SB Nation User Blog: ursula

Imagine: Gent-Wevelgem 2009...

ursula — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 03:07:58 -0000

Just imagine:

You wake up on a glorious Wednesday in spring in time to log on the CTV to watch Gent-Wevelgem. You think to yourself, "This race can't possibly match Flanders. I'll spend most of my time doing some cleaning up and chatting on PdC while the race unfolds. Besides I know its gonna come down to the final bunch sprint... I got time."

So you go about your chores, though the funny/snarky comments on Podium Cafe slowly draw you away from other things. With about 30 km to go you sit down in front of your computer for the last time to watch the race play out. The breakaway looks interesting... it might possibly succeed.. the Kemmelberg did some interesting sorting out... Hincapie and a couple others are pushing hard...

20 km to go and the peloton looks like its gaining on the break... yeah they definitely are. That break sure ain't gonna stay away by the looks of things as that peloton means business with several teams chasing: Quickstep, Liquigas, Cervelo among others. The chatting on PdC is heating up with various posters noting that there's quite a sprinters field here: Boonen, Benna, Cavendish, defending champ Oscarito, Thor, Ciolek, McEwen, Wiggins... geez nice field! Mark and Brian are talking a lot about a Cav-Wig rivalry.

10 km to go ad the catch happens just past the 5km mark. You and everyone else here at PdC have moved to the edge of their seats as the finish line approaches. 3km and you start to see a Columbia train form with Cavendish this time where he's supposed to be- right behind Greipel. But at the same time on the opposite side of the road is the Quickstep train with Boonen behind Alan Davis and Wouter Weylandt. But neither train has the lead as other teams fill in the space between the two sprinters teams... You see next to Greipel his old teammate Roger Hammond, this time leading Hushovd. Some one on PdC has spotted a group of fast guys including Rojas, Bennati, Dean and Wiggins just a bit back and the chat gets quite lively.

2km to go and there's been an Oscarito sighting by Elvisgoat along with both Steegmans and McEwen in the Katyusha kits... This is getting serious!

1500m to go and no one has the advantage. CTV is getting quite loud as everyone realizes that this is THE sprint! Its like the Last Supper and everyone's invited! You are totally on the edge of your seat now as most of the lead out guys have pulled away... you pray for no crashes and for once your prayers are answered! This is incredible! No one appears to have an advantage with 1 km to go!!!!! You've been waiting for a sprint finish like this for two years now and here it is! You're screaming at your computer by now and...

Ha! tell me how this ends! Who do you think is gonna win? In the comments, give me the order of finish between Cav, Boonen, Ciolek, Benna, Friere, Thor, Rojas, and McEwen! Tell us how the race will play out.

Poll

Who's gonna be the best sprinter in 2009?

Bow Down To Your CQ Overlord

ursula — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 21:54:42 -0000

The other day I was tooling around Cycling Quotient (Too bad CQ isn't a MMO. That would be cool.) and I realized that they post five years of stats for each rider. See here for instance. Actually though they have seven years of stats- you have to click on the lowest "Results" to get the years 2003 and 2002.

So I decided to figure out which rider has earned the most points during both the last five and last seven years- it's two different riders. So before I give you a top-25 listing I'll give you pictures of five possible riders. Could it be:

via www.moonbattery.com

Or:

via www.lancelhoff.com

Or, jump!

Or:

via asab.icapb.ed.ac.uk

via www.dueporti.it

Or maybe...

via tintintribute.com

Which guy?

Last 5 Year Ranking	Points	Last 7 Year Ranking	Points
1. Boonen	8888	1.Valverde	11249
2. Cunego	8148	2. Bettini	10652
3. Valverde	8118	3. Zabel	10386
4. Rebellin	7890	4. Rebellin	10243
5. Bettini	7451	5. Boonen	9556
6. Zabel	6932	6. Petacchi	8567
7. Freire	6719	7. Cunego	8234
8. Petacchi	6467	8. Di Luca	8170
9. Evans	6450	9. McEwen	8144
10. McEwen	6333	10. Freire	7993
11. Di Luca	6160	11. Evans	7034
12. Contador	5630	12. Armstrong	6628
13. Jens!	5616	13. Jens!	6134
14. Leipheimer	5615	14. Leipheimer	6068
15. Hushovd	5565	15. Vinokourov	6055
16. Cancellara	5501	16. Hushovd	5913
17. Sanchez	5407	17. Sanchez	5905
18. F Schleck	5340	18. Cancellara	5844
19. Menchov	5186	19. O'Grady	5727
20. Sastre	4679	20. Contador	5637
21. Gilbert	4621	21. Basso	5633
22. Kirchen	4543	22. Sastre	5630
23. Basso	4348	23. Menchov	5571
24. Ballan	4188	24. F Schleck	5438
25. Bennati	4112	25. Boogerd	5225

Some notes:

- Amazing how static the two lists are: Most riders are around the same ranking on both lists with the main differences being a) retired riders listed on the seven year list (Boogerd, Vino, HWMNBN) dropping off the 5 year list and b) Contador (moving up 8 spots) and Frank Schleck (moving up 6 spots). BTW Kirchen is 26th on the 7 year list while Gilbert is 30th on the same list. I thought there would be a few more old guys on the 7 year list but outside of Mancebo (27th) and Garzelli (30th) recently retired riders are nowhere near the top 25.

- I am a little surprised how the top sprinters are so prominent here. Boonen, Zabel, Petacchi, Freire, and McEwen are all in the top 10 in both lists. After the Big Five you see no other sprinter other than # 15/16 Hushovd until #25 on the 5 year list, Benna sigh, or O'Grady, #19 on the 7 year list (and no one after Stewy). That's quite a gap and it shows how dominant the top sprinters have been. Its also worth noting with these sprinters is that they aren't so dominant in VDS though they are valued. The difference here is that some sprinters races likes Paris-Brussels, aren't scored in VDS.

- Nevertheless I expected the Ardennes guys to be a little more dominant in the top 10. That didn't happen but look at the whole top 25 in either list. Besides the sprinters,there are only three stage racing goat types, three riders who don't (or haven't yet) show the speed to finish off a hilly classic- but do show consistent and mega climbing ability: Menchov and teammates Contador and Leipheimer. The rest can and are good at the Classics- yes even HWMNBN at least early in his career.

- And then there's Jens!- a category all his own.

- Valverde is just so damn consistent. Even though he's only 3rd on the 5 year list he has the highest average yearly placing: 5th. In those five years, the Green Bullet finished 1, 3, 2, 14 and 5. He's the only one in the last five years to finish outside of the top ten only once. Boonen's average is 6.8th place. Tin Tin's 10th. Cunego: also 10th. Alejandro Valverde: your CQ Overlord.

Contador Gobbles Up The 2008 Golden Bike Award

ursula — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:45:03 -0000

The Vélo d'Or, THE end of season award in cycling, was just won by The Accountant for the second year in a row. I happen to love this award as I love all of these types of end of season awards that are decided by journalists. To me these types of awards (MVP awards, Golden Boot for Euro soccer player of the year, etc.) tracked over the years, tends to give a good snapshot of who is dominating their given sport during any time period.

But these awards show more than just which player is at the top of his/her game, they also show a maturity in the sport, and a sense that the sport has a certain level of infrastructure in the society that its based in. That Velo magazine can get a bunch of cycle journalists from different countries to vote for rider of the year is not as simple as it sounds. It implies that there is sufficient interest in the sport from the public allowing the publication and selling of enough cycling magazines in turn providing jobs for enough journalists who can concentrate on following the sport we love 24/7.

The history of the Golden Bike also shows that cycling is a new sport. Its much younger than the larger, more established sports, going back only to '92. Yeah I know that various races are 100 years old or more. Most every sport today goes back 100 years or more, sometimes much more. But there's always a gap between when the sport was first thought up and having the infrastructure built so that millions of people can enjoy watching the best participants excel and for cycling that gap is quite long. And its interesting that In spite of the doping scandals, cycling has seriously grown in the past 50 years, allowing it to move beyond a provincial Euro thing to a worldwide sport, followed by millions. And it continues to grow as blogs like this one attest. Speaking of blogs...

Having said these high faluttin words, the Golden Bike of course comes after our award of Rider of the Year and its interesting to see how closely we agree once you throw out the differences between the awards: The Podium Cafe voting included women cyclists, while Velo magazine's award includes cross, track, and mountain bikers as well- but no women evidently. Here's how the voting went for both awards:

Velo Mag Ranking	Velo Points	Podium Cafe Ranking	PdC Points
1.Contador	72	1.Contador	163
2. Cancellara	47	2. Cancellara	114
3. Sastre	36	3. Cavendish	48
4. Valverde	34	4. Vandevelde	20
5. Cavendish	31	5. Valverde	16
6. Ballan	21	6. Cunego	14
7. Cunego	8	7. Gilbert	10
8. Boonen	6	8. Sastre	7
9. Gilbert	4	9. Ballan	1

Obviously PdC has an America/English bias; that's to be expected. Otherwise the voting is similar. Maybe they just copied us. ;)

So who might win next year?

Offseason Musings: What's More Likely

ursula — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:05:35 -0000

In one corner you have Oscar Freire, the sprinter par excellence who can climb a bit. Twice Milan-San Remo champion, Thrice World Road race champion. Won the Green Jersey at this year's Tour. Seemingly could win the Blue Jersey at the Vuelta anytime if he would just finish the race instead of doing more World prep. Has won several other Classic wins and individual stage victories, including three stage wins (and the points jersey) at this years' Tirreno-Adriatico against many major sprinters.

In the other corner you have Alejandro Valverde. This year's Liege-Bastogne-Liege, San Sebastian, and Dauphine Libere winner. Numerous other first places over the years, particularly in the hilly Ardennes. Has an unusually wide skill set combining climbing, sprinting, time trialing in a way that's unmatched by any other rider.

Both Freire and Valverde though have greater unfulfilled ambitions.

So the question I have is this: which will happen first:

1) valverde winning a Grand Tour or,

2) Freire winning a hilly classic: any of Flanders, Amstel, La Fleche, LBL, San Sebastian, or Lombardia?

Fill out the poll below and lets see some comments: totally wild assertions, accusations, whatever!

Poll

What's more likely to happen?

VDS: 2009- Have You been Thinking About It?

ursula — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 20:50:40 -0000

Face it. You've been thinking of VDS next year.

Where is the bicycle and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing? They have passed like rain on the mountain, like wind in the meadow. The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow. How did it come to this? Where is my VDS team?

via www.arandor.com

Well?

Sam San Comes To Race Vuelta (NOT Tour) Next Year

ursula — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 05:25:39 -0000

From Velo News comes a well received story from my neck of the woods: Samuel Sanchez is ditching his Tour wanderlust and is going back to what made him so successful in 07: Pais Vasco and The Vuelta a Espana. All together now:

Yea!

As you can see form the article, he's not totally happy with his decision to leave his affair with the Tour de France but he recognizes what's best for him and his team and that's home cooking. Ah yes, that Tour, she's a hottie, but in the morning she'll just kick you in the head. To paraphrase the Grateful Dead, Samu had to learn the hard way to let her pass by.

As for the rest of his schedule, he's not saying but I wouldn't be shocked if he does the same thing he did in 07 to such success:

- Warm-up with Comunitat Valenciana, then Paris-Nice (where he got 9th in 07 and could easily improve on that), Pais Vasco (3rd in 07), The Ardennes triad: Amstel (15th), La Fleche (26th) and LBL (12th), Catalunya (15th), Euskal Bizklel, San Sebastien, Burgos (Vuelta prep), Vuelta a Espana (3rd), Worlds, Lombardia (3rd).

As for the Vuelta itself, I can imagine a mostly similar field as 07 had: No Sastre, but with Sam San, Menchov, Evans, and Mosquera, Anton, etc. (Gesink? Kreuziger?) with the wild card(s) being what Astana and Contador do. With it very possible that the mountain stages not being as tough as this year Samu will be one of the principle favorites. I'm cool with that.

They're All Riders (Soothing Chris' Cough)

ursula — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 04:03:15 -0000

This afternoon, perusing Chris' post, Sprinters Statistics: A First Crack, I got the impulse to expand his table starting with other sprinters from the past year; see how Freire and Hushovd, Haussler and Ciolek measured up. So I started by looking at a couple of riders... Oi. Eventually I will add to that table but first I had to define- who was a sprinter? I mean it seems obvious, right? Well let me give you two short bios of sprinters for the past year:

Sprinter A: After warming up in the early season Tour Mediterranean and a couple single day races, I started my season at Het Volk with a podium finish. Not bad. I didn't do so well in the next day's K-B-K but hey, it was the next day and I don't cherry pick races as a rule: I much prefer stage races to one day Classics even if I can't keep up in the mountains. So after K-B-K, I hit my first stage race, Paris-Nice, which I began with a bang, winning the opening prologue (as I often do). The next two flattish days in the driving rain I didn't fare quite so well (chapeau to Gert Steegmans navigating in that driving rain!) but I did well enough to win the Points competition.

With no stage races pending I did make an effort in my favorite Monument, MSR- I almost won it! (came in 9th in the trailing pack), then Flanders (tough race) and finally Gent Wevelgem where I came in 15th but never was really in it- too flat!

After that my season was strictly stage racing for me starting with 4 days of Dunkirk then Catalunya, Dauphine Libere, and the Tour de France. I hoped to go to the interesting and hilly Olympic course and the hilly Worlds RR but I got sick at the end of the Tour. I tried to give it a go at Deutschland but I didn't have any more in me so I shut down for the year. I had my share of successes- the Points jersey at Catalunya, 4th on Points at Dauphine, but my big goal- the Points jersey at the Tour I just missed coming in 2nd.

Go to the jump for the next bio

Sprinter B:

I love bunch sprints. Its like some Aussie post-apocalyptic mayhem out there where you survive by weaving your way through the losers. My season started early but slow with the TDU but I kept having nagging aches and pains. Nothing to complain about , mind you- no worries!- but the first half of the season I just wasn't able to get it together to win. Whenever I felt like I was getting into super form- a 7th on Stage 1 of T-A, 14th at Dwars door Vlaanderen - Waregem (I love Belgian cobbles), I would slip back- 33rd at Gent - Wevelgem which is normally great for me and 3rd at Scheldeprijs- I should have won that race! I did win a stage at Romandie- finally! but I sucked at the Giro and I always clean up there.

Suisse saw me looking good again but the Tour... I just didn't have it. I was pissed. Deutschland was no better but finally I got my form by winning Vattenfall and Paris-Brussels. That was good. Paris-Tours was disappointing what with Gilbert breaking away but I'm sure that if we had caught him I would have won the bunch sprint.

As you can see I like flat races. I can take some hills but not too many. I partake in races like MSR and the Worlds RR but I have no chance in those races. This year was difficult with no stage wins at the Tour or Giro where I've had so many in the past but its no joke mate- I am the best cyclist ever from my country.

-----------------------------------------------

So yes, you can compare these two sprinters with very different M.O.'s- in this case Hushovd and McEwen, The God of Thunder and the Pocket Rocket, but just trying to do so, as well as including other sprinters as diferent as Boonen, O'Grady, Freire, Ciolek, and Cavendish, sort of makes the term "sprinter" kinda useless cause its so vague: basically cyclists who have can generate high speeds briefly although otherwise they might be very different. The same problem exists with other vague terms- mountain goats or Classics specialists or chronomen etc. All of these terms tend to lump very different riders together.

This problem, as I see it, gets aggravated by the races themselves, or to say it better, what kinds of races riders go for. All too often for my taste riders overly specialize, they get some success in one or two types of races and then neglect trying hard in the rest. Drives me nuts. So when I see Cancellara talking this fall about changing his body somewhat to actually contest the Ardennes and maybe eventually going for the GC in the Tour, my heart skips a beat. One of these riders is alive! One of these riders is enjoying himself!

So before trying to fit them into Chris' table I thought of a different post- They're All Classics- and so I'm backtracking to THAT post and I hope you can all help me. What follows (wait for it!) is a rating of (most of) the major riders as done in that post: what type of races do particular riders do best in. Read that post and you'll understand.

Before I give you a list, I do have one complaint with Chris' 1-10 rating system of the Classic courses. Let's see... okay here's how I would put my complaint:

In 21st place at L-B-L this year was Juan Mauricio Soler.

Get it? IMO (and I realize its just my opinion) cycling has one big hole in it: there's no one day race of any size that has a hillier course than Lombardia or Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Nuts! There's no Class or Monument for true Goats. We have stage races that have much hiller days obviously but... imagine if one week after LBL, the interested riders would stage a one day race- 200 km- that ended atop L'Alpe d'Huez or Mt. Ventoux. Wow! Think of the fireworks of such a race! Unlike every year that mountain is used in the Tour, the actual race up it is dominated by the larger GC race: the GC riders aren't racing just for that day. What if they were just racing for that one day?

I would love to see if in fact Contador could shake Valverde and Evans and Sastre. If Kirchen could challenge various Schlecks. If Gesink could shake Kreuziger. If Nibali or Di Luca or Cunego could keep up- or if they could shake the likes of Soler on the hills before the final HC ascent. Imagine having six of these guys arrive at the flat at the top and sprinting for the win. A true one day race for the Goats. A true Mountain Monument. We don't have one and that's a shame. So for the purposes of these ratings, I'm designating HC for guys who can um do HC climbs.

One other difficulty with rating the riders: there's this split in the peloton where very few of the better climby type riders race Flanders or easier. Take Cunego. I would love to see him at Flanders but he never goes. Valverde. Pfannberger. So below I am taking some guesses. If only more riders had Cancellara's elan...

Okay back to the rider ratings. Remember I'm using the scale that Chris pulled out of his ass carefully concocted in that earlier post. Riders who have parentheses around a 1, (1) , are good at Paris-Roubaix but not so much in other flat courses.

Sprinters:

Cavendish: 1-2 I'm tempted to say just 1 but he did drag his butt over the Giro.

McEwen: 1-3 Your basic sprinter range.

Haussler: 1-3

Hunter: 1-3

Boonen: 1-5 Doesn't try anything hiller than Flanders. Why isn't he a better chronoman? Why doesn;the take chances like Ballan?

Bennati: 1-5 Although I think of him as having Freire-like hill-ability, I don't see that backed-up yet with real results.

Forster: 1-4 Not totally allergic to hills- as long as they end way before the finish line.

Fletcha: (1) 2-6

Ciolek: 1-6 Impressive Bayern Rundfahrt this year.

Feillu: 1-6

Breschel: 2-5

Freire- 2-6 or 7 or 8. See, here's where its tough: he nailed 11th this year at LBL. That's a 10 race. My guess though is that the longer hills of Lombardia- a 9 race- would be tougher on him and he can't do the Mur de Huy all that well.

Nuyens: 2-6

Pozzato- 2-6

Rojas: 2-6

Hincapie: (1) 2-5

Arvesen: 2-5

Sly Chavanel: 2-6 Tough for me to figure him out

H\o/ste: (1) 3-5

Hushovd- 3-7. He's tough to rate as well at the high end but I'm thinking of his win on stage 2 of the Tour.

Van Avermaet: 3-7

Devolder: (1) 2-6..7..8..9..10 Ya know in a way he's like Cancellara but without the head.

Pineau: 3-7

Gilbert: 2-5 But is he really competitive in so many of his races?

Gasparotto: 2-5

Mid-Majors (hey- I'm watching a college basketball game as I'm typing this.)

Ballan: (1) 2-9- 10 anyone?

Pfannberger: 3-10 Amstel? Check. LBL? Checkerooni. Do Flanders!

Kroon- 3-10 . Not a chance he costs 2 points in 2009.

Cancellara: 3-8 (10 or HC). I know he doesn't yet have the chops on the hills but he a) was impressive on stage 3 of California (Mt Hamilton/Sierra Road) b) was totally impressive on the Tour mountains and c) is losing weight and d) is thinking of transforming into a GC guy.

Rebellin: 3-10 Has Tin Tin ever done Flanders? OTOH, seeing Rebellin and Bettini ride so hard up the Angrilu (the Koppenberg x10) this summer was just amazing. They couldn't hold that form for the next day's mountains but just imagine a one day mountain Monument: more riders would contest it than one might initially think.

Cunego: 6-10-HC

Di Luca- 5-10 Killer races MSR but hasn't had the results.

Horner: 6-10 Good at Emilia. Good at Lombardia. Good at Bend while carrying a rider. I can imagine him starring in Pollack riding home with a case of beers on his handlebars. Its all good.

Voeckler: 6-10

Kirchen: 3-10. HC seems like a stretch still. Could probably do MSR.

Nibali: 6-10

Lovkvist: 5-10 or HC? Jens? A little help?

Moving to goats

Rodriguez: 5-HC Amstel and the freakin' Angliru. Probably could do a mean Flanders. Has dabbled at MSR with little effect- so far.

Pellizotti: 6-HC

Evans: 6-HC

Schlecks- 6-HC

Gesink: 6-HC The more I look at him the more impressed I am.

Kreuziger: 7-HC Needs to develop his one day skills but they're there.

Leipheimer: 9-HC

Vandevelde: 7-HC? I'm reaching here, but remember there aren't too many results to work off of.

Valverde: 3-HC Would love to see him try Flanders too. And yes, HC- the problem is he isn't consistent nor the very best.

Contador: 7-HC. Given the right line on the Mur de Huy he could take La Fleche.

Sastre: HC

Soler- HC

Okay. This is a rough draft. Corrections, additions, anything will be appreciated. And Chris- I hope your throat is less scratchy. We'll get onto the next stage soon.

Explorations In Cycling: Katyusha

ursula — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 23:51:19 -0000

On the Barloworld thread below this one, gavia made the comment,

"also, if you're bored...

most of the major teams have announced their official rosters now. feel free to start exploring ;-)"

Well that fits me to a T, so I now resolve to explore new territory! Onward ho! I must confess that I haven't paid much attention to the Russian Rockets this summer so what follows is my first impression of their roster as shown on the CQ transfers page. Here goes...

What stands out the most?

Just to be contrarian here, there's no GC hope for an Grand Tour and only some hope for any week long stage race. Potentially there some decent support for a GC rider: Colom, Karpets, Gusev, Botcharov, Ivanov, Pfannberger- all could be of help- but there's no leader here.

That said, this team fairly explodes with breakaway guys: they truly are Tiinkoff on steroids. In addition to most of the riders in the last paragraph, you can add Brutt and Trussov, both holdovers from Tinkoff. In fact I can't wait to see this team enliven the Giro.

What will be interesting then will be how they race tactically. They do have a rider or two who have a history of success in week-long stage races (stand up Karpets!) so will they have the discipline for contending for the overall in places like the Swiss Tour?

But seriously, give us a type of race they could do well in.

In general this team should be a significant force on any one day Classic race but clearly to me this team has the numbers to seriously compete in the Ardennes and any hilly one day race- Lombardia and MSR included. Just look at the resumes from last year:

- Pfannberger: 6th Amstel, 9th La Fleche, 5th LBL, 23rd Olympic RR, 8th Worlds RR, 20th Emilia, 5th Lazio, 11th Sabatini, and 12th Lombardia. Wow! The only thing missing is a win, but he's a major force in every major hilly Classic there is that doesn't have cobbles. He's in his prime so I see no reason why he won't snag a major win or two over the next couple of years.

- Ivanov: 7th Amstel, then not allowed into Fleche and LBL due to ASO/Astana tiff.

-Pozzato: 2nd MSR, 6th Flanders. Plus we know his history.

But what about the cobbles?

Pozzato I just mentioned. Add to him an aging McEwen, Steegmans, plus up and coming Kenny DeHaes, and you have a decent front line for all types of cobbles races. I even like the prospects of Gusev at Paris-Roubaix as his body seems made to order for that race, but...

Yes? What's the catch?

It's basically a brand new team and the parts (riders) are coming form all sorts of teams meaning they are all used to different types of coaching. So how they come together will be telling. Clearly this is a team for the spring but can they gel in time? And by "gel" I mean their support riders. Who's gonna support Pozzato effectively? Will Pfannberger and Ivanov be on their own in the Ardennes? I can see Karpets, Botcharov, and Colom working well in the small stage races but who else can help?

Then you have the problem of so many nationalities and languages being spoken. I count at least 11 Russians, 4 Belgians (5 if you count McEwen), 2 Spaniards, 2 Italians, 1 English guy, that aforementioned Aussie... that seems way too ecumenical to me.

On the other hand, this team is pretty young. Yes, McEwen is older than the hills and Ivanov and Horrach are no spring chickens but almost all of the rest of the team is either in their prime or younger. That includes Pozzato, Pfannberger, Dehaes, Steegmans, and Gusev. Many of their support riders are also young- 85s, 86's, and an 87 to develop shows that they are not just trying to buy their way to championships.

Maybe a clue on how well this team is working will be in the time trials. They have some good chronomen here so we'll see if the coaching staff can mold them into a decent TTT come the Giro.

To sum up

Given that they had an enormous pile of money to work with I think they started very well. They'll be relevant in the spring and fall and my guess is that they understand that building a major team takes multiple years of shrewd buying. The GC races in the Grand Tours can wait; meanwhile they will make some noise on breakaways. It will be fun to watch their development and I expect this team to be a force for years.

There ya go: my first take on Katyusha. Anything you see that I missed?

The Races That Mean The Most, Part One

ursula — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 23:39:14 -0000

And I have no idea when part deux will happen. This post is more to lay out the terrain or terrane, whatever.

But I've been mulling over in my head various things (besides Jennifer Grey):

- Of the top 15 VDS riders (you know- the list that doesn't include Greipel) only five of them spent any time at all on the Belgian cobbles.

-How did the God of Thunder earn 922 VDS points when I rarely saw him beat any of the top sprinters?

-Are there any races that attract the top riders that aren't in the VDS?

- And is sandbagging like porn- you can only define it by seeing/reading it?

So I looked at the races- VDS and various top other races to see who raced where to find how many of the top riders raced against each other. Look for the results on the flip but first, Jennifer:

via www.rockhillbikes.com

And Jennifer:

via www.hbo.com

Okay.

So below I have a list of the races: all the VDS races and a bunch of the others, in calendar order. After each race I give a number which ,means how many of the top 31 VDS riders rode in that particular race and if space allows, the riders names.

Why the top 31? Several reasons. The top 31 includes every rider who earned more than 700 VDS points, meaning they were major factors in multiple races. These are the top riders of their teams. Also the top 31 riders have at least a couple of each type of rider, from goat to sprinter, chronomen and Classics guys. Italians and Spaniards. Even a French guy an American so I'm not favoring one category of rider here. In fact here are the top 31:

1. Contador 11. Sastre 21. Lovkvist

2. Valverde 12. Bennati 22. A Schleck

3. Rebellin 13. Gilbert 23.Van Avermaet

4. Evans 14. Gesink 24. Sanchez

5. Cancellara 15. Boonen 25. Pozzato

6. Leipheimer 16. Rodriguez 26. Devolder

7. Cunego 17. F Schleck 27. Zabel

8. Ballan 18. Hushovd 28. Pellizotti

9. Freire 19. Cavendish 29. Kreuziger

10. Kirchen 20. Menchov 30. Nuyens

31. Larsson

Oh yeah- I didn't include Ricco and SELLA! You really want to ask why? No? Good. Note: In the list of races below ( a long list) I would ignore the names of the riders at first glance and look mainly to see the number of riders. For those of you who's eyes glaze over when looking at lists and tables, commentary follows the list of races. To the races, VDS races in bold:

TDU- 1 (Gilbert)

Qatar- 2 (Boonen and Van Avermaet)

California- 9 (Boonen, Levi, Cancellara, Freire, Kirchen, Gesink, Cav, Lovq vist, Larsson)

Het Volk- 6 (Cance, Boonen, Gilbert, Hushovd, Nuyens, Devo)

KBK- 3 (Boonen, Hushovd, Devo)

Murcia- 5 (Contador, Valverde, Sastre, Menchov, Samu)

Castile y Leon- 6 (Contador, Menchov, Sastre, Samu, Cunego, Leipheimer)

Eroica- 3 (Cancellara, Ballan, Lovqvist)

Paris-Nice- 8 (Rebellin, Evans, Cunego, Gilbert, Gesink, F Schleck, Hushovd, Kreuziger)

Tirreno-Adriatico- 15 (Cance, Ballan, Friere, Kirchen, Boonen, J-Rod, Cavendish, Lovkvist, A Schleck, Pozzato, Devo, Zabel, Nuyens, Pellizotti, Larsson)

Milan- San Remo- 16

Dewaars-Vlaan...- 5 (Boonen, Cav, Van Avermaet, Devo, Nuyens)

E3- 8 (Cance, Ballan, Freire, Boonen, GVA, Pozzato, Devo, Zabel)

Crit. Int.- 6 (Valverde, Cunego, Kirchen, Gesink, F Schleck, Larsson)

Bra Pijl- 4 (Freire, Gilbert, A Schleck, Nuyens)

3D de Panne- 5 (Cavendish, Ballan, Boonen, GVA, Devo)

GP Mig Indurain- 5 (Valverde, Sastre, J-Rod, F Schleck, A Schleck)

Flanders- 11 (Cance, Ballan, Friere, Gilbert, Boonen, Hushovd, GVA, Pozzato, Devo, Zabel, Nuyens)

Pais Vasco- 11 (Contador, Rebellin, Evans, Cunego, Kirchen, Sastre, Gesink, F Schleck, A Schleck, J-Rod, Lovqvist)

Gent Wevelgem- 10 (Cance, Ballan, Friere, Gilbert, Boonen, Hushovd, Cavendish, GVA, Devo, Zabel)

Paris-Roubaix- 6 (Cance, Boonen, Ballan, GVA, Pozzato, Devo, Nuyens)

Klasika Prim. Amorebieta- 7 (Sastre, J-Rod, F Schleck, A Schleck, Larsson, Valverde, Cunego)

Scheldeprijs- 4 (Boonen, Cavendish, Pozzato, Zabel)

Amstel Gold- 15 (Valverde, Rebellin, Cunego, Ballan, Friere, Kirchen, Gilbert, Gesink, J-Rod, F Schleck, A Schleck, GVA, Zabel, Kreuziger, Larsson)

Fleche- 13 (Valverde, Rebellin, Evans, Cunego, Freire, Kirchen, Sastre, Gesink, J-Rod, F Schleck, A Schleck, Larsson, Kreuziger)

LBL- 15 (Same as La Fleche plus Menchov, Pellizotti, Gilbert, and no Kreuziger.)

Romandie- 5 (Benna, Cavendish, Menchov, Kreuziger, Nuyens)

Giro- 11 (Contador, Rebellin, Levi, Benna, Cavendish, J-Rod, Menchov, Zabel, Larsson, Nuyens, Pellizotti)

Dunkerque- 2 (GVA, Hushovd)

Catalunya- 4 (Cancellara, Ballan, Sastre, Hushovd)

Dau Libere- 7 (Valverde, Evans, Levi, Sastre, Gesink, Hushovd, Samu)

Luxembourg- 4 (A Schleck, F Schleck, Cancellara, Kreuziger)

Suisse- 14 (Cance, Cunego, Ballan, Freire, Kirchen, Gilbert, F Schleck, A Schleck, Lovkvist, GVA, Pozzato, Devo, Larsson, Kreuziger)

TdF- 20- Lots of people.

San Sebastian- 10 (Contador, Valverde, Rebellin, Cunego, J-Rod, Menchov, A Schleck, Samu, Kreuziger, Pellizoti)

Olympic TT- 9 (Contador, Cance, Levi, Evans, Kirchen, Gesink, F Schleck, Menchov, Larsson, Samu)

Olympic RR- 18

Eneco- 4 (Boonen, Devo, Gilbert, Benna)

GP Plouay- 7 (Cunego, Ballan, Gesink, GVA, Pozzato, Nuyens, Pellizotti)

Deutschland- 4 (Lovqvist, Larsson, and barely Hushovd and Menchov)

Vattenfall- 4 (Cance, Larsson, Lovqvist, Pellizotti)

Poland- 9 (Cance, Evans, f Schleck, A Schleck, Lovqvist, Samu, Pellizotti, Larsson, Nuyens)

Vuelta- 17 (Contador, Valverde, Rebellin, Levi, Cunego, Ballan, Friere, Sastre, Benna, Gilbert, Gesink, Boonen, J-Rod, GVA, Pozzato, Zabel, Nuyens)

Ireland- 1 (Cavendish)

Missouri- 2 (Cavendish, Kreuziger)

Britain- 1 (Kirchen)

Worlds TT- 3 (Levi, Devo, Larsson)

Worlds RR- 20

Copa Sabatini- 5 (Evans, Gesink, Pozzato, Larsson, Benna)

Emilia- 5 (Rebellin, Evans, Cunego, Gesink, Nuyens)

GP Beghelli- 4 (Evans, Cunego, Gesink, Larsson)

Piemonte- 4 (Ballan, Larsson, J-Rod, Benna)

Paris-Tours- 11 (Ballan, Friere, Benna, Boonen, Gilbert, GVA, Pozzato, Devo, Zabel, Nuyens, Samu)

Lombardia- 7 (Evans, Cunego, Ballan, Gesink, J-Rod, Samu, Larsson)

Okay, comments and notes, completely at random:

- Cobbles. Yeah, most of the stars avoid 'em and you can see that in all sorts of ways. Paris-Roubaix is the Monument with easily the fewest top riders due to its freakish course. No surprise there. Flanders has its share but some of the lesser Flanders prep races are avoide d: I'm talkin' to YOU Het Volk, KBK, Dwaars, Brabantse Pijl, 3D, and Scheldeprjis!

To be fair though, notice the riders listed for Flanders and Pais Vasco. Starting with the Criterium International and E3 respectively, you have a split in the peloton with Belgians and sprinters favoring the cobbles and more climby/Ardnennes types going to the Crit then heading south to GP Big Mig, Pais Vasco and often the Klasika Prim. Amorebieta before heading up to the similar Ardennes triad.

- But in saying that you see (if you didn't know already) that the Ardennes trio are the culmination of the early season for the Grand Tour GC men.

-Speaking of splits, notice how many more stars go to Tirreno-Adriatico rather than Paris-Nice and Suisse rather than Dolphin.

- That the Tour is the most popular race for the big boys is no surprise. That the Worlds RR ties it is a surprise- though the course this year again favored those Ardennes/climby types while enticing the sprinters who aren't allergic to hills just enough.

- But look how much more top 31's the Vuelta attracted than the Giro. Contador winning the Giro sort of underscored how Italian focused that race is compared to the Vuelta. To me that's because so many riders rest up after the cobbles and Ardennes before prepping for the Tour, thus skipping the Giro. Relatively few ride in May- look at the low numbers for Romandie and Catalunya.

The Vuelta though, even though it has a lot of competition, and a lot more than the Giro has,- races overlapping with it are Deutschland, Poland, Britain, Ireland, and Missouri- attracts the big stars, even if many of them don't finish in prepping for the Worlds.

-Speaking of Poland, its tied for the most big names of the non-VDS races. Considering that Deutschland isn't racing next year, perhaps we include this race even though no Americans will probably see it? And the race its tied with with the most big names is California- more than 19 of the 37 VDS races. Any chance at all Chris?

- Veering wildly, the Hushovd question- how did he get so many points? is answered by the fact that he rarely went up against more than one top sprinter. KBK, Paris-Nice, MSR, Flanders, Catalunya, Dunkerque- all of these don't feature much in the sprinter category. Most have only one top sprinter like Freire or Boonen. He's usually facing the likes of Duque or Steegmans as his main competition.

Pictured: Duque, sometimes spelled Dookie in the foreground:

via www.grownheadz.com

- Now sandbagging. I see two things. First are the quotes various riders put out, playing down their chances in some big race. Those quotes are fun and all but I can;t believe anyone takes them seriously. Check that. I can believe people, including some other riders, take them seriously because some folks are dumb as a bag of hammers.

The other sandbagging isn't really sandbagging but using races for training. The rider's form isn't at its peak though he is trying hard-usually, with notable exceptions being Freire (California this year) and Sastre (Free Dolphin). Otherwise look at say Menchov in Romandie this year: he didn't quite have the form he showed at the Giro but he still tried to win the race.

I'm bringing up sandbagging/training because some of the races listed above are used for training purposes for the bigger races by the big stars.

Note: I tried to google image 'bag of hammers' and what I got was (among various hammers) Kay Bailey Hutchinson. Truly scary image there and so I won't post it.

That's it for today. Anything hit you from these figures?

The 2008 Final VDS Team Grades: Read 'em and Weep!

ursula — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 03:08:44 -0000

At long last!

Late summer and fall brought some interesting team shuffling as you can see- but certainly not at the top: last time we checked, CSC was just way too far ahead to be worried about any team composed of mere humans.

So on the break you'll see the final 2008 Team Rankings followed by commentary for the 10 best late season teams. If ya want read what I said about all the teams post-Olympics go here. Without further words...

So the table below has three rankings of the teams:

- The right hand contains the rankings up through the Swiss Tour.

- The middle rankings update through the Olympics

- The left rankings contain the whole season, thus including the Vuelta, Deutchland, Vattenfalls, GP Plouay, Worlds, Emilia, Paris-Tours, and Lombardia: a nice assortment of races if I don't say so myself.

Final Rankings	Points	Post-Olympic Rankings	Points	Post Swiss Rankings	Points
1. CSC	9050	1. CSC	7262	1.CSC	3562
2. Columbia	6642	2. Columbia	4855	2. Liquigas	3422
3. Astana	6212	3. Rabobank	4324	3. Rabobank	3409
4. Caisse d'Epargne	5649	4. Liquigas	3952	4. Columbia/HR	3265
5. Rabobank	5014	5. Quickstep	3255	5. Quickstep	2700
6. Liquigas	4697	6. *Lotto	3215	6. Astana	2502
7. Quickstep	4601	7. Caisse d'Epargne	3229	7. Caisse d'Epargne	2309
8. *Lotto	3910	8. Astana	3017	8. Lampre	2250
9. Lampre	3820	9. Lampre	2285	9. Silence!	1980
10. Gerolsteiner	2946*	10. Gerolsteiner	2156*	10. Gerolsteiner	1791
11. Cofidis	2571	11. Eusketel	1839	11. CSF	1415
12. Euskatel	2304	12. Cofidis	1801	12. Cofidis	1241
13. AG2R	2111	13. AG2R	1746	13. Saunier DV	1095
14. Credit Agricole	1862	14. CSF	1415	14. Credit Agricole	1085
15. FdJ	1730	15. Credit Agricole	1410	15. AG2R	1035
16. Garmin	1535	16. FdJ	1295	16. Barloworld	974
17. Scott American Beef	1300^	17. Garmin	1155	17. FdJ	900
18. CSF	1380	18. Scott Amer Beef	1145^	18. Euskaltel	814
19. Bweeg!	1295	19. Barloworld	2490	19. Bweeg	810
20. Barloworld	1234	20. Bweeg	1045	20. LPR Brakes	630
21. Milram	1125	21. Milram	730	21. Garmin	617
22. Xacobeo Galicia	815	22. LPR	630	22. Milram	610
23. LPR	780	23. Tinkoff	505	23. Tinkoff	505
24. Tinkoff	585	24. Karpin Galicia	400	24. Karpin Galicia	400
25. Mitsubishi	540	25. SDA	385	25. SDA	385
26. Serramenti	425	26. Collstrop	270	26. Collstrop	270
27. Landbou...	340	27. Agritubel	230	27. Mitsubishi	200
28. Collstrop	285	28. Mitsubishi	200	28. Topsport	165
29. Agritubel	285	29. Topsport	165	29. ACS	150
30. Acqua & Sapone	280	30. ACS	150	30. Skil Shimano	135
31. Skil Shimano	220	31. Skil Shimano	135	31. Agritubel	95
32. Symmetrics	200	32. LT	60	32. LT	60
33. Volksbank etc.	60	33. Andalusia	10	33. Andalusia	10
34. Ceramica...	60
35. Vlad Gusev+	60
36. Preti Mangimi	15
37. Andalusia	10

Notes:

*Gerolsteiner has a * since I've taken out Kohl's and Schumacher's points. Those points haven't been taken out in the official records yet though.

^ Similarly I deducted Piepoli's points from the Beef team even though its not official yet. BTW, Ricco's Tour points are officially wiped out.

+Vlad Gusev placed 10th in the World's ITT so he gets singular mention here since he's not on a team.

Whew! And Cincinnati- Home of 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, even 8 way chili! is beating South Florida 17-7. I don't know about you but it says here that the New School of the University of South Florida is one of the most unknown top colleges in the US. But its never produced a top cyclist. Shame. Let's try to move on to the commentary.

Top 10 Late Season Teams

1. Astana- 3195

Astana at flood tide. I grew up in Maryland, spending much of my youth in Ocean City. For those that don't know, the tourist trap of OC exists on a low lying barrier island and like most of the barrier islands on the east coast of the US, it's subject to the occasional hurricane or tropical storm ripping it in half. Now that hasn't happened in OC since 62 because it's protected from many of the worst storms by Cape Hatteras sticking out into the Atlantic more: it rarely gets a direct hit. As such the town has allowed itself to overgrow to an absurd degree. A hit like it had in 62, when the storm wasn't especially big but aligned perfectly with the full moon, could inflict huge damage. Sooner or later its gonna happen.

Yes this relates to Astana in a hazy way. Between the ASO/RCS ban (remember Astana couldn't race RCS races until the Giro and Kloden was the defending champ at T-A) and injuries to Horner and whatever happened to Brajkovic, Astana had few chances to fully implement its full team. But post-Olympics, nature aligned itself as if the 62 full moon and storm nailed Ocean City. Start with the Vuelta, where Contador and Leipheimer combined for 2210 VDS points. I mean that;s crazy as I'll show further in a future post. Then you add Brajkovic sorting himself out for 590 points. Add in Navarro assisting @ Deutchland and Horner assisting @ Lombardia after finally healing up and you have a team that more than doubled its entire season's production in four races (Vuelta, Deutchland, World ITT, Lombardia).

And like the 62 storm, it could have been more if Horner had been healthy by the time of the Vuelta. Think about it: in both the Vuelta and Giro, it was Kloden who assumed the duties of Horner the super-workhorse instead of being given a freer hand and thus his overall production suffered.

What might not be so obvious is the late-season emergence of Janez Brajkovic. He's had a weird season; it looked like a lost season frankly. But then he scored 590 VDA points- 200 @ Deutchland (3rd place on GC) , 90 @ Worlds ITT (8th), and 300 for 2nd place @ Lombardia. He also finished 11th @ Emilia, 16th @ GP Beghelli, and 18th @ Coppa Sabatini to complete a solid late season run and set things up nicely for next year. HWMNBN of course will suck all the publicity for Astana next year but keep an eye on Brajkovic, including in the Ardennes and Giro.

2. Caisse d'Epargne- 2420

But I want more!!!! By most standards CdE had a great finish to the season as shown here by them getting the 2nd most number of points in this time period. Geez- any time you beat CSC you're doings something right. Right? Right? Asking for more cant be right.? Well that's what I'm doing: I am looking at CdE and thinking they should be doing so much more. Ungrateful bitch I am.

Well how could they have done more? Here's the rub. This team is super talented but in my mind they make poor use of that talent. Outside of Valverde, and J-Rod, look at the seasons various major riders have had. Look at LL Sanchez, Rujano, Moreno, Arroyo, JJ Rojas, even baby Uran. Look at 'em. I'll wait. Okay- do you see what I see? That you have a group of talented riders who most of the time are producing crappy results, often riding in the wrong races with poor preparation. Every once in a while they pop out with a great race but too much of the time they settle for a top 50 or even top 100 placing and with these guys, that's just wrong. Basically I am saying their coaching sucks. And I'm not even discussing Karpets or Pereiro.

So I look at what the team did post-Olympics...

Valverde's 727 in the Vuelta, J-Rod's 467 combined Vuelta and World ITT, and Uran's 225 (3rd place) at Lombardia stand out but that still leaves about a 1000 points for the rest of the team: Moreno's 142 points (12th place on GC) at the Vuelta, JJ Rojas finishing 5th at both GP Plouay and Vattenfalls (200 points total), Rujano's 6th on GC at Deutchland (80 points) Drujon's 11th at Paris-Tours

... and I think what if they really had a plan on how to attack Deutchland, what if they truly supported JJ Rojas in the sprints, getting him to peak for GP Plouay, Vattenfalls, and Paris-Tours, what if Uran had some real help at Lombardia like Brajkovic had. They did well in their home Grand Tour and had brain farts the rest of the fall. Its like they can't pay attention to more than one or two riders and one or two races at a time. Drives me nuts watching them. I need a shower.

3. CSC- 1788

Okay I'm clean now. And now I sing the praises of CSC, who, outside of sastre in the Vuelta went with mostly second stringers and...GAH! HERE'S ANOTHER TEAM THAT OUT STRATEGIZES CAISSE D'EPARGNE!!!! CSC here at the end of the season produced results much like CdE without Valverde: lots of talented but middling riders getting results. Unlike CdE, CSC knows how to do this through the entire season and so they win the VDS championship with ease.

Another thing that's remarkable about CSC is that outside of laying waste to the Tour and Sastre's 3rd place in the Vuelta, they pretty quiet in the Grand Tours. But that's the thing: great teams don't waste valuable resources (riders) on chasing 20th place finishes. When they race you can expect their main riders in that race to place high in the standings. If that doesn't happen its because they are experimenting and aren't throwing all their resources into he race. (Think Giro.)

Here's another way to put it: Earning more than 100 VDS points in a season almost always means that the rider in question had at least one race where he placed very high in the standings. CSC has more riders who earned more than 100 VDS points (15) than any other team. They race to win, and they often do.

4. Columbia- 1787

Looking back I know I've criticized this team for its tactics. But strategy-wise this is another great team. That 1787 points earned since the Olympics (one measly point less than CSC!) is all the more remarkable given they didn't race the Vuelta AND their two top riders this year, Cavendish and Kirchen, didn't ride any VDS races during this time period. But Gerdemann and Lovkvist dominated Deutchland, Grabsch won the Worlds ITT (with Martin 7th) and they got decent results in the other VDS races to rack up this fine score.

Columbia had more riders scoring VDS points than any other team- even beating CSC 23-22. They out-teamed CSC. They know how to spread the wealth around.

------------------------

To my mind, I just wrote about the four best teams of the year. All the rest are at least a cut below and its no coincidence that the best four teams also had the best records at the end of the season as they have deeper benches and know how to use them (even CdE) at the time of the year when everybody is tired. No disrespect to the cobbles but its easy to get up for them at the beginning of the year then do squat after April. Peaking a whole team for one or two months is relatively simple and its much harder to strategically plan for a 8, 9 even 10 month season, which is what these teams above have done. Notice that 5th ranked Rabobank is not even in this commentary of the 10 best late season teams, even with Gesink's late season efforts. [sarcasm]Great DS they have there.[/sarcasm]

5. Lampre- 1535

The Damiano and Alessandro Show! Guest starring Marzio!

Seriously, Lampre this year has been all about Cunego (1395 points) and Ballan (1335) with an able assist from Mr. all three Grand Tours Bruseghin (630). Together they account for 88% of Lampre's points and for the close of the year 95% (1465 of 1535). Now if they only had a sprinter with two eyebrows they'd be aces. Again seriously, if only they put together some good support for these three... actually make a team.

6. Quickstep- 1346

Yeah I'm surprised too that they score so high in these end of season races. Let's see why:

-Boonen (274), Bettini (184), and Garate (129) all scored nicely in the Vuelta.

- Visconti scored (250) at Lombardia.

-Plus you have new signee Alan Davis, who I read is a Quickstepper since September 1st making his 3rd place at Vattenfall (100) count, if not his 4th place at GP Plouay 19 days earlier.

What this means to me is that, how boring they are as a team after Paris-Roubaix, especially if the road has a hill on it*) they are interesting in that they are probably having the biggest makeover of riders who actually are counted on to score VDS points (win races) than any of these other big teams. (Milram, etc. I am not counting here.)

Let's see: of the five riders I mentioned above, four of them are either on their way out or are just arriving (Bettini, Visconti, and Garate out, Davis in). Add in Gertrude Steegmans, Carrara, and A Efimkin out you have 1594 VDS points leaving the team (35% of the year's total) while you have Davis, Sly Chavanel, Cornu, Pineau, and Velo reporting for duty (1236 points). It will be interesting to see how the new chemistry works out. One thing to note: Cornu, and Velo, domestiques extraordinare, earn no VDS points as they bury themselves for their masters, leaders. Maybe such a definition between aristocrats and plebeians will help the team. Or not. Anyways that's what I'll be looking at next year.

7. Gerolsteiner- 790

Okay. we just crossed the cycling equivalent of The Mendoza Line. Or, to use another baseball analogy, Quickstep is Mr. May and we are talking about teams that are worse than Mr. May in late summer and fall. Not good.

Its not that Gerolsteiner scored 516 points less than Quickstep since the Olympics, it's that Gerolsteiner scored 516 points less than Quickstep since the Olympics.

In other words, outside of Tin Tin, they suck.

How much do they suck? Well the best of the rest are now at Milram and yesterday Milram announced its 09 lineup noting specifically that the team will be led by two Columbia ex-pats.

8. Cofidis- 770

See what I mean. We are now getting to teams that are either folding completely or are downsizing to the equivalent of those little Shriner cars you see in parades.

9. Liquigas- 745

WTF???? Why is Liquigas here? If you look back at the table above, you'll see Liquigas is a team that has continually dropped in the standings from the spring to the summer to the fall. You can see that as a result of no Di Luca and if you are a fan of theirs you hope that Basso can return them to late season relevance.

But still, what with Emilia and Lombardia, not to mention several other good fall races that Americans never get to see on the slate, you'd think Liquigas would have some, er, gas in the tank for end of season campaigning in front of the home crowd. But no!

- At Lombardia their best finisher was ancient Andrea Doria Noe, 17th place.

- At Emilia (won by Killer) their highest finish was Nibali, 25th place

- At mid-week GP Beghelli, Carlstrom, a pert 27th place

- The day before Emilia, the less prestigious Coppa Sabatini, saw Pozzato finish 2nd. Why did he race there and not Emilia?

I must now apologize to dumber-than-dirt Caisse d'Epargne. At least they know how to put on a show for the old folks at home. Liquigas is a team directed by zombies. Sheesh.

10. *Lotto- 695

Well *Lotto gets a pass for falling below the Quickstep line since Evans was not in great form (and he normally scores well at the end of the season). After all, they usually come after Quickstep in every other race...

--------------------------------------------------

There you have it. The complete team scores for the year. Next week I'm gonna re-jigger the table to show what the teams would have scored with all the transferred riders on their new teams.