Sagan continues reign atop WorldTour standings

Peter Sagan and Tinkoff teammate Alberto Contador retain their lead at the top of the UCI WorldTour standings after the Amstel Gold Race despite neither rider taking part in the Dutch race. The top 24 riders remained unchanged following the latest WorldTour event with Tinkoff's Michael Valgren entering standings in 25th place after his second place finish at Amstel Gold Race. 

Despite winning Amstel Gold Race for a second time, Enrico Gasparotto earned zero points, despite 80 on offer for the victor, for his victory as the Italian rides for Pro-Continental team Wanty-Groupe Gobert. Third place finisher Sonny Colbrelli likewise was ineligible for WorldTour points as he rides for the Bardiani–CSF Continental squad. In total, three of the top four riders were from Pro-Continental squads with Direct Energie's Bryan Coquard also ineligible.

After 11 WorldTour races in 2016, 122 riders in total have scored points although Sagan is the only one with more than 300 points to his name. The World Champion has 329 points while Contador is just behind on 289 points. BMC's Richie Porte (222 points) and Sky's Sergio Henao (204 points) are currently the closest challengers to the duo.

Just as the individual standings where relatively unchanged at the pointy end, there is no change to the team standings although Tinkoff was a big winner as it extended its haul from 683 points to 741. Team Sky held on to its second place with 622 points as BMC round outs the top three on 490 points. Giant-Alpecin's tally of 10 points is unchanged from the last update of the WorldTour rankings with Lampre-Merida sitting 17th of the 18 teams on 65 points.

In the nation standings, Australia maintains a slender two point lead over Belgium, 579 to 577 points, with over 100 points difference to Spain in third place on 470 points. There are 28 nations in total who have scored WorldTour points with Belarus sitting bottom at the moment on one point while 12 nations have accumulated three figure numbers.

The next race on the WorldTour calendar takes place on Wednesday with La Flèche Wallonne, followed by Liège - Bastogne - Liège on April 24 and the Tour of Romandie stage race from April 26 to May 1.

WorldTour standings - April 17