UCI ProTour license decision delayed

By Susan Westemeyer

The UCI's License Commission has delayed its decision on who will obtain the ProTour spot left by the withdrawal of Team Phonak. Barloworld, Unibet and Astana are all vying for the spot. "The UCI keeps pushing the deadline away. Now they have put it off until next week. If we don't get a ProTour license, we'll ride as a Professional Continental team," Astana director sportif Walter Godefroot told the German press agency dpa. "I don't think that the organizers of the big races will exclude us."

Godefroot further denied reports that Paolo Savoldelli was looking to leave Astana because of the license problems. "Those reports are made only to bother us. We are a strong team. With Alexander Vinokourov, Andreas Klöden, Savoldelli and Andrei Kashetchikin we have riders who can win the big races like the Giro, Vuelta or Tour de France."