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Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) continues as leader of the the UCI’s Individual World Rankings after the Tour de Suisse, whilst Frank Schleck’s overall win has moved the Team Saxo Bank rider up 51 places to fifteenth.
Frank Schleck is not the only Team Saxo Bank rider to benefit from a strong performance at the Tour de Suisse. His team-mate Fabian Cancellara’s victory in the opening short time trial in Lugano gained the Swiss star two places in the overall rankings, and Cancellara has jumped from ninth to seventh place, with 210 points.
Cancellara’s improvement sees Tour of Italy winner Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Doimo) lose a spot and drop from seventh to eighth, whilst fellow Italian Michele Scarponi (Androni Giocattoli - Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni) also slides down a spot from eighth to ninth.
Cancellara and F. Schleck move up in UCI World Rankings
Cancellara and Frank Schleck are the only two riders in the top twenty to have gained places thanks to the Tour de Suisse, won by Schleck after a victory in stage three’s uphill finish and consistently strong showings on the key mountain and time trial stages.
Lance Armstrong’s second place behind Schleck overall in the Tour de Suisse has also seen the American enter the top 50 of the UCI World Rankings. The Team RadioShack rider is now 41st, with 81 points.
Saxo Bank reaps rewards in Switzerland
Team Saxo Bank’s impressive collective performance at the Tour de Suisse has reaped them rich rewards in the UCI World Team Rankings; whilst leader Astana’s total of 624 points remains unchanged, Saxo Bank move from seventh to fourth overall with 552 points.
The Danish squad is not the only one to have profited from the Tour de Suisse: Team Katusha remains in second place, but has closed the gap on Team Saxo Bank by 14 points. Liquigas-Doimo adds on another four points and is now in third place with 570 points, whilst BMC Racing, although still in sixth spot, now trails HTC-Columbia by the tiny margin of four points after gaining 66 points in Switzerland.
Caisse d’Epargne has also gained a spot, moving up from tenth to ninth after gaining 46 points. But Team Saxo Bank’s move into the top five is the biggest change.
Top nations remain in same order
Spain has made a minimal increase in its overall lead in the nations ranking, gaining 18 points on Italy. Spain now has a total of 1046, 226 more than closest pursuers Italy and increasing the likelihood that it will remain on top of the classification throughout the entire 2010 season.
The four countries that follow Spain - Italy, Belgium, Australia and the United States - remain in the same order. The biggest difference, though, is that largely thanks to Lance Armstrong’s performance in Switzerland, the USA have gained 73 points, and are now less than 200 behind fourth placed Australia.
Switzerland, on the other hand, has improved enormously following its home race, jumping five spots from 11th to sixth with 315 points. That’s the biggest gain of any country in the top ten, even if Germany, partly due to Team HTC-Columbia rider Tony Martin’s victory in the final time trial, has now moved up from tenth to seventh
The next race to count in the UCI’s World Rankings, the Tour de France which starts on July 3rd, seems certain to produce more major changes, with top favourite Alberto Contador’s performance one of the key factors.
Fourth in the individual rankings, Contador’s result in July will also have a big knock-on effect in the teams ranking, where his Astana squad leads, and in the nations ranking, where his country, Spain, is in the number one spot. Watch this space.
Photo - Tour de Suisse podium : Lance Armstrong (USA) - Frank Schleck (LUX) - Jakob Fuglsang (DEN)
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