Australia best nation but Dutch Rabobank team leads team rankings
Cameron Meyer (Garmin-Cervélo) has taken an early lead in the International Cycling Union (UCI) flagship WorldTour series rankings. The 23-year-old Australian’s stage and overall victory in the recent Santos Tour Down Under have scored him 106 points in the series putting him in the lead of the year-long competition.
Meyer won the Australian time trial championships on January 11th and, although that race does not count towards the WorldTour, he managed to hold on to his good form to take a breakaway victory on the race’s fourth stage into Strathalbyn; the time gap over the peloton, plus the bonus for the stage win, meant that Meyer hung on to take the victory over stage 1 and points competition winner Matt Goss (HTC-Highroad).
Goss’ stage win and second place overall netted him 93 points, and second place in the rankings, while double stage winner and third overall Ben Swift (Team Sky) netted 82 points and third place in the series. Fourth and fifth places in the race, Michael Matthews and Laurens Ten Dam (both Rabobank) complete the top five with 70 and 52 points respectively.
Meyer, Goss and Matthews put Australia in the lead but Rabobank is best team
Unsurprisingly, the domination of the individual rankings by Australian riders, after their biggest race of the year, is reflected in the national rankings. Australia tops the classification with 286 points, well clear of Great Britain in second place whose 82 points all come from Swift’s results. Similarly, the Netherlands has 52 points from its sole scorer Ten Dam.
In the team competition it is the presence of two Rabobank riders, Matthews and Ten Dam, in the individual top five, plus an extra two earned by Graeme Brown, that takes the Dutch team to the top of the rankings. Meyer’s points, plus one from Matt Wilson gives Garmin-Cervélo 107 points and second place. In third place is HTC-Highroad, with Goss the only scorer for the American team.
UCI WorldTour ranking January 24th, 2011
1. Cameron Meyer (Aus) Garmin-Cervélo 106pts
2. Matt Goss (Aus) HTC-Highroad 93
3. Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky 82
4. Michael Matthews (Aus) Rabobank 70
5. Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Rabobank 52
6. Francisco Ventoso (Spa) Movistar 46
7. André Greipel (Ger) OmegaPharma-Lotto 38
8. Biel Kadri (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 20
9. Allan Davis (Aus) Astana 10
10. Robbie McEwen (Aus) RadioShack 7
National Ranking
1. Australia 286pts
2. Great Britain 82
3. Netherlands 52
4. Spain 47
5. Germany 38
Team Ranking
1. Rabobank (Ned) 124pts
2. Garmin-Cervélo (USA) 107
3. HTC-Highroad (USA) 93
4. Team Sky (GBr) 88
5. Movistar (Spa) 47