Thanks for the reports! Was a nice read and even though the last 2 days went to the break without stage points, the race was close to perfect for me.
Never had expected to win the GC here even though having my top trio here obviously brought high expectations. Wellens being that strong and apparently superior to Olivier on the climbs is good to see as it was needed before the season and this was only his season opener!
The team around was fantastic and made this possible. Olivier dropping to 9th today is fine and more than decent for a co-leader, who did chase regularly, Carboni outside top30 a bit below expectations but used a lot earlier obviously.
This trio will be there for one other race actually, so hopes are even higher now. Apparently a combination able to keep everything together.
Other than that a rather poor showing by the climbers past their prime. Taaramae, Madrazo or Sicard all not at their best. It`s just losing 1-2 stats but apparently enough to fall out of top competition there.
The expected breakaway stage concludes a nice race for Jack Haig, which is obviously good news for our team. A couple of high stage results and a fantastic 2nd place in the GC - well done. He delivered in two races so far: Ukraine (TT, but no real mountains) and Colombia (no TT) not suiting his skillset perfectly. Glad he used these race days for two podium GCs anyway!
Pretty anonymous performance from our other riders, as somehow to be expected with a GC favorite on the team. Not entirely happy with our depth scoring though.
Congratulations, roturn, and thanks for the reports, red!
I am rather disappointed by Quintana here, I was hoping for a top 5 (it was one of our goals) and he somehow didn't manage to stick with the top front competitors. Still, 7th is not a total catastrophe but we come short of a goal yet again. And we are already 0 out of 3 of them so it's not encouraging in the least.
However, we did salvage the race with Ries and Chaves on the last stage. These guys were absolutely awesome on that last day, not only riding a bold race but also bringing in the stage win and a 3rd place. Hat off for you guys! ATTENTION: for the future seasons my fellow managers could see that a loaned rider to Volcanica - Fox not only has fun with our team but also gathers silverware (talk to Michel Ries if you don't believe me).
Congratulations, roturn, and thank you very much for the reports, redordead!
Playing catch-up once again here, but I still wanted to leave my thanks for the nice reports, red. Obviously, I'm overall very disappointed once again in Madrazo, 6th is just unacceptable. But when you make a big swing, sometimes you miss. We'll see if he can deliver a highlight here or there over the course of the season.
Congrats roturn, what a nice performance by Wellens!
