Honouring the place where we kicked of the season with such success we give you a song about the loyal helper of the Australian cattle farmers:
Cowcluding on the month
One race, one win. What more should I say?
It was really good to see Lo Cicero prove the doubters wrong right on the first day of the season!
Right now he is the cream of PCT-sprinters!
On Pasture Elsewhere
Olli Kulppi, Evonik – ELKO
Olli was the only of our loaned-out riders who actually rode in January.
His job was to keep Skujins out of trouble and since the Latvian wasn't involved in any of the early crashes we think Olli will be content with the race.
Olli's Results
Race
Result
Team
PT
Badaling International
148th
7th
Since this month didn't feature a lot of photo-opportunities I'll just leave this shot of the three riding together in our pre-season training ride:
Bull of the Month
Including the pre-season in this months awards doesn't really complicate things.
Winning the season opener and getting a bronze medal in the European Championships really isn't a bad start so January's Bull of the Month is:
Ivano Lo Cicero
Cow of the Month
Cowming Up
We will have a very busy first half of February and all our four main leaders will get their chances to shine.
Lo Cicero will attempt to carry his good form into Berner Rundfahrt, and after that go to his home country to show the jersey in Tirreno-Adriatico, where he'll be accompanied by a bunch of talents, who should learn a lot from PT racing.
Winner Anacona will get into action in Eritrea and Catalunya. Considering the level of climbers present in the division we've urged him to start racing a bit more aggressively than in the past to gain some time before the big names really open up. However his efforts in last years Tour of America leave us carefully optimistic.
Paillot will be chasing stage glory in San Luis and Catalunya.
San Luis will in general be a stage hunting thing for us as we lack that top puncher expected to battle for the GC. However we hope to see our Finnish hero Vastaranta in an offensive role as we have seen in the past from him. Alongside him will be among others Sørensen and Samoilev, who both over-performed last season and will be welcome to do that again this year...
That just leaves Kigali, which will be the first cobbled race ever we care the slightest about after Breschel joined the team in the final days of the transfer window.
Even though we are forged in the frost of Finland it's nice to get some warmth this early in the season, so we took the trip to Eritrea for a stage race with a big mountain and no TT.
The first stage went and suddenly it was stage 2.
Sarabia went in the break as was the plan and fought hard for thee KOM jersey. In the end Boaro was a tad too strong though.
While most had their eyes firmly set on the final climb on the third stage Sarabia had his eyes on the mountain jersey.
He got his spot in the break an while he wasn't the strongest today either he picked up enough points to grab the jersey!
The final climb turned into a tough exclusion-race where Winner didn't quite have winning legs.
In fact he cracked even a bit sooner than we would have hoped indicating that he just isn''t where he needs to be for this race.
The hilly stage 4 was terrible for us. The only positive thing is that Mai fell just short of stealing Ignacio's mountain jersey.
Stage 5 was a flat one apart from a Cat. 3 climb early on the stage.
Sarabia was sent in the break with that climb in mind and won it without much trouble expanding his lead to 8 points before the final stage.
Surprisingly the break was given a lot of room and suddenly they had a shot at stage victory.
Sarabia was clearly the strongest, but unfortunately Arrinera went in beast mode and ruined the part a bit.
Still a 4th place is nice and good to see Manninen take 2nd in his groups sprint for 17th place.
The final day was in many ways expected to be the toughest for us.
Sadly Euskaltel's Herrada stole Ignacios jersey even though the Mexican with a 31st place on this tough stage evidently had the legs to score at least a few points today.
Still credit goes to Sarabia for trying something as the only of our guys in this race.
We had high hopes for Paillot's debut in cow-spots.
In the end he only got a 6th place, which we have to admit is a bit less than we had hoped for.
Hopefully he'll up his game a bit and be able to battle for the youth jersey and the long TT.
We didn't actually have much expectations for the flat stage 2.
But then all of a sudden there was Troels Vinther perfectly placed securing us a stage 3rd.
Wonderfully ridden by the Dane!
Stage 3 went pretty much as expected as the top punchers seperated out from the others.
But Vastaranta was having none of that and fought his way back up to Froome, Costa & Co.
Then he got dropped and fought his way back up.
He decided that getting dropped twice was plenty so in the final km he put in his powerful sprint leaving the stars to fight for scraps!
Our main target the following day was to defend the leaders jersey and try mixing up in a potential sprint.
While we didn't quite catch the break it was a great finish for us.
Vinther won the sprint for 3rd with Vastaranta taking stage 5th!
Back to TT'ing Paillot improved by taking 3rd on the stage, which is about what we expected from him. He did miss out on the youth jersey by a mere second though.
Vastaranta rode a solid TT which allowed him to stay up there in the GC, sitting at 3rd after the TT.
With another two uphill finishes coming it was time for truth.
And the truth is that Vastaranta is awesome!
He just keeps on fighting and with a 5th and 4th place he not only defendes his GC podium but even took over the points jersey!
On the final flat stage we had Samoilev in th break, showing off his Belarussian NC-jersey.
The break survived to the end, but Branislav is no sprinter as such and has to make do with an 8th on the stage.
The fact that that is our worst stage result here says a lot!
Results
Best Rider
Place
Time
Stage 1
Yoann Paillot
6th
+ 5
Stage 2
Troels Vinther
3rd
s.t.
Stage 3
Jukka Vastaranta
WIN
- 10
Stage 4
Troels Vinther
3rd
+ 1'07
Stage 5
Yoann Paillot
3rd
+ 15
Stage 6
Jukka Vastaranta
5th
+ 51
Stage 7
Jukka Vastaranta
4th
s.t.
Stage 8
Branislav Samoilev
8th
s.t.
General Classification
1
Rui Costa
Hugo Boss
20h48'58
3
Jukka Vastaranta
Valio - DeLaval
+ 1'40
40
Ingvar Omarsson
Valio - DeLaval
+ 10'49
62
Yoann Paillot
Valio - DeLaval
+ 13'40
80
Chris Anker Sørensen
Valio - DeLaval
+ 16'20
92
Samuel Pökälä
Valio - DeLaval
+ 19'14
113
Branislav Samoilev
Valio - DeLaval
+ 23'54
135
Troels Vinther
Valio - DeLaval
+ 29'38
136
Mateusz Taciak
Valio - DeLaval
s.t.
Jukka Vastaranta wins the points jersey ahead of Froome
GP Kigali
The first big test for our new cobbles-department.
We were caught a bit unaware when a combination of the terrain and the wind split the peloton and the only mention we got in the coverage was in relation to our futile attempt at pulling things back together.
Really didn't expect as much from San Luis - it could very well be our best stage race ever looking at depth especially. Also great that it wasn't just Vastaranta in beast mode but as many as 4 riders contributing with good results
San Luis was just perfect for you. A few more races like that and you won't have to deal with relegation! Absolutely awesome to score on every single stage. Congrats!
We went to our first PT race with a team composed of talents and local boy Lo Cicero to show the jersey in the sprints.
Lo Cicero did show the jersey in the first sprint finish, though he was a bit too eager and went too early to fight for the win.
As highlights were few and far between it's worth mentioning Lindau in the break on stage 4.
We were very invisible in the rest of the race. Not quite the effort we had hoped for but at least the boys will have gained a lot of valuable experience.
This race features two TT's and a bunch of climbing. So we have brought our climbers and Paillot.
Paillot does what he was bought for on the prologue: Winning!
For some reason the boys tried defending Paillots GC lead on the following mountain stage.
Obviously that was never going to happen but at least it gave us something to say/show about the stage...
On stage 3 Pökälä showed the jersey when he bridged the gap to the break only to get caught again a while later.
Paillot was still in good shape for the long TT and set the fastest time of the TT-specialists.
Unfortunately the stage was more for the GC riders as Paillot & Co. had spent a lot of energy getting over the mountains.
Honorable mention also goes to Omarsson, who showed some good form.
Ingvar made sure to put hiis good shape to use by going in the break on the final stage. Too bad they weren't alllowed to go all the way.
All in all a disappointing stage apart from Paillot delivering. Sub-par climbing from Anacona and no room for breakaways.
After Catalunya we were placed 6th on the rankings and 5th measured on points per raceday. That says a lot.
We've had an amazing month, obviously crowned with the extraordidairy San Luis, but also Paillots strong efforts in the Catalunya TT's stands out.
We had our cobbles debut, which went slightly worse than hoped, but leaves optimism for future races.
Our PT debut in Tirreno however was the biggest disappointment of the month as we didn't feature in one single breakaway - the only thing we could realistically hope for...
On Pasture Elsewhere
Philip Lindau, Evonik – ELKO
Lindau had his Evonik-debut in Tirreno, where he helped Skujins towards a stage win and GC 6th while also getting a day in the break himself.
All in all an approved race for Philip.
Philip's Results
Race
Result
Team
PT
Tirreno-Adriatico
GC
65
6
Tirreno-Adriatico
St. 1
122
37
Tirreno-Adriatico
St. 2
114
6
Tirreno-Adriatico
St. 3
37
21
Tirreno-Adriatico
St. 4
34
10
Tirreno-Adriatico
St. 5
61
10
Tirreno-Adriatico
St. 6
61
1
Tirreno-Adriatico
St. 7
171
19
Sakari Lehtinen, Vesuvio - Accumalux
Sakari was first beaten about a bit in some cobbled races. He still doesn't like those but credit goes to him for finishing them.
After that he was part of the very succesful team supporting Andy Schleck in taking 3 stages, the points jersey and the GC.
It was especially good to see him sticking with Schleck right to the finish line on stage 3.
Being a helper you're usually measured by the success of your leader and with that in mind Lehtinen had a great month!
Sakari's Results
Race
Result
Team
PT
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
130
5
PT
Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne
171
16
Paris-Nice
GC
91
1
Paris-Nice
St. 1
178
32
Paris-Nice
St. 2
183
9
Paris-Nice
St. 3
24
19
Paris-Nice
St. 4
112
5
Paris-Nice
St. 5
92
1
Paris-Nice
St. 6
81
1
Paris-Nice
St. 7
90
5
Paris-Nice
St. 8
89
1
Olli Kulppi, Evonik – ELKO
Olli just rode three days this month, two of those on cobbles.
With a 2nd and 4th place for the team h enjoyed succes, though it was obvious that the stronger level of competition had forced Olli a spot or to down the food chain making him spend his energy early in the race.
It's a luxury when more than on rider wins. When one of those are a Finnish rider winning straight up against the elite when he shouldn't be able to it's an easy decision:
Jukka Vastaranta
Cow of the Month
Cowming Up
We'll be starting March with a race we have high hopes for: FBD Eire Tour. Our leader for this flat stage race is obviously Lo Cicero, who should be able to get both a bunch of good stage results as well as a good GC hopefully.
Breschel will go home to Denmark to lead our team in GP Herning - hopefully the homee advantage will help him get a top 10 before he will continue his spring campaign in Belgium.
Duo Differdange with Paillot-Pökälä is another race we're looking forward to quite a lot hoping for a good result as well as seeing the Finnish NC shown best possibly.
At the end of the month Vastaranta will get another chance at heating the big names when he travels to Norway. They'll probably keep a closer watch on him by now though I expect.
I really enjoy these reviews and it's great to have two of your riders in my colors to be featured twice in each review
As mentioned elsewhere already, the start of the season was brilliant for you. Continue like that and you will have no worries about a possible relegation fight. Must be that Latvian winning spirit
No surprise your cobble debut wasn't succesful : Kulppi isn't racing for you this year
Valv must have found a new fountain of youth on that pic
Great month by Valio. For Cicero the World Tour may be a bit too much looking at Tirreno Adriatico but Vastaranta may actually be able to score everywhere, a true bull!
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Thanks all. Vastaranta performing on this level is as surprising for me as for anyone else. If him and Lo Cicero continue like this I could almost have to start fearing promotion (Finland is far from ready for a PT-team).
In other news we now have as many wins as Team Live Nation amassed through an entire season...
First sprint train the team history helps Lo Cicero put us on the same number of wins as in our entire first season! pic.twitter.com/qrZ8eqI6TQ
I hope not. A lot can still happen but if we stay in PCT I'll be thrilled as that is where we need to be to do the best possible talent development.
Cowping with Cowbles
Grand Prix Herning
We're still earning about all this cobbles-business - after all nxt year we'll have the magnificent Kulppi on the team!
Paajanen tested things from the break.
And that's just about what there is to tell from Mattis home race.
He missed the front group when the peeloton cracked and ultimately finished 4th in the sprint for 12th.
It would really be great if he could start focusing and bag us a few top 10's along the way...
Looking at 8 pan-flat stages it' not hard to guess our leader here...
Stage 1 saw the first ever sprint train built by this team with Vinther doing the lead-out after the final pull from Tiainen.
Wonderful to see!
With a leadout like that Ivano felt the pressure.
So he bagged the team another win!
Stage 2 saw us doing a lot of work all day.
Good to see the jersey represented so well, but it hurt us in the final pull for stage glory.
Stage 3 saw the milk-train return with improvement in the wake though still not quite how we wanted it.
Stage 4 the train was working perfectly, but Lo Cicero still not quite there yet even though he climbed a bit in the GC.
Stage 5 saw the sprinting abilities improve, though the pelotons combined skills declined as a break was allowed to take the stage win.
Still Ivano was 2nd fastest sprinter, which also lifted him to 2nd in the GC.
Since things haven't quite worked out as we felt like these last few stages we decided to change our approach a bit allowing Neilands to attack on one of the KOM's to shake things up a bit and force the other sprinter teams to do the chasing.
Ivano followed up with a sprint to 2nd place behind Guerao putting him now only 18 seconds behind Avalino in the GC.
On stage 7 the boys decided on their own to mix things up even more giving Pökälä a shot at doing the final lead-out.
Don't get me wrong: I love Samuel but having him as final leadout is one of the worst ideas I've ever heard!
Vinther, who was supposed to bee the lead-out for Ivano, powered his way to a great 3rd place just ahead of his old captain Ahlstrand. Would have been significantly better if they had ridden in the assigneed oder in stead though...
Honorable mention goes to Samuel for his 11th place, which is great for a rider like him.
For the final stage we delivered Lo Cicero at the back of the Spotify-train.
However for once the Swedes timed it perfectly and Lo Cicero couldn't get another stage win.
Badaling International
Ivano Lo Cicero 
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
Paris-Nice
Classique du Grand-Duché
Jukka Vastaranta 
