"Accept them and work on it" - UAE Team Emirates' manager comments on UCI points system

The UCI rankings have been one of the biggest plots of the season, as several teams looked to battle for their maintenance at World Tour level, whilst others battled for promotion and wildcards. Whilst UAE Team Emirates did not have to worry, team manager Joxean Matxin has expressed his opinion on the subject.

"I see it as if you are going to run a race or a grand tour and in the middle of the stage you start to complain about his hardness and ask to change it. We know what that tour is like before we go. You can say something, but also change your calendar" Matxin explained in an interview with SoloBici.

Lotto Soudal and Israel - Premier Tech have been relegated, whilst Alpecin-Deceuninck and Arkéa Samsic have been promoted to World Tour. Lotto Soudal and TotalEnergies will receive automatic wildcards to all World Tour events, whilst the Israeli team will be invited to the one-day races. That has been the conclusion of a years-long battle which climaxed over the last few months.

"On the subject of UCI points it is the same. I think the rules are established before and you have to accept them and work on it," Matxin believes. "In the same way, I am aware that there are certain rules that are wrong or should be changed. Because it is not normal for two races in Canada to add the same points as winning the Tour de France, for example,"

"You have to be critical at certain times, or for certain aspects of the norm. Overall, the current point system is on a consistent basis, but it can be improved. There are 10-20% of things that are bad for all parties, such as this issue that a stage of the Vuelta a Espana and a continental 1.1 race have the same points for the ranking," he said, replicating the issues that many - riders, managers and fans altogether - have criticized.

"Ayuso, for example, has won the same points in the last Getxo Circuit as if he had won [a stage] in the Vuelta. With all due respect to Getxo, I think that the Vuelta stage should have a higher value in points due to the better participation and competitiveness," he concluded.