EF Education-EasyPost head sports director Charly Wegelius has predicted that the fight for ranking points to remain in the UCI WorldTour will start immediately, in January 2023, after teams became acutely aware of the danger of WorldTour relegation.
EF Education-EasyPost was among the teams to stay in the top-ranked 18 teams at the end of the 2022 season, satisfying the sporting criteria to obtain a WorldTour licence for 2023-2025. Lotto Soudal and Israel- Premier Tech are set to be relegated to ProTeam status, while Alpecin-Deceuninck and Arkea-Samsic scored enough points to step up to the WorldTour.
Now the battle begins to score points during the next three seasons to obtain a licence for 2026. Wegelius says that many of the WorldTour teams, including his own, have learned a vital lesson about the importance of scoring points.
“It’s clearly something that we’re happy to have got through in a positive way, but the clock starts again on January 1st,” Wegelius told Cyclingnews last week.
“Another three year cycle starts, so the points will count until the next licence application round.”
“I think quite a few teams got spooked this year. And our situation and those of other teams shows that if you have a rough patch in the wrong part of the season or you have a lean year because of injuries to key riders, it could quite quickly slide in the wrong direction.”
Wegelius argued that the battle for UCI points could affect teams' race strategy and not just in the short-term as happened in 2022. He claimed that even if EF Education-EasyPost had no intention of altering its general race philosophy, the events of this season showed the UCI points battle was now an element that mattered, right from January 1st.
“I’d love to see the team stay true to itself, of racing the way we’ve always raced and what we’ve always tried to do regardless of the points. Chasing points is not always the most entertaining way of racing, by a long shot,” he suggested.
“But it’s obviously something we have to keep chipping away at and from now on I think everybody will be at that.”
Wegelius admitted there was no escaping the points battle, given the risks of ignoring it. As he put it: “the cat is out of the bag”.
“Obviously, it remains to be seen if the teams are going to approach that question with the same intensity as they did over the last months of the 2022 season.”
“Because there are other things that push teams in other directions, be it sponsor requirements or going for other goals. But the cat’s out of the bag, everybody knows how it [the UCI points battle] can create problems for you in the last months of a three year cycle.”
Wegelius agreed that this new element of racing might be considered disheartening, but preferred to see it as part of a bigger picture.
“It’s a big responsibility to bear because you want the team to be able to perform at the highest level, but it’s part of the game. We just have to work along with it like we do with a load of other stuff and try and accept it for what it is.”
Richard Carapaz to lift team's ambitions
EF Education-EasyPost have made some major signings for 2023, with Richard Carapaz moving from Ineos Grenadiers to the American squad.
Wegelius values Carapaz for his talents and also feels the defending Olympic champion and multiple Grand Tour podium finisher can lift the entire squad.
“To state the obvious, he’s an extremely high level rider. But beyond when they’ve got someone like that to work for, he’ll galvanize riders across the team.”
“I think that the combination of Rigoberto Urán in the last few years of his career with Richard is going to be a great one as well. I can see quite a lot of energy there.”
“I wouldn’t say Richard is the next generation because he’s in the prime of his career. But it’s a big step for us and the framework of a team to support someone like that has been there for quite a while. Now we can put it into action.”
Wegelius denied that adding another Grand Tour contender to the EF roster would mean that Hugh Carthy, would be taking a step back when it came to GC aspirations.
In 2022 the Briton claimed a top ten finish in the Giro d'Italia, a rare high point in a year where his overall consistency was hampered by illness.
“The Tour route is only just out, we’re still looking at that. We haven’t got that far [in the decision-making process], to be honest. But Hugh’s a high quality rider and we’re going to keep trying to develop him and get the best results out of him that we can.”
“Modern cycling isn’t about putting all your eggs in one basket anyway, even if it’s clear that Richard’s going to be a figurehead for the team. I’m sure we can work it out, with all the races there are on the calendar.”
Carapaz’ resilience and determination to turn things around has been noticeable over the years and will be an example for other teammates to follow, too. His performance in the 2022 Vuelta a España, where he lost all hope of a repeat top GC ride but bounced back with three stage wins and the mountains title, is a case in point.
“A team like ours has always enjoyed racing by taking chances and racing aggressively when we can. Signing a rider of this calibre doesn’t have to mean conservative racing. So it’ll be a good fit.”
It’s already been pointed out that the 2023 Tour de France unusual route could be good for Carapaz, but the Giro d’Italia has smiled on the Ecuadorian in the past as well.
“He’s been competitive in all three Grand Tours, so in a sense we’re spoiled for choice," Wegelius said.
“We have to sit down, go through our options together and make some decisions. It’s still a little bit early for that.”
A lot of these decisions will be made over the coming weeks prior to the season start, with the potential team line-ups for major challenges, gradually gaining shape.
First comes deciding EF Education-EasyPost's race calendar.
“At this point in the game, we’re going through the race calendar for the entire team, putting together what additional races we’re going to do alongside the obligatory WorldTour events," he explains.
“And alongside that we’ve got what you might call ’buckets’ of riders we’re trying to get ready for the main appointments of the WorldTour, a group around the Giro, say, and another for the Classics.”
“As the race route information trickles in over the coming weeks, we’ll get a bit of clarity on that. Then hopefully by the time we meet up in early December in Girona, we’ll have a outline for everybody and what the plans are.”
The battle for WorldTour points in the next three seasons will be incorporated into that EF masterplan. Judging from Wegelius’ observations, that battle can’t and won’t be ignored, not even three years out from the next final verdict on WorldTour relegation and promotion.
