We're quickly heading towards the end of the pro cycling season and with the World Championships starting in Copenhagen, Denmark I thought it would be interesting to look at a couple of the rankings systems for pro cyclists. FIrst up is the UCI WorldTour Rankings:-
and now we have the IG Markets Pro Cycling Index:-
As you can see, the top 15 places are almost identical in terms of both riders and their position. The UCI rankings system relies very much on the placings riders achieve in races, with the quantity of points awarded for each placing differing depending on the quality of the race. Riders pick up points for finishing in the top 20 in Grand Tours and the Top 10 in other races while a Top 5 stage finish in stage races also sees riders increasing their points tally.
The main criticism of the the UCI rankings system is that the value of stage placings and stage wins is too high compared to the points on offer for an overall win. There is also some debate about the points attached to comparable races, for example, the Tour de Suisse, a very difficult pre-Tour warm-up race attracts the same points as the Eneco Tour. Seasoned observers would suggest that the Tour de Suisse should attract higher points while the counter-argument is that the UCI are ensuring that the climbers do not dominate the rankings system.
Turning to the IG Markets Pro Cycling Index, the points system isn't so radically different from the UCI's, for example, a Grand Tour Stage win is still worth 1/10th of Overall victory. The main difference with the index is that it is a rolling 12 month calculation (the UCI start with a clean slate every season) and there are bonuses to be gained for riders who win 'Queen Stages' and multiple specific races as chosen by a panel of experts. The issue here is that the best riders do not necessarily concern themselves with winning so-called 'Queen stages' and taking a look at the IG Index FAQ's I noted that there were four 'Queen Stages' in this year's Tour de France.
What the two rankings systems do show is that it can be a very subjective business in trying to rank riders in a sport where there are such differing specialities such as climbing, sprinting, one day riders, Grand Tour contenders.
How about you join us down the pub later to discuss who we think is the best rider over a pint of beer?