Post-Vuelta UCI rankings: Uno-X surge into top 10 as UAE hold firm and Picnic continue to struggle

UAE Team Emirates-XRG remain clear at the top of the standings, though their advantage has been trimmed by Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and Visma | Lease a Bike, behind them. 

Meanwhile, the top eight teams have retained the same order from the post-Tour update on July 28.

Further down, Uno-X Mobility have moved into the top 10, while Movistar, EF Education-EasyPost and Tudor are the other teams in the top 20 to have climbed up the rankings. 

UAE Team Emirates-XRG continue to hold a strong lead at the top of the standings after a Vuelta of mixed emotions. 

In the post-Tour standings, UAE held an advantage of 5,821.42 points over Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, and that looked set to only increase when Tadej Pogačar won three of the opening six stages of the Vuelta and seemed to have already wrapped up the red jersey contest, with a lead of 3:34 over Enric Mas in second. 

However, the World Champion’s race-ending crash on stage 8 to Xeraco derailed UAE’s Vuelta, preventing him from extending the Emirati team’s lead in the points standings. It would prove to be a difficult few weeks for UAE, who finished in Granada with half the team remaining: João Almeida, Domen Novak, Ivo Oliveira and Kevin Vermaerke. 

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe took the opportunity to narrow the gap, with four-time champion Primož Roglič finishing second overall. This being after Roglič was uncertain whether he would even be able to take to the start just weeks earlier due to a training crash. 

As a result, Red Bull have reduced UAE’s lead from 5,821.42 to 4,507.3, but still remain a lengthy distance away from the top of the standings.

Visma | Lease a Bike remain third in the rankings, but have reduced the gap to both UAE and Red Bull ahead of them, after a hugely successful Vuelta with seven stage victories. 

Matthew Brennan sprinted to five stage wins on his Grand Tour debut, while Wout van Aert also claimed two from breakaways along with the points classification. 

Things were already looking excellent for the Dutch team, but the cherry on top came on the penultimate stage, when 2023 Vuelta champion Sepp Kuss produced a last-ditch raid along with his teammates to leap from 11th to fifth in the overall standings, boosting their points haul.

Their deficit to Red Bull has fallen from 2,369.95 points post-Tour to 2,088.1, while the gap to UAE has decreased by a more substantial amount, from 8,191.37 to 6,595.4.

The remainder of the top eight remains unchanged, with Decathlon CMA CGM, Lidl-Trek, XDS Astana, Bahrain-Victorious and Netcompany-Ineos retaining fourth through eighth respectively.

Uno-X Mobility’s two-stage wins at the Vuelta have helped the Norwegian team break into the top 10, illustrating how far they have risen in recent seasons, having only gained their WorldTour status at the end of last season. 

The team were constantly active throughout the Vuelta, and took their chances when they arrived. 

Andreas Leknessund claimed his first Grand Tour stage win after four previous runner-up finishes. He claimed victory from the breakaway ahead of Tobias Halland Johannessen atop Aramón Valdelinares, on a poignant day for Norway following the death of King Harald V.

It marked Uno-X’s first Vuelta stage win, on their debut at the race. It also meant that they had claimed a victory in all three Grand Tours in 2026, adding to Fredrik Dversnes’s breakaway success at the Giro d’Italia, and Søren Wærenskjold sprinting to victory in the fastest ever road stage at the Tour de France.

The team were far from done, however, as Johannessen, who finished second once more on stage 20 would save the best for last. He outsprinted Alessandro Romele to win the final stage in Granada, marking his first victory at a Grand Tour. In addition, Magnus Cort, racing his final Grand Tour before retirement, also contributed significantly to the points tally, finishing second, third, fourth and fifth in sprint finishes. 

Overall, Uno-X’s success at the Vuelta has helped the team increase their points total from 7,800.3 to 10,917, moving them from 12th to 9th in the standings, ahead of Alpecin-Premier Tech, Soudal Quick-Step and Jayco AlUla. 

They now have a 141.6-point advantage over Quick-Step in tenth, while Alpecin have dropped from ninth to 11th and Jayco AlUla from 11th to 14th.

Movistar climbed from 16th to 13th in the rankings, after Enric Mas’ maiden Grand Tour triumph. 

Mas unexpectedly moved into the race lead following Pogačar’s departure, but the 31-year-old lived up to the pressure and expectations of carrying the red jersey. 

In his first day as leader, Mas powered to victory atop the savage Alto de Aitana, and continued to build his advantage during the second week, before defending it in the last week. 

While winning the Vuelta was the main priority over the past few weeks, Mas and the Spanish team’s performances have seen their total rise by 3,052.17 points since the July 28 rankings, with a significant portion coming from the Spanish Grand Tour.

Movistar now sit 76.5 points behind EF Education-EasyPost in 12th, who themselves have moved up the rankings after Richard Carapaz finished fourth overall. 

Meanwhile, Movistar hold a 515.6-point advantage over Jayco AlUla in 14th, while NSN have slipped from 13th to 15th. 

Tudor climbed from 19th to 17th after a successful Vuelta that delivered two stage victories. 

Marco Brenner claimed his first Grand Tour stage win on stage 14 atop La Pandera from the breakaway, before Stefan Küng won his second Vuelta stage in the time trial in week three. 

This has seen this Swiss ProTeam climb into the provisional WorldTour positions, moving ahead of Lotto-Intermarché in 18th and Cofidis in 19th with a lead of 117.7 and 313 points respectively. 

Fellow Swiss ProTeam Pinarello-Q36.5 have slipped from 15th to 16th, despite Eddie Dunbar winning his third Vuelta stage in the final week, though they remain in a solid position nonetheless with a 538.8-point lead over Cofidis in 19th.

Meanwhile, Groupama-FDJ United are one of two current WorldTour sides who sit outside the top 18. The French team remain in 20th despite Bastien Tronchon’s stage win, and 306.7 points behind Lotto in 18th.

Picnic PostNL remain 30th in the rankings after a difficult Vuelta, increasing their points total from 1,812 to 2,256.

The Dutch team’s best result was Chris Hamilton’s eighth place on stage 19, while Gijs Leemreize was the highest of three finishers in the overall standings in 27th. 

This leaves the team 104 points behind MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort in 29th, 5,751.3 points behind Groupama-FDJ United, the closest current WorldTour side, in 20th, and 6,058 points off Lotto-Intermarché in 18th.