Cycling teams 2024: The biggest teams in professional cycling

In 2024, 18 cycling teams will be part of the UCI World Tour, the premier league of international cycling. Many teams can look back on a long history. They compete in major tours such as Giro d'Italia, Tour de France or Vuelta a Espana and in the most important one-day races.

A yellow jersey thanks to the support vehicle? This Škoda should perfect the team support

Škoda presents the L&K 130, a special cycling support vehicle developed by 28 trainees. Based on a Superb Combi, the vehicle was equipped with a retractable loading ramp for spare wheels, a plug-in hybrid drive and special communication systems. The concept vehicle celebrated its premiere at the Tour de France 2025 and is intended to emphasise Škoda's long-standing connection to cycling.

Soudal Quick-Step
Riders, bikes, jerseys, transfers

Soudal Quick-Step

Riders, bikes, jerseys, transfers

The teams have between 28 and 30 riders in their squad, seven or eight of whom are sent to a race. They are financed by money from sponsors, who also buy the title name for the duration of the advertising commitment.

Of the current World Tour teams, Movistar has the longest history. The Spanish team has existed since 1980, when it was founded under the name Reynolds. Each team is backed by an operating company that holds the licence. In the case of Bora-Hansgrohe, for example - the only German team in the World Tour - this is "Denk Pro Cycling GmbH & Co. KG". This is the name of Ralph Denk, who was once an amateur rider himself and founded the team. Although the team was founded in Raubling in Upper Bavaria and continues to ride under the German flag, the operating company is registered in Niederndorf, Tyrol, in Austria.

Photo: Getty ImagesRalph Denk (third from left in front) and his Bora-Hansgrohe team triumphed at the Giro d'Italia in 2022

Cycling teams 2024: Complicated constructs

This construct exists or existed for many cycling teams. The current dsm-firmenich PostNL team rode as a German team from 2015 to 2021, but the headquarters of the operating company "SMS Cycling B.V." is located in Deventer in the Netherlands. DSM, a Dutch chemical company, is now on board as title sponsor. Accordingly, it is once again a Dutch team.

Behind UAE Team Emirates, which races under the flag of the Emirates, is the "CGS Cycling Team AG" from Switzerland or the Astana team from Kazakhstan, which holds its licence with "Astana Qazaqstan Team SA", based in Luxembourg.

Photo: Getty ImagesUAE Team Emirates is the team of two-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar

UCI awards licences

The World Tour has been in existence since 2011. It is named after the international cycling organisation Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI for short), which is based in Aigle, Switzerland. The World Tour is the successor to the UCI Pro Tour and includes the most important races. The teams must obtain their licences from the UCI. These were issued from the end of 2022 for the period from 2023 to 2025. Ethical, financial, administrative, organisational and sporting criteria were decisive for the issuing of licences for the so-called UCI World Teams.

The 18 associated racing teams are thus guaranteed the right to start in all events that are part of the racing series. Due to the UCI three-year classification, Lotto Soudal (Lotto-Dstny since 2023) and Israel-Premier Tech were relegated from the World Tour at the end of 2022. Alpecin-Deceuninck and Arkea-Samsic (Arkea-B&B Hotels since 2024) have made the leap into the premier league.

Cycling teams 2024: The teams in the premier league at a glance

Alpecin-Deceuninck (Belgium)
Arkea-B&B Hotels (France)
Astana Qazaqstan Team (Kazakhstan)
Bahrain-Victorious (Bahrain)
Bora-Hansgrohe (Germany)
Cofidis (France)
Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale (France)
EF Education EasyPost (USA)
Groupama-FDJ (France)
Ineos Grenadiers (Great Britain)
Intermarche-Wanty (Belgium)
Lidl-Trek (USA)
Movistar (Spain)
Soudal - Quick Step (Belgium)
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL (Netherlands)
Team Jayco-AlUla (Australia)
Visma | Lease a Bike (Netherlands)
UAE Team Emirates (United Arab Emirates)

Cycling teams are usually designed in such a way that there is a manager, staff (mechanics, trainers, physiotherapists, etc.) and a number of sporting directors. These are deployed at the races and determine the tactics together with the riders.

The sporting director, like Adriano Baffi here at Trek-Segafredo (now Lidl-Trek), determines the race tactics together with the riders

Photo: Getty ImagesThe sporting director, like Adriano Baffi here at Trek-Segafredo (now Lidl-Trek), determines the race tactics together with the riders

These racing bike brands are represented in the top teams

The teams are free to choose their equipment and can, for example, change the manufacturer of their racing bikes. The bike brands Bianchi, Cannondale, Canyon (twice), Cervélo, Colnago, Cube, Giant, Look, Merida, Pinarello, Scott, Specialized (twice), Van Rysel, Trek and Wilier are represented in the 2024 World Tour peloton.

Of course, there are also transfers in professional cycling. These may only be announced for the 2025 season from 1 August 2024. However, it is common practice for negotiations to be held behind the scenes before this date and deals to be finalised by rider agents and team managers.

You don't usually look for large transfer fees in cycling like you do for football transfers. There are individual cases in which a rider is bought out of a current contract. Most of the time, however, professionals with expiring contracts are signed.

UCI Women's World Tour: Women's cycling teams 2024

The counterpart to the men's World Tour is the UCI Women's World Tour, which comprises 15 teams. It has existed since 2016.

Annemiek van Vleuten has been the dominant rider in the UCI Women's World Tour in recent years - she will hang up her bike at the end of 2023

Photo: Getty ImagesAnnemiek van Vleuten has been the dominant rider in the UCI Women's World Tour in recent years - she will hang up her bike at the end of 2023