It may not have been another stage victory on Sunday's final day of racing at Le Tour de Langkawi for Riley Pickrell (Modern Adventure) but, once again, it wasn't that far off in a tour where the consistency of the Canadian's presence in the top two spots has delivered a clear reminder of just how far the squad has come in the space of 12 months.
Pickrell has undoubtedly been impressive in his turn of speed, though he is far from taking sole credit for the three second places and one win he gathered from the four sprint contests that unfolded at the Malaysian ProTour race this week. And there was also a fifth place when he sprinted from the group after the break had already soaked up the top four spots.
"If I have consistency, it means my teammates are always dropping me off in a good position where I can sprint to a top three," Pickrell told Cyclingnews after the race finale in Putrajaya. "So this week I can really only say thanks to my team because they're the reason why it's so consistent."
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That hasn't always been the case, as given Modern Adventure ProTeam is only in its first season it meant that they were starting fresh, and had to find their feet both together as a team and also within the peloton and it's a process that clearly continued through the eight-day tour.
"We didn't have this kind of consistency at the beginning of this year because we had never worked with each other before," explained Pickrell. "We didn't have the processes. We have spent so many hours post-race being pretty critical on where we've made mistakes in these lead outs and how to read the read the race better.
"So now when we're exposed to those situations again and again, we know what the other rider wants out of it and how to adjust accordingly. And that's why the consistency is really coming out. I'm super excited for next year. Most of us here are going into offseason now but we definitely finished the season on a high and I think all the guys are really eager to already get started for next season."
There was more to being satisfied with the outcome than the consistent top placings, there was a first win of the season for Pickrell and sixth for the squad. It also went beyond the improvements within the team lead-out, as this race perhaps felt a little more like a coming of age.
As sports director Alex Howes put it just before the squad pulled off the win on stage 6, "We're figuring stuff out as a team so honestly, we're just happy to be in a position where we get to have this conversation about beating a team like Astana. They're a good team and we have got a lot of respect for them, but I think we can get around them."
Then when they did, XDS Astana clearly didn't consider it a fluke, as they were determined to put the responsibility for the chase of the break on the new squad's shoulders after they had won a stage
"We kind of went into this season kind of being like 'we're just gonna be like the little shit team that nobody respects and it's gonna be really hard to do anything' whereas I really feel like by the end of this season we have a lot of respect," Pickrell said, adding that if the team wasn't respected XDS-Astana would never have tried to hand over the responsibility for chasing down the break to the squad.
"I think that says a lot for what we've accomplished this year and the trajectory we are on is really impressive."
*Cyclingnews attended Le Tour de Langkawi on an invitation/media package from the race that included travel and accommodation. In line with our editorial standards, our coverage is independent and was not subject to review, approval or influence by the organiser or any sponsor; no favourable coverage was promised or given in return.
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