A quick first update as the month of January has passed. 3 races with PT participation of which Tasmania was a short 3-day hill/TT stage race and Qatar the sprinter competition.
Franceville Classique then the first classic of the season for the PT, but only half of the teams were there due to the PTHC bands.
We can make it pretty quick here. Isostar wins, Isostar dominates, Isostar leads. Nothing has changed really. Phinney winning in Tasmania, Gaviria doing okay in Qatar and despite a rather weak Franceville no other team is coming close.
ELCO still strong due to their non Greeks. Coquard mainly in Qatar did what might have been expected while also their Australian starter was decent.
Los Pollos Hermanos then a nice new look in the PT. Manninen still doing great a division higher and also presents the team a fast first PT win, stage and GC in Qatar.
ISA, Vesuvio, King Power are known top 10 teams in the PT with Aker being up to 7th as 2nd promotion team with Aegon, Tinkoff and MOL complete the top10. Mainly teams with a strong Qatar or doing fine in more than 1 race.
At the bottom Zwift can`t be happy. Scoring in all 3 races, just like UBS and Huski but not a lot of points in total and lots of participation scoring only. In especially Huski has high chances to turn this around as their start in Qatar with one of the favourites was as unfortunate as it could have been.
Duolingo and cycleYorkshire also below the line but as usual, this has nothing to say that early.
Team
Total
RD
PpRD
Proj
Tas
Qat
Fra
1
Isostar - Specialized
791
11
71,91
13879
490
293
8
2
ELCO - ABEA
662
11
60,18
11615
177
485
0
3
Los Pollos Hermanos
571
9
63,44
12244
55
516
0
4
ISA - Hexacta
560
9
62,22
12008
78
482
0
5
EA Vesuvio
535
9
59,44
11472
386
149
0
6
King Power
471
9
52,33
10100
267
204
0
7
Aker - MOT
388
11
35,27
6807
91
215
82
8
Aegon - Peroni
349
9
38,78
7485
152
197
0
9
Tinkoff - La Datcha Team
348
11
31,64
6107
149
188
11
10
MOL Cycling Team
345
11
31,36
6052
242
90
13
11
De Stijl Cycling
332
11
30,18
5825
148
123
61
12
Moser - Sygic
322
9
35,78
6906
257
65
0
13
Polar
292
9
32,44
6261
180
112
0
14
Grieg-Maersk
268
11
24,36
4701
184
58
26
15
Team Puma - SAP
266
11
24,18
4667
102
159
5
16
Evonik - ELKO
261
11
23,73
4580
178
50
33
17
Gazelle
254
11
23,09
4456
166
45
43
18
cycleYorkshire
238
9
26,44
5103
71
167
0
19
Duolingo
179
9
19,89
3839
116
63
0
20
Huski Chocolate
164
11
14,91
2878
40
50
74
21
Team UBS
148
11
13,45
2596
50
66
32
22
Zwift Pro Cycling
122
11
11,09
2140
41
51
30
Individually Manninen and Phinney are the top2 by winning the two GCs. Ewan as best of the rest not far off though with Coquard and Gaviria up there as well having an early sprinter domination.
Wirtgen, Mano, Groenewegen, Tenorio and Samolenkov the next.
A gap of over 400 points to the relegation zone is very nice. I kinda knew we had a good month, but didn't really expect us to be 2nd. That's way above expectations. And from a selfish perspective I kinda like the rankings, as I suspect that I will be fighting with the 5 teams already at the bottom for a potential relegation. So to have tipped the ranking heavily in my favor already is very very nice - But it can change rather fast obviously.
Coquard as our main pointscorer is no suprise after Qatar and Tasmania, but to have 4 greek riders in the top 50 is very surprising. And while Roturn describes the foreign leaders as the big contributors more than half the points scored so far are actually from greek riders. In the matter of fact I would have sit in 10th had I only used greek riders - and it does feel somewhat realistic that Farantakis could have scored higher in Qatar without Coquard.
So far I'm very very pleased with what I have seen.
Congrats to Croatia for leading the ranking once more - Will be interesting to see if it stays this way all through the calender as there is quite a gap to Puma and Evonik right now. Also a big congrats to Los Pollos for the current 3rd place. I'd imagine they are very happy to be a temporary top tier just like myself, as the relegation zone is probably more likely to be lurking later on.
SotD wrote:
Congrats to Croatia for leading the ranking once more - Will be interesting to see if it stays this way all through the calender as there is quite a gap to Puma and Evonik right now
I really can't see my team joining the title fight this year. I'd be happy if i achieve my top 5 sponsor goal.
Tasmania was okay, Qatar (expectedly) shit and Franceville somewhat within reasonable expectations too. Hoped to be 40-50 points higher but the first weeks of the season were always going to be fairly low scoring for us.
Good Race in Tasmania, Bad Race in Qatar and horrible race in Franceville so far. We lead, but not by as much as probably needed after this start sorting out 3 of our best races all season.
Highest total score, highest PpRD - despite a sub-par Franceville classic - Isostar are on top again. Chances aren't too shabby that they'll remain there until the end, although Puma haven't unleashed their big guns yet. ELCO with a great start as well; as SotD stated, it gives them a nice headstart in what he expects to be the relegation fight - I still don't buy this, though. They might not stay in the Top5, but a Top10 could still be within reach.
Huski were very unlucky with "special AI treatment" in Qatar, I'm clearly hoping for them to bounce back. And personally, I hope to see UBS move up the rankings, although that won't be an easy task by any means.
Very good, very nice. Manninen is getting closer and closer to having a 30 metre giant statue of him getting erected in Mexico City. Without him we'd have almost entirely the minimum awarded points, so it would be nice to see the other leaders stand up as well rather sooner than later. As SotD stated, it will probably go downhill for us from here on (ranking-wise), so every point counts.
Congratulations to Croatia on a provisional lead, but also to SotD for a great second place so far, with more than half of the points scored by Greeks. Thanks for the update, roturn!
Better late than never season commentary spam
Tasmania
Pre-race thoughts:
Wirtgen makes his season debut and hopefully a GC push. One of only two races he rides with Valter, interesting to see how that interaction plays out on the hill stage. The team is mostly loaded with TT specialists to take a random potshot at the TT stage, while Moser offers an unlikely sprint option.
Race thoughts:
Unlikely sprint shot? Well, that’s just the ticket. Moser wins the opener, hopefully he doesn’t end the season more successful than Van der Lijke. Stage 2 and we don’t want it to tear apart, selfishly, much as it would make for a good race. Wirtgen taking 4th is a pretty perfect result in the sprint, and a Top 10 too for Valter, gaps offering him up with a Top 20 GC shot.
Wirtgen fires 4th on the TT for 2nd overall, job very much done and very successful start to the season. Valter slips to 26th, ok, too many stronger TT riders kept close enough. Pelikan making GC Top 50 is nice. 2nd and 3rd in Points is a good bonus outcome – nice cheeky intermediate sprint score from Moser on Stage 2 to solidify that. I don’t think I considered Valter in stage races could bring U25 points but it’s the case here, 3rd there, and Munton in 6th.
Qatar
Pre-race thoughts:
Even as Van der Lijke could rise the sprinting ladder as older riders start to fade, Qatar always feels a shaky gamble for him. No hills to offer an advantage, and the lottery of the sprints to worry about. Moser here in case we get drafted for leadout duty, and much of the TT team as well.
Given low expectations, does 2nd in Stage 1 already make the race a success? That feeling perhaps dissipates as 16th, 10th and 8th follow. You want to see him up there and he really is in Stage 5, leading in the final kilometre and at least holding on for 6th. 9th in GC into the TT with only 31 seconds of time bonuses, and the rest of the team all split out of GC contention. Not looking like a good race!
TT time and Lampawog the unexpected star of the team for 13th. Hepburn and Tanfield just 19th and 20th this time around. That Van der Lijke does remain in the Top 10 is great however, something to take away from Doha.
No involvement in Franceville. Nice to see Bewley and Blythe up there – even better to see an African team take the win.
So 5th in the rankings, a nice start. And Wirtgen slotting in 6th individually. Early stages but make the most of two Hungarians in the Top 100, four in total for the team with Moser.
