Victory in last week’s Tour de Suisse makes Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack) the big mover in this week’s International Cycling Union (UCI) World Ranking. 106 points for the overall title, and two stage placings, lift the American from a barely registering 73rd place to 18th. His previous total of 22 points was earned from his eighth place in Paris-Nice back in March; the only other WorldTour race that he has taken a result in this season.
Similarly, Suisse second place Damiano Cunego (Lampre-ISD) rises from 61st to 20th, while third place Steven Kruijswijk (Rabobank) steps up from 56th to 21st.
As the top performers in the Tour de Suisse were previously very low down in the rankings, there is virtually no movement inside the top ten. Series leader Philippe Gilbert (OmegaPharma-Lotto) was busy winning the Ster ZLM Toer in the Netherlands last week, but the race is outside the WorldTour. Neither second place Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-SunGard) nor third place Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) have raced since the Giro d’Italia, and so did not score any points last week either.
In fact, only three riders inside the top ten registered any points at all: sixth place Fabian Cancellara (Leopard Trek) scored 12 points thanks to his two time trial victories in his home tour; second place in the final time trial means that Andreas Klöden (RadioShack) rises from eleventh to ninth; while Matt Goss (HTC-Highroad) holds on to his tenth place thanks to his second place on the penultimate stage.
Tony Martin (HTC-Highroad) is the rider to drop out of the top ten, dropping to eleventh as he switches places with Klöden.
Spain still on top but all change in the team classification
Despite Spanish riders failing to score a single point in the WorldTour, it maintains its lead in the national rankings thanks to the thousand point total it had already amassed. Cunego’s Suisse result means that Italy edges closers to its south European rival, although at 891 points it is still 109 behind. Third place Belgium also failed to score, while Australia and Germany only scored four and five respectively, so there is little change to the top five.
Leipheimer’s win means that the USA is the big mover in the national rankings, rising from tenth to seventh.
Although it had no big individual scorer this week, Cancellara’s time trial wins added to Jakob Fuglsang’s fourth place and Fränk Schleck’s seventh, mean that Leopard Trek is the team on the rise; the Luxembourg squad moves from sixth to second. Leipheimer and Klöden lift RadioShack from fourth to third, while Cunego lifts Lampre-ISD from seventh to fourth.
The loser in this week’s team ranking is Omega Pharma-Lotto, which drops from fifth to second after scoring no points.
UCI World Ranking June 20th, 2011
1. (1) Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto 356pts
2. (2) Alberto Contador (Spa) Saxo Bank Sungard 349
3. (3) Michele Scarponi (Ita) Lampre - ISD 348
4. (4) Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 314
5. (5) Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Katusha Team 288
6. (6) Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Leopard Trek 248
7. (7) Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana 224
8. (8) Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 210
9. (11) Andreas Klöden (Ger) RadioShack 207
10. (10) Matthew Goss (Aus) HTC-Highroad 207
…
18. (73) Levi Leipheimer (USA) RadioShack 128
…
20. (61) Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-ISD 123
21. (56) Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Rabobank 120
National ranking
1. (1) Spain 1000pts
2. (2) Italy 891
3. (3) Belgium 765
4. (4) Australia 748
5. (5) Germany 508
…
7. (10) United States 382
Team ranking
1. (1) HTC-Highroad (USA) 628pts
2. (6) Leopard Trek (Lux) 613
3. (4) RadioShack (USA) 609
4. (7) Lampre-ISD (Ita) 548
5. (2) Omega Pharma-Lotto (Bel) 541