The battle for the 2023 UCI WorldTour spots is essentially over, even if the season continues this week with the Tour de Langkawi. Israel-Premier Tech will be relegated from cycling’s top tier and, barring a miracle to end all miracles, so will Lotto Soudal.
The three-year ranking, which will determine the 18 teams earning WorldTour licences for the next three-year cycle, is drawing to a close, and there’s no real chance of any last-gasp drama.
The only races left are the eight-stage Tour de Langkawi, the Japan Cup (both ProSeries), and the 1.1-ranked events Chrono des Nations, Giro del Veneto and Veneto Classic.
That means that, after the latest weekly UCI ranking update, there are not realistically enough points for either 19th placed Lotto Soudal or Israel-Premier Tech in 20th to move ahead of Arkéa-Samsic in 18th.
Sure, Lotto Soudal might be able to wipe out their 1,170-point deficit to Arkéa-Samsic if they swept the final podium in the Tour de Langkawi, won every stage, then swept the podium in the Japan Cup – but that’s a highly unlikely scenario.
In a realistic world, their fate is sealed, as their rider Thomas De Gendt admitted to Cyclingnews in Langkawi on Monday.
Israel-Premier Tech’s have been needing a miracle for some time, but after failing to make an impact in the past week, they are now mathematically certain to lose WorldTour status. Their only hope of salvation lies in the courts, with team owner Sylvan Adams threatening a legal suit against the UCI.
The past week in detail
The past week’s rankings include the Gran Piemonte and Paris-Tours (1.Pro), Il Lombardia (WorldTour Tier 3), and Memorial Van Steenbergen and Paris-Bourges (1.1).
It was, of course, UAE Team Emirates who came out on top with Tadej Pogačar’s victory in Como, but second-placed Enric Mas continued Movistar’s march away from the drop zone, having already steered his team to safety with his runner-up finish at the Vuelta a España.
There was even a first win in two years for Iván García Cortina at Gran Piemonte last week, which propelled Movistar above Astana into 12th place, their troubles now seeming so far away.
Cofidis also clambered one more step up, thanks to Simone Consonni’s fourth place in Paris-Tours, getting ahead of Team DSM and moving into 14th. With the Dutch outfit not taking part in Langkawi and Japan, EF Education-EasyPost – only 40 or so points behind – are poised to overtake Team DSM too.
BikeExchange-Jayco, 140 points down, are racing both…
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