Relegation watch: Israel-Premier Tech drift further from safety

The latest standings update in the UCI WorldTour relegation battle has seen Israel-Premier Tech drop further away from survival as several teams strengthened their status with a haul of points in recent races: the Tour de Luxembourg, Tour of Slovakia, Giro della Toscana, Coppa Sabatini, GP de Wallonie, Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen, Primus Classic, Gooikse Pijl and GP d'Isbergues.

The Israeli squad has struggled all season but since the last update on September 13, they now lie 1,597.17 points away from the sought-after 18th spot in the UCI team rankings.

Point hauls from Corbin Strong and Guillaume Boivin for fifth places at the GP de Wallonie and Primus Classic, respectively, did little to improve their situation. Strong and Boivin knocked Carl Fredrik Hagen and Itamar Einhorn off the top 10, so of Strong and Boivin's combined 170 points the yield this week was only 79, further highlighting the importance of not just the points scored, but the riders scoring them.

They are still in the game, though, with 22 major races remaining between now and the end-of-season triple-header on October 16 at the Japan Cup, Chrono des Nations, and Veneto Classic. Thousands of points remain up for grabs during the series of smaller one-day races – as well as the Worlds road race (600 points), Il Lombardia (500), and the Tour de Langkawi (a total of 1,070) – left to run over the coming weeks.

It's far from mathematically over for Israel-Premier Tech – even if rumours of the UCI expanding the WorldTour to 20 teams and team owner Sylvan Adams talking of potentially suing the UCI hint at varying conclusions to the team's battle to stay at cycling's top table.

One spot further up the table in 19th, Lotto Soudal picked up 320 points during the past week. But 18th place is now held by BikeExchange-Jayco after strong performances by Cofidis, who moved ahead of the Australian team and EF Education-EasyPost. 

The result of the week's shuffle means the Belgian team lies 652 points away from 18th, a 50-point gain - and might have been closer if it wasn't for Arnaud De Lie getting caught in a late crash at the Primus Classic.

The young sprinter has led Lotto's charge this season with 2,095 points and added 40 at Gooikse Pijl, while Caleb Ewan (85 points at Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen), Andreas Kron (50 at Coppa Sabatini), and Jasper De Buyst (40 at GP de Wallonie) also contributed.

There's still some gap to close for the team, though they are at least going in the right direction. They'll need De Lie and Ewan to continue their recent good form to close out the the season in order to take 18th.

BikeExchange-Jayco picked up a modest haul of 145 points last week with Dylan Groenewegen taking 120 at Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen (3rd, 70pt) and Gooikse Pijl (5th, 50pt). Dion Smith picked up 10 for minor placings in the Primus Classic and GP de Wallonie, while Matteo Sobrero's 15th place in the Worlds TT earned 15. It has been a slow week but the weekend promises more with Michael Matthews a real contender at his home Worlds, the biggest point-scoring race remaining in 2022.

Further up the rankings, EF Education-EasyPost (325 points), Cofidis (481), Arkéa-Samsic (280) and Movistar (467) have dragged themselves further out of the mire, with Cofidis having jumped up two spots in the past week. In 17th place, EF are 854.32 points above 19th, and all four teams look secure in the 2023 WorldTour so long as they keep picking up points through the final weeks of the season.

EF can thank Stefan Bissegger for 125 points after the Swiss rider took fifth place in the Worlds time trial, while Odd Christian Eiking scored 150 for coming second at the Coppa Sabatini and Marius van den Berg took 60 at the GP de Wallonie.

Warren Barguil, Amaury Capiot, and Hugo Hofstetter picked up 105 points for Arkéa-Samsic through the week, while young talent Kevin Vauquelin's second place at the Tour de Luxembourg saw him contribute 150 points to the cause. The French team looks set for promotion and remains in 15th place.

Cofidis' 481 points makes them the best-performing team of the week with a well-rounded performance. Guillaume Martin's third place at the Coppa Sabatini brought 125 points, while Max Walscheid, Axel Zingle, Simone Consonni, and Piet Allegaert combined for 225 points with solid performance across the one-day races.

Finally, Movistar look solid in 14th having climbed the table following the Vuelta a España. The Spanish squad are now 1,345 points clear of Lotto having added a good haul of 467 points since last Tuesday. Max Kanter's podium places at Gooikse Pijl and the Primus Classic brought in 195 points, while Alex Aranburu scored 60 in Italy and form man Gonzalo Serrano was third at the GP de Wallonie to add 125 points to his Tour of Britain haul.

2020-2022 Team Rankings

2022 Team Rankings

Although Israel-Premier Tech are still wallowing in the relegation zone, if the team is relegated but chooses to keep going as a ProTeam, they still have prospects. The team are 768 points behind TotalEnergies, and 2,072 behind Lotto Soudal.

The best two ProTeam of 2022 earns an automatic invite to the Grand Tours and, should the UCI keep the WorldTour at 18 teams, Israel-Premier Tech would have to overtake TotalEnergies.

However, if the UCI keep the WorldTour at 20 teams as is rumoured, there would be no automatic invitation for TotalEnergies as the best ProTeam as the provision only goes up to a 19-team WorldTour. The French team's hopes would then have to lie in the proposal to increase the peloton to up to 200 riders, allowing organisers of the Grand Tours to have more choices for wildcards.

The relegation battle continues this week with the Omloop van het Houtland (Wednesday), Paris-Chauny (Saturday), and the Worlds road race (Sunday). Check below for the current points rankings and remaining race schedule.

Race calendar