The 2025 season has started - How is the promotion/relegation standings in the decisive season?
Cycling
The 2023-2025 UCI rankings cycle is going to end this year and it is very likely that we will see some teams return to World Tour level whilst others descend to ProTeam level. All of this will depend on the UCI points scored throughout these three years, and on the third a few teams already start on the back foot.
At the top of the charts, unsurprisingly, is UAE Team Emirates - XRG who was on equal footing to Team Visma | Lease a Bike in 2023, but 2024 was a whole other story as the Dutch team experienced many mishaps, whilst the Emirati team had an unbelievable Tadej Pogacar leading a team where over 20 riders won a total of over 80 races. Soudal - Quick-Step follows in third, followed by Lidl-Trek, INEOS Grenadiers, Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe and Alpecin-Deceuninck, as reported by Raúl Banqueri.
What is most important however are the positions towards the bottom of the charts. Perhaps the split occurs on position 16 with Intermarché - Wanty having 20.497 points, followed by Team Picnic PostNL with 19.083 and Cofidis with 18.498 points. These teams, as it stands, will continue to have their World Tour license, but they must have a strong season to assure that it stays like that.
Below the red line is Arkéa - B&B Hotels with 16.044 points, a bad position for the French team that shows little signs of being able to close the gap, whilst the team's ending could also be decided in the upcoming months. XDS Astana Team got a new Chinese sponsor with a budget increase, used to sign riders capable of scoring UCI points. But as it stands, it is almost 5000 points behind Cofidis, with a total of 13.964.
Inbetween is Uno-X Mobility with 15.507 points, a team who has realistically entered the fight for the World Tour license, although it is far from a likely scenario. The other battle will be that for the wildcards for the 2026 season. The two ProTeams (at the start of 2026) who have scored the most points in the 2025 season have automatic wildcards for all races. At the Clàssica Comunitat Valenciana Tudor already launched an early move with Marc Hirschi taking the win, but at the top of the charts is Astana who had second, sixth and seventh in that race -
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This is the last season of the WT licence cycle, so there will be promotions and relegations at the end of 2025. Astana has started well, but is still 4500 points behind Cofidis.
— Raúl Banqueri (@raulbanqueri) January 28, 2025
The relegated teams (now Arkéa and Astana) compete for 2026 wildcards with the rest of the ProTeams. pic.twitter.com/hQSKy6BMrk
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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