2014 Tour Down Under winner Simon Gerrans(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
The 2014 Amstel Gold podium(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
The Giro d'Italia 2014 in Ireland(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
The UCI’s Professional Cycling Council (PCC) has confirmed the 2015 WorldTour calendar at its annual meeting at the World Championships in Ponferrada, Spain.
The series once again starts with the Tour Down Under in January before the elite men’s peloton turn their attention to Europe for a series of one-day and stage races in Europe: Paris-Nice, Tirreno Adriatico, Milan-San Remo, Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, E3 Harelbeke and Gent-Wevelgem.
In April, with the Spring Classics already in full swing, the top teams will compete at the Tour of Flanders, Paris Roubaix, before taking on the trio of races in the Ardennes. The Tour of Romandie and Pais Vasco make up the stage races that month.
May is dominated by the Giro d’Italia with current WorldTour leader Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) already deciding to target the race. June sees the Critérium du Dauphiné and Tour de Suisse one again overlap, before the Tour de France in July.
August sees another flurry of activity with the Tour de Pologne, Eneco Tour and Vuelta a Espana marked as the WorldTour stage races. The Clásica San Sebastián, Vattenfall Cyclassics and Vattenfall Cyclassics make up the one-day events.
September contains the two Canadian WorldTour races in Quebec and Montreal before the WorldTour concludes in October with the Tour of Lombardy. The only significant change at WorldTour level from 2014 is the dismantling of the Tour of Beijing, which the UCI confirmed would not take place next season.
“As we are getting close to the last two events in the 2014 UCI WorldTour, Il Lombardia and the Tour of Beijing, we can all reflect on what has been a fantastic season which demonstrated some tangible proof of the global growth of the UCI WorldTour. We are convinced that the UCI WorldTour has now entered a new and exciting era,” said UCI President, Brian Cookson.
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“I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the organisers of the Tour of Beijing as we head towards the fourth and final edition of that race and the role it has played in helping to build the profile of road racing in Asia.”
“The reform of the UCI WorldTour remains on track. I am delighted with the cooperation shown by stakeholders over the last few months to move forward and ensure a simplified and more robust financial structure of the UCI WorldTour and look forward to further developing professional cycling’s showcase in 2015.”
The PCC also met to discuss further improvements to the ‘globalisation of cycling’ including bike cameras, geo-location technology and audio visual content to further enrich the viewer experience.
The final details of the reform plan will be delivered in December 2014. For the full UCI WorldTour calendar, click here.
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