We’ll see the Jayco-AlUla jersey in the WorldTour peloton in 2026. Photo courtesy of SWpix.
We’ll start with the headline news: Team Jayco AlUla will continue into 2026, and the team is secured to carry on for the next three-year WorldTour cycle – pending UCI approval – after the missing bank guarantee was submitted ahead of the UCI’s November deadline.
The team name will remain as is, and after weeks of uncertainty and concern that the entire team could fold, the riders and staff were informed of the good news during an all-hands call at 15:30CET on Thursday afternoon, with the ink barely dry on the final set of contracts that solidified the team’s future.
How close had the operation, including the men’s, women’s, and development teams – in total, around 180 riders and staff – come to collapsing due to contract delays? Just a matter of days, according to general manager Brent Copeland.
“We came pretty close to not having a team for next year,” Copeland told me exclusively when we jumped on a call this afternoon.
“It was a matter of a few days. I think that the UCI have been very supportive, because they wouldn’t want us to fold, but it was close for us. A few more days, and it would have been over,” he said.
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“The team’s management is extremely grateful for the trust the riders and staff put in the team during these challenging few weeks, as they all believed and trusted in the process; legally, they could have all looked for other teams. However, they stuck it out with us, which shows a lot of what this team means to everyone,” Copeland added.
Copeland flew to AlUla earlier this week for a planned training camp, but it seems as though everything was in balance when it came to the team’s future.