Reinardt Janse van Rensburg fears small teams will meet same fate as B&B Hotels-KTM - "They just don’t have a chance to shine"

In the wake of the collapse of B&B Hotels-KTM, attention has once again turned to the WorldTour system. In Reinardt Janse van Rensburg's opinion, many small teams will suffer the same fate as B & B Hotels-KTM if nothing is done.

“I think the system at the moment and how it’s set up is killing all the smaller teams, all the Pro Continental teams, they just don’t have a chance to shine,” Rensburg said to Cyclingweekly. He points out that “You’ve got the 18 WorldTour teams, and then the two Pro-Continental teams that are guaranteed invites to all the WorldTour races, so race organisers only have like two invites that they can send out.”

He focuses on state of the WorldTour relegation system and the way in which points are allocated during the season. “I think the points system is completely broken with how it works, it just doesn’t make sense the way in which points are allocated. First that needs to be fixed and then the relegation system has to be looked at too.”

In his opinion, the solution is to have fewer WorldTour teams and to leave more places for the smaller teams. “I think it would actually make sense to have even fewer WorldTour teams, say only 10. Then you could have 12 wildcards or Pro-Continental or whatever. Then it could be much more competitive and much more supportive and fair with how teams get to the big races. Otherwise there are very limited opportunities if you’re not one of the top 20 teams in the system.” concluded Rensburg.