Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) has climbed to fifth on the IG Markets Pro Cycling Index following his victories at Gent Wevlegem and the Tour of Flanders.
The two victories brought Tornado Tom a 250 point bonus, that could double to 500 if he wins Paris-Roubaix on Sunday (8).
Fabian Cancellara’s misfortune at the Ronde, where he crashed at a feed zone with just 60 kilometres remaining, is recorded in a drop of three places to ninth on the Index. The RadioShack-Nissan-Trek captain will be unable to defend points gained from second in last year’s Queen of the Classics, and will drop further.
The Index’ emphasis on defending points won from the previous year’s edition of the race means that the winner of the 2011 Ronde van Vlaanderen, Nick Nuyens, ruled out with an ankle injury from defending his title, drops out of the 200.
Boonen’s dramatic return to form can be traced in his relative point scores this year and last. He has accrued 2776 points since January, thanks to overall victory in the Tour of Qatar, a stage at Paris-Nice, and wins at E3 Harelbeke, Gent Wevelgem, and Flanders. He scored just 1095 points in the whole of 2011.
Philippe Gilbert continues to struggle in 2012, finishing just 75th at the Ronde. The Belgian champion retains top spot on the Index, but with points to defend from his victories at last year’s hat-trick of wins in the Ardennes Classic, will need to return to his best within three weeks to remain number one.
Peter Sagan’s superb recent form (a stage win at Tirreno-Adriatico, second at Gent-Wevelegem, and fifth at last Sunday’s Ronde) has carried him to sixth on the Index, a further indication of the 22-year-old’s huge potential. He climbs two places, improving on an eighth place that had made him the youngest rider to crack the Index’ top 10.
Boonen’s return to form has rather overshadowed the recent performances of 2008 world road race champion, Alessandro Ballan. Perhaps viewed earlier as reinforcement in a BMC squad containing Gilbert and Hushovd, his third in Flanders, in addition to top 10 finishes at Milan-San Remo and E3 Harelbeke, have moved him to 77th on the Index.
Sunday’s victory for Boonen was the most significant for Omega Pharma-QuickStep, but only the latest in a sequence that has brought almost continual success since the team’s debut in January. Sylvain Chavanel added to the tally last week with overall victory in the Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde, ranked Tier 3 on the Index. The win moves Chavanel to 30th in the rankings, making him the highest ranked Frenchman after 19th placed Thomas Voeckler.
Katusha’s Daniel Moreno returns to the top 20, a position largely due to his impressive consistency, and victory in another Tier 3 race, the GP Miguel Indurain. Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) falls to 14th after failing to defend his 2011 victory in the same event.
The quarterly country rankings, calculated from the aggregate scores of a nation’s nine highest ranked riders, place Belgium, Spain, and Italy in the top three places. The different methods used to calculate country rankings by the UCI and by IG Markets, means Great Britain is ranked fourth by IG and ninth by the sport’s governing body.
BMC Racing remains the highest ranked team on the Index, with Sky Pro Cycling second. Nineteen riders from the British team are ranked in the Index’ top 200, with Mark Cavendish (fourth) and seventh-placed Bradley Wiggins the highest ranked.
Team SaxoBank prop up the team rankings in 20th place. The Danish squad, stripped of the points lost from the banning of former team leader, Alberto Contador, recently survived a call from the UCI executive for the team to be stripped of its WorldTour status. It’s position in the Index, behind two teams from the UCI’s second tier Pro Continental class, reflect the difficult times experienced by the Danish team.
