Clasico San Cristobel (C2)




Kolobnev is our designated leader for our inaugural outing on the opening day of the C2 calendar. We are hopeful that he will be able to deliver a top 5 placing on this hilly parcours, hopefully benefitting from the uphill finish. Kolobnev has excellent back-up in the shape of Fonte, Valencia and Masuda. We have additional hopes that 1 or more of these guys will also force their way into decent point scoring positions at the end of the day, as should Golas if the finish is contested by a large front group. A final word for Dayer Quintana, making his debut in the professional ranks; he will mainly be expected to perform the unglamorous role of sheltering our leaders, ferrying bottles and information back and forth to the team car, etc. He will be assisted in this lowly (but crucial!) domestique role by Tatarinov.

Vuelta al Tachira (C1)




Previous winner (2011) Richard Ochoa Quintero returns to his home race. The standard in the continental tours has improved significantly since Richard previously stood on the top step of the podium. Grupo Nutresa would be very satisfied if he managed to crack the top 10 of the final GC given the level of competition expected on the start line. Quintero has good back up from loyal domestiques Valencia and Masuda who will offer excellent assistance on hilly and mountainous days respectively. Future team leader Eduard Alexander Beltran will benefit from continued experience gained in high-level competition. He is well suited to this type of stage race, and expected to potentially offer good competition for the young rider jersey. Nutresa have no sprint presence at Tachira, therefore will be counting on Chernetskiy, Tatarinov and Quintana to ensure their team leaders avoid any trouble on the opening flat stages, and throughout the rest of the race as their abilities allow.

Great Ocean Road Classic C2HC




Grupo Nutresa lack a sprint favourite, so is highly unlikely to attempt to deliver a sprint train, so go with an alternative 'swarm' approach. It is hoped that more than one of our fast men will try and infiltrate the sprint trains of the top favourites, and therefore ensure a decent points haul from the first C2HC race in Man-Game history. Golas is the preferred man to cover any early breaks, and who knows, perhaps Kolobnev will go for a surprise strong mans move in the last 5-10 km if he is feeling on good form!

Good luck to all as the season kicks-off

Making it's debut on the the world stage, Grupo Nutresa professional cycling team went oh so close to grabbing victory at the Clasico San Cristobel in Cuba. With a course well suited to their strengths, the team set out with an obvious game plan to set a tough pace and put their rivals top the sword. However Phillip Gaimon of fellow new boys In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan put a spanner in the works with a late surge with 11 km's to the finish. A slight hesitation from the leading pack enabled Gaimon to establish a solid gap which he managed to maintain to the finish line. Picking up the pieces, team leader Alexsandr Kolobnev made a decisive move on the final ascent to the finish line, responding to the attacks of other pre-race favourites and securing a fine second place. Hard working ream-mates Fonte and Valencia mopped up 10th and 11th overall to put Grupo Nutresa at the top of the first issue of the MG CT rankings for 2014.

Speaking exclusively to Mundociclistico by telephone before boarding his plane to return home from Cuba, Juan Pablo Valencia gave us his insider view of the race:



Mundociclistico would like to thank Juan Pablo for his time, and hope we can hear from him again later in the season.

Clasico San Cristobal

Team management were very pleased with the team's first ever race, securing a top 5 + additional point scorers as envisaged. The team showed excellent skills and commitment in forcing the race throughout the day, thereby ensuring a happy outcome. 25.5 PPRD is an excellent return from a C2 race. Unfortunately this was to be an isolated high-point for the month. Perhaps expectations were raised a little too much after this first outing?

	C2 America:	Clasico San Cristobal	25.5 PPRD	51 Points
1	Phillip Gaimon	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	5h18'19
2	Aleksandr Kolobnev	Grupo Nutresa	+ 34	32
10	Cesar Andre Fonte	Grupo Nutresa	+1' 24	10
11	Juan Pablo Valencia	Grupo Nutresa	+1' 24	9
36	Gennadiy Tatarinov	Grupo Nutresa	+ 3'51
37	Nariyuki Masuda	Grupo Nutresa	+ 3'51
42	Michal Golas	Grupo Nutresa	+ 4'49
135	Dayer Quintana	Grupo Nutresa	+ 13'07

Vuelta al Tachira

C1 America

Vuelta al Tachira

3.8 PPRD

38 Points

Grupo Nutresa arrived in Venezuela with high hopes for a top 10 GC performance from leader Ochoa Quintero, and was hopeful of a points haul of the order 6-8 PPRD (sadly neither target met).

Stage 1:
Stage 1 passed uneventfully for Nutresa. Management immediately identified the first planning mistake of the season having ommitted to include any of a wide choice of secondary sprinters available that would potentially have been reasonably competitive in this start-list - point scoring potential missed on the early stages of the race. Inexperience had meant that a much higher quality sprint field had been expected at all potential C1 rendevous.

1	Francisco Anton Martin	Team CSC-Orbea	2h29'27
47	Richard Ochoa Quintero	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
48	Eduard Alexander Beltran	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
61	Gennadiy Tatarinov	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
78	Nariyuki Masuda	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
81	Sergey Chernetskiy	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
82	Juan Pablo Valencia	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
111	Dayer Quintana	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.

Stage 2:
Nutresa continued to support our leaders in these dangerous early stages ensuring that all riders maintained a position in the main peleton. Gennadiy Tatarinov took the opportunity to stretch his legs in a relatively short-lived BotD - notching up another first for the team.

1	Sam Bennett	Jaguar - Eritel	2h46'22
47	Eduard Alexander Beltran	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
54	Richard Ochoa Quintero	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
71	Nariyuki Masuda	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
92	Juan Pablo Valencia	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
96	Gennadiy Tatarinov	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
110	Dayer Quintana	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
112	Sergey Chernetskiy	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.

Stage 3:
A carbon copy of stage 2, even down to Tatarinov's appearance in the BotD which was again never given much rope by the peloton.

1	Sam Bennett	Jaguar - Eritel	2h32'54
29	Eduard Alexander Beltran	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
38	Richard Ochoa Quintero	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
72	Nariyuki Masuda	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
74	Juan Pablo Valencia	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
75	Sergey Chernetskiy	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
85	Dayer Quintana	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
145	Gennadiy Tatarinov	Grupo Nutresa	+ 4'11

Stage 4:
Stage 4 proved decisive for the overall GC. Nutresa ensured to place 3 riders in a much reduced main group alongside the majority of the race favourites, but missed out on the decisive GC break. Nariyuki Masuda had represented Nutresa in the original BotD, but was unable to latch on when Maillet et al. made the key moves mid-stage. At the time, riders and management were happy to have covered off the main favourites, but time would eventually identify that the race podium was already more or less decided.

1	Jocelin Maillet	La Vie Claire	3h38'36
38	Richard Ochoa Quintero	Grupo Nutresa	+ 3'16
51	Nariyuki Masuda	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
59	Eduard Alexander Beltran	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
65	Juan Pablo Valencia	Grupo Nutresa	+ 4'25
94	Dayer Quintana	Grupo Nutresa	+ 8'07
97	Sergey Chernetskiy	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
107	Gennadiy Tatarinov	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.

Stage 5:
On a supposedly flat day, but with two major ascents mid-stage, Juan Pablo Valencia ensured that Nutresa had a strong presence in the BotD for the 4th stage in a row. Although the majoirty of the break was snapped up on the line, JP managed to hold on to secure 7th place, and end Nutresa's 5 day wait to secure any points from this Venezuelan adventure.

1	Momchil Robov	Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling	2h52'44
7	Juan Pablo Valencia	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.	1
26	Eduard Alexander Beltran	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
34	Richard Ochoa Quintero	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
66	Gennadiy Tatarinov	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
90	Nariyuki Masuda	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
109	Sergey Chernetskiy	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
135	Dayer Quintana	Grupo Nutresa	+ 6'16

Stage 6:
A signficant day for Nutresa, as they stepped up to C1 level competition by imposing themseleves by taking responsibility to limit the BotD until an opportunity presented itself to launch team leader Ochoa Quntero across the gap. Richard rode a sound race, but just missed out on the rce winning split by the skin of his teeth as his descending skills let him down in the run in to the finish. Quintero did secure a strong 4th place finish on the day, but the team had expended a lot of effort for only a minor time gain on GC. The efforts of controlling the race early on in the day took there toll, when no other rider was able to survive with the reduced peleton of favourites, dealing a blow to Eduard Beltran's assault on the young rider standings.

1	Brice Feillu	Dell - 361° Racing	2h39'05
4	Richard Ochoa Quintero	Grupo Nutresa	+ 1'45	4
50	Eduard Alexander Beltran	Grupo Nutresa	+ 3'57
63	Gennadiy Tatarinov	Grupo Nutresa	+ 6'22
88	Juan Pablo Valencia	Grupo Nutresa	+ 9'22
99	Dayer Quintana	Grupo Nutresa	+ 11'38
107	Sergey Chernetskiy	Grupo Nutresa	+ 15'13
128	Nariyuki Masuda	Grupo Nutresa	+ 16'28

Stage 7:
A decent day for Nutresa, with 3 riders again in the much reduced main peloton on what had been expected to be one of the potential queen stages of the race. Ochoa Qunitero remained attentive throughout, covering multiple dangerous late stage moves made up of race favourites. However none of these moves blew the race apart in the way that had been expected, even although the platform had been formed. In the end Richard secured another top 10 finish to defend his high GC position, but perhaps more could have been achieved if the race favourites hadn't been content to mark each other out of it!

1	Matthew Lloyd	Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling	4h07'28
7	Richard Ochoa Quintero	Grupo Nutresa	+ 1'29	1
19	Juan Pablo Valencia	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
37	Eduard Alexander Beltran	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
83	Nariyuki Masuda	Grupo Nutresa	+ 4'00
99	Gennadiy Tatarinov	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
101	Sergey Chernetskiy	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
109	Dayer Quintana	Grupo Nutresa	+ 8'54

Stage 8:
Stage 8 was a similar story as stage 7, Ochoa Quintero doing a great job covering multiple attacks, although missing out on the most decisiive at stage end. Making amends, he led the main front group over the line for 6th on the day. What had been expected to be a massive battle of attrition, infact deliveed a damp squib, as the majority of the field wass covered by only a couple of minutes, even at the top of a significant summit finish. Some fans at the road side were quick to express their disappointment.

1	Magno Nazaret	FCB - Polska	3h23'39
6	Richard Ochoa Quintero	Grupo Nutresa	+ 36	2
45	Eduard Alexander Beltran	Grupo Nutresa	+ 1'27
46	Nariyuki Masuda	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
65	Sergey Chernetskiy	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
68	Gennadiy Tatarinov	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
69	Juan Pablo Valencia	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
89	Dayer Quintana	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.

Stage 9:
A frustrating day for Nutresa, with the continual attentiveness of the first 8 days of racing compromised by enabling many favourites room to escape the grasp of Ochoa Quintero on the final summit. After a series of great performances, lifted by the support of the crowd, and racing on home roads, Richard had a mediocre day, and tumbled out of the top 10 overall on GC.

1	Andrei Kashechkin	Repsol-Cativen	3h50'31
13	Richard Ochoa Quintero	Grupo Nutresa	+ 1'52
41	Nariyuki Masuda	Grupo Nutresa	+ 2'53
45	Eduard Alexander Beltran	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
53	Juan Pablo Valencia	Grupo Nutresa	+ 4'50
75	Gennadiy Tatarinov	Grupo Nutresa	+ 8'46
79	Dayer Quintana	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
89	Sergey Chernetskiy	Grupo Nutresa	+ 13'58

Stage 10:
After the massive dissapointment of stage 9, future team leader Eduard Alexander Beltran demonstrated his credentials and exisitng pedigree by securing Grupo Nutresa's first ever race victory. On a course wll suited to his abilities, he infiltrated a strong BotD, and demonstrated maturity beyond his years by timing his move to secure victory in the race finale to perfection. Hopefully this will be the first of many such performances from Eduard to be enjoyed in years to come.

1	Eduard Alexander Beltran	Grupo Nutresa	2h49'07	20
13	Richard Ochoa Quintero	Grupo Nutresa	+ 1'52
14	Juan Pablo Valencia	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
43	Nariyuki Masuda	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
51	Sergey Chernetskiy	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
101	Gennadiy Tatarinov	Grupo Nutresa	+ 2'49
112	Dayer Quintana	Grupo Nutresa	+ 5'37

Final overall GC and young riders competition
Ochoa Quintero's slide from the GC top 10 through the second half of the race severely impacted Nutresa's point haul from this event. Beltran's last gap stage victory made sure that we did not go home empty-handed, but there is still some lingering disappointment that more was not achieved. However Nutresa were certainly not disgraced stepping up to C1 level racing, with a stage victory, multiple additional top 10 stage placings, and a strong presence in breakaways throughout the race. Additional goals in securing experience for the development of young riders Quintana, Chernetskiy and Tatarinov were met, and Beltran demonstrated his long-term potential to be a team leader as both he and Nutresa mature and grow together.

1	Jocelin Maillet	La Vie Claire	31h16'11
2	David De la Fuente	Team CSC-Orbea	52
3	Andrei Kashechkin	Repsol-Cativen	+ 1'15
4	Walter Pedraza	Mobil - Aeropostal Ciclismo	+ 2'04
5	Tyler Brandt	Heineken-Cal Giant	+ 2'35
18	Richard Ochoa Quintero	Grupo Nutresa	+ 4'32	7
27	Eduard Alexander Beltran	Grupo Nutresa	+ 6'22	2
64	Juan Pablo Valencia	Grupo Nutresa	+ 17'05
77	Nariyuki Masuda	Grupo Nutresa	+ 23'38
82	Gennadiy Tatarinov	Grupo Nutresa	+ 29'24
94	Sergey Chernetskiy	Grupo Nutresa	+ 38'19
103	Dayer Quintana	Grupo Nutresa	+ 44'16
	Young riders competition:
8	Eduard Alexander Beltran	Grupo Nutresa	+ 6'22	1

Great Ocean Road Classic
A first outing for many of our sprinters in 2014, this visit to Australia proved a frustrating experience. Not an auspicious beginning in our inagural C2HC outing. In fact, this performance was nothing short of a shambles, with no obvious team work taking place. Let me assure you that the riot-act was read to the whole team following this disgraceful outing. 0 PPRD, no presence in the break, no sembelance of team work, lazy bunch positioning. Not much more could have gone wrong. Not a good end to the month.

	C2HC Asia:	Great Ocean Road Classic	0 PPRD	0 Points
1	Sarawut Sirironnachai	Siam Cement - Lenovo	4h26'53
32	Michal Golas	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
49	Maksym Averin	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
63	Mauro Richeze	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
65	Pedro Herrera	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
67	Steven Caethoven	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
73	Lucas Sebastian Haedo	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
93	Aleksandr Kolobnev	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.