Steady as she goes: An Post-Sean Kelly have made steady progress every year (Photo: http://www.at-evh.be/)
By Graham Healy
With just a handful of races left this season to score ranking points, the An Post – Sean Kelly team lie in a very impressive 13th place in the UCI European rankings. Saur-Sojasun lead the way from Acqua & Sapone, with most of the other top positions also being held by Pro Continental teams.
In fact, the An Post-Sean Kelly team are ranked fourth-best Continental team, with only Itera-Katusha, Endura Racing and Adria Mobil ahead of them. Amongst the Pro Continental teams with fewer points are Bretagne-Schuller, Farnese Vini and Landbouwkrediet.
Former Rás stage winner, John Degenkolb will finish at the top of the Europe Tour rankings with Gediminas Bagdonas being the best-placed An Post rider in 8th place, having taken numerous wins throughout the season.
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It’s an indication of the strength of the Lithuanian that he finished ahead of riders of the calibre of Thomas Voeckler and Jerome Coppel. Sam Bennett is the highest ranked of the Irish riders.
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| Rider | UCI Europe Tour Position | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Gediminas Bagdonas | 8 | 346 |
| Niko Eeckhout | 44 | 187 |
| Kenneth Van Bilsen | 87 | 125 |
| Roy Jans | 172 | 80 |
| Sam Bennett | 259 | 57 |
| Mark McNally | 476 | 28 |
| Niels Wytinck | 619 | 16 |
| Connor McConvey | 672 | 14 |
| Sean Downey | 688 | 13 |
| Joren Segers | 1101 | 3 |
| Mark Christian | 1108 | 3 |
Earlier this year An Post-Sean Kelly manager Kurt Bogaerts suggested the team would like to move up to Pro Continental level, and these latest rankings indicate they would be well able to compete at the higher level.
However, he does not feel that this will happen until 2014. The Irish-Belgian outfit have shown steady progression over the past couple of years, having finished in 21st position in the rankings at the end of last season, and 46th in 2010.
The biggest challenge they may face is holding on to some of their top riders. Last year Mark McNally and Gediminas Bagdonas almost went to Europcar and Geox respectively and there is likely to be interest in them again this time around as well as some of the younger riders on the team.
One rider believed to be coming into the squad is the Belgian Alphonse Vermote from the EFC-Omega Pharma-Quick Step team.
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