Mark Cavendish’s potential new team missing from UCI’s provisional list of ProTeam applicants

This article originally appeared on Velo News

The UCI released a comprehensive list of teams that have applied for men's and women's WorldTour spots, along with the squads that have so far made the grade for prospective ProTeam licenses in 2023.

In total 51 teams have so far applied for licenses from the sport's governing body. The UCI confirmed that 13 women's teams have applied for the continuation of their WorldTour status, with three additional Continental teams looking to step up.

At the same time, 21 men's teams have applied for three-year WorldTour licenses, while 14 teams have applied for men's ProTour status.

Also read: Ruben Guerreiro and EF Education-EasyPost terminate contract as rider joins Movistar

Missing from the ProTour list are Human Powered Health, Androni Drone Hopper, and B&B Hotels. The latter French squad has been heavily linked with Mark Cavendish for next season, with the British sprinter out of contract at QuickStep.

Reports circulated earlier this week that Cavendish had signed a one-year deal with the French team, with the option of a second. The team quickly denied the reports, telling VeloNews: "We will make no comment on what came out today in Ouest-France, except denying all this information. We will unveil every detail about the team's future on October 26th."

The team did state to VeloNews that they had provided the required paperwork needed for the UCI bank guarantee.

Being omitted from the initial list of teams provided by the UCI can be down to a number of factors, not least a lack of administrative paperwork that has not been provided. Although the team has missed the UCI's initial deadline of October 17 there is still significant time for the B&B management team to successfully complete the UCI's process.

It's understood that the team is undergoing a major overhaul with team boss Jerome Pineau reportedly enlisting funds from the City of Paris in order to boost the team's budget. Mark Cavendish's arrival would be a major coup for the French team, while the veteran sprinter would be assured of a Tour de France spot and the chance to break Eddy Merckx's record for the number of Tour de France stage wins. Both men are currently tied on 34 wins apiece.

On Wednesday evening the B&B team took to social media to give their side of the story as to why their application had not yet been properly submitted.

"The B&B Hotels – KTM team takes note of this absence from the provisional list of candidate teams for the UCI ProTeam category for next season, published today by the UCI. This delay is due to the change of legal structure inherent to the evolution of the for the coming years," the team wrote on Twitter.

"Aware of the upcoming deadlines set by the UCI for its registration in the ProTeam category, the team is doing its utmost to provide the missing documents as soon as possible."

The UCI's list of 51 teams also included clarity over the process and time scale.

"For the sake of clarity, the UCI issues a reminder that any applicant teams that have not submitted the essential documents by 17 October and are not included in the lists below still have the possibility to regularize their situation up until the end of the registration procedure," the official statement read.

Men's teams applying for registration as a UCI ProTeam (that have submitted the essential documents):

* BINGOAL WB
* BOLTON EQUITIES BLACK SPOKE
* BURGOS – BH
* CAJA RURAL-SEGUROSRGA
* EOLO-KOMETA CYCLING TEAM
* EQUIPO KERN PHARMA
* EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI
* GREEN PROJECT-BARDIANICSF-FAIZANE’
* Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM
* TEAM FLANDERS - BALOISE
* TEAM CORRATEC
* TEAM NOVO NORDISK
* TOTALENERGIES
* TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM.

Included on the list above is Doug Ryder's Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team. As reported by VeloNews over the last few months, Ryder has been putting together a new team after the demise of his NextHash team at the end of 2021.

The team has signed a number of riders, including Mark Donovan, Damien Howson, Gianluca Brambilla, and Matteo Moschetti. Jack Bauer has been linked to the team but VeloNews has not been able to confirm if the veteran rider has signed for the team.

In August VeloNews revealed that Ivan Glasenberg, a successful South African billionaire, is financially backing the project. One source told VeloNews that Ryder has both a title and secondary sponsor lined up. Glasenberg retired as CEO of Glencore, one of the world's biggest mining and commodities trading companies in 2021, but since then moved to Switzerland, where his passion for cycling blossomed. In 2021 Glasenberg also invested in Q36.5.

Vincenzo Nibali is set to be on the management board.

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