{"id":550927,"date":"2026-04-26T01:20:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T01:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/550927\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T01:20:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T01:20:13","slug":"wouldnt-it-be-better-if-the-big-teams-focused-on-the-big-races-visma-boss-richard-plugge-calls-for-uci-ranking-system-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/550927\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWouldn\u2019t it be better if the big teams focused on the big races?\u201d \u2013 Visma boss Richard Plugge calls for UCI ranking system reform"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nBig wins, but not the top ranking<\/p>\n

On paper, Visma\u2019s 2026 campaign stacks up with the very best. Wout van Aert delivered a Monument victory at Paris-Roubaix, beating Tadej Pogacar head to head in one of the defining moments of the spring. Jonas Vingegaard has added overall wins at Paris-Nice and Volta a Catalunya. By any traditional measure, that is the profile of a leading team. Yet in the rankings, those results are not enough on their own.<\/p>\n

The reason lies in how points are accumulated. The current system rewards not just victories in the biggest races, but also consistent scoring across a packed calendar. Teams with greater depth, and those racing more frequently, naturally build higher totals.<\/p>\n

Plugge highlighted exactly that issue. \u201cLast week I saw WorldTour teams racing in the Tour of Hainan to pick up points so they don\u2019t get relegated in two years\u2019 time,\u201d he said. \u201cWouldn\u2019t it be better if the big teams focused on the big races and made those events more exciting?\u201d<\/p>\n

Points, pressure and a different kind of racing<\/p>\n

At the centre of the debate is the three year ranking cycle that determines WorldTour status. With relegation a real threat, teams are increasingly forced to think strategically about where points can be collected, not just where prestige lies.<\/p>\n

Plugge believes that shift is damaging the sport\u2019s structure. \u201cIn football, it\u2019s unheard of that an amateur club wins a match and gets to take part in the Champions League,\u201d he said. \u201cIn our sport, by winning a lot of small races, you can end up in cycling\u2019s Champions League. Nobody benefits from that.\u201d<\/p>\n

That comparison underlines his frustration. While Visma continue to target the biggest races, other teams are able to close the gap through volume, entering more events and accumulating points steadily throughout the season.<\/p>\n

It also helps explain why Visma, despite a Monument win and multiple WorldTour stage race victories, still trail in the standings.<\/p>\n

\"Team<\/p>\n

Team Visma | Lease a Bike at Tirreno-Adriatico 2026<\/p>\n

A system under scrutiny<\/p>\n

Plugge stopped short of dismissing the rankings entirely, but made clear he does not see them as a true reflection of performance. \u201cIt is my ambition to become the best team of this decade,\u201d he said. \u201cWe won all three Grand Tours in 2023. I dare to say that we are currently leading that ranking, but that is not reflected in the points because some teams race a hundred more events per year than we do and therefore collect more points.\u201d<\/p>\n

His proposed solution is structural. \u201cWe need to give the WorldTour and the ProTour their own separate ranking.\u201d<\/p>\n

That idea goes to the heart of the issue now facing the sport. In a season where Visma\u2019s biggest results have come on cycling\u2019s grandest stages, the numbers suggest one reality, while the racing itself tells another.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Big wins, but not the top ranking On paper, Visma\u2019s 2026 campaign stacks up with the very…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":368291,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,140797,101,36242,12183,16595,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-550927","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-richard-plugge","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-team-visma-lease-a-bike","12":"tag-uae-team-emirates-xrg","13":"tag-uci","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}