I can no longr entertain any hopes that the other teams will suddenly start doing so poorly that Israel simply kind of floats on top. The game seems to be over for Israel – Premier Tech. Had the motive for spending all that money been to ensure that the team will earn a promotion, it would’ve been a fairly gigantic fail, but unless I’m mistaken it was not the team’s objecive, at least not this year? I’m inclined to think that Total Energies has gotten its money’s worth back from hiring Sagan et co. Lotto-Dstny will be here, there and everywhere and especially in the three GTs next year – and I have no doubt that they will be back at WT-level in 2026 (and if not, one of the teams with a GT invite and a welcome into all the spring classics).Īlthough I must say that at this point that it looks like the competiton will certainly not be any less tough, what with B&B Hotels and Uno-X being both seriously willing and budgetwise able to aim for a spot at the highest level. DSM are only 500 points clear of EF, Arkéa 700.īut their relief so far for any teams feeling the heat and worried about falling to 19th place is that neither Lotto-Soudal and Israel are closing in, Israel are a thousand points adrift of Movistar, Lotto-Soudal 763. DSM and promotion candidates Arkéa-Samsic ought to be bothered too. Management of these teams will all be a tense as a drive-side spoke. We now have four teams sitting above the red line with just 180 points between them, it’s very tight to the point where one result here or there, or, say, a puncture, will move a team up or down. 18th is still safe so it’s not disastrous, plus if Movistar are 18th it’s only because they’re 68 points behind 17th place. While the team was rightly jubilant at Annemiek van Vleuten’s win atop the Markstein and the Planche des Belles Filles, a search party was being sent to look for their men in the Clasica San Sebastian, practically the team’s home classic but they had only two finishers with Antonio Pedrero best in 19th they fared better the next day in the Circuito de Getxo with Aranburu and Valverde in the top-10. Movistar slip to 18th place in a contest where, everything else being equal, 19th or below means relegation. Thanks to another bumper week from Simon Yates, BikeExchange move up from 18th to 17th. Grand tour invites for 2023 would go to Lotto-Soudal and TotalEnergies.An odd week for the low scorers with negative ratings, Groupama-FDJ on -29, B&B on -20 and Arkéa-Samsic on -17, presumably more UCI fines than results.Trek-Segafredo were the top scorers with 545 points, Quick-Step got 433, Intermarché 309 and BikeExchange 287.No change: Alpecin-Deceuninck and Arkea-Samsic are set for promotion, Lotto-Soudal and Israel-PremierTech for relegation.There’s a close four-way battle to avoid 18th place but four teams involved here have a buffer on Lotto-Soudal and Israel-PremierTech who are struggling to score. BikeExchange-Jayco have had a good week and climb from 18th to 17th, with Movistar slipping to 18th having begun the season in 15th.
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