How Pidcock's off-road exploits can boost Pinarello-Q36.5's WorldTour bid: New UCI points rules explained

The UCI has revealed the details of the new team ranking points that will be awarded in track, mountain bike cross country, cyclo-cross and gravel championships, highlighting how multi-discipline riders like Tom Pidcock, Mathieu van der Poel, Marianne Vos, Filippo Ganna, Kate Courtney and Puck Pieterse can help their professional road teams score extra ranking points in 2027.

The UCI team ranking points are vital for deciding promotion and relegation from the WorldTour, invitations to WorldTour races and Grand Tours for ProTeams and highlight the success of teams and their riders. UAE Team Emirates topped the 2025 men's team ranking, with FDJ-Suez first in the women's ranking, while Cofidis, Tudor and Pinarello-Q36.5 secured automatic invitation to the 2026 WorldTour races, including the Tour de France.

Points scored in all UCI World Championships and World Cup races and in final standings of the UCI World Cups and the track Nations Cup will be added to the UCI Road Team Ranking starting from 2027 if the rider is among the top 20 point-scoring riders in their team. 

No points from the disciplines will be added to the individual road rankings. The multi-discipline points also count in the elite and under-23 rankings. Lesser points are also awarded at Regional Games such as the Pan American Games, the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games. 

For example, if 2026 mountain bike world champion Tom Pidcock repeats his victory in 2027, he would score an extra 300 points for his Pinarello-Q36.5 road team, helping the fight for WorldTour race invitations for 2028. That is more than the 265 points Pidcock scored for finishing seventh in the road World Championships in Montreal.

Elite men and women will score 300 points for winning world titles on the track, mountain bike cross country, cyclo-cross and gravel, with lesser points awarded for lower placings. 200 points are awarded to World Cup race winners, with tenth place awarding 35 points. There are 12 races in the cyclocross World Cup series.

Riders like Benjamin Thomas of Cofidis could score a haul of points on the track if they perform well in different races at one World Championships. Tibor Del Grosso and Emiel Verstrynge could also boost Alpecin-Premier Tech's points total. Florian Vermeersch could score points in future Gravel world championships but would need to be among UAE's top 20 points scorers for his points to count.

The next WorldTour promotion and relegation battle is decided after the 2028 season and so teams could decide to send riders to different disciplines to chase points in 2027 and 2028.