Team fails in its bid to become first ever Australian team at the sport’s top table but is hopeful for the future
With the announcement of the first four ProTeam licences today, four teams learned that their applications had been approved, while two teams we notified that they did not make the cut. French team FDJ was listed among the Professional Continental teams for 2011, and while Pegasus Sports was not, it has learned from the International Cycling Union (UCI) that it has not made the ProTour grade.
“We were officially informed by the UCI today that we are not among the top 20 ranked teams, which means that we will be a Pro Continental team for 2011,” said Pegasus Sports CEO Chris White. “It was certainly our goal to be a ProTeam in 2011, and we are a little disappointed, but we accept the decision of the UCI.
“It was just a matter of sporting criteria,” he explained, “and other teams being ranked more highly than us. From a competition perspective, this does not change things significantly, and we will still participate at the highest level of cycling and plan to be in the biggest races in the World.”
Despite signing a number of big names, including Robbie McEwen, Robbie Hunter and Svein Tuft, the team was outside the top twenty in the sporting criterion rankings and so was ineligible for a ProTeam license.
“We had hoped to start in the top division, but we always knew this would be difficult to achieve as a first time applicant,” said White. “There are actually some benefits to us starting as a Pro Continental Team; getting a year under our belt in Europe, and then hopefully moving up to ProTeam level the following year. Other teams have successfully used this formula, and we see no reason that we can’t do the same.
“We are excited and proud to be the first Australian team to participate in the most important races in the world,” he added. “We are in contact with several major race organizers and we are confident that we will have a great program next year and that we will achieve great things. We are also convinced of the additional value we offer in terms of our vision for the modernization of cycling and our contribution to globalizing cycling.”
With FDJ and Pegasus Sports now out of the running for ProTeam status, the likelihood of the other applicant teams now being successful is increasing. On October 5th the UCI announced twenty applicants for the eighteen available spots, although Astana and Pegasus itself were missing from the list. Assuming Astana’s application was made, as the team said that it had, there are now still 20 teams in the running.