Tour Méditerranéen to go forward

The Tour Méditerranéen Cycliste Professionnel is set to go forward after its licensing issues have been cleared up, the race organisers announced last week, and a list of 18 teams which will take the start in Pertuis on February 9 has been released.

WorldTour squads Vacansoleil-DCM, Saxo Bank, GreenEdge, FDJ - BigMat, Movistar, Garmin-Cervélo, Astana and AG2R-La Mondiale will be joined on the line by Accent.Jobs-Willems Veranda's, Acqua & Sapone, Team Type 1-Sanofi, Europcar, Cofidis, Bretagne Schuller, Spidertech and Saur Sojasun, as well as Continental teams VC La Pomme Marseille and Endura Racing. The remainder of the field will be announced at the presentation on January 30.

The Tour Méditerranéen was said to be in doubt last month after it failed to be registered on the UCI's Europe Tour calendar. The organisers were reportedly in conflict with the French Cycling League over the payment of fees, and the French Cycling Federation announced that the race would not receive a license.

However, a meeting between race promoter Lucien Aimar, FFC president David Lappartient and FCL head Marc Madiot has, according to Aimar, resolved the conflict.

"I have received a letter from the federation indicating that, as of today, the financial obligations of the Olympique club de Costebelle to the national cycling league have been settled," Aimar said to varmatin.com. In short, all of our hassles have been ironed out and we can now look foward."

Aimar clarified that the application to hold the race under the UCI's Europe Tour as a category 2.1 event will be resolved soon.