Overdue since yesterday, the list of the first teams to be awarded ProTour licences could come as soon as today. VeloNation has received confirmation from the UCI that the first decisions have been made, but there is no firm indication as to when the announcement would be made.
There are a total of eight licences up for grabs this year. The list of applicants includes Pegasus Racing, the holding company representing the team vying to become Australia’s first-ever ProTour squad. This application and that of the Astana team were late for the first round of submissions, but the UCI has confirmed that Pegasus Sports has since submitted the full documentation necessary for consideration.
Seven teams are vying to renew their existing licences, namely Astana, FDJ, Team Geox, Liquigas-Doimo, HTC Columbia, Team Movistar and Euskaltel-Euskadi.
Team Milram had previously been on the list but was unable to secure a replacement sponsor for next season.
In addition to those, six others applied to move up a level, with Cofidis and BBox Bouygues Telecom seeking to regain admission to cycling’s top tier, and Vacansoleil, BMC Racing, Pegasus Sports and the new Luxembourg Pro Cycling Project aiming to be granted that status for the first time.
The BBox Team had difficulty in securing a new sponsor and while Europcar has stepped in, it is understood that it will instead look for a Pro Continental licence.
The cap on the number of available slots means that a maximum of eight out of the twelve applicants will ultimately be given the green light; for the others, they will have to wait until next year before applying again.
Under the UCI’s rules of participation for 2011, the top 18 ranked teams in the world will be granted admission to the Grand Tours. At the end of the season , these were (in order of ranking): Team Saxo Bank, Liquigas-Doimo, Astana, Rabobank, Team Katusha, Team HTC – Columbia, Garmin – Transitions, Omega Pharma-Lotto, Caisse d'Epargne, BMC Racing Team, Team Radioshack, Cervelo Test Team, Euskaltel – Euskadi, Lampre-Farnese Vini, Sky Professional Cycling Team, Quick Step, Androni Giocattoli and AG2R La Mondiale.
ProTour licence applicants Cofidis, FDJ and Vacansoleil were 20th, 22nd and 24th respectively. Sporting criteria is listed as one of the determining factors and so it remains to be seen if these teams will get a licence.
If any of these bids are unsuccessful - and if ASO stick to the UCI’s selection criteria - then they will require wildcard entries to next year’s event.
The first announcement was due to be made yesterday, and should come this week. Another announcement of teams is due on November 20th, with the final coming on December 10th.