The race from Milano to Torino, 186 km long. The first half is fairly flat, then it starts undulating more and more. A longer climb followed by a descent and then another climb to the finish, and a lot of steep ramps on those climbs. The race kicked of with attacks to get in the break and 9 riders were successful.
The peloton weren't having it at first, but eventually relented. Their gap would hover at 5 minutes before the peloton gradually started putting their foot down. With 60 km to go the gap had fallen to 3 minutes.As the peloton approach the big penultimate climb, the pace gets ramped up again. Teams Popo4Ever, Rakuten and Swisslion doing the work.
Riders started droping like flies due to the pace being set. And that wasn't enough Swisslion accelerate on a short steep climb and reduce the peloton to only 21 riders. Pibernik, Kasa and Bilbao doing great work for their leader Beltran.
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The gap to the break has fallen to just over a minute. The remaining peloton could not get back on to the favourites group which prompted Juul-Jensen, Reichenbach, Dowsett, Edmondson and Gallopin to attack and try to bridge up. Pibernik finished his work for Swisslion.
The original breakaway got swallowed up on the climb, while Juul-Jensen's group were still trying to make contact. Riders continued to fall away from the leaders group. Di Maggio and Paulinho were dropped and Kasa also let go, finishing his job for Beltran. Speaking of the latter, his attack came shortly after!
Beltran's attack truly dropped all the riders barely holding on and crushed the hopes of others trying to regroup. Prevar was the only one who could follow at first, but Beltran dropped him before the descent. Behind Yates and Kinoshita went to chase, while the others formed the 3rd group on the road.
The front three end up uniting on the descent with a small gap to the poursuivants behind. Beltran knew that and attacked as soon as they reached the final 3.5 km climb to the finish.
Izagirre was the strongest of the riders behind the front three, but he couldn't make it across. On the final ramp to the line it was Kinoshita who opened up the sprint.
Beltran cooly followed, and as Kinoshita sat back in the saddle Yates countered on the 16% slope. Beltran matched Yates's acceleration and kept grinding in his rhythm.
Beltran moved to the front with his steady pace and Kinoshita blew up! Yates kept going trying to match Beltran's pace, but no one had any attacks left, it was just a grind to line. And Yates never caught up. Beltran had the time to raise his hands in victory!
An exhausted Kinoshita finished 3rd. Izagirre was the strongest of the rest in 4th, Vakoc was 5th, but already 1'47'' down on the winners time. And a deserved winner he was. Swisslion was active across the race, chasing the break, blowing up the peloton before the long climb, before Beltran attacked. A great team performance that was punctuated by Beltran's victory at the end.
Race goals:
Top 3
Success
Eduard Alexander Beltran
1st
Top 25
Success
Gabor Kasa
19th
Race score: 10/10
Bostjan Mervar,
team representative and general manager of Swisslion Cycling Team
The Giro dell'Emelia a race goal for Swisslion, 195 km hilly classic with features 9 climbs before the finish atop the famous San Luca sanctuary overlooking the city of Bologna. A group of riders formed the day's breakaway and quickly built up a 5 minute lead on the flat part of the course. Not much happened over the first few climbs, but with 35 km to go, the breakaway's lead is under 2 minutes and riders started to drop from the peloton.
The next climb really reduced the peloton to only 31 riders. Bennett, Caruso and Pichon some of the bigger names that got dropped. They would though return to the main group on the descent. Teams Popo4Ever and Minions setting the tempo at the front for Prevar and Claeys. Swisslion with a weaker squad already left Beltran isolated.
Over the top of the climb there was 14 km to go and Trofimov launched his attack. There was not immediate reaction, so Trofimov quickly opened a 38'' gap, 10 km from the finish. The main group of favourites now consisted of 18 riders with only Waeytens and Di Maggio having a domestique available.
The attack though didn't stick as he got absorbed by the group on the final climb up to San Luca with 1.5 km to go. Kelderman and Claeys were at the front, with Beltran, Jensen and Izagirre just behind.
Kelderman looked like he started fading at it was Trofimov again with an acceleration, he seemed to have left some energy in reserve. Prevar followed him while Beltran increased his pace on the other side of the road.
But Prevar faded so it was Beltran versus Trofimov neck and neck to the line passing a lapped rider in the process. Who was going to the victory atop the San Luca?
And it was Beltran who took it! Trofimov couldn't manage to keep up, the Colombian raised his arms in celebration! Prevar just made it across the line 3rd ahead of Kelderman and Izagirre.
That made it two wins in a week for Beltran in two Italian one day races. Swisslion haven't won any one day races before, but now they have two in a week! All thanks to the brilliant Colombian.
Race goals:
Top 3
Success
Eduard Alexander Beltran
1st
Race score: 10/10
Bostjan Mervar,
team representative and general manager of Swisslion Cycling Team Edited by redordead on 15-08-2020 15:50
A big update this time featuring a total of 18 races. The highlights were obviously Beltran's double "Italian Job" victories in Milano - Torino and Giro dell'Emelia. The Colombian also finished 5th overall and grabbed 2 stage podiums at our home race, Balkans International. Apart from that we got 9th by Pello Bilbao in GP Lugano and a few breakaway results in Morocco.
San Sebastian was underwhelming without Beltran and we barely scored any points in Austria, the Baltic Chain and Britain.
That left us in 20th place in the standings with a 53 pts advantage ahead of Andorra in the relegation zone.
Eduard Alexander Beltran
COL
Swisslion Cycling Team
1298
Gerald Ciolek
GER
Swisslion Cycling Team
352
Pello Bilbao
ESP
Swisslion Cycling Team
174
Costa Seibeb
NAM
Swisslion Cycling Team
93
Luka Pibernik
SLO
Swisslion Cycling Team
40
Stefan Petrovski
MCD
Swisslion Cycling Team
36
Raymond Kreder
NED
Swisslion Cycling Team
32
Luka Mezgec
SLO
Swisslion Cycling Team
30
Gabor Kasa
SER
Swisslion Cycling Team
14
Miha Poljanec
SLO
Swisslion Cycling Team
11
Michael Christodoulos
CYP
Swisslion Cycling Team
3
Izidor Penko
SLO
Swisslion Cycling Team
3
Jovan Zekavica
SER
Swisslion Cycling Team
2
Matic Groselj
SLO
Swisslion Cycling Team
1
Bostjan Mervar,
team representative and general manager of Swisslion Cycling Team
The final ranking update... and we did it! We survived our maiden season in the PCT division by finishing in the end in 18th position.
We knew this season was going to be all about just surviving. We got off to a terrific start and even led the division, but knew we never were meant to be there long. The early success though did propel us for the months ahead and although we flirted with relegation for pretty much the entire 2nd half of the season, we were never actually in the relegation spots.
Leading the way for us was our 1.05M man Beltran, who came in 2nd in the individual ranking only behind Pluchkin. His sidekick and the only other man to score a win this season is veteran Gerald Ciolek. Those two are the only Swisslion riders in the top 100 of the ranking. A fact that illustrates how top heavy this squad is.
Eduard Alexander Beltran
COL
Swisslion Cycling Team
1368
Gerald Ciolek
GER
Swisslion Cycling Team
471
Pello Bilbao
ESP
Swisslion Cycling Team
179
Costa Seibeb
NAM
Swisslion Cycling Team
98
Luka Pibernik
SLO
Swisslion Cycling Team
40
Luka Mezgec
SLO
Swisslion Cycling Team
37
Stefan Petrovski
MCD
Swisslion Cycling Team
36
Raymond Kreder
NED
Swisslion Cycling Team
34
Miha Poljanec
SLO
Swisslion Cycling Team
22
Gabor Kasa
SER
Swisslion Cycling Team
14
Jovan Zekavica
SER
Swisslion Cycling Team
4
Michael Christodoulos
CYP
Swisslion Cycling Team
3
Izidor Penko
SLO
Swisslion Cycling Team
3
Matic Groselj
SLO
Swisslion Cycling Team
1
We will have further posts about the season and future developments in the coming days. Stay tuned.
Bostjan Mervar,
team representative and general manager of Swisslion Cycling Team
I think to succeed you need more high scoring pieces since Beltran alone has more points than everyone else COMBINED. Ciolek has the same ammount of points as everyone else bar Beltran combined. The fact that Beltran is 2nd in the individual standings while the team itself had barely escaped the clutches of relagation, shows that a team cannot rely on 1-2 riders to score the bulk of the points.
Come renewal season you need to outline on who you will rely on for the next season. And then draw up a plan for moving forward. And if this means sacrificicing the regional focus - so be it.
I think you could do better than this - Beltran being just 2nd behind the WMD (weapon for mass domination) Pluchkin proves that you have your star player, but he alone ain't gonna cut it.
ivaneurope wrote:
I think to succeed you need more high scoring pieces since Beltran alone has more points than everyone else COMBINED. Ciolek has the same ammount of points as everyone else bar Beltran combined. The fact that Beltran is 2nd in the individual standings while the team itself had barely escaped the clutches of relagation, shows that a team cannot rely on 1-2 riders to score the bulk of the points.
Come renewal season you need to outline on who you will rely on for the next season. And then draw up a plan for moving forward. And if this means sacrificicing the regional focus - so be it.
I think you could do better than this - Beltran being just 2nd behind the WMD (weapon for mass domination) Pluchkin proves that you have your star player, but he alone ain't gonna cut it.
For sure the idea is to have more riders that can score points for us. This season we relied heavily on Beltran and Ciolek, and with Bilbao being our 3rd leader we were only able to score on two terrains: hills and sprints. So our race planning was simple and difficult at the same time
As monster of a season Beltran had, we feel he is still quite comfortably overpaid. So our hopes are to lower his salary, along with some other wage cuts in the renewals process, to be able to bring in other pieces to complement Beltran.
He is a great rider to have on our squad as a base to build around. That should make our transfer season more interesting and should give us lots more options. Especially compared to last season when we entered PCT without any leaders.
A race goal that was mandated by our sponsor Swisslion. At the time we weren't sure how our race planning would pan out so we decided on a KoM goal, which was by all logic the wrong choice. Especially since we ended up sending there our strongest lineup with Beltran finishing 5th overall.
Tour de Slovenie
Another race goal mandated by our sponsors. It was a goal that was never on the cards since we simply didn't sign a rider type that could compete in a time-trial heavy race.
In the future we will try to negotiate with our sponsors to only pick race goals that are realistic given the makeup of our squad.
Giro dell'Emelia
The only goal we actually accomplished. Even that was potentially compromised because we could only send a weakened 6 man lineup due to a triple race clash. Luckily Beltran came through for us with a win regardless.
Tour of Romandie
Another race goal that wasn't possible since we didn't have a stage racer to compete for it, as we thought we would at the beginning of the season.
PCT Team standings
The mandatory MGUCI goal. We knew it would be nearly impossible to achieve this goal, but we needed to get to the minimum goal requirements in any case.
Bostjan Mervar,
team representative and general manager of Swisslion Cycling Team
I got 3/5 goals in my 1st season and I think I got a much better idea of what to do with race goals next season
AbhishekLFC wrote:
Congratulations on surviving the first year of PCT and proving all the previews wrong. Also congratulations on the signing of the season
You should have a good enough cap after renewals to bring in another top leader. I think next season should bode well in that case.
Proving the previews wrong is what fuels me Just kidding
Not sure if it's "the" signing of the season, but it has to be up there
I very much hope our cap situation is better after renewals. I always thought that the 1st season was gonna be a grind to stay up and the following season will be somewhat easier. Let's hope that proves to be the case
Undoubtly the star man for Swisslion this season. It was a big risk committing 42% of the entire wage cap to one rider, but Beltran clearly proved he was the man for the job. His astonomic wage undermines his PTS/Wage ratio, but his total points scored and PTS/RD underscore his importance.
Best result(s):
Tour of East Java Overall win, Stage win (PTHC); Vuelta al Pais Vasco Overall 2nd, Stage win (PTHC); Balkans International Overall 5th (PTHC); Giro dell'Emelia win (HC); Tour of Beijing Overall 2nd (HC); Tour of Cyprus Overall win, Stage win (C1); Milano - Torino win (C1)
Gerald Ciolek
Gerald was brought to be the team's main sprinter and it is a position he ended up filling. An inconsistent performer across numerous stage races and classics, winning only one stage all season. Gerald shone in the pure sprinter stage races that used the F1 bonus seconds system. It is there where he scored the majority of his points. On a € 210k wage he provided the best PTS/Wage ratio on the team.
Best result(s):
Ras Tailteann 2nd overall (C1), SAA Tour d'Afrique 5th overall (HC)
Pello Bilbao
Bilbao was a late addition to the squad and an expensive one to boot. Swapping Eugert Zhupa + cash for the Basque rider did not work out. Bilbao was meant to be the 2nd/3rd leader behind Beltran and take advantage of the numerous races featuring hilly terrain. That did not materialize as he simply found the hills to be too difficult or the often used prologue and TT stages too damaging to his GC ambitions. His best results came from one day races.
Best result(s):
GP Wallonie 5th (C1); Nantahala Classic 5th (C1)
Luka Mezgec
Mezgec was resigned as a free agent in the off season to be the main leadout rider for Ciolek. But the same as the year before he did not perform as a leadout sprinter. If he is to continue at Swisslion in the future, a better race schedule for him needs to be put in place.
Best result(s):
Tour of Romandie Stage 2nd (C1)
Raymond Kreder
The last free agent addition to the squad, Kreder was meant to be part of the leadout setup for Ciolek. Similar to Mezgec he did not find his footing there and did not perform often enough when given a free role.
Best result(s):
Hanko Classic 7th (C1)
Costa Seibeb
Costa Seibeb had plenty opportunities this season to show his attacking qualities. His results were mixed, but with the ample opportunities he received, he finished a clear 4th on the team in scoring and 3rd in the PTS/Wage ratio.
Best result(s):
Tour of Norway Overall 26th, 3rd KOM (PTHC)
Luka Pibernik
Pibernik was primarily a domestique for either Beltran or Bilbao. He did although get some chances in a free role and was team leader for the three C2 classics that the team attended.
Best result(s):
Tour of California Stage 2nd (HC); GP Gisborne 9th (C2)
Stefan Petrovski
Petrovski had pretty much the same role as Seibeb, lots of opportunities in hilly and mountainous stage races. Less talented that Seibeb he performed at about half his level. With a total of 75 RD's used he took advantage of his minimum salary and lower OVL, to score nearly at the PTS/Wage ratio as Luka Mezgec.
Best result(s):
Vuelta a Colombia Overall 35th, Stage 5th, KOM 5th (HC)
Gabor Kasa
Gabor as in the previous season was a valuable domestique due to his versatile ability on the short climbs, longer climbs and TT bike. He was always a helper for someone and a vital part of the TTT setup. Therefore his scoring does not reflect his value to the team.
Best result(s):
Milano - Torino 19th (C1)
Miha Poljanec
Poljanec is still a only level 3 rider so it was not surprising he did not score as much in the PCT. Add to the fact that he was used as domestique for pretty much every leader on the squad, except being in the TTT train. It was expected that his scoring will suffer, as the young rouleur had few opportunities to ride for himself.
Best result(s):
Tour of Norway Stage 5th (PTHC); SAA Tour d'Afrique 4th Youth (HC)
Izidor Penko
Another level 3 rider that contributed the most as a domestique and part of the TTT setup.
Jovan Zekavica
A level 3 rider that was used as a sprinter's domestique and emergency leadout rider.
Matic Groselj
A big investment was made into Matic in the offseason to sign him. As a level 2 rider he was part of the TTT setup and a sprinter's domestique that turned in a couple of solid breakaway performances in notable flat classics.
Michael Christodoulos
Only a level 1 rider, Michael was part of the TTT setup and was seen in a few breakaways across the season.
Bostjan Mervar,
team representative and general manager of Swisslion Cycling Team
Baltic Chain Tour 
Tour of Britain 
Balcans International
Tour of the Battenkill 
Milano - Torino 
Tour du Maroc 
GP Lugano 
SAA Tour d'Afrique 
Japan Cup 
