The UCI has published several updates to the rulebook concerning the UCI Women’s WorldTour for 2018. Among those changes, organisers of the highest tier of women's events (stage races and one-day races) will be obliged to invite the top 15 ranked UCI Women's Teams, reduced from 20 teams the previous year. The overall team ranking will once again determine the UCI Women’s WorldTour participation for the 2018 season – as per the updated rules, the UCI Women's Team ranking shall be published on the second Sunday of January. Therefore, the UCI will publish the new UCI Women’s Team ranking on Sunday, January 14. The organiser must accept entries from these teams that have responded positively to an invitation.ADVERTISEMENT Organisers of Women’s WorldTour events are permitted to field a maximum of 24 participating teams, a maximum of 176 riders. Fifteen are the top-ranked teams in the UCI Women’s Team ranking, two national teams (one from the country hosting the event and one invitation to a foreign national team), and the remaining teams must be UCI Women’s Teams. As in prevous years, the UCI awards Women's WorldTour leader's jerseys to the leaders of the individual general classification and best young rider classification. Last year, Anna van der Breggen sealed the overall Women's WorldTour title ahead of Annemiek Van Vleuten and Katarzyna Niewiadoma. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig won the young rider classification. The UCI has again set restrictions on the maximum event distances of Women’s WorldTour. In stage races, the maximum average daily distance is 140km (120km for women elite), maximum distance per stage is 160km (140km for women elite), maximum distance per individual time trial is 40km and team time trial is 50km. 2018 UCI Women's Teams
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