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The UCI ProTour is a competition under the International Cycling Union (UCI). Created by Hein Verbruggen, former president of the UCI. It is comprised of a series of road bicycle races and a number of 'ProTour' cycling teams, each of whom are required to compete in every round of the competition. This system was created for 2005 and in many ways replaces the UCI World Cup series, which ended at the end of the 2004 season.
The ProTour includes the three Grand Tours, namely the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España. It also includes most of the former UCI World Cup races, such as Paris-Roubaix, Tour of Flanders and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
The ProTour licenses are given to 20 teams, which sponsors must commit to 4 years of sponsorship. The exception is the Phonak team, which is given only a 2-year license due to previous doping allegations.
After 2005, Fassa Bortolo team folded and the vacant place was given to AG2R Prévoyance.
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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 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 Grand Tours were not part of the UCI World Cup series
- Different riders and different teams targeted different types of races, making direct comparisons during competition difficult
- Team sponsorships tended to last only a very few years
- Many teams had financial difficulty in paying their riders and staff members
- Several teams had been plagued by doping issues
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.
2006 ProTour calendar
Originally, UCI and the organisers of the Grand Tour 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 the organisations behind the Grand Tours are unclear. A deal was finally reached on April 7. See the main article 2006 UCI ProTour for a list of races.
List of current UCI ProTour teams
| Code | Official Team Name | Country | Website |
|---|---|---|---|
| AGR | Ag2r Prévoyance | * | |
| AWT | Astana-Würth Team | * | |
| BTL | Bouygues Télécom | * | |
| CEI | Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears | * | |
| COF | Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone | * | |
| C.A | Crédit Agricole | * | |
| CSC | Team CSC | * | |
| DSC | Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team | * | |
| DVL | Davitamon-Lotto | * | |
| EUS | Euskaltel-Euskadi | * | |
| FDJ | Française des Jeux | * | |
| GST | Gerolsteiner | * | |
| LAM | Lampre-Fondital | * | |
| LIQ | Liquigas | * | |
| MRM | Team Milram | * | |
| PHO | Phonak Hearing Systems | * | |
| QSI | Quick Step-Innergetic | * | |
| RAB | Rabobank | * | |
| SDV | Saunier Duval-Prodir | * | |
| TMO | T-Mobile Team | * |
See also
2005 ProTour Results
- See UCI ProTour 2005 for reviews, points and results for the 2005 season.
List of winners of the Classics
External links
- Official UCI ProTour website
- Official Union Cycliste Internationale website
- UCI Pro Tour weblog
- UCI ProTour Cycling Wiki (not an officially sanctioned UCI website)
- www.cyclingnews.com coverage of ProTour collapse, a 1-April joke
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"UCI ProTour"