In the last Romandian stage around Sion Oliver King lost only half a minute and finished 19th. That way he catapulted up to 18th place in the GC. Winner Igor Paraje got flowers at the finishing line for his very good Tour win.
In Rundum der Henninger Turm Tristan Prins finished 19th and helper Oliver King 27th. It is always a surprise when helpers are winning points for us.
The Giro starts in Belgium this season, as every grand Tour should do. In the stage to Namur Chester Laybutt and Julius Maalderink did not stay close together as planned, but finished 7th and 8th. Winner was Cobble Crusher Yannick Pierre. They have to repave the whole Namur citadel now...
Leader Yvo de Cleer managed to finish within the time limit and can note the first lost 4 minutes.
Division standings after the first stage in the Giro:
1º CobbleCrushers 6088 3 3 4
2º AJFactoryCycling 5772 1 1 1
3º Flyvende_hjul 4796 1 0 1
9º Thorboassonarvesen 3830 3 1 0
10º
Combuijs 3783 0 0 0
11º CyKings 3724 1 2 3
We could ride the cup race as a kind of introduction show to the Giro as we rode exactly the same stage. Flying Wheeler Alex Bornemissza could only keep Julius Wiegel behind him, but had to let go four other Combuijs riders. So for the second time in succession we are in the quarter finals of the cup!
We are up to World Tour rival Psychoedge in a sprint race with a little hill. We will get out our sprinters then, but chances are that we again will go out in the quarter finals.
In the international race around Lake Banyoles apparently only 20 riders did finish. We presume the rest got lost in the water. We will have to drag out Robert Brubaker before his next race somehow...
Arjen Rutte, Julius Maalderink, Julius Wiegel and Adam Neeskens have been called up by the Dutch National team manager. You would expect a hill cobble race then and indeed we will be riding from Bornem to Geraardsbergen. The four of them are about equally strong, so at least they can help themselves...