Peter Sagan confirmed as 2016 WorldTour champion after Il Lombardia

Sagan had almost certainly won the individual ranking before the final event of the UCI WorldTour on Saturday

Peter Sagan, 2016 Tour de France (Sunada)

(Image credit: Yuzuru SUNADA)

Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) has confirmed his title of the year's most consistent rider in the WorldTour after winning the individual ranking in the UCI competition.

The final event of the 2o16 WorldTour, Il Lombardia, concluded on Saturday with a win by Esteban Chaves and sealed the rankings for the Slovakian despite not riding the Italian Classic.

>>> Five reasons why the WorldTour reforms are good for everyone

Mathematically, only Vuelta a España winner Nairo Quintana (Movistar) could have surpassed Sagan if he'd decided to ride Il Lombardia and win it, which he did not after concluding his season at the Vuelta.

WorldTour points are awarded for one-day race, tour stage and stage race overall finishing positions for counting events.

The amount of points awarded depends on the ranking of the event. For example, winning the Tour de France overall gives a rider twice as many points as winning the Eneco Tour overall.

It's Sagan's first WorldTour rankings victory and is his reward for a remarkable season as world champion, which saw him perform incredibly consistently and take victory in the likes of the Tour of Flanders and Ghent-Wevelgem in the Classics, as well as three stages and the points classification at the Tour de France.

Winner of the previous two editions of the WorldTour Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) finished in fourth behind Sagan, Quintana and Chris Froome (Team Sky) after taking points for his sixth place finish in Lombardy.

His Movistar team once again took the honours in the team ranking; the fourth consecutive occasion the Spanish squad has ended the season on top.

Dimension Data finished well adrift at the bottom of the ranking of the 18 teams with 290 points to the next team IAM Cycling on 418. That could have implications for the African team's place in the 2017 WorldTour as the UCI begins next year with just 17 places available in it's top tier.

Movistar in the 2016 Vuelta a Espana

Movistar took the honours in the team ranking once again (Watson)
(Image credit: Watson)

Spain expectedly finished on top in the nations classification; the fifth consecutive time that has happened and the seventh win in total. Aside from Spain, only Italy has won an edition of the WorldTour since it's introduction in 2009.

Great Britain finished in third place, well behind Colombia in second and winners Spain.

The WorldTour winners are presented in front of an audience at the UCI Gala in Abu Dhabi in October, where awards are handed out to riders and staff.

UCI WorldTour Ranking 2016

1. Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff 669 points

2. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar 609 points

3. Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky 564 points

4. Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar 436 points

5. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing 420 points

6. Alberto Contador (Esp) Tinkoff 428 points

7. Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing 394 points

8. Romain Bardet (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale 374 points

9. Daniel Martin (Irl) Etixx-QuickStep 280 points

10. Jon Izaguirre (Esp) Movistar 270 points

Other

30. Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-BikeExchange 144 points

36. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 121 points

37. Ian Stannard (GBr) Team Sky 120 points

50. Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-BikeExchange 101 points

53. Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky 92 points

66. Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data 80 points

84. Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Sky 50 points

97. Steve Cummings (GBr) Dimension Data 38 points

171. Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar 7 points

216. Adam Blythe (GBr) Tinkoff 2 points

Team ranking

1. Movistar 1471 points

2. Tinkoff 1361 points

3. Team Sky 1187 points

4. BMC Racing 1128 points

5. Orica-BikeExchange 909 points

Nation ranking

1. Spain 1475 points

2. Colombia 1446 points

3. Great Britain 1050 points

4. France 1024 points

5. Belgium 1003 points

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Richard Windsor

Follow on Twitter: @richwindy


Richard is digital editor of Cycling Weekly. Joining the team in 2013, Richard became editor of the website in 2014 and coordinates site content and strategy, leading the news team in coverage of the world's biggest races and working with the tech editor to deliver comprehensive buying guides, reviews, and the latest product news.


An occasional racer, Richard spends most of his time preparing for long-distance touring rides these days, or getting out to the Surrey Hills on the weekend on his Specialized Tarmac SL6 (with an obligatory pub stop of course).