It will be an absolutely intense final week and a half of the season for Euskaltel Euskadi, Bardiani CSF 7 Saber and MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort. Thanks to a desperate and (so far) fortunate comeback in recent weeks, the Basque team has indeed closed the gap that, in the annual team standings, separated them from the 29th and 30th positions occupied by the Hungarian team (now 31st with 2586 points at the time of writing) and the Italian one (29th with 2594).

Thirtieth and boasting 2587.3 points, Iñaki Isasi's team is therefore fully back in contention for a spot in the top 30 of the 2026 standings which, let us recall, is worth eligibility for wildcards to the Grand Tours next year, an objective shared, albeit with different aspirations (Euskaltel would aim for an invitation to the Vuelta from which they have been absent since 2024, Bardiani and MBH likely for one to the Giro d'Italia), by all three teams.

The coming days of racing and the calendar choices made by the three teams in question for the final stretches of this cycling season, which will end on Sunday, October 18, will therefore be decisive, with a very wide range of races: Veneto Classic, Utsunomiya Japan Cup Road Race, Chrono des Nations, and the final stages of Clásica Provincia de Chiriquí, Tour de Serbia, Tour of Guangxi, and Eneco Tour.

THE PROGRAMS OF THE THREE CONTENDERS

If Euskaltel has returned fully into contention for a spot in the top 30, it is also due to the very alternative racing program it has prepared to accumulate points in an (almost) certain manner. This approach will also apply to the final competitions in which the Basque team will participate from now until October 18, since tomorrow they will still be racing in Algeria for the Classique La Capitale (1.2) and two days later they will fly to Hong Kong for the Sun Hung Kai Properties Hong Kong Cyclothon (1.1). The search for the last points will nevertheless take place on European soil since Xabier Berasategi and company will be competing in the Giro del Veneto (1.Pro) and, on Sunday the 18th, both at the Veneto Classic (1.Pro) and the Chrono des Nations (1.1).

Pippo Pozzato's two races will be the only two occasions in which Euskaltel will directly confront Bardiani CSF 7 Saber, which, in addition to the two Venetian events, will be able to hunt for important points in two competitions where, from this point of view, the stakes will be decidedly high such as today's Gran Piemonte (1.Pro) and Saturday's Lombardia (World Tour).

MBH Bank will also be present in these four domestic races, but in addition to their commitments in Northern Italy, they will also add the Asian engagement at the Hong Kong Cyclothon where, by sending a selection of fast riders, they can aim to boost their point tally and thus try to thwart the Basques' overtaking attempt.

THE MEN TO WATCH AND A (REMOTE) SCENARIO TO CONSIDER

With an Alessandro Fancellu similar to the one admired since the Czech Tour onwards, Gábor Deák's team should have no difficulty, between Gran Piemonte and Lombardia, in running their meter in such a way as to secure a spot in the top 30 that will be drawn up on October 18.

The Italian, author of 997 of the 2589 total points of the team, will be the real factor capable of facilitating MBH's task, which in Asia can instead rely on the punch of Davide Persico on a course that should suit sprinters.

These are the same characteristics with which the resourceful Paul Hennequin and Danny van der Tuuk will attempt to bring placements and points to Euskaltel in races with finishes designed for compact group arrivals, while Xabier Berasategi, Jonatan Lastra and Gotzon Martín will have to navigate more mixed terrain in the five remaining races on the Basques' program.

Bruno and Roberto Reverberi's team, on the other hand, will have to fight until the last kilometer of their 2026 season, relying on those riders capable of best handling the altitude difficulties posed by Gran Piemonte, Lombardia, Giro del Veneto, and Veneto Classic and finding themselves in the finale to compete for a placement as close as possible to the noble zones of the finishing orders: the prime suspects in this sense are Filippo Magli, Martin Marcellusi, Alex Tolio, Luca Covili and young Filippo Turconi.

In the battle for the top 30, however, it is possible that these and other men will be involved by their respective teams which, more in need of results than ever, will almost certainly give rise to a point-by-point clash with outcomes that are unpredictable today. Among these, although very remote, a potential tie in points cannot be ruled out which, according to UCI regulations (article 2.10.004 bis), would be resolved by "counting the greater number of first places in the final general classification (time) of their 10 best riders in the races considered for the ranking": a way, not exactly among the simplest, to put an end to a dispute generated by a widely revisable system.