Van Vleuten rises to the top of WorldTour rankings after Liege-Bastogne-Liege

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Annemiek van Vleuten may not have been able to lay her hands on a winner’s trophy this spring, but the Dutchwoman's consistency has seen her climb to the top of the Women’s WorldTour rankings after the inaugural women’s Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

The Orica-Scott rider began the race with a six-point deficit to Sunweb's Coryn Rivera, who was not taking part, and finishing in the top 18 would be enough to put her in the purple jersey. Van Vleuten put forward an aggressive race strategy but was unable to hang onto the leaders when they made their move. She ultimately finished fifth, out-sprinted by Ellen van Dijk to the line. It completes an extremely consistent spring that has seen her drop out of the top five just twice, with a 14th at Gent-Wevelgem her worst performance.

Kasia Niewiadoma (WM3) has also enjoyed a great run of form with third place in each of the Ardennes races, which has seen her jump to second in the individual standings, 40 points behind Van Vleuten. Rivera is now down to third place, 54 points behind, but she could close that gap at the Tour of California where she will be one of the favourites for the sprint stages. Van Vleuten has already confirmed that she will not be heading out to California or the next WorldTour event, Chongming Island.

Boels Dolmans had a slower start to the season than in 2017, but after locking out the top two steps at all three of the Ardennes races, Lizzie Deignan and Anna van der Breggen have moved into the top five, in fourth and fifth respectively. That has given them a commanding lead in the team competition with more than 500 points separating them from the second place Team Sunweb.

In the young riders classification, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Cervelo Bigla) added to her tally with a top 10 finish at Liege-Bastogne-Liege. She now leads Lotte Kopecky (Lotto Soudal) by 18 points, a large margin in a classification where points are much less. Ludwig is also just outside the top 10 in the general standings, four points behind Shara Gillow (FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope).

The women’s WorldTour will take a short break before revving up again at the three-day Tour of Chongming Island, which begins on May 5.  

UCI Women's WorldTour standings