User:XyZAn/sandbox/UCIWT2017

The 2017 UCI World Tour will be the ninth edition of the ranking system launched by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) in 2009. The 2017 World Tour is scheduled to be the first season run under the new reforms imposed by the UCI.

UCI Reforms
The reforms date back to 2013 when the UCI released a prospective document outlining a new WorldTour to begin in the 2015 season and be completely implemented by 2020. Under the plans, the new World Tour would remove the existing WorldTour, Professional Continental and Continental system and use a proposed two tier system that will be above the third division comprised of Professional Continental and Continental teams. Depending upon what tier a team would be, would affect the rules governing that specific division: • All results across three divisions to be compiled into a single ranking system to serve as the basis for the nations' ranking. Changes would also be made to the calendar with the season running from February to October, competitions every weekend, no over-lapping events, six weeks of competitors focused solely on the Spring Classics and stage races cut to five or six days.
 * 16 Division 1A teams with 120 days of racing down from 19 teams and 154 days of racing in 2013.
 * 8 Division 1B teams with 50 days of racing.
 * Division 3 to feature the Europe Tour, America Tour, Asia Tour, Africa Tour and Oceania Tour.

In March 2014, the UCI further clarified their reform ideas and added that Division 1A and 1B status would be determined through a 'Promotion or Relegation' system. Moreover, the UCI revealed the size of the First Division teams, (1A and 1B) would be capped at 22 riders maximum, with the longer term goal that each of these 24 teams also run their own development squads comprised of 8-10 riders.

One critical element of the reforms is to help redistribute the wealth generated by the sport to the teams in an effort to reduce the number of teams who fold at the end of each season. This is something which race organisers have historically reluctant to do.

In November 2015, the International Association of Cycling Race Organisers (AIOCC) voted against the reforms 77 for, 6 against and 1 abstained.

Velon
The Velon business group is a venture created by 11 of the largest professional cycling teams which look to defend their commercial interests as well as develop new revenue streams. Members are;, , , , Lotto-Soudal, , , , , and. In 2015, the ASO and Velon fell out regarding the video rights to on-bike video rights at their events.

ASO vs. UCI
In December 2015, as a result of the UCI wanting to push through the reforms, the ASO removed all of their events from the 2017 UCI World Tour. The ASO organises the Tour de France, Paris–Nice, Paris–Roubaix, Fleché–Wallonne, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Critérium du Dauphiné and the Vuelta a Espana, as well as a number of lower level UCI Europe Tour events. Placing these events at Hors Category (.HC) will allow the ASO to invite more teams of their choice (.HC races allow a maximum of 70% UCI WorldTour teams) whilst also allowing them to reduce the size of the peloton. Another point of contention the ASO have is the 'closed system' nature of the new reforms. The ASO would support a system of relegation and promotion and has argyed that issuing 3-year licences to teams means that the WorldTour races will in-effect be locked-in for that period of time. Christian Prudhomme, head of the ASO, argued that expanding the WorldTour and increasing the number of racing days may mean that the top-riders do not participate in other top-level, but not WorldTour events (such as the Giro del Trentino and Criterium International). Cyclingnews.com reported that the ASO and other race organisers are worried about the introduction of appearance fees for WorldTour races, meaning that races compete with each other by offering the most money in order to attract the biggest riders.

In response to the ASO decision to pull it's events from the WorldTour the UCI issued a statement saying they would continue to push on with the reforms.