{"id":7484,"date":"2025-01-10T12:10:35","date_gmt":"2025-01-10T11:10:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/?p=7484"},"modified":"2025-01-20T12:14:57","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T11:14:57","slug":"israel-premier-tech-and-lotto-tweak-calendars-to-secure-worldtour-promotion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2025\/01\/10\/israel-premier-tech-and-lotto-tweak-calendars-to-secure-worldtour-promotion\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel\u2013Premier Tech and Lotto Tweak Calendars to Secure WorldTour Promotion"},"content":{"rendered":"

This road racing year won\u2019t just be the usual scramble and sprint battle for individual titles because it marks the last year of a three-year promotion\/relegation cycle that will decide which 18 teams will receive the much-coveted license for the UCI WorldTour, the top division of professional cycling. The teams placed 19th and lower in the UCI World Team Rankings table at the end of 2025 will compete as UCI ProTeams in the second division of pro cycling.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

At the end of the last relegation cycle, which ended in 2022, Lotto and Israel\u2013Premier Tech were relegated after having won fewer points than UCI ProTeams Alpecin-Deceuninck and Ark\u00e9a-Samsic. At the start of this year, Lotto and Israel\u2013Premier Tech rank 9th and 11th, respectively, in the standings and appear to have excellent chances of returning to road racing\u2019s top tier. Lotto currently have 12579.3 points, which is 4,500 points above the team currently sitting 18th, Uno-X Mobility. Israel\u2013Premier Tech has 11723.3 points, 2,780 points above the current cutoff.<\/p>\n

These leads may sound like solid buffers, but they are not \u2013 especially when you consider that the Swiss rider March Hirschi collected 3,568 point by himself last year for his former team UAE Team Emirates. Significantly, Hirschi is riding this year for Tudor Pro Cycling, currently a ProTeam competing with Israel\u2013Premier Tech and Lotto for WorldTour status.<\/p>\n

As a result, according to Cyclingnews<\/em><\/a>, which cited race organizers, both teams have said that they will not be riding in this year\u2019s Paris-Nice in order to better manage the schedule with a view to returning to WorldTour status.<\/p>\n

Despite standing better in the rankings, Lotto is particularly vulnerable because the team lost a major sponsor in Dstny as well as the riders Victor Campenaerts (to Visma \u2013 Lease a Bike), Maxim van Gils (to Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) and Andreas Kron (to Uno-X Mobility). The 25-year-old van Gils will especially be missed as he amassed more than 2,500 points last year, most of them through top five finishes during the spring Classics season. And, though he had a bad 2024, the 26-year-old Kron has in the past won a stage as well as two stage podiums in the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a and picked up more than 1,500 points in his best year, 2023.<\/p>\n

\"Team<\/a>
Despite standing better in the rankings, Lotto is particularly vulnerable because the team lost a major sponsor in Dstny. \u00a9 BELGA PHOTO TOM GOYVAERTS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The loss of Dstny\u2019s sponsorship and the inability, so far, to replace it seriously limited Lotto\u2019s activity on the transfer market, during which it failed to replace the quality riders it lost \u2013 unless one of the riders promoted from its development team steps up and has a big year. Nevertheless, team \u00a0CEO St\u00e9phane Heulot remains optimistic. \u201cEven with a team that seems less strong on paper, we aim to maintain our position,\u201d he said<\/a> on the occasion of the presentation of the new team kit. \u201cWe\u2019ll try to achieve this by adding more one-day races to our calendar. For example, we won\u2019t compete in the Giro d\u2019Italia, Paris-Nice or Tirreno Adriatico, as we hope to gather more UCI points in one-day races. Our ultimate goal remains to return to the World Tour in 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also noted that the team was still expecting to find a new major sponsor this year, saying: \u201cOf course, we are eager to welcome new partners. It takes time, and these are not the easiest economic times, but we remain confident in the value of our team. It would be great to have news by the Tour de France.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israel\u2013Premier Tech seems to have a stronger chance of promotion. It added two strong veterans \u2013 Jan Hirt, from Soudal\u2013Quick Step, and Alexei Lutsenko, from Astana Qazaqstan \u2013 to a roster that includes the strong and still improving Derek Gee, who finished 9th in last year\u2019s Tour de France and third in the Crit\u00e9rium du Dauphin\u00e9. In addition, in 2023 he came in second on four Giro stages, and he will be racing in the Giro again this year.<\/p>\n

The team also has the promising 21-year-old Joseph Blackmore, who registered nine wins last year, including the yellow jerseys in the Tour du Rwanda, Tour de Taiwan and the Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge U23.There\u2019s also the 30-year-old Pascal Ackerman, who has 40 victories on his resume and the excellent\u00a0young sprinter Ethan Vernon, who is unfortunately sidelined with a fractured collarbone suffered during the team’s training camp. But its best rider may be 28-year-old Stephen Williams, who racked up more than 1,500 points last year.<\/p>\n

The team also boosted<\/a> its staff for the 2025 season, adding Sports Directors Alexander Cataford and Francesco Frassi, and Performance Optimization Coordinator Marc Quod, in addition to promoting Steve Bauer to Sporting Manager. Bauer\u2019s new position will make him crucial to the team\u2019s promotion as he will be in charge of the team\u2019s race calendar and therefore deciding what races offer the best opportunities for the team to accumulate points.<\/p>\n

One problem is that nine of the team\u2019s riders are 34 years of age and over, such as the four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome.<\/a> Froome is 39 and has had a difficult few years on the road. It would be a fitting end to his illustrious career if, in what looks to be his final year, he can make an important contribution to the team\u2019s return to the top level.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2013Premier Tech\u2019s fight for promotion begins with the first road race of the year, the Santos Tour Down Under, which kicks off on January 21. Stephen Williams will be looking to defend the title he won last year. A repeat victory would be the ideal start to the team\u2019s battle for promotion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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