Sam Bennett may have been the best boy in the class this year but he was one of 15 Irish to score EuropeTour points, with Ryan Mullen and Sean Downey of An Post-Chainreaction next best. Bennett seen here on the podium at Rund um Köln in Germany in April.
While the world's best riders and teams compete in the WorldTour group of races each year, the second tier ProContinental and third tier Continental ranked squads ride secondary circuits, the biggest of which is the EuropeTour.
Riders are awarded points for placing in ranking events and as the season progresses a picture of the most consistent riders, trade teams and nations emerges.
This year some 15 Irish riders scored points, with Sam Bennett of NetApp-Endura by far the best of the Irish.
Advertisement
He came home in a very impressive 11th place in the EuropeTour final standings after his first season in the ProContinental ranks.
He was followed by the An Post-Chainreaction duo of Ryan Mullen and Sean Downey.
Ireland was the 20th nation of those 39 whose riders scored points on the circuit this year.
Related News
Bennett's squad was 9th in the trade team rankings, with An Post-Chainreaction in 41st place.
The Synergy Baku team managed by Irishman David McQuaid and featuring Matt Brammeier, Connor McConvey and Philip Lavery on the rider roster was 43rd while Martyn Irvine's Unitedhealthcare was 48th.
Rapha Condor JLT, with Irish riders Felix English and Jack Sadler, was 54th, with Madison Genesis in 67th, boasting Irish internationals Peter Hawkins and Dominic Jelfs on its riding staff.
If you click on the names of any of the Irish riders below, you can see the results that generated their points this year.
UCI EuropeTour, final rider standings 2014
| 1 (1) | Tom VAN ASBROECK | Belgium | 764 |
| 2 (2) | Sonny COLBRELLI | Italy | 708 |
| 3 (11) | Davide REBELLIN | Italy | 435 |
| 4 (3) | Magnus Cort NIELSEN *** | Denmark | 428 |
| 5 (6) | Mauro FINETTO | Italy | 428 |
| 6 (7) | Sylvain CHAVANEL | France | 410 |
| 7 (4) | Julien SIMON | France | 377 |
| 8 (5) | Simone PONZI | Italy | 368 |
| 9 (10) | Ilnur ZAKARIN | Russia | 349.8 |
| 10 (8) | Bertjan LINDEMAN | Netherlands | 327 |
| 11 (9) | Sam BENNETT | Ireland | 312 |
| 12 (21) | Jean-Pierre DRUCKER | Luxembourg | 303 |
| 13 (12) | Matej MUGERLI | Slovenia | 275.75 |
| 14 (13) | Vitaliy BUTS | Ukraine | 274 |
| 15 (14) | Tiago MACHADO | Portugal | 273.8 |
| 16 (18) | Jérôme BAUGNIES | Belgium | 273 |
| 17 (15) | Michael VAN STAEYEN | Belgium | 271 |
| 18 (16) | Sergey LAGUTIN | Russia | 263.5 |
| 19 (17) | Grega BOLE | Slovenia | 257 |
| 20 (19) | Eduard Michael GROSU *** | Romania | 251 |
| 21 (20) | Rein TAARAMAE | Estonia | 246 |
| 22 (50) | Roy JANS | Belgium | 245 |
| 23 (51) | Armindo FONSECA | France | 243 |
| 24 (81) | Jelle WALLAYS | Belgium | 236 |
| 25 (22) | Radoslav ROGINA | Croatia | 235.75 |
| 26 (23) | Phil BAUHAUS *** | Germany | 235 |
| 27 (24) | Kenneth VAN BILSEN | Belgium | 226 |
| 28 (35) | Mike TEUNISSEN *** | Netherlands | 223 |
| 29 (25) | Mathias FRANK | Switzerland | 223 |
| 30 (26) | Stefan KUENG *** | Switzerland | 222 |
| 201 (188) | Ryan MULLEN *** | Ireland | 66 |
| 357 (343) | Sean DOWNEY | Ireland | 38 |
| 453 (437) | Jack WILSON *** | Ireland | 27 |
| 565 (548) | Paidi O'BRIEN | Ireland | 16 |
| 662 (637) | Bryan MCCRYSTAL | Ireland | 12 |
| 786 (765) | Michael HUTCHINSON | Ireland | 8 |
| 808 (783) | Dominic JELFS | Ireland | 8 |
| 883 (862) | Damien SHAW | Ireland | 6 |
| 899 (877) | Peter HAWKINS | Ireland | 6 |
| 919 (895) | Colm CASSIDY | Ireland | 5 |
| 1040 (1011) | Martyn IRVINE | Ireland | 2 |
| 1047 (1018) | Niall DELAHAYE | Ireland | 2 |
| 1057 (1028) | Marcus CHRISTIE | Ireland | 2 |
| 1111 (1083) | Frazer DUNCAN | Ireland | 1 |
Sean Downey's 2nd in the National Road Championships and 6th overall in the Rás saw him finish third best of the Irish in the EuropeTour this year.
UCI EuropeTour, final nations standings 2014
| 1 (1) | ITALY | ITA | 3061.17 |
| 2 (2) | BELGIUM | BEL | 2871.67 |
| 3 (3) | FRANCE | FRA | 2227 |
| 4 (4) | SPAIN | ESP | 1760 |
| 5 (5) | NETHERLANDS | NED | 1759.4 |
| 6 (8) | RUSSIA | RUS | 1702.69 |
| 7 (6) | POLAND | POL | 1657.5 |
| 8 (7) | UKRAINE | UKR | 1590 |
| 9 (9) | SLOVENIA | SLO | 1487 |
| 10 (10) | DENMARK | DEN | 1228.25 |
| 11 (11) | AUSTRIA | AUT | 1155.5 |
| 12 (12) | GERMANY | GER | 1058 |
| 13 (17) | NORWAY | NOR | 947 |
| 14 (13) | CZECH REPUBLIC | CZE | 891.8 |
| 15 (14) | PORTUGAL | POR | 861.8 |
| 16 (15) | GREAT BRITAIN | GBR | 811.5 |
| 17 (16) | SWITZERLAND | SUI | 713 |
| 18 (18) | ROMANIA | ROU | 584.17 |
| 19 (19) | ESTONIA | EST | 558 |
| 20 (20) | IRELAND | IRL | 550.5 |
| 21 (21) | LATVIA | LAT | 492 |
| 22 (22) | CROATIA | CRO | 436.75 |
| 23 (23) | LUXEMBOURG | LUX | 434 |
| 24 (24) | SWEDEN | SWE | 331 |
| 25 (25) | GREECE | GRE | 285 |
| 26 (26) | SLOVAKIA | SVK | 251 |
| 27 (27) | TURKEY | TUR | 232 |
| 28 (28) | BELARUS | BLR | 222 |
| 29 (29) | AZERBAIJAN | AZE | 207 |
| 30 (30) | BULGARIA | BUL | 203 |
| 31 (31) | MOLDOVA | MDA | 202 |
| 32 (33) | LITHUANIA | LTU | 198 |
| 33 (32) | SERBIA | SRB | 189 |
| 34 (34) | HUNGARY | HUN | 166 |
| 35 (35) | ALBANIA | ALB | 149 |
| 36 (36) | GEORGIA | GEO | 147 |
| 37 (37) | ISRAEL | ISR | 140 |
| 38 (39) | FINLAND | FIN | 130 |
| 39 (38) | BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA | BIH | 128 |
UCI EuropeTour, final trade team standings 2014
| 1 (1) | TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN - BALOISE | Belgium | 2036 |
| 2 (3) | WANTY - GROUPE GOBERT | Belgium | 1538 |
| 3 (2) | COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS | France | 1401 |
| 4 (4) | NERI SOTTOLI | Italy | 1275.5 |
| 5 (5) | IAM CYCLING | Switzerland | 1268 |
| 6 (8) | BARDIANI CSF | Italy | 1219 |
| 7 (6) | CCC POLSAT POLKOWICE | Poland | 1182 |
| 8 (7) | RUSVELO | Russia | 1165.4 |
| 9 (9) | TEAM NETAPP - ENDURA | Germany | 1000.6 |
| 10 (11) | BRETAGNE - SECHE ENVIRONNEMENT | France | 946 |
| 41 (39) | AN POST - CHAIN REACTION | Ireland | 286 |
| 48 (47) | UNITEDHEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL CYCLING TEAM | United States | 230 |
| 54 (51) | RAPHA CONDOR JLT | Great Britain | 183 |
| 67 (63) | MADISON GENESIS | Great Britain | 151 |
Topics
