Start	End	Race	team goal	results
08-Jan	10-Jan	Tour of Tasmania	-	-

We didn’t bring any rider for stage 1 so seeing Quispe in the break was the best we could hope for there. Stage 2 saw Gregoire in the break and also in a later attack where he was joined by Gautherat and Katrasnik. This led nowhere but was still our best chance to get something from the stage. Brunel lost quite some time but stayed within reach for a GC top 25 result. But that hope was far off in the end as he finished 49th in the GC.

points:	49
Alexys Brunel	10
Romain Gregoire	8
Alain Quispe	6
Sulkhan Akhmaevi	5
Gasper Katrasnik	5
Emanuel Castro	5
Sergio Arias Villanueva	5
Pierre Gautherat	5

Start	End	Race	team goal	results
15-Jan	18-Jan	Tour of the Middle East	-	-

Stage 1 saw Quispe in the break and he secured all the intermediate sprints to end the day as shared 2nd in the GC. Arrieta tried his luck in stage 2, but the bigger news there was Vauquelin losing quite some time. The last two stages were completely anonymous and left us with only minor points.

points:	23
Kevin Vauquelin	12
Lenny Martinez	3
Arman Garibian	2
Emanuel Castro	2
Alex Baudin	2
Alain Quispe	2

Start	End	Race	team goal	results
21-Jan	26-Jan	Tour of Qatar	-	2 GC Top 25s; Stage Top 10; 3rd Teams

This race was all about breaks and the final epilogue. Quispe and Arias Villanueva were on break duty in stage 1 and secured some bonus seconds. Katrasnik did the same in stage 2. Those three did try their luck again over the course of the next two stages, but apart from some bonus seconds that weren’t of any use in the end it was fruitless. We didn’t make the break in the fifth stage, so it all came down to Kopfauf in the epilogue.

points:	106
Markus Kopfauf	34
Alexys Brunel	27
Sergio Arias Villanueva	20
Sulkhan Akhmaevi	10
Gasper Katrasnik	10
Alex Baudin	5
Alain Quispe	5
Nathaniel Forbes	5

Start	End	Race	Cat
01-Mar	03-Mar	Ronde van Nederland	PT

		FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age
	Igor Arrieta	64	73	70	66	57	68	71	67	61	64	69	80	66	62	24
	Alex Baudin	71	66	69	67	68	69	71	72	64	64	69	70	72	67	25
	Emanuel Castro	67	66	70	73	72	68	68	70	60	66	71	65	65	72	23
	Pierre Gautherat	71	61	67	73	58	73	71	67	63	66	71	68	64	57	23
	Romain Gregoire	71	68	72	75	62	74	73	69	65	67	74	71	73	58	23
	Alexander Hajek	67	72	73	73	61	71	72	71	57	58	68	66	71	58	23
	Lenny Martinez	66	76	74	72	68	73	75	75	57	56	73	70	70	67	23
	Emiel Verstrynge	70	66	70	73	56	70	74	55	74	60	71	71	67	56	24

Without a top puncheur (yet) we send a fully unmaxed squad and hope for some breakaway magic.

Start	End	Race	Cat
07-Mar	12-Mar	Vuelta a Colombia	PTHC

		FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age
	Igor Arrieta	64	73	70	66	57	68	71	67	61	64	69	80	66	62	24
	Alex Baudin	71	66	69	67	68	69	71	72	64	64	69	70	72	67	25
	Arman Garibian	70	76	74	71	73	74	75	78	55	60	71	66	70	73	26
	Pierre Gautherat	71	61	67	73	58	73	71	67	63	66	71	68	64	57	23
	Romain Gregoire	71	68	72	75	62	74	73	69	65	67	74	71	73	58	23
	Alexander Hajek	67	72	73	73	61	71	72	71	57	58	68	66	71	58	23
	Lenny Martinez	66	76	74	72	68	73	75	75	57	56	73	70	70	67	23
	Kevin Vauquelin	70	79	75	71	76	72	76	75	58	68	70	73	71	75	25

Vauquelin will lead us here, but given how he did in Paris – Nice he’ll probably end as our best breakaway option for the later stages instead of a GC rider.

Start	End	Race	Cat
17-Mar	18-Mar	Franceville Classique	PT

		FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age
	Alex Baudin	71	66	69	67	68	69	71	72	64	64	69	70	72	67	25
	Nathaniel Forbes	74	63	67	70	63	72	70	69	77	69	70	72	67	63	24
	Pierre Gautherat	71	61	67	73	58	73	71	67	63	66	71	68	64	57	23
	Gasper Katrasnik	81	61	62	63	69	72	76	69	63	63	72	81	73	69	31
	Matis Louvel	77	64	68	72	73	75	78	70	78	67	67	67	66	73	27
	Jaakko Sillankorva	71	61	62	63	68	72	71	68	73	66	70	66	68	67	26
	Emiel Verstrynge	70	66	70	73	56	70	74	55	74	60	71	71	67	56	24
	Ruben Zepuntke	71	55	62	68	64	78	71	63	81	71	64	65	67	64	33

This is one of our favourite races in the calendar and we hope it will stay that way, hopefully with Zepuntke getting us a top 10 here.

Start	End	Race	Cat
20-Mar	22-Mar	Tour of Ukraine	PTHC

		FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age
	Sulkhan Akhmaevi	68	71	70	68	77	69	69	71	60	61	65	63	63	73	29
	Sergio Arias Villanueva	74	60	62	63	77	74	76	71	61	62	68	71	65	77	28
	Alexys Brunel	75	67	69	71	78	72	78	73	66	61	65	69	66	78	28
	Emanuel Castro	67	66	70	73	72	68	68	70	60	66	71	65	65	72	23
	Arman Garibian	70	76	74	71	73	74	75	78	55	60	71	66	70	73	26
	Alexander Hajek	67	72	73	73	61	71	72	71	57	58	68	66	71	58	23
	Markus Kopfauf	69	62	65	67	65	67	74	67	52	74	73	70	68	81	30
	Kevin Vauquelin	70	79	75	71	76	72	76	75	58	68	70	73	71	75	25

Ranaweera did well here last season, so we hope Vauquelin can somehow reproduce this and also get us a top 10 in the GC. The prologue will be both too long and topographically too hard for Kopfauf, but we brought him nonetheless just in case.

Start	End	Race	Cat
26-Mar		GP Kigali	PTHC

		FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age
	Alex Baudin	71	66	69	67	68	69	71	72	64	64	69	70	72	67	25
	Nathaniel Forbes	74	63	67	70	63	72	70	69	77	69	70	72	67	63	24
	Pierre Gautherat	71	61	67	73	58	73	71	67	63	66	71	68	64	57	23
	Romain Gregoire	71	68	72	75	62	74	73	69	65	67	74	71	73	58	23
	Matis Louvel	77	64	68	72	73	75	78	70	78	67	67	67	66	73	27
	Jaakko Sillankorva	71	61	62	63	68	72	71	68	73	66	70	66	68	67	26
	Emiel Verstrynge	70	66	70	73	56	70	74	55	74	60	71	71	67	56	24
	Ruben Zepuntke	71	55	62	68	64	78	71	63	81	71	64	65	67	64	33

For the next three races it’s essentially copy-paste: a cobbled classic with (more or less) hills, so it will be interesting to see if Zepuntke or Louvel will end as our leader. But we have some hopes to score a top 10.

Start	End	Race	Cat
29-Mar		E3 Prijs	PT

		FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age
	Alex Baudin	71	66	69	67	68	69	71	72	64	64	69	70	72	67	25
	Nathaniel Forbes	74	63	67	70	63	72	70	69	77	69	70	72	67	63	24
	Pierre Gautherat	71	61	67	73	58	73	71	67	63	66	71	68	64	57	23
	Romain Gregoire	71	68	72	75	62	74	73	69	65	67	74	71	73	58	23
	Matis Louvel	77	64	68	72	73	75	78	70	78	67	67	67	66	73	27
	Jaakko Sillankorva	71	61	62	63	68	72	71	68	73	66	70	66	68	67	26
	Emiel Verstrynge	70	66	70	73	56	70	74	55	74	60	71	71	67	56	24
	Ruben Zepuntke	71	55	62	68	64	78	71	63	81	71	64	65	67	64	33

See GP Kigali.

Start	End	Race	Cat
31-Mar		Ronde van Vlaanderen	M

		FL	MO	MM	HI	TT	ST	RS	RC	CB	SP	AC	FG	DH	PR	Age
	Alex Baudin	71	66	69	67	68	69	71	72	64	64	69	70	72	67	25
	Nathaniel Forbes	74	63	67	70	63	72	70	69	77	69	70	72	67	63	24
	Pierre Gautherat	71	61	67	73	58	73	71	67	63	66	71	68	64	57	23
	Romain Gregoire	71	68	72	75	62	74	73	69	65	67	74	71	73	58	23
	Matis Louvel	77	64	68	72	73	75	78	70	78	67	67	67	66	73	27
	Jaakko Sillankorva	71	61	62	63	68	72	71	68	73	66	70	66	68	67	26
	Emiel Verstrynge	70	66	70	73	56	70	74	55	74	60	71	71	67	56	24
	Ruben Zepuntke	71	55	62	68	64	78	71	63	81	71	64	65	67	64	33

See GP Kigali. Plus it’s a goal race as we told our sponsors we could win here …

Start	End	Race	team goal	results
05-Feb	11-Feb	Tirreno - Adriatico	-	KoM Win

The prologue was quite a disappointment with Kopfauf only finishing 13th. But Verstrynge made the break in stage 2 and took the KoM jersey from there. He improved his lead in stage 3 before the team wasn’t seen in the breaks of the next two stages. Sillankorva tried his luck in stage 6 but was dropped rather early. At least Verstrynge kept his KoM jersey until the final stage where no dangerous rider was in the break – resulting in our first jersey win of the season!

points:	100
Emiel Verstrynge	70
Gasper Katrasnik	5
Pierre Gautherat	5
Markus Kopfauf	5
Ruben Zepuntke	5
Jaakko Sillankorva	5
Alain Quispe	5

Start	End	Race	team goal	results
07-Feb	14-Feb	Paris - Nice	-	GC Top 25; Stage Top 10; 3rd KoM; 2nd U25

Arias Villanueva seemed to be our designated breakaway rider here with two appearances in the early stages and some minor KoM points from there. Afterwards we disappeared from the breaks and Vauquelin lost some random time in stage 3. He joined the break in stage 6 but without much success, so he was 10 minutes down after this stage and in perfect position for another try in stage 7. He did try and got both our first stage top 10 result of the season and to 3rd in the KoM classification.

points:	95
Kevin Vauquelin	58
Sergio Arias Villanueva	12
Arman Garibian	5
Sulkhan Akhmaevi	5
Emanuel Castro	5
Matis Louvel	5
Alexys Brunel	5

Start	End	Race	team goal	results
07-Feb		Classique du Grand-Duché	-	-

We had no one in the break, but both of our future leaders made it into the top 50. Not a spectacular result, but it gives hope for the future.

points:	40
Lenny Martinez	10
Romain Gregoire	10
Alexander Hajek	5
Alex Baudin	5
Igor Arrieta	5
Nathaniel Forbes	5

Start	End	Race	team goal	results
19-Feb	22-Feb	Cheshire Cycling Tour	-	2nd U25

This race was the best chance for some actual results and scoring in the whole month, so a quiet stage 1 was a reasonable start to the race. Stage 2 was expected to be the crucial one for the GC and there were gaps, but not to our advantage after both Zepuntke and Louvel being on the move long from the finish and while the latter somewhat limited his losses the former paid heavily by losing 7 minutes. Sillankorva made it into the break in stage 3, but the stage went to the sprinters again. Zepuntke was part of a late attack in the final stage, but it was unsuccessful in the end. So the race was a disappointment with no one in the GC top 25, although Forbes at least finished 2nd in the U25 competition.

points:	34
Nathaniel Forbes	20
Matis Louvel	8
Emiel Verstrynge	2
Ruben Zepuntke	2
Jaakko Sillankorva	2

Start	End	Race	team goal	results
24-Feb		Copenhagen - Malmo TTT	-	Top 10

We aimed for a top 10 here and we finished 10th, so a job well done. But more importantly we’ve seen for the second time this month that our still developing TTT squad is on a good way.

points:	50
Sulkhan Akhmaevi	10
Sergio Arias Villanueva	10
Kevin Vauquelin	10
Arman Garibian	10
Emanuel Castro	10

Start	End	Race	team goal	results
28-Feb		Milano - San Remo	-	-

Forbes went into the break and everyone made it to the finish (including one rider in the top 100), so it wasn’t the best monument premiere for us.

points:	40
Gasper Katrasnik	5
Romain Gregoire	5
Alexys Brunel	5
Lenny Martinez	5
Pierre Gautherat	5
Alex Baudin	5
Emiel Verstrynge	5
Nathaniel Forbes	5