Tadej Pogačar leads the overall, Grand Tour and Climb rankings (Getty Images)
The Road Code Ranking is a unique way of classifying the best-performing riders over a cycling season, based on the quality of the start list and the race. Alongside the overall ranking, there are six sub-rankings to determine who is the best sprinter, climber, time-triallist, one-day rider, stage racer and Grand Tour rider.
Tadej Pogačar, on course to complete an historic Giro-Tour double, has strengthened his lead in the Road Code Ranking and two sub-classifications, while Jasper Philipsen has become the top-ranked sprinter.
A thrilling second week of racing at the Tour de France saw Pogačar finish second on Stage 11 before winning both the Pyrenean summit finishes at the weekend, results that accrued the UAE Team Emirates rider almost 800 points in just six days of racing.
As a result, his lead of almost 3,000 points in the Road Code Ranking is now perhaps insurmountable and will definitely become so should he, as projections predict, hold on to win yellow in Nice on Sunday. The ranking accurately reflects that Pogačar is undoubtedly the best and most consistent rider there is right now.
Team Visma | Lease a Bike’s Jonas Vingegaard – who is 3:09 adrift of Pogačar in the hunt for yellow – earned more than 600 points in the last six days of racing and jumps from 16th to 7th. The Dane has raced much less than most of his fellow competitors this season due to injury, but points scored in the Tour are worth more than any other race due to the quality of the start list.
Soudal Quick-Step’s Remco Evenepoel, looking a good bet for a podium finish in his maiden Tour, consolidated his second place with three third places, while Philipsen, of Alpecin-Decuninck, was rewarded for his two stage wins – each one worth 250 points – by moving from sixth to third.
In finding his race-winning form once again, Philipsen has also overtaken Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) as the leader of the Sprint category, and should he win the only remaining sprint left in the race, on Tuesday, he will have a gap of 630 points to the Belgian – a lead that could prove to be unassailable in the season’s final months. Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) has been Philipsen’s biggest rival at the Tour and he’s now fourth in the Sprint ranking, a remarkable rise from 16th before the race began.
Watch: Road Code Ranking explained
Pogačar’s dominance at the race has also been reflected in the Grand Tour and Climb rankings, where he has further extended his advantage. In the latter category, Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Dstny) has fallen to fourth, and Evenepoel has taken his spot in second. Vingegaard has shot from 14th to 3rd, the Dane having racked up 630 points in the Pyrenees and Massif Central.
And in the Grand Tour category, Pogačar, having dominated the Giro first and now the Tour, is approaching a lead of 3,000 points. At present, Girmay is third, but that’s likely to be a temporary highest position for the Eritrean. Though he will earn big points should he hold on to the green jersey, riders who finish in the top five of GC especially will all gain even more, knocking the Tour revelation down a few spots.
It’s looking likely that the standings of the Road Code Ranking will mirror the Tour’s final podium in a week’s time, with Pogačar, Vingegaard and Evenepoel performing consistently all season.