Lidl-Trek helped deliver Tour de France debutant Jonathan Milan to his first stage win on Saturday in Laval, provoking an emotional response from one member of the Italian's lead-out train.
Milan was a dominant force in the uphill sprint on stage 8, speeding clear of his rivals with seeming ease in the final dash to the line. He can count on arguably the best lead-out in cycling, a team which has now assisted him in taking seven wins this season.
His compatriot and track teammate, Simone Consonni, is always by Milan's side, sharing 29 of Milan's 34 race days heading into the Tour. Another essential teammate is Edwards Theuns, who raced alongside Milan 31 times before heading to France.
The group are tightly knit, and so Milan's breakthrough win after two frustrating sprints earlier in the Tour brought a few tears to Theuns' eyes after the stage.
"You spend a lot of time with those guys. And I've been struggling quite a bit these past few days, so I was very happy. I was so happy for him that fatigue played a part," Theuns told Sporza.
"When he joined the team, I personally asked to be in his lead-out. That was the start of a great relationship. Last year, we also rode a lot together and had successes. When you spend a lot of time together during training camps and races, you develop a bond."
Milan, who already had four Giro d'Italia stages and two points jerseys to his name, is now in the driving seat for the green jersey at the Tour. He has 182 points to Tadej Pogačar's 156, while Biniam Girmay lies third in the classification on 124 points.
He grabbed 20 points at the intermediate sprint on stage 7 and 50 at the finish and will be hoping for a similar haul on Sunday's stage 8, too.
"Milan has a lot of strength, so there's a lot of work to be done. He produces a lot of power, so you have to go for maintenance every now and then," Theuns said of the lead-out.
"It was a relief for us. We had high hopes for the first stage, but that fizzled out. And he lost the second sprint by a very narrow margin, so there was some disappointment. Now there was relief for the whole team because we've pulled this off."
Theuns, who took his first win in four years at the Bredene Koksijde Classic in March, largely focuses on his lead-out work for the team.
He's served Milan well through the first week of the Tour, even while suffering through saddle sores, while he also picked up a yellow card for his part in the crash which sent Jasper Philipsen out of the race on stage 3.
"I've had problems with my seat now and then, but rarely as bad as now. So I've suffered a lot, but I feel like things are improving. I'm a bit more positive again," Theuns said.
"I'll keep working on the yellow card. I was disappointed with myself that it played a role. I think sprinting is partly about positioning anyway, and you shouldn't fight, but using your elbows and shoulders is part of it, like for most sprinters."
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