Rankings after ‘Grande Boucle’ / Prueba Villafranca (report)
Movistar takes lead in team ranking after the Tour de France, will fight for the remainder of the season to claim their fourth consecutive success in the classification that awards the most consistent squad in the pro peloton. Javi Moreno back into great form: 4th at Monday’s Clásica de Ordizia
The Movistar Team’s group displaced to the 2016 Tour de France will be getting back home on Monday after grueling, satisfactory efforts. And they will carry one more honorific award into their bags at the end of the ‘Grande Boucle’. The squad managed by Eusebio Unzué is back on top of the UCI WorldTour, for the first time since they claimed their third title on a row at the end of the 2015 season.
The telephone squad now amounts 1,102 puntos, claimed by Nairo Quintana -407pt, 2nd in the individual WorldTour ranking behind leader Peter Sagan (TNK)-, Alejandro Valverde -307, ranked 7th following his sixth-placed finish in the TDF-, Ion Izagirre -10th, 240pt after his stunning Morzine win last Saturday-, Rubén Fernández (80) and Andrey Amador (68). Former leaders Tinkoff are now down to second, with 1,046 points, not far away from Team Sky, who move up to third with 1,019 points.
Looking at the individual UCI World Ranking, the new reference for all UCI races since the 2016 season -the WorldTour ranking only includes the sport’s top tier-, Valverde (2,275) and Quintana (2,256) currently sit third and fourth of the standings, led by Sagan with almost eight hundred points of advantage -3,233, to Chris Froome’s (SKY) 2,494-. Ion Izagirre is in eighth spot with 1,626 points, according to the unofficial classification offered by the prestigious database ProCyclingStats.
Clásica de Ordizia: Javi Moreno ready for the late summer (4th)
Two riders made the most notable efforts from the Movistar Team in the immediate palliative to the Tour de France hangover, the 165.7km Prueba Villafranca – Clásica de Ordizia (1.1) in the Basque Country, over five climbs of the Alto de Abaltzisketa and another two of the Alto de Altzo. José Herrada stayed into the day’s break for more than hundred kilometers after the Spaniard broke up the initial, nine-man group up front to keep a chance alive at the final lap through the Basque course.
On the other hand, Javi Moreno, back to his top level after the crash which took him out of the Giro d’Italia, tried his best to unsuccessfully chase solo winner Simon Yates (OBE). The Andalusian crossed the line in 4th into the first main group, only beaten by 2015 victor Ángel Madrazo (CJR) and Russia’s Alexander Vdovin (LOK). Jonathan Castroviejo finished in 14th place, with Andrey Amador in 19th.