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| Bjarne Riis can keep smiling as his team finally got a World Tour license. |
Today The
International Cycling Union (UCI) finally revealed all the 18 World Tour teams
for 2013 and in the end Bjarne Riis and Team Saxo-Tinkoff managed to secure
their status in the cycling elite. Instead Katusha - who ended 2nd
on the UCI World Tour team ranking - was left out.
Earlier
this week Roman Kreuziger explained that for him it wouldn’t really matter if
Team Saxo-Tinkoff got the World Tour license or not as he was sure they would
be given wild cards to all the big races anyway. “Everybody wants to have
Alberto [Contador] in the their race so I’m not worried”, Kreuziger said and I’m
sure the situation will be the same for Katusha.
Having
Joaquim ‘Purito’ Rodriguez - winner of the individual UCI World Tour ranking
for the second year in a row - plus strong riders like Dani Moreno, Denis Menchov,
Alexander Kristoff etc. on the team surely counts when the race organizers are
sending out invitations. I for one will be very surprised not to see Purito and
Katusha in the big races in 2013…
These are the 18 World Tour teams for next year:
Astana Pro Team
BMC Racing Team
Cannondale
Lampre – Merida
Omega Pharma – Quick Step Cycling Team
ORICA GreenEDGE
Sky Procycling
Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
Movistar Team
AG2R La Mondiale
Euskaltel Euskadi
Former Rabobank
Garmin Sharp
Team Argos–Shimano
Team Saxo – Tinkoff
FDJ
Lotto Belisol
RadioShackNissan
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