SPECIAL | The 20 riders that have moved up the UCI rankings the most in 2024
Cycling
The UCI rankings and points are as important as ever, specially recently when they have become the primary factor to decide which teams are part of the World Tour and which teams receive wildcards for the races. Teams are more focused than ever in the points obtained during races and in this article we take a look at the 20 riders who have climbed up the standings the most when comparing December 2023 to December 2024.
This list includes riders that are close to the top of the charts of the UCI standings, but mainly figures that have instead have massive breakthrough or return seasons in 2024. It takes an important mix between obtaining big results but also having a rather under-the-radar 2023 season. This would include riders that have suffered from injuries or illnesses in 2023 and bounced back in style this year.
*Note: For the sake of brevity, only the riders in the Top250 of the UCI rankings are taken into account in this article.
20. 527 - Simon Dehairs (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
19. 536 - Archie Ryan (EF Education-EasyPost)
18. 540 - Jan Tratnik (Team Visma | Lease a Bike)
17. 574 - Alexandre Delettre (St.Michel - Mavic - Auber93)
16. 583 - Brandon Rivera (INEOS Grenadiers)
15. 619 - Emilien Jeannière (TotalEnergies)
14. 652 - Marco Brenner (Tudor Pro Cycling Team)
13. 662 - Paul Magnier (Soudal - Quick-Step)
12. 709 - Jenno Berckmoes (Lotto Dstny)
11. 710 - Thomas Silva (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA)
10. 758 - Azzedine Lagab (Madar Pro Cycling Team)
Our Top10 opens up with Algerian rider Azzedine Lagab. Outside of the European calendar there are many UCI points to be won, specially if certain riders move away from the traditional scene and search for leadership and UCI points. Lagab is not this case specifically, but instead the 38-year old benefits from being one of the top riders in the African Tour.
Lagab, part of the continental Madar Pro Cycling Team, has had a stellar season where he consistently performed in the continent. He was 4th at the African Games Road Race; 3rd at the Tour National de Sidi bel Abbes; 4th at the Tour International des Zibans; 2nd at the Tour du Bénin; 5th at the Tour d'Algérie; was double national champion in his nation; 3rd at the Tour of Salalah and 4th at the GP Chantal Biya. This provided him with enough points to climb up the ranks and appear so prominently on this list.
9. 788 - Alex Baudin (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale)
In 9th spot we move to our first World Tour rider, Alex Baudin. The Frenchman has an interesting story, as he was disqualified from the 2023 Giro d'Italia due to a positive test for Tramadol. However his points from the rest of the season counted, but they were very little. It was only this year that the Decathlon rider broke through as a quality climber. He was second at the French opener, the GP La Mardeillaise, and popped up strongly with a Top10 at the Itzulia Basque Country. He was fourth on the first stage of the Giro d'Italia which temporarily saw him lead the youth classification.
Baudin experienced a very strong end to the year, winning the Tour du Limousin, finishing second at the Coppa Bernocchi and third at the World Tour-ranked Tour of Guangxi. He will race for EF Education-EasyPost next year.
8. 811 - Pau Miquel (Equipo Kern Pharma)
The Equipo Kern Pharma rider turned pro in 2022 after a few years in the Spanish amateur scene, but this year was the most important of his career thus far. The sprinter is also capable of handling hilly terrain, and used this ability to consistently score UCI points throughout the year. He was the most visible at the Vuelta a España where the team won three stages, and where he featured on the Top5 on four different sprint stages.
7. 1037 - Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain - Victorious)
The Italian classics rider was a bet of Bahrain back in 2022, and this year it began to pay off quite a bit. After learning from his experienced leaders, this season Zambanini began to have his own chances to lead the team after proving himself in the peloton. He was very close to taking his first pro win at Itzulia Basque Country; later in the year he would finish 7th at the Tour de Pologne which earned him lots of UCI points. He also finished third in the Italian national championships, Top10 in both Canadian classics and 4th at the Cro Race close to the end of the season.
6. 1175 - Javier Romo (Movistar Team)
Movistar took a bet on Javier Romo in 2024, turning him from a domestique at Astana to a rider with freedom in the Spanish outfit. A former triathlete who in the meantime showed himself as a quality stage-racer in the elite peloton. His most prominent result of the year was his 12th spot in the highly mountainous and Tour de France-contender rich peloton; but he performed well throughout the whole year and scored several results that definitely highlighted his potential as a climber.
5. 1245 - Joseph Blackmore (Israel - Premier Tech
Israel - Premier Tech signed Joseph Blackmore into it's development team this year, although the Briton ultimately performed better than most elite level riders. The team was quick to pass him onto the World Tour team in August. Blackmore was the winner of the Tour de l'Avenir, showcasing his talent as a climber and stage-racer. But actually, it was in the classics that he appeared at his best throughout the year.
The 21-year old won the Tour of Rwanda and Tour de Taiwan, his first two races of the year, and in Europe he immediately left a mark as well by winning the Circuit des Ardennes. Racing as part of the elite team but as an under-23 rider, he finished 4th at the Brabantse Pijl despite riding in support of leader Dylan Teuns. Days after he won the under-23 Liège-Bastogne-Liège, making him an undeniable world-class talent. At the end of the season, Blackmore already led the elite team at the Tour of Britain where he was fifth, before finishing in the same position at the under-23 World Championships.
4. 1328 - Wilmar Paredes (Team Medellin - EPM)
The South American calendar is another one that provides riders with a lot of potential to evolve, specially in an environment where World Tour teams are rarely present. In 2019, Paredes tested positive for EPO and was suspended to 4 years. In 2023 he returned to racing with the Team Medellín - EPM team, which was also home to Miguel Ángel López' team at the time, obtaining results quickly.
In 2024 Paredes won several races in North and South America, leaving his mark in several of the races he passed through.
3. 2135 - Amaury Capiot (Arkéa - B&B Hotels)
A quality climber, but Amaury Capiot had his 2023 almost fully ruined due to a knee injury. He started competition only in August but did not manage to score results. However in 2024 he returned to his best level. The Arkéa rider won a stage at the Tour of Oman and over the year scored important UCI points for the team in a mix of one-day races and stage-races, as he always has in the past. It was a season with a decent score, despite fracturing his collarbone in a crash back in February, and then fracturing his pelvis and sacrum in a crash at the Tour de France caused by Maxim van Gils, in which Capiot still holds quite a bit of frustration over the lack of an apology.
2. 2181 - Markus Hoelgaard (Uno-X Mobility)
One of the leaders of the Uno-X team, but in 2022 and 2023 Markus Hoelgaard simpy did not bring in the results he had hoped for. 2024 was a return to the top for the 30-year old who climbed over 2000 spots in the UCI rankings. This was the result of his win in the Norwegian national champions and soon after a stage at the Tour de Wallonie. In his national champion's jersey he also won the Tour of Leuven and surprised to a 14th place at the Zurich World Championships.
1. 2238 - Niklas Behrens (Lidl-Trek Future Racing)
The man of the moment - one of them - and likely a man for the future. Niklas Behrens is an unsurprisingly feature in this list and has climbed 2238 spots in the past 12 months. The reason is not because of injuries or illnesses, but rather because he was not a professional rider and was even scouted through social media. Having been tracked and signed by Lidl-Trek's development team, it quickly brought out his true talent. Behrens is now the reigning under-23 World Champion, a victory that was made incredibly impressive by the fact that he won a very hilly race weighing in a reported 80Kg and measuring 1.95 meters in height.
A figurative monster on the bike, who pushes wattages that most pros can't even reach, at age 21. Throughout the season he won several races but it were the World Championships that brought him to the spotlight. Team Visma | Lease a Bike already secured the German talent for the next three seasons.
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- Any two matching riders are a spectacle in any race. Do we have to continually state the obvious by always referring to the same two, even if many strongly disagree and argue they are evenly matched in the races where they meet? Isn’t the point of the internet to enhance and further thought and opinion as opposed to agreeing on a very narrow consensus that kilks conversation?Mistermaumau10-03-2025
- As has been said many times, Jonas is a diesel, never going to focus on one day races, Tadej is a roadie, never going to do MTB or CX.Mistermaumau10-03-2025
- Unless you can ignore the winner to enjoy the rest if the race, hence the comment about using imagination. Easier to do during a race than retrospectively when you’ve discovered someone gets their titles, medals, prize money cancelled and disqualified. Of course, it helps if camera crew look for the action, some channels do better at that than others.Mistermaumau10-03-2025
- I think an article dedicated to Emielien Jeannière is also in order today, amazing performance. Let’s not forget that almost a decade ago he was also 2nd in an important race beating a certain TP.Mistermaumau10-03-2025
- More or less how I see it too. Jonas himself warned publicly 6 months in advance. We were warned of the slippery dry gravel BEFORE the race do riders had no excuse not to take it into account. It’s not for nothing Moho warned Tadej not to follow him downhill in MSR, not every rider has the same skills and each has to know his limit. Tadej was too focused on riding with Pidcock to check his limits. After that, yes of course in a peleton if one goes down (for whatever reason) in a critical place, they’re likely to take others within their limits with them, can’t do very much about that without destroying the sport, that will always be a risk to live with. It’s the same as with development in cars, drivers are made to feel safer so take more risk and become more dangerous to others.Mistermaumau10-03-2025
- I agree with everything he says about rider safety related to bikes and the riders themselves. Every bike company talks abou how many watts have saved off a 40k. Clothing is more aero. Materials are refined and made lighter than ever. All of which means more crashes. And then look at Jonas' tragic crash from a year ago. A bummer of a situation, yes - but Jumbo allegedly emailed the organizer about the bad roads. The organizer keeps them in. So Jonas knew there were bad roads, the organizer keeps them in - but who forced Jonas to go so fast or ride that corner in a group situation? back down, take a different line. races are rarely won on the downhills, they're lost. the organizers can only do so much. the tour of poland situation or leaving cars on the road IS bad. but rough roads? the riders need to own this too. As Tadej said, I was going to fast, and I crashed.mij10-03-2025
- Naaahhh... You are fantastic at all types of cycling, only need time to practice. I have seen videos of Tadej when was a child performing as a circus tightrope walker on a unicycle.
maria2024202410-03-2025 - I'm sure we have other top riders Mr M. All I was saying that it is a spectacle to watch this pair go head to head in races and grand tours. You always seem to want make more of what is said as though what is said isn't good enough and then off you go into a long discourse telling us about your extended thoughts on the subject?Cyclingsbestfan10-03-2025
- Yes, you're right. Il Lombardia actually is a monument for climbers. On paper, it should suit Jonas.
KerisVroom10-03-2025 - What are you talking about? Of course it’s still interesting when neither is there. I didn’t say anything to contradict that. Weird and baseless accusation and statement. I said Grand Tour GC would be less interesting with only one of them. They perform head and shoulders above the rest but can beat other. If only one was present then the interest in grand tour GC is less since they’d likely dominate the field. Competition is fun. If neither are there then the field is together much closer like at the Vuelta last year. GC was fun the whole way through. I think you should assess your own attitude and assumptions when communicating with others ;)Evan10-03-2025