"Pogacar's victory doesn't matter to us" - World Tour DS criticizes UCI points system and argues that it "kills the sport"

Mathew Hayman was interviewed in Japan during the post-season period and was asked about the UCI points situation. The former pro and current DS of Team Jayco AlUla criticized it quite harshly and believes that often teams do not try to win races but are instead forced to race in very different ways so as to secure their future - both at World Tour level but also financially speaking.

"Let me tell you a secret? UCI points. If the riders take on a gamble to win, we can't expect to get a lot of UCI points. Pogacar's victory doesn't matter to us," Hayman told CycloWired. "At [GP de] Montréal, instead of the riders taking turns attacking to narrow down the leading group, I told them 'let the UAE lead the group, and we'll make sure we have multiple riders finish in the top 10.'" The tactic is employed by several teams, who in this specific case for example did not try to chase down Pogacar but instead focused on each other and the battle for minor places. Jayco's reality is one that many other teams face, that influence modern racing.

"We don't give up on winning from the beginning. Tactics change depending on which year of the three-year cycle it is, and we were also aiming to win at Il Lombardia. But when Pogacar took the lead and it became clear that we would win, we switched our strategy to earning UCI points".

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Currently, Arkéa - B&B Hotels and Astana Qazaqstan Team are below the red line and at risk of losing their UCI license. Uno-X Mobility is in the same area regarding points, whilst Cofidis and Team DSM-Firmenich are just above the line. These five teams are just a few that are likely to have as absolute priority for the 2025 season to score points. A few others will also have that tension, whilst at ProTeam level teams will battle each other for wildcards. It's a system that has taken over and only a few teams don't really pay much attention to it.

"UAE, Visma, Ineos and others don't need to aim for anything other than winning. But we're different. We have to steadily accumulate UCI points and move up the team rankings," he adds. UAE Team Emirates however do focus on UCI points quite a lot, as a method to 'gain points' with it's sponsor, this was very visible during the 2023 and 2024 seasons where the team had a very extensive calendar and even some riders that would just focus on minor races where they could score more.

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"We're under constant pressure from sponsors. If we're in danger of being relegated, it's more important to get UCI points to move up to 8th or 6th in the team rankings than to win three races. When a team sells sponsorship rights, the amount varies greatly depending on whether they're in the top 10 in the world or fighting for relegation," Hayman shares. So financially speaking, the pressure is on, even if the team is not at risk of being relegated. "There are always companies that want to make their name known at the Tour de France."

"Next season, the final year of the three-year cycle, will be more interesting and we'll see more real battles. It's a system that kills the sport of road racing. Even if Pogacar had been with Soudal or EF, he would have won big races like the Grand Tours. It's a tough fight, but we want to continue building a team that inherits the GreenEdge tradition."

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