The battle to secure promotion to the men's WorldTour is set to go down to the wire this weekend, after Uno-X Mobility entered two riders to the Chrono des Nations time trial in what they admitted was "a last desperate attempt to get as many points as possible".
Uno-X currently sit 19th in the three-year WorldTour standings which, should the merger between Lotto and Intermarché-Wanty go ahead, will be enough to earn them a promotion into the WorldTour.
However, after nearly three years of points-scoring, they sit just 337 points above 20th-placed Cofidis who are trying to stave off relegation from the WorldTour.
40 points are available for a stage win and 300 for the overall victory at the ongoing Tour of Guangxi, where Cofidis are in action and Uno-X are not taking part, meaning the gap is still very much closable for the French team.
With nothing settled in mathematical terms, Uno-X have decided to take drastic action and enter two riders to this weekend's Chrono des Nations, a standalone time trial with 125 points on offer for the winner, and points available for the top 25.
In a battle of small margins, a spot in the WorldTour could very well come down to the standings in France on Sunday evening.
The team have already spent the whole final part of the season focused on points-scoring, going as far as asking their riders not to compete at the World Championships in order to chase points for their trade teams. So it's not surprising to see them doing everything all the way to the finish line.
"It's a last desperate attempt to get as many points as possible," Uno-X team boss Thor Hushovd told TV2. "Then we can look in the mirror afterwards and be confident that we did everything we could."
Uno-X will enter Søren Wærenskjold and Carl-Frederik Bévort in the 45km ITT in Les Herbiers, where Wærenskjold can be counted among the contenders for the podium. The only Cofidis rider currently set to ride is Alexis Renard, but it would not be surprising to see the French squad also enter a rider like Benjamin Thomas.
Trying to become the first Norwegian team in the men's WorldTour has long been Uno-X's goal, and after three years of trying, they have just a few days to secure that spot, and know nothing is certain yet.
"We have a better starting point than Cofidis now, but at the same time 337 points is not a lot. If we manage to do that, it will be a new milestone in Norwegian cycling history," Hushovd continued.
Outside of the battle for the final spot in the WorldTour, there is also an ongoing struggle for guaranteed WorldTour race invitations.
According to the UCI regulations, the top three ProTeams each season will be granted automatic entry to every WorldTour event the next year and at present, Tudor Pro Cycling and Q36.5 Pro Cycling look set to secure two of those spots.
However, if Cofidis are relegated from the WorldTour, they will be in a tight duel with TotalEnergies to ensure they still secure invitations to WorldTour events. At the moment, only 179 points separate them, with Cofidis leading, but there is a possibility that Cofidis could drop out of the WorldTour and not even get automatic invitations either.
With all major UCI-ranked racing for 2025 wrapping up on Sunday October 19 and the final classifications expected the following Tuesday, it's not long until we will have the promotion and relegation answers that have hung over the last three years of racing.
