Team Lotto Belisol relieved to have the WorldTour status
Team Lotto Belisol was pleased to hear the news that they will ride in World Tour for the 2013 season.
The announcement was made on Monday when the Cycling governing body, UCI granted the Belgian team’s request and allowed it to enjoy the top level of the sport.
It was believed that one out of the two sides, Team Saxo-Tinkoff or Team Lotto Belisol will be given the licence but UCI’s decision to allow both the teams and denying Team Katusha’s request came as a surprise for the whole cycling world.
Team Katusha has tremendous 2012 record with as many as 1273 UCI points to its credit, securing the second overall position after the UCI World Tour team’s rankings.
Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver secured the maximum number of 692 points and topped the UCI individual rankings.
The irony is, even his mountain of points could not help the team as a licence was given to Team Saxo-Tinkoff whose commutative UCI points total is less than Rodriguez alone.
However, Team Lotto-Belisol was delighted for their achievement and Team General Manager Bill Olivier stated that the World Tour licence means a lot to the whole team and it is only because of the hard work done by the whole team that helped him reaching
this point.
"We were pretty sure that we would get the WorldTour license, but it was still waiting for the official message came. That we have this licence of course makes a world of difference,” Bill told Het Nieuwsblad.
“We did not immediately get the green light, since we were 17th in the UCI ranking. Only the first fifteen teams received a license automatically. We had to defend our dossier in Geneva”.
Sports Manager Marc Sergeant stated, "That the license we achieve is certainly not a surprise but it was still waiting and that is never fun”.
The final list of the World Tour teams for the season ahead is as under,
Current licence holders approved on Nov. 2
Astana Pro Team, BMC Racing Team, Cannondale, Lampre – Merida, Omega Pharma – Quick, Step Cycling Team, ORICA GreenEDGE, Sky Procycling, Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team and Movistar Team
Licences issued following Nov./Dec. commission meetings
Team AG2R La Mondiale (2013-2016), Team Euskaltel Euskadi (2013-2016), Former Team Rabobank (2013-2014), Team Garmin Sharp (2013-2014), Team Argos–Shimano (2013-2016) and Team Saxo – Tinkoff (2013-2014).
Licences issued for 2013
Team FDJ, Team Lotto Belisol and Team RadioShack-Nissan.
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