Gorazd Stangelj:

We couldn't make the morning breakaway, but Gaudu managed to stay well hidden in the peloton until the end. He was well positioned in the finale, but the Mur de Huy proved too difficult for him. He still finished in a very credible 17th place. We hoped to see more from Buitrago, but it was a learning experience for him.

Race score: 6/10

Gorazd Stangelj:

Fred Wright joined the early breakaway, but he was one of the weaker riders in the group so he didn't stay ahead of the pack for long. The attacks started at around 30 km to go and Gaudu didn't have the legs to stay with the favourites. We would've liked a better end to the Ardennes, but it wasn't to be.

Race score: 4/10

Martin Hvastija:

We know we are going to be up against some of the best sprinters and the parcour around Koln can be harder than it looks. Even so, Enger showed us he compete well in Sanremo, so trying for a top 10 finish here is certainly possible.

Martin Hvastija:

One thing is for sure. Apart from Sanremo, flat classics have been an unmitigated disaster for us all year. We need to go back to drawing board starting now and figure out something for next season.

Race score: 1/10

cunego59 wrote:
Middling Ardennes campaign from Gaudu, somewhat within expectations I guess, though certainly not above. Maybe Tao can improve a little more in the final week of the Vuelta, that should continue to put you on steady ground. And maybe Enger can pull through in Köln, too. Good luck!

Nemolito wrote:
A shame Enger and the rest of the squad performed so poorly in Cologne. Former riders Katrasnik's second place is something to be mildly happy about, but of course that doesn't make up for your current riders' underperformance. Hope they can up their game in the following flat classics!

Marko Polanc:

The race felt like we did everything we could be expected to do and it simply wasn't enough to have a good scoring race. Unlike the Giro where we felt we didn't live up to our potential. We got our sponsor goal with the TTT stage win, came close to another one the final day and got Tao into the GC top 10. It shows how tough the opposition was. Apart from that we might have made planning mistakes before the season, but the riders did their best.

Race score: 6/10

Martin Hvastija:

We'll be targeting high GC places with Tao Geoghegan Hart, Milos Borisavljevic and Daniel Habtemichael. The former two are coming off the Vuelta and we feel this race should be a similar sort of challenge. If all three perform well we may also look at the team classification as an extra source of ranking points.

Marko Polanc:

We have plenty on our plate at this race. Mainly we are supporting Tadej for a strong GC result and U25 classification. Bouchard, Buitrago and Gaudu should be his main uphill support. Dusan Rajovic will target both the sprint stages. And finally Damien Howson will try for a good result in the opening time-trial.

Fabianski wrote:

I guess Tour de Suisse was pretty fine GC-wise, and Dauphiné could be similarly strong. Iirc Tadej is one of the better prologue riders among the top climbers, and his Hi/Acc combo shouldn't be too bad, either. Also looking forward to some more Rajovic sprints - your sprinters haven't been at their top lately, let's see if he can get back to winning in a very weak sprinter field

AbhishekLFC wrote:

Looking forward to racing against you in Dauphine. Probably the first time that Choi and Pogacar will go head to head (that I can remember after Pogacar was maxed). Should be a good race for you regardless.

Martin Hvastija:

We got away with one early in the race where we missed the splits, but luckily didn't lose any time. After that we rode in a good way. Tao was really strong in the mountains and he really broke up the race when he decided to attack. Milos and Daniel didn't have to do much to support him and could both ride their own race. In the end that was our best outcome, winning the team classification was a great reward for everyone involved.

Race score: 10/10

Gorazd Stangelj:

This can be quite a tricky race as it's hard to know what will be the main factor towards achieving a good result. Tadej will be our team leader, but with Tao, Daniel and Milos behind him we hope that we can score a good amount of points regardless of how high Tadej finishes. This race is also the final tune up before the Tour de France.

Nemolito wrote:

10/10 and a happy manager in Switzerland, always glad to see that. Scandinavia can indeed be a tricky race, but I think you got two great leaders there to bring you another solid GC result.