As rumoured earlier this week, the Team Geox-TMC squad of Denis Menchov and Carlos Sastre have indeed been turned down for ProTeam licences, although it has the right to appeal the decision.
The UCI announced the list of teams who have been awarded ProTeam registration/ProTeam licences for 2011 and Team Geox plus Cofidis are both excluded at this point in time.
Six teams currently holding ProTeam (formerly ProTour) licences were approved in today’s communiqué: These are Ag2r (France), Katusha (Russia), Lampre-ISD (Italy), Quick Step Cycling Team (Belgium), Saxo Bank SunGard (Denmark) and Team RadioShack (USA)
They join the previously-confirmed Garmin-Cervélo (USA), Omega Pharma-Lotto (Belgium), Rabobank Cycling Team (Netherland) and Sky ProCycling (Great Britain).
Ag2r and QuickStep had been ranked 20th and 18th respectively on the UCI’s sporting hierarchy of teams for 2011, while Geox-TMC and Cofidis were 17th and 19th. No reason was given for their exclusion.
Meanwhile eight teams were either granted the renewal of licences or new licences. The BMC Racing Team (Switzerland), HTC Highroad (USA), Liquigas-Cannondale (Italy) and the new Luxembourg Pro Cycling Project (Luxembourg) have all been given licences running from 2011 – 2014. Euskaltel-Euskadi (Spain) gets a two year licence, while Team Movistar (Spain), Pro Team Astana (Kazakhstan) and Vacansoleil-DCM (Netherlands) have secured three year slots.
The complete list of UCI Professional Continental Teams registered for 2011 will be announced on 10 December.
In the meantime, Geox-TMC and Cofidis are likely to appeal.
The ProTeam squads are thought likely to be awarded participation rights to all of the races on the UCI’s WorldTour calendar, including the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España.