That was pretty good for us! I had hoped for Vendrame to join the break and maybe that would have allowed us to really compete for the KoM jersey, but Vendrame would likely not have been able to beat TVG either, so in that regard, Uwizeyimana really got the optimum result with his second place here. Really happy that he gets to add a highlight to his otherwise timid season.
Rosskopf not great on the day, but he moves up a few places nonetheless and with Uwi gaining lots of time, we end with 19th, 25th and, well, at least 2 more in the late Top 100. Plus the stage points from today and a handful of KoM points by Vendrame and Uwi - with the exception of Fiedler in the TT, we couldn't have asked for much more from this race.
Thank you for the very nice reports Abhi and congrats Cio, what a great rider Ganna continously proves to be already!
We sure can't complain going away with two stagewins from this race and a number of bonus points from pts and KOM along the way. If anything I feel it was a blunder not to send Koretzky into the break on the final day. He should have easily defended the KOM, and would have been atleast 2nd in the pts competition, even if he would have been too tired to fight for the stagewin.
Still getting a lot of points - and the first ever stagewin for Farantakis. That's very solid!
Puma can't loose, what a season they're having! Congrats again. also enjoying the double Festina stage win and smart racing by puncheurs like van Garderen
Well, at least we get some fond memories of stage 1. Gesink again fails to deliver,but Kaczmarek saves the team's honour. Still a decent result for us.
Ongrats to Puma on the win and thanks for all the amazjng reports Abi!
I was on the fence regarding what to expect from this race ever since we secured the PT HC band featuring it, as it it suited our team approach very well on paper, but could easily be derailed on any given stage with bad luck or form.
Turns out I was right to secretly hope for a great performance!
Ganna and Madouas continuously trade punches in the fight for who gets training priority to become the post-Herklotz poster boy of the team, and they're really going hard for it way earlier than I expected.
I was surprised to see Ganna being the best positioned rider going into the finale on stage 2 after a very solid opening TTT, my hopes were rather lying on the shoulders of Stüssi or Conci as I feared bigger gaps on the hilly stages.
Conci then took over on the final climb to nearly make the front group and kinda became the leader for us at that moment in time, but with such a volatile TT changing the GC fight entirely, a great effort by Filippo but him back in the driver's seat not just for Puma, but for the GC victory proper!
The boosted morale and positioning due to being so close to the lead helped massively to keep Ganna up front and avoid all possible splits, and with his good flat and resistance skills, even being unmaxed he didn't struggle in that stage 5 finale where steady tempo mattered more on less steep hills. Zmorka outperformed his stats even when dropped, but it definitely could've still not been victory for us if any of the riders right behind Ganna would've attacked, or even just the slightest of splits would've appeared.
But it didn't!
Luckily, Ganna's OVL will increase by 2+ points in the off-season anyway, so he'll become very expensive no matter what, which negates the only downside I could possibly find to his incredible season. No need to target the U25 competition in his last year of eligibility when the outright victory is possible!
He doesn't fit our increasingly narrow regional focus perfectly, but boy does he have a place in this team for life.
As mentioned before, big props to Conci for a great race as well, and thanks a lot LLS for stopping by and supporting your rider! He's done very well this season and we've been very blessed to have him, P14 is amazing here.
Another great loanee performance came from Lennard Kämna here, building on the good TTT he didn't get pushed into a pure domestique role too far to lose any unnecessary time, which allowed him to finish in 21st. Brilliant points and, much more importantly, a valuable memory of my favorite rider doing well in my jersey going forward in this game.
Our very own Stüssi and Cavagna add two more Top25 results for an incredible points haul. I still remember the very early days where we had just one 70+ TT rider in Rolland, and now we've built a world-class TT/TTT team that continues to deliver big points in these unique races. What a season!
Commiserations to Generali who just narrowly miss out on the win with their even better setup, lots of points scored will hopefully make up for that though. Zmorka did incredibly well here for Los Pollos, congrats! Further congrats also go to Sauber for a great race and Festina for that sprint victory.
Thank you very much for all the kind words! It's definitely a very special victory for an unmaxed rider on pure pace, without any cheesing along the way.
And thank you Abhi for very detailed and thrilling race reports!
also enjoying the double Festina stage win and smart racing by puncheurs like van Garderen
