Woods, Optum and Canada well-positioned but idle in on-going UCI America Tour

With leaves piling up on the paths and streets, a pang of chill in the air and the WorldTour done and dusted, the road cycling season seems to be over. However, the UCI road calendar is still filled with events, and the America Tour, which began in January with the Tour de San Luis in Argentina, has yet to run its final four races in Central and South America.

However, this is when the North American teams climb off their bikes, and like the Leafs being able to make up divisional spots in the final fortnight of an NHL season due to games in hand, this is when Central and South American teams and riders can climb over their Northern brothers the UCI’s America Tour rankings.

For instance, Toms Skujinš, the Latvian dynamo who plies his trade for Hincapie Racing Team, leads the individual standings, having nabbed his last America Tour points by coming runner-up in September’s Reading 120. Only 9.2-points behind him is Ecuadorian Bayron Guama de la Cruz. At this point last season Jure Kocjan, American squad Team Smartstop’s Slovenian, led Costa Rican Juan Carlos Rojas Villegas by 37-points, but Rojas prevailed by Christmas.

Canadian Michael Woods of Optum, off to WorldTour Cannondale next season, is third and has a slightly larger buffer than Skujinš on the man right behind him, Daniel Diaz (Argentina/Funvic), who trails by 21-points. Diaz won the Tour de San Luis and is signed on with French Pro Continental squad Delko-Marseille Provence KTM for the next two years.

Optum presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies leads the team category and is poised to be the third team based in the United States in a row to win top honours. The squad is better positioned to keep its lead than Skujinš and Woods, as Brazilian outfit Funvic-Sao Jose Dos Campos, third over the last two seasons, is closest to Optum at 88-points behind. Similarly in 2014, no America Tour team was going to nab runaway leader Team Smartstop in the last three months of racing.

Silber Pro Cycling is the top Canadian Continental Team in the America Tour at 8th.

When it comes to the America Tour’s nations category, Canada is second to Colombia and will likely stay that way, with Argentina in third 87-points in arrears and the USA even further back. If Canada hangs on to the runner-up position, it will be its highest ever ranking in the America Tour. Canada was 6th last season.