Boonen takes over WorldTour rankings

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Following his impressive third victory of the Tour of Flanders on Sunday, Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) has taken over the leadership in the WorldTour rankings. Just nine days after he took a record breaking fifth win in the E-3 Prijs Vlaanderen-Harelbeke, and a week after his third victory in Gent-Wevelgem, the Belgian gathered enough points to relegate Simon Gerrans (GreenEdge) to second.

Seventh in the UCI's top league after the E-3 Prijs Vlaanderen-Harelbeke and fourth after Gent-Wevelgem, Boonen's score increased to 266 points with his Tour of Flanders victory, while Gerrans, who held the lead first after winning the Tour Down Under and again after his fine victory in Milano-San Remo, remained at 210. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) dropped from second to third with 182 points.

However, Nibali's advantage over his talented young teammate Peter Sagan, a hugely impressive fifth in Sunday's race, amounts only to three points. Sagan's latest top result enables him to move up the ranks from sixth to fourth, with 179 points.

Between Nibali's score and the upcoming Sagan, the Italian Liquigas-Cannondale squad has also gained enough points to oust British Sky ProCycling from the top spot of the teams ranking. Boonen's Omega Pharma-QuickStep team is now third overall, three places higher than a week ago. Two former leaders of the ranking, GreenEdge and RadioShack-Nissan have dropped to fourth and fifth spots, respectively.

However, the difference between Liquigas-Cannondale and fifth placed RadioShack-Nissan is a mere 61 points, making the battle for supremacy in the ranking undecided. But the teams will not have to wait long to see if they can amass more points: the Vuelta al País Vasco stage race, the next round of the UCI WorldTour, begins on April 2nd.

In the nations classification, Belgium has soared to top spot ahead of long-standing leaders Spain, followed by Italy. However, the Belgians' advantage is minimal - just six points, 467 to Spain's 461. Thanks to Alessandro Ballan's podium spot in Flanders, Italy has a comfortable margin of 119 over fourth-placed Australia. This means the battle for the nations ranking looks increasingly like a three-way duel.