Teams left ‘angry' and we 'confused' by WorldTour relegation battle

Lotto and BikeExchange among those in danger, reports Chris Marshall-Bell

- Chris Marshall-Bell

HOW THE POINTS SYSTEM WORKS

If a rider finishes fifth on a mountain stage of the Tour de France, they ought to be pretty chuffed with their work. They'd also collect five UCI points in the process. Somewhat bizarrely, however, they'd earn 10 UCI points for finishing sixth at a UCI 1.2 race, where the competition is almost exclusively reserved for Continental, development, and national teams.

At this May's Giro d'Italia, whoever finishes 10th after three grueling, stressful weeks will be awarded with 140 UCI points.

If they want to better that tally without having to do a lap of Italy against some of the world's fiercest competition, they'd be better off going to a 1. Pro race, such as the GP du Morbihan, and finishing second where they'd earn 150 points.

The battle to avoid relegation from the men’s WorldTour ranks at the end of this season has left many teams questioning the ranking system, some in denial about their position, and others admitting that it’s having a direct influence on how riders are approaching races.

For the first time ever, next year’s three-term WorldTour licenses will be awarded to the teams who are in the top-18 of the UCI’s rankings based on results over the past three seasons.

At the time of writing, according to the points totals collated by the website Lanterne Rouge, there are eight teams involved in the battle to avoid relegation, with Israel-Premier Tech and Lotto-Soudal both currently sitting in the relegation zone and facing the prospect of having their top-tier license revoked come 2023.

The former are just over 1,000 points in arrears to Cofidis, who occupy the 18th and final spot, while Lotto-Soudal are currently more than 1,104 points behind.