Tour de France to be pulled from UCI World Tour
As wrangles continue over cycling reforms, Amaury Sport Organisation will withdraw the Tour de France from the 2017 UCI WorldTour calendar.
Tour de France organisers will pull cycling's most illustrious race from the International Cycling Union's (UCI) World Tour calendar in 2017 amid disagreements over planned reforms.
Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) made the threat on Friday that would see its events – that include the Tour, the Vuelta a Espana, Paris-Nice, and the Liege-Bastogne-Liege – run on the Hors Classe calendar, one step below the World Tour.
The WorldTour reforms would see teams and races awarded three-year licences, which would create a more closed system, with new events being considered for an enlarged calendar.
ASO rejected the previous proposals in July of this year, concerned the changes would weaken its position as the biggest race organiser.
It prefers a system aimed at reducing the number of WorldTour races, while introducing a form of relegation and promotion to the elite level of cycling.
"Amaury Sport Organisation has informed this day Union Cycliste Internationale it has opted for the registration of its events on the Hors Classe (HC) calendar for season 2017," ASO said in a statement read.
"UCI has actually recently adopted, from season 2017, a Reform of the World Tour calendar characterised by a closed sport system.
"More than ever, ASO remains committed to the European model and cannot compromise the values it represents: an open system giving first priority to the sporting criterion.
"It is therefore in this new context and within its historical events, that ASO will continue to keep these values alive."