Commenting after media reports stating that Team Saxo – Tinkoff was set to lose its UCI ProTeam slot, the UCI has downplayed such predictions, saying that it is still too soon to say which teams will have the top-ranked licences next year.
De Telegraaf reported yesterday that Team Saxo – Tinkoff and Argos –Shimano were in a battle for the final place, and that the Dutch team looks very certain to come out on top.
Not so, according to UCI spokesman Enrico Carpani.
“It is up to the people whether they want to believe what the press writes. The only thing I can say is wait for our press release on the decision,” he told TV2 Sport. “The decision has not yet been made. I can only suggest that you are patient for a few more days. When the decision is clear, we will immediately send out a press release.”
Although Bjarne Riis’ team has the Vuelta a España winner Alberto Contador plus several other big names on the books, it was only twentieth on the UCI’s hierarchy of teams, as announced on October 29th. The reason was down to a UCI rule which states that riders returning from a lengthy ban will not have their points counted for a further two years, thus meaning that Contador’s total is not taken into consideration.
While the top fifteen teams normally each get a WorldTour place, providing they meet the other criteria, there is greater uncertainty for the five teams between sixteenth and twentieth. A maximum of three of those will get the nod, meaning that two will miss out.
In order of their ranking, those teams are Argos-Shimano, Lotto-Belisol, FDJ, Europcar and Saxo Tinkoff.
De Telegraaf said that Lotto-Belisol already had a place, as did Ag2r La Mondiale. However the newspaper may have made an error in its calculations; Ag2r La Mondiale is not one of the five teams fighting for three places, and so whether or not it has a licence does not affect Team Saxo – Tinkoff’s chances.
If it has indeed received confirmation that Lotto-Belisol has a licence, that would leave two slots to be decided rather than just one.