The UCI has confirmed the line-up of women's and men's World Tour teams for the coming three-year cycle, with a merger also confirmed as well as Jamie Meehn's Cofidis dropping from WorldTour to ProConti after being relegated on points.
That switch for Cofidis is not a surprise and is very unlikely to make any difference to Meehan. He already had a contract with the team for the next two years even before her took up stagiaire from August 1st this year.
The more eye-catching feature of the teams confirmed today as World Tour outfits relates to Picnic PostNL - which Dillon Corkery and Mia Griffin have recently signed for. It has been awarded men’s and women’s World Tour licences for just one year. All other teams have secured their licences for three years.
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The UCI stated of Picnic PostNL: "The UCI Licence Commission has decided to limit the duration of the licence to one year and to set conditions related to the financial criterion that must be met in order to permit its extension to the 2027 and 2028 seasons."
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It is understood the issue is a financial one and that the team is yet to conclude talks with one of its main sponsors for the medium to long-term. This would suggest the financial backing that needs to be proven to secure World Tour status is not formally in place for 2027 and 2028.
As well as Meehan's Cofidis confirmed as a ProConti team, so too is Eddie Dunbar's and Sam Bennett's Pinarello-Q36.5, as expected.
Ryan Mullen's new team, NSN Cycling Team, is also confirmed as a new World Tour team. It has taken over the World Tour licence - and many of the riders and infrastructure - of Israel Premier Tech, which now no longer exists after facing very robust pro-Palestine protests last year.
In total, fourteen UCI women's WorldTour teams and 18 WorldTour men’s teams are registered. There are also 16 ProConti men's teams and seven women's ProConti teams.
Among the men's World Tour teams is Lotto Intermarché, which is a merger of the Lotto and Wanty-Intermarché teams. UNO-X Mobility has also been promoted to the World Tour for the first time.
