Tour of Utah Stages 1-2-3-4

Alex Howes (Cannondale) narrowly leads the provisional GC in Utah, with Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani) and Matthew Busche (Trek) just a few seconds behind. Howes, who already won a stage here back in 2009, rode to a convincing stage-win on third day, where him and Pirazzi/Busche managed to break clear from the bunch on a short climb close to the finish. Team Budget's Michael Torckler (12th in the GC) currently leads the KoM competition.

The first two stages ended with the expected bunch sprints: Sonny Colbrelli (Bardiani) and Wouter Wippert (Drapac) took out the those sprints with Matthew Goss (MTN) finishing on the podium on both days! Especially Wippert's win was pretty dominating, while Team Budget's best result was a 12th place for Brendan Canty on second day.

The third (flat rated, but tricky) stage would then see the first GC-contenders attacking: Howes and Pirazzi were the first to go clear from the pack with just 11km left - with a few more names like Busche, Chris Horner (Airgas), Lachlan Norris (Drapac) and also Janez Brajkovic (UHC) or Frank Schleck trying to follow a few moments later. While Howes took out the stage, only Horner (a minute off), Norris and Youcef Reguigui (MTN) managed to finish ahead of the first peloton. Crucial time gained.

Michael Torckler joined the break of the day already in the opening and this challenging third stages - taking the provisional lead in the KoM competition! A less selective fourth stage had Francesco Bongiorno (Bardiani) taking the second victory for his team, while Chris Horner went for an empty-handed attack with less than 20km to go.

Colbrelli taking the opening stage ahead of a Regugui/Goss!

Wippert dominating the bunch sprint on second day then!

Torckler, Bell (Smartstop) and Jones (UHC) fighting for a KoM sprint..

Howes and Pirazzi fly past those escapees with 11km remaining!

Lachlan Norris solo-chasing the leading trio Howes/Pirazzi/Busche..

..but he finishes 1'44" behind stage-winner Alex Howes!

Bongiorno takes stage four and makes it two for Bardiani!

Torckler showing off the KoM-shirt on the podium..

Will Howes defend his GC-lead in the following three key stages?

Tour of Utah Stages 5-6-7

44 years old Chris Horner has (finally) won the Tour of Utah! The climber, who finished as runner-up in 2013 and 2014, rode to a phenominal stage-victory on the brutal climb up 'Snowbird' and defended yellow despite losing some time on the final day. Stefano Pirazzi and Francesco Bongiorno (Bardiani) went for a great 2-3 for their team, while Joe Dombrowski (Cannondale) moved up to 4th with his sage-win in the final stage.

When a breakaway duo would hold off a large pack in the Salt Lake City Race on fifth day - with Pierrick Naud (Optum) taking the stage - Team Budget would be very happy with Brendan Canty winning the bunch sprint for a notable 3rd place on the stage! Our GC-rider looked in shape..

..and Canty did pretty well in a tough queen stage the next day: Chris Horner would already attack on the Guardman's Pass (with 48km left) and a high pace would shred the pack into pieces quite early. While Horner went to take the stage solo, Pirazzi and a strong Janez Brajkovic completed the podium with some huge gaps. Canty did his best to hang on for a while and finished the stage off as 17th. A respectable effort from our young gun.

Horner did then struggle in the final stage, where a small group with Joe Dombrowski would establish a minutes-gap on the veteran. Also Fränk Schleck and a strong Michael Woods (Optum) would gain back valuable time, but Horner defended yellow. Bongiorno however went past Brajkovic, who lost four minutes on the day. Speaking of "lost": Budget's Michael Torckler unfortunatelly lost his KoM-lead to Horner on these two final days. He gave it a fight, but had not much left collect points. Still a decent race with Canty and Torckler showing our colours that often.

Canty finishing as 3rd in the Salt Lake City Race!

Schleck, Bongiorno, Brajkovic, Berhane, Busche: chasing Horner!

A group with Canty, Morton and Woods fighting it's way up the Snowbird..

Dombrowski and Stetina dropping an empty race-leader Howes..

..while Horner finishes off a 48km solo ride in style!

Brajkovic (3rd) and Bongiorno (4th) almost four minutes behind then!

Group Dombrowski/Schleck going clear in the final stage with 10km left..

Canty in one of several smaller chasing groups..

Dombrowski takes the stage to move up to 4th in the GC..

..but Chris Horner takes the overall victory ahead of Pirazzi/Bongiorno!

USA Pro Challenge Preview

The 2.HC rated USA Pro Challenge is Team Budget's final event in it's trip to North America. It's certainly the highlight race for the team, as we will face some great competition with a few World Tour teams taking part here. Seven challenging stages, some beautiful landscapes and another chance to show our colours on a high level. Let's get it on!

Roman Kreuziger	Chris Sorensen	Damiano Caruso
Rohan Dennis	Janez Brajkovic	Julian Arredondo
Matthew Busche	Davide Formolo	Janier Acevedo
Lachlan Norris	Lachlan Morton	Peter Stetina

Certainly a great startlist with world class riders like Kreuziger, Caruso or Dennis showing up. Hard to predict, whether pure climbers or allrounders will fight for the overall victory, as the stages make for an interesting mix here. Surely those mentioned names should be considered real threats for any scenario.

Team Budget will (once again) try to support Brendan Canty and/or Jack Bobridge wherever we can. Both had some decent results in our most recent US events, so we're definitely optimistic to show our colours at many points in this tough race.

USA Pro Challenge Stages 1-2-3

With already two challenging mountain stages raced, Julian Arredondo (Trek) leads the GC thanks to his victory on the finish up Arapahoe Basin on second day. Damiano Caruso (BMC) sits on 2nd with the same time, while Roman Kreuziger (Tinkoff) is 3rd with half a minute disadvantage so far. Team Budget is happy with Brendan Canty currently on 21st in the GC.

A rather strange opening stage was taken by Ivan Rovny (Tinkoff). Some passive racing in general and a rather weird bunch sprint made Tinkoff complete a double, while Michael Torckler did pretty well for Team Budget as 7th on the stage.

The following stage would already be a key day here: the challenging climb to Arapahoe Basin made the peloton go into pieces and only the best survive. While Michael Torckler showed himself early in the stage (but failing to make the breakaway), the big guns took over the action on the final climb: Arredondo took the stage ahead of Caruso, while Brendan Canty was Budget's best as 25th with already more than two minutes lost. He put up a huge fight though.

And our climber did even better the next day: the mountain stage to Aspen featured a long downhill sector to the finish. Canty managed to join the early breakaway and even though the trio got caught by the bunch on the final (long) climb, Canty had the legs to stay in a small leading group with 12 riders! The group fought hard to hold off the chasing peloton and while Rohan Dennis (BMC) took the stage, Canty sprinted to a great 6th place on the stage! The group held on to a 22-seconds-gap on the first bigger group and so Canty gained some valuable time to move up to 21st in the GC.

Rovny taking out the opening stage in a bunch sprint..

Arredondo and Caruso going clear on Arapahoe Basin!

An exhausted Canty fighting to finish inside the Top-25 then..

Arredondo celebrating the stage-victory and GC-lead..

Canty, Libner (Cyc Academy) and Molina (Caja) building a break..

Canty hanging on with the leading group of favorites!

And helping to pull this 12-men-group to the finish in Aspen..

..where Dennis takes the stage as Canty comes 6th!

Arredondo in yellow with still four more stages to come..

USA Pro Challenge Stages 4-5-6-7

Roman Kreuziger (Tinkoff) took a narrow overall victory in the USA Pro Challenge, beating Damiano Caruso (BMC) by just four seconds eventually. Former race-leader Julian Arredondo (Trek) dropped to 3rd in the timetrial around Breckenridge, while Team Budget's up and coming climber Brendan Canty moved up to a great 13th place in the final GC!

Canty finished inside a 30-men-group in the fourth stage from Aspen to Breckenridge, which made him go up to 16th in the GC. When Chris Anker Sorensen (Tinkoff) took the stage ahead of Matthew Busche (Trek), Canty did well to hang on with the day's best.

He dropped a place in the following hilly timetrial, where Jack Bobridge was our best finisher as 31st, losing less than a minute on stage-winner Rohan Dennis (BMC). The Aussie finished closely ahead of Roman Kreuziger, who moved up to 1st in the GC that way.

The following two stages would be decided in bunch sprints, but Canty kept moving up in the GC in a windy stage from Loveland to Fort Collins! The US sprinter John Murphy (UHC) took this stage in a close sprint, while LS Haedo (Jamis) went to take the final stage in Denver. Tough luck for Drapac, as Lachlan Norris crashed on this stage. Good news for Canty, who gained another two spots for his final result then. A great experience for him and our team here!

Adam Phelan (Drapac) secured himself the KoM-win with breakaways!

Sorensen winning in Breckenridge from a reduced bunch..

Canty keeping a Top-20 spot on a challenging timetrial..

Bobridge as part of the breakaway in a windy stage six!

Local hero Murphy outsprints Zepuntke and Phinney then..

The break of the day racing the Denver circuit..

Drapac's Phelan again in the break, trying to win the stage..

..but he got caught close to the finish: Haedo takes it!

Kreuziger celebrates a narrow overall victory!

Victorian Road Series Preview

We're heading for Victoria, Australia, where this Series will be held in different places across this beautiful state. Maybe the most prestigious series behind the National Road Series, that features some well known and highly anticipated events like the Mt Baw Baw Classic or the series concluding Tour of Bright.

The honour roll of most recent winners says it all: premium climbers like Brendan Canty, Mark O'Brien or veteran Cameron Wurf took the overall primes in the past three years, while our former blogger Rhys Gillett (now riding for Scody Downunder) had to settle for two runner-ups in the last two seasons!

2015 | Brendan Canty (search2retain)
2014 | Mark O'Brien (Euride Racing)
2013 | Cameron Wurf (Austal - Subway)

For each round, points are rewarded as follows:

Place	GC/Classics	Stages in Tour
1st	15	5
2nd	12	4
3rd	10	3
4th	8	2
5th	6	1
6th	5
7th	4
8th	3
9th	2
10th	1

The 2016 Singapore Airlines Victorian Road Series is made up of the following 8 events:

Round 1 - Tour of East Gippsland 3 Stages
Round 2 - Mansfield Tour 3 Stages
Round 3 - Mt Baw Baw Classic
Round 4 - Tour of the South West 3 Stages
Round 5 - Philipp Island Grand Prix
Round 6 - Midlands Tour
Round 7 - Warburton Classic
Round 8 - Tour of Bright 3 Stages

Brendan Canty	Sean Lake	Nick Katsonis
Brad Evans	Matt Clark	Raphael Freienstein
Alder Martz	Angus Tobin	Massimo Graziato
Drew Morey	Jason Lea	Darcy Woolley

Always tricky to predict with a few of the strongest riders not taking part at all events here. Defending VRS champion Brendan Canty said, that he wants to repeat last year's overall victory though. He won't race all events, but three stage races and two classics. That's definitely enough to score key points.

Teams like search2retain and African Wildlife Safaris target for the series as well and we should expect a few of their riders contesting for many of the challenging events here. Also Avanti's Matt Clark does ride a few events, while former VRS champion Mark O'Brien will only ride the Baw Baw Classic - just like Lachlan Norris from Drapac!

As already mentioned, Brendan Canty will be Team Budget's main rider in the VRS this year. Supported by a few other mates, but also racing the opener in East Gippsland all on his own, Canty should of course be capable of fighting for the title again.

Team Budget Forklifts**

Brendan Canty	Brodie Talbot*	Glenn O'Shea
Josh Berry*	Tommy Nankervis	Mitchell Mulhern
Myron Simpson*

*Mansfield Tour only
**Team won't race Baw Baw, Midlands and Bright

Victorian Road Series Rd 1-2-3

The Victorian Road Series hardly could have started better for Team Budget: Brendan Canty took the win in the Tour of East Gippsland, when breaking clear from the bunch in the partly hilly, mainly flat road race on second day! The defending VRS champion would hold on to the overall victory in a windy final criterium at Eagle Point, where Massimo Graziato (African Wildlife) sprinted for line honours.

Canty also was amongst the very best in the mountainous Mansfield Tour then: while Budget teammate Brodie Talbot rode a slightly better timetrial on first day (which was won by Avanti's Matt Clark), Canty would climb to a 2nd place in the concluding Mt Buller road race - only beaten by Nick Katsonis (Charter Mason). Talbot hang on for 3rd place though and took the overall victoy by a second on Canty and eight seconds on Katsonis!

The even more challenging Mt Baw Baw Classic would then be held without Team Budget's participation. The premium climbers fought for this prestigious victory then: Mark O'Brien (Avanti) had the better end and managed to drop top-favorite Lachlan Norris (Drapac) close to the finish. A brutal day once again.. no major effect on the VRS rankings though, where Brendan Canty leads by 4 points on Stuart Smith (search2), who was strong in the two opening events, too.

Canty launching his winning move with 4km left..

..to win the Metung road race 15 seconds ahead of the pack!

Canty taking out the Tour of East Gippsland!

Nick Katsonis and Stu Smith attacking on Mt Buller..

Talbot/Canty dropped Smith and caught Katsonis..

..ut Katsonis took the queen stage in Mansfield!

Talbot took the overall victory thanks to his better timetrial!

O'Brien, Norris and Cyrus Monk going clear on Mt Baw Baw..

..where O'Brien took a prestigious victory over Drapac's Norris!

Victorian Road Series Rd 4-5-6

With six of eight events done, Team Budget's Brendan Canty extended his lead in the individual's rankings thanks to another GC-podium: Canty rode to a 3rd place in the Tour of South West, where Brad Evans (Pat's Veg) and Neil Van der Ploeg (Avanti) took the first two places. The trio went to a crucial gap on some other favorites in the final stage - a hilly criterium through Anchor Point. Keagan Girdlestone (Charter Mason) had won the opening timetrial, while Russell Gill (Wormall) took the flat road race the day after.

Budget scored another podium in the challenging classic on the Philipp Island Grand Prix Circuit then: Tommy Nankervis easily won the bunch sprint for 3rd place, while Alder Martz (search2) went to bring home a stunning solo victory ahead of Jeremy Cameron (African Wildlife). Martz launched his winning attack with 10km left and the peloton struggled with some heavy crosswinds then. Bad luck for some VRS-contenders like Raphael Freienstein or Sean Lake, as they crashed out in the bell lap.

The Midlands Tour would then be dominated by African Wildlife Safaris, who managed to make it five inside the Top-10, with Darcy Woolley sprinting to the victory ahead of a strong Drew Morey (PHSC)! Without other top-teams like Budget or search2, the Safari boys did well to control the small pack there.

Russell Gill winning the bunch sprint ahead of Tyler Spurrell..

Canty, "Vandy" and Evans attacking in Anchor Point..

..with Evans taking both the final stage and the GC!

Heavy conditions in the Philipp Island GP race..

Martz attacking and joining solo escapee Cameron..

..who he dropped soon to take a strong solo victory!

Cameron held off the first bigger group to come second..

African Wildlife Safaris dominating the Midlands Tour on dirt roads..

Woolley finishes it off with the well deserved victory then!

Victorian Road Series Rd 7-8

Brendan Canty (Team Budget) might have secured the overall victory in the VRS, when he sprinted to a key win in the hilly Warburton Road Race! What didn't always looked like a good shot at the win did turn out into a crucial points score for Canty: he went for line honours in the bunch sprint from a small leading group, where Darcy Wolley and Sean Lake (both African Wildlife) completed the podium. Credits to Mitchell Mulhern, who worked hard to support Canty in the final kilometres of this challenging race.

Canty then could relax and follow the series concluding Tour of Bright from wherever he would be: Matt Clark (Avanti) took the first key stage up Tawonga Gap, where his teammate Neil Van der Ploeg provided some great support to complete an one-two on the stage. The mountainous final stage up Mt Hotham would then see a thrilling battle between GC's 3rd Keagan Girdlestone (Charter Mason) and Clark. The latter did well to shut down a few dangerous attacks from the Kiwi, who took the queen stage nevertheless! The gap to Clark was too big though, so Girdlestone finished 2nd in the final GC. No Budget boys at the start here. Stay tuned for the final rankings!

Sean Lake with a promising attack from 17km outside Warburton..

..but it came down to a sprint from an 18-men-group..

VRS-leader Canty and Woolley shoulder to shoulder..

..and Canty takes his second VRS victory this year!

Van der Ploeg and Clark pacing up the Tawonga Gap..

Clark takes the stage by quite a margin on the chasing groups!

Girdlestone would give Clark a huge fight on the final stage..

..but his 10-seconds-gap at the finish were too less for the GC!

One of a few chasing groups suffering on Mt Hotham..