Our first race of the season is the Clasico San Cristobal down in Cuba.

It's a very hilly course and that's why our man Phillip Gaimon is going to be leading the team for this one day race. Rousseau, Aulas, Beatse, Paiani, Lemoine, and Matteau are going to try to help Phillip achieve at least a top 10 finish as it is our first race of the season.

(11km to go)
Gaimon is all alone in the front group so he attacks

(~7km to go)
Gaimon hits the climb with the pack right behind him

(6km to go)
Gaimon gets over the climb and still has a good lead


(2km to go)
Gaimon still has a 47 second advantage


(1km to go)
38 seconds lead under la flame rouge


(~.5km to go)
Gaimon sees the line



Victory!!!!


Results:

1	Phillip Gaimon	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	5h18'19
2	Aleksandr Kolobnev	Grupo Nutresa	34
3	Marcel Wyss	Team Vontobel	41
4	Gracjan Lejman	FCB - Polska	52
5	Vegard Robinson Bugge	Risa - Ergon	58
6	Connor McConvey	Bank of Ireland - Irish Cycling	s.t.
7	Jose Mendes	Bank of Ireland - Irish Cycling	+ 1'24
8	Joshua Edmondson	Eddie Stobart Pro Cycling	s.t.
9	David Vitoria	Maloja Mountain Nomads	s.t.
10	Cesar Andre Fonte	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
46	Antoine Matteau	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	s.t.
119	Dries Beatse	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	+ 11'50
120	Alexandre Aulas	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	+ 11'56
121	Jean-Lou Paiani	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	s.t.
133	Nicolas Rousseau	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	+ 12'34
148	Cyril Lemoine	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	+ 14'54[/color]

This is our first stage race of the year, and should be well suited for our man Benoit Sinner. He is going to be aided by leadout men Lemoine and Aulas. Hopefully Rousseau can do well on the ITT and get in a break or two. Paiani should do well here and lay down a good pace when needed with Matteau. Hopefully our Belgian Beatse'll pick up some KOTM points over the course of the race.

For our first C2HC ever, we headed out to Australia for Great Ocean Road Classic.

We sent our main sprinter Benoit Sinner in the hopes of a top 10 finish. Aulas, Butts, Chavanel, Lemoine, Matteau and Paiani all joined Sinner to help him finish as high as he could.



The Race started off with Paiani launching an attack



His group was able to stay at the front and was working well togeather constantly.



The break went all the way to the end and Sirironnachai took the victory after a late attack and holding the lead in front of the others in the break



Paiani took a nice third place after losing the sprint for second place



Results:

1	Sarawut Sirironnachai	Siam Cement - Lenovo	4h26'53
2	Greg De Winde	Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo Cycling Team	s.t.
3	Jean-Lou Paiani	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	s.t.
4	Alexander Edmondson	Evonik - Signal Iduna	s.t.
5	Blaz Bogataj	Team Nordeus	s.t.
6	Dominique Mayho	Wounded Warrior Racing	s.t.
7	Hayden Roulston	Fletcher - Garneau	s.t.
8	Damion Drapac	Bank of Ireland - Irish Cycling	s.t.
9	Aleksandr Serebriakov	Team Ameriabank-Novatek	s.t.
10	Michael Vanderaerden	Fletcher - Garneau	s.t.

Stage One


Rousseau time trailing to a 16th place

Stage two


Nathan Earle taking the win for Eddie Stobart and Lemoine finishes 10th

Stage 3



Cam Meyer taking a sprint victory

Stage Four


Bruno Borges taking a breakaway victory

Stage Five


Edmondson takes another victory out of the break for Eddie Stobart as Lemoine finishes 13th on the stage



Lemoine had some very good finishes in the top 15 places, however Benoit Sinner was no-where to be found which raises some questions about him. Rousseau did a great job in the time trail and took a 14th place in the GC.

This is one of our personal goals for the season, and that's why we sent quite a good squad for this race. Gaimon and Sweeting are going to forces in the hilly stages and Paiani and Aulas are bound to do well in those cobbled stages. Abraha, who we loaned during the transfer season, and Matteau, who we bought during the transfer season, are both here to help out our 4 "Lead riders" (if you call them that as there are 4 of them). I almost forgot Cyril Lemoine who is coming off a good New Zealand Cycle Tour and will be here to lead out Sweeting and help Paiani and Aulas in the cobbles.

Duque took a surprising victory as Sweeting took a 9th, Aulas took 14th and Gaimon took 19th







One of our riders working at the front for Sweeting and Gaimon



With a bit more then One kilometer the race was back together at the front



Under la flame rouge, Sweeting burst to the front, you can also see Aulas just behind him



But there goes Iglinski, Sweeting tries to pull him back



But it's too late and Sweeting is able to take a second place behind Iglinski




Stage 2 Results:

1	Valentin Iglinski	Team Ameriabank-Novatek	4h10'35
2	Robert Sweeting	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	s.t.
3	Grega Bole	Team Nordeus	s.t.
4	Nic Hamilton	Bank of Ireland - Irish Cycling	s.t.
5	Leonardo Duque	Azteca - NBCSN	s.t.
12	Alexandre Aulas	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	s.t.
17	Phillip Gaimon	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	s.t.
25	Antoine Matteau	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	s.t.
36	Jean-Lou Paiani	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	s.t.
57	Cyril Lemoine	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	s.t.
137	Tesfay Abraha	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	+ 4'50

GC:

1	Leonardo Duque	Azteca - NBCSN	8h18'18
2	Valentin Iglinski	Team Ameriabank-Novatek	s.t.
3	Grega Bole	Team Nordeus	+ 4
4	Robert Sweeting	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	+ 8
5	Sam Harrison	Bank of Ireland - Irish Cycling	s.t.
15	Alexandre Aulas	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	+ 20
18	Phillip Gaimon	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	s.t.
51	Jean-Lou Paiani	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	s.t.
64	Antoine Matteau	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	s.t.
72	Cyril Lemoine	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	s.t.
142	Tesfay Abraha	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	+ 10'59

Dispite the winds, the stage would end in a mass sprint Sweeting is on the left trying to get the victory



Now its just him against Bole



but he takes the win

Luis Leon Sanchez wrote:
Well. A good start to the season for your team.

With the leader's jersey, we had to work most of the day for Sweeting



with around 58kms the break's lead was way to big and we had to push the pace on several cobbled sections



the pace we were setting was constantly breaking the peleton




with 20 killometers Sweeting was struggling at the back of the front group



instead letting him get dropped, we decided to slow down the pace, which would give the break a win



we were faced by constant attacks, but we were already tired from the work we had done, we were really in pain



The break would take the stage and give Takenouchi a victory



The front man of this group Lebris was most likely going to take the lead jersey





the pack would come in 2'03 behind the lead group



Sadly, Sweeting would have to give up his jersey for the next stage, that said considering the hills, i wouldnt count him out.

Results

1	Yu Takenouchi	Team ASDA-Savers	4h33'49
2	Cedric Lebris	Team TomTom	+ 1'03
3	Stijn Joseph	Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo Cycling Team	s.t.
4	Sébastien Rosseler	Team Carlsberg - Danske Bank	s.t.
5	Hayden Roulston	Fletcher - Garneau	+ 1'29
6	Alexandre Aulas	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	+ 1'44
7	Marcel Wyss	Team Vontobel	+ 1'53
8	Masatoshi Oba	Siam Cement - Lenovo	s.t.
9	Bjorn Selander	Team Chiquita - Universal	+ 2'01
10	Ermin Van Wyk	Fletcher - Garneau	s.t.
...
11	Jean-Lou Paiani	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	s.t.
14	Robert Sweeting	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	s.t.
16	Cyril Lemoine	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	s.t.
19	Phillip Gaimon	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	s.t.
25	Antoine Matteau	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	s.t.
65	Tesfay Abraha	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	s.t.

GC

1	Cedric Lebris	Team TomTom	17h10'42
2	Robert Sweeting	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	+ 56
3	Hayden Roulston	Fletcher - Garneau	s.t.
4	Alexandre Aulas	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	+ 1'11
5	Marcel Wyss	Team Vontobel	+ 1'20
6	Bjorn Selander	Team Chiquita - Universal	+ 1'28
7	Christopher Sutton	Risa - Ergon	s.t.
8	Timothy Dupont	Evonik - Signal Iduna	s.t.
9	Jean-Lou Paiani	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	s.t.
10	Ermin Van Wyk	Fletcher - Garneau	s.t.

Sprint Points

1	[b]Robert Sweeting	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	2	55
2	Grega Bole	Team Nordeus	0	52
3	Valentin Iglinski	Team Ameriabank-Novatek	0	48