Valverde tops the ProTour rankings

The second staging of the UCI's ProTour has finished up with Spanish rider Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) topping the rankings with 285 points. Valverde won this year's Liège-Bastogne-Liège and La Fleche Wallonne, finished second in the Vuelta a España, and Vuelta al Pais Vasco, and although he crashed out of the Tour de France, it was more than enough to seal the victory.

In second place was Valverde's compatriot Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel), who wound up with 213 points after placing second in the Giro di Lombardia. He and Valverde combined to put Spain on top of the nations rankings, beating Italy by 157 points. Luxembourger Frank Schleck (CSC) put in a good ride in Lombardy to finish seventh in Lombardy and move ahead of Cadel Evans (Davitamon-Lotto) on the ProTour rankings.

In the teams rankings, CSC was the top performer on 388 points, ahead of Caisse d'Epargne on 350 and Rabobank on 346.

Final ProTour rankings for 2006