With the threat of WorldTour relegation looming over many teams, Israel Premier Tech insisted it is not panicking and is fine-tuning its approach to maximize points in the coming months.

Israel Premier Tech, which joined the WorldTour in 2020, has dropped down the UCI rankings after an illness sidelined the early part of the 2021 season, leaving it at the bottom of the de facto three-year ranking list that determines the top team status starting in 2023.

Two WorldTour teams will be relegated, as second-division teams Alpecin Phoenix and Arkea Samsic will be promoted from the 18 top teams, and Israel Premier Tec has joined Lot Soudal in the relegation zone.

"There is no panic," Israel Premier Tech general manager Kjell Carlström told Cycling News.

"We make decisions based on team strategy and tactics. It's about our strategy and making sure everything works. Hopefully everyone stays healthy.

Carlström believes that when riders are healthy and fit, their results will naturally improve. After the Tour of Flanders in the spring, when the situation was so serious that he could not even organize a team, he says that most of the riders are now in good fitness and form.

The one-two finish in the Classic Alpes Maritimes by Jakob Fuglsang and Michael Woods was a turning point, although it did not immediately take them off the bottom of the rankings.

"I think we're on track now," said Carlström. 'We should be able to compete with our best guys.'

Despite this belief in a natural turnaround, the team is not leaving everything to chance. Karlström spoke of "strategy" and the need for a more calculated, points-oriented approach to racing.

"Basically, it's pretty much the same strategy as before, but we may need to pay a little more attention to putting the best resources into getting the best results.

"What we need to consider is whether to reallocate riders' schedules depending on what has happened in the last three or four months. Usually we consult with the riders about what they want to do and balance that with the ambitions of the team, but I think everyone understands that in this case it is more important to prioritize team priorities rather than personal priorities

"In the past, you don't get as much prestige or points If it was a rider's home race, we were more forgiving. And maybe we would have lost a better chance. In this case, everyone understands that the team's priorities are definitely the most important."

These concerns extend not only to small "home" races, but also to the biggest races in the world. Sepp Vanmarcke recently revealed that he will skip the Tour de France and run a smaller one-day race in Belgium; the UCI's points system weighting, used effectively by teams like Alcare Samsic, makes a Tour de France stage win than a win in a one-day race in the third division, which could favor certain lower-level races, as more points are awarded for winning a one-day race.

"I am really trying to collect points everywhere. That's why my program was changed and the Tour was cancelled in order to do more work in Belgium. I can help my teammates in the final by scoring points myself or preparing for Giacomo Nizzolo's sprint in the Heist Pile," Vanmarcke told Het Nieuwsblad.

"That job is more useful than going to the Tour. "

Chris Froome is currently in action at the Criterium du Dauphiné, while Fuglsang and Woods are looking to stay in form heading into the Tour de Suisse and then the Tour de France. This season's leading scorer, Giacomo Nizzolo, has yet to win a race in 2022. Meanwhile, the smaller races behind him will be given due attention.

"We are still more than halfway through the season, so in that sense everything is still wide open," Karlström concluded.