Bicycle Racing News and Opinion:
Wednesday, June 3, 2015

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Today's Racing

The Tour de Luxembourg starts today. First off is a prologue stage, a 2.67 km time trial.

UCI Rider, Team & Country Rankings - May 31

Sorry, I should have posted these post-Giro d'Italia rankings a couple of days ago.

Here are the rider rankings along with their previous positions:

Rank	Prev.	Rider	Team (Code)	Points
1	1	VALVERDE Alejandro	MOVISTAR TEAM (MOV)	338
2	23	CONTADOR Alberto	TINKOFF - SAXO (TCS)	307
3	2	PORTE Richie	TEAM SKY (SKY)	304
4	3	KRISTOFF Alexander	TEAM KATUSHA (KAT)	237
5	4	DEGENKOLB John	TEAM GIANT - ALPECIN (TGA)	232
6	5	RODRIGUEZ OLIVER Joaquin	TEAM KATUSHA (KAT)	230
7	46	ARU Fabio	ASTANA PRO TEAM (AST)	212
8	10	URAN URAN Rigoberto	ETIXX - QUICK STEP (EQS)	209
9	6	FARIA DA COSTA Rui Alberto	LAMPRE - MERIDA (LAM)	196
10	7	KWIATKOWSKI Michal	ETIXX - QUICK STEP (EQS)	195
11	8	QUINTANA Nairo Alexander	MOVISTAR TEAM (MOV)	189
12	9	THOMAS Geraint	TEAM SKY (SKY)	184
13	11	VAN AVERMAET Greg	BMC RACING TEAM (BMC)	178
14	12	ALAPHILIPPE Julian	ETIXX - QUICK STEP (EQS)	165
15	13	SPILAK Simon	TEAM KATUSHA (KAT)	163
16	14	POZZOVIVO Domenico	AG2R LA MONDIALE (ALM)	156
17	17	MATTHEWS Michael	ORICA GREENEDGE (OGE)	155
18	15	STYBAR Zdenek	ETIXX - QUICK STEP (EQS)	152
19	79	LANDA MEANA Mikel	ASTANA PRO TEAM (AST)	148
20	16	TERPSTRA Niki	ETIXX - QUICK STEP (EQS)	140
21	18	SAGAN Peter	TINKOFF - SAXO (TCS)	136
22	21	ZAKARIN Ilnur	TEAM KATUSHA (KAT)	134
23	19	HENAO Sergio Luis	TEAM SKY (SKY)	130
24	20	PINOT Thibaut	FDJ (FDJ)	130
25	22	DENNIS Rohan	BMC RACING TEAM (BMC)	115
26	24	BOOM Lars	ASTANA PRO TEAM (AST)	101
27	-	HESJEDAL Ryder	TEAM CANNONDALE - GARMIN (TCG)	96
28	25	YATES Simon	ORICA GREENEDGE (OGE)	92
29	-	AMADOR Andrey	MOVISTAR TEAM (MOV)	91
30	26	MOLLEMA Bauke	TREK FACTORY RACING (TFR)	88
31	27	GALLOPIN Tony	LOTTO SOUDAL (LTS)	82
32	28	PAOLINI Luca	TEAM KATUSHA (KAT)	80
33	-	KRUIJSWIJK Steven	TEAM LOTTO NL - JUMBO (TLJ)	80
34	29	EVANS Cadel	BMC RACING TEAM (BMC)	76
35	30	IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI Jon	MOVISTAR TEAM (MOV)	73
36	31	FROOME Christopher	TEAM SKY (SKY)	70
37	32	DUMOULIN Tom	TEAM GIANT - ALPECIN (TGA)	70
38	-	KONIG Leopold	TEAM SKY (SKY)	70
39	33	ALBASINI Michael	ORICA GREENEDGE (OGE)	62
40	34	ELMIGER Martin	IAM CYCLING (IAM)	56
41	35	KREUZIGER Roman	TINKOFF - SAXO (TCS)	54
42	89	CARUSO Damiano	BMC RACING TEAM (BMC)	54
43	36	VANMARCKE Sep	TEAM LOTTO NL - JUMBO (TLJ)	52
44	37	FERNANDEZ Ruben	MOVISTAR TEAM (MOV)	52
45	38	BARDET Romain	AG2R LA MONDIALE (ALM)	52
46	39	FUGLSANG Jakob	ASTANA PRO TEAM (AST)	52
47	40	BONIFAZIO Niccolo	LAMPRE - MERIDA (LAM)	51
48	41	TRENTIN Matteo	ETIXX - QUICK STEP (EQS)	50
49	42	BENOOT Tiesj	LOTTO SOUDAL (LTS)	50
50	43	DEBUSSCHERE Jens	LOTTO SOUDAL (LTS)	48
51	44	ROELANDTS Jurgen	LOTTO SOUDAL (LTS)	48
52	-	TROFIMOV Yury	TEAM KATUSHA (KAT)	48
53	45	KEUKELEIRE Jens	ORICA GREENEDGE (OGE)	46
54	-	GENIEZ Alexandre	FDJ (FDJ)	44
55	47	CANCELLARA Fabian	TREK FACTORY RACING (TFR)	41
56	48	VALLS FERRI Rafael	LAMPRE - MERIDA (LAM)	41
57	49	VANDENBERGH Stijn	ETIXX - QUICK STEP (EQS)	40
58	50	SCARPONI Michele	ASTANA PRO TEAM (AST)	40
59	56	ATAPUMA Darwin	BMC RACING TEAM (BMC)	40
60	51	IMPEY Daryl	ORICA GREENEDGE (OGE)	39
61	86	GILBERT Philippe	BMC RACING TEAM (BMC)	39
62	52	POELS Wouter	TEAM SKY (SKY)	36
63	-	MODOLO Sacha	LAMPRE - MERIDA (LAM)	36
64	53	MORENO Daniel	TEAM KATUSHA (KAT)	34
65	54	IZAGUIRRE Gorka	MOVISTAR TEAM (MOV)	32
66	-	MONFORT Maxime	LOTTO SOUDAL (LTS)	32
67	55	MAJKA Rafal	TINKOFF - SAXO (TCS)	31
68	57	LAMPAERT Yves	ETIXX - QUICK STEP (EQS)	30
69	58	CIMOLAI Davide	LAMPRE - MERIDA (LAM)	30
70	97	VAN DEN BROECK Jurgen	LOTTO SOUDAL (LTS)	27
71	77	GREIPEL André	LOTTO SOUDAL (LTS)	26
72	-	KANGERT Tanel	ASTANA PRO TEAM (AST)	24
73	59	VUILLERMOZ Alexis	AG2R LA MONDIALE (ALM)	23
74	95	TIRALONGO Paolo	ASTANA PRO TEAM (AST)	23
75	60	BRESCHEL Matti	TINKOFF - SAXO (TCS)	22
76	87	NIZZOLO Giacomo	TREK FACTORY RACING (TFR)	22
77	61	ROWE Luke	TEAM SKY (SKY)	20
78	-	ULISSI Diego	LAMPRE - MERIDA (LAM)	20
79	-	VIVIANI Elia	TEAM SKY (SKY)	20
80	115	INTXAUSTI Benat	MOVISTAR TEAM (MOV)	19
81	92	KIRYIENKA Vasil	TEAM SKY (SKY)	18
82	-	MOINARD Amaël	BMC RACING TEAM (BMC)	17
83	-	FORMOLO Davide	TEAM CANNONDALE - GARMIN (TCG)	16
84	-	POLANC Jan	LAMPRE - MERIDA (LAM)	16
85	-	KEISSE Iljo	ETIXX - QUICK STEP (EQS)	16
86	62	PANTANO Jarlinson	IAM CYCLING (IAM)	15
87	63	KELDERMAN Wilco	TEAM LOTTO NL - JUMBO (TLJ)	14
88	76	FELLINE Fabio	TREK FACTORY RACING (TFR)	14
89	80	LOBATO Juan Jose	MOVISTAR TEAM (MOV)	14
90	64	OSS Daniel	BMC RACING TEAM (BMC)	12
91	-	CHAVANEL Sylvain	IAM CYCLING (IAM)	12
92	65	BAUER Jack	TEAM CANNONDALE - GARMIN (TCG)	10
93	66	YATES Adam	ORICA GREENEDGE (OGE)	10
94	-	BETANCUR Carlos Alberto	AG2R LA MONDIALE (ALM)	10
95	93	DURBRIDGE Luke	ORICA GREENEDGE (OGE)	10
96	67	MARTIN Tony	ETIXX - QUICK STEP (EQS)	10
97	68	MALORI Adriano	MOVISTAR TEAM (MOV)	10
98	107	SANCHEZ GIL Luis Leon	ASTANA PRO TEAM (AST)	9
99	69	WELLENS Tim	LOTTO SOUDAL (LTS)	8
100	-	NIEVE ITURALDE Mikel	TEAM SKY (SKY)	8
101	-	VISCONTI Giovanni	MOVISTAR TEAM (MOV)	8
102	-	CLARKE Simon	ORICA GREENEDGE (OGE)	8
103	78	HAUSSLER Heinrich	IAM CYCLING (IAM)	8
104	70	CHERNETSKI Sergei	TEAM KATUSHA (KAT)	8
105	-	HOFLAND Moreno	TEAM LOTTO NL - JUMBO (TLJ)	8
106	-	PELUCCHI Matteo	IAM CYCLING (IAM)	8
107	71	MARTIN Daniel	TEAM CANNONDALE - GARMIN (TCG)	7
108	72	ROJAS GIL Jose Joaquin	MOVISTAR TEAM (MOV)	7
109	73	VAN GARDEREN Tejay	BMC RACING TEAM (BMC)	7
110	74	SLAGTER Tom Jelte	TEAM CANNONDALE - GARMIN (TCG)	6
111	-	GESCHKE Simon	TEAM GIANT - ALPECIN (TGA)	6
112	-	MEZGEC Luka	TEAM GIANT - ALPECIN (TGA)	6
113	75	KUENG Stefan	BMC RACING TEAM (BMC)	6
114	111	PORSEV Alexander	TEAM KATUSHA (KAT)	5
115	105	GERRANS Simon	ORICA GREENEDGE (OGE)	5
116	81	NIBALI Vincenzo	ASTANA PRO TEAM (AST)	4
117	82	BENNETT George	TEAM LOTTO NL - JUMBO (TLJ)	4
118	-	KLUGE Roger	IAM CYCLING (IAM)	4
119	-	REICHENBACH Sébastien	IAM CYCLING (IAM)	4
120	83	BAKELANTS Jan	AG2R LA MONDIALE (ALM)	4
121	84	WESTRA Lieuwe	ASTANA PRO TEAM (AST)	4
122	85	DEMARE Arnaud	FDJ (FDJ)	4
123	-	LAGUTIN Sergey	TEAM KATUSHA (KAT)	2
124	-	GRETSCH Patrick	AG2R LA MONDIALE (ALM)	2
125	91	LINDEMAN Bertjan	TEAM LOTTO NL - JUMBO (TLJ)	2
126	-	MARANGONI Alan	TEAM CANNONDALE - GARMIN (TCG)	2
127	88	DANIELSON Thomas	TEAM CANNONDALE - GARMIN (TCG)	2
128	90	DE CLERCQ Bart	LOTTO SOUDAL (LTS)	2
129	94	BODNAR Maciej	TINKOFF - SAXO (TCS)	2
130	96	VALLEE Boris	LOTTO SOUDAL (LTS)	2
131	-	ROSA Diego	ASTANA PRO TEAM (AST)	1
132	116	ROGERS Michael	TINKOFF - SAXO (TCS)	1
133	99	BOUET Maxime	ETIXX - QUICK STEP (EQS)	1
134	-	CHAVES Jhoan Esteban	ORICA GREENEDGE (OGE)	1
135	108	NOCENTINI Rinaldo	AG2R LA MONDIALE (ALM)	1
136	-	HERRADA LOPEZ Jesus	MOVISTAR TEAM (MOV)	1
137	102	BELKOV Maxim	TEAM KATUSHA (KAT)	1
138	109	REZA Kévin	FDJ (FDJ)	1
139	114	RICHEZE Maximiliano Ariel	LAMPRE - MERIDA (LAM)	1
140	106	MEERSMAN Gianni	ETIXX - QUICK STEP (EQS)	1
141	98	CASTROVIEJO Jonathan	MOVISTAR TEAM (MOV)	1
142	100	TAARAMAE Rein	ASTANA PRO TEAM (AST)	1
143	101	HAAS Nathan	TEAM CANNONDALE - GARMIN (TCG)	1
144	103	VAN DER SANDE Tosh	LOTTO SOUDAL (LTS)	1
145	104	BRANDLE Matthias	IAM CYCLING (IAM)	1
146	110	POZZATO Filippo	LAMPRE - MERIDA (LAM)	1
147	112	BRUTT Pavel	TINKOFF - SAXO (TCS)	1
148	113	NIELSEN Magnus Cort	ORICA GREENEDGE (OGE)	1
149	117	SOLER Marc	MOVISTAR TEAM (MOV)	1
150	118	DUMOULIN Samuel	AG2R LA MONDIALE (ALM)	1

Team Rankings:

Rank	Prev.	Team (Code)	Points
1	1	ETIXX - QUICK STEP (EQS)	861
2	2	TEAM KATUSHA (KAT)	844
3	3	TEAM SKY (SKY)	758
4	4	MOVISTAR TEAM (MOV)	743
5	10	ASTANA PRO TEAM (AST)	553
6	7	TINKOFF - SAXO (TCS)	550
7	5	BMC RACING TEAM (BMC)	463
8	6	ORICA GREENEDGE (OGE)	394
9	8	LAMPRE - MERIDA (LAM)	354
10	9	TEAM GIANT - ALPECIN (TGA)	314
11	12	LOTTO SOUDAL (LTS)	260
12	11	AG2R LA MONDIALE (ALM)	245
13	14	FDJ (FDJ)	179
14	13	TREK FACTORY RACING (TFR)	165
15	16	TEAM LOTTO NL - JUMBO (TLJ)	158
16	17	CANNONDALE - GARMIN (TCG)	135
17	15	IAM CYCLING (IAM)	99

Country Rankings:

Rank	Prev.	Country	Points
1	1	SPAIN	1096
2	2	AUSTRALIA	660
3	3	COLOMBIA	583
4	6	ITALY	553
5	5	NETHERLANDS	479
6	4	FRANCE	473
7	7	GREAT BRITAIN	376
8	8	BELGIUM	376
9	9	GERMANY	278
10	12	CZECH REPUBLIC	276
11	10	NORWAY	237
12	11	POLAND	228
13	17	RUSSIA	197
14	13	PORTUGAL	196
15	15	SLOVENIA	185
16	14	SWITZERLAND	169
17	16	SLOVAKIA	136
18	-	CANADA	96
19	-	COSTA RICA	91
20	18	DENMARK	75
21	19	SOUTH AFRICA	39
22	24	ESTONIA	25
23	23	BELARUS	18
24	20	NEW ZEALAND	14
25	21	UNITED STATES	9
26	22	IRELAND	7
27	26	ARGENTINA	1
28	25	AUSTRIA	1

MTN-Qhubeka announces Tour de France Team

MTN-Qhubeka made the following announcement:

MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung are set to make history when they become the first African registered cycling team to participate in the Tour de France this year. To be on the start line of Le Tour is a huge step forward for our team and a massive milestone for African cycling. The opportunity comes with great responsibility and MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung will take to the Grand Depart with clear objectives and a strong team. 7 African riders and 4 internationals make the MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung Tour de France squad.

Here is the long list of nine riders from which seven will be selected to ride the Tour:

• Edvald Boasson Hagen
  
• Natnael Berhane
• Steve Cummings
• Tyler Farrar
• Jacques Janse van Rensburg
• Reinart Janse van Rensburg
• Merhawi Kudus
• Louis Meintjes
• Serge Pauwels
• Youcef Reguigui
• Daniel Teklehaimanot

LottoNL-Jumbo also preparing for Tour de France

This news came from the Dutch Team:

Team LottoNL-Jumbo Sports Director Merijn Zeeman intends to get in the mix with his riders daily in the Critérium du Dauphiné, from June 7 to 14. Wilco Kelderman wants to prepare as well as possible for the Tour de France, which starts July 4 in Utrecht.

The 24-year-old Dutchman went on a three-week altitude training camp in Sierra Nevada, Spain. Last year, he finished fourth overall after having completed the Giro d’Itaila. This season he’ll ride the Dauphiné in the run-up to the Tour.

“Last year, the race was a like a desert for me, this time it’s about preparation,” Kelderman said. “That’s different of course. I don’t know how my shape is exactly, although I have been able to train properly in Spain.

“I’m aiming for a good result, but the most important thing is to end the race with a nice feeling. After the final stage, I still have three weeks before the start of the Tour. That is quite long.”

After the Dauphiné, he will remain in the Alps to train.

Wilco Kelderman at the 2014 Vuelta a Espana

Merijn Zeeman: “We’re not completely focused on Wilco,” Zeeman explained. He will travel to France early this week to recon some Tour stages.

“Everyone is allowed to ride for his own chances. Martijn Keizer has a Giro in his legs and George Bennett should be able to perform on this course. The others are in shape, as well. We head into the race with ambitions to achieve a result every day. For that, we need to be aggressive.”

The 24.5-kilometre team time trial on day three needs extra attention. The team wants to improve itself “as there’s one in the Tour de France, as well,” Zeeman continued. “It is an important part of the race.

“Mathieu Heijboer is our TT specialist and he will be present in the Dauphiné to make sure the preparation runs as smoothly as possible. This week we have TTT training scheduled in Holland as well.”

Team line-up: George Bennett, Brian Bulgac, Jos van Emden, Martijn Keizer, Wilco
Kelderman, Bram Tankink, Dennis van Winden & Maarten Wynants.

Sports Directors: Erik Dekker, Merijn Zeeman & Mathieu Heijboer.

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