Marko Polanc:

Out of the three Grand Tours, this is the one where we are the most GC focused. Pretty much our entire lineup is set to support Tadej throughout the race. The goal is to finish as high up as possible and win the U25 classification. Habtemichael and Borisavljevic need to be consistent to provide depth scoring while Dusan Rajovic will be free to try his luck on the flat stages.

Marko Polanc:

First off we started the race well with Damien Howson and then Dusan won the sprint on stage 2. Tadej was in a good position heading into the uphill stages and that was something we failed to capitalise on. There was a lot of effort put in, but in the end the results didn't quite match that. Tadej still finished in a very good 5th place overall, but in the process we lost all our depth scoring we hoped to get from Bouchard, Buitrago and Gaudu.

Race score: 8/10

Martin Hvastija:

This is a good opportunity to turn around our recent results in these sprinter's classics. Enger is our bonafide leader for the race and while the majority of the race squad is young, Groselj and Poljanec are both strong and experienced rouleurs to guide our sprinter to the last kilometres.

AbhishekLFC wrote:

Great result for you in Dauphine. Looking forward to see what Pogacar can do in the Tour

Martin Hvastija:

We don't learn from our mistakes. It's poor positioning every time that prevents us from scoring a decent result. We have one flat classic left to improve.

Race score: 3/10

Martin Hvastija

We haven't been here since 2019, I think. It feels a bit strange not needing to board an airplane to go to the race. Still, we can't get too comfortable. This is an important race in the context of our season. Tao will be our leader and we'll be looking to secure strong overall results from him and a few others.

Gorazd Stangelj:

We had a good start to the race with the opening time-trial, but where we truly made an impact was on the final stage. We weren't afraid to attack the race with Pogacar which allowed everyone else to follow the wheels. It was a selfless act from the star of our team which opened up the depth scoring that we often look for. Meanwhile Tao Geoghegan Hart has been an absolute joy to have. His consistency throughout the season has been outstanding!

Race score: 10/10

Fabianski wrote:

Great to see your top climbers complementing each other so well in this race, with Tao's 4th place being pretty outstanding! Wonder if you'll turn him into an even better stage racer, or if the training budget will be fully spent on Pogacar (which would be my expectation)

Nemolito wrote:

Big race, congratulations!

Martin Hvastija:

This is the penultimate race for our time-trial specialists. The best of the best gather here so we know we're up against stiff competition. Steven has been a rock for us all year, but we would really like to see Damien at his best here. Enger is here to give us a real option for the sprint stage and we are hoping for at least one good result.

knockout wrote:

Fantastic result in scandi for you. Best of the rest behind the big3 is massive!

Marko Polanc:

We had a slow start to the race which was designed to suit the sprinters. Dusan couldn't position himself or get up to the speed of the other sprinters. On the other hand Tadej started well with a couple of good stage results to close out the first week.
The mountains came next and Tadej was able to do enough to claim the white jersey which was a big goal for us. There were some good days and some not so good days, but we worked really well as a team. Habtemichael and Bouchard were both able to find some success in breakaways and in the end that helped propel us to winning the teams classification.

Race score: 10/10

cunego59 wrote:

Really nice Tour, cool to see Tadej come into his own on the biggest stage. If everything goes according to plan, I assume he won't be happy with 6th places anymore in the not-so-distant future