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Dan Martin’s ambition of equalling or improving on his second place in last year’s Giro di Lombardia didn’t materialise yesterday, with the Garmin Sharp rider not firing on all cylinders in the final one day WorldTour race of the year.
Martin was well placed heading onto the final climb of the 251 kilometre race, a point where he was one of the strongest last year, but once the ascent began he was unable to remain with the very top riders.
Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) raced clear at that point and held onto his advantage down the descent and on to the line.
He was followed in nine seconds later by eleven others, with Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel - Euskadi) and Rigoberto Uran (Sky Procycling) sprinting well to net second and third.
Martin came in one minute 23 seconds back, taking a solid sixteenth. The difficulty of the long, rain-soaked race was reflected in the fact that just 54 of the race’s 199 starters finished.
The race result saw him slip one place in the updated WorldTour rankings, with the Irishman now 37th overall in those standings.
He has 132 points, and is one place ahead of 2011 world champion Mark Cavendish (Sky) plus eight ahead of the current rainbow jersey holder, Philippe Gilbert.
The new points table sees Rodriguez and Wiggins trade places at the top, while Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma Quick Step), Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas Cannondale), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Simon Gerrans (Orica Green Edge), Chris Froome (Sky) and Peter Sagan (Liquigas Cannondale) remain in their previous slots of third through eighth.
Sanchez’s runner-up slot today moves him up to places to ninth, while Rui Costa (Movistar) slips a place to tenth.
The second Irish rider with WorldTour points, Nicolas Roche, is 72nd overall in the standings. He did not compete yesterday, ending his season one week ago at the world championship road race.
There’s practically no change in the teams’ list, with the only shift in the top ten being Katusha’s jump over Liquigas Cannondale into second overall. Wiggins’ Sky team remains far ahead and will take that classification.
Martin’s Garmin-Sharp team stays ninth, while Roche’s Ag2r La Mondiale outfit is seventeenth. He will move to the Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank team next year.
Rodriguez’s victory bolster’s Spain’s stranglehold on the countries’ ranking and it too is a certain winner. Great Britain, Italy, Belgium and Australia hold top five slots.
Colombia is the only new entry to the top ten, knocking Portugal and Norway down a place to ninth and tenth.
Ireland stays eighteenth in the rankings.
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Il Lombardia, Italy (WorldTour):
1, Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (Katusha Team) 251 kilometres in 6 hours 36 mins 27 secs
2, Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel - Euskadi) at 9 secs
3, Rigoberto Uran (Sky Procycling)
4, Mauro Santambrogio (BMC Racing Team)
5, Sergio Luis Henao Montoya (Sky Procycling)
6, Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin - Sharp)
7, Bauke Mollema (Rabobank Cycling Team)
8, Oliver Zaugg (Radioshack-Nissan)
9, Albert Contador Velasco (Team Saxo Bank / Tinkoff Bank)
10, Fredrik Kessiakoff (Astana Pro Team)
11, Nairo Alex Quintana Rojas (Movistar Team)
12, Franco Pellizotti (Androni Giocattoli) all same time
Irish:
16, Daniel Martin (Garmin - Sharp) at 1 min 23 secs
UCI WorldTour rankings, 29 September:
1 (2) RODRIGUEZ OLIVER Joaquin, KATUSHA TEAM (KAT) 692
2 (1) WIGGINS Bradley, SKY PROCYCLING (SKY) 601
3 (3) BOONEN Tom, OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP (OPQ) 410
4 (4) NIBALI Vincenzo, LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE (LIQ) 400
5 (5) VALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro, MOVISTAR TEAM (MOV) 394
6 (6) GERRANS Simon, ORICA GREENEDGE (OGE) 390
7 (7) FROOME Christopher, SKY PROCYCLING (SKY) 376
8 (8) SAGAN Peter, LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE (LIQ) 351
9 (11) SANCHEZ GONZALEZ Samuel, EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI (EUS) 332
10 (9) FARIA DA COSTA Rui Alberto, MOVISTAR TEAM (MOV) 309
11 (10) CONTADOR VELASCO Alberto, TEAM SAXO BANK-TINKOFF BANK (STB) 290
12 (12) BOASSON HAGEN Edvald, SKY PROCYCLING (SKY) 241
13 (14) HESJEDAL Ryder, GARMIN - SHARP (GRS) 237
14 (13) VAN DEN BROECK Jurgen, LOTTO BELISOL TEAM (LTB) 237
15 (37) URAN URAN Rigoberto, SKY PROCYCLING (SKY) 199
16 (15) ROGERS Michael, SKY PROCYCLING (SKY) 194
17 (24) MOLLEMA Bauke, RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM (RAB) 194
18 (31) HENAO MONTOYA Sergio Luis, SKY PROCYCLING (SKY) 194
19 (16) KREUZIGER Roman, ASTANA PRO TEAM (AST) 189
20 (17) CUNEGO Damiano, LAMPRE - ISD (LAM) 184
Irish:
37 (36) MARTIN Daniel, GARMIN - SHARP (GRS) 132
72 (71) ROCHE Nicolas, AG2R LA MONDIALE (ALM) 63
Teams:
1 (1) SKY PROCYCLING (SKY) GBR, 1,691
2 (3) KATUSHA TEAM (KAT) RUS, 1,273
3 (2) LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE (LIQ) ITA, 1,178
4 (4) OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP (OPQ) BEL, 1,066
5 (5) MOVISTAR TEAM (MOV) ESP, 941
6 (6) ORICA GREENEDGE (OGE) AUS, 920
7 (7) BMC RACING TEAM (BMC) USA, 917
8 (8) RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM (RAB) NED, 799
Other:
9 (9) GARMIN - SHARP (GRS) USA, 694
17 (17) AG2R LA MONDIALE (ALM) FRA, 273
Nations:
1 (1) SPAIN, 1,889
2 (2) GREAT BRITAIN, 1,163
3 (3) ITALY, 1,115
4 (4) BELGIUM, 1,014
5 (5) AUSTRALIA, 962
6 (6) NETHERLANDS, 733
7 (7) UNITED STATES, 530
8 (14) COLOMBIA, 404
9 (8) PORTUGAL, 401
10 (9) NORWAY, 373
Other:
18 (18) IRELAND, 195