Australian leaps to first place but Schleck podium places give Leopard Trek the team lead
Victory in the Tour de France has lifted Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) from fourth to first in the International Cycling Union (UCI) World Rankings. 200 points for the overall victory, plus another sixty for his victory on stag four and a number of other placings, lift the Australian over previous series leader Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) to take a commanding lead in the UCI’s flagship classification with 572 points.
Gilbert himself did not come out of the Tour empty handed, with his win on stage one and a host of other high finishes, but his haul of 46 points – taking him up to 402 – are not enough to prevent him from being overhauled by Evans and Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-SunGard). Contador’s fifth place in the Tour – added to the points gained in his Giro d’Italia victory – see the Spanish rider hold on to his second place in the rankings, with a total of 471 points.
Unsurprisingly, the big movers in the rakings are those who filled the top positions in the Tour. Sixth place Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) rises from 13th to fifth, while Fränk and Andy Schleck’s podium places lift them to eight and ninth respectively; up from 19th and 36th.
Five stage victories for Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad) see the Manx Missile rise from 64th to 19th. Although he held the yellow jersey for ten days, and went on to finish fourth overall, Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) gets no points because the French team does not hold a ProTeam license.
Spain holds on to first place but Leopard Trek takes the team lead
Contador and Sanchez’ places in the Tour make sure that Spain keeps the top spot in the national rankings, while top ten positions for Damiano Cunego (Lampre-ISD) and Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale) do the same for Italy in second place. Unsurprisingly though, Australia rises back up the ranking, lifting itself from sixth to fourth, thanks to Evans’ victory.
Luxembourg rises from 13th to sixth, thanks to the Schlecks’ Tour podium finishes.
The double-headed Schleck podium challenge also sees the brothers’ Leopard Trek team rise in the rankings, from second to first, knocking HTC-Highroad off the top for almost the first time this season. Evans’ BMC Racing Team also rises, from sixth to second, also at the expense of HTC-Highroad.
UCI WorldTour ranking July 25th, 2011
1. (4) Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 574pts
2. (2) Alberto Contador (Spa) Saxo Bank-SunGard 471
3. (1) Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto 402
4. (3) Michele Scarponi (Ita) Lampre-ISD 348
5. (13) Samuel Sanchez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 297
6. (5) Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Katusha 288
7. (19) Fränk Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek 262
8. (36) Andy Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek 252
9. (6) Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Leopard Trek 250
10. (7) Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana 230
…
19. (64) Mark Cavendish (GBr) HTC-Highroad
National ranking
1. (1) Spain 1256pts
2. (2) Italy 1041
3. (4) Australia 1018
4. (3) Belgium 813
5. (5) Germany 574
6. (13) Luxembourg 514
Team ranking
1. (2) Leopard Trek 927pts
2. (6) BMC Racing Team 794
3. (1) HTC-Highroad 764
4. (5) Omega Pharma-Lotto 665
5. (4) Lampre-ISD 644