Picnic PostNL and Jayco AlUla miss the UCI’s first deadline for 2027 licences, and Visma registers as “Yellow B.”
Forty-eight of 54 applicant teams filed their essential documents by 15 October. Both missing WorldTour teams say they will still race at the top level, while TotalEnergies is trying to survive on a smaller budget.
Picnic PostNL and Jayco AlUla were the only WorldTour teams missing from the UCI’s list of teams that had filed their essential registration documents for 2027, published on 19 October. Both say they will still be in the WorldTour next season.
The governing body received 54 applications across its four professional road categories, and 48 teams met the first deadline of 15 October. The rest can complete their files before the process ends. The UCI, which checks the applications with the audit firm PwC against ethical, financial, administrative and organisational criteria, will publish the final list on 8 December.
Until then, riders at teams that missed the deadline have a right to terminate their contracts early, the UCI said. The right lapses if the team is later registered.
A bike supplier and a bank transfer
Picnic PostNL’s problem is its bike. Its supplier, Lapierre, has been in difficulty since its parent company, Accell, went into insolvency, and the Dutch team told Cyclingnews that the partnership, due to run until 2028, will end early. The team has lined up a replacement but not yet signed the contract.
“The team still needs to provide information relating to the finalisation of a partnership with a technical partner for the coming season, following the bankruptcy of the current partner’s company,” a spokesperson told Cyclingnews and Domestique. “We will be doing this in the coming period.”
Jayco AlUla blamed a delay in the bank guarantee, which the UCI holds so that wages can be paid if a team gets into financial trouble. “This is purely due to a technical transfer process that will be resolved very soon,” a spokesperson said. “Processing the bank guarantee required by the UCI involves cross-border financial operations that sometimes can encounter delays.”
Both teams also run Women’s WorldTour squads, and neither women’s team was on the list. Domestique reported that the Australian team’s long-time backer, Gerry Ryan, will become a minority stakeholder in 2027.
Visma becomes “Yellow B.”
Visma | Lease a Bike filed both its men’s and women’s teams under the name “Yellow B. Cycling”, the name of the team’s parent company, Cyclingnews reported, while it negotiates with a new title sponsor to replace Visma. Earlier in 2026, chief executive Richard Plugge said the team needed around €20 million of a budget of €60 million to €70 million, according to the same report.
TotalEnergies on the edge
Two of the 14 applicants for men’s ProTeam status were not on the list. Cyclingnews and Domestique both reported that TotalEnergies and Euskaltel-Euskadi were missing and are expected to complete their files.
TotalEnergies, a team with 27 seasons in the peloton that has lost its title sponsor, has filed its bank guarantee, team president Jean-René Bernaudeau told L’Équipe, as quoted by Cyclingnews. “We have met the ethical and banking guarantee requirements. We have to finalize the budget and submit it,” he said. “It needs to be 70% complete for the application to be approved by the UCI, and we’re currently at 50%.”
He said the team would not go beyond its own deadline of 31 October. Domestique reported that the French team expects to run on a budget of around €10 million and is still looking for a title sponsor. Nine of its riders have already signed elsewhere and three have retired, according to Cyclingnews.
Two other ProTeams did not appear at all. Flanders-Baloise announced in August that it would stop after 33 years, and Kern Pharma lost its title sponsor in May, Cyclingnews reported. Domestique said both are expected to leave the sport.
The women’s side looks healthier. All 14 current Women’s WorldTeams have applied, and Decathlon CMA CGM has entered a new women’s ProTeam, Cyclingnews reported.
The money behind it
The registration list comes during a difficult year for team finances. EF Education-EasyPost let its leader Richard Carapaz leave a year early to cut costs, team boss Jonathan Vaughters said this month. A budget or salary cap is among the ideas raised in the UCI’s consultation on reforming the sport, Cycling Weekly and Brújula Bike reported. The first outlines of that reform are due at the WorldTour seminar in Benidorm on 9 and 10 December, the day after the final registration list.
