Another Hilly Classic Success
Gautier inside top 5

The Hel van Het Mergelland was one of those races that our sponsor said they wanted us to perform immensely well in. The hilly classic has a flat run-in so it was always likely to end up with a sprint from a group of puncheurs - just the sort of finish that Guatier excels in.

We decided not to enter the early break, saving the legs of Vanendert and Gautier as best we could. With 40km to go, as Cherel attacked from Redbull, Vanendert went with the attack. He isn't as good from a bunch sprint and so this was his best chance for the victory. Several waves of attacks went after this, with most of the favourites involved and Gautier tagged himself onto the last one, realising that this was the race's decisive selection. All in all 24 riders formed up.

Vanendert joined a late attack again initiated by Cherel.



They gained 20 seconds on the bunch but were chased back in short order.

The sprint came. Vanendert was second on the left-hand line and Gautier was third wheel in the middle behind Team Bianchi's Rabon. Vanendert started his sprint well but he went too early and faded as the better-timed sprinters came past him.

Rabon put in a briliant sprint and Gautier was able to hold his wheel. Ultiamtely Gatto won the day ahead of Rabon. Gautier managed to out-kick several other fast finishes to come out of the day with a very strong 4th place. Vanendert was 17th on the day, having mistimed his sprint badly.



BPost was immensely pleased with this result and our recent run of strong form.

Mixed Results in Czech Republic
Van Loocke Sprinting Well, Elijzen On Podium

With the Tour of the Czech Republic wrapped up, we can happily report that we have had some strong results but, as will be seen, it wasn't all good news. Our line-up was as follows:

21. M. Elijzen
22. S. Dillier
23. J. Stallaert
24. R. Stenuit
25. W. Van Den Eynde
26. J. Van Loocke
27. J. Vansummeren

Stage 1

Stage 1 was always going to end in a sprint. Two trains dominated the front, with Proximus-Trek leading one and Pokerstars leading the other. Van Loocke tacked himself oto the Pokerstars' train on the wheel of Markov, several riders back from the front.

As the Pokerstar's train started to accelerate Van Loocke took the opportunity to take up a position in the other train closer to the front, on the wheel of Chicchi, two riders behind Cavendish. This proved to be problematic as the Pokerstars train rolled forward faster. Van Loocke changed back to his former position and rode Markov's wheel.

Right near the finish line Van Loocke jumped off his wheel and came around, rocketing past many big-name sprinters. He ended up in 6th place, while Cavendish took the stage.

Stage 2

This was destined to be another stage for the sprinters and so once again we decided to not enter the breakaway. Today Van Loocke decided to get onto the back of Pokerstars' train, taking fifth wheel amongst hte big sprinters, on the wheel of Vaitkus. This was a good move as Vaitkus managed to elbow Chicchi out of the way.

Van Loocke saw a strong opporutnity as Rizza launched an early bid for the line and got onto his wheel.



Mohs had gone for a long sprint however, and ultimately dragged his line ahead faster. Van Loocke was 8th on the day, which is still a strong result up against these riders.

stage 3

The crucial 17km time trial was up now and Elijzen went in as one of our favourites. Our hope was that Elijzen could put in a very strong performance and set himself up for a good GC result.



Elijzen rode immensely well and was only 5 seconds off the time of stage winner Kai Reus. This ultimately put him in 3rd place both on the day and overall. Only Reus and Rolland were ahead of him now.

Stage 4

Stage 4 was yet another one for the sprinters. We struggled to get Van Loocke into position so we did not feature at all in the sprint. Vaitkus took the sprint today as well, in a great show of strength. We were ultimately just happy that Elijzen stayed out of trouble.

Stage 5

The ending of this stage was hilly and so we knew that it would be a struggle for Elijzen to perform well. We went into the stage hoping to defend at least a top 10.

The race split on the first major climb, and so we put Vansummeren up to the front of the second peletong and he took control of the group to bring it all back together. The race split again towards the end of the stage and once again Vansummeren came to the front. At the end of the day Elijzen cracked and came through 2'57" down on the winner, with most of the GC riders finishing ahead of him. This caused him to drop to 21st on GC, which was a disappointing result. Vansummeren came 24th overall thanks to a strong final stage.

So ultimately our GC hopes were frustrated, but we still ended up with a podium on one stage and a couple of top 10 in sprints. This was a race we didn't expect a great deal from so we were happy enough anyway.

Victory in the Giro dell'Appellenio!
Vanendert Outsprints Pozzovivo

The Giro dell'Appellenio was our next race one the calender and Vanendert went in as an outside chance for the win. With a tough course that was too tough for the puncheurs but not selective enough for the climbers Vanendert was in with a good chance, given that he is better on the longer climbs than most of the pure puncheurs.

31. J. Vanendert
32. F. De Greef
33. S. Dillier
34. W. Maesen
35. J. Polanc
36. W. Van Den Eynde
37. J. Vansummeren

Vanendert had a good team around him with Vansummeren and De Greef both capable of providing valuable support. We managed to get Polanc, Maesen and Van Den Eynde into an early move, but that was brought back. Ultimately Van Den Eynde got into the break of the day. Maesen also succeeded in bridging up.



This absolved us from chasing all day but when a few other attacks went form slightly dangerous riders, we sent De Greef to the front.



And he succeeded in spliting the bunch!



We had De Greef, Vanendert and Vansummeren in the front 9 rider group. Eventually De Greef gets it down to 5 riders - De Greef, Vanendert, Di Maggio, Ianetti and Roche. The other favourites manage to rejoin on the descent but the group was still down to 12, with 2 of our riders.

Vanendert put in a dig shortly after this and only Di maggio went with him.



They reached the 3 lead riders and then stopped, with the other favourites catching back up. With 6600m to go five riders attacked and Vanendert was amongst them. These were 5 of the big favourites for the day.

Pozzovivo and Vanendert were the two strongest by far.



They started the sprint side-by-side and Vanendert had more left in the tank, taking a magnificent classic for us!



De Greef, one of the big heroes of the day, managed to role in as 13th - a great result in its own right.



This is so far our only classic victory of the season and we are absolutely ecstatic that Vanendert took it, as he has been struggling for form throughout most of the season.

roturn wrote:
Congrats to your last wins. Your season made a big step forwards climbing into the top places.

Maxime La Lavandier Finds The Right Break
Shows His Climbing Pedigree

We went to the Tour of the Battenkill without our usual leader Vanendert in tow, and instead the reins were passed to Cyril Gautier, who had a team of mostly young riders around him. Gautier wasn't as strong as some of the other leaders so we knew that a break would be a good option for us.

Maxime managed to work his way into the break of the day, bridging up with Meiji's Beppu.



The break looked like they were going to win it and Maxime realised that he probably wasn't going to win if it came down to a group sprint. As such he attacked away with D'Andrea and they pulled out about 20 seconds. Maxime wasn't happy with that gap and attacked away from his partner, pulling out another 15 seconds.



In the end the rest of the break chased him down on the final hill of the day. He was dropped on this final climb, having nothing left from his atack. In the end he came across the line 8th on the day.

We are proud of his effort and are excited to see what more he can do in the future. He gave everything to go for the win rather than waiting for a sprint where he might ahve taken a slightly higher place in the top 10. This is the sort of racing that we want to see.

Bunch Sprint in Drenthe
Cobbles Not Selective Enough

The next cobbled race on the calendar was the HC-rated Profronde van Drenthe in the Netherlands. The course has numerous hard cobbled sections through the middle of hte race, but they are too far from the end to be decisive. Regardless, we brought our usual cobbled team out in the hope of getting a good result.

Vanspeybrouck punctured just as the first section began, but thanks to a tremendous effort by our team we got him back up to the front just in time to avoid a huge split made by Pokerstars.

Pokerstar created a 48 rider group by the end of the last cobbled section, while we sat on keeping everyone safe.



Nolf was the first of the big cobbled riders to really go for it, and we let the sprinters' teams pull him back, as they were the ones most likely to fight for the win. But with 16km to go we launched our own bid for glory, as Maes leapt off the front.



He was followed by Blythe, but both of them were pulled back by the charging teams behind. A few more attacks went in teh dying kilometres, but it came down to a bunch sprint.

Of course there were far better sprinters in that group and the best we could manage was an 8th place with Albert, plus Vanspeybrouck in 10th. Our others riders did fantastically well though, with Maes having enough left in the tank for 11th and Vansummeren in 13th. Broers and Van Loocke were 21st and 22nd respecitvely with Van Keirsbulck in 28th and Stallaert in 31st, meaning that everyone scored points for us today. This was really the most we could ask for on a course like this and once again the team showed why we are the best team on cobbles.

The Best Race of our Season
BPost Dominate Cobbled Stage Race

Our updates have fallen a long way behind, but regardless we will be attempting to catch up and put a record of our achievements here. Our team for the 5 Jours de Dunkerque was not the best team that we could field, because we had to split ourselves between here and GP Herning. Our 7 riders were:
Vanspeybrouck
Albert
Broers
Poulhiès
Van Loocke
Stallaert
Van den Eynde

Our plan was to work for Vanspeybrouck in the GC, with our sights set on the queen stage - stage 4. Here is what happened...

Stage 1
This was a day for the sprinters. The break was looking strong throughout most of the day though, so Vanspeybrouck, who was feeling strong, kicked up to the break with 13km to go. He managed to get up to it, but they were all dragged in soon after.

In the finale, Van Loocke sprinted at the sprint point before the end, but didn't have the energy to back that up with another sprint at the ed of the stage.

Stage 2

Another stage for the sprinters, and today we were hoping Van Loocke could perform in the final sprint. Thankfully we didn't have to do any work during the day thanks to the sprinters' teams being willing to do everything on the front. In the end Van Loocke saved himself a bit better and came through a respectable 8th. Considering the strength of the sprint field here, that was a decent result.

Stage 3

This stage was a bit lumpier than the previous two and included a circuit with a tough cobbled climb. In addition the finish was also cobbled. This was going to be an important day for us.

Pokerstars were willing to do a lot of work early in the day and they pushed a hard pace, which caused things to rupture. Vanspeybrouck, Stallaert and Broers made the selection of 13 riders, with Albert sitting in the second group on the road. We were okay with this, so Broers went to the front and concentrated on keeping this selection out front.



The group's advantage increased and Broers actually got off the front of the group over the top of the cobbled climb with a group of 6. Playing the good domestique, he dropped back and pulled Vanspeybrouck back into the race. In the end Broers managed to hold the late attackers at bay and ensured that it came down to a sprint. Trilux came first and second, but Vanspeybrouck managed to get third place on the cobbled finish.



Stallaert was in 10th and Broers 11th, both of whom rode magnificently. The second group on the road, with Albert, was only 59" down, so anyone could still win it, but Vanspeybrouck had seized a march over several opponents.

Stage 4

The queen stage was here – 10 cobbled climbs and another 10 short and sharp ones between these. We decided to send Poulhies up the road early, just in case things went wrong and the break stayed away. Vanspeybrouck missed an early split in the bunch, which fractured on almost every lap, but we helped to bring it all back together and placed him much better after that.

About 70km from the finish we sent Albert up the road as well to help put a bit of pressure on the other teams. Pokerstars were being forced to do a huge amount of work, which kept us a lot fresher. Albert managed to get up the road with Meersman and Dumoulin and with 62km remaining their lead was at 3’18�.



These three went clear and pushed their advantage up over 4 minutes. Things were looking good for Albert now. In fact, Albert went clear after a KOM prime and rode for himself. The overall win was looking like a real possibility for him. He was caught by the others with him but there was no doubt that he was the strongest.

With 2 laps to go Vanspeybrouck was in the 9 man elite selection, just over 2 minutes behind Albert’s group. Blythe was halfway across the gap. This little move was brought back by Pokerstars and with 16km to go, Vanspeybrouck put in a big attack. Haussler was the key man to beat for the GC and Vanspeybrouck managed to get away from him and only had a few other riders with him. In addition Albert shook off Meersman up front and was now all alone!

The gap to Albert dropped, and only Langeveld could stay with Vanspeybrouck, who started to come up to Albert.



Albert’s gap got to 1 minute and he was in the virtual yellow, so Vanspeybrouck stopped working. This meant that the other favourites came back to him, but Albert had a good lead going into the final cobbled climb. And indeed, he won the stage!



Behind, Langeveld and Vanspeybrouck put in another dig. If Langeveld gapped Vanspeybrouck he would take the yellow. But no – Vanspeybrouck beat him to the line and gave us a magnificent 1-2.



At the end of the day Vanspeybrouck was sitting in yellow by 12 seconds, with Albert in third place. Albert also had the mountain jersey sown up, Vanspeybrouck was the best young rider by default and we had a clear lead in the team classification going into the final stage.

Stage 5

An absolutely pan-flat day was in store today so we had a lot of help from the sprinters’ teams once again, meaning that we didn’t have to do much work to keep the yellow. With 11km remaining the break was caught. Indeed Van Loocke managed 9th, Poulhies 10th and Vanspeybrouck got himself into 11th place as well to keep himself at 5th in the points jersey competition.

What a magnificent race this was for us, as well as our sponsors who had asked for a top 5 here at the start of the season – we delivered that and more!

Maes On The Way Out?
Belgian Seeks Own Chances

The end of season is an uncertain time for teams and riders as they start to think about the next year and try to further themselves. One such man thinking about what his future could hold is Nikolas Maes, the Belgian cobblestone specialist with Team BPost.

"I feel that I haven't had many chances to ride for myself this year and I didn't join the team just to be subordinated to someone else," said the man who came in 2nd at E3 Prijs this year, "I am happy here surrounded by my countrymen, but I believe I am ready to lead a team for myself again."

The Belgian has had a tough year with only his one podium place and a handful of top 10 results to speak of. Conversely, both Pieter Vanspeybrouck and Niels Albert, the other two cobblestone stars with the Belgian team, have brought in multiple victories.

"The team have said that they are willing to allow me to renew with them and then move to another team, just in case I can't find any satisfactory offers on my own and I thank them for this opportunity. I am determined to race my heart out for the rest of the season, particularly when I'm leading at Tour du Faso later this year. We will certainly be parting ways on amicable terms."

And That's A Wrap!
Team Bpost End First Season

It has been a trying year for the new Belgian cycling project with some ups and downs and generally fewer results than we would have liked. We managed 10 wins but remarably only two of these came on Belgian soil - the KBC De Panne stage win by Niels Albert and then the GC win in that same race. Without a doubt the greatest moment, however, was the 1-2 stage victory on the queen stage of the 5 Jours de Dunkerque, where Vanspeybrouck also managed to take out the overall classification.

A number of things have become obvious to us - our team needs to be more competitive in GCs that don't involve cobblestones. Elijzen and Vanendert both fought well all season but they were unable to come through with many results apart from Vanendert's win in the Giro dell'Appellenio. This win secured an extension of Vanendert's contract and we will be hoping for better results next year. Elijzen has been notified, however, that while he will get a contract renewal with the team for next season he will be made available for transfer to another team. Thus he joins Maes in the search for a new team next season.

Not only must the team be more competitive in the general classification, but a top quality sprinter is also required. Jurgen Van Loocke brought in his only victory of the season in what is probably his second last race day ever, at the Tour du Faso. As such Team Bpost will be looking to transfer in a top quality fast man who can bring in more results throughout the entire season.

Finally, in regards to sponsorship, as announced much earlier in the season Bpost will allow our project to continue for at least one more season and we don't expect any huge changes in our sponsors, who are all in for the long haul.