March 23, 2009 (Aigle, Switzerland) – A powerful sprint victory at Milano-Sanremo has catapulted Britain’s Mark Cavendish to third place in the UCI World Rankings of 2009. The Columbia-Highroad rider scored 100 points thanks to his winning sprint. He also scored 10 points for victory in the last stage at Tirreno-Adriatico, giving him a total of 110 points.

Canada’s Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Slipstream has entered the world rankings in 29th spot, while Dominique Rollin (Can) Cervelo Test Team is currently in 66th after both had strong rides in the Tirreno-Adriatico.

Cavendish is 72 points behind overall leader Allan Davis of the Quick Step team after Davis scooped an impressive 122 points in the Tour Down Under in January and added another 60 points at Milano-Sanremo thanks to fourth place in sprint.

Spain’s Luis Leon Sanchez is sandwiched between the two English-speaking sprinters. The Caisse d’Epargne rider failed to score points at Milano-Sanremo, despite making a daring late attack with two kilometers to go, but still has a total of 111 points because of his success at Paris-Nice.

Cavendish’s first ever victory in a major classic came in his first ever ride at Milano-Sanremo. It was also the first time the Briton had ever raced nearly 300 kilometres. The 23-year-old from the Isle of Man was carefully protected by his Columbia-Highroad team mates squad on the key climbs of Italy’s biggest one-day Classic.

When Germany’s Heinrich Haussler of the Cervelo Test team started the sprint in the finishing straight, Cavendish was quick to follow. A similar acceleration by Haussler had taken him to victory in the opening road stage of Paris-Nice. But this time round he had Cavendish to contend with, and the Briton got past for a desperately close victory.

“It doesn’t matter if you win by one centimetre or one kilometre,” Cavendish said afterwards. “I was a bit worried when I saw Haussler take off, but fortunately I was able to pass him. I said before that perhaps I couldn’t win, but I never said that it was impossible.”

Cavendish is only the second British rider ever to take the race – 35 years after Tom Simpson took the country’s first victory, way back in 1964.

Despite Cavendish’s success, the Quick Step team still top the UCI World Ranking for teams after Milano-Sanremo with a total of 296 points. Team Columbia-Highroad is now second with 230 points and Team Saxo Bank is third with 217 points.

Davis helped Australia take top spot in the nations ranking, moving ahead of Spain and Italy. Australia has a total of 375 points, 21 more than Spain and 27 more than Italy.

The next race that will decide the UCI World Ranking is the Tour of Flanders on April 5. The classics specialists look set to continue their dominance of cycling’s world ranking for some time yet.

Rankings as of March 23, 2009 after Milan-Sanremo

1. Allan Davis (Aus) Quick Step 182 points
2. Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne 111
3. Mark Cavendish (GBr) Columbia-Highroad 110
4. Michele Scarponi (Ita) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli 107
5. Frank Schleck (Lux) Saxo Bank 88
6. Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Cervelo Test Team 87
7. Stuart O’Grady (Aus) Saxo Bank 87
8. Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 85
9. Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Quick Step 77
10. Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne 77

29. Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Slipstream 20
66. Dominique Rollin (Can) Cervelo Test Team 1

View the full world rankings here.