The Amgen Tour of California's addition to the WorldTour in 2017 has been widely received as a positive sign of growth for the 12-year-old race owned by Anschultz Entertainment Group, but the move to cycling's top tier by America's most prestigious stage race has left some US Continental teams in limbo as their participation remains in question.
WorldTour race start lists have traditionally been made up of all the WorldTour teams, plus several wildcard picks from the Pro Continental ranks. Continental teams have not been eligible for cycling's top tier events.
The rules governing participation in races fell into a grey area, however, when the UCI added 10 new races to the WorldTour, bringing the total events for 2017 to 37, with many of them on overlapping dates. To assuage concerns among WorldTour teams about competing in every race on the expanded schedule, the UCI said they will no longer be required to ride the new WorldTour races, and those new events would only need to invite 10 of the 18 WorldTour teams.
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A 2017 start list with 10 WorldTour teams would put the Tour of California in line with the make-up of last year's race, which featured 10 WorldTour teams, three Pro Continental teams and five Continental teams. The rules barring Continental teams' participation in WorldTour events have not yet been changed, however, leaving the Continental teams in limbo and concerned that they'll miss out on the biggest stage in North American cycling.
Tour of California organisers and USA Cycling did not respond to Cyclingnews' requests last week for comment on the issue, but some answers could come on Tuesday as many of the "WorldTour reform" details will be up for debate when the UCI's Professional Cycling Council meets.
Growing pains for US cycling
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