The wait is over: late in the year, the world cycling organisation UCI announced the names of the racing teams that will be allowed to take part in the highest racing series, the World Tour, next year. For the first time in many years, two German teams will be competing in cycling's premier league. In addition to Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe with Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz, the Lidl-Trek racing team will also have a German licence in future. Tour stage winner Lennard Kämna, among others, will be riding there. The team last raced under the US flag. This year, the German supermarket chain Lidl took over the majority of shares in the team.
Shortened licence for Picnic PostNL
New among the 18 teams compared to the last three years are the Spanish team NSN (as the successor to Israel-Premier Tech) and Lotto-Intermarché, as well as the World Tour climber Lotto and the former World Tour team Intermarché. Two French teams are no longer in the race: relegated Cofidis around Emanuel Buchmann and Arkéa B&B Hotels, which was unable to find a new main sponsor and was dissolved. According to the UCI press release, the Picnic PostNL team, unlike all other applicants (3-year term), was provisionally only granted a licence for the coming season.
The licence as a so-called "WorldTeam" means the right and obligation to start in the races of the highest racing series, including the Tour de France. The Race calendar of the UCI World Tour in 2026 comprises a total of 36 races. In Germany, these include the Cyclassics in Hamburg (16 August 2026) and Eschborn-Frankfurt (1 May 2026).
Overview of the 2026 World Tour teams (name, abbreviation, country code)
- ALPECIN - PREMIER TECH (APC - BEL)
- BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS (TBV - BRN)
- DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM (DCT - FRA)
- EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST (EFE - USA)
- GROUPAMA - FDJ UNITED (GFC - FRA)
- INEOS GRENADIERS (IGD - GBR)
- LIDL - TREK (LTK - GER)
- LOTTO INTERMARCHÉ (LOI - BEL)
- MOVISTAR TEAM (MOV - ESP)
- NSN CYCLING TEAM (NSN - SUI)
- RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE (RBH - GER)
- SOUDAL QUICK-STEP (SOQ - BEL)
- TEAM JAYCO ALULA (JAY - OFF)
- TEAM PICNINC POSTNL (TPP - NED)
- TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE (TVL - NED)
- UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG (UAD - UAE)
- UNO-X MOBILITY (UXM - NOR)
- XDS ASTANA TEAM (XAT - KAZ)
Andreas Kublik
Editor
