Only 5 races for CT teams this month - but with the Tour of America, September contained many teams' season highlight! The detailed scores of this race are covered in the discussion thread, whereas we'll cover the remaining four races in more detail here.
Let's do the classics first - clashing classics actually. And even clashing hilly classics, with the C1 races Milano - Torino and GP Lugano.
In Milano, we had 7 CT participants, but only two teams scoring. And Gjensidige even scored pretty well, with Eiking taking a decent 9th place and 20 points in a really competitive field. Eriksson picked up the final point for 25th place, making it 1 point for Tafjord - that's all there was for CT teams.
Just across the border, in Lugano (Switzerland), there were even 9 CT teams. Surprisingly, we got a breakaway win there - and breakaway usually means much better chances for CT teams to score well.
Which indeed was the case, with 7/9 scoring. For Bordeaux, it was a really successful race, with Huby as their best finisher taking 5th place! Wackermann, their designated leader, finished 18th to add some more points - 41 in total for the Frenchies! JEWA got 6th place and 32 points with Heymes, and Stela-Vita's Luchshenko ended up 9th for 20 points.
Let's stay in the C1 category, but change the race type - from classics to stage race! The Tour of Britain was on the menu, and with a pretty low PCT participation of just 11 teams, there were some good points available for CT competitors!
And only 6 PCT teams actually scored more points than the top CT representatives - which suspiciously was the reporter's team, Bordeaux! Whereas Iturria's best stage result was 7th, he mastered the key discipline - consistency. He always finished with the top group, getting rewarded with 5th place overall! Doubey got the team's best stage result on the final day, taking 5th place, and ending up 16th in GC. Weinstein took a decent 27th place, and all in all these three riders scored 66 points for Bordeaux!
The fight for 2nd best team was really tense, and decided by a single point. Getting the edge are Tafjord, having 6 scoring riders! Top of the bunch definitely was Vangstad, who laid the base for a good 11th place on GC with a 7th place in the ITT. Stake Laengen in 15th, De la Cruz in 17th and Hoem in 26th round off a great team result GC-wise! Tafjord also ended up 3rd in the team standings, and all of this adds up to 49 points.
One point less, therefore 48 points in total, go to... Strava! Roglic had a very solid race, alway finishing inside or close to the top group, finishing 9th in GC! And Owen ended up 2nd in the KoM standings, after having led for two days and losing the lead on the final day... 30 points for Roglic, 18 for Owen - 48 in total, as said before.
No other team scored really well, with only one of them even crossing 20 points.
Besides ToA, the C2 Tour of San Luis was this month's most important race for many teams. A prologue, followed by two hilly and two flat stages each - et voilà !
Et voilà ? Well, I thought adding some French would be quite fitting, as it was a French team that had a simply awesome race in Argentina! APP and Teuns won one hilly stage each, with the two of them getting a GC 1-2 and points 1-2 for Ekoi! They also went 1-2 on stage 3, and 1-3 on stage 5. Ah yeah, and don't forget about Jiang who finished 2nd in the prologue and wore yellow after day 2, finishing 5th in points... These 3 got all the points for Ekoi - but "all" here really means a lot, as they racked up 238 points! It's the 2nd highest score in CT this year, behind the Turtles' insane Olympia's Tour dominance.
The rest of the field then is far, far behind, no team scoring even half of Ekoi's points. But we had a very, very close race for 2nd - with 1 point making the difference in favor of Stela-Vita! Goos scored more than half of their points thanks to his 3rd place in GC. Yzeiraj also did a great job by winning the KoM. Luchshenko (12th) and McCutcheon (21st) also had pretty high GC finishes, leading to a pretty easy teams win for Stela-Vita - and 101 points in total!
Only one point down are Strava, the runner-up in the team standings. Roglic in 4th and Sirironnachai in 7th both ended up in the GC Top 10, with Bauhaus winning stage 4 - all in all, that's 100 points and another great result in a non-cobbled race!
Now, onto the big one, the Tour of America, the people's GT. As mentioned before, detailed scores are in the ToA discussion thread, but we'll still summarize the race here as well.
And what a race it was for Ekoi! Four stage wins, thereof back-to-back wins by Gall, plus the KoM jersey for the latter - who needs GC points to be happy? 281 points and the highest score of the year, beating the Turtles' Olympia result by 4 points! Another outstanding stage race for the French outfit!
Babymetal also had quite some fun in the Americas, especially Verschaeve with a stage win, plus 2nd in KoM and U25. 160 points for the Japanese team.
Three teams follow close behind, with the next one being the Turtles at 150 points. They also got a stage win - but their biggest success must be the points win by Tivani!
It's then 146 points for the Coyotes, who also got their stage win (by Gaspar). They also had a great GC result on top of that, with Lemus Davila ending up 7th!
143 points for Simba Cement - and no, they didn't get a stage win. They got two, with Wippert and Felline. Hermans' KoM challenge and two days in the KoM jersey (he ended up 3rd) must be something to remember as well.
We have another team above 100 points, with Caja getting their points from a good GC by Munoz and Ablenado, taking 10th and 14th respectively.
Just like the PCT participants, the CT teams clearly also benefitted from a weaker field both in terms of PCT participation and number of teams. The average scoring was 117 points, compared to 71 points last year. They didn't benefit quite as much as the PCT teams, but it's still a pretty clear difference, which could even be decisive in the promotion fight!
Obviously, the ToA affected the monthly ranking even more than in PCT, where there were also PTHC races available to score big. Unsurprisingly, the Top 6 spots in September go to ToA teams...
However, there's absolutely zero question about the month's winner, as Ekoi would have come out on top with ToA alone, and also with Britain and San Luis alone! Meaning that they scored more than twice as much as their runner-up... For Ekoi, it was an amazing month with 544 points scored in 33 race days - or a PpRD of 16.5! Which however is "just" #2 of the division, as we'll find out later... But still, congrats on a huge month, that could see them high up in the overall ranking!
In 2nd place, we find Strava! They did pretty well in Britain and San Luis, but had a pretty mediocre return from ToA. 239 points is still easily enough for 2nd place, having scored 239 points as the only other team above 200 points. Their PpRD of 7.7 is very solid in comparison to most other CT teams - it's actually the 4th highest!
The fight for 3rd was fierce, with 4 teams ending up just 12 points apart from each other. On the final step of the podium, we have Simba Cement - who had a nice run in the Americas, a not-so-great San Luis - but their Lugano points turned out to be decisive to snatch 3rd.
With the exact same amount of race days spent - 28 to be precise - Babymetal end up just 2 points shy of the final podium spot, losing out 186 vs. 188. No monthly podium despite a great ToA run might feel slightly disappointing, though...
Next in line, and rounding off the September Top 5, are the Turtles. A strong run in ToA as well, but not very successful participations in all of Britain, San Luis, Milano and Lugano - yep, they did every single race this month! With a total score of 181, achieved over 35 days of racing, their 5.2 PpRD average isn't great - but clearly not among the worst, either.
Just outside the Top 5, trailing the Turtles by 5 points, we have the Coyotes, getting all of their 176 points from ToA and San Luis. Spending 9 RDs less than the Turtles however gives then a 6.8 PpRD average, which is 5th best of the league (narrowly ahead of Simba).
And then, we finally get to our first non-ToA team - which is Bordeaux! #1 in Britain, #1 in Lugano - but "only" 5th in San Luis. All of this was worth 155 points, and they needed 12 RDs to get there. Which obviously is pretty efficient, and their 12.9 PpRD is #3 of the month - the fight for the Top 10 is definitely on!
Podium Ambition might not be overly happy about their ToA participation, being the 2nd lowest scoring team there. A decent San Luis outcome doesn't quite make up for that, as 128 points in 26 days are a PpRD of less than 5 - is this good enough in the promotion fight?
The PpRD is definitely good enough for Stela-Vita, as they get the highest mark with 17.3! They only raced in San Luis and Lugano, but scored 121 from these 7 days of racing - they probably didn't even need to be quite as efficient to stay in the Top 5, but could they even get close to Crabbe in the overall?
Well, next are not Crabbe - next are Caja, rounding off the Top 10 thanks to a pretty good ToA. They only scored 12 points elsewhere, bringing their total to 114. Which is still enough to outscore Hilcona by 8 points; the Liechtensteiners are the final team above 100 points, narrowly missing out on the September Top 10.
Next are Air New Zealand and Adidas, scoring 92 and 90 points respectively - both getting the vast majority of their points from ToA as well.
And it's only in 14th place that we find one of the most often named promotion contenders - Gjensidige. They had an awful ToA, an awful Tour of Britain, and an awful Tour of San Luis - the three races combining for a horribly low amount of 33 points. Even the 20 points scored in Milano - Torino - their only good September race - can't really salvage their horrible month. A PpRD of 1.6 is September's worst value - no good news for their promotion hunt, that's for sure...
You may think it's a similar story for Tafjord, who scored even one point less, totalling 52 points. But the latter - having a great Tour of Britain, followed by a not-so-great hilly clash - only needed 9 RDs to get there. 5.8 is still a Top 10 PpRD average - not great, but clearly not as awful as their Norwegian compatriots...
Down in 16th place, we finally have the division leaders from Crabbe. 7 race days spent - most of them in San Luis - 39 points scored, which also is a Top 10 PpRD. But still quite some points lost to Stela-Vita... Will we get a closer than expected title fight?
Saeco actually are tied for 9th with Crabbe, scoring all of their points in San Luis - and leaving empty-handed from the hilly clash. Würth scored 5 points less - which still is one point more than JEWA, who take the last spot this month.
Disclaimer:
Whenever I mention remaining schedules for a team, that's based on information I found in the team's HQ, or in some other discussion posts, or logical deduction - no secrets found in some admin files or startlists!
And now, the long awaited post-ToA update! Like in PCT, the race didn't have an impact on the top spots - but unlike in PCT, it did have an impact on the promotion fight!
At the top, despite a pretty mediocre month, we still have the Crabpack. With 1,547 points, they still have an almost 170 points margin with just the final month to go. The title looks pretty likely for them - even though Sun Tour looks like a pretty questionable choice to spent 5/7 remaining RDs given their roster...
Maybe Stela-Vita can capitalize on CCC's rather unfavorable schedule? The Albanians are 169 points behind, having 11 RDs left. They're currently expected to finish at 1,495 points - below Crabbe's current total - so they'll need another really efficient month! Given that Tour of Japan has already started, we know they're not participating - so if they use up all of their 11 remaining RDs, they'll be in Sun Tour, Euskal, and one of the hilly classics on the final day. Not the worst schedule with their decent puncheur squad...
There's no change on the podium, as JEWA are still in 3rd place despite their bad month. But instead of 20 points, their gap to Stela-Vita now is 108 points, which looks tough to gain back in their 13 RDs left. They're not in Japan, either, so they should do all remaining races (including Emilia) - while the hills should suit them, they might rather focus on the sprints in Sun Tour.
3rd probably is JEWA's most likely outcome, with 4th still being 105 points down. And 4th still are Tafjord! They were able to narrowly hold onto that spot - and even to the Top 5 in general, as we'll see in a moment! The good news for them is that projections still have them in the Top 5, with their closest rival having spent about as many RDs. Tafjord have 6 RDs left; given their TTers' strength, though, I'd suppose they should participate in Sun Tour and hence miss out on one RD... Could this be decisive? Or do they use all RDs and not go to Sun Tour? We'll find out...
The Norwegians better do well in whatever races they do, though, as the next teams follow closely! In 5th place - to my admittedly big surprise - we have Strava, making a big jump up from 8th! Despite there not being a single cobbled race, they had an awesome month, and with 1,133 points are just 32 behind Tafjord now! They have 7 RDs left - and the only way to fully use them up would be to do Sun Tour and a classic. With the former definitely not being a race they could have high hopes in... Or will they surprise us (or at least me) once again?
In 6th place, trailing the promotion spots by just 29 points, we have Manada. The Coyotes gained one place - and are in the same situation as the team they're chasing - having 7 RDs left, but not having a decent enough TTer to get a strong GC result in Sun Tour. But they do have some puncheurs who would certainly like the Basque hills instead (just like Strava, by the way) - they haven't revealed their schedule yet, but it might be decisive!
After a pretty mediocre month in terms of PpRD, Podium Ambition dropped from 5th to 7th, falling out of the promotion spots. The good news for them is however that they're just 10 points behind the Coyotes, and 39 behind Strava. And it's more good news, as they've got 11 RDs left - most likely Sun Tour, Euskal, and a classic. And unlike the two teams right ahead, they do have some strong riders for all of these races - and they've already announced they are targetting the win in Zurich, which doesn't sound unrealistic... So, yeah, they're no longer in the Top 5 - but they do have some decent chances to return there!
Now, onto the Team of the Month - Ekoi! Yes, they did indeed gain 6 spots in September - and by now they're not only a very serious Top 10 candidate (or already a lock, given an almost 200 points advantage), but even a promotion contender! They trail Podium Ambition by a mere 18 points (and the Top 5 by 57), and have the same number of RDs left... Unlike many others, they have confirmed their schedule, containing Sun Tour, Euskal and Zurich. And they do have some great "scoring material" for the hilly races, that's for sure. But their scoring opportunities for Sun Tour are rather questionable - could this be the decisive race that eventually stops their awesome late charge?
When talking about stopping - it feels like Gjensidige came to a complete halt. Their Britain and ToA lineups weren't amazing, sure - but what they ended up delivering was really bad. So it's a drop from 6th to 9th, from close to the promotion zone to pretty far away. They're at 1,013 points right now - which is 120 behind Strava in 5th place! The good news is that they have the full October program left to do - and with Van Moer, they have the big favourite for Sun Tour (and another podium contender in Knotten). They will have to make that race stick, though, as otherwise it could be a complete failure for them. OK, they do have Eiking who could do well in the hills, too - but it looks like they'll need every point they can get to land in the Top 5!
That's 9 teams covered - and we can be almost certain that they will also end up being the final Top 9. But the fight for the final Top 10 spot will be interesting, with the current teams in 10th and 11th being separated by just 11 points. In 10th place, we have Bordeaux, totalling 895 points. Followed by the Turtles at 884. The latter still have 11 RDs left - including the Sun Tour, where they should have some good GC Top 10 hopes (and maybe some sprint success). Bordeaux only have 8 RD left, which they're spending in Euskal, Emilia and Zurich. Lafay & friends will definitely need to deliver in these hills!
We also have two teams fighting for 12th; Würth are currently holding that spot with 787 points, but Simba - with 4 additional RDs left - are trailing by just 28 points. The Germans surely have a big advantage in Sun Tour, whereas the latter will be hoping for their puncheur armada to deliver big time in the remaining hilly races.
Hilcona are pretty likely to stay in 14th place, trailing the former duo by more than 100 points - and having an almost 150 points advantage over Saeco, who currently are on the final Top 15 spot. The Italians in turn have an almost 90 points cushion to 16th.
And in 16th, we have Caja - who will almost certainly not stay there. The Spaniards have already concluded their 2023 racing season, ending up with 423 points. Which is less than half of their 2022 total (1,078) and a massive disappointment, after they turned out ending up just 3 points behind a disband promotion spot last year...
Babymetal, currently in 17th place (having gained two spots) are just one point behind Caja - looking at the Tour of Japan results, they'll definitely not stay behind, though. On the other hand, the margin on 18th place is almost 80 points already.
The fight for - respectively against - the red lantern (not counting Mercatone) looks to be fierce, though. Air New Zealand have dropped to 18th, totalling 345 points - whereas Adidas, also losing one spot, are just 8 points down, and have 6 additional RDs to spend...
All these words to describe the numbers that are right here:
At the top, obviously nothing has changed. William Chiarello has ended his final maxed season, and will win the individual standings with a total of 853 points.
And in 2nd place, we still have Xhuliano Kamberaj, totalling 533 points, with no rival close by either.
Behind the two lonely men up front, we have a somewhat closer situation - although Natnael Berhane with his 397 points still has 38 points margin to 4th. And in 4th we have Lucas Manuel Gaday - after the top stage racer, the top sprinter and the top climber, we now have the division's top cobbler.
Going another spot down, it starts getting even more interesting. Sindre Skjostad Lunke held onto his 5th place, with 328 points - but Mikel Iturria is now just 2 points behind! The Spaniard swapped places with Gabriel Marin, who sits at 320 points, so a pretty close fight for 5th!
The two successful Ekoi riders made John Degenkolb drop two spots, down to 10th - with the German ensuring that the Frenchies aren't the only team with two riders in the Top 10. At least not right now...
With two new names in the Top 10, we had two riders dropping out, who are Lampaert (9 -> 14) and Liepins (10 -> 15).
And we have another big improver with Teuns, who even jumped up 37 spots, from 55th to 18th. No-one inside the Top 50 however beats Tivani, who gained 99 spots, form 126th to 27th! Verschaeve wasn't taht far away, though, with 81 places gained...
Looking at the October profiles and the current scores, maybe KHJ or Eiking could still move inside the Top 10, but 40 points between 10th and 11th is already quite a margin... We'll soon find out!
Amazed that we had as functional a September as we did but here's to hoping we can slide into the Top 10 - still feeling much better than after some of those early months but I'd love to meet 1 of my 5 goals this year.
Overall, what a month by Ekoi. Still a chance for them to end 6th!
I kept saying TioA was going to tank us hard But you know, we still had rider of the race in Marte!
No idea how Sun Tour will go now we see the startlist, then i'm relying on the famously consistent Lagane/Meyer - oh wait, i mean inconsistent! It's gonna be a close finish. CT is the best division.
After a good month we now have a bad one so we dont get used to it I guess. Well very limited racedays and not suited riders contribute a lot to this result for us. If we look at it in a positive way, we progressed already from last year So if we continue like this the upcomming season it should only take us 2-3 more seasons in CT
Overall looks like a fun battle for the last (probably but we never know) spot for promotion. With Ekoi's incredible push last month they are now a strong contender. So only 1 great month can change things.
We are paying the price of bad planning right now.
Lacking RD's at the end of the year for our point scorers, and not getting much from the sub-optimal units.
We are basicly all in for Eiking in October. Which so far this year, means we will not suceed i guess.
Thank you for the glorious work Fab!
You pretty much nailed it on what we need for the end of the season.
Euskal was a zero pointer last season. We definitely send in a stronger squad, but we'll see whether it's enough.
And last season we had big success on the last day clash. We come back with, I think, competitive teams, and winning Zuri we'll obviously be the goal once again. Top 10 in Emellia would be fantastic.
Good luck everyone for the end of the season, and once again, thank you Fab!
Edit:
And only 6 PCT teams actually scored more points than the top CT representatives - which suspiciously was the reporter's team, Bordeaux!
Indeed! Maybe I should report Emellia then Edited by Imladrik on 03-06-2024 10:47
“...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
Having a great run at my debut in the first season,
Didn't thought that i will do this great, only looking good for the futher. still alot of things can happen but i am very pleased with the results the team have accomplished.
Also good results from Kamberaj who is carrying our team to PCT.
Thank you, always looking forward to these updates as I lack time to follow the races on day by day. Seems like the team continues with its momentum from the previous update and we made a real surge into the Top 5. It would be exciting if we finished this high up, Roglic scoring well for us this month in particular.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Thanks for the update, Fab! This one was clearly even more enjoyable for us than usual.
It's been an insane month for the team (and yes, I promise that's the last time I'll say this ). We're not just clear ahead of our division rivals, we also accumulated more points than any PCT team and would be 4th in the PT rankings this month! This sees us most probably securing our top 10 season goal and puts us right in the middle of the promotion fight - something we couldn't have dreamed of a month ago.
But now the remaining races are of quite some importance which isn't the best news regarding Herald Sun Tour, where we are for some good reasons which I can't recall now ... So all hopes are on APP and his hill support in Euskal-Bizikleta and Zuri. Given he had only one disappointing race this season he's surely not the worst rider to put our hopes on. My bet for 5th would be T3A with Strava their biggest contenders. But 7th could be realistic for us with the Coyotes in Australia too (with comparable chances). It will be a thrilling fight in any case, though I'm not sure yet I'll actually 'enjoy' it
Thank you again, Fabianski, for your tremendous work! You are absolutely awesome!
Tremendous battle for promotion and I didn't expect to be a contender. ToA pushed us really well, Gaspar and Lemus Davila were great in this race. I missed it last season, it was all about experience points, but it is from now a feature of our calendar. Not only because it is such a great race, but because of our region focus. Anyway, I don't expect promotion this season, but I'm really excited about the future of my team since I am beginning to see the results of a 3 years work. Central America is in good hands. Or so I believe.
Thank you again and good luck to all for the last month of the season!
But you know, we still had rider of the race in Marte!
![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
So if we continue like this the upcomming season it should only take us 2-3 more seasons in CT 
). We're not just clear ahead of our division rivals, we also accumulated more points than any PCT team and would be 4th in the PT rankings this month! This sees us most probably securing our top 10 season goal and puts us right in the middle of the promotion fight - something we couldn't have dreamed of a month ago.
