Alberto Contador still tops WorldTour despite crashing out of Tour de France

Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) may have crashed out of the Tour de France, but that has not stopped him fending off rival Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) to retain his lead in the UCI WorldTour ranking.

Despite his Tour win on Sunday, Nibali still trails Contador in the season-long UCI WorldTour ranking, though he has moved up from 40th position to second in the table. Contador is still benefiting from points gained by winning Tirreno–Adriatico and the Tour of the Basque Country, as well as second places in Volta a Catalunya and Critérium du Dauphiné.

Alejandro Valverde (Movsitar) occupies the third spot in the ranking, with Tour runner-up Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r) elevating himself to fifth.

Spain is the top nation, with Movistar occupying the position as best team.

The latest rankings are not so good for Great Britain, which slips down the nation ranking from eighth to ninth place. Having topped the table at various points in previous seasons, Team Sky are now down in 10th place in the team ranking after a Tour de France they will wish to forget.

Britain's highest-placed rider remains Chris Froome (Sky), though he now slips from 15th to 21st place after quitting the Tour due to injury. Britain's only Tour finisher, Geraint Thomas (Sky), is in 30th place whilst sprinter Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma) is in a lowly 56th place after crashing out of the Tour and not taking part in the Giro d'Italia. A ride in the Vuelta a Espana is now in doubt for the Manxman as he recovers from shoulder surgery.

The next counting event in the 2014 WorldTour is the Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian in Spain on August 2.

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.

UCI WorldTour rankings as at July 28
Individual rider ranking

1. Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo 407 points

2. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana 392 points

3. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar 382 points

4. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar 345 points

5. Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) Ag2r 300 points

6. Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Trek Factory Racing 274 points

7. Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge 268 points

8. Rui Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida 268 points

9. Peter Sagan (Svk) Cannondale 257 points

10. Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-QuickStep 257 points

Other

21. Chris Froome (GBr) Sky 163 points

30. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Sky 125 points

41. Ben Swift (GBr) Sky 91 points

Nation ranking

1. Spain 1035 points

2. Italy 898 points

3. France 895 points

Other

9. Great Britain 485 points

Team ranking

1. Movistar 901 points

2. Ag2r 860 points

3. Omega Pharma-QuickStep 842 points

Other

10. Sky 488 points