At the level of the three-year team ranking, the situation that is most prominent is the fight for staying in the World Tour, achievable only by finishing in the top 18 positions in the 2023/2025 period. At the annual UCI ranking level, the movements to monitor more closely are those among the teams competing to finish the current season in the top 30 positions.

This is, in fact, the conditio sine qua non for receiving a wild card from the organizers of Giro, Tour, and Vuelta next year, races that, for visibility, prestige, and prize money, represent an unparalleled showcase and competitive context for ProTeams.

With the certainty of an invitation to a Grand Tour, a team not part of the World Tour can plan a certain type of season, be much more attractive to potential new sponsors, guarantee a certain type of return, and enjoy an international audience. In essence, participating in a three-week stage race can characterize (and in certain cases, even save) an entire season, but being eligible to secure this privilege this year will be considerably more complicated.

According to UCI rules, only the top 30 teams in the 2025 ranking (last year it was the top 40) can be considered for participation in Giro, Tour, and Vuelta. This means that, as we enter June in the second half of the season, this issue will need to be strongly considered by teams and professionals from now on.

THE PINK MONTH. The recently concluded Giro constituted a particularly significant moment because the Italian teams Polti-VisitMalta and VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè, respectively 32nd and 30th in the general classification before the Pink Race, could leverage the stages and the overall of the domestic Grand Tour to secure a good chunk of points and thus improve their situation against direct rivals.

This opportunity was seized by the Italian squads, as thanks to their pink performances, with 614 and 583 points, the teams of Basso and Reverberi were the best in the period between May 6 and June 3, behind only the Spanish Caja Rural (with 657 points, of which 253 in the Grand Prix du Morbihan, moving from 26th to 25th place).

Despite this, Polti and Bardiani (risen to 30th and 27th position) cannot rest easy, as of June 3, between the 1500 points of Fiorelli and company and the 1314.33 of the third Italian team (the Solution Tech-Vini Fantini, 31st) embroiled in the fight for the top 30, there are 5 teams in just 185.67 points: Polti (1400 points), Equipo Kern Pharma (28th with 1500 points) and Burgos BH Burpellet, 29th with 1472 points.

Both teams, like Caja Rural, will be able to exploit the same chance at the Vuelta that Italian teams had at the Giro, and this could be a decisive factor in September during an open Grand Tour like the Spanish race. The conditional is clearly mandatory not only because it will depend greatly on the condition of the riders that these Iberian teams will line up at the start but also on the points that competing teams, without the Grand Tour "bonus", will be able to accumulate in the meantime.

Solution Tech-Vini Fantini and Equipo Kern Pharma, capable of accumulating 248 and 394 points respectively between May 6 and June 3, have already demonstrated in recent months their ability to maximize participation in lower-category races and outside Europe (see the Tour of Hainan which alone was worth 213 points for Serge Parsani's team), thus remaining widely in the running for a spot in the top 30 at year-end. In this perspective, it's worth noting how a traditional team like Euskaltel-Euskadi has significantly lost contact with the 30th position in the last month (the gap has gone from 279 to 576 points) and will now be forced into a very aggressive second part of the season to close the gap, while the Unibet Tietema Rockets (a team aiming to be part of the 2026 Tour) will need to return to producing significant results as in the first part of 2025 to avoid being sucked into the danger zone.

CONSIDERATIONS. The battle is therefore about to become increasingly heated in the coming weeks, but before witnessing and recording the final verdicts, two considerations about this system, which as it is currently regulated presents more than a few inconsistencies, are urgent. Is it possible, for example, that a Giro ridden always on the attack by Tarozzi and Tonelli will earn the two riders the same number of points (20) as the 13th classified in the Boucles de la Mayenne? Is this the right reward and recognition for the efforts expended over 21 days in a prestigious and demanding event like the Giro?

It's evident that with such a regulated system, bending the instincts and characteristics of riders in the face of long-term point needs is no longer an option but becomes an urgent necessity. Similarly, over time, it becomes essential to study the calendar and make painful choices, privileging races with less history and appeal but capable of ensuring, if approached with one's best riders (depriving the latter of the possibility of pursuing perhaps other and more congenial objectives), a substantial points haul.

It is (perhaps) unnecessary to say that this could also involve a greater number of long-distance trips with consequent increase in physical and mental stress for athletes and staff, all called upon to leverage every single drop of energy to do their calculations well and avoid missing those opportunities on which the destinies and short-medium term planning of the entire team might depend.

All that remains is to wait and see if, in this regard, those in charge will take corrective measures to truly come to the aid of ProTeam teams, the clearly less protected part of the system, and not force them (as some will do from now until autumn) to run here and there trying to guarantee themselves a better future.