The UCI has confirmed that 19 teams, including Cofidis, Dimension Data, and the acquisition of Katusha-Alpecin by the Israel Cycling Academy, have earned enough ranking points to qualify for the 2020 World Tour. The teams are now being scrutinized on financial, ethical, operational, and organizational criteria, with a final decision on the 2020 World Tour expected in November.

The 2019 road racing season concluded Tuesday with the Tour of Guangxi in China, where the UCI released its final world team rankings. Under recently changed UCI rules, the French team will be automatically invited to all three Grand Tours in 2020. Under the same rules, Total Direct Energie and Wanty Gobert have earned an automatic invitation to the World Tour Classic.

This rule limits the number of wildcards that race organizers can grant, leaving other professional continental teams (called professional teams from 2020) to compete for a spot in the sport's biggest race. Grand Tour organizers can only offer two wild cards in 2020, and there are only four wild cards for the Classics. Teams can decline some of the automatic invitations if they lack the athlete base or desire to race, and the slots will be given to the race organizers as additional wildcards.

In recent weeks, Dimension Data, Cofidis, Total Direct Energie, Wantigover and Corendon Circus have been quietly chasing UCI points in races to meet UCI sporting standards and to secure their future.

Dimension Data needs to finish in the top 20 in the UCI's secret three-year team ranking to stay in the top class of the sport, but thanks to the points earned at the Tour of the Broad West and perhaps Michal Valgren's sixth place at the Chrono de Nations thanks to which he achieved it.

In 2019, the African team was plagued by injuries, losing Mark Cavendish after a two-year battle with the Epstein-Barr virus and sinking to the bottom of the World Tour standings. Because of the threat of legal action, the UCI changed its rules in February to offer parachutes to existing WorldTour teams like Dimension Data, whose 2020 WorldTour berth will be determined by their ranking points from 2017, 2018, and 2019, the team claimed that they were only informed a year ago. Up to that point, Dimension Data had focused on developing African riders rather than chasing ranking points.

Cofidis' goal was to finish in the top 18 in order to meet the sport's criteria to join the World Tour in 2020.

Total Direct Energie, Wanty-Gaubert, and Corendon-Circus were vying for the number one spot in the ProTeam ranking, which would give them automatic entry to the Classics and Grand Tours, along with the ultimate golden ticket: a spot in the 2020 Tour de France. If Mathieu Van der Polk had won the Tour de France, he would have been the first to win the Tour de France. Had Mathieu van der Pol won the World Championships in Yorkshire, he would have earned an automatic invitation to the three Grand Tours in 2020.

With Total Direct Energy securing its place, Alcare-Samsick, Wanty-Gobert, and B&B Hotels-Vital Concepts will compete for the remaining two wild card spots in the 2020 Tour de France. Arkea-Samsic has signed Nairo Quintana and Nasser Bouhanni, so either Wanty-Gobert or B&B Hotels-Vital Concept could miss out.

When the UCI released the final 2019 team standings on Wednesday, Total Direct Energie had a total of 5152.67 points, 84.67 points ahead of Wanty Gobert with 5086 points and Corendon Circus with 4898 points. Athletes earn points based on their performance in the race, but points may be deducted for violations of UCI rules.

Wanty Gobert and Kollendon Circus may request a recount of their UCI points, as independent results and ranking websites have highlighted errors and differences in their point totals. In the past, points have been awarded to the wrong players or forgotten altogether.

Guillaume Martin (Wanty-Gaubert) told L'Equipe that the battle for ranking points has taken its toll on riders and teams. This season he raced for 90 days, including the Tour of Guangxi. Lilian Carmejane scored important points for Total Direct Energy in China, but warned that points contention comes at a price and will likely burn out riders.

"Our goal at the end of the season was to chase points and build a good race calendar for 2020," he told L'Equipe.

"The battle for the 2019 wildcard between Arkea, Vital Concepts, and us was intense. Wanty and Total Direct Energie are in a close race. ...... If this continues, our careers will be over soon."

The battle for ranking points, major race positions, and survival will only get worse in the coming years.

In 2020, the WorldTour will begin a new three-year licensing period and other races will be collected into the so-called Pro Series, and UCI President David Lapartient told China Cycling News that the sport's stakeholders will be "very happy" when the next WorldTour He acknowledged that stakeholders in the sport have already agreed to reduce the number of WorldTour teams to 18 by 2023, when the next WorldTour will begin.

Unless a team loses sponsorship and disbands, the team with the fewest points between 2020 and 2022 will be demoted from the World Tour. Upon losing their World Tour status, sponsors often discontinue their support and players are transferred to other teams.

New sponsors and teams that want to enter men's professional cycling will need to buy out existing teams to get to the highest level in 2021 or 2022, as the Israel Cycling Academy is doing with Katusha Alpecin.

AG2R La Mondiale

Astana Pro Team

Bahrain - Merida

Bora - Hansgrohe

CCC Team

Cofidis, Solutions Credit

Deceuninck - Quick - Step

EF Education First

Gulpama - FDJ

Lot Soudal

Mitchelton - Scott

[35 Scott

Movistar Team

Team Dimension Data

Team Ineos

Team Jumbo - Visma

Team Katusha Alpecin

Team Sunweb

Trek - Segafredo

UAE Team Emirates

.