Rodriguez closes the gap on Contador in UCI rankings

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Tour de France winner Alberto Contador (Astana) still leads the UCI World Rankings that were issued today but fellow Spaniard Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) has closed the gap to 54 points after finishing fifth in Saturday's Clasica San Sebastian.

Contador scored 220 points at the Tour de France and jumped to the top of the ranking with a total of 482 points. However he is unlikely to ride other major race this season and so is not expected to score more points. Rodriguez scored 30 points for his fifth place at the Clasica San Sebastian and now has 428 points, making him the biggest favourite to top the rankings at the end of the season. Rodriguez has won stage five of the Vuelta a Pais Vasco and stage 12 of the Tour de France. He is likely to score more points in the second half of the season and at the Vuelta Espana.

Cadel Evans (BMC) is third in the individual ranking with 390 point, Clasica San Sebastian winner Luis Leon Sanchez (Caisse d'Epargne) moved up from fifth to fourth and now has a total of 363 points, with Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) fifth with 304 points.

Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) was the only big mover in the individual ranking, moving up from tenth to sixth with 283 points thanks to this second place behind Sanchez.

Team rankings vital for 2011 race invitations

Vinokourov's Astana team continues to dominate the team ranking and now has a total of 944 point. Saxo Bank is second with 790 points and Katusha is third with 739 points.

With the 2010 team rankings important for securing invitations to the three Grand Tours and major one-day classics on the Historic calendar in 2011, points scored in the final races of the season could be vital.

Under a new agreement between the UCI and the big-three race organisers ASO, RCS Sport and Unipublic, 17 teams will automatically be invited to races next year. Team Sky is currently in 17th place but with the future of several other teams is in doubt, their place in the top echelon of the sport seems secure. Below them, Ag2r-La Mondiale, Cofidis, BBox Bouygues Telecom, Vacansoleil and Francaise des Jeux are fighting for the final places.

Thanks to the success of Contador, Rodriguez and Sanchez, Spain still leads the UCI World Ranking for nations.

Spain has a total of 1644 points, almost double the total of Italy in second, that has 856 points. Belgium is third with 849 points, Australia is fourth with 725 points and the USA is fifth 568 points.

The next update of the World Ranking will be published after this week's Tour of Poland.