UCI Points system

[pastronef]

The points race is over. Cofidis will not gain more than ~ 50 points in China tomorrow after todays bad performance.

so Israel, Lotto-Intermarche, Uno-X will be in the WT for 2026-28
Cofidis-Tudor-Q36.5 get all WT races in 2026
let's hope any of those 3 skips the Giro/Vuelta

 

[Netserk]

so Israel, Lotto-Intermarche, Uno-X will be in the WT for 2026-28
Cofidis-Tudor-Q36.5 get all WT races in 2026
let's hope any of those 3 skips the Giro/Vuelta

I think Cofidis or more likely Q36.5 will skip the Giro.

 

[pastronef]

I think Cofidis or more likely Q36.5 will skip the Giro.

I don't know about Q36.5, they'll have Dunbar and Donovan that could go for a top10 or stages, Moschetti, and Pinarello bikes next year. also I think Nibali still is a Q36.5 ambassador (the brand, not the team)

 

[Rockestar_33]

so Israel, Lotto-Intermarche, Uno-X will be in the WT for 2026-28
Cofidis-Tudor-Q36.5 get all WT races in 2026
let's hope any of those 3 skips the Giro/Vuelta

If any skip the Giro it's hard to say who gets the third wildcard with only the two Italian Pro teams qualifying in the top 30. Might be a case of finding out who will miss out in Spain out of Caja Rural and Burgos BH

 

[yaco]

Has any team come 4th in the UCI points ranking winning only 2 WT races like Astana in 2025.

 

[Potomac]

So it was pretty consistent, each year about 9 000 points secured 18th place, with about 27 000 total securing 18th place for all three years.

 

[Leadbelly]

......and so another 3 year cycle begins. Some teams have stated that they're already thinking about points and who can blame them. Nobody wants to be the next Vasseur/Cofidis.

Who's going to be involved though? This was the table at the end of the last cycle.

12	Lotto Intermarché	WT	33239
13	NSN Cycling Team	WT	31438
14	Movistar Team	WT	31081
15	XDS Astana Team	WT	30341
16	Team Jayco AlUla	WT	30147
17	Team Picnic PostNL	WT	27484
18	Uno-X Mobility	WT	26324
19	Cofidis	PRT	25926
20	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	PRT	18539
21	TotalEnergies	PRT	17675
22	Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team	PRT	15175

Obviously the positions of Tudor and Pinarello aren't really indicative of their current strengths as their first seasons especially weren't very good. I fully expect them to be challenging this time round.

It seems unlikely to me that Total will be in the mix. Their 2025 was really good. Even so, that only brought in just over 7000 points which is nowhere near enough.

Can Cofidis turn it around? They can pick and choose their races now of course which other teams have shown can be a real boon, but are their new signings really going to make a big difference. I have my doubts.

As for the current WT teams?

Movistar have strengthened well. I like their transfer business.

Will XDS be able to continue like last year? I don't think they're going to be racing the same way and be all about points. However I doubt they'll be involved.

Uno-X won't be able to choose their calendar any more which might hinder them, but they've made some decent signings to try and increase their strength in depth.

The other four (Lotto, NSN, Jayco and Picnic) are the ones I think that will be involved a bit more in the battle.

If I had to make a guess I would say Tudor and Pinarello will move up at the end of the cycle and Picnic + A.N. Other will be the unlucky ones.

 

[Statze2]

Nearly 9000 points per season were needed to gain the relevant points to stay in the world tour.
When we look at this years teams I would think that NSN, Jayco and Picnic will not collect many points and stay below these 9000 points.
If the leaders of Tudor (Hirschi, Küng, Storer) and Q36.5 (Pidcock, Benett, Wright, Christen) can have a good season they will be above the 9000 points. I can see no other Pro Team that comes close to the 9000 points.
But I think we will see another WT Team that is below these 9000 points, I´m not sure which one but I think it will be one of Groupama, Bahrain and EF.
And then in the fall of 2026 these teams (NSN, Jayco, Picnic etc) stop planning normal races and optimize to get as much points as possible.
Interesting to see which team will start first - in my opinion EF should start as early as possible. Its very likely that Healy can´t repeat a season like last year and I can´t see many other riders scoring more than 1000 UCI points per season.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

And then in the fall of 2026 these teams (NSN, Jayco, Picnic etc) stop planning normal races and optimize to get as much points as possible.

Jayco are supposedly going to focus on points this year already.

I also think Unibet could be a dark horse pick to wind up being in contention, a bit like Uno-X were three years ago. Their lineup is improving with leaps and bounds every single winter and it seems like they'll be doing the most farmy schedule around this season. I could see them cracking 7k this year, then reinforcing their lineup again next winter and averaging 10k in the remaining two seasons.

 

[ingsve]

Uno-X won't be able to choose their calendar any more which might hinder them, but they've made some decent signings to try and increase their strength in depth.

Uno-X are also in a much better starting point than last time around. Over the three years they went from 6569->8939->10816 points. So even from where they ended 2025, the have a decent gap of 1800 points they could drop and still be above the 9000 points benchmark per year. And even with that buffer, they have so far increased their points every season so they are perhaps just as likely to keep gaining points as they are to stagnate and lose points per season.

 

[Statze2]

Jayco are supposedly going to focus on points this year already.

I also think Unibet could be a dark horse pick to wind up being in contention, a bit like Uno-X were three years ago. Their lineup is improving with leaps and bounds every single winter and it seems like they'll be doing the most farmy schedule around this season. I could see them cracking 7k this year, then reinforcing their lineup again next winter and averaging 10k in the remaining two seasons.

Yes, this could be a possibility. If Groenewegen has a very good season this is possible. But I assume that this season will be at around 5000 points and then the gap will be to big to close in the next two years. And also 5000 points this season would be a huge step forward.