The International Cycling Union (UCI), cycling’s world governing body, has revealed plans to significantly alter the structure of the sport over the next seven years.
With Brian Cookson at the helm after beinf elected President last month, the UCI is looking to scrap the current WorldTour format and replace it with three divisions and a promotion and relegation system.
Plans will be submitted for approval in January, with the aim to begin implementing the changes in 2015 and have the new model fully in place by 2020.
The first division would be made up of 16 elite teams competing over 120 days of racing per season, with the second division comprising eight teams racing over 50 days. A third division would then be made up of Professional Continental and Continental teams.
A single world ranking would also be introduced, listing all riders from each of the three divisions against each other in one index.
The new format would see the season run from February to October, with no overlap between events and stage races cut to five or six days.
The idea is to distance cycling from its historic past and align it with more rigidly structured sports such as Formula 1 and tennis.
Teams will be selected for the first division based on sporting, ethical, financial and administrative criteria, with sporting performances determining who is relegated and promoted at the end of the season.
This would represent a break from the current system, where teams are selected for the UCI WorldTour based on applications.
The reform was listed among four key objectives for the UCI under newly elected president Cookson, the others being transforming the management of anti-doping procedures, developing women’s cycling and reinforcing the sport’s position in the Olympic Movement.
Cookson said: “In order to restore confidence in the UCI and promote cycling all around the world, we have to transform the way in which anti-doping procedures are managed, restructure elite road cycling, develop women’s cycling and reinforce our position and influence, in particular within the Olympic Movement.
“These are immense tasks and work on them has started already.”
Plans for the division system received initial approval during meetings between the UCI Management Committee and the Professional Cycling Council at last month’s Road World Championships in Florence. The same two bodies will rule on the refined proposals when they are received in January.
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