The greatest second-division campaigns of the 2020s so far

The continuous rise of Uno-X Mobility has been very impressive, and the team have managed to climb to the premier division of cycling all whilst maintaining their Scandinavian identity throughout.

After excellent campaigns previously, 2025 was the best yet for the team, breaking new ground on many occasions. Søren Wærenskjold caused a minor upset, sprinting to victory at Omloop Nieuwsblad, marking the first WorldTour Classic victory for the team.

Races such as Tirreno-Adriatico, where Fredrik Dversnes won a stage from the breakaway, and the Lidl Deutschland Tour, which saw Wærenskjold win two stages and the GC, showed how Uno-X can compete with the best and illustrated the team's confidence to take the race to their opponents and be aggressive.

The Tour de France was the major highlight, proving the team’s capability to compete amongst the very best, and the squad looked at home in what was only their third Tour since debuting in 2023. Competing on all fronts, the team won a historic stage via Jonas Abrahamsen from the breakaway, despite the Norwegian breaking his collarbone just 17 days before the Grand Départ in Lille.

Meanwhile, former Tour de l’Avenir winner Tobias Halland Johannessen realised his potential, finishing 6th on GC. To make such an impression on the Tour as a second division team illustrates the qualities of Uno-X and how they are not like most non-WorldTour teams. 

In total, the team won 23 times in 2025, including three at WorldTour level, landing them 11th in the UCI team rankings. 

Unsurprisingly, since securing their WorldTour license for 2026, Uno-X's ambitions have continued to rise, outlining their plans for continued progress in the Classics, a stronger presence in the Ardennes, winning stages in all three Grand Tours, aiming for a Giro d'Italia top-10 finish with Johannes Kulset, and moving closer to the Tour de France podium with Johannessen after his 6th place in 2025.

Whilst the 2020 Boels-Dolmans squad is technically eligible for this list, it’s important to mention that the squad was far from being second division level. 

The Dutch team had been a powerhouse of the Women's cycling throughout the 2010s, and had been ranked the number 1 team in the peloton for the five seasons previously heading into 2020, all whilst not being attached to a men’s WorldTour team. 

The reason why the Dutch team spent a season in the continental ranks was due to sponsors Boels and Dolmans Landscaping not committing their future to the team, leading to the revelation that the Dutch side didn’t apply for a WorldTour license.

To put into perspective how far away from a second division team Boels-Dolmans were in reality, a quarter of their 12-rider roster for the 2020 season were former road race World Champions in Chantal van den Broek-Blaak, Amalie Dideriksen, as well as Anna van der Breggen. 

Despite being a second division team for the 2020 season, and the challenges that came with this, Boels-Dolmans still managed to finish the COVID-19-impacted season in 2nd in the UCI rankings, behind only Trek Segafredo.

Van der Breggen, a key component of the team, started her season on the right foot, winning a stage and the general classification of the Setmana Ciclista Valenciana, the only race the former World Champion would ride until July, due to the global pandemic. Meanwhile, Van den Broek-Blaak claimed victory at Le Samyn des Dames for the third time in her career, before the lengthy cycling break ensued.

Upon the return of road racing in July, there was success for the Boels-Dolmans team across the national championships, with Van der Breggen, Christine Majerus claiming road race titles in the Netherlands and Luxembourg, respectively, whilst Majerus and Dideriksen were victorious in the time trial discipline also.

However, once more, the Dutch team’s shining light was Van der Breggen who battled to victory at the Giro d’Italia Women for the third time in her career before enjoying further success on Italian soil by completing a stunning World Championship double in the road race and time trial, leaving the Dutch rider as the highest individual UCI points scorer in the entire peloton for 2020.

Success wasn’t just reserved for Van der Breggen, however, with cobbled Classics glory for Jolie D’Hoore in Gent-Wevelgem, whilst Van den Broek-Blaak and Amy Pieters completed a one-two finish at the Tour of Flanders in mid-October, rounding out the most successful second division season in the women’s peloton in recent times.

Since regaining their WorldTour license the following season after becoming SD Worx for 2021, and for the next four seasons would return to their perch at the top of the UCI standings, before ending 2nd in 2025 behind FDJ-Suez. A single season in the second division of cycling did nothing to dim the team's aura.

Like Uno-X, Lotto will be a WorldTour side for the 2026 season, following a strong three-year cycle. 2024 was the highlight year for the Belgian team with 25 victories and a 9th-place finish in the UCI team rankings. Among these 25 victories were 9 at the WorldTour level, including GC victories for Lennert Van Eetvelt at the UAE Tour and Tour of Guangxi. 

25 victories remain the joint-most number of wins in a season for the team since 2018, when the team held WorldTour status.

Van Eetvelt was one of three standout performers alongside Maxim Van Gils and Arnaud De Lie. The trio were the top three-ranked riders in the 2024 rankings from non-WorldTour teams, with Van Gils and De Lie both inside the top 15 overall.

De Lie enjoyed seven victories across the season, including the Belgian championships, whilst Van Gils’s consistency is something to be admired. The Belgian was 3rd at Strade Bianche and La Flèche Wallonne, 4th at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and 7th at Milan-San Remo. He followed this consistent string of results with victories at Eschborn-Frankfurt and Grosser Preis des Kantons Aargau.

A massive bonus for the team is that all three riders came through the development team before turning professional, helping keep Lotto as cycling’s biggest talent factory, and although Van Gils has since left the team, De Lie and Van Eetvelt remain firmly part of the plans.

The crowning moment of the season was when Victor Campenaerts delivered a tactical masterclass and powerful sprint to win from the breakaway on stage 18 of the Tour de France, Fuga de la fuga style, the team’s first victory at the race since Caleb Ewan in 2020.

Other riders such as Alec Segaert and Jenno Berckmoes enjoyed successful seasons, with both riders claiming their first professional victories.

Following the success of Jumbo-Visma’s men’s team as the number 1-ranked UCI team after winning races such as Milan-San Remo, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Vuelta a España in 2020, the Dutch side launched a Women’s team for the 2021 season.

Due to Jumbo-Visma’s current status in the sport, the team were able to attract riders of a higher calibre than a regular continental side would. The standout among the names was the legendary Marianne Vos, who had spent the 2020 season with the CCC-Liv squad.

It would ultimately be Vos who would make the biggest impact during the team’s debut campaign. Vos claimed the team’s first two victories during the Classics at Gent-Wevelgem and Amstel Gold Race, winning sprints on both occasions, whilst ending runner-up at Paris-Roubaix and the Trofeo Alfredo Binda and 6th at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, establishing very quickly that the team were capable of competing for victory at the biggest races.

The Giro d’Italia Women was a highlight for the team, with Vos winning two stages before having to settle for third in the final edition of La Course, before the introduction of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift for 2022.

Proving that the team wasn’t all about one rider, British rider Anna Henderson dominated the Tour de Belle Isle en Terre - Kreiz Breizh Elites Dames in France, winning both stages and the general classification. 

There was also a first WorldTour win for Riejanne Markus at the Ladies Tour of Norway, before Vos was a winning machine once more at the Simac Ladies Tour, winning three stages.

In the team’s inaugural season, 9th in the UCI rankings with six WorldTour wins, was a strong starting point for the team to build the foundations that have seen the Dutch side grow from strength to strength, culminating in Pauline Ferrand-Prévot’s victories at Paris-Roubaix and the Tour de France Femmes in 2025. 

Few ProTeams, though, have made as big an impact as Alpecin-Deceuninck did before their promotion to cycling's top division.

In the years prior to receiving a WorldTour license in 2023, Alpecin-Fenix (now Alpecin-Deceuninck) had been operating at the level of a top division team and had the results to match, primarily through the trio of Mathieu van der Poel, Jasper Philipsen and Tim Merlier. 

Whilst there were victories at the Tour of Flanders in 2020 and 2022, 2021 was arguably the most impressive season of Alpecin as a second division team, despite no monument win.

The statistics suggest so, with 33 victories and 6th place in the UCI rankings, but also the significance and manner of the team’s performances. 

Mathieu van der Poel launched a thermonuclear attack on the Piazza del Campo to win an epic edition of Strade Bianche before finishing on the podium at the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, respectively. Meanwhile, Jasper Philipsen and Tim Merlier claimed victories at Scheldeprijs and Bredene Koksijde Classic, marking another strong Classics campaign.

However, it was the Grand Tours where Alpecin-Fenix impressed the most. The 2021 Giro d’Italia was Alpecin’s Grand Tour debut, and it only took until stage 2, the first road race stage, for Tim Merlier to rocket his way to victory. 

This trend would follow at the Tour de France when Van der Poel pulled off a stunning victory on stage 2, attacking on both ascents of the Mûr de Bretagne, which also secured him the yellow jersey, an emotional moment considering the legacy of his legendary grandfather, Raymond Poulidor, who never wore the yellow jersey at the Tour despite finishing 2nd three times and 3rd five times.

Tim Merlier would win the following stage to cement a perfect start to Alpecin’s debut Tour. Jasper Philipsen would put the cherry on the cake at the Vuelta a España by winning two stages, meaning that the Belgian team won stages in all three Grand Tours on debut in 2021.

26 of the 33 victories across the 2021 season came via the trio of Van der Poel, Merlier and Philipsen, though this shouldn’t take away from the performances of the teammates surrounding the leaders. Alpecin’s sprint train played a key role in providing Merlier and Philipsen with many favourable positions to launch their sprints; meanwhile, Gianni Vermeersch was an important right-hand man for Van der Poel in the Classics, finishing 7th in the Tour of Flanders.

The 2021 season saw Alpecin crack plenty of new milestones, and the team have since won 112 races in the last four seasons, including many more monuments and Grand Tour stage wins.

Probably the least recognisable name on the list is Valcar-Travel & Service, an Italian continental team which formed back in 2016 as a club side and produced riders such as Silvia Persico, Marta Cavalli, and former World Champion Elisa Balsamo.

The squad for 2022 included Persico among many other riders who have since established themselves in the WorldTour, such as Chiara Consonni, Olivia Baril, Margaux Vigié, and Eleonora Camilla Gasparrini. 

It was Persico and Consonni who were the most valuable riders for the team, scoring eight victories between the two of them, including a stage of the Giro for Consonni and a stage at the Vuelta for Persico. Beyond this, Consonni also sprinted to victory at the Dwars door Vlaanderen, meanwhile, Persico finished 5th and 7th on GC at the Tour de France Femmes and Giro d’Italia Donne, respectively.

In total, the team picked up 14 victories in 2022 and ended the season 8th in the UCI team rankings, above half of the WorldTour sides, a very underrated and impressive campaign, considering the lack of connection to a men's WorldTour side and the fact that they had risen from the 3rd division of cycling following 2019.

The 2022 season would, unfortunately, be the team’s last proper season, marking the end of the distinctive pink and purple jerseys of the Italian side in the peloton.

Last but not least, EF Education Oatly are the second team to feature on this list that saw one of their riders become the road race World Champion during the season. Magdeleine Vallieres's stunning upset at the World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda, will live long in the memory, and although it was achieved in the colours of Canada rather than those of EF Education Oatly, Vallieres was also part of a strong season for the team beyond this.

The American squad, which elevated from Continental status to UCI Women's ProTeam for 2025, wasted no time proving they belong among the elites, racking up 10 victories, but also being very competitive at the biggest races.

Noemi Rüegg secured the team's two WorldTour victories with a stage and the GC at the Santos Tour Down Under, before finishing 3rd at the inaugural Milan-San Remo Donne and 6th at Trofeo Alfredo Binda.

Letizia Borghesi had some of, if not the, rides of her life at Paris-Roubaix to finish 2nd behind Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and 6th at the Tour of Flanders. Meanwhile, former winner of Paris-Roubaix Alison Jackson joined her Italian teammate in the upper echelons of the standings, finishing 5th. 

Cédrine Kerbaol finished 4th at Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes and was the standout rider from a GC perspective with 4th and 8th place finishes at the Vuelta España Femenina and Tour de France Femmes.

Overall, the team proved that they are a worthy replacement for the EF Education-Tibco-SVB, which disbanded at the end of 2023.