The International Cycling Union has announced its men’s WorldTour rankings will use the same points scale as its world rankings from 2017 onwards ©UCI

The International Cycling Union (UCI) has announced its men’s WorldTour rankings will use the same points scale as its world rankings from 2017 onwards.

Previously, the UCI WorldTour ranking used a completely different points scale to the UCI World Ranking, which was introduced this year.

The UCI WorldTour's adoption of the UCI World Ranking points scale will allow the first 60 riders classified at the end of a race to be allocated points, as opposed to 20 at present.

A greater number of riders will therefore be able to score points, which the UCI hopes will improve the spectacle, benefit teams in the team ranking and reward riders who previously received no points when finishing below 20th place.

The UCI WorldTour ranking by nation has been abandoned in favour of the UCI World Ranking by nation, which will crown the best country on the basis of all results from the UCI International Road Calendar.

Another change is the way points are attributed to riders in order to calculate the UCI WorldTour ranking by team.

Until now, only the first five riders scored points that counted towards the team ranking, whereas in 2017, points scored by all riders in UCI WorldTeams will be taken into account.

It is hoped this will encourage better performances from the whole team.

Slovakia's Peter Sagan topped the inaugural UCI Individual World Ranking ©Getty Images
Slovakia's Peter Sagan topped the inaugural UCI Individual World Ranking ©Getty Images

The UCI World Ranking - for individuals and nations - takes into account results achieved at all events on the UCI International Road Calendar.

This includes the UCI WorldTour, UCI Continental Circuits, UCI World Championships, National and Continental Championships, Olympic Games and Continental Games during the 52 previous weeks, according to a "rolling" system.

This system, similar to that of the ATP in tennis, is intended to better reflect the riders' sporting performances, with the calculation not based not on a specific circuit but taking into account all their results over a full year.

All riders who score points in the relevant races are included in the UCI World Ranking, including riders who are not part of a UCI WorldTeam.

There are currently 2,952 riders classified.

It has also been confirmed the 11 newly-introduced 2017 UCI WorldTour races will benefit from their own points scale.

The 2017 UCI WorldTour is due to begin with the Tour Down Under in Australian city Adelaide from January 17 to 22.

Slovakia’s Peter Sagan topped the inaugural UCI Individual World Ranking, while France headed the UCI Nations World Ranking.

Amendments to regulations from 2017 can be accessed by clicking here.