Cunego is now #2

donhix1 said:

Cunego will be #2 after today. He got 21 points in a race in Japan last year and that race was held today (10/23) Since you keep you points for a year he will lose his 21 points and when the next rankings come out Bettini will be number #1.
Don't shed a tear for Cunego though, I think at 23 and due to the the fact he will be riding two grand tours next year he will probably see #1 again.

I hate to correct myself, but I just read this in cyclingnews.com:

Recent Giro di Lombardia winner and the current leader of the UCI ranking, Damiano Cunego (Saeco), will ride the Japan Cup on Sunday. The race is classified as 1.3 and the winner will get 60 UCI points. Cunego was 6th last year, therefore he will lose 21 points after the race. As Cunego currently has 2245.4 UCI points while Paolo Bettini, who is placed second on the UCI rankings, has 2239 points, Cunego must place in the top eight in order to keep his number one ranking.

So It must be pretty important for Cunego to be #1 at the end of the year.

Ehh..that rankings aren`t so important so it won`t be a tragedy if he will be second..

Virenque said:

Ehh..that rankings aren`t so important so it won`t be a tragedy if he will be second..

Cunego got second in the Japan Cup so he saved his number one ranking. I think it was important enough for him to go half way around the world for a 1.3 race. I think that last year when he was 227th it was part of his learning experience, now that his the Giro champion he wouldn't have gone if his #1 ranking wasn't in jeopardy.

I don't blame him, it is pretty cool to be #1 especially at the end of the year.

I think that`s decision of his superiors! But may be you`re true! He is now a star and he could say no to his superiors in that case!

Superiors? There is no one superior to Cunego in bike racing, he went to Japan to keep it that way.

I found that word in dictionary, I ment his chefs, sponsors, ...

I was trying to make a pun as superior can mean better, I think. Hey I'm just a guy with a computer and a phone line. You're right, the team probably told him the plan and he agreed as you pointed out. I think it was worth it. If he had finished further back and dropped most of the points anyway, it would have been a mistake, but it turns out that they made a good call and he remains superior in the uci points standings.

qdc15 said:

I was trying to make a pun as superior can mean better, I think. Hey I'm just a guy with a computer and a phone line. You're right, the team probably told him the plan and he agreed as you pointed out. I think it was worth it. If he had finished further back and dropped most of the points anyway, it would have been a mistake, but it turns out that they made a good call and he remains superior in the uci points standings.

That travelling must take something out of these riders. They all have to do it, to a certain extent.