It's to early to say the exact number of teams who will be promoting or relegation, but it's not too early to reveal the final standings of the 2014 season!
PCT
Early on in the year it looked like Venchi would dominate the division, but as they slipped away it was a battle between Quickstep and Heineken which took precedence. In the end, Quickstep were too good and two years after triumphing in D2, and a solid mid-table finish last year, they are now back to that top spot! 4 stage races and 3 classic wins across the season for them.
Heineken hold on to 2nd but it was oh so close as Oz Cycling finish just 14 points adrift. It's a season that was built upon TT success for Oz, but the impressive success of Bobridge in the hills has been key for them in the closing stages. 4 consecutive classic wins at the end of June and start of July really catapulted them into place, for a season total of 2 stage races and 6 classics. Mountains had been key for Heineken, as they won 5 stage races this year.
Venchi and Bacardi complete the Top 5, to return to the ProTour. A remarkable 4 stage races and 7 classic wins for Venchi, but ultimately they lacked the depth to challenge for the title. The last of those wins in Japan sealed their position above Bacardi, who may be disappointed with just 2 stage races and 3 classics given the strength of their leaders.
Just the 1 stage race win for CSC-Orbea, but strong consistent performances from much of their aging leaders was key for them and a remarkable comeback from a saved relegation to CT last season, to promotion to PT last year!
Gazelle could yet join them after another great year. By far the strongest of the promoted CT teams, but could you expect anything less from the team which domination that division last year?
La Vie Claire hold on to 9th after some surprisingly strong results in the first half of the year could not quite be matched. Meiji started well too, and just about recover from their dip to secure 10th place. Metinvest take 11th, and it was all about the 2nd half of the season from them, having been projected to relegate for some time!
In a very tight fight for 12th, the inactive Magna cling on after what was an impressive year. They finish just 2 points ahead of Puma, while the finish of Betancourt put FCB-Polska just a further 14 points away. Amex lost out at the end - and for choosing not to use 175 race days - but cling on to 15th.
Kazzinc, Swedbank and Kappa all make the Top 20 - and completing that round number is RBC Pro Cycling. Japan delivered for them, and they overtake Karcher at the last fence. 22nd for Privatbank - never really in danger of relegation, but never much higher either, a season to build on for them.
Allainz and Hornbach cling to safety by points - if not by activity - and Ben Nasser's dissappearance halfway through Japan ultimately had no negative effect for his team.
Boeing came closest in the end, but lacked the firepower, while Project:Africa, Mobil and Belarusbank join them as teams in the relegation zone having come up from CT last year. Compal-Merida finish bottom of PCT for the 2nd year in a row. They really are going to go down this time!
Team
Total
PpRD
1
Quickstep
5210
29.771
2
Heineken-Cal Giant
4745
27.114
3
Oz Cycling Project
4731
27.190
4
Venchi - Ferranti
4152
23.726
5
Bacardi Limited
4087
23.354
6
Team CSC - Orbea
3560
20.343
7
Gazelle
3270
18.793
8
Jaguar - Eritel
3093
17.088
9
La Vie Claire
2715
15.514
10
Meiji - Cannondale
2661
15.206
11
Metinvest-Emirates
2538
14.503
12
Magna-Ryanair
2480
14.171
13
Team Puma - SAP
2478
14.160
14
FCB - Polska
2464
14.080
15
AMEXpc
2456
14.533
16
Repsol-Cativen
2443
13.960
17
Kazzinc Procycling
2367
13.526
18
Swedbank-PEAB
2345
13.400
19
Kappa - ENI
2193
12.531
20
RBC Pro Cycling
2127
12.154
21
Karcher-Adira Racing
2100
12.000
22
Privatbank - Nemiroff
1927
11.011
23
Allianz-BMW
1709
9.766
24
Team Hornbach
1670
9.543
25
Team Kenya Airways
1642
9.383
26
Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling
1439
8.270
27
Project: Africa
1369
7.868
28
Mobil - Aeropostal Ciclismo
1326
7.577
29
BelarusBank Pro Cycling
1307
7.511
30
Compal-Merida
1025
5.857
The top of the individual rankings is dominated by the Mountain climbers - though not at the very top by the strongest climbers in the division. Intxausti managed 3rd, but Uran was down in 18th.
Instead Janez Brajkovic is the division's top individual, with Florentino Marquez a surprisingly high 2nd place. With Pozzovivvo up there too, the only non-Mountains rider in the Top 5 was Jack Bobridge - he won in the time trials, and he won on the hills. Sprint/hill all round Van Stayen ended up 6th.
Best of the pure puncheurs were Betancourt and Di Maggio in the Top 10, while Ben Nasser, Ulissi and Froome only squeezed into the Top 20. Van Stayen aside, Ciolek is the star sprinter of the division in 9th, with Holloway and Vantomme making the Top 20.
Abal completes the Top 10, ahead of all rounder Bibby.
12 teams stood out at the top of the division this year, and those 12 will all be making their way up to PCT next year. Nutresa topped the tables in a case of consistency over huge success, with only 1 stage race and 1 classic throughout the year. Only Beltran was high up the individual standings for them, but 7 in the Top 80 clearly made a difference.
Bonsucro are another to fit that mould, with Borges their best placed individually in 14th. 2 stage races and 1 classic in the year for them, they had 7 riders in the Top 70, and that was key. Always projected to finish top, they fell just short, but have had a really great year regardless.
Activity cost ONCE-Eroski promotion last year, but this year they are heading up. They became the 2nd CT team to put faith in Arroyo and while individually he may have underwhelmed - despite being their best scorer - there's no doubt that his presence led to regular overperformances from Jaroslav Kulhavy. 3 riders in the Top 10 did it for them, with only 1 more in the Top 100 - a clear difference from the strategy of the two above them.
King of the Breakaways, Euskaltel take 4th place despite a single stand out rider, their Top 6 riders ranked between 34 and 63, all benefiting from breakaways during the year. It would be unfair to call Vontobel or Siam Cement one man teams, but it can't be denied that their team leader was vital for them. And a final victory for Wyss secures his team the Top 5, despite Sayar taking a season-best result for Siam.
Risa, Azteca, Bank of Ireland and Evonik hold on to their Top 10 positions - more of a cling on for Evonik, just 7 points ahead of a fast finishing TomTom. Risa, like Sauber in 12th, earn promotion in their 2nd season. While the other 4 make it up on the first attempt after handling this season very well - special mention to TomTom for doing it as a mid-transfers team entry.
In-n-out's season peaked on the very first day. After winning their first classic, that was their only overall win of the season. ASDA-Savers couldn't fly as high as some predicted, despite a steady stream of TT wins for Stannard, while Lierse have the unfortunate position as highest placed active CT team who failed to win a race. Dell and Ameriabank complete the Top 20.
Eddie Stobart were early breakaway kings but lost their crown to Euskaltel and slipped to 21st. They, Alpina, and Carlsberg all have one season under their belt now, and something to work on in CT next year. Live Nation couldn't avoid bottom spot, but the same applies to them.
Team
Total
PpRD
1
Grupo Nutresa
1854
12.360
2
Bonsucro
1793
11.953
3
ONCE-Eroski Cycling Team
1785
11.900
4
Euskaltel - Bavaria
1594
10.627
5
Team Vontobel
1547
10.313
6
Siam Cement - Lenovo
1538
10.253
7
Risa - Ergon
1467
9.780
8
Azteca-NBCSN
1392
9.280
9
Bank of Ireland - Irish Cycling
1361
9.073
10
Evonik - Signal Iduna
1326
8.840
11
Team TomTom
1319
8.793
12
Sauber Petronas
1289
8.593
13
Team Nordeus
1103
7.353
14
In-n-Out Racing p/b Auchan
1075
7.167
15
Fletcher-Garneau
1008
6.720
16
Maloja Mountain Nomads
958
6.387
17
Team ASDA-Savers
945
6.342
18
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo Cycling Team
876
5.840
19
Dell - 361° Racing
824
5.493
20
Team Ameriabank-Novatek
740
4.933
21
Eddie Stobart Pro Cycling
724
4.827
22
Alpina - Avianca
705
4.700
23
Team Carlsberg - Danske Bank
666
4.440
24
Team Chiquita-Universal
632
4.213
25
Wounded Warrior
622
4.174
26
Team Live Nation
570
3.800
We've already praised Vitor Rodrigues in the penultimate rankings update, and his impressive consistency for winning shows up in a big Individual rankings win. It is no Portugese 1-2 though, after Wyss pushes past Mendes on the final day.
Geschke won stages but no overall race, but still it was enough to finish 4th. Beltran is a surprise figure in 5th, but he picked out two HC stage races Pologne and Utah to shine in, and really backed his manager's gamble to not loan him for XP, it certainly won them the division.
Arroyo was perhaps expected to win the individual rankings both this year and last. Just 12th last year, so 6th now is at least an improvement. Marentes and Kulhaby would not have expected to be close to the Top 10, but made it.
Guillen is the top sprinter in 8th, with Meyer, Matthews, Farrar, Forero and Manarelli the next best fast men. Stannard flies the flag for time triallists in 15th, while Zoidl is close behind for 18th.
There was a big drop for last year's Individual rankings winner Daniel Moreno, as he barely scraped into the Top 100 this year. The rest of last year's Top 10 all headed off to PCT, so it is anyone's call on who will be top of this table next season.
We'll definately will have to improve if we want to stay up, but with Prevar finally joining we'll have a strong core ready Edited by fjhoekie on 07-03-2015 12:55
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game
Even though it was obvious for quite a while now, it`s a pity to see very active teams going down, while just a bit above there were those inactive teams.
Really nice to see Oz and CSC in PT next year. In especially with the disbanding of Santander, good to see they picking up the Spaniards.
Quite a pity to probably not being in the same division next year.
The other teams obviously as well. Edited by roturn on 07-03-2015 12:54
Damn close to Heineken, but that's okay. Bobridge will kill me in off-season, but he has been awesome. Guess it paid off to let him race a few classics instead of Bayern or Ukraine, where Koren scored some points in his place.. Goss, Rogers and Del Nero/Visconti added nice points. So did Michael Ford with 6 stage-wins. Too bad he won't be much of a threat in PT
Once I did the race planning, i definitely fancied our chances to fight for promotion. But thanks to our leaders not truly failing anywhere (except of Goss a few times) we just rocked the division eventually
Pretty sure i will look back to this season at some point next year. Tough challenges ahead, but it's all about going for the best possible.
Congrats to all succesfull teams, all active managers (no matter how you will end up racing next year) and thanks to SN and all reporters for an exciting PCT season!
Big drop in the last months. Still managed to avoid relegation with a pretty wide margin. Improvements is needed for next season, and with only one rider in the top 50 and three in the top 150, big changes has to be done to the depth of our team.
Intxausti behind Marquez, Ulissi behind Di Maggio & Betancur and Uran behind Cataldo pretty much sums up my season. We managed to have a very consistent season, with Uran & Intxausti lowest GC-placing being a 6th place and Ulissi finishing 10th as his lowest (i think he didn't finish out of a top 10 atleast).
Getting beaten by riders like Froome, Bobridge, Pozzovivo & Brajkovic would have made sense. Those riders are all more or less on the same level. But to many times did my leaders also get beaten out by riders like Di Maggio, Marquez, Betancur and heck, even Cataldo had a better season then Uran.
Then again, we did end up getting promoted and achieving 4/5 of our goals, so i'm definately in a good place, as i do think my team will have to make less changes in the off-season then other promoting teams. We have the leaders (who do need some training for PT), but they've shown in the wildcard races that they can still perform on PT level. Ulissi got 10th in MSR and 5th in LBL, while Intxausti managed 10th in the tour. And with Santader disbanding, i can add some nice Spanish depth to my team .
So in the end, while i am a bit disappointed that we didn't get more out of the season, i'm still happy with the season and especially looking forward to next year.
Thanks to all the reporters and SN for yet another great season!
9th! But could have been so much more had Reus and Haussler performed like their stats indicated they could. 5 in the Top 75 and only 2 of our riders not scoring points are both impressive statistics, just need to build on that for next season. Congrats to Quick Step, I'll happily take the mantle of 2nd best exD2 team behind them
Well, thanks for the SN, the reporters, and all the managers for this great season!
Even though with all the rtoubles PCM gave to the season, it was still great fun. Sad we're dropping, with 0/5 goals done. Well, time to try to bounce back imediatelly next season!
@fjhoekie: That certainly is the spirit - indeed the spirit of the likes of Oz Cycling and Meiji. I recall those times when they were the Boeing, Mobil, Compals of the division battling for the wooden spoon!
Certainly the highlights for me from the PCT Division has been the emergence of Oz Cycling as a real force. It is going to be great fun having tsmoha attempting to navigate the ProTour next year.
A welcome back for Kami and Sykkel Freak, certainly and ironically given they finished 5th here, I feel Bacardi will be best poised of all promoted teams to hold onto their Protour status with the guys they have Uran, Intxausti, Ullissi are certainly a good nucleus.
Another highlight for me is the old CDiv2 guys (the first year experiement run by me a couple of years back) or as I refer to them as 'Smowz's babes' (very different from TMM's babes) and their emergence. Indeed we all knew Alak was the powerhouse but seeing jph, Avin and to a certain extent a steady improve from mhaley is heartening. Keep the good times going guys as I see you as big favourites to be up there fighting next year. Alak of course I know have to deal with in the Protour - the nightmare is upon us
Down at the other end, it is sad but unsurprising that the rear end is populated by Asiatic, African and Eastern Euro based teams that need that experience before they can be competing. Of course we have seen over time that we blend those current raw diamonds with some good points scorers, one can really move up the division. Not sure how relegation will guy but certainly some reductions have always been needed down at Compal and re-promotion or even re-branding is always an option
Nice to see my riders on CT level doing that well.
66 points by Edmondson is awesome as level 1.
Schachmann as level 3 with 75 points is also more than I thought.
Grand only 8 but he had mainly helper tasks.
And Geschke as top5 just doing, what I wanted to see. After last season and some planning changes, when I considered to prefer seeing him winning for a German team, I think he did exactly that. Well done to Evonik with him as nice leader.
Pah, fucking Wyss.
Other than that, no changes. Very happy with our debut season, definitely something to build on in the big bad PCT. Mendes not winning a single classic was a bit of a shock, I'll have to admit, but taking three GCs definitely made up for that. Drapac also did allright, if not outstanding. Both will be available for a move next year though, so keep your eyes open for them, new CT managers.
First of all, congratulations to Quickstep (OP pls nerf), Oz, CSC who I never expected to strike back in this way after only being miraculously saved last year and our fellow relegated teams Heineken, Venchi (I'm still not over Van Stayen!) and Bacardi for taking the certain promotion spots. You all deserve to go up!
Meh, two points. But on the other hand, only 35 points from completely missing that goal, so I gotta take 13th place. Especially after my relegation fears throughout the really shitty first months of the season, even coming that close to the Top 10 has to be considered a success. We definitely didn't miss out on the goal because of the second season half.
Ciolek did his best to follow in Bennati's footsteps (although it will do horrible things to his wage request...) and Nerz definitely overperformed in some key races when I compare his points tally with some other 78 climbers.
Kelderman never really got going too well but Japan kinda salvaged him a bit and I'm absolutely sure the 2015 Kelderman will have nothing in common with the 2014 Kelderman.
And last but definitely not least, Silvio Herklotz!
Finishing the season within 10 points of Efimkin, Weening, Serpa, Samwel, Bilbao and Hategeka...he wasn't even THAT overpaid with 525k in the end
I don't want to forget to thank my fellow fighters for the non-promotion spots for putting up a great fight, I'm sure we will continue to fight next season, especially Meiji and Metinvest and La Vie Claire (if the latter stay PCT) have the best chances to fight us for the top spots next year, and all have very likeable managers to add to that!
Of course the biggest thank you goes to SN for keeping this thing alive for yet another year and all the reporters for carrying it on. I gotta highlight tsmoha and roturn here, the effort you put into this is incredible and unmatched.
Let's get this off-season rolling, shall we? Edited by cio93 on 07-03-2015 13:17
I am obviously not happy with our position, but considering we spent one of the worst teams in the CT to a quiet place in PTC in one year proves that we are on the right track.
Clearly our claims to the top15 were clearly affected by the lack of a true leader.with a rider able to win 500 or 600 points in one season, we would have clearly possibility of finishing in the desired place.
Still have to be content with the depth of the team, Sérgio Sousa 149pts and João Cabreira 117pts were two of the more surprised by the positive
Must start by highlighting with great thanks the efforts of the reporters and overall coordination by SN to provide what has been a highly entertaining 2014 season.
Input from fellow managers to the overall MG experience also adds considerable value - thanks to all. I'll stop there otherwise I might cry, this isn't an oscar acceptance speech after all! .
Nutresa are chuffed to win the CT having faced stiff opposition throughout the season. Pleased to see that multiple approaches to team set-up can create success in CT (e.g. strength in depth vs. 2 or 3 stand out leaders). Life in PCT might in general better suit the 2nd approach from observation this year, but we hope that as long as transfer season is not too unkind to continue with the depth based approach. Also more Colombians needed onboard next year!
Look forward to crossing swords with CT adversaries from this season and new foes from the upper divisions in PCT in 2015.
cio93 wrote:
First of all, congratulations to Quickstep (OP pls nerf), Oz, CSC who I never expected to strike back in this way after only being miraculously saved last year and our fellow relegated teams Heineken, Venchi (I'm still not over Van Stayen!) and Bacardi for taking the certain promotion spots. You all deserve to go up!
Meh, two points. But on the other hand, only 35 points from completely missing that goal, so I gotta take 13th place. Especially after my relegation fears throughout the really shitty first months of the season, even coming that close to the Top 10 has to be considered a success. We definitely didn't miss out on the goal because of the second season half.
Ciolek did his best to follow in Bennati's footsteps (although it will do horrible things to his wage request...) and Nerz definitely overperformed in some key races when I compare his points tally with some other 78 climbers.
Kelderman never really got going too well but Japan kinda salvaged him a bit and I'm absolutely sure the 2015 Kelderman will have nothing in common with the 2014 Kelderman.
And last but definitely not least, Silvio Herklotz!
Finishing the season within 10 points of Efimkin, Weening, Serpa, Samwel, Bilbao and Hategeka...he wasn't even THAT overpaid with 525k in the end
I don't want to forget to thank my fellow fighters for the non-promotion spots for putting up a great fight, I'm sure we will continue to fight next season, especially Meiji and Metinvest and La Vie Claire (if the latter stay PCT) have the best chances to fight us for the top spots next year, and all have very likeable managers to add to that!
Of course the biggest thank you goes to SN for keeping this thing alive for yet another year and all the reporters for carrying it on. I gotta highlight tsmoha and roturn here, the effort you put into this is incredible and unmatched.
Let's get this off-season rolling, shall we?
All those teams make me a bit afraid to go back to PT immediately. Your team surely should be better and also Metinvest is not worse.
72% of our points scored by Haga and Selander, we need more depth...
Congrats to Quicktep and Nutresa, both deserved winners
Also, congratulations to those promoted and to those who achieved their goals. My condoleances to those relegated
Ended up slightly anti-climactically in Japan with minimal rankings changes.
Quickstep were just insane everywhere. Just imagine if Froome and Baugniers hand't been completely tactically inept half the time
Oz were also amazing to watch. A team that has taken some time to build up and really using it's core of Aussie riders to go to the PT, so happy for them.
Heineken, Venchi and Bacardi doing the expected in the end in terms of promotion. But all can be slightly annoyed to be out done by Quickstep and/or Oz.
Plus excellent to see CSC in 6th place. A really different philosophy that really paid off. They will be most interesting team to watch this off-season.
Very impressed by Magna, shame they are inactive. Same for Repsol as well, i had them 21st and below pre-season.
The individual rankings show off our biggest problem in the end. Geraint was only 54th and Lloyd outscored Panayotov. We needed a bigger year from Petar, even though he was decent, and we desparately needed a big scorer. It wasn't the lack of depth that did it for us it was the lack of a big star (and those goddamn inactive teams constantly stealing our points!).
26th is still a final position to be proud of when you look at our squad and those teams we beat in Africa and Mobil. At the least we put ourselves in the best position to be saved if the chance opens up. I couldn't ask any more of the riders, they really did an amazing job and put in the fight right to the last day. Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose.
_______
Nutresa well deserved CT champions. Excellent mixture of all-round winners and luck. Bonsucro and ONCE worthy podium'ers as well. Euskaltel surprised me for 4th place but cetainly they earned that one. Great to see Vontobel jump to 5th in the final race, the most dramatic rankings result of the final races.
From 6th onwards very close and because it's the end of the season you've got to say that is the correct order on balance. Down to 12th look good to move up and they all deserve that chance.
At least most of the inactive CT teams were in the lower half. But shame to see Live Nation proping up the table, they really should have had much more this season that the ultimate wooden spoon award.
_______
The individual rankings for both divisions show where the most points are available. As a team that doesn't go for the GC competions on the whole we are always going to be fighting an uphill battle. Certainly in the CT perhaps it might be worth looking at the Points Scales to get some more variety towards the top end.
Rodrigues was just a beast for Siam, no doubt about that. Same for Brajkovic for Heineken. Both riders really deserving of their personal and team achievments. You can't feel hard done by or bad about that.
______
Time to wait a little longer before deciding on how i'll take my team forwads, still holding out for that miracle save (you will never crush my spirit!). Certainly i won't jepardise the heart of the team, with the Bulgarians being #1 priority (apart from one or two who've gotten too much of a free ride) ahead of out talents.
Relegation was always expected and planned for. We've got a great selection of talents to build on, i just wonder how many we can hold through renewals whilst thinking of trying to get a successful year in whilst we have the advantage over new managers in CT (if we do go CT.... which we won't!)
I've been trying to find a gif to summarise the season for B3B but it's very very hard to do so, this one seems to do it simply and efficiently:
I am very happy (to see the season finishing).
This has been a tough year for all of us, after really having the belief to stay up prior to the season. But we'll work hard in the off season, do some smart signings and come back stronger than ever.
Smowz wrote:
Not sure how relegation will guy but certainly some reductions have always been needed down at Compal
Actually, often the way to success in team sport goes through having a solid depth of good riders. Well. Now we only lack the good riders
I think we can strike back and be really competitive in, let's say, 5 seasons time, with building up new Asian talents, maxing out some of our young riders etc. It will be fun to be one of the leading teams for a change. (Or we will suck donkey balls once again)
SN, please don't add another tier. I don't want any further chances of relegations Edited by Bjartne on 07-03-2015 13:37
![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg){kind=small}
