The battle to avoid relegation from the UCI World Tour enters the final decisive month of racing, and calculated risk is the deciding factor in the latest rankings.

While Lotto Soudal, Movistar, and Cofidis blocked a trip to Australia, other teams took the risk of sending their national federations' riders to the UCI Road World Championships to score valuable points.

The gamble of relegation from the World Championships was aided by Michael Matthews' third place finish in the elite men's road race, earning him 400 points, as well as Matthews and Luke Durbridge's 133 points in the team relay time trial, Italy's silver medal with Matteo Sobrero scoring 83.33 points in winning the Bike Exchange Jayco. Sprinter Dylan Groenewegen also earned a podium finish in Paris Chauny and Omloop van het Houtland to take 155 points.

He is now 1243 points behind the relegation zone, with only the Italian Classics and other races remaining.

Team manager Brent Copeland expressed his delight after the World Championship, praising the team's blending strategy. [We had already been talking with Matthew White and the performance group for a couple of months. We had already been talking to Matthew White and the performance group for a couple of months.

"We also calculated the points and figured we had a good chance of getting some good points.

BikeExchange-Jayco's World Championship hopes were also helped by the fact that the entire Australian elite men's team was backing him. This relationship works both ways, Copeland said.

"Having the World Championships in Australia and having an Australian rider on the team made the decision easy for us. But supporting the federation and supporting the World Championships has always been the constant philosophy of this team.

Bike Exchange Jayco was near the "relegation zone" this summer when Simon Yates had to pull out of the Giro d'Italia with a knee injury and missed the Vuelta a España for COVID-19. The team did not expect to have to fight nervously to secure a spot in the 2023 World Tour.

"We were pretty confident until Simon developed COVID-19 at the Vuelta. I was pretty confident until Simon developed COVID-19 at the Vuelta. Whitey decided to add a few more races to make it more certain, like the podium Dylan got last week.

"I was a little worried because these points were very important for Simon's GC finish, and for the second time in a row, the captain was in a good position and had to retire. That was a concern. Michael's result was definitely a big relief."

Most of his points this week came from the UCI Road World Championships, where he scored big points in the mixed relay and road race. Otherwise, two one-day races, Paris Chauny and Omloop Van Het Houtland, were held in Europe.

At the top of the standings, Quick Step Alphavinir pushed Ineos Grenadier down to third place, while Jumbo Visma added 800 points with points from the Wout Van Alto and Christophe Laporte road races to maintain its lead.

EF Education-Easy Post also benefited from sending athletes to the World Championships, with Stefan Bissegger adding 100 points for his mixed relay win in Switzerland, in addition to 125 points for his fifth place in the time trial last week. Alberto Bettiol finished eighth in the road race, earning 150 points.

Bike Exchange Jayco moved up from 18th to 15th place with Matthews' podium finish.

With the results of these two teams, Arkea Samsic and Cofidis have dropped two places and are now tied on 900 points with Lotto Soudal. In order to pull away from Lotto Soudal and the relegation zone, the French side must continue to improve their points tally.

Cofidis won Paris Chauny with Simone Consonni, while Brian Coquard added points with a seventh place finish in Omloop Van Houtland. Arkea Samsic scored points in Paris Chauny with Hugo Hofstetter in fourth place. However, the team missed out on Tour de France points for Nairo Quintana, who faces a hearing before the Court of Arbitration for Sport to overturn his disqualification for a positive tramadol test.

Arkea Samsic's promotion hopes lie in upcoming one-day races in Italy, France, and Belgium.

Lotto Soudal again scored points thanks to Arnaud de Lier, finishing second in Houtland and fifth in Shawnee, but it was not enough to move up from the relegation zone to the next step. In fact, the gap with Cofidis widened to 943 points.

Elsewhere, the situation at Israeli Premier Tec is rather bleak, with Giacomo Nizzolo's 11th place finish at Paris Chauny the biggest result of the week, and Jacob Fuglsang, according to an interview with the Danish newspaper BT, so enthusiastic that he is considering breaking his contract and retiring He is disheartened to the point that he is thinking of cancelling his contract and retiring.

"I'm not worried about whether the team will be relegated. But of course that's not what I want. I don't want to be racing as a pro conti team in the last years of my career," Fuglsang told the newspaper.

The Dane's complaint about riders being sent from place to place in search of points echoes that of other teams, and also confirms teams' fears that riders' escape clauses (part of their contracts that allow them to break their contracts if the team is demoted) could uproot their rosters It also confirms the team's fear that their roster could be gutted.

Fuglsang may be just one of the players who would be willing to move to another team if Israel Premier Tech, or possibly Lot Soudal, stays in 19th place.

Fortunately, Lotto Soudal's hopes of competing in the Tour de France are in the upper echelon of other professional teams in the 2022 team standings, guaranteeing him invitations to the three Grand Tours and all World Tour races in 2023.

Israel Premier Tech's hopes for such a position have faded.

If relegated, Israel Premier Tech would have to rely on race organizers' wildcard invitations to the Grand Tours, and the team's sponsors might throw cold water on it if it is not assured of a place in the Tour de France. Alternatively, the team could try to merge with another team, as it did in 2020 when it bought Katusha-Alpecin to join the World Tour.

In the 2022 team rankings, Quick Step Alphavinil rose to fifth place, surpassing Bora Hansgrohe as Remco Evenpole won the world title with 600 points EF Education - Easy Post has been in the rankings for three years. moved up two places to 18th place for the same reason it moved up in the rankings. Israel Premier Tech dropped a place to 20th, further diminishing its prospects.

Israel Premier Tech is still in the relegation zone, but still has a chance if the UCI applies its current rules if the team chooses to continue as a professional team after relegation. They are 974 points behind Total Energy and 2,103 points behind Lotto Soudal, and will have to fight hard in the last five weeks of the year.

The two best pro teams in 2022 will get an automatic invitation to the Grand Tour, and if the UCI keeps the World Tour at 18 teams, Israel Premier Tech will have to overtake Total Energies.

However, if the UCI maintains the WorldTour at 20 teams, as has been rumored, Total Energies would not get an automatic invitation as the best pro team, as there is only provision for up to 19 WorldTour teams. The French team's hope lies in a proposal to increase the number of riders in the peloton to a maximum of 200, allowing Grand Tour organizers more options for wild cards.

See below for current points standings and the remaining race calendar.