UCI points system "doesn’t make any sense" - Euzebio Unzué bashes as Movistar enters risky area

Movistar Team have avoided too much pressure for the time being, however they've been caught up in the battle for UCI points as the red line between the 18th and 19th place means a relegation for the teams who sit behind.

Team manager Euzebio Unzué has told Cyclingnews at the Critérium du Dauphiné that the relegation battle in which they found themselves in “It’s madness.". Movistar was in 16th place in the last UCI point update, only 700 points ahead of Lotto Soudal who's surging. The Spanish team have a buffer, however they don't have the luxury of being able to ignore the risk, and have to take this classification into consideration. 

The battle has became a nuisance for Movistar Team who are having Alejandro Valverde in his retirement season, but the veteran is having to be a key card to the team to play for it's survival at World Tour level.

"Fortunately, Alejandro has been, as ever, exemplary. He’s the first to be willing to do what needs to be done. He’s aware that we’re a little obliged to go after some points, because that’s what the system demands. It’s unthinkable, really, but that’s the situation we find ourselves in," Unzué said. 

He has called for "the points system needs to be reformed" aswell, as he explained why he's against the ranking. "It doesn’t seem logical to me that in order to stay in the first division, we have to go and search for points in the second and third divisions. You try and explain that to fans of other sports. It doesn’t make any sense.”

“I understand the system was created with good intentions but it’s not fair. We need to think about how we can make it more meritorious, logical, reasonable, proportional to the quality of the riders. The points you obtain often don’t do justice to what you did in the race, and that’s another problem. It’s artificial. We have to value other things," he concluded.