Rodriguez is now the World No. 1
Today, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) released the updated World Rankings, now including the results of the Vuelta a Espana. With his fourth place finish overall in the Vuelta, former runner-up Joaquim Rodriguez has moved ahead of Tour de France
winner Alberto Contador to take the number one spot in the World Rankings.The winner of the Spanish Grand Tour, Vincenzo Nibali, was the biggest mover on the list, jumping from 26th to sixth place.
"With the results of the Vuelta, I'm gonna be the world's number one rider and I don't think that will change by the end of the cycling season," said Rodriguez to
Cyclingnews before the final stage of the Vuelta. "We're close to the end of the season and Alberto Contador won't race anymore."
Contador will be sitting out the rest of the season and Luis Leon Sanchez and Cadel Evans, in third and fourth respectively, are too far behind Rodriguez to catch him. The Paris-Tours and the World Championships are not part of the world calendar, leaving
only the Giro di Lombardia remaining where a rider can earn points in the rankings. The winner of that tour will earn 100 points, but Sanchez, who moved from fifth to third in the Vuelta, is 148 points behind Rodriguez and Evans is 161 behind.
"This is a great result for me," said Rodriguez. "It shows how good I've been this year … my first year with Katusha. I think next year we'll know how to work with each other even better … my dream is to win Liège-Bastogne-Liège."
With the top three places all held by Spaniards, Spain leads in the national classification with almost double the points of the second-placed nation, Italy. Vuelta runner-up Ezequiel Mosquera, who entered the race with zero points, now stands in 31st
in the World Rankings, and third-place podium finisher, Peter Velits, has moved from 176th to 38th overall.
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