Cofidis rider Jens Keukeleire leads the UCI Europe Tour ranking. The 21-year-old Belgian had a dream start to his professional career, taking wins in the GP Le Samyn, a stage and the overall in the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen and the Nokere Koerse.
Keukeleire has already 325 points on his account, which gives him a 104-point lead over teammate Samuel Dumoulin. Dumoulin led the ranking in its February update. Roberto Ferrari (De Rosa-Stac Plastic) is third with 160 points, after winning the Giro del Friuli race.
Naturally, Cofidis leads the team ranking. The French outfit has gathered 728 points and is ahead of Vacansoleil, which has 517 points. De Rosa-Stac Plastic team sits in third, with 380 points – two points ahead of Topsport-Vlaanderen. 49 teams are ranked in the season-long competition.
France tops the nations’ standings with 1028 points, ahead of Belgium (1019 points) and Italy (954).
Next races on the Europe Tour are the Circuit Cycliste Sarthe-Pays de la Loire stage race, which started today. The Klasika Primavera one-day race in Spain will follow on April 11, before the peloton heads to Turkey for the the Presidential Cycling Tour (April 11-18) and Spain for the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon (April 14-18).
The Giro del Trentino in northern Italy and multiple one-day races on April 24 and 25 across Europe end the month and are the last chance to score points for the April UCI Europe Tour ranking.