BikeExchange-Jayco leader Simon Yates blasted the UCI team ranking system and the risk of relegation it imposed on the team from the World Tour.

As of August 9, BikeExchange-Jayco is in 15th place overall and out of the relegation zone. However, the team's situation remains precarious now that the Grand Tour is underway and several teams at the lower end of the World Tour are at risk.

Yates is now in the countdown to the Vuelta a España, which he won in 2018 and will again be in overall contention.

But aside from his fighting spirit for the Vuelta, Yates pulled no punches when asked about the UCI points system.

"For us, it's particularly terrible," he said.

"We haven't had a season [in Australia]" - referring to the Santos Tour Down Under, which has been cancelled for several seasons due to COVID-19.

"Going back to 2020, I had to withdraw from races with COVID and on paper those were races where we could have swung a lot of points and we would not have been in last place."

"I'm sure other teams have been in similar situations, missing a few points here and there, and from that perspective, I don't think the last three years have necessarily been fair."

Yates said that the daily race program and the ongoing relegation battle has affected him about it, "Nothing has changed at all. As a team we are racing the same way and we are always doing our best to win. I don't know how we can improve on that. The last time I checked it was fine. Let's see what happens at the end of the season."

Yates, who has been on a resurgence this summer with a series of small victories in Spain, has had a roller coaster ride in the first half of the season, especially in the Giro d'Italia. A promising start that included a time trial win was followed by a knee injury and significant time loss, a mini-resurrection late in the race, a mid-race abandonment, and nearly a month off the bike.

Yates could have competed in the Tour de France, but he was in no condition to aim for a good result. Instead, he increased the pace of his recovery and "rode at my own pace from there."

Then came the Vuelta. Yates had not competed in the Vuelta since his win, but he said, "I'm happy to be back. It's a race that suits me and I'm looking forward to it." He added, "I've won before.

For the win, it will start with a solid performance in the team time trial in Utrecht.

However, the team's last time trial in a Grand Tour was in the 2019 Vuelta, and Yates himself has not done a team time trial since stage 2 of the Tour de France that year.

"It's a difficult decision, but on paper they are a strong and fast team, so they could do really good times. But that hasn't been the case in the last couple of years," Yates noted.

"We had a good session on a closed circuit away from traffic, doing turns and trying different scenarios.

"We also had good sessions in Girona and Andorra.

Yates' main mission for the Dutch stage is to get through them safely and head to the more familiar territory of Northern Spain.

"We will leave Holland safely and from there it will be a typical Vuelta, hard every day. There will be no time to rest.

"But there are a lot of aggressive races that you have to defend yourself against one day, and I like to get into it. That's what makes it fun." "

Unlike other Grand Tours, Bike Exchange Jayco is coming into the Vuelta with a strong sprint lineup. But whereas a strong team of backup climbers is essential for a GC contender in the Giro, Yates noted that the Vuelta's stage format does not require it.

"A lot of times in the Vuelta, the stage is narrowed down to the final climb. 'We have Lucas Hamilton and Callum Scottson. I have Lucas Hamilton and Callum Scottson.