With Canada’s Michael Woods leading, Optum Pro Cycling ends 2015 atop UCI America Tour ranks

For Optum Pro Cycling presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies, 2015 ended on a particularly high note, with the team topping the ranks of the UCI America Tour.

The squad adds that distinction to having already ended the season as America’s number one continental men’s program.

Coming out on top of the UCI America Tour was the result of a steady string of powerful performances, having taken several prestigious stage wins, appeared in many top-10 standings, and at several UCI races, having been counted in the top of general classification. Even after missing events in South and Central America, Optum’s commanding success at North American races—adding up to a towering lead with 494 points—was more than enough to propel the squad to UCI America Tour victory.

Such a distinction, team officials said, comes as an honour to the whole squad—both those in the saddle and behind the scenes.

“This is a great end of the year bonus for our team,” said Jonas Carney, Optum’s performance director, “and we are proud to be the number one team in the western hemisphere for 2015. The UCI America Tour wasn’t really an objective entering the season, because we had no intention of chasing points in Central America, South America or the Caribbean. Winning the overall without racing south of the border didn’t seem like an achievable goal, but somehow the guys pulled it off.”

“It really highlights how strong our team is and validates our 2015 season.”

If there’s any one rider to whom the men’s team owes a lot of 2015’s success, of course, it’s Canada’s Michael Woods, whose series of head-turning finishes sealed victory for the squad at races throughout the season. His ride at the Tour of Utah, notably, was a hugely decisive performance in terms of the team’s overall fortunes, with a stage five victory and a second-overall GC finish racking up 124 points. Second place in Philadelphia followed, with other consistently strong rides at the Tour of Alberta and the USA Pro Challenge. For Woods, the Canadian rider’s individual performance earned him a third-place finish in individual UCI America Tour rankings.

Later this month, as Canadian Cycling Magazine reported, Woods’s first ride of 2016—now in the colours of Cannondale Pro Cycling—will take him to Australia for the 2016 Tour Down Under.

For the women’s team, Canadian athletes also contributed to the squad’s 13th place standing. Leah Kirchmann led the women’s standings with 297 points, while Jasmine Glaesser scored 94 and Lex Albrecht 55.