Hierarchy selection: New team ranking indicators for cyclist multi-stage races

Abstract

In this paper, I report some investigation discussing team selection, whence hierarchy, through ranking indicators, for example when “measuring” professional cyclist team’s “sportive value”, in particular in multistage races. A logical, it seems, constraint is introduced on the riders: they must finish the race. Several new indicators are defined, justified, and compared. These indicators are mainly based on the arriving place of (“the best 3”) riders instead of their time needed for finishing the stage or the race, — as presently classically used. A case study, serving as an illustration containing the necessary ingredients for a wider discussion, is the 2023 Vuelta de San Juan, but without loss of generality. It is shown that the new indicators offer some new viewpoint for distinguishing the ranking through the cumulative sums of the places of riders rather than their finishing times. On the other hand, the indicators indicate a different team hierarchy if only the finishing riders are considered. Some consideration on the “distance” between ranking indicators is presented. Moreover, it is argued that these new ranking indicators should hopefully promote more competitive races, not only till the end of the race, but also until the end of each stage. Generalizations and other applications within operational research topics, like in academia, are suggested.