Bike economy

The crisis in Italian cycling: no teams in the Tour and the number of top-tier riders halved

For years now, there has been a lack of representation in the world’s top cycling circuit, where the number of Italian cyclists fell from 109 to 57 between 2005 and 2026

by Emanuele Cuomo

12 July 2026

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4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

The 2026 Tour de France is proving to be a spectacular event thanks to Tadej Pogacar, who in the first week has already found time to win two stages, let his team-mate Isaac Del Toro claim a victory, and open up significant gaps on his rivals by attacking on the Col du Tourmalet during the Pyrenees stage.

Super Cycling

The Slovenian cyclist, who has already won four Tours in his career, and the Mexican Del Toro are the star riders of UAE Team Emirates XRG, which operates on an annual budget of 60 million euros. Pogacar alone earns €8 million a year in wages; the Slovenian’s total earnings per season amount to €13 million, including bonuses, prize money and lucrative commercial deals.

Jonas Vingegaard, winner of the last Giro d’Italia, having claimed the yellow jersey at the end of the first stage – the team time trial in Barcelona – now faces a gap that seems almost impossible to bridge. The Dane, who is guaranteed a salary of 5 million, is the team captain of Team Visma-Lease a Bike, which, with a budget of 45 million, is among the most competitive teams on the world circuit.

The average budget for a WorldTour team is around 33 million euros. Among the eighteen teams at the very top level of professional cycling, there has been no sign of any Italian teams for the past ten years.

The Italian representatives

The licence issued by the International Cycling Union (UCI) on the basis of sporting, ethical, financial, administrative and organisational criteria allows teams to take part in major competitions. The race most sought after by sponsors is the Tour de France, which attracts 150 million television viewers in Europe and is broadcast in over 190 countries by 100 broadcasters, with a potential media reach of 3.5 billion people worldwide.

Of the 184 riders on the starting line for the 113th edition of the French stage race, only 12 Italians have been selected for the Grande Boucle: Davide Piganzoli, Antonio Tiberi, Filippo Ganna, Edoardo Affini, Lorenzo Fortunato, Giulio Ciccone, Marco Frigo, Mattia Cattaneo, Matteo Trentin and Damiano Caruso. In the general classification, the best of the Italians is Piganzoli, Vingegaard’s domestique, who is currently in the top 20 but over 10 minutes behind the leader.Even further back is Tiberi, currently outside the top 30 and 27 minutes behind. To find the third Italian, we have to look beyond 50th place in the standings.

We’re pinning our hopes on Filippo Ganna (whose annual salary is 2 million) for a stage win. The time trial specialist finished second in the time trial at the Grand Départ in Catalonia, where he rode alongside his teammates from Netcompany Ineos (a British team with a season budget of 50 million).

Italian teams not taking part

At the 2026 Tour de France, the three teams holding UCI ProTeam licences – namely Bardiani CSF 7, Saber Solution Tech Nippo Rali and Team Polti Visitmalta – are not among the teams in the second tier of professional cycling. For ProTour teams, participation in the French stage race is guaranteed for the top three in the UCI seasonal rankings.

In addition, the ASO organisers can invite two teams via wildcards. For the Giro d’Italia, however, RCS Sport has invited Polti and Bardiani. The Italian-Japanese team Nippo took part in Tirreno-Adriatico and Strade Bianche.

Number of Italian runners halved

In the men’s category, there are 526 cyclists competing in the main circuit organised by the International Cycling Union. There are 57 Italian riders registered with World Tour teams. Italy ranks second in terms of the number of representatives, behind only Belgium, which boasts 76 riders including Remco Evenepoel, sprinter Jasper Philipsen and Wout van Aert (who is absent from the Tour due to injury). Next come France (56), the Netherlands (45), Great Britain (32), Denmark (29), Norway (29), Spain (29), Germany (27), Australia (26), the United States (14), Colombia and Slovenia (11).

Spain leads the ProTour with 80 riders, followed by Italia (68) and France (59), with the Netherlands (17), Great Britain (15) and the United States (14) some way behind. Next come Switzerland (11), Germany (8), Australia and Colombia (7), New Zealand (5), Norway and Ireland (4).In terms of teams, the nations represented in the WorldTour are: Belgium (with 3 teams), France (2), the Netherlands (2), Germany (2), the United States (1), the United Arab Emirates (1), Norway (1), Switzerland (1), Spain (1), Australia (1), Bahrain (1), Kazakhstan (1) and Great Britain (1). The ProTeam teams, on the other hand, are spread across the following countries: Spain (4), Italia (3), France (3), Switzerland (2), the United States (2), Hungary (1) and Belgium (1).

Professional cyclists

Looking at the historical data on Italian professional cyclists, in 2005 there were 109 top-level Italian riders out of 573 (19 per cent of the global total), whilst in 2011 – the year the UCI introduced the WorldTour licensing system – there were 77 out of 524 (14.7 per cent). Since then, the Italian share has continued to decline, stabilising in recent years at around 10–11 per cent.

This figure should also be viewed in the light of regulatory changes: since 2018, the UCI has reduced the number of riders per team from nine to eight in the major events on the world calendar, initially setting the maximum limit at 176 for WorldTour races involving 22 teams, which will then rise to 23 in 2025 for the Grand Tours, with 184 starters. A smaller number of professionals also means fewer opportunities to nurture and guide new talent to the top.

At present, our team lacks riders capable of competing at the highest level in the major stage races, but between 2005 and 2026 the number of Italians competing on the world’s top circuit has practically halved, falling from 109 to 57.