Ten points - one-zero
March 9th, 2008 Posted in Connie
So when the points from Nationals (last October) finally went up last week for the UCI World rankings, T was given ten points. I thought it was a typo. 10, instead of 100. Even USAC President Jim Ochowicz wrote me - don’t worry, he assured me, it’s a typo. They’ll get it straight. I wasn’t so sure so I dug up the rulebook online and delved even deeper to find – after perusing the Worlds results from 2007 – that in fact TEN points was all he would receive. One-zero. Closer to zero than one hundred that’s for sure.
Because no US pursuiter rode in ’07 at the Worlds, we had no one in the top 16. On that basis, the UCI awards the lowest possible number of points to the national champions. Ten points. One zero.
Call me new to the game, but the rule in my mind is best described as absurd. Why penalize the riders from developing track nations. If they are not worthy of more points, they won’t earn them in international competition. But a rider who is scoring points in every world cup…and yes sprang from the literal ‘nowhere’ – should not lose points against his peers over the failure of those who came before him. Spot everyone one hundred points for winning their own Nationals, why not?
What did you think? Right from the start when ‘we’ embarked on this adventure, I was told that T had already earned 100 points for winning Nationals. Those one hundred, one zero zero - have been part of my calculations since October. But not even USAC can keep up with the trivial details that comprise the UCI points system. Those missing 90 points represent well over 10 percent of the total, it could be significant. Let’s hope not. Here’s the top 6 as of today - 9th of March. Tied for 3rd, with Diudia….the Ukraine who edged T for the win in the overall World Cup - on a tie breaker. TOp 5 go to Beijing. Lots of points up for grabs at worlds. Stay tuned.
- 1 THUAUX Phillip AUS 29 675
- 2 ESCOBAR ROURE Sergi ESP 34 640
- 3 DIUDIA Volodymyr UKR 25 630
- 3 PHINNEY Taylor USA 18 630
- 5 HUIZENGA Jenning NED 24 610
- 6 SEROV Alexander RUS 26 540
rank/name/country/age and ….points
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