Here’s the third and final installment in our statistical analysis of the best teams, riders, and countries of the Spring. Last week we covered teams and riders; here’s the breakdown by country:
1. Belgium 1353pts.
2. Italy 1096pts.
3. Spain 947pts.
4. Germany 759pts.
5. Norway 525pts.
6. Netherlands 497pts.
7. Luxembourg 410pts.
8. France 274pts.
9. Australia 270pts.
10. Great Britain 265pts.
11. Russia 236pts.
12. Sweden 128pts.
13. Belorussia 118pts.
14. USA 94pts.
15. Austria 84pts.
16. Czech 79pts.
17. Switzerland 65pts.
18. Kazakhstan 63pts.
19. Canada 56pts.
20. Denmark 30pts.
21. New Zealand 18pts.
22. Slovakia 15pts.
Observations:
1. Again, no surprises at the top of rankings. Belgium wins the title thanks to it’s over-abundance of one-day specialists. Spain’s stage racing abilities launched the nation to third in our ranking. Italy took second thanks to strong showings pretty much everywhere (with surprisingly few wins relative to its storied past). Can you believe Italy didn’t win a single monument this year? (Rebellin’s Fleche tops the nation’s palmares, but can we still count it?)
2. Interesting to see Norway up so high. Hushovd and Boassen Hagen should be proud.
3. AUSTRALIA wins the battle of English-speakers DESPITE Marky Mark’s win in San Remo. (Apologies to my Australian readers for the original oversight.)
4. Hard to imagine Norway, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands before France—but it’s true.
5. One final note as well from our individual rankings posted last week: what ever happened to Greg Van Avermaet? Here’s a six-word memoir that sums it up pretty well: “21 points. No podium. Big disappointment.â€
