Second place at Milan-San Remo in Italy on Saturday for Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) has elevated the road race World Champion to pole position in the UCI WorldTour ranking, deposing former leader Richie Porte (BMC Racing).
Few would dispute that Sagan has been a dominant force in top-level professional racing so far this season, and he now leads the WorldTour ranking by a 60 point margin over Milan-San Remo winner Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky). Slovakian star Sagan was overall winner of the 2016 WorldTour.
Kwiatkowski leaps from 17th in the ranking to second after beating Sagan in a very closely-fought sprint at the end of 291 kilometres of Milan-San Remo. The Polish rider adds the San Remo victory to his win in Strade Bianche on March 4.
>>> Analysis: Peter Sagan provides the thrills despite coming up short at Milan-San Remo
Former WorldTour leader Porte drops down to third place, with Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe (QuickStep-Floors) moving up to fourth spot after his third place in San Remo.
Welshman Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) is Britain's highest-placed rider in the current ranking, in 20th position.
Porte's BMC team still top the WorldTour team ranking, but Quick-Step Floors and Team Sky are now very close in second and third.
The next counting events in the men's 2017 WorldTour are the Volta a Catalunya stage race in Spain, running from March 20-26, and three races in Belgium: Dwars Door Vlaanderen (March 22), E3 Harelbeke (March 24) and Ghent-Wevelgem (March 26).
>>> WorldTour 2017: Men's and women's events calendar and latest news
Three rounds of the women's 2017 WorldTour have now been completed, with Italian Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-Honda) continuing to top the ranking after Sunday's Trofeo Alfredo Binda in Italy. The next round in the women's calendar is Liège-Bastogne-Liège on April 23.
WorldTour points are awarded to riders who place highly in races, top classifications and wear the leader's jersey, with the ranking updated after the completion of events for individual riders and teams.
Points are awarded on a scale relating to the difficulty and prestige of an event. For example, winning the Tour de France overall gives you far more points that winning the Eneco Tour overall.
Men’s UCI WorldTour ranking 2017 (on March 18)
1. Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 890 points
2. Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky 820 pts
3. Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing with 812 pts
4. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Floors 785 pts
5. Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing 653 pts
6. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar 620 pts
7. Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky 607 pts
8. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing 550 pts
9. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb 541 pts
10. Alberto Contador (Esp) Trek-Segafredo 495 pts
Other
18. Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors 335 pts
20. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 320 pts
Men’s team ranking
1. BMC Racing 2354 points
2. Orica-Scott 2324 pts
3. Bora-Hansgrohe 2268 pts
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