Although we unfortunately still have a very messy schedule (some August races already finished, with some July races not even started), all PT and PTHC races in July are done - and so we can at least have the post-GT Ranking update for PT!
Period Ranking: July
July was the second consecutive month with just 4 races for the PT teams - maximum 4, that is, given that three out of them were in PTHC. With the only mandatory one being THE race, Le Tour de France.
But before looking at the race that obviously has the potential of turning everything upside down, let's handle the "minor" ones. No team did all three of them - with Gazelle and UBS being the two teams doing the contrary, i.e. they participated in none of them.
Philadelphia was the first of the three, and as a classic also yielded the lowest high-score. It wasn't really the best race for the PT sprinters, with the two top spots going to PCT teams. Demare was PT's highest finisher, bringing home 100 points - which also is the highest score for this race. Gaviria was the only other PT rider in the Top 10, scoring the vast majority of Isostar's 82 points. ISA were the 3rd best team with 46 points.
Let's go to Lithuania then - where we have quite a different picture, with the Top 5 GC spots and all 4 stages being taken by PT teams. The high-score obviously belongs to ISA with 385 points, getting two stage wins, the GC and the points jersey with Ewan. However, EA follow pretty closely with 356 points, taking the stage 3 TTT plus 2nd and 5th in the GC. ELCO with 3 in the Top 11 are 3rd, netting 287 points.
Slovenia saw a commanding GC win by Wirtgen - not least thanks to yet another TTT win by his team. The reward are 310 points - less than what they got from Lithuania with one RD less, though. cycleYorkshire took 283 points, with Fraile and Oliveira taking a 4-5 in the GC. And defending champion Ganna led the Pumas to the 3rd highest score, 251 points.
From those PTHC races, EA clearly came out on top with 666 points, followed by ISA with 431 and ELCO with 399 points.
But yeah, we all know that in the greater context of this month, those points don't mean that much. In fact, EA's score is over 1,000 points less than what the best team got from Le Tour. Yep.
No need to name that best team, as everyone knows it - still, honour to whom honour is due, it's Team Puma SAP getting the highest score from a race this year. Herklotz' GC win, augmented by 3 stage wins, 2nd in the points standings and 4th in the KoM standings, was worth 1,503 points - obviously the highest for one rider in a race as well - and the team ended up with 1'686 points. Congratulations!
They weren't the only team crossing the magical 1,000 points barrier, though - despite losing Sivakov's potential podium spot in the 3rd week, the latter still won the white jersey, took 5th in the GC - and Tinkoff bring home 1,011 points from France.
Tenorio's MOL Cycling Team almost arrived at that mark, too - coming short by 4 points, which means a total of 996 for them. Morton's cycleYorkshire were a tad further off; 932 points are still nothing to scoff at, though. 5th place goes to the biggest surprise of the race - Aker - MOT, who also won three stages (thereof on Les Champs Elysées) and the green jersey with Dainese. 832 points for the Scandinavians.
As with the other two GTs, you'll soon find the full scores in the race's discussion thread, including the points for every rider.
So, what does this mean for the whole month? Well, if a team wins a race with a gap that's higher than the total score of any team from the other races, the July winners are obvious: Puma. The Germans scored more than 2,000 points this month, leaving cycleYorkshire almost 800 points behind!
Just to put this a bit in relation: The next 5 teams are separated by just 95 points! cycleYorkshire actually have a 150 points gap to EA Vesuvio - the Brits should definitely be happy with their month, too, while the Luxembourgers couldn't quite build up unto their great PTHC scoring in Le Tour.
Tinkoff, ELCO, MOL and Aker are the other teams getting 1,000 points or more this month, with the Norwegians just reaching 1,000 points flat. Then there's rougly a 100 points gap to King Power, who are rather closely followed by ISA - before we have another 140 points gap.
At the bottom, Gazelle were the 2nd worst team in France, which sees them in last place this month due to not racing elsewhere. The other PTHC-less team, UBS, scored 200 points more and end up 17th. In between, we have Evonik with the worst Tour result of any team, with Zwift and Huski not a lot better, too.
Moser then were over 100 points better and are in a group reaching from 473 to 524 points with UBS, division leaders Isostar, and Grieg.
If that's too many names and numbers, here's the more visual overview:
Tour
Phil
Lit
Slo
Total
1
Team Puma - SAP
1686
100
0
251
2037
2
cycleYorkshire
932
0
29
283
1244
3
EA Vesuvio
429
0
356
310
1095
4
Tinkoff - La Datcha Team
1011
0
0
28
1039
5
ELCO - ABEA
622
0
287
112
1021
6
MOL Cycling Team
996
0
15
0
1011
7
Aker - MOT
832
0
0
168
1000
8
King Power
594
0
214
105
913
9
ISA - Hexacta
450
46
385
0
881
10
Polar
717
14
0
10
741
11
Duolingo
484
0
100
129
713
12
De Stijl Cycling
621
14
0
0
635
13
Aegon - Peroni
483
30
118
0
631
14
Los Pollos Hermanos
533
0
33
43
609
15
Grieg-Maersk
342
0
0
182
524
16
Isostar - Specialized
413
82
0
0
495
17
Team UBS
483
0
0
0
483
18
Moser - Sygic
429
6
38
0
473
19
Huski Chocolate
321
37
0
0
358
20
Zwift Pro Cycling
319
0
19
0
338
21
Evonik - ELKO
216
0
81
0
297
22
Gazelle
263
0
0
0
263
Full Ranking
Everyone saw it coming - and here we are: Puma took a huge leap up the standings this month - but still come short of the lead by a good margin. Isostar's 6,516 points are still 410 more than the Germans have, with their biggest card played. The GTs are done, and only a single PT stage race is left on the schedule with TONE; not many really big points are still on the table. Of course, there's Lombardia as well, and tons of PTHC races - but will it be enough for the Germans to close the gap? They do have an advantage of 3 RDs to achieve that - it won't be easy, though!
King Power were obviously overtaken by the Pumas, but in turn sneaked past Gazelle and are still in 3rd place - with the highest amount of RDs available. It's looking pretty good for the Thai right now, and they also have a 130 points cushion over the next teams.
We then have four teams within about 180 points - Aker, Tinkoff, Gazelle and ISA. And it could be a really close fight for the Top 5 spots, as Aker, Tinkoff and ISA currently are within 0.09 points in their PpRD average!
Then there's a group of 5 that will likely battle it out for P8-12. MOL, Polar, ELCO, EA and De Stijl are within less than 170 points from each other - but they trail ISA by 170 points and more. In terms of PpRD, MOL, ELCO and EA should have the best chances for the final Top 10 spots.
But now let's focus on the relegation fight. Zwift are doomed, that's for sure - they trail Los Pollos by more than 1,000 points already and are the only team below 20 PpRD.
The South Americans, though, aren't looking good, either. They've got the 2nd lowest PpRD as well and would need at least another Praha-like miracle to stay up. Similar things must be said about UBS, who do have 300 points more, but they're also among the teams having used up the most RDs. And their PpRD is just half a point higher than Los Pollos', so it looks like their elevator journey will continue for another year...
There are two more relegation spots - and currently it looks like three teams are most at risk; it's those below 29 PpRD. Those include Aegon, Duolingo, and Huski. They're within 127 points from each other - but Huski, who currently are on the final safe spot, also have used up more RDs than the other two. Which leads to the fact that they've got the lowest PpRD of this trio.
Moser are having a pretty bad year as well, but they're 250 points above the relegation spots and do currently look safe - but who knows...
The biggest winners this month are obviously Puma, gaining 10 spots. The 2nd best improvers were cycleYorkshire, jumping from relegation (20th) to provisional safety (14th). EA Vesuvio had a good month as well, gaining 5 spots. MOL and ELCO gained 3 and 4 spots respectively, both entering the Top 10.
On the other hand, it clearly wasn't an Evonik month. The Latvians lost 6 places and are even at risk of dropping out of the Top 15! Gazelle dropping from 2nd to 6th and De Stijl losing their Top 10 spot, losing 4 spots as well, are the next biggest losers.
Yes, he did it. Silvio Herklotz rushed to the top of the rankings with his 1,503 points in France, dethroning Taylor Phinney. The American now trails by 171 points. It's absolutely no surprise to see those two battle it out for the win - but will it be the 2nd title for the German, or the 3rd in a row for Phinney?
If my count is right, Herklotz just wrapped up his season in France. Phinney, on the other hand, still has 5 RDs left. And it doesn't take a lot of imagination to guess that he should race in Herbiers again - a 6th win there would wrap up the division title for him already. Not sure where else he could race, but those 171 points are definitely looking feasible. So it's actually a battle of GT schedule vs. minor tours schedule - which one will take it this time?
But there are actually still some other riders to talk about. Joe Dombrowski, for example, who still makes it two U.S. Americans in the Top 3. He trails his compatriot by over 300 points, but in turn also has a 109 points advantage over Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier. Both are done with their 2022 season - and Pavel Sivakov in 5th place has got 2 RDs left to bridge his 223 points gap to the podium. Winning Lombardia looks like the only more or less realistic option for this - if he participates there, that is.
It looks much more likely though that Demare as the highest ranked sprinter will mount a podium challenge, as he's still got 6 RDs to spare. Riga, Paris-Tours and Moscow look like great fits for him - although I admit that I haven't checked Puma's PTHC bands. But with three more classics podiums, he'd definitely overtake the three stage racers ahead of him!
Caleb Ewan made a jump inside the Top 10 as well, and should also have 5 RDs left, but it'll be difficult for him to overtake Demare. Not impossible, though.
However, Mads Pedersen is on his heels - just 3 points back - and should be eyeing East Midlands and the Battenkill/Rheden clash.
Justo Tenorio has made the jump inside the Top 10 as well - but it's a different question whether he can stay there, having finished his season as well. Egan Bernal, dropping from 6th to 10th, already trails by 100 points, though, and just has one race (2 RD) left.
There was actually quite some movement in the Top 10, as not a single rider stayed on his previous spot. Herklotz, Sivakov, Ewan and Tenorio all made the jump, while Kudus, Coquard (yes, Germany isn't considered in this update yet), Wisniowski and Formolo all dropped out. We'll very likely see less changes in the next month - but we might already get the decision of the individual title!
Thanks for the update! All three GTs done now and we can start to see if we can climb back again in the top 10. Not too far up and I guess Würtz in Deutschland have already brought us a good bit closer.
Seeing the individual rankings, we have been lacking that number two scorer behind Pedersen so far. Again we should see Würtz take a good leap now and hopefully he can finish the season strongly.
Great update for Puma and Herklotz, but Isostar should still be in control.
It clearly hasn't been our day, our week, our month, or even our year. Started off very well in PT, but since then everything's been an absolute mess and we simply couldn't get the smallest bit of luck. Don't have too many leaders lined up for the coming races anymore, so 2023 PCT it is.
Nemolito wrote:
It clearly hasn't been our day, our week, our month, or even our year. Started off very well in PT, but since then everything's been an absolute mess and we simply couldn't get the smallest bit of luck. Don't have too many leaders lined up for the coming races anymore, so 2023 PCT it is.
Really unfortunate, like I've said before. You would have needed exceptional seasons from your leaders and it sucks that (maybe except for Manninen) they didn't even really let you put up a fight. With all your youngsters getting better and Zmorka/Manninen/Zepuntke around for a while, I still think you're set up well for the future. We'll be there for you of course, like we've been there before.
Zwift were doomed from the start (no one remind me why ...) and UBS might be a lock to go down now, too. So, Huski, Duolingo and Aegon fighting for the last secure spot? Or will one of Grieg, cycleYorkshire or Evonik get dragged down into the relegation zone? Really close one. Might come down to which leaders have the most valuable race days left.
Similar question for the title race, I guess. Puma and King Power still have a lot of catching up to do. They're in range, though. Also, I can't commend Aker enough for their team building. Being this good as a promoting team is exceptional and the groundwork has of course been laid way before this season.
Looks like relegation can be put aside now, and in fact if we also count Deutschland, we have achieved our season expected level with still 9 races to go (most of which will be poor though!).
Scoring 1000 points in July was a very welcome surprise, and while top 10 will be difficult with the likes of Grieg chasing, it is atleast somewhat still open. After missing 3/3 goals so far and the 4th is lost in Herbiers we really need that top 10 to get just a little bit of cash for training.
Puma needed an even bigger haul to threaten Isostar, but atleast on paper there is a chance to make it interesting. I suspect Phinney will hit the nail in Herbiers, even if Ganna is also a top TT’er.
Terrible TDF for us as well as quite decent for a lot of the teams around us, putting us into a fairly bad situation right now. Once i made the decision to pursue Plapp with everything i got, i was saying "as long as i dont relegate this year, i dont care much about where i end in the rankings". With a lot of bad luck in a lot of races, I'm far closer to a possible relegation than i hoped to be.
Moser lucking out in San Sebastian makes the situation even worse for us as thats another team with a 300 points gap towards us.
Remaining schedule wise, there is not enough good races left to feel secure. Lopez has Balkans left which should be huge but then has a break until October. Polanc has a few races left and then there is a lot of nothing in races like Herbiers, Moscow or Jurmala.
Puma has come as close as I feared, and with guys like Ganna having some really good race days left and races like ToNE benefitting their depth I feel like it's almost theirs to loose now. So back onto hunting grounds
It's incredible how unlucky Evonik has been this year btw
While we had some ups this month, especially at the tour, the scoring output is a bit subpar. If we wanted to be able to challenge the top 2 teams in the rankings, a higher scoring this month definitely would've been necessary. Regardless, sitting in 3rd with a rather comfortable gap is still satisfactory.
Phinney still having some racedays left means that Puma probably would need an excellent rest of the season to realistically fight for the title. Will be exciting to follow.
The relegation battle is getting really tense. I don't expect Evonik or Moser to be in any danger, but for the 3-4 teams below any point counts now.
De Bie is still having lots of race days but the 0 pointer in the Ardennes was hurting and not really giving hope that he improves. Basically need him to win Lombardia and others to score enough.
Wellens as only consistent this year is done for the season.
Having 3-4 of 5 leaders doing a lot worse than normally wasn't good of course.
Very happy with this update, as July was far above expectations, which shows. Suddenly we are fighting for a top 5 instead for a top 10. Dainese’s Tour was sensational, and his points tally the same. This season has been good without him, but with him it is a very, very good season up to this point. Hoping we can go well as we move on as well, as Wisniowski gets back to racing.
Very interesting fight to avoid the drop. Really hope Evonik stays clear, but as knockout writes himself, there is no reason to feel safe/comfortable. Also the fight for the win could get interesting, eventhough Isostar remains favourite, I would say.
Finally an update that reads relatively well for us! All in all its been a pretty good month, the result in Slovenia really making up for a Tour de France that was pretty good in itself, even if it would have been better for us to have scored maybe a 100 more points than we did.
Considering this update avoids including our two low scoring races in Deutschland and San Sebastien - our gap of almost 400pts will likely look less healthy than it does in this table. That and the fact we are likely wholly reliant on Summerhill to win one of the 2 remaining Cobble classics and Cullaigh to overperform in the remaining flat classics (along with needing a good result in the Chrono des Herbiers) mean we are still heavily involved in the relegation battle I feel sadly.
Obviously I hope the gap we have managed to build is sufficient, and the total points required for safety remains roughly 5100pts so then we only need to score 500pts in our remaining races, which even then we may struggle a little considering we have no Hills leader - which may prove to be very costly indeed...
Looking at the title race I feel pretty confident will still win comfortably enough even with the late pressure from Puma (congrats on the Tour btw) so its all down to the relegation battle. Of the teams below I still feel Aegon have the best chance to save themselves even if return is looking down at their chances.
John St Ledger in Team Bunzl-Centrica and Team U25
Lithuania
The TTT squad is here for the TTT but rather than being led by Wirtgen, we are led by Van der Lijke. Sacrificing pure TT strength for a rider who can do well in the other stages. If we were playing PCM then we’d very much fancy the chances of a GC win for Nick. A bit less faith in the AI going in, but worth a try!
Only a 6th for Van der Lijke in the opening two stages, but the TTT delivers! Big stage win as Jungels led Oliveira, Munton, Hepburn and Pokala over the line. Van der Lijke lost time of course, 10 seconds, but that is delivered better than all other teams bar King Power!
GC placements of 2,3,4,5,6 look fabulous going into the final stage, but of course the route design is suitably such that there’s a hill stage to mix things up on Stage 3. A pity not to have GC lead, with Ewan having sprinted so strongly and consistently. Especially as U25 leader Munton would have inherited Yellow – we might not have wanted a hill hater in yellow!
Byron Munton was ready to step up anyway and act like a leader – attacking and gaining bonus seconds in a sprint! Securing a career defining 2nd overall in the process. Van der Lijke finishes 7th on the stage too, and a 5th on GC.
Tour de France
Godoy will go again and hope for a better finish this time. This time with Kirsch for company, also here for a 2nd GC. With the best team GT finish so far, will it stay that way? Girdlestone, Rucigaj and Cabrera all involved again, and this time even a sprinter, Moser is part of the team.
No top TT riders here of course, given Lithuania, but Gunnlaugsson does go 12th on Stage 1, enough for 3rd on U25. Moser already gets in on some points on Stage 2, with 5th, followed by a 7th the day after.
Kirsch, Godoy and Girdlestone all survive the first mountains, and a reward of 4th overall and a day in white for Girdlestone. Before the worst TTT of our season! But actually still a good effort for 10th on the day, dragging Godoy to a good limited loss, even if he gave up 20 seconds at the end. Godoy establishes team leadership anyway in the next mountains. 15th overall for the time being.
Moser collecting more Top 10s – 7th, 5th, 5th. Godoy joins in with a 9th sprinting after a hilly stage. Then for a mysterious Stage 11. Kirsch paces the peloton, Godoy tries attacking at one stage. All to lose time, finishing 21st and 45th. Quite improvements follow though, and up to 9th overall after Stage 13. And more than 3 minutes on 11th. Can a Top 10 be achieved here?
A 3rd for Moser on Stage 16 and oh yes, there’s another ITT in this race. That gap on 11th is halved. It’s still there into Stage 20, after we continue our GT trend of ignoring breakaway opportunities. Kirsch seems to be riding for all GC teams through a lot of the stage, not sure why. Finally in Stage 20, Kirsch tries to do what we wanted to see, and gets in the break. Good day out for Kirsch, 3rd best in the break, 12th on the stage, and rising up to 21st on GC. But again Godoy falls at the last. Bad day and no Top 10 – although 12th is at least our best GT finish of the season.
Slovenia – GOAL RACE
There’s a TTT and an ITT, of course we want to deliver Wirtgen to a win here.
Victory in the TTT is the first part done! Tanfield gets a go in Yellow but Wirtgen is right there. Munton not in the front 5 so misses out on a chance for the U25 jersey.
From team game to individual game. Only Wirtgen can stay with the front group on the harder Stage 3. Finishing 7th and the right riders took bonus seconds, so now the race lead is Tom’s. Meanwhile alumni Gesbert has KOd all in the KoM hunt.
Stage 4 crucial and a good fight to take 3rd. Perhaps the company of Gesbert helped a bit in the final move! Dunbar does gain time though to remain a threat depending on the TT form gods.
All is good though. 6th on the stage, and a GC victory is achieved this season! That’s a sponsor goal hit too. Three out of five, a much better return than 2021.
Great month then, as we had to hope for with the PTHC stage races suiting us. Cashing in where we can, as probably amongst the lowest GT scorers across all three of the big ones. Back to 11th good to see. Wirtgen holding firm individually for 13th there. Van der Lijke and Godoy now the only others in the Top 100.
Thanks for the update!
