{"id":55338,"title":"Top Spring Classics Rider 2026","description":"Who will be Rijden's top rider of the 2026 Spring Classics? Last year, it was Tadej Poga\u010dar ahead of Mathieu van der Poel and Mads Pedersen. The top teams were UAE Team Emirates - XRG, Lidl - Trek and Alpecin - Deceuninck. \n\nUno-X Mobility was the best Pro Continental team, with the plucky triers from St Michel - Preference Home - Auber93 the best UCI Continental team. Worst-placed World Tour team Ark\u00e9a - B&B Hotels folded at the end of the season.\n\nWe\u2019ll be updating our league tables as the season progresses until after Liege-Bastogne-Liege, and we\u2019ll announce the final winners - and losers.","content":"

Published in<\/strong>: COBBLES & CLASSICS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>

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Last update: Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge<\/strong><\/p>

Who will be Rijden's top rider of the 2026 Spring Classics? Last year, it was Tadej Poga\u010dar ahead of Mathieu van der Poel and Mads Pedersen. The top teams were UAE Team Emirates - XRG, Lidl - Trek and Alpecin - Deceuninck.<\/span><\/p>

Uno-X Mobility was the best Pro Continental team, with the plucky triers from St Michel - Preference Home - Auber93 the best UCI Continental team. Worst-placed World Tour team Ark\u00e9a - B&B Hotels folded at the end of the season.<\/p>

We\u2019ll be updating our league tables as the season progresses until after Liege-Bastogne-Liege, and we\u2019ll announce the final winners - and losers.<\/p>

\"ProfessionalRijden\u2019s Spring Classics League<\/h2>

Which Spring Classics count?<\/h3>

As this is our league table, we decide which races are included. We\u2019ve tried to reflect the consensus on what constitutes a Spring Classic.<\/p>

The Spring Classics season starts with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and ends with Liege-Bastogne-Liege, and we only consider one-day races as qualifying for Spring Classic status.<\/p>

We include all the World Tour races, which incorporate four of the monuments: Milano Sanremo, Ronde van Vlaanderen, Paris-Roubaix and Liege-Bastogne-Liege.<\/p>

Then we add in all the Belgian 1.Pro races, as the Spring Classics are primarily about Belgium. We also add Le Samyn because, although only ranked as a UCI 1.1 race, it has all the characteristics of a Belgian classic.<\/p>

Finally, we add Milano-Torino as the oldest classic and Grand Prix Denain because it\u2019s like a mini Paris-Roubaix.<\/p>

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Points scoring<\/h3>

We use the UCI points from these races to determine who the top rider and team are. We also add sub-categories for the best-cobbled classics rider and best rider of the Flandrian classics.<\/p>

Although there\u2019s no official definition of a cycling Monument, the UCI recognises their importance and awards the highest points to the four Monuments that occur during Spring.<\/p>

Some of the other race rankings seem arguable. Why does La Fl\u00e8che Wallonne garner more points than E3 Saxo Classic?<\/p>

Here\u2019s how the points are allocated using the UCI\u2019s points system:<\/p>