A massive Tour of Northern Europe - the biggest points haul of a team in any single non-GT race this season - and good scoring in the Tour of the Battenkill have Generali leading the monthly ranking, they almost break the 1000 points barrier. EA Vesuvio also had a high-scoring ToNE thanks to Tom Wirtgen and get a big boost in the relegation battle.
Top teams Evonik - ELKO, Puma - SAP, Grieg-Maersk and Isostar - Specialized also had good months, nothing unexpected there, then another team embroiled in the fight for survival with Mapei. In contrast, Amaysim Cervelo and Zwift Pro Cycling had rather poor months. MOL and Tinkoff didn’t score great either, their ambitions to move up the rankings taking a hit.
Puma scored 61 points more than Isostar in September, but given the really limited race days left, I have a hard time conjuring up a close title fight. Similarly, Evonik and Festina look fairly entrenched in third and fourth spot, even if Generali, this month’s big risers, come knocking - again though, there’s just not that much racing left to close the 300 point gap to Festina. Grieg-Maersk and MOL are less than 90 points apart in a fight for 6th place, but, in contrast to the teams above them, both still have the Tour de Maroc on their schedule to make up some points.
The last Top 10 spots are hotly contested. ISA - Hexacta and King Power are in pole position, but not far enough ahead yet to feel safe. Then, Farfetch in 10th place, Huski in 11th and Tinkoff in 12th are seperated by a mere 16 points! With potentially Top 10 ranking goals on the line, this is a very intriguing spot to watch.
None of the Top 5 did any racing in September, but still no one managed to topple them. Tom Wirtgen is the big winner, he finds himself in 6th place now, while Miguel Angel Lopez moves from 18th to 10th. There’s not much room for major changes anymore, but will anyone be able to break into the Top 5 yet? We’ll find out over the next few weeks.
A good month for us! Still nothing settled in the fight for the title or the relegation spots, so should be an exciting finish to the season. For us we are done with our good races, so I don't expect much from the last month. But hopefully the gap down to the others are big enough to ensure a top 10.
Horrible back half of the season for us and looks like it will ship us back to the PCT. I don't think we have enough RDs or firepower over the last month to stay up. The yo-yo is about to drop again.
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
Mresuperstar wrote:
Horrible back half of the season for us and looks like it will ship us back to the PCT. I don't think we have enough RDs or firepower over the last month to stay up. The yo-yo is about to drop again.
Thanks for the Update!
Only now have realised how far you dropped and it might be between the two of us plus tsmoha probably to fight for one safe spot...
Looks like we dont really have anything to fight left. Which is a shame because the final month looks really good for evonik. guess i should start thinking about the next season already.
Isostar looks good for the title while the spot for the final place around the relegation places heats up. Can De bie be the deciding factor there?
Would have been fun to atleast have an outside shot at making the top 3 goal at this point, but that would have required a significantly better performance by Koretzky (in particular) in Balkan and TONE. It was always going to be a theoretical chance more than a realistic one, but more fun nontheless. It all lies in the almost non-existant difference between Rein Taaramäe and Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier though. That 150 point gap should have been 2-300 points higher. Lecuisinier underperformed and Taaramäe did the opposite. Not much to say about that.
It will be interesting to see if Isostar have this in the bag like they definately should have or if Puma can keep performing miracles from their youngsters and depth.
In terms of projection I seem to be safe in 4th, but Grieg does have quite some racedays left, and could make a final dash, even if the projection say they won't quite make it. Obviously can't rule out Generali either. What a great progression they have made lately!
Still all or nothing for Amaysim, Aegon or Zwift. Can't say I fancy any of them going down, but I must admit that it hurts to see that Mapei didn't quite fall short now that their team is stopping. Would have been better (IMO) to keep one of the relegations up that way. Also would prevent too much promotion stuff from teams that isn't necessarily ready and thus could be forced into making change of plans.
Regardless of what happens, MOL are now in a position to claim the crown for the biggest surprise of the season imo. Very well done!
17th was very much the aim this season so can't complain too much seeing as we're pretty much safe from relegation. Unfortunately I need a team standings top 10 to avoid going 0/5 on goals yet again, so can't celebrate just yet
Pleasantly surprised that from not too many RD's in September that ISA still managed a mid-table slot for the month, although the top teams scoring is in a different league (both those going big this month and the usual suspects at the top of the table for the season!).
With not too many RD's to go the top 10 sponsor goal is potentially in sight. Mid-season as scoring slowed down through the GT's this started to look seriously in doubt, but is back on the cards again with pretty much everyone from the squad chipping in to some extent.
Thanks to cunego for the update and the reporters who brought us the races through September.
