Alejandro Valverde was the man to beat in the Ardennes this year, At Fleche Wallonne he won a third career title
(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
It's all Etixx-Quick Step at the front
(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha) wins the overall at Tour de Romandie
(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha) wins the overall title at the Tour de Romandie
(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Simon Spilak (Katusha)
(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
There were no changes to the individual, team and nation WorldTour standings following the conclusion of the Tour de Romandie, won by Katusha’s Ilnur Zakarin ahead of teammate Simon Spilak and Chris Froome (Team Sky), with Alejandro Valverde, Etixx-Quick Step and Spain all remaining top of the rankings.
The top-five riders all remained unchanged after the Swiss stage race with Valverde (Movistar) on 338 points leading Richie Porte (Team Sky) by 35 points. Alexander Kristoff (237 points), John Degenkolb (232 points) and Joaquim Rodríguez (230 points) round out the top five. Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) now occupies sixth place, swapping places with Michal Kwiatkowski, after the Tour de Romandie while Nairo Quintana (eighth) and Rigoberto Uran (Tenth) also improved their standings. Zakarin's overall victory sees the Russian climb from 61st to 21st in the standings while Spilak improved from 25th to 13th to further boost Katusha's team tally.
In the team standings, Etixx-Quick Step remains top with 835 points although its lead over Katusha has shrunk considerably after the Tour de Romandie. The Russian team move up two places on the standings with a haul of 828 points, over 100 more than third placed Team Sky on 723 points. Movistar (684 points) and BMC (411 points) round out the top five.
IAM Cycling, Lotto-Jumbo and Cannondale-Garmin remain the only teams with less than 100 points after 14 WorldTour events.
Spain continues to be a stand out leader in the nation standings with 807 points while Australia occupies second with 639 points after leading the standings from the Tour Down Under to La Flèche Wallonne. Colombia holds onto third place with 547 points while France move up from seventh to fourth with 452 points, knocking the Netherlands down into fifth. Italy, Great Britain, Belgium, Germany and Norway complete the top ten.
The next WorldTour event is the first grand tour of the year, the Giro d'Italia, which starts on Saturday May 9 with a team time trial in San Lorenzo. The overall winner of the Giro will be awarded 170 points, 130 points for second and 100 points for third place.
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