Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) maintains the number one spot of the UCI WorldTour individual rankings and is within sight of overall victory for 2015 after Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal) won a rain soaked duel against Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) to clinch the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal on Sunday.

As the rain teemed down on the finish and the bunch closed in remorselessly on the two breakaways, Wellens out powered the British rider at the summit of the last, steady 400m ascent to the finish in Montréal. Yates, the winner of the Clásica Ciclista San Sebastián this August, and Wellens, the winner of the Eneco Tour, had gone clear late on the Mont Royal Park’s series of climbs and then had worked together until the last rise towards the finish. After a drawn-out tussle for supremacy, Wellens streaked clear and claimed the victory, his first in a one-day Classic. Third was Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida), the winner of the same race in 2011 and second in 2014, leading in a much-depleted group of chasers.

The combined effect of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal and the Vuelta a España on the 2015 UCI WorldTour rankings has been notable, even if Movistar’s Alejandro Valverde remains steadily in command of the individual classification: he now sits on 615 points after taking seventh overall and a stage win in the Spanish Grand Tour. Previously on 532 points, Valverde looks set to win the classification, even prior to the final Monument of the season, Il Lombardia on October 4th. But the changes further down the ranking begin as soon as the second place overall garnered by Joaquim Rodriguez (Team Katusha), second in the Vuelta, who has gained no fewer than five places in the UCI Ranking. Purito now has 474 points, whilst Valverde’s team-mate Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team), runner-up in the Tour de France and winner of Tirreno-Adriatico in the spring and now fourth in the Vuelta,  moves up into third place from fifth with 457 points. 

Whilst Alexander Kristoff (Team Katusha), winner of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec on Friday and briefly in second place as a result, falls back to fourth again, just four points down on Quintana with 453 points, the Vuelta a España’s overall winner Fabio Aru has made the biggest gain of all the top names, shooting up the rankings to fifth.

Previously 14th overall but now holding 448 points, Aru’s dramatic advance sees Tour de France winner Chris Froome (Team Sky), drop to sixth with 430 points, whilst Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) also loses out and has slid to seventh spot with 407 points. In yet more changes in the top ten overall in the UCI WorldTour individual rankings, thanks to his podium finish in Canada, Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) has gained two places and moves back into ninth position.

In a similar pattern both in the UCI WorldTour teams rankings and nations rankings, the respective leaders remain unchanged, but there are considerable alterations further down the hierarchy.

In the teams ranking, Team Katusha continue to rule the roost with a total which has rocketed from 1,320 points to 1,526. Movistar Team gain a place and are now in second with 1,419 points whilst Team Sky drop down to third. Etixx Quick Step remain in fourth with 988 points but Tinkoff-Saxo and Astana Pro Team both advance a spot, pushing BMC Racing down to eighth. As if that were not enough changes, Team Giant-Alpecin ease their way into the top ten with a new total of 649 points.

The UCI WorldTour nations ranking also has seen Spain’s already unbeatable lead reinforced yet again, with the number one country now totalling 1,833 points. With outright victory in the 2015 season nothing more than a formality for Spain, the hierarchy behind them is far less stable. Colombia are now second overall, albeit with 1,069 points, whilst Great Britain slip to third, with 1,049. The Netherlands are on the rise, jumping from eighth to sixth place with a new total of 848 points. It remains to be seen if Il Lombardia can produce more changes before the curtain finally falls on the 2015 UCI WorldTour.

Rider ranking

1. Alejandro Valverde - Movistar Team 615
2. Joaquim Rodriguez - Team Katusha 474
3. Nairo Quintana - Movistar Team 457
4. Alexander Kristoff - Team Katusha 453
5. Fabio Aru - Astana Pro Team 448
6. Christopher Froome - Team Sky 430
7. Alberto Contador - Tinkoff - Saxo 407
8. Greg van Avermaet - BMC Racing Team 324
9. Rui Costa - Lampre - Merida 324
10. Richie Porte - Team Sky 314
11. John Degenkolb - Team Giant - Alpecin 302
12. Rigoberto Uran - Etixx - Quick Step 301
13. Geraint Thomas - Team Sky 283
14. Tom Dumoulin - Team Giant - Alpecin 271
15. Simon Spilak - Team Katusha 269
16. Peter Sagan - Tinkoff - Saxo 257
17. Thibaut Pinot - FDJ 249
18. Domenico Pozzovivo - AG2R La Mondiale 242
19. Michael Matthews - Orica GreenEDGE 221
20. Bauke Mollema - Trek Factory Racing 212
21. Romain Bardet - AG2R La Mondiale 206
22. Andre Greipel - Lotto Soudal 203
23. Tim Wellens - Lotto Soudal 195
24. Michal Kwiatkowski - Etixx - Quick Step 195
25. Ilnur Zakarin - Team Katusha 194
26. Julian Alaphilippe - Etixx - Quick Step 180
27. Phillippe Gilbert - BMC Racing Team 179
28. Ion Izagirre - Movistar Team 173
29. Zdeněk Stybar - Etixx - Quick Step 172
30. Rafal Majka - Tinkoff - Saxo 165
31. Mikel Landa - Astana Pro Team 164
32. Sergio Luis Henao - Team Sky 157
33. Adam Yates - Orica GreenEDGE 150
34. Simon Yates - Orica GreenEDGE 148
35. Niki Terpstra - Etixx - Quick Step 140
36. Vincenzo Nibali - Astana Pro Team 138
37. Daniel Moreno - Team Katusha 136
38. Rohan Dennis - BMC Racing Team 135
39. Johan Estaban Chavez - Orica GreenEDGE 114
40. Robert Gesink - Team LottoNL-Jumbo 114
41. Wilco Kelderman - Team LottoNL-Jumbo 111
42. Bart de Clercq - Lotto Soudal 106
43. Ryder Hesjedal - Team Cannondale - Garmin 102
44. Lars Boom - Astana Pro Team 102
45. Tiesj Benoot - Lotto Soudal 101
46. Diego Ulissi - Lampre - Merida 98
47. Tony Gallopin - Lotto Soudal 97
48. Tejay Van Garderen - BMC Racing Team 96
49. Andrey Amador - Movistar Team 93
50. Daniel Martin - Team Cannondale - Garmin 85

Teams ranking
1. Team Katusha 1.526

2. Movistar Team 1.419
3. team Sky 1.254
4. Etixx-QuickStep 988
5. Tinkoff-Saxo 925
6. Astana 916
7. BMC Racing Team 810
8. Lotto-Soudal 702
9. Orica-GreenEdge 695
10. Team Giant-Alpecin 653
11. AG2r La Mondiale 587
12. Lampre-Merida 566
13. Trek Factory Racing 459
14. Team LottoNL-Jumbo 375
15. FDJ 369
16. Team Cannondale- Garmin 340
17. IAM Cycling 189

Nations ranking

1. Spain 1.833
2. Colombia 1.069
3. Great Britain 1.041
4. Italy 1.006
5. Belgium 905
6. Netherlands 848
7. France 781
8. Australia 777
9. Germany 587
10. Norway 453
11. Poland 376
12. Portugal 355
13. Czech Republic 306
14. Slovenia 294
15. Switzerland 270
16. Slovakia 257
17. Russia 257
18. United States 158
19. Ireland 111
20. Denmark 111
21. Canada 102
22. Costa Rica 93
23. Luxenbourg 74
24. Lithuania 50
25. South Africa 49
26. Ukraine 40
27. Belarus 32
28. Estonia 25
29. New Zealand 16
30. Croatia 6
31. Kazakhstan 6
32. Austria 5
33. Latvia 2
34. Argentina 2