Our results in the flat classics have not been very good so far this season. This race was quite similar in its profile to the Great Ocean Road Classic and our team composition was also similar. We were hoping this wouldn't be a case of deja vu for us. The Barcelona classic was the kind of race we were hoping to have a repeat of.

None of our riders joined the break and we were not involved in much of the pace-making in the pack either. We thankfully avoided a major crash which caught out a large number of riders. The attacks start from the peloton just as the breakaway is caught with 15 km to go. Two riders, Smukulis and Kneisky go clear and stay clear. Eventually, Kneisky dropped Smukulis and took the win. The latter got caught by the sprinters inside the final kilometer. Krieger did contest the sprint for 2nd but he left himself too much to do with his positioning. He finished 9th, and also our only point-scorer in this race.

1	Morgan Kneisky	Repsol - Honda	4h56'25
9	Alexander Krieger	Philips - Continental	+ 56
27	Jempy Drucker	Philips - Continental	s.t.
38	Ronan Van Zandbeek	Philips - Continental	s.t.
47	Jos Van Emden	Philips - Continental	s.t.
51	Maris Bogdanovics	Philips - Continental	s.t.
81	David Per	Philips - Continental	+ 4'42
115	Piet Allegaert	Philips - Continental	s.t.
134	Ralf Matzka	Philips - Continental	+ 14'36

We were unsure whether Krieger would be able to contest the sprint after the long race, but he did do so and made sure we achieved our target of a top 10 finish in this race. However, we were expecting our rouluers to perform better and a couple of them to finish in the minor points-scoring positions but it wasn't to be. This result doesn't really help our promotion security but all points are welcome, especially from this tricky race.

The successful pair from Benelux, Wyss and Kreder were back together leading us in this race.



We preferred to stay in the pack and concentrate on helping Wyss get a good start in his GC quest. Wyss as not at his absolute best and missed the decisive move before the finish. Surprising gaps were awarded at the finish, with Wyss managing 9th on this stage. It was a decent start but we were hoping for improvements.



Kreder was our man for this flat stage. Once again, we ignored the break and concentrated our efforts on keeping Kreder and Wyss safe. Kreder wasn't in a good position as the sprint trains formed. he gained a lot of ground and took 2nd place in the stage in a photo finish.





The ITT was where we did expect Wyss to lose some time. Grabovski was our man for the stage but he faltered in the rain and managedd only 10th.



Wyss lost 55 seconds but actually moved up a place in the GC.



The breakaway was not caught on this stage but there were more selection among the GC riders than we were anticipating. Unfortunately, Wyss finished in the third group behind the surviving breakaway and lost some ground in the GC race. He slipped to 10th in the GC.



Our disinterest in the breakaway and the chase continued. Wyss was much better on this stage. The rbeak was caught but no riders could make a successful attack following that. With less than 7 km to go, Wyss found himself in a group of five riders, chasing four others up ahead. He did finish in that group, 6th on the day, and moved up to 6th in the GC.



The early escapees were reeled in quite late. Earlier in the stage, Roux crashed and brough down Pellaud with him. The latter had to abandon from 2nd in the GC. Roux was able to get back on his bike and continue. Wyss found himself in the lead group with 2 km to go. The move from the favourites came soon after and Wyss chased hard. He was joined by two others and they chased a three man lead group. The latter were not caught however, and Wyss finished 5th on the stage. He moved up to 5th in the GC too.





Wyss did not have a great time on the penultimate ride up box, missing the move from the GC leaders and was riding at the back of the chase group. Wyss recovered to lead his group to the line at the finish, finishing 8th and holding on to his GC position.





The second and final stage and the final stage of the race. We were hoping for Kreder to repeat his performance on stage 2. For the first time in this race, we had a rider join the break in the form of Hofstede, this being his debut race. They did not gain a big advantage over the pack throughout the stage but did just enough to keep them at bay. Hofstede ended up a superb 3rd from the break, gaining some much needed points for us, in his first ever race.



He would also get 8th place in the U25s standings, implying more points scored. Wyss was safe in the pack, as also was Costa, who was in the minor point-scoring positions.

1	Robin van der Hugenhaben	In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	30h06'55
5	Marcel Wyss	Philips - Continental	+ 4'00
27	Jaoa Costa	Philips - Continental	+ 12'03
39	Tom Leezer	Philips - Continental	+ 14'40
46	Michel Kreder	Philips - Continental	+ 16'01
49	Dmitri Grabovski	Philips - Continental	+ 16'29
52	Rob Ruijgh	Philips - Continental	+ 17'02
53	Albert Timmer	Philips - Continental	+ 17'05
87	Lennard Hofstede	Philips - Continental	+ 24'59

Marcel Wyss continues his impressive consistency this season, picking up a 5th place finish in this race. This result keeps us well in the hunt for promotion. Minor results from Kreder, Costa and an elated debutante Hofstede reward our depth. We were hoping Costa could be higher up in the final GC standing, and for a couple of more breakaway outings, but we can't be unhappy with what we come away from Britain.

The day started with multiple breakaway attempts but we did not get involved. A three man break was finally allowed to get away.

We stayed in the pack as Xero, Azteca and In-n-Out did most of the work. The break was caught with 25 km still to go. The first attacks came with 7 km to go. Six riders, including Wyss, went away from the peloton and started building a lead. They were joined by two more riders and this was basically the group of favourites going for the stage win.

Infact, that is exactly what happened. The peloton failed to close the gap. Wyss mostly sat at the back of the group and found himself in a bad position when the sprint for the finish started on the final incline. He was able to get past one rider immediately. He managed to dash past two more riders at the line and finished 5th. This was yet another impressive result from him. Costa had a quiet race but finished 16th to pick up some minor points. Bardet and Ruijgh narrowly missed out on scoring points.

1	Johan Esteban Chaves	Azteca-NBCSN	5h01'44
5	Marcel Wyss	Philips - Continental	s.t.
16	Jaoa Costa	Philips - Continental	+ 1'01
27	Romain Bardet	Philips - Continental	s.t.
28	Rob Ruijgh	Philips - Continental	s.t.
45	Albert Timmer	Philips - Continental	s.t.
51	Tom Leezer	Philips - Continental	+ 2'46
68	Enrico Battaglin	Philips - Continental	+ 5'31
87	Piet Allegaert	Philips - Continental	+ 10'22

A top 5 and a top 20 is a good result for us in this race, given the competition, despite their only being 12 teams on the startlist. The lesser number of teams is exactly the reason we needed to take advantage. This result helps us in our efforts to hold on to our promotion place. Wyss keeps up his incredible run and consistency for the season.

The last mountain race of the calendar for the team. The last opportunity for Bardet, and Battaglin for that matter, to show their talent this season. The former has been brilliant for us in the mountains. The latter has a last chance to save his season. The team management is also quite keen on one of our riders joining the break. Having seen how the mountain classics from other divisions have played out, the chances of achieving a high result by a surviving breakaway rider is quite high.

We believe we have made a mistake with our planning in this race. Marcel Wyss and/or Jaoa Costa should've been in the team to try to stick with the punchers in case the hills on stage 2 become selective. Perhaps Van Zandbeek should've also been here for a double threat in the TT, and as a result, in the GC.

All eyes on Kreder for the sprints and Grabovski for a an overdue good result in the TT then.

This is probably another planning mistake. Kreder should've been in this race. The long distance and the undulating finishes would've suited him well. The TT in Herald Sun will take away any chance of him getting a high GC position in that race anyway. Krieger would've been better suited for those sprints.

Despite this, we hope for some good showing from our sprint set-up. We also hope that our flat squad can pull up their socks and get us results if our sprinters can't handle the distance. They're due one!

The last race of the season, and how apt that Wyss will be our co-leader to round off the season!

The race which has helped teams realize their dreams and shattered them in equal measure in the past will be raced in a month's time to conclude the CT season. As already mentioned, our hopes lie mostly on Marcel Wyss, who right now stands as our rider of the season. We have high hopes on him in this race, although we know that the competition will be incredibly tough. Where will we be next year could very well be decided in this race. And that's an exhilaratingly scary proposition!

Our designated man to watch, Per, got into the break of the day. They were not allowed to build up a big lead, with four minutes being the maximum. The pack chased them down effectively, and caught them with 27 km remaining. Four riders launched the first attack a few kilometers later, all of them among favourites for the win. A couple more of the favourites bridged the gap. We did not help with the pace-making too much, leaving it to stronger climbing teams to take up that work.

The attackers split up, two of them were caught by the remaining peloton, but those two soon attacked again! The pack chased some more but couldn't quite bridge the gap. Up ahead, Suaza attacked from the lead group with 7 km left. More attacks followed from our group but none of our riders were strong enough to follow yet. Bardet was visibly struggling. So Battaglin took over the reigns as our leader and eventually did follow an attack by Manfredi with 3 km to go. While the former rode away, our man rode at his own pace and slowly but surely narrowed the gap to those ahead of him. Suaza took the win, the previously mentioned Manfredi left everyone else in the dust to claim second. Battaglin did catch up to the small group ahead of him. He finished second in that group to be 9th on the day, his best performance of the season. Timmer rode an excellent final few kilometers to finish 14th. A rare bad day for Bardet on the last mountain race of our calendar as he finished outside the point scoring positions in 35th.

1	Jaime Suaza	Eddie Stobart	3h38'30
9	Enrico Battaglin	Philips - Continental	+ 2'59
14	Albert Timmer	Philips - Continental	+ 4'06
28	Rob Ruijgh	Philips - Continental	+ 4'40
35	Romain Bardet	Philips - Continental	s.t.
97	Marcel Wyss	Philips - Continental	+ 10'14
99	David Per	Philips - Continental	+ 11'46
110	Dmitri Grabovski	Philips - Continental	+ 16'18
186	Miles Scotson	Philips - Continental	+ 35'29

It was heartening to see Battaglin step up and take on the leadership duties on a day Bardet's luck ran out. Timmer too, with a decent haul of points when we needed it most. Not the best day out on the road for us but still a decent return from this race, in line with our expectations. We need to keep this sort of consistency going to maintain the pressure on other teams in the promotion race.

Grabovski was our designated leader for the race with Kreder spearheading the sprints.



Kreder showed his intentions early, taking maximum points in the first intermediate sprint. We then settled back and let other teams chase the break. The high winds made it a tough ask and the pack nearly made a mess of it. The final breakaway rider was caught on the finishing stretch. Kreder was in the lead at the time, but was beaten at the line by Andersen, ending up 2nd. He did have the Points classification lead after the stage.





The peloton let a strong breakaway get away. Drucker crashed for us, along with some others and didn't make it back to the peloton. In the rain and winds, the peloton found it hard to close down the gap. the breakaway riders took their chance and held on till the end of the stage. Kreder finished 7th on the stage.



Grabovski rode his best ITT of the season and finished 2nd on the stage, which was a huge result for his GC ambitions. He slipped into 5th place in the same.



Van Emden's 16th place on the stage, moved him up to 14th in the GC.



A big group got away into the break. We didn't do much of the pace-making, really on the GC leaders to take up that role. However, the peloton was not in the mood for a lot of the chasing. The breakaway won the stage. Van Emden lost a place in the GC. Kreder finished 8th and maintained his lead in the Points classification.



Hofstede joined the break. Once again, the peloton made a meal of the chase allowing the break to stay away again. Hofstede finished 4th on the stage. Kreder had a bad sprint but no one could overtake him in the Points jersey classification as the break took away most of the points at the finish.

1	Maxime Monfort	Team Reddit	13h12'26
5	Dmitri Grabovski	Philips - Continental	+ 38
15	Jos Van Emden	Philips - Continental	+ 58
26	David Per	Philips - Continental	+ 1'14
36	Michel Kreder	Philips - Continental	+ 1'42
90	Jempy Drucker	Philips - Continental	+ 5'48
125	Lennard Hofstede	Philips - Continental	+ 16'20
127	Miles Scotson	Philips - Continental	+ 16'39

Both Kreder and Grabovski did what they supposed to. 5th in the GC and the Points classification win is a good achievement. Per added to that with 2nd place in the U25s. All in all, we got what we came and perhaps a little more than what we expected.

Our promotion rivals Reddit had an excellent race with 1st and 3rd in the GC and a stage win. We have now reached King's Cross Station with this result but have still not located the secret entrance to Platform 9 and 3/4ths! Still some work to do.

The clashing event with Herald Sun Tour meant we could send only a part of our sprint squad to this race. Krieger was our leader here, with Bogdanovics his leadout. Neither rider has had a particularly good season. We needed them to come good here.



We stayed away from the break on the first stage, leaving it to other teams to do the chasing. The break were caught and Krieger himself onto the Eddie Stobart train. The final turn made a mess of the trains and Krieger lost some ground. He managed to pull back to the front again. They went seven wide to the line with about 25 meters to go. Krieger was involved in a four man photo finish, where he was awarded 2nd place.





more of the same at at the start of this stage. We kept ourselves safe in the pack as the break was chased down. Wyss suffered a crash with 15 km remaining and did not make it back to the pack. Krieger's positioning was not ideal this time. He slowly did make his way back up through the front-runners. He moved all the way up to 3rd at one stage but was pipped to the line by Castenada and ended up 4th. He retained 2nd place in both the GC and the Points classifications.





A fairly big sized break, but once again we did not send a rider into it. The same scropt followed this time too. Krieger got himself into a better position this time but on the stage which perhaps suited him the most, he faded at the end to only manage 8th place. He moved down to 3rd in the GC.





We were hoping Krieger could hang on to this podium place as that would be a huge boost to our promotion chances. He had the misfortune of crashing out of contention in Ciculo de Juarez earlier on in the season from a similar position.

Once again, we stayed away from the break. They was eventually chased down by more good work from other teams of sprinters. Krieger was in an excellent position this time, having taken the wheel of the Wiggle train who were the only team to be able to make one. Krieger left Haussler's wheel inside the final kilometer and sped past him with lees than half a kilometer to go.



The gap he built up with his acceleration was enough to secure a comfortable and dominating win, and a much deserved one after a couple of near misses in earlier stages.



All this meant Krieger moved up to the top of the GC and ensured our first ever overall win in a stage race! He takes home the Points Jersey as well!

1	Alexander Krieger	Philips - Continental	18h49'50
2	Giacomo Nizzolo	Telia-Brussels Airlines	+ 5
3	Michael Vingerling	The Balkan Cycling Project	+ 14
27	Albert Timmer	Philips - Continental	+ 59
47	Tom Leezer	Philips - Continental	s.t.
74	Maris Bogdanovics	Philips - Continental	s.t.
79	Ralf Matzka	Philips - Continental	s.t.
99	Piet Allegaert	Philips - Continental	+ 3'53
105	Marcel Wyss	Philips - Continental	+ 6'21
149	Ronan Van Zandbeek	Philips - Continental	+ 11'15

Our expectations for this race was a top 15! How we underestimated Krieger! How he responded to the pressure and a lot of criticism, from ourselves included! From a near-flop to a possible promotion hero, if we get there!

A perfect race for us really. Together with the relative success in Herald Sun Tour, our planning has paid off perfectly. Without wanting to jinx it, we now believe that this result takes onto the brink of promotion.

We've found Platform 9 and 3/4th and located the Hogwarts express. We just need to get on board with any slips.