'It's survival' – More than podiums at stake as battle for top 30 spots, WorldTour positions and ProTeam priority played out at Le Tour de Langkawi

Among the race for stage wins, podium spots and top placings on the overall standings at the eight-day Petronas Le Tour de Langkawi, another battle was unfolding, one which could have ramifications extending far beyond the outcome of this 2.Pro ranked race.

It's true that every year there are layers of significance to the event, which is named after a tourist island but also traverses a nation, bringing the sport to a swathe of spectators dotted across the country from right in the shadow of the Petronas Towers of Kuala Lumpur, the beachsides of Langkawi and through the jungle territory near Gerik.

It provides a rare opportunity for racing in the region – crucial for developing riders and fan interest – but also can be teeming with riders who are yet to find a contract for next season, chasing a last chance to snag a result that can keep their career alive. Then every three years there is also another key call – the end of the points cycle which sets the team rankings that determines who gets the WorldTour spots, and then there is the yearly tally to see who will snare the top three ProTour positions that lead to automatic Grand Tour invitations in 2026 and also which teams are eligible for wildcard entries at the high profile three week-events, with those outside the top 30 not even in with a chance.

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The distance, positioning at the end of the season and 2.Pro ranking for the race with a field including a mix of WorldTour teams, ProTeams and Continental squads make it a prime opportunity for gathering points, up to 200 for the GC winner ending at three for 30th place plus five points for each day wearing the leader's jersey and in each stage 20 points were up for grabs for the winner down to three for fifth place

One of the most obvious races within the race playing out on the points front was among the three Italian ProTeams at the race – Polti VisitMalta, VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè and Solution Tech Vini Fantini – all looking to stay in the top 30 of the three-year rankings so they had a chance at a Giro d'Italia wild card. Before the tour started, the teams were lined up around the top 30, with 29th placed Polti VisitMalta and 30th placed VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane inside the cut and Solution Tech Vini Fantini just outside in 31st. Two of the three among their sports directors weren't pulling any punches about just how much was at stake.

"It's survival, survival for the team, because out of the first 30 is also out of the Giro d' Italia. For my team, out of the Giro d'Italia it is closing time," said Polti-VisitMalta sports director Jesus Hernandez on the sidelines of the race in its early stages.

"The pressure in the sport, we try to manage that pressure well, but this is really, really important. It is more than important; it is the survival of the team."

VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè with their sponsor in place through to the end of 2027 is in a more stable position though they are, of course conscious of the circumstances – "If you are in the first thirty positions, you don't [necessarily] get the invitation, but you can, if you are out, you can't," said Mirko Rossato in translated quotes at the start of the stage starting in Kuala Terengganu, coincidentally the location where he took one of his two stage victories in the 1998 edition of the Le Tour de Langkawi.

Rossato said the team is focused more on chasing points in its coming races in Europe, where it has better opportunities, to bolster its position and that while it would be better if they could have a spot in the Giro d'Italia, it was "not a problem" for sponsorship if they were out of the wild card running given the team had an agreement in place through 2027.

Consequences – 'I don't want to think about it'

Solution Tech Vini Fantini's sports director, Filippo Fuochi, however, echoed Hernandez's sentiment, with the situation critical, particularly given the squad is sitting just outside the top 30.

"I don't want to think about it," said Fuochi when asked what would happen if the team didn't finish inside the top 30. "But I think the team will go away, because I think we have a good sponsor, but it's too important that we are in the first 30, because I don't know how much time the sponsor can support us if we aren't.

"We will try every day, every race till the 19 of October," said Fuochi in Malaysia.

While there are some more races to come, the end is certainly drawing near, and the tally at the Tour de Langkawi fell in Polti-Visit Malta's favour.

"At the moment, the race was good," Hernandez told Cyclingnews at the start of stage 8. "I'm really happy with the team, with the commitment, with the attitude of each one. And yeah, of course we, at the moment, have got even more points than the other Italian ProTeams, so I'm really happy with this," he said with a laugh.

Later that day they walked away with the to spot in the teams classification, four riders in the top 15 overall – Fernando Tercero in sixth, Davide Bais in 9th, Germán Darío Gómez in 13th and Alex Martín just behind in 14th – and Manuel Peñalver finishing in the stage points on five of the eight days with a second, third, two fourth places and also a fifth.

Consolidating that position at the head of the Italian ProTeams at the race where they accumulated 183 points and shifted up to 27th spot when that was combined with some other strong results in Europe, was important. This was not only because it put them more solidly within the top 30, leaving them eligible for a wildcard, but also, Hernandez pointed out earlier, because being the top one of the Italian teams also made it more likely they wouldn't only be eligible but also actually get it.

While the Italian team battle may have been firing, it wasn't the only top 30 fight going on, with Spanish teams Burgos Burpellet BH and Equipo Kern Pharma sitting just inside the top 30 along with French team Unibet Tietema Rockets who were clear that the reason for the trip to Malaysia was to gather UCI points, and while they walked away with 121 plus a stage win, said they were hoping for more in a social media post.

WorldTour and ProTour pickings

As we work our way up the rankings, what is at stake is a position as one of the top three ProTeams on the yearly ranking that receive automatic wildcard invitation to WorldTour races, and for those teams in the top 18 over the three-year cycle, it is a WorldTour spot.

Currently, UNO-X Mobility is just outside the top 18 on the three-year cycle, so chasing points was certainly one of the many reasons for heading to Langkawi, with the squad having raced the 2.1-ranked CRO Race in recent years instead, but the higher ranking in Malaysia meant more points were available. There is no doubt the team will get a wildcard invitation to the WorldTour races as one of the top ProTeams – currently ranked 12th on the yearly tally, but even if the team from Norway finishes 19th on the three-year cycle taken into consideration for relegation and promotion, given the mooted merger of Intermarché-Wanty and Lotto, it is very likely to secure a WorldTour spot. Still, it was taking a pragmatic approach.

"At the end of the day, it doesn't come down to this last race. I mean, it's been going on for three years," sports director Leonard Snoeks told Cyclingnews. "So if we don't make it, we don't make it. If we make it, that's a really nice bonus for us."

The squad was the top points earner at the race, sweeping up 254 through a combination of their GC efforts, with second-place Anders Halland Johannessen and a heavy dose of stage podiums from their sprinters.

One of the WorldTour teams at the race, which at one stage had looked vulnerable of heading the other way and falling out of the WorldTour instead of into it, is XDS-Astana. However, they have transformed their chances in 2025 with a calculated approach to gathering points, which in 2025 has propelled them up to fourth place for the year and their three-year ranking to 15th.

"The priority, of course, with the team, was points this year," explained the winner of the final stage, Astana's Aaron Gate. "And I think it's a good thing. This is the team showing that we belong in the WorldTour, and I think for a starter to currently be fourth in the world tour team rankings this year shows that we had a plan, we stuck to it, and I think it's a real credit to everyone involved to make that happen."

The performance in the race that worked its way from the very north to south of Peninsular Malaysia after starting on Langkawi, also certainly didn't hurt with four stage victories – three from Matteo Malucelli, one from Gate, plus a fourth on the GC for Nicolas Vinokurov and 19th for Gate, which left them walking away from the eight-day tour with 225 points.

Team sports director Mark Renshaw told Cyclingnews early in the race that the target at the start of the season was to score points to keep the team in the WorldTour, and even though it has been a good season, that had remained the objective in Langkawi.

"Well, mathematically our IT guy hasn't said that it's fixed and until he says that it's mathematically done, then we keep the target of scoring points, even though it does look good, but we keep setting new targets, and the target now is to pass Jayco," he said early in the race, and that target has now been achieved with the help of Langkawi.