13 races since the last update, and over 10,000 points have been scored.
Individual
Taaramae was the leader, and this remains the case - thanks to his Ringerike GP triumph. In between, he had slipped as low as 3rd. Stage race wins in Germany and Belgium took Ignatiev briefly to the top, before a home performance in Luxembourg put Kirchen top. Some good placings by Ponzi puts him 4th, while Beauce helps lead Cobo to 5th.
Alarcon remains 7th, while Vanspeybrouck, Abal and Serpa all drop but remain in the Top 10 - with Kessiakoff moving in to 8th, having scored more than Cobo in Beauce. Van den Broeck took a very strong 328 for winning down in Colombia, while other race winners Efimkin and Ricco have moved into the Top 20, while Froome climbs to 30th, Gilbert to 40th, Chavanel to 45th and Casper to 51st.
There are now 502 points scorers, and Santander have joined Pokerstars in having only 1 rider yet to score any points. (Galparsoro and Atkins respectively)
A few different tables to show you in this post, and lets start by looking at the races involved in this update - from Japan to Wales.
Its Wiggle who have shone brightest with 3 overall race victories - all thanks to Ignatiev. Ponzi is not to be overlooked though, with 2nd place in two classics, and 4th in Luxembourg.
SL Benfica make a surprising return to the top end of the big scorers - and provide a great example, if needed, that the longer races really are worth it. A mighty 545 points, at a very healthy percentage of 36 points per race day.
In 3rd we see IKEA maintain their strong season, Transfagarasan and Ringerike victories here, while Pendleton in 4th are showing to be very consistent scoreres - their only overall victory in the period being Philadelphia. Bimbo and Lego can also fall into the consistent categories, with no overall triumphs but good scoring nonetheless.
1
Wiggle - San Pellegrino
936
2
Sport Lisboa e Benfica
844
3
Team IKEA - Bianchi
627
4
Pendleton's Twicer
599
5
Bimbo Nutella
563
6
Team LEGO
544
7
Milka
525
8
Bacardi - Colt
488
9
Tinkoff Credit Systems - Rosneft
466
10
Petronas - Olympus
439
11
Team Telenor-SAS
424
12
Santander
412
13
HighRoad-TomTom
409
14
100% Me
385
15
Red Bull
378
16
Team Falcon-Husqvarna
327
17
EL AL - IDF
271
18
Pirelli - Internazionale
269
19
UBS - Annie Chun's
267
20
Cillit Bang - IT-Factory powered by the Moon X
264
21
Yamaha - Greenpeace
251
22
Bbox Bouygoues Telecom
237
23
Intesa
208
24
Quiksilver-Kraft
191
25
Mercedes-Benz
173
26
UniCredit
152
27
Vespa-Caffrey's
150
28
Team Pokerstars.com
106
29
YouTube - Twitter
11
Now onto the actual standings and IKEA are still are leaders - but now very much feeling the pressure from Wiggle. The lead was as low as 17 points after Luxembourg, and its only more now due to the fact that IKEA have race more than Wiggle since. Its hard to see these two teams relinquishing the promotion positions, but whats really interesting is the battle behind - just over 500 points is all that separates 100% Me in 3rd and LEGO in 14th.
100% Me are up to 3rd thanks to recent performances in Wales, while SL Benfica re-emerge as promotion candidates - their Colombia performance lifted them from 11th to 3rd at the time, and they now see themselves 4th. Next are Petronas, who briefly went 2nd after Japan, with themselves, UBS and Pendletons being continually close in the battle for the Top 5/6/7 spots - which could all lead to promotion. Pokerstars peaked at 3rd after Belgium, but no score in their one race (Abergavenny) since means they are now in 8th.
Santander slip to 9th despite Beauce, and will look to step up with their ProTour commitments out of the way, while Mercedes are also on the fall, to 10th. Next are 3 new teams, with Bimbo now having overtaken Red Bull, and the 2-pronged Kirchen/Ricco attack leading Bacardi to 13th. LEGO remain in touch in 14th, while its still too soon to rule out the rest of the Top 20 promotion rise - 20th being a so-far dissapointing Vespa team.
In the battle at the bottom, theres no longer a new team sat in the unwanted 29th position. A very weak lineup in Colombia for Youtube managed only 11 points - way to waste 15 race days - and they now find themselves bottom. HighRoad have had their best run of the season to climb up from bottom to 25th, having scored more than all other teams outside of the Top 17 - with the next best having been Falcon as they also dig deep to secure some very welcome points
1
Team IKEA - Bianchi
3327
2
Wiggle - San Pellegrino
2989
3
100% Me
2294
4
Sport Lisboa e Benfica
2261
5
Petronas - Olympus
2257
6
UBS - Annie Chun's
2187
7
Pendleton's Twicer
2146
8
Team Pokerstars.com
2107
9
Santander
1997
10
Mercedes-Benz
1952
11
Bimbo Nutella
1890
12
Red Bull
1819
13
Bacardi - Colt
1804
14
Team LEGO
1768
15
Milka
1599
16
Team Telenor-SAS
1497
17
Tinkoff Credit Systems - Rosneft
1496
18
Cillit Bang - IT-Factory powered by the Moon X
1493
19
EL AL - IDF
1443
20
Vespa-Caffrey's
1376
21
Pirelli - Internazionale
1268
22
Intesa
1173
23
Yamaha - Greenpeace
994
24
Quiksilver-Kraft
897
25
HighRoad-TomTom
850
26
Bbox Bouygoues Telecom
786
27
Team Falcon-Husqvarna
772
28
UniCredit
752
29
YouTube - Twitter
725
Now then, onto perhaps the more telling table - race day efficiency. Wiggle have improved to 31.4, while rivals Ikea are now also above 30. Pendleton's consistency also evident, as they remain in the mid 27s.
If we ignore SL Benfica, the top 6 teams currently are the 6 most efficient - but in 7th is an interesting one, Bacardi-Colt. Are they now the most likely CT team to promote? Lets see if Ricco and Kirchen can keep things going.
Always great to have a rankings update...at last Red Bull out of the top 10, the reality bites.
July/August mini preview
But then we approach a key area of the season for Stage racing teams with the Post Danmark Rundt, Burgos/Portugal double header, Tour of Missouri and Tour of Britian HC stage races coming up in the next 17 races.
Good results in these can be pivotal. Burgos and Portugal will be ones for the true all round stage men I can tell you that Abal, Taaramae, Alarcon, Ricco and Kessiekoff intend to line up at Burgos, whereas Van den Broeck, Lopez Garcia, Pellizotti, Kohl and Serpa will be at Portugal.
I suspect Ignatiev will be short odds to take the Tour of Missouri but the field there is strong with 20 teams scheduled to take part. He is not at the Post Danmark Rundt though, the time trial is a wee bit short for Ignatiev to 'gaurentee' a perfect result that and the Tour of Britian will be unpredictable, we tend to get quite a lot of wet and windy weather for that one.
Promotion chasers
If G Larsson comes back Ikea and Wiggle should promote, Ikea do not have that many race days left and certainly no cobbled races to dominate (they are not at the Tour de Faso). Wiggle fo rme are favs to win the division, espicially if things keep turning out like GP of Wales did in the hilly ones.
Pendletons seems well placed, especially with Hilly specialist Phillipe Gilbert with lots of oppurtunities for big points from now until the end of the season. Petronas I am not so sure about, Santander seem upwardly mobile to me at the moment and Bacardi?
Ricco has six races left I believe in the HC category, that will be key he is good enough to podium them all - Kirchen though surely has not got that many races left... so Goss and the rest may need to step up in the 70 race days they have left.
Benfica only have one more Columbia type of race to dominate that they are in in Mexico - a lot or race days have been wasted by them. Mercedes seem to be fading to grey, Pozzato needs some big results. I don't think Bimbo Nutella, Pokerstars Tinkoff or Red Bull have enough to do well in HC categories. LEGO and Milka have the chances to move up there as they have good prospects in the hilly races. Milka are good on the flat too, but on hills it is Efimkin or nothing. LEGO are great on hills, but not quite able to win them, elsewhere I believe Koldo Gil has been wasted.
In short I expect Wiggle, Pendletons, UBS and Santander to promote, if Ikea come back it may be close between UBS and Santander.
Kirchen still has 13 left, Ricco 17 and Goss 24. A lot will now indeed depend on Ricco and Goss. Ricco still has more than half his racedays left and so far he has scored 438 points with one dissappointing race (Corsica).
My goal for top 5 in Missourri seems hell though .
About my team, i'm happy with that estimated position. And maybe some other riders of my team can surprise? Maybe in the Tour of Faso? 10 flat stages, so Nazon might get a point there.
Kami wrote:
Maybe in the Tour of Faso? 10 flat stages, so Nazon might get a point there.
it´s not personal, but hopefully not...it may seem crazy, but Tour of Faso is my most important race
btw SN, can you please tell me if your 100% Me will participate there?
Yup, they will be there, of course. Blythe and Thomas will lead the team - I didnt want a recurrence of last year where Kennaugh did well in the sprints, and that made him leader into the cobbles stage so Blythe did next to nothing. So this time, no excuse for Blythe!
If I am not mistaken, don't 100% Me fully support all the African races? Something for which I am rather ashamed to say Red Bull have not!
Kami: Of course if you knew you were going to get Ricco, I guess he would have been your goal man. Still if Kirchen is at Missouri there is some hope, I have top 10 at Tour of Portugal and another 7 stage wins to get to have a chance of getting any goals at all. I do not like my teams chances of a top 10 in the teams!
I am intrugued to see how you will manage the Ricco situation if you do not promote, I am guessing based on his Dauphine performance he is someone to build your team around in the Protour... lets not talk too much of that yet though
Smowz wrote:
If I am not mistaken, don't 100% Me fully support all the African races? Something for which I am rather ashamed to say Red Bull have not!
Not quite. Giro del Capo I think had at least 1 mountain stage this year, so I gave that the miss.
I think it will be very hard to get a promotion place for LEGO, 400-500 points are at least 3 one day HC race wins.. But a top 10 place is a must for this team
But it's better then last years place and I have a better team to build on for the next season as I have with Monfort, Claeys and Rabon good riders I'd would like to have at the 2010 season
Team Bianchi - 2012 Man-Game ProContinental Tour Champions
Not to sound optimistic or anything, but Pozzatto has 6 more classics left, while Haedo has 11, all solid chances at putting in a good ride. With no leader at Missouri, maybe we finally get lucky, jump in the right break and score some points in the overall. Promotion seems a bit of a long shot, but I'm still aiming at it.
It's getting close between Ikea and myself. I just hope my race day average keeps up. Well up. But with the hilly classics, it's anyones guess who'll perform... or not.
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