*All rankings courtesy of ProCyclingStats.com
The UCI official world ranking is based on a complex points formula on a rolling 12-month schedule. ProCyclingStats.com uses a slightly different formula, but the rankings usually end up being pretty similar. With no more racing to be done, it is time to examine the top 100 riders of 2023 and pick out some surprises.
Matthieu van der Poel is only ranked 11th PCS/7th UCI despite winning two Monuments and the World Championship, and finishing second in a third Monument. He almost won the Velo d’Or, despite winning only six races on the season. In fact, if the UCI had not modified the Monument points scale to elevated them near Grand Tour status, MVDP would have finished even lower on the final UCI ranking. He did not have a prolific year, but he won most of the big races he targeted.
Joao Almeida finished 13th PCS/10th UCI despite winning only two races the entire year. He is a consistent GC rider, but for years people have expected him to step up and win a Grand Tour. I have always felt he was overrated. If he does manage to poach a weak Giro, next year would be the time. He will probably find himself being a domestique if he does not show the potential for victory soon, because UAE is accruing more and more big riders.
Mikel Landa tied his best career in the ranking with 18th PCS/19th UCI without a single victory. Another consistent GC rider, he surprised me with a podium finish in Fleche Wallonne this year. Landa is widely written off at this point (he turns 34 today) and will probably ride primarily as a domestique for Remco Evenepoel at his new team, Soudal-Quick Step. But he is still capable of some pretty massive performances.
March Hirschi farmed his way to 9th PCS/12th UCI despite not being close to his level of the fall of 2020, when he was just 22 years old. When I say he farmed, I mean he picked off a ton of lower-level races as part of UAE-Team Emirates’ successful strategy to win the UCI Team Ranking. Hirschi did not even start a Grand Tour this season. Hopefully he can return to his best and be a factor in the hilly classics again next year.
Victory Lafay, despite being the third-strongest rider in the first few stages of the Tour de France, found himself relegated to 123rd PCS/95th UCI. He is as talented as any puncheur in the peloton, but I do not think he is very committed to training year-round. He made himself millions of Euros with that Stage 2 victory in the Tour (he’s transferring to AG2R-Decathlon for next year). I am not too optimistic they will get the most out of him.
Julian Alaphilippe is ranked 96th PCS/88th UCI, which is a far cry from what Quick Step will have been looking for from a man on millions of Euros annually and a two-time world champion. 96th, ironically, is his all-time PCS ranking. His last two seasons have been truly awful. Again, I am not optimistic that he will ever get back to a good level, let alone his peak.
Have you ever heard of Florian Vermeersch? I have, but I am a cycling degenerate. He finished 37th PCS/44th UCI without a single victory, and he never competes for GC. He was fairly uncompetitive in most of his races, yet he finished ahead of such beasts as Michael Woods, Ion Izagirre, and Jonathan Milan. I believe Vermeersch can win Paris-Roubaix one day, though that is hardly a hot take since he finished second in the epic mud edition in 2021 and he is still just 24 years old.
One other thing that should be noted is the insane chasm between the best of the best of the best, super-elites, and the also-rans in the top 100. Tadej Pogacar won the ranking for the third year running, this time with 7686 points. Second went to Jonas Vingegaard with 6304. By the time fifth (Wout van Aert) comes around, the total drops to 4762. Almeida in 10th snagged 3110. In 2oth, Matej Mohoric had 2230. So Pogacar more than doubled 10th, and more than tripled 20th. By the time we drop to 60th, the riders are barely scoring 1000, which Jonas well outdid with his GC at the Tour alone. So you can see how the top riders are greedily gobbling up a huge majority of the points in most races, and how a single big victory, or maybe even a podium, like a Monument or Grand Tour can make a break a season, sometimes even a career, for a guy ranked between 50 and 100. And most of these guys are already unfathomably good.
I would like to write a more in-depth piece on the inequality of point-scoring in the World Tour. I’ll pitch that one to PCS.
That’s all for the random takes on the PCS/UCI ranking in 2023.
I’m working on trying to get an interview with a rider or team staff member for this blog and pitching that to some other sites.
Thanks for reading.
Jamie
Puncheur 
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