At the end of the last relegation cycle, which ended in 2022, Lotto and Israel–Premier Tech were relegated after having won fewer points than UCI ProTeams Alpecin-Deceuninck and Arkéa-Samsic. At the start of this year, Lotto and Israel–Premier Tech rank 9th and 11th, respectively, in the standings and appear to have excellent chances of returning to road racing’s top tier. Lotto currently have 12579.3 points, which is 4,500 points above the team currently sitting 18th, Uno-X Mobility. Israel–Premier Tech has 11723.3 points, 2,780 points above the current cutoff.
These leads may sound like solid buffers, but they are not – 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–Premier Tech and Lotto for WorldTour status.
As a result, according to Cyclingnews, which cited race organizers, both teams have said that they will not be riding in this year’s Paris-Nice in order to better manage the schedule with a view to returning to WorldTour status.
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 – 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 España and picked up more than 1,500 points in his best year, 2023.
The loss of Dstny’s sponsorship and the inability, so far, to replace it seriously limited Lotto’s activity on the transfer market, during which it failed to replace the quality riders it lost – unless one of the riders promoted from its development team steps up and has a big year. Nevertheless, team CEO Stéphane Heulot remains optimistic. “Even with a team that seems less strong on paper, we aim to maintain our position,” he said on the occasion of the presentation of the new team kit. “We’ll try to achieve this by adding more one-day races to our calendar. For example, we won’t compete in the Giro d’Italia, 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.”
He also noted that the team was still expecting to find a new major sponsor this year, saying: “Of 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.”
Israel–Premier Tech seems to have a stronger chance of promotion. It added two strong veterans – Jan Hirt, from Soudal–Quick Step, and Alexei Lutsenko, from Astana Qazaqstan – to a roster that includes the strong and still improving Derek Gee, who finished 9th in last year’s Tour de France and third in the Critérium du Dauphiné. In addition, in 2023 he came in second on four Giro stages, and he will be racing in the Giro again this year.
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 Liège-Bastogne-Liège U23.There’s also the 30-year-old Pascal Ackerman, who has 40 victories on his resume and the excellent young 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.
The team also boosted 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’s new position will make him crucial to the team’s promotion as he will be in charge of the team’s race calendar and therefore deciding what races offer the best opportunities for the team to accumulate points.
One problem is that nine of the team’s riders are 34 years of age and over, such as the four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome. 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’s return to the top level.
Israel–Premier Tech’s 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’s battle for promotion.
