Albert, Compton lead UCI rankings

Katie Compton (Planet Bike) with one lap to go.

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Canadian nationals points not included

American Katie Compton cruised to the top of the UCI rankings with a seven-for-seven winning streak that began at CrossVegas and continued through the Planet Bike races in Wisconsin, a huge win at the Treviso World Cup, and a trio of victories in Ohio. With the win in Italy, Compton became the first American ever to lead the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup.

The win also netted the Planet Bike rider 300 points, and she padded her lead to 420 with the other wins. She leads Dutchwoman Daphny Van Den Brand by 140 points, with France's Christel Ferrier-Bruneau a further 40 points in arrears.

Compton, will resume her racing after a brief rest at her home in Colorado Springs, Colorado with the Blue Sky in Boulder, Colorado at the end of the month before leaving for Europe to resume her World Cup campaign.

Compton believes she can defend her lead in both the World Cup overall and the UCI overall points lead until the end of the season. "It's a great start to the season and I'm really motivated to win the World Cup overall for my new sponsor, Planet Bike. The fitness is good and the bike is dialed in," said Compton.

The men's standings are dominated by World Champion Niels Albert, who nearly went undefeated this season until Sven Nys got the better of him at the Superprestige race in Ruddervoorde. Albert holds a commanding lead over Czech Zdenek Stybar after dual World Cup wins in Treviso and Plzen.

Stybar has been on the podium in every race so far this season, and is 135 points behind Albert, with Belgian Klaas Vantornout in third 190 points down on Albert.

Jonathan Page is the top-ranked American rider after a string of early wins in the US. The Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com trio Jeremy Powers, Jamey Driscoll and Tim Johnson sit at 13th, 16th and 20th, while US champion Ryan Trebon is 23rd overall.

Vanishing points in Canada

The UCI's published rankings caused some consternation for new Canadian Champion Geoff Kabush, who noticed that the 100 points he should have been awarded for winning the national championships earlier this month hadn't been added to his total.

"I noticed on the new UCI rankings the points weren't included and thought the results just hadn't been submitted. Then I checked and the Nationals results were listed on the UCI website," Kabush told Cyclingnews.

The Canadian Cycling association is awaiting confirmation, he said, but indicated the UCI may be holding the points until January 10, 2010, when the European contries hold their championships.

Adam Myerson, former member of the International Association of Cyclo-Cross Organizers said that this idea had been discussed previously by the UCI. "That was definitely discussed ... as a future plan, but I wasn't sure if it was being implemented," Myerson said. His four-year term on the panel ended this month.

"The logic was that while the UCI is happy to allow certain nations permission to have their nationals on different dates, those
nations shouldn't benefit from the gain in UCI points before countries holding their nationals on the traditional date.

"If that's being implemented now in Canada's case, then you can be sure it will be implemented for the US as well."

Kabush was not pleased with the idea. "It is somewhat annoying as the points are very important for start position and [the UCI] seem to be fabricating this rule out of thin air. Nationals, Continental Champs, for cyclo-cross and other disciplines happen at different times and are always credited immediately."

In Kabush's case, the 120 points awarded for winning a national championship would have put him from 45th overall at 70 points to 20th overall with 190, eight points ahead of American Tim Johnson.

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