Analysis - Breaking down the UCI WorldTour relegation battle after the Giro d'Italia

At the end of an exciting three weeks of racing around Italy, the UCI WorldTour relegation battle has taken yet more twists and turns. At the start of the 2025 season, it would have been difficult to anticipate that we would have such a closely contested battle between multiple teams at the end of the Giro d’Italia. But with the Tour de France on the horizon, that is the exact situation, and we can expect the fight to go all the way to the wire.

We take a look at the current situation and how the Giro affected the five teams who are currently caught up in the relegation battle.

XDS Astana have continued their positive trajectory throughout the 2025 Giro d’Italia in pursuit of their elusive WorldTour survival. At the start of the season, it looked improbable that the Kazakhstani team would be able to save themselves from what looked like an inevitable relegation from the UCI WorldTour. However, rather than sink and accept their fate, the team have rallied together throughout 2025 so far, and the Giro was a prime example of how well they are performing as a collective. The team acquired a huge haul of UCI points throughout the race, with three standout moments.

On stage 16 of the Giro, XDS Astana produced yet another tactical masterclass in 2025. Christian Scaroni won a stage, with Lorenzo Fortunato finishing in unison with him to take home the one-two for the team. The camaraderie on display to achieve that team finish was striking, because at any moment, Fortunato could quite easily have dropped a suffering Scaroni.  

The icing on the cake for XDS Astana was the victory of Lorenzo Fortunato, who dominated the King of the Mountains classification, picking up 180 UCI points for the team in the process. Christian Scaroni finished second in the King of the Mountains classification, fulfilling a role similar to a ‘sweeper’, taking points off Fortunato’s nearest competition. In the end, this plan worked a treat as Scaroni also took home 130 UCI points. The total combination of 310 UCI points for the duo is worth exactly the same as their stage one-two.

Another high point at the Giro for XDS Astana was Diego Ulissi's stint in the maglia rosa after stage 8. Although this didn’t bring the team as many UCI points as a stage win, the memories created from that moment will outweigh those points. It was even more special for Diego Ulissi himself, as he got to wear the maglia rosa in his home region of Tuscany on stage 9. With this special performance in the Giro and with the momentum behind them, XDS Astana move ever closer to secure a WorldTour licence for the next three-year cycle. Wherever they go, they score UCI points.

Although not as prominent as XDS Astana, Team Picnic PostNL also showed plenty of fighting spirit at the Giro d’Italia. The pressure was on the team to deliver in Albania three weeks ago, as the gap between themselves and the Kazakhstani team had been slashed.

However, it’s fair to say that the Dutch team delivered when they needed it most, as Casper van Uden won stage 4 in Lecce. It was a fine example of excellent teamwork as his sprint train positioned him perfectly before Bram Welten delivered the final lead-out and allowed Van Uden to launch his sprint 200 metres from the line.

The Dutch team also picked up a decent haul of points from the performances of Max Poole. The 21-year-old Briton had four top-10 stage finishes and ended 11th in the general classification. 

In total, Picnic PostNL gained 1,069 points from the Giro d’Italia. On the surface, they are only marginally above the trapdoor, but in reality, they seem to have much more momentum than the two teams in the thick of the battle behind them.

Cofidis have dropped into the relegation zone after a largely anonymous Giro compared to the teams now above them. The season started well for the French team after taking a WorldTour stage win at the Tour Down Under with Bryan Coquard, as well as some nice one-day wins at the end of January and early February. However, with only two wins since February, the team was already on the slide heading into the Giro. 

That trend continued in Italy, as the team failed to take their opportunities for success like XDS Astana and Picnic PostNL, only achieving four top 10 stage results. The highlight for the team was a second-place finish on the GC-neutralised stage 6 for Belgian sprinter Milan Fretin. In total, the team racked up 325 points from the Giro and has now slumped to 19th in the relegation battle. As it stands, Cofidis will be relegated from the UCI WorldTour, and therefore the team are in a most precarious situation.

Cofidis need to turn their fortunes around quickly and will be looking to their home race, the Tour de France, to try to make the difference. They’ll be hoping to deliver a similar level of performance to the 2023 edition that saw them win two stages via Victor Lafay and Ion Izagirre.

For a long time, Intermarché-Wanty didn't seem to be in imminent danger, but things are starting to look worrying for the Belgian team. At the Giro, the team comfortably gained the least amount of UCI points, with a small total of 190. 

It’s been a difficult 2025 on the whole for the team, with only two victories in their pocket. Like Cofidis, they lack the momentum of XDS Astana and need to pick up some solid results to avoid being seriously dragged into the relegation scrap. 

Fortunately for the team, they have a small buffer over the other teams, and as it stands, Cofidis are unlikely to overhaul them with the current form of the French team, regardless of Intermarché’s form over the next few months. It would need an injection of life in the results of Cofidis to cause major concern for Intermarché-Wanty. However, the Belgian team will not want to be resting on their laurels and have another strong Tour de France, like they did in 2024 when they won three stages and the points classification with Biniam Girmay. 

The plucky underdog Norwegian team have seemed to have mastered the concept of progression as they seem to be improving year-on-year. At their current level, Uno-X Mobility are continuously performing like a WorldTour team, and this is starting to reflect in the UCI rankings as the team is on the cusp of climbing into the top ranks of cycling on a full-time basis. 2025 has been another year of firsts for the team, with the crowning moment being Søren Wærenskjold's stunning upset victory at Omloop het Nieuwsblad back at the start of March. This marked the first WorldTour cobbled classic victory for the team, and it doesn't seem out of the question that they can fight for more victories of this magnitude soon. 

The current gap of over 2,000 points to Cofidis, who are still below the trapdoor themselves, means that it is unlikely that Uno-X will be able to climb into the WorldTour before the end of this season. However, this just goes to show how positive the future is for the team, and unlike the others around them, they didn't even participate in the recent Giro d'Italia. The team will head to the Tour de France with the ambition to land a maiden stage win at the biggest race of them all, and it would be brave to bet against them.