Two month of PCT racing and 4 longer HC stage races rewarded lots of points.
April with Romandie and Vancouver for the climbers, May with Dunkerque and Czech for puncheurs and cobblers.
Add sprinter classics in Interlagos GP, Berlin Pro Race and Dutch Food Classic and climber fest Kenya Mountain Classic.
Smaller points in 4 C1 stage races South Africa, De Panne, Japan and Olympia. Hence a nice mix of points for all kind of riders.
April started nicely for Indosat with Intxausti topping the scoring in Vancouver. Though promotion fighting teams such as Telkom and UBS also scored well there.
De Panne then for the cobbler teams and as often Strava dominating there while Lierse and Azteca as also shimano scored in the relegation battle.
Sough Africa and an African team dominating. Yes. Team Telkom around Ricco with Generali and Eritel also scoring nicely.
Romandie then a huge event for Compal Merida. A rather rare top scoring move by them with new star Thomas Dekker. Huge importance as they are pretty much in relegation danger and will need more of his top scorings.
The two HC classics to end April were won by Valio and Porto Prio point wise. Also Visit Ukraine did well there in both.
May started with Dunkerque and Strava once again dominating on the cobbles. Impressive 379 points for them here while the next scorers are yet again in the relegation zone. Azteca, Sancor!, Lierse or Eritel all did well here.
Japan and Meiji top scoring. Nice. Though the team itself struggles in the mid table of the rankings only. Rather disappointing surely for them. Telkom, Ayubowan and Visit Ukraine in the promotion fight all did well here.
Kenya mountain and important points for UBS as Amador won the race while Shimano did well here as well in teh attempt to get above the line of relegation.
Viana do Castelo yet another Strava race and only Azteca came close point wise.
Surprisingly also Berlin Pro Race was a top event for Strava and hence you already get the idea of where they might move up to. Wiesenhof and Eritel other top scorers.
Olympia was dominated by time trialists hence an obvious top performance by Generali! Also Wiesenhof with a nice May to move up in the rankings where they were expected. Ayubowan as usual with decent performances in most races they take part in keep a decent PPRD.
Recent Czech Tour was huge for Hugo Boss and also Visit Ukraine, Netia and Ban Eireland as also Indosat did well here.
So what does this mean for the rankings? First, Strava. Wow. Huge period for them on almost any terrain. They even created a decent gap already!
Wiesenhof also with a huge period going into 2nd. Though it`s a thrilling "every point counts" fight then. Ayubowan and Hugo Boss within 16 points there. And also Telkom from 15 to 5 and Visit Ukraine within 100 points! Close area there.
Then Coldeportes with a big drop down but still in range while Porto Prio keeps the contact with UBS gaining important steps and is back in the promotion fight.
Even the next teams are still not too far down and can get back into the promotion fight with one good result as it`s close prettmuch much until the relegation line.
Quite a bit down the line already In-n-Out as last. Aeropostal and Sancor also in huge danger. Sancor with Biondo`s surprise win in Dunkerque scored half their points there.
Shimano and Compal right now below the line as well but `"Summerhill can`t make it alone" Azteca just above with Flores and Lierse or Karcher and Eritel also in range.
1
5
Strava
1996
2
7
Wiesenhof - Andritz
1618
3
2
Ayubowan!
1607
4
3
Hugo Boss
1602
5
15
Team Telkom for Africa
1582
6
8
VisitUkraine p/b Nemiroff
1522
7
1
Coldeportes
1440
8
9
Porto - Prio
1387
9
14
Team UBS
1386
10
6
Valio - DeLaval
1290
11
4
Arrinera
1285
12
13
Netia - Norske Skog
1277
13
11
Banc na hÉireann
1194
14
23
Generali - AXA
1164
15
10
Spotify - Haglöfs
1146
16
12
Novatek-Panarmenian.net
1120
17
20
Euskaltel
1076
18
21
Meiji - JR East
1073
19
17
Vontobel
1067
20
27
Indosat - ANZ
1042
21
28
Eritel - Sonatrach
986
22
16
Karcher - Adira
942
23
26
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
935
24
18
Flores - Ceitec
866
25
25
Azteca - NBCSN
824
26
29
Compal-Merida
737
27
19
Shimano - Siam Cement Team
717
28
24
SanCor
672
29
22
Aeropostal Venezuela Ciclismo
619
30
30
In-n-Out p/b Carrefour
426
Often the projected rankings are saying the truth a lot more. And here Telkom makes the jump to the top as their PPRD is the most impressive one. Strava though still doing nicely while Porto Prio makes a huge jump as well onto the podium.
Wiesenhof, Hugo Boss and UBS all remain in the promotion fight while Ukraine and Ayubowan lose quite a bit here.
Surprise is Lierse. Jumping from relegation zone to a direct promotion spot. That said their used race days is ridiculous low and keeping that PPRD in the times of less cobbled classics will be difficult.
At the bottom not a lot of changes. Aeropostal looks the best still but still would end on a relegation spot while Eritel and Azteca climb a bit and look safe right now.
That all said, one good race can quickly change the look of the rankings as also the Tour of America is often a game changer for some teams.
Total
RD
PpRD
Proj
1
5
Team Telkom for Africa
1582
62
25,52
3573
2
1
Strava
1996
85
23,48
3287
3
8
Porto - Prio
1387
61
22,74
3184
4
2
Wiesenhof - Andritz
1618
73
22,16
3102
5
23
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
935
47
19,89
2785
6
4
Hugo Boss
1602
82
19,54
2736
7
9
Team UBS
1386
71
19,52
2733
8
6
VisitUkraine p/b Nemiroff
1522
82
18,56
2598
9
3
Ayubowan!
1607
89
18,06
2528
10
7
Coldeportes
1440
80
18
2520
11
21
Eritel - Sonatrach
986
57
17,3
2422
12
13
Banc na hÉireann
1194
74
16,14
2260
13
11
Arrinera
1285
80
16,06
2248
14
18
Meiji - JR East
1073
67
16,01
2241
15
12
Netia - Norske Skog
1277
82
15,57
2180
16
14
Generali - AXA
1164
75
15,52
2173
17
10
Valio - DeLaval
1290
86
15
2100
18
16
Novatek-Panarmenian.net
1120
75
14,93
2090
19
15
Spotify - Haglöfs
1146
81
14,15
1981
20
20
Indosat - ANZ
1042
75
13,89
1945
21
19
Vontobel
1067
80
13,34
1868
22
25
Azteca - NBCSN
824
63
13,08
1831
23
24
Flores - Ceitec
866
67
12,93
1810
24
17
Euskaltel
1076
86
12,51
1751
25
22
Karcher - Adira
942
81
11,63
1628
26
29
Aeropostal Venezuela Ciclismo
619
60
10,32
1445
27
26
Compal-Merida
737
76
9,7
1358
28
27
Shimano - Siam Cement Team
717
82
8,74
1224
29
28
SanCor
672
77
8,73
1222
30
30
In-n-Out p/b Carrefour
426
54
7,89
1105
Last but not least the rider ranking. It was a stage racer, puncheur dominated ranking last update. And in fact it is still dominated by stage racers such as Amador, Ricco or Uran.
Though the cobblers also are in the mix now with Summerhill in 2nd even and Baugnies in 8th.
The sprinters as well in there with Lo Cicero looking to be the dominant PCT sprinter this yera and surprisingly Van der Sande in 14th as next best ahead of Vantomme and Avelino or Kump.
The puncheurs around LLS, Cunego, Foomr and Costa also in the top15.
So a nice mix of all rider types but race days used is always important here and for example Dekker, who made a huge jump up to 27th hasn`t used as many as several other stage racers.
We've been quite bad lately, so I'm not surprised to see us drop. Hopefully we can pick up scoring again in the upcoming months, but for now I think we'd be better off focussing on staying safe (not that I expect any real trouble in that).
Strava looking huge already, not sure if they can keep it up but this is impressive in any case.
Our race days are ridiculously low indeed, no way we're getting to 5th place (we don't even want to promote). It feels good to finaly be out of the last 5 though, and with the direct competition having almost double our own race days, things are starting to look safe
Congrats to Strava for now, but the HC&C1 cobble classics would suffer a major loss if they promote.
Still going strong, far above all my pre-season expectations! Fighting for the top 10, and even having a rider in the individual top 10 is something I've never had done before, and I can say it feels good to finally be able to put up a real fight in the PCT. We still have a few races to go which should yield good points, mianly Portugal and Ukraine, but America may hurt us as we have no real GC ambitions there, and a sprinter which could do very well, or fail completely.
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game
Thanks for posting the rankings today roturn and sweeting my study-intense weekend and ofc to all the reporters who make the months flew by so fast with their race coverage! Amazing for us that we lead the PCT rankings at this point, although we fall a place behind in the projected rankings. Baugnies, Van der Sande and Langeveld definitely with a few great months between them. Now Gilbert, Vanendert and especially Modolo need to get some hill mojo back to keep us up there. Some people were talking about back-to-back recently.. I'm not that optimistic quite yet but things couldn't look better for us atm.
Nice to see the Cobra doing so well for Aidan's Telkom. I don't see Compal relegating and hoping Shimano escape the trap too.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Wow, thats an amzing in-depth ranking report. Thank you roturn!
We are climbing closer to the relegation line due to Dekkers performance in Romandie, which is very good news, but we still need more victories like that if we're gonna keep our place this season.
Huge congrats to Strava which are in a class of its own as it stands now.
The position I wanted to be before June and July. Now we just need to keep doing exactly the same we've done at South Africa and Olympia in Norway, Monterrey and all the rest. Bring it on!
As long as we dont relegate I will be happy with the outcome of this season. It is a transition year. However, I did think we would be a bit higher than 18th at this point, obviously our sprinters, which on paper look like our strongest area of the team in terms of depth just haven't performed. My only real goal at this point is that Kinoshita gets in the Top 10 riders ranking.
I expect we'll be slipping down from now on, since Amador's race schedule is pretty much over (I think he may have 1 or 2 left). I'd love to stay in the top 10, but I think that's unlikely by the end of the season.
Great update Roturn. Can't believe that Africa is doing so well. I would be thrilled to see them promote, especially now that we can expect Kenya to go down.
To see my former riders, Ricco and Ratiy being part of the team only makes it even better, but riders such as Eastman, Meintjes, Augustyn and Ben Nasser deserve to be Pro Tour riders. Both Eastman and Meintjes could score well in the PT being just 25 next season, although Eastman could do with some hilly training to be as good as he needs to be.
Clearly it will be a building period as Ricco can't be expected to score big, just like Ratiy who's more of a domestique at PT level (maybe even at PCT level).
Also very happy to see UBS climbing steadily towards promoting. I think the PT is nicer with them there. And finally the swiss talents are training eligeble and can become decent riders, while Schelling is maxing out. Spengler also a decent PT domestique next season if planned well. Amador clearly PT leading material. He should be winning small GC races, and podium the Grand Tours, instead of toying around in the PCT.
Porto also looking to promote, which is nice I think. Especially because of all that talent which is finally being ready for the PT. Reis, Vinhas, Borges, Nascimento, Ferreira and of course Avellino and Machado.
There's such a good group of guys and teams down the PCT that it is difficult to point out which should go up, but of course I miss some of the "old guys" who have been up before, like Heine and rjc, but I would also love to see "new guys" like Shonak up. Their tactical dispositions of this season has been absolutely stunning. The team doesn't have what I would normally think was a promoting setup. But three strong hilly riders, a couple of overperforming sprinters and a strong cobbled setup seems to do the trick, if the manager plans them well enough. It would take quite the rebuild to survive, but I would LOVE to see that in the off season, as I'm confident that Shonak can do it.
Starting from the top: Strava, what a season they're having. Already entrenching themselves on the top spot of the rankings with a ~300 point margin. It's going to be hard to dislodge them.
Behind them a nice group of teams proving worth of being called promotion contenders, from Wiesenhof to Visit Ukraine the differences are pretty narrow. However Telkom is definitely the most impressive. At some point I was afraid they were going to miss out on what could be a remarkable season, but fortunately things have taken a turn for the better.
As to us, I was under the impression that we didn't score enough to keep our influx of points, but it seems I was wrong. We still need to close a significant gap to the promotion places, but I like the place we're at.
At the bottom, things look grim for In-n Out, but there is still a good amount of months till the end of the season.
Thanks again, super roturn for this massive review of the past few months. Looking forward to the next races!
Thanks for a very comprehensive update roturn, much appreciated!
Strava look surprisingly comfortable at the top of the standings, which I don't think anyone predicted. I'd expect them to promote from here due to their depth, but the lack of cobbled races remaining should help drag them back towards the pack a little bit at least. I expect Telkom to suffer a similar drop in PPRD at some point, although they do look to be in a more sustainable position in the long run - it's a shame Aidan has been too busy this season to enjoy their run properly, but I'm sure he'll catch up.
Porto-Prio and Wiesenhof being where they are shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, and if I'm honest I expect those two to be fighting for the title at the end of the season, though of course Telkom and Strava will want to have their say. And then we move onto the battle for what should be the two remaining promotion places (with Metinvest disbanding).
Personally I'm inclined to see it as a five way battle for the two spots - the current teams from 6th to 10th on PPRD, with Lierse unlikely to keep up their scoring with not many cobbled races remaining, and I imagine some C2 races for their talents. Hugo Boss are probably in the strongest position of the five, as their depth in the hills should allow them to keep racking up points in every race, but a lot depends on how many races Costa and Kump have left. UBS need the rest of their team apart from Amador to actually show up, which should handicap them somewhat - and the same can be said of Visit Ukraine with regards to Cunego and Vanderbiest. In truth, I see Coldeportes as being a real threat for promotion with Uran and Guerao still having plenty of races left.
And that leads nicely onto my team, who by some weird twist of fate have stumbled into the promotion battle. The fact that we're involved in it despite Gautier barely racing (and underperforming when he has) gives me some confidence, as does the fact that Bellis and Bibby both have a reasonable amount of racedays left. I'm not convinced we're capable of finishing in the top 5, but 6th should at least be achievable from here. I may be being overly optimistic, but the fact that we've used the most RDs in the division and still maintained a good PPRD makes me hopeful we can stay in the race.
PPRD is ultra confusing for a team like mine... sure it looks okay but how many cobbles points are left? Think the majority of those are done now so there are a lot less points available. Probably need to find a way to come out with something from ToA to have any chance of staying up.
Kentaurus wrote:
PPRD is ultra confusing for a team like mine... sure it looks okay but how many cobbles points are left? Think the majority of those are done now so there are a lot less points available. Probably need to find a way to come out with something from ToA to have any chance of staying up.
Looks slightly threatening, yes. I do hope that you will stay up, as next season your team should be one to watch I think. Riders like Eduard Beltran, Johan Esteban Chaves and of course, Danny Summerhill, should make you a serious top 5 contender if planned well. Especially if you can then leave a few of those similar fill riders out, to make room for another 150K rider or so...
Strava! Wow, keep doing this great Shonak, i want to see and support Strava in PT as a fan!
Also, go go Visit Ukraine! You need that PT wage budget to snatch some of the ukrainian and other eastern european talents without a job for next year.
To be embroiled in a battle to stay up could be the most exciting thing to happen to Flores, by a long way! Only 1 win from Avancini so far, we are due another one. Our 'sprinter' on 24 points - that's a big reason where we are. Andorra will be a telling race for this team!
