Post by Deleted on Apr 2, 2014 11:10:40 GMT
Basically road races staged by the UCI are categorised. The highest being the Tour de France classed as a GT1. The higher the category the more points are awarded for the teams and riders. The Tour of Britain will now attract more world tour teams as a result of the higher classification and a better standard of rider due to the points available. The organisers will be allowed up to 70% of Pro Tour teams. The downside is that the UK domestic teams will suffer as a result but organisers have made things a bit clearer as to which direction they intend to take.
www.tourofbritain.co.uk/news/9569.php#.UzvuAvldXl9
"From now on, under the new licence and in accordance with UCI regulations, there will be at least one mountain top or hill top finished every year and a Time-Trial or Prologue. That last stipulation might also include a Team Time-Trial which is something Race Director Mick Bennett has been keen to introduce for a number of years. From this point onwards Bennett will also be able to assemble a field consisting of up to 70% top level Pro Tour teams while the increase in UCI world ranking points now available at The Tour of Britain is also a considerable incentive for the big hitters to field their strongest available teams towards the end of the season. If the UCI's wide-ranging reforms to the structure of the season are fully implemented the ranking points are going to play a key role in the status of a team.
"These developments have definitely upped the ante and yes we are feeling the pressure to 'deliver' a bit but that is great," says Bennett. "That's what keeps you motivated and looking for ways to improve all the time. It's a balancing act though because we want to retain the distinctive feel of The Tour of Britain which has developed in the last decade. We are a little idiosyncratic but you need that on the circuit, you need races to have their own identity. It would get pretty boring if they were all the same and set the same challenge every week
"So we will be sticking at six man teams because experience has shown us that on our roads, which can get very narrow out in the sticks, that six is the best number. It also means that even the most powerful teams can really struggle to control the race and I like that, it makes the race hard and unpredictable and it gives the Pro-Continental and British based teams a chance to animate a stage and get stuck in. New stars and names can emerge and again we feel that has become a distinctive feature of The Tour of Britain.
"We could go up from six to thirteen World tour teams under the 70% ruling and all the big-hitters seem very keen and are on our radar for this year - Sky, Omega, BMC, Movistar, Tinkoff Saxo, Giant, Cannondale, Belkin and many others - but I am going to restrict it to about ten this year because we know the mix of the big hitters, a couple of top Pro-Continental teams, the best of the British-based Continental teams and a youthful GB National team works. It just does and we don't want to tinker with that formula too much."
www.tourofbritain.co.uk/news/9569.php#.UzvuAvldXl9
"From now on, under the new licence and in accordance with UCI regulations, there will be at least one mountain top or hill top finished every year and a Time-Trial or Prologue. That last stipulation might also include a Team Time-Trial which is something Race Director Mick Bennett has been keen to introduce for a number of years. From this point onwards Bennett will also be able to assemble a field consisting of up to 70% top level Pro Tour teams while the increase in UCI world ranking points now available at The Tour of Britain is also a considerable incentive for the big hitters to field their strongest available teams towards the end of the season. If the UCI's wide-ranging reforms to the structure of the season are fully implemented the ranking points are going to play a key role in the status of a team.
"These developments have definitely upped the ante and yes we are feeling the pressure to 'deliver' a bit but that is great," says Bennett. "That's what keeps you motivated and looking for ways to improve all the time. It's a balancing act though because we want to retain the distinctive feel of The Tour of Britain which has developed in the last decade. We are a little idiosyncratic but you need that on the circuit, you need races to have their own identity. It would get pretty boring if they were all the same and set the same challenge every week
"So we will be sticking at six man teams because experience has shown us that on our roads, which can get very narrow out in the sticks, that six is the best number. It also means that even the most powerful teams can really struggle to control the race and I like that, it makes the race hard and unpredictable and it gives the Pro-Continental and British based teams a chance to animate a stage and get stuck in. New stars and names can emerge and again we feel that has become a distinctive feature of The Tour of Britain.
"We could go up from six to thirteen World tour teams under the 70% ruling and all the big-hitters seem very keen and are on our radar for this year - Sky, Omega, BMC, Movistar, Tinkoff Saxo, Giant, Cannondale, Belkin and many others - but I am going to restrict it to about ten this year because we know the mix of the big hitters, a couple of top Pro-Continental teams, the best of the British-based Continental teams and a youthful GB National team works. It just does and we don't want to tinker with that formula too much."