Next up was the C1 Tour de Romandie. It was a pretty tough race for the CT teams - but 7/10 still ended up scoring at least one point.
Best of the class were Bordeaux, mostly thanks to a great KoM win by Doubey. Le Berre also had the jersey for one day, after a stage 2 breakaway - and he got some stage points on top of that with another break on the final day and 6th place. 33 points for the Franco-Basque squad.
Tafjord were almost as successful - Kaislavuo finished 2nd in the KoM, and also got a 2nd place in the closing stage. 28 points for him and his team.
And then we have two teams in 3rd place; Stela-Vita got 6 points with Urcelay in KoM, plus 4 points from Goos' 23rd place GC result. 10 points also for Air New Zealand, 6 and 3 for Skala and Vink taking 3rd and 5th on the final day, plus one KoM point from Brown.
And then, the big TT festival in the Netherlands, the C2 Olympia's Tour. After Glanbia's dominant performance last year, we'd expect their 310 points to remain unachievable for years to come.
Well, this score wasn't achieved, indeed. But the SEE Turtles weren't too far off. After winning the TTT on day 4, they went on to sweep the GC podium with Hamza, Oka and Cruz - something not even Glanbia achieved! 277 points were the big yet well-deserved reward for an amazing team performance!
Gjensidige may have been disappointed after the TTT - they were in fact just lacking a 5th capable TTer to do better - but they still scored really well. Van Moer won the first and the last stage, finishing 5th in the GC, 2nd in points and winning the white jersey - which actually made him the top individual scorer with 102 points! Rojus got two sprint podiums, Knotten finished 2nd in U25 (and 11th in GC) - all in all, that's 155 points for the Norwegians.
We stay in Norway for 3rd place, with Tafjord having a good race as well! Waersted took 1st, 2nd and 6th in the three sprint stages - netting him the green jersey. Belevics finished 2nd and 3rd in the two ITTs, ending up being the best non-Turtle in the GC with 4th place. All in all, that's 140 points for Tafjord - good job as well!
The next race was yet another big highlight - this time for the climbers, as the C2 Int. Österreich Rundfahrt was on the schedule! And as expected, we got yet another high-level clash between Chiarello and Berhane.
Once again, with the Brazilian taking the GC win. No stage win this time - a 2nd, a 3rd and a 4th place were still enough to take the points jersey on top of the GC, though. And 4th in KoM, by the way. It's 140 points for the Crabbe leader - but that's not all: Altanzul won the bunch sprint on day 3, with his leadout English also in the scoring positions - 157 points in total for the Belgians!
JEWA might be slightly disappointed that Berhane's opening stage win didn't end up being enough for the win - he wore the leader's jersey all race long, only to lose it in the closing ITT. He still narrowly held onto a GC podium finish, 3rd place for the Eritrean. He scored 109 points, with Lienhard adding 4 on the two sprint stages, taking 8th and 4th. So it's 113 points for the local team.
3rd place then was far less obvious; the final place on the scoring podium goes to... Simba! Their race highlight definitely was Jaramillo's stage 4 win from the breakaway, which resulted in him moving up to 3rd on GC. He couldn't quite hold that - oldie Kritskiy was their best GC finisher with a strong 5th place! Jaramillo and Koshevoy finished 16th and 19th - and the team got a dominant win in the team standings as well! It's 81 points for the Kenyans.
There also was another classic - only two this month - with the C1 Jour de Dunkerque for the cobblers.
And most of all for the cobblers liking some hills, so it doesn't come as a surprise that Gaday was the best PCT finisher. He took a cool 8th place, and with Owen finishing 20th, that's 27 points for Strava.
Tafjord also had a decent day, although it was pretty surprising to see Eriksson - with 65 COB! - delivering their top result. The Swede ended up 11th, with Breen (21st) and Kaislavuo (23rd) scoring some depth points as well. 17 points. The 3rd and final scoring team - out of 10 CT participants - were Crabbe, with Chatarunga down in 22nd for 2 points.
The HC Tour of Norway was the month's final race - at least for 3 teams. All of which scored, by the way. But one of them stood miles above the others - finally, Tafjord actually got lucky in a stage race! Belevics and Vangstad both finished in the Top 15 in the ITT - both beating many stronger specialists. So did Laengen in 27th, beating riders up to 4 points stronger. While Belevics dropped out of contention on the hills, Vangstad and Laengen didn't - instead, they moved up to 5th and 8th respectively in the GC! Tafjord also finished 3rd in the team standings - 156 points for the Scandinavians!
Würth were somewhat more modest, but two 3rd place finishes on the first two stages by Willwohl were also worth some decent points - 36, including intermediate and final sprint and GC standings. Robeet also added a Top 35 GC finish and 10 points - 46 in total for the Germans.
The ones who had the best situation by far after the TT were Gjensidige, with Knotten and Van Moer in 8th and 9th - the former leading the U25 standings. None of them could keep up on the hills, though, and so Eiking's 32nd place in GC was the most valuable result. 14 points for the other Norwegians.
So, where does this leave us in terms of scoring? Well, we're in for something new! After three months won by Crabbe ahead of Stela-Vita, and another one with the latter dominating, we have a new name on top: Tafjord! The Norwegians had a very solid Olympia's Tour and an outstanding Tour of Norway, scoring 367 points in total! Racing everywhere bar Nakhon surely helped picking up points - the high number of 26 RDs spent results in a PpRD of 14.12.
Which is "only" 2nd best, though - as the highest PpRD this month is 22.31! Scored by whom? Well, by the team breaking this year's highscore in a single race, the SEE Turtles! They're 2nd in terms of overall scoring, with 290 points - 77 behind Tafjord. But they only used half of the latter's RDs, which gives them the highest PpRD by a mile in May.
Only one other team was less than 100 points behind Tafjord - the other Norwegians from Gjensidige. An even better Olympia's Tour than Tafjord, bplus a decent Österreich Rundfahrt - plus some other minor points - result in a total of 270 points this month, and the 3rd best PpRD with 13.50. This should definitely be great for their promotion ambitions!
Promotion is also Crabbe's goal - and they sure did another step in the right direction this month. 157 points from Austria, a good Nakhon result plus some other minor results are worth 196 points. And when speaking of Ambition, the team that obviously comes to your mind is Podium Ambition, rounding off this month's Top 5. It's 162 points for the Caribbeans, thereof about 2/3 from Olympia's Tour.
JEWA pretty much had just one good race this month - or even just one good rider - Berhane in Austria. 113 points from this race, 127 in total, that's 6th place. Just 6 points ahead of Simba, who also did well in Austria but had a great Nakhon result as well. And with just these 9 days of racing done, they've got the 4th best PpRD this month.
Bordeaux and Würth are the other teams above 100 points - both of them racing more than 20 days, hence not having an impressive scoring average. At least it's lower than Manada's, with the Latinos rounding off the Top 10 with 94 points.
Hilcona are close behind - just 3 points - after Keizer's potentially last dance in Austria. Saeco and Strava on the next two spots are 10 and 20 points further down respectively, before there's a 20 points gap to Caja and Ekoi. The two teams round off the Top 15 with 51 and 50 points respectively.
Which leaves us with the bottom 4 (plus Mercatone): Air New Zealand, Adidas, Babymetal - and Stela-Vita! 17th place is definitely not what the division leaders were expecting, even though the only used up 8 race days. They lost 176 points to Crabbe this month - what does that mean for the overall rankings?
We'll soon find out - here's the overview of the May scoring:
Well, that big scoring difference in May means that it gets really close at the top - currently with the better end for Crabbe! They've taken the lead again with 982 points - 3 points ahead of Stela-Vita! The latter have raced 3 RDs less, though, and hence are projected to win the division - but it's definitely too close to make a call yet!
While JEWA had another solid month, their 6 points deficit to Crabbe now is up to 75 points. But they're still in a very comfortable position, as the gap to the next team is over 70 points as well.
And the next team is... Tafjord! With their massive May scoring, they've jumped up from 7th to 4th, right into the promotion race! With 834 points, they're 73 behind JEWA - but also 70 ahead of Gjensidige, who moved up one spot as well. And with only 69 RDs done, they're among the least racing teams so far - and are currently projected to finish in 3rd place.
Two teams moving into the automatic promotion area also means two teams dropping out - the first being Podium Ambition. They're in 6th place currently, which is also where their PpRD projects them to finish - but the season is far from done, so don't write them off. It's just 50 points to 5th place!
Manada also dropped down two spots, from 5th to 7th. They're a little more than 100 points behind the promotion spots now, but having raced less than Podium Ambition sees them more or less at the same projected final score.
Bordeaux are another 100 points down, which might just be too much to fight for automatic promotion. They have switched places with Strava - whose PpRD is still looking nice, but where are the cobbles?
SEE Turtles are the month's biggest winners, gaining 5 spots, rounding off the Top 10 now with 488 points. Their PpRD also looks pretty good - but unfortunately for them there's no second Olympia's Tour on the calendar. Holding onto the Top 10 sounds like a more realistic goal than fighting for (direct) promotion.
Würth are almost 40 points down - and with 29 RDs more spent than the Turtles. Hence, it's more likely they'll lose ground rather than gaining some - especially Ekoi are looking good to move past them, being just 30 points down and having 24 RDs more in stock. But even for the Frenchies, it's going to be a tough job to crack the Top 10.
Saeco and Simba are next, with 384 and 376 points respectively, both losing a spot due to the Turtles' rise. The latter are currently in a better position, with 23 RDs more to be done. Hilcona, the final Top 15 team, are 30 points behind but could also gain one or two spots according to the projections.
It's then a 100 points gap down to Caja Rural, with Adidas and Air New Zealand also above 200 points. But all of them don't look likely to move up to the Top 15 at this point. This is even more the case for Babymetal with just 122 points scored, and a PpRD of below 2...
Mercatone Uno obviously are last and will stay there.
The Empire strikes back! William Chiarello didn't like to be dethroned by the end of April, so he simply won in Austria and easily flew past Kamberaj again. The Brazilian now holds at 520 points - just 170 missing to match Saber's 2022 winning score.
Xhuliano Kamberaj still is far above the rest with his 407 points - more will surely come, but unfortunately for him there aren't any GC races left for him. Still a fantastic result so far!
Natnael Berhane has leapfrogged 6 riders, moving up from 9th to 3rd after a great race in Austria. 278 points is enough for 3rd - but it's just 4 points more than Lucas Manuel Gaday in 4th place. The latter might struggle to find many more suited races, though...
Gabriel Marin rounds off the Top 5 with 249 points - and might feel Sindre Skjostad Lunke breathing down his neck; the Norwegian has gained one spot and is only 16 points behind 5th place.
Losing his Top 10 spot is Eiking, just 14 points behind though. This month's biggest improvers definitely are some TTers: Van Moer (66 -> 12), Hamza (79 -> 15), Oka (73 -> 27) - and most notably Vangstad, jumping from 172nd to 26th! Some riders gained even more spots, but we're focusing on the Top 30 here - you can find all the details below anyway!
With Vancouver and Monterrey, the strong TTT teams have another big month ahead - and the best ITT specialists will also try to shine in Amissa Bongo! Can we see one of them inside the Top 10 at the end of June?
Ofcourse thrilled to see us back on top. The best races are behind us now, so we'll be looking over our shoulders to see what the other contenders will do. In any case, Tafjord has made the connection with a great performance in Norway.
Only two C2 races next month. With the TTT at the end, I don't expect a top result from Chiarello in Vancouver. And Monterrey we only play a supporting role anyway. We're lucky to score big with Liepins in Hanko to start June.
The top 5 teams look pretty solid right now. Maybe Podium Ambition can have their say in the promotion debate? Would be great to see
MG - Lotto - Caloi
[MG] New Manager of the Year - PCM.daily Awards 2022
Thank you for the work Fab!
Not too bad of a month for us, considering we came to Dunkerke knowing it would be a 0 pointer. But it could have been better, with Weinstein not dropped in the flat stage of Olympia and our goal achieved in Österreich.
Only Vancouver and Monterrey next month. Let's hope we'll be able to up that PPRD score a bit.
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Fun to watch SEE Turtles with such an amazing performance, congratulations!
We are delighted to see that we're now projected to be in a promotion place.
It didn't look good at all, earlier this season.
Gjensidige has too many rce days left, but hopefully we can manage to keep
Podium, Strava, Coyotees and Turtles behind us also at the end of the season!
Fabianski, as always, thanks for the great write-up.
Must have been a lot of work, really appreciated
Solid month, very solid. Did welll where we needed, added some bonus points, everything necessary for promotion. The downside? Those dire opening 2 1/2 months of the year, and that we have ToA to come which will tank our pprd. Think we will very much be on the outside looking in come August and crunch time.
More positively, it's so nice to have multiple riders inside the Top50! That two of them will leave at the end of the season though is a sign we need to unearth a proper Caribbean leader soon.
I really though Ekoi would be having a better season than this. Hopefully they get something going and eek back into the Top10 soon.
TheManxMissile wrote:
I really though Ekoi would be having a better season than this. Hopefully they get something going and eek back into the Top10 soon.
I share your hope With none of our primary leaders (aka APP and Teuns) racing in May the poor points haul was to be expected. June should see some improvement (though no big one as none of those two will race there either). I think our problem (except not having any cobbler, TTer or pure sprinter) is I don't see us scoring 100+ points in any race as nearly all teams in front of us are capable of. So as long as we keep scoring only solidly we will probably finish 11th in the end.
No surprise that we've been looking forward to this update for a while. We never could've expected such a high level success in the Olympia's Tour and sadly don' expect to see that level of success again this season. It does feel good to be sitting in the Top 10 now as that was our season goal.
June should be a decent month for us still. Vancouver has a TTT we're set-up alright for and Monterrey is another crucial race. Anything worse than 3rd in the CT TTT would certainly spell the end of our Top 10 chances. Tropicale is also on our schedule and we've got some minor chances here. Maybe a few stage results and depth GC positions would do us well.
Just want to give some major props to Laurens for some amazing Chiarello planning. He's outscoring all but 7 opposing teams at this point and I wouldn't count him out for a Vancouver win.
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