Paolo Savoldelli, the 2002 Giro d'Italia winner, will be back in action at Paris-Nice this weekend with his new squad, Lance Armstrong's Discovery Channel team. Savoldelli missed the early part of the season with a broken collarbone, but Paris-Nice remains one of his season targets, on the way to aiming for a Giro win.
As well as Armstrong himself, Savoldelli will be supported by Discovery's Yaroslav Popovych and Sunday's Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne winner George Hincapie.
UCI Continental rankings
The UCI has released the first sets of rankings under its new regional points system for pro cyclists. There are as yet no rankings for the top-level riders participating in the ProTour, as there haven't been any ProTour races, but there have been enough races at the next level down for some early leaders to emerge.
Australian Graeme Brown (Ceramica Panaria-Navigare) has picked up the most points overall so far this year with his wins at the Tour de Langkawi putting him at the top of the table for the Asia Tour, while consistent early-season riding by Ruben Plaza Molina (Comunidad Valenciana) including his overall victory in the G.P. Internacional Costa Azul put him at the top of the Europe Tour table.
For more details see our UCI Road Rankings section.
UCI Continental Tours leaders
