Final WorldTour rankings
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Despite brining their a-team to the Tour of Beijing, Euskaltel did not succeed in adding to their UCI WorldTour points tally and finishes the year ranked 13th.
They came close though: 11th and 12th overall, through Iván Velasco and Samuel Sánchez respectively, and second in the team rankings was no mean feat, but it counted for little as only the top ten on general classification would bring points with them home. Iván Velasco's 11th-hour heroic attempts in snatching a few points thus proved futile, and he ends the season with no points to his name.
As per tradition, Samuel Sánchez is the team's top rider in the rankings. After a stellar start to the year, a terribly unlucky mid-part, and a satisfying end, the 34-year-old finishes up ninth with 332. As the team as a whole grabbed 555, Samu is alone responsible for well more than half of the outfit's 2012 haul.
Nine of the riders scored WorldTour points this year, more than what's been the case in previous years, while the total haul of 555 points is better than last year and only 40 short of the 2010 mark - the year the team took a record 17 victories.
Final individual rankings:
- (1, Joaquin Rodríguez (Katusha), 692)
- 9, Samuel Sánchez, 332
- 54, Mikel Nieve, 98
- 86, Ion Izagirre, 46
- 88, Igor Antón, 44
- 100, Gorka Verdugo, 35
- 128, Egoi Martínez, 20
- 148, Rubén Pérez, 12
- 168, Gorka Izagirre, 8
- 238, Romain Sicard, 1
Team rankings:
- (1, Sky, 1767)
- (12, RadioShack, 619)
- 13, Euskaltel, 555
- (14, Lampre ISD, 435)
6 comments:
Great update Magnus. Do you think they will hold up with points once all the trading is done between teams?
I think they'll finish around 18th, which means they should be in a direct fight with Ag2r (Pozzovivo, Kern, Bagdonas, Hutarovich, Dumoulin etc.) Saxo Bank (Kump, Roche, Bennati, Kreuziger, Breschel, Zaugg, Sutherland, McCarthy etc.), FDJ (Fischer, Geniez, Le Bon, Viennet, Mangel, Pichon) and Argos (Barguil, Rensburg, Mezgec).
Allegedly, Euskaltel have signed riders worth a massive 300 points to go with the 555 they've already got, so, yeah, they should make the cut I reckon.
The points on which the WT licences are dividend are not the same as the UCI points you mention!
Euskaltel has got 555 UCI Points. But more important are the Rider Value Points! And in that (unofficial) ranking Euskaltel is 18th! http://nicosix.wordpress.com/category/cyclisme/classements-2012/classement-pour-2013/
This makes the reaction of Sanchez after Beijing a bit silly. Samuel Sanchez already has the maximum of RV points a rider could have. A superbe ride of Sanchez in Beijing was useless for the RV points! They seem to just don't get the idea of these points. Can anyone tell them?
Then the ranking:
the top 15 is WT. Argos in 15th place would be worse for Euskaltel because Argos would be certain of WT.
Then FDJ, Lotto, Euskaltel and Saxo need to fight for 3 tickets. FDJ and Lotto already have a WT licence for 2013 and thus will make the cut.
Euskaltel and Saxobank are the last teams for 1 ticket. Don't need to tell you, Sanchez, Nieve, Anton and co can't compete with Contador and co. Saxo is low because the RV point of Contador are not counting (and the UCI points of Contador do!)
Altough it seems strange that a team which is currently 13th in the WT ranking would not make the cut, it just seem to be the case.
One option for the team is that Euskaltel gets above Argos but they need 131 points!
Forgot to mention... the 466 Rider Value points of Euskaltel are including: Kocjan, Mestre, Lobato, Serebryakov.
This seems to be bad, if very complicated, news....
If Chris is right, which I'm sure he is, then no, doesn't look to good!
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