After its controversial demotion from the 2022 WorldTour, the UCI has modified its ranking system for 2023, giving Israel Premier Tech a reprieve.

The Israel Premier Tech team is one of two WorldTour teams, along with Lotto Soudal, to be demoted to a second division professional team beginning in 2023.

The system was based on a three-year ranking from 2020 to 2022, but the weighting and distribution of points was controversial, and the governing body is now considering a more equitable system.

In addition, it is attempting to reassure Israel Premier Tech by guaranteeing invitations to all World Tour races except the three Grand Tours.

The points system has been unpopular with many riders and teams, as well as those fighting relegation. The main complaint is that the points earned appear to be disproportionate depending on the level and type of race, with one-day races being weighted significantly higher and few points awarded for stages within stage races. For example, a stage win in the Tour de France was worth 120 points, whereas a win in a 1.1 class one-day race, such as the Heistse Pijl, was worth 125 points.

Teams in danger of relegation quickly realized this and changed their strategy to target the most advantageous races in terms of points rather than prestige.

After discussions with the teams, the UCI changed the points cycle system for the three-year period from 2023 to 2025; the UCI has not yet officially added details of the new points system to its regulations, but issued a press release on Friday outlining the changes The UCI has not yet officially added the details of the new points system to the regulations.

For the three Grand Tours, more points will be awarded for both the final overall result and individual stages. In addition, five monumental one-day races will have independent categories and increased importance: Milan-San Remo, Tour de Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and Il Lombardia.

As for the other stage races, more points will be awarded for each stage of the World Tour and Pro Series, and more places will be available for points. Finally, in the UCI Road World Championships and the Olympic Games, more points are awarded to the lower finishers.

Another important change is that team point totals are no longer limited to the top 10 riders, but are now limited to the top 20 riders, the minimum number for a second division team.

"These changes widen the gap between points earned in the most prestigious races and points earned in the less prestigious categories, and are intended to encourage teams to field their best riders in the most important races and to ensure a better correlation between the points awarded and the relevant sporting achievements. It is intended to encourage teams to field their best riders in the most important races and to ensure a better correlation between the points awarded and the relevant sporting results," a statement from the UCI said.

"This increase in the number of riders is not only to better reflect the competitiveness of the teams, but also to reduce the possibility that for some reason the best riders will not be able to compete.

The UCI made peace with Israel Premier Tech at the same time it launched its new points system. Its boss, Sylvan Adams, ranted against the relegation system and threatened to take the UCI to court.

UCI president David Lapartient has now given the teams some small consolation, although he once resisted calls to expand the World Tour to 20 teams. Lotto Soudal will not receive an automatic invitation to the Grand Tour, so its participation in the Tour de France remains in doubt, but it will be able to participate in the remaining races on the World Tour calendar.

This is similar to the previous rule that from 2022 Lotto Soudal will receive an automatic invitation to all World Tour races as one of the top two professional teams, along with Total Energies. Israel Premier Tech, which had a lower score than both of these teams in 2022, was only allowed to compete in World Tour one-day races, but now includes week-long stage races.

"The change is aimed at maintaining stability within the teams and is limited to one transition year, 2023 only, three years after the major disruption caused by the global pandemic," the UCI said in a statement.

Thus, Israel Premier Tech only missed out on access to three Grand Tours as a result of its demotion. Since Lot Soudal and Total Energy have declined invitations to the Giro d'Italia, the team will most likely compete in the Italian Grand Tour. As for the Tour de France, the presence of four-time winner Chris Froome, in addition to two stage wins since 2022, makes the team a strong contender for the Tour de France, along with up-and-coming Uno X and Basque start home team Euskaltel Euskadi.