uci world tour rankings relegation

What is going on with relegation and UCI points and why does everyone care now?

We are moving past squeaky bum time and heading for the drop

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What's going on with relegation and UCI points?

Relegation from the WorldTour is back in the news, after bubbling away for most of this year in the background, we have almost reached the point of no return for some teams, with opportunities to gain points dwindling.

After the Vuelta a España - for which points do not get awarded until all racing is done - there are just three WorldTour events left this year, all one-day races, 15 .Pro races, 21 .1 races, and the World Championships.

That means 7,783 UCI points are still on offer for the winners of all these races, and the individual stages contained therein, plus thousands more for podium finishes and more minor placings. However, these are unlikely to go to the select few teams who need them most, those that are struggling at the bottom of the UCI's table. 

At present, both Lotto Soudal and Israel-Premier Tech, two current WorldTour teams, face relegation, while Alpecin-Deceuninck and Arkéa Samsic would be promoted to cycling's top table. Lotto can take comfort from the fact that, as things stand, they would still gain access to the Grand Tours next year, but Israel would not, with TotalEnergies occupying this second spot.

There are currently only 619 points between Movistar, BikeExchange, EF Education-EasyPost and Cofidis in the four spots above relegation; Movistar are 288 points ahead of Lotto Soudal, who currently are in the red zone.

Suddenly, things are looking awfully tight at the bottom, and both racing and non-racing decisions are affecting the rankings.

For example, Simon Yates' withdrawal from the Vuelta (because of Covid) has deprived his BikeExchange team of potentially hundreds of crucial points that they would stand to gain from a high finish on general classification.

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While the Australian team bounced back with a stage win on Wednesday, through Kaden Groves , the 100 points gained here will do little to quell fears of the drop.

With more and more riders dropping out of the Vuelta after catching the virus, in a year when illness has seemingly had more of an impact than usual, it is points that are being lost, not just results.

This was seemingly what Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers) was getting at in a hastily deleted tweet sent on Wednesday morning: "How can we have a relegation system, risking the future of decade old teams, during these unprecedented times of sickness. Sport is not fair, granted. But this just doesn’t seem right, not now and not like this. I would like to see solidarity between all riders, of all teams."

Solidarity is a tricky concept in the peloton, with the official union, the CPA, famously unloved, and little binding riders together across teams, nationalities, ages, goals and more. This is what made Geoghegan Hart's intervention interesting; his lack of dog in the fight, as Ineos are hardly one of those threatened with relegation.

What those in the teams striving for promotion to the top table, like Alpecin and Arkéa, make of this call for solidarity is a different matter. The relegation system might threaten the future of "decade old teams" but to not have a system would threaten new investment in the sport.

The boss of ProTeam Uno-X, Vegar Kulset, tweeted: "Imagine a Premier League club that, at the end of the season and close to relegation, complains that due to injuries and covid, the relegation system is unfair. And the final argument - we are an old club and do not deserve this."

Away from sickness, Arkéa's push to the WorldTour has been threatened by Nairo Quintana's positive test for tramadol at the Tour de France , which has deprived the French team of 400 UCI points after he was disqualified from the race. His sixth place therefore no longer exists. He has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, with the potential for court rulings affecting the final UCI points table.

There are squads who have reportedly asked their riders not to attend the World Championships in Australia in order to concentrate on gaining points at smaller races, while tactics to boost point totals - and possibly not risk everything by going for the win - are clear to see.

There are even reports that riders will leave the Vuelta early to target other races for UCI points, which seems to undermine the whole point of competition at the highest level; the system is leading to weird decisions.

As a sport, cycling often struggles to present an overarching narrative, especially to the casual viewer. Individual events mean a lot more than any kind of structure to the season - the Tour de France, Paris-Roubaix and the World Championships are big events across the whole year - while any kind of structure is at best noticed at the end of the year, at worst ignored altogether.

To the casual viewer, as most are, any kind of thinking beyond a single race or a series of events like the cobbled Classics, is alien. Yet for many years there has been a unified attempt at some kind of system or league across the season, to link things up, to make Dwars door Vlaanderen connect with the Tour of Poland, or the UAE Tour with the GP de Quebec.

The current system for men’s cycling, devised by the UCI, the sport’s governing body, is the WorldTour, with the ProSeries sitting below it, the successors to the Super Prestige Pernod and UCI Road World Cup. There are 18 WorldTour teams, the ones you have heard of, and they get to automatically go to the WorldTour races, the ones you have heard of. Below that, there is the ProSeries, of 17 teams, which you have probably heard of, who go to races that you probably know, and sometimes, confusingly, to the races you definitely know. Below this again are Continental teams, who mostly go to the races you don’t really pay attention to.

Understand?

Since the inauguration of the WorldTour, 13 long seasons ago, there has been an end of season ranking, which is normally, rightfully, ignored; it is often either superfluous or odd (Tadej Pogačar and Deceuninck Quick-Step won last year).

Still, the ranking exists. 

This league table matters more than ever this year, because the 18 slots for teams who will form the WorldTour for the next three seasons are up for grabs. Some squads who are currently at the top table face relegation, while ProTeams below eye up their spots, and therefore automatic invites to the biggest races.

All races have UCI points and riders score points based on their finishing positions, this is how the league table is set, although it is only the top ten scorers in a team who actually contribute to the overall total. It is the points total across 2020, 2021 and 2022 that counts.

Points do not just go to winners, they go to top finishers, up to the top 25 in certain races.

If all of this is not confusing enough, different races have different points. You win 1,000 points for winning the Tour de France, for example - lucky Jumbo-Visma - and 125 points for winning the Volta Limburg Classic, as Arnaud de Lie did for Lotto Soudal.

There is one more layer of added complexity, which is that the two teams with the highest points total this year - and this year only - get invites to the Grand Tours for next year, and do not have to hope they get in through a wildcard.

All of this is why team decisions have appeared weird this year, as those squads in danger have become alert to the situation they have found themselves in and kicked into gear. Big name riders have been sent to smaller races to garner points, or multiple riders on one team have finished high up at an inconsequential event.

While the concept of relegation and promotion from the WorldTour makes sense, teams have been left scratching their heads at a system which sees more points awarded for victory in a 1.1 race - the Marcel Kint Classic for example - than a Grand Tour stage win.

Throw the chaos of real life into the mix, and a pandemic, plus the confusing points system, and it has been a messy year.

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

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

By Kristin Jenny Published 1 May 24

Solidarity between cyclists is one of the nicest things about being on two wheels. Why do some people eschew it?

By Adam Becket Published 1 May 24

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UCI World Tour Promotion and Relegation Weekly

The chart shows the latest version of the three year rankings 2020-2022 used to determine which teams qualify for UCI WorldTeam licences for the next three years.

What’s changed since last week?

• No change for Cofidis and Lotto-Soudal, both remain in the relegation zone in 19th and 20th places. They have kept scoring to narrow the gap to Israel but as the chart shows they’ve just overtaken Israel’s 2020+2021 score
• Away from the rankings Lotto-Soudal’s got a replacement sponsor in Destiny, a Belgian telecoms company which is a great help to secure the team’s future whatever points they score
• Promotion candidate Arkéa-Samsic continues a strong start and so does Intermarché, the pair have overtaken Bike Exchange, with the Australian team slipping to 17th place
• Alpecin-Fenix have yet to score much. Despite Jasper Philipsen’s sprint wins in the UAE (as stages don’t pay as well as one day wins). With Philipsen and Tim Merlier for the classics they should correct this even if Mathieu van der Poel’s on the sidelines. But if this continues and they don’t apply for a World Tour licence then they wouldn’t qualify for the automatic invites to the big races like the Tour de France. Instead, as of today (obviously there’s a long way to go) Cofidis and Lotto-Soudal stand to get these spots. This alone suggests they’ll be after the security of a World Tour spot for 2023

Background info The UCI publishes rankings overnight between Monday and Tuesday. The rankings are compiled from the sum of UCI points won by each team’s 10 highest scoring riders for each season, 2020, 2021 and now 2022. Riders can also forfeit points for mistakes like littering, ignoring level crossing lights or taking a short cut on the course and so on.

At the end of the season in October the top-18 teams meet the sporting criteria for WorldTeam status but are subject to the financial, admin and ethical reviews. Teams outside of the top-18 risk being relegated to UCI ProTeam status which means they are not guaranteed to start in the biggest races like the Tour de France. But the two best scoring teams in 2022 will get these invites to the grand tours.

You can see the points available in different races in the UCI Points and Rankings Tables Explainer post from January.

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

»But if this continues and they don’t apply for a World Tour licence then they wouldn’t qualify for the automatic invites to the big races like the Tour de France. Instead, as of today (obviously there’s a long way to go) Cofidis and Lotto-Soudal stand to get these spots.«

If they don’t apply for a WT licence, surely one of Cofidis and Lotto-Soudal become WT instead. Thus only one of those two teams would take one of the automatic invites, leaving a spot for Alpecin. In that case the battle is between Alpecin and Total (and Uno-X).

It’s all a bit moving pieces but I’m pretty sure Alpecin will apply, it’d be a big admin or strategic error not to, a gamble they don’t need to take.

Agreed, especially since it’s a three years licence.

But when you explore a hypothetical scenario where Alpecin doesn’t apply for a WT licence, you should not assume that neither Cofidis nor Lotto-Soudal would do that and instead take the two spots of automatic invitations.

Name of company is no longer “Destiny”, but “Dstny”.

Did they get bought by Wahoo?

Indeed but I wanted to use the old name so people might know it.

This blog abolished vowels too in the title but it was back in the day when your Twitter username counted in conversations limited to 140 characters, so typing, say, @theinnerringblog would eat up a lot of the message and reduce the scope of conversations. I’ve thought of renaming/rebranding things here but advice is “don’t” and not got time either for it really too.

Please don’t rebrand – my web browser autocorrects to “inrng” now and I can’t retrain it to add the vowels back

Plus, you aren’t Inner Ring, you are Inrng.

Aren’t Intermarché already in the WT, rather than a promotion candidate?

Yes, will reword the bullet point about them to make it clearer.

Perhaps looking too far ahead given this is all a bit new to us…but if the rankings are based on a rolling 3 year total, then it looks like DSM are gonna need a very good season this year and/or next, to escape relegation…

Yes, I can see them getting sucked into this. They had a great 2020 season but had a stronger squad then with the likes of Benoot, Hindley (2nd in the Giro), Hirschi and Matthews, plus in 2021 Storer delivered a lot. They’re all gone. They have Bardet who is still top quality but does he have to grind out a top-5 in a grand tour when he probably wants to hunt for stages or a mountains jersey?

Is it a rolling total? I read the regulations to mean that the teams which qualify for the WT this season will get 3 year licences.

So while next season’s total will matter, it won’t be taken into account until 2025, when the 2023-25 rankings will be used to decide the qualifiers for 2026-8.

There shouldn’t be a situation where a team gets relegated because its 2021-23 total, for instance, is too low.

Yes, a three year system. For DSM I mean that this year the team is looking weaker than 2020 and 2021 so their risk is 2022 is as bad or worse and they’re in trouble.

Arkéa-Samsic continuing their strong season with yet another second place in the Samyn today, and that’s without much yet from star (and expensive) sprinter Bouhanni. Can they keep it up?

Things look quite tricky for BikeExchange who must largely depend on Mathews, Yates and Groenewegen for points. They certainly can’t afford much in the way of illness or injury for the three big names.

The same applies to Lotto-Soudal who don’t have much beyond Ewan and Wellens, and maybe Vermeersch too though almost all his 2021 points came on a single day.

3rd, 4th, and 7th in KBK must have got Arkéa some really decent points. Not much glory but think INRNG highlighted before that’s were the best points are, in one day races over stages in longer races.

It’s an interesting strategy, I remember Wanty doing this in the Tour de France and you’d first think they’d be better using two riders to lead out their best sprinter so they can try to win, but their rivals are better so it’s not going to happen. Wanty though would place three riders in the top-10 and so win the team prize that day, a small reward but a podium ceremony and all that. Now Arkéa are doing something similar, there’s no way they’d Hofstetter would beat Jakobsen and Ewan but a podium plus extra points is a very good result for a Pro Conti team.

normally uyou

Looks as though Ewan might have the power to sink BikeExchange single handedly … !

Bike Exchange tend to race World Tour events and not much in between and so they’re missing points that others take. Hiring Groenewegen should help them, Matthews can score plenty too but they’re reliant on a handful of riders, Yates needs to have a good Giro.

Yates needs to win the Giro … it is getting close to last chance saloon for him.

Yeah, he won’t get a better course for him again soon – or I hope so, at least (I often root for climbers, yet a GT frankly needs a decent amount of ITT kms. Same goes with a certain excess of uphill finishes which do reduce strategical factors and favour strong finishers: I love an uphill battle and I’m not so fond of superteams, but lack of variety isn’t great all the same and that’s a weak point of the 2022 Giro… these course “flaws” could work great for S. Yates, who, on top of that, should perform well also in the – actually very well designed – hilly stages).

However, let’s also say that S. Yates could retire today and still have had a more than decent career, albeit not the one many would expect. To me, perhaps, the weakest point of his present palmarés is the lack of good results in great Classics. On the contrary of what was expected of him, he still doesn’t look as good a one-day racer as his physical qualities would suggest.

It will interesting if BikeExchange send anyone to the Oceania Championships next month. I don’t know if any of their riders are still in Australia but say if Durbo, Kell O’Brien and Jack Bauer were available it would some easy points to gather.

Good point on Yates but, he has only ridden the monuments that would suit him (LBL and Lombardy) twice each. It’s surely down to the team that often require two GTs of him, plus P-N, Catalunya, Romandie, Pologne… It would be interesting if he really targeted both monuments with a lighter tour programme.

Good point. He’s sure doing a lot of short stage races, which, on turn, also tilts his racing skills.

I wasn’t thinking just about the Monuments, but also, say, San Sebastián, which he raced several times, or Emilia, or the Canadian races… San Sebastián apart, the point you make still stands: he raced a good deal of Classics, but rarely more than twice or so, which is a problem in one-day races where course experience is paramount.

At the end of the day, it’s quite shocking that in his whole pro career until now he just won two minor one-day races, among which only GP Indurain (the Estella race much beloved by Movistar for obvious reason) has a relevance of sort – the Vilafranca-Ordizia is historical, but a further step below. Even more shocking, out of 50 pro level one-day races or so *he finished*, he just podiumed 5 times, including the above mentioned victories, always in minor races. 42 times he didn’t even make a *top-10*. I hadn’t noticed, and I’d never had imagined, until I actually checked. Which wouldn’t mean anything for a rider with lesser athletic skills, but it’s sort of a surprise when thinking of S. Yates qualities. In many hilly Classics the physical selection is such that you come across among the best 10-20 riders just out of pure fitness – although winning is a whole different matter, of course. But, hey, placing?

Perhaps the team just knows better and they’re aware of some serious limits in the set of skills required to have a real shot at the Classics, be them top or smaller ones. Positioning (you’d better *not* spend all that time on the back of the leading group), tactics, racing intensity, dunno, whatever (just conjecturing).

I compared the above figures with another rider who’s not winning big, surely not as big as expected: Ulissi. No doubt that the latter is going harder for Classics, because he isn’t very much interested in GC, or isn’t anymore: as a consequence, he finished some 178 of them. Albeit not a prolific winner (a dozen of victories), and while he’s collecting those victories mainly in minor races, he’s still got some 33 podia and nearly 70 top-10s across all sorts of Classics, including bigger ones. That is, something is clearly not working for him, so to say (some say distance, some say racing away from home etc.), and yet if you don’t focus on winning alone, the expected consequences of physical qualities end up surfacing all the same. The point isn’t obviously absolute figures: it’s rating which are interesting. That is, Ulissi is podiuming nearly 20% of the one-day race he finishes and 40% of the times it’s a top ten, while for S. Yates it’s a 10% podium rating and an even more shocking 16% top-ten rating or so. (As I already said, there are obvious reasons for that difference, and S. Yates – again, obviously enough – is by a very long way a more accomplished rider than Ulissi, it’s just a term of comparison to highlight the usual consequences of notable athletic skills even when some winning factor is lacking).

Interesting stuff Gabriele. I wonder how much influence the rider has on his programme and how much is decided by the team’s needs. Yates must have the qualities needed for LBL and Lombardy but would surely need team support to protect until the key phases and place at key moments. Does BikeExchange have the depth and talent to provide that? He’s 30 in August, if the Giro doesn’t come off again, maybe he could drop GT GC ambitions and have a real attack at the two monuments before he fades – or maybe he’ll win the Giro in 2022 and it will all have been worth it.

Re: relegation game. Trofeo Lagueglia was interesting. A .Pro race, but only 8 WT squads out of 25, not including Lotto, Israel, BikeExchange, or extremely slow starters DSM. Surely this would have been a good opportunity to pick up points? As it was Intermarche came out with intent and Rota fought hard, only to get worked over by a hungry UAE squad that’s looking increasingly predatory every race.

Exactly, Rota might have been the strongest rider in the race and at times did seem to be working to help keep the two UAE riders with him so at worst he’d get a podium. In the end he could “only” finish 4th but this got him 100 points… as much if he’d won a stage of the Giro d’Italia. It all adds up.

If there is a fine and a loss of points, does this apply to an individual rider or the whole team? IE, if a rider not in the top ten on the team is fined and loses points does this have any impact on the team’s standing?

A fine affects the team score if it affects one of their top 10 riders.

Agree, the points fine is to the rider so it’s their points score but in turn effects the team if their points are used for the team’s ranking.

Comments are closed.

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The Fight for Survival | World Tour Relegation Explained

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Ranking

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

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

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

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

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

The Fight on the Road

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

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

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

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

What to Expect

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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• Giro d'Italia

UCI Rankings Update | Enric Mas drags Movistar out of relegation zone, Cofidis in danger

This was a key week for everyone involved in the promotion and relegation battle, as the Canadian classics, the Tour of Britain and most importantly the Vuelta a Espana have delivered meaningful points, with Movistar Team standing out and leaping four places due to Enric Mas' performance.

According to Raúl Banqueri's new report, after a disappointing season which included countless crashes, the Spaniard was finally able to perform at his best level, and brought in hundreds and hundreds of points for the Spanish team from the Vuelta a Espana, with his final second place alone bringing 680 points. Movistar was expected to climb up the rankings, but have gone through all four teams that stood directly ahead of them until the last update. They now sit almost 1300 points ahead of Lotto Soudal , in a rather safe position.

Remco Evenepoel wins 2022 Vuelta a Espana

With Canada and the Vuelta taken into consideration, both EF Education-EasyPost and Team BikeExchange - Jayco had heavy weeks with over 600 points scored, bringing them over Cofidis which was the team who scored the less and is now in 18th spot, directly ahead of Lotto Soudal by 750 points exactly - who have today took 200 meaningful points from the GP de Fourmies with Caleb Ewan taking the win. Israel - Premier Tech sit almost 700 points behind the Belgian team and are running out of hopes for maintenance.

Arkéa Samsic did not perform at the Vuelta, but the presence of Warren Barguil, Matis Louvel and Amaury Capiot in the classics have seen them keep their 15th place, maintaining their chances of promoting to World Tour likely, with a more fitting calendar in the final month of the season.

Tadej Pogacar outsprints Wout van Aert to thrilling win at GP de Montréal

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UCI confirms WorldTour relegation-promotion rules will be enforced

This article originally appeared on Velo News

QUEBEC, Canada (VN) -- Cycling’s governing body confirmed Friday it will enforce its controversial relegation-promotion system for the next round of WorldTour licenses.

Despite rumors that the UCI was considering widening the WorldTour from 18 to 20 teams for 2023 and thus negate the risk of relegation for some teams, the governing body said Friday it will move forward with its ranking system it introduced in 2018.

“Contrary to recent public reporting, no decision to modify the rules in force has been taken,” a UCI statement read Friday.

“The UCI License Commission is charged with awarding UCI WorldTour licenses on the basis of the rules in force,” the UCI said. “The procedure will take place in November, and the UCI points acquired up until 18 October will be taken into account for the sporting criterion.”

Canadian races back as relegation race heats up

Outer Line: What ‘relegation watch’ really means

Former UCI president questions logic of relegation rules

The blueprint to issue 18 WorldTour licenses is based in part on end-of-season points rankings taken during the past three seasons continues to roil the elite men’s peloton.

Teams on the bubble are refusing to let some of their top riders to attend the upcoming world championships in Australia because they want those riders to chase UCI points in other races.

Some are also warning that teams could shutter if they lose WorldTour status.

Right now, there are about a half dozen teams facing possible relegation. With little more than one month of racing left, teams are scrambling to secure points in order to save their spot in the WorldTour league.

There were also suggestions that teams on the relegation bubble could legally challenge the UCI points system, but the UCI statement reveals the cycling governing body is firmly sticking to its plans.

Here is the full UCI statement:

The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) considers it essential that the process for awarding UCI WorldTour licenses remain fair and clear for all teams involved.

The UCI issues a reminder that for this, the Professional Cycling Council (PCC) had decided in Innsbruck in September 2018 to apply a sporting criterion for the allocation of UCI WorldTour licenses based on the number of points accumulated annually in the UCI World Ranking by each candidate team (UCI WorldTeam or UCI ProTeam) over a period of three years.

At the same time, the PCC had decided that 18 UCI WorldTour licenses would be awarded for the 2023-2025 period.

These decisions were taken unanimously by the PCC - which includes representatives of the AIGCP (teams), the CPA (riders) and the AIOCC (organizers) as well as the UCI - following a long and in-depth consultation with the different stakeholders.

The current regulation came into force on 1st January 2020 for a first cycle of three years (until the end of 2022).

Moreover, at its meeting of December 2020, the PCC confirmed that after an evaluation of the number of events organized during the 2020 season impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the points obtained during that season would be counted in the calculation of the sporting criterion for the period 2020-2022 and that 2020 would therefore be considered the first year of the ranking according to the sporting criterion.

Contrary to recent public reporting, no decision to modify the rules in force has been taken.

The UCI Licence Commission is charged with awarding UCI WorldTour licenses on the basis of the rules in force. The procedure will take place in November, and the UCI points acquired up until 18 October will be taken into account for the sporting criterion.

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Final UCI Rankings for the 2021 road season: Tadej Pogačar and Annemiek van Vleuten at the top of the world hierarchy

The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) is pleased to announce that it has published all the final UCI Rankings for the 2021 road season for the different categories (Men Elite, Women Elite, Men Under-23, Women Under-23, Men Junior and Women Junior). The rankings were updated on 31 October, the final day of the 2021 season, and published on 2 November.

In the Men Elite category, the Slovenian Tadej Pogačar dominated both the individual UCI World Ranking (all types of races included) and the stage race individual UCI World Ranking. The Belgian Wout van Aert finishes at the top of the one-day race individual UCI World Ranking. The teams UCI World Ranking was won by Belgian squad Deceuninck – Quick-Step, while Belgium was the top-ranked nation.

As a reminder, the UCI WorldTour ranking no longer exists: since 2019 only the UCI World Ranking has been calculated for Men Elite.

Concerning Women Elite, Dutch rider Annemiek van Vleuten finished the season at the top of both the individual UCI World Ranking and the individual UCI Women’s WorldTour Ranking. The teams UCI World Ranking was dominated by Dutch squad Team SD Worx and the nations UCI World Ranking by the Netherlands.

The teams UCI Women’s WorldTour Ranking also went to Team SD Worx, while the New Zealander Niamh Fischer-Black finished at the top of the Youth Ranking.

2021 UCI World Ranking (Men)

Individual Ranking (overall):

1. Tadej Pogačar (SLO), 5,363 points

2. Wout van Aert (BEL), 4,382

3. Primož Roglič (SLO), 3,924

Individual Ranking (one-day races):

1. Wout van Aert (BEL), 3,016 points

2. Julian Alaphilippe (FRA), 2,523

3. Tadej Pogačar (SLO), 1,915

Individual Ranking (stage races):

1. Tadej Pogačar (SLO), 3,423 points

2. Primož Roglič (SLO), 2,499

3. Egan Arley Bernal Gomez (COL), 2,187

Teams Ranking:

1. Deceuninck – Quick-Step (BEL), 15,641.21 points

2. Ineos Grenadiers (GBR), 14,998.66

3. Jumbo – Visma (NED), 12,914.67

Nations Ranking:

1. Belgium, 14,349.33 points

2. Slovenia, 11,993

3. France, 11,541.67

2021 UCI World Ranking (Women)

Individual Ranking:

1. Annemiek van Vleuten (NED), 5,053.33 points

2. Elisa Longo Borghini (ITA), 3,485

3. Marianne Vos (NED) 3,378

1. Team SD Worx (NED), 12,389.99 points

2. Trek – Segafredo (USA), 9,158.66

3. Movistar Team Women (ESP), 9,067.66

1. The Netherlands, 16,147.99 points

2. Italy, 8,411

3. Denmark, 4,338.99

2021 UCI Women’s WorldTour Ranking

1. Annemiek van Vleuten (NED), 3,177 points

2. Demi Vollering (NED), 2,563

3. Elisa Longo Borghini (ITA), 2,509

1. Team SD Worx (NED), 8,572 points

2. Trek – Segafredo (USA), 5,263

3. Movistar Team Women (ESP), 5,043

Youth Ranking:

1. Niamh Fisher-Black (NZL), 34 points

2. Evita Muzic (FRA), 32

3. Mariia Novolodskaia (RUS), 22

All the official rankings and results for international road cycling can be consulted on the UCI website.

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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 Mountain Bike World Series 2024: Fort William gets Gravity action underway

Updated 30/04/2024 at 20:15 GMT

The UCI Mountain Bike World Cup returns to the iconic Fort William in Scotland, as the world’s best downhill mountain bikers converge on the famous and historic course for the opening UCI Downhill (DHI) World Cup of the 2024 season. The first of the year's Gravity races, racing gets underway in Fort William on Saturday, May 4.

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ICONIC COURSE 

Batten and andreassen take xco honours in araxa.

21/04/2024 at 22:11

EARLY SEASON MOMENTUM 

Highlights: batten secures another victory in araxa, ‘class of the field’ - batten cruises to victory in the xco to stay unbeaten in araxa, batten, koretzky win at elite uci cross-country xcc world cup in araxa.

20/04/2024 at 20:56

Pool Betting Tips Giro d'Italia 2024 | Rome wasn't built in a day, and your team for the Italian tour shouldn't be either!

Grand Tours and cycling betting pools are a perfect match. As the Giro d'Italia 2024 approaches, cycling enthusiasts from around the world are once again getting involved in various fantasy games and IDLProCycling.com offers some helpful pointers!

Please also read on IDLProCycling.com:

- Preview of the Giro d'Italia

- Favorites for the general classification (pink jersey)

- Favorites for the points classification (purple jersey)

- Favorites for the mountain classification (blue jersey)

- Favorites for the youth classification (white jersey) (coming soon)

- Betting pool tips for the Giro d'Italia

Florian Lipowitz - BORA-hansgrohe

You won't find the Tadej Pogacars of this world on this list, but the name Florian Lipowitz will also make many people think: we already know him, don't we? That's right, because this man recently finished very impressively in third place in the Tour de Romandie. Initially, this spot might have been for his teammate Emanuel Buchmann, but despite some promising training sessions, he wasn’t selected by BORA-hansgrohe.

After the withdrawal of Lennard Kämna, the German team is now focusing more on stage wins than originally planned for the upcoming Giro, and Lipowitz seems to be the perfect candidate for this. The former biathlete is known for his strong power-based abilities and has showcased them - after earlier strong performances in places like the Czech Republic and Turkey - now to a broader audience for the first time. BORA-hansgrohe has already extended his contract in April, a decision that in hindsight seems quite wise.

Max Kanter - Astana Qazaqstan Team

Let's stick with the Germans for a moment, as Max Kanter of Astana Qazaqstan Team is another rider to watch for multiple stages. The formidable German, formerly with Movistar and DSM, recently claimed his first professional victory at the Tour of Turkey. Unlike DSM-Firmenich PostNL’s rising star Tobias Lund, Kanter will primarily have opportunities to chase personal glory at the Giro d'Italia.

Astana Qazaqstan Team is under threat of relegation, which has mixed implications for Kanter. The upside is that he’s been given free rein to aim for high finishes and collect UCI points; the downside is that his seasoned lead-out, Rüdiger Selig, was sacrificed to support team leader Alexey Lutsenko in his quest for vital points. Without Selig, but teamed with Davide Ballerini, Kanter is set to pursue top results.

Giulio Pellizzari - VF Group - Bardiani CSF - Faizané

It’s been eight years since a 21-year-old Giulio Ciccone, in his debut Giro d'Italia with Bardiani-CSF, spectacularly won a stage in Sestola. In 2021, Lorenzo Fortunato from EOLO-Kometa followed suit in a similar fashion, but come 2024, Bardiani is betting on Giulio Pellizzari as their new prodigy.

Just like his peer Davide Piganzoli (Polti-Kometa), Pellizzari turned heads at the Tour de l'Avenir, finishing second just ahead of his compatriot last year. The San Marino native has an ideal mentor in Domenico Pozzovivo, who is keen to pass on his knowledge of the sport to his younger teammate. Will Pellizzari’s first Giro yield success? Only time will tell!

Ethan Vernon - Israel-Premier Tech

What's true for Astana Qazaqstan Team also holds for Israel-Premier Tech, but in reverse. After being relegated from the WorldTour at the end of 2022, Israel-Premier Tech is keen to regain its status among the top teams, which requires accumulating points. In the Giro d'Italia, Ethan Vernon is one of the key riders tasked with this challenge.

Although primarily known as a sprinter, the British newcomer has a broader skill set. He's adept at time trials and can also manage climbs, making him a perfect fit for a Giro of this nature. Before he shifts his focus to the track events at the Olympic Games later this summer, Vernon will first gather valuable experience in his debut grand tour.

Cristian Scaroni - Astana Qazaqstan Team

Another standout from Astana Qazaqstan Team is Cristian Scaroni, one of the Italians who we'll probably see on the attack throughout this Giro. While national champion Simone Velasco, known for his punchy style, and climber Lorenzo Fortunato will also have their moments, Scaroni is a rider who straddles these capabilities and thus adapts well across many stages.

This season, he's already drawn attention in Australia and Portugal by keeping pace with the top climbers in the Tour of the Algarve. Moreover, the hill specialist has his eye on mountain jerseys, as evidenced by his ambitions in this year's Paris-Nice.

Laurence Pithie - Groupama-FDJ

Anyone who turned on the TV this spring has undoubtedly come across Laurence Pithie from Groupama-FDJ. The strong New Zealander was a prominent competitor in just about every Flemish classic he entered, earning him a lucrative contract with BORA-hansgrohe for next year. But first, Pithie will spend a few more months in French service, starting with the Giro.

He handles the hills well, is adept at positioning, has a strong sprint finish, and typically has a whole team working for him. He is also ambitious, starting his first grand tour with the goal of winning a stage.

Michael Storer - Tudor

Switching focus to another rider from down under, Michael Storer of the Tudor team could potentially snag the Louis Meintjes award. Known for his climbing prowess, Storer is expected to chase a stage victory, but he might also surprise everyone by climbing the general classification ranks during the challenging third week. It's also conceivable that Pogacar and co, former teammates and current road captain at Tudor, Matteo Trentin, might give him a chance to shine and form an alliance for the pink jersey.

That's all speculative, of course, but it’s clear that Storer is an exceptional climber. He proved this in 2022 with two stage wins and the mountain jersey for DSM-Firmenich at the Vuelta, precisely in the role he now holds at Tudor.

Magnus Sheffield - INEOS Grenadiers

Magnus Sheffield is another top talent on this list. The hardy American is gearing up for his grand tour debut and aims to overcome a year and a half of bad luck, culminating in a crash at the Tour of Switzerland. Sheffield is known as a power monster and you should not be surprised if he wins one of the two time trials, while he can also score from a breakaway;

Riding for INEOS Grenadiers, Sheffield showcased his talent again this spring with a sixth place in the Tour of Flanders, underscoring his versatility. Yet, his team seems to be steering him towards stage races for the long term, where Sheffield has already proven himself in several smaller tours last season. Will this Giro, under the wing of Geraint Thomas, be his next big step?

Stanislaw Aniolkowski - Cofidis

Another team caught in the promotion/relegation carousel is Cofidis, which currently ranks second to last on the UCI World Ranking. At this team too, we are looking for a sprinter who can snatch some notable places here and there, leading us to the compactly built Pole, Stanislaw Aniolkowski. Stefano Oldani is also participating, but like the past two years, he will focus on the more hilly stages.

After several years at a lower level, Aniolkowski is in his first season at the WorldTour level. The 27-year-old Pole had the opportunity to compete against the world's best in the UAE Tour and Tirreno-Adriatico, managing to grab a top five finish in both events. Positioning is certainly a strength for him, but... certainty only goes so far!

Mauri Vansevenant - Soudal Quick-Step

We had to include a Dutch or Belgian connection in this article (most of our editorial team is Dutch/Belgian, ec.), so it was a choice between Visma | Lease a Bike rider Attila Valter and Soudal Quick-Step rider Mauri Vansevenant. The Belgian gets the benefit of the doubt, as his team really lacks a GC contender.

First and foremost, Vansevenant has earned his place with his aggressive riding style and solid results in the hill classics. Fourth in the Amstel Gold Race, sixth in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and now heading to the Giro as a stage hunter: these are exciting weeks and months for the Belgian who always gives his all!

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Haley Batten leading U.S. charge in 2024 mountain bike season 

Th e 2024 UCI Mountain Bike World Series is underway, and Tokyo 2020 Olympian Haley Batten now leads the 2024 UCI women's overall standings in both women’s elite Cross-country short track (XCC) and Cross-country Olympic (XCO). This ranking highlight is one among many for the Americans in what has been an incredibly strong UCI World Cup season opener.

The UCI World Cup season opened with two events in Brazil, first in Mairiporā (12 to 14 April) and then the following weekend in Araxá (19 to 21 April). Batten earned a solid 3rd place finish at the UCI XCO World Cup opener in Mairiporā, behind U.S. teammate Savilia Blunk , who took 2nd with Rio 2016 gold medalist from Sweden, Jenny Rissved s earning the top spot in a race where four American women landed among the top-ten at the finish.

But it was in Araxá that Batten shot to the top of the rankings, with dual wins in both the women’s elite XCC and XCO races, marking her first career XCO win. Batten fought off advances from 2nd place finisher Rissveds to ride solo to victory in the XCO, followed by Blunk in 3rd.

Batten’s lead underscores a dominant American field

Batten is among a wildly talented field of Americans, including Blunk—who placed 2nd at Mairiporā XCO and 3rd in both XCO and XCC at Araxá, bumping her to 3rd in the overall UCI World Cup standings behind Rissveds in 2nd.

Thanks to these results, Batten and Blunk are now in a strong position for Olympic selection ahead of Paris 2024 in a highly contested women’s American squad that includes Tokyo 2020 Olympian Kate Courtney and Kelsey Urban .

The American men have also made themselves known at the UCI World Cups in Brazil. At Mairiporā, Tokyo 2020 Olympian Christopher Blevins won the XCO to advance his overall ranking to 3rd in the UCI World Cup rankings. In the U23 field, 22-year-old Riley Amos won all four events at the two UCI World Cups in Brazil; he's now the best-positioned U.S. man behind Blevins for Paris 2024. These results leave no doubt about the depth of talent and potential among the U.S. team.

These results were significant for quota spots heading into Paris 2024; countries can have a maximum of two quota places for men and two for women as determined by nation rankings, down from three each at Tokyo 2020. The points results from these two UCI World Cup stops have increased the U.S. rankings to 3rd and 5th for women and men, respectively, which would allow for the maximum quota spots if the rankings hold.

The men will be rallying at the upcoming Pan American Championships, which will act as another opportunity to improve or hold nations quotas— if the men are successful in solidifying their rankings in the top 8, the U.S. will have two men in the Olympics for the first time since London 2012.

• How to qualify for Mountain Biking at Paris 2024

As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.

Batten has been working hard toward these wins

The 25-year-old from Park City, Utah, started bike racing with her family at nine years old. She won national titles as a junior and another at the Under 23 level before advancing into elite-level racing.

In her Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020, she finished 9th. In an interview with Salt Lake Magazine , Batten said she has higher goals for Paris 2024: “My goal is to win.” She added, “In Tokyo, I was so focused on just attending, but for Paris, I have a different mindset.”

Following her finishes in Brazil, she told the Durango Harold that she went into this season with high expectations for herself. “I had really big goals for the two weekends [in Brazil], and I just couldn't be more proud of executing them and really seeing all the hard work and focus pay off.”

She also noted the level of skill on the U.S. team: “It was just an incredible weekend and also to see the U.S. as a country do so well and really come in firing on full cylinders. That really showed the focus, dedication, and level that our nation is at now, especially in the women’s.”

What’s ahead for Batten and Team USA?

The next chance to see these athletes in action is at the 2024 Pan American Mountain Bike Championships. The event will be held from 8 to 12 May at Soldier Hollow near Batten’s hometown of Park City, Utah. The U.S. Elite women’s team will include Batten, Courtney and Urban, with Christopher Blevins and Bradyn Lange racing for the men’s team. They will be looking to hold or improve on the current 5th place nation's ranking , allowing for two men's quota spots at Paris 2024.

Then, it’s off to the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic, from 24 to 26 May , which marks the end of the Olympic qualification period for the UCI tour, with rankings expected to be final at the close of the event on 27 May.

Batten has a special relationship with the Nove Mesto course. She won her first World Cup at the U23 level here in 2019, and in 2021, in her first year racing as an Elite, she took 2nd, which earned her berth to Tokyo 2020. She has repeatedly called out the Nove Mesto course as her favorite, so expectations are high for her at this final Olympic qualifying event.

When will mountain biking be contested at Paris 2024?

The Paris 2024 mountain bike competition will take place at Elancourt Hill from Sunday, July 28, to Monday, July 29.

Related content

Paris 2024 complete mountain bike schedule 

U.S. mountain bike Olympian Kate Courtney launches foundation to get more girls on bikes

What we learned: Cycling Mountain Bike wrap-up from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics

Mathieu van der Poel remains undecided on mountain bike road race double at Paris 2024: “It's a difficult puzzle”

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Everton vs. Luton Town prediction, odds, start time: 2024 English Premier League picks, best bets for May 3

Jon eimer has locked in his english premier league picks and best bets for friday's luton town vs. everton match.

Everton look to match their season high with a fourth consecutive victory when they visit Luton Town in a 2023-24 English Premier League match on Friday. Everton (12-8-15), who won four matches in a row from Dec. 2-16, have not allowed a goal while posting three straight triumphs - all at home. Luton Town (6-7-22) are in the midst of a three-game losing streak and are in danger of relegation as they are 18th in the EPL table, one point behind Nottingham Forest in the race to avoid being demoted to the EFL Championship. The Hatters posted a 2-1 victory at Everton in their first meeting this campaign.

Kickoff at Kenilworth Road is set for 3 p.m. ET. The Toffees are +155 favorites (risk $100 to win $155) in the latest Everton vs. Luton Town odds, while the Hatters are +160 underdogs. A 90-minute draw is priced at +250 and the over/under for total goals scored is 2.5. Before locking in any Luton Town vs. Everton picks, you need to see what proven SportsLine soccer insider Jon "Buckets" Eimer has to say .

Eimer is a high-volume bettor who has vast knowledge of leagues and players across the globe. Since joining SportsLine, he has covered the English Premier League, Serie A, the FA Cup and much more. In 2023, he was red-hot, going 248-234-12 for a profit of $2,593 for $100 bettors. That included an 86-59-5 record in the Premier League for a $3,463 profit. Anybody following saw big returns.

Now, Eimer has broken down Everton vs. Luton Town from every angle and revealed his picks and English Premier League predictions. You can head to SportsLine now to see Eimer's picks . Here are the betting lines and trends for Luton Town vs. Everton:

• Everton vs. Luton Town money line: Toffees +155, Hatters +160, Draw +250
• Everton vs. Luton Town over/under: 2.5 goals
• Everton vs. Luton Town spread: Toffees -0.5 (+145)
• EVE: The Toffees have scored four goals while going 0-3-6 in their last nine Premier League road matches
• LT: The Hatters have gone 1-3-10 in their last 14 EPL contests
• Everton vs. Luton Town picks: See picks at SportsLine

Why you should back Everton 

The Toffees have gone 4-1-1 over their last six Premier League matches, posting a clean sheet in each victory and giving up just one goal in the draw. Striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin and midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure are tied for the team lead with six goals apiece, with the former netting the lone goal for Everton in their loss to Luton Town last September. The 27-year-old Calvert-Lewin, who missed Everton's 1-0 triumph over Brentford over the weekend due to illness, has converted in three of his last four outings.

Doucoure has gone 13 contests without a goal but will be eager to end the drought and match the career high he set in 2017-18 while with Watford . One player who has heated up for the Toffees is midfielder Idrissa Gueye , who has converted in two of his last three contests to increase his season total to three goals. Winger Jack Harrison also has scored three times this campaign and produced Everton's goal in a 2-1 loss against Luton in the fourth round of the 2023-24 FA Cup in January.  See which team to pick here .

Don't miss CBS Sports Golazo Network's Morning Footy, now in podcast form! Our crew brings you all the news, views, highlights and laughs you need to follow the Beautiful Game in every corner of the globe, every Monday-Friday all year long.

Why you should back Luton Town

The Hatters have the third-worst goal differential in the Premier League at minus-29 but have converted in 16 of their 17 home games, including each of the last 13. Striker Carlton Morris heads Luton with 10 goals, including the team's lone strike in Saturday's 2-1 loss at Wolves. The 28-year-old also scored the decisive goal in the victory at Everton earlier this season.

Forward Elijah Adebayo , who returned to action last weekend after missing more than two months with a hamstring injury, ranks second on the Hatters with nine goals. Midfielder Ross Barkley , who spent time with Everton from 2011-17, has recorded five goals in his first season with Luton after notching four with Nice of France 's Ligue 1 last campaign. Defender Alfie Doughty has been a solid set-up man, ranking first on the team and 16th in the EPL with seven assists in his initial season with the Hatters.  See which team to pick here .

How to make Everton vs. Luton Town picks

Eimer has broken down Friday's match from every possible angle and is leaning Over on the total. He also has locked in five confident best bets, including three that offer plus-money payouts, and is offering a full breakdown of this English Premier League clash. He's sharing his Premier League picks and analysis only at SportsLine .

So who wins Everton vs. Luton Town, and where does all the betting value lie? Visit SportsLine now to see which wagers in Luton Town vs. Everton have all the value, all from the soccer expert who was up well over $2,500 for $100 players in 2023 , and find out.

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The  CBS Sports Golazo Network  has you covered with soccer news, highlights, analysis, and exclusive games. The 24-hour digital network provides around-the-clock soccer viewing to fans across the country, including morning shows and live matches. It launched in April and has been a smashing success thus far, expanding its offerings every week.  Watch the CBS Sports Golazo Network now here .

The CBS Sports Golazo Network provides soccer fans with wall-to-wall coverage of the most popular game in the world.  Check it out now on CBSSports.com, the CBS Sports app for connected TV devices, the CBS Sports mobile app, Pluto TV or Paramount+ .

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WorldTour relegation battle means Valverde cannot ride final World Championships

Professional teams prioritise ranking points over long trip to Australia

The fight to avoid WorldTour relegation has sparked tension between teams and national federations targeting the UCI Road World Championships , with former world champion Alejandro Valverde blocked from travelling to Australia because Movistar needing him to compete for ranking points in the final races of the season. 

Valverde won the world title in Innsbruck in 2018 and has a haul of other medals but is now unlikely to race in the Spanish national team before he ends his long career.  

Other teams have opted for similar strategies, with no Lotto Soudal riders selected for the Belgian team and Cofidis keen to retain their riders in the fight for every ranking point. 

At the other end of the WorldTour rankings, Ineos Grenadiers are locked in a battle with Jumbo-Visma and so are reportedly trying to stop Carlos Rodriguez being selected for the time trial and road race so he can help in the fight for points. According to reports in Italy, UAE Team Emirates are keen for Diego Ulissi to focus on the end of season races rather than be selected for the Italian national team. 

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The fight for control of rider’s race programmes has highlighted the conflict between the professional teams who pay the rider’s salaries, the goals of the national teams and the UCI who organise the World Championships and who created the rules that have sparked the intense relegation battle. 

Ironically, the UCI Road World Championships offer significant points that count in the battle to avoid relegation from the WorldTour but most of the teams locked in the fight for the 2023 WorldTour want their riders to avoid the long trip to Australia so they can be at their best for the numerous end of season one-day races. 

20 teams are fighting for the 18 WorldTour licences. Israel-Premier Tech and Lotto Soudal currently occupy the bottom two places and would, as it stands, be relegated from the sport's top-tier. Above the bottom two sit Movistar, BikeExchange-Jayco , EF Education-EasyPost, all separated by just 105 points. Every point scored between now and the end of the 2022 season on October 18 could be vital.

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Spanish national coach Pascual Momparler has confirmed to AS that the Spanish Federation considered not sending a men’s team to Australia due to teams refusing to release their best riders for a near three-week absence due to the travel, jet-lag and recovery time needed for this year’s World Championships.   

"They pay me to put together the best team, with the riders they deem appropriate, but this time it won't be possible,” Momparler told AS during a visit to the Vuelta to try to convince riders and their teams to compete in Australia. 

“We had a meeting on Friday to decide whether we would go to the World Championships or not and we finally decided that we will. Juan Ayuso and Marc Soler will be the leaders and we will try to form a team around them.”  

The likes of Pello Bilbao, Luis León Sanchez and Mikel Landa have all raced significantly this season and so are keen to avoid the long haul to Australia.

Valverde is apparently ready to travel down under after finishing the Vuelta a Espana next Sunday but his Movistar are refusing to give him permission.

“It’d be nice if Valverde could take part in the World Championships alongside young riders like Ayuso and Rodriguez so they can learn from him. He would love to come, he has said so but he does not have permission. The team is immersed in the fight for points. It’s the same with Alex Aranburu,” Momparler explained.

Many teams are refusing to release their riders and this could be a catastrophe for many teams. Including ours,” Momparler told Marca.

“The UCI has put everyone between a rock and a hard place. It's going to be an unusual World Championships.” 

The men's time trial will take place on September 18, the road race on Sunday September 25. National teams have to select their squads before September 13.

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Stephen is the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters , Shift Active Media , and CyclingWeekly , among other publications.

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