Out of the WorldTour?: Team Picnic PostNL is considering voluntary withdrawal

​Anyone competing in the WorldTour has made it, and most teams are fighting to stay there. This makes what media reports suggest is on the cards for the Dutch cycling team Picnic PostNL all the more unusual: a voluntary withdrawal to the second tier, the ProTeams. There has been no official confirmation from the team as yet, so the decision has not yet been made.

More freedom, fewer obligations

What sounds rather strange at first, however, has its reasons. The appeal of the second tier lies primarily in the calendar. WorldTour teams must compete in all races in the top category; they are only allowed to miss one per season. This usually affects races in China or Australia; this year, several teams opted out of the Tour de Romandie instead. The organisational and financial pressure can become a major burden for a team.

As a ProTeam, Picnic PostNL could put together its programme more freely and focus its efforts on races where the riders have a realistic chance of winning and developing.

A licence subject to conditions for Picnic PostNL

The situation was already precarious before the season began. Whilst the other 17 men’s teams were granted licences for the entire 2026–2028 cycle, Picnic PostNL was only granted a one-year licence. The Licensing Commission made an extension for 2027 and 2028 conditional on financial criteria. What happens after that remains to be seen.

Picnic PostNL – A slow season

These results have heightened the sense of uncertainty. There have been just two victories in 2026: Casper van Uden won a stage of the Tour of Turkey in April, and Pavel Bittner won Paris–Chauny in September. By June, the team had accumulated a mere 1,434 UCI points – fewer than any other WorldTour team at that stage since the introduction of the current points system. The Tour de France ended without a stage win; the best individual result was Bittner’s fifth place on Stage 8. A historically poor record.

The reasons for this drastic result date back to the winter. Key riders, including Oscar Onley (who moved to Ineos Grenadiers), Tobias Lund Andresen and Kevin Vermaerke, left the team. Max Poole was due to take on the role of stage race captain, but was sidelined for a long period due to health issues. Sprinter Fabio Jakobsen moved to Visma-Lease a Bike in August. Bittner, the team’s top points scorer, is set to join Pinarello-Q36.5 in 2027. The situation stabilised somewhat in the second half of the season, thanks in part to Frits Biesterbos, who recently finished third in the Münsterland Giro. Nevertheless, there were hardly any points to show for it.

The top 30 are crucial

As a ProTeam, Picnic PostNL would not be entirely out of the running for major races. The three best ProTeams from the previous year are guaranteed invitations to all WorldTour races, whilst the others can compete via wildcards. As of 2026, an additional hurdle applies to the Grand Tours: invitations will only be issued to teams in the top 30 of the previous year’s rankings. Picnic PostNL currently sits in 28th place with 2,662 points. If this remains the case, the condition would be met, though the invitation itself would still have to come from the organisers. Relegation would also have consequences for others: one fewer WorldTour place could lead to invitations for 2027 being redistributed, benefiting higher-ranked ProTeams.

​Whether this will actually happen remains to be seen. One thing is certain: for Picnic PostNL, there is more at stake than just the question of which league they will compete in. Withdrawing from the WorldTour would not be a sporting setback, but rather an attempt to make a fresh start with less pressure and more room for manoeuvre. If the team remains in the top 30 of the UCI rankings, it could still compete in the major races as a ProTeam. The decision is likely to reveal whether the move to the second tier pays off, or whether the cost of doing so is higher than that of remaining amongst the WorldTeams.