UCI Points system

[aruipksni]

UCI WT promotion gaps:

COFIDIS recuperated from its TDF performance. they have still some racing to do to try to pass INTERMARCHE, that is not looking good since the beginning of the season.
Uno-X don't have enough racing days left, sadly, so they will have to settle for the wildcard, apparently.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Uno-X don't have enough racing days left, sadly, so they will have to settle for the wildcard, apparently.

Thor Hushovd said that they are going «all in», and that they will race much this autumn. Will be interesting to see what that means.

I think their schedule on PCS is not at all complete, but until the end of september they have 8 one day races and 4 stage races planned, while Cofidis in the same period have 11 one day races, 4 stage races and the Vuelta. Just a couple of more races for Uno-X and I would give them a good chance to outscore Cofidis in this period ever without the Vuelta..

 

[aruipksni]

Wild gap battle:

 

[pastronef]

Looks like Cofidis and Arkea are on their way out, but Vino's got his moneys worth from using the maths guy.
https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling...ight-as-uae-continues-bringing-massive-points

well, Arkea is on the way out for real, 99% they won't be in the peloton in 2026

 

[aruipksni]

Grand Tour Wildcard battle:
3 Italian teams are fighting for a possible Giro Wildcard invitation.

27	EQUIPO KERN PHARMA	ESP	2365
28	BURGOS-BURPELLET-BH	ESP	2338
29	TEAM POLTI VISITMALTA	ITA	2090
30	VF GROUP BARDIANICSF-FAIZANE'	ITA	1897
31	SOLUTION TECH VINI FANTINI	ITA	1818.33

 

[Rockestar_33]

Grand Tour Wildcard battle:
3 Italian teams are fighting for a possible Giro Wildcard invitation.

27	EQUIPO KERN PHARMA	ESP	2365
28	BURGOS-BURPELLET-BH	ESP	2338
29	TEAM POLTI VISITMALTA	ITA	2090
30	VF GROUP BARDIANICSF-FAIZANE'	ITA	1897
31	SOLUTION TECH VINI FANTINI	ITA	1818.33

Yeah but they all get in due to Arkea folding and Intermarche merging with Lotto, plus Euskatel-Euskadi

 

[aruipksni]

Yeah but they all get in due to Arkea folding and Intermarche merging with Lotto, plus Euskatel-Euskadi

it's very theoretical really. they had only 2 teams this year, and it could actually only get worst for them, like in case they will prefer q36.5 over italian team, and q36.5 has no wildcard.

 

[aruipksni]

Thor Hushovd said that they are going «all in», and that they will race much this autumn. Will be interesting to see what that means.

I think their schedule on PCS is not at all complete, but until the end of september they have 8 one day races and 4 stage races planned, while Cofidis in the same period have 11 one day races, 4 stage races and the Vuelta. Just a couple of more races for Uno-X and I would give them a good chance to outscore Cofidis in this period ever without the Vuelta..

yes, last year they raced a lot even in october, but if they don't win race like Il lombardia, they are not going very far. the Vuelta is a possible point mine. last year Kern pharma pro team scored 1419 UCI points there, and even a mediocre IPT pro team got 991 points.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

the Vuelta is a possible point mine. last year Kern pharma pro team scored 1419 UCI points there, and even a mediocre IPT pro team got 991 points.

It's a gold mine when you are good.
Kern Pharma won 3 stages and had several good stage results. Israel won a stage with Woods, Frigo was 2nd in one and Strong had a lot of top stage results.

Cofidis scored 407 points in the Vuelta last year, and they went there with basically their best team with G.Martin, Izagirre and Coquard. Nothing really points towards them having a better team this year. Cofidis has lost around 2500 points to Uno-X so far this season and the margin is down to less than 300 points. They should be very worried.

 

[aruipksni]

It's a gold mine when you are good.
Kern Pharma won 3 stages and had several good stage results. Israel won a stage with Woods, Frigo was 2nd in one and Strong had a lot of top stage results.

Cofidis scored 407 points in the Vuelta last year, and they went there with basically their best team with G.Martin, Izagirre and Coquard. Nothing really points towards them having a better team this year. Cofidis has lost around 2500 points to Uno-X so far this season and the margin is down to less than 300 points. They should be very worried.

even they will pass Cofidis, there is still Intermarche, and they are not likely to pass them.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

even they will pass Cofidis, there is still Intermarche, and they are not likely to pass them.

Have you missed the news about the Lotto-Intermarche merger?

 

[aruipksni]

Have you missed the news about the Lotto-Intermarche merger?

first, it's not official, just remember the "Visma Quickstep merger"
and if UCI will not approve it Intermarche will need it's license.
second, even if they will merge Intermarche will chase the license, so it will be able to sell it for the higher bidder..
and do you think that their riders, who now have no contract will just soft paddle, they will all try to show recruiters how good they are.

 

[Samamba]

second, even if they will merge Intermarche will chase the license, so it will be able to sell it for the higher bidder.

This is not happening. The UCI does not allow this.

Also there's no comparison with the Visma-QS merger, this one is like 95% done. It's happening.

 

[Rob5091]

Who, the what and the why and all things inbetween - the Lotto Intermarche merger according to the Inner Ring -
https://inrng.com/2025/08/world-tour-relegation-august/

For the merger it depends which licence is retained with the existing team, is the Lotto one or the Intermarché one? If it is Lotto then the Intermarché one could in theory be sold, it has value. This is how Intermarché got into the World Tour as it bought the old BMC/CCC team licence and the legal entity is still “Continuum Sports Belgium”, the company set up by Jim “Och” Ochowitz.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Who, the what and the why and all things inbetween - the Lotto Intermarche merger according to the Inner Ring -
https://inrng.com/2025/08/world-tour-relegation-august/


For the merger it depends which licence is retained with the existing team, is the Lotto one or the Intermarché one? If it is Lotto then the Intermarché one could in theory be sold, it has value. This is how Intermarché got into the World Tour as it bought the old BMC/CCC team licence and the legal entity is still “Continuum Sports Belgium”, the company set up by Jim “Och” Ochowitz.

If I have understood it correctly, a situation where one team "buys" the Intermarche licence it means they are buying the company behind and therefore also the existing contracts (20 riders + the ones of the development team I would guess) and then that team can transfer (some of their) riders over to the Intermarche team?

I've seen rumours that Q36.5 could be interested. I might be completely wrong, but then the chain of actions would be something like this:
1. The owner of Q36.5 buys the company behind Intermarche.
2. They has to buy out all the Intermarche riders they dont want (would be very expensive).
3. As a real merger is not really possible, to keep the WT licesnce it's actually the Intermarche teams that goes on (with new name) and what today is the Q36.5 team will be absolved. This means that the riders that have a contract with Q36.5 are free to sign with new teams if they want, because their contract is with the paying agent of Q36.5, not with the paying agent of Intermarche that holds the WT-licence.

 

[Samamba]

Not comparable to intermarché buying CCC license (or the company that had it) at all, that happened after 2 years into a cycle so completely according to UCI rules. The UCI can now just not give a license to Intermarché if they don't want it to happen, and they have warned the teams to not do it so

 

[Rob5091]

In theory at the moment we could see 3 teams disappear after this year, Lotto, Intermarche and Arkea. That's 90 riders and support staff, which would not be so popular. But maybe the pro-teams with money, Q36.5, UNO-X and Tudor could end up in the WT.

 

[aruipksni]

In theory at the moment we could see 3 teams disappear after this year, Lotto, Intermarche and Arkea. That's 90 riders and support staff, which would not be so popular. But maybe the pro-teams with money, Q36.5, UNO-X and Tudor could end up in the WT.

what about Alpecin ? if they will not find a second sponsor, they will not have money to pay to their big stars... also Ineos has the same problems...

 

[Rob5091]

Alpecin is another one - although having the likes of MvdP in the team ight well make it easier to find a sponsor.

Ineos is a different kettle of fish, as they are the main sponsor and want to cut back (Sir Jim seems to be cutting
back on all his sporting sponosrships except his boyhood heroes at Man Utd soccer team. Well even there they are saving money but that might have to do with the new stadium they want to build and the drying up of silverware) and of course we still have to wait and see the fall out from the ongoing Rozman scandal
(did Sir Jim really believe Sir Dave when he brought the team that everyone was riding on bread and water? Maybe Sir Jim will use Rozman to ditch the cycling sponsorship - as he seems to want to do)

 

[pastronef]

Well even there they are saving money but that might have to do with the new stadium they want to build and the drying up of silverware) and of course we still have to wait and see the fall out from the ongoing Rozman scandal

Rob, I must praise your drive and hope, kudos

 

[yaco]

Rob, I must praise your drive and hope, kudos

Agree. Rob is obsessed by Rozman.