How To build and administer a Professional Cycling Team
Building a professional cycling team is definitely not a child’s play and requires a lot of dedication, capital and thought.
A UCI ProTour team can participate at the top level of the sport which includes various cycling events across the calendar.
The UCI ProTour is organised by the international cycling body UCI established by the former UCI president, Hein Verbruggen.
It is a series of cycling events across Europe, Canada and Australia and cyclists from all parts of the globe are invited to ride the races organised under the category.
ProTour teams enjoy invitations to all the major cycling events across the year and require a lot of financial backing in order to secure the proTour licence.
There can be a maximum number of 20 proTour teams at a time and UCI grants a four-year licence which is also dependent on the sponsor’s commitment with the team.
Team Phonak was one exception to the rule after it was granted a two-year licence which was a result of previous doping allegations on the side.
If all the 20 spots are occupied then no further team’s can obtain the UCI Pro Tour licence and the sides interested to enjoy the top level membership must wait until a spot is vacant.
A number of cycling teams end their associations every year which opens the door for other teams to ride at the World Tour level.
Team Domina Vacanze and Team Fassa Bortolo folded in 2005 and the two spots were given to Team Milram and Team AG2R Prevoyance.
iShares ended its association with Team Phonak Hearing System after the Floyd Landis Doping scandal and the team disbanded in 2006.
Team Unibet.com was given the vacant spot but the Dutch side could only enjoy the WorldTour licence for one year and announced its demise along with Lace Armstrong’s Team Discovery Channel in 2007.
The total number of professional teams was hence reduced to 18 as no more teams were included through the end of 2008 season.
However, the departure of Team Credit Agricole and Team Gerolsteiner further dropped down the total number of teams but Team Garmin-Slipstream and Team Katusha joined the party.
Team Bbox Bouygues Telecom and Team Cofidis applied to renew their contracts for the 2010 season but their requests were denied by UCI as Team RadioShack and Team Sky took over the two spots.
The American side, Team RadioShack announced its exit from professional cycling by the end of 2011 season because of lack of sponsor.
Luxembourg based side, Team Leopard Trek and Team RadioShack announced their merger in 2012 season and currently rides under the name Team RadioShack-Nissan with its head office based in Luxembourg.
A total number of 18 teams are currently listed to ride the 2012 season including Team Ag2r-La Mondiale, Team Astana, Team BMC, Team Euskaltel-Euskadi, Team FDJ-BigMat, Team Garmin-Sharp, Team GreenEdge, Team Katusha and Team Lampre-ISD.
Team Liquigas-Cannondale, Team Lotto-Belisol, Team Movistar, Team Omega Pharma-Quick Step, Team Rabobank, Team RadioShack-Nissan, Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank, Team Sky and Team Vacansoleil-DCM, all are riding the 2012 season under the UCI World Tour licence.
Team Saxo Bank was on the verge of losing its World Tour licence after the team lost its highest point scorer following a doping scandal but UCI allowed the team to continue at the top level of the sport.
Hence, building is a professional cycling team depends on a number of factors and finding a good sponsor is the most important of them all.
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