The UCI introduced one other change to its laws to begin in 2026, and whereas it would influence all WorldTour groups, it would have far larger ramifications for Women’s WorldTour groups.
The rule will prohibit groups from skipping a lot of the high occasions – with just one allowable absence per 12 months. Teams may not decide out of the identical occasion greater than as soon as within the three-year registration cycle that determines which groups are within the WorldTour.
An announcement got here on the weekend of the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, the place six of the 18 males’s WorldTour groups who participated within the Tour Down Under opted to skip the second spherical in Geelong. Five of the 15 Women’s WorldTour groups have been absent in each the Women’s Tour Down Under and Cadel Evans races.
For the boys, participation is obligatory for the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España together with the 5 Monuments (Milan-San Remo, Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and Il Lombardia)
The UCI may even prohibit greater than 4 UCI WorldTeams from being absent from the identical occasion.
For the ladies, the required races are the Vuelta España Femenina, Giro d’Italia Women and Tour de France Femmes, however the different participation guidelines additionally apply.
Most of the boys’s groups solely miss one or two WorldTour occasions per season, with the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, Eshborn-Frankfurt and the Tour of Guangxi probably the most regularly skipped by groups. EF Education-EasyPost, Intermarché-Wanty, Team Picnic-PostNl and Jayco-AlUla are the one groups to have competed in all the WorldTour rounds for the previous two years.
However, the ladies’s groups miss many extra of the WorldTour calendar, with even highly effective squads like Team SD Worx-Protime selecting to not journey to Australia for the Tour Down Under and Cadels Evans races. Seven of the Women’s WorldTour groups skipped the end-of-season rounds in China, the Tour of Chongming Island and the Tour of Guangxi.
Other mid-season races have seen quite a few Women’s WorldTour groups absent together with Itzulia Basque Country, Vuelta Burgos and Tour de Suisse.
Follow the influence of the rule change with Cyclingnews as we survey groups and race organisers for his or her opinion.