Unless GORC is surprisingly succesful for us, you will be way ahead of me as well. Not sure if i will even reach your Qatar scoring in the entire month
Pretty solid month for you. If you continue like this, there is hope
Unless GORC is surprisingly succesful for us, you will be way ahead of me as well. Not sure if i will even reach your Qatar scoring in the entire month
Pretty solid month for you. If you continue like this, there is hope
Who knows what Kurianov can achieve with a late attack
And your team definitely is not one I'll be ahead of at the end of the year, so that unfortunately isn't worth much by the end of January But a decent start is always good to have in the bag for sure!
Decent stuff in Qatar from Groves, good to scout the roads already now so by the time Christen is all grown up he can win there (as well !
Tasmania was also decent for you, the two Swiss Stefans (won't use any abbrevation for that ) scored some welcome points, and +- 300 points from those two races without having a clear top favourite is a good start to the season. Hopefully it continues to be like that!
Depth scoring seems to work well for you, at least in January. Hopefully it can be your way of putting up a good fight for survival! Also great to see Christen shine so early in his career (though not for you yet), it's always a pleasure to see the talents doing well.
Decent stuff in Qatar from Groves, good to scout the roads already now so by the time Christen is all grown up he can win there (as well !
Tasmania was also decent for you, the two Swiss Stefans (won't use any abbrevation for that ) scored some welcome points, and +- 300 points from those two races without having a clear top favourite is a good start to the season. Hopefully it continues to be like that!
Looking at how poor Kemboi's performance was, I'm not sure at all that Christen will ever be competitive in Qatar ^^ On paper, sure, on the road, not that much.
We won't have a top favourite all year long, so consistent depth scoring will be key - which obviously shows our biggest issue. So far, so good - hopefully we can continue like that indeed!
Once Pogacar starts racing, you'll easily stay ahead of me for the rest of the year, but I guess you already know that
Good thing for you then that he only has 4 good races and ends his season in July
Looking at the calendar, the entire PT season is basically over after July At least we do have a very front-loaded calendar, and I guess all teams who don't do Balkans have a similar RD distribution.
Depth scoring seems to work well for you, at least in January. Hopefully it can be your way of putting up a good fight for survival! Also great to see Christen shine so early in his career (though not for you yet), it's always a pleasure to see the talents doing well.
It has to be our way, we don't have another one this year
Looking forward to having Christen next year indeed, hopefully he'll still be as much fun
After a decent start to our PT campaign, February is the month where the general direction of where we'll be going will already get pretty clear. February in one word: Crucial.
We'll have 32 race days - in a month having just 28 days, that's a big amount. More than one race per day on average. It's our most busy month - which holds for a couple of other teams as well, though.
In total, we'll have four stage races and three classics, including our first ever triple header. That one day in the year is the main reason why we have 24 riders on board - we'll see how they're distributed across the three races.
But first things first - and the first thing is a race we're excited for - let's find out why:
Feb 01 - 08 | Volta a Portugal | PTHC
Profile
Lineup
Rider
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Valentin Darbellay
69
78
71
75
73
75
77
64
67
65
70
67
76
Mauro Schmid
72
76
79
68
71
78
73
69
70
79
78
74
66
Xuban Errazkin
71
74
78
70
76
75
76
64
63
73
69
67
70
Teten Rohendi
70
75
75
70
73
75
74
55
62
73
71
70
71
Cees Bol
76
64
70
67
75
77
81
68
79
77
68
67
69
Edward Theuns
71
66
73
64
74
71
72
79
76
74
63
66
69
Gabriel Chavanne
75
58
64
65
71
76
74
57
76
76
53
67
82
Szymon Rekita
72
58
63
79
70
73
73
62
69
70
63
73
78
Tactics
No, we don't have a top GC contender here, so that's not the reason why we're excited. Still, Cras finished 5th last year, and Darbellay is a pretty similar riders - but other managers probably think alike after last year's really weak startlist, so this year the race might be overcrowded.
That's why we're mainly going for stage results. And the big name here is obviously Mauro Schmid - it's actually Mauro's first race in his maxed version. And that is really exciting! All these hilly stages should be great for him - in particular the one ending in Viana do Castelo. He likes this tough hill, so who knows what he'll be capable of doing there...
Furthermore, we'd like to see what Mauro can do in the final stage, being a pretty decent climber. He doesn't have the TT skills for the GC, but still.
Errazkin and Rohendi are there to support Valentin and Mauro in the uphill stages, where Bol obviously targets the flat ones - and possibly the easier hilly ones. Theuns should support him or take his own chance when Cees doesn't have a good day.
Due to the clash with the TTT classic, we only bring Rekita for the TT; another decent stage result would be great. And given that there's a prologue, Gabby obviously is on board again - hoping for a podium this time! Or maybe finally beating SKA?
Track Record
--- none ---
Expectations
Stages: 6x Top 10
GC: Top 15
Points: 120
Feb 02 | Copenhagen - Malmo TTT | PT
Profile
Lineup
Rider
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Stefan Bissegger
74
68
69
78
73
77
72
60
72
73
64
71
77
Alexys Brunel
75
67
71
78
72
78
73
66
61
65
69
66
78
Stefan Küng
73
70
73
77
74
72
73
72
63
71
73
78
78
Ethan Vernon
73
60
65
77
72
75
72
66
75
70
63
65
78
Krzysztof Marchewka
65
64
60
77
73
75
74
50
52
64
62
65
77
Colin Stüssi
71
79
73
75
77
73
78
55
63
66
65
69
69
AOP Setiawa
68
70
75
74
76
72
71
57
62
70
76
66
74
Christoph Janssen
72
65
67
74
70
73
72
55
59
67
65
65
74
Tactics
The strategy is pretty obvious: the Top 5 riders should go as fast as they can, with the other three being there to give all they have in the first couple of kilometers.
We were here on a PT wildcard last year, taking 9th place. Our TTT got slightly stronger since (despite Rekita being in Portugal), and we think we should be about the 7th best team in PT. So 7th place is the expectation, pretty straightforward. A Top 10 is the minimum goal, as that's our first sponsor goal of the year.
Track Record
Best: 9th (Jura GIANTS, 2023)
Expectations
Result: Top 10
Points: 75
Feb 12 - 18 | Tirreno - Adriatico | PT
Profile
Lineup
Rider
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Xuban Errazkin
71
74
78
70
76
75
76
64
63
73
69
67
70
Kaden Groves
75
62
72
65
75
73
80
66
80
79
64
67
71
Edward Theuns
71
66
73
64
74
71
72
79
76
74
63
66
69
Stefan Küng
73
70
73
77
74
72
73
72
63
71
73
78
78
Lorenzo Delco
73
72
73
70
75
74
75
67
64
72
68
77
71
AOP Setiawa
68
70
75
74
76
72
71
57
62
70
76
66
74
Krzysztof Marchewka
65
64
60
77
73
75
74
50
52
64
62
65
77
Felix Stehli
67
68
71
62
70
70
69
62
69
71
69
69
66
Tactics
First participation in the race between the two seas for us. With three stages being flat and one or two of the others potentially being suited for punchy sprinters as well, this was a pretty obvious pick for Kaden. Let's hope he'll get some more consistent results than in Qatar, a first podium (or even more) would be great.
Errazkin is there for the GC if the race gets tougher than expected, with Küng and Odie being potential depth scorers - or brekaway riders. Theuns and Delco are wildcard riders, Marchewka is here for the TT and Stehli - who knows? He already won a PTHC KoM shirt last year, why not a PT one this time?
Track Record
--- none ---
Expectations
Stages: 4x Top 10
GC: Top 20
Points: 120
Feb 13 - 20 | Paris - Nice | PT
Profile
Lineup
Rider
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Colin Stüssi
71
79
73
75
77
73
78
55
63
66
65
69
69
Valentin Darbellay
69
78
71
75
73
75
77
64
67
65
70
67
76
Cees Bol
76
64
70
67
75
77
81
68
79
77
68
67
69
Gabriel Chavanne
75
58
64
65
71
76
74
57
76
76
53
67
82
Szymon Rekita
72
58
63
79
70
73
73
62
69
70
63
73
78
Stefan Bissegger
74
68
69
78
73
77
72
60
72
73
64
71
77
Alexys Brunel
75
67
71
78
72
78
73
66
61
65
69
66
78
Ethan Vernon
73
60
65
77
72
75
72
66
75
70
63
65
78
Tactics
Coming back to another race we did well in last year - with a wildcard. It's one for the climbers this time however, and so things will probably look different GC-wise.
Day one obviously is for Gabby, who hopefully gets us a prologue podium. And Vernon could get white, why not.
Three stages are flat, another one might be for punchy sprinters, too - Bol already did great last year, hopefully he'll do similarly well when it matters this time around.
Then we have both Stüssi and Darbellay here; the latter will have an advantage in the prologue, and if he can hold on in stages 6 and 7, he might be our GC captain. Otherwise, Stüssi should be a good pick, too.
The four TTers are obviously there for the TTT (plus the prologue, to a lesser extent). We know we have two "weak links" in the TTT lineup, but we should just do it like last year and drop them right at the start. With six good TTers, a strong stage result should be on the cards.
Another new race for us, and clearly it's one for Mauro. Yes, he's not an elite puncheur yet, but his strong climber skills and acceleration could make up for some lack of pure punch.
With Rohendi and Berthet, he gets some good uphill support; both of them might also finish in the Top 50 as well. The rest of the team are fillers - let's be honest - but as we had the opportunity to fill all three races, we wanted to take it.
Track Record
--- none ---
Expectations
Result: Top 15
Points: 80
Feb 22 - 24 | Tour of Ukraine | PTHC
Profile
Lineup
Rider
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Mauro Schmid
72
76
79
68
71
78
73
69
70
79
78
74
66
Xuban Errazkin
71
74
78
70
76
75
76
64
63
73
69
67
70
Valentin Darbellay
69
78
71
75
73
75
77
64
67
65
70
67
76
AOP Setiawa
68
70
75
74
76
72
71
57
62
70
76
66
74
Lorenzo Delco
73
72
73
70
75
74
75
67
64
72
68
77
71
Stefan Küng
73
70
73
77
74
72
73
72
63
71
73
78
78
Alexys Brunel
75
67
71
78
72
78
73
66
61
65
69
66
78
Stefan Bissegger
74
68
69
78
73
77
72
60
72
73
64
71
77
Tactics
Yes, there's a prologue. And no, there's no Gabby. No need to torture him here, as he wouldn't score anyway, looking at the 2023 results.
Instead, it's another race for Mauro, his 3rd this month. No, he's not our GC rider, he's solely here to cause some chaos on stage 2. A perfectly suited stage for him, mid-length climb and a short decent. And who knows, with some serious gaps he might still make the Top 50...
That's more Errazkin's job, though - and even more so Darbellay's. The latter doesn't like short hills where a lot of punch is needed, but we think the revamped stage 2 might be good for him. Good prologue and TT skills round of his profile - but anything better than 52nd - our highest GC result last year - will be welcome. Improving our track record would be nice, too.
Also quite some TTers who can at least do some hills with Küng, Brunel and Bissegger, plus Setiawa and Delco as potential breakaway riders on S2. There's hope - but as you'll see from the expectations, not too much of it.
Second Monument in team history, after RvV last year. The first one went pretty well - and we'd definitely sign for a 3rd place here!
Groves is the obvious team leader in the most probable scenario which is a bunch sprint. Szarka, Theuns, Page and Bissegger all could serve him as leadouts, with the Hungarian being our best flat rider.
Schmid is there for the special effects, which will hopefully mean an attack on the Poggio. Making the race hard would be great for Kaden, who's among the more punchy sprinters. We'll see, hopefully it'll be a fun race for us.
Track Record
--- none ---
Expectations
Result: Top 15
Points: 100
Summary
It's a heavily loaded month, with races for everyone bar the cobblers. We expect to score 665 points or more in our busiest month - less would probably already be the end of our survival dreams. 1,000+ would keep them alive, but it's a long way to get there.
We're mostly looking forward to see what Mauro can do in a variety of races - it's a matter of getting to know his style of riding, so we can make even better use of his race days next year. Having fun and scoring big are two targets - with the former hopefully being within reach.
Indeed a heavily loaded month for you as well. A lot of racing for Mauro and I'm also looking forward to see how he performs. I don't mind that much that I can evade him in Tirreno, although Errazkin can just as easily beat Higuita with his time trial Still a way to go but good luck in your first MSR
Indeed a heavily loaded month for you as well. A lot of racing for Mauro and I'm also looking forward to see how he performs. I don't mind that much that I can evade him in Tirreno, although Errazkin can just as easily beat Higuita with his time trial Still a way to go but good luck in your first MSR
Indeed, really looking forward to the 2024 version of Mauro - with his 2025 self hopefully being even better
I hesitated between T-A and Portugal for him, but I assumed the competition would be far weaker in Portugal, hence the potential for good stage results higher. Looks like I wasn't fully wrong
In T-A, we'll see what Groves can do with all the minor hills, while obviously not being a GC threat.
Race Review | Copenhagen - Malmo TTT | PT
When we discussed our season goals with our sponsors pre-transfers, this one was a race we quickly agreed on. We were however a bit unsure whether to aim for a podium finish, or "just" a Top 10. We finally agreed on the "easier" variant - and given how transfers went for us, that was definitely the right call!
When doing our race planning, looking at all of our opponents' rosters, we concluded that we would be pretty safe in 7th place, with a gap ahead and behind of us in terms of rider skills. Given that we felt pretty comfortable about this, we even decided to send our best TTer, Rekita, over to Portugal to go stage hunting. Still, our roster was strong enough to tackle the Top 10 goal.
In the preview, we were even ranked 5th - but considering only the Top 5 riders, which in the end are relevant for the final time, we were... 7th. And guess what? We finished 7th. With a 10" gap ahead and behind of us. Another scoring target achieved, with the team doing exactly what was expected from them!
The Jura GIANTS TTT train on their way to 7th place, crossing the Danish-Swedish border on Øresund bridge.
The five first riders across the finish line - and hence scoring 15 points each - were Krzysztof Marchewka, Stefan Bissegger, Colin Stüssi, Ethan Vernon and Alexys Brunel. Well done!
But let's not forget to mention Stefan Küng, Christoph Janssen and Odie Setiawa who contributed to this strong result as well!
So far, we always skipped this race, being the longest one in the PTHC calendar. But with many other teams doing the same, last year's result tempted us into sending a squad this time - including a GC rider who would probably have easily taken a Top 10 last year. Unfortunately, many other teams had the same ideas, and so the competition was far higher than we expected...
Still, we sent a contender for pretty much every stage, starting with the prologue. Our obvious candidate for this stage was Gabriel Chavanne. And once again, the Swiss performed almost up to expectations, sadly ending up behind Kragh Andersen once again (as expected). Almost, because he also got beaten by Phinney, to take 3rd place. Still, it was our first podium finish of the year - and the result was tied for 2nd best in our PTHC history so far, alongside a 3rd place by Habtom in 2021 and two 3rd places by Page last year. Only a certain Theo Reinhardt went one better three years back, with a 2nd place in a Balkans mass sprint.
Gabriel Chavanne getting ready for another strong prologue result.
The 2nd day was the first sprint day. And while it looked pretty well for our sprinter, Cees Bol just lacked a tiny bit of speed to net us the next stage podium, finishing 4th. Which was still far better than his stage 4 result, though, where he once again was completely out of position and then didn't find space to do any better than 10th. Overall, a truly disappointing race by Bol once again, in particular given that he was the official #1 favourite on both sprint stages...
His overall impression got slightly better though thanks to a 6th place on the first hilly stage, in between the two flat ones. But that clearly wasn't our main story of the day.
Instead, it was the first time that newly maxed Mauro Schmid stepped into action! Sure, he already has a PTHC classic podium to his name, but he was still looking for his first ever stage podium - until that exact day 3 in Portugal! Under the red kite, he was in perfect position, right behind Valter, who he then easily outsprinted. But he also got outsprinted by Pidcock, which had to be expected if the Brit made the cut on such stages.
Still, 2nd place now was our best stage result of the year, and also our shared best ever PTHC stage result - with Mauro now holding the titles for best PTHC classic result and best PTHC stage result! Well done!
Mauro Schmid finishing 2nd behind flying Pidcock!
However, we were still waiting for our first ever win at PTHC level. Stage 5 had the next chance to do so, and Mauro Schmid once again showed how badly he wanted that win. He attacked into the final descent to the line, and was still leading the pack under the red kite - until Pidcock passed him with 400m to go.
But this time, this wasn't the end of the story - Mauro somehow found a better line around the final corner, and sprinted to the stage win! Mauro Schmid won stage 5 of the Volta a Portugal! Our first ever PTHC win, our first win of the season - and Mauro's first career win! What a memorable day for him and the entire team, congratulations!
Mauro Schmid wins stage 5 of the Volta a Portugal!
Stage 6 then was an unexpectedly unspectacular one. The Viana do Castelo finish definitely suited Mauro as well, as shown in the C1 classic last year. But the pack decided not to race hard that day, leaving the top positions to the break. Mauro only finished 8th, which was a tad disappointing - but he likely didn't go all-out given that no big points or even bonus seconds were on the table. Still, he was 4th in GC, 2nd in U25 and 3rd in points after day six.
Stage 7 then had a 20km ITT, which was the main reason for Szymon Rekita's presence in our lineup. The Polish ITT NC indeed set an early best time - which was soon bettered by a comparable TTer, though, and eventually beaten by riders who are usually slower against the clock, but better on the minor bumps that were in the TT route. 6th place for Rekita wasn't what we were hoping for - actually he was better in the prologue, taking 5th place.
Mauro obviously dropped in the GC, all the way down to 18th place.
But we were talking about a GC rider - what about him? Well, Valentin Darbellay had a very anonymous race - except in the two stages against the clock. He finished 17th in the prologue, and took a great 11th place in the stage 7 ITT - and after staying safe in the pack in all road stages (including more or less luck in some of them), he was in 6th GC position heading into the final stage!
That final stage was rather unselective last year, with an admittedly weaker climbers field. But the good news is, it also was pretty unselective this year! So a safe Top 10 for Darbellay was on the table. But no. He just threw it away, there are no two ways to view it. He probably wasn't aware of what he could have achieved here, and simply didn't care about positioning. Instead of just holding on - which would definitely have been possible, given some of the names in the front group - he was dropped early, and ended the stage barely ahead of teammates Errazkin and Rohendi. For who this was the expected result, though.
So it came down to Mauro Schmid once again to save the team's honour - and some GC points of course. He did what he could. And he actually did a great job to finish 16th on the day. There was no weaker climber ahead of him - apart from Pidcock, but Pidcock doesn't count, because he's insane (or what do you call beating a climber who's 7 points stronger than you on a high mountain stage?).
Mauro therefore did a great job once again - the bad news is that he lost 90" to those ahead of him. But him being among the last riders dropped from the front group shows that with just a little bit of training he could even be competitive on such a stage - which at the same time is a great perspective for us!
Finally, we have to call this race a disappointment in terms of GC result. Valentin Darbellay had all he needed to get a Top 10 GC finish - holding onto the front group would even have resulted in a Top 5. He finished 18th, which is another major disappointment after Tasmania and really makes us question on one hand the recent offseason investment into him, but also his future role on the team.
On the other hand, there's Mauro Schmid, who definitely proved everyone that he has arrived at a very high level and is competitive in almost any kind of hilly stage. A 16th place GC finish is beyond our expectations for him - and he almost met the Top 15 target we set for Darbellay. Mauro finished 3rd in U25 and 4th in points on top of that, racking up over 100 points in this race!
And the rest of the team? We can't complain a lot to be honest. Teten Rohendi did a great job helping his leaders and finished 36th in GC. Xuban Errazkin sadly lost a lot of time on S3 due to bad positioning, otherwise he'd have been in the Top 50 as well - now he ended up just outside, in 55th position. Eddie Theuns was our most anonymous rider, finishing 105th in GC - yet still scoring 3 points thanks to us taking a great 2nd place in the team standings! Cees Bol, Gabby Chavanne and Szymon Rekita all scored a couple of stage points - in short: Every single rider scored in this race, which definitely isn't the usual case in a PTHC event!
So we can definitely be happy with the overall team performance - but throwing away 70-80 GC points still leaves us with some pretty mixed feelings. It was a sweet race with Mauro's first win that also was our first season win and first PTHC win - but there's definitely some bitter taste as well with Valentin's non-performance. At least points-wise, there's absolutely nothing to complain about once again!
Continuing the strong start to the season in Copenhagen and Portugal
Indeed, there's not too much to complain about. Darbellay's drop in Portugal still hurts a lot scoring-wise, and the sprinters are yet to deliver - but to say that the scoring is good even without them being very useful is actually not a bad sign so far
Race Review | Classique du Grand-Duché | PT
No, "Grand-Duché" obviously has nothing to do with a shower, and the manager labelling this the "Big Shower Classic" surely knows that.
Instead, it stands for the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg - a place where we've only been once so far, in the 2019 Benelux Challenge. Gino Mäder got his first career Top 10 in the Luxembourg stage (Luxembourg to Bourscheid), and Guillén scored two stage wins and the green jersey in this race - although he took both wins in the Netherlands.
So, we can say that although they are pretty distant, we came back to Luxembourg with pretty nice memories. And with some hopes on Mauro Schmid's shoulders. After a great Portugal campaign, this was his first ever hilly PT classic, and the first classic at his natural maximum level. We hesistated to send him to Tirreno instead, but we thought the route in Luxembourg should be pretty much perfect for him - lots of ups and downs, quite some climbing involved, and a mid-length final uphill. The main potential difficulty we saw was the race distance, with Mauro's stamina being somewhat low compared to his main competitors.
We had two goals for the first part of the race: Protecting Mauro, and joining the breakaway. Well, the latter was the usual failure - not a single attempt so far this season, which is disappointing. The former however worked pretty well, with Teten Rohendi being never too far away from his leader.
And even more than that - when Mauro told him to make the race as hard as possible, our Indonesian attacked the peloton with 20km to go!
Teten Rohendi attacking with Mohoric in his wheel!
But well, the other teams couldn't just let Mohoric ride away - Rohendi alone would probably have stayed away for longer. But the goal was achieved, the race was hard and tough for everyone. Sadly, Teten made the race too hard for himself, as he couldn't keep up with the front group of 25 and eventually finished 29th.
However, the ground was prepared for Mauro to shine - and he chose the most aggressive strategy for the finale: attacking!
Mauro Schmid leading with 2km to go!
It was clear that he couldn't stay up front for the final two kilometers - and we were really afraid he had overextended himself and would drop to the end of the group.
But no, he showed some impressive maturity, having spent only what he could afford to in order to still stay close to the front! Mauro expectedly had to let go of the big three, Herklotz, Areruya and Lopez, who took the three podium spots in this order. And another great hybrid climber in Formolo was too strong as well. But Mauro still was fighting for the Top 5, and...
Mauro Schmid taking 5th place in Grand-Duché!
He just outsprinted everyone else, to claim 5th place! What a way to introduce himself in the PT hills, and it definitely didn't look like a lucky result, but a deserved one after some smart riding! It's clearly more than we expected - we were hoping for a Top 10 - and this admittedly was one of the best suited hilly classics in the PT calendar. But it's a great boost for us nonetheless, and some more good points scored!
And this result definitely makes us worry much less about Mauro's stamina - if it didn't hold him back in an almost 230km race, it shouldn't hold him back a lot elsewhere.
Finally, some words about Mauro's teammates: As said before, they did a great job in protecting Mauro, some early on, some later in the race. We've mentioned Rohendi's 29th place before, a decent result for him. Clément Berthet on the other hand had a rather disappointing day, finishing down in 78th position without scoring any additional points. The rest of the team didn't have their main skills uphill anyway, and so all of them finishing inside the time limit and getting their finisher points was just fine.
I see a lot of green numbers in the outcome column I hope you can secure your streak in the other races this month!
Agree, that looks great In particular in Portugal the bar was set rather high, but Schmid really delivered in these hills. That was the big unknown. We'll see if we can get the targets - that usually are rather conservative - in the other races, too T-A will be a bit of a stretch, with the total lack of stage results so far...
Very nice to see Schmid deliver above expectations on his first try. Congratulations! Excited to see what Schmid can do moving on this season.
Thanks Let's say I expect him to get 10th place on average in hilly classics, so he already has quite some cushion to make up for lower results now Will obviously happily take more Top 5 results!
Must feel good to see Schmid perform like this! The best is yet to come!
And also nice results in general in C-M and Portugal, nothing particularly standing out except from Schmid, but also decent consistency imo. This team is far from certainly relegated. The 'depth' rider seem to be working so far, and let's hope they continue to do so!
Must feel good to see Schmid perform like this! The best is yet to come!
And also nice results in general in C-M and Portugal, nothing particularly standing out except from Schmid, but also decent consistency imo. This team is far from certainly relegated. The 'depth' rider seem to be working so far, and let's hope they continue to do so!
Sure it's nice, and it was indeed the first race win of a rider we developed from level 1 Mäder/Darbellay and Bissegger got some jerseys, but neither a stage nor a GC win (TTTs excluded), so Schmid will forever have a special place in team history
We'll definitely fight against relegation until the very last day, we won't go down without a fight! And as you say, so far the depth strategy works rather well, although a lot will depend on how Theuns still works as a leader after his decline...
Race Review | Tirreno - Adriatico | PT
The first stage race of the triple header was one for the punchier riders. Three flat stages, three hilly ones and a short TT were on the menu. We long hesitated whether to send Schmid or Groves or both to this race - but finally wanted to see what Mauro can do against the best puncheurs in Luxembourg. So we had Kaden Groves in Italy - of course for the sprints, but potentially also for the GC, as we expected at most one hilly stage to be hard enough to create some significant splits. Well, we were wrong, but more on that later.
We also had Xuban Errazkin on board, our 2nd best puncheur and a decent rider against the clock. And for the expected case of unselective hilly stages, our man was Stefan Küng, who easily handles some hills and is fast in TTs. Edward Theuns was also there, mainly intended as a leadout man for Groves.
Well, it turned out Groves didn't need a leadout. Well, he might have needed, but he opted for not getting one. Let's make it short: Groves' sprints are our major source of disappointment so far this season (he had one good sprint in Qatar where he finished 4th). His results in Italy in the three sprint stages: 6th, 8th, 7th. Beaten by names like Rajovic, Alaphilippe, Peak, Silva, Thijssen, Nommela, Gross... in short: Three really, really weak sprints in a not overly strong field. In particular the stage 2 finish was disappointing, as it had a short ramp at the end - absolutely perfect for Groves' punch. But it looks like he has already taken bad example in Bol's usual awful positioning.
Let's make it clear: We can't expect Groves to win every sprint. But for almost 700k of wage, we definitely expect more than just lower Top 10 spots, in particular in stages suiting him perfectly. Kaden obviously knows that, and fortunately there's still some time to improve. Hopefully he'll use this time well...
Kaden Groves' worst result in the best suited stage - 8th place on day 2.
So let's move over to the more pleasant part of the race - the hills. Well, it didn't start exactly "well", given that Stefan Küng missed out on the decisive split (i.e. on a 30 rider group) at the first occasion, making sure we wouldn't be able to get a very high GC result. But Xuban Errazkin mostly was really attentive, and made the split both on day 3 and day 4. So did Kaden Groves - which in this case was really pleasant, given that in particular stage 4 turned out to be pretty hard. However, none of them managed to get any Top 10 stage result - we'd probably have needed Schmid to do so.
On stage 6, even this duo however missed out on the front group, where mostly very strong puncheurs made the cut. Seeing Pidcock and Malecki up front however did bother us a bit, given that Errazkin should at least match them in the hills - but bad positioning made him miss out. Yeah, positioning is a returning theme, and not one we particularly like... However, the hurt of losing 11" to the front group was clearly softened by the fact that on top of Errazkin and Groves we also had Stefan Küng and Lorenzo Delco in the chasing group, both significantly moving up in the GC. Odie Setiawa also had his first breakaway appearance for us this day - he wasn't quite strong enough to make an impact, but at least got enough KoM points to finish 10th in these standings. By the way, he was another rider we though would finish in the Top 50, but it wasn't his race.
Xuban Errazkin finishing in the first position of the chasing group.
So, going into the short ITT on the final day, we had Groves and Errazkin in 10th and 14th position of the GC - both in a same time group ranging from 10th to 17th, including some very strong TTers. Delco and Küng were 31st and 32nd, with in particular the latter having a good chance to making the Top 30. Theuns also did a good job overall and was 39th, but the TT didn't really favour him.
Plus, we were 2nd in the team standings, just 11" behind Gazelle, but with some better TTers at the start line...
And the first of these better TTers was Krzysztof Marchewka, who was way down in the GC and had an early start time - and also set the early best time. He finished 12th on the stage, narrowly missing out on stage points. Stefan Küng was our other strongman against the clock - and he definitely did deliver by taking a great 5th place on the stage! In hindisght, it obviously hurts that it was Groves and not him who made the split in the hilly stages - but Stefan still took 27th place in GC for a decent depth result. Lorenzo Delco finished 31st, Edward Theuns 43rd - everyone in the Top 50 gives some valuable points!
Obviously, the two highest scoring riders were Kaden Groves and Xuban Errazkin. And both did a great job on the final day! We actually feared that Groves might even drop out of the Top 20 - but fortunately the TT was short enough for his decent prologue skills to be valued, and so he only lost 7 seconds to Errazkin - to finish 13th on GC! Errazkin took 12th place, which easily meets our target of one Top 20 finish - well done! And we indeed did win the team standings, giving us 25 extra points - great job by the team!
Of course, and as always when you don't win, there are some "what ifs". What if Küng had made the group with the good TTers every time? What if Groves had won a stage (or at least taken some podiums)? The answer is simple - we'd have gotten a GC Top 10. Well, we didn't - but we definitely did have some really good depth. You can't have everything in a race, and even though we're still pretty disappointed with Groves' sprinting performances, we're more than happy with our scoring in Italy. We need more of that - and as knockout said, if we are to stay up, we'll eventually need great sprinting performances! Let's hope we'll indeed get them later on! If Groves wins on the Champs Elysées, we won't mention Tirreno again, promised!
With both Grand-Duché and Tirreno being pretty successful, the pressure on our Paris - Nice participants was somewhat lower - nonetheless, we still need every point we can get!
And quite some points were expected right from the first day. A prologue, just 3 kilometers long, pan flat - just what Gabriel Chavanne loves!
And indeed, he got the best result possible. No, not the win, sadly, as that one's reserved for SKA. Hopefully we'll beat him at some point, but we know we're repeating the same thing over and over again...
Hence, the best possible result was 2nd place, and that's exactly what Gabby got! The timekeepers first had Leung 2nd and Gabby 3rd, but after considering the milliseconds they put Gabby in 2nd place. Strong start by our prologue specialist - meaning he'd wear the green jersey on day 2 (in SKA's stead, of course)!
Gabriel Chavanne on his way to 2nd place!
The green jersey also was a target for Cees Bol, with three flat stages plus a rather easy hilly one in the next four days. But yeah, despite lots of video analysis and tactical discussions, he still hasn't quite been able to solve his positioning issues.
Stage 2 was the best example for this - instead of being in the first 8 positions or so, he was further down and made the very questionable choice of following Jansen - definitely not a top sprinter. He was able to beat Jansen, and gain some more positions - but 10th place clearly was another major disappointment. Even more so looking at Steimle taking 2nd, and Hesters, Sureda and even Ballerini ahead of him.
He finally did much better on the next two days. On stage 3, he picked day 2 winner Groenewegen's wheel. Which might have been just a tad too optimistic, given that he struggled to follow and couldn't even think of overtaking - but he held Dylan's wheel to the line and ended up 4th. Beaten by Steimle again, though...
Cees Bol sprinting to 4th in Groenewegen's slipstream.
Day 4 then was the big chance for Bol to go even better, given the hilly parcours. And indeed, when a group of sprinters went clear in the finale, he was among them. However, he once again wasn't able to make any use in particular of his superior resistance, getting beaten by Steimle once again - and by stage winner Räim obviously, who went clear after Groenewegen used some clever team tactics to open a gap. Groenewegen and Manninen also went past him, and so Cees Bol got 5th place on stage 4.
Stage 5 then again was a mixture between bad luck and bad strategy. Picking Hester's wheel wasn't bad, given the latter's results so far - but when Kooij ahead of them slowed down, he chose to head into the wind early instead of picking another wheel. Consequently, the timing of his sprint was completely awful, and he only got 14th place. This shouldn't really happen to a rider with his experience, but it keeps happening over and over again. Once again, quite some light and shadow, and we're still waiting for a sprint podium this year... Given some other riders who already got one (or plenty), we guess we'll eventually get lucky as well, but with sprinter points being vital for us, their results haven't been satisfying so far.
Onto the mountains then. Stage 6 had a rather short mountaintop finish, leaving us worried whether Colin Stüssi and even more so Valentin Darbellay would have enough punch to keep up with the best. The latter was far better in the prologue, so the GC leader role wasn't quite clear yet pre-stage.
This question was quickly resolved, though, as Val had a really bad day, finishing only 27th - 4 minutes down, after just a pretty short climb...
Colin on the other hand was looking very strong - but apparently overextended himself at some point. In the end, he lost over a minute on the final kilometer, being overtaken riders who looked to be dropped previously already... Still, Colin Stüssi finished 10th on stage 6. A good result - but seeing that with some more conservative riding he might have stayed with the front group, there are still some regrets around.
Colin Stüssi finishing 10th on stage 6.
Day 7 then had a long final climb - and sadly, Colin apparently took example on Cees in terms of positioning. He wasn't weak, but his position on that final climb was just awful, and he couldn't make the front group. Not even when they slowed down and had more riders joining - Colin was just too far behind.
He had a strong finale and almost made the catch in the end - but "almost" means he lost another 32" to a group of riders he really should have been part of on this day. 13th place, not a bad result in itself - but really bad given the time gaps.
Colin Stüssi was 11th in GC after stage 7, more than half a minute behind the Top 10. Had he made the front group in both stages, he'd have been in the fight for a Top 5 - and that would definitely have been possible, given that Faglum - a rider he often managed to beat last year - was exactly there. Valentin Darbellay did a bit better on day 7, finishing 22nd and sitting in 20th position in the GC. With the final day's TTT normally suiting us, we had the perspective of getting two Top 20 results - not a bad prospect.
And this TTT was somewhat weird. Not at the top, where Oxxo celebrated a commanding win, beating everyone by 5 seconds and more.
But behind them, there were no less than 5 teams tied for 2nd place! We were convinced to be awarded 2nd place in the end, given that our 5th rider over the line was ranked ahead of all other teams' 5th rider. But the timekeepers made a weird decision to put us only 4th - we still haven't got an explanation why. It may not seem like a lot, but that's still a 20 points difference in the end...
The Jura GIANTS TTT outfit cruising through the streets of Nice.
On the other hand, our great TTT result unexpectedly propelled Colin Stüssi up to 10th place in the GC, with Moser having a pretty awful rider and Hirt losing a minute. So that's our first GC Top 10 of the year secured! It's a confirmation that we can expect placings between 10th and 15th from Colin all season long - let's hope the GTs will be no exception to that! Valentin Darbellay even gained two spots thanks to the TTT result, finishing 18th in GC. Which is the exact same result as in Portugal - but whereas it was a huge bummer in Portugal, as our designated leader, it's a strong depth result here in France where he "just" was Colin's domestique in the end.
As expected, no other rider made the Top 50 in what was a pretty anonymous race for us - we'd have loved to see some breakaway attempts in the hilly and mountainous stages, but it looks like Odie's escapade in Tirreno is the exception so far. Bol finished 8th in the points standings was our only other notable final standings result.
All in all, we achieved all of our targets - but given that Stüssi would have finished 6th without losing time uphill, and given two missed sprints by Bol, we still aren't completely satisfied with the outcome. Maybe we should, though, as we're almost 400 points ahead of our "schedule" already. Which is pretty good news - let's keep the good pace up!
A good Paris - Nice ends a succesful triple header for Jura I'd say. There will indeed always be some what if's and stuff that could/should be better, but in general I think you keep on scoring nicely, and if I'm not mistaken you score better than me during these races Or if my quick calculations aren't ideal, then we'll still be close either way.
Cobbles coming closer, so I can see you stay far away from the relegation zone there as well. But obviously you wouldn't mind some nice points in Ukraine, MSR and Netherlands either before that
A good Paris - Nice ends a succesful triple header for Jura I'd say. There will indeed always be some what if's and stuff that could/should be better, but in general I think you keep on scoring nicely, and if I'm not mistaken you score better than me during these races Or if my quick calculations aren't ideal, then we'll still be close either way.
Cobbles coming closer, so I can see you stay far away from the relegation zone there as well. But obviously you wouldn't mind some nice points in Ukraine, MSR and Netherlands either before that
Indeed, I guess the results could always be better - from everyone's own perspective.
The good thing is, distributing scoring responsibilities on many shoulders is working pretty well so far. While the sprinters - mopping up more than 1/3 of our budget - aren't flying yet, others are making up for it. And if a climber fails (like Darbellay in Portugal), someone else can take over. If you have a single 1M+ wage leader and he fails, you're usually far worse off than we are if one of our many "leaders" doesn't do as well as he might
Indeed, I think we did pretty well in the triple header. We're pretty close indeed, and I plan to include a triple header scoring table in the next ranking updates, so you'll get the details soon
The cobbles season will be crucial for us - if Theuns can more or less still keep up, we might be fine indeed - if he fails completely, we'll be in troubles. Groves winning MSR would surley help in the meantime
Volta a Portugal | 
Copenhagen - Malmo TTT | 
Tirreno - Adriatico | 
Classique du Grand-Duché | 
Tour of Ukraine | 
