The column: Wildcard winners and pointless points

The column: Wildcard winners and pointless points

Winning races is secondary to point scoring for teams qualifying for major races. The system is broken


Last week’s column considered the Tour de France wildcard selections, all of them French, and concluded they were all there on merit. 


Had Cofidis not made the step to GrandTour status, obviously we could have thrown some mud in their direction, the team’s last Tour stage win coming in 1976 [It was actually 2008, stop exaggerating – Ed] but there were no arguments regarding Total Direct Energie, B&B Hotels-Vital Concept or Arkea Samsic. 


In fact, due to the UCI’s new ruling for 2020 that the top-ranked pro continental team would gain automatic admission to the Tour, Christian Prudhomme and his cohorts actually only had two invites to issue. Direct Energie topped the table. Had it not been a French squad, he’d have been spitting feathers, manning the barricades and calling for someone’s head to roll in Aigle, no doubt.


The same ruling applied to the Giro d’Italia too, but both Direct Energie and second-ranked pro conti team Circus-Wanty Gobert turned down the chance to race, citing limited team rosters and stretched resources. A much-relieved Mauro Vegni was therefore able to offer three spots to the usual Italian suspects – a happy outcome all round. 


But here’s where it gets interesting. Total Direct Energie boss Jean-René Bernaudeau, for whom the expression ‘old school’ was coined, told L’Equipe that, despite gaining access to WorldTour races this season via the new rules and by dint of his riders’ results, he was no fan of the system.


“I had banned the words ‘top 10’ and ‘UCI points’ from my dictionary, because the race became a game of numbers and boring,” said Bernaudeau, “but I had to use them again now.”

bernaudeau (jean rene)
Bernaudeau, not amused


Despite his misgivings, Jean-René will be aiming for that top spot again this year, scooping up points at Coupe de France races, not because he lacks ambition, but because them’s the rules. Why slog round Italy for three weeks for no gain when you are better rewarded by finishing fifth at Tro-Bro Léon just up the road? 


There seems to be a twisted dynamic here. Placings count. Points equal success. Winning is not everything after all.


A similar qualifying system operates in the UK too, where domestic teams race from April to August garnering points to secure a slot at the Tour of Britain – far and away their biggest race of the season. 


Recently-retired Adam Blythe, who has won some races in his time, is far from retiring on the subject on our latest podcast: “British racing is knackered. You don’t have racing anymore, you have teams working to get people in the top ten. That’s not bike racing.”

 

Adam Blythe podcast
“British racing is knackered.” All right, Adam, calm down


Indeed. If your squad does not take to the start line with the express goal of getting one rider across the line with their arms in the air, then that is a sad state of affairs. Nobody remembers who finished eighth – nobody except the UCI stats bods, anyway. 


Race organisers should be free to issue wildcard invites to whoever they see fit, for whatever reason. Got a world-class star in your line-up who could set the race alight? (We’re looking at you, Mathieu and Alpecin-Fenix). Get them in! Or a history of discovering unpolished gems who turn out to be diamonds? (Gianni Savio at Androni with Egan Bernal springs to mind). A shoo-in! They shouldn’t have to rely on others turning down the Giro. They are the Giro.

 

Fausto Masnada
Fausto Masnada, stage 6 winner at the 2019 Giro – another Gianni “Swiss Toni” Savio gem


Now we have the Colorado Classic, the biggest women’s stage race in the US, announcing that the top-ranked domestic team come June will be given a slot in the four-day tour. 


Placings is the name of the game. Points on the board. Will it change the way the American women race? Probably. 


Is it a good thing? Absolutely not.

The post The column: Wildcard winners and pointless points appeared first on The world's finest cycling magazine.


READ MORE

Jonas Vingegaard

‘I’ve never done such a hard stage’ - Is this the endgame for Visma-Lease a Bike?

The Dutch team failed to take time on race leader Tadej Pogačar again despite their best efforts across the brutally hard climbs on stage 18

Read more
Red Bull, Oscar Onley and the Tour de France's complicated fight for the podium

Red Bull, Oscar Onley and the Tour de France's complicated fight for the podium

Oscar Onley put 1:39 into Florian Lipowitz on the Col de la Loze

Read more
Brutal honesty, perfectionism and hard work: Ben O’Connor’s recipe for Tour success

Brutal honesty, perfectionism and hard work: Ben O’Connor’s recipe for Tour success

Rouleur speaks to Jayco-Alula sports director, Mat Hayman, about the Australian rider’s perfect day on stage 18 of the Tour de France

Read more
Tour de France 2025 stage 19 preview: Final high mountain test

Tour de France 2025 stage 19 preview: Final high mountain test

The last Alpine day features five categorised climbs and finishes above 2,000m at La Plagne

Read more
Tadej Pogačar

Tour de France 2025 standings: the results after stage 18

The latest results and standings from the Tour de France 2025

Read more
Kasia Niewiadoma and Demi Vollering

'Demi Vollering and Kasia Niewiadoma will be a step above the rest at the Tour de France Femmes'

Fabiana Luperini, winner of the Giro–Tour double for three consecutive years (1995, 1996, and 1997), talks about what it meant to race the Tour in...

Read more

READ RIDE REPEAT

JOIN ROULEUR TODAY

Get closer to the sport than ever before.

Enjoy a digital subscription to Rouleur for just £4 per month and get access to our award-winning magazines.

SUBSCRIBE