At the request of the Professional Cycling Council (PCC) at its meeting on 26 March, the Management Committee of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) has ruled on two important and urgent regulatory changes: the first concerning the addition of a twenty-third team in the men's Grand Tours, the second concerning the adaptation of the rules in force regarding feed zones.
The UCI Management Committee has approved the request submitted by the PCC to increase the number of teams participating in the men's Grand Tours (Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and La Vuelta Ciclista a España) to 23 starting this year. Their number was previously limited to 22 (the 18 UCI WorldTeams, the two best UCI ProTeams in the UCI World Team Ranking from the previous season, which receive a compulsory invitation thanks to their ranking, and two UCI ProTeams chosen by each organiser). The organisers concerned will therefore be able to award three wild cards.
The arguments put forward for accepting this proposal were mainly based on the need to support second division teams (UCI ProTeams), while enabling organisers to strengthen the line-up for their race and giving riders from the additional teams the opportunity to compete in a Grand Tour.
While the UCI Management Committee has approved the unanimous request of the cycling families - adopted by the PCC on 26 March by ratifying the submitted regulatory changes, which will apply from 1 April 2025 -, it reiterates its commitment to the preservation of sporting equity and the primacy of sporting merit. To this end, it requests the PCC to consider, at its next meeting, the possibility of increasing to three the number of compulsory invitations to the Grand Tours awarded on the basis of the UCI World Team Ranking (cf. art. 2.1.007bis of the UCI Regulations) and of restoring, as of the 2026 season, the current number of two invitations (wild cards) left to the discretion of the organisers for UCI ProTeams.
The UCI Management Committee has also approved regulatory changes concerning feed zones following the first months of application of the rule reintroducing the limitation of these zones to specific locations. Based on these first months of experience and the recommendations of SafeR - the structure dedicated to safety in men's and women's road cycling, bringing together representatives of all stakeholders in the sector - it was deemed necessary to introduce more flexibility in order to allow organisers to better position these zones, and for riders and staff members (maximum three per zone) to approach them in the best possible conditions, particularly in terms of safety. Pursuant to these changes, yellow cards aimed at preventing behaviour causing a risk within these feed zones may be issued.
The next meeting of the UCI Management Committee will take place from 10 to 12 June 2025 in Arzon, France.