28/12/2022

How many more points will riders score in monuments and Grand Tours? UCI updates scoring system

The UCI rankings have overwhelmed several teams this year with calendar changes, different goals and specific tactics to chase as many UCI points as possible throughout the year. Many felt the scoring system had to be changed however, and it has. We dive into them.

Having gone through the public list of changes, it has been understood that now not only will the 10 best scoring riders in the team's points count towards the tally, but instead it will be the Top20. More points will be attributed in the monuments and higher-level races, including World Championships and Olympic Games, and the same will be found in the individual stages of World Tour stage-races.

The UCI has listened - Big changes in points system implemented ahead of 2023

A report from Raúl Banqueri reveals that monuments and road races of both World Championships and Olympic Games will have 60% more points allocated, whilst the time-trials in those events will have a 30% increase. This is one of many moves to keep the team's focused on the main races so as to avoid - as was the case this year - teams focusing on minor races because of point efficiency.

In Grand Tour stages now the first 15 riders are awarded points instead of the first 5, and in the World Tour stage-races points will be given to the first 10 riders instead of the first 3. Banqueri estimated that the amount of points in a single Tour de France stage went up from 240 to 935, which will see significantly more attention given to the large events.

INTERVIEW | Raúl Banqueri, the mastermind behind the UCI points and 2022 relegation battle

Whilst in 2022 Grand Tours only distributed 13% of all available UCI points, that has raised to a whole 25% for 2023. Monuments and World Championships have also increased from 10% to 11%. On the contrary, the remaining World Tour events lower from 28% to 24%, Pro Series races go down from 26% to 21%, and Class 1 races lower from 24% to 19%.

This should at the same time stimulate the wildcard requests, with the clear example of Lotto Soudal who has voluntarily opted out of the Giro d'Italia and several other stage-races now suddenly being less advantageous as it was initially.