Rodriguez closes the gap on Contador in UCI rankings

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Alberto Contador and Joaquin Rodriguez before the start(Image credit: Sirotti)

Tour de France winner Alberto Contador (Astana) still leads the UCI World Rankings that were issued today but fellow Spaniard Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) has closed the gap to 54 points after finishing fifth in Saturday's Clasica San Sebastian.

Contador scored 220 points at the Tour de France and jumped to the top of the ranking with a total of 482 points. However he is unlikely to ride other major race this season and so is not expected to score more points. Rodriguez scored 30 points for his fifth place at the Clasica San Sebastian and now has 428 points, making him the biggest favourite to top the rankings at the end of the season. Rodriguez has won stage five of the Vuelta a Pais Vasco and stage 12 of the Tour de France. He is likely to score more points in the second half of the season and at the Vuelta Espana.

Under a new agreement between the UCI and the big-three race organisers ASO, RCS Sport and Unipublic, 17 teams will automatically be invited to races next year. Team Sky is currently in 17th place but with the future of several other teams is in doubt, their place in the top echelon of the sport seems secure. Below them, Ag2r-La Mondiale, Cofidis, BBox Bouygues Telecom, Vacansoleil and Francaise des Jeux are fighting for the final places.

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Elite Men UCI World Rankings
1	Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana	482	pts
2	Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Team Katusha	428	Row 1 - Cell 3
3	Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team	390	Row 2 - Cell 3
4	Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne	363	Row 3 - Cell 3
5	Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto	304	Row 4 - Cell 3
6	Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana	283	Row 5 - Cell 3
7	Andy Schleck (Lux) Saxo Bank	258	Row 6 - Cell 3
8	Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team Saxo Bank	250	Row 7 - Cell 3
9	Samuel Sanchez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi	239	Row 8 - Cell 3
10	Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank	239	Row 9 - Cell 3
11	Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Transitions	217	Row 10 - Cell 3
12	Chris Horner (USA) RadioShack	216	Row 11 - Cell 3
13	Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step	216	Row 12 - Cell 3
14	Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank	213	Row 13 - Cell 3
15	Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo	206	Row 14 - Cell 3
16	Michele Scarponi (Ita) Androni Giocattoli	203	Row 15 - Cell 3
17	Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas-Doimo	188	Row 16 - Cell 3
18	Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Team Radioshack	174	Row 17 - Cell 3
19	Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto	169	Row 18 - Cell 3
20	Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini	163	Row 19 - Cell 3

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Teams
1	Astana	944	pts
2	Team Saxo Bank	790	Row 1 - Cell 3
3	Team Katusha	739	Row 2 - Cell 3
4	Liquigas-Doimo	634	Row 3 - Cell 3
5	Omega Pharma-Lotto	621	Row 4 - Cell 3
6	Rabobank	619	Row 5 - Cell 3
7	HTC - Columbia	595	Row 6 - Cell 3
8	Caisse d'Epargne	586	Row 7 - Cell 3
9	Team RadioShack	562	Row 8 - Cell 3
10	Bmc Racing Team	553	Row 9 - Cell 3
11	Cervelo Test Team	464	Row 10 - Cell 3
12	Euskaltel - Euskadi	425	Row 11 - Cell 3
13	Lampre-Farnese Vini	420	Row 12 - Cell 3
14	Garmin - Transitions	415	Row 13 - Cell 3
15	Quick Step	309	Row 14 - Cell 3
16	Androni Giocattoli	243	Row 15 - Cell 3
17	Team Sky	231	Row 16 - Cell 3
18	Ag2R La Mondiale	192	Row 17 - Cell 3
19	Cofidis	148	Row 18 - Cell 3
20	Bbox Bouygues Telecom	147	Row 19 - Cell 3
21	Acqua & Sapone	134	Row 20 - Cell 3
22	Colnago - Csf Inox	119	Row 21 - Cell 3
23	Vacansoleil	115	Row 22 - Cell 3
24	Team Milram	106	Row 23 - Cell 3
25	Française Des Jeux	88	Row 24 - Cell 3

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Nations
1	Spain	1644	pts
2	Italy	856	Row 1 - Cell 3
3	Belgium	849	Row 2 - Cell 3
4	Australia	725	Row 3 - Cell 3
5	United States	568	Row 4 - Cell 3
6	Russia	423	Row 5 - Cell 3
7	Kazakhstan	400	Row 6 - Cell 3
8	Luxembourg	398	Row 7 - Cell 3
9	Switzerland	355	Row 8 - Cell 3
10	Germany	343	Row 9 - Cell 3
11	Netherlands	317	Row 10 - Cell 3
12	France	311	Row 11 - Cell 3
13	Slovenia	294	Row 12 - Cell 3
14	Great Britain	255	Row 13 - Cell 3
15	Canada	217	Row 14 - Cell 3
16	Czech Republic	188	Row 15 - Cell 3
17	Norway	178	Row 16 - Cell 3
18	New Zealand	139	Row 17 - Cell 3
19	Estonia	111	Row 18 - Cell 3
20	Denmark	102	Row 19 - Cell 3
21	Ireland	87	Row 20 - Cell 3
22	Austria	83	Row 21 - Cell 3
23	Portugal	74	Row 22 - Cell 3
24	Colombia	53	Row 23 - Cell 3
25	Slovakia	43	Row 24 - Cell 3

Stephen is the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and CyclingWeekly, among other publications.