[4] Yates was the last of four riders to take the overall lead of standings during the season; he had ranked highly in the standings earlier in 2018, taking stage victories at Paris–Nice,[5] and the Volta a Catalunya,[6] before a break-through performance at the Giro d'Italia with three stage wins and thirteen days in the race lead; ultimately, Yates cracked in the mountains during the third week and ceded overall victory to compatriot Chris Froome.
[4] Sagan led the standings for most of the season, having recorded consistent top-six finishes during the spring Classic races, with victories at Gent–Wevelgem,[11] and for the first time, Paris–Roubaix.
In the concurrent teams' standings, Quick-Step Floors prevailed with 13,425.97 points, having held the classification lead for three-quarters of the season, and not been headed since late March.
The team took 37 victories – out of a total of 73 wins during all UCI-classified races[15] – at the World Tour level, including seven overall victories taken by Niki Terpstra (E3 Harelbeke and the Tour of Flanders),[16][17] Yves Lampaert (Dwars door Vlaanderen),[18] Julian Alaphilippe (La Flèche Wallonne and Clásica de San Sebastián),[19][20] Bob Jungels (Liège–Bastogne–Liège),[21] and Elia Viviani (EuroEyes Cyclassics).
[30] With 9,201 points, Bora–Hansgrohe finished in third place primarily down to Sagan's performances, with further wins to Jay McCarthy (Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race),[31] and Pascal Ackermann at the RideLondon–Surrey Classic.