All US Continental teams and women's pro teams will receive an automatic invitation to the Team Time Trial World Championships this September in Richmond, Virginia, rather than having to qualify via UCI rankings, organisers of the race confirmed to Cyclingnews this week.
Although all 17 WorldTour trade teams are compelled to compete in the team time trial, previously only the top 20 teams in the UCI Europe Tour rankings, the top five from the America and Asia tours, and the leaders of the Africa and Oceana tours would have qualified for the event. The team time trial is the only world championship event that is contested by trade teams rather than national teams.
Richmond 2015 Chief Operating Officer Tim Miller told Cyclingnews on Monday that race organisers have always viewed the event not just as an opportunity to showcase Richmond, but domestic cycling as well. The group has been working with USA Cycling for months to provide an opportunity for more US teams to take part.
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“The road Worlds hasn't been in the US for almost 30 years, and it's a big deal,” Miller said. “And so, with USA Cycling's help – they really led the charge to get this done with the UCI – but we thought it was important to let as many of the domestic teams as possible showcase their programs and showcase their sponsors, because it's an important thing for cycling in this country overall.”
Jelly Belly-Maxxis General Manager Danny Van Haute welcomed the news, saying it would take pressure off teams to pile up the UCI points that were needed to get an invitation.
“It would have been difficult anyway to get top 5 [in the UCI America Tour] because a lot of the races are in South America, and not so many here,” Van Haute said. “This is great news for everybody. I think it's great for all the Continental teams and great for Jelly Belly. We all know Jelly Belly is a great supporter of cycling. It's the 16th season for us, and now we're at the World Championships.”
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
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