Early every year, the top second-tier cycling teams are stuck in limbo, waiting to see if they’ll get an invitation to the Giro d’Italia, the Tour de France, or the Vuelta a España. And then – usually in January or February – the announcements are made; announcements that can make or break a sponsorship cycle, potentially putting a team in front of millions of eyeballs during the peak of the cycling season.
This year has not been like that. By mid-March, the likes of Uno-X, Tudor, Q36.5 and TotalEnergies are still in the dark as to which Grand Tours they’ll be lining up at, if any. Much is at stake for these teams: besides the global attention the races bring, Grand Tours also yield a lot of UCI points, crucial to the ambitions of any squads looking for a promotion to the 18-team WorldTour in 2026. Grand Tours currently allow for 22 teams of eight riders apiece: 18 WorldTeams, along with right of refusal for the top two ranked ProTeams as of the end of the 2024 season – Israel-Premier Tech and Lotto – and two wildcards.
Herein lies the 2025 wildcard problem: there are too many deserving ProTeams, and too few places. Top French, Spanish, and Italian ProTeams have typically relied on a Grand Tour call-up, but this transfer season saw big swings from Tudor and Q36.5 in particular, with popular riders like Julian Alaphilippe and Tom Pidcock finding new homes.
That leaves Uno-X – a Tour de France wildcard the last two years – uncertain about getting a repeat invitation, despite their aggressive (but winless) efforts in 2024. French battlers Team TotalEnergies – emotional victors of a Tour de France stage last year but hardly prolific winners besides that – are objectively a level below, but have long been awarded a wildcard for their home Grand Tour. And then there are the top Spanish and Italian ProTeams, for whom a wildcard is near essential for their continued survival.
Now, according to Cyclingnews, there is a resolution in the works. Uno-X, Tudor, Q36.5, and TotalEnergies, along with the Grand Tour organisers, have been lobbying for an additional team to be added to the startlists, with the final call to be made by the UCI Professional Cycling Council on March 26.
At a glance, that would solve many of the problems for the teams on the edge of the bubble. If there were 23 teams:
- Tudor Pro Cycling, Uno-X Mobility, and TotalEnergies would presumably each get a Tour de France call-up, giving the French public what they really want (doomed breakaways and Julian Alaphilippe)
- Lotto has already opted out of the Giro d'Italia, creating an additional space: Tudor and Q36.5 could then ride the Giro, joining local teams Polti VisitMalta and VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè
- At the Vuelta a España, there is interest from Q36.5 and Uno-X Mobility, leaving a space free for one of Equipo Kern Pharma, Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, Euskaltel-Euskadi or Burgos Burpellet BH.
But it’s not all #synergies: there are some concerns that with more riders comes an increased risk of crashes, a factor that in 2018 led to Grand Tour team sizes being reduced from nine to eight. In the years since – and especially the last 12 months – the UCI has talked a big game about improving safety in the sport, and adding eight extra riders to the already-stressful environment of a Grand Tour could therefore be seen as a step in the wrong direction.
Again, adding an additional wildcard would be commercially valuable for the teams involved – and clearly what those teams would, in an ideal world, want. Cyclingnews reports, however, that some existing WorldTeams are less keen on the prospect. Two unidentified WorldTour superteams have voiced their disagreement, arguing that their substantial spend to be part of the WorldTour seems less of a value proposition if more ProTeams can secure wildcards with considerably less investment.
For the teams on the cusp or promotion or relegation, too, there’s the risk that Grand Tour wildcards could unduly influence the UCI team rankings at season’s end and determine who secures a WorldTour license for the 2026-2028 cycle. As it currently stands, WorldTour teams XDS Astana and Arkea-B&B are in a tenuous position, currently sitting outside the top 18; Cofidis and Picnic PostNL are barely hanging in there. Uno-X, meanwhile, is moving up courtesy of some solid results, including Søren Wærenskjold’s surprise Omloop Het Nieuwsblad win; the Norwegians are now ahead of Arkea-B&B, in 19th position – perhaps a stretch for WorldTeam promotion, but at this stage looking good for their choice of Classics and Grand Tours for the next license cycle.
With a fortnight remaining until the UCI Professional Cycling Council meets to vote on the 23-team proposal, there are likely to be some jitters in the management of the teams hoping for a call-up. “It's nerve-wracking,” Uno-X general manager Thor Hushovd told TV2 Norge. “We would have preferred to know which races we're going to ride now ... [But] at the same time, we are just a piece in a big game. There is not much we can do now.”
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