On Friday, the international cycling union UCI published the list of teams that have applied for a WorldTour and ProTeam license. Notable omission: Astana Qazaqstan. The team led by Aleksandr Vinokourov is missing from the list.
Teams had until October 15 to submit their applications. The UCI will now review the required documents to ensure they comply with UCI regulations. The list currently includes seventeen WorldTour teams, with Astana Qazaqstan being the only top-level team missing. However, the French team Arkéa-B&B Hotels is on the list, despite facing significant issues securing financing beyond 2025. They are also dealing with short-term problems, as they were forced to let go of riders Vincenzo Albanese and Clément Champoussin, even though they had ongoing contracts.
Although Astana is currently absent from the list, this does not necessarily mean they won’t be a WorldTour team next year. The UCI stated in their announcement: "It should be noted that some of these teams did not submit all the essential documents before the October 15, 2024 deadline. Therefore, they are not included in the list below." Riders like Cees Bol, Ide Schelling, Wout Poels, Darren van Bekkum and Mike Teunissen (recently announced as a new signing) will be hoping that Vinokourov can straighten out the situation soon.
Six women’s teams apply for ProTeam licenses
For the first time, women’s cycling teams had the opportunity to apply for ProTeam licenses. Six teams took advantage of this. This list includes French teams Arkéa-B&B Hotels, Cofidis and St Michel-Mavic Auber93, the Dutch team VolkerWessels, as well as the American team EF Education-Oatly and the Basque team Laboral Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi.
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