The biggest stupidity since cycling was invented is to have decided this season that two World Tour teams or the first division would lose the category at the end of the year; a sentence that will not only force them next year to attend the main races, especially the Tour, by invitation, if they get it, but it can make them lose important runners and even the departure of the sponsor. A drama that is giving rise to circus situations even in the Vuelta that now concerns us.
Until this year, scoring points, and here comes the nonsense, was a secondary issue beyond the illusion of finishing the cycling course in first position and so that the board of directors of the firm that put the money in the winning team could boast that they had opted for the best cycling squad in the world.
laughing lineups
This Vuelta has seen teams that have presented a laughing lineuplike the Lotto, which has preferred to take its knights of honor to other races, completely unknown, because deep down it gave them more points than they could get with a stage victory in the Spanish round.
Many riders have withdrawn from the Vuelta, some of them talented stage hunters, under the excuse that they were infected by covid. It will never be known, without a PCR to confirm the infection, if it has been took advantage of the picaresque so that later that cyclist would sign up for a race, practically singles against married couples, but which gave more points, for example, than those obtained by Remco Evenepoel, leader of the Spanish round, by winning the time trial in Alicante.
The Movistar, threatened
And there could even be a situation where a team, like Movistar, seriously threatened by declinewin the Vuelta or place its leader, Enric Mas, on the podium in Madrid, but then the points won are of no use when there are still fifty races left, many of them completely anonymous, which together add up to more than the Lap, even that the Tour.
The example was seen last Sunday in the Maryland Cycling Classic, as classic as it was the first time it was played. The organizers had to rub their eyes several times when they saw the registration of runners and even the teams that had applied to run the race, with the consequent expense of traveling to the United States and, of course, taking their runners in privileged class on the plane. so that they could stretch their legs and not arrive at the test exhausted. Sep Vanmarcke He gave victory to Israel. But it was more than just a victory since the now willing team Chris Froomewho seemed condemned to the stake and without remedy, came to life and the hope of salvation thanks to the success achieved in the United States.
A shot at the foot of the ICU
But the worst, the worst of the worst, is that her own International Cycling Union (UCI), creator of the invention, has shot himself in the foot because the apple of his eye, or the boy who could be presumed handsome and chubby to his friends; namely, the world Cup, which also gives points and many, it can become a race of singles against married. Why? Well, because the main grace of the event is that it is run by national teams, where the cyclists forget about the team that pays them and work for the leader, although the rest of the year, regardless of nationality, they are a rival… until now.
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Because now the teams have said that not to mention the toupeeHow are their riders going to work, summoned by a rival who, thanks to their effort, still achieves enough points to save their own and condemn the squad of those who have been the gregarious in the world championship. Some coaches, like the Spanish, with a revolt of refusals, do not even have cyclists to compete in the test. And he is not the only one.
The start of the season mistake
The situation does not hide that some groups, like Movistar, have planned the season badly, by doing what they always do, taking the best to the most famous races, when others bet on almost neighborhood tests that gave many more points. The system was possibly created in good faith so that the poor had as many opportunities as the rich. That is why, now, they are up to their necks in water. But it is totally unfair that a one-day race in February, when many cyclists have hardly even shaved their legs, awards more points than Jonas Vingegaard won by winning at the top of the Granon, in the Tour; without a doubt, the best stage of 2022.