2020 was an unprecedented year in sports due to the coronavirus, but the resolve to surpass and succeed prevailed, and one of the best years ever played out before our eyes. As the new season kicks off, bet-dc.com has you in on all the latest in Cy King and the early numbers for the National Road Championships that will run from December to January 2021.
MEN
Tadej Pogacar had to participate in la Vuelta and a few good performances would have been enough to keep him atop the rankings, but it would be the Czech, Proz Roglic to nip the top spot after a fine showing at the Spanish race. A stage win at the Tour de France, which Pogacar won, a superb victory at Liège-Bastoña-Liège, coupled with some excellent stage wins at la Vuelta earned him a mouthful 4,237 points, enough to push him above the Slovenian in the final rankings. Pogacar was champion at the Tour de France, but missing out on La Vuelta was his biggest loss, finishing the season with 3,055 points. Both men were solid throughout the season, with Roglic showing more endurance to edge it out, but this is just the tip of the iceberg for what will be an exciting 2021. The third place of the Men’s rankings went to Wout van Aert, the Jumbo-Visma rider, who raked in 2,700 points. One Criterium de Dauphiné win, coupled with two stages at the Tour de France, and finishing second at the World Road Championships and the Tour des Flandres, were big points for him. He also won the Strade Bianche and Milan-Sanremo.
In the team’s classification, Jumbo-Visma much like Roglic, overtook Deucennick Quickstep in the rankings, finishing with 9919 points, denying them a third consecutive world title. Closing out the burger was the UAE Team Emirates with 8503 points, way off the 9776,16 total of the second-placed Deucennick Quickstep. France was the country to top it all in the country classification, with Slovenia sandwiched in between them and Belgium.
WOMEN
Anna van der Breggen was simply on a class of her own in the women’s elite, claiming the Dutch National Road Championship and the Individual Road Time Trial Championship, before going on to claim victory at the LA Flèche Wallone in September. She ended the season with 2560,67 points but was closely pegged by Trek-Segafredo’s Italian, Elisa Longo Borghini, with a 2,532,33 point haul to finish a close second. Coming in third place was former world champion, Annemiek van Vleuten with 2226 points after victories at Strade Bianche, and the European Road Race championships.
The Netherlands (8314,6 points) were ahead of the competition this season, taking the country rankings ahead of Italy (4588, 33 points) and Germany (3806,66 points). The team rankings went the way of Longo Borghini, as Trek-Segafredo (6931,98 points) edged out van der Breggen’s Boels Dolmans Cycling Team (5385, 35 points). The podium was rounded by the Mitchelton-Scott (4775 points) team.
