UCI Rankings | UAE leads charts; Arkea and Astana in relegation position; Lotto and Israel eye return to World Tour

In a new update, Raúl Banqueri has gathered up all the UCI points at line after the lucrative Giro d'Italia, which reveals a tough reality at the start of the new three-year cycle for some teams, as the planning for the points is ongoing within some teams.

In pursuit of the - rather meaningless - title, UAE Team Emirates have started off the first half of the season in the lead of the rankings, with 12.981 points ahead of Jumbo-Visma who take 12.349, both teams once again miles ahead of all other teams, although INEOS Grenadiers is not too far off the front, but with the season unfolding it isn't expected that the gap will close down. Behind, most teams follow on without too many gaps present.

The interesting positions to note are towards the bottom, although not as far. Lotto Dstny and Israel - Premier Tech who were relegated last winter currently sit 10th and 15th in the rankings. Israel, Team DSM, Team Jayco AlUla and AG2R Citroën Team have a small disadvantage over the remaining Top18 teams but remain above the red line. As it stands Lotto and Israel are clear favourites to receive wildcards for all World Tour events next year.

AG2R has 4447 points whilst Arkéa Samsic, who is 19th, has 3366, a meaningful gap that will already be difficult to close in the short or even medium term. TotalEnergies and Uno-X Pro Cycling Team follow, and Astana Qazaqstan Team only feature in 22nd place with 2122 points - less than half of those of AG2R. Despite Mark Cavendish's glorious win in Rome, the Kazakh team remains in a very sensitive and difficult position where they are very far from the rest of the World Tour - except Arkéa - competition.