Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Wednesday, November 3, 2021
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2021 Tour de France | 2021 Giro d'Italia
The test of good manners is to be able to put up pleasantly with bad ones.-Wendell Willkie
Upcoming racing:
- Nov 6: Elite Women European Cyclocross Championships
- Nov 7: Elite Men European Cyclocross Championships
Latest completed racing:
- Nov 1: Koppenberg Cyclocross
- Oct 31: Vlaamse Druivenveldrit Overijse Cross
- Oct 24: Ronde van Drenthe
- Oct 23: Ruddervoorde Cyclocross
- Oct 17: Chrono des Nations
- Oct 17: Veneto Classic
- Oct 16: Grand Prix du Morbihan
- Oct 13: Giro del Veneto
- Oct 11: Coppa Agostoni
- Oct 10: Paris-Tours
- Oct 9: Il Lombardia
Les Woodland's book Cycling Heroes: The Golden Years is available as an audiobook here.
UCI 2021 final rider & country rankings
These are the rankings as of November 2, 2021:
Riders (top 40):
Tadej Pogacar (shown after Tour de France stage 18) finished the year as the world's #1 rider. Sirotti photo
| Rank | Rider | Team | Points |
| 1 | POGAČAR Tadej | UAE TEAM EMIRATES | 5363 |
| 2 | VAN AERT Wout | JUMBO-VISMA | 4382 |
| 3 | ROGLIČ Primož | JUMBO-VISMA | 3924 |
| 4 | ALAPHILIPPE Julian | DECEUNINCK-QUICK-STEP | 3104.67 |
| 5 | BERNAL Egan Arley | INEOS GRENADIERS | 2576 |
| 6 | COLBRELLI Sonny | BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS | 2553 |
| 7 | VAN DER POEL Mathieu | ALPECIN-FENIX | 2461 |
| 8 | YATES Adam | INEOS GRENADIERS | 2251 |
| 9 | ALMEIDA João | DECEUNINCK-QUICK-STEP | 2219 |
| 10 | CARAPAZ Richard | INEOS GRENADIERS | 2018 |
| 11 | VALVERDE Alejandro | MOVISTAR TEAM | 1981 |
| 12 | MOHORIC Matej | BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS | 1897 |
| 13 | WOODS Michael | ISRAEL START-UP NATION | 1893 |
| 14 | EVENEPOEL Remco | DECEUNINCK-QUICK-STEP | 1799 |
| 15 | PHILIPSEN Jasper | ALPECIN-FENIX | 1777 |
| 16 | GAUDU David | GROUPAMA-FDJ | 1773 |
| 17 | STUYVEN Jasper | TREK-SEGAFREDO | 1771 |
| 18 | VINGEGAARD Jonas | JUMBO-VISMA | 1730 |
| 19 | MERLIER Tim | ALPECIN-FENIX | 1703 |
| 20 | MOLLEMA Bauke | TREK-SEGAFREDO | 1620.66 |
| 21 | NIZZOLO Giacomo | TEAM QHUBEKA NEXTHASH | 1607 |
| 22 | SCHACHMANN Maximilian | BORA-HANSGROHE | 1579 |
| 23 | ASGREEN Kasper | DECEUNINCK-QUICK-STEP | 1553 |
| 24 | TRENTIN Matteo | UAE TEAM EMIRATES | 1535 |
| 25 | MAS NICOLAU Enric | MOVISTAR TEAM | 1533 |
| 26 | KÜNG Stefan | GROUPAMA-FDJ | 1463 |
| 27 | HONORÉ Mikkel | DECEUNINCK-QUICK-STEP | 1419.27 |
| 28 | HAYTER Ethan | INEOS GRENADIERS | 1335.33 |
| 29 | PORTE Richie | INEOS GRENADIERS | 1303.33 |
| 30 | VAN POPPEL Danny | INTERMARCHÉ-WANTY-GOBERT | 1291 |
| 31 | SENECHAL Florian | DECEUNINCK-QUICK-STEP | 1288 |
| 32 | CAVENDISH Mark | DECEUNINCK-QUICK-STEP | 1280.27 |
| 33 | PIDCOCK Thomas | INEOS GRENADIERS | 1275 |
| 34 | THOMAS Geraint | INEOS GRENADIERS | 1268 |
| 35 | VLASOV Aleksandr | ASTANA-PREMIER TECH | 1241 |
| 36 | YATES Simon Philip | TEAM BIKEEXCHANGE | 1239 |
| 37 | CARUSO Damiano | BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS | 1238 |
| 38 | VAN BAARLE Dylan | INEOS GRENADIERS | 1235 |
| 39 | LUTSENKO Alexey | ASTANA-PREMIER TECH | 1230 |
| 40 | O'CONNOR Ben | AG2R CITROEN TEAM | 1227 |
Nations (Top 40):
| Rank | Nation | Points |
| 1 | BELGIUM | 14349.33 |
| 2 | SLOVENIA | 11993 |
| 3 | FRANCE | 11541.67 |
| 4 | ITALY | 10851 |
| 5 | GREAT BRITAIN | 9960.6 |
| 6 | NETHERLANDS | 9808.66 |
| 7 | SPAIN | 7979 |
| 8 | DENMARK | 7911.6 |
| 9 | AUSTRALIA | 7001.66 |
| 10 | COLOMBIA | 6796 |
| 11 | GERMANY | 5230.33 |
| 12 | SWITZERLAND | 4290 |
| 13 | NORWAY | 4017.66 |
| 14 | PORTUGAL | 3893 |
| 15 | ECUADOR | 3015 |
| 16 | UNITED STATES OF AMERICA | 2956 |
| 17 | CANADA | 2858 |
| 18 | POLAND | 2532 |
| 19 | RUSSIAN FEDERATION | 2350 |
| 20 | AUSTRIA | 2174 |
| 21 | SOUTH AFRICA | 1983.32 |
| 22 | IRELAND | 1855 |
| 23 | KAZAKHSTAN | 1818.71 |
| 24 | ERITREA | 1774 |
| 25 | CZECH REPUBLIC | 1659 |
| 26 | ESTONIA | 1652 |
| 27 | SLOVAKIA | 1524 |
| 28 | NEW ZEALAND | 1391.34 |
| 29 | UKRAINE | 1174 |
| 30 | LATVIA | 1058 |
| 31 | LUXEMBOURG | 924 |
| 32 | PANAMA | 878 |
| 33 | HUNGARY | 831 |
| 34 | ALGERIA | 815 |
| 35 | BELARUS | 764 |
| 36 | ROMANIA | 728 |
| 37 | SWEDEN | 725 |
| 38 | GREECE | 721 |
| 39 | LITHUANIA | 708 |
| 40 | JAPAN | 698 |
Hideto Nakane renews with EF Education-Nippo
The team sent me this release:
EF Education-NIPPO is proud to announce the renewal of Hideto Nakane. With 10 seasons of professional racing experience, the 31-year-old continues to grow each season and is looking ahead to 2022.
Hideto Nakane (right) wins stage six of the 2020 Tour de Langkawi
As a rider from Japan who has raced on five continents, is learning English, and loves to ride in Italy, Nakane appreciates the team’s international culture. “I wanted to renew my contract with the team because there are so many great riders and staff from so many countries,” he said. “It is a global team, which means I can learn so much here and that interests me.”
Looking back on 2021, Nakane said he has grown significantly in his first season racing in the WorldTour. “I’ve improved how I train, how I recover, how I race, and my English. This will all help for an even stronger 2022.” Indeed, he wrapped up this past season on a high note, reaching the podium in both the Japanese National Championship Road Race and Time Trial, his best ever result in the two disciplines.
“Hideto has been a wonderful presence on this team. He’s not only someone we love racing with, but he’s got a great sense of humor and adds a lot of fun to this group,” said team CEO Jonathan Vaughters. “Our team is truly global. It’s one of the things I enjoy most about our riders and staff, and having Nakane represent Japanese cycling is important; we want to see more Japanese riders in the WorldTour and help develop talent outside pro cycling’s traditional hotbeds.
Nakane has been an important member of our squad this season and helped teammate Hugh Carthy during the Vuelta a Burgos, in which Carthy won the final stage. “I was so happy for Hugh to win the final stage in Burgos and to have been part of it,” Nakane said. “That was my proudest moment of the season.”
For 2022, Nakane aims to carry on learning so that he can continue to support his teammates. “I am proud to race alongside such strong teammates and I want to work hard for them.”
Nakane has found a home with the team and sees a promising future. “I like how EF operates. I know I can continue to grow as a cyclist with this team, so that’s why I would like to work hard again with EF.”
U23 Vuelta a Colombia champion Jesús David Peña joins Team BikeExchange
The team sent me this announcement:
Young Colombian prospect Jesús David Peña will join Team BikeExchange for the next two seasons as a neo-pro, having shown his potential racing in Europe and at home in Colombia.
With second-place stage finishes at the prestigious Giro Ciclistico d’Italia and as a two-time winner of the Vuelta a Colombia U23 race, Peña has already displayed his talent at U23 level.
GreenEDGE Cycling has decided to invest in the 21-year-old, as the Australian outfit looks to continue developing young international talent, and with this, the squad is delighted to be able to deliver Peña with his first professional contract.
With a strong track record of talent coming out of Colombia, Team BikeExchange is eager to see what Peña can do given the right tools and environment to work in, with the team motivated to assist him in reaching his full potential as he makes the step-up into the WorldTour peloton in 2022.
Brent Copeland, General Manager on Peña:
“We have been presented with this exciting opportunity and after analyzing stats and data of Peña with our technical staff and having the opportunity to see some of his performances, we are happy to have him with us from next season.
He is still very young, but from what we could see up to now, we believe that with our guidance he can be a solid rider for the future. Knowing the high competition in Colombia, if you win the Under 23 Vuelta a Colombia, it means that you certainly have the talent, and we will give him our all in our effort to support his development.
Of course, he will need to adapt to his new life, but at GreenEDGE Cycling will give him all the tools needed to help him progress and there is no lack of experience in our team to offer this support. The first year will be important for him to get the right experience, to feel the atmosphere of being in a WorldTour team, learning as much as possible from all our experienced riders, but then from year two, we hope he can be a solid team player in various races.”
Jesús David Peña:
“I am so excited; I am going to join a WorldTour team which has always been my dream. Doing it with GreenEDGE Cycling, which I have always followed, it makes it even more special. When the opportunity was presented to me, I didn’t hesitate a second and I took it straight away.
Now, of course the hard part will begin, it won’t be easy to compete with the best cyclists in the world, but my motivation is extremely high and this for me is only a starting point. I will have to study, I will have to learn, I will have to focus on every single aspect to improve my performance.
It’s a life changing opportunity for me and I can’t wait to move to Europe and begin this new adventure. I want to thank GreenEDGE Cycling for giving me this opportunity and I’ll do all I can to pay them back for the trust they are putting in me.”
Jesús David Peña
Date of birth: 8th May 2000 (21)
Nationality: Colombian
Joins Team BikeExchange: 2022
New Contract: 2022 & 2023
Top Results:
1st 2021 & 2019 U23 Vuelta a Colombia
2nd 2021 Giro Ciclistico d’Italia stage 7
2nd 2019 Giro Ciclistico d’Italia stage 5
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