July UCI rider points published; Cadel now leads

If winning the Tour de France wasn't enough for Cadel Evans, the UCI World Tour rider rankings published this lunchtime show the Australian rider sprinting to the top of the list.

This month's UCI World Tour rider rankings have been published today a little later than usual to allow for the points accrued from the three-weeks-long Tour de France, which finished yesterday.

Not surprisingly, after a successful build-up to the Tour de France which included winning the Tirreno–Adriatico and Tour de Romandie 'minor' stage races and coming second at the Critérium du Dauphiné, Evans was already well placed in fourth slot. Now, consistently high places and a win on stage 4 of the Tour have rocketed Evans into top place, and with a healthy margin over Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Sungard) who maintains second place.

Belgium's Philippe Gilbert has slipped from first place to third despite an aggressive showing at the tour which his many fans and Omega Pharma-Lotto sponsors must surely be happy with.

Frank and Andy Schleck are now in customary side-by-side position at 7th and 8th respectively, having risen from 19th and 36th due to their own consistency at the Tour.

British interest is led by Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad) who moves up in even more meteoric style from 64th to 19th after his five Tour de France stage wins. Britain's highest-placed rider is still Bradley Wiggins (Sky), who won the Critérium du Dauphiné in June but who has slid from 12th to 16th due to crashing out of the Tour.

Britain maintaining its 9th position in the country rankings continues to ensure that Team GB will be able to field a full and competitive team of nine riders to scrap for the UCI World Championships later in the season.

The top ten position also has an important bearing on the 2012 Olympics, where there is a later cut-off in November to qualify a maximum team of five for the men's road race.

The full rankings can be found on the UCI website.