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Our last event prior to the Giro saw the team tackle England's premier criterium race. Both Mollema and Oss have previous top 10 finishes at the race but were unable to reach the same heights this year, finishing in 13th and 23rd respectively. Peter Sagan continued his dominance in Lincoln, sprinting away to a 3rd consecutive victory.


Ian Boswell went to the year's first grand tour as our GC leader, while Eldir Moreira also returned after two stage wins in a breakout 2018 edition. Haga, Bovenhuis, Koren, Gonçalves, Van der Lijke and Reinders rounded out the squad.

The team got off to a decent start when Moreira achieved a top 10 finish on stage 2. Boswell then worked his way into the GC top 10 ahead of stage 4, where Contador took a commanding lead ahead of the other contenders. Elmar Reinders impressed on stage 5, the young Dutchman narrowly missing out on an upset sprint victory. At the end of the first week, Boswell had dropped to 11th after a tough stage 7 saw him concede over 2'30 to the leading quartet of Aru, Contador, Betancur and Barguil.


Reinders made the podium on stage 5 alongside Demare and Nizzolo

After a quiet stage 8, Jose Gonçalves was part of a successful breakaway - although he couldn't quite finish the job with Zilioli getting Equinor's biggest win to date. As the race moved into the high mountains, Ian began to emerge as a serious threat, attacking several times to put pressure on the competition and move into 7th place overall by the end of stage 12. Perhaps inspired by his team-mate's form, Moreira also tried a few attacks but found the going a bit too tough against the top climbers.


An audacious early attack on stage 11 vaulted Ian into the top 10

We had two goals going into the final week; to win a stage and protect Ian's place on GC. We almost achieved the first on stage 15 when Boswell and Van der Lijke had a numerical advantage in the front group, but Warren Barguil had other ideas. After a strong ITT by Ian, Jose found his way into a strong breakaway group for the third time in the race, but wasn't able to capitalise.


The strong form of Gonçalves continued on stage 17

Opportunities were few and far between after that. A big stage 20 from de Gendt and a poor time-trial from Boswell saw him slip back in the standings too, but he did enough to hold onto 9th place - a decent result for the youngster. Although we didn't score that elusive victory, it was far from the disaster of April. With all 8 riders finishing, the team could walk away with their heads held high.


Our other race for May was in the Russian resort town of Sochi. Both Dumoulin and Gesink were looking to repeat top 10 finishes from last year, but had to begin with a large deficit after a surprisingly bad opening TTT. Tom had his chance for redemption on stage 4, with another suitable time-trial course. He could only manage 2nd place behind Hepburn, but it was the only highlight of another wasted tour where we didn't live up to our own expectations.

No doubt about it now - June was going to be a big month if we wanted to stay in the World Tour for 2020. The upcoming triple-header should at least provide a chance to get back on the winners' list.

There was some good news for the team heading into June - we couldn't perform as badly as last year again. Right?


Our team in Germany were the first to begin, with Moreira, Slagter and Oss all hoping to reverse the team's fortunes. After two quiet days, it was Tan Peng who decided to take the race on to great success. His involvement in the break was exactly what we needed to spark the team into action, and by picking up some bonus seconds he moved into the top 10 overall. He also earned the right to wear the mountains jersey on loan from Ludovic Provost.


Tan Peng's stage 3 attack proved successful for the team

It was Eldir Moreira's turn next, as he finished 7th on stage 4 to sit behind only race leader Mohoric in the youth standings. He would maintain his top 10 place until the penultimate stage, eventually finishing the race in a respectable 14th position as the third best young rider behind Mohoric and Herklotz.


Beñat Intxausti was our big hope for the Vuelta a Guatemala, with the former 4th place-getter set to lead the team in one of his final World Tour races. We had to wait until stage 4 for a good result, as Dylan van Baarle appeared to rediscover some of his time-trialing form by finishing 3rd on the stage. While the cycling world was still mesmerised by the Quintana-Nibali battle on stage 5, Chad Haga tried to salvage something from our tour on the final day.


Chad leads a breakaway group on stage 6 in Guatemala

It was a smart attack with all the leaders still fatigued, but he was beaten in the final sprint and had to settle for 5th on the finish line. Beñat farewelled Central America with a 21st placing overall.


The final leg of the World Tour's infamous triple-header saw Boswell lead a squad into Japan where Chris Froome would attempt to relive his past glories. The opening day's time-trial was nothing remarkable, but on stage 2 it finally happened...

...WE WON AGAIN! Ramon Sinkeldam was one of the few sprinters in this race and although not the greatest climber, he survived to the end to raise him arms in victory.


Ramon scores one of the year's most emotional wins.

Boswell then took his opportunity on the final mountain stage, attacking to climb into the top ten overall. But with a good finish almost guaranteed, a badly-timed mechanical saw him relinquish 10th position to finish in a disappointing 19th. Nonetheless, it was hard to view this tour as anything but a success given our recent struggles.


Sinkeldam would be back in action once more before the end of the month in Switzerland, where Koen Bekker would get to test his skills as our top climber. With most of our top riders resting, it was no surprise that the first 3 days produced little of note. All of which made Sinkeldam's second stage victory in as many weeks the sweeter. Sadly, there was a power blackout near the end of stage 4 which means we don't have a photo from the finish line to show. The cameras did however capture Tan Peng's time in the break the next day.


Peng shows off the team colours on stage 5

After that, there wasn't much to write home about. A punishing last day featuring three HC climbs took its toll on a tired peloton with Schoonbroodt among several riders to finish outside the time limit. With a high overall finish out of the question, Bekker took the opportunity to score some bonus points throughout the stage. Koen's final position overall was less than half-an-hour behind race winner Froome, a good sign of the 24-year old's improvement over the past few seasons.

July was a big month for the team in more ways than one. There were many ups and downs, with tears and triumph coming both on and off the road. It all began in Eritrea with the Asmara Cup, with the Tour de France starting later on the same day.


This hasn't been our favourite race in the past, but we were pleasantly surprised to get a top 10 finish. We had four riders survive in the elite group up to the finish, where Moreira used the two late hill climbs to launch himself into contention. He eventually secured 7th place ahead of such names as Sagan, Lutsenko and Pinot as Michał Kwiatkowski got another 2019 race win.


Eldir Moreira's 7th was our best ever result in Eritrea


With two stage wins coming from our team last year, we entered 'Le Grand Boucle' with high hopes to resurrect our season. The opening few days were marred by crashes and even a day 1 abandonment as Marcel Kittel claimed the maillot jaune and refused to let it go. Gesink and Markus both came off the bike on stage 2 and required some medical treatment, but were passed fit by the team doctors to continue. Two days later there was extra reason to celebrate the 4th of July for Chad Haga, as we took an early lead of the teams classification.

That was a fleeting lead unfortunately. Stage 5 saw our co-leader Gesink lose even more time, with the team shifting focus to fully support Intxausti's GC hopes. It was stage 6 where things finally began turning in our favour when Tom-Jelte Slagter achieved a 5th place finish behind another Kittel sprint victory. Just as things were beginning to look up, we woke up to some shocking news the next morning. TVM - our major sponsor for the team's first 5 years in existence - had announced overnight that they would not continue funding the team into 2020.

The riders were understandably distracted and it showed, with all except sprinter Barry Markus caught behind a split in the peloton following more crashes on the cobbles. With morale at an all-time-low and riders unable to get into any breakaways, stage 9's TTT shaped as a potential disaster. What followed was one of our bravest performances of the year. The team persisted through after dropping Markus early in the stage, with an injured Gesink combining with van Baarle and Slagter to earn a remarkable 2nd place finish on the stage. It was enough to push both Jasper and Beñat into the top 10 in GC.


Our persistence was rewarded on stage 9, finishing in 2nd

Now out of the GC contention, Gesink took the chance to attack on stage 11 for some mountain points as part of a three-man breakway. He started off well, but was unable to keep up with the younger Beckeringh and Peiffer. Stage 14 was the next eventful stage for us, with Slagter getting into a breakaway on Bastille Day. It was worse news for the rest of the team however, with Beñat suffering a crash on a downhill section. He tried to keep going, but a dislocated shoulder forced him to retire from the race.


A sad end to Intxausti's final Tour

Slagter fought on and finished 2nd on the day, while Gesink stepped in to protect our new leader Bovenhuis' place in the top 10. Tom-Jelte tried again on stage 15, but was once again denied by his fellow breakaway specialist Cattaneo. This time however, Jasper managed to move up into 9th and with Gesink by his side we took the lead in the teams classification back.

With Slagter also back in the KOM race, the next three mountain stages presented an opportunity that he couldn't resist. Unfortunately, points leader Cattaneo had the same idea and so did the much fresher Beckeringh. The weaker numbers and tired legs finally took their toll on our team as we dropped the teams lead, but Jasper was still able to maintain his position in 9th. Until... the inevitable crash.


Bovenhuis chasing to get back his position back on stage 19

With limited support left, Jasper fell back to 12th with just one more day before Paris. There was only one option left: all-out attack.


Jasper attacks the remnants of the breakaway

It proved to be a masterstroke. With less than 1500 metres left and only stage winner Herrada in front, the result was clear. Bovenhuis had done enough to regain 9th position on his final opportunity. After such a dramatic tour it was a relief that we would manage to come away with at least one genuine positive from the race.

With one GT and two focus races remaining in the upcoming months, the fight was not over yet. We also needed to impress potential sponsors for next year. At least our spot in the World Tour was beginning to look safer with a lot of race days for Mollema, Dumoulin and Moreira still to come.

August began at home with what is undoubtedly the tour's flattest stage race. As has been the case in recent years, we didn't have a major hope for the race but had entered to represent our local sponsors and supporters. Peng got in the break on stage 1 but nothing much else happened here for us. Bryan Coquard stormed home to win the race for the third time in the ICL years.


Tan Peng showing off our colours on home soil



A team featuring a mix of time-trial and flatlands specialists would be next up in our annual trip to the North. Both Dumoulin and van Baarle were looking to repeat past successes, and with not as much emphasis on cobbles this season we considered them an outside chance to claim victory.

The first two days were largely uneventful, except for Lindeman picking up a lot of mountain points as he led the peloton in a defensive role. Stage 3 was less enjoyable as the race's best climbers took their chance to put large time gaps on the rest of the field. Tom was our best performer but he still conceded over 4 minutes to Mohoric in 1st. The stage 5 time-trial was not enough to close the gap, although his 4th place finish moved him into 8th overall.

With our hopes of a top result fading, Schoonbroodt went into the break on stage 6. It was a good move, and a strong group that included Fabian Cancellara would survive to the end on the cobbles. Micky Schär got the win but Bob's 3rd place was our best result so far.


Schoonbroodt after doing a turn at the front for the break.

Dumoulin did better on the penultimate day's hills than earlier in the race, finishing in 4th and moving up past Taylor Phinney in the overall standings. The final day's short time-trial would see both Dylan and Tom finish well, but Tom slipped back to 8th once again. Not a bad tour, but definitely not meeting our high expectations as a World Tour team in a Continental race.


The first of two one-day races which ran concurrently with the ToNE, Ian Boswell was our main hope for a high finish. With limited support coming from his team (Intxausti made his return after the TdF accident), it was quite a decent effort from the American who finished 15th, under a minute behind race winner Warren Barguil.



One of the newer races on the ICL calendar, we had hoped that some of the top stars may not be present in Costa Rica. With a startlist including Wackermann, Urán, Moser and eventual winner Enrico Battaglin, it was quite a good result for Elmar Reinders to secure 18th place. Kudos also to Koen Bekker, who was backing up from being a domestique two days earlier in France.



We remained in the Americas for our next race, with the one-time World Tour event having been a happy hunting ground for the team in past years (except 2018). Early signs for this year were not promising either, with Van der Lijke being forced to abandon the race and our two best-placed riders already a minute behind the leaders after stage 2 of 7. It only got worse when Tan Peng missed the time cut the next day, reducing our squad to jut 5 riders for the remainder of the tour. This 'Challenge' was certainly living up to its name.

Chad Haga tried to save our trip by getting into breakaways on stage 5 & 6, which at least meant that the commentators must have noticed we were in the race. But it was the final day where we finally looked like getting a result with Gonçalves' breakaway group surviving to the finish line. A 3rd place finish hadn't felt so good all year, while Shafeeq won the peloton sprint for 7th on the stage - a great reward for the young sprinter surviving through the mountains.


Haga gave everything he had on stage 6 but it wasn't enough



Speaking of sprinters, the world's best converged on Hamburg for the annual Cyclassics event earlier on the same day. Arnaud Demare's hopes for a hat-trick of wins were dashed by a late attack from Taylor Phinney, the American catching the sprint trains unaware in the final kilometres. Barry Markus never really threatened the winner, finishing in 33rd.



Our August would end in the Benelux region, with the team still staring down the prospect of going winless for yet another month this year. With potential sponsors watching on, this was a crucial time for the team to get some results and the team's hopes were largely thought to rest with Dumoulin, Oss and Markus.

Dumoulin's opening day prologue netted him 5th place, which he then improved to 4th on stage 2 as Markus failed to capitalise on a great lead-out from Daniel Oss. Barry was much better on stage 3, only beaten to the line by Alaphilippe and Adrien Petit in a tight finish.


Markus falls just short at the finish of stage 3

He was also third-best in the peloton on stage 4, except this time Sep Vanmarcke and new race leader Florian Senechal had jumped away on the cobbles to take the first two placings. With breakaway groups taking the next two stages, Dumoulin remained in 5th and despite Barry's best efforts, we were still without that elusive victory with one day to go. Could we do it?

Sadly, no. There continued to be no co-operation from within the peloton and with the whole team staying back to help Tom and Barry, we were again denied the chance of success. Tom's 5th place was a respectable result, particularly given his relative discomfort on the cobbles compared to the other top finishers. Lindeman and Markus also scored top 20 finishes but the team were getting restless with their efforts going unrewarded yet again. The Vuelta (and Mollema's return) could not come soon enough.

Here it was. Our time to either put up or shut up. La Vuelta could be the difference between our existence for next season or becoming yet another team in the ICL to fold.



It was a top team sent for the race, with 2015 GC winner Bauke Mollema, Tom Dumoulin, Eldir Moreira and Beñat Intxausti all in attendance. They would be supported by Robert Gesink, Koen Bekker, Jetse Bol and sprinter Elmar Reinders. Also on the starting line were last year's winner Jesús Herrada, other contenders including Vincenzo Nibali, Rigoberto Urán, Thibaut Pinot and Tejay Van Garderen, and sprint stars Bryan Coquard, Michael Matthews and Caleb Ewan.

Stage 1 was won by Ewan, but Jetse Bol got in the breakaway as an early signal of our intent to excite the race. Elmar Reinders almost caused a huge upset on stage 2, pushing both Coquard an Ewan hard to the line as he finished 3rd in a photo finish.


Elmar tried to upstage the favourites on stage 2

On stage 3, last year's champ showed that he was just as dangerous in 2019, taking a commanding victory. Herrada, Nibali and Urán put a gap of almost 3 minutes into all of their rivals after Diego Rosa tore the peloton apart. Stage 5 was another good one for Reinders who finished 5th, but sadly the TTT was not long enough for us to have any real impact on the overall standings. By the end of the first week, Mollema was 6 minutes behind the maillot rojo and any slim GC hopes he might have held were now out of the question.

He would bounce back on stage 8, attacking in the closing kilometres with Dan Martin and Van Garderen to claw his way back into the top 10 with a 2nd place on the stage. Our fortunes continued to improve the next day with Intxausti scoring some mountain points in the break, while Mollema recovered from a crash also involving Herrada and Majka to move up to 7th. It seemed that Bauke was coming into form but that wasn't enough to maintain his place as the pure climbers hit back on stage 10.


Bauke was runner-up to Martin on stage 8

Intxausti's third consecutive day in the break saw him continue to move up in the mountain ranks on stage 11, but the main drama was elsewhere. Vincenzo Nibali was caught behind following a crash, but the race leader would be quickly helped back by a strong Italo team. Robert Gesink was less fortunate, picking up some minor injuries as he finished last on the stage. The next few days were similar for us, with Intxausti continuing to attack at every opportunity, Mollema staying with the favourites group and Robert struggling at the back. Bauke would lose his top 10 sport on stage 15, as the Nibali-Herrada battle continued to take its toll. Over 20 riders finished outside the time limit, but Gesink amazingly managed to get home in time.


Intxausti in his umpteenth breakaway move on stage 15

As we've become accustomed to over the past few years, Bauke would not go down that easily. A fantastic ride on stage 16 saw him climb up to 8th position, finishing behind only two riders - the new race leader Herrada and stage winner Merhawi Kudus - and alongside Nibali and Majka. With the race entering its' closing stages, our forgotten man of the tour finally decided to make himself known. While Polestar's De Marchi would win the next stage, Eldir Moreira had a good day out to come in 4th and with Reinders sprinting well we had two riders in the day's top 10.


Moreira makes his move in the third week

With just three days to go before Madrid, we received a double dose of good news. While off-road there were rumours of a new Middle-Eastern sponsor in talks with management, Bauke Mollema moved into 6th place after Domont and Geoghegan Hart both lost time. Stage 19 saw a reversal of the previous day's results, although Mollema remained in front of Geoghegan Hart in 7th leading into the time-trial. Bauke would drop back to 8th after Thibaut Pinot jumped ahead on GC, but our big hope for the day was Tom Dumoulin.


Tom wearing the national colours in the ITT

He put in a tremendous effort to take pole position, 44 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor with only the top two to come. Nibali needed to gain 1 second on Herrada to take the race lead and he was at his absolute best this day. Not only did he take 54 off Herrada, he beat Tom's time by 10 seconds to claim the stage and the leader's jersey. The final stage is normally a procession for the sprinters, but after a long tour and an uphill finish we had other ideas.

With the sprint trains ready to come together, Mollema attacked hard and broke clear! Could he hold on until the line? The sprinters couldn't close the gap, but Urán and Silvestre were finishing fast...


Victory at last for Bauke!

Yes he did! Yet another tour where we had saved our best until last. With the bonus time for winning the stage, Mollema yo-yo'd back up to 7th, about as good a result as we could reasonably have expected from the veteran in the GC standings.



While the Vuelta was just beginning, another important race in our team's history was taking place - the Cigar City Classic. Looking to light up the race for his third win was Bert-Jan Lindeman, the champion in the first two editions in 2016 & 2017. He was on fire again (ok that's enough puns), making the select group for the finish before being outdone by Jasper Stuyven. His 3rd place now means his results at the race read as follows: 4 starts in 4 editions, 4 top 10s, 3 podiums, 2 wins.


It was close but no cigar for a 3rd Lindeman win in Tampa



Towards the end of the Vuelta, there was another World Tour race beginning in the Czech Republic. Nick Van der Lijke won the first stage of this race in the ICL years way back in 2014, and would look to mark that 5th anniversary with some more success. Ian Boswell also finished 4th last year and would be returning to lead our team.

Nairo Quintana took the race lead on stage 2, with Ian one of several competitors less than a minute behind. Disaster struck for some of the top names on stage 3, with Slagter, Quintana, most of CarbonSports and many other top competitors caught up in a crash. In spite of their efforts, none were able to rejoin the peloton which presented the riders in the break with a great opportunity. Our man Shahrizal Shafeeq didn't need to be asked twice. He pushed past his fellow competitors and took the win by a comfortable 21 seconds over the other sprinters.


A breakthrough win for Malaysian young gun Shafeeq

With the team's first win of the month secured, pressure was off the team for the remaining three days as we tried to get a good GC result for Ian. Stage 4 saw Barry Markus again get within touching distance of victory only to be denied, this time by Marco Haller as most sprinters fell short on the final hill. The penultimate stage presented the bizarre circumstance of Nairo Quintana attacking from out of the peloton on a mostly flat stage, only to be caught before a sprint finish ensued. Boswell kept near the front to secure his spot in 6th heading into the final stage.


Boswell (right) tries his luck in a sprint

Stage 6 saw Quintana go again, this time successfully to walk away with the final stage. Ian finished 4th on the stage, which would also be his final position overall. This was a brilliant result for the team to be leaving with a stage win for one of our future stars and a top 5 finish to match last year's.



Markus returned for another attempt at the sprinters crown, this time joined by Ramon Sinkeldam after his two victories earlier in the year.

Sinkeldam's 3rd place in his heat was not enough to progress, but Markus his 1st round heat and eliminated the more highly-fancied Michael Matthews. He would also progress through the round of 32 ahead of Arnaud Demare and Leigh Howard, achieving his best ever result in Quebec. Barry's run ended at the quarterfinals, but =13th was more than acceptable for us.



Perhaps the most unique race in the ICL, we returned to Virginia with our two big hopes again being Dylan and Tom. For the TTT, they would be joined by Jetse Bol, Kristjan Koren and Jos Van Emden.

The prologue saw Bob Jungels take the race lead, 7 seconds ahead of Dumoulin while van Baarle was 20 seconds back. Tejay Van Garderen took the lead after the loenghty stage 2, with Tom now requiring a good team effort on stage 3 to retain his 5th placing. Despite our team not being at its' strongest, we expected much better than 17th. An excellent performance on the cobbles and hills of stage 4 saw Dumoulin finish 3rd on the day and regain 5th spot, with Luke Durbridge winning the overall title. We were left wondering "what if" as a stronger team performance could easily have given Tom a 2nd place finish instead.


It was a good month altogether, certainly when contrasted with the earlier part of our year. 2 wins, some career best results and the team continuing to show their fighting spirit was just what we needed heading into the end of 2019.