Heading into today’s Gent Wevelgem, the UCI WorldTour ranking looks set to be reshuffled once more. Friday’s E3 Harelbeke saw two riders break into the top ten, with race winner Tom Boonen (Quick Step) jumping from 38th to seventh as a result of his strong sprint to the line, and runner-up Oscar Freire (Katusha) improving fourteen places in going from nineteenth to fifth.
The duo will seek to make the most of today’s race to make further progress. Both past winners, they know what is involved in hitting the line first, and are both in fine form.
Milan-Sanremo and Santos Tour Down Under victor Simon Gerrans (GreenEdge) opted not to ride either Friday’s race nor today’s. He remains at the head of the rankings, holding 210 points at this point of the season.
In fact, the first four places are unchanged from before the E3 race; Vincenzo NIbali (Liquigas Cannondale), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Bradley Wiggins (Sky Procycling) remain second, third and fourth.
The latter duo started the Volta a Catalunya searching for more points, but withdrew. Valverde crashed on stage two, while Wiggins pulled out of stage three due to the freezing conditions which caused the stage to be shortened.
Thanks to Freire’s result on Friday, Spain sits third in the list of countries. Its new total of 340 points moved it above previous leader Italy [311] and Australia [297], bumping those down a slot.
RadioShack Nissan is best of the teams, holding 312 points versus Sky Procycling’s 269 and Liquigas Cannondale’s 263.
UCI WorldTour rankings as of March 23rd:
Individual:
1 (1) GERRANS Simon (GREENEDGE CYCLING TEAM (GEC) 210
2 (2) NIBALI Vincenzo (LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE (LIQ) 182
3 (3) VALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro (MOVISTAR TEAM (MOV) 167
4 (4) WIGGINS Bradley (SKY PROCYCLING (SKY) 112
5 (19) FREIRE GOMEZ Oscar (KATUSHA TEAM (KAT) 100
6 (5) WESTRA Lieuwe (VACANSOLEIL-DCM PRO CYCLING TEAM (VCD) 92
7 (38) BOONEN Tom (OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP (OPQ) 86
8 (6) CANCELLARA Fabian (RADIOSHACK-NISSAN (RNT) 86
9 (7) HORNER Christopher (RADIOSHACK-NISSAN (RNT) 84
10 (8) KREUZIGER Roman (ASTANA PRO TEAM (AST) 78
11 (9) MACHADO Tiago (RADIOSHACK-NISSAN (RNT) 72
12 (10) SAGAN Peter (LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE (LIQ) 69
13 (11) SPILAK Simon (KATUSHA TEAM (KAT) 62
14 (12) NOCENTINI Rinaldo (AG2R LA MONDIALE (ALM) 61
15 (13) ROGERS Michael (SKY PROCYCLING (SKY) 61
16 (14) HOOGERLAND Johnny (VACANSOLEIL-DCM PRO CYCLING TEAM (VCD) 51
17 (15) VAN GARDEREN Tejay (BMC RACING TEAM (BMC) 51
18 (- ) EISEL Bernhard (SKY PROCYCLING (SKY) 50
19 (16) RODRIGUEZ OLIVER Joaquin (KATUSHA TEAM (KAT) 46
20 (17) JEANNESSON Arnold (FDJ-BIG MAT (FDJ) 40
21 (18) BAKELANTS Jan (RADIOSHACK-NISSAN (RNT) 40
22 (20) BOASSON HAGEN Edvald (SKY PROCYCLING (SKY) 40
23 (60) VANMARCKE Sep (GARMIN - BARRACUDA (GRM) 31
24 (21) SCARPONI Michele (LAMPRE - ISD (LAM) 31
25 (22) MONFORT Maxime (RADIOSHACK-NISSAN (RNT) 30
26 (24) BALLAN Alessandro (BMC RACING TEAM (BMC) 26
27 (23) GREIPEL André (LOTTO BELISOL TEAM (LTB) 22
28 (26) CHAVANEL Sylvain (OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP (OPQ) 20
29 (25) POELS Wouter (VACANSOLEIL-DCM PRO CYCLING TEAM (VCD) 20
30 (27) MORENO BAZAN Javier (MOVISTAR TEAM (MOV) 20
31 (28) MATTHEWS Michael (RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM (RAB) 15
32 (- ) LADAGNOUS Matthieu (FDJ-BIG MAT (FDJ) 14
33 (29) BENNATI Daniele (RADIOSHACK-NISSAN (RNT) 11
34 (30) OSS Daniel (LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE (LIQ) 10
35 (31) RIBLON Christophe (AG2R LA MONDIALE (ALM) 10
36 (32) KISERLOVSKI Robert (ASTANA PRO TEAM (AST) 10
37 (33) MEERSMAN Gianni (LOTTO BELISOL TEAM (LTB) 8
38 (36) HUTAROVICH Yauheni (FDJ-BIG MAT (FDJ) 7
39 (34) SANCHEZ GIL Luis Leon (RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM (RAB) 7
40 (35) DE GENDT Thomas (VACANSOLEIL-DCM PRO CYCLING TEAM (VCD) 7
41 (37) MEYER Cameron (GREENEDGE CYCLING TEAM (GEC) 6
42 (39) LARSSON Gustav (VACANSOLEIL-DCM PRO CYCLING TEAM (VCD) 6
43 (40) PETACCHI Alessandro (LAMPRE - ISD (LAM) 6
44 (41) CAVENDISH Mark (SKY PROCYCLING (SKY) 6
45 (44) ROJAS GIL Jose Joaquin (MOVISTAR TEAM (MOV) 5
46 (43) BOLE Grega (LAMPRE - ISD (LAM) 5
47 (42) RENSHAW Mark (RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM (RAB) 5
48 (45) VICIOSO ARCOS Angel (KATUSHA TEAM (KAT) 4
49 (46) VORGANOV Eduard (KATUSHA TEAM (KAT) 4
50 (47) CIOLEK Gerald (OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP (OPQ) 4
51 (48) VOIGT Jens (RADIOSHACK-NISSAN (RNT) 4
52 (49) FARRAR Tyler (GARMIN - BARRACUDA (GRM) 3
53 (50) LEIPHEIMER Levi (OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP (OPQ) 3
54 (51) FLORENCIO CABRE Xavier (KATUSHA TEAM (KAT) 2
55 (52) HAUSSLER Heinrich (GARMIN - BARRACUDA (GRM) 2
56 (53) PERAUD Jean-Christophe (AG2R LA MONDIALE (ALM) 2
57 (58) TUFT Svein (GREENEDGE CYCLING TEAM (GEC) 1
58 (57) BELLETTI Manuel (AG2R LA MONDIALE (ALM) 1
59 (61) HUSHOVD Thor (BMC RACING TEAM (BMC) 1
60 (54) GAVAZZI Francesco (ASTANA PRO TEAM (AST) 1
61 (55) BOARO Manuele (TEAM SAXO BANK (SAX) 1
62 (56) VIVIANI Elia (LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE (LIQ) 1
63 (59) HENDERSON Greg (LOTTO BELISOL TEAM (LTB) 1
64 (62) SABATINI Fabio (LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE (LIQ) 1
65 (63) MCEWEN Robbie (GREENEDGE CYCLING TEAM (GEC) 1
Countries:
1 (3) SPAIN, 340
2 (1) ITALY, 311
3 (2) AUSTRALIA, 297
4 (7) BELGIUM, 195
5 (4) NETHERLANDS, 163
6 (5) UNITED STATES, 141
7 (6) GREAT BRITAIN, 118
8 (8) SWITZERLAND, 86
9 (11) FRANCE, 86
10 (9) CZECH REPUBLIC, 78
11 (10) PORTUGAL, 72
12 (12) SLOVAKIA, 69
13 (13) SLOVENIA, 67
14 (- ) AUSTRIA, 50
15 (14) NORWAY, 41
16 (15) GERMANY, 30
17 (16) CROATIA, 10
18 (17) BELARUS, 7
19 (18) SWEDEN, 6
20 (19) RUSSIA, 4
21 (20) CANADA, 1
22 (21) NEW ZEALAND, 1
Teams:
1 (1) RADIOSHACK-NISSAN (RNT) (LUX ) 312
2 (3) SKY PROCYCLING (SKY) (GBR ) 269
3 (2) LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE (LIQ) (ITA ) 263
4 (4) GREENEDGE CYCLING TEAM (GEC) (AUS ) 218
5 (7) KATUSHA TEAM (KAT) (RUS ) 216
6 (5) MOVISTAR TEAM (MOV) (ESP ) 192
7 (6) VACANSOLEIL-DCM PRO CYCLING TEAM (VCD) (NED ) 176
8 (13) OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP (OPQ) (BEL ) 113
9 (8) ASTANA PRO TEAM (AST) (KAZ ) 89
10 (10) BMC RACING TEAM (BMC) (USA ) 78
11 (9) AG2R LA MONDIALE (ALM) (FRA ) 74
12 (11) FDJ-BIG MAT (FDJ) (FRA ) 61
13 (12) LAMPRE - ISD (LAM) (ITA ) 42
14 (16) GARMIN - BARRACUDA (GRM) (USA ) 36
15 (14) LOTTO BELISOL TEAM (LTB) (BEL ) 31
16 (15) RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM (RAB) (NED ) 27
17 (17) TEAM SAXO BANK (SAX) (DEN ) 1