Dwars door Vlaanderen organisers having difficulties to finalise the final team’s list for the 2012 edition of the one-day race
Organisers of the 67th edition of the Dwars door Vlaanderen has to make some tough calls as the scheduled date for the race is around the corner.
The event is planned on March 21st and the officials are in a process of finalising the list of the World Tour teams that can participate at the race.
UCI rules suggests that not more than 50% of the total teams partaking the race should be from the World Tour level. As many as 14 out of 18 World Tour teams have already applied to ride the Belgian race.
Team EuskaltelTeam Liquigas, BMC Racing Team and Team RadioShack-Nissan are the only four World Tour teams that have not shown interest to ride the event.
A total number of 25 teams will ride the1.1 ranked contest which means a maximum number of 13 World Tour teams can be allowed.
Yvan Vanhoucke is the press officer of Dwars door Vlaanderen and he briefed that the organisers have already checked with UCI if they can allow 14 World Tour teams for the 2012 version of the Belgian race.
He explained, “With 25 teams at the start the outcome is we can only accept 13 ProTeams. We asked the UCI for an exception on this rule but they didn’t allow it so one team will have to be disappointed”.
He continued, “We will make the decision based on the quality of the riders and will decide on the matter at the end of this month”.
The 1.1 ranked race started in 1945 and the Belgian rider Rik Van Steenbergen won the opening edition of the race. Whereas, Team Saxo Bank cyclist Nick Nuyens won the Dwars door Vlaanderen 2011.
Team Saxo Bank cyclist, Nick Nuyens won the most recent version of the race after his impressive performance to claim the top podium position at the 2011 edition of the race.
The Danish team will have no difficulties in finding a spot at the race. However Contador’s disqualification from all the victories since the Tour de France 2010 means that the team will lose some significant UCI points.
The Spaniard contributed as many as 68% of the total points and it is believed that Team Saxo Bank might end up losing the World Tour licence which can make the race organiser’s job lot easier.
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