WorldTour's leading riders: Who contributed most to their team's success in 2026?

No rider in the men's WorldTour peloton contributed more to their team's total UCI points in 2026 than Jasper Philipsen. 

The Belgian sprinter scored 3,665.62 points this season, which equates to 31.6% of Alpecin-Premier Tech's 11,606.72 points that saw them finish 11th in the team rankings. 

Philipsen claimed 10 victories this season, though it took the Belgian until Nokere Koerse in Mid-March to get off the mark. Before March drew to a close, Philipsen added In Flanders Fields-From Middelkerke to Wevelgem to his glittering palmares. 

From here, the victories would continue to roll in nicely for the remainder of the campaign, including an 11th Tour de France stage win of his career into Voiron in the third week. 

Notably, Philipsen had never won a GC before 2026, but the Belgian added two titles to his collection in quick fashion this year, winning the Baloise Belgium Tour in June and the Renewi Tour in August. 

While Philipsen was the top points contributor for Alpecin, Mathieu van der Poel was also not too far behind his teammate, scoring 3404.62 points, 29.3% of Alpecin's total.

The dynamic duo scored 18 of Alpecin's 21 victories this season, illustrating once more their importance to the Belgian team. 

Less than 0.01% behind Philipsen, Pavel Bittner was the second-highest individual contributor for a men's WorldTour team this season. 

The Czech fast-man scored 891 points for Picnic PostNL, which also totals 31.6% of the Dutch team's overall tally of 2,822 and placed Bittner 103rd in the individual rankings. 

Naturally, the story at Picnic is far different from that of Alpecin, with the Dutch team languishing 30th in the team rankings, well off the pace of their WorldTour counterparts. 

Casper van Uden ended the team's 315 day wait for a win when he sprinted to victory on stage 5 of the Presidential Cycling Tour of Türkiye. 

Only two more victories would follow this season, with Bittner taking the second when he won a bunch sprint at Paris-Chauny at the end of August. While not prolific in a winning capacity, Bittner scored consistent points throughout the spring with a third place at the Bredene Koksijde Classic, sixth at the Ronde van Brugge and second at Scheldeprijs.

For the sixth year running, Tadej Pogacar sits pretty at the top of the UCI standings after another clinical season for the Slovenian star. 

Despite his season coming to an abrupt end on stage 8 of the Vuelta a España, Pogačar was never going to be caught in the individual standings, and his 9,331.75 points and 30.1% contribution to UAE's 30,982.1 total meant that the Emirati team stood firm in the team rankings despite his absence. 

Pogačar's tally wasn't quite as dazzling as in 2024 and 2025, but that is due to his untimely crash in Spain costing him very likely points, as he was well on track to win the Spanish Grand Tour.

In the end, Pogačar still topped the charts in almost every positive metric possible, with his 22 victories in 2026 including three Monuments and a fifth maillot jaune.

Even on the strongest side in the peloton right now in UAE, it's only in a bizarre world where Pogačar wouldn't find himself as the biggest points contributor in his team, given his dominance and consistency.

A swashbuckler by nature, Richard Carapaz continued to make an impact where it mattered in 2026, finishing 12th in the individual rankings with 3,031.12 points. 

The former Olympic champion contributed to 28.3% of EF Education-EasyPost's total as the American team ended in 15th with 10,710.27 points. 

After a low-key start to the season that included missing the Giro d'Italia due to perineal cyst surgery, Carapaz came alive at the Tour de Suisse where he finished second overall behind a peerless Tadej Pogačar. 

He carried his good form into the Tour de France, where he bided his time before igniting in the Alps. Carapaz claimed two of the three Alpine stages and third on the other as he cemented himself as the winner of the King of the Mountains prize, and climbed to eighth overall. 

The good form continued to roll forward as he was denied victory by Evenepoel in a two-man sprint at the Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa before taking fourth overall at the Vuelta in September, where his season ended. 

However, with Carapaz moving on to NSN for 2027, EF have a job on their hands to replace the significant number of points that the Ecuadorian scored. 

Remco Evenepoel made an immediate impact at Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe after his blockbuster move from Soudal Quick-Step. 

The German team scored 44 victories this season, 21 more than last year, picking up 25,464.59 points as they finished second in the team rankings. Meanwhile, Evenepoel's old employers claimed 34 wins, 20 fewer than in 2025, illustrating the impact of one team gaining the Belgian and the other losing him.

Evenepoel claimed 14 victories in 2026, including 12 while racing for his trade team, as he also finished second in the individual rankings, scoring 7,191.61 points, 28.2% of Red Bull's total.

The Tour de France proved a happy hunting ground in particular for the Olympic champion, who claimed two stage victories and finished second overall, his best result at La Grande Boucle, marking his debut season with Red Bull as a firm success. 

Mauro Schmid stood head and shoulders above the rest at Jayco AlUla in 2026 when it comes to the UCI rankings. The Swiss rider scored 2,918.42 points in the end-of-season rankings, more than double the next highest rider in the Australian team, Michael Matthews. 

As a result, Schmid ended 13th in the individual rankings, contributing to 27.2% of Jayco's 10,724.54 total as they finished 14th in the team standings.

Consistency was the key throughout Schmid's season, though the Swiss also picked up five victories along the way, including his first Grand Tour stage at the Tour de France in July.

Like Carapaz at EF, Jayco AlUla will need to replace the valuable contribution made by Schmid, as the Swiss star will race for Pinarello-Q36.5 in 2027.

2026 was a landmark season for Paul Seixas, as the French prodigy continued to break new ground. He claimed his first professional win at the Volta ao Algarve in February, became the youngest Tour de France starter in 89 years, finishing fourth overall, before claiming his first Monument victory in emphatic fashion as the youngest-ever winner of Il Lombardia. 

Overall, Seixas won eight times in 2026, including Itzulia Basque Country and Flèche Wallonne, as well as finishing runner-up at Strade Bianche, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the GP Montréal. 

As a result, Seixas scored 5,580.38 UCI points and took fourth in the individual rankings, contributing 27% of Decathlon CMA CGM's 20,663.32 tally as they also finished fourth in the team rankings.

With a season as he has had and his frightening potential, it's no surprise that almost every top team near the top of the UCI rankings are circling like sharks around the Frenchman, with his future beyond 2027 uncertain. 

Decathlon will be doing everything they possibly can to secure the long-term future of Seixas, and with numbers like this having only just turned 20, it's easy to understand why.

Romain Grégoire finished 21st in the individual rankings this year, scoring 2,432 points in a year where he became the French road race champion.

The explosive puncheur remained Groupama-FDJ United's most valuable rider this season, just like in 2025, contributing over a quarter (26.1%) of the French team's 9,328.92 points as the French team ended the season 20th in the team rankings.

Beyond his national title, Grégoire claimed victories at the Faun Drome Classic in March and on stage 2 of the Tour de Suisse in June, while he was also an ever-present in the top 10 during the Ardennes Classics.

It's funny how things can change in the blink of an eye. Back in May, Enric Mas faced criticism from within his own team after the Spaniard fell from GC contention early in the Giro d'Italia. 

While Mas bounced back to feature in multiple breakaways in the second and third week, there were certainly question marks surrounding his future as a bona fide GC leader. 

However, Mas quashed these concerns to rewrite his legacy from being the eternal second at the Vuelta a España to a Grand Tour champion.

The 31-year-old's end-of-season renaissance continued into Il Lombardia, where he finished runner-up for the second time in his career, ultimately seeing him finish 14th in the individual season rankings on 2,798.14 points.

As a result, Mas contributed to 26% of Movistar's 10,778.1 total as they finished 13th in a season that the Spanish team isn't likely to ever forget.

Uno-X Mobility's first season at WorldTour level proved to be a major success, with the Norwegian team scoring 18 victories and finishing ninth in the UCI rankings with 12,725.63 points.

While their campaign was certainly a collective effort, at the heart of their success was Tobias Halland Johannessen, who finished 19th in the individual rankings with 2709.25 points, 21.3% of Uno-X's total.

After top five finishes at Tirreno-Adriatico, Itzulia Basque Country and the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Johannessen enjoyed a combative six weeks of racing across the Tour and Vuelta where he scored an abundance of top ten stage finishes. 

The Vuelta was bookended by his first Grand Tour stage win, and it marked Uno-X's fourth Grand Tour stage win of the season, and they were one of only four teams to win at the Giro, Tour and Vuelta this year.

In the absence of the departed Remco Evenepoel, Paul Magnier leads the way for Soudal Quick-Step in 2026, placing 20th in the individual rankings with 2,460 points. 

The French sprinter claimed another 15 victories this season, meaning he already has 39 professional wins at just 22 years old. 

Crucially, it also means that Magnier contributed to 19.7% of Quick-Step's 12,481.28 end-of-season tally, which saw the Belgian team place 10th in the UCI rankings.

Among Magnier's standout victories in 2026 were his first three Grand Tour stage wins at the Giro d'Italia in May, including the opening stage that saw him pull on the maglia rosa. The Frenchman would have a different jersey to wear on the final podium in Rome as winner of the points classification.  

For the second season running, Lenny Martinez led the way for Bahrain-Victorious, scoring 2,749.38 UCI points to place fifteenth in the individual rankings. 

This meant that the explosive French climber contributed to 19.6% of Bahrain's total of 14,044.02 points as they finished seventh in the team rankings for this year.

The warning signs were fired early by Martinez as he outsprinted Jonas Vingegaard to win the final stage of Paris-Nice in March and finished fifth overall. This was backed up with a second-place finish overall behind the Dane at the Volta a Catalunya, before he joined Tadej Pogacar on the podium with a third place at the Tour de Romandie.

It was the Tour de France that marked a real coming-of-age performance from a GC perspective for the 23-year-old. Martinez had already proved himself in one-week stage races and individual mountain stages, but to compete in the GC for three weeks in France is a whole other ballgame. 

Ultimately, Martinez stepped up to the plate to finish fifth overall, capping the best season of his career to date and continuing to expand on his immense potential and talent.

Last year, XDS Astana produced a stunning turn of form to avoid WorldTour relegation, and the Kazakhstan team have remained on the positive train by finishing sixth in the UCI rankings this season on 16,416.71 points. 

Christian Scaroni contributed most to this tally, scoring 3,062 points, 18.7% of Astana's total, to place 11th in the individual rankings.

The Italian puncher is a rider who often seems to fly under the radar, but he made a rapid start to the season, winning the Classica Camp de Morvedre on his first race day of the season before adding the queen stage and GC at the Tour of Oman in February.

Scaroni's consistency shone throughout the campaign with the 29-year-old Italian in and around the top 10 at almost every race, with a highlight bronze medal at the European Championships, followed by eighth at Il Lombardia the following week.

Out of the top three in the team rankings, Visma | Lease a Bike were the least reliant on one rider's contribution.

Unsurprisingly, it was Jonas Vingegaard who picked up the most points in the Dutch team, 4,160.82, as he finished sixth in the individual rankings. This meant the Dane scored 18% of Visma's 23,129.25 total as they finished third in the team rankings. 

Vingegaard's season could be described as a tale of two halves, as he may have had an even bigger impact on the team's total if it wasn't for bad luck.

Targeting the Giro-Tour double for the first time in his career, Vingegaard made a pitch-perfect start to his campaign, winning both Paris-Nice and Volta a Catalunya, taking four stage wins along the way.

The Dane completed the Grand Tour set in emphatic fashion, winning five stages en route to Giro glory in May, setting him up nicely for a date with Pogačar at the Tour.

The Dutch team made the perfect start, winning the team time trial in Barcelona to put Vingegaard in the yellow jersey for the first time since he won overall in 2023. However, Pogačar would prove to be too strong, quickly taking the lead and building a significant advantage. 

While sitting in second and on track for a sixth consecutive top-two finish, Vingegaard crashed out on stage 15, which would ultimately be his last race day of the season and denied him a significant amount of UCI points.

After Arnaud De Lie had been at the forefront of Lotto's success in recent years, 2026 proved to be the year of Jenno Berckmoes. 

The 25-year-old Belgian finished 35th in the individual rankings on 1,761 points, contributing to 16.8% of Lotto's 10,478.33 points that placed them 16th in the team rankings.

Berckmoes was a consistent points scorer, finishing in and around the top ten at a number of one-day races. 

He also shone at stage races too, finishing second overall at the Baloise Belgium Tour, before going on to win stage 3 of the Renewi Tour in Geraardsbergen en route to second overall also.

Biniam Girmay made the switch to NSN ahead of the 2026 season, and the Eritrean star has naturally established himself as an integral member of the team, scoring 14.6% of the Swiss team's UCI points. 

After a barren final season with Intermarché-Wanty, Girmay rediscovered the winning formula in his very first race for NSN on the opening stage of the Volta Comunitat Valenciana in February. 

His next victory would shortly follow at the Clasica de Almeria, before a lengthy wait until the opening stage of the Balosie Belgium Tour in June, where he took his third and final victory of the campaign. 

At the Tour, Girmay finished in the top six on five different stages, en route to finishing third overall in the points classification.

2026 marked the end of an era for Giulio Ciccone and Lidl-Trek after an eight-year partnership in which the Italian established himself as a key leader. 

In his final season for the German team, Ciccone shone, scoring 2,728 UCI points to place 16th in the individual rankings and contributing 14% of Lidl-Trek's total of 19,361.68 points that saw them finish fifth in the team standings.

After starting the season with a solid sixth place at Tirreno-Adriatico, Ciccone left an impression on the Giro with a combative three weeks that saw him wear pink for the first time, and feature in an abundance of breakaways en route to the mountains classification.

Ciccone entered the Autumn spell emphatically with a second-place finish at the GP Québec before a ninth at the Worlds, and being denied the European title in a photo finish by Remco Evenepoel.

Il Lombardia presented a fitting farewell, as Ciccone fought his way to third in Como in his final race for Lidl-Trek, just as he had done in 2024.

With Ciccone now departed to Pinarello-Q36.5, Lidl-Trek will have to look from within to replace the valuable points of the Italian for the first time since 2018, as well as hope that their eight new arrivals for 2027 can hit the ground running. 

No team relied on a single rider less than Netcompany-Ineos, with Thymen Arensman contributing 11.7% to the British team's tally for the year. 

The Dutch climber scored 1,499.75 points this season, ending 45th in the individual rankings after a season that included visits to the Giro and Tour. 

In Italy, Arensman was firmly in the podium mix, eventually ending fourth, less than a minute shy of Jai Hindley and the podium in Rome. 

At the Tour, Arensman hunted stage victories, after the 2025 edition brought him great success with two wins. Despite his best efforts, including featuring in three consecutive breakaways in the Alps on stages 18, 19, and 20, Arensman was unable to replicate his stunning victories from the previous year, and also finished 22nd overall.

Arensman's Giro fourth marked Ineos' highest Grand Tour finish this season, and was a key factor in giving the Dutchman the edge in the rankings over his teammates, with the likes of Filippo Ganna, Oscar Onley, and Dorian Godon trailing closely.