most uci world tour wins

Most wins on the UCI World Tour by a team

The most wins of the annual UCI World Tour team ranking is four, achieved by Movistar Team (Spain) consecutively from 2013–16.

Initially comprising 29 races upon its formation in 2009, as of 2018 the UCI World Tour comprised 37 events, including the three Grand Tours, and was the premier men’s elite road cycling tour.

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Best men's WorldTour bikes of 2023: Which brand won the most races?

Canyon and Colnago dominated at the Monuments, but there was no stopping Cervélo and Specialized at the Grand Tours

Tom Hallam-Gravells

Online production editor.

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© Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images

Who was the most successful bike brand in 2023?

The 2023 men’s WorldTour season is already disappearing into the rear-view mirror, but it will live long in the memory. It was a year that delivered historical success for Jumbo-Visma as they became the first team to win all three Grand Tours in a single season , while Tadej Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel duked it out for Monument supremacy.

Although the riders are the stars of the show, none of their success would be possible without the bikes that helped guide them to victory. To ensure that these bikes receive fair recognition, we’ve tallied up all of the wins each bike brand amassed during the 2023 WorldTour season.

Who came out on top? Here’s a breakdown of Monument, Grand Tour and overall victories.

• Read more: Tour de France bikes ranked: cheapest to most expensive

Which bikes won the most Monuments?

=1st: canyon aeroad (alpecin-deceuninck).

2 wins: Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix

Mathieu van der Poel took two Monument victories on the Canyon Aeroad

With Mathieu van der Poel among its riders, Canyon is virtually guaranteed a Monument victory each season. The Dutchman has only failed to win a Monument in one of the last four seasons. He went one better in 2023 by doubling up for the first time, winning Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix.

Incredibly, those were his only WorldTour wins in 2023 - the Dutchman clearly knows how to dial in his form for exactly when he needs it. That was proven once again at the World Championships where he powered to victory , becoming road world champion for the first time.

• Read more: Mathieu van der Poel inspires new limited-edition Canyon Aeroad CFR

=1st: Colnago V4Rs (UAE Team Emirates)

2 wins: Tour of Flanders and Il Lombardia

Tadej Pogačar and his Colnago V4Rs at Il Lombardia

It could have been three Monuments for Mathieu van der Poel if it wasn’t for that pesky Tadej Pogačar. The Slovenian is equally as prolific for Colnago, although that’s previously been at either Liège-Bastogne-Liège or Il Lombardia.

This year he conquered the cobbles for the first time, winning the Tour of Flanders after cracking Van der Poel late in the race, before becoming only the third rider to win Il Lombardia three times in a row, joining Fausto Coppi and Alfredo Binda in a very esteemed list.

Both Pogačar and Van der Poel have now won three of the five monuments; can either complete the set?

• Read more: Tour de France pro bike: Tadej Pogačar’s highly-customised Colnago V4Rs

3rd: Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL7 (Soudal Quick-Step)

1 win: Liège-Bastogne-Liège

Remco Evenepoel won Liège-Bastogne-Liège atop the Specialized Tarmac SL7 which has since been upgraded with the Tarmac SL8

There are only five Monuments up for grabs each season. With Colnago and Canyon doubling up, that only leaves one spot on the podium, and it goes to Specialized , courtesy of Remco Evenepoel ’s second consecutive victory at Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

The Belgian blew hot and cold at times throughout the season, with his Grand Tour general classification hopes stalling at both the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España. However, there was no stopping him at the Belgian Monument as he delivered another dominant victory after surging away from Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers). That was atop the Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL7 but it has since been replaced by the S-Works Tarmac SL8 .

• Read more: Stiffer, lighter, more aerodynamic – Specialized launches new Tarmac SL8

Grand Tours: Which bikes took the most wins at the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España?

1st: specialized.

12 stage wins: Bora-Hansgrohe, Soudal Quick-Step, TotalEnergies

Specialized made its numerical team advantage count at the Grand Tours this season by topping the pile with 12 wins. Most of those were delivered by Bora-Hansgrohe and Soudal Quick-Step , but TotalEnergies contributed one victory in their Grand Tour outing at the Tour de France, where the ProTeam regularly receives an invite.

While its 12 wins are impressive, Specialized is missing an overall Grand Tour victory from its palmarès in 2023. Those expectations were planted firmly on the shoulders of Remco Evenepoel, but his Giro d’Italia plans were scuppered by COVID-19, before his Vuelta a España defence quickly crumbled.

• Read more: Aleksandr Vlasov's Specialized Tarmac SL8 for the Vuelta a España

2nd: Cervélo

7 stage wins, 3 overall victories: Jumbo-Visma

Sepp Kuss and his teammates completed a Grand Tour clean sweep in 2023

Few would argue that Jumbo-Visma weren’t the best team of 2023, even if the UCI’s rankings don’t reflect that. The team was successful year-round, but it was the Grand Tours where they really stamped their authority on the season, making history in the process by becoming the first team to win all three in a single season.

Primož Roglič delivered the first at the Giro d’Italia, Jonas Vingegaard added to it by defending his Tour de France title, before Sepp Kuss surprised everyone by winning the Vuelta a España.

With stage wins added in, Cervélo enjoyed 10 victories at Grand Tours, and each of them was delivered by one of those three riders. It could have been even more if Wout van Aert hadn’t endured a rare Grand Tour barren spell .

• Read more: Vuelta a España pro bike: Primož Roglič’s Cervélo S5

3rd: Canyon

9 stage wins: Alpecin-Deceuninck, Movistar

Canyon bikes dominated sprints at the Grand Tours in 2023

Alpecin-Deceuninck did most of Canyon’s heavy lifting at the Grand Tours in 2023 or, more specifically, Jasper Philipsen and Kaden Groves did. The sprint duo amassed eight of the German brand’s nine wins, with Einer Rubio ’s victory on stage 13 of the Giro d’Italia providing Movistar’s sole contribution towards this tally.

While their wins weren’t enough to top the rankings, Alpecin-Deceuninck and Canyon were undoubtedly the sprint kings at the Grand Tours in 2023.

• Read more: Vuelta a España pro bike: Kaden Groves’ Canyon Aeroad CFR

Which bikes took the most wins in the 2023 men's WorldTour?

The Grand Tours and Monuments are cycling’s premier events, but littered amongst them are a wealth of prestigious races, each providing the opportunity for a coveted WorldTour win.

Here’s the complete bike rankings for the 2023 WorldTour season, including every individual race, stage and general classification victory.

As you may expect, the same brands dominate once again, plus some non-WorldTour brands make an appearance in the form of Aurum, Factor and Ridley, whose ProTeams all picked up WorldTour wins in 2023.

• 1st. 38 wins — Cervélo — Jumbo-Visma
• 2nd. 31 wins — Specialized — Bora-Hansgrohe, Soudal Quick-Step, TotalEnergies
• 3rd. 28 wins — Colnago — UAE Team Emirates
• 4th. 20 wins — Canyon — Alpecin-Deceuninck, Movistar
• 5th. 12 wins — Merida — Bahrain Victorious
• 6th. 9 wins — Pinarello — Ineos Grenadiers
• 7th. 8 wins — Trek — Lidl-Trek
• 8th. 5 wins — Scott — dsm-firmenich
• =9th. 4 wins — Cannondale — EF Education-EasyPost
• =9th. 4 wins — Cube — Intermarché-Circus-Wanty
• =9th. 4 wins — Giant — Jayco-AlUla
• =9th. 4 wins — Look — Cofidis
• 13th. 3 wins — BMC — AG2R Citroën
• =14th. 2 wins — Lapierre — Groupama-FDJ
• =14th. 2 wins — Ridley — Lotto Dstny
• =16th. 1 wins — Aurum — Eolo-Kometa
• =16th. 1 wins — Factor — Israel-Premier Tech
• =16th. 1 wins — Wilier Triestina — Astana Qazaqstan

Which bike brands won the most races in the Women’s WorldTour in 2023? We’ll be releasing the full rankings soon.

Keep up to date with the latest tech news, features and pro bikes on the GCN website, linked here .

Alpecin-Deceuninck

• Nationality Belgium
• Founded 2009
• Team Principal Christoph Roodhooft & Philip Roodhooft
• UCI Code ADC
• Bike Sponsor Canyon

UAE Team Emirates

• Nationality United Arab Emirates
• Founded 2017
• Team Principal Mauro Gianetti
• UCI Code UAD
• Bike Sponsor Colnago

Jumbo-Visma

• Nationality Netherlands
• Founded 1984
• Team Principal Richard Plugge
• UCI Code TJV
• Bike Sponsor Cervélo

Mathieu van der Poel

• Team Alpecin-Deceuninck
• UCI Wins 53
• Height 1.84m

Tadej Pogacar

• Team UAE Team Emirates
• Nationality Slovenia
• UCI Wins 74
• Height 1.76m

Remco Evenepoel

• Team Soudal Quick-Step
• UCI Wins 54
• Height 1.71m

Jonas Vingegaard

• Team Team Visma | Lease a Bike
• Nationality Denmark
• UCI Wins 35
• Height 1.75m

Canyon Bicycles GmbH is a German manufacturer of road bikes, mountain bikes, hybrid bikes, triathlon bikes and e-bikes based in Koblenz, Germany.

One of the most iconic Italian bike brands, Colnago has supplied bikes to some of the best riders in the world, including Eddy Merckx and Tadej Pogačar.

Specialized

Specialized is a bike manufacturer based in California, USA. The company produces bicycles and components for a wide variety of cycling disciplines. Specialized also sells a range of premium products under its S-works brand.

Pinarello is a bike manufacturer based in Treviso, Italy. It produces a range of high-end bikes for road, track, mountain and electric disciplines. The company takes pride in being the most decorated bike manufacturer in Tour de France history.

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Results: Jenna Rinehart and Brennan Wertz Win Highlands Gravel Classic

The arkansas gravel race qualified dozens of riders for the uci gravel world championships in belgium in october..

Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! >","name":"in-content-cta","type":"link"}}'>Download the app .

Jenna Rinehart and Brennan Wertz punched their tickets to the 2024 UCI Gravel World Championships on Saturday after winning the Highlands Gravel Classic in Arkansas.

The Highlands Gravel Classic is part of the UCI Gravel World Series and the only world championship qualification race in the United States. The 26-race series has been underway since last fall and culminates with gravel worlds in Belgium on October 5-6.

Rinehart shared the podium with Maude Farrell in second and Flavia Oliveira Parks in third.

Rinehart has had a season of stellar results already, with fifth at BWR AZ, second at the Valley of Tears and the Mid South, and sixth at the Fuego XL at Sea Otter . The win in Arkansas marks an important milestone for the 39-year-old who returned to competitive bike racing last year after a long hiatus from cross-country racing as a junior and U23.

On Saturday, Rinehart had to stage an early chase after dropping her chain within the first few miles of the 67-mile race. She caught Farrell and Oliveira Parks, and the trio worked together until they dropped Oliveira Parks. Then, Rinehart put a small gap on Farrell with about 10 miles left and managed to hold it until the finish line.

“I just couldn’t quite keep up with her on the descents,” Farrell said.

Wertz was thrilled with his win on Saturday, after telling  Velo   that he wanted to focus on competing in more UCI gravel races this season after his experience at the 2023 UCI Gravel World Championships.

It was the third race in just over a week for 26-year-old, who was second in the Sea Otter road race and won the Sea Otter Gravel Race last week in Monterey. Nicholas Roche, who was third in Arkansas, also raced all three events.

Second on the day at the Highlands Gravel Classic was Cobe Freeburn, an up-and-coming young mountain biker from Durango, Colorado. He was just 12 seconds behind Wertz at the finish.

The three men’s podium finishers got away around 15 miles into the race.

Highlands Gravel Classic UCI Elite Women

• Jenna RINEHART, 3:51:55
• Maude FARRELL, 3:52:20
• Flavia OLIVEIRA PARKS, 3:56:17
• Crystal ANTHONY, 4:03:40
•  Marisa BOAZ, 4:06:58

Full results here

Highlands Gravel Classic UCI Elite Men

• Brennan WERTZ, 3:25:20
• Cobe FREEBURN, 3:25:32
• Nicholas ROCHE, 3:25:54
• Daxton MOCK, 3:30:04
• Troy FIELDS, 3:30:08

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UCI Cycling World Championships 2023: Mathieu van der Poel wins men's elite road race - results

Van der Poel is the first Dutchman since 1985 to win the title in a riveting race at the UCI Road World Championships on Sunday (6 August) becoming the first rider to clinch both Cyclo-cross and road racing gold in the same year. 

Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel conquered a twisty Glasglow circuit, winning his maiden title at the UCI Road cycling World Championships on Sunday (6 August) despite crashing in the penultimate lap.

A bloodied Van der Poel got back onto his bike and consolidated his lead over the final lap of the drama-filled road race with a trio of superstars - including Olympic silver medallist Wout van Aert , former world champion Mads Pedersen and two-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar - chasing after him.

But Van der Poel would not be denied as he crossed the line, winning the race in dominant fashion by one minute and 37 seconds. Van Aert raced home for the silver medal, with Pogacar beating Pedersen in a sprint for the bronze medal.

The 28-year-old said he felt for a split second that he had squandered his chance at winning the title when slipped and crashed. 

"I was just flying around the course until the crash. I was not taking risks and suddenly I was on the ground. It was super slippery sometimes," Van der Poel said.

"To then still pull it off, I wouldn't say it makes it nicer, but if it cost me the world title I would have not slept for a couple of days."

The Dutchman became the first rider to win both the Cyclo-cross and road racing world titles in the same year.

Van der Poel launched his attack with 27km to go, leaving the trio of champions behind to battle it out for the remaining two places on the podium.

The race had as many plot twists as turns on the Glasgow roads with the lead changing multiple times over the final 10 laps of the 14.3km circuit. The 271.1km race saw riders start from Edinburgh before they arrived in Glasgow where they had to complete the 10-lap circuit.

Earlier, protesters halted the race in the Carron Valley area where they glued themselves to the tarmac on a narrow piece of the road. The race was delayed for nearly an hour before the nine-rider breakaway group started off again, maintaining their seven-minute time advantage.

The breakaway group entered the Glasgow circuit, which is riddled with twists and turns with a three-minute lead. The peloton started to stretch out as they navigated the tight corners.

Once the peloton swallowed the breakaway the lead exchanged a few more times, with Alberto Bettiol of Italy riding in front for a large part of the race. Van der Poel, Pedersen, Pogacar, and Van Aert eventually caught up with him before the Dutchman claimed a famous victory. The Dutch rider crossed the line in triumph with the battle scars visible on his elbow and on his ripped jersey.

“It was one of the biggest goals (winning the title) I had left and to win it today is amazing. It almost completes my career in my opinion," Van der Poel said.

"For me, it is maybe the biggest victory on the road and I can almost not imagine riding in the rainbow jersey for a year."

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Results - UCI Road World Championships 2023 - Men's Elite Road Race

• Mathieu van der Poel (NED) - 6:07.27
• Wout van Aert (BEL) - +1:37
• Tadej Pogacar (SLO) - +1:45
• Mads Pedersen (DEN) - +1:45
• Stefan Kung (SUI) - +3:48
• Jasper Stuyven (BEL) - +3:48
• Matthew Dinham (AUS) - +3:48
• Toms Skujins (LAT) - +3:48
• Tiesj Benoot (BEL) - +3:48
• Alberto Bettiol (ITA) - +4:03

Road Cycling schedule at UCI Cycling World Championships 2023

All times below are British Summer Time (UTC / GMT +2 hours) and subject to change - elite races in bold.

Tuesday 8 August

• 13:00 Team Time Trial Mixed Relay

Wednesday 9 August

• 14:30 Men Under 23 Individual Time Trial

Thursday 10 August

• 11:15 Women Junior Individual Time Trial 14:00 Women Elite Individual Time Trial

Friday 11 August

• 10:00 Men Junior Individual Time Trial 14:35 Men Elite Individual Time Trial

Saturday 12 August

• 11:30 Men Under 23 Road Race

Sunday 13 August

• 12:00 Women Elite Road Race

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UCI Points and Rankings Tables Explainer

Tim Merlier wins his first Giro stage and weeks later he’d take a Tour stage as well. As well as satisfaction, media coverage and big lines on his palmarès , these wins brought him the sum of 220 UCI points… but in winning the Koksijde Classic and Elfstedenronde he got 325 points.

With 2022 shaping up to be a season where points matter for some, here are all the points tables for the season ahead on one handy page.

First, the table below is for the World Tour races, if it’s a stage race then it’s for the final GC.

Next comes the points per stage the World Tour and as you can see, there are not less on offer each day, it’s all about the overall, which explains the point about Tim Merlier at the top.

Now you can see points on offer for final place in the secondary competitions of the grand tour, the mountains and points competition:

Next comes a daily award for leading a World Tour stage race, a nice bonus but surely worth more in media attention than points.

Now comes arguably the most important table here because it lists the points on offer in a range of races outside the World Tour. Riders and teams who struggle to win big can find opportunities and points galore in the table below. Winning a stage race overall or winning a one day brings the same points haul, which makes one day races very important. The season-opening Challenge Majorca races are a good case study, they are each Class 1 races and so win one and a rider banks 125 points, but if it was a stage race only the final overall would bring this many points.

Next two tables below shows the points on offer for stages in non-World Tour races and the daily points for leading the race too.

Next comes the national championships, split into A and B groups, where A is defined as a nation that started at least one rider in the previous Men’s Elite world championship road race. These points matter because often when we look at the teams with few wins and placings in the year, several of their best results can be from national championships in smaller nations, the kind with only a few pros. Sometimes we’ve seen big name riders skip their national championships but smaller teams hunting points ought be paying business class return for their lesser riders to go and grab the jersey and points.

Now comes the Continental Championships, think the European championships for the best example. Other regions are supposed to have them but they can be thin on the ground. 2022 has Asia, Oceania and Europe in the calendar for now. If these championships have a team time trial and/or a mixed relay time trial event, the small table below also applies.

Now for the Worlds and Olympics, obviously big events but the UCI is keen to big them up even more with the points on offer. 200 points for the U23 race can help explain why some teams are happy to see their riders drop down to the U23 ranks for a day as they can hoover up points.

For the last of the tables, here’s the mixed relay race at the worlds which the UCI is keen on promoting and it’s worth a lot… in points terms anyway.

How to forfeit points As well as winning points by results, riders can lose them. The UCI rules include various penalties for bad behaviour, including points deductions. They concern cheating like taking short-cut, to using sidewalks, ignoring level-crossing red lights, littering and other misdemeanours, right down to failing to sign on for the day’s racing or show up for the post-race press conference if invited. Any team manager worried about scoring points should remind riders of all of these.

Rankings and points don’t matter! That’s what every team manager says outwardly… but oddly have the points for a seventh in a 2.Pro stage race at the fingertips, or can recall the precise tally each of their leading riders scored last year.

But if rankings did matter then they’d be easy to understand and readily available. One reason for this blog post is so I can have all this season’s points tables on one ready page rather than having to the UCI website, scroll for the regulations page, look up the rulebooks, download Chapter 2 on road races, open the PDF and scroll past 76 pages of text to get the tables. As ever the allocation of these points often tells us more about the committee awarding them than the races themselves.

Team rankings explainer You take the ten best scorers of UCI points this season on the team, add up the total and this gives you the team’s score, then they are ranked in order. This allows a team to rely on a few riders for points while letting others work as domestiques to help deliver the results and points needed.

Operation Salvage If teams wants to stay in or join the World Tour, where can they find the easy points. Obviously winning the Tour de France helps but realistically that’s probably something reserved for the handful of teams who are big enough not to worry about the drop zone.

A win in a one day race is often as valuable as the GC in a short stage race, and given most one day races often end in a sprint then having a strong house sprinter helps a lot. Aim for smaller races where the big name sprinters can’t be bothered and where many World Tour teams won’t even start and there’s points galore. This part explains why Alpecin-Fenix sit so high in the rankings, a win in the Elfenstedronde, Paris-Chauny or the GP Monséré brings 125 points… more than the 120 points for a Tour de France stage.

Things to look for in 2022

• To undermining the whole post above, please enjoy the season’s sport and drama rather than worrying too much about points, it’s only a background story among many
• Still there’s the relegation and promotion drama this year, as explained in the 2022 Points Race
• There’s also the contest among the second-tier UCI ProTeams to finish as high as they can because if the World Tour has 18 or 17 teams next season then the best ranked Pro Teams get automatic invites, if there are only 16 in the World Tour in 2016 then the best three teams get picked by default

45 thoughts on “UCI Points and Rankings Tables Explainer”

As Inrng points (sorry) out: “the allocation of these points often tells us more about the committee awarding them than the races themselves” – but what does this tell us about the committee/UCI? Is this an insidious attempt to devalue the Tour relative to other races, a way to prod more WT teams to go to the ‘minor’ races, a misunderstanding of the value of a GT stage win, or was the committee just bored and rattled this off with no real thought?

I suppose the rankings are there to establish a coherent identity for the World Tour races, to give them all some kind of shared status. But also for me it still shows the rankings don’t matter that much, teams don’t really care about being 1st, 5th, 14th etc (the top team will enjoy it of course)… but this year it’s a back story given the promotion/relegation issue so it does matter for a handful of teams.

That’s right on – it’s a ranking designed to be used for team selection purposes.

The public already know the rankings that really matter: the best stage race rider in the world is the one pulling on a yellow shirt in front of the Arc d’Triomphe, the best one day rider is the one wearing the rainbow jersey, the best rider on awkward surfaces is the one covered in mud holding a cobble, the best sprinter of the year is the one who wins the most GT stages etc…

I quite much agree with the very first point you make.

And about the rest, well, of course in a very broad sense you’re right, and I’d pretty much support the underlying point about race primacy over ranking in cycling – yet, it doesn’t really work like that as often as we’d like to imagine.

I’d say that the best “stage racer” (which, by the way, isn’t exactly “GT rider”) was neither Geraint Thomas in 2018, nor Egan Bernal in 2019. Or, to say the least, it would be quite much a debate. Nibali wasn’t the best stage racer in 2014 – that was clearly Contador.

And stage racing is a relatively easy call when compared to one-day racing, given that the Worlds doesn’t mirror that at all, not to speak of Paris-Roubaix, whose winner very often isn’t even the best rider on the cobbles on a given season. I won’t bother with examples given that they’re actually more common than the other way around.

An interesting thing in cycling is that the value of an event (a race) often comes from the “semantic intersection” between the race and other narratives, quite often the winner’s palmarés being the simplest form of the latter. Valverde winning the Worlds was bigger than, dunno, Rui Costa or Hushovd doing the same (no offence intended). Same with Nibali at Sanremo. It also works with races you’re left lacking of: Boonen with a Sanremo, Bettini or Valverde with a Ronde etc. Competition is so obvious a factor I won’t delve into it now.

And a lot of races which the casual fan doesn’t even take into account are what becomes very meaningful to understand who really was the dominant rider in a “specific feature” of the cycling season: if you reduce cobbles to Ronde and Roubaix, you’ll fail to understand who performed against or over expectations, and hence how you should judge his or her general performance. It’s interesting that this last element rarely stands the passing of time, but it’s key to feel the show while it’s ongoing.

Riders can get points for non pro races. Ie. Country and worked championships. A bit strange if those points go towards team points. But i guess its to reduce the chances that team managers forbid it. Like how the Australian soccer team can’t always get the European stars to play. You could get the situation where helping a country team mate gets his trade team the point required for his team to relegate your own team though. Unlikely but possible.

One of the odd stories later this year will be when trying to work out the moments that got a team promoted/relegated. Now if there’s 5,000 points of the course of a season for a team, there’s no one moment but imagine a team relegated by 10 points, it could still be portrayed as “Rider X dropped some litter and it cost him 15 points” etc.

It may already have happened, with DSM’s Chris Hamilton finishing outside the points at the Aussie RR

One understands the UCI’s desire to globalise cycling but to see Montréal and Québec in the same points ranking as Roubaix and Flandres and two categories above Strade Bianche is ridiculous. Similarly to see Santos above Catalunya and Itzulia is simply not justified either by the challenge of the parcours or quality of the field. As for Guangxi in the same group as Het Nieuwsblad!

Not many would disagree…. but if the points mattered a lot they wouldn’t be tucked away on the regulatory section of the UCI website and hidden inside a 300 page PDF document. That said given the relegation issue this year, more teams and some fans will be looking them up.

The counter balance to that, though, is that it’s usually the same faces / teams that win the top races so the effect on the relegation ‘battle’ is negligible. Now, offering grande points for Quebec or such, that could be vital. As readers are fond of pointing out, the big races stand by themselves and have their own narrative; the lesser races, much less so. Introducing points awards to them could enhance that narrative, especially as the season draws to a conclusion and the ‘league table’ becomes clearer. @Larry, did that Spirit of Cycling As May Be warn you of all this, league tables and transfer fees? 🤣

@Larry, did that Spirit of Cycling As May Be warn you of all this, league tables and transfer fees? 🤣 I’ve complained about this enough, that’s why it was just +1 for DJW’s comment rather than going into it again. I take small comfort in that it seems I’m not the only one who thinks things are f__ked up with changes almost for change’ sake rather than actually improving anything. But in a world where they say the 2021 F1 season was fantastic (I’d say only in a WWE sense) and they had more viewers than ever it’s clear the marketing-mavens and money-men have no interest in what I think – they’ve got fatter wallets to plunder.

To be fair, all sporting competitions’ official scoring systems are tucked away in their regulations. I make it 7 clicks from the FIA home page to the 98 page pdf containing the F1 scoring tables.

But agree that if the UCI and teams wanted to make more of the WT, they would be drawing more attention to it. Even if only referring to the max points with the name of the race, like tennis does – eg the Gent-Wevelgem 500, or Strade Bianchi 300.

Actually , the really stupid regulation about these rankings is this one:

2.10.043 The UCI has created various rankings that can be used to qualify teams in an event or a series. These rankings may also be used as a sporting criterion as part of the registration process of teams with the UCI. The UCI is the exclusive owner of these rankings. These rankings for internal use only *may not be published*.

So the most important rankings of the year for teams whose sponsors want to know whether they’ll be in the Tour … can’t be published by the UCI!

Are you serious about the only the points from the best ten riders (overall) count?! Because that just sounds incredibly lazy and, I guess, would mean that a single standout result for a lesser rider, or say a second rate TT specialist, would mean absolutely nothing (to anyone but the rider and his friends) and consequently there’s really no impetus for anyone in the team to help him improve results.

Surely a better system would be along the lines of the team competition in stage races, where the team’s best results in each race, no matter who did it, counts.

And if you restricted it to the team’s single best result in the stage/race, it would incentivise teams to go all in for a big result without their domestiques having to leave something in the tank to fight for a minor placing.

The sole exception should be if a team manages to get multiple riders on the podium. The prime example is when Mark Renshaw did such a great lead out for Mark Cavendish to take the 2009 Sprinters’ World Championship (aka Tour de France stage 21) that he finished second himself. Columbia-HTC would have deserved to take the points for both positions that day.

Yes, it’s the top-10. But there’s a lot of value still in being an excellent lead out rider or breakaway chaser, setting up your leader helps. Plus a standout result from time to time is just good for everyone on the team. At the risk of repeating things, the points story this season is worth following but it only applies to a few teams and it’s very much a background story, especially in the first half of the season… although for every team manager saying “we just want wins, the points will follow” you can bet they have a spreadsheet on the go.

What we’ve seen, with Inner Ring’s victory tables, is that Quick Step have been very good at vacuuming up many wins in lesser races – their squad strength is better than most and they can utterly dominate lesser races. Take some editions of Le Samyn for instance, where it’s been more like trade show for click-together flooring than a competition 😀 Perhaps what the points classification could do, is encourage some teams / riders to think more creatively about their season’s targets?

Some may find it untraditional but I kind of like the idea of an individual season-long competition like there is in mountain biking, F1 or skiing. If this ‘world cup’ competition was backed up with a jersey and hefty monetary prize it might create more race-within-a-race aspects. It would be even better if the points were divided over the races a bit more along the line of how the races are regarded in general. Just as a thought experiment, if some millionaire decided that they wanted to be involved in cycling but not own a team, could they make up their own ranking (or e.g. team up with ProCyclingStats) and hand out prizes for the rider scoring highest in their ranking? Or would the UCI be able to forbid that?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Prestige_Pernod 😉

So that was stopped just about when I started to watch cycling at the age of 10 🙂 . The Dutch version of the wiki mentions this prize was held in high regard by many, more so than the world championship. I can’t find that back in other languages and I haven’t heard many stories from old men that start with ‘do you remember back in the day when Mercx and Ocana were fighting for the Super Prestige…’ Still, I wouldn’t mind seeing something like that return.

I definitely remember Sean Kelly saying somewhere that he valued the Super Prestige, precisely because it offered a significant cash prize. Maybe it was in his autobiography Hunger?

Anyone else old enough to remember https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/title/fabulous-world-cycling/ ? Can’t count the number of times I read and reread these as well as using them for research purposes. I was really sad when they stopped publishing these in English. The editors made a pretty big deal out of Super Prestige back then. Sad to read Super Prestige was killed by French law against promoting alcohol via sports. Worse, now they can’t even celebrate a win with Champagne in the country of it’s origin!?!?!? WTF??

Yes, the Super Prestige was quite much appreciated (I think that even nowadays some granfondo series are still named after it as a nod of sort), as it was the Desgrange-Colombo challenge which preceded it. The funny thing with the latter is that it more or less stopped working when it became important enough to make some riders actually go for it – for the challenge, I mean – rather than simply trying to do their best also when they were racing away from their home country. It became apparent that the two things weren’t exactly the same… which is what tends to happen with most ranking systems as time goes by.

I’m a big fan of the PCS points rankings, both because it is much more reasonable than the UCI points system, and because it’s so transparent. My sense is that even though the year-end PCS rankings don’t come with a jersey or an official title, it’s looked at with respect by both riders, journalists, and knowledgable fans.

I agree with the PCS ranking seeming more just but if you look at the individual rankings for UCI and PCS points they are very very similar. Top 4 is identical, and only one name different in the top 10. So apparently it doesn’t make much difference.

It’s natural that the very top riders will score similarly under the two systems, but where you can see a substantial difference is outside the top 2-4 riders. Some years the top ten riders are substantially different outside the very top riders. In 2021, was Philipsen 7th, or 15th? Cavendish 22nd or 32nd? Sagan 34th or 57th? The PCS points system does indeed seem more just, in the sense of fitting better with the difficulty of what is accomplished.

Fortunately, most riders aren’t focused on the UCI points total. Imagine if there was a high-value year-end jersey based on the UCI points, and some quality riders started trying to harvest points more than build their palmares in a traditional way? It would be very ugly.

Quick add – I like the point that DaveRides and gabriele made, that the UCI points is not really at all about ranking riders. That does seem the primary purpose of the PCS points system, though, imperfect as it is and must be (because of the crazy, complex nature of competitive road cycling). The PCS points seem as decent a stab at a rider ranking system as I’ve seen.

gabriele: +1

blimey – this is complicated and I’m a fan of the sport. No idea how you go about explaining this to someone new to following it. Strikes me as cycling turning into Harry Potter – 10 points to Gryffindor 🙂 I think I’ll do what I always do and watch the races that I enjoy then later in the season I’ll let Inrng explain the nuances of tactics around the points and the implications for promotion / relegation

The problem with a ranking system is obviously what do you want to measure and why (or what for).

To start with, a measuring system can be used to know more about a reality of sort *or* as a policy to push things in a given direction you see as fitting. Normally, in most fields really, where I wrote “or” you’d better write: “and”, “as well as” or perhaps use the Latin word “vel” (a kind of “and/or”). Maybe you’re trying to sell an ongoing pattern as a well-established reality, or you’re trying to call “a natural fact” what’s quite more dynamic, or you’re trying to materialise a self-fulfilling prophecy. And if you’re aware of what you’re doing (big if) that’s not as bad as it may sound; I’d even say it’s pretty much ok most of the times, especially but not exclusively if you are a decision-maker or in a managing position rather than a descriptive scholar (the latter being open to debate, too).

This double nature is evident in the UCI ranking system above, where you aren’t just trying to understand where any sort of sporting value actually lies: they’re also fostering some specific races, although their sporting value is quite much relative (how do you know that? Well, for example you could check the typical all-around career-long results of the winners, or the long-term quality of the top-10s).

Besides, what are you actually interested in? Commercial value? Technical value? They’re quite different. What the fans regard as good? Which fans? In what country? That varies *a lot* even within so-called historical countries, which of course aren’t entitled themselve to any sort of last word. For example, any TdF stage’s got a way greater commercial value than, say, Harelbeke, but the sporting value of the latter is normally superior. How do you tackle that? And among GT stages of any single GT, the situation is hugely heterogeneous, and sometimes sporting value depends mainly on racing circumstances, that is, it can’t really can be judged beforehand. Of course, we’re going to approximate… but the difference is such that it comes close to making no sense at all. Merckx’s and Cavendish’s “stage wins record” have little in common, as Cipollini’s and Binda’s… or Petacchi’s score and Coppi’s.

Commercial value and sporting value (we might even add “recognition among fans” as a separate factor) aren’t just different, they can often be conflicting. And the institutional ranking system, unlike a private one like PCS’s, mustn’t come too much at odds… with either. To put it simply, if you sacrifice commercial value, sponsors won’t understand why the famous guy who won the much watched race falls that down (or relatively so) in the ranks, while if you sacrifice sporting value you’ll fail in retaining talent and effective team models when producing great racing is concerned (the old Euskaltel team’s case we’ve been speaking about here is an excellent example of the latter!).

Finally, who the ranking is aimed at as a “reader”? I suspect that the above isn’t really for the general public, come on, that’s why it doesn’t go with a jersey and so. It’s about the teams. It’s an attempt to restrict access to the WT in order to make it desirable while not losing too much sporting value along the way, plus going on with some historical policies about global race promotion.

Relegation and promotion of teams, as important as it may be in so many sports, isn’t really a thing in cycling – for now I mean – essentially because fans usually aren’t (or “weren’t”) that much committed to any team, didn’t really root for a team, rather for the athletes. Which, on turn, depended on the majority of teams lasting a couple of decades at the very most. Ouroboros, of course, but that’s what we have got, although there are clear attempts to shift away from that model. However, UCI isn’t trying to sell us any new model, for now: the three-year interval makes sense if the main reasons are those which I expressed above, not if you want to create any sort of competitive narrative for fans.

And, of course, huge interest has always been placed much more in the races, each seen as a specific value (the debates about the race courses, a narrative in themselves…).

To start with, because winning has always been sooo difficult in cycling, let alone repeat multiple victories. That was a part of the model of the sport.

Yet, it’s quite evident that several of these aspects have been changing in the last couple of decades or so, for a range of different reasons, among others hyper-specialisation, for instance. When trying to attract new fans who were used to different sport models, it was quite much natural for sponsors and institutions to try and offer recognizable patterns. Same with team fandom. Higher investment sort of requires to build on identity and fanbase, something which used to happen also in the past, of course, but in a more random way.

Migration to a different model can be debated about as more or less fitting, risky or whatever. Most of the times it will happen – or not – regardless what stakeholders (old and new fans included) think on the matter. That can be hugely good news, as it’s the case for women cycling’s recent well-deserved growth (or comeback), despite most big stakeholders being quite wary (euphemism) about it.

What’s surely good is to think about the specific positive aspects you want to keep alive through any sort of migration you’re going through, which otherwise might go unnoticed until it’s too late, and also check expectations against the material conditions of the specific sport you’re speaking about. Some of cycling’s strong points are different from F1’s or football’s (most of the times the cycling world itself being pretty much unaware of it), and the other way around, of course.

Lastly, and quite much generally speaking (not thinking of any commenter here, rather a widespread attitude in forums and so), what I find a bit naïf is a dismissive or ironic way of criticising this point system without seriously wondering what is it about.

A lot of good points here. I wonder WHY there needs to be some sort of ranking system other than if someone like Pernod wanted to hand out an award and use that interest to sell a consumer product? Unlike most of the sports who have one, cycling doesn’t have contests on the same/similar court, field or course every time. One of the great things IMHO is that there’s something for everyone, whether a sprinter, climber, rouleur, etc. Any ranking system ends up trying to make every contest more similar rather than the reverse and too often skips the fact that it’s not Team X vs Team Y but Team X vs all the other teams at each race, teams made up of racers whose talents may or may not match up perfectly with the course chosen by the organizers. Trying to make pro cycling appeal to fans of F1 or FIFA football is a dead-end, risking alienating the current fans while not gaining any new ones. Unless the goal is to put more money out there for various people to hoover up, I don’t understand the goals of ranking systems, relegations, WT, etc.

Yowzers – Cyclingnews just put up a paywall! I guess you won’t be able to access their live updates to the races either any longer.

Cyclingnews and Cycling Tips both built paywalls this year – I’d love to run the numbers to see what is more profitable, paywall or advertising based on free access.

I’d love to know that, too. I’m also wondering if there will be fewer ads if you subscribe to Cyclingnews (there have been so many recently that it had become hard to read), or if they’re going to try to have both income streams. I expect they can’t charge advertisers as much when their readership is likely to dramatically plummet, though.

It feels like we’re in an odd place as cycling fans. There are more races broadcast widely than ever, likewise tons more happening in women’s cycling, and yet most mainstream sports news sites barely touch the sport at all, and the specialty sites are moving to subscription models. There was a time when as a fan I could read much more about cycling than I could watch actual races, and now the situation seems to be reversed.

Ironically, this site is probably the only one I’d pay to read, and it’s free. Which reminds me to repeat, thank you Inring for the time and effort you put into this.

“Ironically, this site is probably the only one I’d pay to read, and it’s free.” Finally something we both can agree on! 🙂 I recently posted something on this subject here: http://cycleitalia.blogspot.com/2022/01/velonews-is-dead.html

Not only that, but the only site where a phrase like “Ouroboros, of course” in the comments comes as no surprise.

Ah Larry I’ll check out your post, thank you for the link.

Totally agree, this is the only blog where the writing quality is high enough to pay for.

I understand that cycling journalism is a tough financial model. However, even with GCN+, I doubt the numbers are in favour of paywalls in the long term.

Unfortunately I will have to keep seeking out free race updates (I can’t justify the paywall for GCN+ or cyclingnews).

Sadly this was not always the case. While cycling scribes were never likely to get rich, it seemed at least they used to be able to eat. But at some point the stuff in English was being written far too often by people who you wondered if they didn’t pay the mag/website to publish it or gave it away free just to see their name in print? Some of it gave me a headache just trying to read it! Was it Truman Capote who famously said: “This isn’t writing at all. It’s typing”? Some of the video dialogue spewed by these people is not much better IMHO. If the behind-the-paywall folks bring back quality writing (I think of guys like Herbie Sykes when it comes to English) I might pay, but so far I’ve not seen anything online I’m willing to hand over money for…far too many of these people come across as online panhandlers rather than journalists.

I can still get CN. And I’d never pay for it.

CN doesn’t ask for payment if you use incognito mode on your browser. Just saying…. 😉 😉

Why not just award the points to teams and not to riders? Riders have different tasks as part of the team, which often are not to do with them winning. Sure, there would still be specialist websites that would dig into the points tally piled up by each rider, but ours is a team sport.

-May be a bit ironic here, but it’s worth remembering that this points system was not intended to give riders a ranking or a value. It’s meant to be about ranking teams so the little quirks become less important when you think that all the WT has the same roster opportunities. It’s definitely not intended as a transfer value chart, which is something the UCI could maybe move against, although I’m sure the agents already discounted teams with alltop scorers (cf Olympic womens’ RR)

This is why I suggest that the team earn the points of the highest position on each race/stage, so the team’s other riders can focus on working for the leader without having to leave something in the tank to fight for a minor place at the finish.

Various forms of motorsport have worked on similar lines to this over time, often in sports car or rallying championships where a manufacturer can only earn points for their first two cars rather than every car of that make in the field.

The sole exception should be when a team dominates so completely that they get both the win and place another rider (or even two others) on the podium. In those cases they deserve the points for the other podium position/s as well as the winner.

I think the use of the individual points as a transfer value chart has already been partially neutralised, by the UCI moving away from transferring of points with riders to calculating the qualification ranking exclusively on a team’s previous results under their own banner. Team managers are also smart enough to spot a MVP performance when they see one.

Regardless of any reforms to the calculation of team rankings, I believe the individual ranking will continue to exist. Any attempt by the UCI to get rid of it would just result in there being *more* interest in whichever unofficial ranking/s abound so they may as well keep it.

Exactly, the best teams don’t stress over the minor placings for UCI points. The team and riders are confident that their team-first approach will deliver the wins they need – which add the real value to the team.

But we might see lesser teams not riding to win in order to ensure a safe top 4 and the points accrued.

Comments are closed.

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Nelly Korda ties LPGA Tour record with 5th straight victory, wins Chevron Championship for 2nd major

Nelly Korda kisses the trophy while posing for photos after winning the Chevron Championship LPGA golf tournament Sunday, April 21, 2024, at The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Nelly Korda, left, holds up the trophy after winning the Chevron Championship LPGA golf tournament Sunday, April 21, 2024, at The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Nelly Korda celebrates after winning the final round of the Chevron Championship LPGA golf tournament Sunday, April 21, 2024, at The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Nelly Korda jumps into the lake after winning the Chevron Championship LPGA golf tournament Sunday, April 21, 2024, at The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Nelly Korda smiles after winning the Chevron Championship LPGA golf tournament Sunday, April 21, 2024, at The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Nelly Korda hits a tee shot on the third hole during the final round of the Chevron Championship LPGA golf tournament Sunday, April 21, 2024, at The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Nelly Korda high-fives young fans while celebrating her win at the Chevron Championship LPGA golf tournament Sunday, April 21, 2024, at The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Nelly Korda tees off on the sixth hole during the final round of the Chevron Championship LPGA golf tournament Sunday, April 21, 2024, at The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Nelly Korda watches her shot on the fourth hole during the final round of the Chevron Championship LPGA golf tournament Sunday, April 21, 2024, at The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Nelly Korda poses with the trophy after winning the Chevron Championship LPGA golf tournament Sunday, April 21, 2024, at The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Lauren Coughlin hits from the first hole during the final round of the Chevron Championship LPGA golf tournament Sunday, April 21, 2024, at The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Brooke Henderson, of Canada, hits a bunker shot on the fourth hole during the final round of the Chevron Championship LPGA golf tournament Sunday, April 21, 2024, at The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Lauren Coughlin watches her shot on the 17th hole during the final round of the Chevron Championship LPGA golf tournament Sunday, April 21, 2024, at The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

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THE WOODLANDS, Texas (AP) — Nelly Korda couldn’t have imagined the incredible run she’s put together this season while at home recovering from a blood clot that required surgery in 2022.

“Because obviously then I was just more scared for my health,” she said. “Competing was kind of on the back seat. I was not thinking about competing at all. But I think all of the sad times and the health scares that I have gone through have made me who I am today.”

Fully healthy now, Korda is seemingly unstoppable. The world’s No. 1 player hasn’t lost a tournament since January, and now she’s a two-time major champion.

Korda etched her name in the LPGA Tour record books Sunday, winning her record-tying fifth straight tournament with a two-stroke victory in the Chevron Championship.

Korda joins Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sorenstam (2004-05) as the only players to win five consecutive LPGA events. Her previous major victory was in 2021 at the Women’s PGA Championship.

“It’s been an amazing feeling these past couple weeks knowing that I can go on this stretch and that if I stay in my bubble and I keep golf in a sense simple and let it flow, then I can have so, so much fun out here,” she said.

Korda shot a 3-under 69 in the final to outlast Maja Stark of Sweden, who birdied her final two holes to shoot 69 and pull within one. Korda stayed aggressive on the par-5 18th, easily clearing the lake in front of the green and setting up an easy up-and-down birdie for a two-shot victory.

She had a four-day total of 13-under 275 at Carlton Woods.

Korda nearly aced the par-3 17th , with her tee shot hitting the hole and hopping in the air before settling within 10 feet. She settled for par to maintain her two-shot lead.

Korda wowed the large crowd, which followed her throughout the day, by chipping into the wind for birdie on the par-4 10th hole to take a four-stroke lead. The 25-year-old raised her club above her head with one hand and pumped her fist after the ball rolled into the hole.

Her parents — former Australian Open tennis champion Petr Korda and Regina Rajchrtova — beamed as she was presented with the trophy.

Nelly Korda smiles after winning the Chevron Championship LPGA golf tournament, April 21, 2024, at The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

“She had a difficult ’22 and ’23 in certain ways,” Petr Korda said. “She did not win a tournament in ’23 and some things probably made her humble and (she) put a lot of work into where she is right now. Without the work and commitment, she would not be here. So seeing that, I’m very happy.”

Korda’s older sister, Jessica, is a six-time LPGA winner who’s taking a break from golf after giving birth to her first child.

Korda took home $1.2 million from a purse of $7.9 million, a significant increase from last year’s purse of $5.2 million. That brings her season earnings to $2,424,216 and her career earnings to $11,361,489.

Winners had been jumping into Poppie’s Pond off the 18th green at Mission Hills since 1988, and Korda became the second to do it in Texas by doing a cannonball off a small dock into brown-tinged water. World No. 2 Lilia Vu was first to jump into the pond here after her win last season. Vu withdrew from this year’s tournament before the first round after experiencing “severe discomfort” in her back during warmups.

While still shivering from her post-win plunge Sunday, Korda confirmed she’ll be competing in the JM Eagle LA Championship next week in Los Angeles. She was then asked about the possibility of becoming the first to ever win six straight LPGA tournaments.

“I’m going to enjoy this right now and then I’ll think about that,” she said. “But yeah, it’s been an amazing time. Hopefully keep the streak alive. But I’ve been so grateful to compete week in and week out and get the five in a row, too.”

Masters champion Scottie Scheffler is on a similar tear, on his way to a fourth victory in five starts until rain interrupted the final round of the RBC Heritage . He couldn’t help but check in on Korda.

“I actually was checking the scores this afternoon when we were in the rain delay,” he said. “I’m extremely happy for her and proud of her. That’s some pretty special stuff. It’s been a treat to watch.”

Korda entered the last round one shot off the lead after completing the last seven holes of the weather-delayed third round early Sunday morning on a windy and unseasonably cool day. She was wiped out after her big win because she’d been up since 4 a.m. to prepare for the end of the third round.

She birdied two of her first four holes to take the lead. Lauren Coughlin birdied Nos. 13 and 14 to get within two strokes, but bogeys on the 16th and 17th holes put her four behind. She shot a final-round 68 to finish tied for third with Brooke Henderson.

Coughlin got emotional when discussing her best finish in a major.

“It’s really cool to see all of the work that I’ve put in, especially with my putting and my short game, and putting specifically showed off this week, as well,” she said.

Henderson was tied with Korda for second to start the last round after she shot a 64 in the third round to set a scoring record for the tournament since its move from Mission Hills, California, to Texas last year. But the Canadian, who has 13 LPGA wins with two majors, also faltered early in the final round, with a bogey and a double bogey in the first four holes.

Haeran Ryu of South Korea shot a bogey-free 67 to enter the final round leading Korda by one. But the 2023 Rookie of the Year bogeyed the first two holes of the fourth round. She closed with a 74 and finished fifth.

Eighteen-year-old amateur Jasmine Koo provided an unlikely highlight on the 18th hole. Her second shot bounced off the advertising board in the water and back into play. She ended up with a birdie to shoot 71.

AP Golf Writer Doug Ferguson in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, contributed to this report.

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Battle for WorldTour ignited as low-ranked teams come out swinging

Lotto Soudal, Cofidis, Arkea-Samsic all hit the ground running in crucial 2022 season

The 2022 season is one of reckoning when it comes to WorldTour status, and the teams set to scrap it out for a place in cycling’s top tier have all come out swinging from the first whistle. 

Lotto Soudal , Cofidis , Arkea-Samsic, Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert , Movistar , and BikeExchange-Jayco all have victories on the board already and all have started building the tallies of rankings points that will ultimately decide their fates.

The races of late January and early February will be a faint memory come the end of the year - and the bigger teams will soon grind into gear once the WorldTour calendar gets underway - but right now the early-season skirmishes are an important tone-setter in the fight for WorldTour survival. 

Fight for WorldTour survival set to influence racing in 2022 Pogacar and Van Vleuten top of the world: 2021 rankings round-up 2022 WorldTour team kits: The definitive ranking

Licences for 2023 and beyond are set to be awarded based on ranking points upon conclusion of the current three-year cycle at the end of this year. With 18 WorldTour spots available and 21 teams expressing an interest, it will simply come down to who has accrued the most UCI World Ranking points over the past three seasons. 

Lotto Soudal and Cofidis began 2022 in the ‘relegation zone’, behind second-division outfits Alpecin-Fenix (who were way up in ninth and out of any trouble), and Arkea-Samsic, who were very much part of the battle in 18th. From 17th to 14th sat Intermarché, Israel-Premier Tech, Movistar, and BikeExchange-Jayco, all at risk of being dragged into the relegation mix. 

For those teams, there has simply been no luxury of easing into the season, and the stakes are evident from the way they’ve all burst out of the traps. Movistar, Arkea-Samsic, and Lotto Soudal currently sit 2-3-4 in the 2022 UCI team ranking, behind frontrunners UAE Team Emirates. 

Alejandro Valverde, 41, has been the driving force for the Spanish team, winning a round of the Challenge Mallorca and finishing second and sixth in others, before placing fifth overall at the Volta a Valenciana, where his teammate Enric Mas was fourth. It’s difficult to see Movistar having any real difficulties given Mas’ Grand Tour pedigree but if Valverde is back near his best in his final season then they’re automatically well clear of trouble. 

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Arkea-Samsic, meanwhile, have made the perfect start in their push for WorldTour status, having already secured invites to all WorldTour races this year courtesy of a combination of their second-place in the second-division rankings in 2021, and the demise of Qhubeka-NextxHash. Like Movistar, they have only won one race so far, through Amaury Capiot at the GP La Marseillaise, but they’ve also had a number of top 10s, spreading more than 200 points across nine riders, including Warren Barguil and Elie Gesbert. 

Lotto Soudal, who went into the season as the lowest-ranked WorldTour team and nearly 1000 points off safety, made a strong start thanks to their talisman Caleb Ewan, who struck at the first time of asking on the opening day of the Saudi Tour. With an inexperienced squad, he was thought to be key to the Belgian team’s fortunes. However, others have already stepped up. 

21-year-old Maxim Van Gils won a stage and the overall of that Saudi Tour, while 19-year-old Arnaud De Lie beat some big-name sprinters to claim the Trofeo Palma at Challenge Mallorca. Tim Wellens added to the mix with a strong run in Mallorca, including the win at Trofeo Tramuntana, to help the team to a perfect start. 

Bora-Hansgrohe, sixth at the start of the year in the three-year cycle, sit fifth so far this campaign, shortly followed by Cofidis, the other WorldTour team who started in the relegation zone. New signings have already paid off for Cedric Vasseur’s outfit, with Benjamin Thomas claiming a huge stage win and overall title at the Etoile de Besseges, while Bryan Coquard also won a sprint at the same race. 

Big-hitters Ineos Grenadiers, QuickStep-AlphaVinyl, and Trek-Segafredo all follow in the season ranking, followed by Peter Sagan’s TotalEnergies, who started the year 21st in the three-year cycle but too far off to realistically aim for promotion. 

Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert got off to a flyer with Biniam Girmay’s win at the Trofeo Alcudia in Mallorca, with Kobe Goossens also collecting some valuable placings. Girmay, the 21-year-old Eritrean, could be a crucial figure if he continues his rise and has a breakthrough campaign.

BikeExchange-Jayco are next up in 12th place, having picked up a pair of stage wins at the Saudi Tour through new signing Dylan Groenewegen, plus a raft of more valuable top-10s through Michael Matthews at Challenge Mallorca. 

Of all the team’s in the initial relegation mix, Israel-Premier Tech have made the slowest start, currently 15th, with no wins on the board but some points through Giacomo Nizzolo and Jakob Fuglsang. 

At this point, it’s still very early days, and it seems foolish to read too much into the points won and lost. And yet, come the end of the season, literally every point could count. 

The battle will only intensify from here. The Tour of Oman, Tour de la Provence, Volta ao Algarve, and Ruta del Sol are all on the horizon, with the UAE signalling the start of the lucrative WorldTour campaign later in the month. 

There are bigger battles on the horizon, but the tone of this war has been set and the teams involved have all come out fighting. 

We face the last season in the fight to avoid WorldTour relegation. The WorldTour 2023-2025 licenses will be given to the 18 best teams in the 2020-2022 UCI ranking.Relegated teams will be eligible for the 2023 WT wildcards if they score more UCI points than the other ProTeams. pic.twitter.com/vPtMf96Hdw January 25, 2022

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Patrick is an NCTJ-trained journalist, and former deputy editor of Cyclingnews, who has seven years’ experience covering professional cycling. He has a modern languages degree from Durham University and has been able to put it to some use in what is a multi-lingual sport, with a particular focus on French and Spanish-speaking riders. Away from cycling, Patrick spends most of his time playing or watching other forms of sport - football, tennis, trail running, darts, to name a few, but he draws the line at rugby.

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2024 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series: what we learned from the opening rounds in Brazil

At the two opening rounds of the 2024 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series in Brazil, the tracks, crowds and racing demonstrated the country’s growing mountain bike scene.

More than 30 Brazilian riders took part in the events organised on home soil, alongside the best mountain bike cross-country riders in the world.

With huge crowds both at Mairiporã (25,000) and Araxá (the 80th venue to host the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup), the welcome given to Brazil’s most famous mountain biker, Henrique Avancini, who retired in 2023, was resounding: “It’s so good to have the World Cup back in Brazil… the crowd gets involved in the sport. It’s amazing to see the growth of mountain bike in Brazil over the past decade,” said the Brazilian champion.

His compatriot Alex Junior Malacarne, who finished on the Araxá podium in the Men’s Under 23 category in the cross-country Olympic (XCO) race, was also impressed by the atmosphere: “It’s like a dream and I’m having goosebumps right now!”

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Eurosport Cycling (@eurosportcycling)

Apart from the widespread excitement, what can we learn from the Brazilian rounds about this year’s UCI World Cup?

1: The impact of the Olympic Games on the season

Qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games is a factor impacting the strategy for the season, with top nations having only two places each. “It makes it even harder for the bigger nations, France, United States in the women’s field, and especially for the Swiss riders,” said Avancini.

While UCI World Champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot opted to not participate in the Brazilian rounds, Loana Lecomte was there: “I don’t have to prove myself, as Pauline and I already have our tickets … I know I’m not in top form, but I will get better.”

Jenny Rissveds (SWE), winner of the first round of the XCO, had a different mindset: “I knew there would be an internal battle between the two Americans [Batten and Blunk] and I played that card,” she said. “I’m not stressed about the Olympics, I’m already qualified.”

Fourteen years after his first win in a UCI XCO World Cup race, Nino Schurter has had a different start to 2024 by racing the Cape Epic and not hitting Brazil in top form. He downplayed the desire to win the overall UCI World Cup for the tenth time: “It’s not my place to battle for the overall. I want to pick a few races where I can battle for the victory. With the Olympic Games approaching, everybody is nervous about qualification and to have the best preparation. It’s something you can really feel. At the Olympics, I want to have another perfect day and, I hope, fight for another medal.”

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Nino Schurter (@nschurter)

2: The XCC and XCO sequence work

Elite riders compete in the cross-country short track (XCC) event on the Saturday (previously on Friday evenings), followed by the XCO race on the Sunday. Great for fans and tough for mechanics, but how about the riders?

“On paper it suits me well,” said Mairiporã XCC winner Sam Gaze (NZL). “I do a lot more road cycling, and back-to-back races are common in the road world.”

“I’m super happy because I always have the best legs on Saturdays,” said Anne Terpstra (NED). “As it’s not really a break, you can recover physically, but in your mind, you’re still ‘on’.”

3: Modern tracks have everything

The Mairiporã and Araxá tracks, designed by Nick Floros and a local team including Avancini, are great examples of contemporary tracks. Both are fast and technical, with testing climbs and great visibility for the crowds. Features include whoops and pump tracks, open parts and wooded sections. “We added in some more technical challenges,” explained Avancini, “while retaining the existing features.”

Some riders have been helped by other disciplines, such as Rissveds, who hit the Enduro tracks before the start of the season. The Swede’s downhill skills at Mairiporã gained her seconds and valuable extra recovery time, conserving more energy for the successful attack on the final lap. Mastering the varied courses of today has become crucial.

4: USA to be reckoned with

UCI XCC World Champion in 2021, Christopher Blevins, set the tone for the American team in the first round of the XCO. But it is the American women who impress the most in this Olympic year. Haley Batten and Savilia Blunk finished third and second in the XCO in Mairiporã, then first and third in the XCO and XCC in Araxá. In the Under 23 category, Riley Amos has four wins already and Bjorn Riley two second and two fourth places.

Four races, four wins 👏 Another victory for Riley Amos 🇺🇸 in Men U23 XCO #MTBWorldCup @MTBworldseries pic.twitter.com/hAFISU4R7l — UCI MTB (@UCI_MTB) April 20, 2024

5: A XCC-XCO double is possible

We’ve already seen double wins in XCC and XCO.In the Elite category, Batten achieved an amazing double in the second round, Victor Koretzky (FRA) came close with a first and second place, while Alan Hatherly (RSA) and Blunk podiumed in both races.

Two performances in the Under 23 are worth highlighting: Riley Amos and Kira Böhm (GER) each won their XCC and XCO races in both rounds, giving them a maximum of 330 points to top the overall standings.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series (@uci_mtbworldseries)

Upcoming events in the 2024 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series

The next round of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in XCO and XCC will take place in Nové Město na Moravě, Czech Republic, from 24 to 26 May. In the meantime, three events on the 2024 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series calendar are lined up: the first round of the UCI World Cup in Downhill in Fort William (GBR) from 3 to 5 May, the first round of the UCI World Cup in Enduro in the Finale Outdoor Region (ITA) from 10 to 12 May and the second round in Bielsko-Biała (POL) from 17 to 19 May.