The new UCI President wants to reduce the size of Grand Tour teams. He's said six riders per team but I imagine that a 33% reduction is more like an opening bid. I do wonder to what extent that could or would reduce the dominance of the richest teams though? They would still have a stronger pool of domestiques who could be team leaders elsewhere but will earn more money pulling for Froome or Aru, say.
An upshoot of this direction of travel though is that the World Tour squads are coming in a bit smaller this year, with the four I've seen having 24, 24, 25 and the highest so far being Bora at 27 riders.
As discussed last year, UAE Team Emirates dipped their toes into Pro Cycling with a decent investment after stepping in when the Chinese investment in the old Lampre franchise fell through about 12 months ago. Having seemingly liked what they saw, the oil dollars are coming flooding in with a number of race-winning quality riders joining the team: Aru, Dan Martin and Kristoff join Rui Costa, Swift and Ulissi. The glamour signings though do not seem to me to be backed up with the strongest core of domestiques, though.
But other than rider moves, there aren't any major changes to the World Tour itself. As far as I can see, only one team has changed sponsors with Vaughters' attempts to find funds for the Cannondale-Drapac (née Slipstream) team leading to them racing in 2018 under the catchy name of: EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale.
Over at Astana, Vinokourov wants to pursue damages from Aru for breaking contract 'because we were left without a top rider.' Let's hope Fuglsang and Lopez assume something has been lost in translation there (could he have meant, we are now down by one top rider?).
Stepping down to the second tier, there are a few more tweaks noticeable:
• Euskadi Basque Country - Murias have moved up to become a PCT
• Funvic/Brasil Pro Cycling are not listed as a PCT this year (maybe because they're dodgy as fuck)
• Three US teams, Hagens Berman Axeon, Holowesko-Citadel Racing Team, and Rally Cycling allstep up to become PCTs
• A brand new French team go in at PCT level - Vital Concept, who are no longer related to Fortuneo-Oscaro - with Bryan Coquard the marquee name
Otherwise all the old favourites are there.
And looking down one more level, five of the six British Continental Teams are listed on Pro Cycling Stats as repeating at that level next year - BIKE Channel Canyon, JLT Condor, Madison Genesis, One Pro Cycling and Team Wiggins. The other, Raleigh GAC, appear yet to have confirmed.
But the real kick in the pants in CT terms is that An Post - Chain Reaction are not competing in 2018 after being unable to find a new sponsor. Sean Kelly's team will look to return to the international scene in 2019 and blamed the Brexit situation for the difficulty in finding funding. Here's a look from Cycling News at some of the riders who have worn the team's jersey.
An upshoot of this direction of travel though is that the World Tour squads are coming in a bit smaller this year, with the four I've seen having 24, 24, 25 and the highest so far being Bora at 27 riders.
As discussed last year, UAE Team Emirates dipped their toes into Pro Cycling with a decent investment after stepping in when the Chinese investment in the old Lampre franchise fell through about 12 months ago. Having seemingly liked what they saw, the oil dollars are coming flooding in with a number of race-winning quality riders joining the team: Aru, Dan Martin and Kristoff join Rui Costa, Swift and Ulissi. The glamour signings though do not seem to me to be backed up with the strongest core of domestiques, though.
But other than rider moves, there aren't any major changes to the World Tour itself. As far as I can see, only one team has changed sponsors with Vaughters' attempts to find funds for the Cannondale-Drapac (née Slipstream) team leading to them racing in 2018 under the catchy name of: EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale.
Over at Astana, Vinokourov wants to pursue damages from Aru for breaking contract 'because we were left without a top rider.' Let's hope Fuglsang and Lopez assume something has been lost in translation there (could he have meant, we are now down by one top rider?).
Stepping down to the second tier, there are a few more tweaks noticeable:
• Euskadi Basque Country - Murias have moved up to become a PCT
• Funvic/Brasil Pro Cycling are not listed as a PCT this year (maybe because they're dodgy as fuck)
• Three US teams, Hagens Berman Axeon, Holowesko-Citadel Racing Team, and Rally Cycling allstep up to become PCTs
• A brand new French team go in at PCT level - Vital Concept, who are no longer related to Fortuneo-Oscaro - with Bryan Coquard the marquee name
Otherwise all the old favourites are there.
And looking down one more level, five of the six British Continental Teams are listed on Pro Cycling Stats as repeating at that level next year - BIKE Channel Canyon, JLT Condor, Madison Genesis, One Pro Cycling and Team Wiggins. The other, Raleigh GAC, appear yet to have confirmed.
But the real kick in the pants in CT terms is that An Post - Chain Reaction are not competing in 2018 after being unable to find a new sponsor. Sean Kelly's team will look to return to the international scene in 2019 and blamed the Brexit situation for the difficulty in finding funding. Here's a look from Cycling News at some of the riders who have worn the team's jersey.
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