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Position Name KMs Raced Days Raced Nationality Team Points

What is the Pro Cycling Index?

The IG Pro Cycling Index is a 12 month rolling ranking system designed answer the question “Who is the best cyclist in the world?” 

We source results from the 120 top international road races throughout the season. Races are ranked by our expert panel, based on their prestige and their importance to cycling fans and put into four tiers in three different categories. The full race tiers (PDF, 125K).

The IG Pro Cycling Index has a number of features that make it unique:

  • Races are tiered depending on history, importance and calibre of field rather than UCI Class. So winning the Tour of Beijing will not give you the same points as winning Paris-Nice or the Dauphiné.
  • Wins carry much greater weight and are rewarded more than placings, see the full points structure (PDF, 499K).
  • Bonus points are awarded for multiple victories in the top races, winning the most prestigious stages at the Grand Tours or winning multiple classics. See the full list of bonuses available (PDF, 505K)

Analysis

First week of the Giro sees big changes (15 May 2012)

The month of May is arguably the busiest of the season in the professional cycling calendar and the hectic schedules of the world's top riders is reflected in some big changes this week to the IG Pro Cycling Index.

Belgium's Philippe Gilbert is still clinging on to top spot, but Spain's Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) has taken second place from Gilbert's countryman Tom Boonen following his fourth place in stage 7 and third in stage 8 at the Giro d'Italia. Other riders who have performed well in the Giro in the last few days have also seen their ranking improve: Domenico Pozzovivo is up to 66th after his stage 8 win; Ivan Basso is up to 82nd; and current race leader Ryder Hesjedal has climbed 39 places up to 116th. Team Sky's Mark Cavendish added a stage 5 win to his victory in stage 2 last week and is up into the top five.

Elsewhere, Germany's John Degenkolb (Argos-Shimano) picked up two stages and the overall win at the Tour de Picardie and has climbed 15 places up to 26th position, while Liquigas-Cannondale's Peter Sagan won the opener at the Tour of California and has leapfrogged his teammate Vincenzo Nibali into seventh place.

With lots to play for in Italy and California over the next seven days, it will be interesting to see where the riders stand next week.

Giro d'Italia rocks IG Pro Cycling Index (10 May 2012)

After three stages of the Giro d’Italia a number of riders have switched places in the IG Pro Cycling Index.

After his win in stage 2, Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) has moved up to 6th place. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale), second on GC last year, has targeted the Tour de France this year. It means he’ll drop down the rankings over the coming weeks as he misses out on defending his points from last year.

The new Giro leader, Taylor Phinney (BMC), has made perhaps the biggest impression on the rankings, as well as the race action. His win in the opening time trial and defence of the maglia rosa until the rest day has seen him move from 169th to 104th in the Index.

Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre) and David Millar (Garmin-Barracuda) join Nibali as the other big fallers. Petacchi is targeting the Tour and Millar is recovering from a broken collar bone. Both riders were in strong form last year, Petacchi wining a stage and Millar wearing the pink jersey.

Wiggins up to 4th (1 May 2012)

Bradley Wiggins has moved up four places to fourth. Overtakes other tour favourite Cadel Evans (who is now in fifth). This shows that Wiggins is have a better build up to the Tour but is he now the favourite for the Tour de France?

Highest new entry in top 200 is Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Barracuda). Now in 131st place after 2nd overall at Tour de Romandie (Tier 2 race). This was Talansky’s biggest points tally from a race so far in the Index.

Another high mover is Alexsandr Dyachenko. He was second overall at the Tour of Turkey. This race was a new addition to the Index in 2012. It is in Tier 4 alongside other stage races like the Tour of the Mediterranean and the Tour of Denmark. Ivailo Gabrovski was the winner of the race but this was his first result in the last twelve months and so is still outside the top 200. He is in 372nd place.

Although racing the Tour of Turkey, Alexandre Vinokourov dropped 85 places to 175th. This was due to not defending his 3rd place at Romandie. Vino has raced just four races in the last 12 months which is just 29 days of racing.

Gilbert’s clings on to small lead at the top (24 April 2012)

April 24th, 2012 – Philippe Gilbert’s third place at Fleche Wallone (Tier 2) was enough to see him maintain his lead at the top of the rankings. However it has been cut dramatically after he failed to defend any of his Ardennes Classics wins from 2011. The gap between him and Tom Boonen now stands at just 169 points.

Both riders now have a break from racing where they have no points to defend for a couple of weeks. However battle will commence for the number one spot at their home race the Tour of Belgium (Tier 3). The race starts on the 23rd April. Gilbert was the winner last year picking up 439 points while Tom Boonen had a quiet race finishing 36th overall with a best finish of 4th place on stage one and as result just earned 22 points. So the pressure will be on Gilbert once again to perform strongly to hold onto the top spot in the World.

The fourth monument of the season Liège-Bastogne-Liège (Tier 1) was won by Astana rider Maxim Iglinskiy on Sunday. He has had a good season so far but had only cracked the top ten in one race; Strade Bianchi (Tier2) where he came second to Cancellara. Therefore it was a surprise to see him triumph on the weekend. As a result of his win he climbs 80 places to 36th in the rankings.

He is now the top ranked Kazak rider deposing Alexandre Vinokourov of this title. Vinokourov was delighted with the result telling cyclingnews.com that Iglinsky’s win “proves that Kazakh cycling is not only about myself. I've told Iglinskiy that after what he did yesterday, I can retire quietly" he went on to add “He rode to perfection. He did it the Vino way!”

As Liège-Bastogne-Liège is a Tier 1 race there were plenty of points on offer and as a result there were many other changes in the rankings. Vincenzo Nibali’s courageous ride to second place lifted him four places to fifth in the rankings. Enrico Gasparotto moved into the top 50 after winning the sprint for 3rd place at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Both Frank and Andy Schleck have dropped out of the top 20 after failing to defend their podium finishes from last year’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège. This drop also underlines that fact that consistency throughout the season is crucial in the Index. Both the Schleck have scored little points outside the 2011 Tour de France.

This week see the Tour de Romandie (Tier two) take place. Cadel Evans won last year and is riding again this year. He has such a large point gap over Nibali below him that even if he fails to finish he will remain above him. Last year’s other podium finishers Tony Martin and Alexandre Vinokourov are not taking part so will inevitably slip down the rankings.

Stat of the week: Domenico Pozzovivo (Colnago-CSF Inox) was this week’s highest mover. He rose 97 places after winning the Giro del Trentino (Tier 3).

Gilbert’s lead at the top starting to drop (17 April 2012)

April 17th, 2012 – The battle to be world number one is getting closer every week. Current number one Philippe Gilbert lost over 1,000 points last week and could potentially lose the same this week. Gilbert failed to defend his 2011 wins at De Brabantse Pijl - La Flèche Brabançonne (Tier 3) and Amstel Gold (Tier 2). This week he is tasked with defending his wins from Flèche Wallonne (Tier 2) and Liège-Bastogne-Liège (Tier 1). In total he is defending 1357 points which includes his bonus for winning multiple Ardennes classics. There is currently a 1299 point gap between Tom Boonen and first place so there could potentially be a new number one next week if Gilbert fails to pick up more than 58 points this week.

Enrico Gasparotto is the highest new entry in the top 200 in 65th place. This is hardly surprising after his impressive win at Amstel Gold on Sunday. Many people where surprised to see Gasparotto win but he had past form in the race finishing 3rd in 2010. While Gasparotto rose up the rankings after Amstel other went in the other direction. The most notable was Joaquin Rodriguez who finished 24th this year compared to 2nd last year, he is now in 4th place. Despite an excellent 2012 so far, Simon Gerrans drops four spots after losing points from his 3rd place in the 2011, showing how consistency is vital in doing well in the Index.

Thomas Voeckler climbed seven places to 11th in the Index which is his highest ranking this year. The Frenchman had a very busy week. It started off by winning De Brabantse Pijl on Wednesday, the next day he rode GP de Denain (Tier 4) finishing at the back of the field in 123rd place and picking up six appearance points. His week was finished with a strong ride at Amstel Gold on Sunday where he came 5th.

Other winners from last week where: • Javier Moreno Bazan (Movistar Team): Vuelta a Castilla y Leon (Tier 3) o New entry in top 200. Currently 149th • Juan Jose Haedo (Team Saxobank): GP de Denain Porte du Hainaut (Tier 4) o Was 179th is now 92nd • Jan Barta (Team Netapp): Rund um Köln (Tier 4) o Up 50 place to 78th

As well as the Ardennes classics there is also the Giro del Trentino (Tier 3) taking place this week. 12th placed Michele Scarponi will be attempting to defend his win from last year and is spearheading the strong Lampre-ISD team. Also in his team is Damiano Cunego (22nd) who is riding in preparation for Liege on Sunday. He told Cyclingnews.com: "Yeah, it's good training for Liège, plus when I did Trentino in 2006 I had my best Liège, when I came third." There are plenty of top 100 riders taking part including Ivan Basso (86th) , John Gadret (49th), Alessandro Ballan (52nd) and Roman Kreuziger (34th).

Stat of the week: Chris Sutton (Team Sky) has now raced the most kilometres in the peloton. In the last 12 months he has ridden 15,036km.

Boonen rises to 3rd after historic classics quadruple (11 April 2012)

11th April 2012 – Tom Boonen has now scored 3650 in 2012 and rises to third place in the latest IG Markets Pro Cycling Index. After a very poor 2011 that saw him only hit the headlines for crashes and medical problems Tomeke has returned to dominate the cobbled spring classics winning all four World Tour events and receiving 500 bonus index points for the cobbled classic treble of Ghent Wevelgem, Tour of Flanders and Paris Roubaix. With Belgian rival Philippe Gilbert defending 2468 points in the next 3 weeks and seemingly struggling for his form of 2011, Bonnen could find himself in the Top spot by the end of the month.

The Top 3 from last week’s Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco all moved up the index. Euskatel’s Samuel Sanchez won his team’s home race and climbed 6 places to 8th. Runner up Joaquim Rodriguez moved to his best ever postion of 2nd in the Index but looks vulnerable with nearly 600 points to defend from his 2 runners up positions in Amstel Gold and Fleche Wallone. Third placed Bauke Mollema moves into the Top 20 in 16th.

Big movers lower down the Index include Marcel Kittel jumping 22 places to 32nd after his Scheldeprijs win, Alessandro Ballan with another 3rd place finish in a monument moving him up 25 spots to 52nd and Juan Antonio Flecha up 22 places to 68th. The highest new entry into the top 200 is surprise runner up at Paris Roubaix Sebastian Turgot who gained 365 points for his 2nd place and moves to 90th on the Index.

Boonen flying high as Cancellara falls (03 April 2012)

3rd April 2012 – Tom Boonen has continued his rise up the world rankings. He is now 5th in the world due to his win in the Tour of Flanders on the weekend added to his impressive results from 2012. In winning Gent-Wevelgem and the Tour of Flanders Boonen picked up a 250 point bonus, if he wins Paris-Roubaix this will rise to 500 points. Falling in the other direction is Fabian Cancellara who did just that on Sunday, crashing in the feed zone and breaking his collarbone in three places. He will not be unable to defend his second place from the 2011 Paris-Roubaix so will likely slip further down than 9th.

Tom Boonen’s remarkable year has seen him pick up points consistently since the Tour of Qatar. His points tally for this year alone is 2776 which would put him in 9th in the Index. Compare that to the 1095 he picked up last year and you begin to realise how much better his results are this year. Boonen has just 234 points to defend the rest of the year. This means he has plenty of chances to gain more points and try and take the number one spot, from his countryman Gilbert. His first chance to do this is on Sunday at Paris-Roubaix (Tier 1) where he did not finish this year.

The results from the Tour of Flanders caused a lot of other movement in the rankings. Firstly Peter Sagan moved up to a career high 6th place after his fifth place finish in the race. Third placed Alessandro Ballan was the highest mover in the whole of the Index climbing 59 places to 77th place. Last year’s winner Nick Nuyens has now dropped out of the top 200 entirely. Earlier in the week Sylvain Chavanel won Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde (Tier 3) but only moved up a place to 30th in the rankings as he failed to defend his 2nd place finish from Flanders. He is the second highest ranked Frenchmen behind Thomas Voeckler.

With all the excitement about the Tour of Flanders taking place on Sunday some people may have missed the result for GP Miguel Indurain (Tier 3). It was won by Katusha rider Daniel Moreno. As a result he has crept into the top 20. This may be surprising to some but if you click on his name you see a breakdown of his results from the past 12 months. He has consistently picked up points at many races throughout the year. The results from Indurain also meant Sammuel Sanchez dropped out the top ten as he failed to defend his 2011 win. Angel Madrazo finished 3rd and is the highest new entry this week into the top 200 and sits in 166th place.

Team and Country rankings

This year we will be releasing our country and team ranking every three months. Our way of calculating these rankings are different from other systems. The country rankings are the total scores of each nation’s top nine riders in the Index. The team rankings are the total points of the top 15 riders from each team in the Index.

The UCI country rankings are important as they decide how many riders each nation will have in the world championships. Our rankings are more comprehensive than the UCI’s as they include more races and take into account more riders results. Despite that our top three of Belgium, Spain and Italy is the same to the UCI’s. One interesting difference is the higher placings of Great Britain and Germany. Great Britain is 4th in Pro Cycling Index but 9th in the UCI’s, while Germany are 6th in ours and 20th in the UCI’s.

Team Saxobank are the lowest pro cycling team in 20th place. This places them below two UCI Pro Continental teams: Team Europcar and Project 1T4I recently renamed Argos-Shimano. This is highly topical as only yesterday it was decided by the Licence Commission that Saxo Bank would remain in the World Tour. This was despite acknowledging that Team Saxobank “does not reach World Tour level”. The team will have to perform well for the rest of the year in order to justify their place in the World Tour peloton in 2013.

Cadel Evans returns to second place (27 March 2012)

27th March 2012 – A busy week of racing in Europe saw a lot of changes in the top 200 of the Pro Cycling Index. The most notable was Cadel Evans’ return to second place. Since his Tour de France win Evans made 2nd place his own until two weeks ago when he lost it after failing to defend his 2011 Tirreno-Adriatico win. Any doubts that his Tour de France preparations were not on track were cast away after his commanding performance at the Criterium International. It is worth noting that Evans has ridden the least kilometres of any rider in the top 20 and is still in 2nd place. Next up for Evans are the three Ardennes Classics where he will work for team mate and rankings leader Philippe Gilbert.

Tom Boonen picked up two wins last week and rose up to 13th place. In doing so he became the only man in history to have twice won E3 Harelbeke and Ghent-Wevelgem in the same year. Why is he not higher? Boonen also won Gent-Wevelgem in 2011 so only defended those points while he gained from his win in E3 Harelbeke. Both those races are UCI World Tour races this year but in our race categories they are both placed in Tier two. The only one day races in Tier one are the five monuments, the world champion road race and the Olympic road race. We have always felt the need to differentiate between the UCI World Tour races.

Boonen is clearly the inform rider at the moment. He has plenty of potential to further climbs the Index as in 2011 he only picked up 185 points at Flanders with a fourth place and nothing at Paris-Roubaix. If he does better this year expect to see him rise into the top 10. Furthermore he has the chance to earn bonus points if he wins either Flanders or Roubaix. This is because the Index has a multi-race win bonus system. This is designed to reward extraordinary performances by riders. A full breakdown of the bonuses available that are attached and can be found in the FAQ on the webpage.

Despite looking in impressive form Fabian Cancellara dropped a place in the rankings this week as he failed to defend his win at E3 Harelbeke from 2011. Bradley Wiggins took his spot in 5th place but this may only be for a short period as only nine points separates the two of them. Also dropping down the rankings was Michele Scarponi as he failed to defend his 2011 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya win. The next races Scarponi has points to defend are his overall wins at the Giro del Trentino (Tier 3) and the Giro d’Italia (Tier 2).

When there are riders sliding down the rankings inevitably there will riders going the other way. This week the biggest mover was the Michael Albasini. The Greenedge rider won the first two stages and the overall a Volta Ciclista a Catalunya (Tier 2), he moved up 92 places to 34th. Also rising up was Niki Terpstra who broke away in the Tier three one day race Dwars door Vlaanderen, he is now in 59th place. The final big mover was Pierreck Fedrigo who jumped 74 places to 93rd place after his win on stage three of Critérium International and 2nd place overall.

There were also plenty of new entries in the top 200. Leading the way was Jan Barta (Team NETAPP) after his win in Italy at the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali (Tier 4). Clearly his biggest ever win and his second podium finish in the last 12 months along with his 3rd place at the 2011 Tour of Britain, he is now in 117th position. His team mate Bartosz Huzarski came second and is also a new entry in 153rd place. Team NETAPP now has three riders in the top 200. The team have been given one of the wildcard spots for the Giro D'Italia which will give their riders even more opportunities to pick up points.

Stat of the week: Luis Leon Sanchez has now raced the most days in last 12 months, 98 days in total. This is just one more than Jakob Fuglsang who still leads most kilometres ridden in last 12 months with 15,557km in total.

Simon Gerrans up to 12th (19 March 2012)

March 19th, 2012 – Simon Gerrans and his GreenEdge team were already having a great 2012, winning the national championships and their home race the Tour Down Under (Tier 2). Those achievements where surpassed on Saturday when Gerrans cannily won Milan-San Remo (Tier 1). This was GreenEdge’s debut outing in a monument and to win it was an incredible performance. Even more so when you take into account that Gerrans has only finished this race once before in 2008 when he finished in 146th place.

In the top 10 there were also some changes in the rankings. Bradley Wiggins moved up to 6th in the world. He did not race this week but the rider who was above him Michele Scarponi failed to defend his 6th place at Milan-San Remo. Sprint superstar Peter Sagan also moved up to 9th place after finishing 4th in Milan-San Remo. At the age of 22 he is the youngest ever rider to be in the top ten of the Pro Cycling Index. He could move up still further as he did not place in the top 10 in any of the spring classics last year so has plenty of chances to gain more points.

Matt Goss has dropped 55 places this week after failing to defend his 2011 Milan – San Remo win. Despite mutterings that he was not in top form Goss raced well on Saturday finished 15th but the Pro Cycling Index only gives points for the top 10 riders in one day races. Goss is still the second highest ranked GreenEdge rider and will be looking to pick up results to climb the rankings throughout the rest of the season.

Looking ahead to this week’s racing

The season is now well and truly under way and there are plenty of races happening every week. This week there are three World Tour races; Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco, E3 Prijs Vlaanderen – Harelbeke and Gent – Wevelgem. They are all in Tier two of the Index. There are also two tier three races; the one day race Dwars door Vlaanderen and the short stage race Criterium International. 

As a result of all these races taking place a lot of riders high up the Index have a large amount of points to defend. Some of the main ones are Fabian Cancellara (501 points), Michele Scarponi (556 points) and Tom Boonen (525 points). While these riders have points to defend, there are many others that have every opportunity to pick up points where they did not in 2011.

Stat of the week: Simon Gerrans has only finished Milan-San Remo once before and he finished in 146th place in 2008 racing for Credit Agricole.

Cadel Evans drops out of the top three (14 March 2012)

March 14th, 2012 - Cadel Evans has dropped out of top three of the Pro Cycling Index after failing to defend his 2011 victory in Tirreno-Adriatico. Evans struggled to replicate his form from last year and could only manage 32nd place. In total he amassed only 30 points whereas in 2011 he picked up 720 points. It is worth noting that Evans has only raced 56 days in the last 12 months which is less than any other rider in the top 20. Taking his place in second is Spaniard Joaquin Rodriguez who races consistently well throughout the season. This can be seen by clicking on his name on the website and seeing the breakdown of races he wins his points at.

The two winners of the first tier one stage races of the season have both moved up the rankings. Vincenzo Nibali has climbed nine places to 8th after his impressive win at Tirreno-Adriatico. Nibali has won two mountain top stages this year and is looking in good form for the grand tours later in the year. In France Bradley Wiggins bettered his 3rd place in 2011 to win Paris-Nice. Wiggins held the leader’s yellow jersey for an impressive six days giving him an extra 30 points. He is now in 7th place and could overtake Scarponi this weekend without even racing has Scarponi has to defend his 6th place finish at Milan - San Remo from 2011.

Falling out of the top ten this week are Tony Martin and Sammy Sanchez. They both failed to defend their points from last year’s Paris-Nice. The highest new entry in the Index this week is Lieuwe Westra (67th). This is not surprising as Westra achieved his biggest result in the last twelve months by winning a stage a Paris-Nice and finishing second overall. His performance at Paris-Nice gave him 505 points which is a considerable chunk of his 893 total. It remains to be seen if Westra can continue this form throughout the season and continue his climb up the rankings.

Another rider who put in his first big performance in 12 months was Italian Rinaldo Nocentini. He is most well-known for wearing the yellow jersey for eight days in the 2009 Tour de France. In recent seasons he has struggled to replicate this sort of result due to injury. His performance at Tirreno-Adriatico may suggest he is close to being back to his best. Nocentini was consistent in the race, finishing in the top 10 on three different stages and thus came fourth overall. He moved up 71 places to 122nd.

The last week of racing saw many riders pull out of Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico before they finished. In Paris-Nice 38 riders in total pulled out while Tirreno-Adriatico saw 33 riders withdraw before the end of the race. The reasons for the withdrawals are varied. Crashes, illness and riders preparing themselves for the first monument of the season Milan-San Remo all played a part. In the Pro Cycling Index points are given for each day a rider completes a day of racing. In a grand tour or Tier one stage race it is five points and in a tier one stage races it is 15 points. The purpose of the finishing points is to reward those riders that battle on at finish a race be it a one day race or a stage of a grand tour.

Milan-San Remo (Tier One) takes place on Saturday. The first monument of the season is always a great race to watch. This year whatever the result it is going to have a major implication in the make-up of rankings. The top three in the last year’s race Matthew Goss (31st), Fabian Cancellara (5th) and Philippe Gilbert (1st) are all high up in the Index and have large amounts of totals to defend. The race is also an opportunity for many to rise up the rankings. Mark Cavendish the 2009 winner of the race will move into second in the Index if he comes anywhere in the top 10. With 600 points on offer for the winner a rider has the chance to really boost their points tally and improve their world ranking.

Stat of the week: Italy and Great Britain are the only two nations to have two riders in the top 10 of the Pro Cycling Index.

Mark Cavendish returns to the top three (28 February 2012)

February 28th, 2012) - Mark Cavendish has returned to the top three of the Pro Cycling Index after winning the Belgium semi classic race; Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne (Tier 3). Cavendish is the first rider to win the race in the world champion’s jersey since Johan Museeuw in 1997. If the world champion is able to maintain this form in the spring classics period then he could close the gap or even overtake Cadel Evans in second place.

It is worth noting that the man who led out Cavendish to victory, Chris Sutton, gave up his chance to defend his win from 2011. Cavendish paid tribute to his teammate saying “We had last year’s winner leading me out in CJ [Sutton] and for him to sacrifice the chance of going for a double, shows the class he has. That was great and for Team Sky to win it two years in a row is very, very nice. ” Sutton has now dropped out of the top 100 and lies in 110th place.

The highest new entry into the top 200 is 2012 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (Tier 2) winner Sep Vanmarcke. The young Belgian had a relatively quiet 2011 but has now doubled his points tally with his impressive weekend performance. Vanmarcke surprised some to beat countryman (and a man he described after the race as his idol) Tom Boonen in a sprint for the win on Saturday. Boonen has picked up an impressive 810 points already in 2012 and is surging up the ranking and is now just inside the top 20 in 19th place.

There were two other one day races taking place over the weekend. They are both new additions to the Index in 2012 and were both placed in tier 4. At the Clasica de Almeria 22 year old Australian Michael Matthews picked up Rabobank’s first victory of the 2012 season. Matthews has moved up 34 places to 55thin the Index. It is also worth considering that he has only raced for 50 days in the last 12 months totalling 7,883km. The second race was the GP de Lugano which was won by Eros Capecchi of the Liquigas-Cannondale team. The Italian team has had a good start to the season winning nine races already this season including every Italian race they have started.

Although the Index is a 12 month rolling ranking system you can still make an impact in very few races as neo-pro Enrico Battaglin has shown. Battaglin joined the Italian team Colnago-CSF Inox as a trainee in August last year. By October he had his first win at the prestigious Italian one day race; Coppa Sabatini (Tier 3). This weekend he came 3rd at GP Lugano behind Capecchi and Damiano Cunego which added another 106 points to his tally. He is now 175th in the Index but has only ridden four one day races totalling 771km. This hugely talented rider is one to look out for on the road this year and we expect to see him rise up the rankings even further.

On Saturday 3 March the Italian one day race Strade Bianche (Tier 2) takes place. The race is entering its sixth year but is already well known due to the epic nature of the race which takes the riders over 50 kilometres of gravel roads in Tuscany. In 2011 the race was won by Index leader Philippe Gilbert returns this year to defend his title and points tally. He will have the assistance of two strong BMC team mates in the form of Cadel Evans (2nd in Index) and Greg Van Avermaet (13th).

This big weekend of racing also sees the first Tier one stage race of the season start. Paris-Nice kicks off on Sunday with a 9.4km Individual Time Trial. 7th placed Tony Martin won the race and a stage last year and so has a large points tally off 725 to defend. One place below him is Bradley Wiggins. He came third at Paris-Nice last year and won 325 points. Can he do enough to overtake Tony Martin?

One of the abiding memories of the 2011 edition of Paris Nice was Thomas Voeckler’s attacking racing. The Frenchman picked up two stages wins which was the launch pad for his most successful season ever. He is still currently 14th in the Index but will he be able to replicate his heroics of last year. If not the local French fans should look to the next best placed Frenchmen in the Index; Jérôme Coppel. The talented stage race rider is in good form finishing 3rd in the recent Vuelta a Andalucía. The route is also suited to him with two time trials in which he excels. It should be an intriguing race.

Contador removed and Scarponi up to 4th (23rd February 2012)

February 23rd, 2012 – Following the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) banning Alberto Contador (Saxobank) for two years for doping there has been a variety of changes in the top 200 of the Pro Cycling Index. Contador’s ban was backdated from 25 January 2011 so he no longer has any valid results and is no longer listed in the index. He will have to work his way back up the rankings when he returns to racing in August. This is the first time this we have had to go back and amend results in the history of the Pro Cycling Index and we hope this will be the last.

The results Contador achieved in this period have been readjusted so Michele Scarponi is now the winner of the 2011 Giro d’Italia and Volta a Catalunya (Tier 2). As a result of these wins Scarponi has now leaped up the rankings to 4th place, pushing World Champion Mark Cavendish into 5th place. Scarponi will begin the defence of his 2011 points total at the upcoming Tirreno-Adriatico (Tier 1) where he finished 3rd, won a stage and the points classification.  

Another rider who has benefitted from Contador’s removal is Jérôme Coppel. Coppel is now the winner of the 2011 Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia (Tier 3). This change moves him up to 43rdin the Pro Cycling Index from 57th. He is now the third highest French rider in the Index. Will this be enough for the ASO to invite his French team of Saur-Sojasun to the 2012 Tour de France? 

Andre Greipel, the inform rider of 2012, continues his rise in the rankings. His two stage wins at the Tour of Oman (Tier 3) and three days in the leader’s jersey gave him enough points to leapfrog Bauke Mollema into 17th place. If he keeps notching up the wins at his current race Greipel will surely break into the top 10 for the first time in his career. 

The current leader in the UCI World Tour Ranking is Simon Gerrans. The 2012 Tour Down Under (Tier Two) winner did not race in the Tour of Qatar or Oman and has dropped out of the top 20 as a result. Replacing him in the top 20 are Vincenzo Nibali due to his stage win on Green Mountain in Oman and Dan Martin who makes a return to the top 20 as Contador’s ban promoted him to 2nd place at the 2011 Volta a Catalunya. 

Two riders who are not in the top 200 but you may want to keep an eye on are Alejandro Valverde and Jonathan Tiernan-Locke. Valverde returned to the sport at the start of the year (from a two year suspension) and immediately made an impact winning stage five of the Tour Down Under and finishing second overall. He is currently 259thin the Pro Cycling Index.

 Thirteen places higher is Jonathan Tiernan-Locke (Endura racing) the new stage racing sensation of Europe. Tiernan-Locke impressed many at the end of 2011 winning the Skoda king of the mountains jersey at the Tour of Britain and finishing 6th overall. This season he has bettered this winning the overall at both the Tour of the Mediterranean and the Tour Cycliste International du Haut Var (both Tier 4). It will be surely only a matter of time before this impressive British rider enters the top 200 ranked cyclists of the world. 

 This week’s highest mover was Australian Riche Porte who moved up 23 places to 113th after winning a stage and the overall of the Tour of the Algarve (Tier 3). Jakob Fuglsang still tops the rankings for both kilometres raced (16,063) and days raced (100). This Saturday sees Sebastian Langeveld attempt to defend his 2011 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad victory which gave him 492 points out of his current total of 835. Langeveld is currently 76th in the Pro Cycling Index and will be spearheading GreenEdge’s attempt to win their first race in Europe. 

Expansion of Index to over 120 races (11th January 2012)

The IG Markets Pro Cycling Index is expanding to 120 races and this year fans are able to have their say.

The IG Markets Pro Cycling Index returns in the 2012 season with more races than ever before. In total 120 races will be included in the rankings system. Races are ranked by our expert panel, based on their prestige and their importance to cycling fans and put into four tiers in three different categories.

During the off season our expert panel sat down and assessed the 2011 races and came up with a list of changes to be made. In total 18 races were removed with 22 races taking their place. Also four races were promoted to higher tiers while seven were relegated. The summary of changes are available here (PDF, 117Kb).

There was however three races which our expert panel could not unanimously decide on the appropriate tier they should be placed in. So we are giving pro cycling fans the unique opportunity to have their say in our ranking system. Two polls will be run on our Facebook page.

The first will go live on Wednesday 11th January at midday and will ask fans whether the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal and Quebec should be in Tier 3 (as they currently are) or Tier 2.

The second poll will go live on Saturday 14th January at midday until 6pm Monday 16th January and will ask fans whether they think the Tour of Beijing should be in Tier 4 (as it currently is) or Tier 3.

To help fans judge this we have produced a PDF of the 2012 race tiers with the changes mentioned above. That is available here. (PDF, 125Kb)

Alternative end of season team rankings (1st December 2011)

The alternative end of season team rankings taken from the IG Markets Pro Cycling Index read very differently to the UCI's.

The UCI recently confirmed that AG2R-La Mondiale, FDJ and Euskaltel-Euskadi would all receive a World Tour licence for 2012. This was at the expense of Team Europcar whose application for a World Tour licence was rejected. The UCI has yet to specify a reason for this.

The team manager of Europcar, Jean-renè Bernaudeau, recently offered up his explanation to CyclingNews.com as to why the team had failed in its application. "We have just ended a magnificent season but we are victims of the points system."

We thought this was a good moment to make public our own end of season team rankings for the 2011 season. While this is not a feature we have had on the site this season it is one of the many new features and additions the Pro Cycling Index will have next season.

The Team Rankings (PDF, 272Kb) are calculated by adding together the top nine rider’s point’s totals in the index. This is more comprehensive than the UCI’s ranking systems where they only use five riders in the World Tour rankings systems and eight in their Europe Tour ranking system. It was decided that nine would be a better number as it includes more riders from each team and is the same number as rides a grand tour for each team.

The top six teams in our rankings and the UCI World Tour rankings are the same but in a slightly different order. Team Sky are two places lower down in ours with HTC-Highroad taking their place in second spot. Further down the table there is one key difference. Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team finished bottom of the UCI World Tour ranking. Whereas in the IG Markets rankings the team finished comfortably in the middle of the pack of World Tour teams in 10th place.

The reason behind this goes back to the age old problem that the UCI’s ranking system is not comprehensive enough. Vacansoleil’s top rider in the 2011 season was Marco Marcato. He is ranked 43rd in the UCI rankings but 20th in the Pro Cycling Index. This is because the World Tour ranking does not include Marcato’s strong performances at such races like Etoile de Bessèges, Tour de Vendèe or GP Pino Cerami.

It is also interesting to note that the rider that sits one place above Marcato in the World Tour rankings is Cameron Meyer. The Australian accumulated all his points at the opening race of the season, the Tour Down Under. His total of 106 points is six more than Johan Van Summeren won for winning one of cycling’s monuments; Paris-Roubaix. Cameron Meyer is 88th in the Pro Cycling Index while Johan Van Summeren is 61st.

Going back to Bernaudeau’s criticism of the current rankings system he made the following point. "You have to know that the white jersey does not bring any points. We have given the people a lot of emotion and happiness, but that also does not bring any points”. While we also do not award points for the white jersey winner or claim to reward riders and teams that bring people emotion and happiness. But we have always strived to offer the most comprehensive ranking system.

This is why our points system includes many things the UCI’s does not:

  • Points for the top five overall in the mountains and points classifications in all three Grand Tours
  • Points for riders holding the leaders, mountain or points jerseys overnight in Grand Tours and Tier One stage races
  • Points for riders who finish 6th to 10th in individual grand tour stages.
  • Daily finishing points for all riders who finish each stage in a Grand Tour, Stage Race or One day race

For full details of our scoring system see here. (PDF, 499K)If the UCI’s ranking system included some of these points then the situation could have been very different for Team Europcar this year. As you can see in the IG Markets Team Rankings they sit two places about FDJ in 18th place with over 500 points more than them.

The IG Markets Pro Cycling Index will re launch in January with new features giving the site greater interactivity for fans. Many of these new features are a result of fan feedback from this season. We are always keen to hear your thoughts on the index and ways we can improve. Contact us by email

Gilbert tops 2011 rankings, Cavendish in 5th (24 October 2011)

Sprint superstar Mark Cavendish finishes season in Top 5 of IG Markets Pro Cycling Index – only 27th in UCI World Tour rankings. Manxman hitting all the right notes ahead of 2012.

A memorable 2011 cycling season has drawn to a close, with superstar Mark Cavendish creating history. The 26 year-old became the first Briton to win the Tour de France green jersey, notching his twentieth career stage victory in the blue ribbon event. He followed this up by landing the rainbow jersey of road race World Champion in September, the first man from the British Isles to do so in almost half a century.

Surprisingly, the official UCI World Tour ranking system places Cavendish a lowly 27th in its standings. The Manx Missile recently signed what is rumoured to be one of the most lucrative contracts in the history of cycling – making the transition from the now defunct HTC-Highroad to Team Sky for 2012. Why does an athlete 'just scraping into the top-30' merit one of the biggest paycheques? The IG Markets Pro Cycling Index offers an intuitive perspective on the sport and helps explain why Cav should be one its highest paid stars.

At the outset of the 2011 season, Cavendish's stated objectives were the Tour de France green jersey (building up to it with a stint at the Giro d'Italia), and then a second half of the season focused solely on the World Championships. He hit the bullseye perfectly. According to the UCI World Tour ranking, his five stages at the Tour are worth the same amount of points as Cameron Meyer's overall win at the early season Tour Down Under – a race that has only existed since 1999. Moreover, the UCI system fails to award its own World Championships with any ranking points. IG's Pro Cycling Index recognises the prestige and rich heritage of the rainbow jersey and rewards its winner handsomely.

For the record, the Index sees Cavendish hold almost four times as many points as Meyer, but the UCI system awards the Briton fewer than fifty per cent more than the Australian rider. In terms of worldwide visibility and recognition when comparing the two athletes, there is simply no contest.

A new team and a crucial year full of big objectives await Cavendish. 2012 is, of course, a huge year for British sports fans. Can Cavendish win the Olympic road race in London? The Index certainly suggests so. His ability to define and achieve targets within the top Tier of races favours this conclusion. Of the other riders in the Index Top 5, it's unlikely that Alberto Contador, Cadel Evans or Joaquin Rodriguez will be medal contenders in the London 2012 road race – their Index points have been scored mostly in Grand Tours or hillier races. Arguably only Index leader Philippe Gilbert might be viewed as a threat with his all-round ability, although the flatter final kilometres of next year's Olympic route probably mean he'll have to chance his hand at a longer-range breakaway to avoid the anticipated mass sprint on the Mall.

Cavendish has, of course, already won the Olympic test event, although next year's race will be 110 kilometres longer. That said, his final points haul of the season (600 for winning the World Championships) was earned over a similar distance in Copenhagen, with the support of a strong Great Britain team, which included four other riders in the Index Top 60: Bradley Wiggins (12th), Geraint Thomas (36th), Christopher Froome (43rd) and David Millar (60th). With the exception of Millar, all of them will be riding in the same Team Sky colours as Cavendish in the build-up to the Games.

Why the discrepancy between the UCI World Tour rankings and the IG Markets Pro Cycling Index? Quite simply, the Index includes almost four times as many races as the World Tour, and places them in four distinct Tiers. Historic races attract a far higher points yield, victories are worth far more than consolation placings, and multiple wins within certain groups of races attract extra bonuses for excellence. Moreover, a rolling twelve month system means riders have to 'defend' their points from the previous year's edition of a race – Cavendish has set a template of winning at the biggest and best races each year, hence his high position.

"In the past sprinters have been penalised by other rankings but we wanted to ensure that any type of rider could excel if they had a great season. Mark Cavendish's seven Grand Tour stage wins, plus the green jersey and the World Championship certainly qualifies as a great season. It is also great to see him race for eighty-five days this year – more than any rider in the Top 15. Fans want to see the best race throughout the season, rather than cherry-picking a few races."

OLLY STEVENS: Head of Sponsorship, IG Markets

The IG Markets Pro Cycling Index is being enhanced for the 2012 season with a raft of interactive features.

The Top 40 riders of 2011

FAQ

How is the IG Markets Pro Cycling Index calculated?

The Index is calculated by monitoring each rider's performance in over 100 races around the world, as selected by our expert panel.

The panel has ranked the races into four tiers based on the quality of the fields and status within the sport. Tier one races are the most prestigious, and participation in these carries the highest number of points. You can download a full breakdown of the points structure here. (PDF, 499K)

How are the race weightings determined?

Our panel of experts has created a unique system, under which the top 100 races in the world have been ranked into four tiers. Within each tier races are split into three categories: One Day Races, Stage Races and Grand Tours.

Each category of race has its own points structure. Tiers two, three and four have values that represent progressively lower percentages of tier one. This creates a clear points structure between each tier and each race category. The full breakdown of the race tier can be seen here. (PDF, 503K)

Can riders earn bonuses?

Yes, there are three ways riders can earn bonuses:

  1. By winning multiple stages in a Grand Tour or Stage Race
  2. By being awarded Rider of the Day or Month by our expert panel
  3. By winning certain multiple prestigious races in the same year – for a detailed explanation see full breakdown of the bonuses available here (PDF, 505k)
  4. By winning a queen stage at a Grand Tour. For 2011 our expert panel have chosen stages 1, 14, 18 and 21 for the Tour de France and stage 15 for the Vuelta a Espana.
How often will the IG Markets Pro Cycling Index be updated?

The Index is updated at the beginning of each week during the cycling calendar, which runs from January to October. It is also updated daily during Grand Tours.

The IG Markets Pro Cycling Index is a rolling ranking system which takes into account the last 12 months of races from the date it is updated.

Will I be able to see how each rider got their points?

This is a feature we are working on hope to incorporate soon. If you have any suggestions on ways we can improve the index email cycling@igmarkets.com or tweet @IGprocycling

Why has IG Markets set up the Pro Cycling Index?

At IG Markets we are dedicated to innovation, and we're continually working on technology that aims to make data easier to understand. Using these skills to create a new rankings index for Pro Cycling is a natural extension to our involvement in cycling.

Our aim is to grow interest in the sport by offering a cycling index that will become the key reference point for fans.

Who is involved in the IG Markets Pro Cycling Index?

IG Markets produces the Index in association with Opta, Europe's leading sports data company.

We also draw on the expertise of a panel of pro cycling journalists and ex-professional cyclists. Their knowledge was used to decide which races should be in which tier, and they gave feedback and advice on the point structure and weighting of the tiers. The expert panel includes:

  • Alasdair Fotheringham: Fotheringham is a highly experienced cycling journalist. Based in Spain, he works as The Independent's cycling correspondent and has written articles for The Guardian, The Daily Express, The Sunday Express, Cycling Weekly and Reuters. He has covered the Tour de France 17 times.
  • Rupert Guinness: Guinness is Australia's most experienced cycling journalist. He writes for the Sydney Morning Herald and in the past was European correspondent for VeloNews. He has written six books on cycling and has covered 15 editions of the Tour de France.
  • Raymond Kerckhoffs: Kerckhoffs is the head cycling journalist in the Netherlands' biggest daily newspaper, De Telegraaf. He first covered the Tour de France at the age of 18 and has not missed one since. This year will be his 21st Tour.
  • Steven Farrand: Farrand is a vastly knowledgeable cycling journalist who lived and worked in Italy for many years. He has worked for Cycling Weekly, CyclingNews, written for many British national newspapers, and is now Editorial Director for SHIFT Active Media.
  • Ciro Scognamiglio: Scognamiglio writes for Italy's leading sports newspaper; La Gazzetta dello Sport.
  • Duncan Alexander: Alexander is Opta's head of UK Content. He is a keen cycling fan and has led the statistical and analytical aspects of the IG Markets Pro Cycling Index.
What makes the Index different from other rankings?

The IG Markets Pro Cycling Index looks at over 100 races, not only including World Tour races. This means it can give a broader picture of rider performances.

Our rankings system is unique and reflects different statistics to existing rankings. More emphasis is given to winning than places, and the history of a race is taken into account when tiering races. It is a different approach, and we hope it will create debate and help raise the profile of the sport.

Who are Opta, and what do they do?

Opta is Europe's leading sports data company. It collects, packages and distributes information on around 60,000 fixtures every year, from over 30 different sports in around 70 countries.

Since its inception in 1996 it has built up the most comprehensive historical sports database in the world. Opta's mission is to make sense of stats, bringing the data to life in a way that everyone can understand.

Still have a question? Contact us by email