WorldTour rankings determine Worlds road race allocations

The allocations for the men's road race at the UCI Road World Championships in Florence are shaping up, with August 15th as the deadline for countries to be awarded their spots for the marquee event. The top 10 countries in the WorldTour rankings will be able to field 9 riders, so long as they have at least that many in the individual rankings.

After the Tour of Poland, only five countries have qualified to field full teams: nations rankings leaders Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, and France.

At the Tour of Poland, the unthinkable happened for Belgium, as the country dropped to 11th in the nations rankings, thanks in part to a poorly timed mechanical that hit RadioShack's Ben Hermans in the time trial, dropping him from 9th overall to 12th.

"After two kilometers my chain came off in the final time trial," Hermans told Het Nieuwsblad. "I stopped for 20 seconds, and getting back up to speed you lose quickly half a minute. Eventually I was 22 seconds short of ninth place. This is a great pity for myself and for Belgium. The twelfth place in the standings gives as many points as 100th: zero."

The United States is in a similar position, having only achieved 12th overall in the rankings for countries. The Americans were 18 points out of the top 10, while Belgium missed by 8. However, Belgium will get an additional spot for outgoing world champion Philippe Gilbert, while the USA will get only six starters.

Great Britain, with WorldTour leader Christopher Froome, was third in the nations rankings, but with eight riders in the individual standings they will only be able to start eight, while Colombia, with just four riders in the rankings, may start six under the UCI's rules.

Similarly, Slovakia looks set to field six even though only Peter Sagan and Peter Velits earned WorldTour points.

The full rules for qualification can be found on the UCI website.

WorldTour rankings as of August 3, 2013