It’s the last day of the first racing month of the 2023 season, and the latest UCI rankings have just been published, with Intermarché-Circus-Wanty the top men’s team in what they’re hailing as a historic moment.
FDJ-Suez are the top women’s team after a storming start in Australia, although the women’s season has yet to hit Europe and yet to truly get going.
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) are the top-ranked riders, despite not racing so far this year. That’s because the individual World Ranking is based on a 12-month rolling points system.
On top of that, Amanda Spratt tops the Women’s WorldTour ranking, a separate season-only ranking for WorldTour races, giving the Australian the purple series leader’s jersey.
It’s still early in the season and many of the top riders – even some of the top teams on the women’s side – have yet to start racing. However, the early action at the likes of the Tour Down Under and Challenge Mallorca have set the tone and introduced some sense of narrative.
In that respect, Intermarché-Circus-Wanty are still on the rise after punching far above their weight in 2022. The Belgian team looked like they didn’t belong when they ascended to the WorldTour with CCC’s old licence in 2021, but now look like one of the best-run teams in cycling, mixing Biniam Girmay‘s star quality with contributions from others across the board.
So far in 2023, they have already amassed 1330 points, with three wins on the board already. Kobe Goosens struck twice in Mallorca, with new signing Rui Costa making it three from five on the Spanish island, while Girmay was on the podium in the other two. Meanwhile, in Australia, Hugo Page was second in the Cadel Evans race after some stage top 10’s at Tour Down Under, where Sven Erik Bystrøm was seventh overall.
“This 31st of January 2023 is a very special moment for our project! For the first time in its history, our team is in the lead of the UCI World Ranking. It is an extraordinary achievement which we never thought would be possible,” said CEO Jean-François Bourlart.
“I’m thinking of all people involved since the launch of the amateur club VC Ath since 1974 to reach this remarkable milestone today. It is a fantastic reward for the team of 105 devoted people, both riders and staff, working day and night. We are incredibly proud of this achievement, even though this position is only provisional. We stay humble and continue to work hard for the future of our…
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