Norwegian Alexander Kristoff took his 20th victory of the 2015 season on Sunday, winning the GP Plouay in France, and propelling his Katusha team to the top of the UCI WorldTour rankings, unseating British squad Sky.
Kristoff took the win ahead of Simone Ponzi (Southeast) in second and Ramunas Navardauskas (Cannondale-Garmin) in third. His 80 points for winning Plouay mean that Kristoff moves from fifth to fourth in the individual WorldTour ranking. Kristoff's most notable 2015 WorldTour victory was the Tour of Flanders in April, and he has also won stages of Paris-Nice and the Tour de Suisse.
Spaniard Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) still leads the ranking ahead of Tour de France winner and top-placed British rider Chris Froome (Sky), with Giro d'Italia winner Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) in third. Welshman Geraint Thomas (Sky) is ninth.
Katusha now collectively have 1270 points to Sky's 1246, with Movistar in third with 1242 - and incredibly close trio at the top.
Alexander Kristoff wins the 2015 GP Plouay - and Katusha are now at the top of the WorldTour team ranking
(Image credit: Watson)
Spain remains top nation in the ranking ahead of Great Britain and Colombia.
The next events in the 2015 WorldTour calendar are the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal on September 11 and 13. The currently running Vuelta a España concludes on September 13.
WorldTour points are awarded for one-day race, tour stage and stage race overall finishing positions for counting events. 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.
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Valverde topped the 2014 WorldTour ranking; top British rider was Froome in seventh.
UCI WorldTour rankings
Rider ranking
1. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar 532 points
2. Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky 422 points
3. Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo 407 points
4. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha 403 points
5. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar 365 points
6. Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Katusha 322 points
7. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing 322 points
8. Richie Porte (Aus) Team Sky 314 points
9. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 283 points
10. Rui Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida 274 points
…
31. Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-GreenEdge 148 points
41. Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-GreenEdge 90 points
99. Mark Cavendish (GBr) Etixx-QuickStep 30 points
110. Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Sky 20 points
147. Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Team Sky 6 points
Team ranking
1. Katusha 1270 points
2. Team Sky 1246 points
3. Movistar 1242 points
4. Etixx-QuickStep 908 points
5. Tinkoff-Saxo 791 points
Nation ranking
1. Spain 1582 points
2. Great Britain 973 points
3. Colombia 814 points
4. Italy 769 points
5. Belgium 766 points
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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.
