Ben Swift hits WorldTour top 10 after Milan-San Remo ride

Ben Swift (Sky) has moved up to eighth place in the latest UCI WorldTour ranking, published after the Yorkshireman placed second in Milan-San Remo on Saturday.

Swift was beaten to the line in Milan-San Remo by Frenchman Arnaud Démare (FDJ), who also moves significantly up the ranking to fifth place.

Swift joins Sky team-mate and fellow British rider Geraint Thomas in the top 10. Paris-Nice winner Thomas is in sixth.

>>> Ben Swift on Milan-San Remo: ‘Second is the worst place’

Australian Richie Porte (BMC) maintains his top place in the ranking after coming second in the opening race of the 2016 WorldTour, the Tour Down Under, and third in Paris-Nice.

Porte holds a slender three-point lead over BMC team-mate Greg Van Avermaet, who won Tirreno-Adriatico. Sky's Sergio Henao is third.

With three riders in the top 10 (Swift, Thomas and Henao), Sky moves back up to lead the WorldTour team ranking, shifting American squad BMC down to second. Tinkoff are third. Lowest-placed of the 18 WorldTour squads is currently LottoNL-Jumbo with just one point.

Australia remains the top nation in the WorldTour, with Belgium moving up to second place and Great Britain in third. Spain slips from second to fourth.

WorldTour points are awarded for one-day race, tour stage and stage race overall finishing positions for counting events.

The amount of points awarded depends on the ranking of the event. For example, winning the Tour de France overall gives a rider twice as many points as winning the Eneco Tour overall.

Next event in the 2016 WorldTour is the Volta a Catalunya, starting on Monday March 21 and running until Sunday, March 27.

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) topped the 2015 ranking.

UCI WorldTour Ranking 2016 (as at Saturday, March 19)

1. Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing 159 points

2. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing 156 points

3. Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky 115 points

4. Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge 112 points

5. Arnaud Démare (Fra) FDJ 107 points

6. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 104 points

7. Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff 89 points

8. Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky 88 points

9. Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff 86 points

10. Jurgen Roelandts (Lux) Lotto-Soudal

Other

22. Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-GreenEdge 31 points

36. Steve Cummings (GBr) Dimension Data 6 points

Team ranking

1. Team Sky (Great Britain) 333 points

2. BMC Racing (USA) 322 points

3. Tinkoff (Russia) 249 points

Nation ranking

1. Australia 386 points

2. Belgium 237 points

3. Great Britain 231 points