Pauwels new leader of UCI 'cross rankings

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Kevin Pauwels (Sunweb-Revor) has steadily narrowed the gap to Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet), the leader of the UCI cyclo-cross standings through the first four tabulations, and in the latest rankings released on Tuesday Pauwels has finally surpassed Nys and moved into the lead.

Only one week has passed since the previous rankings were released and for the elite men the most important race was the fourth round of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup, held in Igorre, Spain on Sunday. Pauwels soloed to victory ahead of Nys and compatriot Tom Meeusen (Telenet-Fidea) and the points earned for the victory were enough for Pauwels to take over the UCI 'cross rankings lead with 2,290 points. Nys dropped one position to second, at 2,220 points while world champion Zdenek Stybar moved from fourth to third with 1,680 points.

Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus), still sidelined with a wrist injury from being hit by a car, did not compete and dropped from third to fourth. French champion Francis Mourey (FDJ) held steady in fifth overall with 1,372 points.

Jeremy Powers (Rapha Focus) remains as the top-ranked North American rider and maintained his 11th place position in the standings with 874 points.

With five riders in the top-seven of the elite men's standings, Belgium continues its complete domination of the nations rankings with 6,034 points. France remains in second overall with 2,953 points while the Czech Republic holds third place at 2,730 points.

US champion Katie Compton (Rabobank-Giant Off-road Team) has led the elite women's rankings all season and continues her reign with 1,900 points. The Igorre, Spain World Cup round was for elite men only, so only a handful of C2-ranked 'cross races for women took place since the previous week's rankings were released. As a results, the changes in the women's rankings were slight.

The only movement in the elite women's top-20 was world champion Marianne Vos (Nederland Bloeit) moving up one position into third, with Czech champion Katerina Nash (Luna Pro Team) dropping one position into fourth, and France's Lucie Chainel-Lefevre and the USA's Amy Dombroski (Crank Brothers Racing) swapping positions at 20th and 21st overall.

The Netherlands continues to lead the women's nations ranking with 4,403 points followed by the United States in second at 3,151 points. Great Britain edged ahead of the Czech Republic into third overall with 2,884 points, 30 more than the Czech women.

It was also a relatively light week of racing for the Junior men and the top-seven overall remained unchanged, led by Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel with 150 points. Germany's Silvio Herklotz won on home soil on Sunday at the Frankfurter Rad-Cross and jumped from 12th to eighth overall.

The Netherlands also leads the junior men's nations standings with 183 points, 40 more than Belgium and 43 more than France.