Our third season of existence as a team sees us hopeful and expectant to learn from past mistakes and improve. 2018 was a difficult first season in the PCT, where we finished 18th, after hoping to be able to enter the Top 10. We hope to be able to use those experiences to get better this time around. This followed our hugely successful debut in the CT in 2017, and we definitely understood how it feels to be brought back down to earth in a span of just one season!

We do plan to shift our focus a bit from how we've approached our team and it's composition. We have several plans in mind in how we can lead ourselves forward, and they should become clearer and more evident in the coming days. What we hope to achieve this season is to improve from last season and to live up to our potential.

The management structure remains the same with the three man team; I'm supported by my two partners. While I look into the equipment and rider man-management, my partners take care of the logistics, transportation and finances. Together, we worked well to keep things running smoothly for the last two seasons, and hope for more of the same in this one.

For details on how we've done as a cycling team so far, check out our Team HQs from the past two seasons below:

Dutch electronics giants Philips becomes the sole title sponsor for our team after our two year collaboration with Continental reached it's conclusion. The coming season gives us a chance to regroup and rebuild after a year of unmet potential. We remain grateful to Philips for their continued belief in our project and hope to deliver on our half of the bargain. We also remain headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

For the third year in a row, we have changed our jersey sponsor and will now be wearing jerseys made by the Bioracer. The main team jersey will be unveiled soon. Otherwise, our sponsors remain unchanged from last season.

Unilever takes on an increased role behind the scenes and has promised to provide extra funds towards talent development, if the need arises. We are grateful to them to continue wholeheartedly supporting the team despite their absence from the team title sponsorship.

Our primary focus region remains as the Netherlands, having had a solid base of riders from the nation in the past two years. We wish to continue pursuing the best and brightest riders that the country has to offer to bring into our project.

With the withdrawal of Continental as our title sponsor, Germany is no a focus nation for us. Instead, we will take our outlook to be more global, which is already something our team followed in 2018.

Race	Category	Goal	Result
Balkans International	PTHC	Top 5
Volta a Portugal	PTHC	Top 5
Tour of Beijing	HC	Win	3rd
Rheden GP	PTHC	Top 10
Team Standings	PCT	Top 5	Lol

*Green means Goal Achieved. Red means Goal Failed.

Three basic factors determined the departures from our squad during the present round of renewals, age declines, poor performance and the loss of Continental as our secondary sponsor leading to a reduced focus on German riders.

Alexander Krieger departs after two years with the team. He had a very poor season in 2018, and was deemed excess to requirements. His best result for the team came in Solidarnosc in 2017, when he single-handedly picked up 150+ points to secure our promotion to PCT. We remember those good memories and wish him well for the future.

Jan Dieteren joined our team at the start of the 2018 season. He too, had a very poor season and was not able to live up to his role of a secondary point-scorer behind Rui Costa in the hills.

Rob Ruijgh is another rider who spent two years with us, and has been a very important domestique in our climbing team. Age has started to catch up with him, and we had to let him go because of the same. We wish him all the best going ahead.

Cristoph Mai; one of the more difficult decisions in terms of renewals for us as we felt Mai could stay on as a domestique in our mountain train. However, with the loss of German focus, as well as the change in outlook towards team-building, we decided we should let him go so that he can find a more suitable team.

Lotto Petrus is another rider who had a disappointing season last time around, scoring zero points. We did not believe his best interests were in continuing with us. At the time, he was the first and only National Champion in our squad and he successfully defended his title this time around. He just wasn't the right fit for our future plans.

David Per, Patrick Muller and Ha Jeon Jung return to their teams after having spent last season on loan with us. While we are thankful to all three and their teams for letting us have them, we have a special relation with Per which I must address here. Per has spent both his years a professional cyclist in our team so far, and produced spectacular results in both terms. He was Far and away the Rookie of the Year in CT in 2017. He was impeccable in Strade Bianche and Cheshire last season too, among many other races, and leaves us feeling a little lost about how to replace him! On that note, we'd like to tip our hat to this superbly talented rider for an incredible two year stint with us. If we ever wrote a poem in his honour, it would be called 'Some Flings are more Memorable than Everlasting Love Stories'! A note of thanks must also be extended to his team Isostar Slovenija, for loaning him out to us two years in a row. It was a pleasure!

The team management is actively looking to change up our approach to team building from last season. Our Dutch core are expected to stay, and along with Saber and Navardauskas should continue with us for the 2019 season. As far as the rest are concerned, we're open to offers for both transfers, trades and loans. However, if the offer is good enough, all options can be looked at.

redordead wrote:
Looks like a nice base to build from regardless of the direction the transfer season takes you. You can always expect quality from a Dutch team.

Looking forward to sharing the road with you this season

Tamijo wrote:
Interesting that you seems to be willing to let go of your climbers - and what direction that will take Philips in 2019

We've had a frantic few days of transfer negotiations over the past four days as we look to rebuild for the future. We are delighted to announce the first fruits of our labour, and welcome riders into our setup for the upcoming season.

Our first marquee signing of the season is a rider we've admired for a long time. Having been a part of the PT championship winning team last year, Wilco Kelderman joins us to lead our hills squad for the coming season and the foreseeable future. Our calendar is being designed to suit his style and we are excited to have him racing for us. Lukas Meiler left us to join Puma-SAP as a part of the deal.

OVL	FLA	MON	HIL	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SPR	ACC	FTR	DHI	PRL
78.67	70	71	82	70	80	75	73	62	67	72	77	71	70

Our first FA signing of the season comes in the form of Ligthart, who's role will be to add to the time-trial squad, together with Van Zandbeek. He was an excellent pickup for us at minimum wage and we hope to see him lead our charges against the clock.

OVL	FLA	MON	HIL	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SPR	ACC	FTR	DHI	PRL
72.86	72	54	58	78	72	66	68	60	70	74	69	66	78

Exciting prospect Bert Van Lerberghe also joins us from free agency, as we beat out competition for his signature from a number of teams. We expect him to develop into a top cobbles domestique/co-leader for the future. He is expected to go out on loan to help him develop to full potential.

OVL	FLA	MON	HIL	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SPR	ACC	FTR	DHI	PRL
73.57	73	60	66	66	73	73	69	75	74	73	68	65	68
Classics	74	60	67	66	74	74	70	77	74	73	69	65	68
Cobbles	74	60	66	66	75	74	70	77	75	73	68	65	68
Sprinter	75	60	66	66	74	73	70	76	76	75	68	65	68

Exciting sprinting talent Minali has joined Centovalli – Fiat on loan for a season. He hope he is useful to his team for the season, and continues his development path as planned.

OVL	FLA	MON	HIL	TT	STA	RES	REC	COB	SPR	ACC	FTR	DHI	PRL
68.70	67	52	57	56	69	70	69	59	73	73	62	73	64
Sprinter	73	52	58	56	73	71	80	63	79	79	62	74	64
Track Spr.	73	52	58	57	70	74	79	59	79	79	62	74	70