We didn't have a sprinter for Stage 1.

Both Carboni and Kozhatayev finished in the lead group after some late chasing on Stage 2, to give a decent outcome without any stage result.

Another sprint on Stage 3 meant nothing for us.

We had four riders finish in the second group behind the stage winners on Stage 4, to keep both Carboni and Kozhatayev inside the Top 20 in the GC.

Stage 5 was the best for us of the race, as both Carboni and Kozhatayev resisted the urge to attack, sticking with the leading group till the finish. Carboni finished 8th on the day, moving up to 10th in the GC. Kozhatayev moved up to 13th.

Another flat Stage 6 and our only goal was get our leaders to the line safely, which we did. Carboni kept his 10th spot in the GC, for another good result from him. Kozhatayev lost a spot on countback to be 14th. Leemreize finished 5th in the U25s with us picking up 3rd in the Teams classification.

Vesely flopped on both the flat Stage 1 and Stage 2.

The hilly Stage 3 played into our favour as Jungels stayed in the larger group behind the stage winners from a late attack. In total, seven of our riders made it into that group while a number of the top TT riders were dropped.

Vesely failed once again on the flat Stage 4.

Jungels didn't have the best Stage 5, but 11th on the day was still enough to get him 7th in the GC. Tim Van Dijke was 20th, with Choon Huat Goh in 26th. The former also finished 2nd in the U25s. We finished 9th in the Teams.

Daniel failed on Stage 1 here as well.

He did make up for it on Stage 2 though, finishing 2nd after just being overtaken in the closing meters before the line.

He wasn't that good in Stage 3, but still delivered 8th.

Vesely finished 7th in the GC and the Points. Hayter finished 51st, Alben was 58th, Havik 75th and Mick Van Dijke 77th in the GC. Hayter was 6th in the U25s with Alben in 8th.

This was Alben's first ever points, and this meant that India had scored their first ever points in the history of the MG!

Very poor strategy from the team saw Saya joining the break and Ringheim then trying an attack from (a long) distance! Safe to say, both were not in contention at the front when it came to the business end. Shiki finished 13th with Ringheim in 23rd as our scorers.

Benoot returns to racing after a long break. This race will likely be a very important one for us in terms of the promotion and it is also our third goal race of the season. We hope Benoot comes back refreshed from the break, because we'll a hell of a lot more output than he produced in the first half of the season. The support staff is decent, but nothing special. Hopefully that's enough.

The only cobbles race all season where both Benoot and Ringheim participate for us! We have put most of our eggs in this basket of the clash, expecting this to be a much better suited race to our setup. Benoot did well in similar races last season, and we're hoping he can find that form again. Ringheim is here either to support Benoot, or ride his own race on the cobbles, depending on the situation.

Probably the first time ever that the Kuroedas will be in sole (joint) leadership in a cobbled race for us! This is a huge opportunity for them to make themselves famous in our promotion push. We do not realistically think something like that will happen but now is as good a time as any to spring a huge surprise!

Benoot leads one more time to close out the month. We have higher hopes from this race, with our record also good here in the past years. Every race is important in this part of the season, and this is no different.

redordead wrote:

Nice from Vesely in Ras. Now or never time for Benoot to score some meaningful points!

Benoot was among the first attackers on Stage 1 from the favourites but it would not last and he was dropped in the final kilometer.

Ocampo joined the break on Stage 2 but couldn't get any points. Flat stage meant a quiet day for us.

Van Dijke did a lot of good work chasing down the break and attackers on Stage 3, but Benoot could not take advantage.

Van Dijke joined the break on Stage 4, but he too could not pick up any points on the day.

Stage 5 was another flat stage, so nothing for us.

Shirota joined the break on Stage 6. He did take some KOM points but it was not enough to get him into the Top 8 of the classification. Benoot had his worst day yet, being dropped from the lead group with less than 2 km to go.

This was a Top 10 goal race for us but we failed to get close from the start. Benoot finished 17th in the GC, with Leemreize in 49th, Goh 50th, Tratnik 63rd, Shirota 77th and Mick Van Dijke 92nd.

Benoot and Ringheim stayed safely in the pack when the early attacks happened, and were eventually caught. After the decisive move involving two riders, Benoot was in the chase group of two, with Ringheim still in the pack behind. Benoot would catch up with the one of the leaders but couldn't hang on and settled for 3rd, which was the best case scenario for us in this race! Ringheim finished 18th and Kozhatayev was 43rd.

Saya Kuroeda attacked from distance with almost 80 km to go. That move did not survive and he was dropped. Shiki Kuroeda finished in the second group, and in 35th as our only points scorer.

We were on chasing duties for Benoot in this race. A reduced bunch of 23 reached the finishing climb with Benoot well positioned. He finished 4th in the uphill drag, a decent result for us. Kozhatayev finished 17th.

Choi's last race of the season, is the first of our two home races this month. We have big expectations from this one, and we must get a good result and return from this race to have any chance of making a last push up the standings. A very strong support team will accompany our leader and we hope that severs us well.

After a better set of classics in September, Benoot is back in Canada for the first of three hilly races where he will lead the team to close out the season. This race probably suits him the best of what's left, so we hope he can make it count on the short slopes.The support team is on the weaker side, but we don't hope to do much work in the pack.

Another home race, and this time it's a classic where Benoot will once again look to fly our flag. The support is slightly better here than in Canada, so we hope they can put Benoot into a good position towards the finish. The downhill approach to the line will need something extra on the final climb.

The final race of the year, and our Win Goal! Benoot won here last season, and we thought that this was the best bet for it to happen again. That was before we saw how the early season went though, and going by the same, we wouldn't put our leader even close to being near the top favourites. But we do need the good result, and a good end to the season.

redordead wrote:

Cobbles over hills, always

But given the result in MT, maybe one more good result for Benoot in Emilia?

Ocampo was our best finisher in the Stage 1 Prologue, finishing 8th. Choi was the best finisher among the GC favourites.

The flat Stage 2 saw us concentrate of just getting everyone to the line safely.

The break survived on Stage 3 but GC rival Higuita was able to make a late attack and join them, moving him to the top of the GC.

The MTT up Mount Fuji on Stage 4 was then reason we were at this race with Choi (besides the fact that it is our home race). Choi did very well, finishing 2nd behind top favourite Eastman, and leapfrogging into 2nd in the GC.



Stage 5 ended up as a reduced bunch sprint among the GC favourites. Choi finished 7th.

Stage 6 was another flat stage, where the breakaway just about held on for the win.

Choi ensured we had a great home race as he finished 2nd in the GC. Carboni recovered to 15th in the GC after a poor start. Ahmad Zamri finished 38th. Choi finished 6th in both the Points and the KOM. We finished 5th in the Teams classification.

Benoot tried to make a move on the flat from quite some distance out, but it didn't work out. Benoot was able to follow the next attack but started to fade after that. He found himself in the second group of favourites. At the end, his earlier efforts meant he didn't have any energy left and finished last in the group, getting a disappointing 16th.

We were back in Japan for the home classic. Benoot was our leader again, and this time he stayed away from the early attacks, instead sticking with the leaders right till the line. He would finish 5th from the lead group, which made it another excellent result for us at home.

Benoot was back defending his win from last season. This was also our win goal, so we definitely were hoping for a repeat! The script was pretty much the same as Japan, with Benoot in the leading positions right till the end. He grind his way up the final climb, finishing 3rd for what was his best reuslt from the hilly classic this season. Kozhatayev finished 30th for some minor points.

Race	Category	Goal	Result
Giro dell'Emilia	HC	Win	3rd
Criterium du Dauphine Libere	PTHC	Top 10	5th
Vuelta a Colombia	PTHC	Top 10	5th
Balkans International	PTHC	Top 10	17th
PCT Team Standings	PCT	Top 5	8th

*Green means Goal Achieved. Red means Goal Failed.

We put up two goals for Choi and two for Benoot, along with the placings goal. Choi achieved both of his goals easily, Benoot didn't, but he did get close in Emelia! We got close to our standings goal but fell a bit short, meaning we complete two goals, same as last season. We did expect to be better this time though, with Balkans being the major disappointment here.

We are delighted that our home stage race turned out to be our top scoring race this season! We would also like to point out that our home classic is also in the Top 5 points-wise for classics. Our performances in PTHC improved from last season, while the results in HC and C1 more or less remained the same. One big miss would be the lack of any race where we scored huge points, which could've made the difference for promotion.

Besides January, we were in the Top 10 all through the season, but always just outside the promotion spots, and that's where we ended up eventually. We needed to keep the momentum going from May and June till the end of the year to have got into the promotion spots, but we left it too late in the end.

Choi broke the record for most points scored by our rider in a single season, bettering the mark set by Benoot just last season! He also tops the PpRD, which is another new record for one of our riders. Vesely too had a great season, with Benoot actually bettering Choi's total from last season despite multiple under-performances. Vesely's total is our third highest single season total for a rider ever!

Both Vesely and Ringheim were great value for their wages, with Vesely definitely scoring considerably more than we were expecting! Choi is up here too after his great, with youngster Mick Van Dijke showing early glimpses of what we hope will be a successful career.

The full list of achievements can be viewed here.

Kooistra reaches his max level and should become a good sprintout and a useful second sprinter for the team. He should also be quite useful on the flats.

Leemreize also maxes out this season and ends up a pure MO/HI hybrid, who we expect to directly slot into the role played by Carboni this season.

Mick VD takes the penultimate step in his development and makes huge strides towards his final self. We are already a fan of his statline!

Brother Tim completed his first season with us and is well.on hus way to becoming a unique rider. We do believe he will also have an important role to play in the team in the future.

Hoole spent the season at Assa Abloy helping them promote to the PT. We hope this experience and his improved capabilities can help us similarly next season.

Naveen spent the season at Stela-Vita helping them promote to the PCT in their first ever season. He has trained his stage racing skills in the off-season.

Our second Indian in the team takes significant strides in his pursuit of becoming a useful sprinter. He should already be a useful rider on the flat and in leadouts.

Our star boy chose a unique path of progression as he trained in both stage races as well as pure climbing to already be a useful climber for the team's mountain train. We are definitely the most excited to see Hayter max out!