UCI World Tour Teams Ranking Update: Pogacar's UAE extend their lead as Picnic climbs and the fight around 30th intensifies

UAE Team Emirates - XRG remain firmly in control of the UCI rankings, extending their advantage at the top to more than 5,600 points over Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe. The Emirati squad now has 29,642.96 points, while Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe sits second on 24,030.26, with neither team facing any immediate threat to its position.

There was more movement immediately behind them. Team Visma | Lease a Bike stay third but strengthened their position after a hugely successful Giro dell'Emilia, where Davide Piganzoli took the victory and the Dutch team also placed Ben Tulett fourth and Matteo Jorgenson fifth. Piganzoli's win was the sixth of his career and came after a late attack with 4.8 kilometers remaining.

Visma now has 21,878.10 points, giving the team a more substantial cushion over Decathlon CMA CGM Team. The French squad sits fourth with 19,584.32 points, ahead of Lidl-Trek on 17,773.07.

The Giro dell'Emilia was also significant for several other teams. Tom Pidcock finished second for Pinarello-Q36.5, Oscar Onley was third for Netcompany INEOS and Ben Healy took sixth for EF Education-EasyPost. UAE's Adam Yates and world champion Brandon McNulty finished eighth and 10th respectively, giving the leading team another solid points haul without changing the hierarchy at the summit.

At the other end of the table, however, the battle is becoming increasingly dramatic. Team Picnic PostNL moved two places to 28th, while Bardiani CSF 7 Saber and MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort occupy 29th and 30th respectively. Euskaltel-Euskadi gained another position to move into 31st, leaving a cluster of teams separated by relatively small margins.

There is little suspense surrounding the top of the classification. UAE's 29,642.96 points leave them 5,612.70 ahead of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, and the team's enormous advantage is a reflection of the depth of its scoring throughout 2026.

The WorldTour leaders did not need a major result this week to protect their position. McNulty's 10th place at the Giro dell'Emilia was nevertheless noteworthy because it was his first race in the rainbow jersey after his World Championships victory in Montréal. The American remained active in the Italian classic but ultimately could not follow the decisive move from Piganzoli.

Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe also remain comfortably ahead of Visma, despite the latter's strong weekend in Italy. The top three therefore retain the same order as in the previous update, with the more meaningful change coming further down as Decathlon continues to consolidate fourth.

Lidl-Trek, meanwhile, remain fifth. The gap between them and Decathlon has now grown to more than 1,800 points, meaning the French team's rise is becoming increasingly difficult for the American-registered squad to ignore.

Soudal Quick-Step sits 10th with 11,490.40 points, just ahead of Alpecin-Premier Tech on 11,292.34. Uno-X Mobility remains ninth, while Netcompany INEOS holds eighth. The margins between several teams in this section are small enough that further autumn results could still produce changes before the season ends.

Team Jayco AlUla remains 12th and EF Education-EasyPost 13th, with only 22.27 points separating them. Movistar Team continues to hold 14th on 9,826.10 points, keeping its position as the highest-ranked Spanish team by a substantial margin.

Tudor Pro Cycling Team made one of the more noticeable moves in this section, climbing two places to 15th. Its strong Giro dell'Emilia result also provided a boost, with Michael Storer finishing ninth in Bologna. Pinarello-Q36.5, meanwhile, slips to 16th despite Pidcock's runner-up finish.

The most closely watched section of the ranking is once again near the bottom of the table. Picnic PostNL has recovered two positions and is now 28th with 2,662 points, moving ahead of Bardiani CSF 7 Saber and MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort.

Only 2.15 points separate Bardiani in 29th from MBH Bank in 30th, making the two teams effectively level in the current standings. Euskaltel-Euskadi is another 170.74 points behind MBH Bank in 31st, while Li Ning Star sits 32nd on 2,407.33.

That creates an unusually compressed group in which a single strong result can produce several changes at once. Picnic's move is particularly notable given the Dutch team's difficult season and its ongoing uncertainty over its WorldTour future.

However, 30th place should not be confused with an automatic Grand Tour invitation. The UCI's current system guarantees participation in WorldTour events for the three highest-ranked ProTeams from the previous season; finishing 30th in the overall team ranking does not itself provide that right.

Euskaltel-Euskadi has moved to 31st and is now just 172.74 points behind Bardiani, giving it a realistic opportunity to re-enter the top 30 with a strong result during the final weeks of the season.

Further up the standings, Cofidis made the biggest move in this section by climbing two places to 17th with 9,340.03 points. The French team moved ahead of NSN Cycling Team, which fell two positions to 18th.

Lotto Intermarché also dropped one place to 19th with 9,044 points, while Groupama-FDJ United remains 20th. The gap between Cofidis, NSN and Lotto is now under 300 points, so that order could still change before the season ends.

Unibet Rose Rockets holds 21st, followed by TotalEnergies in 22nd. Caja Rural-Seguros RGA remains the highest-ranked team below the WorldTour and ProTeam-heavy section at 23rd, with Burgos-Burpellet-BH 24th and Team Polti VisitMalta 25th.