Great Britain move to 6th in UCI WorldTour Ranking, will field eight riders in Copenhagen

Great Britain will qualify eight riders for next month’s UCI Road World Championships in Copenhagen following publication of the latest UCI WorldTour Rankings today, which is also the cut-off date for qualification for the event. The country moved one place up the rankings to sixth.

As we reported last week, according to the UCI qualification rules for the men’s road race in Copenhagen, the ten leading countries in the latest ranking can enter 14 riders, with nine to start.

“However,” the rules continue, “a nation with fewer than nine riders classified in the individual UCI WorldTour ranking on 15 August 2011 shall start the number of riders that are classified.”

As a result, Mark Cavendish, winner of the London-Surrey Cycle Classic yesterday in the British national colours, will have seven, not eight, team mates to support him as he targets the rainbow jersey.

Spain continue to top the national ranking, with the only change in the top ten being Great Britain swapping places with Luxembourg, who drop to seventh.

Tour de France winner Cadel Evans remains top of the individual ranking, but his lead over Philippe Gilbert has been slashed to just six points after the Eneco Tour, in which the Belgian competed.

Evans has in all likelihood ridden his last ranking race for this season, and it’s therefore Gilbert who is likely to top the ranking come the end of the season following what has to date been a stellar year for the Omega Pharma-Lotto rider.

Leopard Trek remain at the top of the team classification, with BMC Racing second.
You can find the full ranking on the UCI website.