The Cycle Way

UCI Pro Tour Stats

June 22nd, 2011 Mark Croonen

All the data for these stats came from the UCI Pro-Tour website http://www.uciprotour.com.

The term “Neo” is equivalent to a rookie, I guess it is a Euro thing.

The age format used below is year:days and the age is taken as of 1 Jan of each year

Year	Total Riders	Neo	No: of teams	Avg Age	Avg age of Neo	Biggest Team	Smallest Team
2006	553	61	20	27:255	21:262	30	24
2007	558	56	20	27:256	21:215	30	25
2008	499	48	18	27:204	21:295	30	24
2009	476	38	17	27:204	21:321	30	22
2010	471	38	18	27:248	21:120	28	24
2011	489	43	18	27:361	21:229	30	24

Oldest Rider	Birthdate	Age	Year	Youngest Rider	Birth date	Age
EKIMOV Viatcheslaw – RUS	04/02/1966	39:331	2006	CAPECCHI Eros – ITA	13/06/1986	19:200
BROCHARD Laurent – FRA	26/03/1968	38:278	2007	VINTHER Troels Ronning – DEN	24/02/1987	19:311
BALDATO Fabio – ITA	13/06/1968	39:200	2008	BARLA Luca – ITA	29/09/1987	20:93
NOE Andrea – ITA	15/01/1969	39:350	2009	BELLIS Jonathan – GBR	16/08/1988	20:136
KNAVEN Servais – NED	06/03/1971	38:299	2010	PINOT Thibaut – FRA	29/05/1990	19:214
VOIGT Jens – GER	17/09/1971	39:105	2011	VAN KEIRBULCK Guillaume – BEL	14/02/1991	19:321

The table below shows the countries which are doing better than others based on their population, in other words, which nations are punching above the weight. It shows how many pro riders they have as a percentage of the population (The percentage is per 1,000,000 people of the population.). I only included countries that had at least three pro riders otherwise the percentages became a little too random.

2006				2007				2008				2009				2010
Country	Riders	%		Country	Riders	%		Country	Riders	%		Country	Riders	%		Country	Riders	%		Country	Riders	%
LUX	4	8.431%	ó	LUX	4	8.329%	ó	LUX	4	8.329%	ó	LUX	3	6.100%	ó	LUX	5	10.167%	ó	LUX	4	8.134
BEL	43	4.143%	ó	BEL	54	5.196%	ó	BEL	44	4.234%	ó	BEL	43	4.129%	ó	BEL	46	4.417%	ó	BEL	49	4.705
SUI	24	3.190%	ñ	DEN	14	2.560%	²	EST	4	3.040%	ñ	DEN	14	2.545%	ñ	SLO	6	2.991%	ó	SLO	7	3.490
ESP	104	2.574%	ò	SUI	19	2.515%	ó	SUI	16	2.118%	ò	EST	3	2.309%	ò	DEN	16	2.909%	ó	DEN	15	2.727
SLO	5	2.487%	ó	SLO	5	2.488%	ó	SLO	4	1.991%	ó	SLO	4	1.994%	ñ	ESP	68	1.678%	ñ	NED	34	2.034
DEN	12	2.202%	ò	ESP	85	2.101%	ó	ESP	77	1.904%	ñ	NED	30	1.795%	ó	NED	27	1.615%	ñ	SUI	13	1.710
NED	28	1.698%	ó	NED	32	1.931%	ó	NED	28	1.690%	ò	ESP	70	1.727%	ñ	NZL	5	1.187%	ò	ESP	60	1.481
FRA	97	1.593%	ó	FRA	98	1.538%	ò	DEN	9	1.646%	ò	SUI	11	1.447%	ñ	AUS	24	1.129%	ó	AUS	28	1.317
ITA	84	1.445%	ó	ITA	79	1.359%	ò	FRA	103	1.616%	ó	FRA	86	1.343%	ò	SUI	8	1.052%	ñ	NOR	6	1.287
AUS	19	0.938%	ó	AUS	24	1.175%	ò	ITA	67	1.152%	ó	ITA	54	0.929%	ó	ITA	60	1.032%	ó	ITA	69	1.187
AUT	6	0.732%	ñ	KAZ	11	0.720%	ñ	NOR	4	0.864%	ñ	AUS	17	0.800%	ñ	KAZ	14	0.909%	ò	NZL	5	1.187
IRL	3	0.739%	²	NZL	3	0.729%	ò	AUS	17	0.832%	²	NZL	3	0.712%	ò	FRA	49	0.765%	²	IRL	4	0.952
NOR	3	0.651%	ñ	SWE	6	0.664%	ò	KAZ	10	0.654%	ñ	SWE	6	0.662%	²	NOR	3	0.644%	ò	KAZ	14	0.909
FIN	3	0.573%	ò	NOR	3	0.648%	²	SVK	3	0.551%	ò	KAZ	10	0.649%	ñ	BLR	6	0.622%	²	LTU	3	0.844
GER	41	0.497%	ó	GER	41	0.498%	ñ	AUT	4	0.488%	ñ	BLR	5	0.518%	ñ	AUT	5	0.609%	ñ	SVK	4	0.732
SWE	4	0.444%	ò	AUT	4	0.488%	ò	GER	39	0.473%	ò	AUT	4	0.487%	²	SVK	3	0.549%	ñ	POR	6	0.560
KAZ	5	0.328%	ñ	CZE	3	3.805%	²	BLR	4	0.411%	ò	GER	28	0.340%	ò	SWE	4	0.442%	ò	FRA	32	0.500
CZE	3	3.825%	ñ	UKR	8	0.173%	ò	SWE	3	0.332%	ñ	RUS	22	0.157%	²	POR	4	0.374%	ò	BLR	4	0.415
POR	3	0.283%	ñ	COL	6	0.135%	ò	CZE	3	3.805%	²	CAN	4	0.119%	ò	GER	29	0.352%	ò	AUT	3	0.365
UKR	7	0.150%	ñ	GBR	7	0.231%	ò	UKR	7	0.151%	ñ	GBR	6	0.098%	ó	GBR	13	0.213%	ò	SWE	3	0.331
COL	5	0.115%	ñ	RUS	12	0.085%	ò	COL	4	0.090%	ó	COL	4	0.088%	ò	RUS	20	0.143%	²	CZE	3	0.294
CAN	3	0.091%	ñ	POL	3	0.078%	ò	GBR	5	0.165%	ò	UKR	4	0.065%	ñ	POL	5	0.130%	ò	GER	22	0.267
POL	3	0.078%	ñ	USA	14	4.046%	ò	RUS	11	0.078%	²	POL	3	0.078%	ò	CAN	4	0.119%	ò	GBR	16	0.262
RUS	11	0.077%					ò	USA	9	2.601%	ó	USA	19	5.437%	ò	UKR	5	0.082%	ò	POL	8	0.208
GBR	4	0.142%													ò	COL	3	0.069%	ò	UKR	9	0.197
USA	15	4.371%													²	RSA	3	0.061%	ò	RUS	20	0.143
															ò	USA	18	5.151%	ó	USA	28	0.091

Details of the country codes can be found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_IOC_country_codes
Sorry the traffic light trend arrows only work in a browser that supports wingding fonts. i.e. IE9 but you should bet the idea of the trend from the arrows

Here are the same stats but in alphabetical order.

	2006			2007			2008			2009			2010			2011
Country	Riders	%	Rank	Riders	%	Rank	Riders	%	Rank	Riders	%	Rank	Riders	%	Rank	Riders	%	Rank
Argentina	0	0.000	38	1	0.025	36	1	0.025	36	1	0.024	39	2	0.049	37	2	0.049	36
Australia	19	0.938	11	24	1.175	11	17	0.832	12	17	0.800	11	24	1.129	8	28	1.317	8
Austria	6	0.732	13	4	0.488	17	4	0.488	15	4	0.487	16	5	0.609	17	3	0.365	23
Belarus	1	0.097	28	2	0.206	24	4	0.411	20	5	0.518	15	6	0.622	16	4	0.415	21
Belgium	43	4.143	2	54	5.196	2	44	4.234	3	43	4.129	2	46	4.417	2	49	4.705	2
Brazil	1	0.005	37	2	0.011	38	2	0.011	37	1	0.005	41	1	0.005	39	1	0.005	41
Canada	3	0.091	29	1	0.030	35	1	0.030	34	4	0.119	31	4	0.119	33	2	0.060	35
China	0	0.000	38	1	0.001	40	0	0.000	39	0	0.000	42	1	0.001	40	1	0.001	42
Columbia	5	0.115	26	6	0.135	27	4	0.090	30	4	0.088	34	3	0.069	35	2	0.046	37
Costa Rica	0	0.000	38	0	0.000	41	0	0.000	39	1	0.235	25	1	0.235	26	1	0.235	28
Croatia	1	0.222	23	1	0.223	23	1	0.223	24	1	0.223	27	1	0.223	28	1	0.223	30
Cuba	0	0.000	38	0	0.000	41	0	0.000	39	1	0.087	35	0	0.000	41	0	0.000	43
Czech Republic	3	0.293	20	3	0.293	21	3	0.293	23	2	0.196	28	2	0.196	30	3	0.294	25
Denmark	12	2.202	6	14	2.560	3	9	1.646	8	14	2.545	3	16	2.909	4	15	2.727	4
Estonia	2	1.510	9	2	1.520	9	4	3.040	4	3	2.309	4	1	0.770	13	1	0.770	15
Finland	3	0.573	15	2	0.382	20	2	0.382	21	2	0.381	20	2	0.381	21	2	0.381	22
France	97	1.593	8	98	1.538	8	103	1.616	9	86	1.343	9	49	0.765	14	32	0.500	18
Germany	41	0.497	17	41	0.498	16	39	0.473	17	28	0.340	22	29	0.352	23	22	0.267	26
Hungary	1	0.100	27	1	0.100	29	1	0.100	28	1	0.101	32	0	0.000	41	1	0.101	34
Ireland	3	0.739	12	2	0.487	18	2	0.487	16	2	0.476	17	2	0.476	19	4	0.952	12
Italy	84	1.445	10	79	1.359	10	67	1.152	11	54	0.929	10	60	1.032	10	69	1.187	10
Japan	1	0.008	36	1	0.008	39	0	0.000	39	1	0.008	40	1	0.008	38	1	0.008	40
Kazakhstan	5	0.328	19	11	0.720	13	10	0.654	13	10	0.649	14	14	0.909	11	14	0.909	13
Latvia	0	0.000	38	1	0.443	19	1	0.443	18	1	0.448	18	2	0.896	12	1	0.448	20
Lithuania	2	0.558	16	1	0.280	22	2	0.559	14	1	0.281	24	1	0.281	25	3	0.844	14
Luxembourg	4	8.431	1	4	8.329	1	4	8.329	1	3	6.100	1	5	10.167	1	4	8.134	1
Moldova	0	0.000	38	0	0.000	41	0	0.000	39	1	0.231	26	1	0.231	27	1	0.231	29
Netherlands	28	1.698	7	32	1.931	7	1	0.060	32	30	1.795	6	27	1.615	6	34	2.034	5
New Zealand	1	0.245	22	3	0.729	12	28	6.803	2	3	0.712	12	5	1.187	7	5	1.187	11
Norway	3	0.651	14	3	0.648	15	2	0.432	19	2	0.429	19	3	0.644	15	6	1.287	9
Poland	3	0.078	30	3	0.078	32	4	0.104	27	3	0.078	36	5	0.130	32	8	0.208	31
Portugal	3	0.283	21	1	0.094	30	2	0.188	25	2	0.187	29	4	0.374	22	6	0.560	17
Russia	11	0.077	31	12	0.085	31	1	0.007	38	22	0.157	30	20	0.143	31	20	0.143	33
Slovakia	1	0.184	24	1	0.184	25	11	2.019	6	2	0.366	21	3	0.549	18	4	0.732	16
Slovenia	5	2.487	5	5	2.488	5	3	1.493	10	4	1.994	5	6	2.991	3	7	3.490	3
South Africa	2	0.045	34	1	0.023	37	4	0.091	29	0	0.000	42	3	0.061	36	2	0.041	38
Spain	104	2.574	4	85	2.101	6	77	1.904	7	70	1.727	7	68	1.678	5	60	1.481	7
Sweden	4	0.444	18	6	0.664	14	3	0.332	22	6	0.662	13	4	0.442	20	3	0.331	24
Switzerland	24	3.190	3	19	2.515	4	16	2.118	5	11	1.447	8	8	1.052	9	13	1.710	6
Ukraine	7	0.150	25	8	0.173	26	7	0.151	26	4	0.065	37	5	0.082	34	9	0.147	32
United Kingdom	4	0.066	32	7	0.115	28	5	0.082	31	6	0.098	33	13	0.213	29	16	0.262	27
United States	15	0.050	33	14	0.046	34	9	0.030	35	19	0.311	23	18	0.295	24	28	0.458	19
Uzbekistan																1	0.036	39
Venezuela	1	0.039	35	2	0.077	33	1	0.038	33	1	0.037	38	0	0.000	41	0	0.000	43

Next will be something similar but focusing on the Tour de France riders.

Posted in General Bike News, UCI Pro tour
Tags: AG2R La Mondiale, BMC, EUSKALTEL-EUSKADI, GARMIN-CERVELO, HTC-HIGHROAD, KATUSHA, LAMPRE - ISD, LEOPARD TREK, LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE, MOVISTAR, OMEGA PHARMA-LOTTO, PRO TEAM ASTANA, QUICKSTEP, RABOBANK, RADIOSHACK, Road Racing, SAXO BANK SUNGARD, SKY PROCYCLING, Statistics, UCI Pro tour, VACANSOLEIL-DCM PRO
2 Comments

The companies behind the Pro Tour

March 31st, 2011 Mark Croonen

One thing that has always fascinated me about the Pro Tour is, who are these companies who support the sport? For most people in Europe these companies are probably all too familiar but for the rest of us, consider this Pro Tour Sponsorship 101. While some of the them are obvious, a few of them do have an interesting story behind them.

AG2R LA MONDIALE
	AG2R La Mondiale, is an insurance and social security wealth advisor in France.
BMC RACING TEAM
	BMC are a Swiss based bicycle manufacturer. OK so we all knew that one, but did you know that BMC stands for “Bicycle Manufacturing Company”, who knew?
EUSKALTEL-EUSKADI
	Euskaltel is a Spanish telecom company based in the autonomous Basque region in Spain. Euskadi is Spanish for Basque.
HTC-HIGHROAD
	HTC is a well known handset manufacturer based in Taiwan. HTC first started producing palm sized PCs in 1999 and mobile phones 2002 but it wasn’t until 2006 they started releasing products under their own name. For the record HTC stands for Hi-Tech Computers.
KATUSHA TEAM
	Gazprom is the largest extractor of natural gas in the world, accounting for 17% of worldwide gas production. Gazprom was created in 1989 when the Soviet Ministry of the Gas Industry was privatised.
	Itera is an independent producer and trader of natural gas operating in the CIS and the Baltic states. The company has been heavily involved in cycling, which is probably due to the fact that the chairman of the board, Igor Makarov was a member of the USSR national cycling team.
LAMPRE – ISD
	The Lampre group is Italian based company which specialises in pre-coated steel production. LAMPRE, whose name results from the combination of the Italian words LAMiere PRErivestite, roughly translated to English means “Sheets Precoated”. For Australians, pre coated steel is the equivalent to colourbond steel as used in patio roofs.
	ISD is a steel producer based in the Ukraine
LEOPARD TREK
	No surprises here, as everyone knows, they are a bicycle company and primary sponsors for Team Leopard. But what may be of interest is where the name Team Leopard came from; The team needed to establish a management company in order to run the team. They randomly named it “Leopard” and then really liked the name and so the name stuck.
LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE
	Liquigas is an Italian based supplier of Liquified Petroleum Gas.
	Yet another bicycle company as a named sponsor but did you know that the name of the company was taken from the Cannondale Metro North train station in Wilton, Connecticut.
MOVISTAR TEAM
	I bet you thought they had something to do with the film industry. Well Movistar is actually a Spanish based mobile phone operator. When translated from Spanish, I’m guessing Movi is short for Movil, which means Mobile and Star is the same in Spanish, translating the name into Mobile Star.
OMEGA PHARMA-LOTTO
	Omega Pharma is a Belgium based company providing consumer healthcare products. In 2007 one of their subsidiaries, Predictor sponsored the team. Predictor is a home pregnancy test kit, so all you guys riding around with your team kit on, time to check out what you are really advertising.
	While there are many lottery commissions around, given that Omega Pharma-Lotto team is a Belgium based team it is not going to surprise you that it is the Belgium Lottery Commission that sponsors the team.
PRO TEAM ASTANA
	Samruk Kazyna is a management company set up by the Kazakhstan government to manage state owned assets. It was established through the consolidation of “State Holding Samruk” and “Sustainable Development Fund Kazyna” in October 2008
	Specialized is another well known bicycle manufacturer that supports the Pro Tour. Mike Sinyard founded the company in 1974 and is still the majority owner and CEO of the company. The company produced its first bike, the “Allez”, in 1979 and still produces the Allez today. Translated from French, Allez means “Go”
QUICKSTEP CYCLING TEAM
	Quick Step is a international company specialising in tiles and laminate floors.
	Innergetic is a brand of latex mattress produced by a Belgium company Latexco
	The bicycle company established by cycling legend Eddy Merckx and based in Belgium
RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM
	A Dutch based banking cooperative specialising in finance for agribusiness. The bank was formed in 1980 when Raiffeisen-Bank and Boerenleenbank merged, the banks took the first two letters of each bank to form Rabobank.
SAXO BANK SUNGARD
	Saxo Bank is an international investment bank based in Denmark. Saxo Bank is named after one of the notable Danish historians of the Middle Ages, Saxo Grammaticus.
	SunGard is a software and technology services company based in Pennsylvania, USA. One of their core services is the provision of financial systems, which I’m guessing is their link to Saxo Bank.
SKY PROCYCLING
	Sky is actually BskyB which stands for British Sky Broadcasting. British Sky Broadcasting was formed in 1990 by the merger of Sky Television and British Satellite Broadcasting.
TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO
	Garmin is a well known manufacturer of GPS devices based in Kansas, USA and is loved by most cyclists, well me at least.
	Cervélo is another well known bike manufacturer based in Canada and was started by Phil White and Gérard Vroomen in 1995. The following is a description of how the name came to be was written by Gerard Vroomen: Cervélo is a combination of the Italian word for brain “cervello” and the french word for bike, “vélo”. So it’s a brainbike, or a bike with some extra thought put into it. We thought it was funny at the time, so we used it as a working title and it stuck. Oh and in regards to how Cervélo is pronounced, The founders of Cervélo have always pronounced the company name in this way; Cervélo: (Sir-vell-oh). So there, if you get nothing else from this article, this should finally put an end to those damn arguments about how it is pronounced.
TEAM RADIOSHACK
	RadioShack is a chain of Electronic stores in the US and in Australia are known as Tandy. The company was started in 1921 by Theodore and Milton Deutschmann, They chose the name, “RadioShack,” which was a term for the small, wooden structure that housed a ship’s radio equipment. The Tandy Corporation which started off as a leather company bought RadioShack in 1963 for $300,000
VACANSOLEIL-DCM PRO CYCLING TEAM
	Founded in 1969 Vacansoleil is based Belgium and owns a number of Camping and recreational parks across Europe.
	The company was founded in Belgium in 1976 and is a producer of plant food for professional gardeners.