Cadel Evans retains lead and Philippe Gilbert moves up in world ranking - Cycling News
Australian professional cyclist Cadel Evans has retained his top spot of Union Cycliste Internationale World Tour table with 574 points.
After winning the Clasica San Sebastian race Philippe Gilbert improved his performance and moved to second place with 92 points behind Cadel.
Philippe told the media, “I’m longing for a bit of a rest, I’ve pinned a number on my back almost every day for a month. When the opportunity presents itself you must seize it, you can’t end every season as number one.”
Gilbert hopes that he can take first place in world ranking and explained, “I’m now in second place, 92 points behind Cadel Evans, After the Eneco Tour, I still have Hamburg [Vattenfall Cyclassics – ed], Plouay [GP Ouest-France – ed], the two World Tour
events in Canada [Québec and Montréal – ed], and Lombardy; that should be enough.”
Philippe showed a good effort as he won eleven events so far in this season including overall Tour of Belgium, National road race Championship, Amstel Gold race, La Fleche Wallonne and Montepaschi Strade Bianche.
Gilbert’s team Omega Pharma Lotto came fourth in the team rankings and in the nation standing his country Belgium was in fourth place.
The three time world champion Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank Sungard) made a strong pursuit against the Belgian but had to be content with the third spot despite his best attempts. He took 471 points and Michele Scarponi was in fourth place with 348 points.
Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver gained points and took the fifth place with 328 points and Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez failed to gain a point and slipped from fifth to sixth place with 307 points.
In the teams classification it remained static while Leopard Trek team was in first place with 949 points and BMC racing team was in second spot with 844 points. The HTC-highroad team grabbed fourth spot with 764 points.
National standing has also remained the same, as Spain was in first spot with 1306 points and Italy was in second spot with 1041 points. Australia grabbed third spot with 1018 points ahead of Belgium.
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