Boonen stretches WorldTour lead after Roubaix win
Tom Boonen has extended his lead in the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) WorldTour after taking four wins in counting events in the season-long ranking.
Cobbles king Boonen has won four counting events in recent weeks: E3 Harelbeke, Ghent-Wevelgem, Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. The Belgian rider's unprecendented run of form means that the Omega Pharma-QuickStep man has amassed 366 points.
His nearest rival, Tour Down Under and Milan-San Remo winner Simon Gerrans, has 210 points. Samuel Sanchez sits in third spot with 208 points after winning the Vuelta al Pais Vasco.
Highest-placed Brit Bradley Wiggins (Sky) slips out of the top 10 to 11th. The Paris-Nice winner has 112 points.
Boonen's Omega Pharma-QuickStep squad dominate the ranking-by-team with 547 points ahead of second-placed Katusha with 382 points. Sky is in fourth spot with 366 points.
Spain continue to head up the nation ranking, ahead of Belgium and Italy. Great Britain lies in 10th.
The next couting event will be the Amstel Gold Race on April 15.
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The UCI's WorldTour Ranking is compiled using a points system, with points awarded for one-day race, tour stage and stage race overall finishing positions for events in the UCI's WorldTour.
The amount of points awarded depends on the ranking of the event. For example, winning the Tour de France overall gives a rider twice as many points as winning the Eneco Tour overall.
Belgian Philippe Gilbert topped last year's WorldTour ranking with 718 points. Bradley Wiggins finished in eighth place with 289 points.
Related links
UCI WorldTour calendar 2012
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Nigel Wynn worked as associate editor on CyclingWeekly.com, he worked almost single-handedly on the Cycling Weekly website in its early days. His passion for cycling, his writing and his creativity, as well as his hard work and dedication, were the original driving force behind the website’s success. Without him, CyclingWeekly.com would certainly not exist on the size and scale that it enjoys today. Nigel sadly passed away, following a brave battle with a cancer-related illness, in 2018. He was a highly valued colleague, and more importantly, an exceptional person to work with - his presence is sorely missed.
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