Richie Porte, Geraint Thomas and Sky dominate WorldTour rankings

In-form Welshman Geraint Thomas has moved up to second spot in the UCI WorldTour ranking after winning Friday's E3 Harelbeke and placing third at Ghent-Wevelgem on Sunday.

Thomas now sits behind Sky team-mate Richie Porte in the ranking, after the Australian strengthened his lead with an overall victory in the Volta a Catalunya on Sunday. Previously, Porte won Paris-Nice in March and placed second in the Tour Down Under in January.

The Sky duo's results means that British squad is now the runaway leader in the team ranking with 525 points compared to second-placed Etixx-QuickStep with 394 points. Katusha is third with 303 points.

Australia still leads the nation ranking ahead of Italy, with Spain moving up to third. Great Britain is sixth, largely thanks to Thomas's points. Only Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) has also contributed to GB's tally.

Geraint Thomas: E3 Harelbeke win is best of my career

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.

Alejandro Valverde (Spain – Movistar) topped the 2014 WorldTour ranking; top British rider was Chris Froome (Sky) in seventh.

The next WorldTour events are: the Tour of Flanders (April 5), Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco (April 6-11) and Paris-Roubaix (April 12).

UCI WorldTour rankings (as at March 29 after Ghent-Wevelgem and Volta a Catalunya)

Rider ranking

1. Richie Porte (Aus) Sky 303 points

2. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Sky 184 points

3. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Ag2r 136 points

4. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha 133 points

5. Rigoberto Uran (Col) Etixx-QuickStep 133 points

6. Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing 114 points

7. Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo 114 points

8. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar 106 points

9. John Degenkolb (Ger) Giant-Alpecin 102 points

10. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar 98 points

…

45. Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-GreenEdge 10 points

Team ranking

1. Sky 525 points

2. Etixx-QuickStep 394 points

3. Katusha 303 points

4. Movistar 298 points

5. BMC Racing 240 points

Nation ranking

1. Australia 578 points

2. Italy 359 points

3. Spain 337 points

…

6. Great Britain 194 points