"Missing bank guarantees" reportedly culprit to Jayco's missed UCI registration deadline

The list of teams that applied for men's WorldTour license for the 2026 season has been published by UCI already some time ago, but one striking name has been missing among the initial 20 interested parties. Usually registered under the GreenEdge license, Jayco AlUla, just like the women's alternative Liv AlUla Jayco have not managed to submit their applications in the period before first deadline at the end of the 2025 season. Not all hope is lost for the Australian project with late admissions possible, but there could be implications.

As for the reason to miss the deadline, Escape Collective reported that a bank guarantee of 25% of the team rider and staff salaries, worth an estimated €3-4 million, had yet to be submitted. But the sources also said the team was confident that the guarantee would be provided in the coming days.

Cyclingnews has reached out to its Jayco AlUla team source for comment, who said simply that "It is a paperwork issue and hopefully will be resolved soon." The same source would neither confirm nor deny that the delay was to do with the bank guarantee.

Although Jayco AlUla and Liv AlUla Jayco may not have been on the list of teams that had submitted all the essential documents, the UCI were clear that this did not mean those who had applied but not hit that first deadline had lost their chance to continue in the top WorldTour tier: "They still have the possibility to rectify their situation before the end of the registration process, which would enable them to be registered for the 2026 season," said the UCI in the October 20 statement.

However, there are potential implications for any teams that end up in this situation. Specifically for Jayco AlUla and Liv AlUla Jayco, this means that they could see riders under contract leave for another team without consequences.

"In accordance with the UCI Regulations and subject to other applicable provisions, riders from these teams may terminate their contracts early, but this right will lapse if their team is subsequently registered," said the UCI.

We have seen a scenario like this materialize with Cédrine Kerbaol leaving CERATIZIT-WNT at the end of 2024 to sign for EF Education-Oatly when the German WWT team failed to meet the first deadline.

The final list of teams registered for the 2026 season will be revealed by the UCI on December 10. If both teams manage to secure the bank guarantee and clear any other legal obstacles, they shall be granted WorldTour licences as both teams secured those via their placement on the UCI rankings between 2023-2025. If not, currently 19th on the ranking Cofidis would remain in WorldTour as the team has also applied for the license as a back-up.