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The UCI WorldTour teams Canadians will be cheering for the loudest in 2018

EF Education First-Drapac leads the way amoung the teams the most Canadians say they will support in 2018

EF Education First
January 15, 2018
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With the Tour Down Under kicking off the 2018 UCI WorldTour season, the time was ripe to find out which teams Canadian Cycling Magazine readers will be cheering for. The results are in and while some teams Canadians support was expected, others were less so.

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EF Education First–Drapac is the men’s UCI WorldTour team the most Canadians says is their favourite according to our recent readers poll. With Canada’s Michael Woods who finished eighth at the 2017 Vuelta riding for the American team managed by Jonathan Vaughters, it’s no surprise the squad often pegged as the undogs draws support from Canadians.

Though they were the overwhelming winners, agreement was not unanimous with 22 per cent of respondents saying that EF Education First–Drapac was their favourite UCI WorldTour team. Following the American team were four that were neck-in-neck with Australia’s WorldTour team Mitchelton–Scott narrowly favoured with the support of 10 per cent of respondents.

The Australian team is the longtime home to 12-time Canadian champion (10 x road, 2 x ITT)  Svein Tuft who is also the oldest professional at the WorldTour level at 40-years-old. The team has promising general classification riders in Colombian Esteban Chaves, and British twins Simon and Adam Yates. Sprinter Caleb Ewan makes them potent in flat finishes. The team has an open and fun presence, in part thanks to the popular Youtube Backstage Pass series which concluded in 2017.

Peter Sagan’ Bora-Hansgrohe team, South African outfit Team Dimension Data and Tom Dumoulin’s Team Sunweb also drew strong support with about nine per cent respondents saying one of these teams was their favourite.

Sagan is the prominent superstar of the sport perhaps only rivaled by Chris Froome who’s facing an anti-doping trial. Sagan has won three consecutive world championship titles and livens up any race with his strong personality.

Dimension Data has a charitable cause behind the team in Quebeka and doesn’t show up to many races with overwhelming favourites unless Mark Cavendish is on flying form like he was in 2016. Louis Meintjes is the team general classification contender but a fairly low profile personality.

Sunweb were the sweethearts of 2017 with a heartwarming rise to prominence kicked off by Dumoulin’s Giro win and drawn across the season to the Tour de France and world championships. Dumoulin is a rising star but relatively humble and well spoken. Australian Michael Matthews is the teams primary sprint hopeful. Canadian Leah Kirchmann has been a valuable member of the women’s team.

Next were three of the strongest teams that show up to many WorldTour races with strong contenders to win. Movistar, Team Sky and Quick-Step Floors each received about six per cent of readers support. Movistar have the ageless Alejandro Valverde who has a shady past but continues to accumulate wins. Nairo Quintana is a grand tour winner who is still looking for his first Tour de France victory to confirm is status as one of the pelotons top grand tour riders.

Team Sky have delivered five Tour de France victories with Chris Froome currently an unstoppable force in grand tours. The team’s reputation is more unstable with Froome’s adverse analytical finding, the Wiggins jiffy-bag case and the Fancy Bears leaks all raising questions about the team’s ethical credibility.

Quickstep Floors no longer have the incredible popularity of Tom Boonen to lead the way but a strong stable of classics riders make them a threat especially in the spring. It doesn’t hurt they often lead the win count amoung WorldTour teams at the end of the season.

Hugo Houle’s Astana, Antoine Duchesne’s team FDJ, BMC Racing Team and Trek–Segafredo were next with about four per cent of respondents selection one of them as their favourite team. AG2R La Mondiale, Team Katusha–Alpecin, LottoNL–Jumbo, Lotto–Soudal were the next batch drawing between three and one per cent of the vote.

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Two teams received no votes. Alexandre Kristoff, Fabio Aru and Dan Martin’s UAE Team Emirates and Vincenzo Nibali’s team Bahrain-Merida.

If you still havent’t voted, weigh-in on which UCI men’s WorldTour team is your favourite.