A few loose ends in and around the Tour de France…
World Tour
The Shrinking Peloton
Movistar announced a men’s squad of 25 riders for 2018, down from the 28 rider squad they had this year. BMC Racing go from 28 riders down to 24. The peloton is getting smaller and the men’s World Tour peloton will shrink by 16 riders, not as much as initially feared but still a trend across most teams.
- This is the post from 3 November updated now that all the 18 teams have confirmed their rosters for 2018.
UCI Rule Changes – The Latest
If you race you might know that moment when the pace is so furious that everyone is lined out and you’re struggling to hold the wheel in front. All you can think of is preventing a gap opening up, until the moment comes when you wonder who on earth is at the front making life so hard for you and everyone else? Well it’s not just during a race that this happens, anyone trying to follow the rules that underpin our sport must also be struggling for breath as the UCI keeps churning them revisions and new rules.
Yesterday saw the second set of rules issued this year, the new version (PDF) replaces those published on 1 January. Cyclingnews.com has picked up some of the novelties and changes but there’s more to examine.
Now a lot of these rules aren’t going to alter the racing, so skip this post if you’re not bothered about technical topics like relegation, rankings, appearance money, capping the number of race days and the status of the new World Tour races.
2016 Calendar Analysis
With the UCI calendar for 2016 out, a chance to look at the stats behind it. Which is the busiest month, which countries have the most race days and more.
UCI Reforms Approved
The UCI has approved its own reforms to men’s pro cycling. In a press release issued in the middle of the women’s time trial race yesterday it announced several changes to the World Tour regarding team licences, the calendar and the rankings.
New UCI Points System for 2015
The UCI have brought out a new system of points and rankings for 2015. The main ranking is the “UCI World Classification”, a rolling ranking of riders of all categories based on performances over the previous 52 weeks as opposed to each season or calendar year. Within this there are big changes to the allocation of points across races, for example all three grand tours are now treated equally.
All this is buried in a PDF listing modifications to the rulebook but below is a summary of the changes along with the new points scales.
Update Sunday 25 January: the UCI has scrapped the introduction of this scheme for 2015 following protests by teams upset at the sudden introduction. It should be back for 2016 but until then the old system applies: calendar year, more points for the Tour de France etc.
2015 World Tour Rider Age and Nationality
There are 474 riders from 41 nations registered with the 17 UCI World Tour teams for 2015.
The average age of a rider is 28 years and 3 months. The oldest rider is the 40 year-old Matteo Tosatto (Tinkoff-Saxo) who is pictured above and just seven years younger than his boss Oleg Tinkov. Lampre-Merida’s Colombian neo-pro Eduardo Estrada is the youngest pro, aged 19.
Here’s a look at the 2015 World Tour peloton in numbers. There’s a look at rider age, the “oldest team” and also analysis of how many pros come from each country and more.
Velon Means Business
11 of the World Tour teams have linked up to create a company Velon. It’s the public launch of a private project that’s been on the go for at least 18 months under the label of Project Avignon.
We don’t have much to go on. Today has seen a co-ordinated media campaign to mark the launch, it’s gone from a project to corporate reality. Whether it now goes from a start-up to an established business will be the more interesting story to follow.
2015 World Tour Analysis
There are less than 100 days until the season resumes with the Tour Down Under. 2015 will look a lot like 2014 but here is a closer look at the calendar.
Which countries have the most races? Where can you win the most World Tour points? What’s the busiest month of the year? And more.
Who Will Take Over From Contador, Valverde and Rodriguez
The World Tour is over and Spain tops all the rankings: Alejandro Valverde leads the UCI rankings, Movistar win the best team and Spain finish well ahead of Italy for the best nation. A fiesta or a statistical quirk?
Spain’s best riders are ageing, the trio of Valverde, Alberto Contador and Joaquim Rodriguez have a combined age of over 100 years. Who are the young riders carrying the Spanish hopes for the future?