UCI World Tour Promotion and Relegation Weekly


Last week’s update had a lot going on, this week’s much quieter with only half of the teams scoring any points.

What’s Changed Since Last Week?

  • No change, Lotto-Soudal and Israel face relegation at the end of the season
  • In a quiet week for points, about half the teams above didn’t score, Bora-hansgrohe topped the table with 263 points ahead of TotalEnergies with 233 and Lotto-Soudal on 228 points after they each enjoyed wins in races last week
  • Cofidis continue their climb, they started the season in 19th place. Last week they were 17th, now they move up to 16th, overhauling EF Education
  • EF Education slip to 17th place, they’re the biggest faller in the standings this year, having gone down five places (Israel are down four places). This is before the Giro d’Italia points are added up at the end of the race where Simon Yates’ two stage wins would take Bike Exchange above EF.

So a quiet week but Lotto-Soudal keep quietly scoring points when others don’t. They may still be in the relegation zone but they pull away from Israel and are closing the gap to the teams in 15th-18th place, now just 750 points off Bike-Exchange and EF. If the Tour de France is a very stressful time for team managers, imagine the intensity if several teams are trying to race the likes of UAE, Ineos, Jumbo-Visma and Quick-Step on one front, all while worrying about relegation.

July can offer quieter alternatives. The Tour of Austria’s recently been cancelled. This leaves the 2.1-rated Sibiu Tour and no surprise both Lotto-Soudal and Israel are racing, it’ll be interesting to see which riders they pick for the Tour de France and who is reserved to try and score points in Romania.

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.

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

  1. Just a quick question what happens after the end of the season if one of the non relegated teams folds. Do the 19th team automatically get that spot?

    • Yes, if a current team vanishes then there’s space for an extra team in 2023. Astana have had funding issues that the UCI are looking into, plus there’s always a chance that another team doesn’t secure money for 2023 either.

      • But would that place automatically go to the 19th team or would there be an application process? Say for example davide cassanis mooted all Italian team might want that spot.

        • To the 19th team. Cassani’s Borbone-Bianchi team doesn’t exist for the three year rankings, it’ll be alongside the other ProTeams hunting for points to try and move up in 2026, or to replace or buy out an WorldTeams that stop. It leaves these teams in the second tier in a tough position but that’s another story.

  2. It’ll be interesting to see the movements once the Giro has ended and points from the race are applied…my sense is that Bike Exchange and Lotto are roughly equal, with stage wins and placings between them. But both far ahead if Israel & EF, both of whom seem to be devoid of any point scores…feels like EF could be in big trouble if they don’t turn things around soon…

    • There should be lots of points, 21 stage wins, the GC, days in the race lead even but we might see a “rich get richer” scenario with the big teams collecting most. Still BikeExchange should leapfrog EF as things stand… but trying to avoid too much forward speculation, once we get nearer to the end of the season then we can start to work out who needs what etc.

      Next week will have the Giro points but also the Tour of Norway, the Boucles de la Mayenne and more.

      • Interesting to see BikeExchange also sending one of their biggest up and coming talents to Estonia for the 2.1 Tour of Estonia. Looks like an easy points grab.

        • Indeed. Israel scored over 300 points there in 2019… they are the only pro team so could even aim for 400 points if they play it smart…

          • Groves took 78 points (70+5+3)
            Edmondson took 55 (50+5)

            With their number 10 (Schultz) having 42 points and nr 9 (O Brien) having 48 points, Edmondson moves into position 9, causing a net gain of 7 points.

            So all in all only 85 points that count for the relegation battle for BikeExhange. Hiw to f@#$ up a golden opportunity…

  3. Whats the sponsorship status at Lotto/Soudal? Isn’t Soudal moving over to Quickstep? Does Lotto even have the funding available if the are able to stay in the World Tour?

    • They’ve announced a new sponsorship deal with a Belgian telecoms company as a replacement to Soudal which as you say is going to Quick-Step… who have lost Deceuninck to Alpecin. Belgian team sponsors have rotated like this in recent years.

  4. About the Sabia Tour: I think their best racers will go to Tour de France. In Sabia Tour stage victory is only 14 points. Only the GC brings up to 125 points.

    • Between now and Dauphine:
      – No competition for BikeExchange in Tour of Estonia, with a few good GC racers they can score 300 points. Israel scoree 300+ points in 2019.
      – a lot of teams in Boucles de la Mayenne, among which Cofidis
      – Circuit de Wallonie has Lotto, Cofidis, Alpecin, intermarche, B&B and Arkea
      – Marcel Kint also only Lotto from the relegation-5 (Israel, Lotto, BikeExchange, Education First and Movistar)
      – Alpes Maritim has Movistar, Lotto, Israel but no BikeExchange or Education
      – Heistse Pijl has Lotto

      So lots of points that can be scored by Lotto between now and Dauphine. With good opportunity for BikeExchange in Estonia to score big also. I can see Movistar and EF dropping to 17 and 18 very soon…

      • Next to that, there’s Giro del Appenino, where only Astana, Intermarche and Emirates are announced for now.

        And Adriatica Ionica Race in parallel with Dauphine. But the startlist on procyclingstats is not up to date yet.

        Next to that, there are only 2.2 races, which score only 40 points for final GC and 7 for a stage. Not worth it to send someone.

        So Lotto is really racing almost all points-races, except Estonia and Norway, which obviously wouldve been more expensive to do than all the other races mentioned.

    • I’m sure Lotto-Soudal will send a strong team to the Tour with some solid support for Ewan in the sprints… but can they afford to spare someone handy who can climb well and place on GC for the Sibiu Tour?

      • Who are you thinking of?

        Van Moer, Gilbert, Ewan and Wellens are currently announced for Tour de France. De Buyst and Kluge likely to go for sprint train. 2 spots remaining then, with Sweeny being there lat year.

        Who would be likely Tour Selection and who for Sabiu?

        • Sabiu needs a climber, but there’s other interesting races to score points in parallel with the Tour de France.

          Nobody seems to start in the 1.2 day-races, as it’s only 40/30/25/20/15/10/5/3/3/3 in points. But if there’s no competition and logistically it works, it could be an easy 40 points. This could be the case for Lotto in Belgian/Dutch/French 1.2-races: Ekeren and Perenchies shouldn’t cost them much logistically and are easy point grabs for a bunch sprint. They can even use a car/driver from their youth-team if needed. They could approach it like a training-day.

          These are the races during the Tour:
          – 2/7-5/7 Sibiu (125 points for final GC, next to Lotto, Bora, Jumbo, Astana and Israel start)
          – 3/7 Medio Brenta (1.2 race in Italy, too far/expensive for the points + in parallel with Sibiu)
          – 5/7 Brescia Italy (1.2 race in Italy, too far/expensive for the points + in parallel with Sibiu)
          – 9/7 Visegrad Czech (1.2 race in Czech Republic, too far/expensive for the points)
          – 10/7 2districten-pijl, Ekeren-Deurne (new 1.2-race in Belgium, where so far no pro teams start) As it’s super close I think Lotto should start to score some easy points in the bunch sprint.
          – 10/7 Visegrad Poland (1.2 race in Poland, too far/expensive for the points)
          – 10/7 Nogent-sur-Oise (1.2 race in France, no pro teams announced, north of Paris so logistically easy for a Belgian team, but same day as Ekeren)
          – 16/7 Slag om Norg (1.1 Race Netherlands – only Lotto, Alpecin, Total and Emirates as professional teams – sprint race, perfect for Arnaud De Lie: Jakobsen won it in 2016)
          – 16/7 and 17/7: 2 turkish 1.2-races
          – 18/7 Grand Prix Cerami (1.1 race that actually is known in Belgium – only Lotto, Intermarche, Alpecin, Emirates, Cofidis and Israel – won by Coquard, Van Aert and Petacchi in the past – also for De Lie?)
          – 24/7 Kranj 1.2 (Slovenia)
          -24/7 Visegrad 1.2 (Slovakia)
          – 24/7 Perenchies (1.2 race in France, no pro teams announced, super close to Belgium but in parallel with Wallonie)
          – 23/7-27/7: Tour de Wallonie (big field with Trek, Intermarché, Alpecin, Bora, Cofidis, AG2R, Emirates, Israel, Education First and Soudal competing –> No Quickstep in this important Belgian race is a surprise… 20 points per stage, 200 points for final GC (200/150/125/100/85/70/60/50/40/35/…)

          • Under regulation 2.1.005, WT teams can’t participate in 1.2 and 2.2 races, just the following

            – UCI ProTeams of the country
            – UCI foreign UCI ProTeams (max. 2)
            – UCI continental teams
            – UCI cyclo-cross professional teams
            – National teams
            – Regional and club teams

          • Thanks for the information Nick. Didnt know that.

            Then it seems that Lotto is really starting everywhere they can during the Tour.

            There’s only a limited amount of races they skip, like the Tour of Norway now and the Tour of Estonia.

            Between now and Tour there is also:
            – Circuit de Wallonie 1.1
            – GP Marcel Kint 1.1
            – Alpes-Maritim 1.1
            – Giro Appenino 1.1
            – Heistse Pijl 1.1
            – Adriatica 2.1
            – Dauphine 2.UWT
            – Brussels 1.Pro
            – Limburg 1.1
            – ZLM Tour 2.Pro
            – Aargau 1.1 (Austria)
            – Hageland 1.Pro
            – Brugge 1.1
            – Mont Ventoux 1.1
            – Baloise Belgium Tour 2.Pro
            – Slovenia 2.Pro
            – route occitanie – Depeche du Midi 2.1

            In these 17 races Movistar, Education First and BikeExchange probably dont start often. They can jump over one or two of these teams (750 points gap) before the Tour de France. It might make those teams finally wake up.

          • @Nick – but WorldTeam or ProTeam riders may ride for the linked development teams (or representative teams) and score points in 1.2/2.2 races, with the points earned still counting for their primary team.

            It would be a pretty desperate strategy when there are only 40 points on offer for a race win and 7 points for a stage.

          • Interesting. You never know that some racers join the development teams to score points. But it has to be someone of your top 10 racers. And then it might be frowned upon…

          • @Dave, true although only a few WT teams have linked Conti development sides: Astana, Bahrain, DSM, EF, FDJ, Israel, Jumbo-Visma and Movistar. I’ll wait to see whether Uran or Nizzolo get sent off to score points in .2 races.

  5. What happened to the animated chart? Also, now I can’t see the actual totals for each team. Or is that because I’m on my phone this time?

  6. Relegation still plays mainly among these teams: Israel, Lotto, BikeExchange, Education First, Movistar, Cofidis and BikeExchange. In my view Cofidis will have enough points to avoid relegation as they do a lot of small races.

    Upcoming races to watch for points:
    – Giro update next week
    – Tour of Norway (Education First and Israel + many others)
    – Tour of Estonia (BikeExchange)
    – Boucles de la Mayenne 2.Pro (Cofidis, Movistar, Emirates and all french teams)
    – Circuit de Wallonie 1.1 (Cofidis, Lotto, Israel + Belgian/French teams)
    – GP Marcel Kint 1.1 (Cofidis, Lotto + Belgian/French teams)
    – Alpes-Maritim 1.1 (Movistar, Lotto, Israel, Cofidis + Belgian/French teams)
    – Giro Appenino 1.1 (only Emirates and Intermarché)
    – Heistse Pijl 1.1 (Lotto, Cofidis, Intermarché, Quickstep, Alpecin, Bora, Jumbo)
    – Adriatica 2.1 (only Bardiani announced so far)
    – Dauphine 2.UWT (all teams)
    – Brussels 1.Pro (Lotto, Israel, Cofidis, BikeExchange, Emirates, Ineos, Quickstep, Bora + Belgian/French teams)
    – Limburg 1.1 (Lotto, Cofidis, Israel, Bora + Belgian/French)
    – ZLM Tour 2.Pro (DSM, Ineos, Jumbo and Alpecin only!!)
    – Aargau 1.1 (Austria – Lotto, Cofidis, Emirates, BikeExchange + some Belgian/French)
    – Hageland 1.Pro (Lotto, Cofidis, Israel, Alpecin and Emirates)
    – Suisse (Worldtour)
    – Brugge 1.1 (Lotto, Cofidis, Israel + others)
    – Mont Ventoux 1.1 (Movistar, Cofidis, Astana, +)
    – Baloise Belgium Tour 2.Pro (Lotto, Israel + others)
    – Slovenia 2.Pro (BikeExchange, Astana, Alpecin, Emirates, Bahrain)
    – route occitanie – Depeche du Midi 2.1 (Education First, Movistar, Cofidis, Ineos, Total, Groupama, Astana, AG2R, Trek and Arkea)

    Lotto only skips: Norway, Estonia, Mayenne, Appenino, Adriatica, ZLM,Mont Ventoux, Slovenia, Occitanie
    Cofidis does most races also.
    Israel does a lot with Giro, Norway, Wallonie, Alpes Maritim, Dauphiné, Brussels, Limburg, Hageland, Suisse, Brugge, Baloise Belgium,

    Movistar only does Giro, Mayenne, Alpes Maritim, Dauphiné, Suisse, Mont Ventoux, Occitanie
    Education only does Giro, Norway, Dauphiné, Suisse, Occitanie
    BikeExchange only does Giro, Estonia, Dauphiné, Brussels, Aargau, Suisse, Slovenia
    DSM only does Giro, Dauphiné, ZLM, Suisse,
    –> So for me Education and BikeExchange can really drop to relegation zone even before the Tour, with Education most likely…

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