2019 in numbers
Key statistics from the professional road season
The 2019 road season is a wrap, and Cyclingnews takes a look back at the key moments of the year, the numbers and statistics that tell the story of all the season's racing drama.
From the UCI WorldTour where Richard Carapaz stunned with his Giro d'Italia performance, Primoz Roglic emerged as one of the top Grand Tour riders with his Vuelta a Espana victory, and Egan Bernal claimed an emphatic win in the Tour de France to the UCI Women's WorldTour where Annemiek van Vleuten dominated the Giro Rosa and Marianne Vos landed atop the overall rankings it was a year to remember.
Look back at all the stats and the winners of this year's top road events with these infographics and data visualizations.
2019 in numbers
Winners
2019 UCI Women's WorldTour winners
- Strade Bianche: Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned) Mitchelton-Scott Women
- Ronde van Drenthe: Marta Bastianelli (Ita) Team Virtu Cycling
- Trofeo Alfredo Binda: Marianne Vos (Ned) CCC-Liv
- Driedaagse Brugge-De Panne: Kirsten Wild (Ned) WNT-Rotor Pro Cycling
- Gent-Wevelgem: Kirsten Wild (Ned) WNT-Rotor Pro Cycling
- Tour of Flanders: Marta Bastianelli (Ita) Team Virtu Cycling
- Amstel Gold Race: Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Pol) Canyon-SRAM
- La Flèche Wallonne: Anna van der Breggen (Ned) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam
- Liège-Bastogne-Liège: Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned) Mitchelton-Scott Women
- Tour of Chongming Island: Lorena Wiebes (Ned) Parkhotel Valkenburg
- Amgen Tour of California: Anna van der Breggen (Ned) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam
- Emakumeen XXXII.Bira: Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Trek-Segafredo Women
- OVO Energy Women's Tour: Elizabeth Deignan (GBr) Trek-Segafredo Women
- Giro d'Italia Internazionale Femminile: Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned) Mitchelton-Scott Women
- La Course by Le Tour de France: Marianne Vos (Ned) CCC-Liv
- Prudential RideLondon Classique: Lorena Wiebes (Ned) Parkhotel Valkenburg
- Postnord UCI WWT Vårgårda WestSweden TTT: Trek-Segafredo Women
- Postnord UCI WWT Vårgårda WestSweden RR: Marta Bastianelli (Ita) Team Virtu Cycling
- Ladies Tour of Norway: Marianne Vos (Ned) CCC-Liv
- GP de Plouay: Anna van der Breggen (Ned) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam
- Boels Ladies Tour: Christine Majerus (Lux) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam
- WNT Madrid Challenge by la Vuelta: Lisa Brennauer (Ger) WNT-Rotor Pro Cycling
- Tour of Guangxi: Chloe Hosking (Aus) Ale Cipollini
2019 UCI Men's WorldTour winners
Santos Tour Down Under: Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott
Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race: Elia Viviani (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
UAE Tour: Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Elite: Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep
Strade Bianche: Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
Paris - Nice: Egan Bernal (Col) Team Ineos
Tirreno-Adriatico: Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma
Milano-Sanremo: Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
Volta Ciclista a Catalunya: Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team
Driedaagse Brugge-De Panne: Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
E3 BinckBank Classic: Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep
Gent-Wevelgem: Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
Dwars door Vlaanderen: Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Corendon-Circus
Tour of Flanders: Alberto Bettiol (Ita) EF Education First
Itzulia Basque Country: Ion Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana Pro Team
Paris-Roubaix: Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey: Felix Großschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
Amstel Gold Race: Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Corendon-Circus
La Flèche Wallonne: Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
Liège-Bastogne-Liège: Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team
Tour de Romandie: Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma
Eschborn-Frankfurt: Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
Giro d'Italia: Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Movistar Team
Amgen Tour of California: Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
Critérium du Dauphiné: Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team
Tour de Suisse: Egan Bernal (Col) Team Ineos
Tour de France: Egan Bernal (Col) Team Ineos
Clásica Ciclista San Sebastián: Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
Tour de Pologne: Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Team Ineos
Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic: Elia Viviani (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
Binck Bank Tour: Laurens De Plus (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma
Vuelta a España: Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma
EuroEyes Cyclassics Hamburg: Elia Viviani (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
Bretagne Classic - Ouest-France: Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) EF Education First
Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec: Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb
Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal: Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) CCC Team
Il Lombardia: Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
Gree-Tour of Guangxi: Enric Mas (Spa) Deceuninck-QuickStep
Data
Data Viz
This interactive graphic shows the average race speeds per UCI Men's WorldTour event, with the size of each bubble determined by the total race distance and the color by number of race days. The three Grand Tours in yellow are the biggest races of the year - the Tour de France overall speed was slightly above average for the WorldTour but the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España were slower than average, as one would expect for a three-week race.
The fastest race of the year was the sprinters' classic Gent-Wevelgem which ran at a whopping 45.9kph for almost 250km! The GP Montréal was the slowest at a plodding 35.65kph.
Hover over the dots to see more information about each data point.
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The next interactive graphic shows the same information as above but for the UCI Women's WorldTour.
The quickest race of the season for the women was the 35.6km long Postnord UCI WWT Vårgårda WestSweden team time trial, where Trek-Segafredo won with an average speed of 48.68kph.
The following three animated graphics show the evolution of the General Classification of the GrandTours - looking at each rider who finished the race in the top 10 ranked by their gap to the overall race leader.
The Giro d'Italia, which began with a short individual time trial in Bologna won by Primoz Roglic provided an immediate separation in the standings, but on stage 7 a breakaway went clear and gained seven minutes, pushing all of the contenders down a notch but Roglic remained as best of the contenders. They narrowed the gap on the stage 9 individual time trial, and in the mountains on stage 14, Carapaz made his move.
The Tour de France started with a sprint stage won by Mike Teunissen, but the GC began to shake out on the punchy uphill finish to Épernay on stage 3. Julian Alaphilippe held the top position in the mountains on stage 6, the time trial on stage 13 and the Pyrenees and it was only in the Alps that Bernal was able to get away.
In the Vuelta a Espana, which began with a team time trial, the pattern was quite different, with Miguel Angel Lopez and Nairo Quintana taking spells in race lead before Roglic took charge on stage 10's individual time trial and never looked back.
This visualization shows that the Giro d'Italia Internazionale Femminile was the Annemiek van Vleuten show. After Canyon-SRAM won the opening team time trial, putting Katarzyna Niewiadoma in the race lead for four stages, Van Vleuten took charge as soon as the road tilted uphill on the Torri di Fraele.
Attacking at the base of the climb, Van Vleuten opened up a three-minute gap on her rivals and further extended her lead in the next day's time trial. From there, it was a fight for the podium with Anna van der Breggen clawing back a little time for second and Amanda Spratt in third.
What does the cycling world look like?
For the elite men, Europe is still the centre of the cycling world, with France holding the most events by far, with 177 races between the UCI x.2, x.1, x.HC and WorldTour events. (National, Continental and World Championships are excluded from this analysis).
Spain comes in at number two with 75 races, while Italy has 74 and China holds 73 UCI road racing days for elite men. Belgium had the next most with 62.
The picture is very different for elite women, where Belgium has the most UCI race days at 27, followed by France, Italy, Spain and the United Stages. The Netherlands, who have arguably the best crop of elite women racers in the world, have the sixth most race days at 16.
Sources: Cyclingnews.com, Procyclingstats.com, cqranking.com, UCI.org
Laura Weislo is a Cyclingnews veteran of 20 years. Having joined in 2006, Laura extensively covered the Operacion Puerto doping scandal, the years-long conflict between the UCI and the Tour de France organisers ASO over the creation of the WorldTour, and the downfall of Lance Armstrong and his lifetime ban for doping. As Managing Editor, Laura coordinates coverage for North American events and global news.
