Published February 4, 2005 01:00AM
By Agence France Presse
The 10-race World Cup and the UCI world rankings are no more, replaced by the 27-race ProTour series and a new system of awarding points that will determine who wears the ProTour leader’s jersey.
In the three-week grand tours, the first 20 overall finishers gain ProTour points; in the others, such as Paris-Nice and Milan-San Remo, only the first 10 overall finishers do.
In most stage races, stage winners collect one point. However, in the more difficult grand tours, the first three stage finishers receive three, two and one, respectively.
And the Tour de France delivers more points than the other grand tours, the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España. For example, in 2004 American Lance Armstrong would have picked up 100 points for his sixth victory. Giro d’Italia winner Damiano Cunego and Vuelta a España winner Roberto Heras would have received only 85 points for their overall victories.
ProTour points system
Tour de France
Overall victory: 100 points, then 75, 60, 55, 50, 45, 40, 35, 30, 25, 20, 15, 12, 9, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Stages: 3, 2 and 1 points for first three finishers
Vuelta a España/Giro d’Italia
Overall victory: 85 points, then 65, 50, 45, 40, 35, 30, 26, 22, 19, 16, 13, 11, 9, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Stages: 3, 2 and 1 points for first three finishers
One-day classics and week-long stage races
Overall victory: 50 points, then 40, 35, 30, 25, 20, 15, 10, 5, 1
Stages: 1pt
Other one-day races
Victory: 40, then 30, 25, 20, 15, 11, 7, 5, 3, 1
World road race championships
Victory: 50 then 40, 35 for first three finishers