Official ranking: Euskaltel 19th

VeloFutur got it almost right when they suggested Euskaltel would place 18th in the final UCI WorldTour-rankings: the UCI released its official rankings today and the team ended up 19th. That one place means nothing as it's still a competition between the teams ranked 16th to 20th for the last three places. What does matter though is the fact that - contrary to VeloFutur's rankings - Skil doesn't figure in the top 20 and is thus out of the running completely. In comes Geox-TMC, which is curious to say the least given that their sponsor pulled out last week. They're in all likelihood headed for extinction, so they're highly unlikely to obtain a licence. That means, theoretically anyway, that Euskaltel is up against a trio of French teams: Ag2r, Europcar and FJD. Given both Euskaltel and Ag2r are in possession of licences already, I'm guessing they're both safe and it'll be a straight duel between Voeckler's Europcar and the home of young French hopefuls that is FDJ for the last berth.