Cyclingnews has closely examined the performances of the sprinters over the 2018 season, looking at not just the number of victories but the quality of the races won, the number of placings and overall consistency, and picked the 10 best sprinters of the year. Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors) came away as the clear winner after a stellar season that brought in 18 victories, including four stages of the Giro d'Italia and three at the Vuelta a España.
About the ranking: Cyclingnews looked only at top-three finishes, weighting the Grand Tour stages and Monuments at 200, 100 and 60 points for first, second and third, respectively. Other WorldTour races were awarded 100, 60, 30 for the top three. Hors categorie event podium finishes were given 70, 35, and 21 points, while category 1 races earned podium finishers 40, 20 and 12 points. Riders were ranked by quantity of placings, quality of placings, and a combination of both to find the overall best sprinter. While breakaway race wins were counted, time trials and placings in general or other classifications were not.
1. Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors)
The Italian was by far and away the stand-out sprinter of the season, racking up the most victories of any rider with 18 individual race wins plus the Giro d'Italia points classification and the overall Dubai Tour. From his Tour Down Under stage to the last stage of the Vuelta, Viviani was a consistent performer for his new team and earned himself a fresh new look in June when he claimed the Italian road title.
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It wasn't all success, as Viviani had several painful defeats, namely to Peter Sagan in Gent-Wevelgem and a frustrating Milan-San Remo, where he was Quick-Step's best finisher in 19th.
Viviani benefited from the confidence and support of his Quick-Step Floors teammates to have his "best season ever", their train only coming seriously unglued on one occasion - when they botched a roundabout on stage 6 of the Vuelta a España and Nacer Bouhanni claimed the win. All this came in addition to Viviani's team pursuit title at the European Track Championships and his silver in the Omnium. It will be hard to top a year like that.
2. Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe)
3. Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe)
4. Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo)
5. Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe)
6. Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors)
7. Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ)
8. Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-Scott)
9. Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal)
10. Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates)
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/top-10-sprinters-of-2018
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