Tour de Pologne Review
After a forgetful Tour Down Under, our Puncheur trio of Caruso, Zingle & Le Gac really had to show something more in Poland to kick start their season and give me some hope that they'll perform this season which is vital to our survival in the PCT. The 3 flat stages also gave Bouhanni a chance to shine.
Stage 1
A quite chaotic final sprint on this opening hilly stage was won by Ben Hermans. Caruso & Zingle managed to squeeze into the first group of 57 riders while Le Gac brought in the next group 45 seconds back.
Hermans celebrates a surprising stage win.
Stage 2
The second stage of the race offered a chance for Bouhanni to get a good result. Our team was on a mission to deliver him and we had 7 riders chasing the breakaway as pictured.
Zingle had put in his shift at the front and left Caruso to lead-out last year's sprinting duo.
Caruso put in a great effort until 1.7kms to go and it was now up to Lobato to deliver Bouhanni to the finish.
Bouhanni went with 700m to go while Lobato screwed up and left Vanderbiest with a gap to get through.
Bouhanni didn't have it in him and only managed 4th with Vanderbiest taking the stage win. A bit disappointing but good to see we actually produced a lead-out.
Stage 3
The second hilly stage would be more decisive than the first and our team screwed up their tactics by sending Caruso & Zingle back to pull Bouhanni's group back after being dropped with 10kms to go.
Anuar Aziz would go on to take a slightly surprising stage win.
The earlier failures resulted in Zingle losing 4'01 while Caruso & Le Gac both lost 4'07. Essentially ruining their chances of placing anywhere worth noting in the GC. The team manager was absolutely filthy at the team and told them to sort it out or they'd be riding elsewhere next season.
Stage 4
After yesterday's tactical suicide, Caruso decided to go about putting it right and decided he had the legs to join the breakaway given he didn't put them to use the previous stage.
The gap for the breakaway was still at 1'30 with 10kms to go.
Finally our team made a smart choice and chose not to chase the breakaway leaving only a couple of the weaker teams to try and chase.
With 3kms to go Caruso decided to try do it alone as he didn't fancy a sprint against the breakaway which contained some decent finishers.
He had to go fairly early as the rest of the breakaway riders were fighting back.
And he held on for our first stage win of the season! Showing off our sponsors nicely with his celebration. He gained 2'32 on the GC riders and moved up to 14th in the GC.
Stage 5
On today's hilly stage Caruso was lacking the legs following his efforts on the previous stage so it was Zingle up near the front on the attack.
Caruso's efforts saw him fall into the second group on the road near to the end.
Lutsenko would end up winning the stage while Zingle fought for a commendable 10th place. Caruso would end up losing 37 seconds and dropping down to 20th in the GC.
Stage 6
It wouldn't get any easier for the riders as about 14 hills waited for them in a lengthy 191km stage. Le Gac however didn't shy away and joined the break of the day.
Le Gac would end up fighting his way to 4th in the KOM, winning a few of the sprints but unfortunately not doing enough as the current KOM leader was in the break.
Attacks littered the final part of the race and Barbin took an impressive stage win.
Caruso & Zingle finished the stage in 29th & 31st and lost 2'20. This would see Caruso drop further to 24th in the GC before the final flat stage.
Stage 7
The final stage in Poland provided the sprinters with another chance for the stage win. Le Gac again getting in the breakaway which would mean no chasing from our team yet again. A similar tactic to that employed on stage 3 which Caruso won.
With 32kms to go the gap was only at 1'40 as some organisation back in the peloton actually saw a chase so it wasn't looking too promising for the breakaway.
With 10kms to go the breakaway had been fighting well and still held onto a 1 minute lead. They were however in sight of the Carrefour sprint train.
With 5kms to go the gap was still at 1 minute and Le Gac went alone, not fancying himself in a sprint and for good reason.
The entire break was sprinting with 2kms to go. Le Gac held onto a gap. The peloton had meanwhile given up on the stage win.
And it's stage win number 2 for the team! Le Gac was too strong and too smart for his breakaway companions. Yet again, he takes a stage win for us in Poland after winning stage 6 last season.
Boivin won the pointless peloton sprint for 9th. Bouhanni deciding not to waste his energy as we'd already won the stage and there are no points for finishing 9th.
Ulissi would take the GC win for Generali.
Caruso would end the race 24th in the GC & 8th in the Points classification along with his stage win. Not the best race for him but you can definitely argue that he scored more points than he would have if he anonymously finished 15th-20th. Zingle would end the race in 38th in the GC. Le Gac gained enough time on the final stage to finish 47th in the GC & 5th in the U25. His efforts on the final two stages were rewarded with 3rd in the KOM and 7th in the Points to add to his stage win.
In the end it was a successful race for the team following our tactical disaster which in all honesty has probably given us 2 stage wins and more points than we would have got otherwise so can't really complain. As reporter roturn said, "Great win once more for the team, that needs such performances as often as possible", he isn't wrong as we'll need more aggressive riding to avoid relegation. Was also good to see a sprint train for Bouhanni on the one flat stage that we didn't win from the breakaway. It's looking more promising for the boys in Orange!
Down Under Classic 
Clasique Pico Basile 
for achieving our only decent result throughout the month.
Tour of the Middle East 
Volta a Catalunya 
Hong Kong Challenge 
Pro Hallstatt Classic 
Rider Bits- Olivier Le Gac 
SAA Tour d’Afrique 
Vuelta a Colombia 
Tour of East Java 
Tour of Southland 
E3 Prijs 
GP Herning 
Seriously though good to hear you guys are continuing, and hopefully your long terms plans aren't totally scuppered by a relegation. Still a long way until that's to be thought about as you have made clear, and Nazaret in Kenya hopefully can help motivate the rest to pull together and fight 
