Movistar claim WorldTour team title

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Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) had already sealed his third WorldTour title in four years by winning the Tour of Lombardy last week but there was some final movement in the upper reaches of the classification following the Tour of Beijing-long competition -the last race in the season, with Movistar managing to move past Team Sky to win the team classification.

Dan Martin (Garmin-Sharp) finished the Tour of Beijing in second place overall, and the resultant haul of points was enough to see him overtake Nairo Quintana and Fabian Cancellara to finish the campaign in sixth place overall in the individual rankings, his best WorldTour position yet.

Newly-crowned world champion Rui Costa (Movistar) ends his season in ninth place thanks to his fourth place finish at the Tour of Bejing, while teammate Benat Intxausti leapt up 34 places  following his final overall victory in China. There was no change at the very top of the standings, with neither Rodriguez, second-placed Chris Froome (Team Sky) nor third-placed Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) lining up in Beijing. Rodriguez topped the individual ranking with a total of 607 points. Froome scored 587 and Valverde 540.

Rui Costa and Intxausti’s gains in Beijing also helped Movistar move ahead of Team Sky and claim the team classification for the first time since 2008, when it operated under the Caisse d’Épargne banner. Katusha finished the year in third place in the standings. Movistar scored 1610 points, beating Team Sky by 49 points. 

For the seventh time in the nine seasons of the WorldTour/ProTour system, Spain finished atop the national standings, over 800 points clear of Italy and emerging nation Colombia.

2013 WorldTour - final standings