Skil-Shimano drops ProTour bid

Skil's bikes at the start of Gent-Wevelgem.

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Seven teams left to vie for top tier licenses

The Skil-Shimano team announced that it has chosen to keep its current Professional Continental status through the 2010 season on Thursday. 

The squad was seeking entry into the ProTour ranks, and was up against the new teams RadioShack and Sky and existing ProTour squads AG2R La Mondiale, Bbox Bouygues Telecom, Cofidis, Lampre-NGC and Milram for a maximum of seven available spots.

The team made its Grand Tour debut at the Tour de France this year.

"The team this week informed the UCI and the Licensing Committee that it would not be following the procedure for a ProTour licence. The team instigated the procedure last July, among other things in anticipation of the new world calendar in 2011 and beyond," the team said.

The squad said it would like to receive more details regarding the new calendar before working to fulfill the conditions for a ProTour license.

UCI regulations limit the number of ProTour licenses issued per year to 20. Currently, 13 teams have existing licenses and with the withdrawal of Skil-Shimano's bid, seven are seeking renewal or new licenses.

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