October is traditionally a rather quiet month in PT, but with a close relegation battle those few races are crucial nonetheless.
The first race was the PTHC classic Grand Prix Quebec. King Power was the best team there after winning the race from a late attack and got some much needed points (178 to be precise) for the podium fight. But the same goes for the second and third best scorers EA Vesuvio (93) and Rabobank (82) who lost quite some points to the Thai nonetheless.
The next race was the only PT race of the month (so far) in Czech. EA Vesuvio were the big favourites there and they delivered with a GC 1-2 and by scoring a whopping 726 points, nearly double the amount of the next best team. Which was King Power who scored 374 points. Third of the race were cycleYorkshire with 281 points while Sony – Force India were the last to score above 200 points and got some much needed points to reach safety.
The last race was again a PTHC classic in North America, this time in the US of A. And another team fighting relegation took the win there, this time Los Pollos Hermanos. They scored 186 points, beating cycleYorkshire (139) and Puma (113). No other team scored above 100 points there.
 
Period Ranking October*
Pos
Team
Grands Prix Cycliste
Praha - Karlovy Vary - Praha
Philadelphia International Championship
Oct
1
EA Vesuvio
93
726
0
819
2
King Power
178
374
24
576
3
cycleYorkshire
0
281
139
420
4
Los Pollos Hermanos
0
112
186
298
5
Sony - Force India
0
253
6
259
6
Rabobank
82
158
0
240
7
Team Puma - SAP
0
104
113
217
8
Indosat Ooredoo
2
193
0
195
9
Tinkoff Team - La Datcha
0
190
0
190
10
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo Pro Cycling
0
108
77
185
11
Jura GIANTS
27
154
0
181
12
Aker - MOT
50
105
0
155
13
Polar
0
116
36
152
14
ELCO - ABEA
0
96
49
145
15
Carlsberg - Danske Bank
0
139
2
141
16
Evonik - ELKO
57
76
0
133
17
Fastned
0
120
0
120
18
Cedevita
0
65
43
108
19
Xero Racing
38
65
0
103
20
Grieg-Maersk
0
70
0
70
21
Team UBS
0
46
2
48
22
Gazelle
0
40
0
40
 
Overall Ranking
So how looks the overall before the final race in Lombardia? Grieg, Lierse and Jura GIANTS are set on places 20 to 22.
Cedevita lost a place and will probably finish in 15th.
cycleYorkshire, Aker – MOT and Polar sit in 12th to 14th and are within 130 points, so there might still be some movement.
The battle for the last top 10 spot should be between Fastned and Xero, the Dutch have a lead of just 14 points before Lombardia.
Indosat Ooredoo and Puma are evenly close together, but with the Herklotz racing in Lombardia the German outfit might actually look even further ahead.
Tinkoff and ELCO – ABEA are out of the podium fight, but their lead to Puma is only just about a monument win.
Carlsberg have dropped to 5th and with a 200 points cushion to 6th and not the best options for Lombardia will probably stay there.
So there are three teams left fighting for the last podium spots. Rabobank have dropped to 3rd and have a lead of 103 points to King Power. EA Vesuvio not only rose all the way from 7th to 2nd, they also have a comfortable lead of nearly 200 points to their next chasers (and 300 to 4th).
And even more they are less than a monument win behind the leaders Evonik – ELKO! Will they be able to still fight for the title? Most probably not, but at least (to everyone bar knockout) there’s some theoretical suspense.
Wait, did I forget some teams? No, that’s building up actual suspense! Because the fight against relegation is still tight! Well, not so much for UBS unfortunately who stay in 19th, but lost some crucial ground and are now more than 260 points behind safety.
But in front of them it’s tighter. Los Pollos Hermanos continued their way up the ranks and climbed to 16th, now just under 100 points above the line. Sony – Force Indiastayed on their heels and are only 44 points behind and 52 points in front of the reigning champion Gazelle who dropped to 18th and now sit on the first relegation spot.
We’ll drop below Puma most likely but unbelievable that we’ve managed to (probably) land a top-10 in our first season back, it’ll be nice to follow the last race without any pressure.
Saying that, good luck to those with something to ride for. Particularly those in the relegation fight - all are great teams who deserve to stay up. Huge if Los Pollos manage to thwart their managers expectations and do actually stay up! Thanks for the update.
Yeah, things went exactly like I knew. 2 bad races put us in 7th instead of fighting for an outside chance of top 3. We scored 160 points less than expected in the Vuelta, Praha and Philadelphia, which would have atleast kept the dream of top 5 alive. It sucks, but in all honesty, we are not good enough to be close to a top 3-5.
And we also have to say that teams like King Power and EA Vesuvio have just absolutely crushed us this month - as they should.
Fingers crossed that MAL will Secure Evonik the win. We don’t need a disbanding team winning here.
The relegation battle is super tight. Would have liked to see UBS a bit higher so Kudus had an actual chance of saving them, but I suspect it’s top little too late for them. For the other 3? Ouch!
Edited by SotD on 17-05-2026 11:48
Very cool to have the battle for our Top 10 goal come down to the last race and against Fastned too
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [PT] Xero Racing
Vesuvio and King Power jumping ahead was predictable, which unfortunately our poor showing in Philly sealed. Just gotta buckle in and make sure we keep the top 5 in Lombardia now. Thanks for the update!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Very cool to have the battle for our Top 10 goal come down to the last race and against Fastned too
Sorry to tell you, but Vansevenant is winning Lombardia to accomplish my top10 season goal.
Interesting fights there. Calm season in the end for me with couple ups and couple downs but I'm general a decent consistency around expectations.
Fighting for the season goal against Xero is a nice little story. No matter the winner, nice to see both teams remain up there for next season to have more duels.
Incredibly close at the bottom. Nice to see LPH and Sony above the line right now, though this also means bad to see Gazelle and UBS below, which is really a pity.
I'm general surprising to see long time top5 contenders such as Gazelle and Grieg both have a huge struggling season in same year.
Thanks for the update.
