Joaquim Rodriguez becomes World Tour Champion
The Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins’ run to become World Tour champion is over. The British cyclist finished second at ll Lombardia while Joaquim Rodriguez swept the victory. Now Rodriguez holds the first position in UCI World Tour ranking and there is no chance for Wiggins to beat him as he is not taking part in Tour of Beijing, too.
Before the race, Wiggins was 9 points ahead of Rodriguez. But Wiggins didn’t take part in Saturday’s Classic. Rodriguez clinched the victory and gained 100 points which fetched him the first spot in current World Tour ranking. The current point table shows that Rodriguez has 692 points under his name while Bradley Wiggins has stuck to 601.
There is still possibility for Wiggins to regain the first spot as the Tour of Beijing is approaching. It will give 100 clear points if he wins it plus six points per stage win. And the most important thing is that Rodriguez is not participating in the race. But Dario Cioni, the press officer of Team Sky, turned down the possibility because Wiggins has no visa to fly to China.
Wiggins, however, has performed superbly in this season and he has greater success compared to Rodriguez. He became the Tour de France champion this year and registered victories at Criterium du Dauphine and Tour de Romandie. But after the Tour de France win Wiggins hasn’t gained any World Tour points in his name which is why Rodriguez moved to the first spot.
Rodriguez managed to gain the second place at Giro and didn’t take part in Tour. Then he carried 404 points in his name to Bradley Wiggins’ 601. But from then on he put up a great show in every race he participated. He finished eighth at the Clasica de San Sebastian. He registered three stage wins along with a third spot finish at the Vuelta a Espana and recently he won the ll Lombardia. It is mainly because of his consistency throughout the year that Rodriguez will be the World Tour Champion. He consistently rode the races unlike Wiggins, who participated in selected events and maintained absolute dominance.
