A race over 195 km with several cobbled sections. Felline is of course our leader, as he is the only one on our team who is at least reasonable on the cobbles. We decide to set a high pace just before the first cobbled section, and the peloton immediately splits: only 81 riders are left! We only lost Gligora here, so we can keep the pace high up front. The 89 riders that are left behind will never return to the peloton. With 25 km’s to go, there are only 61 riders in front. 4 of them have 1 minute advantage. With 13km to go, there are 54 riders in the lead, including Felline (pretty fit), Santambrogio and Malori (both without energy). The only cobbles that are still to come are in the last kilometre. When De Vocht attacks with 9km to go, Felline decides to follow him as the pace in the peloton isn’t really high. However, the peloton hunts us back and with 5km to go, we are reeled in. Eeckhout wins the sprint, Felline was out of energy when the sprint started and finished 30th.
Lesson: don’t try to attack to early in the final. Felline has a reasonable sprint, I think we should have gone for that.
Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali
Riding for us: Felline, Santambroggio, Malori, Manzutto, Gligora, Santi
A 5 stage race, where our sponsors want a top10 classification. Problem: there is a TTT involved…. Beside the TTT there are 3 flat stages and a hilly stage. Top10 seems to be impossible. Our goal will be to wear or win the mountain jersey. For the GC we have no real goal as the TTT makes us starts over 1 minute behind the others.
Stage 1
A short stage of 85km, with 1x mountain-points. We want to win that, so we wear the mountain-jersey for at least 2 days, as tomorrow is the TTT.
There comes a huge leadgroup of 15 riders, and Malori is in there! Malori misses the mountain points as Fumagalli of MIche attacks. Malori tries, but isn’t explosive enough. The break is Caught and Sagan wins the sprint ahead of Modolo. Felline does well and finishes 11th.
Stage 2
The TTT. No goals, just ride to the line with our team. Even more difficult than in the Tirreno, as we now have only 6 riders at the start….. As expected, we finish last. On 15km we lose 1.56 to Movistar.
Stage3
As we lost our last spank of hope during the TTT, we just have to be in the break the last 3 stages.
Santambrogio is in the breakaway, but they are all caught already with 30km to go. The roadbook says the stage is flat, but the finish is very tough. Finally only 62 riders manage to stay in the peloton, including Felline. Felline can’t do anything in the sprint, but makes a nice move into the GC, where he is 60th overall now.
Stage 4
The hardest stage of the Tour, with some very tough hills. We’ll try to be in the break with Santambrogio and try to get a nice result for Felline.
Santambrogio is in the break, with 9 others! Trofimov and Mizourov mostly set the pace on the ascents, so the pace is pretty high. But also the peloton sets a high pace and it splits early. Felline has to let go 30 riders just before the top of the single last climb. Daniel Moreno wins the stage, Felline is 40th (he loses over 11 minutes) and moves to 32th in the GC. Not bad, but not great either.
Stage 5
Final flat stage. Simulated and ended in a mass sprint. Felline stays 32th in GC.
3daagse De Panne - Koksijde
Riding for us: Felline, Santambroggio, Malori, Manzutto, Gligora, Santi
A 4 stage race. We start with a race over the Belgian cobblestone, than 2 flat stages and a final 9km ITT. We try to get a nice GC result with Felline.
Stage 1
A tough race over the cobblestones. We won’t be in the break and all work for Felline. On the cobblestones the peloton of course splits in several groups and Felline is very good today. On the last cobble-section there are only 40 riders left when Boom, Thomas, Roelandts, Pozzato and Quinziato attack. Felline can’t follow, but is in front of the peloton. Pozzato wins, Fellin is 13th at 36 seconds. There are only 30 riders competing for the GC (5 riders were ahead of the 25 riders in the peloton).
Stage 2
A flat stage with several small hills on the route. Santambrogio goes in the attack and gains a lot of mountains points, only Lund has more. In the next 2 stage there are no more climbs, so Santambrogio will finish 2nd in the mountain-classification.
Santambrogio leads the breakaway over one of the hills
The break is caught at 20km from the line when the peloton has already dropped some riders due to flat tires or the wind. Pozzato wins the sprint, Greipel is second. 2 of the 30 riders that were competing for the GC lost time today, so there are 28 left!
Stage 3
A short (100km) flat stage. When we leave the hotel, we already notice that it is very windy outside. Can be an interesting race!
We decide to make a high pace and try to split the bunch. This works, and finally when we arrive at the finish, there are over 40 riders dropped. Greg van Avermaet is the only GC-contender that loses time, so there are 27 riders going for a good GC, including Felline. Felline did great today, and after all the work from his team mates, hi sprinted to a very good 4th place!
Napalitonao wins ahead of Veelers and Chicchi. Felline is 4th
Stage 4
A 9 km ITT. Felline has to make a great result. Top10 will be almost impossible, but the closer the better! Malori is one of the outsiders for a stage-victory.
When Malori finishes, he crosses the line with the 3rd time so far, 5 seconds behind the Dutchies Langeveld and Tjallingii. Malori finishes 11th this stage, Felline 43th. Felline makes it to a nice 19th place in the GC.
Hel van het Mergelland
Riding for us: Felline, Santambroggio, Malori, Manzutto, Gligora, Santi
A 1 day race. The profile says it is a flat course, but with so much hills on the road it looks like a mini Amstel Gold Race. Only thing is: the last 30km are almost flat.
Santambrogio is in the break, together with 8 others, including Pierre Rolland. Due to hard work by Quickstep, the break is caught with 10km to go. Now it will be up to Felline! A late attack by Voeckler seems to be successful, with only 5km to go, he has a 45 second lead. Felline does good and takes the wheel of Marcato for the sprint. Voeckler just manages to stay ahead of the storming peloton, where Duque is the fastest. Felline makes it to a very nice 9th place.
Felline is 9th, Voeckler finished just ahead of Duque (Cofidis)
Our financial situation is pretty good due to the sportive successes in January and February, so we can effort an extra trainer. This is necessary to become a better team, as we only had 1 weak trainer. We decided to hire a trainer that is especially good at the cobblestones, so he can help Felline to develop into a great rider.
Circuit de Sarthe – Pays de Loire
Riding for us: Felline, Santambrogio, Malori, Manzutto, Gligora, Santi
A 4 stage race. 3 flat stage and 1 6km ITT. We try to ride a GC with Malori, as the ITT suits him very well.
Stage 1
A flat stage with 3 small mountains on the way. We’ll try to be in the break with Felline or Santambrogio to pick up the first mountain jersey.
Santambrogio makes it into a 9 man breakaway. The riders are fighting for the mountain points, but it is Santambrogio who takes the most points at the first hill. On the second hill we don’t take any points, so the virtual leader is Ramirez Abeja of Andalucia. With 60km to go, the peloton is 4.30 behind. But at the last hill, Santambrogio attacks early, takes the maximum points and is the first leader in the mountain classification The break is caught and the peloton sprints for the stage-victory. Stefan van Dijk is the fastest, Felline has a bad day and is 20th. Malori finishes safe in the bunch.
Stage 2
The 6km ITT. Very important for the GC of Malori! Unfortunately, Malori doens’t have good legs today. But when he finishes, with 32 riders to come, he has the second time, 8 seconds behind Engeoulvent. Later, his time is beaten by Coppel and Ladagnous, so Malori is 4th today! Pretty good result that brings him to a 5th place overall (2nd in young-rider classification), but the differences are still very small.
Stage 3
Another flat stage, but the most difficult of the flat stages with several (small) hills in the final km’s. We’ll try to make it a hard stage and keep Malori up front. As we ride the final km’s, we see the stage isn’t hard enough to split the peloton. An ultimate attack by Malori with 5km doesn’t work either. Van Hecke wins the stage, Malori remains 5th in the GC.
This was the last stage where there were mountain points. Santambrogio had 10, this stage Barcelo took 10 points. Santambrogio is first in the Mountain classification, the jury rules! A nice result that also gives us some more money.
Stage 4
The final flat stage. There are 3 intermediate sprints in the first half of the stage, we’ll see if Malori (or otherwise Felline) can do something there! Felline launches an early solo-attack and takes 12 seconds in the first 2 sprints, just before he is caught by the chasing peloton. These 12 seconds bring him to a virtually 7th place! After Felline is caught, 14 riders get in the break. We have to control the peloton to not lose our GC-classifications. Saur, the team of leader Coppel, are helping us out and the stage ends with a sprint. Jimmy Casper wins, Malori and Felline are safe in the bunch and finish 7th and 8th respectively (3rd and 4th in the young rider classification)
A 1 day hilly race. Leader is Felline, if he can get over the hills, he might be one of the better sprinters there. Santambrogio will try to be in the break of the day.
When we see the competitors this race, we know it will be a tough day: Di Luca, Garzelli, Daniel Moreno, Sagan, Mazzanti and Rebellin are all there.
Santambrogio manages to get in a 9 men breakaway group. The break splits on the only long climb this day, and Santambrogio and Wegelius are the best riders there. They are caught just over the top, where Di Luca and Sagan attack. The peace in the (small) peloton is too high for Felline, who has to let them go. Santambrogio finally comes in the second group, and Felline in the third group. De Lica wins, Santambrogio is 17th and Felline is 18th.
Profronde van Drenthe
Riding for us: Felline, Santambrogio, Malori, Manzutto, Gligora, Santi
2 days and exactly the same route (probably mistake in the database). Both days over the cobblestones, so Felline is our leader.
Stage 1
Only 3 men in the break, so this should be easy to control. At the cobblestones, we increase the pace to split the peloton. It works, but in the km’s after the last cobblestones some riders make it back to the peloton. When Barredo attacks with 7km to go, Felline tries to follow him and he does, but they are caught with 2km to go. Felline finishes 25th in the first group of 27 riders. Tom Veelers wins the stage.
Stage 2
The same stage as yesterday. Hopefully Felline does a bit better then yesterday in the last km’s of the stage. The break is caught, but the group that goes to the line is today about 80 riders. Obviously too much for these roads, and there is a crash with 3km to go. Unfortunately, Van Hummel crashes and Felline had his wheel. Nothing do to about that, Felline hits the tarmac. Hutarovich wins the stage, Felline’s chances for the GC are gone.
Tro-Bro Leon
Riding for us: Felline, Santambrogio, Malori, Manzutto, Gligora, Santi
A 1 day race over the cobblestones. 202km, the last cobble-sections is with about 50km to go.
There is a break of only 3 riders. Flahaut and Cedric Pineau make it over the cobblestones, the other rider is caught on the last cobble-section. With 40km to go, the 2 leaders have 3 minutes on the 65-men peloton where Felline is doing good. Malori and Santambrogio are also there, but without energy. With 17km to go, there is a major crash in the peloton and only 15 riders left in the peloton: 7 riders of Saur (Coyot, Casper), 6 riders of Europcar (Sebastien Chavanel), Felline and Rosendo Prada of Andalucia. As Saur and Europcar keep the pace high, this could be interesting for Felline!
However, a late attack by Casper and Coyot (5km to go) messes things up for us. He catches the 2 escapes, and the chase stops. Europcar has nobody in front, but doesn’t ride. An ultimate try by Felline to make it to the breakaway fails and in the sprint he drops back into the small peloton. Felline finishes 12th. Not bad, but we hoped for more after the crash.
Grand Prix Herning
Riding for us: Felline, Santambrogio, Malori, Manzutto, Gligora, Santi
Another 1 day race over the cobblestones. Xxx km, and the last cobbled-section pretty close to the line.
The competition for Felline is pretty high with Maxim Iglinskyi, Eeckhout, Phinney, Muravyev and Fischer at the start. Already at the first cobbled-section we manage to leave 45 riders behind. Felline has a flat tire with 55km to go, but he remains in the peloton. With 21km to go, there are 54 riders in the peloton and 4 riders in front with a lead of 1.50. With 15km to go, there I a major crash (just like in the first stage in the Tour, it is Maxim Iglinskyi who goes down first) in the peloton, and almost all the riders wait for their leader. Felline goes on together with Bodrogi, Sutherland and some others. The small peloton catch them on the next cobbled section and we go into the final with 40 riders chasing 2 leaders (1.00 with only 10km to go).
The break makes it to the line! Zaballa wins, Fischer is 2nd! Felline missed the sprint and finished 19th.
Next: Tour of Turkey (the last race for Felline and his companions, in May Cataldo and Ulissi will be back on their bikes)
Tour of Turkey
Riding for us: Felline, Santambrogio, Malori, Manzutto, Gligora, Santi
An 8 day race. We start with a short prologue (uphill finish), followed by 3 hilly stages and 4 flat stages. We’ll go for a good GC with Felline, Malori or Santambrogio and maybe the mountain jersey. After the prologue, we will know much more. The hilly stages aren’t that hard, so the prologue can be very important.
The competition is high. There is HTC with Van Garderen and Pate, Garmin-Cervelo with Bobridge, Sky with Froome, BMC with Frank and Astana with Iglinskyi.
Stage 1
The short prologue with the uphill finish:
Malori is our 4th rider to start. It the split time, he is 3 seconds slower then Danny Pate. Not bad, as he saves some energy for the last 500 meters. At the finish, he looks back and sees he has the best time! 3 seconds better then Pate. Just behind him is Grabsch. Grabsch is the best halfway, but he is 1 second behind Malori at the line. Obviously, his big motor didn’t work on those last meters. Also Bobridge is 1 second behind at the finish line. Then it is up to Felline: 1 nice 7th time on the line! With only 3 riders to go, Malori is still first! Only Sutherland, Iglinskyi and Van Garderen on the road. Sutherland stays 2 seconds behind, Iglinsky and Van Garderen lose more time. Malori wins and is the first leader in the Tour of Turkey!
For the young rider classification, Felline only has serious competition from Peter Stetina, who is 29 seconds behind Felline.
Stage 2
First goal is to defend Malori’s leaders jersey. Second goal is to be in the first group with Felline, if Malori isn’t there.
A break of 5 men, including Laszlo Bodrogi. We control the pace in the peloton with Santi, Glogora and Manzutto. On all the small hills, the peloton splits in several groups. Malori, Felline and Santambrogio are all in the first group. We reach the finish line with several small group, but there are only small gaps. Felline attacks on the final climb and creates a gap! The peloton sprints behind him, it will be close. Finally, only Fischer gets close and just beats Felline. Felline is 2nd, Malori 13th. After Malori was a gap, but 51 riders get the same time. Very unfortunate for us, as it should have been 13 or at most 26 riders.
Felline is just beaten by Fischer. In the background Malori in his yellow jersey
Felline is now 3rd (+3) in the GC, Malori 4th(+4). Fischer leads ahead of Sutherland (+1)
Stage 3
A hilly stage, where 1 hill in the final probably will break the peloton. Malori and Felline have to be in front there. Santambrogio is good in the GC (24th with 29seconds behind), but will work for Felline and Malori.
There is an 11 men breakaway, bur when Santambrogio sets a high pace on the first climb, they are already caught. Santambrogio takes the mountain points. At the summit, the peloton only contains 60 riders. Malori is still here, Bobridge (5th in GC) isn’t. Out of the group of 60, there is an attack by Ospina Navarro, but he is already over 4 minutes behind. He takes the sprint, but more important: Felline and Malori take 2nd and 3rd place in the intermediate sprint and win 4 and 2 seconds. As Felline was 4 seconds behind, he now is virtual leader. However, we can expect Fischer to take some seconds at the finish line.
Felline (in white) takes 4 seconds at the intermediate sprint, Malori takes 2. Fischer (in the yellow jersey) isn’t interested.
Behind the leader, Santambrogio takes the mountain points on the 2nd climb and leads the mountain-classification. After this climb, there are 47 riders chasing 1 leader, who has 3 minutes. On the climb with 20km to go, Garmin increase the pace. Unfortunately, this pace is too high for Malori. Santambrogio stays with him, but they can’t make it back to the peloton. Felline does a good job and is still there up front, together with 17 others including Fischer and Sutherland. On the last climb, 12 riders catch the only leader, so we go to the line with riders, including Felline, Fischer and Sutherland. Felline is out of energy, and makes it to a 10th place. Maxim Iglinskyi wins, ahead of Carlstrom and Fischer.
Main goal of course is a good result for Felline. Second goal is to be in the break with Santambrogio. Maybe the break will go for the stage, otherwise he can defend his lead in the mountain-classification.
When we approach the first climb, we decide to change the tactics. There is no break yet, but we will set a very high pace with Santambrogio. At the summit, there are only 44 riders left, including Santambrogio (who takes the mountain points), Felline, Malori and Manzutto. We keep the pace high with Manzutto and Malori, so nobody can return to the peloton. On the second big climb of the day, towards the intermediate sprint, we will attack with Santambrogio. Hopefully the peloton is to damaged to organise a good chase. When Santambrogio attacks, Team Sky immediately put Chris Froome at the head of the peloton to increase the pace. Santambrofio is caught just before the peloton reach the intermediate sprint. Felline wins this ‘sprint’ and takes 6 seconds!
With 85 km to go, there are 39 riders in front and obviously, lots of them lost energy. Some riders come back from behind, and the peloton increases to 54 riders. Tanner attacks with 40km to go and nobody chases him. He wins the stage with a comfortable lead. In the chase for second place, Felline takes the wheel of Fischer. Doesn’t matter: Fischer is way too strong (he even wins 12 seconds on the others), Felline is 7th this stage. In the GC he is 2nd, 25 seconds behind Fischer.
Stage 5
A flat stage, quite similar to yesterdays stage. We will try to be in the break with Santambrogio again. If it won’t work, we hope it will be an easy race where the real sprinters can take the bonification at the finish line, instead of the GC-concurrents of Felline.
After a first breakaway failed, Santambrogio makes it in a 10 men breakaway group. The peloton gives them over 10 minutes! With 100km to go, the lead is over 12 minutes. With a lot of downhill km’s to come, the breakaway has a good chance for a stage victory. Beste placed is Kiendys at 11.06, Santambrogio is 2nd of the leaders at 12.00. At the last mountain pass, with 90km to go, the lead has grown to 15.11. Garmin has to react to save the lead of Fischer! With 70km to go, the peloton seems to react, They have to, as the lead was over 17.00! With 17km to go, the lead is 12.34. We focus on the stage victory, not on the GC now. Santambrogio takes the wheel of Simon Clarke, but he just isn’t fast enough. Clarke wins, Santambrogio is 8th.
Clarke celebrates, while Santambrogio finishes in 8th position
The peloton finishes at 11.04. This means Kiendys is the new leader! Santambrogio moves into 9th place in the GC, Felline is now 3rd.
Stage 6
A flat stage, but with 1 very steep hill:
Only goal is to bring Felline and Santambrogio in the peloton to the line. We have 8 leaders an they make it to the line, where Mirenda wins. On the steep hill a lot of riders couldn’t follow the peloton. Santambrogio was still in the peloton, he moves to place 7 in the GC. Felline remains 3rd. Felline had a nice sprint, was 5th from the bunch, so 13 this stage.
Stage 7
Another flat stage. 1 hill at the start. Let’s hope the break makes it to the line, so Iglinksyi and others can’t take extra seconds on Felline.
There are 7 leaders, nobody dangerous for the GC. And again, they make it to the line! An easy and boring day, no changes in the GC.
Stage 8
The final stage, and again it is flat, Really flat, this time. We want Malori in the break.
Malori makes it into a 10 men breakaway group. Unfortunately, the peloton chases them back and it is going to be a mass sprint. Gatto wins, and Iglynskyi is second. Very unlucky, as het takes over the 3rd place in the GC from Felline.
The break is caught and the peloton sprints for the stage-victory. Stefan van Dijk is the fastest, Felline has a bad day and is 20th. Malori finishes safe in the bunch. 
