Evans climbs to World Rankings lead

Australian Cadel Evans climbed into the lead in UCI's World Rankings after the disqualification of leader Alejandro Valverde. The Spaniard was suspended by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Monday for his involvement in the Operacion Puerto doping affair, and stripped of his results since January 1, 2010.

"[Valverde] has been disqualified from all competitions in which he has competed since the beginning of the year and all points allocated to him have been removed. Mr Valverde must also return all prizes received. The UCI World Ranking has been modified accordingly," a UCI statement read.

Evans moved up from fourth place in the rankings after taking fifth overall at the Giro d'Italia.

Giro winner Ivan Basso debuted on the rankings in seventh, accumulating 206 points over the course of the race. His fellow Italian Michele Scarponi moved from 24th to 8th thanks to his fourth place performances in his home Grand Tour, while third place finisher Vincenzo Nibali climbed from 63rd to 13th.

David Arroyo's second place finish was good enough to place him in 15th overall and helped to boost Spain's dominance of the country rankings as well as help secure Caisse d'Epargne's lead on the team rankings.

Italy and Liquigas also rocketed up the standings thanks to the double podium placings of Basso and Nibali in the Giro d'Italia. Italy moved up from fourth to second place in nations, and Liquigas shot to second from 10th.

The UCI World Rankings tally points from ProTour and Historic races.

World Rankings as of May 31, 2010