The Nations UCI World Ranking is based on the total points of that country's top eight-ranked riders, and the Teams UCI World Ranking is based on that team's top ten-ranked riders.

On 10 January 2016, a complete new 52-week rolling basis ranking system was introduced in road cycling, incorporating both World Tour and Continental Circuit races.

Cycling's first season-long classification system was the Challenge Desgrange-Colombo, named after the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia directors at the time.

It was organized by Professional Cycling Federation (FICP) from the 1984 to 1992 and by Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) from 1993 to 2004.

[3] Hein Verbruggen, then president of the FICP and later the UCI, introduced the World Cup to try to increase cycling's television viewership: World Cup events were required to take place on the weekend, and many took place outside of cycling's historic core of France, Belgium, Italy, and Spain.

[3] During World Cup events, the leader of the ranking for that season wore a distinctive jersey with a vertical rainbow.