CT had quite some races as well in April - the PCT calendar minus two PTHC races, leaving us with 3 races each in HC, C1 and C2. Let's take a look at the period ranking (and please tell me if you'd prefer to have two separate tables in case of 8+ races to have better readability!):
Period Ranking: April
Unlike PCT teams, CT outfits usually get the highest race scores from lower-tier races due to having less competition. This month was no exception to that rule - but let's start with HC anyway.
Pologne was the only HC stage race scheduled, and as expected saw the highest score of any CT team in HC this month. Jura's 62 points are around 9 PpRD, which makes the participation more or less worthwile. McCormick scoring 11 points in Wallonie and Oktal 10 points in Lisbon aren't great, either, but the RD investment wasn't as big given that both were classics.
In C1, however, it once again was Saber time, as he almost singlehandedly led Colombini to a three-digit scoring in Baltic Chain Tour - definitely a great return on investment with 20+ PpRD and 108 total points scored! Berlin was a good race for CT teams as well, with four teams scoring 35+ points, Tafjord being the most successful one with 46 points. Things were pretty different in China though, where only Bianchi scored a satisfying number of points in Badaling (28).
The two highest race scores of the month however are found in the two C2 stage races. Bianchi had a standout race in USA Pro Cycling Challenge, with surprise winner Gibbons scoring 115 points on his own, and his team bringing home a total of 126 points!
Numbers that local team McCormick would have loved to get - and actually should have, given Keough's clear-cut favorite status - but at least they took the overall win and 116 points in their first home race of the month, California. And finally, the win in Lincoln GP went to Pas Normal's Taubel, bringing home 50 points. Which however was just the 2nd best team scoring, as Tafjord got 52 thanks to some good depth placings.
So, what does that mean for the month of April overall? Thanks to their great performance in USA PCC - and a lot of racing (22 RDs), Bianchi were the highest scoring team of the month with 233 points. However, the Top 3 are within just 13 points, with Jura scoring 225 points and Air New Zealand 220 points. The latter were clearly the most efficient among the top trio though, as they only spent 16 RDs this month. The current division leaders McCormick follow in 4th place, leading the big midfield with 171 points (but just 13 RDs used!).
At the other end of the table, BWT clearly didn't have a good month - especially California didn't go as expected at all. 44 points this month aren't satisfying, no question about it. Eddie Stobart, Le Creuset, Staffbase, Podium Ambition and Tryg didn't do too well, either, all losing quite a lot of ground in April on the higher ranked teams (although RDs spent obviously have to be considered as well).
Cali
Balt
Pol
Ber
Bada
Wall
Linc
PCC
Lis
Total
1
Bianchi - Panerai
33
9
0
0
28
0
37
126
0
233
2
Jura GIANTS
82
0
62
0
1
5
0
75
0
225
3
Air New Zealand
87
73
0
0
0
0
0
60
0
220
4
McCormick Pro Cycling
116
0
0
0
0
11
0
44
0
171
5
Bonduelle - Eesti Energia
40
49
0
35
0
0
0
42
0
166
6
Caja Rural Cycling Team
59
0
0
6
0
0
10
79
0
154
7
Glanbia
94
0
0
0
0
0
0
60
0
154
8
Colombini-Adler Aalterpaint
6
108
0
0
0
0
15
14
0
143
9
Bordeaux Metropole - Euskotren
54
23
0
0
0
0
0
57
0
134
10
BNZ-Superhero Racing
77
0
0
0
0
0
6
46
0
129
11
Oktal Pharma - TotalTV
31
0
24
41
0
0
0
21
10
127
12
Tafjord Kraft
0
3
19
46
0
0
52
0
0
120
13
Pas Normal Studios - Mikkeller
12
0
0
4
0
0
50
34
0
100
14
Tryg - Gobik
0
31
0
3
0
0
0
36
0
70
15
Podium Ambition
10
0
0
0
0
0
39
17
0
66
16
Staffbase - BHP
21
0
0
0
0
0
7
32
0
60
17
Le Creuset
54
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
56
18
Eddie Stobart
5
0
0
36
7
0
0
4
0
52
19
BWT Hyundai N Cycling
36
0
0
2
0
0
0
6
0
44
Full Ranking
Given that the previously leading duo both finished in the Top 4 this month, it's no surprise at all to still see them on top. Jura now caught up with McCormick in terms of RD usage - and they did so in a way that leaves 8 points between both teams. In Jura's favor, though, so we get the 3rd different leading team in the 3rd rankings update. But it's almost a dead race between them now, as McCormick were able to almost keep their PpRD, while Jura lost 3 points on average. The projection has them finish with a 62 points gap - which obviously is nothing at all at this point of the season.
The April winners then make a nice jump up from 7th to 3rd, putting Bianchi in direct promotion competition. Just like the other new teams Colombini and Caja Rural, who both lost a spot due to Bianchi's jump up, but both stay in the Top 5. 3rd to 5th are separated by just 25 points currently, with the leaders being some 70 points ahead.
While all of these 5 obviously can hope for promotion, Glanbia in 6th place are threatening to overtake them, as they still have the 3rd best PpRD ratio - which moreover was upped by almost one point. It wouldn't be a surprise to see them among the Top 5 after Olympia's Tour next month...
Other potential promotion contenders according to PpRD would be BNZ (#4), Air New Zealand (#6) and Tryg (#7) - the latter two being the teams having used up the least amount of RDs besides Eddie Stobart.
When talking of Eddie Stobart, they're unsurprisingly still at the bottom of the ranking, and currently are projected to stay in the bottom 3 positions. Alongside Podium Ambition and Le Creuset that is, who are the only other teams still below 200 points.
Let's see how the month of May with the cobbles insanity in Faso and the (T)TT fest in Olympia's Tour - alongside some HC/C1 climbing races - will impact the ranking!
The Top 2 of the division in terms of OVL are still the Top 2 in the ranking - now in the "right" order though. Lahcen Saber has been incredibly consistent for a sprinter and looks to be cruising to the individual title now, given that Ian Boswell seems to have lost quite a lot of his momentum.
Vegard Breen, the division's #6, is now up to 3rd, and with Tour du Faso likely suiting him next month, he could well be challenging Boswell for 2nd place - the gap is just 10 points.
Andrew Talansky was able to stay in 4th place, while compatriot Lawrence Warbasse gained one spot and now is up to 5th. Both raced in California, which wasn't Fausto Masnada's case - he only raced (unsuccessfully) in Badaling, dropping from 3rd to 6th. Only 17 points separate Talansky and Masnada, though.
We then have two sprinters joining the Top 10, mainly due to strong performances in USA PCC - Tom Scully jumps from 14th to 7th, while Marcel Aregger moves up from 13th to 9th. In between them, Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev stays in 8th place. Sameera Chatarunga rounds off the Top 10, dropping down from 7th after having had only one suiting race in April.
The biggest jump of any rider was performed by Ryan Gibbons, who went from 0 to 121 points this month and now is on 15th place!
And let's still mention #3-5 of the division (according to OVL): Michal Schlegel (#3) at least had some good performances this year, being by far the highest ranked of them in 18th place. Max Kanter (#5) didn't do a ton of racing yet, but mostly didn't perform according to his skills, and so he's only 35th. Which in turn is still 25 spots higher than Gianni Moscon (#4). However, the most disappointing riders so far probably are Hagen (#15, 7 points, 152nd place) or Naesen (#17, 2 points, 213th place).
Let's see who of the cobblers will use Faso to his advantage, which ones of the TT specialists will rock Olympia's Tour - or whether some of the stage racers can even perform well in Romandie or Chile! Two classics and two HC races are (potentially) on the menu as well - lots of stuff to write about in a month!
To be honest, hadn't sent a great team in Olympia's tour so my May ranking would take a hit. On the other hand I'll be in Romandie, Chile and Faso where points can be in handy. But suffice to say the month of April was not one to remember - should've raced in Lincoln GP instead of Berlin ProRace and perhaps US PCC is for prologue type of TT'ers than pure TT specialists. This poor choice of races could be fatal for my promotion aspirations
Good to see us move up 1 more spot and now be projected to finish 4th. Still a lot of racing to go though! Kopfauf has really turned our season around in the prologues so hopefully the form continues and hopefully Vasyliv, Rajovic and Erdenebat can help live the team now in the GC, sprints and longer time trials!
Amazing April! We are Top 3 and best of new team. This will be the highest rank, we can get in this season, as the top 2 are untouchable. Honestly, I don't think we can stay in this position at the end of season.
Shout-out to Gibbons to bring unexpected points this month. Plus, Chatarunga and Luchshenko, we have 3 riders in Top 23. Keep up good works, guys.
Thanks for the update, I think this is as large as our gap to third gets as Boswell and Warbasse have both raced a lot. Only Olympia in May and don't have any big riders there so will definitely drop.
Finally, let's take a look at the PCT teams: The usual suspects are on top of the table, with T-Mobile and Eisberg being the two highest scoring outfits with 305 and 273 points, respectively. T-Mobile were especially efficient this month, using just 15 RDs to get their 305 points. Air Canada (235 points) and FUSAR (212 points) complete the Top 5.
At the other end of the table, the last three teams, MTN, Armada and Lotto, all scored below 100 points this month - and while MTN and Lotto have used quite a lot of RDs, Armada's just 6 RDs this month make their result even more disappointing.
So, there we have it - a summary of the April period ranking. With the big classics in May, the scores are likely to shake up a bit, so make sure to check back when the new rankings are out!
Edited by ellaaa on 11-01-2023 11:48
Thank you very much Fabianski for the three divisions updates, very easy and interesting to read.
Very good month for us, as we doubled our point number with only a third of our race days. If only all months could have been like this.
And Guerao indeed managed to become, for now, out best scorers. Itturia will have to wake up.
Obviously, our scoring heavily depends on them still, and as much as results like California or USA (we seem to like the US) are very fine, we need to avoid results like California or Guadeloupe.
Time to have a look on the race we'll be riding next month
A top 10 seems out of reach now, but we are very much in the fight for the top 15 and 12th could be reachable. So let's go Bordeaux!
Very nice to see Jura and McCOrmick where they belong, at the top of the division without giving the others much hope, and some new team fighting for promotion.
We are a team that exists. Although when you look at the rankings, you could be excused for thinking we don't
I will happily continue to put some managers to shame by turning up and commenting regularly despite only having two Top100 riders (yep, not even a Top50).
I'm struggling a bit to find things to say, as everyone does in the mid-season motivation slump. But for Christmas i got a Caribbean cookery course, so hopefully learning to make Salt Fish Fritters will keep my love for this project bubbling over. - Also Josh Gayral in the Giro, but i can't eat breakaways.
![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
