UCI ProTour explained

Sport:Road bicycle racing
Teams:19 (Others invited on
race by race basis)
Countries:International
Champion:Alejandro Valverde (2008)
(2008)
Spain (2008)
Folded:2010

The UCI ProTour was a series of road bicycle races in Europe, Australia and Canada organised by the UCI (International Cycling Union). Created by Hein Verbruggen, former president of the UCI, it comprises a number of 'ProTour' cycling teams, each of whom are required to compete in every round of the series. It was initially the basis of a season long competition for rankings points, created for 2005 to replace the UCI Road World Cup series, which ended at the end of the 2004 season (although the World Cup did not include any stage races). The ProTour was the subject of continuing disputes involving the UCI, cycling teams, and the organizers of the world's most prominent bicycle races (most notably, the Grand Tours), and in 2009 and 2010 the ranking element of the ProTour was superseded by the UCI World Ranking. For 2011, the ProTour and World Ranking were fully merged into the UCI World Tour. ProTour status for teams – relabelled UCI ProTeams – will continue as the highest level of registration, and will carry the right and obligation to participate in all World Tour races.[1]

Licensing

The ProTour licences are given to a maximum of 20 teams, to which sponsors must commit multiple years of sponsorship (4 years at the ProTour's inauguration). The exception to this rule was the Phonak team, which was given only a two-year licence due to previous doping allegations. Licence holders can apply for registration each year, which is dependent upon a check on contracts and budgets.

After 2005, the Fassa Bortolo and Domina Vacanze teams folded and the vacant places were given to AG2R Prévoyance and Team Milram respectively. Following the 2006 season the designated replacement principal sponsor for the Phonak Hearing Systems team, iShares, pulled its support as a results of the Floyd Landis doping scandal and the team was disbanded. The Unibet.com Cycling Team received Phonak's ProTour license, and the Swiss-based, Kazakh-backed Astana Team received the license previously owned by Manolo Saiz and his Liberty Seguros–Würth. Unibet.com and Discovery Channel discontinued after the 2007 season, bringing down the number of ProTour teams to 18. At the end of 2008, another two teams dropped out: Crédit Agricole and Gerolsteiner. Their licenses were taken over by Garmin–Slipstream and Team Katusha. Bbox Bouygues Telecom and Cofidis were denied licence renewals for the 2010 season, and new licences were given to and . Although had had its licence renewed until 2013, its registration (a separate process from licensing, concerning finances) for 2010 season was temporarily rejected, but restored after they had missed one race. UCI bylaws were later changed to require a team to be registered before its license is granted or renewed, to avoid a repeat of this situation.

History

Season-long competitions for professional road racing were first instituted in 1948, and continued until the late 1980s when the UCI instituted the UCI Road World Cup series which ran until 2004.

In replacing the World Cup, the ProTour was designed to follow the format of the Formula One motor-racing series, and was intended to address several concerns:

The UCI lobbied the organizers of the Grand Tours to participate in the ProTour, and was successful in obtaining their agreement despite prior disagreements and threats to completely pull out of the ProTour.

The ProTour has been criticized for not having a system in place for a timely upgrade and downgrade of teams from/to the lower-tier UCI Continental Circuits.

UCI versus Grand Tour organisers

Originally, UCI and the organisers of the Grand Tours had been unable to come to terms on the 2006 UCI ProTour, with the result that the status of both the Grand Tours and some of the other races organised by those organisations behind the Grand Tours was unclear until well into the season, but they were eventually included.

During the 2007 UCI ProTour season, the ASO, RCS and Unipublic, organisers of the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España respectively, remained at odds with each other. The primary reason was that grand tour organisers wanted more freedom to invite popular national teams (e.g., UCI Professional Continental teams) and the right to exclude some UCI ProTour teams such as Unibet.com. Failure to achieve agreement lead UCI chairman Pat McQuaid to send a letter in February 2008 to all professional teams urging them to boycott Paris–Nice because it was an 'outlawed' race. In response, the AIGCP (Association International des Groupes Cyclistes Professionels) announced that the teams had unanimously decided to take part in Paris–Nice, the organisation of which was to be taken over by the French Cycling Federation.[2] Quick Step team manager Patrick Lefevere commented: "I'm more than fed up with all the arguing. ASO and UCI don't know how much damage they are doing to the sport. What am I supposed to tell my sponsors? This conflict has been going on for three years and is escalating all the time. Can the teams be certain that they will be able to take part in the Tour de France later in the year?".[3]

From 2008, the ProTour was largely devalued by the withdrawal from its calendar of the three Grand Tours, namely the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España, as well as the early-season stage race Paris–Nice and key single-day events such as Paris–Roubaix, Milan–San Remo, Liège–Bastogne–Liège, La Flèche Wallonne and the Giro di Lombardia.

On 15 July 2008, the 17 ProTour teams participating in the 2008 Tour de France announced that none of them would seek ProTour licenses for the 2009 season,[4] but in the end all but two of them re-committed. In 2008 the Tour Down Under in Australia became the first ProTour event to be held outside Europe.

In 2009 UCI and organizers had agreement that events will be counted towards UCI World Ranking, which also included, in its first two seasons, Professional Continental teams. Grand Tour organizers kept the right to choose teams for the races, and also some of the teams chose not to race certain races. From 2011, all races on the World Calendar, those that yield World Ranking points, are to be classified as World Tour events, and the Pro Tour as a distinct series of races is to be discontinued.

Events

Key:

DateRaceCountryType200520062007200820092010
Mid-late JanuaryTour Down Under1-week stage
Early-mid MarchParis–Nice1-week stage
Early-mid MarchTirreno–Adriatico1-week stage
Mid MarchMilan–San Remo1-day
Mid May (2005–2009)
Late March (2010)		Volta a Catalunya1-week stage
Late March – early AprilGent–Wevelgem1-day
Early AprilTour of Flanders1-day
Early AprilTour of the Basque Country1-week stage
Early AprilParis–Roubaix1-day
Mid AprilAmstel Gold Race1-day
Mid AprilLa Flèche Wallonne1-day
Mid-late AprilLiège–Bastogne–Liège1-day
Late April – early MayTour de Romandie1-week stage
May – early JuneGiro d'Italia3-week stage
Early JuneCritérium du Dauphiné1-week stage
Mid JuneTour de Suisse1-week stage
Mid JuneEindhoven Team Time TrialTeam time trial
JulyTour de France3-week stage
Early-mid AugustDeutschland Tour1-week stage
Mid AugustClásica de San Sebastián1-day
Early-mid September
(Early August from 2009)		Tour de Pologne1-week stage
Mid-late August
(Early August in 2005)		Eneco Tour
1-week stage
Late August – SeptemberVuelta a España3-week stage
Late August (2005–2010)GP Ouest-France1-day
Late July (2005–2006)
August – September (since 2007)		EuroEyes Cyclassics
(former HEW / Vattenfall Cyclassics)		1-day
Early-mid SeptemberGrand Prix Cycliste de Québec1-day
Early-mid SeptemberGrand Prix Cycliste de Montréal1-day
Early OctoberZüri-Metzgete1-day
Early-mid OctoberParis–Tours1-day
Mid OctoberGiro di Lombardia1-day

History of team participation

Dark grey indicates that the team was not operating in the year in question.Mid-grey indicates that the team was competing at a lower level in the year in question.

200520062007200820092010
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[11] [12] [13]
[14]
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UCI ProTour winners

YearTop Ranked IndividualTop Ranked TeamTop Ranked Nation
2005
2006
2007
2008

In 2009 and 2010, the season-long competition element of the ProTour was replaced by the 2009 UCI World Ranking and the 2010 UCI World Ranking.

See also

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. VeloNews Confusion continues as ProTour teams will start all 26 races in new UCI World Tour".
  2. http://www.sporza.be/cm/sporza.be/wielrennen/080227_teams_parijs_nice Cycling teams to take part in Paris-Nice (in Dutch)
  3. http://www.sporza.be/cm/sporza.be/wielrennen/ProTour/fietserke%2BProTour/1.258754 UCI asks teams to boycott Paris-Nice (in Dutch)
  4. Agence France-Presse, 15 July 2008. "17 teams will not seek ProTour licenses for '09"
  5. Later in the season known as
  6. Later in the season known as
  7. Later in the season known as
  8. Later in the season known as
  9. Later in the season known as
  10. Later in the season known as
  11. Later in the season known as
  12. Later in the season known as
  13. Later in the season known as
  14. During the season, the team's name changed to

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