(Photo © Theresa Gunn)
After a nervous wait in recent weeks for confirmation from the UCI, Nicolas Roche’s Ag2r La Mondiale squad has just learned it has maintained its place for 2012 in the sport’s ProTour top flight.
While the UCI has yet to make an official announcement about the identity of the final teams to fill the last few places in the ProTour, international media reports this evening suggest Ag2r, Euskaltel-Euskadi and La Francaise des Jeux (FDJ) have secured the last places.
The news will come as a relief to Roche and his team mates after Ag2r finished just outside the top 15 in the UCI team rankings, the automatic qualification slots for a place on the ProTour.
With a total of 18 teams included on the roster, the weaker teams just outside the top 15 are effectively left at the mercy of the UCI to see if they will be picked to fill one of the last places.
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Any team falling short slips from ProTour status to “second division” Pro Continental level, where they do not automatically get a place in major races like Grand Tours. Instead, they must rely on invitations.
Some late season points secured by Roche for his stage win in the Tour of Beijing and the transfer of riders with world ranking points into Ag2r in recent months conspired to put the team in 17th place in the UCI end of season team rankings.
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The five teams ranked 16th to 20th at the end of each season are scrutinised by the UCI, with three selected by the governing body to fill the final three spots on the ProTour.
The UCI examines a range of features within each team including ethical standards and the level of sponsorship and financial backing in place, and so on.
The teams left to fight it out this year were: Ag2r, FDJ, Europcar, Geox-TMC and Euskaltel-Euskadi.
Geox-TMC has effectively collapsed in recent weeks, leaving just four teams competing for the final three ProTour places.
Reports now suggest that Ag2r, FDJ and Euskaltel-Euskadi have all made the cut, with Europcar left disappointed.
The UCI official announcement was expected yesterday. It is now believed to be imminent.
The exclusion of Europcar means a contract offered by them to An Post-Sean Kelly rider Mark McNally looks to have fallen through. His recruitment into the team’s set-up appears to have been part of expansion plans that were dependant on the squad bagging a ProTour place for next year.
So what looks like great news for Roche is a body blow to Briton McNally.
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