2010 World Rankings complete

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Philippe Gilbert's second straight success in the last European ProTour race of the 2010 season, the Giro di Lombardia, could not prevent Joaquin Rodriguez (Team Katusha) from wrapping up the overall number one spot in the UCI's individual World Rankings for 2010.

Rodriguez completed the season with 551 points after winning the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya overall, as well as taking stages in the Tour de France, Vuelta a España and Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco. He also finished second in La Flèche Wallonne, fourth overall in the Vuelta a España and Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco, fifth in the Clasica San Sebastián, seventh in Paris-Nice, eighth overall in the Tour de France and ninth in the Tour de Suisse.

While Rodriguez's impressive season-long performance earned him the number one spot, Astana's Alberto Contador finally retained his second place ahead of Gilbert with 482 points, pending the outcome of the case concerning his adverse analytical finding for Clenbuterol at the Tour de France.

Nonetheless, Gilbert still managed to push Spain's Luis Leon Sanchez (Caisse d'Epargne) down to fourth overall, and 2009 World Champion Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) was forced to settle for fifth.

Surprise in the teams ranking

Of the three UCI World Rankings, the most dramatic upheaval caused by the Giro di Lombardia was in the teams classifications, which saw Team Saxo Bank and Liquigas-Doimo push Astana down from first to third at the last possible opportunity.

Team Saxo Bank rider Jakob Fuglsang's fourth place ahead of Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Doimo) in Lombardia, taken in a two-way sprint, proved critical for this last-minute power-shift. Team Saxo Bank finally clinched the classification with 1005 points, a mere nine points ahead of Liquigas-Doimo, with Astana dropping to third with 986.

Meanwhile, Michele Scarponi's 2nd place finish in Como was enough to push Androni Giocattoli into the top 17 ranked teams in the world. Under the policy in place for 2010, this would be enough secure the team a place in next year's Tour de France. However, the full selection criteria have yet to be outlined for 2011, and it remains to be seen what impact the UCI's recently announced World Tour system might ultimately have on Tour de France invitations.

Nations ranking as expected

The nations classification was the least affected by Lombardia, with the only change in positions in the top 20 coming for Denmark. Thanks to Fuglsang again, the Danes gained three places to edge into 20th spot overall.

At the top end of the ranking, however, there were no such changes, with Spain already confirmed as the outright winners, and in fact increasing their already massive advantage at Lombardia to end the year with 1,908 points.

Spain's total placed them 707 points ahead of second-placed Italy with 1,201. And even though Belgium gained 100 points at Lombardia, they still remained in third place with 982.

Final 2010 World Rankings