Simon Gerrans tops UCI World Ranking after Tour Down Under victory

Australian Simon Gerrans leaps to the top of the latest UCI World Ranking after his victory in the Tour Down Under on Sunday - Top British rider is Stephen Williams
Nigel Wynn

Simon Gerrans has raced to the top of the latest UCI World Ranking after his victory in the Tour Down Under in Australia on Sunday.

The Australian Orica-GreenEdge rider secured his career fourth Tour Down Under win, amassing enough points to take to the top of the Union Cycliste Internationale’s newly-introduced league table of the world’s best riders.

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TdU runner-up Richie Porte (BMC Racing) is second in the ranking, with fellow Australian Jay McCarthy (Tinkoff) in third. Tour de San Luis winner Dayer Quintana (Movistar) enters the ranking in 14th position.

>>> Simon Gerrans wins Tour Down Under as Ewan takes final sprint

The highest-placed British rider in the ranking is Stephen Williams (JLT Condor) in 77th spot after he placed third overall in the New Zealand Cycle Classic on Sunday. Sky sprinter Ben Swift is in 85th place after placing second on a stage of the TdU.

The UCI’s new World Ranking was first published on January 11 and is published every Monday. It takes account of points allocated from races in the UCI International Road Calendar, which includes events in the WorldTour, Continental Circuits, World and National Championships, Olympic Games and Continental Games.

Watch: Tour Down Under stage six highlights

The ranking includes performances from the previous 12 months, so will not be fully reflective until it has been running for a calendar year.

It does not replace the existing UCI WorldTour Ranking, which will continue. Unsurprisingly, Gerrans also tops the WorldTour ranking having won the only race in that calendar so far.

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UCI World Ranking (published January 24 2016)

1. Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge 670 points
2. Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing 485 points
3. Jay McCarthy (Aus) Tinkoff 370 points
4. Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky 350 points
5. King Lok Cheung (HKg) 320 points
6. Michael Woods (Can) Cannondale 245 points
7. Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Lampre-Merida 200 points
8. Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar 175 points
9. Adrien Petit (Fra) Direct Énergie 173 points
10. Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Trek Factory Racing 150 points
Other
77. Stephen Williams (GBr) JLT Condor 26 points