There was more damaging news for the UCI's ProTour on Thursday when Cofidis announced it would not renew its ProTour licence in 2009. The French team will instead apply for a Continental Professional licence next year, a much cheaper alternative which still allows it to appear in most major races across Europe. Cofidis said it wanted to concentrate its racing in countries where it had a commercial presence.
"Today, having a ProTour licence means making big investments which are not always financially viable because it takes the Cofidis team to more and more countries in which it has no operations," read a team statement according to AFP. "The French and European races on the Continental Pro calendar provide sufficient opportunity for us to achieve our commercial aims."
