bicycle.net -- cycling news, product reviews, original essays, podcasts & video :: Tour of California 2009

The International Cycling Union (UCI) has announced the granting of a ProTour license to American team Garmin-Chipotle Presented by H3O. The team directed by Jonathan Vaughters will now participate in the UCI events for the next four years.

The UCI also announced that three races were awarded ProTour status for that same period of time: the Vattenfall Cyclassics (Germany), the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (France) and the Tour de Suisse (Switzerland). These races therefore join the 2009 UCI ProTour calendar alongside the Tour Down Under (Australia), the Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco (Spain), the Tour de Romandie (Switzerland), the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya (Spain), the Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian (Spain), the Tour de Pologne (Poland) and the GP Ouest France-Plouay (France). Other license requests are currently being studied by the Licenses Commission.