Overall victory in the inaugural Tour of Beijing lifts World time trial champion Tony Martin (HTC-Highroad) into the top ten of the overall International Cycling Union (UCI) WorldTour standings. The German, who won the opening time trial – ‘christening’ his new rainbow skinsuit in style – faced very little threat in the four mostly flat road stages to earn himself the same number of points as he got for winning Paris-Nice back in March.
Those Paris-Nice points, along with second place in the Tour de Romandie and time trial victories in the Critérium du Dauphiné, the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España, lift Martin up to sixth place in the season-long classification.
Martin’s rise is the only movement inside the top ten of the rankings, aside from those who are moving aside for him. Second place for David Millar (Garmin-Cervélo), which he also held since the opening day, sees the British rider rise from 44th to 22nd though; meanwhile compatriot Chris Froome (Team Sky), who did not appear on the rankings at all until his second place in the Vuelta a España, jumps from 25th to 14th after his Beijing third place.
Despite the movement in the lower placings though, Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) is now guaranteed to win the 2011 WorldTour. The only two riders that could mathematically catch the Belgian before Beijing were Tour de France winner Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) and Giro d’Italia winner Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-SunGard). Those two had both finished their seasons already but theoretically could have come back and overtaken Gilbert; with Beijing out of the way now, and only Saturday’s Giro di Lombardia left in the series (which, since he has won the past two editions, Gilbert will start as one of the big favourites) there is no mathematical way of overtaking the Belgian champion.
Spain and Omega Pharma-Lotto still leading
With the Germans and British taking most of the big points in Beijing, neither Spain nor Belgium – the top two countries in the national rankings – move much. Nick Nuyens (Saxo Bank-SunGard) took fifth place on stage three, giving Belgium one point, to close the gap to 193 points. Spain now looks all but unbeatable though, with virtually an all-Belgian podium in Lombardia needed to take the prize.
Gilbert’s Omega Pharma-Lotto team holds on to its lead in the team classification but, thanks to Froome’s performance, is now coming under increasing pressure from Team Sky. The British team is now just twenty points behind the Belgian in second place, knocking Leopard Trek down to third, and a good result in Lombardia could see it snatch the title. HTC-Highroad, which led the rankings for much of the early season, rises from fifth to fourth thanks to Martin's victory, while Garmin-Cervélo jumps from tenth to seventh.
UCI WorldTour ranking October 10th, 2011
1. (1) Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto 698
2. (2) Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 574
3. (3) Alberto Contador (Spa) Saxo Bank-SunGard 471
4. (4) Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Katusha 366
5. (5) Michele Scarponi (Ita) Lampre-ISD 357
6. (12) Tony Martin (Ger) HTC-Highroad 349
7. (6) Samuel Sanchez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 307
8. (7) Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team Sky 289
9. (8) Fränk Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek 284
10. (9) Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 272
…
14. (25) Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky 230
…
22. (44) David Millar (GBr) Garmin-Cervélo 185
National ranking
1. (1) Spain 1357pts
2. (3) Belgium 1164
3. (4) Italy 1112
4. (2) Australia 1082
5. (6) Great Britain 947
6. (7) Germany 798
Team ranking
1. (1) Omega Pharma-Lotto (Bel) 1079pts
2. (3) Sky Procycling (GBr) 1059
3. (2) Leopard Trek (Lux) 1018
4. (5) HTC-Highroad (USA) 886
5. (4) BMC Racing Team (USA) 877
…
7. (10) Garmin-Cervélo 728