Although it comes as no surprise, the news is still lousy for riders on the Israel-Premier Tech team: they are officially demoted. On Monday, the UCI announced 18 WorldTeam licenses for the 2023-2025 period. Three teams will be demoted to UCI ProTeam status given their ranking following the 2022 season.
Those teams are Israel-Premier Tech, Belgium’s Lotto Dstny, and Uno-X from Norway.
The UCI also announced that 13 teams have been registered with the Woman’s WorldTour for 2023, including Israel Premier Tech Roland.
What this means for the 2023 team and riders like Mike Woods, Hugo Houle or Chris Froome remains to be seen. Team owner Sylvan Adams had previously threatened to sue the UCI for the possibility of relegation, citing COVID-19 as a factor that had not been considered for the team’s difficult seasons, where they didn’t score as many points as planned.
Since Lotto Dstny was at the top of the three relegated teams, it will have automatic invites to WorldTour races and the three Grand Tours. Israel-Premier Tech will not have such a luxury.
Instead they will have to bank on wild card invitations. Given that they have former Tour winner Froome, as well as stage winner Houle and GT contender Woods, it may work out, but nothing is guaranteed.
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