Sam Bennett has ended the season as the best-placed Irish rider in the UCI men's rankings, with a total of 29 Irish riders scoring points over the last 12 months.
Bennett saw the second half of his season wiped out after he was forced to miss the Tour de France due to a knee injury, meaning he dropped from a career high of 14th in the rankings in the spring down to 80th by year end.
The Deceuninck-QuickStep sprinter ended the 2021 campaign with 735 points, some 300 of which were secured when he won Oxyclean Classic Brugge-De Panne back in March, the first one-day World Tour win of his career.
He also picked up 150 points for his 2nd place in Scheldeprijs in April as well as 60 points for each of his stage wins at Paris-Nice and 40 points for both of his stage wins at UAE Tour at the start of the season.
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Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) ended the year in 122nd place in the rankings, the 2nd highest ranked Irish rider, on 513 points. Almost half of the now retired Martin's tally came in the Giro, where he claimed 100 points for his victory on stage 17 and 140 points for 10th overall.
Ryan Mullen was the next Irishman in the rankings; the Trek-Segafredo rider finishing the season ranked 414th on 150 points.
He scored all of that tally at the National Road Championships in Co Wicklow three weeks ago, taking 100 points for the road race win and 50 points for winning the TT crown.
Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar (UAE-Team Emirates) ended the year on top of the rankings; leading the way by a huge margin.
The Slovenian has 5,353 points compared to 4,382 points for next best Wout van Aert (Jumbo Visma). Vuelta champion Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) is next on 3,924.
UCI Men's Rankings
- POGAČAR Tadej UAE TEAM EMIRATES 5,353
- VAN AERT Wout JUMBO-VISMA 4,382
- ROGLIČ Primož JUMBO-VISMA 3,924
- ALAPHILIPPE Julian DECEUNINCK-QUICKSTEP 3,104.67
- BERNAL GOMEZ Egan Arley INEOS GRENADIERS 2,576
- COLBRELLI Sonny BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS 2,553
- VAN DER POEL Mathieu ALPECIN-FENIX 2,461
- YATES Adam INEOS GRENADIERS 2,251
- ALMEIDA João DECEUNINCK-QUICKSTEP 2,219
- CARAPAZ Richard INEOS GRENADIERS 2,018
- 80 BENNETT Sam DECEUNINCK - QUICK-STEP 735
- 122 MARTIN Daniel ISRAEL START-UP NATION 513
- 414 MULLEN Ryan TREK-SEGAFREDO 150
- 467 ROCHE Nicolas TEAM DSM 126
- 486 DUNBAR Edward INEOS GRENADIERS 121
- 680 FEELEY Daire ALL HUMAN-VELOREVOLUTION 75
- 721 TOWNSEND Rory CANYON DHB SUNGOD 70
- 769 MC DUNPHY Conn EVOPRO RACING 65
- 890 TEGGART Matthew Velo Club Villefranche Beaujolais 51
- 966 HEALY Ben TRINITY RACING 46
- 1031 MCGLINCHEY Christopher Spectra Wiggle 40
- 1297 MCCAMBRIDGE Kevin AVC Aix En Provence 25
- 1418 CHRISTIE Marcus SBR Performance 20
- 1567 PEDEN George Team PB Performance 16
- 1764 JENKINS James Richardsons-Trek RT 11
- 1790 BULLER John Amicale Cycliste Bisontine 10
- 1790 KEOGH Cian Willebrord Wil Vooruit 10
- 2084 SMITH Luke Moynalty Cycling Club 5
- 2084 CURLEY Liam Spellman Dublin Port 5
- 2084 EWART Jesse TEAM SAPURA CYCLING 5
- 2257 MC LAUGHLIN Mitchell SWIFTCARBON 4
- 2294 MCGEOUGH Cormac WILDLIFE GENERATION 3
- 2294 CORKERY Dillon EVOPRO RACING 3
- 2294 O NEILL Gareth Caldwell Cycles 3
- 2294 MULLEN Sean Navan Road Club 3
- 2660 DEVINS Matthew TRINITY RACING 1
- 2660 VERBRUGGEN Conor Bray Wheelers 1
