With the start of the first race in the 2010 UCI World Calendar – the Santos Tour Down Under – set to begin this weekend, the International Cycling Union (UCI) has proposed a solution to the UCI ProTour Council (CUPT) that would allow the Italian Lampre team to run on a provisional ProTour license.
The renewal of Lampre’s ProTour license was refused last year because of “serious administrative non-compliances noted by the company Ernst&Young in the file that was submitted to it when the team presented its registration request last November”, according to a UCI statement released today.
The UCI continued by saying, “It is in cycling’s utmost interest and especially the riders and the entire team staff, that the UCI has intervened by putting forward a proposal for a provisional solution that it has submitted to the Licences Commission.”
Should the CUPT approve the proposal, the team would then be allowed to participate in the ProTour events. “The objective of this proposal is to enable the Lampre team to be in compliance with the rules by 31 March 2010,” explained the statement.
There is a meeting of the CUPT scheduled for January 15th where the decision will then be taken. Even if passed, the UCI warned that if at the end of the provisional period the situation of the Lampre team is judged as non compliant, the team could stand to lose its license.
This gesture by the UCI would allow Lampre captains Damiano Cunego and Alessandro Petacchi to prepare properly for the Spring Classics.