The victories in Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Flèche Wallonne have propelled Alejandro Valverde to the top of the UCI WorldTour rankings.
The Movistar rider moved up from second, dropping former leader Richie Porte (Sky) to the runner-up position. Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) and John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin) remained as third and fourth, respectively. Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) jumped from ninth to fifth.
Etixx-QuickStep stayed the number one team, with Sky second. Movistar moved up to third, dropping Katusha to fourth, while BMC remained in fifth place.
The change in individual rankings was reflected in the nation rankings, as Spain took over the top place, dropping Australia to second. They were followed by Colombia, Netherlands and Italy.
Kwiatkowski would like to stay with Etixx-QuickStep
World champion Michal Kwiatkowski has signalled that he would like to stay with Etixx-QuickStep after his contract expires the end of this season. Teammates Zdenek Stybar and young sensation Julian Alaphillipe also indicated their willingness to re-sign with the Belgian team.
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Kwiatkowski will probably receive many offers, but said that "After Liège I will listen to my manager Giuseppe Acquadro. I want to stay," he told Nieuwsblad.be. "I am taking a step forward here year after year. I feel better and better in the team and more and more supported."
Alaphillipe, who finished second in both Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, hopes for an extension of his contract. "The French teams want me, but I feel very good here."
"There is almost no better team," Stybar said. "I have no stress here."
Langeveld to test Richmond Worlds course
Sebastian Langeveld will make a quick trip to Richmond this week to test out the Worlds course. The Cannondale-Garmin rider, along with coach Johan Laments, will concentrate on the cobblestone section.
"It was actually supposed to be Niki Terpstra and Lars Boom who would go," he told telesport.nl. "But it's not easy to squeeze a trip to America into our busy schedules. Still, I think it's important to ride the course myself, because often you hear a variety of opinions."
