UCI ProTour rankings released

Following the completion of Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico, the UCI has published the first complete set of ProTour rankings. Although in principle, the ProTour points scoring system is heavily biased against sprinters, who would normally gain most of their points through winning stages rather than placing highly on GC, the fact that sprinters cleaned up in Tirreno-Adriatico has tipped the balance their way.

As previously reported, Oscar Freire (Rabobank) is the leader of the ProTour with 53 points, after winning three stages and the overall in Tirreno-Adriatico. He is closely followed by Bobby Julich, who won 50 points for the overall classification of Paris-Nice, then Alessandro Petacchi (43 pts), who was second overall in Tirreno and won three stages, and Alejandro Valverde (41 pts), who was second in Paris-Nice and won one stage.

In the teams rankings, Liberty Seguros-Würth is on top with 36 points, ahead of Discovery Channel, Fassa Bortolo, and Rabobank. After Freire and Valverde's successes, Spain is the number one ranked nation with 149 points, ahead of traditional cycling superpower Italy on 100, with Germany (87) and the USA (70) next in line.

ProTour rankings as of March 16, 2005