During the World Championships in Madrid, representatives of the pro teams, ASO, RCS, Unipublic and the UCI ProTour Council (UPTC) met to discuss the future of the ProTour and decided on a number of amendments for 2006:
Races organised by ASO, RCS and Unipublic are registered on the ProTour calendar, implying that participation of the 20 UCI ProTeams is obligatory, after taking into account their classification in the inaugural UCI ProTour. Apart from their role as race organisers of ProTour races, ASO, RCS and Unipublic have no other role in the ProTour and are therefore not represented in the UPTC.
The UPTC unanimously decided that from 2006 the World Championships will not contribute points towards the ProTour classification. This year, the World's are worth 50 ProTour points for the winner, but the race isn't actually on the ProTour calendar.
From December 31 2006, the UPTC will define the rules of the ProTour valid until 2009.
The UPTC will investigate, in collaboration with the UCI Road Commission the introduction, as early as 2007, of a 'calendar of promotion', whereby races on the UCI Continental calendar may be grouped with ProTour races with the aim of integrating them later in the ProTour. Related to this, the ProTour licence for the Züri Metzgete (Championship of Zurich) expires this year and will be up for review by the UPTC
The ProTour calendar for 2006:
March 5-12: Paris - Nice (France)
March 8-14: Tirreno - Adriatico (Italy)
March 18: Milano - Sanremo (Italy)
April 2: Ronde van Vlaanderen (Belgium)
April 3-7: Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco (Spain)
April 5: Gent - Wevelgem (Belgium)
April 9: Paris - Roubaix (France)
April 16: Amstel Gold Race (Holland)
April 19: La Flèche Wallonne (Belgium)
April 23: Liège - Bastogne - Liège (Belgium)
April 25-30: Tour de Romandie (Switzerland)
May 6-28: Giro d'Italia (Italy)
May 15-21: Volta a Catalunya (Spain)
June 4-11: Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (France)
June 10-18: Tour de Suisse (Switzerland)
June 18: ProTour TTT (Holland)
July 1-23: Tour de France (France)
July 30: HEW Cyclassics Cup (Germany)
August 1-9: Deutschland Tour (Germany)
August 12: Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian (Spain)
August 16-23: Eneco Tour (Netherlands/Belgium)
August 26-September 17: Vuelta a España (Spain)
September 4-10: Tour de Pologne (Poland)
October 8: Paris - Tours (France)
October 14: Giro di Lombardia (Italy)
Cyclingnews' recent coverage of the ProTour-Grand Tours split
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August 19, 2008 - Stapleton analyses 'world calendar'
August 18, 2008 - Feedback on 'world calendar'
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Cyclingnews' complete coverage of the ProTour-Grand Tours split
