A final look at the victory rankings for the teams. With the season finished it’s time to look back at the wins and also look deeper within them. Which months are the best time to win? Does starting off well ensure a team rides well all year? Which teams had the most podium places but the fewest wins? Which teams are the most reliant on one rider?
Having looked at the highs, time to descent into the darkened valley of low points to see what went wrong and more.
As athletics stumbles around in the dark, or should that be stumbles because they’re wearing a blindfold, it’s different watching another sport get the treatment normally reserved for cycling. In fact so far this year we haven’t had a major doping scandal, to the point that the sport almost invented one in a reflex action.
Cycling Anthology Volume Six
“Strong, light, cheap. Pick two” said Keith Bontrager when it came to parts for your bike. Here’s a book that offers strong writing, that’s light and small enough to fit in a race jersey pocket and all for a keen price.
The last of five highlights is a hard call. Like any list half the story is in the omissions and it forces you to cut out plenty of good moments. The Vuelta? Even nominating this stage race is tricky as it had several great moments.
The Giro d’Italia had plenty of action including a lively opening week where the main contenders and their teams were already trying to take control of the race. Among the three weeks of action was Stage 16, the Mortirolo stage from Pinzolo to Aprica.
Albert Contador had already taken control of the race and wore the maglia rosa but he used the hardest climb in the race to stick it to Fabio Aru and make a point.
Back in the Tour de France for only the second time the Grand Colombier is an unheralded climb that offers a physical test and then rewards with impressive views.
The Economics of Professional Road Cycling – Sports Economics, Management and Policy 11,
 edited by Daam Van Reeth and Daniel Joseph Larson
Money makes the wheels go round and this collection of academic papers is a study of the business and economics of pro cycling covering topics from revenue sharing to exploring how many, or rather how few, actually watch the sport on TV as well as the Game Theory of breakaways versus the peloton. You won’t read this for distraction and escapism yet the analytical detachment means this brings a fresh perspective on the sport that makes it a compelling if serious read and a useful reference if you want to explore this topic. Just know from the start that this an academic journal and priced high.
Three Etixx-Quickstep riders and one Team Sky rider. Of the three riders on the Belgian squad, Tom Boonen has a powerful sprint, Niki Terpstra is a master at riding away late in the race with powerful surprise attack and Stijn Vandenbergh is a strong workhorse and one of the best specialists there is. Only Ian Stannard is about to steal their lunch.
The mountains classification for the 2016 Tour de France is set to change. In recent years the points scale was doubled on the final summit finish of the day in a bid to tilt the competition towards the race’s bigger names but it’s meant the mountains jersey has become an afterthought. Chris Froome won the competition this year, a by-product of his fight for yellow. Now it seems points will be doubled on the final climb before a descent in a bid to tempt riders to sprint for the top and perhaps keep going, an incentive to aim for the jersey but also to attack over the top so once again yellow and polka-dot could be combined.
These constant changes mark a problem with the mountains prize, it’s a popular contest but one that seems to struggle to define itself.