Our last goal race and we arrive here with a lot of expectations. The team we have selected is meant to cover all possible outcomes, with Drucker being the premier leader, keeping the cobbled stage 4 in mind.



Both Van Emden and Van Zandbeek were favoured for good results on this stage, with the former being among the top 5 favourites. Sadly, it did not quite materialise for our guys, as 9th and 13th was the best that they could achieve. Not a disaster, but we were expecting atleast a couple of positions better from them. Both Drucker and Kreder lost 17" and Wyss lost 21", so no harm done in their GC challenge.



Per joined the break on this stage. He managed to win one KOM sprint but couldn't pick up any points on the others. Disaster struck inside the final 15 km as Drucker was involved in a crash. By the time they recovered, their group was already four minutes down a charging peloton. Drucker's GC chances had evaporated already!

Per could not follow the final attack for the win from Kaislavuo, and got swept up by the pack inside the final kilometer. Kreder looked to be in the best position for the sprint but was pipped on the line by Horton and settled for 3rd. We were down to two GC contenders!





With Drucker out of the running, all eyes were on Wyss and to deliver him to the best possible position on this stage. We had an anonymous day in the peloton, as we left most of the chasing to other teams with more fancied punchers. The pace up front split the pack around the 100 km to go mark, and both van Zandbeek and van Emden got caught on the wrong side of it. They tried to make it back but were not able to. The distance to the break kept going up and down in the meantime. A couple of moves were closed down by Xero inside the final 5 kilometers after the break was caught. Vichot then did launch the decisive attack, with us following. Wyss led out Kreder and while we couldn't catch the Kulczyk rider, Kreder finished 2nd to pick up enough time to take over the GC lead! Wyss finished 5th on the stage.





The stage which promised carnage! A big early break went away. We joined up with Xero to do the pace-making in the pack and to protect Kreder's GC lead. We set the pace so high with Drucker, Per and stagiare Allegaert that a lot of riders got dropped inside the first 70 km. Things slowed down a little after that but we didn't leave the pace-making to anyone else. Mostly Drucker and Per, with intermittent help from Allegaert, led the peloton in the chase of the break. The break kept shedding riders and they were swiftly picked up by the pack. We were able to split the pack again at the 40 km mark but the dropped riders made it back. The break shed even more riders but it was now becoming clear that they wouldn't be caught today! No harm done to our GC hopes as none of them were a threat. We led the pack to the line, Per taking the plaudits of being the first rider from the peloton to cross the line in 4th. Kreder was up there too, finishing 7th while the final point and 8th place on the stage went to Allegaert, a great moment for the youngster.



Kreder kept his GC lead, while Per moved into the U25s lead.



The last GC critical stage. As with stage 3, some of the teams with strong punchers helped with chasing the break, so our guys got some rest after a grueling chase on the last stage. Nothing of note happened for us till the break got caught with 21 km left. There was only attack of note from here till the finish, Roux tried to go clear. He was closed down by Kreder and Squire. The latter then tried an attack of his own but was also quickly closed, this time by Xero. It all came down to the uphill sprint. Kreder lost his position in the bunch on the steep slope inside the final kilometer and could not counter as Squire, Simon, Monfort and Rybakov made the decisive move. Squire would take the win and the GC lead, with Kreder slipping down to 4th behind also Simon and Rybakov. Wyss in 9th as our best finisher on the day. Per held on his jersey.



There were enough time bonuses available on this stage for Kreder to take back the lead with a high finish. The breakaway were heavily favoured to take the win but that's not how it turned out! Both Reddit and Kulczyk had their best GC contenders crash on this stage and lose time. Kreder had awful positioning in the sprint and could only finish in 8th, meaning he would only move up one place at the cost of Simon. It did mean he would win the Points classification though!

1	Robbie Squire	Azteca-NBCSN	22h59'52
3	Michel Kreder	Philips - Continental	+ 17
8	Marcel Wyss	Philips - Continental	+ 41
16	Jaoa Costa	Philips - Continental	+ 2'04
19	David Per	Philips - Continental	+ 3'48
49	Jempy Drucker	Philips - Continental	+ 11'01
56	Ronan Van Zandbeek	Philips - Continental	+ 12'18
79	Piet Allegaert	Philips - Continental	+ 18'38
92	Jos Van Emden	Philips - Continental	+ 22'20

Incredible race for us. Of our three Gc contenders, we would've never guessed it would be Kreder who would finish in the podium places for us! Wyss had a mostly anonymous ride to 8th while Costa wasn't even mentioned and ended up 16th! Per did a lot of work, 19th and the U25s classification a just reward for his efforts. And this wrap-up will not be complete without congratulating Allegaert on picking up a point in his first ever race.

A complete team performance in our last goal race, and also in a race which is partly a home race. Couldn't have asked for a better response from the team after Drucker's misfortune. This result was needed, as the races coming up do not favour us to a large extent. It is all about defending our lead in the rankings from here on in.

We wanted to keep the momentum going from Benelux but were cautious with out expectation from this race.



After a long hard day chasing the break, although we weren't at the front much, the result came down to a sprint up the final hill. Wyss had poor positioning and finished 13th. Bardet was the only other rider to finish in the front group for us, that too in the 30s.



Ruijgh joined the four man break.



Once again, we left the chasing to others, quite naturally having a rider in the break. The pack swallowed up the break with 43 km still remaining, opening up possibilities of early attacks. However, those never came for the most part. The first attack came with around 5 km to go but was chased down. It came down to a sprint to the finish inside the final kilometer with Vichot proving to fast for the others.
Wyss finished 8th on the day. he moved up to 7th in the GC. Bardet finished in the front group and finished 22nd.

1	Arthur Vichot	Kulczyk - DMTEX	10h08'34
7	Marcel Wyss	Philips - Continental	+ 28
22	Romain Bardet	Philips - Continental	s.t.
31	Jaoa Costa	Philips - Continental	+ 1'36
43	Enrico Battaglin	Philips - Continental	+ 2'18
58	Tom Leezer	Philips - Continental	+ 5'25
94	Lennard Hofstede	Philips - Continental	+ 10'52
125	Rob Ruijgh	Philips - Continental	+ 15'18
177	Miles Scotson	Philips - Continental	+ 33'34

Marcel Wyss continues his incredible consistency to finish in the top 10 and meet our expectations from this race. Not much depth scoring for us here but we keep the points flowing in to maintain our place in the standings. Also, in our battle of the Stagiares, it's Allegaert 1-0 Hofstede, as the latter isn't quite as competitive here, not that we expected anything else.

Positives:
Marcel Wyss still has three races left in his favoured terrain. If he keeps going at his current pace, he can single-handedly pull us to promotion.

Kreder's outings should suit him in terms of the profiles.

Negatives:
Krieger leads two races of what's left. The results in these two races could be the difference between 5th and 6th place.

Bardet's only other race leading us does not suit him too much.

The last time we participated in a long tough flat classic was way back for the Great Ocean Road Classic where our squad failed dramatically! We have a similar team taking part here, with Krieger the designated sprinter. With this race being well over 200 km, we expect things to get tough at the end. That's why we've also taken along a couple of the strongmen for the ride.

The successful combination from Benelux, that of Kreder, Wyss and Costa are back for this race. A lot of our promotion hopes hang on Wyss's performances and this is an important race in that regard. While we do not realistically expect to challenge for the win, we do expect to be up there fighting for the top 10. We also expect to be competitive in the two flat stages with Kreder and in the TT with Grabovski.

Another Wyss race, another important milestone in our quest for points. This should be a race which favour Wyss more, given that he seems to prefer races with multiple short climbs rather than one or two longer ones. The climb to the finish is also not long enough to bother him. On the flip side, Bardet could well be a contender if he sticks to the front till the last climb, given it's gradients. Not the likeliest of scenarios but an outside shot nonetheless.