April 16, 2007 – Australia’s Stuart O’Grady of the CSC team is the new leader of the UCI ProTour after winning the Paris-Roubaix one-day race over the cobbled roads of northern France.

O’Grady scored 50 points for his victory and thanks to scoring 25 for finishing fifth at Milan-San Remo on March 24, and two points Tirreno-Adriatico and the Tour of Flanders, the 33 year-old from Adelaide has a total of 79 points.

He took the lead in the UCI ProTour from Spain’s Oscar Freire (Rabobank), who is now second with 77 points. Italy’s Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) is now third with 62 points after scoring 20 points for finishing sixth place in the Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco stage race in Spain. Early ProTour leader Alberto Contador (Discovery Channel) is fourth with 58 points, while overall winner of the Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco Juan Jose Cobo (Saunier Duval) is fifth thanks to scoring a total of 57 points in the Spanish race.

O’Grady’s victory at Paris-Roubaix was the biggest of his career. He had not won a race since 2004 but deserved to lift the cobblestone trophy in the air and cry tears of happiness after a perfect race. He was part of the 31-rider early break that formed after just 25km of the 259km race and then attacked alone 23km from the finish and powered to the finish on the Roubaix track. Juan Antonio Flecha (Rabobank) finished second almost a minute behind, beating Stefan Wesemann (Weisenhof) in a sprint finish.

Thanks to O’Grady’s victory and excellent placing by his team mates, Team CSC were best teams in Paris-Roubaix and moved up from fourth to second place in the UCI ProTour team rankings. The Danish team won the UCI ProTour team prize in 2005 and 2006 and now has 107 points. Discovery Channel still leads the rankings with 109 points, with Liquigas of Italy third with 100 points. Spain still leads the nation rankings 277 points, ahead of Italy with 206. Thanks to O’Grady, Australia moved up to third in the nations rankings with 183 points.

Time for Hilly ProTour Classics

Paris-Roubaix was the last of the cobbled spring classics and now the UCI ProTour switches to the short but steep hills of southern Holland and Belgium for the Amstel Gold Race and then Fleche-Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

Many of the riders who scored ProTour points in the recent Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco are expected to star in the three races, including 2006 UCI Protour winner Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) and Pais Vasco winner Juan Jose Cobo (Saunier Duval). The 26 year-old was unknown before his impressive victory in the Pais Vasco but will now be one of the favourites for the classics and a contender to take the lead in the UCI ProTour.

Ranking

Individual

1. Stuart O’Grady (Aus) Team Csc 79
2. Oscar Gomez Freire (Esp) Rabobank 77
3. Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner 62
4. Alberto Velasco Contador (Esp) Discovery Channel 58
5. Juan Jose Juan (Esp) Saunier Duval – Prodir 57
6. Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step – Innergetic 57
7. Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 53
8. Alessandro Ballan (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 50
9. Roger Hammond (Gbr) T-Mobile Team 45
10. Samuel Gonzalez Sanchez (Esp) Euskaltel – Euskadi 45
11. Tadej Valjavec (Slo) Lampre-Fondital 45
12. Robbie Mcewen (Aus) Predictor-Lotto 44
13. Kim Kirchen (Lux) T-Mobile Team 41
14. Marcus Burghardt (Ger) T-Mobile Team 40
15. Juan Antonio Giannoni (Esp) Rabobank 40
16. Leif Hoste (Bel) Predictor-Lotto 40
17. Allan Davis (Aus) Discovery Channel 40
18. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana 38
19. Luis Leon Gil (Esp) Caisse D’Epargne 38
20. Luca Paolini (Ita) Liquigas 36
21. Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Gerolsteiner 35
22. Björn Leukemans (Bel) Predictor-Lotto 30
23. Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 30
24. Karsten Kroon (Ned) Team Csc 30
25. Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas 28
26. Alejandro Belmonte Valverde (Esp) Caisse D’Epargne 26
27. Roberto Petito (Ita) Liquigas 25
28. Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Discovery Channel 25
29. Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Discovery Channel 25
30. Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Csc 23
31. David Garcia Lopez (Esp) Caisse D’Epargne 23
32. Francisco Jos̩ (Esp) Saunier Duval РProdir 22
33. Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu) Discovery Channel 20
34. Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Milram 20
35. Frank Schleck (Lux) Team Csc 20
36. Christophe Mengin (Fra) Française Des Jeux 15
37. Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor-Lotto 15
38. Nick Nuyens (Bel) Cofidis, Le Credit Par Telephone 15
39. Enrico Franzoi (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 10
40. Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) Astana 10
41. Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Team Milram 10
42. Joaquin Oliver Rodriguez (Esp) Caisse D’Epargne 8
43. Max Van Heeswijk (Ned) Rabobank 7
44. Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 7
45. Riccardo Ricco (Ita) Saunier Duval – Prodir 6
46. Baden Cooke (Aus) Unibet.Com 5
47. Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Quick Step – Innergetic 5
48. Reynes Mimo (Esp) Caisse D’Epargne 5
49. Jose Joaquin (Esp) Caisse D’Epargne 3
50. Koldo Perez Gil (Esp) Saunier Duval – Prodir 3
51. Koldo Fernandez (Esp) Euskaltel – Euskadi 3
52. Jos̩ Angel Marchante (Esp) Saunier Duval РProdir 3
53. Manuel Martinez Beltran (Esp) Liquigas 3
54. Daniele Bennati (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 3
55. Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel 3
56. David Millar (Gbr) Saunier Duval – Prodir 3
57. Matteo Bono (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 3
58. Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus) Team Csc 3
59. Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 3
60. Fabio Baldato (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 2
61. Constantino Gutierrez Zaballa (Esp) Caisse D’Epargne 2
62. Patxi Javier (Esp) Lampre-Fondital 2
63. Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Liquigas 2
64. Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas 2
65. Mirco Lorenzetto (Ita) Team Milram 2
66. José Antonio (Esp) Astana 2
67. Sebastian Siedler (Ger) Team Milram 2
68. Alexandre Usov (Blr) Ag2R Prevoyance 1
69. Sven Krauss (Ger) Gerolsteiner 1
70. Thor Hushovd (Nor) Credit Agricole 1
71. Iker Ortuzar Camano (Esp) Saunier Duval – Prodir 1
72. Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 1
73. Mathew Hayman (Aus) Rabobank 1
74. Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Quick Step – Innergetic 1
75. Sébastien Joly (Fra) Française Des Jeux 1
76. Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 1

Team

1. Discovery Chanel (USA) 109
2. Team CSC (Den) 107
3. Liquigas (Ita) 100
4. Caisse D’Epargne (Esp) 94
5. T-Mobile (Ger) 83
6. Lampre-Fondital (Ita) 80
7. Rabobank (Ned) 79
8. Astana (Sui) 79
9. AG2R Preyvoyance (Fra) 78
10. Predictor-Lotto (Bel) 73
11. Quick Step – Innergetic (Bel) 69
12. Saunier DuvalL – Prodir (Esp) 61
13. Team Milram (Ita) 57
14. Cofidis (Fra) 53
15. Credit Agricole (Fra) 51
16. Gerolsteiner (Ger) 41
17. Unibet.com (Swe) 38
18. Française Des Jeux (Fra) 37
19. Bouygues Telecom (Fra) 33
20. Euskaltel – Euskadi (Esp) 32