A surprising but well-deserved victory for Russia’s Ilnur Zakarin in the Tour de Romandie, combined with a runner’s up spot overall for team-mate Simon Spilak, has helped propel Team Katusha into second place in the UCI WorldTour rankings.

The leader since Romandie’s sole summit finish at Champex-Lac on stage five, the 25-year-old Russian, racing his first season in the UCI WorldTour, sealed the biggest victory of his career in Sunday’s wet, technical 17.3 kilometre time trial through the streets of Lausanne.

Despite needing a bike change mid-race, Zakarin finished third in the time trial, 13 seconds down on stage winner Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickStep), who claimed his first UCI WorldTour victory of the season.

Overall Zakarin and Spilak netted the two top spots, with the third place taken by the 2013 and 2014 winner of the Tour of Romandie, Britain’s Chris Froome (Team Sky).

Froome and Sky had looked to be well placed to repeat Froome’s previous two victories in the Tour of Romandie after the British squad, led home by Geraint Thomas, won Tuesday’s opening team time trial by a fraction of a second ahead of Orica-GreenEdge.

Michael Albasini then gave Orica-GreenEdge back-to-back stage wins as well as moving into the lead ahead of Thomas, whilst the overall contenders bided their time and waited for the key mountain stage on Saturday to Champex-Lac before making their moves.

Featuring four first category climbs, Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) soared away late on the final climb to take the victory, but Zakarin’s second place ensured he took over the overall lead ahead of Albasini Then his strong performance on Sunday’s race gave the former Russian National Time Trial Champion the biggest victory of his career.

Whilst Zakarin has gained no less than 40 places overall in the UCI WorldTour individual rankings, surging from 61st to 21st, the top five riders of the UCI WorldTour classification and their points totals remain entirely unchanged compared to the previous UCI WorldTour race, Liège-Bastogne-Liège. 

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) therefore continues to lead with 303 points, Richie Porte (Team Sky) remains in second place with 303 points and Alexander Kristoff (Team Katusha) stays in third with 237 points.

Further down the UCI WorldTour classification, though, former World Champion Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) moves up a spot into sixth place, Nairo Quintana (Movistar) - eighth in Romandie - is now also eighth in the overall rankings, whilst Rigoberto Urán (Etixx-Quick Step), building steadily for his Giro d’Italia bid, has moved into tenth spot in the classification.

The UCI WorldTour teams classification remains almost equally stable, with no changes in the top three. Whilst Spain lead with 807 points and second-placed Australia have gained just one point to increase their total to 639, third placed Colombia have significantly closed the gap behind. After Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the South American nation had 472 points - now they have 547 points. France, though, have made a considerable advance, moving up from seventh to fourth with 452 points, whilst Great Britain ease up a place, from eighth into seventh.

The UCI WorldTour teams classification, though, is a much more unstable affair. Although Etixx-Quick Step still lead with 835 points, Team Katusha have made a significant gain, moving into second spot with 828 points, just seven points back. Britain’s Team Sky slide back a spot to third, and Movistar Team drop to fourth, with Orica-GreenEdge, partly thanks to Michael Albasini’s strong rides in the Tour of Romandie, moving up to sixth place with 378 points.

Stage racing will continue to dominate the UCI WorldTour calendar for the foreseeable future, with the first Grand Tour of the season, the Giro d’Italia, starting on May 9th.