Welcome to the most PTHC-heavy month of the year! No less than 3 stage races and a classic - adding up to 20 race days - were scheduled this month. No team did them all, though - even though one of them only skipped the classic.
Then, we also had the penultimate PT stage race of the year, plus two classics. Only a GT, a stage race, a "normal" classic and a monument will be left at PT level, so these races are getting even more crucial as we're into the second half of the year! A lot of stuff to cover - let's go!
First things first, and first came another one of these 3-day PT races. 3 days means very, very crowded in terms of star riders, so we should expect a huge fight. However, if one given rider participates, the others just fight for 2nd place.
Well, you know what? Breaking news: Herklotz is beatable! He did not win the race - and he only won one stage out of 3! The big, slightly surprising winner (entering the race as #3 favourite), was Areruya! He was the only rider to get the full series of podium spots in these three days - 2nd, 3rd, 1st. And that was enough to win the race and the points, scoring a whopping 385 points! In just 3 days... Of course, Xero scored more points, because whenever Pidcock is present, he easily beats some of the world's best, finishing 12th and ahead of tons of better climbers and puncheurs (and 2nd in U25). Wonderkid. Xero also had Pomoshnikov in 50th place, and they ended up 2nd in team standings, that's 508 points. Almost 170 per day... Huge. That's more points in 3 days in Scandinavia than in 42 GT days in Italy and Spain. You have to know how you set your priorities ^^
Herklotz still did a decent job, though. He won stage 2, after finishing surprisingly low on day 1, in 5th place. However, on day 3 he surprisingly lost the sprint for the stage and GC win, so 2nd place it was on the stage, and thanks to the generous timekeepers awarding gaps only on day 3, this was enough for 2nd in GC. And for 285 points. And for once, the Pumas actually had some great depth, with Zwiehoff and Schinnagel both taking a Top 20, and Zimmermann and Cemazar ending up in the Top 50. 396 points for the Germans, still not an awful race.
For Evonik, the race started in the best possible way. MAL won the opening stage, finished 2nd on day 2 - and only had to hold the stage winner's wheel and get another podium on day 3. He did neither, as he finished only 4th, 15" behind the winner - dropping to 3rd in GC. He salvaged 2nd in points, but that's not a great consolation when you had such a great chance to win the race - and no-one knows why he didn't. He still scored 5 points more than Herklotz, but with only Blums making the Top 50 (he finished 24th), that's not many depth points for Evonik. They end up with 342 points.
Then it was time for the PTHC festival, with 3 partly overlapping stage races - as ever since Tour de Suisse and Dauphiné got downgraded to PTHC (sadly...). The first of these three races however was the Tour of East Java; formerly a two-day event with a day for the sprinters and one for the climbers; nowadays it's three flat days and one in the mountains.
And guess what? MAL actually did better here than in Scandinavia, finishing 2nd in GC! And he won't even be mad at all about this 2nd place, given that it was teammate and captain Lecuisinier who won the decisive stage 3 and the race! A 1-2 for Evonik in a PTHC stage race, you don't get that every day. The two stars scored 410 points combined, but with Gavars (32nd) and Bellan (40th) in the Top 50 as well, Konrad and Krasts in the Top 100 (the latter 5th in U25 as well) and Evonik winning the team standings, they scored 451 points in total. More than in Scandinavia, and the 2nd highest PTHC score of the year (with just King Power's Lithuania madness being valued higher). A pretty good reaction to a pretty big disappointment.
So, did Evonik leave any points at all for the rest of the division? They did - and one team even scored slightly more than half of Evonik's points, with Gazelle getting a score of 228. Dombrowski once again couldn't quite get a win, but 3rd place in the crucial stage 3 and in the GC isn't bad at all. And Gazelle wouldn't be Gazelle if they didn't get some nice depth as well - indeed, Warchol ended up 20th and Karnulin 42nd, with Bongiorno and Sosnitskiy taking the two last Top 50 spots as well. Bongiorno and Karnulin also took 2nd and 3rd in KoM, and Gazelle ended up 3rd in the team standings. And let's just mention that Balmer took 6th in U25, just because he's Swiss.
Pogacar was 4th in GC, but it's 5th placed Latour who led his team to 3rd in terms of points. Because Polar also had Philipsen, taking 5th, 6th and 3rd in the three sprint stages, and ending up 2nd in points. And they also had Nych, Antonelli, Sweeny, Garcia Cortina and Lauk all in the Top 100, resulting in 160 points all things considered.
Tour de Suisse was next. Apart from 4 uphill stages, the race also featured a prologue, a sprint stage and an ITT including a descent and an uphill section - a pretty varied race, and one for the well-rounded stage racers.
The GC in Switzerland was basically done and dusted after the first mountain stage on day 4. In an unprecedented move, Bernal simply rode away with 4 teammates, and no-one in the pack was willing to really commit to chasing them down. Probably knowing that Bernal was the #1 GC favourite anyway given the closing ITT...
In the end, Bernal won the stage over 3 minutes ahead of teammate Mas, with the best rider from the pack losing 3'38". Of course, Bernal went on to win the GC - adding another (dominant) stage win in the final TT stage. The final gap to 2nd in the GC was 4'36" - more than the gap from 2nd to 17th... He also won the points standings and finished 3rd in KoM, scoring 336 points in total. Mas added 52 points, thanks to his 2nd place on S4 plus 23rd in the final GC. Polar also had 4 more riders in the Top 100, and ended the race with 396 points.
2nd place in GC surprisingly went to PCT - and the 2nd best scoring team was King Power, having McNulty in 4th place in the final GC. 2nd in the ITT was his best stage result. King Power also had a 2nd (and a 4th) place in the opening stage, the prologue, where Leung and Matsuda did a great job. And the Thai had Chaiyasombat in 21st (and 3rd U25), Fung in 32nd and Quita in 39th in the final GC, ending up 3rd in the team standings as well. 258 points for them.
Kudus may have ended up 3rd in GC, but Moser are only the 5th highest scoring team. Ahead of them are Aker in 4th - and Gazelle in 3rd place. Gazelle, really? No Dombrowski, no Lutsenko - how comes? I'll admit I'm surprised as well. But Leknessund finished 10th in GC, winning the white jersey - and the Norwegian was only the leader of a climber armada, with Senni, Carboni and Vervaeke all taking Top 20 spots as well, and Aleotti, Pavlic and Peters ending up in the Top 50. Only Nsenginmana missed out, finishing 56th... What an incredible and surreal team performance! But I guess when you're on a roll, you're on a roll, and pure skills don't matter at all anymore. Anyway, 241 more points for the leaders. Any questions?
As said before, the Dauphiné was more for the pure climbers than the TdS, having only a medium-length ITT in the middle of the race. Actually more TT kilometers than TdS, but also more (and harder) uphill parts. A great opportunity for the climbers!
Morton was the best climber present - and after narrowly missing out on the Vuelta win (by 14"), he narrowly secured the win in France (by 20")! After winning stages 5 and 6, he already looked like the sure winner, having a lead of more than a minute. But he was really passive on the final stage 7, losing more than 30" of his lead - it was still enough for the win! The GC win and the points win that is, and 308 points in total. Williams (20th) and Elissonde (38th) added some decent GC placings to that, with cycleYorkshire ending the race with 341 points.
It was a close race for 2nd place - at least in terms of scoring. In the end, that spot went to Tinkoff. Banaszek took 3rd on day 1, Razumov took 3rd in the ITT - but it was the final stage that brought them the big points. Mamykin won it from the breakaway, with Rikunov finishing 6th. And with the two of them finishing 9th and 10th in the GC - plus Vlasov in 12th! Mamykin also secured the KoM win, and Tinkoff won the team standings - resulting in a great 299 points haul, thanks to various good scorers!
2nd in GC, by a big margin, was Eastman. Thanks to his decent good TT and great climbing performances (ending up 4th and 2nd on stages 5 and 6), he was already 2nd in GC before the final stage - where he launched a huge attack! It even looked like he might run away with the GC win, but Morton was strong enough in the end to limit his losses. Still, Eastman stormed to 3rd on the final stage, getting as close as 20" in the final GC, and also taking 2nd in points. Aular added a good 15th place in the GC, with Lopez Nolasco (35th) and Osorio (42nd) contributing some points as well. And let's not forget Sütterlin's 2nd place in the ITT! In the end, that's 290 points for Oxxo, just 9 less than Tinkoff.
The GP Moscow then already was the season's final PT classic for the sprinters. Almost pan-flat, with not a lot of success for rouleurs recently. And this year?
Nope. It was one for the sprinters, as expected, as intended. And it was Cullaigh who demonstrated that he has finally found his sprinting legs, winning an extremely close duel against Gaviria! cycleYorkshire defienitely are on a high, winning a lot lately, and they obviously ended up being the best team here again. 225 points for Cullaigh, with Antonijevic contributing a 25th place as well. 271 points for the Brits.
Gaviria also continued his great form he's been having for most of the season anyway. 161 points for him, and with none of his teammates caring about their finishing position, that's 196 points for Moser.
3rd place went to Ewan and PCT-team ISA, hence Aker's Groenewegen was the 3rd best PT sprinter. And Aker the 3rd best scoring PT team, taking not only Groenewegen's 113 points, but also 24 for SKA's 17th place, and 10 for Peak's Top 50. 172 points for the Norwegians.
Then it was time for the big clash between the world's top TT specialists, with the French PT classic Chrono des Herbiers on the menu.
And Wirtgen left no doubt about who currently is the world's #1 - it's the Luxembourger! Sure, a 13" advantage after 48 kilometers isn't that much, but easily enough to claim the win. And 225 points. Tanfield and Pelikan ended up 17th and 24th respectively, making it 263 points for EA Vesuvio.
Which isn't a lot more than what Oxxo got here. Zmorka finished 3rd, more or less as expected - but Sütterlin made it a great outcome for the team by taking 6th place! Even Greek legend Vlatos contributed some decent points with 19th place, that's 234 for the Mexicans.
And then we get two teams in 3rd place! Grieg on one hand, led by Würtz in 2nd place. Dal Col (23rd) and Korsaeth (41st) didn't score big, though, hence the drop behind Oxxo despite their team leader doing better.
The team matching the Danes' 189 points was Fastned, having two in the Top 10 as well. Phinney in his 2024 shape wasn't even good enough for the podium anymore and ended up 4th, with Gonzalez Salas adding a 7th place to a strong team result. Hessmann definitely doesn't have this level yet, missing out on the Top 50. As said before, 189 points for both teams.
Rounding off the month was another PTHC race - the one for the puncheurs, the Clasica San Sebastian.
One rider who definitely loves this race is Schmid; finishing 2nd last year, still unmaxed, he now went one better and took his first ever classic win! 170 points for the Swiss youngster, with Jura's team result being complemented by a strong 14th place by Errazkin, plus 42nd by Delco. 194 points all in all.
The two strongest hybrid puncheurs who aren't Herklotz finished right behind Schmid - they just launched too late, or gave the Swiss too much leeway in the final downhill. Areruya ended up 2nd, scoring 125 points for Xero. MAL finished 3rd, and with Blums and Polanc getting a Top 50 as well, that's 104 points for Evonik.
That's our 7 races covered - now, how does this translate into the monthly rankings? Let's see!
Some pretty big scores were achieved this month - with the best team even going beyond 1,000 points! That team is... Polar, winning their 2nd month in a row! A huge result in Switzerland, plus very solid scores in all of their other races, adding up to 1,086 points scored across 18 race days! Which sounds huge (and it is!), but a PpRD of 60 actually is "just" the 3rd highest this month...
Because Evonik also reached almost 1,000 points, 983 to be precise - but only needed 13 RDs to get there, doning none of the 7-day races! In particular their East Java result is outstanding, but Scandinavia was rock solid (at the very least) as well. And San Sebastian not a full disaster, either. So that's a lot of points in not that many days, or a PpRD of 75. Looks like their form curve is heading in the right direction heading into the TdF month...
Completing the monthly podium are Xero with 863 points, obviously mainly scored by Areruya, both in Scandinavia and San Sebastian. But I guess their manager will rather focus on the "only" 26 points from Tour de Suisse to find a reason for still worrying about relegation.
Oxxo weren't seen that high up recently, but they end up 4th in June! Eastman's show in Dauphiné plus the huge Herbiers result were their main "driving forces" in terms of points, whereof they scored 810 overall.
The final Top 5 team are Aker, thanks to a very solid Scandinavia outcome, plus a surprisingly strong TdS scoring - and Groenewegen doing well in Moscow. 767 points for the Norwegians, who don't have a top-notch PpRD with 38, but still easily Top 10 material.
In 6th we have cycleYorkshire with the month's 5th best PpRD, obviously mostly thanks to Morton's Dauphiné triumph. And Cullaigh's Moscow win. So they can easily live with the two other races being a tad weaker, the Brits still end up with a strong 718 points.
7th and 8th then go to Moser and Gazelle, just 2 points apart from each other. The former scored rather decently in most of their races, with the highlight being Gaviria's 2nd place in Moscow. The latter had pretty good races in Indonesia and Switzerland, ending up on 687 points (vs. 689 by Moser). But with 34, they've got a clearly better PpRD thanks to having spent 5 RDs less.
74 points back, and 30 points ahead of a bunch of 7 teams we'll get to next, are King Power. Scandinavia and Switzerland both were decent for them, Moscow and Herbiers were rather OK-ish. Still, 613 points and an almost 44 PpRD average isn't bad at all.
So, we've reached the final spot of the Top 10. And from here down to 16th place, it's just 48 points separating these 7 teams! First are Jura, obviously thanks to their San Sebastian win, rather solid scoring in their home race and less convincing scorings in Scandinavia, Herbiers and Moscow. 583 points for the Swiss, who also are 10th in terms of PpRD.
Tinkoff go next with 575 points; besides of their great Dauphiné scoring, they didn't have any outstanding results and narrowly missed out on the Top 10. For the Pumas, getting that close to the Top 10 after spending just 9 days of racing - the lowest number in the division - is great news. OK, Herklotz missed out on the Scandinavia win, otherwise they'd be even further up. But with 567 points in 9 RDs, they still have the division's 2nd highest PpRD this month!
Fastned, ZARA, MOL and Carlsberg are the other teams in this block, with in particular Fastned not being particularly unhappy about their scoring, having spent clearly fewer RDs than the other three.
We still have one team above 500 points, which is EA Vesuvio. Herbiers makes up more than half of their total score, so it's pretty obvious that the Luxembourgers are longing for Slovenia and Deutschland in the nearer future. Which must be true for Grieg as well, ending up right behind in 18th place with 463 points.
Cedevita once again had a pretty bad month, in particular with Tao having another inexplicably bad race in Switzerland. And Pogacar missing out on the podium in Indonesia because of Evonik's 1-2. It's not their season so far.
For Rabobank, it was a complicated month as well; Formolo didn't reach his usual level in Scandinavia, and then narrowly missed out on the podium in San Sebastian. And Moscow was another awful flat classic for them. With just 342 points scored, it's a more than 100 points gap to Cedevita.
The last two teams are those who pretty often take these positions, Lidl and Assa. Lidl actually were rather close to Rabobank with 317 points, whereas Assa just stood no chance, scoring just 170 points.
That's all we had to say in terms of words, now let the numbers talk:
Pos
Team
Sca
EJ
Sui
Dau
Mos
Her
CSS
Total
RD
PpRD
1
Polar
244
160
396
0
137
149
0
1086
18
60.33
2
Evonik - ELKO
342
451
0
0
62
24
104
983
13
75.62
3
Xero Racing
508
0
26
0
139
65
125
863
16
53.94
4
Oxxo - Frisby
131
0
0
290
105
234
50
810
16
50.63
5
Aker - MOT
245
91
204
0
172
15
40
767
20
38.35
6
cycleYorkshire
55
0
0
341
271
51
0
718
14
51.29
7
Moser - Sygic
40
72
199
141
196
41
0
689
25
27.56
8
Gazelle
129
228
241
0
35
30
24
687
20
34.35
9
King Power
229
0
258
0
58
68
0
613
14
43.79
10
Jura GIANTS
125
0
143
0
69
52
194
583
16
36.44
11
Tinkoff Team - La Datcha
80
0
0
299
97
84
15
575
16
35.94
12
Team Puma - SAP
396
0
0
0
106
25
40
567
9
63.00
13
Fastned
149
98
0
0
49
189
75
560
13
43.08
14
ZARA - Irizar
167
0
120
151
85
31
0
554
21
26.38
15
MOL Cycling Team
244
59
117
0
40
20
62
542
20
27.10
16
Carlsberg - Danske Bank
48
132
0
248
72
15
20
535
20
26.75
17
EA Vesuvio
43
0
137
0
55
266
0
501
14
35.79
18
Grieg-Maersk
68
0
94
0
101
189
11
463
16
28.94
19
Cedevita
45
151
120
0
65
77
0
458
18
25.44
20
Rabobank
131
33
0
0
61
25
92
342
13
26.31
21
Lidl Cycling
63
0
0
128
90
36
0
317
14
22.64
22
Assa Abloy
67
0
0
11
77
15
0
170
14
12.14
Full Ranking
We all know it: Next month will be extremely decisive, with the biggest remaining scores - and potentially the biggest all year long - in play. So here's the situation pre-TdF, with the next ranking update probably being the final one where we can expect some major jumps.
We didn't have any major jumps - not even any jumps at all - in the first couple of positions. So Gazelle still are our top team, expectedly. Currently totalling 6,247 points and having the division's highest PpRD, they seem to be on-track for the title.
But: Polar have just cut back their deficit by 399 points this month! With 5,717 points, they're trailing by "just" 530 points now - but it's still hard to see the Finns close this gap. We'll see.
Behind the Top 2, who both have a huge gap to their closest rival, it's currently really, really close, though! We have 5 teams separated by 64 points from 3rd to 7th, so it's definitely worthwile to take a closer look!
King Power currently are on the final podium spot, totalling 5,161 points. Even though their PpRD of just below 41 is "only" the 4th best, they arguably have the biggest card to play among the top teams - with McNulty competing in the Tour.
Next are cycleYorkshire after another strong month, and moving up from 6th to 4th. 5,138 points is their current score, but with neither Morton nor Yates nor Cullaigh in France, they might struggle to score a lot. In particular compared to King Power.
Then we have two teams tied for 5th place at 5,114 points. On one hand, we have the Pumas, slipping down from 4th to 5th. Herklotz only has Lombardia left, so they'll be hoping for a lot of points from Kanter in France.
And we also have Xero. Yes, 5th place. And hopefully the moment has definitely come where the manager of a team with Areruya, Manninen, Ganna and Pidcock will finally realize that this team will never ever get close to the relegation zone. Even though they have no GC rider for Le Tour. But they might have Ganna, who knows.
Finally, in 7th place we have the defending champions from Aker. Repeating the 2023 heroics won't be possible, but a solid Top 10 is definitely on the table. Maybe even Top 5, but that's definitely too close to call. They do have the worst perspectives, though, having spent already 140 RDs - more than the other teams in 3rd to 6th.
Carlsberg dropped 3 spots this month, from 5th to 8th, with 4,956 points. However, the gap to the podium is 205 points - and if Carthy gets some more GT magic done in France, who knows... But if he doesn't, securing their Top 10 must be the main goal - and that's clearly not a given yet.
Tinkoff are just 19 points behind, and Sivakov has already shown in Spain that he's a pretty dangerous GT rider. The Russians also spent 8 RDs less so far than the Danes, and should have a slight advantage in that duel.
The final Top 10 spot currently goes to Evonik, who have moved up 3 places. But if Le Tour unfolds according to expectations, the most likely scenario is that Evonik will be at least 3rd at the end of next month, definitely not 10th.
Fastned are just 5 points behind, trailing 4,868 vs. 4,873, but should stand no chance against Evonik next month. So to claim a Top 10 spots, they'll have to focus on other rivals - but a Top 15 might actually be a pretty decent result for them after promotion anyway.
Which definitely holds for Jura as well. The Swiss lost another spot, dropping from 11th to 12th - and it's a pretty clear gap here, as they trail Fastned by more than 200 points already. But 4,653 points is probably more than they expected to have at this point in the season... Still, they might be the first team that could still be worried about relegation, even though probably just slightly.
Oxxo on the other hand just gained two places, moving up from 15th to 13th, giving them some more room to breathe. With 4,543 points, they trail Jura by about 100 points. Their 750 points margin over the relegation zone looks pretty good as well for now - but we'll see in a moment why it might not be that comfortable after all...
Rabobank clearly are among this month's losers, dropping 2 spots from 12th to 14th. But more importantly, almost 200 points behind Oxxo. And while the two aforementioned teams could still feel rather safe, the point has definitely come where we have to speak about relegation danger. Rabobank are still just more than 550 points above the line - and if Grosu does well in France they might not have to worry anymore - but let's just look at the teams behind:
Grieg are next, as the final Top 15 team, totalling 4,347 points. Or 9 less than Rabobank. They still have some nice PTHC races to come, and some cobbles as well (where both teams can score, though).
For Vesuvio - 135 points behind Grieg - the PTHC races, in particular Slovenia - suit them even better, having the better rider. But they definitely will have to deliver, as their 16th place clearly is in danger.
Because in 17th place - and hence in the final safe spot - we have MOL, with 3,821 points. A gap of almost 400 points looks comfortable - but the Hungarians will bring Haig as a strong GC podium contender to Le Tour.
And right behind them are Cedevita, with 3,797 points. The duel Haig vs. Pogacar could actually decide on which team stands above the other by the end of the month - although we have to consider that the Slovenians will ride in their home race as well!
Next up are Moser, having 3,717 points currently. And having Kudus in France. He knows he has to deliver. He might have to dethrone PHL. But no-one really doubts that he will score a lot, and that Moser should leave the relegation spots behind after the Tour. Whether they'll drop back down later on is another question, though...
For the final 3 teams, it's not looking great to be honest. ZARA should still have the biggest hopes of somehow closing the gap to the safety zone. But with 3,384 points, they're almost 440 behind MOL where we could expect Haig to outscore Shikai. And it's more than 800 points to Vesuvio, meaning that both Shikai and Jakobsen would have to deliver big time. But... you remember last year's Giro winner? Miracles happen!
However, for Assa and Lidl it's really hard to see such a miracle materializing. OK, the latter have Faglum Karlsson, a decent stage racer. But who should win the Tour for Assa? No, it's not looking overly likely that either of them will stay up - but giving up already definitely can't be an option, either. So let's hope they'll give the others a good fight!
Well, that's enough text. Just look at the numbers and tell me what you think - so many scenarios are thinkable pre-TdF, and I expect the post-TdF update to provide a far clearer situation. But for now, here's what we got:
Last year, Silvio Herklotz won the individual standings with 2,362 points. Even though he missed out on the win in Scandinavia, he still got his counter up to 2,427. So yeah, no doubt about the winner. Unless PHL dominates Le Tour even more than Herklotz did in the Giro...
Egan Bernal easily stayed in 2nd place, actually even extending his gap to 3rd. He won in Switzerland and did a decent job in Herbiers, now totalling 1,970 points. Which is his final score, as Herbiers was his last race of the year.
Could Lachlan Morton - moving up from 4th to 3rd - still overtake the Colombian? The Aussie currently has 1,673 points, almost 300 less. And 7 RDs still available... Balkans?
Fernando Gaviria also did well, taking 2nd place in Moscow, but with the stage racers scoring far more, he still dropped from 3rd to 4th. 1,583 is his current score. He has just 1 race (or 2 RDs) left, so it's unlikely he'll improve in the final standings.
On the contrary, given that Joseph Areruya just made a big jump from 16th to 5th, after winning Scandinavia and taking 2nd in San Sebastian. He currently totals 1,358 points. And believe it or not, but he still has 12 RDs left! Balkans, GP Cycliste, Japan Cup and Lombardia is the only schedule that makes sense for him - enough to reach 2,000 points?
After three stage racers, a sprinter and a great hybrid, let's continue with more "standard" puncheurs. Alexey Lutsenko is next, dropping from 5th to 6th, having bad races both in Scandinavia and San Sebastian. He's almost done with his schedule - because, believe it or not, he just has one additional RD compared to Areruya...
Mauri Vansevenant has yet another additional RD available, and he's next in the list. He gained one spot, from 8th to 7th, currently totalling 1,291 points. And he even has 13 RDs left - same program as Areruya? Or will he try to do even better than last year in ToNE?
With Thomas Pidcock, the most surprising name is still inside the Top 10. And he's likely there to stay, as I can see no way he won't dominate ToNE (which would be his final race of the year). But we'll see. For now, he was just overtaken by Vansevenant, by a mere 6 points.
Mads Pedersen losing 3 spots this month just shows that there aren't many cobbles left. He scored some points in Moscow, but that's abou tit. 1,247 points for him, enough for 9th place.
And the final Top 10 spot remains with Joe Dombrowski, thanks to a decent East Java result. 1,209 is the current threshold to make the Top 10. We'll see if Dombrowski manages to stay in, as he's just got 3 RDs left.
Right outside the Top 10 is the "most notable improver" of the month, with MAL having moved up from 29th to 11th. That's 190 points behind Areruya, who he'll certainly face again this year.
With only one new name inside the Top 10, only one rider dropped out, with Per falling from 9th to 13th. Generally speaking, the cobblers had a rough month, but the next might be even worse, with TdF scores incoming and still no cobbles on the horizon...
A decent month for us, the time trialists stepping up, just like Eastman in his last race for us at Dauphiné. Higuita still missing a big result perhaps, but at least he seems to be quite consistently racking up some points around spot 7/8 mostly. If we can stay in PT and train him to 80/81 that might improve further.
Still, we should have been a bit higher with the amount of missed chances for some leaders earlier in the season I feel, but we have to live with what we have now. Last year we would have been saved I think with the amount of points we have now, but this year clearly is different. The Tour won't be super high scoring for us I fear, whereas basically all of our relegation rivals can score well there in either GC or sprints/stages, and Grieg and Vesuvio also have good races left in them with Slovenia, Deutschland, cobbles etc.
So we'll have to make our remaining races count as well. Hopefully Marin and Aular can start with a good Tour!
Thank you again for your massive writeup, Fabianski!
Solid month for us, I'd say, with no top scores, but a lot of solid scores. We take it, as we look to cement our top 10. It's very Tour dependent, but there is a world where we definitely push for a top 5, eventhough there are obvious threats coming from behind too.
For Suisse, I think I disagree it was a surprisingly strong score, seeing we had a very strong GC card to play in Novak. Eventhough his GC failed, he luckily found another way to get into the points. Speaking of him, his season is now done. 666 points feels like a solid season for him, not having had time or opportunity to compare it to similar riders previous seasons. And not counting points, his riding style has been brilliant to follow
Speaking of leaders being done, Groenewegen is another one (including his minimal points in Riga-Jurmala in July). 750 points is too low compared to our hopes pre-season, but luckily it looks like we go well clear of any relegation danger, which makes it kind of easy to deal with Hoping he bounces back next season!
It means we count on Kragh, Peak and AHJ for the Tour, which feels like a rather huge risk seeing how the prologue already went, and for the remainder of the season, it's either Anderberg or Valter to lead us in all races we have left.
At the very top, Gazelle just can't stop scoring! It's obviously too early to say congratulations, DD, but this is looking amazing for you and your team For the other end and the fight to avoid relegation, this Tour has, just like Fabianski writes, massive, massive importance. What a twist to follow in the Tour!
Thanks for the amazing update as always Fabianski! Really appreciate it!
We came back down to earth this month. Galta and Carthy were still good, but Aranburu dropped the ball in both Scandinavia and CSS. AKA same in Msocow, and we never expect to compete in TT's. All in all, it's a month that sees us drop, but not dangerously.
Obviously I want to end up as high as possible, and a top 10 is a sponsor goal from pre-transfers (one I did not expect to have a chance of meeting), but the best thing is we're safely above the relegation zone at the moment, and like to end up in the 10-15 range like that year. Just need a decent Tour and then to push through the final stretch.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Finally top ten at least. This was a brilliant month for us with east java being the highlight without a doubt. Still the gap to the top is incredibly huge after Gazelle continued to add great scoring in their double header but we are probably still very much in the podium fight with TDF points hopefully to push us up massively.
Thanks for the update, Fabianski. Herbiers somewhat saving us from a horror month points wise, but it seems like the bottom team are coming closer ... Good month from Polar to keep the title battle on points wise, but let's see who it looks after the TdF.
Correct. Vlatos is well beyond Legend-status, having now scored 3497 points during his entire career, which is actually a ridiculous amount of points for a TT'er who can't do anything else, and never was higher than shared 5th in the DB of TT'ers.
Deducting his 2012 season where he as a talent scored 1 point, he has an average points harvest on 291 points pr. season (including those early seasons developping past level 1). For the past 10 seasons he has an average of 340 points pr. season, only once being below 200 points pr. season - this seasons apparently not being an exception unless he has no more RD's left.
It's very interesting to follow the PT as a spectator for once. Moser should be safe with Kudus in the TdF while Evonik should push for 2nd during the Tour de France I would expect, even though Polar does have a very solid depth to fend off chasers.
Will be very interesting to see if Gazelle can keep their lead. I think they can - but I would not rule out Evonik just yet. 2000 points could be scored during the Tour de France - But also could be 1200 points if we get one of those flukey versions. I hope closer to the first as I would really like to see Knockout finally taking the win. I would like to see DD take it aswell, but he already have one in the bank
SotD wrote:
It's very interesting to follow the PT as a spectator for once. Moser should be safe with Kudus in the TdF while Evonik should push for 2nd during the Tour de France I would expect, even though Polar does have a very solid depth to fend off chasers.
Will be very interesting to see if Gazelle can keep their lead. I think they can - but I would not rule out Evonik just yet. 2000 points could be scored during the Tour de France - But also could be 1200 points if we get one of those flukey versions. I hope closer to the first as I would really like to see Knockout finally taking the win. I would like to see DD take it aswell, but he already have one in the bank
I guess there is a chance but a dominant performance by Lecuisinier is likely not enough as we also would need Gazelle to have a bit of a stinker race. Riders like Warchol have proven to be very capable in scoring there themselves and we just dont have all that many RDs left after the tour to make up the ground (even if many of the remaining races are fairly good ones)
The month was indeed calm without being part of the PTHC double stage race.
Vansevenant really impressive so far in his first maxed season, at times he could even score more when riding smarter and less active.
While the season should be fine regarding relegation, the team lacks the regular scoring here and there to attack the top5. Strength wise it might have been possible but the late go for Phinney wasn`t ideally planned pre-transfers as we lack all the ITT stage races, so that a lot of scoring potential just couldn`t went for. Plus Hooydonck lacks some depth skills to really be highly competitive in the classics, in especially the lack of his flat engine.
Other than that I can`t complain at all. Solid season with some outstanding performances.
Considering the esteemed writer of these wonderful reviews felt the need to mention it multiple times, consider my relegation talk officially put on hold Pretty crazy to still be in the Top 5 (rather Top 6) at this point in the season, and for me to be feeling like our impending Areruya-less freefall until mid-September will be to the lower mid-table rather than the bottom few spots. But that's the power of Areruya and Pidcock on your side, I suppose. Makes the 860,000 I spent on them as neo-pros and the 1.3m+ I spend on them from here unto forever feel pretty worth it, I suppose
Have more thoughts about the rest of the division but not in a state to write them right now - maybe tomorrow. Only have to make sure I say what a phenomenal job Fabianski has done as always. Hope you're doing well at the moment - and hopefully soon I can give you as much shit for worrying about relegation in that post as you have given me this season
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This was never going to be our best month, so I'm happy with the 687 points scored.
It does lower our PpRD from 46.33 to 44.62, which means that after a great month Polar has now almost closed the gap. cycleYorkshire and King Power also still in the 40+ PpRD club and PUMA very close. Plus Evonik is already at a respectable 35.83 and they still have their huge TdF jump incoming.
Hoping he bounces back next season!
Pretty crazy to still be in the Top 5 (rather Top 6) at this point in the season, and for me to be feeling like our impending Areruya-less freefall until mid-September will be to the lower mid-table rather than the bottom few spots. But that's the power of Areruya and Pidcock on your side, I suppose. Makes the 860,000 I spent on them as neo-pros and the 1.3m+ I spend on them from here unto forever feel pretty worth it, I suppose 
