Who won transfer season? Visualizing the moves of the men’s WorldTour
Now that we’ve rolled into February with the first WorldTour races of the season approaching, it seems like a great time to take stock of where things stand for the top teams after all of the changes they’ve made over the offseason. As it so often is, a data visualization makes for a pretty great way to break things down.
Nick Bennette reached out to share a data visualization project that his wife Carrie Bennette had been working on that offers some insight into all the activity of this past transfer season. We found it pretty fascinating, and we figured our readers would too.
The project offers a visual representation of the way teams have changed since last season by using ProCyclingStats points. On the top row you’ll find representations of the 2020 lineups of various teams ordered from most to least PCS points. On the bottom row, you’ll find their 2021 lineups, also ordered from most to least PCS points. Individual strands represent individual riders.
Even a quick glance at the visualization can offer some great insight. The Ineos Grenadiers closed out 2020 with the fourth highest-rated roster on the WorldTour, but as the visualization shows, they added some strength this past transfer season, at least in terms of PCS points. You can follow the lines of Richie Porte from Trek-Segafredo, Daniel Martínez from EF, and Adam Yates from Mitchelton-Scott for instance, to an Ineos Grenadiers team that now has the second highest-rated roster.
EF, on the other hand, has seen its cumulative total of PCS points take a big dip after bidding farewell to Martínez and also Michael Woods, who joined Israel Start-Up Nation. Speaking of Israel Start-Up Nation, they jumped up quite a few spots with the likes of Woods and Daryl Impey (coming over from Mitchelton-Scott) making a big impact.
For a closer look and a more interactive experience, you can check out the full visualization here, which allows you to mouse over for more detailed info on the specifics.
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