Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) wins the 2012 Gent-Wevelgem
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Boonen moves into fourth after Gent-Wevelgem, E3 Harelbeke wins
Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) continued his run of success in the Spring Classics and moved up to fourth in the UCI WorldTour rankings thanks to another powerful sprint victory at Gent-Wevelgem on Sunday. Boonen beat Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Matti Breschel (Rabobank) in the dash to the line, timing his effort perfectly to beat the young Slovakian champion. Boonen joins Rik Van Looy, Eddy Merckx and Mario Cipollini as three-time winners of Gent-Wevelgem.
Boonen won the E3 Prijs Vlaanderen Harelbeke race for a record fifth time on Friday to kick off an impressive weekend performance. Boonen had been tied with Rik Van Looy with four victories.
The Omega Pharma-QuickStep team leader now has a total of 166 points in the individual UCI WorldTour ranking, moving him up from seventh to fourth. Simon Gerrans (GreenEdge Cycling Team) still leads the ranking with 210 points after his victories at the Tour Down Under and Milan-San Remo. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) is second with 182 points and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) remains in third with 167 points.
The GreenEdge team also had another successful week of racing; with Michael Albasini winning the opening two stages and then successfully defending the overall race lead at the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya.
They key mountain stage in the foothills of the Pyrenees was shortened due to snow and Albasini went onto finish 1:30 ahead of Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and 1:32 in front of third-placed Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Lotto Belisol) on general classification. Albasini picked up 112 points in the UCI WorldTour ranking, and entered the individual rankings in seventh place.
Sky Procycling is back at the top of the UCI WorldTour team ranking after consistent results in both Gent-Wevelgem and Volta Ciclista a Catalunya. The British team tops the ranking
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