A new regulation has just been approved for participation in the three great tours: Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España. The organizers will no longer be able to invite the teams they want outside of the compulsory licenses carried by the WorldTour squads and the two best ProTeams of the previous year.
This will no longer be the case from 2024. Next year, the invited teams must qualify in the top 50 of the UCI World Ranking in 2023. One year later, in 2025, the first 40 teams in the UCI World Ranking of the 2024 will be eligible to be invited to the grand tours.
Finally, from 2026, only the top 30 teams in the UCI team ranking can be invited. In the case of the sport groups that are created, the total points of the 20 best riders in their squad will be used to evaluate them.
After learning about the new regulations, several team managers have expressed their opinion on the matter, including Juajo Oroz, from Kern Pharma. “Being in the world elite and being among the best in the world is increasingly difficult. It is a global sport and they try to set global criteria for any team in the world. I also think that it is a rule on three specific races such as the Vuelta España, the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia. Races in three countries with a great cycling heritage, ”he told the cycle 21 portal.
The truth is that all teams evolve and that the best races are a great showcase for economic sponsors. Perhaps that is why the rules for entering them are getting worse. More jobs and more visibility remain for those aspiring teams.
Source: Ciclo 21