Hulm's journey may have only just started, but she thinks we should all try bike packing

There's many ways to get in troubles with UCI's anti-doping bodies, and one of them is to miss the out-of-competition doping checks entirely. The 30-year-old Colombian star Martha Bayona learned the hard way as UCI issued an 18-month ban for the track sprinter with World Championship medals under he...

Here the the UCI points tables for the women and like the mens tables, their tucked inside a PDF on the UCIs website so this blog post isnt a gripping read but just puts all the scales on one page for reference.The womens rankings system changes for 2026 and copies the same scales as the men but with fewer races on the calendar and stage races that often have shorter durations, there are less points on offer during the season.The table below is for World Tour races, if its a stage race then its for the final overall classification. Note the unusual numbers, 1,300 points for the Tour de France win for example rather than, say a round 1000 and then everything scaled proportionately to this.Next comes the points per stage in the World Tour stage races, as you can see a Tour de France stage is 210 points and points in the major tours go down to 15th each day and 10th for the other stage races.Next you can see points on offer for final place in the secondary competitions of a major tour, namely the mountains and points competitions. Even if one rider has run away with the competition others will find incentives to keep on scoring points.Next comes a daily award for leading a World Tour stage race.Next come all the races outside of the World Tour. Again note these are for the GC in stage races or a one-day race, so winning two one-day races is worth more than winning a two-day stage race in the same category.The next two tables below shows the points on offer for stages in non-World Tour races and the daily points for leading the race too. As with the mens tables we have similar clumsy formatting which suggests these tables probably arent meant to be for public consumption.Below are the national championships, split into A and B groups, where A is defined as a nation that started at least one rider in the previous Womens Elite world championship road race.Now comes the Continental Championships, think the European championships for the best example but it can be the Asian Games too.Now for the Worlds and Olympics, big events but the UCI is keen to big them up even more and they are the most lucrative one day races on the calendar in terms of points, 100 more than a Monument classic:For the last of the tables, heres the mixed relay time trial at the World Championships which the UCI is keen on promoting, its 300 points for the winning team but this is divided by the three women, so 100 points each (of course the men get 100 each too). Diving the points haul by three is why you might see some riders with a score featuring a decimal place at the end of the year.How To Lose PointsRiders can lose points too. The UCI rules include penalties for bad behaviour and some come with points deductions. They concern cheating like taking short-cuts, using sidewalks, ignoring level-crossing red lights, littering and other misdemeanours, right down to failing to sign on for the days racing or show up for the post-race press conference if invited. Any team manager sweating about winning points needs to also encourage riders not to lose them. UCI points are not docked automatically but it is within the scope of many sanctions, the example above comes from the 2025 Tour de France Femmes.Where to find themGo to uci.org > Regulations link at the top of the page > Scroll down to Part II Road Races > open the big Part II Road Races PDF > Scroll to Chapter X in the document.CommentThe scale is new for 2026 and aligns with the mens points, so the same number of points for the Tour de France whether men or women. So its equal in arithmetic but dont compare men and women for their points haul. Two examples: Tadej Pogaar and Jonas Vingegaard have enjoyed long spells in the race lead at the Giro, Tour and Vuelta, they can have 15 days of 20 or 25 points for being the overall leader each day; the likes of Demi Vollering or Pauline Ferrand-Prvot would be dominant if they led their races for five days. Above all the calendars are different, there are many more opportunities for mens teams to score throughout the year.The Mens UCI points tables are hereThe post UCI Womens Points And Rankings Tables first appeared on The Inner Ring.

Dr Hutch is thinking of hiring a super-domestique just to 'win' his ride to work