Nemo Indeed, we do have 7 Swiss riders on board, plus one loaned out - which is exactly the same number as last year, despite not having renewed 4 of them (Lienhard, Thièry, Saggiorato, Froidevaux). I guess that's not as bad as it looked post-renewals And except for Aregger, none will decline in the next 2 years.
On the Italian side, we didn't only lose our secondary sponsor, but also two riders (Manfredi, Balloni) - but at least we're 100% European this year (let's define that Israel is European ).
That "smaller, less important part" isn't that much "less important" tbh - and more importantly, there's no good Swiss sprinter talent in sight. Besides cobbles (where at least UBS are strong), it's THE big missing piece for Swiss cycling right now. Let's see how (and when) we manage to fix that
red Thanks Maybe we'll talk again about that after schedule and leader plannings have been revealed As I said in the presentation, maybe we chose too many HC/C1 races - if we do well in those, the title should definitely be possible, but if we do as "well" as last year in HC races, it could be a close race ^^
A total of five riders claimed at least one NC title in the past season. However, after renewals and transfers, only two of them are left:
- Benedikt Mundle (double NC) wasn't renewed and will show Liechtenstein's colors riding for PT outfit Gazelle.
- Fabian Lienhard (RR NC) turned down our renewals offer and will finally earn much less riding for PCT team Binance.
- Gergely Szarka (RR NC) was loaned out to PT team Duolingo in a late move and will be wearing his owl-ish NC jersey racing for them.
Especially the departure of local NC Lienhard hurt, but after our experiences from the previous two seasons, a full reset might be best for both.
So, who's left? No more road race champions, but two time trial NCs - one win could be expected, one was pretty surprising:
Time Trial Champion Gino Mäder
Time Trial Champion Szymon Rekita
Both jerseys have the same color scheme as our main shirt; yet they should be recognizable enough. Both don't have the beans pattern, but the respective country flag instead. Mäder's jersey has the white cross, and red instead of white sleeves. Rekita, on the other hand, will go all-white on chest and sleeves.
Let's hope those special shirts, designed by Master of Arts hillis91, will give them wings in their fights against the clock - be it individually or together with their teammates!
After the submission deadline for goals and race planning is over, it is now time to reveal the goals that our sponsors set for the 2022 season. Furthermore, we will present you our entire race schedule. Race planning of our leaders will be revealed in a later update.
Without further ado, let's take a look at the goals overview:
Goals
Country
Race
Goal
Team Standings
Top 5
Züri Metzgete (C2)
Win
Tour de Romandie (C1)
Top 5
Giro del Trentino (C2)
Top 5
Coppa Placci (C2)
Top 5
Without any surprise, our sponsors selected as many Swiss goal races as were allowed according to the rules; only GP Lugano - which we'll also race - hasn't been selected, as only one C1 race goal could be chosen.
Let's go into some more details for each of the goals:
Goal #1 - Team Standings: Top 5
While last year's PCT Top 10 goal was truly ambitious, we feel like we're playing it safe this time. Obviously, Top 5 means automatic promotion - and that's indeed the main goal of the season.
Furthermore, we've heard many voices who even consider us to be the division's title favorite - and we think that at least a Top 3 goal would have been realistic, but this unfortunately isn't an option.
We already presented our full 2022 roster, and our expectation is that these guys finish Top 5. And if we find a good schedule for all of them, we're convinced that they will - but obviously, we're into sports, so everything can happen. It's just not very likely that we'll miss this goal - that's our hope at least.
Goal #2 - Züri Metzgete: Win
Spoiler
There's nothing new under the CT sun - as in our first two CT seasons, the mandatory win goal comes in the very last race of the year - the Züri Metzgete (yes, that's the actual name, "Zuri" is just for those who don't like umlauts).
While we were close to reaching this goal in our very first season - Cyrille Thièry finished 2nd in 2019 - the course was unfortunately made way too easy, leading to much more boring races lately. And this doesn't really bode well for us, as our punchy boys would have preferred the old, hard course.
Well, we don't have a choice, sadly, and so Gianni Moscon will try his best on a profile that doesn't really suit him. Which is why Fausto Masnada joins him as a co-leader, being slightly more aggressive and faster on a flat run-in. Let's take a look at the full lineup:
Rider
Hi
Mo
Acc
Res
Rider
Hi
Mo
Acc
Res
Gianni Moscon
79
73
73
77
Marcel Aregger
71
64
77
71
Fausto Masnada
76
77
73
75
Panagiotis Karatsivis
68
70
70
70
Mauro Schmid
74
73
75
76
Alexandros Matsangos
68
68
68
67
Leonardo Basso
72
67
69
73
Christoph Janssen
63
62
66
68
Our best chances would be if we can make the race really hard - for example by sending Mauro Schmid up front early on. He might also try a late attack, given that the opponents' eyes will rather be on our Italian leader duo. And in case the race is really, really lame, Marcel Aregger could be in for a huge upset in his very final race as a maxed rider.
Goal #3 - Tour de Romandie: Top 5
Spoiler
We stay in Switzerland - but go up one race category. Tour de Romandie was selected as our mandatory C1 goal - it was chosen over GP Lugano because it should suit us more.
What's mainly needed here is climbing and time trialling - the latter individually and as a team. Our goal was to get some TT specialists precisely for this race - we didn't quite manage to do so, but we feel that we still have a very solid lineup:
Rider
Mo
Hi
TT
Spr
Rider
Mo
Hi
TT
Spr
Colin Stüssi
79
73
75
63
Szymon Rekita
58
63
79
69
Fausto Masnada
77
76
73
63
Krzysztof Marchewka
64
60
77
52
Gino Mäder
77
71
75
67
Leonardo Basso
67
72
72
71
Erick Rowsell
74
69
73
61
Marcel Aregger
64
71
68
78
All but one rider have a green TT stat, which will hopefully see our climbers well positioned after the opening stage. We did already pretty well taking 7th last year, and our TTT setup has gotten even stronger - the sky's the limit!
And we'll have to do well, given that even a great climber like Nairo Quintana couldn't quite keep up with the favorites in the mountains last year. Colin Stüss is definitely a weaker climber than the Colombian, but we're hoping he'll somehow be able to keep up with the best, and then use his good TT skills to secure that Top 5. Which is an ambitious goal, but not an unrealistic one we feel.
The support will be way stronger than last year, with Fausto Masnada still being our leader's first lieutenant, but this time we also have a newly maxed Gino Mäder in the mix - who will also be fighting for some U25 points - and another good climber in Erick Rowsell.
Szymon Rekita's and Krzysztof Marchewka's main task will be done after stage 1, but they might still get some possibilities to attack later on. Leonardo Basso is just an incredibly valuable helper on any terrain, including that TTT.
And finally, the only rider who isn't good in longer time trials, is our sprinter Marcel Aregger. Two sprint stages are on the menu, the first one after a rather bumpy finale - after a TdS stage win last year, why not take a final big stage win in Romandie?
Goal #4 - Giro del Trentino: Top 5
Spoiler
Yet another goal we know well from our previous CT seasons - and always failed. We may not have Italy as our secondary nation anymore, but with only one non-C2 goal allowed and no other C2 race in one of our neighboring countries, our sponsors insisted on going for Trentino again.
As we already said, we failed the Top 5 goal twice in a row - both times without a strong TTT lineup, and without one of the division's strongest climbers. This time, we think we've got the puzzle together - and we should in fact be aiming for the win. Or what do you think about this lineup?
Rider
Mo
Hi
TT
Rider
Mo
Hi
TT
Colin Stüssi
79
73
75
Szymon Rekita
58
63
79
Fausto Masnada
77
76
73
Krzysztof Marchewka
64
60
77
Gino Mäder
77
71
75
Leonardo Basso
67
72
72
Erick Rowsell
74
69
73
Panagiotis Karatsivis
70
68
68
Except for Panagiotis Karatsivis replacing Marcel Aregger - as there are no sprint stages - it's the exact same squad as in Tour de Romandie. But unlike in our home race, we should be among the strongest teams here given the C2 category.
Two years ago, we finished 10th in the opening TTT; this year we expect to be among the podium candidates. And with Colin Stüssi being one of the division's top climbers, we hope to seal at least a Top 5 result in the following two mountain stages. Gino Mäder - who took the KoM jersey in 2020 - and Fausto Masnada should provide great uphill support - and maybe even get a good GC result on their own. Mäder should additionally be among the top U25 contenders. And the team classification might be a possibility, too.
Erick Rowsell will again be a valuable helper both in the TTT and in the mountains, while our Polish TT duo Szymon Rekita and Krzysztof Marchewka will probably only enjoy day 1... The same holds to a lesser extent for Leonardo Basso, while the previously mentioned talent Panagiotis Karatsivis is mainly here to learn - while hopefully enjoying the mountains, too.
We think that compared with Züri, "third time's the charm" has much better chances of sticking for Trentino - if we can't get a Top 5 with that squad, what else does it take then?
Goal #5 - Coppa Placci: Top 5
Spoiler
Yes, indeed - the 3rd goal being copied over from our previous CT years. Just like Züri, it's a hilly race - but fortunately a slightly - or even clearly - more difficult one. And it's actually one that we have already achieved previously!
However, this year's lineup doesn't have many similarities with the 2020 one anymore - except for the team leader, of course:
Rider
Hi
Mo
Acc
Res
Rider
Hi
Mo
Acc
Res
Gianni Moscon
79
73
73
77
Panagiotis Karatsivis
68
70
70
70
Fausto Masnada
76
77
73
75
Alexandros Matsangos
68
68
68
67
Mauro Schmid
74
73
75
76
Manuel Stocker
65
60
77
73
Leonardo Basso
72
67
69
73
Gabriel Chavanne
64
58
76
76
Gianni Moscon was the one winning our first ever classic in team history - the Coppa Placci 2020. The steep final kilometer suits him well, as he can play out his excellent resistance, and maybe even his decent climbing skills. Furthermore, his main lieutenant now will be Fausto Masnada, who has a similar skillset. As in Züri, Mauro Schmid will be an important support rider - or our wildcard if he gets the freedom to attack.
Leonardo Basso, the third member of our Italian trio, is the final good puncheur in our lineup, while talents Panagiotis Karatsivis and Alexandros Matsangos are here to gain experience and Manuel Stocker and Gabriel Chavanne are just here to fill up the roster - and fetch some bottles in the first half of the race.
While a win definitely can't be expected - although Kelderman is gone, the competition is still strong - we're hoping that Gianni can get his 2nd Top 5 result in as many attempts!
And that's all about the goals - let's now take a look at our full 2022 calendar:
2022 Calendar
Start
End
Race
Category
09-Jan
Gisborne GP
C2
25-Jan
27-Jan
Hong Kong Challenge
C1
30-Jan
Clasico San Jose
C2
---
15-Feb
20-Feb
Volta a Catalunya
C2
---
02-Mar
05-Mar
Jelajah SKL
C2
06-Mar
11-Mar
Vuelta al Pais Vasco
C1
21-Mar
Coppa Placci
C2
30-Mar
GP Izola
C2
---
01-Apr
07-Apr
Tour of California
C2
12-Apr
18-Apr
Tour de Pologne
HC
20-Apr
Badaling International
C1
25-Apr
GP Wallonie
HC
27-Apr
30-Apr
USA Pro Cycling Challenge
C2
---
03-May
08-May
Tour de Romandie
C1
12-May
14-May
Tour of Chile
C1
23-May
28-May
Olympia's Tour
C2
---
03-Jun
Pro Hallstatt Classic
HC
09-Jun
13-Jun
La Tropicale Amissa Bongo
C1
16-Jun
22-Jun
Tour of Vancouver
C2
17-Jun
22-Jun
Tour of South Africa
C1
25-Jun
Monterrey TTT
C2
27-Jun
Apex Mountain Classic
C1
---
03-Jul
06-Jul
Arab Tour
C1
08-Jul
09-Jul
Isle of Man ITT
C2
10-Jul
14-Jul
Tour de Vineyards
C1
21-Jul
Windhoek TTT
C1
25-Jul
29-Jul
Tour d'Andorra
C1
---
11-Aug
13-Aug
Giro del Trentino
C2
15-Aug
Frankfurt Eschborn
C1
23-Aug
31-Aug
Tour de l'Avenir
U23
---
11-Sep
14-Sep
Tour of the Middle East
C2
17-Sep
20-Sep
Bayern Rundfahrt
HC
28-Sep
Milano - Torino
C1
28-Sep
GP Lugano
C1
---
01-Oct
06-Oct
Tour du Maroc
HC
06-Oct
10-Oct
Herald Sun Tour
C2
12-Oct
15-Oct
Euskal Bizikleta
C1
18-Oct
Züri Metzgete
C2
Races in bold font are goal races.
Let's also take a look at the distribution of our races per category and per month:
Race Distribution
Month
HC
C1
C2
Total
January
0
3
4
7
February
0
0
6
6
March
0
6
8
14
April
9
2
11
22
May
0
9
6
15
June
2
13
9
24
July
0
16
2
18
August
0
2
3
5
September
4
4
4
12
October
6
4
7
17
Total
21
59
60
140
We'll have a pretty slow start to the season, racing only 13 RDs in January and February combined. Which is mainly due to non-participation in Tachira, which most of the CT field will probably be relieved about. However, August tops the list of months with few RDs - which is only partly true, though, given that Avenir will be raced in that month as well.
Otherwise, we'll have two RD-heavy months in April and June - and given the total amount of races available in October, we might count that one in as well. Which might not be a clever idea, given that most of our riders had already mentally left for vacation in October last year...
Another point to note is our rather high amount of HC race days; we don't know if any other team got 21 RDs, but we believe we're among the top ones. Which obviously is a pretty high risk - and in fact we're doing 80 HC/C1 RDs compared to just 60 race days in C2. Which is basically due to our selection criteria for the 2022 races:
- avoid cobbled races
- avoid flat classics
- avoid flat stage races without any kind of TT
With Frankfurt Eschborn being the only exception to point 2 - and it isn't even a completely flat one - all our other races comply with these requirements. Meaning we'll be doing lots of mountains, hills, and TTs. Who would have thought it looking at our roster...
We're looking forward to most of those races, but we're well conscious that if we aren't competitive enough in the HC/C1 races, our selection strategy could backfire and even hurt our promotion ambitions. If however the likes of Moscon, Stüssi or Rekita can do as well as we expect them to, we could also get a huge points haul here and there. It's a risky calendar - but no risk, no fun!
The full schedules of our leaders will be posted later on - but feel free to comment already now on how you fancy our chances now that you've seen our full schedule!
That is a lot of HC race days, I have 4. I think it is a brave strategy, particularly dropping a race like Tachira where you would be guaranteed to score. But I think you have room for error even if the HC races prove challenging.
Other than Tachira the Jura and McCormick mountain and hill squads should become mighty familiar with each other. Trentino is one of the few times Warbasse and Kuss will ride together along with rest of the McCormick MT/TT squad. Your TT is stronger so you should have the edge, but will be fun. A couple of other teams also have pretty complete MT/TT squads as well.
Coppa Placci is a goal race for us as well and so Warbasse makes his lone appearance in a hilly classic along with Boswell, who won last year. Another big one for both of us.
Like your commitment to regional races as goals. Something I haven't focused on as much. I have 2 out of 4 in the US more by chance.
After the team's full racing schedule has been published recently, let's now take a closer look at those riders who will lead the team in most races. Obviously, the expectations won't be the same for every leader and every race - given that race categories vary from HC to C2, and we're not equally competitive on every terrain.
For each race, we'll also list the full support squad that our leaders have available. Obviously, especially stage races can have multiple "leaders": for the GC, sprint stages, or TT stages. Hence you might find races in multiple leaders' schedule.
Without further ado, let's move on to our lead puncheur:
Gianni Moscon
Leader for hilly classics & stage races
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
71
73
79
66
76
77
75
53
59
73
71
69
70
Start
End
Race
Category
09-Jan
Gisborne GP
C2
25-Jan
27-Jan
Hong Kong Challenge
C1
30-Jan
Clasico San Jose
C2
06-Mar
11-Mar
Vuelta al Pais Vasco
C1
21-Mar
Coppa Placci
C2
12-Apr
18-Apr
Tour de Pologne
HC
25-Apr
GP Wallonie
HC
12-May
14-May
Tour of Chile
C1
17-Jun
22-Jun
Tour of South Africa
C1
28-Sep
Milano - Torino
C1
12-Oct
15-Oct
Euskal Bizikleta
C1
18-Oct
Züri Metzgete
C2
Gianni will lead the team whenever he is part of our lineup. In several races he'll be complemented by Masnada, who has some better climbing skills and is stronger against the clock. In all other cases, it's Schmid who will be his main lieutenant - with the exception of Milano - Torino, where Stüssi will be our co-leader.
We can see that there's not a single C2 stage race on Moscon's schedule - mainly because there aren't any true hilly stage races at that level. Moreover, Gianni has showed us in the last two years that he's absolutely competitive in most C1 races, so we're taking that risk and send him to C1/HC stage races only.
It has to be noted, however, that he'll not have our strongest TTT setup at his disposition, which obviously will hurt his GC ambitions a lot both in Pais Vasco and South Africa. We're hoping that he'll instead go for a couple of stage wins in those races.
In C2 classics, however, we expect him to fight for the win - especially in Coppa Placci and Züri Metzgete, our two hilly goal races. He has already won the former, so go for it again, Gianni!
Colin Stüssi
Leader for mountainous classics & stage races
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
71
79
73
75
77
73
78
55
63
66
65
69
69
Start
End
Race
Category
15-Feb
20-Feb
Volta a Catalunya
C2
03-May
08-May
Tour de Romandie
C1
03-Jun
Pro Hallstatt Classic
HC
16-Jun
22-Jun
Tour of Vancouver
C2
27-Jun
Apex Mountain Classic
C1
10-Jul
14-Jul
Tour de Vineyards
C1
25-Jul
29-Jul
Tour d'Andorra
C1
11-Aug
13-Aug
Giro del Trentino
C2
11-Sep
14-Sep
Tour of the Middle East
C2
28-Sep
Milano - Torino
C1
Colin is the "new kid on the block" - and what a kid he is! Being CT's 2nd strongest pure climber, and probably the division's strongest stage racer due to his own TT skill and our team's TTT core, we expect lots of points from him especially in all C2 races he'll attend. All of them being stage races by the way, as no more C2 mountain classic exists after the cancellation of Sakartvelo which we won last year.
Out of the four C2 stage races, Catalunya and Trentino feature a TTT - the former even a 40km stage - while Vancouver has a TTT plus an individual MTT. We're sending our strongest possible TTT lineup to all of these three, i.e. fellow stage racers Masnada & Mäder, along with Rekita, Marchewka, Rowsell and Basso. With this TTT and mountain support, the win must be the goal.
For Middle East, there's just one final mountain stage, with a really, really long climb. Colin not being an explosive rider, we can't expect him to win it, but a Top 5 is expected, too.
The expectations have to be slightly lower for the C1 races, though, as the competition will likely be huge. However, in Romandie and Vineyards, we have a TTT as well - and except for Masnada missing out on the latter the same support squad - so we still expect to be in the fight for a Top 10 or even Top 5 (our sponsor goal in Romandie).
In Andorra, we expect an incredibly strong startlist, but we're looking forward to see what Colin can do there - also in preparation for a potential PCT season next year. Apex and Hallstatt then are classics, where Colin likely won't have enough punch to fight for the top spots, but especially in Hallstatt we expect a clear improvement on last year's disaster.
Last but not least, Colin will race in Milano - Torino, which obviously is a hilly classic, but with a rather tough finale. Let's see if him or Gianni will prove to be stronger in the end!
Fausto Masnada
Secondary leader for mountainous & hilly races
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
71
77
76
73
76
75
73
60
63
73
69
71
70
Start
End
Race
Category
25-Jan
27-Jan
Hong Kong Challenge
C1
15-Feb
20-Feb
Volta a Catalunya
C2
06-Mar
11-Mar
Vuelta al Pais Vasco
C1
21-Mar
Coppa Placci
C2
20-Apr
Badaling International
C1
03-May
08-May
Tour de Romandie
C1
12-May
14-May
Tour of Chile
C1
16-Jun
22-Jun
Tour of Vancouver
C2
11-Aug
13-Aug
Giro del Trentino
C2
12-Oct
15-Oct
Euskal Bizikleta
C1
18-Oct
Züri Metzgete
C2
Fausto's versatility makes him a perfect domestique in both mountainous and hilly races - or, as mentioned as his role, a secondary leader should the primary one have a bad day or the profile not suit him 100%.
The latter will mainly be true for hilly races with a TT or too long climbs for Moscon. Hong Kong or Chile might be such examples, but we're also looking forward to see what he can do in races like Pais Vasco or Euskal Bizikleta.
In mountainous stage races, we'll mainly act as a backup for Colin, as you can see from their pretty similar calendar. He'll hopefully protect our main climber well enough on hilly stages to not lose time there - or jump in as our ad-hoc leader whenever needed.
He'll also get one chance to lead the team on his own, which is Badaling. We feel like the profile might be too hard for Gianni with the long climbs, so Fausto should be the perfect leader for that one.
We also know that he's a more aggressive rider and slightly faster sprinter than Gianni, so even in hilly classics like Züri or Placci - the only classics he'll ride besides Badaling - he could get our best result. Probably not many wins, but lots of depth points and great domestique work, that's what we expect from him!
Gino Mäder
Secondary leader for mountainous stage races
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
69
77
71
75
73
75
77
64
67
64
70
67
76
Start
End
Race
Category
15-Feb
20-Feb
Volta a Catalunya
C2
01-Apr
07-Apr
Tour of California
C2
03-May
08-May
Tour de Romandie
C1
03-Jun
Pro Hallstatt Classic
HC
16-Jun
22-Jun
Tour of Vancouver
C2
10-Jul
14-Jul
Tour de Vineyards
C1
11-Aug
13-Aug
Giro del Trentino
C2
11-Sep
14-Sep
Tour of the Middle East
C2
17-Sep
20-Sep
Bayern Rundfahrt
HC
01-Oct
06-Oct
Tour du Maroc
HC
Gino may "only" be the third strongest of our climbing trio, but that still doesn't mean we count on him! It's rather the contrary that is true, as he'll ride as our leader in 3 out of his 10 races this year.
But first and foremost, he'll indeed be a very valuable helper for Colin in the mountains. In Catalunya, Romandie, Vancouver and Trentino he'll be part of our hopefully dreaded TTT/mountain core. TTT will also be a decisive factor in Vineyards, with Colin again as our leader and Gino this time the only mountain supporter.
The latter is true as well for Hallstatt and Middle East - a classic and a stage race without TT. Still, as a very solid climber in his own right we believe Gino will do a great job in these races.
We believe even more in him in California, where he'll be our single climber and hence team leader. We selected him over Colin and Fausto because he's the strongest prologue rider out of this trio - and although that's likely just a matter of seconds, those seconds matter! It might be a bit risky to send him there as our leader given the two hilly stages, but we believe Mauro Schmid will provide great support for Gino!
And then, there are two HC races with Gino as our leader. First comes Bayern - a lot of TT kilometers, and a rather easy mountain stage. We know that Gino can obviously not compete with the very strongest of the PCT division - but he is U25-eligible, which is what we might be going for here. And finally, Morocco. We don't have any good memories of this race - and Gino doesn't look like a top contender, either. But as a developing rider, he often was a very aggressive rider, joining many breakaways - and that's what were hoping for in Morocco as well. No big GC result, but showing himself and getting some nice stage results.
We already mentioned that Gino is still U25, unlike all our other leaders. We're hoping for some nice points from those special classifications - obviously mainly in C2 races, but why not in higher categories, too?
Marcel Aregger
Sprinter
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
73
64
71
68
72
71
77
62
78
77
65
67
78
Start
End
Race
Category
15-Feb
20-Feb
Volta a Catalunya
C2
02-Mar
05-Mar
Jelajah SKL
C2
06-Mar
11-Mar
Vuelta al Pais Vasco
C1
30-Mar
GP Izola
C2
27-Apr
30-Apr
USA Pro Cycling Challenge
C2
03-May
08-May
Tour de Romandie
C1
17-Jun
22-Jun
Tour of South Africa
C1
15-Aug
Frankfurt Eschborn
C1
11-Sep
14-Sep
Tour of the Middle East
C2
28-Sep
GP Lugano
C1
01-Oct
06-Oct
Tour du Maroc
HC
12-Oct
15-Oct
Euskal Bizikleta
C1
18-Oct
Züri Metzgete
C2
Marcel starts into his final prime year - and we hope he still has got plenty of strong results in his fast legs! We'll be trying to make use of his very varied skillset; being mainly a sprinter, of course, but also strong in prologues and solid on the hills.
Prologues only occur in stage races, so it's clear that he'll do some of those. Jelajah is almost tailor-made for a rider like him, with two short TTs, a flat and a rather easy hilly stage. This will be his early season highlight.
But with USAPCC, he actually only gets to race one other short ITT. For the rest of the year, he'll mainly compete in stage races, hoping for a weaker sprinter field than in purely flat races. He should be a good option especially in stages with an undulating profile in the closing kilometers - something we'll find in quite some races.
Riding Romandie will definitely be another highlight for him - and he'll also ride in Lugano and Zurich. He'll actually even be our leader in Lugano, given the rather easy profile - let's see if the gamble pays off! The same is by the way true for GP Izola, where his chances should be even higher given the C2 race category.
Finally, we have one and only one flat classic on our calendar - Frankfurt Eschborn. The race isn't flat by any means though, just the final kilometers are - let's see if he can improve on Reinhardt's 6th place in 2020 which is our best result here so far!
Grzegorz Stepniak
Sprinter
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
71
56
66
63
68
68
73
66
78
77
62
67
72
Start
End
Race
Category
30-Jan
Clasico San Jose
C2
01-Apr
07-Apr
Tour of California
C2
12-Apr
18-Apr
Tour de Pologne
HC
12-May
14-May
Tour of Chile
C1
23-May
28-May
Olympia's Tour
C2
09-Jun
13-Jun
La Tropicale Amissa Bongo
C1
16-Jun
22-Jun
Tour of Vancouver
C2
03-Jul
06-Jul
Arab Tour
C1
15-Aug
Frankfurt Eschborn
C1
17-Sep
20-Sep
Bayern Rundfahrt
HC
28-Sep
GP Lugano
C1
06-Oct
10-Oct
Herald Sun Tour
C2
12-Oct
15-Oct
Euskal Bizikleta
C1
Just like Marcel, Grzegorz is by no means among CT's top sprinters. Which means that the main focus again lies on flat stages inside stage races - hence why he'll do just 3 one-day races, even one less than Marcel. And of those 3 classics, in San Jose he's just a roster filler without any realistic chance to get a good result.
We don't really know what to expect from him, but we sure hope that he'll get a couple of stage podiums - although we're well aware that some stage races have more opportunities for him than others - and probably more competition. We hope to have found some niches where even an "old man" can shine!
Szymon Rekita
Time trialist, TTT locomotive
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
72
58
63
79
70
73
73
62
69
70
63
73
78
Start
End
Race
Category
25-Jan
27-Jan
Hong Kong Challenge
C1
15-Feb
20-Feb
Volta a Catalunya
C2
03-May
08-May
Tour de Romandie
C1
23-May
28-May
Olympia's Tour
C2
09-Jun
13-Jun
La Tropicale Amissa Bongo
C1
16-Jun
22-Jun
Tour of Vancouver
C2
25-Jun
Monterrey TTT
C2
03-Jul
06-Jul
Arab Tour
C1
08-Jul
09-Jul
Isle of Man ITT
C2
10-Jul
14-Jul
Tour de Vineyards
C1
11-Aug
13-Aug
Giro del Trentino
C2
17-Sep
20-Sep
Bayern Rundfahrt
HC
06-Oct
10-Oct
Herald Sun Tour
C2
Like prologues, time trials are mostly found inside stage races - with two exceptions. Szymon will race in Isle of Man and Monterrey, both being (in theory) one-day events. He'll not participate in Windhoek, though, unfortunately being unable to fit that even into his schedule as well.
Besides being a favorite in any ITT he enters in the C2 category, he'll be a very important part of our TTT core - be it in Catalunya, Romandie, Vancouver, Monterrey, Vineyards or Trentino. While we won't have CT's top TTT lineup, we at least can expect to be close to the podium spots in any C2 TTT.
And then there's Olympia's tour. Unlike the races named before - except for the "standalone" Monterrey and Windhoek TTTs - it's the only TTT event without our mountain goats involved - and hence with much less quality against the clock. Nonetheless, he should be among the top contenders in that race, due to the two ITTs.
He should definitely be fighting for the overall win in Herald Sun Tour, while the competition will be a bit stronger in Arab Tour and Amissa Bongo. The Isle of Man ITT will be an important target as well. And finally, good stage results are at stake in Hong Kong and Bayern - with the latter having even two stages for the specialists!
It's difficult finding a balance between helping the team - and most notably the climbers - and going for individual success, but we think that Szymon will find a good chunk of both. After time trials were one of the areas we struggled most in during our first two years, we now have the division's fastest rider - let's rock those TTs!
Gabriel Chavanne
Prologues leader, leadout rider
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
75
58
64
65
71
76
74
57
76
76
53
67
82
Start
End
Race
Category
02-Mar
05-Mar
Jelajah SKL
C2
21-Mar
Coppa Placci
C2
30-Mar
GP Izola
C2
01-Apr
07-Apr
Tour of California
C2
12-Apr
18-Apr
Tour de Pologne
HC
20-Apr
Badaling International
C1
27-Apr
30-Apr
USA Pro Cycling Challenge
C2
09-Jun
13-Jun
La Tropicale Amissa Bongo
C1
17-Jun
22-Jun
Tour of South Africa
C1
03-Jul
06-Jul
Arab Tour
C1
15-Aug
Frankfurt Eschborn
C1
11-Sep
14-Sep
Tour of the Middle East
C2
17-Sep
20-Sep
Bayern Rundfahrt
HC
28-Sep
GP Lugano
C1
01-Oct
06-Oct
Tour du Maroc
HC
It might be a bit bold to declare someone a leader who has a grand total of 6 race days all year long that really suit his skills. But at least Gabby is the fastest prologue rider of CT and PCT combined, so we think he still deserves this title.
Two of those short races against the clock come in one race - Jelajah, also known as "the prologue riders' paradise". Well, it's not quite heaven on earth for Gabby due to those hills in stages 2 and 3, but who knows - if he can win the opening stage, anything is possible.
In California, there's one flat stage after the prologue, while Poland directly sees a hilly stage following after the opening. So even if he can win those prologues, there's not much hope to keep the leader jersey for too long there, but obviously a win would be a win!
USAPCC then likely is his biggest chance of the year for actually winning a stage race - if none of the sprinters collect too many bonus seconds on the three days before the epilogue.
Amissa Bongo then unfortunately already marks the final prologue of the year - and due to the longer TT later on, Gabby definitely won't be among the GC contenders there, either.
For the remainder of his 61 race days, Gabby will mostly act as a leadout, or just be used to fill some more roster spots. He'll obviously get a free role whenever possible - and if they let him ride away on the flat, well, good luck to catch him again!
We're absolutely conscious that prologues mostly are a lottery - even more so than longer time trials. However, we couldn't really refuse to get him once the opportunity arose. His former manager thinks he'll be doing great - and we feel that opinion in our wallet now - so Gabby better gets us a couple of great results then!
Conclusion
No, no more leader here. We've presented 8 of them - which is partly due to us being only in CT (Mäder and Masnada might not have made the list in PCT), but definitely also due to us having really strong riders on many different terrains.
Although we definitely lost a bit of speed in the sprints, our mountain department has a never-seen-before depth now, and we finally managed to get some great riders for the fights against the clock, too.
Not all of our leaders will be able to collect similar amounts of points - we expect Gianni and Colin to be among the division's Top 10 scorers, though. Depending on how well his average daily form is, Szymon could be a dark horse for those standings, too - and who knows, even Gino could get some bonus U25 points and finish high up. Fausto, on the other hand, might not get enough freedom to score a lot on his own - but we clearly wouldn't be surprised either if he did!
All in all, we're very happy with our leaders' age structure, too - only the sprinters are 32+, none of the others will decline by the end of the year. Which will be of great help if we do indeed promote to PCT - it's mostly in those 8 guys' legs!
Ulrich Yeah, Stüssi would probably have been among the favorites in Tachira - but we've seen with Ranaweera in last year's ToA that the engine sometimes just doesn't like you, and then it's 10 wasted RDs. I prefer shorter and more races than the long ones - maybe the main reason why I've always skipped ToA so far (which would have taken 1/2 of Stüssi's RDs...). I obviously know that scoring in HC races will be harder, but we didn't do that bad in those races last year (PTHC was where we really lost it).
In those Mo/TTT races, it's indeed McCormick and Glanbia that I see as our main opponents. And the shorter the TTT, the more likely Tryg (Schlegel) will come into play as well. We'll see, as you say, it'll hopefully be fun
I surely didn't optimize my goals in terms of possible success, else I'd have chosen Catalunya and Vancouver over Züri and Trentino, but let's hope regionality doesn't backfire too much
Good luck to you as well - and may we meet again one division higher next year
Looking good for the promotion push and maybe even for the title. It seems a very well balanced team, btoh for this season and for the build-up for future endeavours!
Mission "Promotion" starts off with a rather calm month. We'll just have two C2 classics and a short C1 stage race. Not participating in Tachira's climber fest obviously means that other teams will score way more than we will this month, no matter our results - but hopefully we'll still be able to get our first points in!
Jan 09 | Gisborne GP (C2)
Spoiler
Traditionally, the season's kick-off takes place in Oceania - and so it will in 2022. The hilly race in New Zealand looks like a good fit for our strongest puncheur, who - without any surprise - will lead the team there. Here's our full roster:
Rider
Hi
Mo
Ac
Rider
Hi
Mo
Ac
Gianni Moscon
79
73
73
Alexandros Matsangos
68
68
68
Mauro Schmid
74
73
75
Manuel Stocker
65
60
77
Leonardo Basso
72
67
69
Noam Cohen
65
60
76
Panagiotis Karatsivis
68
70
70
Christoph Janssen
63
62
66
Gianni Moscon is our undisputed leader in this race, and will hope to improve on his 2020 result (11th, but as C1 race). With his punch, his decent climbing skills and his great resistance, he'll be hoping for the final third of the race to be really hard, as he should be among the division's strongest puncheurs then.
However, we can also see one of our biggest issues this year, which is the lack of depth in hilly races. Youngster Mauro Schmid will be Gianni's main domestique, but otherwise only allrounder Leo Basso can really provide some notable help. So it won't be our riders who will make the race tough, we'll have to count on others.
Nonetheless, expectations are high, and a good start would be important for our mission to take off really well!
Expectations: Top 5
Best result so far: 9th (2020, Hermann Pernsteiner)
Jan 25 - 27 | Hong Kong Challenge (C1)
Spoiler
We'll always keep some great memories of this race, as it was here, back in 2019, that we could celebrate the team's first Swiss stage win in history, along with the first ever leader jersey! We've always come back since - although without repeating this success, which was partly due to the race being promoted to the C1 category in 2020.
However, we got some great results here last year, and those guys are hoping to repeat that success:
Rider
Hi
Mo
TT
Rider
Hi
Mo
TT
Gianni Moscon
79
73
66
Alexandros Matsangos
68
68
67
Fausto Masnada
76
77
73
Szymon Rekita
63
58
79
Mauro Schmid
74
73
67
Christoph Janssen
63
62
69
Panagiotis Karatsivis
68
70
68
Last year, we sent Fausto Masnada here as our team leader, given that he's far more competitive on the TT bike than Gianni Moscon. This year, we decided to send both of them, mainly in order to add some depth to our lineup. Fausto will clearly be our GC captain again, but Gianni should be a great domestique - or even go for some strong stage results on his own. It's an experiment; we'll see how it works out.
In terms of stage results, we're also hoping for Szymon Rekita to have a great day on stage 2 - given that there are not many stronger time trialists than him in PCT, we could even dream of another stage win...
Mauro Schmid will again be an important helper on the hilly stages - or even a wildcard for breakaways. Despite his rather poor TT skills, he could still be in for a decent U25 result depending on how the race pans out.
Expectations: 3x Stage Top 10, 1x GC Top 10
Best result so far: Stage Win (2019, Jan-André Freuler), 9th GC (2021, Fausto Masnada)
Jan 30 | Clasico San José (C2)
Spoiler
After Oceania and Asia, we'll move over to Central America for our first participation in Costa Rica's Clasico San José. "Hills" continues to be the main theme for this month - pretty much the only one, actually. And so our roster shouldn't come as a huge surprise, either:
Rider
Hi
Mo
Ac
Rider
Hi
Mo
Ac
Gianni Moscon
79
73
73
Grzegorz Stepniak
66
56
77
Mauro Schmid
74
73
75
Manuel Stocker
65
60
77
Panagiotis Karatsivis
68
70
70
Christoph Janssen
63
62
66
Alexandros Matsangos
68
68
68
Once again - just like in Gisborne - we have Gianni Moscon leading the team, seconded by Mauro Schmid. We'll have to hope for the longer climbs to be ridden pretty hard, so the pure puncheurs will be short on energy on the final hills.
But given that last year's winner wasn't even among the division's stronger puncheurs, we'll have to hope for some luck to really get a great result. Let's see what Gianni can do here - he sure has the potential to take a great result, but he won't have the team to control the race unfortunately.
Expectations: Top 5
Best result so far: n/a
And that's all we have in January. Three hilly races, three races for Gianni Moscon - let's hope our lead puncheur has used the off-season well to prepare for the 2022 season!
Gustav Thanks I indeed think the future doesn't look too shabby - if we can indeed promote. We should, but you never know what PCM has in store for you
MacC I guess they'll mainly be great for you If I can beat you once or twice this year, I guess I can be happy. My goal is just not to lose too much time to Glanbia so we can recover it in the mountains
It took us quite a while to get things - and especially emotions - settled after the first race of the year. But here we are, let's take a look back at our return to the Continental Tour.
We were hoping to kick off our season in style, bringing one of the race's big favorites to the start line. But first, our loanees Panagiotis Karatsivis and Alexandros Matsangos were getting some TV time by joining the break of the day.
The Greek actually was the final rider to be reeled in, but in the end the breakaway didn't stand a chance. So all eyes on Gianni Moscon then!
But yeah, it looked like our "leader" was still mentally on vacation. He did absolutely nothing all race long, missed the front group with - sorry to say so - way weaker random guys - and wasn't even able to take a Top 10. In comparison, when he last did this race - it was a C1 with much stronger competition - he finished 10th...
And given some of the names up there, we even must be unhappy with Mauro Schmid's performance, as a Top10 should have been possible for him as well...
No, we are not happy at all with the season start, and especially the team's best paid rider clearly needs to step up his game if we even want to be in promotion contention, let alone fight for the title...
Panagiotis Karatsivis being the break's last man standing as our race highlight...
Laurens Thanks. Yeah, the races looked to be enjoyable, but at least the first one was a huge letdown already.
After a disappointing start to the season in Oceania, we moved on to the next continent on our January world trip. Our first stage race of the year took place in Asia, more precisely in Hong Kong.
And while the team performance left a lot to be desired in Gisborne, we still had a good gut feeling in Hong Kong, knowing that Fausto Masnada had already done well here last year - and even three years ago, not yet at his peak.
On stage one - a very bumpy parcours yielding lots of surprising results recently - he was attentive throughout the race, confirmed by the fact that he was on the right side of a major split when just 12 riders ended up in the front group. He even was accompanied by Szymon Rekita there.
And although everything came back together, we were confident that he'd be in the right place later on, in the finale. Which indeed was the case! He even fought hard against pre-race favorite Areruya to take the first place of the peloton - and was narrowly beaten in the end. As the stage win went to breakaway survivor Boswell - who's having an outstanding year so far - Fausto Masnada finished 3rd of the day - exactly the same position he already took last year. A great start to the race for our co-leader!
And what about our second leader? You may have noticed that we haven't lost a single word about Gianni Moscon yet - and unfortunately, there aren't many positive things to say about him. He simply didn't care at all, was distanced early on, and had an underwhelming 66th place finish. He did something similar 2 years ago on the same stage, so clearly there's something wrong with his attitude in this race. We need to talk, Gianni...
In fact, he wasn't even our second highest finisher - youngster Panagiotis Karatsivis was 3 minutes faster, taking 37th place (and 5th in the U25 standings). Which also means that Mauro Schmid had a disappointing first stage as well, as he should easily be our best young rider - but only finished in Gianni's group.
Fausto Masnada finishes 3rd on stage 1.
Day 2 then was the first chance for a newly maxed Szymon Rekita to shine, in the season's first ITT stage. And the Polish NC definitely did deliver, posting a new best finishing time when crossing the line - 5" faster than everyone else.
But although his performance was really strong, we were a little disappointed by the end of the day. Because Szymon was just 1" off the win - which was only enough for 4th place! On the upside, he has clearly shown us that he's ready for the season, and ready to take responsibility for big results. We're sure he'll get some chances to take revenge on stage winner Brändle - taking the 2nd stage win in as many days for a CT team.
By the way, Fausto Masnada showed a solid TT performance, which was enough for 40th place - right in front of Kämna, one of the stage favorites. Fausto dropped to 6th in GC, just 40" off the lead, and with all riders ahead of him being good climbers yet weaker puncheurs than him, we started dreaming of something big...
Shoutout to youngster Christoph Janssen as well, who was our 3rd best rider on the day finishing 54th.
Szymon Rekita showing his NC jersey on his way to the provisional lead.
On the final day, a pretty flat stage with a medium length uphill finish awaited the riders. A tailor-made final uphill for good hybrid riders like Fausto on paper; too long for pure puncheurs, yet still short enough for explosive climbers to make a difference.
After a calm stage, the action started immediately when the riders hit that final hill. And when Beltran, Areruya, Paulinho, Kinoshita and Boswell attacked - kind of a "who's who" of PCT puncheurs - it was hard to stay calm and wait, but that's exactly what Masnada did, knowing he couldn't keep up with those guys on shorter distances.
But he clearly was right with that gamble, as the guys up front couldn't keep their pace as high - except for Areruya, who just was on another level. But the remainders of the pack were getting closer and closer to the 4 chasers, with Fausto still riding in the middle of the group, alongside yellow jersey Brändle.
In the end, Areruya just was the strongest, and took a well-deserved stage win. Surprisingly, Boswell - not a good climber - had enough power left to secure 2nd place, while Fausto was competing for 3rd against Dyball, Conci, Kritskiy and Uwizeyimana. And he didn't just fight for it, he won! Fausto Masnada took another stage podium, by finishing 3rd on the closing day! And having distanced all direct GC competitors bar Kritskiy, we had to wait for everyone else to finish to know the final verdict...
Fausto Masnada taking another 3rd place!
As expected, Timofey Kritskiy ended up ahead of Fausto in the final GC. He actually was the overall winner, taking an important win for Gjensidige here.
And then... Fausto Masnada's name popped up on 2nd place! Thanks to the 16 bonus seconds gained with his two podium finishes, he secured his first ever stage race podium - definitely a career-defining moment for him! And it was an incredibly close GC fight, as without those bonus seconds - even just without today's - he'd have finished 4th... So after a rather unlucky start of the year, pretty much everything fell into place for us in Hong Kong, which feels great!
And that final result obviously easily outweighs the close verdict on stage 2. And it (almost) makes us forget about the rest of the team, who - bar Rekita who did his job on S2 - was completely invisible. The most disappointing rider clearly was Gianni Moscon. Sent here to co-lead the team, he ended up with a big fat zero-pointer - even behind Panagiotis Karatsivis, who finished the race in 57th place, scoring his first ever career point by taking 6th in the U25 standings!
All in all, we clearly can't complain about our massive points haul - above 100 points in 3 days means a fantastic amount of more than 30 points per race day - exactly what was needed to keep the gap to the teams scoring well in Tachira rather small. And the motivation obviously is high, especially for Masnada and Rekita - let's hope Gianni gets some of that groove as well for the next race in Costa Rica!
Absolutely huge effort from Masnada, brilliant result from you guys there to ease and surely completely overtake the disappointment of Moscon's start to the season
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [PT] Xero Racing
After Oceania and Asia, the puncheurs now travelled to Central America, more precisely to Costa Rica. The 2nd hilly C2 classic of the month was scheduled, and especially one guy definitely had some pressure on him - after three hilly stages in the 2022 season so far, Gianni Moscon didn't have a single Top10 result to his name yet - something that shouldn't happen, especially not in C2 races like Gisborne.
Unlike in New Zealand, we decided not to send anyone in the (huge) breakaway of the day, concentrating our efforts on bringing Gianni in a good position instead.
Well, let's make it short: The team delivered Moscon well in the front group, but our leader just phoned it in once again. Being listed as one of the race's top favorites again, Gianni Moscon took a less than mediocre 16th place. A plain awful result, there's no two ways to talk about it.
We don't have an explanation for his devastating season start; all we know is he's already wasted almost 20% of his race days. He'll undergo some in-depth medical examinations, given that he won't race in February anyway, and we hope we'll find the cause for his complete lack of form.
January Roundup
Whether it's the first or the last impression that lasts - it makes absolutely no difference this time, as Gianni Moscon was just horrible throughout the month. 11 points out of 7 race days are completely abysmal for the best paid rider on the team. And even more so as there's really no explanation - he was our 2nd best rider last year, scoring lots of points against far stronger competition - and this year, just nothing. A lot of work to do!
Fortunately, some other riders did a much better job this month; for example Szymon Rekita, who finished 4th in the first ITT stage of the year (HK Challenge, Stage 2) - a promising result for what's still to come on his schedule.
But obviously, the big, big performance in January came from Fausto Masnada! He had already done well in Hong Kong last year, taking 3rd on the first stage and 9th in the GC - but he literally smashed that GC record this year! He finished 3rd not only on the first, but also on the last stage, did well to limit the damage in the ITT, and went on to finish the 2022 Hong Kong Challeng in 2nd place overall! An absolutely stunning result - obviously a lucky one as well, given that many stronger riders didn't have the legs or messed up their positioning at one point, but it's just an awesome result for the rider who was our first "big deal" in our inaugural season! More than 100 points out of just 3 race days is amazing, and just what we needed!
Overall, Masnada keeps us afloat this month; else we'd already have a huge gap to the division's top teams with their Tachira points. However, besides that huge result in Hong Kong, it's a very bitter taste that remains, with our highest paid rider just doing nothing at all so far. Still plenty of racing to come this year - but we definitely need Moscon to contribute some more points if we indeed want to promote!
jandal You were probably right when you wrote that, but with the second hilly classic being even worse, the Moscon disappointment is becoming a pretty big problem already... Nonetheless, Masnada was fantastic, and I hope that's what we'll remember at the end of the year, not the missing points from Moscon...
Moscon has been a huge disappointment, that's for sure. Nevertheless, I loved re-reading the Hong Kong Challenge through the participant/spectator's point of view, as I do with all races I report. As usual, you provided me with some great 'insight' on your part, and it was great to see Masnada rewarded for his consistensy throughout
I guess Gisborne wasn't a huge surprise, San Jose was a bit more troubling for Moscon. Still I've seen worse before, hopefully you improve in C2 races since you don't seem to have any issues in C1.
Nemo Thanks I agree that it's nice as a reporter to see that people at least read your reports - although comments obviously aren't always positive. I try to not react immediately after a bad result, but races like Gisborne or San José just annoy me even days later... Let's hope Masnada continues to compensate for his fellow countryman's stinkers
red That's surely a way to see it. For me it was a surprise, as I thought the course would be more selective - and Moscon already got a better result when it was C1...
I still don't understand what happened in San José; it's pretty strange that the guy with the best Res gets beaten even by breakaway riders...
Btw, Moscon also had issues in C1, as he scored as many points in Hong Kong as Beltran iirc (which obviously is a shame for the latter who should've fought for a podium...)
As expected, we weren't able to keep up with the division's top teams in terms of scoring in January. However, we're currently sitting in 6th place, just 15 points off the final promotion spot - and this despite having raced much less than all of those ahead of us in the standings. We actually even have the division's highest Points per Race Day ratio - now we just have to convert the "theoretical" points into "actual" ones.
However, February won't be a big help for that. While we only raced 7 days in January, we do even less in February - 6 days to be precise. Only August will have another day less - plus the out-of-competition Tour de l'Avenir, though.
Our very compact February calendar is due to the fact that we don't ride any cobbled races this year - and nor do we participate in sprinter-only stage races like Juarez. Which leaves us with just one race:
Feb 15 - 20 | Volta a Catalunya (C2)
Spoiler
While January saw us racing mainly on hilly profiles, it's now time for the climbing specialists to kick off their season. You may argue that Fausto Masnada already did so in Hong Kong - which is true, and he did very well there. However, we don't count him in the pure "climbers" category, as he's much more versatile. We're rather speaking of our Swiss guys, including our newly trained stage race captain, who leads the team here. Let's take a look at the full lineup:
Rider
Mo
Hi
TT
Rider
TT
Spr
Hi
Colin Stüssi
79
73
75
Szymon Rekita
79
69
63
Fausto Masnada
77
76
73
Krzysztof Marchewka
77
52
60
Gino Mäder
77
71
75
Leonardo Basso
72
71
72
Erick Rowsell
74
69
73
Marcel Aregger
68
78
71
Colin Stüssi should lead the team in Spain, and his training now makes him the 2nd strongest pure climber in the division. With two mountaintop finishes, there's plenty of room to create some significant gaps. Fausto Masnada and Gino Mäder will be his main supporters - and both of them could actually be team leaders in their own right. So if Stüssi should have a bad day, hopefully one of the two others could take over. Mäder should also be a decent candidate for the White Jersey.
Our Polish TT duo Szymon Rekita and Krzysztof Marchewka will have the tremendously important job of keeping our TTT formation going on stage 3 - with 40km, a lot of time could be gained or lost. Fortunately, our GC riders all are pretty competent TTers in their own right.
Erick Rowsell and Leonardo Basso complement our TTT lineup, which should make us one of the Top3-5 teams for that stage. Rowsell could also provide some early support in the mountain stages, so that Stüssi, Masnada and Mäder can save as much energy as possible for the decisive climbs.
Last but not least, Marcel Aregger is the only team member having a TT stat below 70 - but with 68 we can't really speak of a "weak link", either. His main purpose clearly is a different one - sprints, that is. Being decent over the hills, he could potentially get involved in the fight for the win in stages 1, 2 and 5 - it's obviously risky to take him here, but given that we don't expect many of the division's top sprinters to come here for just one (almost) pan-flat day, we feel like it's worth playing this card.
Overall, we think we have one of the strongest TTT lineups in the race, along with three of the division's Top20 stage racers - we really want to and have to do well here. Aregger mixing up the sprints would be a bonus, the main focus clearly is on the GC.
Expectations: GC Win, 3x Stage podium, U25 Jersey
Best results so far: n/a
Unfortunately frustration is a feeling that doesn't go away easily. I had it last season with Chaves and it reared its ugly head again this season. So far. So, I perfectly understand your reaction to Moscon's results, but I hope these are the only downs he'll offer you this year.
We meet in Catalunya, but obviously my team is made up mainly from youngsters in search of XP (I have more race days in C2 than necessary but it's a must for the future of my team ). Anyway, that's a strong TT team and Stussi certainly will fight for the GC. This is one of my favorite races and I was sorry last year to have come only on 4th, but I do hope you'll snatch the win this year. The best of luck there!
Fausto Masnada is looking incredibly strong this year, 2nd in Hong Kong and now 1st in Catalunya. It looked like Stüssi was riding in support in his only outing so far, so I'm going to withhold judgement regarding how the rest of his season might turn out. Gianni Moscon is far more concerning. Quiet in Gisborne and then quiet again in San Jose; the lad needs to turn it around. If Stüssi shows up once he's unleashed from domestique duty, and Gianni finds the correct gear, I still see you as the favourite for the CT title.
And except for Aregger, none will decline in the next 2 years.
).
Benedikt Mundle (double NC) wasn't renewed and will show Liechtenstein's colors riding for PT outfit Gazelle.
Fabian Lienhard (RR NC) turned down our renewals offer and will finally earn much less riding for PCT team Binance.
Gergely Szarka (RR NC) was loaned out to PT team Duolingo in a late move and will be wearing his owl-ish NC jersey racing for them.
Time Trial Champion 
Gisborne GP
Hong Kong Challenge
Clasico San Jose
Volta a Catalunya
Jelajah SKL
Vuelta al Pais Vasco
GP Izola
Tour of California
Badaling International
GP Wallonie
Tour of Chile
Olympia's Tour
Pro Hallstatt Classic
La Tropicale Amissa Bongo
Tour of Vancouver
Tour of South Africa
Monterrey TTT
Arab Tour
Isle of Man ITT
Windhoek TTT
Tour d'Andorra
Frankfurt Eschborn
Tour de l'Avenir
Tour of the Middle East
Tour du Maroc
Herald Sun Tour
