Porte extends individual WorldTour lead

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Overall victory at the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya and several days in the race leaders jersey has seen Richie Porte add to his individual WorldTour points tally, becoming the first rider this season to reach the 300 point mark. The Australian sits on 303 points with teammate Geraint Thomas second on 184 points. Several hours after the Spanish stage race concluded with circuit stage around Barcelona, the second WorldTour one-day race of the weekend, Gent-Wevelgem, was concluding in Belgium where Luca Paolini (Katusha) took his first win since 2013.  

There were no changes to top of the team and nation rankings with Team Sky and Australia leading the standings respectively.

While there were 80 points on offer for the winners of E3 Harelbeke and Gent-Wevelgem, 100 points was the prize for overall victory in Catalunya, ensuring Porte's second stage win of 2015 kept him atop the individual standings. Thomas' win at E3 and third place at Gent-Wevelgem meant he was the biggest points collector at the two Belgian one-day races, moving him into second place on the standings.

Porte's victory continued his good start to the season which has seen him finish second overall at the Tour Down Under and win a second career Paris-Nice title as he looks to challenge for victory at the Giro d'Italia in May.

"I didn’t expect to win after the catastrophe of the first stage," Porte, the first Australian ever to win Catalunya, told Spanish TV, "and it’s a dream result to get this. I’m really looking forward, too, to the Giro now."

Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r-La Mondiale) moved up to the third on the standings after finishing third at the Volta a Catalunya while Rigoberto Uran (Etixx-Quick Step) also moved up the standings due to his fifth place overall.

Due to large early-season point hauls by Porte and Thomas, Team Sky hold a commanding 134 point lead over Etixx-Quick Step with the British team having already registered 594 points. Team Katusha are the only other team to have scored more than 300 points with Alexander Kristoff and Paolini their major contributors.

At the other end of the table, Cannondale-Garmin are last of the 17 WorldTour teams on 17 points with IAM Cycling second last on 20 points.

Australia continues its status as the only country to have led the nation standings with a current tally of 578 points. Italy is in second place with 359 points with Spain in third place on 337 points. Colombia and the Netherlands are the other two countries to have recorded more than 200 points.

The next WorldTour event is the Tour of Flanders on April 5, followed by the Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco from April 6-11

WorldTour standings