Team Sky among first four teams to secure ProTeam status for 2011

Great Britain’s Team Sky is among four teams that cycling’s governing body, the UCI, has confirmed as having secured ProTeam status for the 2011 season. The other three are Rabobank, Omega Pharma-Lotto and Garmin-Cervélo.

The UCI had been expected on Monday to confirm the identity of the 18 teams that would race in 2011 under a ProTeam license, which replaces the former ProTour license, but eventually made the announcement of the initial four teams late yesterday afternoon.

The change of name follows by last month’s announcement of the decision to combine the former ProTour calendar with cycling’s historic events including the three Grand Tours and cycling’s Monuments such as Milan-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix under a single, unified UCI World Tour.

Other teams will have to wait until 20 November to learn whether they have secured ProTeam status – also described by the UCI as ‘first division’ – which guarantees entry to (and requires the teams to participate in) the UCI World Tour events.

Those teams finishing in the top 15 of the UCI’s “sporting hierarchy,” also published today and shown at the end of this article, will be given ProTeam status so long as they "meet the required sporting, ethical, financial and administrative criteria."

The remaining three places will go to three of the teams ranked between 16th and 20th in the sporting hierarchy, with their sporting values “calculated using results obtained in 2009 and 2010 by the 15 best riders in their 2011 squads, taking into account all the events on all the circuits of the UCI International Calendar,” according to the UCI, which adds: “In addition, the calculation of a team’s sporting value takes into consideration the collective value of the team based on placings in team classifications of stage races on the UCI World Calendar and HC events on UCI Continental Circuits during 2010.”

The UCI also confirmed the identity of 13 teams that have satisfied the criteria for UCI Professional Continental (second division) status, as follows: Androni Giocattoli (ITA), Bretagne-Schuller, (FRA), Caja Rural (ESP), Colnago-CSF Inox (IRL), Europcar (FRA), Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli (GBR), FDJ (FRA), Landbouwkrediet (BEL), Saur-Sojasun (FRA), Skil-Shimano (NED), Team Type 1 (USA), Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator (BEL) and Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling (USA).

The sporting hierarchy confirmed by the UCi is as follows:

1. Luxembourg Pro Cycling Project
2. Rabobank Cycling Team
3. Garmin-Cervélo
4. HTC-Highroad
5. Omega Pharma-Lotto
6. Lampre-ISD
7. Katusha
8. Sky ProCycling
9. Liquigas-Cannondale
10. Saxo Bank SunGard
11. Team RadioShack
12. Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
13. Pro Team Astana
14. Movistar Team
15. BMC Racing Team
16. Euskaltel-Euskadi
17. Geox-TMC
18. Quick Step Cycling Team
19. Cofidis Le Crédit en ligne
20. AG2R
21. FDJ
22. Saur-Sojasun
23. Pegasus Sports
24. Skil-Shimano
25. Acqua e Sapone
26. Colnago-CSF Inox
27. Europcar
28. Androni Giocattoli
29. Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator
30. Veranda's Willems-Accent
31. Team Type 1
32. CCC Polsat Polkowice
33. Bretagne-Schuller
34. Farnese Vini - Neri Sottoli
35. Landbouwkrediet
36. UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
37. Team Netapp
38. Team SpiderTech powered by C10
39. Caja Rural
40. Colombia Es Pasion-Café de Colombia
41. De Rosa-Ceramica Flamina
42. Andalucia Caja Granada