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The UCI ProTour is a competition under the International Cycling Union ( UCI ). Created by Hein Verbruggen, former president of the UCI. It is comprised of a series of Road Bicycle Races and a number of 'ProTour' Cycling Team s, each of whom are required to compete in every round of the competition. This system was created for 2005 and in many ways replaces the UCI World Cup series, which ended at the end of the 2004 season. The ProTour includes the three Grand Tour s, namely the Tour De France , Giro D'Italia and Vuelta A España . It also includes most of the former UCI World Cup races, such as Paris-Roubaix , Tour Of Flanders and Liege-Bastogne-Liege . The ProTour licenses are given to 20 teams, which sponsors must commit to 4 years of sponsorship. The exception is the Phonak team, which is given only a 2-year license due to previous doping allegations. After 2005, Fassa Bortolo team folded and the vacant place was given to AG2R Prévoyance. __TOC__ HISTORY Season-long competitions for professional road racing were first instituted in 1948 , and continued until the late 1980s when the UCI instituted the UCI World Cup series which ran until 2004. In replacing the World Cup, the ProTour was designed to follow the format of the Formula One motor-racing series, and was intended to address several concerns:
The UCI lobbied the organizers of the Grand Tours to participate in the ProTour, and was successful in obtaining their agreement despite prior disagreements and threats to completely pull out of the ProTour. The ProTour has been criticized for fear of not having a system in place for a timely upgrade and downgrade of teams from/to the lower-tier UCI Continental Circuits . 2006 PROTOUR CALENDAR Originally, UCI and the organisers of the Grand Tour had been unable to come to terms on the 2006 UCI ProTour, with the result that the status of both the Grand Tours and some of the other races organised by the organisations behind the Grand Tours are unclear. A deal was finally reached on April 7 . See the main article 2006 UCI ProTour for a list of races. LIST OF CURRENT UCI PROTOUR TEAMS SEE ALSO 2005 ProTour Results See UCI ProTour 2005 for reviews, points and results for the 2005 season. LIST OF WINNERS OF CLASSICS EXTERNAL LINKS
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