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UCI president confident WorldTour relegation-promotion system will survive legal challenges

Relegation is 'not nice' but 'it is sport' says david lappartient..

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WOLLONGONG, Australia (VN) —  UCI president David Lappartient is confident the men’s WorldTour relegation-promotion system will stand up to legal challenges.

Up to two teams could be relegated from the WorldTour at the end of this season if they are unable to secure the points needed to survive, while two ProTeams can gain promotion for 2023. At the moment, Israel-Premier Tech and Lotto Soudal are below the danger line while Arkéa-Samsic and Alpecin-Deceuninck look set to go up.

Israel-Premier Tech boss Sylvan Adams has threatened to sue the UCI if his team is relegated from the WorldTour and says that the governing body should invoke “force majeure” to put a stop to this year’s relegation battle in light of the COVID-19 pandemic that has blighted the globe since 2020.

Speaking to press the at the world championships in Wollongong, Lappartient said that relegation and promotion was all part of the sporting environment, and he wasn’t concerned about any legal challenges.

“We can be challenged, of course, but we are confident that our system can be confirmed,” Lappartient said. “That’s sport. It’s not nice when you are in relegation, but when you are in football if you are last of the premier league you will go down to the second league. You must accept the result. That’s difficult because we know all the efforts of all the teams. We must also leave the door open for new applicants, for new teams to enter.”

• Sylvan Adams pressuring UCI to back-pedal on WorldTour rules: ‘Relegation is death’
• Analysis: The unintended consequences of the UCI’s relegation game
• UCI confirms WorldTour relegation-promotion rules will be enforced

The current system began in 2020 with the points accumulated over the past three seasons counting toward the overall tally. While teams like Arkéa-Samsic have been eagled-eyed in the fight for points from very early on, some of the WorldTour squads appear to have been caught off-guard.

The fight for points has spilled out into the world championships with some teams refusing to release their riders for national team duties so that they can keep racing them in Europe.

Amidst the recent threats of legal action, there was speculation that the UCI may look to expand the WorldTour to 20 teams in order to avoid it. However, this was swiftly denied in a press release earlier this month as the UCI affirmed that the relegation and promotion system would be enforced at the end of the season.

Lappartient said that the system was needed so that the top tier of the sport didn’t become a closed shop with others locked out of it, despite performances. The UCI president added that it was the best option to provide balance for teams and organizers.

“This system was approved four years ago by the UCI management committee in September 2018. After long discussions, and years of discussions to reach this new system. When I was elected in 2017, I said that we needed to fix this,” Lappartient said. “In one year, we were able to reach this agreement by consensus. It means that it has been approved by unanimity. Of course, the organizers wanted to keep the four wildcards, the teams wanted to have the opportunity for second division teams to qualify based on their ranking.

“We finally figured out the system and we said it will start on January 1, 2020, and after we would take the three-year ranking in order to avoid relegation based only on one year. That was at the request of the teams. The other point was to give some teams the opportunity to qualify and potentially enter into the system and for it not to be a closed system. For this, the organizers wanted automatic promotion and relegation. The teams that wanted to stay like there were and we fixed this by saying that the top 18 will be in the WorldTour, whether they are the existing WorldTour teams or some new applicants. So then, we will have the top 18 in the WorldTour at the end.”

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UCI president David Lappartient defends promotion and relegation system: 'It certainly has its advantages for the competition'

The top-18 teams of the UCI's rankings based on results over the past three seasons will be awarded a three-year WorldTour licence

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UCI president David Lappartient has defended the promotion and relegation system cycling's governing body will implement at the end of 2022, in spite of criticism from some WorldTour teams. 

Next year's three-term WorldTour licences will be awarded to the team who are in the top-18 of the UCI's rankings based on results over the past three seasons. Currently, Israel-Premier Tech and Lotto-Soudal are at risk of having their top-tier licence revoked come 2023, with both teams sitting in the relegation zone, according to Lanterne Rouge . 

Teams have questioned the ranking system though, claiming points are unfairly weighted in favour of some less-prestigious races. Others have also suggested the system be put on pause, with some teams missing important riders through Covid-19. 

When asked if there is a possibility the UCI will scrap promotions and relegations at the end of the season, Lappartient dismisses the idea, stating the system will go ahead regardless of the criticism. 

“We will certainly implement the promotion relegation at the end of the season," the UCI president told WielerFlits . "We introduced this rule a few years ago when we reformed professional cycling. The teams did not want such a system, while the organisers were in favour of an annual promotion relegation. The compromise we found was the certainty of a three-year WorldTour licence.

“Now we have a ranking over three years. It is therefore possible that you have lost a rider for a period due to Covid-19. But because the points are made over three years, this has no crucial influence on the ranking. The first 18 teams are sure to stay in the WorldTour. 

"We now see that between teams 15 and 20 the difference is not too great. That means that a number of teams are indeed under pressure, but this does not mean that it is a bad system. We find a promotion-relegation system in almost all sports. It certainly has its advantages for the competition as well.”

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Some WorldTour teams have strongly criticised the promotion and relegation system which will occur at the end of the season due to the impacts of Covid-19, while others have suggested the points system needs overhauling. Matt White, head sports director of BikeExchange-Jayco, for example, told Cycling Weekly last month that 1.1 races having more value than a stage of the Tour de France "doesn't make any sense".

While a Grand Tour stage winner is awarded 120 points UCI, someone who finishes fifth on a stage of a Grand Tour will accrue five UCI points for their team. Comparatively, riders achieve ten points should they finish 12th at a UCI 1.2 race, more commonly raced by Continental and development teams. 

WorldTour stage races also offer little points, too, with fourth-place picking up nothing. Meanwhile, a rider finishing 10th in a 1.2 one-day race collects three points, boosting their team up the rankings in the battle for relegation and promotion. 

For Lappartient, though, this has represented a positive shift in attitudes of WorldTour teams to so-called smaller races, meaning the standard of competition has improved across the calendar as they battle for essential points at every type of event. However, he does recognise minor alterations could improve the current system. 

"At the beginning of April, the Volta Limburg Classic was live on French television on L'Equipe TV. A race that you could not otherwise watch in France. I saw a wonderful race, where top riders, such as Tom Dumoulin, also coloured the final. You also see that WorldTour teams are now selecting good riders for these races because they race for the points.

“Although, it is our job to ensure that no more points can be earned in these races than in the WorldTour. I fear that the scoring of races will be a point of discussion until the last days of my life. 

"Nevertheless, we can already conclude that the system works. We may still need to make small improvements, but I think the current ranking gives a good idea of the strength differences between the teams over the past three years.”

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Ryan is a staff writer for Cycling Weekly, having joined the team in September 2021. He first joined Future in December 2020, working across FourFourTwo, Golf Monthly, Rugby World and Advnture's websites, before making his way to cycling. After graduating from Cardiff University with a degree in Journalism and Communications, Ryan earned a NCTJ qualification to further develop as a writer. 

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The New WorldTour Points System Explained

Following complaints from numerous teams about the WorldTour’s promotion and relegation system, the UCI has published new regulations with significant changes. The rule amendment has been published less than a month before the start of the new 2023-2025 triennium, whose cumulative ranking will determine which 18 teams will be part of the WorldTour in 2026-2028.

In summary, there have been three important changes, which will be discussed in more detail below:

• The UCI points scale gives much more importance to Grand Tours and Monuments, as well as to stages in WorldTour stage races.
• The UCI World Ranking for teams, both annually and across the triennium, will take into account the 20 best riders of each team, instead of 10 as at present.
• Teams relegated by the sporting criterion will have automatic invitations in 2023 for the entire UCI WorldTour, except for the Grand Tours. In practice, this allows Israel – Premier Tech to receive automatic invitations to all one week WorldTour stage races, even though they did not qualify for them under the rules in force during the 2020-22 triennium.

UCI Points Allocation

The UCI has revolutionised the scoring system for the next three years (2023-2025), with the objective of incentivising the best riders to participate in the most important races. To this end, they have multiplied by a factor of 1.6x the points allocated to the Monuments and the Road Race of the World Championships and Olympic Games. The points in the general classification of the Grand Tours and the ITT of the World Championships and Olympic Games have also been multiplied by a factor of 1.3x.

However, the most impactful change is the value of stages in Grand Tours and the rest of the WorldTour stage races. Whereas before only the top 5 in a Grand Tour stage and the top 3 in the rest of the WorldTour stages were awarded points, in 2023 the top 15 in a Grand Tour stage and the top 10 in the rest of the WorldTour stages will be awarded points. In addition, a much higher value will be given on places of honour in the stages. For example, in 2022 an individual stage in the Tour distributed a total of 240 UCI points, whereas in 2023 it will distribute 935 UCI points, a 290% increase.

In the following image, you can see the new scoring system, with the new Monuments category, differentiated from the rest of the classics. We recommend you to download it in high resolution from here .

Based on the calendar contested in 2022, this change in the scoring system means that there are 28% more UCI points at stake (308,903 vs. 241,027). But as the scoring of the continental circuit races has virtually remained the same (except for a slight increase in points for the ProSeries stages), this smaller calendar will see its importance reduced. Whereas under the previous scoring system the continental calendar shared half of the available UCI points, in 2023 it will share 40%.

As we can see in the graph, the most important races (Grand Tour, Monuments and Worlds) will now have a much higher weight (36% vs 23%). This was a demand from many WorldTeams and even fans, although it will hurt teams that do not have automatic access to those races, like Uno-X. The new scoring system will also benefit ProTeams that have wildcards for WorldTour races in 2023 (such as Lotto, Total and Israel) over those that do not (Uno-X and the rest), as they will be more likely to keep the invitations season after season with immediate access to the most profitable races.

Also the weight of the classics (except for the Monuments) is reduced in favour of stages in stage races. In 2022, all teams at risk of relegation added a large number of minor classics to their calendar, but from 2023 they will have to look for more places of honour in WorldTour stages. The forgotten riders of the previous points system, breakaway stage hunting specialists and consistent stage race sprinters, are suddenly much more valuable under the new scoring system. For example, Hugh Carthy targeted breakaway stages in the second-half of the Giro d’Italia 2022, placing fourth on the stages to Cogne and Lavarone, earning him a paltry 24 UCI points.

Under the new system, Carthy would have scored 160 points across both stages, a 567% increase. In the bunch sprints, Alberto Dainese scored 108 points across the three weeks of Il Giro 2022, but in 2023 he would have scored 370 points for his victory and five top 10 placements.

While most of the changes are logical, the UCI has left the door open to some schedule ‘optimisation’. For example, Continental Championships outside Europe still award 250 points to the winner of the road race (more than a stage of the Tour) and National Championships (some with a very low sporting level) still award 100 points to the winner of the road race.

20 Riders Count per Team

From 2023, the UCI World Team Ranking, used for the relegation battle ranking and to hand out automatic wildcards annually, will take into account the top 20 riders per team instead of the top 10. According to the UCI, this “will help to reduce the pressure currently imposed on only a limited number of riders, which can lead to a number of negative consequences (risks of injury, excessive number of race days, temptation to doping, etc.)”.

To better understand the impact of the new measure, the following graph shows how the 2020-2022 ranking would have changed if the top 20 riders had been taken into account. Lotto Soudal and Israel – Premier Tech would have been relegated anyway, although Israel would have been much closer to salvation.

The teams most dependent on their leaders (Jumbo, Alpecin, Movistar or BikeExchange) would have added the least percentage of points. ProTeams with shorter squads or without 20 riders capable to score points, such as Uno-X, Bingoal or Q36.5, will also be disadvantaged in 2023. Teams such as Quickstep or UAE Team Emirates, with large race programs and a deep pool of riders capable of scoring points, should be advantaged by this change.

The Israel Rule

The latest and perhaps most unexpected change is the UCI’s decision to “gift” Israel with invitations to all one week WorldTour stage races in 2023. It is worth remembering that Israel Premier Tech finished third in the ranking that awarded the 2023 wildcards and had therefore only won the wildcards to the one day WorldTour races on sporting merit. The UCI has clarified that the measure is temporary only for 2023, “coming as it does after three years of significant upheaval due to the global pandemic.”

This emergency measure by the UCI has surely calmed down Israel – Premier Tech owner Sylvan Adams after the millionaire threatened to sue the UCI for the implementation of the relegation system. Israel are also a favourite for the Giro and Tour discretionary organiser wildcards, so they will not feel the effects of the relegation as much, with the Vuelta being the only major race they will likely be absent from in 2023. The extra invitation for Israel takes a wildcard away from the organisers of one week WorldTour races and hurts again modest teams like Uno-X, Q36.5 or Kern Pharma.

The only constant about the UCI points and relegation system is that it is always changing, this time at very short notice. In imperfect systems there will always be winners and losers from structural changes such as these, with teams like UNO-X surely aggrieved by new regulations that make their path to WorldTour promotion more difficult. However if the changes function as intended, there may be some positives for the fans, with teams like Lotto-DSTNY now incentivised to send superstar Arnaud de Lie to more major stage races rather than entirely focussing on a local calendar.

18 comments

Always a must-read! 👏🏻 In your personal opinion will the “Sylvan Adams” rule actually help his team score more points? their squad seems weaker than it was last year so i don’t see them scoring many points in the 2.UWT races, even if they send their best riders, what would hurt their ability to score points at smaller races that occur at the same time.

Also it seems like a bad decision from the UCI to publish the rules change a week before 2023 and not much earlier when teams could’ve had times to perhaps sign other riders or tweak the training program, well unless the teams were told about these future changes in advance.

Good article indeed.

And announcement is too late indeed.

The fact they have starting right (not obligation) is obviously a plus for Israel. Also the increased points are obviously an advantage I think. They have more GC guys than Total and Lotto. Lotto also only has 26 riders under contract.

Short term only those two teams and Uno-X matter. If they do a lot more races than some of the WorlTour teams, they will promote again. But being in the top 2 of the ProTour teams is crucial for that promotion.

Lotto should now hire extra racers and also fully use the advantages of its development team (Total does not have a development team).

Overall I like the changes, and think they are all going in the right direction. I wonder if they have overshot the mark on some of them though.

The increase in points for stage wins is great. A stage win at the TdF worth more than a ProSeries win makes sense. I’m just not sure placings down to 15 needed points though. Maybe points just to the top 10 would have been enough.

Counting the top 20 riders seems an overshoot as well. I agree that the top 10 was too few. Was the “reasoning” to make sure domestiques didn’t feel pressure ? Maybe just the top 15 would be better.

Maybe next year, or in three years, we will see refinements and adjustments again, perhaps backing down a bit on these changes.

Agree that top 15 would have been better.

Top 20 is really bad for the protour teams with only 20 racers (although their chance to end up in the top 2 or promotion spots is low).

Also Lotto is kind of forced to hire 4 extra racers to score I think. There are still some options, but they are limited. They could also promote racers out of the development team whose points then probably count when they race with the development team in .1 and .pro races? It might remove their opportunity to do .2 races?

As for the top 15 spots that count in the Tour de France I like it for Tour de France as those positions still count for the Green Jersey. And for other stage races it is logical only the top 10 counts.

For the one day races, up the top 60 counts. I think that should be changed. For 1.1 races, you could count top 20, for 1.pro top 30, for 1.UWT top 40 and for monuments top 50.

Or even less points: top 10 for 1.1., top 15 for 1.pro, top 20 for worst UWT, top 25 for best UWT and top 30 for monuments. I am suprised they didnt change points in the one day races.

The reasoning is that under the old system we reached a point near the end of the year where riders outside the top 10 on good form had to domestique for riders in the top 10 because otherwise they wouldn’t score any points.

Indeed. That was bad. It had to be more than top 10 racers, but 20 seems too much.

• Pingback: Quién sale ganando y quién no en el nuevo sistema de puntos de la UCI – Ciclismo en TV

Silly question, if you will: are all WT teams safe now until the next triennium in ‘26, or do we go again next year, for the final year of the past three? PS, I refresh this page most days for the next instalment, keep up the great work.

Everyone keeps their WT license for the next 3 years based on the promotion / relegation system. Of course some teams may fold or lose their license for financial or other reasons, but promotion / relegation is only on a 3 year cycle.

The wildcards for the Proteams like Lotto, Israel and TotalEnergies is determined annually though

Brilliant, thanks…and Merry Christmas

En principio me pareció que aumentar la puntuación en carreras WT era necesario y merecido, en cuanto eso me parece correcto, sin embargo el análisis conlleva al problema de la factibilidad de que los actuales equipos WT de desempeño medio bajo y Pro con invitación a las pruebas WT se mantengan ahí sin afanes y muy cómodos, y que equipos ProTour (especialmente los de licencias distintas a la española, francesa, italiana y belga) se vean tan damnificados en aspirar a ascender de categoría que tal vez varios prefieran migrar próximamente a continental. Creo que con esto se crea un veto.

Los cambios favorecen la estabilidad de los equipos WT y dificultan los cambios y los ascensos. De todos modos, está bien que se mantenga el sistema de ascensos y descensos después de tantas presiones. Si los equipos de segunda división hacen bien su trabajo seguirán teniendo sus opciones de ascender, aunque sea un poco más difícil.

Muchas gracias Raúl. Tremendo trabajo. Este post es de lectura obligatoria para cualquier persona que siga el ciclismo profesional.

• Pingback: The Top 10 riders set to Benefit from the New UCI Points System - Lanterne Rouge
• Pingback: UAE and Jumbo fight for Top Spot whilst De Lie Boosts Lotto | UCI Ranking Analysis - Lanterne Rouge
• Pingback: Giro d’Italia et Tour de France, ne pédalez pas pour l’apartheid israélien – 🔴 Info Libertaire
• Pingback: EF Education-Easypost Prosper as Jayco-Alula Struggle Again | UCI April Ranking Analysis - Lanterne Rouge
• Pingback: The Giro Rewards Breakaways with Israel Securing 2024 Wildcards | UCI May Ranking Analysis - Lanterne Rouge

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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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UCI World Tour Promotion and Relegation Weekly

BikeExchange-Jayco have had a good week and climb from 18th to 17th, with Movistar slipping to 18th having begun the season in 15th. There’s a close four-way battle to avoid 18th place but four teams involved here have a buffer on Lotto-Soudal and Israel-PremierTech who are struggling to score.

What’s Changed Since Last Week?

• No change: Alpecin-Deceuninck and Arkea-Samsic are set for promotion, Lotto-Soudal and Israel-PremierTech for relegation
• Trek-Segafredo were the top scorers with 545 points, Quick-Step got 433, Intermarché 309 and BikeExchange 287
• An odd week for the low scorers with negative ratings, Groupama-FDJ on -29, B&B on -20 and Arkéa-Samsic on -17, presumably more UCI fines than results. Israel got 39 points, Lotto-Soudal 110.
• Grand tour invites for 2023 would go to Lotto-Soudal and TotalEnergies

Thanks to another bumper week from Simon Yates, BikeExchange move up from 18th to 17th. Movistar slip to 18th place in a contest where, everything else being equal, 19th or below means relegation. While the team was rightly jubilant at Annemiek van Vleuten’s win atop the Markstein and the Planche des Belles Filles, a search party was being sent to look for their men in the Clasica San Sebastian, practically the team’s home classic but they had only two finishers with Antonio Pedrero best in 19th; they fared better the next day in the Circuito de Getxo with Aranburu and Valverde in the top-10. 18th is still safe so it’s not disastrous, plus if Movistar are 18th it’s only because they’re 68 points behind 17th place.

We now have four teams sitting above the red line with just 180 points between them, it’s very tight to the point where one result here or there, or, say, a puncture, will move a team up or down. Management of these teams will all be a tense as a drive-side spoke. DSM and promotion candidates Arkéa-Samsic ought to be bothered too. DSM are only 500 points clear of EF, Arkéa 700.

But their relief so far for any teams feeling the heat and worried about falling to 19th place is that neither Lotto-Soudal and Israel are closing in, Israel are a thousand points adrift of Movistar, Lotto-Soudal 763.

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 .

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

Really starting to wonder what Total Energies were doing, spending on Sagan and his entourage when there must have been plenty of mid range points scoring riders available to gel into a solid team with a francophone bias. They could have done so much better for so much £€$$.

The season end is going to be a real choker for Lotto going down with so much history.

Lotto-Dstny will be here, there and everywhere and especially in the three GTs next year – and I have no doubt that they will be back at WT-level in 2026 (and if not, one of the teams with a GT invite and a welcome into all the spring classics). Although I must say that at this point that it looks like the competiton will certainly not be any less tough, what with B&B Hotels and Uno-X being both seriously willing and budgetwise able to aim for a spot at the highest level.

I’m inclined to think that Total Energies has gotten its money’s worth back from hiring Sagan et co. Had the motive for spending all that money been to ensure that the team will earn a promotion, it would’ve been a fairly gigantic fail, but unless I’m mistaken it was not the team’s objecive, at least not this year?

The game seems to be over for Israel – Premier Tech. I can no longr entertain any hopes that the other teams will suddenly start doing so poorly that Israel simply kind of floats on top. Others may see the team as mainly a collection of old guys, has-beens and should-have-retired-alreadys, but to me it has always been a pleasure to see their rider enjoying a rather rare win – and a relegation without GT invites would seem almost like an unnecessarily hard double blow.

The saddest thing about Israel – Premier Tech’s position is that if this was based on two years rather than three they would be safe. It’s the 2020 points that are really coming back to haunt them. Meanwhile Astana is safe only because of 2020 points and riders they no longer have.

But they and everyone knew it was three years. Using a big share of the team budget to hire older riders, particularly Chris Froome, has brought them publicity and status but obviously few points.

See comment of inrng: Israel could still get the automatic invites if they score 430 more points than Total for the rest of the season.

If Israel doesnt get the automatic start, they won’t always get wildcards…

For Belgian races, the first two wildcards always go to Bingoal Wallonia and Topsport Vlaanderen. For the third spot, Israel will compete with Uno-X and Belgian continental teams such as Tarteletto-Isorex and Baloise-Trek. The fact they have 4 belgians, with Ben Hermans and mainly Sep Vanmarcke, might help them.

Giro and Vuelta are always italian/spanish teams. Three teams for 2 spots even I think?

For Tour de France, they only had 2 wildcards this season. One will go to B&B Hotels for sure. If Total gets the guaranteed spot, Israel and Uno-X will probably compete for the last Tour Wildcard. If Bingoal or Topsport Vlaanderen have an excellent season they could be outsiders. If french teams Super U or Go Sport do well, they also might get the wildcard. And I wouldnt rule out a spanish team like Euskaltel Euskaldi, with the Tour starting in Spain/Basque Country next year.

Euskatel would be a good shout given the start in Euskadi.

Sagan gets you a wildcard invite to whichever race you want, even if his results aren’t what they used to be he’s still a big celebrity.

Building a solid team is hard, takes effort, and doesn’t necessarily get you the invites you want.

Sagan+entourage is largely Specialized’s money though, I’m led to believe. And apparently they’ve been happy with the bikes & technical support that came with that too.

Yes, the whole team is very happy with Sagan’s arrival and the new bikes. But they were also delighted with Terpstra and the way he helped the team with advice and experience, even if he’s struggled personally to get results. However, it’s an expensive way to bring on young riders. But so far it gives them options, but it’s getting close they’re only 400 points ahead of Israel so there’s all to play for when it comes to the battle for the invites.

Wow, that would be a suprise if Israel closes the gap with total.

My hope is decreasing Lotto can still save themselves, but they need to keep on scoring in any case to stay ahead of Total or Israel to get the automatic invites.

Maybe it’s good to also start focussing more on that ranking as of next weeks update?

Add a graph of season points of Lotto, Israel and Total for next week’s update?

Small mistake – it’s surely Alpecin and Arkea who are set for promotion (and not Alpecin and Intermarche as stated in this blog post).

Fixed, of course. As I typed it the first time I was just thinking how IWG are doing well, they’re even winning World Tour level bunch sprints with Gerben Thijssen.

The transfer season has started slowly no? Kristoff, Theunissen and a few others? I know there are rumors for bigger things but a little disappointing so far.

It’s partly because there are not many big name riders on the market right now. Carapaz to EF seems the biggest move. Quintana might stay put. Teuns could be a good signing wherever he goes.

Arkéa-Samsic and Alpecin-Deceuninck ought to be in the market some more quality riders but not seeing anything big.

How Cav has fallen.

It’s less a fall and more a drift. He’s not one of the key sprinters today but there’s still a shot at some good wins.

Cav will find a place next season. If it’s not with a world tour team, then with an outsider that hopes to get the wildcard as he can beat the record of Eddy Merckx for most stage wins in the Tour de France.

Education First does not have really good sprinters, so it could be a good fit. Also Bahrain, Astana and Movistar could use a good sprinter.

Bingoal will probably want to hire him also, in the hopes of getting that Tour spot.

Israel might do well to hire him also, but they have Nizzolo also and probably maximum 1 Grand Tour.

That’s a lot of teams! But why not take a flyer on Cav? He’s always in the news, plus he’s able to sneak in a win or two even without a perfect leadout (although he sure did well with one in the 2021 Tour). I don’t think he’s able to demand a ridiculous salary, so could be good value for money.

The problem with saying “why not take a flyer on Cav” is that he would really be wanting the question to be “are you prepared to commit in August to building next July’s Tour squad around Cav” which would be a far harder question for most teams.

As DaveRides suggests, a lot of teams already have a house sprinter on their books or will go to the Tour with GC ambitions. So which other teams remain? Plus the opportunities for sprinters are shrinking in the Tour, it’s no longer 8-9 bunch sprints but 5-6. Some teams will still like the opportunity though.

meanwhile Teuns makes an immediate mid-season change to Israel to collect points in Vuelta and Italian races ! https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/dylan-teuns-leaves-bahrain-victorious-with-immediate-effect/

“Alpecin-Deceuninck and Intermarché are set for promotion” -> Arkea, right?

Correctamundo, see above as was blown away by the idea of IWG doing so well. They bought the old BMC team’s licence and did think they’d get squashed this year but have done very well. As said here before it looked very tough for them but I noted they’d got Aike Visbeek from DSM, a well-regarded coach and his arrival marked a change, an upgrade.

This entire situation must also affect the teams ability to hire a rider. Do you sign for this team that may or may not be in the world tour. May or may not fold if the sponsors pull out. And for the sponsors like for moviestar. Why would i put my eggs in this basket before i know what i will be getting. ISN are about 400 points behind total energies for the yearly points total and the race invites. This might be a better goal for them and with a good vuelta they can probably do it.

So … Tour de Langkawi has Movistar, EF and Cofidis participating at the moment. Will BikeExchange jump in too and make it a proper 4 way fight? Will certainly add extra spice to the viewing.

Thank you for your regular updates with this. Now’s probably not the time, but maybe after the Vuelta it would be interesting to see what the beginning of next year will look like – a graph of just the 2021 and 2022 points

Next year it’s back to zero, the start of another three year cycle from 2023-2025.

Sorry, I guess I should have read that in one of your other posts. Thanks!

What the hell are movistar going to do when valverde retires? He’s scored over a third of their points this season.

If they’re smart, they’ll break open the piggy bank and try to entice Rodriguez från Ineos.

But what if there is no more than thirty euros (and a couple of buttons) in the piggy bank? The sponsorship deal with Telefónica ends in 2023 and the rumour has it that it might not be extended after that. Okay, rumours are often entirely wrong and it would indeed be a shock to see the white M and the blue jerseys disappear – and if it would happen, there could well be a new sponsor eager to step in, especially if the 2023 season is more successful than this one has (so far) been. But I’m not too sure that Valverde’s retirement will leave Movistar with a wad of cash large enough to lure Rodriguez. Besides, I believe he would prefer a team that can give him a promise he can believe in: that of a guaranteed role as an undisputed captain in a GT team…

This is what I was wondering. Surely Movistar won’t be too interested in sponsoring a second tier team?

As bad as it looks for Movistar, I see it unlikely they are relegated. They’ll throw everyone they have at the Vuelta and which likely yield a couple hundred UCI points, which will make it very difficult for LS to pass them. De Lie and Ewan are going to win like 8 races between now and end of year to offset that and the current lead.

I’m not thinking they’ll get relegated, but unless they do something to replace valverde they are going to really struggle in the next few years. Going to find it hard to attract talent if the main sponsor is likely to walk away at the end of 2023.

They’d need to sell their buses, houses and then some to entice Rodriguez. The young led is being shaped up as successor to Bernal at Ineos.

Valverde is a generational talent, and he’s always been really versatile. There aren’t many riders out there who can ride for GC (or at least stage victories) in nearly any race as well as win Monuments and classics. Rodriguez is good, but I don’t think even the most optimistic of Spanish fans think he’ll end up with a career like Valverde’s. Movistar might be better served by retooling their classics squad as well as going after a top tier sprinter rather than throwing all of their money at a GC prospect that may or may not work out.

Valverde has had an exceptional career and been a saviour for Movistar, but with his retirement things seem pretty bleak to be honest. Mas needs to be able to match Pogacar and Roglic/Vingegaard or Bernal but seems to be at a level below them. Maybe they need a “new broom” in the management side of racing to really get them up to Jumbo/UAE/Ineos standards.

With the mid-season transfer, what would happen to Tuens’ points? He’s points doesn’t count yet because he’s not yet the team’s top 10 scorer. However, if he did score the 172 needed to be the team’s top 10 scorer, would the rest of his 1000 or so points this season count form ISN?

His existing points stay with Bahrain. Only points scored from tomorrow onwards count for Israel-PremierTech.

Thanks. That makes sense. Admittedly ISN had a sub-par season so far. Hopefully they’d get some points in the Canadian races and Vuelta and get to be the top two scorers in continental.

The Guy Nagiv situation is odd though. No indication anywhere else he was looking for other opportunities or a career transition. I assume he just got paid off to be left off team for the rest of the year. But does this just circumvent team limits? At least at EF Howes and Morton weren’t really racing anymore.

Yes, it is a way to circumvent team roster limits and also to complete mid-season transfer rules outside of the August window (e.g. when Petacchi “retired” and re-entered the sport with another team the next day) which the UCI cannot effectively oppose without running into Restraint of Trade issues.

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Relegation Watch: What now for Israel-Premier Tech and Lotto Soudal?

Cofidis climb the rankings after double wins on Sunday

• 2020-2022 Team Ranking

2022 Team Rankings

The light is fading on the 2022 road season and with the falling of the leaves, the hopes of at least two teams are being stripped bare as Israel-Premier Tech and Lotto Soudal appear to be stuck in the relegation zone in the UCI's 2023 WorldTour sporting criteria. 

We have previously posted an explanation of how the UCI points system works and followed the rise and fall of the 22 teams who aspire to be in the sport's top tier for the next three seasons. Now, it's time to follow what comes next for the first teams to be relegated from the UCI WorldTour in this new scheme.

Unlike football, where relegated teams get 'parachute payments' from broadcast revenue, there are no such benefits in the sponsor-driven realm of professional cycling. Instead, relegated teams are at risk of being gutted of their riders and could see sponsors and financiers depart as teams' futures fade.

Already the chaos of the promotion/relegation system has cost Lotto Soudal. Their manager John Lelangue has taken his own kind of parachute out of the team and into the organisation of Tour de Pologne , and in a response to criticism from former manager Marc Sergeant , appeared to blame his predecessor for creating the holes that sunk the ship.

Sylvan Adams: WorldTour relegation is destructive to the sport Relegation Watch: BikeExchange saved by Worlds points haul, Israel-Premier Tech face fight for wildcards UCI open to WorldTour points system adjustments but not a revolution

There are two options for relegated teams - drop down to ProTeam status and hope to take advantage of UCI rules that award automatic invitations or fold. The top two ProTeams of 2022 will be automatically invited to major one-day WorldTour races while only the top ProTeam will get a bid for the Grand Tours.

Israel Premier-Tech aren't in a position to earn automatic Grand Tour invitations as the best ProTeam, even if they opted to remain on the second tier. The team may be looking for a third option as owner Sylvan Adams threatened to take legal action against the UCI to pressure them expanding the WorldTour from its 18-team limit. Failing that, he's suggested he may pull his money out of the sport altogether.

There could be a fourth option if one of the top 18 teams fail to meet other criteria - financial, ethical, organisational and administrative - that the UCI require to gain a WorldTour licence.

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Arkéa-Samsic, already the target of OCLAESP raids in 2020, now risk losing the points earned by Nairo Quintana in the Tour de France if the Colombian's CAS case loses and his disqualification for tramadol positives is upheld. They have enough points without Quintana, and even with the case, they will still most likely meet the ethical criteria.

There have been some concerns over Astana Qazaqstan's future after the team struggled to pay riders on time and faced an investigation in Luxembourg in March. But Cyclingnews understands the team's budget, while small, will keep them in the WorldTour, but the Licencing Commission will be looking closely at their finances. They could pick up Quintana as an easy points win for the coming seasons.

If all goes as planned, and the UCI do not back down on keeping the 2023-2025 WorldTour to 18 teams, and it's hardly likely one of the top 18 teams will fail to meet the UCI criteria. So, it is almost certain that the two teams relegated will be Lotto Soudal and Israel-Premier Tech.

On top of a heavy October racing schedule, those riders will be keeping their agents busy as they look to take advantage of clauses in their contracts that allow them to leave if their team loses WorldTour status. The teams will be kept busy negotiating with agents, sponsors and also Grand Tour organisers who could reassure team backers by promising wildcard invitations for next year.

Israel-Premier Tech and Lotto Soudal in theory could be gutted on the transfer market but in reality, with smaller teams on tight budgets and bigger teams almost entirely full with riders on multi-year contracts movement opportunities are very limited.

Israel-Premier Tech are more likely to get gutted by transfers, although their top scorers are toward the end of their careers. Jakob Fuglsang hinted at retirement if the team is relegated, while sprinter Giacomo Nizzolo - who finds himself in the same boat as last season when his then-team Qhubeka-NextHash came unraveled - will be a valuable prospect on the market. Michael Woods and Simon Clarke, both 36, still have more to give and could be picked up on a bargain, however teams might be more interested in signing an up-and-coming rider like Corbin Strong or Jenthe Biermans.

Lotto Soudal are less likely to see a mass exodus. Philippe Gilbert is already retiring, and they have a solid roster if they can keep the band together as a ProTeam. Beyond Arnaud De Lie, Victor Campenaerts and Caleb Ewan , the rest of the roster might struggle to wedge themselves onto another WorldTeam's roster and, with automatic invitations likely for 2023, would be more likely to stay put.

While the relegation points might be nearly wrapped up, the back-room wheeling and dealing is far from over. Transfer season may well extend into January as riders fight to get onto WorldTeams with budgets that are already tied up.

2020-2022 Team Ranking changes for 3 October, 2022

This week there were six one-day races and the CRO Race contributing to the 2022 Team Rankings which, in turn, contribute to the 2020-2022 Team Rankings that will determine which 18 teams meet the UCI's sporting criteria to remain in the WorldTour through 2025.

Cofidis was the big winner this week, with two victories and 426 more points. Bryan Coquard's surprise victory over Arnaud Démare and Axel Zingle's sprint victory in the Famenne Ardenne Classic along with Max Walscheid's podium in the Sparkassen Münsterland Giro lifted the team three places in the three-year rankings. They overcame the effects of the UCI Road World Championships that dropped them to 18th and narrowly nudged BikeExchange-Jayco, EF Education-EasyPost and Arkéa-Samsic down one notch each.

BikeExchange-Jayco 's week paled in comparison with the previous, and the team only managed to rake in 79 points. EF Education-EasyPost benefitted from sending a strong team to the Italian one-day races, where the talented young Andrea Piccolo picked up third in Coppa Agostoni and Rigoberto Uran was fifth in Giro dell'Emilia. Arkéa-Samsic packed on 200 more points by stacking their riders in the top of the results sheet in the Famenne Ardennes Classic and Tour Vendée.

The 200 points that Arkéa-Samsic added and the 224 points won by EF-EasyPost offset the danger of Cofidis' upward movement, and although the four teams plus Movistar in 13th are separated by just over 300 points, the gap between 18th place and 19th-placed Lotto Soudal is all but unassailable now.

Each week the gap keeps expanding, and Lotto Soudal have over 1100 points to make up on Arkéa-Samsic to climb out of the relegation zone, while Israel-Premier Tech have almost 1900 points to make up.

It's still possible, but not plausible, that either team could move up. Movistar gained 553 points this week thanks to Enric Mas' win in Giro dell'Emilia , where Alejandro Valverde also landed in fourth. Valverde added a second place in Coppa Agostoni with Mas in ninth.

The upcoming Il Lombardia is a WorldTour 'Tier 3' race, the highest of the one-day WorldTour races on par with the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. The win is worth 500 points, 400 for second and 325 for third.

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Laura Weislo has been with Cyclingnews since 2006 after making a switch from a career in science. As Managing Editor, she coordinates coverage for North American events and global news. As former elite-level road racer who dabbled in cyclo-cross and track, Laura has a passion for all three disciplines. When not working she likes to go camping and explore lesser traveled roads, paths and gravel tracks. Laura specialises in covering doping, anti-doping, UCI governance and performing data analysis.

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