It took a while for the PCT to get a new update unfortunately. Lots of races took place, 18 in total of which 6 were PTHC, 4 HC, 4 C1 including Tour of America and 4 C2 for the small points. Around 60 race days for each team.
The biggest points clearly came from the Tour of America for couple of teams, which I can already tell, plays a big role in promotion and relegation fight!
While Portugal and Maroc basically were promotion team fights, Balkans International again became a relegation scenario.
In HC it was a nice spread with actual the middle teams scoring best while C1 again delivered nice contests with Britain in especially having huge impact on relegation.
Part 1 - PTHC / HC
Whenenver there is the big races on the schedule, Popo4ever is there to dominate. Actually if it`s mountaineous as well. With Portugal and Osterreich in this period it was time for Pluchkin to shine. Best team in Austria and decent enough in Portugal with some additional points in Emelia and Balkan was enough to win the big race period by more than 100 points. Enough to enter the top5 for promotion?
Valio and PCT leader ISA Hexacta follow with a more balanced spread over all races.
Lierse in 4th being above 600 points as well is big news for them as they were close to the relegation area as 21st! Same Europcar just a bit later being 24th even before this standing.
Other than that cycleYorkshire made a bold move into promotion with a strong couple of races, in especially being best in Portugal.
Weaker period for promotion teams Rakuten, Campari and in especially Desigual.
Relegation wise Philips in the mid range, Carlsberg not that strong and Carrefour/Sauber realy in danger being pretty low. Worse for Andorra, 18th before but by far the weakest team in the big races.
Team
Por
Pto
Balk
Bat
Rhe
Mar
CSS
Ost
Lug
Eme
Total
Team Popo4Ever p/b Nemiroff
191
0
64
0
2
0
11
413
0
87
768
Valio - Viking Genetics
92
125
0
13
20
205
0
31
145
5
636
ISA - Hexacta
129
7
0
2
147
223
74
0
0
43
625
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
112
17
294
0
74
0
31
54
0
25
607
Team Europcar
102
50
327
0
0
0
5
81
31
0
596
cycleYorkshire
307
6
0
2
2
123
48
13
61
0
562
Delvaux
92
29
53
0
42
0
80
112
126
0
534
Duolingo
0
0
72
0
0
0
82
168
103
98
523
Team UBS
135
16
0
2
36
102
15
195
0
12
513
Minions
0
0
0
115
0
51
38
208
0
36
448
Xero Racing
289
37
0
40
0
46
0
17
11
5
445
Kraftwerk Man Machine
0
0
166
0
0
0
58
165
0
15
404
Swisslion Cycling Team
0
0
179
0
0
31
12
8
31
140
401
Berg Cycles
106
100
0
0
0
0
10
46
112
26
400
Rakuten Pro Cycling
0
0
106
0
0
0
150
0
137
0
393
Philips
38
34
132
0
28
0
45
0
0
75
352
Volvo acc. by Spotify
0
0
0
32
0
111
31
120
0
22
316
ENI - MOL
101
28
10
0
0
0
0
123
12
35
309
Campari/Asahi development
0
0
0
4
0
139
0
115
0
0
258
Carlsberg - Danske Bank
0
0
0
88
0
66
0
70
0
9
233
Desigual
0
0
0
18
0
127
9
23
0
50
227
Kulczyk - Alitalia
0
0
20
40
0
5
15
62
0
53
195
Carrefour - ESPN
0
0
140
0
0
0
0
31
13
10
194
Sauber Petronas Racing
4
70
0
0
8
0
0
97
10
0
189
Iberia - Team Degenkolb
0
0
0
0
0
13
98
0
0
61
172
Andorra Cycling Project
0
0
16
0
0
0
0
0
20
5
41
Part 2 - C1 / C2 / ToA
As average as Rakuten was in the big races, the reason might be in their strong Tour of America. 630 points is huge, Shikai really was strong and got them high up the ladder. This race alone was almost as good for them as Popo4ever`s big race period run!
Also good news for Carlsberg. Same race, same good performance. 402 points, mainly from Warbasse might help them to survive the PCT.
Following more relegation area teams though making it not easy for Carlsberg. Kraftwerk (19.), Lierse once more (21.) both with a decent ToA making room to the relegation area!
ISA Hexacta also had a strong ToA plus a good Tour of Britain, which might see them defend their lead in the rankings!
Following, all with strong ToA performances many relegation area teams, Sauber, Philips, Europcar and Andorra. All in the last third of the rankings!
Not the best performances for promotion teams Campari in the mid area but even less for Xero, cycleYorkshire and once more Desigual.
Popo4ever and UBS almost no points here, which hurts clearly.
Relegation wise Carrefour in the mid area struggling and so is Swisslion and also ENI-MOL back in the danger zone.
Team
Balt
Bri
ToA
Mto
Bul
Rio
Ijs
Hpi
Total
Rakuten Pro Cycling
0
0
630
46
0
0
0
16
692
Carlsberg - Danske Bank
0
14
402
8
0
0
0
0
424
Kraftwerk Man Machine
93
0
231
28
50
0
0
0
402
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
34
0
254
44
0
0
0
65
397
Iberia - Team Degenkolb
128
121
73
41
0
0
0
17
380
ISA - Hexacta
0
102
236
14
0
0
0
0
352
Sauber Petronas Racing
0
0
328
0
0
0
0
0
328
Philips
60
0
201
34
0
0
0
0
295
Team Europcar
0
28
223
0
0
0
0
0
251
Andorra Cycling Project
0
0
216
0
0
24
0
0
240
Volvo acc. by Spotify
96
91
0
10
0
32
3
0
232
Delvaux
92
136
0
0
0
0
0
0
228
Duolingo
39
0
177
0
0
0
0
0
216
Campari/Asahi development
195
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
195
Carrefour - ESPN
0
195
0
0
0
0
0
0
195
Valio - Viking Genetics
86
42
0
0
0
0
0
0
128
Xero Racing
77
46
0
0
0
0
0
0
123
cycleYorkshire
4
72
0
0
37
0
0
0
113
Swisslion Cycling Team
19
3
0
84
0
0
0
0
106
Kulczyk - Alitalia
0
61
0
38
0
0
0
0
99
Minions
11
30
0
0
0
0
42
0
83
Desigual
0
0
0
56
20
0
0
0
76
Team Popo4Ever p/b Nemiroff
0
15
0
20
0
0
0
0
35
Team UBS
0
0
0
10
0
0
0
0
10
ENI - MOL
0
9
0
0
0
0
0
0
9
Berg Cycles
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
2
Full Ranking
In total this means the following ranking. Keep in mind Deutschland is yet to be raced, which is good news for the following teams:
Andorra, Berg, Campari, Carlsberg, Carrefour, Desigual, Duolingo, Iberia, Kraftwerk, Minions, Rakuten, Sauber, Volvo.
ISA - Hexacta remains in the lead and with the formerly challengers Volvo, UBS. Desigual and Campari all having less strong periods, they even extended it.
Actually up to 2nd (from 7th) is Rakuten! The Tour of America can be hit or miss really. For them, it was a strong performance making them climb into promotion and creating a gap even.
Volvo and UBS remain in the top4 spots but the gap is not big. The final 3 races can really chance anything late in the season.
cycleYorkshire climbing a spot, being into the direct promotion area as well now, which means Campari and Desigual both dropped from those ranks. First at least is not far behind being the last team over 3000 points in total, while Desigual is struggling a lot more being passed by Popo4ever and Valio as well. Maybe adding Delvaux as 10th right now as final team with realistic late season promotion chances?
Xero could be said as well but it will be more difficult.
This also means that the Minions, Duolingo or Berg must probably forget about promotion as teh gap is now around 500+ points.
Lierse up to 15th is huge from just above the relegation line and also creating a 500 point gap!
Sauber and Philips seem desperate and with a too big gap now having less than 10 PpRD. Carrefour really not looking a lot better while Europcar and Andorra are not that far behind the safe zone.
Actually just 11 points in between Carlsberg above and Andorra below! Crazy intense fight until the last race. Both being in Deutschland actually different to Swisslion also just 42 points ahead, which already could make the difference! Huge pressure on the Swiss team.
ENI MOL being ~100 points ahead, which ould be enough but just like Kulczyk nothing to be too sure about yet.
The sky is the limit for Pluckin. 1708 points in PCT individually. Maybe the best ever PCT performances? This amount of points is crazy as is the gap to the next, who also had a big time season.
Beltran up to 2nd and Martin up to 3rd both passing Tenorio. All 4 were having huge seasons but no one came even close to big Pluchkin.
Izagirre up to 5th with Kinoshita following as 6th. Both with good races lately.
Uran, Degenkolb follow, which makes the German still the best sprinter of the division, which is weird as basically he always kept in my memory as consistent underperformer. At least the points say, he was doing better.
Shikai with a big move into the top10 after his Tour of America GC win followed by top cobbler Summerhill.
Always expected to be falling these last 2-3 months post-Portugal so not surprised with our poor performance. Would be nice to get our goal by clawing our way back into the top 10 but not super likely, hope we can finish with some action at least
Thanks for the update roturn!
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [PT] Xero Racing
If we had performed just a tiny bit better in the spring, we would've been clear the relegation line by now.
With only South Africa and Japan left, 100 points advantage for Carlsberg and Andorra seems too much for us to handle. I really don't see how we can make up that ground.
Now, some seriouse planning needs to be done infront of (yet another) CT-season.
Well, this seals it unfortunately. Just Kelderman languishing near the end of the Top 30 sums it up more or less.
Two races left and we hope to give it a good go before regrouping for the CT. Unfortunately, this probably means quite a few changes to the team in the off-season which puts our project back a couple of years at least.
Stuck in the midfield the entire season, which is quite boring. Promotion or even disband promotion is long gone. Thanks for the update and looking forward to the final few races!
We’ve managed to improve our form a bit after a poor midseason. Hopefully we can finish on a strong and secure that top 10 position. We should be able to score well in Japan and especially South Africa, so I hope we can challenge Valio and Desigual for 8th place. Popo4Ever could also be within reach with a bit of luck.
Really big month for us on our way to safety. Dont think I've even been this safe before, so I guess all I have to do now is cheer against my own riders so their wages stay lower?
Carlsberg close to doing another Houdini move to escape relegation. Europcar still falling short after such a great month is disappointing. Also insane to see Pluchkin outscoring entire teams.
Man, relegating is going to be absolutely heartbreaking.... Maybe Coppell goes crazy at the Deutschland Tour, although it probably doesn't matter honestly
Very close fight for the last promotion spot, I'm hoping wee can stay in contention. We don't really have a great option for leader in either of the last races so we'll need our team mates to step up and do something.
Bushwackers wrote:
Very close fight for the last promotion spot, I'm hoping wee can stay in contention. We don't really have a great option for leader in either of the last races so we'll need our team mates to step up and do something.
Thanks for the update.
Really rooting for you here. Would be crucial for Swiss cycling to again have a team in the PT! (even though competition for the interesting riders would be even higher ). Hope you won't miss out on your goal by 4 points or so again...
AbhishekLFC wrote:
Well, this seals it unfortunately. Just Kelderman languishing near the end of the Top 30 sums it up more or less.
Two races left and we hope to give it a good go before regrouping for the CT. Unfortunately, this probably means quite a few changes to the team in the off-season which puts our project back a couple of years at least.
Awesome update. Wasn't sure if we were just going to be sneaking into the promotion spots or not, but to be 2nd, with a nice cushion to 5th is great.
I think we did so poorly in the PTHC/HC category, simply because we didn't race. The races we did ride, all were over 100 pointers. Add to that the ToA and I cant believe we are in 2nd place. 1st looks out of range but I think with only a few races left, including Japan which we should do well at (possibly even win), and I have to say, promotion is looking pretty good for us.
AbhishekLFC wrote:
Well, this seals it unfortunately. Just Kelderman languishing near the end of the Top 30 sums it up more or less.
Two races left and we hope to give it a good go before regrouping for the CT. Unfortunately, this probably means quite a few changes to the team in the off-season which puts our project back a couple of years at least.
Really sucks, who coulda seen it coming?
You didn't because you never mentioned it before the season started
Well having a 150pt gap gives us hope. I don’t feel super confident atm so it depends on who we and Campari have in our lineups for the last couple races to see who gets promotion. Still a good season mind you but I’d love promotion.
Hopefully the others are too far behind us to make a difference
John St Ledger in Team Bunzl-Centrica and Team U25
Not much to say besides an awful showing recently from the Desigual boys. Simon Yates has been a massive letdown this season, Justo Tenorio has produced like he should (nothing amazing), Omar Fraile has been the standout and Rick Zabel is struggling to match the season he had a season ago.
Overall, looking like another year in the PCT is ahead. Not great when I had a few talents coming through the ranks that need to go from Level 4 to Max.
With just one race left and most teams at the start, some interesting battles yet to come.
ISA Hexacta might be safe to win the division actually. Volvo has passed Rakuten but the race is the Japanese home race and could swap them back into 2nd.
UBS as 4th looking to promote but it`s close as cycleYorkshire is not far behind.
And Delvaux with a huge step forward into a position to potentially attack the promotion spots as well. Same for Campari not far behind neither while there is a bigger gap to Popo4ever and Duolingo.
Also some top10 fights clearly with small points in between and same for top15.
More intense though the relegation spots. Sauber and Philips likely going down, Europcar also with a bit of a gap.
But then Carlsberg and Andorra just under the line but Carrefour and Swisslion and also Kulczyk and ENI MOL are super close. The Danes might struggle to grab enough points, Andorra really could become a threat as it`s 40 points in between 5 teams for one relegation spot and Carlsberg just another 42 behind.
). Hope you won't miss out on your goal by 4 points or so again...
