UCI President David Lappartient defends current points system

UCI President David Lappartient has came in defence of the current UCI points system, in which in the current year several teams are fighting for their place in the World Tour for the coming three seasons.

In a long interview which Wielerflits has dissected into several topic, the current points system was a reason for debate, as Lappartient assured the system would be used: “We will certainly implement the promotion relegation at the end of the season. We introduced this rule a few years ago when we reformed professional cycling. The teams did not want such a system, while the organisers were in favour of an annual promotion relegation. The compromise we found was the certainty of a three-year WorldTour licence."

“Now we have a ranking over three years. It is therefore possible that you have lost a rider for a period due to Covid-19. But because the points are made over three years, this has no crucial influence on the ranking. The first 18 teams are sure to stay in the WorldTour," he added.

At the time being, Lotto Soudal and Israel - Premier Tech are in a relegation position, as the two top Pro Teams have risen to the occasion over the last few years. Whilst Alpecin-Fenix has easily been one of the most influencial teams in the classics and sprints, Arkéa Samsic has also benefited from their consistent roster and the French calendar to put themselves ahead of several World Tour teams.

Cofidis, Team BikeExchange - Jayco and EF Education - EasyPost are the three teams that, according to the last update, and within reach of the lower-positioned teams. Ilnesses and crashes can affect different teams in different ways, however in the last few months some have reported to be making changes to the riders' schedules in an urgent attempt to gather as many points as possible.

"We now see that between teams 15 and 20 the difference is not too big. That means that a number of teams are indeed under pressure, but this does not mean that it is a bad system. We find a promotion-relegation system in almost all sports. It certainly has its advantages for the competition as well," Lappartient added. 

Sure enough, it can be argued that without any sort of ranking, teams would have much less need to perform - bringing the overall level of racing down perhaps. Discussion has also been had regarding the points gained in different events, where the classics and overall classification placements are heavily crucial, which does not favour teams focused in other fields. “Although, it is our job to ensure that no more points can be earned in these races than in the WorldTour. I fear that the scoring of races will be a point of discussion until the last days of my life."

"Nevertheless, we can already conclude that the system works. We may still need to make small improvements, but I think the current ranking gives a good idea of the strength differences between the teams over the past three years," Lappartient concluded.