The Combuijs Capers

[Combuijs]

In the CFF Cup we outplayed Chess Power in the opening and things went wrong from there for them, so for the third consecutive time we have qualified for the quarter finals. And for the third consecutive time we might go out as we have been paired with Sportlife in a hill sprint race from the Tour Down Under. In that race one of his riders finished 6th this season, so we are definitely not favourite.



Division standings after the first stage of the Giro:

1º      Flyvende_hjul   6343   2   3   3   
2º      Wiggo_pupils   6121   3   2   3   
3º      CyKings   5927   2   0   4   
4º      CobbleCrushers   5321   4   1   2   
5º      °Peachy°Melocotons   5258   4   2   3   
6º      Combuijs   4412   0   3   1   
7º      Rekutxuteam   3654   3   2   0   

22º      IKIBASQUE   2216   2   1   1   
23º      Zatarra   2180   0   1   1   
24º      SaulSalinasTeam   2156   1   0   1   

35º      Oska   1520   0   0   1   
36º      SPORTLIFE   1470   0   1   3   
37º      TeamRHB   1391   1   0   0   

Flying Wheels are on top now!

Arjen Rutte, Julius Maalderink and Adam Neeskens have been called up by the very knowledgeable Dutch national coach. I think the services required from them are a lot more serious than last time...

La Gazetta della Sport mentioned that some of our young cyclists are already very experienced indeed. It seems Julius Maalderink and Yvo de Cleer already have the experience of someone who has raced 40% of his total career.

[Combuijs]

The second stage of the Giro to Montalcino had our full attention as we had a sponsor deal for place 6. We aimed for Arjen Rutte with help from Chester Laybutt. The aim was right, but the help failed. So Arjen had only some assistance from Dénes Namcsik in the first two sections and was on his own after that. In all likelihood this cost him the deal because now he finished on place 8 in the same time as number 5 and 10 seconds behind winner Yannick Pierre (Cobble Crushers). So no second sponsor deal from Columbian air travel company Avianca...



Il Giorno noticed Midas van Veldhuizen is, apart from being an iconic sprinter, an iconic hill rider now as well. And he is for sale...

[Atalm93]

In the CFF Cup we outplayed Chess Power in the opening and things went wrong from there for them, so for the third consecutive time we have qualified for the quarter finals. And for the third consecutive time we might go out as we have been paired with Sportlife in a hill sprint race from the Tour Down Under. In that race one of his riders finished 6th this season, so we are definitely not favourite.



Division standings after the first stage of the Giro:

1º      Flyvende_hjul   6343   2   3   3   
2º      Wiggo_pupils   6121   3   2   3   
3º      CyKings   5927   2   0   4   
4º      CobbleCrushers   5321   4   1   2   
5º      °Peachy°Melocotons   5258   4   2   3   
6º      Combuijs   4412   0   3   1   
7º      Rekutxuteam   3654   3   2   0   

22º      IKIBASQUE   2216   2   1   1   
23º      Zatarra   2180   0   1   1   
24º      SaulSalinasTeam   2156   1   0   1   

35º      Oska   1520   0   0   1   
36º      SPORTLIFE   1470   0   1   3   
37º      TeamRHB   1391   1   0   0   

Flying Wheels are on top now!

We plan to stay there for the rest of the season! 
Hopefully Sportlife will join the rest and take the trip out of the Red Light District, however I think it will be hard, as ive heard he likes to stay there... 

Congrats with the quarter finals! Will be a very interesting quarter final between you and Sportlife!

[Combuijs]

In the third stage in the Giro Dénes Nemcsik scored his first points for the Combuijs Honey Ale team, with an unexpected 8th place in Reggio di Calabria. There was even a mountain involved in this stage but that did not deter Dénes this time.

The cobble race to Namur was a surprise Giro move to Belgium and Arjen Rutte likes it over there, this time he picked up 9th place, unfortunately three places behind Zatarra's Rolv Sele.

The seventh stage, a mountain time trial, was won by Sportlife's Leroy Benett, while Sam Parker got his best result ever with place 8.

In the 8th stage to San Vendemiano Arjen was back on his favourite underground and finished 16th, 11 seconds behind winner Bram Travin (IkiBasque) and Zatarra's Amund Svendsen.

His fanclub was happy, but perhaps had expected him to be leader in the Giro by now:


With one stage to go Arjen Rutte is now 9th in the GC, but differences are small and the last stage is difficult for him. We will see what will happen. Leader at the moment is Tyler Carpenter of AJFactoryCycling, both back from a relative bad season until now.

Il Manifesto thinks that after his suprise points Dénes Nemcsik is a medium talent.

The Dauphiné will be visited by:

51 Oliver King
52 Julius Maalderink
53 Dénes Nemcsik
54 Tristan Prins
55 Arjen Rutte

Oliver and Tristan have a very special interest in the second stage, Dénes will go for stage 4, Julius and Arjen for stage 5 and perhaps Oliver can have a go at the GC, but that will be lower on the priority list.

[Combuijs]

The last stage of the Giro was indeed too difficult for Arjen Rutte and in the end he finished 21st in the GC.

The second stage of the Dauphiné was the most important one for us and we were very glad Oliver King delivered with a second place in Vaujany. We can now order pizza's whenever we want, at least whenever we are in Spain.


In the last stage of the Dauphiné around Grenoble we probably made the wrong choice to go for a stage result. Julius Maalderink finished 22nd and Arjen Rutte 30th, but Oliver King lost his top 20 position in the GC to finish 21st, more than 3 minutes behind winner Adam Roethlisberger. So, we have scored two consecutive 21st places in a GC...



Division standings after the Dauphiné:

1º      Flyvende_hjul   8417   2   3   4   
2º      Wiggo_pupils   8179   5   3   3   
3º      CyKings   6934   2   0   7   
4º      °Peachy°Melocotons   6793   4   2   3   
5º      CobbleCrushers   6561   6   2   3   
6º      Combuijs   5005   0   4   1   
7º      Rekutxuteam   4683   4   2   0   

19º      Cabrasverdes   3136   0   0   1   
20º      Zatarra   3054   0   3   1   
21º      CaptainOrange   2996   0   1   0   

25º      IKIBASQUE   2706   3   1   1   
26º      SPORTLIFE   2539   1   1   3   
27º      Caracoles   2497   2   0   2   

Sportlife is out of the red zone, which might take some time to get used to...

The international race was a cobble hill stage from the Binck Bank Tour, so we had 6 riders from our team involved: Arjen Rutte, Julius Maalderink, Julius Wiegel, Adam Neeskens, Chester Laybutt and Garret Rose. Chester was awarded leadership for Great Britain and finished 7th, Julius Maalderink finished 21nd in a supporting role for Noah Nelisse who finished 3rd. Belgian Yannick Pierre won the race.

These riders tried to secure a place in the semi final of the Cup for the first time:

11 Dénes Nemcsik
12 Thomas Freitag
13 Julius Maalderink
14 Arjen Rutte
15 Midas van Veldhuizen

As we considered Sportlife favourite we attacked at the only hill at the start of the race, but they managed to come back. In the final sprint Dénes Nemcsik and Thomas Freitag could not beat a very strong Rafal Engelberts. We wish Sportlife lots of success against Rekutxuteam in a mountain time trial.

We have sold Midas van Veldhuizen to World Tour Team Cykings. Let's hope for Midas he can score points for them, because he could not do that for us. He is now for sale again, but he will cost you five times as much, so if you buy him you missed out on a bargain a few days ago. In our team WhatApp-group Midas told us he did not like to be sales fodder...

In the Tour of Switzerland these riders will have some mountains to climb:

51 Oliver King
52 Yvo de Cleer
53 Eelco van der Laan
54 Sam Parker
55 Tristan Prins

Oliver will go for the GC, Eelco will have a free role in the cobble stage.

[Combuijs]

The Tour of Switzerland has started and in the second stage to Tiefenbachferner we had a small success with Oliver King, who finished 12th. He is now 13th in the GC, more than one minute behind leader Ton Jansma (Cross and Go). Oliver will however hobble cobble downwards tonight. Let's hope he can climb back in the last two stages.

This is Tiefenbachferner's most famous inhabitant:


In the Tour de France these riders will be part of the big media circus:

51 Oliver King
52 Robert Brubaker
53 Ørjan Henningsen
54 Adam Neeskens
55 Sam Parker

Oliver King is our GC man, Sam his assistant, Robert will do the many time trials and Adam and Ørjan are there for the cobble hill race.

[Vos]

As we considered Sportlife favourite we attacked at the only hill at the start of the race, but they managed to come back. In the final sprint Dénes Nemcsik and Thomas Freitag could not beat a very strong Rafal Engelberts. We wish Sportlife lots of success against Rekutxuteam in a mountain time trial.

Thanks Combuijs. As you noticed my tactics were to save energy in s1 and return in s2, and therefore a very strong finish.
Maybe a bit of a gamble, but my teamcaptain his GV for this race was very good despite the hill in s1. Most likely a much better GV as your sprinters. But respect for your tactical attempt to win of such a better sprinter as Engelberts.

And very happy with the mountain TT in the upcoming semi final.
With specialist Benett in my team, already it seems sure that SPORTLIFE will be in the CFF Cup final. 

[Vos]

And good luck in the Tour de Suisse, Combuijs, hopefully this time not a 21st place in the GC. Two times in a row was already too much.

[Combuijs]

In the final stages of the Tour of Switzerland Oliver King gets 18th place on Grimselpass and 19th place in Ambri to finish 19th in the GC. Points are points, and it's certainly better than becoming 21st, but it was a bit disappointing in the end. Winner was AJFactoryCycling's (there he is again!) Konstantin Hahn, just before Flying Wheel Leo Bjørndal.

It is a time trial Tour de France and Robert Brubaker is enjoying himself immensely. In the uphill one in stage 1 he gets 29th place, in the flat one in stage 3 he gets 24th place. In between Adam Neeskens gets 28th place in a free role in the hilly stage 2 to Lyon.

In the GC Oliver King is not enjoying himself, he is now number 32, almost three minutes behind leader Heinz-Dieter Maurer (Facha Bortolo).

Division standings after the third stage in the Tour de France:

1º      Flyvende_hjul   9211   2   4   4   
2º      Wiggo_pupils   8658   5   4   3   
3º      CyKings   7755   3   0   7   
4º      °Peachy°Melocotons   7238   4   2   3   
5º      CobbleCrushers   7119   7   3   3   
6º      Combuijs   5193   0   4   1   
7º      Rekutxuteam   5122   4   2   0   

18º      galegospolabici   3514   0   1   0   
19º      Zatarra   3354   0   3   1   
20º      Cabrasverdes   3324   0   0   1   
21º      CaptainOrange   3279   0   1   0   
22º      CC_Porco_Jones   3271   3   4   0   
23º      SPORTLIFE   3244   2   1   3   
24º      SaulSalinasTeam   3150   2   1   2   

Flying Wheels pretty solid in the lead, just like season 2. We can only look behind us now as Rekutxuteam is rapidly approaching and Cobble Crushers are far, far away.

We've changed our training regime again, this time we are concentrating on dull flat training. In order to inspire our riders our mechanic Tigran Filin has made some interesting improvements on our bikes:

Just a little Combuijs Honey Ale paint on strategic places and motivatation is there...

L'Équipe thinks Adam Neeskens is fit for silverware now when he is riding on the cobbles:

[Combuijs]

We had quite a succesfull hill flat mountain time trial to the Col de L'Iseran. Oliver King finishes 10th and Sam Parker 23rd.

In the Briançon - Dignes-les-Bains stage we went full for Adam Neeskens and he did not disappoint with 4th place, just behind the very well known trio Fossum, Seaman and Ford.  As mentioned yesterday, he is really ready for silverware. His helper Ørjan Henningsen finished 20th. It cost Oliver King some places in the GC, he is now 22nd, almost on 3 minutes from leader Dino Moresi (Team RHB).

[Combuijs]

No results in the Tour de France but Oliver King is 20th now in the GC, more than 5 minutes after leader Mike B... eh ... no Mikhel Väli (Atlantico).

Le Figaro brought the news that 15 riders of the Combuijs Honey Ale team have scored points on the World Tour level this season. That's what you get with staticians who have nothing better to do...


Robert Brubaker has been called up for the American team for a time trial, and so were Arjen Rutte and Julius Maalderink for the Dutch team. The national coach probably thinks this fits in with their flat training regime.

[Combuijs]

In the Tour de France we did nothing noteworthy, Oliver King is now 20th in the GC, 7 minutes behind leader Mike Bauer. We expect him to keep his place tonight.

The next international race is the Strade Bianchi and we expect some Combuijs Honey Ale riders to be called up. For the moment the counter is on 3: Arjen Rutte and Julius Maalderink for the Netherlands and Ørjan Henningsen for Norway. We expect some more riders though, like Chester Laybutt and Garret Rose for England.

The Clasica San Sebastian will be fought out by:

61 Tristan Prins
62 Oliver King
63 Valentin Litenko
64 Sam Parker
65 Eddy Room



In the Combuijs Honey Ale Tour all riders will be present, but these riders will be on the road:

61 Julius Maalderink
62 Carlo Bemelmans
63 Robert Brubaker
64 Eddy Room
65 ARjen Rutte

Julius will be our GC man, Robert will go for the time trial and Eddy for the flat hill race.

[Combuijs]

In the final climb of the Tour de France to La Pierre Saint Martin Oliver King lost over a minute on winner Ton Jansma (Cross and Go). That itself was not bad, but him finishing 21st in the GC, 7 seconds behind Wiggo Pupil Honoré Bontecou, was. It's the third time this season that Oliver finishes 21st in a GC and we have told him to terminate the subscription on that place. The GC was won by Cyking Mike Bauer, so no surprise there... Honourful mention for Sportlife's Albert Nieuwendijk who finishes just outside the top 10.

In the Clasica San Sebastian Tristan Prins finishes 11th after terrific help from Oliver King.

Tristan's girlfriend looked from far:


Division standings after the Clasica:

1º      Flyvende_hjul   10899   4   4   4   
2º      Wiggo_pupils   10127   5   4   3   
3º      CyKings   9686   3   1   7   

9º      AJFactoryCycling   5653   1   3   4   
10º      Combuijs   5644   0   4   1   
11º      CrossAndGo    5358   4   3   0   

15º      skunk   4465   0   2   1   
16º      SPORTLIFE   4283   2   2   3   
17º      ProdopingPong   4226   2   2   2   

24º      SaulSalinasTeam   3658   3   1   2   
25º      Zatarra   3624   0   3   1   
26º      Caracoles   3609   3   0   3   

We have dropped some places now and we are not the best Dutch team anymore. We most likely won't recover, but hopefully the Combuijs Honey Ale Tour will see us back a bit higher.

Relations with our sponsor Combuijs Honey Ale are usually very good, but we have had our first disagreement now. In order to stimulate sales in France we have been put up with a French climbing talent which we did not want. True, our sponsor did pay for him, we did not, but we really can't say Damien Lambert is a useful addition to the team. As a plus we can say he is an iconic climber...


There is some interest for Chester Laybutt from other teams, but we have let them know that he is not for sale for the moment.

In the Vuelta we will be represented by:

91 Yvo de Cleer
92 Julius Maalderink
93 Dénes Nemcsik
94 Sam Parker
95 Arjen Rutte

Yvo will be our GC man, supported by Sam, Dénes and Julius will go for stage success.

[Combuijs]

In the second stage of the Combuijs Honey Ale Tour, Julius Maalderink did very well with a 5th place in both Sittard and Geleen.

In the time trial around Sittard and Geleen Robert Brubaker finished 13th, one of his better results.

In the fourth stage to Lanaken we saw Eddy Room up to 6th place, a tremendous performance, supported by Carlo Bemelmans.

In the final stage to Rotterdam we focused on Julius Maalderink and with the help of Arjen Rutte he finished 11th. That was quite good, but not good enough to satisfy potential sponsor Baltika, who had expected a 9th place. We hope for a better result next season. The result was however good enough for a 14th place in the GC, so we still have reason to celebrate.



Division standings after the first stage of the Vuelta:

1º      Flyvende_hjul   11385   4   4   4   
2º      Wiggo_pupils   10477   6   4   3   
3º      CyKings   10077   3   1   7   

8º      AJFactoryCycling   6020   1   3   4   
9º      Combuijs   5972   0   4   1   
10º      Atlantico   5947   1   1   2   

15º      ProdopingPong   4584   2   2   2   
16º      SPORTLIFE   4573   2   2   3   
17º      skunk   4465   0   2   1   

22º      galegospolabici   4069   0   1   1   
23º      Zatarra   3968   0   4   1   
24º      Matterhorn   3926   1   2   2   

Yvo de Cleer is considered a mountain rider capable of winning silverware, Koen Helder an iconic time trialer, Garret Rose an iconic hill rider.


We have decided to make Eddy Room available for other interested teams. He is an accomplished hill rider, almost being able of winning silverware, but we don't need him anymore for the hill races.

[Combuijs]

In the second stage of the Vuelta to Argamasilla de Alba Julius Maalderink cobbled to a 12th place, fiercely supported by Arjen Rutte.

The third stage to Alto de Velefique brought Yvo de Cleer a 10th place, the stage itself was won by AJFactoryCycling's Ed van Vliet with NIcola Miorlin (Sportlife) as second. It improved his GC place from somewhere over 100 to 16, more than 2 minutes behind leader Robrecht Kemperman (Flying Wheels).