roturn wrote:
You formed a great team with such a strict focus.

I think only Hubert Schwab could have made this more awesome. But for the first CT season, this is a very nice team. And not having very old riders helps as well when planning for the next seasons.

In general. Swiss cycling seems to become very strong with another team developing their talents.

Season kicks-off at Clasico San Cristobal . Five tough and selective laps prefering punchers to make the win. No wonder Marcel Wyss was designated to provide us a good result.
Sadly our team shirts got lost on our flight to Cuba, but the organisateurs were so kind to let us start in our training jerseys.
In it's first race ever the team showed great awareness...



...and brought Marcel in good position to launch his attack. In the end he only was beaten by race winner Phillip Gaimon (In-n-Out Racing) and strong Aleksandr Kolobnev (Nutresa) and finished 3rd.

At the New Zealand Cycle Tour Michael Schär was named as one of the main contenders.



Due to his outstanding performance in the opening timetrial he was able to secure a 3rd place overall. Only beaten by the undisputed best TTler in the race Ian Stannard (ASDA-Savers) and talented Cameron Meyer of Fletcher - Garneau. In a successful race for breakaways Armindo Fonseca was able to sprint two times into top 10.

Our last race in January was the Great Ocean Road Classic .
The C2HC opener is one of the few races all our hopes rest on the shoulders of our best sprinter Armindo Fonseca.



He did well and was able to outsprint some of the higher valued sprinters, but the race was decided by the breakaway. A group of six around race winner Sarawut Sirironnachai (Siam Cement) blasts our hopes for an even better result.

First European Race of the year was the Benelux Challenge .
The varied route provided chances for sprinters, cobblers and punchers.
Marcel Wyss just met his first fitness peak and was designated leader for all February races.



His decisive attack on the fifth stage was key to Team Vontobel's first overall victory, additionally he surprised with an outstanding performance on cobbles. Martin Kohler with a good result and Steven Tronet with an unexpected 4th in the third stage are completing the great harvest.

The Vuelta a Mallorca gave us the first opportunity to compete with the Pro Continental Tour Teams. Martin Kohler showed lots of activity and was temporary KOM-Leader.



Sadly he lost his jersey in the last stage, but didn't disappoint at all.
Marcel Wyss once more proved his value and finished on a remarkable 10th place. Race winner was strong Cesare Di Maggio of Venchi - Ferranti.

Gisborne GP offered an incredible strong startlist. Was a real honor watching all these talented riders perform. Marcel Wyss hardly tried to counter any serious attack,...



... but lacked power during the final push and ended 20th. Anyway, he still beat higher valued competitors. Young Remo Schuler just needed a minute more than Marcel for the 226 km and proved to be in shape to lead our team in Malaysia. Cyril Gautier (La Vie Claire) showed amazing strength and stamina in the race final for the deserved win.

Seven races in March made it quite a busy month.
Competition kicks off at the Tour de Langkawi .
A young squad around our best climber Remo Schuler got the duty to represent our colours as good as possible.
The race endet in a disappointment where only the fighting power of Andrea Manfredi was recognized as a ray of hope...



...after losing significant time in the sixth stage (and his good position in the young rider competition) he managed to get into the breakaway in each of the last four stages. Sadly none of these groups survived.
Vitor Rodrigues of Siam Cement was the well-deserved winner.

The Seskin Classic was one these hilly races best suited for our team.
Marcel Wyss was joined by Reto Hollenstein here to make a good result inevitable.



... and the CT tour leader knows to deliver. Was a tough duel for our first classic win, but Jonathan Tiernan-Locke (ASDA-Savers) turned out to be slightly stronger this day.
Overall a very satisfying race and a strong team performance.

The journey to Olympia's Tour grew a success story because of the second string of riders.
Surprisingly Claudio Imhof topped our designated leader Michael Schär and was strong enough to win the youth competition.



Vontobel's most noticeable performer was Martin Kohler. Grabbing the KOM-Jersey after stage five he never looked back and secured the competition by a heroic breakaway efford in the final stage.
Dan Holloway proudly presented Heineken in the Dutch stage race.

The jagged Portuguese coastline at Volta ao Algarve awaited us for the next contest.
Reto Hollenstein justified his first leader role of the season and secured a podium placement in the final time trial.
In addition the beautiful scenery inspired Pirmin Lang to perform at his best.



In the two bunch sprints of the race Pirmin was only beaten by talented Simon Geschke of Evonik.
Deserved home-winner was Jose Mendes starting for Bank of Ireland.

Our appearance at Tour de Beauce was the result of rejected applications.
It got a nice opportunity to give Matteo Montaguti leader credentials... though he just had Michael Schär and Lukas Flückiger aside to provide valuable help.
Unlike expected the team takes responsibility early...



..., but wasn't able to keep the performance. So a possible top 10 for Matteo was jeapardized and finally lost.
Vegard Robinson Bugge won by a reasonable margin and showed he's one of the rising young talents. Eventually something to cheer for Risa-Ergon.

The stop at Tour d'Rwanda was once picked cause the profiles perfectly matched our teams focus.
Marcel Wyss not just added another great performance to his season... he provided Vontobel the most convincing victory in team's young history.



Winning the opening and final stage of Tour d'Rwanda Marcel Wyss affirmed his ambition to become most successful rider of the Continental Tour.
Matteo Montaguti and Remo Schuler with great contributions and top 20th shouldn't be unnoticed.

March ends with the sprint classic at Himmerland Rundt .
Another chance for Armindo Fonseca do get his season rolling...



...and another chance to throw it away.
It didn't become clear who's to blame for the crash, but it seems obvious that the pressure of the high salary/expectations in combination with the lack of experience causing problems to the young frenchman. We need to stay patient!
Meanwhile Martin Kohler did his thing (scoring everywhere) and from the guys sprinting up front Mattias Westling (Live Nation) was best and won by several bike length's.