tuesday 29 September 2009 at 23h47
The UCI ProTour licences for the cycling teams and races are to be renewed regularly. When a licence expires it's sometimes renewed, new licences are rewarded and some requests for renewal are refused ...
The last decision published by the UCI indicates that the Bbox Bouygues Telecom and Cofidis, le crédit en ligne teams will no longer be part of the UCI ProTour in 2010.
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The teams
Two weeks ago the UCI announced that the UCI ProTour licence of the AG2R La Mondiale team was renewed for 3 years (2010 until 2012) and that a new licence was awarded to the new British Team Sky for a 4 year period (2010 until 2013).After the announcement of the renewal of the licence for AG2R La Mondiale, Vincent Lavenu, the team manager, announced: We are very proud that our ProTour licence has been renewed for three years: this is a proof that we filed a solid application. I would like to thank our main sponsor, AG2R La Mondiale, on which we can count since several years already and which allowed us to file such a solid application.
The sponsor on its turn, via André Renaudin, the Directeur général of AG2R La Mondiale, said: This licence allows our team to continue at the same high level and we would like to congratulate the team for that. I wish the team several victories in the upcoming years.
Team Sky is a new British team which has fixed itself the goal to "create" the first British winner of the Tour within 5 years.
The UCI announced in the same press release that the Dutch Skil-Shimano team has withdrawn its request for a UCI ProTour licence.
Furthermore, the UCI announced that the Licence commission would soon announce its decision on the other requests.
Today the UCI announced in a new press release the decisions about the renewal of the licence for 4 other teams:
- the licence of the Italian team Lampre-NGC has been renewed for 4 years (2010 until 2013)
- the licence of the German team Milram has been renewed for 1 year (2010)
Gerry van Gerwen, Milram's manager, reacted by saying: That is very good news for us. That gives us more security in our planning for the coming year. We can now continue developing the team at the highest level. And of course, as the only German team at the highest level, it is important that we be able to present ourselves in a fitting manner at the season's highlights.
- the licence of the French team Bbox Bouygues Telecom has not been renewed and will thus expire at the end of this season
- the licence of another French team, Cofidis, le crédit en ligne, has not been renewed either
In 2010 there will thus only be two French teams left in the UCI ProTour: AG2R La Mondiale and Française des Jeux. The Bbox Bouygues Telecom and Cofidis, le crédit en ligne teams, which are respectively 19th and 20th in the world team ranking, are however sure they will be invited to participate in the Tour de France 2010, thanks to the contract they signed in 2008 when the UCI and ASO were still in conflict.
The teams' performances and the end of the sponsor contract at the end of the season 2010 have probably been important elements in the decision of UCI's Licence commission.
Jean-René Bernaudeau, Bbox Bouygues Telecom's manager, told AFP that the team will not ride less due to this decision and won't win less stages in the Tour. Concerning the reasons behind this decision, he said: the UCI told us that we filed a solid application but that our performances were not good enough. That's surprising if you know that we had our best season since 5 years this year.
The last decision which needs to be taken by the Licence commission is whether or not a UCI ProTour licence will be awarded to the new team Radioshack, the team around Lance Armstrong. Concerning this decision the UCI said that the Commission continues to study the application and that the decision will be announced later.
The ProTour races
Two weeks ago the UCI announced that the UCI ProTour licence was awarded to two Canadian races: the Grand Prix de Québec and the Grand Prix de Montréal.These races will be organised in September:
- the Grand Prix de Québec is a one day race of about 290 km which will follow part of the route taken by the Tour de Beauce and the Canadian National Championships. On this route the Côte Gilmour and the Côte de la Montagne are the most important climbs. The race will be organised in the weekend after the Canadian Labour day (first Monday of September); in 2010 that would thus be on 10 September 2010
- the Grand Prix de Montréal on a 240 km route on the circuit of the Mont Royal in Montréal where the World Championships were organised in 1974. This second Canadian race day will be organised on the Sunday after Labour day; in 2010 on 12 September 2010
These two race are organised by Serge Arsenault who, according to the French Wikipedia, is an advertiser, TV presenter, journalist, sports journalist and civil servant in Quebec. The UCI ProTour licence for those two one day races has been awarded for the period 2010 until 2013 (4 years) and confirms once again the UCI's willingness to extend the UCI ProTour internationally.
Today the UCI announced the renewal of the UCI ProTour licence for the Tour des Flandres (early April) and the Amstel Gold Race (around 20 April) for a 4 year period (2010 until 2013). door Thomas Vergouwen
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1 comment | 1933 views
this publication is published in: UCI ProTour
by JP over
pourtant COFIDIS ce n est pas par manque de moyens , car quand t on reçois leur proposition de crédit , quand je vois les intérêts ...au secours..!! pas étonnant que de nos jours les gens soient sur endettés..!!faut etre fou pour faire des prêts a + de 18%...LE CYCLISME est déja le sport le plus pauvre , alors si en plus il y a de moins en moins de sponsors , le tour risque de disparaitre...!!