16! Races took place since the last update. So a lot might have changed.
Keep in mind some races are still missing, which is in the PCT division basically the Tour of America, USA PCC and Rund um Koln. In especially the CT Grand Tour will surely see changes for successful teams!
Part 1
The first 8 races include:
San Luis, Celtic Chrono, Bayern, Bulgaria, Sakartvelo, Kenya Mountain, Nantalaha, Beijing. Let`s see who did best there:
To make it short. The three C2 runs didn`t deliver too much except for Kulzcyk taking 61 points in San Luis, while Bulgaria and Sakartvelo had the maximum of 39 points for cycleYorkshire and 29 for each Philips and WCC.
The Chrono was won by Carrefour with Coppel and hence big points for them followed by well known TT team cycleYorkshire.
Bayern then had 135 points for Indosat as Keizer did very well there. And yet again Carrefour with Coppel scored nicely. Quite needed seeing the team is in relegation danger. Nantalaha was won by Novatek`s Schreurs, which delivered them 100 points in total.
Last two races were HC events in Kenya and Beijing. First saw Philips taking the win with Henao while also Xero, Spar, Euskaltel did well there. Beijing then as the big points in the first half and it`s Kulczyk taking the crown here with almost 300 points as Lutsenko was the star of the race! In a packed field none of Ulissi, McCarthy, Kinoshita or Flügel were able to come close. Lierse as team stood out as well due to great depth.
So the winner of part 1 is unsurprisingly Kulczyk due to the strong Beijing effort, which alone had been podium material in those events. Philips and Meiji to follow while it wasn`t a good month for Iberia/Netia/Nordstrom and others.
Team
Total
Lui
CC
Bay
Bul
Sak
Ken
Nan
Bej
1
Team Reddit
391
0
36
45
0
0
11
0
299
2
Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ
327
0
48
135
0
0
43
0
101
3
Philips - Continental
297
0
0
65
0
29
160
0
43
4
Generali - EDF
292
0
15
99
0
0
0
0
178
5
Meiji - JR East
285
0
0
90
0
0
17
2
176
6
Euskaltel - Elior
282
0
41
88
0
0
82
0
71
7
Carrefour - ESPN
274
0
82
168
0
0
0
0
24
8
cycleYorkshire
267
0
63
18
39
0
45
0
102
9
SPAR - Shimano - SCG
231
0
16
57
0
0
80
56
22
10
Kraftwerk Man Machine
207
0
28
13
0
0
9
0
157
11
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
201
0
0
0
0
0
15
0
186
12
Novatek-Panarmenian.net
195
0
43
46
0
6
0
100
0
13
World Cycling Centre
159
0
0
0
0
29
58
0
72
14
Azteca - NBCSN
157
0
0
84
0
0
31
18
24
15
Xero Racing p/b Octagon
144
24
0
0
0
0
98
0
22
16
Team Popo4Ever p/b Nemiroff
132
0
10
72
18
0
0
32
0
17
Ayubowan!
126
0
0
0
0
0
8
0
118
18
Repsol - Netflix
125
0
0
12
0
0
31
11
71
19
Kulczyk - DMTEX
111
61
4
0
0
0
24
0
22
20
Minions
107
0
11
0
0
0
71
0
25
21
Fablok - Bank BGZ
104
0
27
0
0
15
0
4
58
22
Podium Ambition
85
0
0
0
0
0
22
0
63
23
Carlsberg - Danske Bank
68
0
0
0
0
0
7
2
59
24
Nordstrom - BioWare
47
0
0
0
0
0
0
5
42
25
Netia - Vónin
46
0
0
0
0
0
0
28
18
26
Iberia - Team Degenkolb
37
0
0
0
0
0
0
37
0
Part 2
This part includes the PTHC events Portugal, Balkan and Deutschland, which makes it the higher scoring part.
Also HC in Austria alongside C1 in Macskako, Baltic and Britain with Rio having small C2 efforts.
Let`s start with the smaller races. Rio: 10 small points to Philips. More points in the C1 events. Kulczyk basically continued strong with the win in Macskako of Baugnies. Iberia dominated Baltic Chain basically and they were the top scoring and winning team with Kraftwerk, Minions and Novatek also scoring and 3-digits. Tour of Britain then had Carrefour also continuing strong with the GC win but the top scoring team is Fablok due to better stage results or depth.
Int. Österreich had 419 big points for the GC winner Popo4ever. Well Pluchkin was expected to win it, so no surprise. Big points as well for Minions, SPAR, Indosat and also Kulzcyk continued with high scoring.
While this was the individual top scoring performance, the PTHC events had huge scoring as well. Fablok in Portugal beating the PT teams as Roche perfectly played his variability and also Meintjes, Adam Yates and a bit surprising Ndayisenga had high scores.
The Balkans event was won by the PT teams but still 3 mentionable performances. Yet again Lutsenko, a PT worthy puncheur, with 200 points for Reddit, Kinoshita and Flügel also with 129 and 118 points.
Last but not least Deutschland, where Carrefour`s clear leader Coppel showed his skills and did beat the PT teams which led to 297 points scored for the team making them likely to move out of the relegation area. Top PCT team Generali and Iberia also with high scoring.
Full Ranking
First of all, Generali remains in the top seat. Their gap might have become a bit less but still very comfortable.
SPAR and Fablok changed their podium seats but also look good and so is now Indosat, which are back to the promotion area after having a bit of a weaker mid season.
Repsol as last top5 team remains high up there without having that big standout result lately.
It`s super close though behind and from Iberia, Minions, Podium Ambitions up to basically Novatek in 18th or even further, 1-2 good races can mix it up completely.
Same at the bottom. Except for Azteca, all teams look to have chances still. Nordstrom and Euskaltel might have difficulties but Carlsberg, WCC almost are small points away from the safe zone where Netia significantly dropped just ahead this period. Kraftwerk, Carrefour the big winners most recently.
Keep in mind that some teams still have the Tour of America, which is already counted in the RD/PpRD/Projections though!
This in especially impacts Podium Ambitions and Kulczyk in the promotion fight as also Ayubowan and on the other side maybe Azteca but more likely WCC and Kraftwerk.
Pluchkin remains dominantly in front, clearly being the PCT top rider this month. Coppel from 9th to 2nd with a huge jump but also showing his PT skills while Degenkolb from 4th to 3rd remains high up there.
Lutsenko from 15th to 4th also impressive becoming the top division puncheur while Baugnies dropped from 2nd to 6th despite a classic win but also remains the best cobbler.
Uran in 5th the best stage racer outside Pluchkin and ahead of Denifl and Keizer, while Kwiatkowski is the best allrounder and ahead of Ulissi in the top10.
Surprises on the negative, probably Kinoshita only at 26th, Blythe 29th, Velits 33rd or Froome 35th and Izagirre 38th alongside several others such as Roche, Berhane, Burghardt, Zepuntke, Costa...
Well we've got a chance! It's a very small and unlikely chance but it's a chance. Really, we need to hope that WCC has a very average Tour of America and then one of Carlsberg or Netia to have an unlucky run in to the finish. Although possible, we need to outscore these teams by 150 points in the races that we have left which will be a challenge given what we have.
Realistically it's:
Rund um Koln- will be a 0 pointer
San Sebastian, Milano- Torino, Emilia and Japan Cup will need breakaways or something miraculous given the scoring ability of our hills squad this season.
Barbados Cycling Festival- always a tough race to call, Bouhanni has done alright here in the past but him and Moser haven't worked well together. This race is going to have to be a huge scorer for me.
Hard to believe there are worse teams than us, but it seems Beijing was a lot better then we estimated. Patience with Waeytens, Cerny and Moscon finaly pays off.
Kraftwerk is likely to pass us, so we have to keep all the rest behind us. With mostly Waeytens races coming up, I don't feel very safe yet.
Edited by Ollfardh on 05-07-2019 13:00
Looking good but not great. I think we'll end up missing on promotion, but it will be much closer than i could expect before the season. Probably comes down to what Kudus can do in Maroc. If he has his early season form, a great result in Maroc could give us what we need to stay in that 5th place
Well, what can I say... As someone who absolutely feared relegation, this exceeds my wildest dreams. Every rider performed when it mattered, only with the exception of one or two races, and it seems like my top 15 goal has been guaranteed with many hilly races and ToA yet to come.
The only thing I fear is Lutsenko's wage next season... I had hoped to be able to negotiate a cut so that I wouldn't become a second Amador team but now I'm not so sure anymore. I kinda hope he underperforms a bit in the next races(while staying top 15 of course) so that I have some options in the offseason.
As for the other teams, Generali is easily running away with a deserved title. Proving doing little in a transfer season can also be a good step. The big question is the #5 spot even though at least #6 is pretty much always a guaranteed promotion as well. Iberia still has Degenkolb in Barbados while Repsol has Kudus; but Podium Ambition has the Toa AND Ewan in Barbados, as well as a potential Yates upset somewhere so I believe they are in pole position now. Anyway, it will be close.
Near the bottom I feel like Kraftwerk is 100% safe, they just have too much talent in their team. Berhane should save WCC as well. Then it's probably between Lierse, Netia and Carlsberg, of which I think only Netia has a big race left in Maroc? Relegation would make especially the first two teams suffer and could also cause a lack of talents being hunted in PCT next season since some teams may fear going down just like them. I do have my favourite team between those three but I'd rather keep that to myself.
Thanks for the update and the work behind the scenes Roturn!
Ughh, PCM has been hating on us lately and it's not looking pretty. In theory the Spring hilly classics should be a pickup for us and with Vantomme failing all our hopes rest on Kwiat now.
I'm kinda feeling pessimstic about our chances, but we've pulled through every other year and losing our talents would be really disapointing, so we'll see how it goes.
This seals relegation. Which is a massive hit to our ambitions for the future. Heads will roll and one thing I have learned is that renewals are going to be way more hardcore this year.
Finish 6-8 and with disbandments promotion is still doable. So that 8th place projection matters (especially for a team that itself might vanish without earning that promotion, or just go full on ridiculous and become Team Taylor Cobie with only riders who's surnames spell out Taylor Wiles - Cobie Smulders, which honestly sounds like too good a plan to not do either way).
I have not much to say, because this season i'm totally out of the loop now as to where we race, when, with who, or what results we get.
So let's go Podium Ambition! Bring home the bacon in TOA and Barbados (apparently)
Well the table doesn't look to promising for WCC, but the current situation is a little confusing given the variation in RD's actually completed vs. listed. ppRD is usually the most useful metric to help undestand this, but this is not calculated correctly here would appear.
Whatever the case, the summer has been quite lacklustre in general for WCC, and hence we need to pick up the pace on the run-in to the season finale.
Other than ToA (21 RD's), think we also have Besseges and San Sebastian as 'catch-up' events yet to be included. Taken together this is a whopping 26 RD's, so stripping that out, ppRD looks a bit healthier (but still not hitting the pre-season target of 15 ppRD). So these incomplete races will have a big bearing on what is the 'reality' situation, although of course other teams are also in a similar situation, so the present picture is quite cloudy!
Rheden GP and Milano-Torino to go as yet this month before crunch time in October, where we have Maroc, Barbados, Emilia and Japan to round things out. So with 50 or so RD's worth of points yet to come, still maintain confidence that we will avoid relegation, barring major disaster (and hopefully they are now all out of the way from some of the terrible showings through the summer!).
Given the complexity of our own situation, hard to speak with confidence on f.e. the title race and promotion spots, which look particuarly hard-fought and tight races for 4/5th between a raft of teams. SO I'll sign off by wishing good fortune to all (Active!) managers.
Úran is out of racedays, and Zepuntke only has Rheden left. I'd be surprised if he can hold on to a top ten, but we've pulled some surprise performances this year.
whitejersey wrote:
This seals relegation. Which is a massive hit to our ambitions for the future. Heads will roll and one thing I have learned is that renewals are going to be way more hardcore this year.
Intern becomes douchey corporate/manager like in the Office?
Weaker results recently seeing us slip away from the top 10 fight, which let’s be honest would have been a step too far in this unexpectedly great season Hopefully we can stay around where we are in the very tight 7-17 area At the very least we should be saving Abhi the embarrassment of not being top conglomerate manager after all those pre season predictions
My eyes are on Netia though, will be tough but really hoping they can hold off those below and stay up!
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
Wow can’t believe we’re doing so good especially since Guerao is miles behind his form from last season.
Denifl suddenly is doing much better with his increased race days and is now a contender for the top 10. Although I doubt he stays in the top 10 with no race days left for him.
Incoming transfers Brändle, Bilbao and David are also a big success so far. Especially the former two.
Thanks everyone helping to keep this running, sorry for my inactivity recently.
Thanks for the update roturn, was wondering how we stack up.
FYI, there are couple of rogue references to Kulczyk where it should be Reddit, talking about Lutsenko.
Otherwise, I’m pleased to be where we currently are, and there is still a MASSIVE opportunity to come at the ToA. However, it’s incredibly apparent that our lack of scoring on terrains other than cobbles would be our downfall this year.
Still, it’s been a very good debut season in the PCT so far, after a tricky transfer window. We might just be able to sneak into the promotion places, but I’d already consider this season to be a win, particularly if we hit our top 10 goal.
I’m really pleased for the managers of Generali, SPAR, Fablok and Indosat, as they’ve all built top quality rosters over a number of years. Repsol, Kulczyk and co are just the rowdy upstarts, though Aquarius has done excellently to build the Repsol roster in year 2.
Re: the relegation contenders, I have to say that I’m quite shocked to see Netia still down there, a relegation would be rather disastrous for Polish cycling It does appear that they are firmly in the thick of it though, especially with Berhane still having the ToA to ride. Fingers crossed though for survival though!
I think nobody predicted that we would (crosses fingers) promote to PT with our roster and as it was our last call to go for PT because of declining riders, this really is a clutch 360 of what everyone seemed to expect of us.
Now speaking of declining riders...
We're gonna need a complete overhaul of our leaders. Froome and Roche are sure goners. Mohs & Ignatiev seems to be worth extending with for at least next season. As we never have spend lots of resources on youngsters and such and always have depended on payed signings to do well. Our squad has always been quite old, so yeah not lots of easy shortcuts this time around if our stay in PT should be permanent
Now as for the rest of the season. We have Milano - Torino, Giro de'll Emilia, Barbados and Japan Cup left. Milano, Giro and Japan will be led by Chris Froome for his final outing for the team. Not expecting much of his usual standards, but 3 Top 5's are still on the card. Barbados will be led by Erik Mohs, who will be able to end a great season for him.
Now I'm just really happy I chose to go for Ignatiev, as he seems to be the extra point scorer we just needed in order to turn our bad luck at getting the final hundred points for PT promotion.
Only sad thing is that neither Kwiatkowski nor Wisniowski will be part of our team going into PT, as that was really a big dream of ours. But what can you do, all that matters is that a Polish team will be in the PT and represent the beautiful work done both by Netia and Kulczyk, but also from ggDonovan's old team.
