Uno-X Mobility pull away from Cofidis in WorldTour relegation/promotion fight with two weeks remaining

With just two weeks left in the 2025 road season, there are plenty of reasons to watch the rest of the races and keep an eye on a few key teams looking to improve their standings in the 2023-2025 UCI Team Rankings which will determine the WorldTour teams for the next three seasons. Teams at the bottom of the rankings have been locked in battle to make the top 18, which form the UCI's sporting criteria for the 2026-2028 WorldTour licenses.

Israel-Premier Tech (13th), who will rebrand the team for 2026 to avert controversy over Israel's armed conflict in Gaza, are assured to meet the sporting criteria, as are Lotto (12th). Both teams were victims of the UCI's introduction of the promotion/relegation scheme in 2022 but have benefited from the federation's generous policy of providing obligatory entry for the top ProTeams to the WorldTour events and Grand Tours.

On the other side of the wheel of fortune, Arkéa-B&B Hotels, 21st, were already assured to be relegated. Now, their future is increasingly grim as the team have yet to find a sponsor. The other WorldTour team in the relegation zone are Cofidis, 20th, who have been met with a serious challenge by Uno-X Mobility.

Uno-X Mobility (19th) turned what was a slim lead over Cofidis into an advantage of almost 400 points on the French team, who have had little luck in the results column in recent races.

While neither team currently meets the sporting criteria, the proposed merger between Intermarché-Wanty (18th) and Lotto would free up one position. Uno-X Mobility are 891 points behind Intermarché-Wanty and first in line to inherit their spot if the merger goes through.

The merger has not only kept these teams up at night, it has had the entire transfer market in limbo as the two teams try to work out the last details, including a major hiccup - Belgian media revealed this week that Intermarché have a €2.5 million debt that will need to be settled.

Meanwhile, Uno-X Mobility have had a lucrative week in terms of points. The team's decision to add the Tour de Langkawi to their schedule paid off, with Anders Halland Johannessen finishing second overall. While the team weren't able to give Alexander Kristoff his desired 100th victory and he crashed out of the race, they came away with 233 points. On the other side of the world, Johannessen's twin brother Tobias finished seventh in Tre Valli Varesine and Johannes Kulset in ninth for 100 points.

Cofidis, by comparison, scored only 104 points, with Stefano Oldani's 8th in the Coppa Agostoni and Ion Izagirre's 10th place in Varese their best results over the past week.

There are still two weeks for the fight to continue, with Uno-X Mobility focusing on one-day races. Cofidis will race the Tour of Taihu Lake and Tour of Guangxi in addition to the upcoming one-day races, Gran Piemonte, Il Lombardia, Paris-Tours and the Japan Cup to try to climb back ahead of the Norwegian team.

Top ProTeams also fighting for WorldTour race entries

Cofidis aren't fighting just to get into 19th place and keep their WorldTour license; they have to also focus on the 2025 season standings. If they end up relegated and continue as a ProTeam in 2026, they would need to have been one of the top three ProTeams in the 2025 standings to get obligatory invitations to WorldTour events. As it stands, they are behind Uno-X Mobility, Israel-Premier Tech, Tudor, Q36.5 and Arkéa B&B Hotels, and only one point ahead of TotalEnergies.

If Uno-X Mobility and Israel-Premier Tech are promoted, and Arkéa dissolved, they will meet that top three condition but they'll be keen to hold off TotalEnergies who are nipping at their heels currently. TotalEnergies have a weak race programme in comparison, with only the 2.1 stage races Tour de Kyushu and the new Tour of Holland and the 1.Pro Tour de Vendée on their calendar.

Another new UCI rule that is sending teams into a panic is the stipulation that any Grand Tour wildcard invitation must be given to a team in the top 30 of the UCI Team Rankings for the previous year. Two Italian teams, VF Group Bardiani CSF-Faizané and Solution Tech Vini Fantini, have been locking horns for 30th place.

Currently, Solution Tech Vini-Fantini are behind by 253 points, and are racing three ProSeries races: Gran Piemonte, Tour of Taihu Lake, and Japan Cup, along with the 2.1 Tour de Kyushu and 2.2 Tour de Serbie. VF Group-Bardiani CSF Faizané will go head-to-head with their rivals in Gran Piemonte and Tour of Taihu lake but have an ace in their hand with an invitation to Il Lombardia.

With the top of the UCI Rankings a complete and under obliteration by UAE Team Emirates XRG and Tadej Pogačar soloing to victory every race, the action is now further back in the peloton. Keep an eye out for the teams in shades of orange or red in the coming races.