Having just proved in the velodrome that he can still compete with the Bewleys and Burghardts all eyes were on Tom Boonen. His main rivals were once again Summerhilll and Vanspeybrouck.

But it was not one of the two who was responsible for the big gap that Boonen faced after stage 1 but a badly timed puncture just after Summerhill / Vanspeybrouck attacked the 17-man lead group.

Together with his lieutenant Andzs Flaksis - who dropped back to help Boonen - he tried to limit the losses and eventually got back to a group including riders like Veelers or Boom. Unfortunatelly, this group crossed the finishline 3 minutes behind a strong Summerhill and Vanspeybrouck & Baugnies in between.

With a strong attack on stage 2 (2th place) Boonen could get quite some time but being still + 1'13 behind Summerhill it was obvious that the GC would not go to him if stage 3 would not bring some obscure plot twists.

Stage 3 was the chance for a stage win but a break spearheaded by Strava's Angelo Tulik spoiled the party. Boonen finishs 5th as winner of the mass sprint which means no bonus seconds.

The concluding time trial caused no changes in the GC's top positions. Boonen finishes 3rd in GC and wins the point jersey while Olli Kulppi backs up his great Paris-Roubaix result with the win of the young rider classification.

While last season's promotion hero Simon Geschke currently struggles in South Africa, the Philadelphia International Championship was a full success for us.

Only six Evonik guys travelled to America since a large part of the team is in South Africa while others did not want to exhaust themselves too much with only 3 days until the Tour of Romandie - an important race for us - starts.

Smukulis and Wagner shared leadership while Mohoric, Bekmanis, Kulppi and Bogdanovics were free to attack themself.

We were glad to see Kulppi getting us once again TV time by joining the morning escapees. They had no chance as Puma and Eritel controlled the pace in the back.

The winner was decided on the Manayunk Wall and Gatis Smukulis was among the first riders to enter it. He started the climb in 9th position and moved forward with every meter the wall lasted. In the end, he finished 3rd.

Third start in a stage race for Luis Leon Sanchez and third podium.

Our spaniard delivers another great performance. After his podium in Bayern and the GC win in Ukraine Sanchez could add another GC victory to his impressive season.

Announced as the fight of climbers vs. allrounders -
Turning out as a fight allrounders vs. allrounders -
Won by one of the most successful allrounders :

LL Sanchez was the most consistent contender on all 3 decisive stages. (Hilly) Stage 4 saw Valls winning with LLS finishing as runner-up. He could limit his losses on mountainous stage 5 giving him a good position heading into the final time trial. Again finishing as second strongest on the day was enough for him to add another GC win.

Despite of strong results Evonik - Elko dropped out of the automatic promotion spots. It's very close at the top though so a lot can still happen.

And as you read this a bit has already changed ...

The Romandie celebration party had to stop early for Matej Mohoric and Janis Dakteris as they had to start in France just 3 day later. The annual 5 jours de Dunkerque was yet another important HC event with Tom Boonen having big aims for the race.

And Boonen once again delivered. He finishs on the podium of the general classification by winning stage 4 and coming close on stages 3 and 5 (3rd each).

The surprise of the race was last year's star Simon Geschke who could stick with the elite group of favourites all the way to Cassel despite of kilometres of cobblestones. This made him finish 23rd in GC despite losing 5 minutes on the final stage which is a great effort for someone who only knows cobbles from the TV coverage of PT events.

A couble of days later, our fans at home could see us in action in one of our home races: Berlin ProRace. Once again, Boonen was our man for the result. In a chaotic final nobody could catch Michael Vink on his way to a solo victory.

Tom Boonen struggled because our team failed to deliver him into a good position so despite of being the fastest in the end it was only enough for a 6th place.

This is a picture we've seen already this season: Luis Leon Sanchez Gil celebrating a victory. Once again, he proved to be the dominant allrounder / hill specialist this season by winning the Tour of the Czech Republic.

Pre-season, our sponsor demanded a win in this hill heavy race and we delivered it. LLS crowned a strong team performance with not only the GC win, but also a stage win and the points jersey. Super Talent Matej Mohoric added a top 20 in GC as well.

Just two days later, the Eneco Tour started. The startlist promised carnage and indeed - we saw one of the finest sprinter battles of the season.

Cavendish, Kupfernagel, Vantomme and our top sprinter legend Boonen each won a stage and in the end Boonen could earn his runner-up spot in the GC behind Cavendish.

He is the rider of the season so far and it is difficult to pick only one highlight from his season. Bought for only 800,000 ,- he has paid his fee back multiple times already. Especially his results in stage races surpassed every expectation: 3 GC wins are already on his result list:

Race	RD	Result	Other
Bayern Rundfahrt	5	3rd	1 stage win
Strade Bianchi	2	6th
Tour of Ukraine	5	1st	1 stage win + 1st Points
Tour of Romandie	6	1st	1 stage win
Tour of the Czech Republic	5	1st	1 stage win + 1st Points
Total	23

And these are the races still to come for him:

Nelspruit Classic	2
Manx International	2
Tour of Britain	8
GP Cyclistes	2
Japan Cup	2
Total	16

Tom Boonen's highlight of the season was without a doubt the 2nd place in the velodrome of Roubaix. Throughout the season he added tons of other good results:

Down Under Classic	2	8th
GP Kigali	2	10th
Dwaars Door Vlaanderen	2	4th
Gent-Wevelgem	2	2nd
E3 Prijs	2	6th
KBC De Panne Tour	4	3rd	1st Points
5 Jours de Dunkerque	5	3rd	1 Stage Win
Berlin ProRace	2	6th
Eneco Tour	4	2nd	1 stage win
Total	25

Yet to come:

Grozny Classic	2
Tour of the Battenkill	2
Post Danmark Rundt	5
Melaka's Gouvernor Cup	2
Rheden GP	2
Paris-Tours	2
Total	15

We failed.