With the Vattenfall Cyclassics done, the UCI’s world rankings will be updated shortly. Normally you can see who’s up and who’s down and that’s it. But this time, there’s an extra element for the national rankings determine who is going to the world championships in Geelong, Australia.
Whilst Andreas Kloeden might have been railing on Twitter last week at his apparent lack of a free holiday Down Under, Greipel’s third place secured a top-10 ranking for Germany, meaning nine riders can get their ticket to Melbourne instead of five. Similarly Dutchman Tom Leezer finished seventh and bagged enough points to allow the Kingdom of Holland to pass the Duchy of Luxembourg by just three points.
Kakzakstan may sit in the top-10 but note it can only send six riders instead of nine, as rules determine that the points need to be more broadly earned: only two riders, Vinokourov and Iglinsky, have ranking points. This means an extra places goes to Luxembourg, Slovenia, France and Norway.