Simon Yates to be crowned WorldTour champion ahead of Peter Sagan
By Patrick Fletcher published
No change at the top of the ranking after Il Lombardia and Tour of Turkey
Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) is set to be crowned 2018 WorldTour champion at the end of this week. The Briton remains at the top of the rankings after Il Lombardia and the Tour of Turkey wrapped up this weekend, with this week's Tour of Guangxi the final event on the WorldTour calendar.
There was no change in the top 10 after the weekend, with Yates, who has led the way since winning the Vuelta a España in the middle of September, standing ahead of Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar). Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) round out the top five.
Neither Yates nor Sagan have raced at WorldTour level since the Vuelta. Valverde, on the other hand, rode Il Lombardia on Saturday but made no significant inroads as he finished 11th. Even if he'd have won the race, the 500-point haul would still have left him just shy of Yates.
Yates stands on 3,072 points, with Sagan on 2,992 and Valverde on 2,609. None of them are racing the Tour of Guangxi, so there are no more opportunities for the standings to chance. In fact, no one in the top 15 is racing in China this week, so the only changes that can be expected are minor rises for Trek-Segafredo's Jasper Stuyven (19th), FDJ's Arnaud Démare (20th), and BMC's Richie Porte (25th). For Stuyven or Démare to crack the top 10 they'd have to win every stage and the overall.
The big riser thanks to this weekend's action was Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), whose 500 points for his Il Lombardia victory catapulted him 17 places into 17th overall. Runner-up Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) jumped some 23 places to go 35th, while third-placed Dylan Teuns (BMC Racing) leaped 19 places into 37th. Fourth-placed Rigoberto Urán (EF-Drapac) moved 18 places to sit just outside the top 50, and fifth-placed Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) was fifth at Lombardia and rose seven places into 18th.
Over at the Tour of Turkey, Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) finished fourth overall to move up nine places into 31st, while Alexey Lutsenko (Astana), Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe), Nathan Haas (Katusha-Alpecin) all scored well at the race to make advances in the standings, though all outside the top 50.
Yates amassed the bulk of his lead at the Vuelta, though he did score well throughout the season. He won three stages at the Giro d'Italia and was successful in week-long races, with a stage win and second overall at Paris-Nice, a stage win and fourth overall at the Volta a Catalunya, and a stage win and second overall at the Tour de Pologne.
Yates has the WorldTour classification wrapped up but he sits second in the 'World Ranking', which works on a rolling 12-month basis, rather than from the start to the end of the season. Valverde leads those standings, with Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors) in third.
Back in the WorldTour rankings, the teams classification is set to be won be Quick-Step Floors, who have an unassailable lead over Team Sky in second and Bora-Hansgrohe in third.
The Tour of Guangxi begins on Tuesday and finishes on Sunday, after which the WorldTour awards will be given out at the UCI Cycling Gala.
UCI 2018 WorldTour Ranking
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott | 3072 | pts |
2 | Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe | 2992 | |
3 | Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team | 2609 | |
4 | Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky | 2534 | |
5 | Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team | 2442 | |
6 | Elia Viviani (Ita) Quick-Step Floors | 2399 | |
7 | Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb | 2393 | |
8 | Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Floors | 2161 | |
9 | Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky | 1976 | |
10 | Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb | 1975 | |
11 | Primoz Roglic (Slo) LottoNL-Jumbo | 1951 | |
12 | Michael Valgren (Den) Astana Pro Team | 1803 | |
13 | Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team | 1610 | |
14 | Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | 1530 | |
15 | Oliver Naesen (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale | 1516 | |
16 | Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky | 1515 | |
17 | Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ | 1500 | |
18 | Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 1480 | |
19 | Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo | 1456 | |
20 | Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo | 1448 | |
21 | Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ | 1447 | |
22 | Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team | 1417 | |
23 | Ion Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida | 1403 | |
24 | Niki Terpstra (Ned) Quick-Step Floors | 1380 | |
25 | Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team | 1368 | |
26 | Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors | 1324 | |
27 | Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates | 1323 | |
28 | Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team | 1209 | |
29 | Egan Bernal (Col) Team Sky | 1204 | |
30 | Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott | 1137 | |
31 | Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates | 1127 | |
32 | Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates | 1101 | |
33 | Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 1095 | |
34 | Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott | 1072 | |
35 | Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida | 1046 | |
36 | Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Quick-Step Floors | 1021 | |
37 | Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team | 991 | |
38 | Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida | 987 | |
39 | Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Quick-Step Floors | 980 | |
40 | Mikel Landa (Spa) Movistar Team | 956 | |
41 | Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe | 929 | |
42 | George Bennett (NZl) LottoNL-Jumbo | 906 | |
43 | Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo | 904 | |
44 | Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale | 858 | |
45 | Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team | 842 | |
46 | Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Mitchelton-Scott | 842 | |
47 | Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida | 842 | |
48 | Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe | 841 | |
49 | Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team | 807 | |
50 | Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | 798 | |
51 | Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale | 797 | |
52 | Davide Formolo (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe | 779 | |
53 | Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team | 775 | |
54 | Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Movistar Team | 774 | |
55 | Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe | 750 | |
56 | Bob Jungels (Lux) Quick-Step Floors | 741 | |
57 | Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale | 728 | |
58 | Gorka Izaguirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida | 698 | |
59 | Matej Mohoric (Slo) Bahrain-Merida | 686 | |
60 | Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates | 669 | |
61 | Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe | 664 | |
62 | Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb | 640 | |
63 | Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Bahrain-Merida | 629 | |
64 | Caleb Ewan (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott | 619 | |
65 | Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb | 618 | |
66 | Timo Roosen (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo | 608 | |
67 | John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo | 577 | |
68 | Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team | 564 | |
69 | Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe | 560 | |
70 | Fernando Gaviria (Col) Quick-Step Floors | 537 | |
71 | Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo | 520 | |
72 | Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Quick-Step Floors | 512 | |
73 | Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin | 508 | |
74 | Yves Lampaert (Bel) Quick-Step Floors | 497 | |
75 | Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data | 497 | |
76 | Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Dimension Data | 462 | |
77 | Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin | 462 | |
78 | Rudy Molard (Fra) FDJ | 459 | |
79 | Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe | 458 | |
80 | Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo | 457 | |
81 | Silvan Dillier (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale | 455 | |
82 | Daniel Martinez (Col) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale | 454 | |
83 | Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 448 | |
84 | Rúben Guerreiro (Por) Trek-Segafredo | 443 | |
85 | Matteo Trentin (Ita) Mitchelton-Scott | 442 | |
86 | Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick-Step Floors | 416 | |
87 | Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Sunweb | 413 | |
88 | Robert Gesink (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo | 406 | |
89 | Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team | 404 | |
90 | Anthony Roux (Fra) FDJ | 397 | |
91 | Magnus Cort Nielsen (Den) Astana Pro Team | 395 | |
92 | Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky | 391 | |
93 | Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team | 388 | |
94 | Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) BMC Racing Team | 387 | |
95 | Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 349 | |
96 | Omar Fraile (Spa) Astana Pro Team | 349 | |
97 | Sacha Modolo (Ita) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale | 343 | |
98 | Stefan Küng (Swi) BMC Racing Team | 336 | |
99 | David De La Cruz (Spa) Team Sky | 332 | |
100 | Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Team Sky | 328 |
# | Team Name | Result | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Quick-Step Floors | 13048 | pts |
2 | Team Sky | 9818 | |
3 | Bora-Hansgrohe | 8838 | |
4 | BMC Racing Team | 8749 | |
5 | Mitchelton-Scott | 8488 | |
6 | Astana Pro Team | 7513 | |
7 | Bahrain-Merida | 7394 | |
8 | Movistar Team | 7218 | |
9 | Team Sunweb | 7216 | |
10 | Team LottoNl-Jumbo | 6998 | |
11 | AG2R La Mondiale | 6344 | |
12 | UAE Team Emirates | 5430 | |
13 | Trek-Segafredo | 5392 | |
14 | Groupama-FDJ | 5092 | |
15 | Lotto Soudal | 4684 | |
16 | Team EF Education First - Drapac p/b Cannondale | 4246 | |
17 | Katusha-Alpecin | 2727 | |
18 | Dimension Data | 1896 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team | 4168 | pts |
2 | Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott | 3160 | |
3 | Elia Viviani (Ita) Quick-Step Floors | 3106 | |
4 | Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe | 3092 | |
5 | Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Floors | 2991 | |
6 | Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky | 2777 | |
7 | Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team | 2744 | |
8 | Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb | 2693 | |
9 | Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 2663 | |
10 | Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | 2545 |

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Deputy Editor - Europe. Patrick is an NCTJ-trained journalist who has seven years’ experience covering professional cycling. He has a modern languages degree from Durham University and has been able to put it to some use in what is a multi-lingual sport, with a particular focus on French and Spanish-speaking riders. After joining Cyclingnews as a staff writer on the back of work experience, Patrick became Features Editor in 2018 and oversaw significant growth in the site’s long-form and in-depth output. Since 2021 he has been Deputy Editor - Europe, taking more responsibility for the site’s content as a whole, while still writing and - despite a pandemic-induced hiatus - travelling to races around the world. Away from cycling, Patrick spends most of his time playing or watching other forms of sport - football, tennis, trail running, darts, to name a few, but he draws the line at rugby.