There were 6 races on the CT schedule this month, with 5 of them being C1/C2, hence accessible to more than just one or two teams.
The first one was the Tour de Vineyards - which wasn't even remotely filled, with 5 open spots despite 11 CT participants.
And while the CT teams struggled scoring big against the dominant PCT climbers and TTT outfits, some teams still found a way to being pretty successful. Most of all the Turtles, whose sprinter Oka outperformed any realistic expectations by far. 2nd, 8th and 3rd on the three sprint stages, an amazing 2nd in the points classification - 37 points just for Oka. But that wasn't all; thanks to a great 3rd place in the TTT, Reguigui and Siriwardena also got some scoring GC positions (16th and 17th), with the Ecuadorians racking up 58 points in total - above 10 PpRD!
Babymetal aren't a team that often scores well, but Dzervus definitely benefitted from a weak sprinter field to take 8th on day 1, 6th on day 4 - and the stage win on day 2! The Lithuanian also ended up 3rd in the points standings, totalling 34 points - which is 100% of his team's points.
JEWA are more used to score well - but they didn't do it in a conventional way here. 9 of their points were in fact scored by Taubel - a complete anti-climber - by taking the KoM lead after stage 2 and ending up 3rd! But the big chunk of the points goes to Livyns, who joined the breakaway on day 4 - and simply refused to be caught, taking an unlikely breakaway win on a flat stage! Alongside 5th place in the points standings, that's 23 points for him, and 32 in total for the Austrians.
Next up was something that wasn't available in July - a C2 stage race. Yet another mountainous one, this time with a TTT to get things started - the Giro del Trentino.
And as pretty much always when there's a mountainous C2 race, it was a Chiarello show once again! The Brazilian ended up 3rd on stage one with his Crabbe team, won stage 2, and finished 11th behind mostly breakaway riders on the last day. GC win, points win, and 6th in KoM - a great way to round off his final maxed season! Hats off Mr. Chiarello! The likely CT individual champion scored 114 points, with his teammates only adding 4 more points for their TTT performance. 118 in total for Crabbe.
2nd - also as pretty much always when Chiarello wins - was Berhane, who lost too much time in the TTT and then also lost the sprint for the stage 2 win. But unlike Crabbe, JEWA actually had a strong team for the mountains, resulting in Koep taking 14th and Grossschartner taking 20th on GC - and JEWA getting the teams win! All in all, 96 points and a great outcome for the Austrians!
3rd in GC went to Iturria, but Bordeaux only were the 6th best team. Instead, we have Strava as the 3rd best scoring team, thanks to Poljanski winning stage 3 and jumping up to 4th in GC and 2nd in points! Bernas also took 2nd in KoM for them, with Roglic adding a couple of GC points with 19th place. All of these contributions add up to 79 points.
The C1 Tour du Maroc was a tough one for the 7 CT teams present, with the PCT climber field being really deep, leaving not much room for great GC results by CT riders.
But the sprinter field was really weak, which is what neo-pro (and future superstar?) Vauquelin fully capitalized on by winning stage 3 from the breakaway! Ekoi also had Paulus in 3rd place in the KoM standings, and Hopkins getting a 7th place on stage 6. 28 points for the Frenchies.
Crabbe in 2nd place mainly had Edmondson, who was 2nd in KoM almost from start to end, even wearing the dotted jersey for one day after stage 4. Fagundez and Price-Pejtersen were part of one successful breakaway each, the former taking 4th on the final day, the latter ending up 7th on stage 3. All in all, another 23 points for the Crabpack.
Bordeaux ended up 3rd, having 4 different scorers. Wackermann opened the race with a great 3rd place on day 1, scoring 6 points. Tatarinov was their main man for the KoM, finishing 4th and collecting 7 points. Talacka taking 4th on day 3 and Polanco finishing 5th on the final day added some strong stage results from the breakaway, letting Bordeaux' total grow to 20 points.
Post Danmark Rundt was next - and even though HC races usually are even harder for CT teams to score well, miracles sometimes happen!
Well, it wasn't exactly a miracle, but still a bit of a surprise to see Sirironnachai beating all the PCT puncheurs (who were few in numbers, to be fair) to win the hilly stage 3 - a win that also gave him the yellow jersey for two days, scoring 51 points in total! But this was by far not all Strava had to offer - Bauhaus sprinted to 8th on stage 1 and to 3rd on day 2, whereas Hansen was tied for the KoM win! Tarvis finished tied for 3rd in the same standings - all in all, that's a sensational 100 points flat for Strava!
Then we had two teams tied for 2nd, both doing pretty well, too! Stela-Vita made it a 1-2 for CT on the hilly stage, with Villella taking 2nd behind Sirironnachai. And the Albanians had a Top 20 GC finish by Groselj on top of that, getting a total of 44 points out of this race.
44 points also was the reward for Tafjord's performance. Asgreen made it 3/4 CT riders in the Top 4 on the hilly stage, and finished the race in 24th place. One spot ahead of Ludvigsson, with Belevics taking 29th after a great ITT performance (10th) - unfortunately he had missed out on the S3 split... Vangstad also got a Top 5, being the 4th scorer for Tafjord.
A rather hilly, flat-rated classic was next, with GP Plouay making its return to MG in the C2 category. A race for the best CT sprinters and/or puncheurs! Well, not quite. PCT teams spoiled CT's party, taking 3 of the first 4 places.
At least they left one podium spot for a CT rider, with the lucky one being Jensen, getting 3rd and 29 points for the Coyotes! Ekoi's Russo was the 2nd best CT rider in 5th place, getting 23 points - Baudin added another one to bring Ekoi's score up to 24 points. Eiking was the 3rd CT finisher, taking 6th place and 19 points in France.
The final race of the month was the cobbled C1 race GP Kigali. A hilly race, and who says hills and cobbles will almost certainly bet on Gaday as the best CT scorer. Well, he was - by a mile. Gaday took 6th place and 32 points, with Owen adding another point for 24th place. 33 points in total for Strava!
The other CT teams - there were 8 of them - weren't quite as successful, with only two more scoring at all. Crabbe got 8 points for Chatarunga's 15th place, whereas Havik picked up the final point for Hilcona, finishing 25th.
Now, how do all of these outcomes sum up?
Despite the month not being cobbles-loaded at all, we have Strava topping the August update - and it wasn't even close! Some exceptional and rather unexpected individual performances in Trentino and Denmark were key for their win, whereas Gaday's points in Kigali aren't that surprising. It's 228 points for Strava, with the 2nd highest PpRD of the month, 13.4.
2nd, and hence in full control of the division, are Crabbe. They did a fantastic job once again in the C2 mountains, with Chiarello winning his final race of the year. Morocco, Plouay and Kigali weren't good (with especially Plouay a race to forget), but all in all it's still a solid amount of 152 points for the Crabpack.
In 3rd, we have the most efficient team of the month. JEWA only had 10 race days, but still scored 145 points, for a 14.5 PpRD average. Trentino was great for them - as expected, with Berhane in the lineup - with Vineyards and Plouay more on the "solid" side.
It's then a gap of more than 30 points to the final teams above 100 points, which are the Turtles and Tafjord. The former were really strong in Vineyards and solid in Trentino, with the latter having Trentino as their best race and Denmark as a strong showing as well. 111 and 107 points for these two teams - however, with 16 and 12 race days spent, neither of them has a Top 5 PpRD. They're still 8th and 6th respectively, though.
Another step of almost 30 points down, as we get to Ekoi. They were the best CT team in Morocco and 2nd best in Plouay - sadly it wasn't the big points that went to CT in these races. With 80 points in 16 days of racing, it's just a 5 PpRD average - only just Top 10.
Bordeaux follow close behind with 77 points, most of them scored in Trentino - but they used 21 RDs to get this score. Which is the highest amount in the division. Stela-Vita and Podium Ambition round off the Top 10 with 67 and 63 points respectively - which should be rather satisfying for the latter, as they got a good 9.0 PpRD in August, 5th best value of the month.
But Würth were even more efficient, needing only 5 RDs for 59 points; their 11.8 PpRD is #3 this month. Babymetal are next with 50 points.
Then we have 5 teams separated by just 6 points; Air New Zealand are 12th with 41, followed by Manada with 39 - and a trio of Gjensidige, Saeco and Simba Cement, all scoring 35 points.
Caja and Hilcona at least got two-digit scores around 20 points, whereas Adidas spent 16 race days to get 6 measly points.
No surprise here, as Crabbe continue cruising towards the title, currently totalling 1,508 points. Only 14 RDs left for them, all of them without Chiarello - but even if they didn't score at all in the remaining races, no other team is currently projected to overtake them.
Behind them, however, the fight for 2nd could be really, really close! It already is now, with Stela-Vita at 1,257 and JEWA at 1,237 points! The latter have 4 RDs more left and are projected 25 points ahead, but that's definitely too close to call! And we'll see in a minute that another team is projected to arrive in the same region as well...
This other team is not Tafjord, who hold onto their 4th place, being the last team above 1,000 points. With 1,113, they trail the podium by a bit more than 100 points - and have only 15 race days left, which is less than Stela-Vita and JEWA.
With a gap of about 150 points, Podium Ambition now follow in 5th place, having moved up into the promotion zone again. They're also projected to finish 5th, potentially overtaking Tafjord - but it's a pretty long way to get there.
With 960 points, Gjensidige have dropped 6 points behind Podium Ambition - having 9 additional RDs left, though. Their PpRD even projects them to fight for the podium - with their current scoring average, they'd end up 4th, but they should have some good scoring opportunities left to move up even higher.
Manada then were able to defend their 7th place, currently totalling 928 points; only 38 behind the Top 5, but also with more race days used up. Promotion still might be on the cards, though, especially with some nice hilly races left and KHJ in pretty good shape so far...
I'll admit I'm surprised to still see Strava high up - and they even gained one spot this month! They got the kind of off-cobbles standout results they need for this - and where's actually their limit? They're currently projected to finish 7th, as they could overtake the Coyotes which they trail by just 34 points.
We then have a gap of 140 points down to Würth, who lost their 8th place to Strava. And with 19 additional RDs used up, it's also hard to see them strike back - on the contrary, their PpRD currently has them another spot lower. One spot lower - and therefore rounding off the Top 10 - are Bordeaux, with 740 points. They're pretty much on par with Würth, both in terms of points and RDs - the two of them are projected to finish 7 points apart (with Würth having the better end), and it could well be the fight for the final Top 10 spot.
Because the Turtles who currently are in 11th place are just between 40 and 50 points back - and have more than 25 additional RDs to spend! A PpRD of 7.5 projects them to end up in 9th place, more than 100 points ahead of Würth and Bordeaux - but they'll first have to get these points...
The next 3 teams would need something special to still get a Top 10 finish - but it might still be possible. Simba Cement with 571, Hilcona with 552 and Ekoi with 532 points are between roughly 170 and 210 points behind the Top 10, but one great race can make quite a difference in this region.
Saeco may only be 60 points behind Ekoi - but realistically speaking, they're in no-man's-land and should finish 15t, looking at the projections.
Caja are way off last year's performance, and might not even finish inside the Top 15 this year - probably losing 9-10 spots compared to 2022. With 309 points, they trail Saeco by 163.
Air New Zealand are 56 points behind, with Adidas another 6 points back. Babymetal have caught up with the two aforementioned teams, trailing Adidas by just 11 points now. It's going to be a fight for - or against - the red lantern among them, as we don't really count in Mercatone Uno anymore.
The Tour of America could obviously reshuffle things quite a bit, if any of the participating CT teams gets a great result there - we'll soon find out! But for now, here's what we have at the end of August:
William Chiarello added another 114 points to his tally this month, to arrive at the overwhelming final score of 853 points! Only 4 PCT riders were stronger so far, which only confirms how great of a season the Brazilian did! If no CT rider pulls off a miraculous GT win in ToA, this must be the individual title for Chiarello - what a way to end his prime!
Xhuliano Kamberaj is having an amazing season as well, although a 320 points gap to Chiarello might suggest otherwise. But with 533 points, he's currently facing no competition at all for 2nd place.
And just like in the team standings, we have Crabbe ahead of Stela-Vita and JEWA - as Natnael Berhane has taken back his 3rd place from Lucas Manuel Gaday, totalling 397 points. The Argentinean has 359, but no cobbles left.
In 5th, having also gained a spot, is the next stage racer with Sindre Skjostad Lunke. With 328 points, he trails the podium by 69 points. Gabriel Marin dropped 1 post, now trailing Lunke by just 8 points.
Mikel Iturria and John Degenkolb are the next riders tho swapped places, with the Spaniard not totalling 274 points, 17 more than the German. Yves Lampaert and Emils Liepins hold onto their Top 10 spots, as they are the final riders above 200 points. So no new name in the Top 10, and logically no-one dropping out.
Generally speaking, there haven't been many big moves this month. Schelling gaining 17 spots - from 42nd to 25th - is the only big improver inside the Top 30; the next biggest movers are Oka (29 -> 21) with 8 and O'Connor (26 -> 19) with 7 spots gained.
Here are the full details ahead of the final two months of the year - and ahead of the potentially biggest scoring race for CT teams, the Tour of America:
Still sticking in the incredibly tight promotion battle. Still got a few good races left which suit us, but continue to live on the edge with some significant misfires from the Lagane/Meyer duo. Can't call it, except there are enough teams in play it's going to go down to the final day
What a fight for the podium this will be! I hope to be clinching on to 3rd place, but the remaining races we have are mostly without our best riders. Degenkolb is done for the season, Berhane will be in some hilly races, but he only shines in high mountains. So it's up to our Puncheurs to get some points!
Thanks for the brilliant write-up once again Fabi!
Edited by Blasing on 02-05-2024 10:01
Another worrying month, with an underwhelming Trentino and a bad Plouay. Morroco was OK, and we didn't expect anything from Denmark or Vineyards really.
We don't go in the ToA, so we'll be watching that with interest. And hope to fare better than the Turtles and Würth in the races we're together.
Thank you very much for the work Fab, a nice read as always.
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A. Roy
We are actually really happy how the last month went. with the limited number of RD we did really well.
Sadly we werent this efficient in the first half of the season so we are just battling for 10th now with Bordeaux not it seems. I hope we will win this battle though I wish Imlardik all the best for the rest of the season too
Thanks again for this awesome Ranking write up Fabi!
Thank you once again Fabianski. Brilliant write-up!
We did an okay-ish performance, especially in Trentino, but I'm afraid it's still not enough to promote. Our main problem is that we don't have any big point scorer. Not a single rider over 130 points. On the other hand, we have 6 scorers over 100 points (almost 8), so we really need to capitalize on our depth in the final part of the season.
However, I'm a bit pessimistic. I have taken another look of our remaining races, and I don't see that we are going to take a lot more points.
I'm afraid we're going to be passed by both Gjensidige and Podium Ambition.
And we're definately not safe from Manada Coyote or Strava...
This will be an terrifiyng September, and I will follow every race closely, also those that we are not participating in.
First of all thanks to Fabi for another great update, I can't imagine how much work this is considering how long it already takes to read those.
The fight for promotion will be interesting too follow with all the teams still fighting for it. Our goal has to be securing 12th place and maybe we even have a shot at overtaking our fellow class of '22 teams to snatch 10th place. It's more likely we'll stay behind though, but it'll be still nice sticking together in the rankings a second year in a row. And as long as we do the same next year too while promoting everything's fine for me (and for ezee and Imladrik too, probably).
Apart from hoping we have some reasonable chance for good results in Britain and maybe even in ToA, though the latter race could also end in only a couple of points and will spoil our PpRD in any case. But San Luis is probably our best chance this season for an outstanding result (especially points-wise), so I'm just thrilled for the races to come, even more so after a good August.
Can't see it going wrong anymore for Crabbe, but you never know of course. Top-4 all seem to be ready to promote, but everyone in the top-8 still with realistic chances of finishing top-5 I assume. ToA will also make us a lot wiser. Three great teams fighting for positions 9-11, also an interesting battle going on there with possible sponsor top-10 goals on the table.
Great update Fab, good luck to everyone for the rest of the season.
Thanks again Fabi for the great and detailed update
Chiarello with another stellar performance, incredible season from him.
Really cool to see such a tight promotion race. I just hope it stays exciting until the last race Good luck everybody!
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Thanks for the amazing read. I'm excited to be part of the battle for top 10. September will obviously be the deciding month for me, where I need to do well in ToA. Finding 100 points there would be a huge win.
![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
