Punctures scuppered Canyon Eisberg’s charge in the Dwars door de Vlaamse Ardennen in Belgium on Saturday.
Andrew Tennant, Max Stedman and Matt Nowell all suffered race-ending flats on the gruelling cobbled climbs in Flanders.
However, new recruit Ryan Christensen and 2017 national junior road race champion Louis Rose-Davies underlined their promise by finishing the testing 200km battle.
Meanwhile, 19-year-old Charles Page had earlier shown his strength when he fought his way into an 11-man breakaway.
The teenager looked impressive in the opening skirmishes after his move had escaped in the first 20 minutes of the UCI 1.2 contest.
Their advantage had grown considerably when the climbing began in earnest after 45km, with early cracks beginning to appear in the lead group.
And when the race hit the famous Oude Kwaremont after 75km, the breakaway was in pieces.
The Paterberg, another renowned cobbled climb of the region, followed soon after and Page dropped back to the main bunch to lead them over the top.
Unfortunately, James Lowsley-Williams had been held up on the climb and was forced to dig deep to chase back in on the run to the Hotond-Hoogberg.
As the race crested the summit of the Eikenberg after 95km, eight men held a slender lead over the peloton.
The main group had been shrunk from 163 starters down to 70 but, crucially, all seven Canyon Eisberg riders were present.
The short, sharp climbs kept coming and on one such berg a puncture for Tennant cost him dear as he was helplessly cut adrift.
Lowsley-Williams and Page began to pay for their earlier exertions as they lost contact soon after with around 90km to go.
Meanwhile at the front of the bunch, Rose-Davies clipped off with four companions in pursuit of the eight-man break.
His hopes of bridging the gap were dealt a blow when one of his fellow escapees went backwards with the deficit standing at 40 seconds.
Disaster then struck for Stedman and Nowell. Both men punctured at crucial moments, with the latter calling on all his reserves to get back in.
Unfortunately the Northwich talent, who was returning to action following a bad crash at the Rás Tailteann last month, later paid for his chase.
He was distanced with a large number of others on the steep, narrow, cobbled Muur van Geraardsbergen as the pressure mounted inside the final 60km.
Christensen soared up the climb, though, and was looking strong in the bunch which was quickly ripped in two.
Rose-Davies’ chase group was swept up and he was briefly distanced before a brave chase to tag back on.
And alongside Christensen, he fought his way to the finish – with the Kiwi well placed in 15th with 300m to go only to tire in the closing metres.
Christensen finished 48th in the final reckoning, with Rose-Davies’ position yet to be confirmed. Click here for the full result.