Who's at risk? UCI relegation battle update after the Vuelta a España

At the end of the Vuelta a España, the UCI WorldTour relegation battle is drawing closer to its conclusion. The final Grand Tour of the season has been and gone, as well as some important one-day races, leaving opportunities to score points becoming slimmer with the final curtain of the 2025 season on the horizon.

We take a look at the current situation and how the last month, including the Vuelta a España, has affected the teams who are currently in and around the relegation zone. The top 18 teams will secure WorldTour status for 2026.

Full UCI rankings can be found via the links below:

• UCI ranking Men
• UCI ranking Women
• UCI ranking Teams Men
• UCI ranking Teams Women

Position: 16th
Points: 28,258
Points difference to virtual relegation (19th): +3,387

XDS Astana are all but safe, after a remarkable turnaround in the 2025 campaign, where the team initially looked to be in major danger. The team were on fire in the early stages of the season, and the momentum has carried them through even in the quieter periods of the season, meaning they are set to retain their WorldTour status.

An important performer in the months of August and September has been Alberto Bettiol. The former Tour of Flanders winner had a solid Renewi Tour, finishing 8th overall and 5th on stage 3. However, it has been in the Canadian one-day races where Bettiol has been key, finishing 3rd at the GP de Québec behind Julian Alaphilippe, before a 10th place at the GP de Montréal, scoring important points for the Kazakh team.

Cristian Scaroni has had the season of his career and has continued to shine in recent weeks at the Italian one-day races. The 27-year-old finished 2nd at the GP Industria & Artigianato, 4th at the Coppa Sabatini, and 6th at the Giro della Toscana.

At the Vuelta, XDS Astana were pretty lowkey, but picked up three stage podiums, with Lorenzo Fortunato’s 3rd place on stage 6 the highlight. From a GC perspective, Harold Tejada stepped up significantly to score a host of points by finishing 12th overall. 

With 3,387 points ahead of Cofidis in 19th (which may actually turn out to be a survival spot), XDS Astana can start looking forward to the future and building towards rising up the ranks and returning to being one of the powerhouse teams in the sport.

Position: 17th
Points: 26,831
Points difference to virtual relegation (19th): +1,960

Pavel Bittner had a great Renewi Tour with five top 10 stage finishes, including two runners-up spots, which helped him seal the points classification and finish 6th overall. The Czech rider has continued to perform well, finishing 2nd in the sprint at the GP de Fourmies on Sunday. 

Tobias Lund Andersen and Oscar Onley picked up all-important points with 9th at the Bretagne Classic and 4th on GC at the Tour of Britain, respectively.

At the Vuelta, Kevin Vermaerke deserves plenty of credit for his combative performances, featuring in the breakaway on six occasions, and landing a 6th and 7th place stage finish, as well as finishing 20th overall. Bjorn Koerdt also picked up a top 10 stage finish, ending 9th in the dash to the line on stage 3 in Ceres. 

Overall, the Vuelta wasn’t a resounding success like the Tour de France, with the Grand Boucle and the team’s red-hot form in the summer, looking like it will be the difference between relegation and survival for Picnic PostNL.

Position: 18th
Points: 26,089
Points difference to virtual relegation (19th): +1,218

Intermarché-Wanty currently occupy the final spot for the WorldTour in the next cycle, but will have a major impact in proceedings beyond the results. The potential merger between Intermarché-Wanty and Lotto, which looks on track, could mean that 19th will be enough to secure WorldTour status for 2026.

Compared to some of the French teams below them, Intermarché-Wanty look to have done enough in the past month. Biniam Girmay’s 5th place at the Bretagne Classic scored significant points for the team, as did Louis Barré with an impressive 6th place finish at the GP de Montréal, as well as the GP Industria & Artigianato. 

Arne Marit scored a 3rd and 6th place finish in Vuelta sprint stages, whilst Louis Meintjes finished 16th overall. Thus, leaving the Belgian team with a 1,000+ point advantage in the final WorldTour spot, though this may not matter if the impending merger comes to fruition.

Position: 19th
Points: 24,871
Points difference to virtual survival (18th): -1,218

Another Grand Tour passed the French team by, who were unable to make a big impact at the Vuelta a España. Bryan Coquard’s 7th-place finish in the opening stage would prove to be the team’s only top 10 result across the three weeks in Spain.

Benjamin Thomas’s 2nd place at the Coppa Sabatini was a highlight, and Alex Aranburu performed well in Canada to place 8th at the GP de Montréal.

They’ll be hoping that 19th place is enough for survival, but as it stands, there’s a solid possibility that Cofidis could be overtaken by Uno-X Mobility based on current momentum.

Position: 20th
Points: 24,845
Points difference to virtual survival (18th): - 1,244

With the potential merger between Lotto and Intermarché-Wanty, 19th place may become enough to secure a WorldTour status for Uno-X Mobility, which is the only team on this list essentially in a promotion battle.

Though Uno-X Mobility weren’t invited to the Vuelta, the Norwegian team has been able to close the gap to Cofidis thanks to many good performances elsewhere. 

Søren Wærenskjold shone at the Lidl Deutschland Tour, winning two stages and the general classification whilst picking up two more stage podium finishes. A few days later, Jonas Abrahamsen claimed his third victory of 2025 at the Muur Classic Geraardsbergen with Rasmus Tiller and Markus Hoelgaard finishing 6th and 9th respectively. 

Results in further one-day races have been key since, with Abrahamsen ending 2nd at the Maryland Cycling Classic, whilst Anders Halland Johansesen finished 6th. 

Wærenskjold picked up more points at the GP de Fourmies, ending 6th, whilst the likes of Hoelgaard and Johannes Kulset earned points at the recent Italian one-day races, giving Uno-X Mobility a real shot of earning WorldTour status a lot earlier than many would have anticipated.

Position: 21st
Points: 22,741
Points difference to virtual survival (18th): - 3,348

The writing has been on the wall for the Breton team, who still remain in the dark regarding their long-term status as a team. 

Since Kévin Vauquelin’s 7th place finish at the Tour de France, the team’s main source of good results came at the Tour du Limousin-Périgord-Nouvelle Aquitaine, where Ewen Costiou sealed the GC, and there were plenty of top 10 stage finishes. At the Tour Poitou, Nicolas Milesi and Thibault Guernalec finished 3rd and 6th overall respectively, whilst Arnaud Demare sprinted to 2nd on two stages.

At the Vuelta a España, Raúl García Pierna’s combative efforts in the opening week saw the Spanish rider place 3rd and 5th on stages, whilst Jenthe Biermans sprinted to 4th on stage 19. Costiou also picked up some points for a 16th-place finish at the GP de Montréal, but the team are firmly set to lose their WorldTour status for 2026.