It must have been a strange experience for the residents of Sparks. On Sunday afternoon, September 4, in the suburb of Baltimore, more than a hundred professional cyclists are ready for the start in front of the generic business premises of the local employment conditions specialist.
Not the least of them: five-time Tour stage winner Dylan Groenewegen, his Australian teammate Michael Matthews (green jersey and nine stage victories in the Tour, Giro and Vuelta), the Dane Magnus Cort Nielsen (eight stages in the Tour and Vuelta) and former European and Italian champion Giacomo Nizzolo.
They have come for the first edition of the Maryland Cycling Classic, a 194 kilometer race with a finish in downtown Baltimore. It is a race one level below the World Tour, the series of races that includes the Grand Tours and the Classics.
Major cycling teams such as Team BikeExchange-Jayco, EF Education-Easypost and Israel-Premier Tech have sent strong delegations to the US. That has everything to do with a decision that the world cycling federation UCI took in 2018: the introduction of a promotion and relegation system. Before that time, each race already yielded points – the overall victory in the Tour de France 1,000 points, a classic 500, the Dutch ZLM Tour 200 – but these hardly played a role. Teams, if they had the necessary riders and financial resources, could be licensed for the World Tour, with the obligation to compete in most major races.
To ensure that race directors could count on a greater spread of top riders, and at the same time offer teams and sponsors certainty about exposure in major competitions, the UCI thought that from 2020 the points would count towards a classification over three years, whereby the points of the ten best performers in a year were added together per team. After three seasons, the best eighteen teams would be licensed for the highest level for another three-year period.
No excuses
Now it’s almost time. The last major races of the season will be held this weekend with the Tour of Lombardy and Paris-Tours, followed by even smaller races in Malaysia, Japan and Italy. Then the balance is drawn up.
Two teams seem to lose their license: Israel-Premier Tech and Lotto Soudal. Alpecin-Deceunick, Mathieu van der Poel’s team, and Arkéa-Samsic would come in their place – in 2023 they will have the right and the obligation to participate in (most) major competitions.
They have little faith in the Belgian team Lotto Soudal, says sporting director John Lelangue. “Realistically, it won’t work anymore.” A “failed missionhe calls it. “With our history, I think we should belong to the best teams.”
Lelangue does not want to apologize, but in his view his team had bad luck this year with falls and illnesses, and corona did not help in the two seasons before. “Only the biggest races were organised, while we also often took points in smaller races,” says Lelangue. “In addition, we said goodbye to an old generation of riders and took in a guard of talent. That was calculated in the first two years of this cycle. They need time to compete at this level.”
Still, the sadness of the Belgian team is not too great. The team is high enough in the 2022 standings to claim wildcards for the major races next season. Moreover, the team has a loyal sponsor and there is satisfaction about this last season. “We raced offensively and got results. Our talents will be one step further next year. That has always been our philosophy,” says Lelangue.
Relegation candidate
Some teams adapted their strategy correctly firmly on. The Spanish Movistar allowed riders to collect points in small daily races in their own country – the team is now safe, partly thanks to the points for second place from Enric Mas in the Vuelta. The BikeExchange riders, also almost certain of a new license, were on their bikes forty days more than in the two seasons before, sporting director Matt White told Cycling Weeklyknow.
The surprise of the ranking is Intermarché-Wanty, a Belgian team with the smallest budget of all World Tour teams. “Everyone saw us as the relegation candidate,” says sports director Aike Visbeek. He locked himself in his office for weeks this winter to devise a strategy. It started in December with a team meeting in which the scoring was explained, says Visbeek. “It’s so complicated that I’m sure many riders don’t understand it. Now we could explain why we wanted them to ride certain races.”
An additional advantage according to Visbeek: the relegation battle was no longer a topic of conversation, because clarity had been provided. “That has prevented a lot of stress.” The team determined where the best opportunities lay for the riders, and adjusted training schedules so that they could peak there.
Halfway through May, Intermarché-Wanty secured itself, partly thanks to the surprising victory of Biniam Girmay in Gent-Wevelgem. Visbeek: “We might not have expected him to win, but a place in the top ten also yields a lot of points.” Visbeek is convinced that the good preparation of his team has led to the preservation of his body. “We had done our homework. Other teams have started to adjust their strategy during the season.”
The battle against relegation led to special scenes. Riders did not travel to the World Cup in Australia or stepped early off in the Vuelta to collect points in smaller one-day races. Visbeek calls this a good development. “You see toppers at the start at many more small races. That is great for both fans and sponsors.” It also explains why all those toppers started in Sparks. 200 points could be earned at the finish line in Baltimore. The Belgian Sep Vanmarcke won the sprint from a small leading group, the points were for his Israel-Premier Tech team.
Yet the team from Israel is still under the line. Team owner Sylvan Adams took an advance on relegation last month by announcing that he would take the UCI to court if his team were to lose its license. Adams said to VeloNews to be afraid of the financial consequences of an exodus of (top) riders and sponsors if his team has to end up at a lower level for three years. Whether Adams will actually let it go to trial now that the loss of the license is imminent is not clear. The team does not want to say anything more about it as long as the season is still running.