Nemolito wrote:

All hail Olivier! Great work by him, and great to see him winning a race with my former boy Munoz in second as well. Nice to read that you're happy enough with the Cheshire score as well, and personally I love to see Trezise and Alben getting some breakaway action!

Our strategy for this flat classic is similar to every flat classic we've gone to this season - hope Kulikovskiy can overperform, or hope someone can pull off an unlikely successful late attack. More of the same here.

Olivier is back in search of a high placing in the higher scoring PTHC races. Realistically, we are looking for a Top 10 result, but would gladly take anything better. Kulikovksiy is here to see if he can sneak in a result or two in the sprints.

More PTHC mountains, and more Olivier racing for us. Expectations are quite similar to East Java, get a Top 10, and try to do something better if possible. We do expect Olivier to lose time in the long ITT. Hopefully he can make that up in the mountains.

Benoot is back on the hills, but historically this race hasn't been great for us, and we expect a tough startlist to boot. We're keeping expectations low as a result. Hopefully, Benoot can do better than our expectations.

@redordead: You're right, we've been scoring consistently in most races. Hoping that continues going ahead. Waited a while for Olivier to get started but it was worth it so far!

kandesbunzler26 wrote:

You're keeping a good pace up in May. Especially Olivier is on fire this season. So I'm not sure I like seeing him in Java or Benoot in San Sebastian. And though they both won't be the biggest favourites in the race they are surely among the best PCT riders at the start.

We did nothing all race except getting Kulikovskiy into a decent position for the sprint. He started from a few places back, but took advantage of tiring sprinters ahead and claimed an excellent 4th place.

We didn't get anyone into the break on the first two flat stages, and Kulikovskiy couldn't really get into a top position either.

Saya Kuroeda did a lot of chasing on Stage 3. This responsibility was handed over to Carcueva on the harder slopes of the climb. Olivier launched the first attack among the favourites.



In fact, he did that twice and the second time he nearly pulled it off. He was inside the final kilometer but would hang on to 6th place on the stage and the GC.

The flat Stage 4 turned out a little better for us as Kulikovskiy finished 9th.

Olivier was 6th in the GC, Carcueva was 22nd, Hayter was 66th Hocevar was 67th and Kulikovskiy squeezed into the Top 100 at 95th. Carcueva finished 10th in the KOM. Hayter was 8th in the U25s with Hocevar 9th.

Alben tried to get into the thick of it in the sprint on Stage 1, getting 14th.

The break won Stage 2 and took 7 minutes from the pack!

Olivier timed his attack to perfection in the final slopes of the hilly Stage 3. Too bad one rider from the break was not caught and our leader had to be content with 2nd on the day.

Howson was on top form in the ITT on Stage 4 and he won the stage despite and early start!



Olivier lost time to his rivals, as we had expected.

The finish on Stage 5 suited Olivier as well, and he took another 2nd place, with Leemreize also doing well to get 10th.

Olivier attacked early on the final climb of Stage 6, and built up a decent advantage. However, he was caught with a kilometer to go. He was unable to stay with the winning move, instead finishing in 5th on the stage and moving up to 5th in the GC.

We finally put a rider into the break on Stage 7, that being Carcueva, but he was unable to score enough to challenge near the top of the KOM. Chaos in the group saw Olivier, probably because of the lack of domestiques, lose contact with the top GC guys, and end up losing a position on the day.

Olivier finished 6th in the GC. Carcueva's efforts on the final day pushed him up to 14th. Leemreize was 29th, Hocevar was 58th and Hayter was 59th. Olivier finished 3rd in the Points. Leemreize was 2nd in the U25s with Hocevar in 6th and Hayter in 7th. We finished 3rd in the Teams classfication.

As has traditionally been the case, this turned into another poor race for us. Benoot couldn't stay with the top contenders and only managed 19th, with no others contributing to the scoring.

No leaders, no expectations, no downsides!

We are hoping Kulikovskiy can take advantage of the undulating terrain and recapture some of his form from Hanko for another overperformance in this race.

With two possible Top 5 contenders, we have big expectations from this race. However, the competition will be tough. Kulikovskiy is also here to try and squeeze something out from the sprints.

Benoot is back in a hilly stage race, and we hope he can do well here. The profile should suit him decently well.

Just a fun outing for our guys in search of some XP or minor placings.

We have put all our cards into this deck, except for a sprinter! While we don't think the Prologue will allow Benoot to be in competition for the win, we hope we can get into the Top 10, and are also hoping for some good depth scoring. Hoping Benoot can prove us wrong though, on the positive spectrum.

No real expectations from this race in a PTHC sprint field. Any decent scoring will be a bonus.

Any race with Olivier brings high expectations for us. He has five chances of good stage results, so we wish to take advantage of that. The support is quite good, so we can have no complaints there.

redordead wrote:

Olivier keeps going in a strong way

We might be seeing back-to-back PT promotions for the Dutchman

Kulikovskiy was not in the race, and as such we were not able to make an impact in the sprint. Kooistra finished 20th, with Saya in 23rd as our best results.

The afore-mentioned Kulikovskiy was leading our line in this race. He did get involved in the sprint but couldn't get near the front, finishing 11th as our only scorer.

We didn't start well in this race. Kulikovskiy couldn't get involved in the sprint on Stages 1 and 2.

Howson finished 2nd in the ITT on Stage 2.



Cataford was a bit under-par to get 10th.

Kulikovskiy was the first to launch in the sprint on Stage 4. He held off everyone till the line and won the stage!



Howson was 2nd in the GC, with Cataford in 10th. Kulikovskiy was 8th in the Points. Hayter was 10th in the U25s. We finished 6th in Teams classification.

We didn't have a sprinter in this race, so the first two stages were a no-show.

Stage 3 also came down to a sprint and that does not suit Benoot at all!

Stage 4 also ended in a reduced bunch sprint, but it was uphill and Benoot managed 6th.

Benoot finished 12th in the GC, with Mick in 26th. The latter finished 2nd in the U25s, with Hayter 4th. We finished 6th in the Teams standings again.

We were a bit unlucky with timing on Stage 1, weather-wise. 28th was the best we managed via Hayter.

Kooistra couldn't get involved in the sprints, so it ended up a race of minimal outcomes.

Hayter was 2nd in the U25s, Tim was 3rd and Alben 6th.

Howson won the Prologue on Stage 1, with Cataford finishing 3rd.



Howson lost a couple of GC spots on Stage 2. Benoot lost a lot of time.

Benoot decided to attack with 10 km to go on Stage 3 but it was unsuccessful. He finished 4th from the pack. Howson lost more time.

Stage 4 was uneventful for us.

Benoot finished 4th from the pack once again on Stage 5, after an eventful stage.

Our leaders survived the flat Stage 6 unscathed, although Cataford did lose a GC spot due to bonus seconds.

Cataford finished 3rd in the GC, Benoot finished 25th and Mick was 26th. Benoot was 10th in the Points. Mick Van Dijke won the U25 classification. We were 3rd in the Teams classification.

Kulikovskiy was dropped with a bit over 20 km to go. He did make it back, but didn't have anything left for the sprint. Kooistra salvaged the race somewhat, finishing 19th in the sprint. Kulikovskiy was 35th, Shiki was 42nd and Saya was 44th.

The race started very well for us. Olivier led a small group of favourites in the closing kilometers of Stage 1 and was the strongest to the line, taking the win!



Olivier was strong once again on Stage 2, finishing 3rd from the pack, after a couple of riders had got away with late attacks. He extended his lead in the GC. Shirota finished 10th.

Olivier missed the winning moves in the closing kilometers of Stage 3, losing time and bonus seconds, to fall to 3rd in the GC. He ended up 4th on the stage.

Olivier lost time on the flat parts of the MTT on Stage 4 and fell more than a minute behind the leader, even losing another spot in the GC!

Stage 5 was anti-climatic for the GC, with the stage winning and no time gaps between most of the favourites.

Olivier finished 4th in the GC, with Carcueva in 29th. Olivier was 3rd in the Points and 10th in the KOM. Hayter finished 6th in the U25s.

A rather tricky little outing for our TT boys, with the hills on Stage 3 expected to make it hard for one or both of them to stay in touch. We hope they do. We also hope Kuli has one or more good sprints in his legs in this race.

As always, a small squad shows up to Kigali for another cobbled classic. Benoot leads the line, with Saya and Shiki providing the flanking attacks. Yechezkel is also as we hope for some depth scoring. The Indian boys get a rare outing together.

Leemreize gets his fourth and final leadership opportunity for the season. Last season we got a Top 10 here with nearly identical Carboni, so hoping for something close at least. Also, we really really hope that one of our climbers goes for the KOM here, with no top leadership and plenty of options. We never do but surely it's an option here!

We expect a difficult startlist in this race and hope Kulikovskiy can put in one good sprint, which would go a long way in getting a decent result out of here. We also hope for some depth scoring.

Benoot leads another hilly classic, after quite a gap. He has an excellent record in this race, and we hope he can keep the run going in search for some very important points. The support team should be strong enough to keep him safe till the end.

We wanted to throw a curveball in this race, trying our luck with Kulikovskiy, and a band of possible late attackers. We hope Kulikovskiy's ability to handle the small climbs will come in handy here and get him a decent result.

redordead wrote:

Howson and Cataford in Danmark

WOPTEN WODEI!!

We stayed out of the spotlight for most of Stage 1. Kulikovskiy managed to get into the Top 10 in the sprint with 9th. A split in the pack saw only Kulikovskiy, Kooistra and Cataord finished in the lead group. This meant that Howson's GC chances were already gone despite a possible good performance in the ITT.

More of the same on Stage 2. Kulikovskiy got a leadout this time, and took advantage to get 3rd in the sprint. Kooistra added some points in 7th.

The hilly Stage 3 was always going to be tricky for our team. The fact that it went to the break probably helped Cataford stay with the lead group and out of trouble. No else finished in the lead group for us.

Stage 4 was more of the same as far as flat stages were going in this race. Kulikovskiy did one better in the sprint this time, grabbing 2nd on the line.

We had high hopes for the ITT on Stage 5. Howson disappointed, probably tired after a hard race for him. Cataford finished 4th on the stage, and secured 3rd in the GC.

Kulikovskiy finished 29th in the GC and 3rd in the Points. We finished 9th in the Teams classification.

With Benoot being in this race, we were hopeful of a good result. We didn't do too much in the chasing but kept Benoot in a good spot. After a lot of attacks and re-organization, the decisive move happened with 5 km to go, with one rider getting away. The pack couldn't catch back up, but Benoot was strongest in the uphill finish and finished 2nd.

We did not have any expectations of the flat stages in this race. Trezise did well to get 10th on Stage 1 though.

We were hoping Leemrezie could do better on Stage 2, and he looked to be in good shape, attacking over the final KOM. The move didn't last but he was able to finish safely in the first group.

More flats on Stage 3. Trezise was better positioned this time and times his sprint perfectly to take the win! Incredible! Our first neo-pro winner stage winner since 2017, and that too not from the break!



Shirota joined the break on Stage 4 but couldn't pick up too many points. Leemreize was attentive and finished in the lead group behind the lone attack winner, picking up 4th on the stage and moving up to 7th in the GC.

Leemreize had a bit worse Stage 5, losing some seconds to a group of five, and finishing in 9th, part of the second group on the road. He didn't lose any GC spots though.

The flat Stage 6 went to the break. Leemreize finished 7th in the GC with Carcueva in 13th and Hayter in 29th. Trezise finished 10th in the Points. Leemreize won the U25s, Hayter finished 2nd and Hocevar was 4th in that classification. We were 3rd in the Teams classification.

Yechezkel joined the break on Stage 1. Kulikovskiy was a long way down in the sprint.

Stage 2 was an absolute no-show.

Tim Van Dijke joined the break on Stage 3. He won all three intermediate sprints on the stage. Kulikovskiy managed 8th this time in the sprint.

Tim Van Dijke finished 17th with Yechezkel in 18th, both helped by the bonus points via breaks. Kulkovskiy finished 20th. Shiki finished 71st with Kooistra in 82nd. Tim Van Dijke won the U25s. We were 7th in the Teams standings.

A race we've always done well in and hoped to do so again. No one joined the break expectedly, with all hands working for Benoot. Benoot opened up the sprint inside the final kilometer. He was at the front through the final kilometer, but was edged at the line, settling for 2nd. Shirota added some points in 27th.

Saya Kuroeda and Yechezkel joined the break. It did not survive and that ended Saya's chance of being competitive. Kulikovskiy was not able to stay in the lead after the hills in the final part of the stage. Saya was our best finisher in 26th.

kandesbunzler26 wrote:

Another really good month should have wrapped the promotion for you!

We are not sure what to expect from this race as the time-trials have been shortened from last season. We did not take any chances and have brought both our TT leaders as well as our best sprinter, to try and pick up as many points as possible from this race.

Cobbles have meant Benoot this season, and this one is no different as our leader will try to replicate his podium finish from last year. We do not expect a repeat, but do hope Benoot can be competitive like he has been in the hilly cobbles this season. The support team is decent, without being great. Hopefully, it will not be a hindrance.

redordead wrote:

Benoot finally did his thing in Kigali, need one more of those in Battenkill!