Just like PCT, CT often has too many races to fit them into one single table - hence we have another split here. With two of PCT's stage races being PTHC, the same split doesn't make sense for CT; hence it's a simple chronological split here - the first 10 days and the rest.
And just a note, before actually getting into the rankings: I've gotten news that Mercatone Uno are currently not participating - so even though they have scheduled race days, they're not in the races. Currently, they're still in the rankings - but obviously with 0 points everywhere this month.
Partial Monthly Ranking | The first 10 days
Although it's just 10 days, there were five races contained in those - all of them on cobblestones.
The first one was HC race Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, which only had two free spots for CT teams. Tafjord scored 10 points with a strong 16th place by Kulppi, while JEWA left empty-handed.
Viana do Castelo, held on the same day, was categorized C1 and had 9 CT teams participating, 4 of which did score. Most points - 28 - went to Strava, who got a strong 7th place by Gaday. Delco's 12th place and Morin finishing 25th were worth 12 points for Hilcona, with JEWA this time being more successful, as Livyns scored 7 points with his 16th place.
But these races were just a warm-up for Gent - Wevelgem, where the top CT cobblers finally competed without too many PCT "intruders". And what a race it was, with Tafjord getting a 1-2 with Breen and Kaislavuo! 89 points for the Scandinavians, with Kulppi also contributing a 16th place. Chatarunga and Rathe with 3rd and 5th made it a great race for Crabbe as well - 52 points. And 33 points went to a surprisingly strong JEWA team, who also had two in the Top 10 with Livyns (7th) and Taubel (10th).
And yet another cobbled C2 race, this time in Denmark - GP Herning. The same three Tafjord riders scored - this time, Kulppi and Breen took a 2-3, with Kaislavuo adding a 21st place - 65 points in total. 61 points went to winner Gaday's Strava, who also got points from Owen, Sbaragli and Nielsen. Hilcona were 3rd, with Havik's 4th place being rewarded with 26 points.
So, we're already at the final one - another HC race, Le Samyn. Only one spot was free, and Babymetal got it. Yet failed to score, so that's 0 points for CT.
Unsurprisingly, Tafjord's great performance on the C2 cobbles brings them the win in this "First 10 Days" ranking. 164 points in their first 3 races of the year, definitely not a bad outcome!
Strava also showed where their major strengths are - on the cobbles. It's exactly 100 points for them, participating in 3 races as well.
Crabbe are 3rd with 79 points, taking the final podium spot. Hilcona and JEWA, both scoring 57 points, round off the Top 5.
Only 4 more teams scored more than 10 points: Podium Ambition, Stela-Vita, Saeco (these three being within 3 points from each other), and Adidas. Würth are 10th with 5 points, with Air New Zealand being the final team scoring any points at all in 11th place. Which means 9 bagels, thereof four teams who didn't race.
The rest includes one of the division's longest and most important (for the climbers) stage races: the Volta a Catalunya, which is even the first race of the block.
And despite missing out on the win this time, Crabbe still top the scoreboard! Chiarello - 3rd in GC, plus a stage win, plus the points jersey - plus Altanzul with a stage win and a 2nd place, scored 119 points.
Which is 15 more than GC winner Berhane's JEWA TIROL team got. 101 of their 104 points were scored by their team leader, who also won a stage on top of the GC. The rest of the team didn't contribute much, though.
Gjensidige in 3rd place aren't that far off, either, totalling 85 points. Lunke with his 2nd place GC finish obviously was their top scorer, but their TTT win also was worth some points.
By the way, the next 6 teams scoring 52-51-49-48-47-44 points just shows how close many teams are in those races!
Next up was the Circulo de Juárez, an HC race, and therefore only very limited access for CT teams. 3 of them got a spot - and two actually had a stellar race!
Stela-Vita already did a great job in January - and they also had a big race in February, which was the one in Mexico. Kamberaj took 2nd on the final stage and 11th in the GC - whereas Batmunkh added a 15th place GC finish, plus the KoM jersey! 121 points for the Albanians, great job!
The same conclusion can be drawn for Manada, who headed back to Costa Rica with 117 points in their bags! After being anonymous on the first three stages, Marin got two podiums on the last two days to finish 6th in the GC, what a race!
Compare to these high scores, Strava's 27 points are quite a bit lower, but it's still a PpRD of more than 5, which is respectable. Nielsen scored the major part of them, finishing 18th in GC and 6th in the KoM standings.
And that's all about stage racing for CT this month. Next up was Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne, another one for the cobblers. 10 teams made the trip to Belgium, 4 of them scored. Stela-Vita once again came out on top, getting 10 points for Lampaert's 13th place. Right behind in 14th was Chatarunga - 9 points for Crabbe. And rounding off the Top 15 was Trentin, who scored Saeco's 8 points.
The final race of the month, Coppa Placci, was a better one for the CT teams again. Lafay was the strongest, winning the race for Bordeaux, who also got some points from Doubey - 54 points in total. Manada scored 35 points from Jensen's 2nd place, with JEWA getting 29 points for Grossschartner's 3rd place.
Obviously, the two big Juárez scores have a big impact on this partial ranking. Manada come out on top, scoring 204 points, participating in all of these races but KBK. And doing well in all of them, most of all in Juárez of course.
Which is also the case for Stela-Vita, who got the highest score for one race this month. They participated and scored in all 4 races, doing lots and lots of races to start their campaign. But when you get 182 points, you can't be that wrong.
Crabbe in 3rd then are the first team without the "Juárez boost", completing this block with a respectable amount of 148 points. Not too much was added on top of their Catalunya yield, but i't still enough for 3rd.
And as in Catalunya, JEWA lose out to Crabbe by 15 points, meaning they're 4th here with 133 points. Gjensidige round off the Top 5 with 108 points, with Bordeaux the only other team above 100 points in 6th place.
50 points were the limit to make the Top 10 here, and the teams who got this amount (or a bit more) are Ekoi, Würth, Podium Ambition, and Strava. Tafjord are pretty close with 41 points, so they're 11th.
All other teams are below 30 points, with Hilcona even getting just 1 little point, and 4 more staying below 20.
Oh, it was a close race! Not that much for the top spot, taken by Crabbe with 227 points and the month's highest PpRD of 14.19.
But behind them, we have 3 teams within just 3 points! Leading the way are Stela-Vita with 207 points, 20 points less than the top team. With 21 race days, they were the division's most active team in February.
Just 2 points behind are Tafjord, who edge out Manada by a single point for the final podium spot. A close race, I told you.
And even JEWA in 5th place aren't that far behind, scoring 190 points. Which is 37 behind Crabbe. But they're also 40 points ahead of the rest.
Well, maybe we can't really speak of the "rest", as Strava in 6th are another 40 points ahead of the next teams, Gjensidige and Bordeaux, scoring 108 and 101 points respectively.
It's then a 25 points gap down to 9th place, where we have Podium Ambition. Ekoi, just 2 points down, round off the Top 10, while Würth miss out by 3 points.
Hilcona and Saeco have reached the 50 points mark as well, being the final teams to do so. Air New Zealand and Adidas are the final Top 15 teams; 27 points were required to get that 15th place. Babymetal with 26 just miss out.
Then we have three teams below 20 points, with Caja, SEE Turtles and Simba Cement - especially the former will be heavily disappointed by their performance this month.
It's pretty straightforward that winning the first two months also keeps you in the overall lead. So Crabbe still lead the division, having slightly extended their lead - and being the only team projected to hit the 2,000 points mark. 446 is the current leading value.
Stela-Vita are 33 points off, as the only other team above 400 points. However, they have spent 10 race days more to get to this score - points are points, though.
And the Top 3 actually haven't changed at all, with JEWA still sitting in 3rd place - being the 2nd best team in terms of PpRD. It's 386 points for the Austrians - a 60 points deficit, but almost a 140 points gap to 6th place!
In between are the Coyotes, though - sitting in 4th, they're about 50 points behind JEWA, and 50 points ahead of Gjensidige, who round off the Top 5.
Just outside the automatic promotion area, we have Bordeaux, who got particularly strong results in hilly races so far. And they haven't raced a lot yet, clearly being in promotion contention with their 11+ PpRD.
Ekoi with 243 points are just 4 points behind - but have done 9 race days more already, which sees them drop out of the promotion zone compared to the January update. But nothing is lost yet, of course.
In 8th place, and making the biggest jump, are Tafjord, having kicked off their season after taking a break in January. In 18 race days, they've picked up 205 points - which gives them the 3rd highest projected score.
Würth - 30 points back - and Strava round off the Top 10, but both in terms of points and RD it's already quite a gap to the Top 8. Hilcona and Podium Ambition are pretty close, with all four teams being within 30 points currently. Especially for the Caribbeans, that must be a big bummer, though.
Simba Cement in 13th place are the final team above 100 points, with Caja and Mercatone (despite not racing in February!) round off the Top 15. Saeco are only 3 points behind, though.
Adidas, SEE Turtles and Air New Zealand are all within 13 points from each other - only Babymetal hav ea clear gap to those up front, having picked up just 29 points in the first two months of racing.
William Chiarello led the individual ranking at the end of January - and he still leads. 244 points is the current benchmark - which is more than 80 points higher than the rest.
Leading the rest is Natnael Berhane, who was able to close the gap by 12 points, jumping from 6th to 2nd.
And #3 is a stage racer as well, with Sindre Skjostad Lunke having scored 150 points. All of them have done the Tachira-Catalunya double, spending more than 1/3 of their race days already.
Next up is Kristian Haugaard Jensen, the first puncheur. Scoring in Catalunya and Placci brings his tally up to 123 points - which is 1 point more than teammate Gabriel Marin has. The Costa Rican scored 104 of these in Juárez.
Just outside the Top 5 is Victor Lafay with 113 points, the Coppa Placci winner. He's 3 points ahead of Aurelien Paret-Peintre, who's still waiting for that big win.
We then have another sprinter in 8th place - and you'd expect it, it's Xhuliano Kamberaj, the other one who did well in Mexico. 99 points for the Albanian - 7 more than veteran John Degenkolb.
Last but not least, 10th place goes to Marc Goos, who scored a couple more points this month after his stellar Hong Kong Challenge in January, currently standing at 91 points.
We'll have more of everything next month - cobbles, hills, mountains, sprints, even some TTTs - expect at least one more battle among the top stage racers, and some other names popping up!
Thanks for the detailed write-up, much appreciated I enjoyed reading it for all divisions.
Obviously another great month for our team. Chiarello is carrying us big time, with solid contributions from Chatarunga, Edmondson, Altanzul and Rathe.
It’s early to talk about our promotion chances, but in my perspective it will depend if we can pick up some minor points in the flat and TT races. In other departments we scored well so far.
MG - Lotto - Caloi
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thank you for the write up, great to see a summary when it is difficult to follow the racing due to time constraints. Seems like a good month for us overall, hope we can also score outside of cobbles more. As TMM mentioned, think the full ranking of teams is the wrong one.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Thank you very much for the recap and the write up Fab! As others have say, in the end it's to you to determine what you've time/motivation to do, but for me it's always a pleasure to read.
Very good month for us, given that we've only raced two times and both are quite successful. Missing the top 5 goal in Catalunya has been a bummer, as we could have land a podium, but it's still 6 times more points than last season, and encouraging for future races.
And then a second win in Coppa Placi is a very good sign as we continue our good trend in the hills. Lafay already justified the money I've put on him, I think, as he's already on Guerao level last year.
Mikel with already a third of last year's score isn't bad either.
Next month will probably be harder, as we begin our C1 campaign, and what happens will determine whether my bet for the seasons were the good ones. Most important race will be Pais Vasco, of course, the first of our home races.
Lot of work ahead of Lafay and all the puncheur's team.
Glad to see Crabbe and Gjensidige doing well, even though not as much as they'd wanted for the latter. Tafjord launched their season with class also.
Good results for Stela-Vita and JEWA, two interesting teams to follow.
And of course, Ekoi trailing us. I expect our order to change quite some times during the season.
Now I hope to see Podium Ambition finally getting the treatment they deserve.
“...the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to hear again. The ones you can enter anywhere and inhabit comfortably."
A. Roy
First of all thanks to Fabi for the detailed updates, I enjoy them very much as they give an overview over the division(s) that I wouldn't have by just following the race reports.
Looking at the PpRDs it seems like there are 7 teams quite above the others so far, but I'm quite content to be the one following them and keeping the PpRDs at nearly 8. That should be enough for staying in the Top 10 in the end. The only downside is that APP has already spent lots of RDs (and will add some more in March), so our other riders will have to contribute more.
Congrats to Crabbe on a great re-start after relegation - and to Stela-Vita and JEWA on a fantastic start to your MG careers!
Especially January was very climber-heavy, with the top uphill guys also active in February, and I expect another Chiarello-Berhane-Lunke clash in Middle East in the upcoming month. Once the climbers have burnt their matches, it will be interesting to see who else can score for the current top teams - Chatarunga and Edmondson are doing a decent job for Crabbe, the sprinters have been scoring for JEWA. Stela-Vita have rather been scoring at the higher levels so far, with Goos in HK and Kamberaj in Mexico.
With not much C2 racing in March - Geraardbergen, TOME and Izola - C1/HC races could become more crucial, and I'm looking forward to meet some of you in Pais Vasco (and IoM) this month
Agreeing with kb, there's a clear Top 7 right now in terms of PpRD - but with a low amount of days already raced, that average can be quite heavily affected by a single great or disastrous race. I do however expect (or hope for) a fierce promotion fight - and as always, planning might be key when succeeding at avoiding the most crowded races, especially for the climbers...
![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
I enjoyed reading it for all divisions.
