The successful 14 Women's WorldTour teams and 18 men's WorldTour teams for 2026 to 2028 have been confirmed by the UCI on Wednesday.
The two men's teams leaving the WorldTour are Arkéa-B&B Hotels and Cofidis, who will be replaced by NSN Cycling and Uno-X Mobility; Lotto, meanwhile, will merge with Intermarché. This has long been expected, but is confirmed with the statement.
Meanwhile, CERATIZIT and Roland have left the Women's WorldTour; they are replaced by just one team, EF Education-Oatly.
Teams were invited to apply for the next WorldTour cycle earlier this year. WorldTour team licences are set for the next three years, with those top-level squads having access to all the biggest races; the applications were assessed on ethical, financial, organisation and administrative criteria, but also sporting. UCI points won in races created a league table, which there was promotion and relegation to and from.
The league tables were based off the last three years for men's teams, and two years for women's teams; those outside of the top 18 and top 14, respectively, faced relegation from the WorldTour. Likewise, ProTeams who were in the top 18 and top 14 squads in the UCI rankings had the potential to be promoted.
Among the details, the names for teams for 2026 have been confirmed, as well as the registration country for each entity too. All have been announced in advance, including Alpecin and Fenix-Deceuninck becoming Alpecin and Fenix-Premier Tech, NSN Cycling, and Decathlon CMA CGM. Lidl-Trek is now registered in Germany, rather than America, after Lidl took over the team.
Both men's and women's Picnic PostNL have been given just a one year WorldTour licence. According to the press release, the UCI has decided "to set conditions related to the financial criterion that must be met in order to permit its extension to the 2027 and 2028 seasons". This is understood to be due to ongoing contract extension discussions with the team's title sponsors.
16 further men's ProTeams, the second division, have been confirmed, along with seven women's ProTeams. These licences only last for 2026.
These include Tom Pidcock's Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling, Julian Alaphilippe's Tudor Pro Cycling, and Alison Jackson's St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93. Pinarello-Q36.5 and men's Cofidis both applied for the WorldTour, but were not successful.
There are two new women's ProTeams: Lotto-Intermarché Ladies and Ma Petite Entreprise, while Mayenne Monbana Mypie is the new name for French squad Winspace Orange Seal.
On the men's side, meanwhile, there are two new teams at ProTeam level: former Italian Continental squad MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort is now a Hungarian outfit, while George Hincapie's Modern Adventure Pro Cycling has had its status confirmed. The Italian team formerly known as Solution Tech-Vini Fantini is now Toscana Nippo Rali.
The press release concludes: "The UCI thanks all the parties involved and wishes the registered teams an excellent 2026 season."
Women's WorldTour 2026-2028
AG Insurance - Soudal
Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto
EF Education–Oatly
FDJ United-SUEZ
Fenix-Premier Tech
Human Powered Health
Lidl–Trek
Liv AlUla Jayco
Movistar
Picnic PostNL
SD Worx–Protime
Visma-Lease A Bike
UAE Team ADQ
Uno-X Mobility
Men's WorldTour 2026-2028
Alpecin-Premier Tech
Bahrain Victorious
Decathlon CMA CGM
EF Education–Easypost
Groupama-FDJ United
Ineos Grenadiers
Jayco AlUla
Lidl-Trek
Lotto-Intermarché
Movistar
NSN Cycling
Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe
Soudal Quick-Step
Picnic PostNL
Visma-Lease A Bike
UAE Team Emirates XRG
Uno-X Mobility
XDS Astana Team
Women's ProTeams 2026
Cofidis
Laboral Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi
Lotto-Intermarché Ladies
Ma Petite Entreprise
Mayenne Monbana Mypie
St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93
VolkerWessels Cycling
Men's ProTeams 2026
Bardiani CSF
Burgos-Burpellet-BH
Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
Cofidis
Equipo Kern Pharma
Euskaltel-Euskadi
Flanders-Baloise
MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort
Modern Adventure Pro Cycling
Novo Nordisk
Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling
Polti VisitMalta
Toscana Nippo Rali
TotalEnergies
Tudor Pro Cycling
Unibet Rose Rockets
