist will be incredibly stacked in terms of stage racers. We expect all of McNulty, Choi, Reis, Eastman or Ranaweera to be present - all of them great climbers and strong against the clock.
Our answer is Colin Stüssi. Colin is a tad weaker in terms of climbing and TTing than most of them - but he's still rock solid. The hilly stages might look a bit intimidating given his rather average skills on the hills - but Gino was even worse last year and it didn't matter at all. Although stage 7 admittedly looks somewhat scary...
Valentin Darbellay will be here to support him again - the faithful lieutenant in all of Colin's races this month. Otherwise, we don't have any climbing skills, though, so that'll have to be enough!
Like in Tour de Suisse, we decided that just two sprint stages is not enough to send our top sprinter, so our #2 Dylan Page will hopefully represent us well in the sprints. He'll get support from Manuel Stocker if needed.
And then there's Szymon Rekita. Why would we send our top TTer here? Well, because he gets two chances - and we're hoping the likes of Zmorka or Paillot won't be here as well. It's a gamble, and it could go completely wrong - but he could also get two really good stage results. We'll see...
We're definitely hoping for Colin to get a Top 10 here, but that's far from granted despite his good skills against the clock. And some stage success would be great, as we didn't have much of that so far apart from TTTs.
Expectations: 3x Stage Top 10, GC Top 10 Best result so far:
- Stage: 2nd (Grzegorz Stepniak, 2022)
- GC: 2nd (Gino Mäder, 2022)
Whereas we already relied on Colin Stüssi for two races last month, this month he's definitely the rider with the heaviest weight on his shoulders. Hallstatt, Tour de Suisse, California - three races where his performance will be decisive for our scoring. He's been doing well so far, and he's fully on track to reach his target score - but it's only after this month that we'll really see where he's going to end up. If he has three solid races, we're happy. If he does great in one of them, well, even better. But chances are not negligible that he won't score much in all of them, which would definitely hurt our ranking position.
Fortunately, he's not all alone - the TTers have a good share of scoring responsibility as well, and so have the sprinters. Especially Bol just has to get back to his early season form, and we sure hope he will!
But whereas we were hoping to reach roughly a 20 PpRD average in other months - or even more, like in May - we think that 15 PpRD would already be a very good value in June. 10 would be OK-ish, but we sure hope we won't get less!
As always, we'll keep meeting, just not in PTHC! And as always, I think we'll again be fighting for similar positions in most of the races. A lot of Stussi races for you this month, so will be interesting to see if he can keep his form from Romandie going!
Our sole mountain classic of the year - and definitely not one we deliberately picked. We don't have any good memories of this race - at all. Neither Quintana in 2021 nor Stüssi in 2022 - with the race being one category lower this time - were able to get a notable result. Last year, we even ended up with a big fat bagel. Which is great for gourmands, but not for the scoresheet.
This time, we tried again with Colin Stüssi - who was accompanied by Fausto Masnada, who's clearly stronger on the shorter uphills. We felt like this might be the key, also looking at some riders who did well lately.
And it did indeed seem to work out much better; when there were just 22 riders left, both of our leaders still were in the front group! However, they didn't play it too smart. Instead of the weaker puncheur working for the stronger one, i.e. Stüssi for Masnada, it was the other way round. Hence, first Masnada ran out of gas - and then Stüssi himself, who apparently wasn't on a very good day looking at some even weaker puncheurs ahead - had to let go as well. After being the only team with 2 riders in the last 20 riders, it was disappointing to not get anyone close to the Top 10.
But at least both did indeed finish inside the Top 20 - Colin Stüssi took 17th place, Fausto Masnada ended up 18th. We were the only team having two riders in the Top 20, so although the standout result is still lacking from this race, this definitely is encouraging. And given that Higuita finished 2nd, we might give it a try with Schmid next year - if we ever race here again...
Colin Stüssi and Fausto Masnada both in the front group, but not well positioned.
Race Review | La Tropicale Amissa Bongo | C1
Unlike in Austria, we definitely had some big goals for this race - and some great memories as well! Back in the days when it was a sprinters-only race, we won it with sprinter legend Theo Reinhardt (2020). And last year, when it already had its current format, we got a 7th place GC finish by Rekita.
Szymon Rekita again was our team leader - but this time getting some strong backups with Stefan Bissegger, Alexys Brunel and Krzysztof Marchewka. Our B&B duo also were among the top favourites for the white jersey - whereas Rekita was the 5th best TTer on paper, given Dunbar's absence.
And Szymon Rekita pretty much confirmed that standing on day 1, taking 6th place in the prologue. Behind some pure prologue specialists, though, riders he should easily beat in the longer ITT on the final day. Alexys Brunel got a 3" advantage over Stefan Bissegger in the white jersey fight - they finished 11th and 18th respectively - while Krzysztof Marchewka had a rather bad day finishing 29th.
Szymon Rekita on his way to 6th place in the prologue.
Days 2 through 4 then were for the sprinters - and for these stages, we had Cees Bol on board. Having a rough month behind him, he was eager to get his engine going again - but that clearly didn't work out on stage 2. He was perfectly positioned - but decided to launch his sprint from 1.2km out instead of just following some wheels. Well, it obviously didn't work out, and he got an awful 13th place.
Fortunately, he did learn from that mistake - but actually overcompensated on day 3. The slight uphill finish would have perfectly suited his skillset - but instead of launching at the right time, he let Perera get into his way and couldn't find space to overtake. 8th place - at least one point secured.
The 3rd sprint stage then was his best one. He even was in the fight for the win, or at least for the podium - but got narrowly edged out to take 4th place. Still, a satisfying result for Cees Bol, leaving us a bit more hopeful for the few races he still has left.
Cees Bol narrowly missing out on the podium on day 4.
All eyes on the time trialists then on the final day! We still had some good chances to secure at least one Top 10 spot, having 4 riders in the GC game.
Krzysztof Marchewka did a far better job than in the prologue - he ended up 13th on the day. Which was far better than Stefan Bissegger, who unfortunately showed yet another disappointing ITT this year. He only took 20th place on the day, clearly below expectations and his actual skills.
Alexys Brunel didn't do a whole lot better, though, ending up 14th. Both are usually stronger riders than Marchewka, but not on that day.
So, the only one left to deliver a strong performance - and hopefully bringing home a GC Top 10 - was Szymon Rekita. And he did even better than we could have imagined, as he ended up 3rd on the day!
Sadly, there's no picture of him on his way to this awesome result, so let's instead take one of the Polish ITT champion:
Krzysztof Marchewka riding to 13th place in his NC jersey.
So, one strong stage result, three average ones. What did this amount to in the end?
Big news - Szymon Rekita also took 3rd place on GC! Beating the likes of Paillot or Gonzalez Salas could clearly not be expected, so that's a huge performance by our TT leader!
Alexys Brunel may be far more versatile - but one a pan-flat course, he clearly was inferior to Szymon. Still, two pretty decent ITTs got him a 10th place GC finish - and the U25 win!
Surprisingly, our 3rd highest finisher was Krzysztof Marchewka! The Polish ITT NC ended up 13th overall, definitely a great result for him!
On the other hand, Stefan Bissegger just wasn't able to get going in this race. A disappointing 17th place was all he could achieve - at least that was easily enough for 2nd in the U25 standings.
With 4 riders in the GC Top 20, it's obvious that we also did well as a team. We stood no chance against some flying chicken, but we were the "best of the rest", taking 2nd place there as well.
All in all, that's some really good points in a C1 race, and a pretty unexpected GC podium. We happily take these points, knowing that we have two stage races ahead where we'll struggle much more to score well...
Abhi Yeah, at least we got some different PTHC bands Looks like Choi is doing a great job, we'll see if Stüssi can deliver as well! He'll obviously score less, given his skillset, but yeah, Tour de Suisse and California are some important races for him!
Encouraging result in Hallstatt with two in the top-20, but indeed would have been a bit more interesting if one would really sacrifice himself for the other (like perhaps Aular did for Higuita?). Nevertheless, that Bongo result, both depth-wise and Rekita-wise, ensure Jura keeps going strong in the quest for promotion/the title. Just nothing to be done about that winner in Gabon I guess
Home race - the one and only, the legendary Tour de Suisse! And given that the race got demoted to the PTHC category last year, it's now accessible for us without a wildcard - which led to the sponsors declaring this our win goal!
As you all know, we didn't manage to sign a suitable rider to achieve this goal - it's absolutely not meant to discredit Colin Stüssi, who was leading the team once again, but even he knew it would take a miracle to actually win the race. Even a Top 10 wouldn't be easy to achieve - but this was our "internal" goal for the race.
Plus, we had Dylan Page for the sprints - and Mauro Schmid for the action. And Valentin Darbellay to support Colin in the high mountains, with the rest of the team being mainly specialists for flat roads or talents.
Dylan Page had an OK start to the race - for some time, his position looked really great for challenging the stage podium, but it turned out he had his nose in the wind too early and eventually faded to 7th. Not great, not awful - OK, we said it.
Dylan Page unfortunately dropping to 7th in a close finale on day 1.
The next two stages were hilly ones - stages we had marked for Mauro Schmid to launch some fireworks. Well, it turned out he didn't get our message on day 2. Being considered a secondary stage favourite, he even managed to get dropped by the pack at some point! Clearly, there was something very wrong with his attitude.
Instead, Valentin Darbellay had to put in some huge work to avoid a major time loss by Colin Stüssi early on! Fortunately, no time gaps were eventually given - for once, we were on the receiving end of such a controversial decision. But the stage ended up being disappointing nonetheless.
Stage 3 was another uneventful stage, once again with no breakaway participation of our riders. Fortunately, Mauro Schmid decided to change that with 15km to go, on the final KoM sprint of the day!
He quickly took the lead - although he left the KoM points to others - and despite the pack being just 10" behind him for quite some time, he decided to insist instead of getting caught and trying again.
Mauro was eventually caught with about 3km left to ride - but he had just enough power left to still contest the sprint for the stage win! However, he only had enough left in the tank to keep up, not to overtake. So despite all his efforts, and despite him being one of the strongest riders of the day, he only finished 5th... Clearly, he has some strategy lessons left to learn! But we appreciated the effort, active riding is something we always like to see!
Mauro Schmid sprinting to 5th on stage 3.
Stage 4 would have been another great opportunity to build the base for a KoM challenge - unfortunately, none of our riders was even remotely interested in joining a breakaway. So we were riding for Dylan Page again.
But after being rather well positioned, he simply missed the right moment to launch his sprint, and was only able to finish 9th. 7th and 9th in the two sprint stages - definitely not what we were hoping for.
Day 5 then had the potentially most decisive stage of the race, with a long final climb to Sölden. The Tour de Suisse with the most selective stage ending in Austria, well...
It therefore was a major test for Colin Stüssi. But first, we finally got the breakaway attempt we wanted to see all race long, with Mauro Schmid attacking! He won both the intermediate sprint and the KoM, building a great foundation for another try on the final day.
Mauro Schmid winning the KoM sprint Bielerhöhe.
But the break was caught pretty early, and the climbers started to prepare the decisive ascent to the Rettenbachferner. Colin Stüssi decided to tackle the final climb in about 10th position, avoiding any waste of energy due to being in the wind. And when there were just 9 riders left, he was in 9th position...
However, he must have sensed that Madrazo and Cattaneo would be dropped, as he moved right ahead of them just in time. He also moved past Hart to be in 6th position - but the Top 5 were simply stronger than him. Colin Stüssi eventually finished the stage right behind Hart, in 7th place - gapping stronger climbers like Madrazo, Cattaneo, Shikai or Almeida. And stronger TTers like Foss or Powless. 6th place after stage 5 - a fantastic result!
And by the way, Valentin Darbellay had a pretty good day as well, finishing 24th and moving up to 19th on GC!
Colin Stüssi crossing the line in 7th place on day 5.
Stage 6 was a pretty long ITT. Having left all our TT specialists at home, we couldn't expect a strong stage result. Our climbers - both decently skilled against the clock - did an OK job, losing roughly 50 seconds. Valentin Darbellay was 2" faster than Colin Stüssi; whereas the latter lost two spots to Hart and Cattaneo, the former moved past Sicard, Kirsch and Kuss all the way up to 16th! 8th and 16th in GC - a great situation to defend on the final day!
However, stage 7 was not only about defending, we also wanted some more attacks! Mauro Schmid and Valentin Darbellay were attentive during the team briefing, and both joined the massive breakaway group of 27 riders. That group unfortunately included the likes of Foss, Powless, Smith, Conci and other strong climbers - and so the dream of a KoM win was pretty short-lived.
Even more so given that the group was reeled in soon after the first KoM sprint, and only Darbellay being able to join the 2nd wave. With Smith, Powless, Conci and Foss present again, and Zimmermann and Williams having a better day as well, he stood no chance of taking serious KoM points again.
Darbellay was then soon caught by the pack - but so was the entire breakway group, with Shikai setting a horrendous pace in the pack. Colin Stüssi was safely inside the group, with many others dropped - and Valentin Darbellay managed to keep up, too.
With not many other helpers left, Valentin Darbellay then even had to do some chasing work after a Hart attack - thereby dropping the likes of Powless and Conci! Valentin himself ran out of gas soon after, though, with Colin Stüssi then taking matters in his own hands.
But he didn't really insist, not getting much help. Instead, Oomen attacked at the final KoM sprint - and Stüssi joined him alongside just 4 others! The move was unfortunately short-lived, and he missed out on the next one, with Haig, Bernal and Oomen getting clear.
This turned out to be the decisive move for the stage - and GC - win, so unfortunately we once again missed out on a big stage result. Colin Stüssi ended up 9th - but more importantly defended his 8th place in GC! Valentin Darbellay had to pay for his breakaway efforts and pacemaking, finishing 21st. It still was enough to hold onto his 16th place in GC though, which definitely is a fantastic result for him!
Colin Stüssi ends up 9th on the final stage.
So, time to wrap up. We missed out on the sponsor win goal - expectedly. However, we accomplished the "internal" Top 10 goal, thanks to some great consistency by Colin Stüssi! Valentin Darbellay added an unexpected 16th place, which overall is a great team result!
We were unfortunately lacking a 3rd strong climber to also be competitive in the team standings, that's something we'll have to work on in the offseason.
However, whereas the GC result is great, the stage results aren't. We were hoping for a bit more from Dylan Page - but two Top 10 results isn't awful by any means.
On the other hand, Mauro Schmid clearly didn't meet our expectations. He was among the strongest puncheurs, but on the one day he really had his chance, he didn't make the best tactical choices. And otherwise, he was too anonymous. It was an experiment to send him here - a failed one we have to say. Madouas showed that it could've worked - and it's actually not quite understandable that the Frenchman has a lower evaluation and wage than Schmid, but that's another topic...
In terms of overall scoring, we have missed out on our target 20 PpRD, but not by a whole lot. One top stage result instead of a mediocre one, and we'd have been completely happy. Now, we're happy with our GC riders, but not with the stage hunters. Maybe next time? And maybe we can convince the organisers that it's about time to have a TTT in Tour de Suisse again?
Nemo Yep, team strategy isn't our strong point yet. Guess we'll need some more experience first
Tropicale was great for sure, Rekita's podium came unexpected. And losing a TT-heavy race to LPH is just normal. We'll need some more great TTs to really challenge for promotion. The title should definitely be out of reach
red Thanks, it was indeed Hoping he'll beat some 80 TTers in Germany later on as well
After we picked all the races we wanted to attend, we had two race days left. Knowing we don't have a top PCT sprinter, we decided to go for the least flat of all C1 sprinter classics - Frankfurt Eschborn. However, with all the difficulties in the first 2/3 of the race, experience shows that pure sprinters still have their chances. But so do late attackers - which is why we didn't only send our sprinter Cees Bol and Dylan Page - together with a leadout train - but also Edward Theuns. The latter has often proven this year that he likes to ride those late attacks - often being successful doing so.
But first, we had Cedric Bakke Christophersen in the break of the day - for the first time after a pretty long wait. And the break actually looked really promising - but was caught with just above 5km to go.
Cedric Bakke Christophersen (2nd position) riding in the BotD under pouring rain.
Time for late attacks then - but unfortunately, none of our riders joined it. Which is a pity, given that it turned out to be successful - Dzamastagic winning the race ahead of Houle. Especially the latter kind of hurts, given that Edward Theuns is almost an identical rider, but didn't even try... He still finished 21st, though, scoring some minor points.
So it came down to Cees Bol's sprint performance whether our race was still a successful one ore not. Well, given his form lately, you can easily guess that it wasn't a good race for us. Unfortunately, there are absolutely no images of the sprint preparation or the sprint itself available, so we have no clue what went wrong this time - all we know is that he finished in a disappointing 12th place. Gone is his great form of the first months, carrying him to two GT stage wins - he's really, really far away from such a result nowadays.
So it's time to give him a break, after several disappointing races in a row. He'll only return to racing Down Under - more precisely in New Zealand - a continent where he was successful in January. Let's hope he'll find his great sprinting legs again by then. We definitely are in need of some more points scored by him...
Laurens Yeah, definitely can't complain about the GC result. But I'd like to see a stage podium in a PTHC race for once, as it's the only category where we still don't have any this year...
red Well, I won't be picky if he can indeed get a good result again ^^
Last year, this race was in C2, and we took 2nd place with Gino Mäder. The race underwent a profile change and was reverted to the 2021 route, with less mountains and more hills - but the focus stayed the same: strong climbers with decent TT skills should be successful.
So we obviously sent Colin Stüssi, who did a great job earlier this month in our home race Tour de Suisse, plus Valentin Darbellay as his domestique. No other climbers or puncheurs - but given that there were both a prologue and a longer ITT, we also thought it would be a good idea to add Szymon Rekita to our lineup.
It looks like that wasn't the worst idea, as our Polish specialist against the clock finished 4th on day 1, in his weaker discipline. 2 seconds faster and he'd have been 2nd, but alas... Valentin Darbellay also had a good day, finishing 25th. Colin Stüssi doesn't like short TTs - but 67th still was a really bad performance.
But that "really bad performance" was quickly put into perspective on day 2. We don't know what went wrong - but something did go horribly wrong. Not only did Valentin Darbellay miss out on the first group - where several perfectly comparable climbers finished - but even Colin Stüssi somehow missed out! He should definitely have been in that front group, but no - a short moment of inattentiveness, and the entire race basically went down the drain for us on stage 2 already. Probably our most awful day of racing this year, after Ukraine Stage 2 obviously...
Colin Stüssi trying to close the gap to Schelling and Faglum Karlsson, but to no avail according to the officials...
So basically our only chances to still get something out of the race were stage results - breakaways, the ITT, or the bunch sprints. On day 3, none of them. Surprisingly, it even was sprinter Dylan Page how finished first of the team on a hilly-rated stage - 15th place...
The focus then definitely was on Dylan for stages 4 and 5, the two flat ones. On stage 4, he wasn't ideally positioned - and then Afewerki blocked him until it was too late to get past. 8th place - not great, but at least a point.
Dylan Page thwarted on his way up front.
Better luck next time, maybe? Well, Dylan didn't learn much from his stage 4 mistake, taking Afewerki's wheel again. But this time he had clearly enough space - but not the speed it would've taken to win. 5th place is respectable, but we're still waiting for one of his big sprints. Two Top 10s in two attempts are surely nothing to scoff at, though - job done.
Dylan Page finishing just inches behind Losch in 3rd.
On day 6, all eyes on Szymon Rekita and his attempt to finally get us a stage podium. But no... Dillier, who is about as strong, was just too fast on that day - and Szymon also lost out to Politt (again), Powless and Fraile - three riders he usually leaves behind. And Dunbar obviously won the stage - so that was another bad performance by our team, just 6th on the day. We really didn't get much right in this race... Valentin Darbellay on the other hand did another really strong ITT, finishing 18th. Which was almost 20" faster than Colin Stüssi, who just can't manage to get going in flat ITTs, be they short or long... GC-wise, Val was just 14" down on Colin after day 6 - we probably should've gone for the younger on day 2...
And Valentin Darbellay also was the one all eyes were on on the final day, as he joined the breakaway! Exactly according to plan, so that's at least one thing that went in the right direction.
Given his lack of punch, he was unfortunately unable to compete for the big KoM points - with the KoM jersey going to a pure puncheur without any notable climbing skills - but being in the breakaway allowed him to not lose too much time to the top climbers. In fact, he was the best finisher of the BotD, taking 13th place on the day - and also 13th in the GC! As a domestique, that's a great outcome!
Valentin Darbellay in the breakaway on day 7.
But what about Colin Stüssi? Well, nothing worth mentioning, actually... It was a truly dismal and unacceptable stage by him, getting dropped early and losing 2 minutes to lots of far weaker riders. He dropped down to 21st in the GC - on a "normal" day, he might have moved up inside the Top 15...
Despite all his strong rides earlier this year, we have to state that his TTs are generally weak, and especially after this race we definitely think it's possible that Valentin might some day take his place as our top stage racer - despite the latter liking hills even less.
So, what about the points? Well, there aren't too many of them, obviously. In fact, after Ukraine with a ridiculous 4 PpRD, this one was our worst stage race of the year - and the only other one where we finished below 10 PpRD. This can happen, obviously - we were lucky e.g. in Poland to score a bit higher than expected - but this definitely wasn't a race where we expected such a lowlight. Especially given that Stüssi was pretty solid in his previous races. But there wasn't too much missing to get 10 PpRD, either - if for example Rekita had beaten Politt twice, he'd have scored 30+ points instead of just 8. So our idea wasn't bad - but it simply worked for Bralirwa, and it didn't for us. Can happen.
Well, life goes on - and although our PpRD dropped by roughly 1.7 points compared to last month, we survived a rather difficult month pretty well. We got a PpRD of just over 16 - which isn't bad given the two heavily contested mountain stage races we did this month. Will it be enough to hold onto the lead by the end of June? We'll hopefully find out soon, but we have to wait until Dauphiné finishes to get official numbers.
Outside of your team's performance, I kept a bit of an eye on California (since PT races are on break) and as a neutral I didn't enjoy the race that much to be honest.
A lot of racing is already done for us - almost 2/3 - as we were one of the most active teams in the first six months. July now is some kind of cool-down with just 2 races, giving us the opportunity to get back some energy for the decisive final months.
However, although there are just two races for us in July, they will be crucial ones, especially for our TT specialists! Let's take a closer look:
Jul 03 - 06 | Arab Tour | HC
Profile
Lineup
Rider
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Szymon Rekita
72
58
63
79
70
73
73
62
69
70
63
73
78
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
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
Dylan Page
75
57
66
60
72
72
75
66
78
79
62
55
59
Manuel Stocker
75
60
65
69
71
73
76
59
76
77
65
65
71
Gustas Raugala
69
65
65
68
66
68
63
54
58
64
64
71
69
You can easily see that this is one of the biggest races on our calendar - if not the biggest one at all! Three flat stages, plus a 20km ITT deciding the race - that's one for our TT armada!
While we know that we don't have a PCT Top 5 time triallist - and we do expect the 5 80+ riders all to be here - we bring some nice depth that should hopefully be enough to score well. Szymon Rekita has shown last month in Gabon that he can even keep up with and beat some of the top riders on a good day - let's hope he'll get another one of these great days here! A GC result outside the Top 10 would definitely be disappointing.
Stefan Bissegger and Alexys Brunel are among the division's Top 20 TTers, and an outcome in this range is what we expect from both of them. Furthermore, they should be the top contenders for the white jersey - if CT team Gjensidige don't participate, which we'll find out soon. Alexys has clearly been stronger than Stefan so far, maybe it's time for the latter to step up here?
Krzysztof Marchewka is a solid TTer as well, and he's mainly here to have a solid backup option present in case one of the Top 3 has a bad day. He did a great job in Amissa Bongo, even beating Bissegger, so we're definitely glad to have him here! Finally, Christoph Janssen should have a good chance to score his first points of the season here, after having been part of 3 successful TTT outfits without scoring any points.
It's clear that we target the team standings with our great depth lineup - however, winning these won't be possible against LPH this year. 2nd place has to be the goal, though, although we expect a tough fight against UBS.
But let's not forget that we also have three flat stages. They will surely attract tons of top sprinters - our man for the sprints here is Dylan Page. He gets Manuel Stocker as a leadout, with both Bissegger and Brunel being capable first leadout riders in case it's needed.
Expectations: 3x Stage Top 10, GC Top 10, U25 and Team podium Expected points: 120 Best result so far:
- Stage: 9th place (Alfredo Balloni, 2021)
- GC: 11th (Alfredo Balloni, 2021)
Jul 25 - 29 | Tour of Slovenia | PTHC
Profile
Lineup
Rider
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Szymon Rekita
72
58
63
79
70
73
73
62
69
70
63
73
78
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
Krzysztof Marchewka
65
64
60
77
73
75
74
50
52
64
62
65
77
Valentin Darbellay
69
77
71
75
73
75
77
64
67
64
70
67
76
Fausto Masnada
71
77
76
73
76
75
73
60
63
73
69
71
70
Xuban Errazkin
71
74
78
70
76
75
76
64
63
73
69
67
70
Well, well, well... If this was a PCT-only race, we'd really be looking forward to it. And we'd be really motivated, especially given that our sponsors picked this as a Top 5 goal race!
But it is a PTHC race. You may think "only" PTHC, so it can't be that bad?!? The problem is that this PTHC band is a really bad one for PCT teams. It's pretty unbalanced, with 14 PT teams and only 10 from PCT - hence the competition is far, far bigger than in many other PTHC events.
And yes, we do have a strong TTT team, and good individual TTers as well. The lineup is even slightly stronger than the one we had in Copenhagen - Malmö, which was 6th on the entry list (and finished 9th) - the problem is, all 5 teams who were ranked higher there are also present in Slovenia... Hence, a Top 5 even just in the TTT will likely be unrealistic - and probably even more so in the GC.
But let's not give up all hope just yet. Let's rather remember 2021, when Stefan Küng actually finished 5th in this race on a slightly different course. And he'll likely be our top contender this time as well, given his great versatility.
However, at least Alexys Brunel has already shown that he can hold his own on the hills as well, and Stefan Bissegger isn't much worse uphill. In case the race is really unselective on days 3 and 4, Szymon Rekita would be our leader - but we actually do hope the race will be just too hard for him and the plethora of similar TTers we expect to be here. Just not too hard for Küng or Brunel.
In case there will be some bigger gaps on the hills, Fausto Masnada should be a good option - or Valentin Darbellay, if he has enough punch to keep up. Xuban Errazkin was here last year, where he finished 17th after some great rides on the hills. Given what we've seen so far, we don't expect him to be competitive GC-wise, though, as he'll be dropped early in the TTT - but stage hunting should definitely be on the cards!
All in all, we don't really know what to expect. When our sponsors picked this goal, we had the target of getting a top TTer or a stage racer with great TT skills - we got neither. If the race evolves in our favour - which hasn't happened yet in hybrid hills/TT races this year so far, though - it could be a huge race. But it could as well be a huge letdown like in Ukraine. We'll see - in the end, it could be one of those races that decides between a good and a great season...
Expectations: 3x Stage Top 10, GC Top 20 Expected points: 60 Best result so far: n/a
So, only two races. But there's one of them where we really want to - and have to - be successful, at least as a team. The other one is pretty much a wildcard - knowing our PTHC record, we can't expect a lot, but why not making it THE race where everything falls into place?
You may have noticed that we've included expected points in our previews now; experience so far shows that they were rather conservative, and as a result we're far ahead of our "schedule" in terms of points. We think that reaching the target should be possible in both races - with Slovenia having the potential of being a zero-pointer or far above the target.
We'll definitely get a better idea on where our journey might end up after this month, with many teams catching up in terms of race days used - we want to contribute our part to give everyone a good fight for the top spots!
Ranking Update
We'll make a more in-depth update during the month, given that we'll have a lot of spare time between Arab Tour and Slovenia, so here's just the short version.
Most notably: We're still leading the division - and we actually have extended our lead! However, that comes at the prize of spending more race days than other teams; in terms of projected score, we're currently 3rd.
The bare minimum goal of staying up should already be achieved with our current score - especially given that the backmarkers generally seem to score less than last year, where it took 2,000 points. With our current amount of points, we'd have finished 17th in 2022 - so it's rather time to look up!
You may remember that our target score was 2,850 points. We currently have 2,350, so we have to score just 500 more points to reach our goal, in 57 race days. We do think that the last third of the season will be our weakest one, though; our expectations sheet says we should score 800 points in the final four months.
Which means that we're currently 300 points ahead of our schedule. If we can indeed get these 800 points, we'd land at 3,150 - which would have been 6th place last year. So while some already seem to consider us lock for promotion, we're not that sure. But a Top 10 definitely is on the cards - and that would already be a fantastic job by the team!
In the individual rankings, Edward Theuns has lost two further spots, sitting in 6th now - but we don't actually expect him to finish inside the Top 10 with just two cobbled races left. We have no more riders in the Top 30 - but we do have 4 more in the Top 50 with Masnada, Bol, Stüssi and Errazkin. Team depth is definitely our main strength - no other team currently has 5 riders above 200 points (Fastned, LPH, Sony and McCormick have 4), and no other team has 9 riders above 100 points (Lampre have 7).
As we said before, more in-depth analysis will follow during the month (where we will ignore the Arab Tour results, though). We hope you do like numbers as much as we do
red Yeah, I definitely didn't enjoy it a lot given how shitty especially Stüssi's race went. But stages 2 and 7 felt pretty random in general - Ommen missing out on day 2 and Dunbar on the final day are some weird outcomes...
I hope you'll be right with us bouncing back - however, I definitely didn't like to see that there are 14 PT teams in Slovenia Not a good opportunity for PCT teams, not at all ^^
We did a first assessment after the first three months of the year, where things were looking bright for us - and guess what? They still do!
Let's first take a quick look at the PCT standings post June (bar Dauphiné):
Pos
Last
Team
Total
RD
PpRD
Proj
1
1
Jura GIANTS
2350
106
22.17
3614
2
2
Fastned
2178
97
22.45
3659
3
3
Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes
2069
98
21.11
3441
4
5
Los Pollos Hermanos
2020
86
23.49
3829
5
12
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
1847
106
17.42
2839
Indeed, we're still - or rather again - at the top! Whereas we kind of expected to be very high up after the cobbles- and TTT-heavy start of the season, holding onto the lead after almost 2/3 of our season done (other teams are just at the halfway point, though) comes unexpected and is really amazing!
Sure, we are quite a bit lower in PpRD now (22.17, from 25.63 in March), but still being above 20 with far more less perfectly suited races in the second block is a great outcome! From April to June, we still have a PpRD of 19.19 - no surprise, with the block including very competitive HC stage races like Pologne and California, or sprinter classics like Veenendaal, Lisbon and Frankfurt.
So, it currently looks like we're on track for surprise back-to-back promotions - but are we really? We always knew the first three months would suit us best, the second three months weren't bad - but the lowest expected scores mostly are in the last 4 months (or 57 RDs) of the year.
Our expected points spreadsheet had us at 2,050 points by the end of June - so we're 300 points ahead. Knowing that we expected 2,850 points in total - which was considered to be rather optimistic by most competitors - our projections currently see us at 3,150 points at the end of the year. Which would have been 6th place and no direct promotion last year. So if we indeed want to have a shot at automatic promotion, we'll probably have to continue exceeding our own expectations!
We'll speak more about expectations in a moment - but let's first take a look at the current PCT individual standings, or rather: at the points and ranks of our riders:
Pos
Rider
Nat
Team
Total
6
Edward Theuns
BEL
Jura GIANTS
542
35
Fausto Masnada
ITA
Jura GIANTS
269
38
Cees Bol
NED
Jura GIANTS
252
43
Colin Stüssi
SWI
Jura GIANTS
236
46
Xuban Errazkin
ESP
Jura GIANTS
224
79
Alexys Brunel
FRA
Jura GIANTS
140
82
Stefan Kung
SWI
Jura GIANTS
136
88
Szymon Rekita
POL
Jura GIANTS
126
98
Valentin Darbellay
SWI
Jura GIANTS
115
132
Stefan Bissegger
SWI
Jura GIANTS
71
134
Mauro Schmid
SWI
Jura GIANTS
70
146
Krzysztof Marchewka
POL
Jura GIANTS
64
161
Giorgi Tediashvili
GEO
Jura GIANTS
52
232
Dylan Page
SWI
Jura GIANTS
22
251
Hugo Page
FRA
Jura GIANTS
19
365
Felix Stehli
SWI
Jura GIANTS
5
413
Cedric Bakke Christophersen
NOR
Jura GIANTS
2
414
Nejc Kosic
SLO
Jura GIANTS
2
415
Scott Davies
GBR
Jura GIANTS
2
434
Gergely Szarka
HUN
Jura GIANTS
1
482
Manuel Stocker
SWI
Jura GIANTS
0
483
Christoph Janssen
SWI
Jura GIANTS
0
484
Gustas Raugala
LTU
Jura GIANTS
0
As could be fully expected, Edward Theuns still is our clear-cut #1. But summarizing our pretty successful run so far only to his name would definitely not do the team justice at all! Whereas our Belgian super-cobbler contributed 32% to our total score by the end of March, that percentage has dropped a lot - to 23%! Which means that not even a quarter of our points were scored by Eddie - which is not speaking against him at all, as he's still 6th in the individual standings - but it's a clear hint that our true star is the team!
Sure, during the first 5 months we always had more than one rider in the Top 30 - up to 3 in April and May - and Eddie is the only one left there. But we do have 5 riders in the Top 50 - which no other team currently does. No other team even has 5 riders above 200 points, so that's a great display of our team depth.
We also do have 4 more riders in the Top 100, for a total of 9 - and also 9 riders above 100 points. The maximum any other team has is 7. This is surely linked to us having spent more race days than most others - but it's definitely not the only reason.
And you can see from our points distribution which former PCT team was our great example for team building - sure, Cedevita! The Slovenians had 12 riders above 100 points; we currently expect to end up with 11, as Bissegger and Schmid should even get clearly higher. But maybe Marchewka could actually reach that mark as well, so that would make it a full dozen...
At the lower end, we're still left with 3 riders at zero points. Which must be really weird for Janssen, who was part of three winning TTT lineups, but always failed to finish inside the Top 5... Stocker and Raugala weren't expected to score big anyway - some points here or there would obviously still be welcome.
And as we're already looking at certain riders, let's do the full program, and take a look at the individual departments and their members' performance so far!
Climbers & Stage Racers
Rider
Exp.
Act.
PpRD
Proj.
Trend
Colin Stüssi
200
236
7.38
354
Completed
Fausto Masnada
250
269
9.28
464
Completed
Valentin Darbellay
100
115
3.11
171
Completed
Total
550
620
---
989
Completed
Here's clearly one of the main reasons for our great run - the stage racers have been doing far better than expected! All three of them have already achieved their target - and the department is currently projected to outscore the expectations by over 400 points!
Now, were we just overly pessimistic, or are they doing so great? It's probably a mix of both. Sure, we did have great results - Masnada in Pais Vasco, Stüssi in Romandie. But both also had some really bad races - Masnada in Hong Kong, Stüssi in California and Ukraine. None of the trio feels like a clear overperformer (also compared to similarly skilled riders), hence our expectations were probably just too conservative.
On the other hand, we did lower the expected points on purpose, as the numbers we initially came up with would have had us around 3,200 points, which sounded unrealistic... but it may not be that far off our actual outcome in the end.
What's left for them? Slovenia will be a big test for Masnada, who will also do Balkans - both races are potential zero-pointers for him. On the other hand, we expect more from him in Vineyards and Britain.
Stüssi also has Vineyards and Britain, plus Japan. He'll definitely lead us in New Zealand and Japan - and who knows how tough that final ascent will be in Britain...
Darbellay continues to be a valuable domestique, who can score well himself every now or then - Slovenia, Vineyards and Japan is his remaining schedule, plus Milano - Torino.
All in all, we don't expect a similar return in terms of PpRD from the remaining races, but who knows...
Puncheurs
Rider
Exp.
Act.
PpRD
Proj.
Trend
Mauro Schmid
250
70
3.68
162
Off target
Xuban Errazkin
200
224
6.79
326
Completed
Total
450
294
---
488
On target
We're a bit surprised and disappointed by these current numbers. Surprised by how well Errazkin has done so far, despite a big fail in South Africa. But he was lucky in Lithuania - and that 4th place there really is one of the few races we clearly have to speak of being lucky. But we happily take these points - and every point he still scores this year will be a bonus.
The disappointment is mainly about Schmid, though (expect for South Africa, but we've covered that one before). We often compared him to Meurisse, who has an almost identical skillset. And that comparison clearly speaks against Schmid - in plain numbers: 70 vs. 329 points. Which means that the "same" rider has scored 4.5 times as many points for another team, leaving us with some questions.
We clearly did expect Meurisse to outscore Schmid this year, as Schmid has to do races he isn't the perfect fit for - due to experience reasons. And Schmid also has plenty of races left; he hasn't even done half of his RDs. Still, the outcome so far is pretty disappointing. Viana do Castelo was his only good race so far; on the other hand, especially his very passive riding in Tour de Suisse was disappointing.
He won't be a favourite in any race he enters this year - but we definitely want him to step up and take matters in his hands. He's the 2nd best paid rider on the team - and he hasn't done much to justify his payslip so far.
Despite Schmid's weak performance, the department overall is on track to reach the expected 450 points - but it's not a given that Errazkin will be able to keep up his PpRD. So Schmid better gets up to speed to add some good points as well...
Time Trialists
Rider
Exp.
Act.
PpRD
Proj.
Trend
Stefan Bissegger
250
71
2.03
110
Off target
Alexys Brunel
250
140
4.52
248
Off target
Stefan Küng
250
136
3.89
214
Off target
Szymon Rekita
150
126
3.07
200
On target
Krzysztof Marchewka
50
64
1.28
91
Completed
Total
950
537
---
862
Off target
When we posted these expected scores pre-season, there were two reactions: one saying that these numbers are unrealistic, and the other stating that it could be even more. Well, it currently looks like the "unrealistic" side was right.
But there are two reasons to think that they weren't that much off. First, we won a couple of TTTs. Except for Isle of Man (where Stüssi "stole" 20 points from the TTers, by the way), they weren't worth that many points - at least not directly. They definitely did lead to great GC results by stage racers, like Masnada's 2nd place in Pais Vasco, or Stüssi's 3rd place in Romandie. So at least part of their scoring was thanks to the TT department.
Secondly, and probably more importantly: Most of the races done so far were not ITT-heavy (see the first point). Sure, Amissa Bongo is done, and was successful - but Arab Tour, Deutschland Tour, and hopefully also Slovenia, Denmark and Britain, are yet to come. Especially Arab Tour could boost some riders' scores - so the projections might look somewhat differently by the end of July already.
Currently, our established Polish duo have already reached their individual target or are well on track to do so. You may argue that Rekita - being our strongest pure TTer - should have had a higher expected score. But we did expect the more versatile riders to get better results in general, as could be observed in previous years.
Marchewka, on the other hand, spent most of his race days in TTT-heavy stage races, or races with an ITT that wasn't the only relevant stage for the GC. So we couldn't expect really high numbers from him - but he did what we expected, and he did it well.
Brunel and Küng are "orange" in this list, which means they're projected to get at least 80% of the expected points. Brunel is actually projected at 248, which is almost the target value. Küng is projected a little lower - but we know that he can have these "madman" stages from time to time, which could make the difference between a good and a great season.
And then, there's Bissegger - the big question mark for us. He just doesn't manage to get going, always getting beaten by Brunel, sometimes even by Marchewka. We did intend to heavily invest into his further development, potentially training him into a future world-beater. But by now, it looks like Brunel would be the better choice for this plan, despite not being Swiss... But Stefan still has some races to show that it was all just bad luck, and that he's actually better than what his score suggests!
What also has to be noted is that every single rider of the "250 trio" - Bissegger, Brunel, Küng - completely failed in Ukraine, a race that saw many TT specialists doing well. So that's quite a lot of points given away, too - and hopefully the department's only big fail this year. Although we're now really afraid that Denmark could be a similar story...
Overall, we're not exactly on target yet in this department - but we're quite positive that there are enough ITT-heavy races left in the final part of the season to still achieve these pretty ambitious 950 points. If not, it will be compensated by other departments for sure!
Cobblers
Rider
Exp.
Act.
PpRD
Proj.
Trend
Edward Theuns
500
542
22.58
926
Completed
Giorgi Tediashvili
50
52
2.48
106
Completed
Nejc Kosic
20
2
0.09
3
Off target
Total
570
596
---
1,035
Completed
Department number two where there's nothing left to be done in terms of expectations - at least on a team basis! Eddie Theuns has done an amazing job so far, and even though he only has two cobbled classics left and clearly won't keep his PpRD this high, there are some additional "wildcard" races for him that could be quite fun! He'll obviously do Kigali and Rheden, but he'll also be our (hilly) sprinter in Britain, Lugano and Euskal Bizikleta - let's see how many "bonus" points he can get us there!
Tediashvili was mainly targetting C2 races - and although he had a disappointing and inexplicable zero-pointer in Lincoln GP - the race suiting him best, actually - he has achieved the rather ambitious target of 50 points. He'll be even stronger in C2 races next year, having reached his maximum level - if he'll race C2 events at all, that is... His remaining schedule includes the two cobbled races, plus several races where we needed another rider, but don't expect anything but breakaways from him.
Kosic was mainly signed as a support rider, and that's exactly what he's done so far. His cobbles skills allow him to stay with the leader for some time, but his lack of versatility doesn't allow him to compete for some bigger points. He could get some points in Rheden, but otherwise we don't expect much from him anymore.
This is the first year we actually have a cobbles department - and it has been an amazing success! With Eddie starting to decline after this season, we'll have to find a new leader for 2025 at latest, but we're sure we'll find a solution by then. For now, let's enjoy his final couple of races at maximum power!
Sprinters
Rider
Exp.
Act.
PpRD
Proj.
Trend
Cees Bol
200
252
6.81
334
Completed
Dylan Page
75
22
0.73
40
Off target
Manuel Stocker
10
0
0.00
0
Off target
Gergely Szarka
10
1
0.04
1
Off target
Total
295
275
---
375
On target
Cees Bol had a flying start to the year, getting 196 points in Tour Down Under, GORC and Juarez. He only scored 56 points since - meaning his form has dropped in a really concerning way! After a great Giro, he didn't achieve a single podium. And so, despite him having achieved his season goal, we can't really be happy with his current performance. We really hope he gets back up to speed in his last couple of races - Vineyards, Denmark and Lugano. But he might just be a tad too slow to be consistently performing at PCT level - we'll see if we can do something about that.
Dylan Page, on the other hand, didn't have this flying start. He only has five Top 10 results so far, which just isn't enough. He's always had a rather low baseline, but also a couple of really bright moments - we're still waiting and hoping for them to happen this year. With his current performance, he definitely can't expect to suffer the same fate as in the last couple of years - non-renewal. Up to him to prove us that he deserves a new contract!
Stocker and Szarka were intended to be our leadout riders - but so far, our sprinters didn't need (or want) any leadouts. Logically, they can't score some lucky points the dropping leadouts sometimes get - and especially in Stocker's case we'll have to think about whether we really want to have sprint supporters anymore. But in all honesty, we can't really let him go, being the final rider left of our first year team, and having contributed so much to our sprinters' success in the first two years...
All in all, the department should definitely hit the target - but given the sprint randomness this year, we're happy for not having spent a fortune on this department to heavily depend on it.
Talents
Rider
Exp.
Act.
PpRD
Proj.
Trend
Felix Stehli
5
5
0.15
9
Completed
Cedric Bakke
5
2
0.03
3
Off target
Christoph Janssen
10
0
0.00
0
Off target
Hugo Page
5
19
0.31
29
Completed
Scott Davies
5
2
0.05
3
Off target
Gustas Raugala
5
0
0.00
0
Off target
Total
35
28
---
44
On target
The standout result here still is Page's result in Juarez, where he gained enough bonus seconds from a breakaway to finish pretty high up in GC and U25. Otherwise, not much changed since March - only two points by Davies were added in the last three months.
But as said before, let's not forget about Janssen being an important part of several winning TTT lineups - and we sure hope that he'll be able to get some points in Arab Tour this month, he'd deserve them!
The fact is that we only join very, very few breakaways, and therefore the scoring opportunity for these talents are very limited. So if we can expect anything at all from the last four months, then it would be some more aggressivity, to try and get some KoM/U25 points. But any points from these riders are basically a bonus (except for Janssen maybe). Whether we get these 35 points or not doesn't matter a lot - but you still have to set targets, we're not here just for fun!
Summary
Dept.
Exp.
Act.
PpRD
Proj.
Trend
Climbers
550
620
---
989
Completed
Puncheurs
450
294
---
488
On target
TTers
950
537
---
862
Off target
Cobblers
570
596
---
1,035
Completed
Sprinters
295
275
---
375
On target
Talents
35
28
---
44
On target
Total
2,850
2,350
22.17
3,614
On target
All in all, it actually looks like we weren't even overly optimistic when defining these expectations, but rather realistic. Or pessimistic? As previously said, we cut back some of the numbers to come up with these 2,850 points - and we know that with a lot of bad luck, we might not even achieve this number.
But it currently looks more realistic to end up somewhere above 3,000 points, which would definitely be aweseome! The riders have now realized that promotion might actually be on the cards - but will this motivate them or rather impede them?
Despite all the projections and predictions, our strategy is still the same: Take one month after the other, race per race, do as well as we can - and see where that leads us. It has been a good strategy so far - let's go ahead like that until the final race of the year, and then look at the final numbers and the final rank!
It's looking great, yes - but other teams might actually have the better roster for the next couple of months. So let's not look at them, but let's do what we can do!
Things are still looking great for the team to get that automatic promotion spot. Results weren't that great in June, but not that bad also. Let's see what July brings!
It's quite some time ago already that this race finished. We took some time to come up with this review - simply because we first had to digest what happened there.
Being a race decided by an ITT, and being in HC category, this was definitely one of the most important races - if not THE most important race - on our schedule. As a TT-focused team, we had to do well there in order to stay on track for our targets. And well, we didn't really.
But let's start with stage one - which already didn't go well. Dylan Page once again showed that he simply can't deliver in strong PCT fields anymore. Getting wins and podiums for Indosat in recent years, he's even struggling to get Top 10s nowadays - clearly not what we expected from the strongest Swiss sprinter in the pro peloton. On day 1, he even missed out on the sprint, finishing behind the first group, and only in 18th place.
Day 2 wasn't much better, with 14th place - bad positioning, no speed, no points.
And let's just mention the final stage as well - where he got his best result, but 11th place is still outside the Top 10 and also outside the points. Just a disappointing trip to UAE for our 2nd sprinter - clearly we've already started thinking about next year, and Dylan knows he'll have to deliver some clearly stronger results if he wants to have a chance of earning a roster spot for 2024. If a 50k 77 sprinter can win a GT stage, then spending more on a sprinter who can't even get HC Top 10s is just wasted money - and being patriotic isn't really useful there.
But let's leave behind the sprint stages - just for the moment, sadly - and focus on stage 3 - the ITT.
Realistically speaking, we expected Szymon Rekita to finish 6th to 10th, Stefan Bissegger and Alexys Brunel 11th to 19th, and Krzysztof Marchewka 20th to 32nd. And we were obviously hoping for at least one or two to hit the upper end of their bands of expectations.
It turns out, none of them had even just a decent day. Rekita was 9th - 2nd lowest expected position. Marchewka was 30th - 3rd lowest position. But even far worse for Bissegger and Brunel - who took 18th and 19th, the two lowest realistically expectable positions! In general, we haven't been lucky in ITTs so far, often hitting the lower end of expected positions (except for Amissa Bongo), but this clearly was a new low - in on of our key races... Compared to the optimal case, that's almost 70 points lost, just because of being weaker than equally strong riders (on paper)...
At least we got a 1-2 in the U25 standings with Bissegger & Brunel, as well as 3rd place in team standings - although we were rather hoping for 2nd place.
Szymon Rekita on his way to 9th place in the ITT.
But when you think it can't get worse - well, it usually does get worse. Because we completely failed as a team on the final stage. There was a major split - and most of our decent TTers - numbers 2 to 5 (Stefan Bissegger, Alexys Brunel, Krzysztof Marchewka, Christoph Janssen) were in the 2nd group. Losing their GC spots, losing any U25 points. Really frustrating - even Janssen could've won the white jersey, as he was 1" ahead of winner Blum - but none of our 3 young TTers did their job on day 4.
Fortunately, we could still avoid full disaster, with Szymon Rekita making the split. He moved up to 6th place - which was the optimal scenario for him pre-race - so we can't be unhappy with his overall performance.
And we did at least have 2 more riders in the front group, thereby holding onto 3rd place in team standings. Furthermore, Manuel Stocker even scored his first points of the year - given that so many strong TTers thought the final stage would be unimportant, and just didn't care - our only remaining rider from the original 2019 team finished 20th on GC. And basically secured his contract for 2024.
But apart from that, absolutely no depth points. Nada. All of them thrown out of the window for no reason.
We set a target of 120 points for this race - which basically was the bare minimum if everyone finished last inside their "skill groups". We were still slightly higher after stage 3 - our result would've been worth about 145 points. With some luck, we'd even have been able to reach 200 points - even more so if Page had contributed some points from the flat stages.
And now? Well, we ended up below the minimum. Just barely above 100 points, which simply isn't enough if we want to keep the pressure on the other teams high. We definitely can't speak of a disaster here - that's the term teams like Lierse could rightfully use - but still a major disappointment. Even the 120 points wouldn't have made us overly happy - the final outcome even less so.
What this means in the end is taht in order to reach this month's target, we'll have to outperform expectations in Slovenia - where it could be a big task of just achieving the expected 60 points, though. We'll see - our TTers definitely have some reasons to take revenge now, and both Slovenia this month and Germany next month would be great places to do so!
Abhi Well, we paid a price for that "great look", which was spending lots of RDs early on. We've definitely lost some steam lately, and weren't too lucky in California or Arab Tour. We'll need to get back to speed if automatic promotion should be on the table indeed - not impossible, but we still need quite some points to get there!
1 Jour de Dunkerque | 
Edward Theuns. And the hopes were really, really high, given that there were plenty of hills - including a hilltop finish - and Eddie is the best cobbler-puncheur-sprinter in PCT.
Giorgi Tediashvili narrowly missing out with 28th place.
Tour de Romandie | 
Krzysztof Marchewka crossed the line first and got to wear it on day 2. 
Cees Bol for, trading a chance for some great sprint results for potentially a couple of seconds lost in the TTT. On stage 2, he wasn't able to convince us that we took the right decision, as he - once again - got his positioning very wrong and only was able to sprint to 8th. An awful result given the weak sprinter's field.
Love to see it!
Tour of Norway | 
Fausto Masnada to Norway, hoping to make the hilly stages hard enough to drop the pure TTers and getting a great GC result.
Pro Hallstatt Classic | 
La Tropicale Amissa Bongo | 
Theo Reinhardt, 2020)
Tour of California | 
Arab Tour | 
Tour of Slovenia | 
