#INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS

Rk	Name	Team	Pts
1	Patrick Bevin	Avanti Racing Team	84
2	Jack Bobridge	Budget Forklifts	67
3	Joseph Cooper	Avanti Racing Team	37
4	Scott Sunderland	Budget Forklifts	34
5	Michael Schweizer	African Wildlife Safaris	33
6	Ben Hill	Charter Mason Giant	28
7	Sam Crome	Charter Mason Giant	25
	Sean Lake	African Wildlife Safaris	25
9	Raphael Freienstein	Charter Mason Giant	24
	Brad Evans	Pat's Veg Cycling	24
11	Adam Bull	Subaru Albion	19
12	Sam Horgan	Budget Forklifts	18
	Patrick Shaw	Avanti Racing Team	18
14	Jack Anderson	Budget Forklifts	17
15	Guy Kalma	OTOC Vault Racing	16
16	Brendan Canty	Budget Forklifts	15
	Keagan Girdlestone	Charter Mason Giant	15
	Jackson Law	Subaru NSWIS	15
19	Mark O'Brien	Avanti Racing Team	14
20	Matthew Clark	Avanti Racing Team	13
	Daniel Fitter	Charter Mason Giant	13
	Nick Katsonis	Charter Mason Giant	13
23	Paul Van der Ploeg	Charter Mason Giant	12
	Ben Dyball	Avanti Racing Team	12
25	Robbie Hucker	Pat's Veg Cycling	11
	Oliver Kent-Spark	search2retain	11

#TEAM RANKINGS

Rk	Team	Pts
1	Avanti Racing Team	144
2	Team Budget Forklifts	133
3	Charter Mason Giant Racing	117
4	African Wildlife Safaris Cycling Team	93
5	Navitas Satalyst Racing team	42
6	search2retain-health.com.au	36
7	OTOC Vault Racing	25
8	Pat's Veg Cycling	22
9	SASI/Callidus Cycling Team	21
10	Data#3 Symantec p/b Scody	20
11	Team Scody Downunder	16
	Subaru Albion Development Team	16
13	GPM Stulz	11
14	Wormall Civil CCS Cycling Team	11
15	Phoenix Cycling Collective	9

Grand Prix Cycliste de Saguenay Preview

We're heading for North America and Team Budget's first race in their US trip will be held in Canada: the GP Saguenay features four circuit races (one criterium) and some challenging short climbs. The UCI 2.2 categorized stage race will kick off Team Budget's journey through North America, with races such as the US Pro Challenge or the Tour of Utah as the highlights.

Rob Britton	Chris Butler	Guillaume Boivin
Ryan Roth	James Oram	Chad Beyer
Brendan Canty	Andres Diaz	Gerardo Medina

An 89-men-peloton and some local teams that will surely be super motivated to ride to the overall victory: Ryan Roth (Silber Pro Cycling), Rob Britton (SmartStop) or Guillaume Boivin (Optum) should be amongst the most promising riders here.

Always hard to predict smaller races with also a couple of international teams lining up though. Team Budget is aiming for a Top-5/10 in the GC and with talented stage racers like Canty and Talbot, we feel confident to achieve this goal. Definitely some interesting weeks ahead of us!

Grand Prix Cycliste de Saguenay Recap

Chad Beyer (Lupus Racing) wins the GP Cycliste de Saguenay thanks to his solo victory on first day. The US boy narrowly held off Rob Britton (Smart Stop) and his own teammate Thomas Vaubourzeix to win the General Classification by just two seconds eventually. Team Budget's Brendan Canty finished 9th in the final GC, while Brodie Talbot made the team happy as the King of Mountain here.

Beyer's key was the opening stage, where he broke clear from the bunch on the final climb to hold on to 25-seconds-gap til the finish. Budget's Brodie Talbot escaped one lap before, but got swallowed by Beyer and the nearing pack then. Still a good stage with Josh Berry sprinting for 3rd!

Berry though was unlucky on the second hilly stage: he went down in a mass crash, that also saw James Oram (Axeon) going down and losing minutes. While Talbot did well to join the break of the day (and going for the KoM-lead), also Canty rode aggressively. Maybe too aggressive, as his attempt to break clear on the bell lap (accompanied by Boivin, Britton and Vaubourzeix) was empty-handed. He finished in a first bigger group when stage-winner Britton and two more riders would gap the bunch.

A challenging criterium through Chicoutimi would go to the reigning Canadian road champion Guillaume Boivin (Optum) with Canty doing well as 8th on the stage and 7th in the GC. Our climber lacked this speed in the final stage though, where he dropped to 9th in the final GC then.. Brodie Talbot managed to join the winning breakaway, but had to settle for a decent 3rd place behind stage-winner and local favorite Derrick St-John (Silber Pro Cycling). Talbot's efforts would bring him a nice polka dot, which is a notable achievement in Budget's first North American race this year.

Beyer catching up to Talbot, who had attacked one lap before..

Beyer would then go for a crucial solo-victory!

Berry (3rd in the GC) and Oram going down in a nasty crash..

Canty with his second attack as part of a 4-men-group..

Empty-handed: Britton takes the second stage then!

Boivin sprinting to valuable bonifications and the stage-win on third day!

Talbot, St-John and Brisebois as the last escapees on final day..

And they held off the bunch as St-John takes the stage!

Talbot though did secure the polka dot though!

Chad Beyer celebrates a narrow victory over Rob Britton!

Philly Cycling Classic Preview

The Men’s race is part of the prestigious UCI America Tour. It will start earlier this year with the men battling for 9 laps on a course taking in the Philadelphia communities of Manayunk, Roxborough and East Falls.

It's Team Budget's second US/Canadian race this year and we're thrilled to take part in a quite packed field with a few well known names from the international cycling scene, as well as meeting our former NRS rivals from Drapac.

Carlos Barbero	Marco Canola	Kiel Reijnen
Guillaume Boivin	Brenton Jones	Chris Horner
Ryan Anderson	Jure Kocjan	Alex Rasmussen

A race that is hard to predict, with the profile being rather flat, but of course featuring this short wall at the finish. Punchy sprinters surely should fancy their chances, but also puncheurs or even pure sprinters could well do some damage here.

Carlos Barbero looks like the clear favorite and there are several more possible threats for the victory: Canola/Reijnen, Boivin (stage-winner in Saguenay), Anderson, good ol' Chris Horner or Drapac's Brenton Jones and Martin Kohler.

Team Budget will probably go for either Jack Bobridge or fast finisher Brodie Talbot, while also Brendan Canty showed some decent form in Sagueany most recently. We probably need some aggressive and smart tactics here though.

Philly Cycling Classic Recap

Carlos Barbero (Caja Rujal) lived up to his role as the top-favorite and crushed the competition in the race deciding bunch sprint. Eventually opening up a 12-seconds-gap on Jure Kocjan (Smart Stop) and Martin Kohler (Drapac)! Team Budget's Jack Bobridge did pretty well as 9th in this challenging classic.

Jacob Kauffmann was also part of a long leading 4-men-breakaway, but he didn't stand a chance and got swallowed by the chasing pack about 20km before finish. A mid-race attack by Connor McCutcheon (Airgas) also didn't succeed, but there was still plenty of action in the final two laps.

While especially Team Smart Stop took control of the pace, a duo with Guillaume Boivin (Optum) and Thomas Vauborzeix (Lupus) tried to escape with less than 4km left. They opened up a small gap, but a train with Kocjan/Barbero and also Jack Bobridge wasn't too far behind with the final kilometre approaching. Unlucky Boivin fought til the end, but had to see three riders go past him in the final seconds! Brendan Canty rounded up a decent result for Budget as 15th eventually.

Kauffmann, Vincent, Langlois, Tanovitchii building the break of the day!

Kauffmann and Langlois being pulled back by the peloton..

..where Team Smart Stop brought back all attacks til the final lap!

Boivin and Vaubourzeix did try to escape nevertheless..

Kocjan, Barbero and Bobridge launching their sprint..

Barbero and Kocjan overtaking Boivin on the final climb..

And Barbero sprints to a dominating victory ahead of Kocjan and Kohler!

Tour de Beauce Preview

And we're going back to Canada, where the Tour de Beauce goes into it's 31st edition. Six stages, including a couple of key hilly stages, challenging flat parcours and the decisive timetrial of 22km length. Former race-winners include well known names such as Michael Rogers, Svein Tuft, Francisco Mancebo and - most recently - Tom Skujins. The UCI 2.2 rated event is soon to be kicked off and makes for Team Budget's third outing in it's trip to North America.

Carlos Barbero	Pello Bilbao	Amets Txurruka
Lachlan Morton	Rob Britton	Ryan Roth
Thomas Vaubourzeix	Jack Bobridge	Brendan Canty

Caja Rujal is coming off a dominating victory from Barbero in the Philly Classic and the team certainly lines up with the strongest squad here. Several options for the overall victory and also stage-hunting should be well on their list of goals.

Lachlan Morton (Jelly Belly), Bobridge and Canty (Budget) make for a dangerous Aussie triple, while some usual suspects like local heroes Britton, Roth or Frenchman Vaubourzeix should be amongst the most promising riders for a higher GC here.

Team Budget is aiming for another Top-10 after Canty's 9th in Saguenay and Bobridge's 9th in Philadelphia. With the timetrial here, we fancy those two's chances to do even better than our usual ninth place now.

Tour de Beauce Stages 1-2-3

Team Budget kicked off the Tour de Beauce with a bang when Jack Bobridge and Brendan Canty went one-two in the first stage around Lac-Etchemin! Bobridge broke clear from a 24-men-group and established a crucial gap on this very last climb. No gaps rewarded, but a phenominal result and Budget's first victory in this North American trip!

The team kept rolling as Glenn O'Shea and Jack Bobridge both sprinted to a Top-5 result in the next (flat) stage. Charles Planet (Novo Nordisk) took the line honours ahead of Jason Lowndes (Garneau) and Charles Huff (Optum). Bobridge kept the race-lead prior to the queen stage up Mont-Mégantic.

This stage would feature a steep finishing climb and the big guns went for a tough pace up this 5km ascent: while Pello Bilbao and Carlos Barbero (Caja Rujal) climbed to a stunning one-two for their team, Brendan Canty finished the stage as 3rd eventually! He broke clear from a 6-men-group close to the finish and established valuable seconds to stay on the provisional podium behind the Caja duo.. Bobridge suffered as 17th on the stage, but ain't far behind the Top-10 overall - plus sitting on fourth in the points classification (where Canty is second behind Bilbao)!

Bobridge's winning move with 4km left in the first stage..

Canty wheelsucking Bilbao/Barbero to launch his sprint later on..

And they complete the double for Team Budget! Bilbao comes 3rd..

Planet takes the second stage in a tight sprint decision!

Bilbao bridging across an early break with 5km left..

The first chasing group with Canty, Roth, Britton, Beyer and Diaz..

Bilbao crushed the competition with his solo-victory!

Canty strong 3rd with two minutes lost on Bilbao..

Lachlan Morton ninth on the stage, leading another chasing group..

Bilbao leading the GC with still stages to come!

Tour de Beauce Stages 4-5-6

Pello Bilbao (Caja Rujal) defended his race lead in the last three stages and took out the Tour de Beauce ahead of Brendan Canty (Bugdet) and his teammate Carlos Barbero! The 22km long timetrial on fourth day brought some notable changes, as Barbero dropped to 3rd and a very strong Evan Huffman (Smart Stop) moved up to 4th in the GC. Jack Bobridge moved up to 8th in the GC and secured himself the points-jersey, too!

Despite missing out on the podium in the timetrial, Canty (6th on the day) and Bobridge (5th) took the chance to improve their already good GC-positions one day after the crucial queen stage. While Evan Huffman took a convincing victory ahead of James Oram (Axeon) and Chad Beyer (Lupus), Canty gained almost a minute on Barbero to jump onto 2nd in the GC. The position that he would keep until the very end of the race.

The last two days (two challenging flat circuits through Québec and Ville de Saint-Georges) would go to breakaways: David Winston (Lupus) and Max Korus (Champion System Stan's No Tubes). No danger for the GC though. An unlucky Chad Beyer would crash late in the Québec stage and lose his 5th in the GC. Good news for Borbidge, who moved up to his 8th place that way. Our leader also finished 4th on that stage and that made him taking the points-lead ahead of Bilbao! Despite struggling in the final stage, Bobridge brought this jersey home then. A great race for Team Budget with a stage-win, a GC-podium and this points shirt.

Canty's timetrial made him move up to 2nd in the GC!

While Evan Huffman celebrated a great stage-win afterwards..

Chad Beyer going down close to the finish on next day..

..at least some good news, as his teammate wins the stage!

Bobridge finishing 4th behind Kocjan: points-lead!

Korus taking the final stage solo ahead of the BOTD!

Brobidge adding a nice jersey to his palmares here!

Well deserved overall victory for Pello Bilbao then..

Tour of Utah Preview

The Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah is one of only five UCI-sanctioned, multi-stage, North American pro cycling events in 2016. Showcasing some of the world’s most prestigious teams and cyclists for seven days in August, this event now attracts worldwide attention as the top international cycling event that follows the Tour de France. Nearly a decade since its opening circuit, the Tour of Utah, today, stands shoulder to shoulder with the most prestigious professional bicycle stage race events as our answer to the greatest cycling challenges the world has to offer.

The event marks one of Team Budget's definite highlights in it's trip to North America. Racing against some heavy competition from World Tour teams and facing some challenging stages in this beautiful landscapes!

Joe Dombrowski	Chris Horner	Frank Schleck
Stefan Pirazzi	Francesco Bongiorno	Matthew Busche
Janez Brajkovic	Peter Stetina	Michael Woods
Lachlan Morton	Alex Howes	Lachlan Norris

The competition is tough and there's a lot of talent for the crucial climbs here: local heroes like Joe Dombrowski, Chris Horner, Matthew Busche or Peter Stetina should be amongst the most promising riders here.

Frank Schleck, Janez Brajkovic, Lachlan Morton, Lachlan Norris, Stefano Pirazzi or up and coming talents like Michael Woods or Alex Howes.. the list of premium stage racers is pretty long here. This alone should make for an interesting race.

Team Budget will once again work for either Brendan Canty (2nd in the Tour de Beauce) or Jack Bobridge (8th in Beauce). It will be hard to achieve anything similar here, but we'll do our best to show our colours and maybe hit the Top-15 in the GC.