UCI WorldTour Teams Classification 2017 by Antonio Cardoso

UCI WorldTour 2017, The Teams Final Classification

Cycling, the team sport where team seems the less important, a different approach to the teams’ ranking 700

1º BMC Racing Team USA 2º Quick Step-Floors Bel 3º Ag2R La Mondiale Fra 4º Cannondale-Drapac USA 596 5º Orica-Scott Aus 583 6º Lotto-Soudal Bel 7º Sky GBr 8º Trek-Segafredo USA 522 9º Movistar Team Esp 502 498 497 10º Lotto NL-Jumbo Ned 11º UAE Emirates UAE 481 477 12º Sunweb Ale 454 13º Astana Pro Team Kzk 439 430 14º Bahrain-Merida Bhr 15º Katusha-Alpecin Rus 404 401 16º Bora-Hansgrohe Ale 389 17º Dimension Data AfS 366 365 18º FDJ Fra 19º Wanty-Groupe Gobert Bel 20º Cofidis Fra 307 21º Direct Energie Fra 278 22º Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise Bel 23º Roompot Nederlandse Ned 24º CCC-Sprandi Polkowice Pol 25º Fortuneo Oscaro Fra

UCI WorldTour 2017 - Teams' Class. by AVC

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UCI WorldTour 2017, The Teams Final Classification ......................................................... 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 3 Season Start ................................................................................................................................. 5 March Madness ......................................................................................................................... 11 April Classics .............................................................................................................................. 16 Giro ............................................................................................................................................. 23 Preparing the Tour de France.................................................................................................. 26 Tour............................................................................................................................................. 28 Vuelta around the corner ......................................................................................................... 31 Froome double and Contador farewell .................................................................................. 34 The Autumn Monument and Season Ending ........................................................................ 37 The 5 Monuments of Cycling Overall Teamsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Standings ..................................................... 39

Introduction When we consider team’s sports the side has the central importance, despite each of the players being highlighted in the media, being the main figures, the classifications, the disputes are team centered. That, however, doesn’t include the global collective sports. Cycling is different. Although each cyclist competes under a jersey, has a huge number of sponsors which allow him or her to pedal, which give name to every team, when we take a look into the classifications of each event and the final positions and awards, teams are severely neglected. The UCI, body that governs professional cycling in all its sporting modalities, developed a series of divisions, creating the UCI WorldTour, a sort of elite road cycling competition that prevented or was set up to prevent the professional cycling teams from creating an independent league of professional cycling, but where the old habits persist, justly awarding the effort and victories of the cyclists, however almost completely disregarding the teams when TEAM is what centrally concerns road cycling, for decades now, since the inception of the team concept instead of individual cyclists running under a nation’s flag. This paper tries to give the merit to the teams’ efforts, considering only the teams’ classification at the end of each UCI WorldTour 2017 event. Although the one-day races – again disregarding the teams’ immense efforts, but validated but all participants – don’t share or present a collective final classification, those were also added, considering the usual method, adding the time of each of the top three cyclists. It’s not very fair to imagine a team sport with licenses being attributed each season basically on the budget capability to hire cyclists that were individually superior, despite the fact that they were so often because of a tremendous team effort from the ‘invisible’ team mates, some of who accompany the stars, but others fail to keep their place in the elite just because they didn’t sum enough points to be considered. This kind of choice leads to excessive individuality and many times – from half of the year on, if no contract is renewed or agreed – cyclists start pedaling their own way, in order to grab some extra points and be more appealing to other teams. It’s true that there is a team ranking, however that one is based on the entire amount of points accumulated by each rider, individually, in the races competed throughout the year. If there is a team classification in the events, defined by a specific criterion, why not take that into the global UCI WorldTour and create a teams’ final table based on it, with onepoint gap between each of the sides. This is the proposal and the developed concept here, also disregarding the level of the events, if they’re WorldTour they should be considered

the same – in terms of points – like in any other team sport, regardless of the level of difficulty of the opponent. However, alongside the main table, which complies to the above-mentioned criteria, there are also two other classifications, the 5 Monuments and an exponentiated classification, meaning multiplied by the number of stages each of the UCI WorldTour event had. The fact cycling is competed riding a bike may have some or a lot to do with the depreciation of the team value, like you see in motor-racing competitions, however, contrary to cycling, the teams and the brands, motorcycling or car manufacturers, are also well noted and the teams’ final standings are publicized and are synonym to cashing in. During decades cycling was a Western European sport and the main calendar reflected that, events usually between March and early October, but the growth and globalization of the sport led to a year-on calendar, from January, down under and in the Middle East, up until late October in China. Still, Africa and South America, where there’s also a frenzy around the sport, are yet to take part in this elite calendar. Nevertheless, it’s very interesting to watch the development of it in countries like Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Brazil, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Gabon, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, all the Middle East and Eastern and Northern Europe, it’s a global kind of thing!

Season Start The Australian events that started the season brought huge surprises to the teamsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; final standings. The UniSA-Australia grabbed the top of the Santos Down Under Tour, giving the local riders, supported by the University of South Australia, an enormous edge competing against some of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best.

Talk about taking full advantage of the wild card given by the organization. The UniSAAustralia proved more than capable to handle the big guns and even if they only managed 11th as best individual final performer, Nathan Earle, their consistency throughout the event saw the team put over a minute on the closest rival â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and being faced with only WorldTour rivals!

1UniSA Australia Cycling Team proved a huge contestant to the UCI WorldTour teams. Photo retrieved from the site cycling-today.com

The Spanish side Movistar, Trek-Segafredo and Katusha-Alpecin followed, starting the season on the up. Movistar Team Trek-Segafredo Katusha-Alpecin BMC Quick Step-Floors Dimension Data Qhubeka Ag2R La Mondiale Bahrain-Merida Cannondale-Drapac Lotto-Soudal Orica-Scott FDJ UAE Emirates Lotto-Jumbo Astana Pro Team Team Sunweb Team Sky Bora-Hansgrohe

Tour Down Under Total 18 18 17 17 16 16 15 15 14 14 13 13 12 12 11 11 10 10 9 9 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1

The individual winner was local Richie Porte, now riding with BMC, side that finished 5th in the teamsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; table, in a season that would culminate in the team win â&#x20AC;&#x201C; according to our own

table. Despite the fact that a second rider, another local star, Rohan Dennis, ended the Santos Tour Down Under in the top 10, 6th, BMC didn’t manage to go beyond 5th in the final teams’ classification. The giant Sky just warmed up and the newcomers, Bahrain-Merida and UAE-Abu Dhabi, teams that split from one structure, and Bora-Hansgrohe, entering the WorldTour from the Professional Continental and also betting hard with big names, were still finding their own places in the peloton.

The second event of the year was Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race and again there was a huge surprise in the final teams’ table. As in the other one-day races, we established the final table adding the times of the three best riders. Here the Australian National Team got the best of all the competition leading with Cameron Meyer topping, 3rd, with Lucas Hamilton ending 14th and Michael Storer 18th. Nicklas Arndt from Team Sunweb, heir of Giant-Alpecin, won the individual race ahead of Orica’s Simon Gerrans. It’s interesting to see that these UCI WorldTour events aren’t all mandatory, a little like the ATP or WTA circuits, some events are mandatory (and everybody wants to attend them)

while others not so much. The race organized by former cycling star Cadel Evans was missed by four sides, Movistar, Astana, FDJ, UAE Emirates and Bahrain-Merida. On the other hand, the absence of some of the first invitees allowed other teams, Professional Continental, to take part in the UCI WorldTour events, more than the Wild Cards permitted if the 18 Elite teams entered the competitions.

Katusha-Alpecin Quick Step-Floors BMC Cannondale-Drapac Trek-Segafredo Ag2R La Mondiale Lotto-Soudal Lotto-Jumbo Movistar Team Orica-Scott Dimension Data Qhubeka Team Sky Bahrain-Merida Team Sunweb FDJ UAE Emirates Astana Pro Team Bora-Hansgrohe

Cadel Evans Great Total Ocean Road Race 16 32 17 31 11 26 14 24 6 23 10 22 12 21 15 20 18 8 16 2 15 13 15 11 7 10 7 6 4 3 4

The Russian side Katusha, led by Portuguese José Azevedo, finished the Australian ‘tour’ in the front of the table. Although the Middle East receives now very interesting races at the start of the year, only the Abu Dhabi took part in the UCI WorldTour 2017. It happened in the end of February and shared attentions with the first European WorldTour race, the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Elite in Belgium. The newspapers owners, editors, thinkers, were the ones to give pace to road cycling. A lot of races started due to the organization of those sports’ lovers. L’Équipe, Gazzetta Dello Sport and several others are partly – or very much – responsible for the success of cycling

in Western Europe. Even today several media are related with the organization of the cycling main events and this Belgian race is an example of that. The first of the Flanders Classics showed the men who would go on fighting for the Classics throughout the year. Greg Van Avermaet beat Peter Sagan and Sep Vanmarcke to the line. However, again, the teams’ final standings were far from expected. South African side Team Dimenson Data by Qhubeka was 1st and wild card Nippo-Vini Fantini came 2nd, with Rui Costa’s UAE Emirates finishing 3rd in a race without Cannondale-Drapac and French Française des Jeux (FDJ).

Quick Step-Floors BMC Lotto-Soudal Lotto-Jumbo Katusha-Alpecin Trek-Segafredo Ag2R La Mondiale Cannondale-Drapac Orica-Scott Astana Pro Team Bora-Hansgrohe Dimension Data Qhubeka Team Sky Bahrain-Merida Team Sunweb UAE Emirates Movistar Team FDJ

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 25 23 16 18 5 24 19 22 17 20 14 13 11 8

Abu Dhabi Tour 2 8 16 15 13 1 6 9 12 17 20 5 14 4 18 3 -

Total 58 56 53 53 50 48 47 46 42 36 35 35 33 25 25 24 21 15

The Classics started to shape, to take form, with the teams with the one-day races profile proving their value in this European debut. Omloop Het Nieuwsblad had 25 sides at the start and UCI WorldTour Bahrain-Merida didn’t manage to have three cyclists finishing the race. It’s worth noticing the absence, by choice, of three UCI WorldTour teams, Movistar, UAE Emirates and Dimension Data by Qhubeka, which opened extra slots for Pro Continental teams to take part in this one-day classic.

Naturally, after the first year-on Classic with 25 teams taking part and the points accumulated with that, Quick Step-Floors and BMC jumped to the top of the table. This would be the definition that barely changed during the season, these two sides stayed at the top. Rui Costa had a brilliant start of the season. His Middle Eastern performances were outstanding, and the Portuguese won the Abu Dhabi Tour, adding another UCI WorldTour win to his achievements.

2Portuguese’s Rui Costa claiming a stage win in the Abu Dhabi Tour, event he would end in 1st place. Photo retrieved from the Cycling News website.

However, again, the teams’ final standings were far from expected. South African side Team Dimenson Data by Qhubeka was 1st and wild card Nippo-Vini Fantini came 2nd, with Rui Costa’s UAE Emirates finishing 3rd in a race without Cannondale-Drapac and French Française des Jeux (FDJ).

March is a cycling eventful month and it started with a recently created race, but already deem a pure classic, the Italian Strade Bianche, raced partially in a ‘sterrato’ area, with bikes on dirt, dust when dry, mud when wet, either way an amazing race to watch, one of the best of the year.

March Madness After former World Road Cycling Champion Rui Costa got a taste of a 2017 UCI WorldTour race win, it was another former world champion, Polish Michal Kwiatkowski beat Belgians Greg Van Avermaet, amazing season, and Tim Wellens, also a very good 2017, to grab the Italian ‘White Roads’ race. With three Italian wild cards, it was BMC to get the best of the final team standings, ahead of Belgian Lotto-Soudal and Sky. Contrary to the previous 2017 races, in Strade Bianche none of the invited teams made a mark. The following day saw the start of the ‘Race Towards the Sun’, the Paris-Nice, which for years now competes with the ‘Race of the Two Seas’, Tirreno-Adriatico, the first stage race real tests for the ‘Big Tours’ contestants, some of them just starting the grab shape, going without many concerns, others make a name and prove power and stamina.

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Sergio Henao was the big surprise in the French week, beating Alberto Contador by a couple of seconds to grab the final yellow at Nice. Daniel Martin completed the final podium.

In Italy Nairo Quintana proved to be in shape and finished ahead of Rohan Dennis, Thibault Pinot and Roglic, ahead of names like Mollema, Geraint Thomas, Dumoulin – who was preparing one of the biggest 2017 surprises later on the season – Uran or even veteran Pozzovivo, all in the top 10. Before the two week-long races there was a shift at the top of the table, with BMC overpassing Quick Step-Floors. There were also lots of changes throughout the rest of the table, as expect so early in the season. The one-week races allowed the stage races’ profiled sides proving quality, the likes of Movistar or Sky, but with BMC and Quick Step-Floors showing they’re more than just oneday teams.

BMC Quick Step-Floors Lotto-Soudal Team Sky Orica-Scott Katusha-Alpecin Trek-Segafredo Ag2R La Mondiale Astana Pro Team Lotto-Jumbo Movistar Team Cannondale-Drapac Team Sunweb Bahrain-Merida Bora-Hansgrohe Dimension Data Qhubeka FDJ UAE Emirates

Strade Bianche 21 17 20 19 18 13 8 12 15 9 4 5 11 10 7 16 14 6

Paris-Nice 14 22 17 21 15 12 19 11 8 2 20 9 18 16 7 1 4 6

TirrenoAdriatico 21 8 7 20 17 16 10 14 19 12 22 6 11 13 9 4 18 5

Total 112 105 97 93 92 91 85 84 78 76 67 66 65 64 58 56 51 41

March was merely midway through. Until the end of the month there was going to be also the first of the ‘5 Monuments’, three other one-day classics and the Catalunya Week.

Just a few days after the ending of the 2017 edition of Tirreno-Adriatico Italy received the 8th UCI WorldTour event of the season, the first of the 5 BIG, Milan-San Remo. Kwiatkowski was determined to shine and to show a new form. Considered more of a stage-on races’ rider, the Pole confirmed in 2017 he could become a big name in the classics, already grabbing a couple. Winning the ‘5 Monuments’ is an aim of many riders and Kwiatkowski entered that pursuit in 2017 with the MilanoSan Remo win. He did it even more amazingly beating to the line already giant Peter Sagan and French Julian Allaphilippe. With so many sprinters in the line to win, the Polish feat was even more tremendous. Kwiatkowski and Allaphilippe were the only non-sprinters in the top 8. Cofidis, now a Professional Continental side, performed very well collectively in the Italian classic, only beaten by Sky and Quick Step-Floors.

BMC Quick Step-Floors Team Sky Orica-Scott Lotto-Soudal Katusha-Alpecin Trek-Segafredo Astana Pro Team Lotto-Jumbo Ag2R La Mondiale Bahrain-Merida Movistar Team Dimension Data Qhubeka Team Sunweb Cannondale-Drapac Bora-Hansgrohe FDJ UAE Emirates

MilanoSan Remo 18 24 25 22 9 8 14 16 17 5 21 12 20 6 4 11 15 13

FIVE Monuments 18 24 25 22 9 8 14 16 17 5 21 12 20 6 4 11 15 13

Total 130 129 118 114 106 99 99 94 93 89 85 79 76 71 70 69 66 54

Catalunya Week was the next event, but at the same time Belgium received also a heavy peloton to take part in three classics. Spring classics were starting and many of them were part of the UCI WorldTour – with so much media attention, it’s strange not to watch the WorldTour grab a naming sponsor and with so many brands wanting in that isn’t too difficult to achieve. Valverde and Contador were still names to respect in the one-week race and it was decided between them with the Movistar rider beating Contador by a minute. Marc Soler was 3rd. With the individual double in the podium, Movistar also won the teams’ classification ahead of Cannondale-Drapac and LottoJumbo.

The first week-long Belgian classics doubled the Catalunya week. Belgian from Quick StepFloors Yves Lampaert was the surprise winner of Dwars Door Vlaanderen, race that the

Yves Lampaert took full advantage to the marking on his teammate Gilbert to grab a maiden win at Dwars Door Vlaanderen. Photo retrieved from the website Bike World News

Belgian team also won collectively. The favorite Gilbert, Lampaert’s teammate, finished 2nd while Kazakh Lutsenko was 3rd and Australian Durbridge, from Orica-Scott was 4th. They were all in a group and marking Philippe Gilbert, which allowed Lampaert to escape for the win. Gilbert got again only 2nd at the E3 Harelbeke, this time behind Greg Van Avermaet, who kept on shining in the season and went on to win also the Gent-Wevelgem. Oliver Naesen was 3rd in Harelbeke, a Belgian-only podium. Sky and Bora-Hansgrohe didn’t take part in the first of the three one-day Belgian first Spring classics. No one would guess Van Avermaet was going to get also the Gent-Wevelgem near the finish line. He had Peter Sagan, Degenkolb, Boonen, Modolo or Gaviria nearby but managed a short advantage and beat Keukeleire on the line. Quick Step-Floors, BMC and Orica-Scott were the teams’ grabbing the collective spoils in these races.

Quick Step-Floors BMC Orica-Scott Team Sky Lotto-Soudal Lotto-Jumbo Astana Pro Team Trek-Segafredo Ag2R La Mondiale Cannondale-Drapac Katusha-Alpecin Bahrain-Merida Movistar Team Team Sunweb Bora-Hansgrohe FDJ UAE Emirates Dimension Data Qhubeka

Catalunya Week 16 15 20 10 9 21 19 18 17 22 2 5 23 13 3 12 11 4

Dwars Door Vlaanderen 25 23 24 19 22 21 4 17 20 18 8 2 15 12 6 14 -

Record Bank Gent E3 Harelbeke Wevelgem 25 23 23 25 22 21 17 5 18 22 16 14 21 10 20 20 11 12 24 8 12 6 19 18 10 11 7 17 5 24 13 4 14 16 8 9

Total 218 216 201 150 174 166 165 161 146 144 137 135 127 123 113 101 109 97

After the ‘March Madness’ there was a change at top, with Quick Step-Floors climbing over BMC. Orica-Scott had a good month and went up to 3rd. The British Sky lost ground, already aiming the ‘Grand Tours’. South African Dimension Data by Qhubeka dropped to last and Katusha-Alpecin had also a collectively poor month dropping to bottom half of the table. The newcomers were still down in the standings and Ag2R La Mondiale was far

from the spot they would finalize their 2017 campaign, they were one of the best surprises of the season.

April Classics April is the cycling Classics’ month. It’s when ‘De Ronde’ and the ‘Hell of the North’ take place, also the Dutch Amstel Gold Race and the other two important Spring classics, the Flèche Wallonne and the Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Alongside the one-day races the week-long events also continue. The Northeastern Spanish mountains receive the always tough Tour of the Basque Country and the last preparation towards the Giro, the Tour of Romandie.

The Flanders Tour, De Ronde Van Vlaanderen, saw Philippe Gilbert finally grabbing this one, an eventful race with the Belgian legend winning without being able to communicate with the manager through the radio. He is one of the ‘5 Monuments’ confessed chasers and the Flanders was his third different win of the five. Greg Van Avermaet continued his amazing season and added another podium, as did Nicky Terpstra. Quick Step gain some vantage on BMC, winning our teams’ table here, ahead of Trek-Segafredo and Cannondale-Drapac. Belgian team Lotto-Soudal disappointed at home and didn’t manage to get the minimum three riders at the finish in order to enter our teams’ points.

Philippe Gilbert got one of the most iconic wins, holding the Belgian champion jersey and crossing the line with the bycicle over his head. Photo retrieved from the website deredactie.be/Tim De Waele

The race for the unofficial â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;5MBTâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; (Five Monuments Best Team) was very close between Quick Step-Floors, BMC, Orica-Scott, Katusha-Alpecin and TrekSegafredo. But the Belgian team kept on adding some distance to the competition in the global table.

Quick Step-Floors BMC Orica-Scott Trek-Segafredo Astana Pro Team Lotto-Soudal Lotto-Jumbo Cannondale-Drapac Team Sky Katusha-Alpecin Ag2R La Mondiale Bahrain-Merida Movistar Team Team Sunweb Bora-Hansgrohe UAE Emirates Dimension Data Qhubeka FDJ

De Ronde van Vlaaderen 25 20 18 24 19 4 23 9 22 8 14 7 6 13 12 21 11

FIVE Monuments 43 44 43 40 33 9 12 28 31 43 25 26 27 12 17 27 34 22

Total 243 236 219 185 184 174 170 167 159 159 154 149 134 129 126 121 118 112

As in Catalunya, again the Spanish myths Valverde and Contador went head-tohead, and it was the Murcia rider to prevail too. Ion Izaguirre completed the podium, riding for BahrainMerida, while David de la Cruz from Quick Step-Floors grabbed a 4th, opening even further the gap towards BMC in the teams’ table. The performance from the new Bahrain-Merida gave the side its first team win, unexpectedly beating Movistar in another UCI WorldTour race where the wild cards didn’t do that well, showing colors, yes, but failing to make a name. The top sides started to gain a comfortable advantage on the rest and Sunweb was showing quality on the stages events despite still being on the last quarter of the table. Vuelta Total País Vasco Quick Step-Floors 14 257 BMC 5 241 Orica-Scott 11 230 Astana Pro Team 10 194 Trek-Segafredo 6 191 Lotto-Jumbo 15 185 Lotto-Soudal 4 178 Team Sky 17 176 Cannondale-Drapac 7 173 Ag2R La Mondiale 16 170 Bahrain-Merida 20 169 Katusha-Alpecin 8 167 Movistar Team 19 153 Team Sunweb 18 147 Bora-Hansgrohe 12 138 UAE Emirates 13 134 Dimension Data Qhubeka 9 127 FDJ 1 113

Then arrived the great ‘Hell of the North’, the Paris-Roubaix, the classic of the classics, the one-day race every professional rider should finish at least once in his/her career. If anyone would say a couple of years ago that Greg Van Avermaet was going to be a serious contender to the 5 Monuments most of the cycling experts would put on a doubtful face. However, from last year on the 31 years old Belgian boosted his career – proving that sometimes all you need is a win to believe in yourself and go way further than you think you can. The 2017 edition was another epic race, as is almost always, ending with the Belgian victory

ahead of Czech Stybar, an almost certain future winner of some of the cycling Monuments, and surprising Langeveld who managed to beat Jasper Stuyven and Moscon to the line in a five guys finish. Who would have guessed that, with riders known to be faster, Van Avermaet would be able to get it! But he did! TrekSegafredo, Lotto-Soudal and Cofidis, one of the wild cards, were able to topple the teams’ table just ahead of big guns and overall title contenders BMC and Quick Step-Floors, with the North Americans beating the Belgians both individually and on the final teams’ classification. UAE Emirates couldn’t get three of its starters over the finish line and didn’t get a single point. Trek-Segafredo claimed rights on the ‘5MBT’ whereas KatushaAlpecin lost ground. Heavy falls, lots of punctures, favorites attacking, favorites dropping down, mess all around in some of the sectors and one of the best recent finishes at the Roubaix velodrome.

Quick Step-Floors

ParisRoubaix 21

FIVE Monuments 64

Total 278

BMC Orica-Scott Trek-Segafredo Astana Pro Team Lotto-Soudal Cannondale-Drapac Team Sky Lotto-Jumbo Ag2R La Mondiale Katusha-Alpecin Bahrain-Merida Team Sunweb Movistar Team Bora-Hansgrohe Dimension Data Qhubeka UAE Emirates FDJ

22 10 25 8 24 20 14 5 15 12 4 17 9 16 11 13

66 53 65 41 33 48 45 17 40 55 30 29 36 33 45 27 35

263 240 216 202 202 193 190 190 185 179 173 164 162 154 138 134 126

One week of rest and then there were the three consecutive one-day classics, The Dutch Amstel Gold Race, the Belgian Flèche Wallonne and the 4 th Monument, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, with most of the riders taking part in all or at least three of these four races.

To Gilbert it only lacks the Milano-San Remo to complete the 5 Monuments and at the Amstel Gold Race he proved why he loves it so much, beating Kwiatkowski to the line in a 2-up sprint to win his 4th Amstel. His maiden Flanders win gave the stamina to keep on devastating the competition. Quick Step-Floors cemented on the top with this, also, team win. It was almost midway through the UCI WorldTour calendar, but the Grand Tours were still ahead. Movistar did also very well, paving way to another Valverde win in the next classic. La Flèche Wallonne confirmed the good work from Movistar and the Spaniard Valverde grabbed his 4th win here, putting him above legends like Merckx and Rebellin. He managed to overcome in the final sprint Allaphilippe, a French that promises a lot in all kind of turfs, and Daniel Martin.

Quick Step-Floors BMC Orica-Scott Cannondale-Drapac Trek-Segafredo Lotto-Soudal Ag2R La Mondiale Team Sky Lotto-Jumbo Astana Pro Team Team Sunweb Movistar Team Katusha-Alpecin Bora-Hansgrohe Bahrain-Merida UAE Emirates Dimension Data Qhubeka FDJ

Amstel Gold Race 24 12 23 16 11 18 9 14 20 7 21 22 4 8 13 17 15 19

La Flèche Wallonne 18 16 2 24 9 17 23 25 14 8 15 11 7 21 6 20 13 22

LiègeFIVE Bastogne- Monuments Liège 11 75 20 86 24 77 25 73 19 84 15 48 23 63 10 55 12 29 13 54 22 51 14 50 16 71 21 54 9 39 18 45 17 62 6 41

Total

331 311 289 258 255 252 240 239 236 230 222 209 206 204 201 189 183 173

Sky was the best team at this midweek race, with Cannondale-Drapac and Ag2R La Mondiale coming behind and starting to climb the teams’ table. Wout Poels gave Sky the unexpected win at the fourth Monument, he was only the fifth Dutch to win this Liège-Bastogne-Liège! Swiss Michael Albasini is coming closer and closer every time and again finished second with Portuguese Rui Costa getting an excellent 3rd, the UAE Emirates riders should bet more on these events

where he can also make a strong name for himself. Veteran Samuel Sanchez was 4th. With 18 out of 37 events disputed the top three teams were really putting on a difference to all the others. However Quick Step-Floor’s average collective performance at the 4th Monument saw the team drop below Trek-Segafredo in the ‘5MBT’, which would only be decided later-on in the Il Lombardia, ‘The Race of the Falling Leaves’, the last of the ‘5 Monuments’ of cycling. The newcomers were all three in the last five of this teams’ table. There were some changes between 2016 and 2017 which allowed these entrances. The idea to reduce the UCI WorldTour number of teams was postponed, Giant-Alpecin ended and the Shampoo brand allied itself with Russian team Katusha, Lampre finished its decades-on bond with professional cycling, while Merida went on to start the Bahrain-Merida project – and part of the squad shifted into the UAE Emirates Team. Tinkoff also ended his involvement, directly, with cycling, and Bora got a new partner, Hansgröhe, to climb up, hire a couple of big guns – world champion Peter Sagan above all – and again have a German team in the ProTour peloton.

April ended with the Swiss Tour de Romandie, a very good preparation for those aiming to take part in the Giro. Many of the participants just wanted to train the legs while Richie Porte was here to prove he could lead a team to a Tour win and he did so. BMC won individually but lost another point in the teams’ table. Movistar was the strongest side on this course, proving they’re cut out for stage competitions. Despite being a very interesting Tour only 19 teams entered, just one wild card and no Italians present.

After the Tour de Romandie Quick Step-Floors was holding a 21 points advantage on BMC, with the North Americans having a 20-point margin over Australian Orica-Scott. The 4th was 40 points behind!

Quick Step-Floors BMC Orica-Scott Trek-Segafredo Cannondale-Drapac Lotto-Soudal Ag2R La Mondiale Lotto-Jumbo Team Sky Astana Pro Team Movistar Team Team Sunweb Katusha-Alpecin Bahrain-Merida Bora-Hansgrohe UAE Emirates Dimension Data Qhubeka FDJ

FIVE Tour de Monuments Romandie 75 17 86 16 77 18 84 12 73 3 48 8 63 14 29 10 55 2 54 9 50 19 51 5 71 15 39 11 54 4 45 13 62 7 41 6

Total 348 327 307 267 261 260 254 246 241 239 228 227 221 212 208 202 190 179

Giro May is the Italian big race month but the 2017 edition started very sad. Michele Scarponi, one of the contenders, died after being run over while training near his home place on April 22nd. It was a very tough news to the peloton and the following events, the 4th Monument and the races after, served to homage the amazing rider and even better person. May 1st saw the best cyclists return to Germany in a race disputed in the EU financial capital, Frankfurt am Main. Orica-Scott, Sky, Movistar, Astana, BahrainMerida, Dimenson-Data and FDJ opted out, less riders, injuries and two teams already divided between Giro and the Amgen Tour of California, but that didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t prevent a huge presence, 20 teams took part and 8 didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t enter our classification

for not being able to see at least three of their starters finishing. Among them were UCI WorldTour Ag2R La Mondiale and UAE-Emirates. The Norwegian Alexander Kristoff won his third in a row here – the 2015 ride was cancelled, the first one achieving it since the inception of the Rund um den Finanzplatz Eschborn-Frankfurt in 1962, with another name. It was 1-2 for Katusha-Alpecin with Rick Zabel, son of sprint legend Erik Zabel, he himself a former winner of this race (99, 02 and 05), finishing the big peloton sprint 2 nd. Degenkolb, still adjusting to a new form of grabbing the bike, got the 3rd. The team win, however, was for BMC. They got three of their riders, Drucker (4th), Bohli (11th) and Ventoso (13th), to finish with the winner’s time. The peloton broke in several parts at the end, with the top 16 claiming the same time as Kristoff. At the Giro d’Italia start the difference between Quick Step-Floors and BMC decreased to only 12 points and BMC was favorite in the stage races. On the other hand, the non-participation of Orica-Scott saw the Australian team lose ground on the top two.

Quick Step-Floors BMC Orica-Scott Trek-Segafredo Cannondale-Drapac Lotto-Jumbo Ag2R La Mondiale Lotto-Soudal Team Sky Astana Pro Team Team Sunweb Katusha-Alpecin Movistar Team Bora-Hansgrohe Bahrain-Merida UAE Emirates Dimension Data Qhubeka FDJ

FIVE Eschborn Monuments Frankfurt 75 11 86 20 77 84 19 73 13 29 17 63 48 10 55 54 51 9 71 15 50 54 14 39 45 62 41 -

Giro Italia 11 9 12 14 18 8 21 4 16 15 13 10 22 7 19 17 5 20

Amgen Tour California 11 16 5 13 14 17 1 6 7 10 4 12 -

Total 381 373 319 305 306 285 275 274 274 255 255 253 248 239 231 223 207 199

It was probably the best of the three Grand Tours of 2017. Tom Dumoulin ended the Dutch drought in the Three ‘Big’ stage races, a rare feat, contrary to the past success by neighboring Belgium. When the youngster took control, there were many doubts on his final success, but the Sunweb rider proved himself to be strong enough to withhold Quintana, Nibali and all the other favorites. Czech Jan Hirt from wild card Pole side CCC Sprandi Polkowice finished 12th and was another interesting surprise. The performances of names like Bob Jungels, Adam Yates, the confirmation of Zakarin, Davide Formolo and Jan Polanc ensure there will be a very good next generation following the retreats of names like Contador, Cancellara, Valverde, Rodríguez and so on. These youngsters are eager to prove themselves. Proving their team quality in the stage events, Movistar won the teams’ classification ahead of Ag2R La Mondiale and FDJ, the French teams showing good team capability in the long run, although the French Lottery side unable to escape the last place in the overall standings at the end of the season. Again, the calendar led several teams, with fewer resources to have two stage races completely different teams competing at the same time and opted not to travel to California. Ag2R La Mondiale, FDJ, Movistar, Bahrain-Merida, Orica-Scott and Lotto-Soudal didn’t enter the 2017 Amgen Tour of California, a very interesting competition, with fans rivaling with the Grand Tours road madness, but clearly losing ground in terms of presences. The big names competing in Giro d’Italia are in Italy racing and the ones aiming the Tour de France tend not to travel so far, with an event that isn’t preparative for the

‘Grand Boucle’, that needs adapting, climate, jetlag, which on the other hand can give teams a chance to tryout new contenders to week-long races, see how they fare as leaders, with that responsibility. And it was so, George Bennett got the best of the rivals and ended top, ahead of Pole Rafal Majka and Andrew Talansky. With only 17 teams participating it was Sky to win the overall classification, beating BMC, Cofidis – again doing very well as a wild card, and Bennett’s Lotto-Jumbo. At the end of May BMC got closer to Quick Step-Floors, within 9 points, and the two of them ran away from the rest of the UCI WorldTour collective peloton. The absence from two events didn’t steal the podium to Australian Orica-Scott, nevertheless the side was now looking back and watching the top duo far away.

Preparing the Tour de France The importance of the Tour, the biggest cycling race by far, is sustained in this calendar. No one-day races since May 1st and only two week-long races, the ones that give the right tools to handle the Tour, for those who didn’t enter the Giro and want to double-up, the Criterium du Dauphiné and the Tour de Suisse, the first covering roughly the first week of June, the second starting in the penultimate day of the French race. Jakob Fuglsang, a Dane born in Switzerland, got the overall individual standing at the Critérium, giving the much-needed win to Astana. Richie Porte showed a very good preparation for the Tour, as did Daniel Martin, adding another 3rd spot to his season. Froome was 4th, Aru 5th, Bardet 6th, Valverde 9th, Contador 11th, all Tour individual final standings contenders.

For Ag2R La Mondiale it was a tremendous month, unexpectedly winning both teams’ overall standings in these two one-week races, alongside Paris-Nice considered the best stage races after the Grand Tours. Lotto-Soudal and Astana came 2nd and 3rd in the Criterium, while Movistar and Katusha-Alpecin were the other podium team finishers at Tour de Suisse. In Switzerland the individual winner was Simon Spilak, ahead of Italian Damiano Caruso and Dutch Kruiswijk. Rui Costa returned to the race trying to win a 4th time after being the first to consecutively win three times the Swiss Tour, 2012-2014, opting to take part in the Criterium in 2016 and 2015, curiously being succeeded by Spilak, who now grabbed a second overall win. The Portuguese finished 5 th overall. At the end of this double-week run BMC overpassed Quick Step-Floors in the overall leadership of our table. Orica-Scott kept the 3rd spot but both TrekSegafredo and Canondale-Drapac gained ground, as did Ag2R La Mondiale, climbing to 6th with the two overall wins.

BMC Quick Step-Floors Orica-Scott Trek-Segafredo Cannondale-Drapac Ag2R La Mondiale Lotto-Jumbo Lotto-Soudal Team Sky Movistar Team Astana Pro Team Katusha-Alpecin Team Sunweb Bahrain-Merida UAE Emirates Bora-Hansgrohe Dimension Data Qhubeka FDJ

FIVE Monuments 86 75 77 84 73 63 29 48 55 50 54 71 51 39 45 54 62 41

Critérium Dauphiné 15 12 18 19 10 22 9 21 14 17 20 2 11 8 16 6 7 1

Tour de Suisse 16 8 6 7 15 22 14 11 17 21 5 20 4 19 18 9 12 13

Total 404 401 343 331 331 319 308 306 305 286 280 275 270 258 257 254 226 213

Tour The Tour is the cycling ‘World Cup’, when everybody, even those who don’t pay too much attention to the sport are aware of what is happening at the Grand Boucle. Naturally, that also happens because all the media frenzy is focused on the event, contrary to other cycling races. If it’s talked, transmitted, written about it’s closer to the people’s attention. Froome is chasing history and he never seemed to be going to lose the 2017 edition. Uran was the good surprise, returning from the aches to put again a tremendous performance and finish 2nd. Bardet was able to end in 3rd and Landa, Froome’s teammate, finished 4th showing he wants to have a team of his own to lead. Aru disappointed, Contador and Quintana, the ultimate loser in this

did

edition.

Froome added a 4th Tour, the Kenyan-born English continues to pursue history. Photo retrieved from Daily Express

Sky destroyed the competition individually and collectively. Ag2R La Mondiale continued the Spring-Summer brilliance and finished 2nd, Trek-Segafredo was 3rd and BMC escaped Quick Step-Floors in the front. Starting in June and ending in July, the Tour cuts the season halfway, it’s the center stage, the Olympics of cycling, the Nobel, the Oscars, the Tonys, the Pullitzers, but the UCI WorldTour continues and even if it seems to some public

and pseudo-sports writers that cycling start and ends with the French majestic race, it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t.

BMC Quick Step-Floors Orica-Scott Trek-Segafredo Cannondale-Drapac Ag2R La Mondiale Team Sky Lotto-Soudal Lotto-Jumbo Movistar Team Astana Pro Team Team Sunweb Katusha-Alpecin UAE Emirates Bahrain-Merida Bora-Hansgrohe Dimension Data Qhubeka FDJ

FIVE Monuments 86 75 77 84 73 63 55 48 29 50 54 51 71 45 39 54 62 41

Tour de France 19 8 18 20 16 21 22 14 6 17 13 11 4 12 3 5 2 1

Total 423 409 361 351 347 340 327 320 314 303 293 281 279 269 261 259 228 214

The weekend that followed the Tour de France saw the always very vibrant Clasica de San Sebastian, in the Basque Country and the Ride London, a newcomer that tries to put the UK on the cycling map, as a competition holder, after gaining more and more name on the road with excellent riders. At the same time the Tour de Pologne also began, another interesting event, with tradition but now catching the Occidental eyes. The stages are very well arranged, several of them in a sort of closed circuit, lowering all the costs adjacent to the race and giving the attendance a chance to see on-site more than just those couple of minutes where the riders and the caravan pass through.

After some time ‘off’, Michal Kwiatkowski shone again to win the Klasikoa, beating to the line the likes of French Tony Gallopin, Dutch Bauke Mollema, Giro 2017 winner Tom Dumoulin and local Mikel Landa, a world class quintet. Katusha-Alpecin and Bora-Hansgröhe didn’t see at least of their starters finish this tough race, where Sky mounted on the Tour success to grab the team overall, ahead of Lotto-Soudal and Ag2R La Mondiale. The French team continued climbing the table ladder. Central London saw Kristoff get back at a disappointing Tour to win the 5 th Prudential RideLondon Classic. It was a big sprint, with 50 riders arriving with the same time. Danish Magnus Cort Nielsen got 2nd and Michael Matthews was 3rd. Vanmarcke 4th and Wippert 5th alongside Langeveld 33rd allowed CannondaleDrapac to get the teams’ top spot. BMC and Ag2R La Mondiale completed the podium. Movistar, Astana, Bahrain-Merida and FDJ decided not to enter the Prudential RideLondon Surrey Classic.

BMC Quick Step-Floors Cannondale-Drapac Orica-Scott Ag2R La Mondiale Trek-Segafredo Team Sky Lotto-Soudal Lotto-Jumbo Movistar Team Team Sunweb Astana Pro Team UAE Emirates Katusha-Alpecin Bahrain-Merida Bora-Hansgrohe Dimension Data Qhubeka FDJ

FIVE Monuments 86 75 73 77 63 84 55 48 29 50 51 54 45 71 39 54 62 41

Clasica San Sebastian 12 13 16 9 18 7 20 19 8 15 14 5 17 10 6 11

Prudential RideLondon 21 19 22 11 20 18 9 12 13 10 8 14 6 15 -

Total 456 441 385 381 378 376 356 351 335 318 305 298 294 293 271 265 249 225

After 27 out 37 UCI WorldTour races Cannondale-Drapac surpassed Orica-Scott for the bottom podium spot and Ag2R La Mondiale gained yet another pot and closed in on the top three, now only seven points ahead.

Vuelta around the corner With the Spanish Vuelta coming up, there were another two week-long races. The above-mentioned Tour de Pologne, which started in the end of July and went on until August 4th and then the former known as Tour de BENELUX, now the BinckBank Tour, going from 7 to August 13th.

Dylan Teuns, another very promising rider from Belgium, won the Polish Tour, surprising local Rafal Majka and Dutch Wout Poels to get a maiden win in his career and give another to North American side BMC. In the team standings the 1st place was conquered by Lotto-Soudal, with BMC grabbing 2nd and gaining even more ground upfront. Movistar got the 3rd. Dumoulin won the BinckBank Tour beating a group of strong Belgians, Tim Wellens, Jasper Stuyvens, Greg van Avermaet and Oliver Naesen. Sagan finished 7th and Gilbert 9th. Trek-Segafredo was the teamsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; winner in front of Dumoulinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Sunweb and Ag2R La Mondiale of Naesen. At the end of these two races and prior to the start of La Vuelta Ag2R La Mondiale stole 3rd spot from Orica-Scott, now with the 4th threatened by Cannondale-Drapac and Trek-Segafredo.

BMC Quick Step-Floors Ag2R La Mondiale Orica-Scott Cannondale-Drapac Trek-Segafredo Lotto-Soudal Team Sky Lotto-Jumbo Movistar Team Team Sunweb Katusha-Alpecin

FIVE Monuments 86 75 63 77 73 84 48 55 29 50 51 71

Tour Pologne 21 9 18 17 7 3 22 15 11 20 12 16

BinckBank Tour 18 16 20 8 11 22 19 6 13 17 21 10

Total 495 466 416 406 403 401 392 377 359 355 338 319

Astana Pro Team UAE Emirates Bora-Hansgrohe Bahrain-Merida Dimension Data Qhubeka FDJ

54 45 54 39 62 41

13 19 14 4 8

14 3 15 7 5 4

312 310 299 292 258 237

While the Spanish Vuelta was through its three weeks, several one-day races that counted towards the UCI WorldTour happened. The Cyclassics of Hamburg in Germany, the Bretagne Classic-Ouest-France, on the two last Sundays of August, and the two Canadian races, Québec and Montréal.

BMC Quick Step-Floors Ag2R La Mondiale Cannondale-Drapac Lotto-Soudal Orica-Scott Trek-Segafredo Team Sky Movistar Team

FIVE Monuments

Cyclassics Hamburg

86 75 63 73 48 77 84 55 50

9 18 16 11 19 7 4 21 2

Bretagne OuestFrance 18 21 17 19 9 8 16 7 24

GP Québec

GP Montreal

Total

8 17 20 18 19 14 11 12 15

14 16 19 20 18 17 10 12 13

544 538 488 471 457 452 442 429 409

Lotto-Jumbo Team Sunweb UAE Emirates Katusha-Alpecin Astana Pro Team Bahrain-Merida Bora-Hansgrohe Dimension Data Qhubeka FDJ

29 51 45 71 54 39 54 62 41

20 8 17 5 13 14 15 12 6

14 4 25 15 6 10 5 11 3

7 10 9 13 2 16 6 4 5

4 11 9 5 7 15 8 6 3

404 371 370 357 340 347 333 291 254

As expected, the Hamburg race was decided between the sprinters and Elia Viviani gave Sky an unusual win, beating FDJ’s Demare, Lotto-Jumbo’s Groenewegen and favorites Kristoff and Greipel. With a lot of riders arriving with the same, the 1st riders’ classification was decisive for the teams’ final standings and Sky and Lotto-Jumbo took full advantage of their individual podiums. The Bretagne Classic Ouest-France was also a sprint event and roughly 50 riders arrived at the finish line with the same time. Elia Viviani was on top and double, going from Germany to France to a double-header with victories. Kristoff was 2nd, Colbrelli arrived in 3rd, but note on Sep Vanmarcke, who managed to get in between the sprinters to finalize 4th as well as Greg Van Avermaet, 10th. The French race wasn’t like the German one in terms of teams’ standings. UAE Emirates got the best of the competition, ahead of Movistar, with wild cards Direct Energie, Wanty-Groupe Gobert and Cofidis proving high quality and finishing in the front of most of the UCI WorldTour peloton! The Canadian races have been very well received by the riders, lots of big names attended it and 2017 was no different. World champion, preparing to renew his title, just a week away from it, Peter Sagan beat the competition to reign in the GP Québec, edging an amazing Van Avermaet and Michael Matthews in a massive sprint, after the several escaping attempts failed to shake the main contenders. Ag2R La Mondiale again impressed collectively, with Alexis Vuillermoz finishing 4th, Bakelants 14th and Naesen 17th, all with the same time as the winner Sagan. Lotto-Soudal came 2nd with the best rider being Tim Wellens in 5th, Galopin 9th and Benoot 12th. Cannondale-Drapac was 3rd led by Slagter, 6th, Vanmarcke 8th and Bettiol 15th. Montreal is a bit different, with lots of hills, and Diego Ulissi prevailed, giving UAE Emirates the individual win. After the Italian came Movistar’s Herrada, Cannondale-Drapac’s Slagter and Ag2R La Mondiale’s Bakelants. Other favorites

like Mollema, Gallopin, Van Avermaet, Sagan, Stuyven, Matthews or Vanmarcke arrived just some seconds behind. Cannondale-Drapac won our teamsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; classification at Montreal, ahead of podium rival Ag2R La Mondiale, Lotto-Soudal and Orica-Scott. This set of races tightened the race for the overall win, with Quick Step-Floors closing the gap towards BMC. On the other hand, Ag2R La Mondiale grabbed a comfortable margin to almost assure 3rd spot. The last two were the same and by far, FDJ the 18th and Dimension Data by Qhubeka 17th.

Froome double and Contador farewell

Contador announced it would leave professional cycling in 2017 and the Vuelta was the best farewell stage. Photo retrieved from the Vuelta official site. Unipublic/Photogomez Sport

Froome already said he wanted to win all the Grand Tours and after failing a couple of times to get the Vuelta, 2017 was the year. Nine years after Contador wins at both Giro and Vuelta, 29 years after Pantani wins at both Giro and Tour, 39 years after Hinault imitation of Anquetil, the only ones up-to 2017 to have won Tour and Vuelta in the same year, the English bagged that double. Contador lost ground early on but managed to put on a show in every difficult stage. It wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the best Vuelta of recent years, nevertheless it was pretty entertaining.

After destroying the rivals at the Tour, Team Sky again helped Chris Froome achieving a rare double, only the third in cycling history. Photo retrieved from Vuelta’s official website. Unipublic/Photogomez Sport

The final podium, with Nibali and Zakarin, the latter proving he can win a Grand Tour soon, alongside Froome. Photo retrieved from Vuelta’s official website. Unipublic/Photogomez Sport

Astana’s team won the overall classification, beating Movistar and Sky to the punch.

BMC Quick Step-Floors Ag2R La Mondiale Cannondale-Drapac Orica-Scott Lotto-Soudal Trek-Segafredo Team Sky Movistar Team Lotto-Jumbo UAE Emirates Team Sunweb Bahrain-Merida Astana Pro Team Katusha-Alpecin Bora-Hansgrohe Dimension Data Qhubeka FDJ

FIVE Monuments 86 75 63 73 77 48 84 55 50 29 45 51 39 54 71 54 62 41

Vuelta España 14 13 9 6 17 11 12 20 21 18 19 10 16 22 4 3 2 5

Total 558 551 497 477 469 468 454 449 430 422 389 381 363 362 361 336 293 259

The teams now freed their riders for the nations to compete in the UCI World Championships. With the last of the 5 Monuments and two ‘cursed’ races to ride, the fight for the overall win was still very open between BMC and Quick StepFloors. The Presidential Tour of Turkey was boycotted by all except four UCI WorldTour teams, this after being postponed and finally rescheduled to October. Controversial for sure, as was the Chinese Tour of Guangxi. These events should make the UCI board reflect on the calendar and decide it, with time, in talks with the teams’ owners, the riders’ representatives, to defend the entire sport and all its members – and there are so many possible candidates, even to grow the calendar.

The Autumn Monument and Season Ending

Nibali ended the season in great fashion and won the ‘Classic of the Fallen Leaves’, Il Lombardia. Photo retrieved from the official website of Il Lombardia.

Already claiming all three Grand Tours, twice Giro and once the French Tour and the Spanish Vuelta, also twice winner of Tirreno-Adriatico, Nibali added a second win at Il Lombardia, his only Monument so far despite already having podium finishes at both Milano-San Remo and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Again, proving the strong collective quality of the team, underlining the massive and unexpected – at season start – 3rd overall in our table, Ag2R La Mondiale got the top of the teams’ classification at the Lombardy, beating Sky, Astana and Sunweb in a 25 teams’ race. The French team didn’t even go to the final two events and still finished in our top three. With two races to go, our overall table was wide open in terms of the winner, only six points separating BMC and Quick Step-Floors.

BMC Quick Step-Floors Ag2R La Mondiale Cannondale-Drapac Orica-Scott Lotto-Soudal Team Sky Trek-Segafredo Movistar Team Lotto-Jumbo UAE Emirates Team Sunweb Astana Pro Team Bahrain-Merida Katusha-Alpecin Bora-Hansgrohe Dimension Data Qhubeka FDJ

FIVE Il Monuments Lombardia 100 20 102 21 76 25 90 18 88 14 60 12 82 24 82 53 11 51 13 60 17 73 22 79 23 64 16 58 70 9 69 64 19

Total 578 572 522 495 483 480 473 454 441 435 406 403 385 379 361 345 293 278

The 5 Monuments of Cycling Overall Teams’ Standings

The unofficial 5 Monuments Teams’ win went to Quick Step-Floors, a very close call between to two top contenders, both for the overall and the 5 Monuments. Cofidis managed to mingle in the table, edging five WorldTour sides! Disappointment on both Lotto sides, the Dutch and the Belgian, being their kind of races, weren’t able to put on a good show in terms of team, even if they got some very good individual results. Quick Step-Floors BMC Cannondale-Drapac Orica-Scott Team Sky Trek-Segafredo Astana Pro Team Ag2R La Mondiale Team Sunweb Bora-Hansgrohe Dimension Data Qhubeka Bahrain-Merida FDJ Cofidis

FIVE Monuments 102 100 90 88 82 82 79 76 73 70 69 64 64 62

Lotto-Soudal UAE Emirates Katusha-Alpecin Movistar Team Lotto-Jumbo

60 60 58 53 51

The two final races of the UCI WorldTour calendar were sort of boycotted, one effectively, the other not so much, it was a very good peloton the one that entered the Guangxi Tour. It was a sort of tryout for some riders, to ultimately assess a continuation or not with the team. For others it was a final chance to shine and get some attention. Only 13 teams took part in the Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey and Diego Ulissi added a second individual 2017 UCI WorldTour win, edging Danish Jesper Hansen from Astana and Fausto Masnada, 24 years old Italian from Androni Giocatolli-Sidermec, who was certainly seen, having a UCI WorldTour podium as a neo-pro in a Professional Continental side is a feat worth noticing. Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia beat the WorldTour contingent to win the overall classification. UAE-Emirates, Bora-Hansgrรถhe and Astana were the other top teams in Turkey.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th

Presidential Tour Turkey 7 12 10 11 -

Tour of Guangxi 18 11 7 15 17 8 16 13 4 12 1 6 10 5 9 14 -

Total 596 583 522 502 498 497 481 477 454 439 430 404 401 389 366 365 307 278

Despite some absentees, the Chinese race had some interesting names. Tim Wellens went on to win the maiden edition of this Guangxi Tour, beating Bauke Mollema by only six seconds and Nicholas Roche finishing 3rd just 11 seconds behind. BMC confirmed our overall teams’ standings lead with a final win, Lotto-Soudal being 2nd and Trek-Segafredo 3rd, both 1’26’’ down from the USA winning side. If the stages of each races were to be taken into account for the final standing, multiplying the position by the number of stages of each race, Movistar would have won it by a margin of over 300 points, BMC would be 2nd, Ag2R La Mondiale would keep its 3rd and Sky would climb up to 4th. Quick Step-Floors would have finished 9th, just half of the table. Total

Total Stage Coef st 1 BMC 596 2622 nd 2 Quick Step-Floors 583 2185 3rd Ag2R La Mondiale 522 2603 th 4 Cannondale-Drapac 502 2054 th 5 Orica-Scott 498 2384 th 6 Lotto-Soudal 497 2020 th 7 Team Sky 481 2592 th 8 Trek-Segafredo 477 2377 th 9 Movistar Team 454 2945 th 10 Lotto-Jumbo 439 1914 th 11 UAE Emirates 430 2244 12th Team Sunweb 404 1847 th 13 Astana Pro Team 401 2190 th 14 Bahrain-Merida 389 2016 th 15 Katusha-Alpecin 366 1565 th 16 Bora-Hansgrohe 365 1401 th 17 Dimension Data Qhubeka 307 1101 th 18 FDJ 278 1266 There were a lot of riders entering the UCI WorldTour events, between the 18 sides squads and all the wild card teams. For instance, the mountains classifications saw almost 400 riders grabbing at least one point. Over 500 entered the points tables in the stage races or finished top 20 in the one-day rides. UAE-Emirates managed to be the best of the newcomers and already announced a massive reinforcement of the team for 2018, Fabio Aru, Daniel Martin and Alexander Kristoff, meaning they aim way big for next season.