World's best & injury can't shift mighty Irvine for ‘World No 1’ perch; Ryan also flies flag

He gets knocked down, he gets back up again: Martyn Irvine is still the best in the world despite everything the sport has thrown at him since his world title win back in February.

Martyn Irvine may have been sidelined for the summer after breaking his hip racing the Tour of Taiwan back in March, but a rapid return to form and world class results in recent weeks have seen him propelled back to the top of his game.

The Irishman also retains his coveted slot at the top of the UCI's world rankings.

The Newtownards man was ranked World No 1 in both the individual pursuit and scratch race for most of this year after winning the world scratch title in Minsk in February and claiming the silver in the pursuit on the same afternoon.

Those results were part of a fantastic run that saw him take two silver medals at the UCI World Cup in Glasgow 12 months ago.

However, when he crashed riding for his Unitedhealthcare trade team and was forced to spend what should have been the most glorious months of his career battling back for basic mobility, few would have bet on him heading for the year's end still a World No 1.

But that's exactly what's happened.

In recent weeks he's won a bronze medal in the omnium at the European Track Championships and taken his first UCI World Cup win in the points race in Manchester the week before last. He also took 3rd in the omnium and 4th in the scratch race at the Three Days of Aigle international meeting in Switzerland five weeks ago.

The latest UCI rankings show Irvine has maintained his World No 1 slot in the pursuit and while he has fallen from that perch in the scratch race, he is still 2nd in the world in those rankings. Just 10 ranking points ahead of him is Austrian power house Andreas Mueller, who had to settle for silver in the Worlds behind Irvine earlier this year.

Ireland's other track star, Caroline Ryan was ranked 1st in the world in the pursuit for most of the year and while she has slipped from that position, she is still right up there; 2nd in the rankings behind Australian Rebecca Wisiak.

Ireland's sprint king Eoin Mullen is also making steady progress up the UCI's rankings in his power events. He is now 26th in the sprint rankings and 48th in the keirin.

UCI Elite Men's 4km Individual Pursuit

Top 20 World Rankings

UCI Elite Men's Scratch Race

Top 20 World Rankings

1 (2)	Andreas MUELLER	Austria	404
2 (1)	Martyn IRVINE	Ireland	393
3 (3)	Theo REINHARDT	Germany	305
4 (5)	Tristan MARGUET	Switzerland	296
5 (4)	ANTON MUZYCHKIN	Belarus	282
6 (8)	Moreno DE PAUW	Belgium	277
7 (13)	Elia VIVIANI	Italy	275
8 (7)	Owain DOULL	Great Britain	273
9 (6)	Related News Lara Gillespie attacks Dolomite stage as Giro hits high mountains Video - Ireland's Meehan climbs with best on brutal Alpine terrain Tim VELDT	Netherlands	262
10 (19)	Roy EEFTING	Netherlands	258
11 (29)	Jonathan MOULD	Great Britain	240
12 (35)	Albert TORRES BARCELO	Spain	233
13 (9)	Manuel CAZZARO	Italy	212
14 (10)	Dylan KENNETT	New Zealand	204
15 (11)	Pavel GATSKIY	Kazakhstan	198
16 (12)	Morgan KNEISKY	France	197
17 (14)	Luke DAVISON	Australia	190
18 (42)	Alexander EDMONSON	Australia	190
19 (26)	Artyom ZAKHAROV	Kazakhstan	189
20 (15)	Ho Ting KWOK	Hong Kong, China	185

UCI Elite Women's 3km Individual Pursuit

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