Kristoff now fourth on WorldTour rankings after Milan-San Remo win

Eighth in last year's Milan-San Remo, 12 months on Alexander Kristoff (Team Katusha) has triumphed in the first Monument of 2014, out-sprinting a group of 27 riders in what is easily his biggest win to date. As a result, Kristoff jumps to fourth overall on the latest UCI WorldTour standings.

A bronze medallist in the 2012 Olympics, former national champion and already a winner of a stage of the Tour of Oman in 2014, Kristoff timed his final charge for the line in the rain-soaked streets of San Remo to perfection. Shooting past Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing), second for a third time, and Team Sky's Ben Swift - who placed third - Kristoff said his victory represented a new high point in his career.

"[Teammate] Luca Paolini helped me enormously in the finale, but I really didn't think more than a top ten finish was possible," Kristoff said. "Even if a sprint after 300 kilometres is very different to a normal sprint, I couldn't believe I'd won until I crossed the line. It's absolutely fantastic."

While the top three riders in the UCI WorldTour - Carlos Alberto Betancur (AG2R La Mondiale) with 114, Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) with 114 and Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) with 112 - remain with unchanged placings and unchanged points totals, Kristoff has gained no fewer than 59 spots and is now fourth with 101 points.

He is not the only Classics rider or sprinter to make significant progress towards the highest placings thanks to Milan-San Remo: Cancellara now lies in seventh with 84 points, Swift takes his first UCI WorldTour points to move into 12th, and Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma - Quick Step), who was fifth in the race, moves up from 33rd to 17th.

In the nations classification, Australia remains in the lead with 336 points, but Spain has closed the gap and moved up from third to second overall with 266 points. Colombia dropped from second to third with 248 points.

Unsurprising, Norway is the biggest mover in the WorldTour nations ranking, up from 22nd to eighth, while Great Britain, gaining five places to go up to the sixth place overall, has also made considerable progress.

A familiar name is back in the top spot of the teams classification. Movistar, the 2013 WorldTour team classification winner, takes over the lead from AG2R La Mondiale with 218 points. The French squad is now second at 216 points, while Lampre-Merida remains in third with 191 points. Trek Factory Racing and Team Sky, meanwhile, both profit from Milan-San Remo to leapfrog past the opposition - Trek Factory Racing into fifth with 168 points and Team Sky, also with 168, in sixth.

The impact of the Classics on the UCI WorldTour has already been considerable, even though the bulk of one-day racing this spring is yet to come. And in five days time, at the E3 Harelbeke in Belgium, the Classics racers will have their next big opportunity to gain both points and places in the UCI WorldTour.