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The Fight for Survival | World Tour Relegation Explained

Suddenly, everybody is talking about UCI points, so let us explain an important concept that even some people in the cycling industry are still unaware of – the complex World Tour promotion and relegation system.

At the end of 2018, the president of the UCI, David Lappartient, announced a profound reform of the UCI regulations, which came into force on January 1, 2020. The three main points of the UCI reform were:

• the current system of automatic wildcards for the best ProTeams of the previous year (currently Alpecin-Fenix and Arkea-Samsic);
• no more than 18 teams will be granted World Tour licences in 2023; and
• the allocation of WorldTour licences for three year cycles (2020-2022, 2023-2025, 2026-2028).

At the end of each three year period, every team that wishes to hold a World Tour licence must apply (or re-apply, in the case of existing World Tour teams) to the UCI. As this season is the last of the 2020-2022 triennium, the UCI will be reviewing applications and issuing licences for the next three year cycle commencing in 2023. But how does the UCI assess these applications?

There are defined criteria in the UCI rules for the assessment of licence applications, including expected things like financial solvency, ethical profile of the team (not sure how strictly this one is applied) as well as administrative and organisational criteria. However, if more than 18 teams apply for a WorldTour licence that meet such criteria, the applicants will also be subject to the application of the ‘sporting criterion’. According to the UCI regulations , the sporting criterion is:

The sporting criterion is evaluated with regard to the UCI world ranking for ‘men UCI teams – 3 years’, as defined in article 2.10.044 . Art 2.15.011 of the UCI Cycling Regulations

The ‘UCI world ranking for men UCI teams – 3 years’ is calculated by adding together the UCI points of each team at the end of each year in the three year licence period. This sounds simple enough on its face, but the UCI world ranking for each calendar year is a complex beast in itself. Only the points from the top 10 riders from each team count each year. Points from national championships and international events count towards a team’s total (provided such points have been accrued by a top 10 rider). Points from a rider on a development team associated with a World Tour team do not count for the World Tour team even if the rider earns those points on the World Tour team.

The actual point allocation per race is also counter-intuitive, with one-day races receiving a heavy weighting of points compared to stages in stage races. For example, a UCI 1.1 race such as Clásica Jaén gives 40 points for 6th place whilst a Tour de France 6th place in a stage gives none. We explain how points are allocated in further detail in our video below.

With only 18 World Tour team licences available and more than 18 teams intending to apply for World Tour licences for the 2023-25 cycle (Arkea-Samsic have applied and Alpecin-Fenix are strongly rumoured to have applied), the sporting criterion will likely have to be applied by the UCI in evaluating licence applications.

Technically, what we have just described is not a promotion and relegation system, given that at the end of each three year cycle every team must re-apply to obtain a World Tour licence, but for the ease of explanation we shall call it as such. In practice, it rewards the best 18 teams of the last three years with World Tour access, whether they are from the World Tour or ProTeam division. A team granted World Tour designation means they have the right to attend all World Tour races, including the all important Tour de France, where there is no guarantee of receiving a wildcard invitation as we have recently seen in the case of UNO-X Pro Cycling Team.

💛 #TDF2022 team selection 💛 ✅ The 18 UCI WorldTeams ✅ 🇧🇪 @AlpecinFenix and 🇫🇷 @Arkea_Samsic , 1st and 2nd placed UCI ProTeams in 2021 ✅ 🇫🇷 @BBHOTELS_KTM and 🇫🇷 @TeamTotalEnrg , invited by the organizers. 🤩 See you in July! pic.twitter.com/WFbdyGUy1l — Tour de France™ (@LeTour) February 11, 2022

It could be that the top 18 teams of a three year cycle are only comprised of current World Tour teams and then there would be no possibility of relegation, but, in this cycle, the ProTeams Alpecin-Fenix and Arkéa-Samsic have performed very well and are currently in the top 18 of the three year ranking. This means that two World Tour teams (Lotto Soudal and Cofidis) are currently in the relegation zone. For unknown reasons, the UCI has kept the triennium ranking secret from the public, but on this website we will update the ranking on a fortnightly basis.

The Ranking

As you can see in the graphs, there is less than 1500 UCI points difference between BikeExchange (15th) and Lotto Soudal (20th), a relatively small gap considering that a win in a World Tour level one-day race yields at least 300 UCI points – more in the case of monuments. Given how close the fight is and the number of points on offer in January and February, the relevant teams have started the year strongly.

The longstanding Team Movistar (14th) have started on a positive trend, largely driven by Alejandro Valverde’s performances in Mallorca. Subject to injuries to Mas and Valverde, they should retain World Tour status fairly easy. Conversely, BikeExchange (15th) and even DSM (11th), the two worst WorldTeams of 2021 according to UCI points (excluding Qhubeka), may be relegated if they do not improve their poor results from last season. Israel – Premier Tech have already been leapfrogged by the fast-starting Arkea Samsic (1209 points already in 2022), but with Woods, Nizzolo and Fuglsang targeting big World Tour one-day races which are yet to come, they will likely be safe from relegation. Intermarché have had the second strongest start, with Jan Hirt taking out the general classification of Tour of Oman with teammate Taaramäe in 8th, providing a 250 point boost.

ProTeams TotalEnergies (21st) and Uno-X (22nd) have shown interest in applying for a WorldTour license, but they are out of the sporting fight, being more than 4000 points behind the 18th position – an unassailable gap even with the addition of Sagan for Total.

The good news for relegated teams is that they will at least be eligible for the two automatic wildcards to the 2023 WorldTour if they score more UCI points in the 2022 season than the other ProTeams (the wildcard system is a one year cycle unlike the three year relegation cycle). That will be another interesting ranking to watch throughout the season, as TotalEnergies and Uno-X have become very strong in the transfer market and will be tough opponents for relegated teams.

In the first two weeks of the 2022 season, Lotto Soudal have scored more than Uno-X and Total Energies, but Uno-X has scored more than Cofidis, one of the World Tour teams sitting in the relegation zone. If the Norwegian team outscores them in 2022 they would receive the automatic 2023 wildcards instead of Cofidis – a worst case scenario for any World Tour team. Losing WorldTour status without guaranteed invites to the biggest races in 2023 could cause a team to lose its sponsors and be at risk of folding like Qhubeka. For Lotto Soudal this is an even bigger problem, as they would be less likely than Cofidis to receive the discretionary race organiser’s invitation to the Tour de France and Vuelta a España.

The Fight on the Road

Given the importance of the UCI ranking, some teams have adopted strategies to maximise their sum of their UCI points. Every race is important, from the Tour de France to a third division classic or the national championship of a remote country. As mentioned above, minor races are overrepresented in the UCI points allocation relative to their prestige and offer a great opportunity to score relatively easy points. For example, winning the Vuelta a Murcia (1.1) gives 125 UCI points, 5 more than winning a stage or a secondary jersey in the Tour de France. Similarly, winning the two Canadian classics in Québec and Montréal is awarded 1000 UCI points, the same as winning the general classification of the Tour de France. From our point of view, one-day races are also over-weighted compared to stage races, since they distribute the same UCI points as the general classification of races in the same category, despite being only 1 day of competition.

In the following two graphs, you can see what kind of races the teams in the battle for World Tour status obtained their UCI points in during the past season. BikeExchange scored 74% of its points in World Tour races, while Intermarché-Wanty scored just 27% of its points in World Tour races, making the 1.1 classics its main points pool. Arkéa-Samsic is another team very focused on scoring points in a wide range of races on the calendar, which is helping them to be among the top 18 for now. On the other hand, Lotto Soudal and Movistar both received over 60% of their points in World Tour races, with little systematic focus on the profitable 1.1 classics.

At the start of the season, the pressure to fight for points is evident amongst the teams at risk of relegation or promotion. February is a very important month, with many races taking place simultaneously and with the top World Tour teams such as INEOS and Jumbo-Visma not sending their star riders in peak shape. The prevalence of COVID makes the job all the more difficult for the teams, with riders who test positive becoming unavailable at short notice. For example, Cofidis and Arkéa-Samsic have decided to skip the difficult UAE Tour to focus on smaller races on the Spanish and French calendars. At the Tour de la Provence, we have seen Arkéa star Nairo Quintana already at an impressive level after a difficult 2021 whilst Intermarché sent Hirt and Taaramäe on altitude camps before Tour of Oman so they could score highly on general classification. They are currently the second and third best teams in 2022 by UCI points.

Even taking a look at the individual ranking so far this season, six riders among the top eight in 2022 UCI points are from teams in the relegation fight, with Lotto Soudal sending the strong Tim Wellens to the Mallorcan January races and the new Clásica Jaén gravel race on Monday.

What to Expect

As the fight continues throughout the year, we expect to see the points system influence tactics within races. Already in the Tour of Oman both Vauqelin and Gesbert appeared to have a free role to improve their own GC positions as much as possible, rather than Vauqelin sacrificing himself completely to move Gesbert onto the podium.

In one day races, such as Eschborn-Frankfurt or Faun-Ardeche, expect to see these teams attempting to have multiple riders in the top 10, even if it means sacrificing their chances of overall victory. In previous years it has been commonplace for Intermarché to have two riders contesting the same sprint, but now other teams are adopting this approach. For example, yesterday Lotto Soudal had three riders in the top 10 of Clásica Jaén.

For us fans, there is some added excitement in these smaller races which often take place during the week, as these World Tour teams will line up to hotly contest the race. Whether you agree with the UCI’s points allocation system or not, this was an intended consequence of it, as it boosts the strength of the start-lists at races which struggle to attract big names.

The time to make transfers or new signings for the spring races has all but ended. The last big rider on the market, Domenico Pozzovivo was announced officially today as joining Intermarché.

📢 We are thrilled to welcome Domenico Pozzovivo 🇮🇹 who will strengthen our team starting from Wednesday on the Vuelta a Andalusia 👊 🎙️“I want to prove with IWG that I can finish in the top 10 of a Grand Tour again." Read more 👉 https://t.co/Lq9ZWIgBzM pic.twitter.com/qC9CPWj6ae — Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert (@IntermarcheWG) February 15, 2022

Pozzovivo is no world beater, but is an experienced rider who can target top 10s in the general classification across many stage races throughout the year – capable of earning over 500 UCI points. With the margins in the relegation battle so tight, his points could prove decisive.

Once the transfer season opens up around August, expect to see some of the teams fishing around for talent who may be able to help them score points in the plethora of one day races in Autumn. Points accumulated on another team prior to signing do not count to the new team’s total (this used to be the case) but all points afterwards do. Intermarché did just that with Biniam Girmay in 2021, signing him from Delko mid-year and benefitting from his vital 601 UCI points in the last few months of the season.

A busy and important couple of weeks approaches, with stage races in Andalucía, Algarve and UAE as well as opening weekend featuring the point heavy Omloop, Kuurne, Faun-Ardeche and Bernard Drome Classic. We will meet here again here after Kuurne with an updated ranking and a review of the evolution of the fight.

Editor’s Note: Raúl Banqueri is a Spanish journalist who has been tracking the UCI points system for a number of years, with the UCI often correcting their ranking to accord with his.

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WorldTour Relegation Battle Causes Turmoil in Top Teams

Most sports fans surely know what the word relegation means. Most often used in football and rugby, it refers to the mechanism whereby teams in the top league of the sport are dropped to a lower league if they finish last or second from last. They are then replaced by teams from the lower league who qualified via table standings or playoff matches.

As already stated, this mechanism is usually used in sports involving round or oval balls. It has rarely, if ever, been used in cycling. That has now changed. At the end of 2018, UCI President David Lappartient  announced a wide-ranging reform of UCI regulations . These came into force on January 1, 2020, and include the current system of automatic wild cards for the best ProTeams of the previous year (currently Alpecin-Fenix and Arkea-Samsic); a limit of 18 teams that will be granted licenses to race at the top level; and the allocation of WorldTour licenses in 2023 for three-year periods (e.g., 2020-2022, 2023-2025, etc.).

At the end of each three-year period, every team that wishes to hold a WorldTour license must apply or re-apply to the UCI. We are currently in the final year of the first three-year period, which means that the UCI will be looking at applications and issuing licenses for the next three-year period, which begins next year. This means that for the first time, licenses will be awarded for the next to the teams ranked in the UCI’s top 18, based on points won over the past three seasons.

Currently, according to the points counted up by Lanterne Rouge , eight teams are struggling to avoid relegation, with Israel-Premier Tech, Lotto-Soudal and Peter Sagan’s new team, TotalEnergies, sitting below the cutoff point and in real danger of not racing in the top tier from 2023 to 2025. The teams in difficulty are blaming the controversial way points are allocated for their predicament.

To begin with, only the points from the top 10 riders from each team are counted each year. Points from national championships and international events count towards a team’s total but only if these points have been won by a top-10 rider. Points won by other riders – for example, by a rider on a development team associated with a WorldTour team – are not counted. But that’s just the beginning.

Matt White, head sports director of BikeExchange-Jayco – which now sits in 17th place, just two spots above relegation – told Cycling Weekly , “I don’t believe the points system is appropriate. It’s totally stacked in favour of one-day races.” He went on to say: “It doesn’t make any sense that a 1.1 race has such value. Some of these races have three WorldTour teams. How is that worth more than a stage of the  Tour de France ? If one of our guys finishes fourth [in a Tour of the Basque Country stage], a WorldTour race, they get nothing, but they could go to Volta Limburg, a 1.1, finish 10th and get 20 points. It’s crazy.”

Specifically, a rider who wins a stage of a WorldTour stage race, such as the Tour of the Basque Country, would earn 50 UCI points, while the fourth-place rider picks up none. But a rider winning a UCI 1.2 one-day race, which WorldTour teams rarely enter, earns 40 points, and the rider in 10th place collects three points.

No wonder some of the teams are up in arms. They have been forced to balance point-gathering by riding in low-profile races with pleasing their sponsors by participating in prestige WorldTour competitions. “It definitely affects where we’re sending riders,” White said. “We’re doing more one-day races this year than we’ve ever done. We’ve never had pressure from sponsors to do these small one-day races that are usually a chore to get to. We’ve always had the mindset that specific training is more important than going to competitions just to get points, so we’ve had to adjust this year to make sure we get into the top-18.”

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UCI World Tour Promotion and Relegation Weekly

An update on the promotion and relegation standings with Lotto-Soudal closing in on that crucial 18th place while Israel are making emergency mid-season signings to help win points.

What’s Changed Since Last Week?

• Alpecin-Deceuninck and Arkéa-Samsic are in line for promotion, Lotto-Soudal and Israel-PremierTech face relegation
• Lotto-Soudal and TotalEnergies stand get the automatic invites to the grand tours next year
• Top scorers were Ineos, Bahrain and DSM, followed by Intermarché and BikeExchange-Jayco
• Low scorers were Arkéa-Samsic and B&B Hotels on zero, Alpecin-Deceuninck got three points. Among others Israel got five, Cofidis 23 and Movistar 40

Zooming in on the relegation battle Israel had another flat week while Lotto-Soudal’s win in the Tour of Leuven thanks to Victor Campenaerts banked another 125 points, and they’re now 659 points off 18th place. They’d managed to climb to 18th in July, briefly overhaulling BikeExchange, but since then the Aussies have bounded clear since leaving the Belgian team now chasing Movistar.

Cofidis are performing à la Guillaume Martin, zagging and zigging when others zig and zag. Having began the season in 19th place and climbed up to 15th by the summer, they are now stalling and slip to 17th after being been leapfrogged by EF Education First and BikeExchange. Martin himself will be a crucial rider, he’s their top scorer but has already clocked 60 days of racing this season, they really need Bryan Coquard to start placing.

Elsewhere Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert keep winning, this time Lorenzo Rota took the Sazka Tour (Sazka is the Czech lottery, now you know) and they’re Belgian’s top team this season, at least when measured by UCI points and are over a thousand points clear of Quick-Step in this year’s haul, who’d have predicted this at the start of the year?

A couple of other points, Israel-PremierTech have signed Dylan Teuns (pushing out Guy Sagiv to make room) but to repeat a point made in another post, he doesn’t bring any points with him, his count for Israel is reset to zero. So he’ll have to score big. Just to make Israel’s top-10 he needs 124 points to surpass Omer Goldstein, and then he’ll have to keep going as there’s almost a thousand points to reach 18th place today. Beating relegation now is looking very hard but an intermediate goal can be to surpass TotalEnergies and claim the automatic invitations to the grand tours for next year because while promotion/relegation is based on a three year system of 2020-2022, these invitation are on the previous season’s performance only which makes sense as a reward for a decent team rather than inviting an outfit that was strong way back.

All this is spicing up the results from now until the end of the season. And beyond… with David Gaudu mentioning in his recent Tour de France Twitch stream that while Groupama-FDJ is well clear and safe, there’s already talk of starting the next promotion/relegation cycle of 2023-2025 on the front foot and trying to score points next year so that they’re not stressed come 2025.

Animated bar chart race

Background info If you’re new to the story of promotion and relegation this year and want it explained then click here .

To see how many points are available in each race or category, click here .

51 thoughts on “UCI World Tour Promotion and Relegation Weekly”

Thanks for the weekly update! This again will be an important week in what seems to be a season-end which only consists of important weeks for purposes of this relegation battle. 2.1 Tour de l’Ain with Total Energies, LTS, Movistar, Cofidis and EF – all with important top 10 riders present – will be a nice head to head for relatively limited points. (Wellens restarting quite quickly after COVID – I assume to take away pressure off (and assist) fringe top 10 LTS riders Moniquet and Vanhoucke & in form Piccolo opening his account with EF) 1.PRO Circuit Franco Belge with Total Energies, Israel, LTS, Cofidis and DSM present (Ewan appears to be on the starting list of the organizations website – this could have a big impact if true, although this race might come too quickly after surgery, it would be hopeful that he is back to competitive racing so quickly). 2.PRO Arctic Race of Norway with Israel, Cofidis, Bike Exchange and DSM with not a lot of other teams challenging for GC with many point up for grabs. 1.1 La Polynormande to finish the week off with Total Energies, Israel, LTS, Cofidis

A lot of head to head battles going on. With Movistar only participating in Tour de L’ain starting with only Sosa and Pedrero as current top 10 riders, I would think that this is a key week for Israel and LTS to start catching up.

Even forgot about the European Championships road race (Senior) this sunday which goes hand in hand with a nice points haul and have important riders of Total Energies, Israel, Movistar, DSM and Cofidis starting.

BikeExchange scored 90 points with a 6th place, but those were the only points for relegation teams…

…the 30 points for 13th place of an Israel rider popped right into my face

Indeed, for Itamar Einhorn… Missed that one it seems. Apparently he already has 176 season points and now is the team’s 7th best scorer.

In Polynormande, De Lie got 40 points and Gilbert 3. Martin got 60 for Cofidis (Thomas 3). Biermans 35 for Israel but he is not in the top 10. For the rest no relegation points.

Much more relegation points in Norway – Israel did well in GC: 150 points for 2nd place Houle and 40 points for Hagen (with 202 season points in top 10). The 25 for Neilands (now 125 season points so just outside top 10) could still have an impact if he takes points in other races. – Cofidis also did very well with Zingle (100) and Lafay 85, plus their stage points. – For BikeExchange, Schultz only took 15 points and Colleoni 5

Looking forward, and of the promotion/relegation teams, provisional start lists for tthe Vuelta suggest Movistar (Valverde, Mas & Verona) and BEX (Yates & Groves) could score well while IPT and Lotto-Soudal don’t appear to hold many decent cards. After that things really will be desperate with Bretagne Classic, the Canadian races, and the final Italian races leading to Lombardy to save the day. In almost all the above some climbing ability will be required favouring again Movistar and BEX, maybe EF too. Exciting days ahead, and nailbiting ones for some teams!

De Buyst seems to be their sprinter, althouh he is not in the top 10 yet (but only 57 points behind). Or will they go for Barbero in his home country?

De Gendt, Moniquet, Van Gils, Vanhoucke and Cras all have the potential to score good in a breakaway. They also have the potential to score 20th-40th in GC, but that only brings in 20-40 points.

Cras was 20th last year and could go for top 15 this season maybe?

Lotto i think actually passed BEX before the tdf and briefly got into the top 18. Which i guess also highlights how much better BEX has done since the TDF started passing a few teams and almost putting themselves in the safe zone. Plus moviestar have been abysmal since the start of May. In some of the races its seems hard to understand how they even have as many points as they do. It feels like they have nobody who can finish high just at this point in time.

Interesting that while the European championships carry plenty of points, last weekend’s Commonwealth Games carried none. Impey’s 2nd place could have been quite helpful to IPT.

Commonwealth Games is a venue of random* independent (New Zealand or Canada) and not sovereign countries (England or Scotland) and territories (Isle of Man or Jersey) so it could not be part any official international competition system. Those countries and competitors would gain advantage in UCI point system, if they can get benefits and extra points from an above national, under continental system. * of course I know, it is not just random selection

It’s just labelled a “regional games” and sits outside the points system. There are confederation events like the Oceania champs or the upcoming Euro championships; Impey could have done the African champs in March.

Mediterranean and Southeast Asian Games sit outside the ranking system too. As the competitors have to miss out on other conflicting races in order to compete with these, there’s not really an unfair advantage if they’re awarded a similar level of points as a national championship.

A cynic might suggest that they’re outside the points system because they’re organised by sporting bodies outside the UCI’s control, and the UCI would rather divert competitors to races under its supervision.

The Commonwealth Games, just like the Olympic Games, aren’t outside of the UCI system though.

A boneheaded UCI commissaire proved this by issuing a 200 CHF fine to a NZ rider who did not attend her medal ceremony because she was sitting in the call-up seat for her next race.

Of course the Commonwealth Games carried no points! And why should it? It’s nothing other than a post-imperial club.

Yes, but it is a race which carries kudos in certain quarters, just like national championships. The start list of these is also a random historical accident: national borders are just where the fighting happened to stop…

And no less arbitrary than some of the restrictions on entries to various UCI categories of races. A team in a European cross-border metropolitan area can’t enter their local 1.2 race if it’s the wrong side of a dotted line.

Commonwealth Games and other Regional Games should be scored as 1.1 races.

Nope, Commonwealth Games are games, nothing more than Imperialistic Kermesje. Get over it.

As races that are restricted to only riders from some countries go, you can only start in one national race and one continental race.

If random other such races are allowed to be scored points at, (groups of) countries where cycling is very popular could set up all sorts of silly artificial “Games” to get an unfair advantage over riders from other countries where cycling isn’t popular enough to sustain that.

Wellens is leaving Lotto S for UAE so, is this a result of the Lotto S predicament or did UAE come with more money (though the inticement of a guaranteed WT team next year might have saved UAE some dirham). As David Gaudu mentioned next year, is this same rather peculiar system to be repeated for the next 3 years?

Wellens apparently wanted to leave anyway. I like him as a rider and a human but it began to look like his time was up at the team and a change would be a good idea.

UAE’s an odd choice, good for him but unusual for the team as with Soler, Hirschi etc they have several riders good at dynamiting early season races, not to mention McNulty and Ayuso who’ll take their chances in February-April as well so it’ll be interesting to see what role he does.

And yes, the same system will begin again in 2023-2024-2025 although a lot can happen, will we still have the same 18 WT teams on the eve of the 2026 season? Will the rules change? The points scale? For now the working assumption is it begins again anyway.

UAE’s budget must be beginning to approach Ineos’ level no?

Not for me, they look very top heavy with big investment in Pogačar and Almeida, then Ayuso. Gaviria didn’t come cheap but he’s off. Bennett, Soler, McNulty are solid but each time you look across to Ineos, the British team must be spending more with Thomas, Yates, Ganna, Pidcock, Bernal etc.

Jumbo-Visma must be the second budget team in the World Tour, apparently they do file accounts so it’d be good to see the numbers but you have to go in person to an office in Limburg to retrieve them on a weekday etc.

Do we have any Inrng readers in Limburg with some free time this week…

I have family there. Why Limburg? I don’t see a race there this week.

The office is probably on the 6th floor of a five-storey block, too…

Supposedly¹ the Jumbo-Visma men’s & women’s cycling & speed skating team’s combined budget is around €30M, so that’s far away from INEOS (around €50M just for a men’s team?) & almost certainly also behind UAE…

¹ I didn’t see the actual numbers myself

May very well be the right number at some point. But when?

UAE have enticed Großschartner as well to boost the squad.

They should follow the Aussie style (in reverse) and have a finals series between the bottom teams, who fight for the right to stay up or go up. It’d have suspense, drama, give TV time to lower teams and be a ratings winner!

I think in many ways this years Vuelta is going to become that ‘finals series’ of lower ranked teams fighting it out

Finals for the relegation places is more of a European thing than anything you’ll see in any Australian sport. Even

Is there an easy way to find out who are the Top 10 riders per team?

UCI website > road section > rankings > team rankings > click on the team you want

I feel I ought to know this, and probably did before my old brain got overheated… but why will Lotto and Total Energies, rather than Lotto and IPT, get the GC invites when IPT are above TE at the mo?

Everyone asks this. It’s because promotion and relegation is based on 3 years of rankings, but the invites to next year’s race depend only on this year’s rankings where the best two ProTeam (the second tier ones) are invited. And if a team is relegated, they automatically qualify as a ProTeam and get ranked alongside.

I will do some kind of promotion and relegation FAQ soon.

Thanks! That makes sense but I shall still rely on you to keep me up to speed!

Sorry for the daft question, but why do “Lotto-Soudal and TotalEnergies stand get the automatic invites to the grand tours next year” noting that Israel are above Total in the rankings?

See above!!!

Do the top two Pro teams get invites to all world tour events or just the grand tours?

All of them.

Team #3 get Merit Invites to WT one day races as well.

I’m assuming Israel’s goal is going to be overhauling Total rather than avoiding relegation altogether. It’s a much more realistic goal, and since their sponsor isn’t going anywhere, relegation wouldn’t be the end of the team. In fact, being out of WT might be an advantage to them (just like it was to Alpecin) in that they could pick and choose which races to enter. It would also give them time to develop a team identity, something they don’t really seem to have at the moment. Signing Teuns seems to be a signal that they’ve realized they can’t put all of their eggs in a single Froome shaped basket…

Israel-Premier Tech at Arctic Race of Norway have at last said they’re going for all possible points from now until the bitter end. Houle pointed out that they’re lucky in having Adams as backer even if they get relegated.

An excellent day for L-S at Circuit Franco-Belge (even if they arguably botched the finish) with around 300 points, and a good day for TotalEnergies with 210. Not such a good day for IPT.

And Kristoff just keeps on going. He obviously still has a fair bit of fire in the belly.

I think LS only gets 195 as De Buyst’s and Van Moer’s points won’t matter as they are not top-10 in team. Still a good day and gets them about 400 points behind Movistar.

I didn’t think they messed up the finish. Did what they could unless you thought they should have been all in for De Lie? De Buyst was cooked.

You’re right, I’d assumed De Buyst was top 10 for them. It makes sense that he would go all in for Campenaerts to win, though if he hadn’t led out the final foursome then either Van Gestel or Kristoff might have been forced to burn a match a tiny bit earlier. In any event, Campenaerts definitely should have ridden through the line and not sat up when Kristoff passed him. Second was his, though this mistake only cost the team 25 points.

I guess Ewan is gearing up to peak a bit later, with this race being a bit of a tune up.

Riders that aren’t top-10 now can enter top-10 later, and then the points would suddenly count (while someone else’s point would be dropped), so it might still be valuable in the end.

Indeed. Jasper De Buyst now has 171 points. Vanhoucke (+57) or Vermeersch (+87) could certainly still fall out of the top 10 at the end of the season. Van Moer probably won’t make the cut anymore though.

Rider Points DE LIE Arnaud 1460 WELLENS Tim 748 CAMPENAERTS Victor 607 EWAN Caleb 406 GILBERT Philippe 369 CRAS Steff 350 VAN GILS Maxim 314 KRON Andreas 311 VERMEERSCH Florian 258 VANHOUCKE Harm 228

I think Lotto’s relegation is largely due to Ewen’s underperformance. He’s not won as much as he could due to injuries, etc.

Kristoff did say that if Campenaerts had started his sprint later he would have won, but chapeau to Kristoff for hanging in there on the uphill finish.

Guillaume Martin doing well at Tour de l’Ain for Cofidis who must be hoping he’s not going to do his yo-yoing again.

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The UCI WorldTour Relegation Gets Critical

Who will be demoted.

At the end of this year there will be promotion and relegation in the WorldTour. This will be based on the total number of points that WorldTour and ProTeams have collected in the last three seasons – 2020, 2021 and the current year 2022. At the end of this year, eighteen teams will be part of WorldTour and be given license for the 2023, 2024 and 2025 seasons, if they want them. The teams at the top of the WorldTour have nothing to worry about, but at the bottom… They must be nervous.

There has been a slight change at the top of the ‘WorldTour League’ this week due to Remco Evenepoel’s win in the Clásica San Sebastián for Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl. The Belgian team is second in the three-year ranking, jumping over INEOS Grenadiers. The most points in the past week were taken by Trek-Segafredo. The American team have not had a great season so far, but they added 550 points thanks to Mattias Skjelmose, who finished third in the Tour de Wallonie and eighth in the Clásica San Sebastián. Plus, Bauke Mollema (4th) and Toms Skujiņš (7th) also scored points in the Basque one-day race. Despite their extra points, Trek-Segafredo didn’t move up as they have been stuck for some time with Alpecin-Deceuninck and Groupama-FDJ, just in the top-10.

All the excitement is at the bottom. The battle between Lotto Soudal, Israel-Premier Tech and Movistar has been hotting up, with EF Education-EasyPost, Cofidis and BikeExchange-Jayco not too far ahead of them. EF Education-EasyPost moved up a spot this week at the expense of Cofidis, while BikeExchange-Jayco is just ahead of Movistar by about 70 points. The Spanish team is now in the last safe WorldTour spot, mainly thanks to Enric Mas in the Tour de France before he had to abandon.

The difference between those four teams: 15th EF Education-EasyPost 13785.32, 16th Cofidis 13727, 17th BikeExchange-Jayco on 13673,33 and 18th Movistar on 13605 is only 180 points. On the other hand, the gap from Movistar to Lotto Soudal is 808 points and to Israel-Premier Tech is 921. You would expect Movistar to pick up points in the Vuelta a España, their home race, but there are also many end of season one-day races, so the battle at the bottom is far from over. Movistar and Cofidis need to keep an eye on Lotto Soudal and Israel-Premier Tech as the excitement, and nervousness, builds.

WorldTour points total for 2020, 2021 & 2022 1. Jumbo-Visma 33861,67 2. Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl 31727,37 3. INEOS Grenadiers 31652.99 4. UAE Team Emirates 29950.66 5. BORA-hansgrohe 22981.5 6. Bahrain Victorious flag bra 22511 7. *Alpecin-Deceuninck 19236 8. Groupama-FDJ 18503 9. Trek-Segafredo 17817.66 10. Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert 16147 11. Astana Qazaqstan 15559 12. AG2R Citroën 15536 13. *Arkea Samsic 14514 14. Team DSM 14312.71 15. EF Education-EasyPost 13785.32 16. Cofidis 13727 17. BikeExchange-Jayco 13673,33 18. Movistar 13605 ———- 19. Lotto Soudal 12842 20. Israel-Premier Tech 12684.66 21. *TotalEnergies 8665 22. *Uno-X 6263.46 23. *B&B Hotels-KTM 5260.

*Current ProTeams

Thanks to WielerFlits for the info.

Alastair Hamilton has been a pro team mechanic on the road, track and mountain bike and worked for the Great Britain team at the World championships in all disciplines. Since moving to Spain and finding out how to use a computer, he has gone from contributor of Daily Distractions at the 2002 Vuelta a España to editor at PezCyclingNews.

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André Greipel: WorldTour relegation system 'totally bulls**t'

The former pro cyclist talks UCI points, watching cycling as a fan, and the lack of sprint opportunities at the Tour de France

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André Greipel must be relieved to not be on the books of Israel-Premier Tech, his final team of his lengthy professional career, this year. The same goes for Lotto-Soudal, the squad where he spent eight seasons. This is not because he is tired of cycling - he still loves it - or because he doesn't have the form, but because of the pressures on this pair of teams in 2022.

Both are involved in a relegation scrap as WorldTour licences come up for renewal and face the prospect of dropping down to the ProTeam level where spots at the top races are not guaranteed. As this article was published, both Israel and Lotto remain in the red zone, hunting for UCI points in an attempt to secure their future in the WorldTour.

"I think this whole points system is totally bulls**t because you have teams who have been in cycling for 20, 30 years, investing in cycling," the German tells Cycling Weekly . 

"It's just unfair to put them in a situation like this. Also Lotto makes a lot of events in Belgium. It's just not nice to see a team like this battling for something like this."

With his 158 career wins over 1319 race days - a win every eight races - one imagines that none of his former teams (which also include Arkéa-Samsic, one of the teams hunting for promotion) would be in trouble if they still had a fully fit "Gorilla" on their books.

He adds: "When you're still trying to get the points now you did something wrong, because it's three years and the mistake happened already."

Unlike other former top level professionals, notably Bernard Hinault, Greipel has not shied away from riding his bike in his retirement years. In fact, he seems to revel in the activity; he is speaking to Cycling Weekly at the first Global Bike Festival, where he seemed to enjoy the cycling as much as anyone. 

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At one point, he cycled past this author on an 8% climb using one leg, and looked to be happy with the attention from those fans who were allowed to meet their legend at close quarters.

"I really enjoy it," he says. "Performance sport is behind me, so now I'm just doing what I really love. I've never had the possibility to enjoy events like this, so I'm just enjoying being a part of it.

"I actually have to calm myself down, because I just enjoy riding my bike," he explains. "It's a lifestyle for me. When I ride now, a bit too much. I already start to feel that my condition is getting too good. So I have to really pace myself.

Despite still being close to the level he was at in his final year as a professional, Greipel does not sound like he misses the top-level sport he was so successful in.

"When you have already a bit distance from the sport, it's easier because I wake up in my bed every weekend," he explains. "I'm just proud of what I achieved. Now I just keep going, living the lifestyle of bike riding. Being at events like this also shows me how beautiful the sport is. 

"I try to do the half like a normal bike week that I did in my professional life," he says. "Just to keep my heart fit. It's important because I don't want to be suffering with heart problems at the end of my life."

André Greipel wins the last race of his career last year

Greipel might not be tired of cycling the activity, and he isn't bored of professional cycling the sport either, just not participating. He's one of us now.

"I'm watching cycling now as a fan," he explains. "I have the distance already.  Last year I was still in the mix in the sprints, but I'm totally fine with it. It was my decision to stop because I still had a contract this year, but I was just fine with stopping last year."

He will go to the Tour de France , the first time since 2010 that he won't be racing it. This time, he will be there as a fan. Not even a VIP, in the village at the start or the finish; no free champagne for the 158-time winner.

Instead, he will take the ferry across to Copenhagen from north Germany for the Grand Départ with his family, where he will watch from the roadside. As he succinctly puts it: "I will be going to Copenhagen because it's a beautiful city, and we're going to watch the race from the fence."

Cycling has come a long way from the HTC Highroad days of the late 00s when Greipel was first racking up win upon win. At the Giro d'Italia, Mathieu van der Poel succeeded on seemingly all terrain, while at last year's Tour Wout van Aert won on Mont Ventoux and in a time trial before out-sprinting the best on the Champs-Élysées.

"The races are getting harder, always kind of hilly days as well," he says. "Somehow you need to be a good climber to get over the hills. I think the climbs are just getting faster and faster and the race is getting faster and faster. It's just hard sometimes to get the sprinters there. It's hard for people in my weight group."

The favourites for the green jersey are no longer pure fast men, like himself or Mark Cavendish, but all-rounders like Van Aert. This is reinforced by a Tour that does not have many flat days for bunch sprints.

"From what I have seen, there are not so many opportunities, especially when you see the beginning of the Tour," Greipel explains. "Okay, it's flat, but you have a lot of small roads, and wind. Then the Roubaix stage. It's going to be super interesting, but there are not as many opportunities like before."

Not that this matters to Greipel, he will be on the roadside with thousands of others, cheering them on. He's happy in retirement.

André Greipel was speaking to Cycling Weekly at the inaugural Global Bike Festival in Saalbach, Austria, where he hosted a number of group rides and talks about his stories career for hundreds of cycling fans. The festival was created by Play Sports Network to bring road, gravel and mountain bike riders together for four days of talks, skills sessions, rides and interactive events with iconic riders and brands. Ticket sales for 2023 will be announced in due course.

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Adam is Cycling Weekly ’s news editor – his greatest love is road racing but as long as he is cycling on tarmac, he's happy. Before joining Cycling Weekly he spent two years writing for Procycling, where he interviewed riders and wrote about racing. He's usually out and about on the roads of Bristol and its surrounds. Before cycling took over his professional life, he covered ecclesiastical matters at the world’s largest Anglican newspaper and politics at Business Insider. Don't ask how that is related to cycling.

Peak Design and The Roam Collective have partnered to offer the Roam Media Core Scholarship, which provides up-and-coming U.S.-based femme sports creatives with funding and industry connections.

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André Greipel has abandoned the Tour de France 2020.

By Alex Ballinger Published 17 September 20

André Greipel will continue racing at WorldTour level for at least another two years after signing a new contract.

By Alex Ballinger Published 15 June 20

André Greipel was forced to pop his shoulder back into place and ride home after a training crashed that will take him off the road for three months.

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Tour of Turkey: Lonardi wins chaotic stage 3 sprint, Van Poppel relegated from first

Polti-Kometa sprinter celebrates win and race lead after initial second place in Marmaris

Danny van Poppel (Bora-Hansgrohe) sprinted to victory on stage 3 of the Tour of Turkey , from a reduced peloton after two late climbs had disrupted the finish for the pure sprinters.

The Dutchman celebrated his first win of the season and 21st of his career in Marmaris, though his celebrations soon ended when UCI race judges relegated him from first place after moving across the road and squeezing Giovanni Lonardi (Polti-Kometa) against the barriers during a chaotic, curving run to the finish.

Race organisers then announced that Lonardi had been awarded the stage win with Van Poppel relegated to 81st and last in the reduced peloton.

The relegation means that Lonardi, already the points classification leader, is also the new overall race leader. He beats Enrico Zanoncello (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) to the stage win, with the Bardiani rider also in second overall at four seconds down. Stage 2 winner Max Kanter (Astana Qazaqstan) rounds out the podium, while fellow German Henri Uhlig (Alpecin-Deceuninck) lies third overall, level on time with Zanoncello.

The 147km stage from Fethiye to Marmaris was another stage suited to the fastmen, though with a third-category climb just over 30km from the line and another second-category test 13km out, it would be one for the versatile sprinters. Indeed, Sam Welsford (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) failed to survive the attacks and high pace on the climb, while Fabio Jakobsen (DSM Firmenich-PostNL) finished 11th in the sprint.    

It took some time for the breakaway to form on the 147.7km stage, with Filippo Conca (Alpecin-Deceuninck) leading the move after just over 50km of racing. The Italian got away with Willie Smit (China Glory), Antoine Berlin (Bike Aid), and Konrad Czabok (Mazowsze Serce Polski) to form the break of the day, taking a two-minute lead.

Alpecin-Deceuninck and Bora-Hansgrohe both put in the work in the peloton to keep the move within grasp, dragging the break to within a minute as they hit the first of the day's two categorised climbs.

On that hill, Conca proved the strongest man from the lead quartet, leaving his companions behind to go solo over the top and on the way to the second climb. Berlin gave chase along with Samuele Zoccarato (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè), with the pair among a flurry of attackers jumping from the peloton between the climbs.

Berlin and Zoccarato would be joined by Abay, Teugels, and Cavanagh before the final climb, with the quintet teaming up with Conca on the way up. The enlarged lead group wouldn't last long out front, however, as more attacks came from behind on the way up, including from Mark Donovan (Q36.5) and Paul Double (Polti-Kometa).

Bora-Hansgrohe kept control of the situation, though, chasing down more attacks as the race hit the flat final 10km. The German team were joined by Polti-Kometa and Astana Qazaqastan in leading the peloton towards the final sprint, though it was Alpecin-Deceuninck who took charge inside the final kilometre. 

The dash to the line was a messy one and the Dutch squad ended up leading out Van Poppel with their own sprinter Uhlig lost further back.

Van Poppel looked the strongest from the sprinters left to contest the win. He cross the line first, celebrating and completing the post-race interviews to boot, though he wouldn't last long as the stage's official winner, with race judges quickly deciding that his moves in the dash for the line were illegal.

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Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired full-time. Prior to joining the team, they had written for numerous major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly and Rouleur.

Dani has reported from the world's top races, including the Tour de France, World Championships, and the spring Classics. They have interviewed many of the sport's biggest stars, including Mathieu van der Poel, Remco Evenepoel, Demi Vollering, and Anna van der Breggen.

As well as original reporting, news and feature writing, and production work, Dani also oversees How to Watch guides and works on The Leadout newsletter throughout the season. Their favourite races are Strade Bianche and Paris-Roubaix and their favourite published article is from the 2024 edition of the latter: 'Unless I'm in an ambulance, I'm finishing this race' – Cyrus Monk, the last man home at Paris-Roubaix

La Vuelta Femenina: Demi Vollering crushes competition on first summit finish to win stage 5, takes overall lead

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Tour of Romandie win is career-best title for Carlos Rodriguez through rain-slicked final stage

The winner of the Tour de Romandie, Carlos Rodriguez, right, from Spain of team Ineos Grenadier, celebrates on the podium after the fifth and final stage, a 150,8 km race between Vernier and Vernier at the 77th Tour de Romandie UCI World Tour Cycling race, in Vernier near Geneva, Switzerland, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)

The winner of the Tour de Romandie, Carlos Rodriguez, right, from Spain of team Ineos Grenadier, crosses the finish line of the fifth and final stage, a 150,8 km race between Vernier and Vernier at the 77th Tour de Romandie UCI World Tour Cycling race, in Vernier near Geneva, Switzerland, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)

The winner of the stage, Dorian Godon from France of team Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, crosses the finish line to win the fifth and final stage, a 150,8 km race between Vernier and Vernier at the 77th Tour de Romandie UCI World Tour Cycling race, in Vernier near Geneva, Switzerland, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)

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VERNIER, Switzerland (AP) — Carlos Rodriguez protected his yellow jersey through a rain-soaked final stage Sunday to win the six-day Tour of Romandie for the biggest race victory of his career.

Four previous winners in the French-speaking region of Switzerland went on to win that season’s Tour de France, including Chris Froome in 2013. Rodriguez placed fifth in cycling’s marquee event last year and won a stage.

Rodriguez started Sunday’s flat stage that looped round the suburbs of Geneva — won in a sprint finish by Dorian Godon — with a seven-second lead he took by placing third in a mountain stage Saturday.

The 23-year-old Ineos Grenadiers rider kept that winning margin over runner-up Aleksandr Vlasov, the 2022 Romandie winner. Third-placed Florian Lipowitz was third, trailing Rodriquez by nine seconds.

Godon sealed his second stage win this week, edging Simone Consonni with Dion Smith third.

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

How to Watch Volvo China Open 2024 as a USA Fan? DP World Tour Event's TV Schedule & More Explored

Tv schedule for the volvo china open 2024, top contenders who can win the asian swing.

From the road to the track, and everything in between, it's been a busy three years across the various cycling disciplines. Below are some of the biggest storylines from the world of cycling that will have an impact on the upcoming 2024 Olympic Games.

Road Cycling

After entering the last Olympics as the two-time reigning Tour de France champion, Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar  earned bronze for the men's road race in Tokyo. Since then, Pogacar has finished second behind Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard in back-to-back Tour de France events. However, Vingegaard's participation in Paris is uncertain, in part because he broke his collarbone and several ribs in a crash while racing in April.

American Chloe Dygert made her return to the Road Cycling World Championships in August 2023 — three years after she suffered an injury that nearly ended her career — and won the world title in the women's time trial . Dygert had also won the time trial title in 2019 but crashed out while leading in 2020, lacerating her left leg and breaking a wrist in the process. She then missed the subsequent world championships in 2021 and 2022 due to follow-up surgeries. Dygert, who competes in track cycling as well, also won gold in the non-Olympic individual pursuit event at the 2023 Track Cycling World Championships.

Track Cycling

Since becoming the first U.S. woman to win an Olympic gold medal in track cycling, Jennifer Valente has asserted herself as the consistent favorite in women's onium. The 29-year-old won back-to-back world titles in the event in 2022 and 2023.

Meanwhile, Great Britain's track cycling power couple, Jason and Laura Kenny , have announced their retirements. Jason, 36, retired in 2022 as the most decorated British athlete, as well as the most decorated cyclist, of all-time at the Olympics. His wife Laura, Great Britain's most decorated female Olympian, considered making a run at the Paris Games but ultimately bid the sport farewell in March 2024.

With wins at the 2021 and 2023 World Championships, Great Britain's Bethany Shriever has proven that her gold medal in women's BMX racing at the Tokyo Olympics — she narrowly upset two-time defending Olympic champion Mariana Pajon in the final — was no fluke. However, Australia's Saya Sakakibara has made a name for herself in recent seasons. In her last 13 World Cup races, dating back to June 2023, Sakakibara has finished no worse than second.

A couple Americans have performed well on the world stage too in recent years. Felicia Stancil , who finished fourth in Tokyo, won the 2022 world title, and Alise Willoughby , the 2016 Olympic silver medalist, placed third at 2023 Worlds.

BMX Freestyle

Despite taking silver behind Charlotte Worthington at the last Olympics, American Hannah Roberts has remained the rider to beat in women's BMX freestyle after winning two more world titles in 2022 and 2023. She now heads into Paris with four consecutive and five overall world titles.

On the men's side, Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Logan Martin has continued to perform consistently well. The Australian has finished on the podium every time he's competed in a BMX park contest at X Games since the last Olympics. (As a bonus, he's also been on the podium every time he's competed in the non-Olympic discipline of BMX dirt at X Games since then as well.) In the world rankings for BMX park, Logan is currently ranked No. 2 behind only 22-year-old Kieran Reilly of Great Britain. Reilly finished just ahead of Martin at the 2023 World Championships.

Mountain Biking

In men's mountain biking, it's been the two most recent Olympic champions grabbing most of the titles since the Tokyo Games. Great Britain's Tom Pidcock , the Tokyo Olympic gold medalist, won the most recent world title in 2023, while Switzerland's Nino Schurter , the 2016 Olympic gold medalist, won the two prior world titles. Schurter was also crowned champion during the last two World Cup seasons.

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