This season, many teams were caught in a relegation battle on the World Tour, which was a sleep-walk.

Movistar (open in new tab) was dragged through the mud after a poor spring campaign.

"It's madness," Eusebio Unzué, who has been involved with the team throughout its 42-year history, told Cycling News at the Criterium du Dauphiné. (Open in new tab)

Unzué had just called his old talisman Alejandro Valverde (open in new tab) and politely asked if he would be willing to add the Ventoux Challenge and Route d'Occitanie to next week's program. Valverde, 42, was supposed to retire at the end of the season and enjoy Swan Lake after 18 years of service to the Spanish team. Instead, even Valverde has to chase down wins.

"Valverde also has the Spanish championship. Unzier suggests, but not for long.

"But logically, at the same time ......" he adds.

"But logically," he adds, "at the same time ......" He added.

Valverde might have imagined his final season a little differently. Valverde might have imagined his final season a little differently. But Unzier revealed that Valverde, a dependable breadwinner, had no qualms about being helped out with menial tasks.

"Fortunately, Alejandro was as exemplary as ever. He is willing to be the first to do what needs to be done."

"He is aware that we have to score some points because that is what the system demands. It's really unthinkable, but that's the situation we're in."

As of the weekend of June 11-12, Movistar's situation is 16th on the three-year ranking list that will determine its World Tour status beginning in 2023.

With 20 competitors clustered in the 18 spots and two teams currently on the World Tour set to be "relegated" at the end of the season as Alpecin Phoenix and Arkea Samsic in the second division try to gain points and move up in the standings, Movistar is now in a position where it will be "demoted" at the end of the season.

Movistar is set for its worst three years in its long history.

"Six or seven people have to compete to get points. It's madness," Unzier said. 'With all due respect, I think we should race to guarantee the spectacle of cycling.'

Unzie's problem is not with the idea of promotion and relegation itself, but with the points system on which it is based.

The points scale across various race categories (from World Tour to 0.1) is complex and the weighting is questionable, with Grand Tour stages being worth less than third-class one-day races. The rise of Arkea and Lotto's recent breakthroughs have targeted a host of smaller one-day races in Belgium and France, sometimes keeping the best riders away from the most prestigious races.

"The points system needs to be reformed.

"It doesn't make sense that we have to look for points in the second and third divisions in order to stay in the first division. Try explaining that to fans of other sports. It doesn't make any sense."

For Movistar, this imbalance was felt more acutely than ever on Saturday. Their Carlos Verona won the seventh stage of the Criterium du Dauphiné, breaking away over Galibier and Croix de Fer and holding off Primoz Roglic on the final climb to Vojani. He earned 60 points. At the same time, in Alpecin-Phoenix, Oscar Riesebeek won the Doire d'Het Hagelin, earning 200 points.

"I understand that this system was created with good intentions, but it is not fair. We need to think about how we can make the system more beneficial, logical, rational, and proportional to the quality of the riders," Unzier said.

"Often the points earned do not do justice to their performance in the race. It is artificial. We have to evaluate other things."

Like it or not, this system is here to stay at least until the next WorldTour three-year cycle, and Movistar needs to learn from it. The Verona win was a timely boost, but they will need Enric Mas' luck to turn around and Valverde to leave with a bang.

Asked how concerned he was about the possibility of relegation, Unzier laughed when he revealed what he saw as another flaw in the system.

"We could even be in a more favorable position if we finish 19th or 20th," he said, referring to the fact that the top two teams in the 2022 second division will receive an automatic invitation to the entire 2023 World Tour.

"In the end, I don't know if finishing in last place is good or bad. The system has to change," he concluded.