Gesink and Hesjedal climb UCI world rankings

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Strong performances in the two new ProTour races in Canada have lifted Robert Gesink (Rabobank) and Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Transitions) in the UCI’s latest world rankings, with the Dutchman now a possible contender for overall success in the season-long ranking.

Gesink’s lone victory in the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal on Sunday moved him to fourth overall in the individual classification. He has a total of 369 points, just 21 points behind third-placed Cadel Evans (BMC).

Alberto Contador (Astana) remains top-ranked rider with 482 points, but he is unlikely to score any more points this season and so second-placed Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha), who has 428 points and is currently riding strongly in the Vuelta, is also a real contender to move past Contador, after points scored in the Vuelta are included in the ranking next Monday.

Hesjedal narrowly missed out on two chances to take a big win on home soil in Canada, but he has rocketed up through the UCI’s ProTour rankings, from twelfth to sixth and now has a total of 307 points.

Promising young rider Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Doimo) also continued his rapid progress through the ranks with a second place behind Gesink in Montreal, where Hesjedal finished third. The talented Slovakian moved up from 78th to 37th place and has a total of 111 points.

Astana lead team ranking

Astana remains in control in the team ranking, although the results from Canada have sparked some major shifts below them in the ranking.

Gesink’s Rabobank team is now second overall, overtaking Team Saxo Bank and simultaneously whittling down the gap between Astana and their closest pursuer to 82 points. Astana has 980 points, Rabobank has 898 and Saxo Bank has 851.

Team Katusha and Liquigas-Doimo dropped down the rankings to sixth and seventh but both squads have riders well-placed overall in the Vuelta and so could well reverse their slide. Team standings in the UCI world ranking will be important in 2011 as it determines automatic selection for the top 17 nations in the major races on the calendar.

The one classification which is now almost definitively decided is the nations ranking, with Spain adding another 22 points after the Canadian races, to reach a total of 1,666. Spain remains the only country to have broken the thousand-point barrier, with Italy remaining on 856 points and third-placed Belgium also unchanged with 849.

World Rankings as of September 13, 2010