UCI confirms men’s and women’s WorldTour licenses
The UCI confirmed 2020 WorldTour status for 18 of 19 eligible men’s team applicants and seven of eight eligible women’s team applicants on Tuesday. The applications of Mitchelton-Scott’s men’s and women’s teams remain under review, but the team pointed to a paperwork delay as the cause of the holdup in a tweet shortly after the UCI’s announcement.
The rest of the teams listed as eligible in an October announcement from the UCI were indeed granted their WorldTour licenses to race as “WorldTeams.”
Who’s in, who’s out:
On the men’s side, that includes newcomers Cofidis and Israel Cycling Academy. Cofidis moves up from the Pro Continental ranks (newly renamed as the ProTeam level) after racking up sufficient points in the UCI’s rankings, while Israel Cycling Academy makes the jump after buying out Katusha-Alpecin’s WorldTour license. Arkéa-Samsic, which signed Nairo Quintana from Movistar this transfer season, had applied for a WorldTour upgrade, but did not make the cut for the UCI’s October list.
The list of WorldTour teams for 2020 is composed of:
Ag2r La Mondiale
Astana Pro Team
Bahrain-McLaren
Bora-Hansgrohe
CCC Team
Cofidis
Deceuninck-Quick-Step
EF Education First
Groupama-FDJ
Israel Cycling Academy
Lotto Soudal
Movistar Team
NTT Pro Cycling Team
Team Ineos
Team Jumbo-Visma
Team Sunweb
Trek-Segafredo
UAE Team Emirates
Still under evaluation: Mitchelton-Scott
On the women’s side, 2020 marks the inaugural season of the WorldTour team system, with all approved squads therefore newcomers to the top division. Those teams are:
Alé BTC Ljubljana
Canyon-SRAM
CCC-Liv
FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope
Movistar Team Women
Team Sunweb
Trek-Segafredo
Still under evaluation: Mitchelton-Scott
The UCI’s announcement also listed the second-division men’s squads that are approved to race as ProTeams in 2020:
Androni Giocattoli – Sidermec
Bardiani CSF Faizanè
Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
Circus-Wanty Gobert
Fundación-Orbea
Gazprom-Rusvelo
Rally Cycling
Riwal Readynez Cycling Team
Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
Team Arkéa-Samsic
Team Novo Nordisk
Total Direct Energie
Uno–X Norwegian Development Team
B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
Burgos-BH
Corendon
Nippo Delko Provence
Vino Zabù KTM
Still under evaluation: Bingoal-WB
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