Pretty solid start to the season for you so far. And seeing you getting 280 points in Qatar makes me very happy with 230 - still don't get the PT points system yet Coppel also looks like a worthwhile investment already
Only issue I take is you talking about Coquard being valuable for you next season. I'd like to change that
That's a very solid start to the season for you, congratulations!
The scary thing is that all those points haven't come from races perfectly suited for your team. And soon the stage racing starts where it should be time for Spilak to put the hammer down. You could definitely argue that you were slightly pessimistic pre-season about your chances for the overall title
It will certainly be interesting to see how you do in Het Volk, another solid "damage limitation" there, and it's looking very good this early, I would say.
jph27 wrote:
Pretty solid start to the season for you so far. And seeing you getting 280 points in Qatar makes me very happy with 230 - still don't get the PT points system yet Coppel also looks like a worthwhile investment already
Only issue I take is you talking about Coquard being valuable for you next season. I'd like to change that
Hehe that is not likely to happen, as I want my team focused around the french and greek riders that is fully developped next season - So:
And I really do hope you are right about Coppel being worthwhile. This is probably the race where he will score the highest, but I hope he will score a few points in Paris-Nice, Chrono des Herbiers (Well duh), Tour of California, Tour de Suisse, TONE, Copenhagen-Malmo TTT, Tour of Tasmania and with some luck he could score a bit here and there in the four 1-day races he will also attend.
Atleast he should score better that Guerao did last season - I suspect he is already halfway
280 points is not much, but I really didn't expect much more. I had hoped for my three other TT'ers to be around 30-40 to score 15points instead of 10 each, but really that is not important. I would have scored significantly higher if those 17 riders managed to get the gap. I suspect somewhere between 50-100 points higher. But we can't get lucky all the time, and as long as my riders do what could be expected then I'm happy
BTW I am really really happy to see you scoring so well here. That is very important.
ember wrote:
That's a very solid start to the season for you, congratulations!
The scary thing is that all those points haven't come from races perfectly suited for your team. And soon the stage racing starts where it should be time for Spilak to put the hammer down. You could definitely argue that you were slightly pessimistic pre-season about your chances for the overall title
It will certainly be interesting to see how you do in Het Volk, another solid "damage limitation" there, and it's looking very good this early, I would say.
Thanks. Well we haven't done overly fantastic I think. We have performed according to the teams we have sent. Not much better I think. A bit perhaps. And the major problem - if there are any, is that Vesuvio is around 250 points ahead already, if my headcalculation isn't too far off, while also Becherovka is doing well. They overperformed in the first race and did slightly worse than expected here, but still scoring massive and the cobbles will suit them well.
I need to score just a little bit in the Omloop, because the cobbles is actually (despite it sounding odd) what could keep me close to Vesuvio. They have one rider that might score a few odd points. Luckily I have three, so I hope that everytime Vesuvio get 50 points, we get 100 - or more.
I just have no clue on what to expect from that Omloop race. I have a really weird setup for that race.
tsmoha wrote:
Pretty strong showing. Tzortzakis doing well (better than Goss ) and Coppel delivered, too. Good to see a few TTlers making the Top-10, I only wish Durbridge wouldn't have sucked that hard Coppel of course as the one, who needed to end winning the epilogue.
Yeah, it was not too shabby. You weren't exactly lucky here. I thought you would fill up the top 20 with riders to score some points, and Goss doing so poor is dissapointing really. I don't know if it is because I put a few good leadouts here for him aswell as having Coppel with a very high flat stat. Coppels stageresults indicate that he might have been helping Tzortzakis a bit.
If Coppel wouldn't have won this I would have been extremely dissapointed. It was the one TT of the entire season where I expected him to win.
Funny Facts:
- The Pro Tour has never before had a raceday consisting only of cobbled stages.
- The race as we see it is a first time. Recent versions have been a classic one day race which have been won by the likes of Tom Boonen, Fabian Cancellara, Marcus Burghardt and the one off Stijn Joseph. Cancellara and Marcus Burghardt remains heavy weight favorites, but who can defeat the TTT?
- Festina have only once been in the top 10 of Omloop Het Volk. A young, loaned-in, Sam Bewley took 9th in 2011 before going back to the team we now know as Becherovka (Milka back then).
Startlist:
221. Mathieu Bernaudeau
222. Robert Bush
223. Tom David
224. Markus Eibegger
225. Charalampas Kastrantas
226. Yoann Paillot
227. Guillaume van Keirsbulck
228. Panagiotis Vlatos
Just as predicted before the race we had no business here, and even with three riders capable of doing alright in the cobbles, we came out of this race with close to no points at all. Not a single rider in the overall top 50 was a blow for us, as we had hoped to have atleast two riders in that region.
Results:
1
Pieter Vanspeybrouck
Team BPost
10h02'45
2
Danny Summerhill
Azteca-NBCSN
+ 1'20
3
Pit Schlechter
Vesuvio - Accumalux
+ 2'56
4
Ruben Zepuntke
VolksWagen - Andritz
+ 2'57
5
Remco Broers
Project 1t4i
+ 5'07
6
Joeri Stallaert
Team BPost
+ 5'28
7
Roger Kluge
Pokerstars.com
+ 5'31
8
Sam Bewley
Becherovka - Petrof
+ 5'45
9
Luke Rowe
Good Energy
+ 6'16
10
Marcus Burghardt
Oz Cycling Project
+ 6'18
59
Robert Bush
Festina-Canal+
+ 15'03
60
Tom David
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
84
Guillaume Van Keirsbulck
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
104
Charalampas Kastrantas
Festina-Canal+
+ 18'06
129
Panagiotis Vlatos
Festina-Canal+
+ 21'45
139
Mathieu Bernaudeau
Festina-Canal+
+ 23'09
162
Yoann Paillot
Festina-Canal+
+ 28'40
169
Markus Eibegger
Festina-Canal+
+ 29'57
Points:
Despite coming into the race with no ambitions, we have to be unhappy with the fact that we score no points, whatsoever, except for the points given for completing the race.
Funny Facts:
- Tirreno-Adriatico is a Man-Game classic that has been around for longer than Festina.
- When Festina (as we know it) first debuted in the race the team won the overall by Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez. That was back in 2010.
- Loaned out Diego Ulissi was back in Festina in 2011 where he was assigned captain of the race. He didn’t deliver, and only came in 16th. The reigning champion, Samuel Sanchez crashed and suffered, while ending up 19th in the end.
- For 3 straight years we have been in the top 10 with an Italian rider (2 times Ulissi and once by Ricco).
- Despite winning the race and having numerous top 10s, Festina have never won a stage in the Tirreno-Adriatico. This season Simon Spilak aims to change that.
Startlist:
1. Simon Spilak
2. Robert Bush
3. Piter Campero
4. Tsgabu Grmay
5. Martin Hacecký
6. Yoann Paillot
7. Yuriy Vasyliv
Having Simon Spilak in the race we were the team everyone looked at prior to the race, and we knew that. Things started off slowly with Spilak getting a small time loss in the Prologue. 3 seconds lost to Justo Tenorio whom was set to be the big rival. Spilak looked strong on the two flat stages, where he managed to position himself safely inside the top 15 on both occassions, staying well out of trouble.
The hilly stage to Chieti was one of the pre-race stages that Spilak was aiming at, and he showed he was the strongest. Chamorro was the lone surviver after a long break, and he managed to win the stage ahead of a charging Spilak who jumped into the leaders jersey over a minute down to the main rivals.
From then on, the race went broke for us. Simon Spilak, the biggest favorite for the mountainstage lost a staggering 2'31" to Dan Martin, ending in 10th place, dropping to 2nd in the GC, and while Spilak tried to team up with Andy Schleck on the 6th and final mountainstage, Dan Martin was just too strong for us.
Results:
1
Daniel Martin
Aker - MOT
31h19'30
2
Simon Spilak
Festina-Canal+
+ 1'38
3
Romain Sicard
Orange - KLM Cycling
+ 3'01
4
Domenico Pozzovivo
Oz Cycling Project
+ 4'04
5
Andy Schleck
Vesuvio - Accumalux
+ 4'31
6
Timofey Kritskiy
Tinkoff Bank - Tinkoff Insurance
+ 4'49
7
Justo Tenorio
Bacardi Limited
+ 5'14
8
Stefan Denifl
VolksWagen - Andritz
+ 6'30
9
Vincenzo Nibali
Swisscom - UBS
+ 7'47
10
Dominique Nerz
Team Puma - SAP
+ 7'54
26
Martin Hacecký
Festina-Canal+
+ 14'53
46
Yuriy Vasyliv
Festina-Canal+
+ 25'46
57
Piter Campero
Festina-Canal+
+ 34'13
60
Tsgabu Grmay
Festina-Canal+
+ 35'07
96
Yoann Paillot
Festina-Canal+
+ 53'41
107
Robert Bush
Festina-Canal+
+ 1h01'52
Points:
We came with and external ambition of getting a podium in this race, and we managed to do that, but our internal ambition was to win the race, and taking atleast one stagewin in the proces. We failed there.
Funny Facts:
- Paris-Nice has had 7 different winners. All of which are legends to the game one way or another. Yuri Trofimov has won the race twice (in 2012 and 2013).
- The best ever Festina result is a 3rd place from Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez back in 2009. Simon Spilak almost copied that when he finished 4th last season
- From 2011 and along 2013 Festina had a horrible time in the Paris-Nice, having no riders in the top 10.
- We have a total of 4 stagewins in the race (Samuel Sanchez in 2009, Mauricio Ardila in 2011, Tim Dees and Simon Spilak in 2014)
Things started off great with a short prologue, perfectly suited for Jerome Coppel, who took over the early lead, aswell as the points jersey. Besides that we managed to get a hold of the teams competition.
From then on, it all went slowly downhill. Tzortzakis found his level in the competition with two 7th places, and on stage 3 the leaders jersey was lost, as Mohs and van Stayen took over from Coppel. We still had a hold of the teams competition though, but on stage 4 that was *Poof* into the air.
Ricco had a respectable first hilly stage, to take another 7th, but then it went from mediocre to bad! Tzortzakis were nowhere to be seen on the final flat stage 5, while Ricco had an absolutely dreadful stage 6, putting him back to 8th in the GC.
Stage 7 was, on paper, perfect for Ricco but another horrible effort saw Ricco drop as low as 12th in the GC behind riders like Diggle and Castroviejo. We sent Coppel into the breakaway on the final stage to take back some of the lost terrain, but as he was the weakest in the breakaway sprint we had to settle. Ricco took back a few seconds to end 10th in the GC, still well below our expectations of 5th or thereabouts.
Results:
1
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Aker - MOT
29h37'26
2
Yuri Trofimov
Tinkoff Bank - Tinkoff Insurance
+ 7
3
Toms Skujins
Red Bull - Huawei
+ 2'12
4
Diego Ulissi
Bacardi Limited
+ 2'31
5
Rein Taaramäe
Bouygues Telecom
+ 2'57
6
Jack Bobridge
Oz Cycling Project
+ 2'59
7
Aleksandar Flügel
VolksWagen - Andritz
+ 3'00
8
Enrico Barbin
Quickstep
+ 3'43
9
Peter Sagan
Becherovka - Petrof
+ 3'44
10
Riccardo Ricco
Festina-Canal+
+ 3'54
51
Jerome Coppel
Festina-Canal+
+ 17'29
76
Enrico Gasparotto
Festina-Canal+
+ 27'52
134
Georgos Tzortzakis
Festina-Canal+
+ 51'14
149
Mathieu Bernaudeau
Festina-Canal+
+ 1h02'46
152
Bryan Coquard
Festina-Canal+
+ 1h04'42
159
Panagiotis Vlatos
Festina-Canal+
+ 1h07'45
Points:
Despite producing a below-par GC result, we came out of the race with a respecable amount of points, mainly because of the win on the prologue, which gave a couple of days in the leaders jersey, aswell as the points jersey. A bunch of 5th-7th places on the stages gave a bit aswell, while 10th in the GC was not good enough.
Startlist:
151. Clement Koretzky
152. Tom David
153. Markus Eibegger
154. Charalampas Kastrantas
155. Laurent Pichon
156. Guillaume van Keirsbulck
Leading our team was the young, french duo of Koretzky and Pichon, and we knew that we were in for a difficult time. With a bit of luck, we would be aiming for a top 15 from one of them, otherwise our ambition was to put both as close to the top 20 as possible. In the end Koretzky got 17th while Pichon got 23rd, and we could write down the race as a succesful one, looking at our potential.
Results:
1
Simone Ponzi
Good Energy
5h40'59
2
Tejay Van Garderen
Movistar - US Postal
s.t.
3
Ben Gastauer
Vesuvio - Accumalux
s.t.
4
Jan Bakelants
Bouygues Telecom
s.t.
5
Dimitri Claeys
VolksWagen - Andritz
s.t.
6
Damiano Cunego
Meiji - JR East
s.t.
7
Francesco Ginanni
Pokerstars.com
s.t.
8
Luis Leon Sanchez Gil
Evonik - ELKO
s.t.
9
Alexey Lutsenko
Pendleton's
s.t.
10
Pello Bilbao
Bacardi Limited
+ 43
17
Clement Koretzky
Festina-Canal+
+ 2'28
23
Laurent Pichon
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
40
Tom David
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
89
Charalampas Kastrantas
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
113
Guillaume Van Keirsbulck
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
162
Markus Eibegger
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
Points:
We knew, that there was not going to be a lot of points in this race for us, but we got a bit, and we are happy with that.
Funny Facts:
- Milano San Remo has been a Festina favorite for years, with Festina winning the race no less than 3 times, including a superior 1-2 in 2012. It has been won by 3 different riders in the Festina setup.
- Festina has had a Win Goal in this race twice. In 2011 and 2013. Festina won the race in 2012 and 2014.
- For the past 7 editions of the race Festina has never finished lower than 5th. In that time we have managed to put 11 top 10 rankings in the race. (Samuel Sanchez, Allan Davis, Thor Hushovd in 2008, Samuel Sanchez in 2009, Samuel Sanchez and Thor Hushovd in 2010, Sam Bewley in 2011 (Ulissi in 11th btw), Diego Ulissi and Filippo Pozzato in 2012, Diego Ulissi in 2013 and Riccardo Ricco in 2014).
- Every time we have won the race it has been done through a breakaway.
- Riccardo Ricco is back to defend his title from 2014. Funny thing is, he only ever did one top 10 prior to last year. That was in 2008 where Festina won and managed to put 3 guys ahead of Ricco.
Startlist:
81. Georgos Tzortzakis
82. Jerome Coppel
83. Tom David
84. Enrico Gasparotto
85. Clement Koretzky
86. Riccardo Ricco
87. Guillaume van Keirsbulck
88. Yuriy Vasyliv
This years edition of the MSR was quite similar to previous editions. One or two massive attacks towards the end got interesting, while the durable sprinters fought for their chance. We have to admit, that once our former rider (and former winner of the race) Diego Ulissi charged down the final hill, we were secretly cheering him on, in the car, but in the end he was caught.
We were pretty well placed in the race ourselves, but no top result for Festina this season
Results:
1
Sam Bewley
Becherovka - Petrof
7h36'38
2
Mikhail Ignatiev
Metinvest-Dacia
s.t.
3
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Aker - MOT
s.t.
4
Diego Ulissi
Bacardi Limited
s.t.
5
Dan Holloway
Red Bull - Huawei
s.t.
6
Philippe Gilbert
Pendleton's
s.t.
7
Riccardo Ricco
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
8
Simone Ponzi
Good Energy
s.t.
9
Marcus Burghardt
Oz Cycling Project
s.t.
10
Jan Bakelants
Bouygues Telecom
s.t.
14
Georgos Tzortzakis
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
26
Jerome Coppel
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
37
Yuriy Vasyliv
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
83
Enrico Gasparotto
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
103
Tom David
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
107
Clement Koretzky
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
150
Guillaume Van Keirsbulck
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
Points:
Despite not getting a massive result here, we still managed to score quite well, having 4 riders in top 5, with two guys in top 15.
Funny Facts:
- Festina has never been able to put a rider inside the top 10 of this race. This season they are heavy favorites to win it.
- The best ever Festina result was 11th from Mathieu Bernaudeau back in 2012, where Jerome Coppel won the race for the first time. Bernaudeau have been in 3 consequetive top 20s here, and is back to try again.
- For the first time ever Mathieu Bernaudeau is the weakest timetriallist that we put into the race.
- The race has never been won by a minute or more, despite being a long timetrial. In fact last season 4 riders was inside 10 seconds of eachother.
- Jerome Coppel has podiumed the race 4 years in a row. He is back to put another one in the tally.
We came into this race with ONE ambition, and one only! To win! We knew it would be difficult to beat Taylor Phinney, but nonetheless we wanted to do just that. So when we saw the result, we went straight to bed. An absolutely dreadful result in one of the few races that we really wanted to excell in.
Results:
1
Marlen Zmorka
Metinvest-Dacia
1h03'19
2
Jesse Sergent
Becherovka - Petrof
+ 7
3
Mikhail Ignatiev
Metinvest-Dacia
+ 30
4
Luke Durbridge
Oz Cycling Project
+ 43
5
Matthias Brändle
VolksWagen - Andritz
+ 49
6
Marcel Kittel
Vesuvio - Accumalux
+ 52
7
Michael Hepburn
Becherovka - Petrof
s.t.
8
Damien Howson
Venchi
+ 53
9
Dennis Van Winden
Team TomTom
+ 54
10
Miles Olman
Oz Cycling Project
s.t.
14
Jerome Coppel
Festina-Canal+
+ 1'06
16
Mathieu Bernaudeau
Festina-Canal+
+ 1'22
18
Panagiotis Vlatos
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
Points:
Coming for atleast 180 points, we were shocked with the amount of points we bagged from the race.
Funny Facts:
- In the 3 seasons of being a PT race, Festina has only once managed to get a top 10. Filippo Pozzato, as a loaned-in rider managed to do so in 2012.
- Last season we didn’t manage to put a rider inside the top 30, this season our goal is to have atleast 2.
- Former Festina loanie, Sam Bewley, has won the race two years running in front of his nemesis Tom Boonen (who did only manage 3rd in 2013 though). Both riders have been on the podium all the years.
Startlist:
181. Tom David
182. Mathieu Bernaudeau
183. Robert Bush
184. Tsgabu Grmay
185. Charalampas Kastrantas
186. Laurent Pichon
187. Guillaume van Keirsbulck
188. Panagiotis Vlatos
As the cobbled season started, our goals of doing well decreased. We knew that we did not have any sort of striking power for races like that, and we would be happy having three guys in the overall top 50. We ended up sending Kastrantas into the early break just in order to get a bit of notice, but as the race progresse our cobblers were still able to hang on for quite a bit, giving us a great end result - above our expected.
Results:
1
Sam Bewley
Becherovka - Petrof
4h53'41
2
Fabian Cancellara
Red Bull - Huawei
s.t.
3
Vladimir Gusev
Tinkoff Bank - Tinkoff Insurance
+ 1'03
4
Ramon Sinkeldam
Project 1t4i
+ 1'31
5
Alexander Kristoff
Aker - MOT
s.t.
6
Arman Kamyshev
Orange - KLM Cycling
s.t.
7
Remco Broers
Project 1t4i
s.t.
8
Frederik Nolf
Metinvest-Dacia
s.t.
9
Marcus Burghardt
Oz Cycling Project
s.t.
10
Enrico Franzoi
Meiji - JR East
s.t.
16
Robert Bush
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
22
Guillaume Van Keirsbulck
Festina-Canal+
+ 3'12
30
Tom David
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
86
Charalampas Kastrantas
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
Points:
It was highly surprising for us to have a rider as high as 16th, while also another two riders in the top 30, but it was a bit of a downside for us to see that 4 riders had to abandon, as those would have been another 20 points. Overall we are happy with the race, though.
Funny Facts:
- The race has been in PT for two seasons yet none of the pre race favorites has yet won it. In 2013 it was won by Marcus Burghardt and in 2014 it was won by Filippo Pozzato. An interesting fact might be that it favours cobbled riders for no distinct reason.
- In 2013 the top 6 only included riders who could do cobbles well and hills well. In 2014 it was not quite as clear, but yet riders such as Vanspeybrouck hit the top 10.
Startlist:
121. Georgos Tzortzakis
122. Jerome Coppel
123. Bryan Coquard
124. Tom David
125. Enrico Gasparotto
126. Clement Koretzky
127. Laurent Pichon
128. Guillaume van Keirsbulck
In the midst of races that suited us horribly there were atleast one race where we had a decent shot at a top 10. The flat Lisbon Classic was suited well for Tzortzakis, but with a huge amount of favorites here we would probably have to settle for low end results. The race ended up being quite a bit harder than we anticipated, and instead of the Tzortzakis train we had to change ambition and see what Jerome Coppel could do in a long sprint. He did well enough to get the expected result for us, to take 9th - But not a great race for us, as most other riders ended up behind.
Results:
1
Dan Holloway
Red Bull - Huawei
5h03'02
2
Alexander Kristoff
Aker - MOT
s.t.
3
Jurgen Roelandts
Bouygues Telecom
s.t.
4
Sam Bewley
Becherovka - Petrof
s.t.
5
Matthew Goss
Oz Cycling Project
s.t.
6
Jacopo Guarnieri
Good Energy
s.t.
7
Diego Ulissi
Bacardi Limited
s.t.
8
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Aker - MOT
s.t.
9
Jerome Coppel
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
10
Romain Feillu
Quickstep
s.t.
25
Georgos Tzortzakis
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
30
Laurent Pichon
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
62
Guillaume Van Keirsbulck
Festina-Canal+
+ 2'10
72
Tom David
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
146
Bryan Coquard
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
163
Enrico Gasparotto
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
184
Clement Koretzky
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
Points:
We came here to score about 150 points, and we ended up 43 points below that. Not a succesful race, but not a bad one either.
Funny Facts:
- We haven’t had a rider in top 10 for three years. Last season we got 13th, while in 2013 and 2012 we didn’t even make the top 30. We have had riders such as Riccardo Ricco, Diego Ulissi and Filippo Pozzato ride the race for us.
- In 2010 and 2011 we podiumed the race with Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (2nd in 2010, 3rd in 2011).
- We have 2 stagewins from the race (David Boily and Filippo Pozzato), we have won the Youth Jersey (David Boily) and we have won the KOM (Diego Ulissi).
Startlist:
1. Riccardo Ricco
2. Mathieu Bernaudeau
3. Markus Eibegger
4. Martin Hacecký
5. Charalampas Kastrantas
6. Laurent Pichon
7. Guillaume van Keirsbulck
8. Panagiotis Vlatos
Because of the poor history with this race, we didn't have our hopes high, but with Ricco leading the way we really should be able to do rather well. We didn't. On the first two stages we did nothing, and Ricco didn't seem very alert. On stage 3, however, he came to a wake and ended up 6th in a group just behind the biggest stars of the race.
On stage 4, Ricco fell asleep again missing the move setting him 4 minutes down on the leaders of the day and a massive 6 minutes down in total. Also losing 2 riders from the race was a major blow. Ricco was still in the top 10, though. But things just wasn't going our way. Ricco with another 6 minute loss on stage 5 put him in 11th, while also Pichon diminished from the top 30. The final TT saw Ricco claw one back, to end 10th in the GC, but it was a truly disastrous race.
Results:
1
Tejay Van Garderen
Movistar - US Postal
21h47'29
2
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Aker - MOT
+ 38
3
Yuri Trofimov
Tinkoff Bank - Tinkoff Insurance
+ 1'17
4
Jan Bakelants
Bouygues Telecom
+ 1'23
5
Robert Gesink
Project 1t4i
+ 5'02
6
Ion Izagirre
Pokerstars.com
+ 5'23
7
Ben Gastauer
Vesuvio - Accumalux
+ 7'11
8
Dimitri Claeys
VolksWagen - Andritz
+ 7'40
9
Chris Froome
Quickstep
+ 8'25
10
Riccardo Ricco
Festina-Canal+
+ 8'39
34
Laurent Pichon
Festina-Canal+
+ 14'12
79
Charalampas Kastrantas
Festina-Canal+
+ 24'11
97
Markus Eibegger
Festina-Canal+
+ 28'17
154
Martin Hacecký
Festina-Canal+
+ 54'06
163
Guillaume Van Keirsbulck
Festina-Canal+
+ 1h00'59
Points:
An absolutely dreadful race for us, gave nothing worthy of a mention. We had a clear ambition of atleast 200 points from a race where we had both Ricco and Pichon to chase the daily succeses, aswell as Ricco who should have been higher in the GC.
Startlist:
201. Tom David
202. Robert Bush
203. Markus Eibegger
204. Charalampas Kastrantas
205. Georgos Tzortzakis
206. Guillaume van Keirsbulck
207. Yuriy Vasyliv
208. Panagiotis Vlatos
The cobbled classics are among the worst parts of the season for us, so yet again our hope was to bring three guys in the top 50, while knowing that even that could be of some difficulty for us. Yet again we put Kastrantas in the early break to get some notice, but unlike last time, our cobblers just had no strength.
Our two loanies managed to do what was asked of them, but our captain, Tom David, failed once again.
Points:
We know we are not looking at top points from these sort of races, but we have an ambition of having atleast 60 and hopefully between 80-100 points from these cobbled races. So we were dissapointed to bag only points for finishing the race aswell as two low-end top 50.
Startlist:
21. Bryan Coquard
22. Piter Campero
23. Markus Eibegger
24. Enrico Gasparotto
25. Tsgabu Grmay
26. Martin Hacecký
27. Charalampas Kastrantas
28. Yuriy Vasyliv
For the first time ever Festina-Canal+ was going to ride a HC race. We were very eager to get started to see what this was all about, but knew that we didn't have any real firepower for the race. The best option was a good showing from Coquard ord Hacecký. Neither performed that.
Results:
1
Janez Brajkovic
ONCE-Eroski
6h12'33
2
Jurgen Van den Broeck
Team BPost
+ 1'03
3
Alberto Contador
Bonsucro
+ 1'13
4
Martijn Keizer
Aegon - Lavazza
+ 1'17
5
Tiago Machado
Prio - Porto
+ 1'21
6
Florentino Marquez
Bank of Ireland - Irish Cycling
+ 1'36
7
David Abal
Buff - Polska
+ 1'50
8
Emanuele Sella
Siam Cement - Lenovo
+ 2'07
9
Magno Nazaret
Buff - Polska
+ 2'15
10
Beñat Intxausti
RBC Pro Cycling
+ 2'23
47
Martin Hacecký
Festina-Canal+
+ 6'40
64
Tsgabu Grmay
Festina-Canal+
+ 9'07
65
Piter Campero
Festina-Canal+
+ 9'08
118
Charalampas Kastrantas
Festina-Canal+
+ 19'00
120
Markus Eibegger
Festina-Canal+
+ 19'19
121
Yuriy Vasyliv
Festina-Canal+
+ 19'27
155
Bryan Coquard
Festina-Canal+
+ 34'25
Points:
We were here. I know, cause I was in the car. But truth to be spoken, the sponsors are hugely dissapointed, that we didn't even try setting our mark on a small french race. Having one of the most talented french sprinters in the team a 10th place on stage 1 isn't good enough, and having 4 decent climbers all taking a nap on the final stage certainly also had me head down, answering to my bosses.
Funny Facts:
- This is the 9th edition of the Paris – Roubaix in terms of the Man-Game. Tom Boonen is still the mastermind of the race having won no less than 4 times! Sam Bewley has won the race for the past two seasons, but Boonen has been just around. In fact Tom Boonen has made it to the podium for 7 out of 8 possible editions. In 2008, when missing the podium, he was 4th.
- Festina had a good run in the race, managing to get into the top 10, 5 times running – From 2008 to 2012. The best result was Marcus Burghardt in 2009.
- For the past two seasons Festina has not been in the top 10. Worst of all was 2014 when no riders of the team even made it into the top 30.
Startlist:
201. Tom David
202. Robert Bush
203. Markus Eibegger
204. Tsgabu Grmay
205. Charalampas Kastrantas
206. Guillaume van Keirsbulck
207. Yuriy Vasyliv
208. Panagiotis Vlatos
We were truly contend to let the last two races slip out of our minds before The Hell on North. Normally we would have slim to no expectations here, but because of the two previously dreadful races, we just HAD to do better. We immidiately put Kastrantas into the break for our sponsors. In the end we could finally put our arms up - Not because we did well, but because we didn't suck. Tom David, Robert Bush and Guillaume van Keirsbulck all finished in the top 50, albeit very far down.
Results:
1
Sam Bewley
Becherovka - Petrof
6h51'15
2
Tom Boonen
Evonik - ELKO
+ 34
3
Roger Kluge
Pokerstars.com
+ 1'18
4
Adam Blythe
Good Energy
s.t.
5
Fabian Cancellara
Red Bull - Huawei
s.t.
6
Vladimir Gusev
Tinkoff Bank - Tinkoff Insurance
s.t.
7
Alexander Kristoff
Aker - MOT
s.t.
8
Kenneth Vanbilsen
Quickstep
s.t.
9
Florian Senechal
Pendleton's
s.t.
10
Ruben Zepuntke
VolksWagen - Andritz
s.t.
29
Tom David
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
44
Guillaume Van Keirsbulck
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
45
Robert Bush
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
69
Panagiotis Vlatos
Festina-Canal+
+ 24'00
Points:
We clearly did better here than we did in Ronde and Corsica, but not much. Could we actually get above 50 points this time? Nope, only 4 riders finished the race. Aaaargh!
Startlist:
191. Martin Hacecký
192. Robert Bush
193. Tom David
194. Markus Eibegger
195. Tsgabu Grmay
196. Charalampas Kastrantas
197. Yuriy Vasyliv
Going back to the HC races, I made sure that every single rider on the team knew exactly how I felt after our last presence there - Aswell as the previously few races. Having scored less than 100 points in total from three races together was, simply put, bullshit. An absolute new low for Festina-Canal+ and this time we wanted to put our work gloves on, and make a notice!
From the very first moment Martin Hacecký did well. 17th in the prologue, beating several prominent names such as Jurgen van den Broeck, Ryan Eastman and Jaroslav Popovych had us fist in the air for a brief moment. The flat stages of the race was of no interest to us, and we just had to make sure Martin Hacecký didn't get in any sort of trouble. Tom David did an amazing job keeping him well positioned in the finals, and as soon as we hit stage 4 Martin should stomp the pedals himself.
He did a nice 18th place on the stage with teammate Yuriy Vasyliv not far behind in 20th, placing both in top 25 of the GC. On stage 6 Hacecký proved that he was clearly among the 20 best climbers in the race, getting 12th charging him to 13th in the GC. The final TTT was not enough to do anything about him there so we got a good result!
Results:
1
Alberto Contador
Bonsucro
21h01'10
2
Emanuele Sella
Siam Cement - Lenovo
+ 22
3
Martijn Keizer
Aegon - Lavazza
+ 51
4
Jurgen Van den Broeck
Team BPost
+ 1'19
5
David Abal
Buff - Polska
+ 1'29
6
Rafael Valls
Euskaltel-Air France
+ 1'41
7
Ryan Eastman
Project: Africa
+ 1'55
8
Thomas Lövkvist
Swedbank-PEAB
+ 2'28
9
Beñat Intxausti
RBC Pro Cycling
+ 2'33
10
Florentino Marquez
Bank of Ireland - Irish Cycling
+ 3'00
13
Martin Hacecký
Festina-Canal+
+ 4'46
28
Yuriy Vasyliv
Festina-Canal+
+ 9'10
73
Tsgabu Grmay
Festina-Canal+
+ 16'50
80
Charalampas Kastrantas
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
102
Markus Eibegger
Festina-Canal+
+ 19'43
138
Tom David
Festina-Canal+
+ 33'25
143
Robert Bush
Festina-Canal+
+ 34'34
Points:
Coming from a rather horrible performance last time we rode a HC race, we have to be very happy with whatever we got here. Vasyliv as 5th in the Youth competition and Hacecký 13th in the GC. Getting up to a total of 49 points from our HC adventure might seem like nothing, but it gives a bit of an extra margin to fuck up in the PT season.
Funny Facts:
- Two out of the last three versions of Tour of California has been destroyed by crashes. Last season Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier was in 20th GC in his first ever race as a leader. On the final stage he crashed. He ended the race as 28th. In 2012 it was much worse though. Alberto Contador was sitting in 5th place while Jose Serpa was positioned as 9th in the GC before the final stage. In the final km Alberto Contador crashed, and had to abandon the race. Alberto Contador also had a horrible race here in 2013 ending well outside the top 10.
- We have won only 1 stage in the race during it’s lifetime. That was back in 2010, when Carlos Castaño won the 4th stage. Castaño also has the best ever GC result from the race for us, as he finished the race 3rd – also in 2010.
- Before the race became hilly/mountainous we managed to put 3 guys into the GC top 10. That was back in 2009, and the riders were Jurgen van Goolen (5th), Brian Vandborg (7th) and Haimar Zubeldia (10th)
- When Simon Spilak set out to ride, he is the best rider to have ever ridden the race – Both in terms of average (OVL) and mountainstat. No rider with above 83MO has ever ridden the race.
We needed succes, and we needed it now! Having been 5th in the overall ranking after the first 10 races we managed to score absolutely nothing in the 3 PT races and 2 HC races coming after this. A total of 300 points or so from 5 races was a humiliating amount of points. And we needed to claw back - Fast!
The startlist for this race was about as strong as we could get it, without having Ricco involved - He had to ride the Giro. We immidiately showed what we came for, getting 3rd in the TTT, after having ridden two (boring for us) flat stages. But losing 6 seconds to Phinney was really not a good start if Spilak was going to win this race. On the difficult stage 4, Yury Trofimov showed why he was last years man to beat, and took an incredible stagewin. Spilak followed 1'12" after in 4th, but gapping Phinney!
On stage 6 Spilak showed that he was not here to mock about, taking a brilliant stagewin. Having only Machado in his wheels meant that he could now take on the leaders jersey, with also Lecuisinier doing extremely well.
On the final TT, however, Spilak just didn't have the power to do what he needed, and lost 1'49" to Phinney - Even losing time to Machado. It was enough to lose the lead by a heartbreaking 5 seconds. Things were a bit more bearable because Lecuisinier was able to take 8th in the GC aswell, though.
Results:
1
Taylor Phinney
Venchi
24h55'14
2
Simon Spilak
Festina-Canal+
+ 5
3
Tiago Machado
Prio - Porto
+ 31
4
Yuri Trofimov
Tinkoff Bank - Tinkoff Insurance
+ 2'09
5
Robert Gesink
Project 1t4i
+ 3'30
6
Nicolas Roche
Pokerstars.com
+ 3'56
7
Thomas Dekker
Orange - KLM Cycling
+ 4'03
8
Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier
Festina-Canal+
+ 4'10
9
Sergio Luis Henao Montoya
Project 1t4i
+ 4'22
10
Alejandro Valverde
Pendleton's
+ 4'44
28
Jerome Coppel
Festina-Canal+
+ 11'53
37
Yuriy Vasyliv
Festina-Canal+
+ 16'32
49
Markus Eibegger
Festina-Canal+
+ 20'39
54
Yoann Paillot
Festina-Canal+
+ 24'03
180
Panagiotis Vlatos
Festina-Canal+
+ 1h03'52
183
Mathieu Bernaudeau
Festina-Canal+
+ 1h07'23
Points:
So we needed a lot. And we got a lot. By far the best race of the season for us, and it will surely help us going a bit back towards the top 5 after we certainly plumped far outside it during the cobbled races. Great team effort gives us well above 500 points.
Coppel also looks like a worthwhile investment already 
) and Coppel delivered, too. Good to see a few TTlers making the Top-10, I only wish Durbridge wouldn't have sucked that hard 
