After a positive start to the season, we headed into February with a renewed optimism after the disastrous affair last season. Four races would be challenging the team, and we were confident of a result in at least two of them.


First up was the Benelux Challenge, where we had Gaëtan Bille and Geoffroy Ngandamba as leaders in the team. Bille's lack of cobbles skill and Ngandamba's lack of hills ability ultimately ruled them out of GC contention, but there was still an outside chance of a stage win or a Top 10 finish.

The race couldn't have start any better! Gaëtan stormed to the Prologue victory, taking the yellow jersey in the process. Polychronis Tzortzakis would take a great podium place as well, giving us two in the To 3 on GC. Simon Geschke took the victory on Stage 2, as Bille held yellow, but would lose the jersey on Stage 3 to Clifford Goodnews.


Geoffroy continued the team's fine form on Stage 4 with a 4th place result, before Bille rounded off a great week of racing with another Top 10 finish, and securing 3rd on GC in the process! What a start to the month!

From Europe to Africa, as our under-powered headed to Rwanda for the GP Kigali. Never expecting other than a showing of the jersey in the race, our future cobbles star Clenne Morvan Moulingui infiltrated the day's break, and whilst Danny Summerhill would take the win, only Moulingui and Geoffroy Ngandamba would be the only ones to finish the race inside the time limit.

Back to Europe for the Geraardsbergen-Bosberg, where a similar result to Kigali was expected. The cobbles would not be our friends this year, and the quicker we got past races like this the better. Kenny De Haes would take the win, with Moulingui our highest finisher in 60th.



Final race of the month was the inaugural San Marino Hill Classic, where we sent Alex Dowsett as our big leader. He rode well at the San Cristobel in January, but we were heoping for better here from him. Minimum expectation was a podium!

Sadly though, it wouldn't materialise. A status quo amongst the big favourites handed the win to the breakaway, as Moris Possoni soloed to the win. Alex would finish outside the Top 10, whilst his domestique for he day, Mikaël Chérel finished in 9th, so at least we got a Top 10 result!


Eastern Europe is our destination for March. The Tour of Bulgaria offers no opportunities to a lowly Mountains squad, but the Betonexpressz GP should be a day for Alexander Krieger.

The end of February gave us our first update of the CT Standings after the opening races, and we proudly sit in 3rd place with 163 points. With 10 race days used so far this season, we have an nice average of 16.3, which gives us a projected finsih of 4th come the end of the season.

In stark contrast to last season, at the same point we were bottom with just 22 points, so the comparison is huge! Bring on March!

From the success in February, we headed into a quiet March with only 2 races on the calendar. Both found in Eastern Europe, we hoped to come away with a nice point haul in the bank.


The first race was in Hungary for the Betonxpressz GP, where the fairly flat parcour should suit the likes of Alexander Krieger in the finish.

Missing the day's break meant it would be a day in the peleton for the team,and a day working for Krieger. Sadly though, as the break was caught, there was no lead-out for our sprinter. In fact, Alexander missing completely from the front. As the sprint started up, he was too far back to make an impact, crossing the line in 11th place, and a long way behind the day's winner Andreas Stauff.




From Hungary to Bulgaria, as a mountainous Tour of Bulgaria lay ahead. With no real Mountains leader in the squad, we had no hopes of a GC placing, so it was all about breakaways and shock stage wins.

Stage 1 went to Igor Antón on the Mountain Top Finish, with Nabil Baz way down the standing in 43rd (+ 2'33". The Team Time Trial on Stage 2 was not for us either, and it showed very much so in the race standings... Finishing 18th, out of 20 teams, and + 2'27" down on winners Kraftwerk Man Machine.




Hichem Chaabane found himself in the day's break on Stage 3, and on a stage that would suit his style of riding. After following most of the attacks all day, he would go it alone on the final climb of the day to take a fantastic victory and add win #2 onto our counter for the season!

Stage 4 would also go to the break as well, which was more of frustration for the squad. With this being Alexander Krieger's only chance of a win, we would waste the opportunity to make it two wins in Bulgaria. Alexander would take the sprint for the minor places, just adding to the disappointment...

The race ended with another MTF, and a battle for the GC erupted on the climb! As Max Öste-Macdonald took the stage win from a day in the break, Serghei Tvetcov wold do enough to hold onto Yellow and take the Overall victory here in Eastern Europe. Our best placed finisher on GC would be Baz, sitting in 38th place, + 7'27" down on the Romanian.


Our April schedule sees us touring the globe in the hunt for stage wins. We start at the Busan GP in South Korea, before heading to Kazakhstan for the hilly Tour of Almaty.

From there we head to the Tour of South Africa, as we look to impress against the PCT teams and jet off to Malaysia to see out the month, for the Tour of Langkawi.

All the races give us the chance of coming away with something, and will be confident of adding to our points haul so far and moving up the standings. Our lack of racing showed in the latest CT Standings, released at the end of the month. Dropping from 3rd to 16th (225 points), we only collected 62 points in total all month. However, the Projected finish, based on PpRD, sees us in 7th and just outside the promotion spots.

With only one race day left in April, the La Poste management thought it would be a good time to release a few details about the team's sponsorship for 2017 season.

Both title sponsors, La Poste Gabonaise and Mavic, will be remaining with the team for the next season and beyond, both agreeing a two-year extension to their current deal, whilst our Charity Partners, Unicef and Right to Play, are delighted to remain associated with us for 2017.

Minor sponsors remain undecided at this moment as negotiations continue, but one name that will not part of the La Poste team next season is Peugeot. Despite their fantastic work at the beginning of the season to produce a 'Classic designed' bike, the eagle-eyed of you will have noticed our guys riding on Specialized bikes so far this season.



Issues with the bikes in pre-season, delayed delivery of equipment and disagreements with upper management have left the relationship with the French company at a low point, and the initial two-year contract with them has been cancelled. Thankfully, Specialized stepped forward to help us out at our time of need, and we are very grateful for their assistance throughout this season.

There is no confirmation yet of who will replace Peugeot for next season, but Ridley, Cervelo and Specialized have all being rumoured in the local press. Further details on the matter will be released later in the season.

Heading towards the halfway point of the season, April was one of our busiest months of the season with 18 race days in total, across two continents.


The month started in South Korea, at the Busan GP, where Alexander Kreiger needed to a strong performance to turn his season around.

In the end, a day in the break for Clenne Morvan Moulingui was our only highlight, as Mohamed Harrif Salleh took the victory in a sprint. Kreiger would come in way down the pack in 66th place...

From Korea to Kazakhstan, as our Hills team for glory at the Tour of Almaty. Classed as Hilly by the organisers, the run into the line would favour a sprinter who is able to get themselves over the small rises on the circuit.



In a very boring race, it would come down to a sprint, with Alex Dowsett doing well to surf the wheels and take a Top 10 finish behind the winner Simon Yates.

Alex was looking in good form, and he needed to be as went up against PCT opposition at the Tour of South Africa. The parcour suited our British puncheur, and if things went our way, a big points haul was on offer in our fight for promotion.

Stage 1, and it couldn't have gone much better! After fantastic teamwork by Chérel to place Dowsett in the best position for the finishing climb, our man came from behind Rui Costa to take the victory! Into yellow he goes, and the lead to defend.

Defending the jersey would be difficult on Stage 2, and we fought to the death for it, but Nicolas Roche's solo victory handed him Yellow as Alex finished on the podium. Stage 3 was one for the sprinters, with Marcel Aregger taking the glory.


The Team Time Trial on Stage 4 was our biggest threat to a high GC finish, and finishing last in the TTT was not in the plan. However, only 52" would be the gap to Team Telkom for Africa, so a Top 5 GC finish was still on the cards!

The Queen Stage 5 could be the GC decider, and whilst others suffered from crashes and mechanicals, we stayed safe in the pack. Alex take another Top 5 finish, but will lose a lot of time in the process to Diego Ulissi, the day's stage and eventual GC winner. The overall victory was looking a long shot, but our Top 5 finish place was hanging by a thread. Just 1" back to Costa...

Attacks on the final stage by Costa gave us a big scare, but as it ended in a bunch sprint, we knew the GC finish was safe. Gäetan Bille got in on the action on Stage 6, taking a nice podium spot behind Hassen Ben Nasser

We headed back to Asia for the Tour of Langkawi at the end of the month. South Africa was the ultimate high so far this season, so nothing like a disappointing stage race to bring you back to earth.

The opening prologue was a non-event before Alexander Kreiger continued to under perform in the sprints on Stage 2. The first Mountain stage on Stage 3 was a shining light, as Nabil Baz gave us a 'Tour of Scotland' type of display to take 3rd place, and sit 6th on GC. It was a strong ride from the Algerian.



Back to the sprints for Stage 4, and Kreiger finally showed what he could do! Surfing the peleton at the finish, he would steal the win from home favourites Sauber to take his first victory in La Poste colours.

The Queen Stage 5 was back to the climbers, but a day in the break for Cedric Thaouta nicely showed off our Gabonese NC jersey. Nabil would be unable to reproduce his efforts from Stage 3, but did enough to finish in 10th on the stage, and baring any incidents, finish 9th on GC.

From that point on, it would be a race for the breakaway and in particular Eddie Stobart!. The remaining 5 stages all went the way of the break, and we were lucky have Thaouta (on stage 6 & 8) and Bassirou Konte (on stage 9 & 10) representing the La Poste team. Sadly, we would not see a victory, but there was still some nice results from the guys. Martin Hacecký would take the GC honours for Kraftwerk.


Into May, and the halfway point of the season. With 4 wins now on the board, we go hunting for more in Spain and Namibia. The month opens with the flat Barcelona Classic before flying out to Southern Africa for the Windhoek ITT.

The shorter month ends back in Basque Country for the Euskal Bizikleta, where we hope Dowsett will be wanting to replicate his ToSA form with a Top 5 result expected as a minimum.

Halfway point of the season, and we head into May on the back of a great month of racing in April.

Spain and Southern Africa would be the setting for the racing this month, with a good number of opportunities available for us to add to our impressive April points haul.


We opened May at the Barcelona Classic where a sprinter friendly route meant we had Alexander Kreiger going for the glory. He has broken his duck in Malaysia and was hunger for more.

In the end if it was a bad day for the team. Geoffroy Ngandamba and Polychronis Tzortzakis would both crash, with the former having to abandon the race through injury. When it came to the sprint, Alexander looked well placed with 5km to go, but when it came to the crunch, he went backwards and finished in 20th place and a long way behind winner Andreas Stauff.



From Spain, we flew out to Southern Africa for the Windhoek ITT in Namibia. We had no real favourite here, so it was all about experience for the TT riders in the squad. Polychronis Tzortzakis took a nice creditable 13th place, whilst Geoffroy Ngandamba and Gaëtan Bille finished further down the ranking. Kiril Yatsevich took a shock favourites victory on the day.

Back to Spain to finish May, and the hills of the Basque Country would be a place for Alex Dowsett to pick up on his form in the Tour of South Africa. Sadly the Euskal Bizikleta would have other ideas. The opening flat stages went without drama, and the lack of sprinter in our squad meant there was nothing for us.



The first hilly stage came on Stage 3 went just as planned, as Alex went clear on the final climb with 3 others to take time on the other GC rivals. It was almost too perfect! Small issue though... The final climb of Stage 4.

Despite it being classed as hilly, the climb was almost a small mountain and Dowsett struggling, losing over 6 minutes in total. Dominik Klemme took the victory, storming the climb and winning by just under 2 minutes. It was clear that an ability in the Mountains was needed to tackle the rise.


June is the busiest month for the La Poste team. Taking in five different countries, across three different continents, we will start at the Sachsen-Anhalt Classic before jetting to Mexico for the Circulo de Juarez.

From there, it is back to Europe and the cobbles of the Lincoln GP, and our first Season Goal of the season, where we are targetting a Top 5 finish. Our second goal of the season is at the Giro del Capo where we hope to finish in the Top 10 on GC. Finally, it is back to the Americas, and the inaugural Barbuda Birdmen Classic.

With the MG mid-season point now reached, there was another update of the CT rankings. In the current rankings, we improve our position to 11th place (531 points), mainly thanks to the performance at the Tour of South Africa. The Projected finish, based on PpRD, looks more positive and has us in 6th place and on the edge of the promotion places.

Ahead of the April review, we brought some news about our sponsors for next season and as we head into the mid-season, we feel it is time to reveal some further details.

La Poste Gabonaise and Mavic have already confirmed that they will be remaining onboard, along with Charity Partners Unicef and Right to Play, however we will be losing Champion System, Peugeot Bikes and Louis Garneau come the end of the current season.

All replacements are closely linked, and come with prior connections to current sponsor Mavic. First is OC Sport, who will become joint-owners of team's MGUCI license from 2017. An English based company, their background comes from the organisation of Cycling Sportives throughout Europe and the USA.




The most famous of those is Haute Route, which is a multi-day sportive organised across the Alps, Pyrenees or Dolomite mountain ranges and most recently the Rockies in the USA. Sponsored and supported by Mavic, that is connection #1 with the French company.

Haute Route will become a co-naming rights sponsor from 2017 as part of the agreement.




As a result, Mavic will be stepping down from the La Poste name from next season, but will be the principal clothing sponsor instead.

The final sponsor to reveal is the bike sponsor, as the replacement of Peugeot. Specialized, who stepped up this season in our time of need, will not be taking over full time. Rumours in the local press had named Cervelo, but we can deny having any agreement with them. Instead, we are delighted to have signed with Canyon.




The agreement comes thanks to another link to Mavic. In 2014, the two companies collaborated together for a Limited Edition Canyon celebrate 125 years of Mavic history. The outcome then was outstanding and we are hoping for the same again!




The management team would like to put on record that the new sponsors will not change the team's ethic and focus on the African Continent. One of the principal reasons OC Sport came onboard was our desire to promote cycling within countries like Gabon and their only request was continue in this manner. Oh, and to be a team that takes on the mountains like many amateurs do in the Haute Route sportives every year...

June took the team into the second half of the season, and with 5 races in 3 different continents, it was one of La Poste's busiest. Included was one of our Sponsor Goals, so it was also going to be an important month.


We started at the cobble classic of Sachsen-Anhalt Classic, where we had Geoffroy Ngandamba continues his development on the pave. Never threatening the big names of the peleton, he did well to hold onto the lead group, and finish in the Top 20 in the final sprint. It was a nice start to the month. Geraint Thomas would take the win for Podium Ambition.

From Germany, we travelled out to Mexico for the Circulo de Juarez. Alexander Krieger would be leading the line, and we hoped for him to deliver a victory like he did in Malaysia.




After starting slow, our German sprinter went close with a 2nd place finish on Stage 4. With consistent Top 10 results, he did enough to finish 4th on GC, and take home the U25 jersey in the process. GC would be won by Ricki Nelson, in what was a great month for the Podium Ambition team.

During the Circulo de Juarez, we also set out a cobbles team for the Lincoln GP. Preseason, we had set the race as a Season Goal, but following the flash sale of Sebastian Turgot, it was now a huge long shot!

Ngandamba lead the team, like he did in Germany, and did well to finish just outside the Top 10 in 13th place. Pippo Pozzoto took the sprint for the line ahead of De Maar

Continent #3 was next, as the La Poste team headed to South Africa for the Giro del Capo. We came here with a Top 10 goal, and had Alex Dowsett ready to secure this for the team. Last time we was in South Africa, we was taking it to the PCT peleton and winning stages at the Tour of South Africa.




Keeping quiet on the opening 3 stages, Alex took some valuable bonus seconds on Stage 4 with a nice 2nd place, and it moved him nicely in 3rd on GC with the hilly ITT to come. It was damage limitation, and come out the otherside in 11th with one stage remaining.

Pushing it hard over the short climbs, it was clear that gaps would form. We just needed to make sure Alex was on the right side, with his rivals behind him. He would finish in 7th place and it would be enough to move him up to 9th on GC - Team goal secured and some happy sponsors indeed. Josue Gonzalez Cortes would walk away with the GC victory.

We ended the month in the Caribbean, at the Barbuda Birdmen Classic, where we had Kreiger wanting to finishing off stronger. Sadly, he disappeared when it mattered at the finish and was nowhere near the stage winner Ismaël Kip.


The post-June updates showed the team was sitting steady in mid-table on 637 points in 12th place. The projected standing again showed us at a higher place, but it would be just outside the promotion spots in 8th place on 1158 points. Lets see if we can perform well and improve on that prediction!

July brings another season goal, as we search for a GC victory in our home race of the La Tropicale Amissa Bongo. Before this, we headed to the Tour de Pologne, where Alex will be leading the team, before ending the month at the Tour de Slovenie

Onto July we go, and into a month where our home race comes. La Tropicale Amissa Bongo was a big race for us last season, so there was a hope of the same again this year.


We started the month at the Tour de Pologne, where Alex Dowsett would be our main man for the GC battle. Opening stage went to Marcello Pavarin, with Alex close behind in 7th. Gaeten Bille showed his prowess to take a 3rd place finish. Stage 2 was a sprinter's stage, with Geoffrey Soupe taking the win.

Dowsett showed first signs of GC dominance when he took the victory on Stage 3. Showing his strength on the final climb, he sprinted to the win ahead of Barbin and Simon Yates.




Stage 4 was another sprinter's stage, and Soupe doubled up in the race with a fine win. Not wanting to be outdone, Alex quickly followed suit. On another uphill finish, he took the win in fine style on Stage 5, and apart from a freak accident or mechanical, sewed up the GC battle at the same time.

Stage 6 saw another victory for the Ferrero team, as Enrico Barbin gave us a scare and pushed Dowsett to the final stage in the GC fight. Alex finished with the main rivals in 11th, and just needed to complete the last stage in the peleton to secure the win.

Carlos Alexandre Manarelli broke the Ferrero / Podium Ambition / La Poste winning streak on the race, taking a fine sprint for the Minions team on the final stage. Importantly, Alex finished in 13th place, making sure there was no time losses on the day, and securing another GC win for our team. It was a fantastic race all round for us, as we couldn't have been more delighted.


Confidence was high heading to Gabon for La Tropicale Amissa Bongo. Alexander Kreiger was our man for the sprints, but the opening stage had local fan going wide, as Cedric Thaouta joined the race's first break in the NC colours. Mohamed Harrif Salleh took the victory on the first stage, with Alexander in 13th place.




Onto Stage 2, and Kreiger took a nice 3rd place finish as Andreas Stauff took yet another win this season for Kraftwerk. Mikael Cherel had a day in the break on Stage 3, and his efforts were rewarded with another podium for the La Poste team, as fellow escapee Michael Torckler took the victory.

Stage 4 was back to the sprinters, with Mitch Docker taking a surprise victory and no big name sprinters in sight. Kreiger was 47th on the stage, which shows how strange it was.




Needing a miracle to take the GC victory goal, Alexander got things back on track with another 3rd place on Stage 5, before he nearly got us a stage win on the final stage. He opened his sprint early on Stage 6 to catch the lone breakway rider, but could only finish 2nd, as Matteo Montaguti.

The GC went to Marco Canola, who thanks to consistent finishing and the victory on Stage 5, took the win by 13 seconds. Alexander Kreiger would end up 7th on GC, which was good given the lack of stage win.


From Gabon to Slovenia, and the Tour de Slovenie lay ahead. With no GC man really at the race, we aimed for the breakaway and a decent ITT result on Stage 3.

The opening stage saw Cedric Thaouta go up the road in a small group, but sadly it would be caught before the line, where Rikki Nelson took the sprint win. Stage turned to the puncheurs, and as we missed the day's excapee attacks, we could only watch as Josue Gonzalez Cortes took the stage win.




In the ITT, our Greek TT specialist Polychronis Tzortzakis took a nice Top 10 finish, but Kiril Yatsevich takes a confident victory to take the GC victory at the same time. Stage 4 saw Clenne Morvan Moulingui take the day's break, and this time it would make it to the line, and our Gabonese man would take home a nice 4th place, behind Clément Venturini.

Final stage would be a puncheur's stage again, and Bazzana took the victory on the rise to the line. As Yatsevich took the GC win, our best placed rider was Mohamed Er Rafai in 26th place.


Just 3 months left of the season, and some big races were coming up for the La Poste team. The USPCC will give Nabil Baz a test in the Mountains, before we head to the Grands Prix Cyclistes, where Alex Dowsett will go up against the PCT puncheurs again.

The month ends with the hellish Tatranska Klasika were Baz would again be our leader.

It was clear that July has been a strong month for the team, and the latest rankings showed that. Sat in 7th place with 925 points, our projected points showed us just outside the promotion spots (7th with 1321 pounts). Some good races in the next two months could really push us up the table, and the pressure was on us to perform.